Hexblade Help

[sambouchah]

A character of mine recently died of old age so I'm rolling a Hexblade. I want to do something involving fear and having an undead familiar(Like a Deathmaster or Dread Necromancer's). So Imperious command and scarlet crosshair are what I am aiming for. I was thinking of doing a necropoliton and becoming spell stitched or deathknight. Why not do both haha. Anything will work as the base creature(preferably from PHB as asked by DM) Also I wanted to use Axes(Thrown/Hand and a Battle Axe) as my melee.

Thanks for any advice given, Sam


P.S. This will be my first hexblade so let me know if I'm just being dumb

[prufock]

Use the Dark Companion variant (you can get Obtain Familiar with a feat), it will lower your enemy's saves against your spells, making it easier to invoke fear. If you want to go the monster-debuffer route, standard advice is multiclass with paladin of tyranny (at least 3 levels, 4 if you want to use rebuke undead to power divine feats) so you get the aura of despair, which is an additional -2 on top of your dark companion and curse. This requires you to be evil though.

Whether you do or do not go with paladin of tyranny, picking up a level or two of binder with Improved Binding, then go into Anima Mage for a few levels. Your BAB will drop a little, but get up to effective binder level 5 and you can bind Focalor, who has Aura of Sadness for another -2. Prior to getting Focalor, you probably want Dahlver-Nar. Get to effective binding level 10 and you can have both (or 4th- or 5th-level vestiges if you want, though I don't think any of them really fit the concept so well).

Abjurant Champion or more Hexblade are good ways to finish this build.

[Deox]

If fear is your game, I would suggest utilizing Dread Witch in some manner, allowing you to hit those normally immune.

I would second Paladin of Tyranny for the aura, along with Binder for the additional penalty with Focalor.

[prufock]

If fear is your game, I would suggest utilizing Dread Witch in some manner, allowing you to hit those normally immune.

Agreed. I played one once. It was hilariously fun. If you really want to go all out with fear effects, dread witch + nightmare spinner is great.

[Deox]

I can't believe I forgot about Nightmare Spinner!

Now, I'm thinking something like:

Hexblade / Binder / Paladin of Tyranny / Dread Witch / Nightmare Spinner.


Now, to make it work...

[Zaq]

Hexblades make good melee debuffers. I like mixing Netherese Battle Curse, Brutal Strike, Intimidating Strike, and other similar effects to make enemies roll a pile of saves against each smack, with each one they fail making the rest harder. Add in Dark Companion, your basic curse, maybe some poison (if you can swing Hidden Talent for Psionic Minor Creation, do so!), and the like, and while you won't be the most damaging character on the field, you can still even the odds between your opponent and a six-year-old child. Of course, once your debuffs are all in place, you're still a full-BAB guy, so you can always just turn on Power Attack and smack away. I've always thought a character like this would also benefit from Sand Dancer, but the feat investment, WIS-based DC, and Tumble requirement are all kind of hard to swallow before you've gotten some other tricks ready. (The DC isn't THAT bad, though, since by the time you've landed two or three or four of your other tricks, your enemy will have a hard time saving against a bloody cantrip!)

I've tried to build a character pretty much just like this in two separate campaigns. Neither worked out especially well for me, but that was more to bad luck and unfortunate party composition than to a true weakness in the build (or so I believe). It is a little feat-heavy, but not unduly so.

Regarding the Dread Witch, while it's a lot of fun, it's bad for Hexblades. Greater Master of Terror (the class feature that lets you scare fear-immune critters) only applies to spells, and Hexblades aren't exactly spell-slinging geniuses.

Are you using the unofficial Hexblade fix? You should probably ask your GM if you can. I don't have the link handy, but it shouldn't be too difficult to find. The critical bit is that you get more curses per day (1 + CHA at level 1, if memory serves), and just as important, a failed curse (that is to say, a curse that an enemy saves against) doesn't count as being expended. There's more to it than that, but that's the most important part.

[gorfnab]

Hexblade Handbook (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=7412)
Fear Handbook (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=3809)

Dreadful Wrath is good feat to consider. For the familiar go with Dark Companion ACF and then the feats Obtain Familiar and Improved Familiar to get an Imp.