If you're a 3rd level Bard playing Dungeons and Dragons 5e (2014), this is for you

Hi all --

Today's blog entry is about Dungeons and Dragons. If this isn't your thing, no worries. I have a post about James Baldwin's "The Creative Process" that will be up soon. I did promise one of my players a guide that would make sorting through the sheer volume of information a little easier and I thought this was a good opportunity to reflect on what it means to grow with a game.

When I started playing over 30 years ago, I was terrible at Dungeons and Dragons. I'm still not great; I'm jealous of Dungeon Masters and players who possess a deep understanding of the rules, who regularly create a sense of balance and achievement with them. I should say that's a trivial problem from where I began.

For decades, I didn't know how to be useful in combat and was overwhelmed by all the options in the various rulebooks. Everyone around me was pounding the table because I had no idea what I was doing. (Also, they were in the middle of a power fantasy and not terribly popular at school.) I couldn't focus on creating a memorable character because I was never sure what to expect. At times, I did try to do something interesting with silly voices and fragments of a backstory, but it was never consistent because I was fumbling around with whatever character I made.

As a Dungeon Master, I don't want to completely eliminate fumbling around with one's character. It is part of experimentation, learning through trial and error how one can grow or regress. For example: you're not sure what to do in combat but you want to stop an enemy fighter wrecking your team. You guess that Tasha's Hideous Laughter will buy your team time. Without even thinking that the brute beating up your comrades has a low Wisdom score, you cast it and they fall into fits of laughter. The other players look at you with a bit of awe and respect, as you saved them and no one is quite sure how. You realize this is a milestone for your character, that they are becoming cognizant that they wield incredible power.

But there is such a thing as too much fumbling. Taking a bunch of spells for utility, for example, and having no healing in a situation with expected combat. Or not having any idea what a character class is meant to do. I know reading up on races and classes does help, but it isn't enough. I personally read up on the clerics I roleplayed a bunch and became more useless each passing session. You do need an explanation of what is generally thought good, a more developed idea of how the game works. Ironically enough, what I'm about to tell you I learned mainly through competitive video gaming. Those games do rob the charm out of leveling up and outfitting your avatar–it is only about being "broken" so you can win all the time–but they get you to think about what actually works in combat.

Now, of course, you may be playing a character that is not meant for combat at all. Perhaps you are a thief with expertise in lockpicking and connections in the underworld. Or a wizard who just wants to read forgotten languages. These are more or less skill monkey type characters who are for aiding the party in non-combat situations. In this case, combat is actually easy, but you must commit. You just want to damage whoever is being damaged by your party while not getting hurt yourself. You may have one or two abilities which inflict status effects–maybe you can put enemies to sleep or prevent them from casting magic. You want awareness of these and use them when you can.

But if you suspect you are meant for combat, you need to think about your party's win condition. Being meant for combat doesn't mean you are optimized for damage or defense. Everyone in game has damage they can do and defenses they can run. Rather, the question is how you give your party an advantage they can use which consistently wins. This is a win condition. If you're a healer, the win condition is obvious: outlast enemies through healing. If you buff your allies, then give them buffs which yield crushing advantages, e.g. extra attacks or bonus movement. (The latter can be used to destroy an enemy's primary source of damage quickly.) If you debuff enemies, then you want to constantly get in their way of doing anything. You can also play characters which reshape the battlefield, making things impossible for adversaries to navigate.

So now, let's assume you are, I dunno, a 3rd level College of Glamour Bard. Bards are to a degree skill monkeys via the "Jack of All Trades" feature. Sure, a Bard may personally have absolutely no idea how to fashion a splint or read strange runes. Still, they get a bonus doing both, as they are Bards who are not proficient at either task. It obviously isn't optimal to think of a College of Glamour Bard as devoted to noncombat tasks. Rather, they have numerous abilities allowing for complete battlefield control. I won't go through every spell and feature, but I'll highlight a few:

Buffs

Dungeons and Dragons really challenges you to think about what is called an action economy. You want to make the most impact as soon as possible so your team isn't in danger. Buffs are certain and a move in a positive direction–no one can accuse you of not helping your team. The problem is that they might not be up to every task.

• Mantle of Inspiration: So when I first saw this, I was like "meh" because I'm an idiot. Also because some classes have absolutely broken abilities which are not at all subtle. You have to think about this one a bit, but it is very, very strong. Use Bardic Inspiration once to inspire creatures you see 60' in front of you, up to a number that is your Charisma modifier. At 3rd level, they'll get 5 temporary HP (this scales as you level), and they can use their reaction as an extra move (meaning if you move 30', you can move once more in the round for a total of 60') as soon as they get the HP. That extra move does not provoke opportunity attacks.
  
  Again, I'm an idiot. When I first saw this, I'm looking at 5 extra HP and thinking "cool this does barely anything for a tank you want to buff." While that's strictly true, a party of 3 gets a total of 15 HP, a party of 4 20. That's plenty to tip the scales in favor of the Bard's party. Moreover, if your party wants to rush a backline damage dealer, such as an archer or spellcaster, this allows for a round of getting to them and unleashing melee attacks.
  
  This is the kind of power that makes a Bard more than a party face or support character. Truth is, all your teammates have to be on the same page because your ability enables a specific strategy. The Bard is a literal field marshal.

• Heroism: Really good buff for making tanks that much tougher. Cast it and not only is the target immune to being frightened, but they gain temporary hit points equal to one's spellcasting ability modifier at the start of each of their turns.
• Enhance Ability: Bear's Endurance is the standout buff here. It gives advantage on Constitution checks and 2d6 temporary hit points. The spell says it is Concentration based, like Heroism, but I'm tempted to let the temporary hit points stack with Heroism. Yes, this means some fights with enemies may be tougher, but thinking about combinations which give your team the advantage is always good.

Debuffs

A great way to win a fight is stop your opponent from doing what they want to do. Debuffs are perfect for this, but they come at a cost. You will often not be able to make your opponent lose a turn at will; they will resist.

• Vicious Mockery: because it is a cantrip, it is busted. You can cast this infinitely. Yes, the damage it does is negligible – just 1d4 psychic damage – but I don't think it is only a flavor spell. Yes, the target can save with a Wisdom saving throw, but if it doesn't – if it is able to hear you and you are able to speak – then 1d4 psychic damage and disadvantage on its next attack follow. Using this successfully once saves that much more wear and tear on your tanks. There are more powerful debuffs, but this is not a bad option.
• Bane: a more powerful debuff worth having on hand. 3 creatures which you can see within range can be affected. They must make a Charisma saving throw; if they fail, then for the duration of the spell (1 min) they have to subtract 1d4 from whatever attack rolls or saving throws they roll. Combine this with an area of effect damage spell from another caster and they will be unlikely to save.
• Blindness/Deafness: Causes blindness or deafness for 1 minute; target must make a Constitution saving throw. Worth casting this against spellcasters, archers, or other creatures you suspect do not have terribly high Constitution scores.
• Heat Metal: this only will affect one weapon or piece of armor, but it is stupid powerful. Objects don't have saving throws. If an enemy holds on to the object, it is 2d8 fire damage (!). If they steadfastly refuse to let go of the object, they must make Constitution saving throws or else be at a disadvantage on attack rolls and ability checks.

Crowd Control

Buffs and debuffs are nice, but what about completely controlling waves of enemies? Buffs have the advantage of certainty – you know you're helping your allies. Debuffs are bit riskier, as enemies can often resist them. Crowd control comes in two flavors: you can change the terrain and funnel/wall-off enemies (no opposed rolls) or impact enemies directly. Obviously, the game is not going to let you put waves of enemies to sleep over and over.

Still, you need to think about this category, because this is how you outright win a battle. What if your opponents can't do anything for X number of turns?

• Sleep – you can put creatures to sleep if you can roll high enough on 5d8. The roll is for the number of hit points you can put to sleep. You probably won't get 40 hp but more like 20-30, which is enough to put some small enemies trying to swarm you out cold. I know a Bard who saved her team casting this.
• Tasha's Hideous Laughter – if you see them and they fail a Wisdom saving throw, they will fall into fits of laughter on the ground. I remember one time my group was fighting an enemy who could turn invisible. The enemy stabbed one of our group, becoming visible for a moment, and was running away and about to turn invisible again. This spell stopped them.
• Crown of Madness – they fail a Wisdom saving throw, you can get them to attack who you like. This can go on for up to a minute: pretty much an entire combat.
• Hold Person – this can keep a humanoid out of a battle for the duration of a battle; they must make Wisdom saving throws to avoid being locked down.

Healing and Utility

• Cure Wounds, Healing Word, Lesser Restoration – always take these. This is where some might think the logic of the action economy breaks down. I'm really amazed by the number of players who think healing their teammates is a waste of time. Would you play with someone who was unwilling to keep your character alive? Outlasting the enemy is the literal definition of a win. In competitive gaming, you trade damage as often as possible when working with characters that heal or shield–you'll kill the enemy by trading health while restoring yours/limiting damage.
  
  "But my character isn't a healer" – so you'd go into a violent encounter without as much healing as possible?
• Message, Dancing Lights, Mage Hand, Identify, Faerie Fire, Calm Emotions, Invisibility, Silence, Knock, Phantasmal Force – these are all powerful options, especially Invisibility. Each of them nudges the game in your favor or outright wins scenarios which might be too difficult to handle otherwise.

Conclusion: Do you need damage? Roleplaying your character with a grip on what works

The above list isn't meant to be exhaustive. It is meant to get you thinking about what you need for combat in a specific campaign. To get you talking out loud about what helps and why. What other categories can you think of besides the generic ones I've outlined above? For example–what about "Allies" or "Intelligence" categories? Taking Animal Friendship or Speak with Animals can be powerful. After all, what if you're hunting undead in the deep, dark woods?

What I have avoided is talking about doing damage. What a team needs to do is set up a situation where damage matters. You can do all the damage in the world, but if they do more in a shorter amount of time then you've lost already. You want to be able to delineate win conditions, especially against enemies which will adapt to your ways of fighting them.

This should fit into roleplaying your character. No, they don't need to sit there and think about combat all the time. But they should know what they have that creates synergies with their team. A character isn't written in isolation. They grow with their team, and understanding combat is a way of seeing what a character actually is in the fantasy world you're writing together. It helps, in this vein, to think through how the person you're playing would feel if they knew they unleashed a devastating ability on the battlefield or found the clue that brought a new ally to the team. I hope I've showed that reading through a list of spells and abilities for a TTRPG is a worthwhile endeavor. What you've been reading for the last 2,400 words are my notes on those descriptions, notes which translate directly into storytelling.