Hexblade Dip

[Kane0]

Hey all. I was just flicking through the Homebrew forums, and noticed a Hexblade fix.

Normally the Hexblade is considered a little underpowered (but still relatively solid) as a base class but I looked it up as a comparison to the fix and realised:
The Hexblade is a fantastic Dip class, especially for high CHA characters. Three levels gives you:
1. Full BAB
2. Good Will. Nice little boost to a melee that usually has Fort. It's a trade-off though.
3. Curse. Not great on its own, but its a nice addition to your tricks as a swift action and lasts a whole hour.
4. Arcane Resistance. Cha to saves, just like Pally but without the LG restriction.
5. Mettle. Like Evasion, but works for both Fort and Will saves instead of Reflex. Works great in conjunction with Arcane resistance.

So what builds is it useful for? My immediate thought was sorcerers because they are a Cha based class, but it could also be good for Warlocks, Favored Souls and possibly Paladins if you can work your alignment.

Does anyone else have any neat builds that a Hexblade would fit well into?

[eggs]

Yeah, it's pretty nice. I used to use it in all sorts of variations with Paladin of Tyranny, Blackguard, Binder and Arcane Duelist - especially in gestalt.

Common themes were fear-stacking (fear effects like those of the Avenging Executioner tend to have low DCs; the spooky ghost panther ACF made them a bit tougher) and debuff aura stacking (PoT, Blackguard, Hexblade and Binder all have no-save debuff auras whose stacking legitimacy can be gleefully quarreled over for days).

One of the major NPCs in a campaign I'm currently running is a Halfling Rogue 1/Hexblade 4/Black Dog 5/Psibond Agent 2 - The Hexblade levels admittedly aren't doing any heavy lifting, but they do go a long way toward keeping the character alive and helping its poisons and suggestions land.

[prufock]

Hey all. I was just flicking through the Homebrew forums, and noticed a Hexblade fix.

Normally the Hexblade is considered a little underpowered (but still relatively solid) as a base class but I looked it up as a comparison to the fix and realised:
The Hexblade is a fantastic Dip class, especially for high CHA characters. Three levels gives you:
1. Full BAB
2. Good Will. Nice little boost to a melee that usually has Fort. It's a trade-off though.
3. Curse. Not great on its own, but its a nice addition to your tricks as a swift action and lasts a whole hour.
4. Arcane Resistance. Cha to saves, just like Pally but without the LG restriction.
5. Mettle. Like Evasion, but works for both Fort and Will saves instead of Reflex. Works great in conjunction with Arcane resistance.

So what builds is it useful for? My immediate thought was sorcerers because they are a Cha based class, but it could also be good for Warlocks, Favored Souls and possibly Paladins if you can work your alignment.

Does anyone else have any neat builds that a Hexblade would fit well into?

Hexblades are fantastic for a demoralizing build. Start with Hexblade 5, grab Paladin of Tyranny 3, Some Binder levels, then finish out with Anima Mage and Knight of the Sacred Seal. Get the feats Brutal Strike and Intimidating Strike. At this point, along with your usual spells and combat abilities, you have
Aura of Despair
Aura of Sadness (choose Focalor as a vestige, Dahlver-Nar is a good choice til then).
Hexblade's Curse
Dark Companion ACF
Brutal Strike
Intimidating Strike

Putting it all together you can apply a -12 penalty to an enemy's saves all in one round: get close to put them in range of your auras and have your Dark Companion also move in, hit them with Hexblade's Curse as a swift action, then power attack to apply Brutal and Intimidating Strike. The full spellcaster in your party should love it.

They also take penalties to attacks, checks, and AC, but those vary depending on which abilities take effect.

You're also getting double your charisma bonus to all of your own saves, so make sure to pump that up.

Variations: Throw in a level of Sorcerer after Paladin, making sure you took Precocious Apprentice at level 1, and use Anima Mage to progress Sorc spellcasting instead of Hexblade. You'll get better spells that way. Dropping level 3 of Paladin of Tyranny can also work if you get the Chupoclops vestige. If you want to be a halfling, you can take a level of Luckstealer late in the build for another -2 (no daily limit).

I'm building something similar to this as an NPC to scare the giblets out of my players.

EDIT: I've seen some really crazy optimization of this sort of build based on Unseelie Fey abuse and a misunderstanding of the Marshal class rules. It isn't a legal build. I'm not really what you'd call an optimizer, but I think -12 to -14 to enemies' saves is a pretty good deal.

[JellyPooga]

I've always liked dipping Hexblade for Rogues, myself.

Sure Charisma isn't a Primary for Rogues, but it's certainly a close Secondary, especially if you're looking at playing a Face-Rogue. The boost to Saves plus having both Mettle and Evasion is very tasty for a class that typically puts little focus on Constitution and Wisdom and the extra BAB and HP is nice to bump up your melee potential.

[Kelb_Panthera]

Do recall that arcane resistance only applies to spells and spell-likes. Supernatural and extraordinary attacks that call for a save are unnaffected.

[GoatBoy]

3. Curse. Not great on its own, but its a nice addition to your tricks as a swift action and lasts a whole hour.

Actually, curse is a free action, in the original incarnation of the class.

The class' original designer posted an "unofficial update" on a forum somewhere (can be found here (http://dictummortuum.blogspot.ca/2011/08/hexblades-handbook.html)) which gave a few buffs (good fort save, ignore ASF for medium armour, a couple more) and one nerf (curse is now a swift action, rather than free). This might be where the misconception arose. One of the changes makes curse usable 1+CHA times per day, rather than the class' slower progression, and you don't lose it for the day if the target makes the save (but you still can't attempt to curse that target again for 24 hours).