Current Build Summary
Half-Elf College of Lore Bard 4 | CHA 20 (+5) | Spell save DC 15 | DEX 18 (+4) | HP 35 | 293 gp
Known spells: Charm Person, Hideous Laughter, Speak with Animals, Identify, Healing Word, Shatter Cantrips: Starry Wisp, Mage Hand, Mending Feat: Inspiring Leader Carrying: Studded Leather, Longsword, Light Crossbow, Potion of Heroism, Potion of Healing, a Deck of Many Things
Elaris is the party's best controller and now its largest source of effective hit points. CHA 20 with DC 15 is hard for low-WIS creatures to beat, and Inspiring Leader is quietly the most valuable thing on the sheet.
What Changed Since the Last Guide
The March guide recommended swapping in Silvery Barbs, Faerie Fire and Dissonant Whispers. None of those swaps happened, and the guide has been rewritten around what is actually on the sheet rather than what was suggested.
It also claimed that dropping Identify costs nothing because Elaris could ritual cast it. That was wrong: a bard's Ritual Casting only works on spells they know, so dropping Identify from the known list loses ritual access to it entirely. The recommendation still stands, but for the other reason the guide gave — Barzer ritual casts it straight from his spellbook, so the party keeps the capability.
Inspiring Leader Is Your Biggest Contribution
Ten minutes of speech, once per short rest, gives up to six allies 9 temporary hit points each — your level 4 plus CHA modifier 5. That is 54 temporary hit points across the party per rest.
Look at who is receiving them. Selena has 16 maximum hit points. Nine temporary is more than half her health bar. This single feat does more for party survivability than any spell on your list.
Use it after every short rest, without being asked. It costs nothing but ten minutes and it is the reason nobody has died yet.
Priority Changes
1. Drop Speak with Animals
It has done its work. The rat negotiation was a genuine highlight, and it will not come round again in a dungeon where the remaining inhabitants are goblins. Nysera is the party's animal-talker by class identity and can prepare it freely on any day it becomes relevant.
Replace it with Faerie Fire. A 20-foot cube, DEX save, and everything that fails is outlined in light — every attack against them has advantage, from the whole party, for the entire fight. Off a first-level slot. Nothing else at this level multiplies party damage the same way.
Selena already has Bless and it is concentration, as is Faerie Fire — so the efficient split is Selena concentrating on Bless while you concentrate on Faerie Fire. Two stacking effects instead of both of you holding the same one.
2. Drop Identify at Level 5
Barzer has it in his spellbook and rituals it for free. You are spending one of six known spells on redundancy.
Level 5 gives you an eighth spell known plus a replacement, which is the cheapest moment to fix both this and Charm Person.
3. Charm Person Is Doing Nothing
Humanoid-only, useless mid-combat, and the dungeon ahead is goblins and whatever the hostages are being held by. It has not been cast usefully in two sessions.
Spells to Keep
| Spell | Why |
|---|---|
| Healing Word | Bonus action, 60 feet. It saved Theren. Never drop this. |
| Hideous Laughter | DC 15 against low-WIS enemies is close to a stun. Prone and incapacitated means advantage for every melee attacker and auto-failed STR and DEX saves. |
| Shatter | Your only real area damage. Watch the friendly-fire radius — this party bunches up. |
| Starry Wisp | Ranged cantrip that also stops a target benefiting from invisibility. |
Feature Usage
Cutting Words is free and you are not spending it enough. As a reaction, roll a Bardic Inspiration die and subtract it from an enemy's attack roll, ability check or damage roll — after you see the roll. Use it to turn a hit into a miss, or to cut damage on a downed ally. The dice come back on a short rest.
Your reaction is contested. Cutting Words wants it every round. Bear that in mind before adding any other reaction option to this build — it is the reason War Caster would be a poor feat here.
Bardic Inspiration is a d6 until level 5, when it becomes a d8 and Font of Inspiration refreshes it on a short rest instead of a long one. Hand the dice out at the start of a fight, not once someone is already down.
The Deck of Many Things
It is in your pocket, unopened, and the decision not to draw was correct.
The DM walked through the range: Gem and The Fool are campaign-altering gifts; Donjon imprisons you indefinitely with a permanent penalty to every saving throw you will ever make, and Ruin strips you of nearly everything you own. There is no bounded downside and no take-backs.
If it is ever drawn, do it after the hostages are out, not before. The failure cases remove a party member from the game, and there are people in a pit depending on this party not losing its bard.
Next Level-Up Plan
Level 5 is the real jump: Bardic Inspiration becomes a d8, Font of Inspiration refreshes it on a short rest, and you get an eighth spell known plus a replacement. Two changes in one level — use them on Identify and Charm Person.
Level 6 is Additional Magical Secrets: two spells from any class list, up to third level. Hypnotic Pattern, Spirit Guardians and Counterspell are all live options and all better than anything on the bard list at that level. Worth planning toward now.