Thinking about doing another run with a single class party. My first thought is druid, because between the subclasses you can get a good mix of healing, AoE, and tanking. What other classes might work? Is there enough gear to go around for this to work?
I feel like I don’t know how to play a bard well in combat. In my original playthrough, all he did in combat was use arrows to knock people off things.
Bards vary wildly depending on build and subclass, so there isn’t really a right way to play one. But they are neck and neck with Wizard for strongest class in 5e.
Lore is a traditional full caster with expertise and access to spells like Spirit Guardians, Aura of Vitality (its called something else in game but functions the same), and Fireball that he really shouldn’t be able to use, but Magical Secrets are awesome. Build as a Blaster or Healer, with particular attention paid to Paladin and Ranger spells as these give the most bang for their buck per spell slot. 1 lvl of Life Cleric makes Lore Bard the strongest healer in the game by a country mile.
Sword is a Gish, with full Martial and full Caster capabilities. Ranged Slashing Flourish basically doubles the number of times you can attack per round. Only pure Fighter is a better ranged Martial and only in prolonged fights.
Valor is more of a Support/Tank, but they also gain access to a wider range of weapons than Sword so they can provide some odd but powerful equipment combos for debuffing enemies or buffing allies, but for the most part you would be better off with Sword.
I did college of swords with dual hand crossbows and short swords. I also took 3 levels of rogue to get the second bonus action (for 4 attacks per round). Spell slots mostly went to utility stuff.
Valor is your tank. Strap on a shield and take some defensive spells.
Lore is your main caster. Mostly debuffs but you can pick up some variety with magical secrets.
For a full bard party, I’d probably take 2 lore bards for the spell variety and either take a dip into warlock or sorcerer or pick up Spell Sniper with at least one of them for access to better cantrips.
Doubling up on swords is also a good option since your bardic inspiration recharges on short rest (starting at level 5) and you’ll have 6 short rests per day thanks to Song of Rest.