Guide:Dual Crossbow Bard Guide

Introduction

• This is for a build that comes mostly online in mid act II, and focuses on heavy ranged damage through multiple attacks in a single turn. It also provides huge benefits for out of combat functions such as Deception check and Persuasion check (particularly useful in act II to avoid many of the hard battles by convincing enemies to kill themselves, and in any act to get out of problematic situations), and Sleight of Hand check which becomes lucrative in act 2 and 3 when used to pickpocket vendors daily.
• This build can be used for Astarion, however, it is more powerful when used on a custom character of the Drow race due to their racial Proficiency  Hand Crossbows.

General Overview

Core Mechanics

• The primary damage of this build uses  Slashing Flourish (Ranged) combined with dual crossbows, multiple actions per turn, and high initiative to deliver devastating attacks. Combining this with Band of the Mystic Scoundrel also provides for efficient crowd control.
• Because the build focuses on ranged attacks and  Slashing Flourish (Ranged), maximizing ranged damage, critical hit, and  Bardic Inspiration is advised.
• Damage is also increased by adding Acid damage to all attacks, and building upon that damage as well.
• Some of the suggested items require the Absolute's Brand to be fully functional, so it is advised to get the brand from Gut in Act I.

Items and Acquisition

The below table outlines gear to pick up in each act, and whether to keep or replace later.

Items of Interest Table

Act	Item	Acquisition	What Do?	Keep/Replace
Act One	Cap of Curing	Found in a locked gilded chest behind a pillar near to where Alfira is composing her song in the Druid Grove X: 289 Y: 488.	Soothing Songs When you inspire an ally using  Bardic Inspiration, they also regain 1d6hit points.	Useful for support, but will be replaced later for direct damage modifier.
Act One	Haste Helm	Found inside the locked chest near the Ancient Sigil Circle waypoint in the Blighted Village X: 32 Y: 403.	Smooth Start At the start of combat, the wearer gains  Momentum for 3 turns.	Useful for battle movement, but will be replaced later for direct damage modifier.
Act One	Blazer of Benevolence	Reward for rescuing Volo from the Goblin Camp during Rescue Volo.	Remedial Rhymes When you inspire an ally using  Bardic Inspiration, you gain 4 temporary hit points.	Useful for support, but will be replaced later for direct damage modifier.
Act One	The Graceful Cloth	Sold by or stolen from Lady Esther at the Rosymorn Monastery Trail, just after taking the Mountain Path.	Cat's Grace You gain Cat's Grace and increase your  Dexterity by 2, to a maximum of 20. Nimble As a Cat You gain a +1 bonus to your Dexterity  Saving throws and also increase your  Jump distance by  1.5 m / 5 ft.	Keep. This is BIS for out of combat functions, and arguably BIS for combat as well.
Act One	Springstep Boots	Located in the treasure room behind Dror Ragzlin's throne in the Shattered Sanctum X: 296 Y: 71	Swift Strides When the wearer  Dashes or takes a similar action during combat, they gain Momentum for 3 turns.	Good for mobility. These will be replaced in Act II.
Act One	Boots of Speed	Worn by Thulla in the Myconid Colony. She gives them to you as thanks for curing her of the duergar poison in Cure the Poisoned Gnome.	Click Heels: Click the heels of your boots as a Bonus action to gain  Click Heels for Duration: 1 turn. This condition doubles your Movement Speed and inflicts Disadvantage on Opportunity Attacks against you.	Good defense and mobility. These will be replaced in Act II.
Act One	Gloves of Power	Looted from the Goblin Boss Za'Krug in front of the Druid Grove.	Absolute's Bane On a hit with a weapon attack, possibly inflict a -1d4 penalty to the target's Attack rolls and Saving throws.  Sleight of Hand +1	Keep. This is BIS for out of combat (for SoH) and only replaced for in combat later.
Act One	Gloves of Archery	Sold by or stolen from Grat the Trader in the Goblin Camp.	Corellon's Guiding Hand You gain Proficiency with  Longbows and  Shortbows. In addition, your ranged weapon attacks deal an additional 2 damage.	Can be kept or replaced in Act II. This is BIS for ranged damage, but could be swapped for Ichorous Gloves in Act II if desired.
Act One	Caustic Band	Sold by or stolen from Derryth Bonecloak in the Myconid Colony, Underdark.	Malefic Excretion Your weapon attacks also deal 2Acid damage.	Keep this is BIS for combat.
Act One	Smuggler's Ring	Looted from a Skeleton, hidden in a bush on the lower path following the river, near the broken bridge section at The Risen Road (X:58, Y:512).	Stealth +2  Sleight of Hand +2 Charisma -1	Keep. This is BIS for out of combat (for SoH and stealth).
Act One	Absolute's Talisman	Worn by Priestess Gut. Can be obtained as loot during the Defeat the Goblins questline.	The Absolute's Mercy If the wearer bears the Absolute's Brand, they have Advantage on Death Saving Throws.  Absolute's Talisman: Aid () Cast as a level 2 spell ( Recharge: Long rest.)	Useful for survival. Can be replaced later for damage modifier, or kept for survival.
Act One	Amulet of Misty Step	Gilded chest next to the bed behind Polma in the Defiled Temple X: 386 Y: 8. As of Patch 5, can also occasionally spawn in Omeluum's trading inventory. If Omeluum has the amulet, the gilded chest behind Polma will have none.	Misty Step (+ ) Cast as a level 2 spell ( Recharge: Short rest.)	Useful for mobility. Can be replaced later for damage modifier, or kept.
Act One	Shortsword of First Blood	Found on the corpse of an executed Deep Gnome in the Underdark at (X:73, Y:-187), at the entrance of the Decrepit Village (if approaching from the Myconid Colony).	Break the Unbroken Deals an additional 1d8Piercing to targets that still have all their hit points.	Very useful Act I-II but replaced later. (Main or Offhand)
Act One	Knife of the Undermountain King	Can be bought or looted from A'jak'nir Jeera in Crèche Y'llek.	Organ Rearranger Reduce the number you need to roll a Critical Hit while attacking by 1. This effect can stack. When you roll 2 damage or less, reroll the dice, taking the highest result. Shadow Blade You have Advantage on Attack rolls against Lightly or Heavily Obscured targets when using this blade.[See: Bugs]	Keep. This is BIS main hand for entire game.
Act One	Hand Crossbow +1	Derryth Bonecloak in the Myconid Colony Dammon in The Hollow (low probability try long rest if its not there)	If 2 hand crossbows are equipped, use a bonus action for a ranged attack, and procs an automatic additional attack for every shot of  Slashing Flourish (Ranged)	Replaced later. Get two if possible in Act I.
Act One	Firestoker	Found in an Opulent Chest in Grymforge in the Dormitory room with the Hellsboars (X:-574, Y:382).	If 2 hand crossbows are equipped, use a bonus action for a ranged attack, and procs an automatic additional attack for every shot of  Slashing Flourish (Ranged) Burned Alive Deals an additional 1d4Weapon damage to  Burning targets.	Replaced later.
Act Two	Marksmanship Hat	Sold by or stolen from Roah Moonglow in Moonrise Towers.	Marksmanship You gain a +1 bonus to Ranged Attack rolls and Thrown Attack Rolls.	Used for most of game until late Act III
Act Two	Derivation Cloak	Can be looted from a Heavy Chest (X: -132 Y: -175) in Balthazar's chambers on the First Floor of Moonrise Towers.	Deadly Derivation When you  Poison a foe, heal yourself for 1d4hit points.	Can be kept or replaced in ACT III.
Act Two	Boots of Brilliance	Looted from a Heavy Chest in the room just north of Yurgir in the Gauntlet of Shar X: -632 Y: -723.	Restore Bardic Inspiration: Play your instrument to restore one of your Bardic Inspiration slots ( Recharge: Long rest).	Keep. These are BIS to ensure an extra use of  Slashing Flourish (Ranged)
Act Two	Ichorous Gloves	Found inside a metal chest in the storeroom at the back of The Waning Moon X: -253 Y: -71.	Ichorous Corrosion When the wearer deals Acid damage, they also inflict Noxious Fumes on the target(s).	Can replace Gloves of Archery if desired. Provides less damage from ranged attack, but procs additional damage from Caustic Band.
Act Two	Ring of Geniality	Sold by Barcus Wroot at the Last Light Inn if he is still alive.	Persuasion +1  Deception +1	Keep. BIS for out of combat encounters.
Act Two	Ne'er Misser	Sold by or stolen from Roah Moonglow in Moonrise Towers.	Magic Missile (+ ) Cast as a level 3 spell ( Recharge: Short rest.) Changes all attacks from this crossbow to Force	Keep. This is BIS main hand for rest of game.
Act Two	Hellfire Hand Crossbow	Can be looted from Yurgir in the Gauntlet of Shar X: -653 Y: -764.	Scorching Ray (+ ) Cast as a level 3 spell ( Recharge: Short rest.) Hellstalker Possibly inflict  Burning when attacking while  Hiding or Invisible.	Keep. This is BIS offhand for rest of game.
Act Three	Mask of Soul Perception	Found in a DC20 locked Gilded Chest X: -33 Y: 20 in Helsik's Room upstairs at the Devil's Fee in the Lower City.	Soul Perception Gain a +2 bonus to Attack rolls,  Initiative Rolls, and Perception Checks.  Detect Thoughts (+ ) Cast as a level 2 spell ( Recharge: Short rest.)	Keep. This is BIS.
Act Three	Shade-Slayer Cloak	Sold by Sticky Dondo X: -17 Y: 755 in the Guildhall, found in the Lower City Sewers.	Stealthy Critical While Hiding, the number you need to roll a Critical Hit while attacking is reduced by 1. This effect can stack.	Can replace Derivation Cloak for direct damage if desired.
Act Three	Bhaalist Armour	Sold by Echo of Abazigal in the Murder Tribunal after the player character accepts Bhaal and becomes an Unholy Assassin.	Aura of Murder Enemies within 2 m / 7 ft become Vulnerable to Piercing damage, unless they are Resistant or Immune to it. Ambusher Gain a +2 bonus to  Initiative Rolls.	Can replace The Graceful Cloth for in combat if desired. Either could be considered BIS.
Act Three	Amulet of Bhaal	Looted from Sarevok during Act Three, or given by him upon becoming an Unholy Assassin.	First Blood On a hit, inflict  Bleeding upon targets that have maximum Hit Points.	Keep. This is BIS.
Act Three	Band of the Mystic Scoundrel	Looted from a backpack (X: -1566 Y: -1522) in the Jungle.	Illusion Quickening After hitting a creature with a weapon attack, you can cast illusion or enchantment spells as a Bonus action.	Keep. This is BIS for in combat for crowd control.
Act Three	Crimson Mischief	Dropped by Orin during Get Orin's Netherstone in Act Three.	Prey Upon the Weak This weapon deals an additional 1d4Piercing damage against targets with 50% of their hit points or fewer. Crimson Weapon When you make an attack with your off-hand weapon, you can add your Ability Modifier to the damage of the attack.	Keep. This is BIS offhand.

Gameplay and Combos

The primary goal is to deal ranged damage with  Slashing Flourish (Ranged) and crowd control with illusion and enchantment spells cast as a bonus action.

• Spells that work very well for control:
  •  Hold Person
  •  Crown of Madness
  •  Tasha's Hideous Laughter
  •  Hypnotic Pattern
  •  Charm Person
  •  Dissonant Whispers
• Keep at ranged distance to avoid getting a disadvantage from your crossbows. If in Melee range, use  Misty Step to get away, or attack with  Slashing Flourish (Melee).
• Once fully levelled, it is possible to deal massive damage to a single target by repeated use of  Slashing Flourish (Ranged). This attack targets two different enemies, or hits one enemy twice. When you have dual crossbows, that is a possible hit of 3 per use (2 shots + 1 offhand shot).
• Combined with additional bonus actions and actions provided by levels within  Rogue and  Fighter (respectively), it is possible to perform up to 4 uses of  Slashing Flourish (Ranged) in a single turn. When used against a single target, this can mean between 8-10 shots fired in one turn against a single target.
• When needed, use bonus actions for crowd control after making an attack.
• Each use of  Slashing Flourish (Ranged) requires the use of  Bardic Inspiration. At max level, there are 5 uses (4 native + 1 from  Restore Bardic Inspiration. The 4 native uses are restored upon a short rest. With this build, these can be renewed 3 times between long rests (2 short rests + 1 from  Song of Rest). This gives a total of 17 uses of  Slashing Flourish (Ranged) per long rest (Without sleeping potions).

Leveling and Progression

• If creating a custom character, the recommendation is to use Drow due to their racial Proficiency  Hand Crossbows.
• Place 16 into Dex and 16 into Charisma as both of these will be your primary stats. (Dex for damage, Charisma for out of combat checks).
• Start with the Bard class and choose Guild Artisan for the persuasion proficiency and Fey Ancestry for spell protection.
• At level 3 take  College of Swords subclass.
• At level 4 take the take the sharpshooter Feats.
• Level bard up to 6.
• At level 7 add rogue as a multi-class.
• At level 3 of rogue, take the  Thief subclass.
• At level 4 rogue, take the Alert feat for the extra initiative.
• Add  Fighter multi-class for the last two levels to gain access to  Action Surge
• The build really starts to shine during Act Two once you have Marksmanship Hat, Ne'er Misser, and Hellfire Hand Crossbow
• When out of combat, switch to your out of combat gear for the persuasion, deception, and slight of hand. Before entering combat again, switch to combat gear.