Building a warlock for Tyranny of Dragons

[ChurchXC]

Hey guys. I'm a long time lurker here, and I registered as I'm jumping back into DnD. Today was our first session, and it was really just a character building day. And with a new edition, I wanted to go back to my roots. My first character ever was a Fey Pact warlock, and I figured what the hell, let's make another.

Now, for those of you unfamiliar, Tyranny of Dragons is the new D&D encounters. A cult called the Cult of Dragons is trying to bring Tiamut back, and bring her to Faerun. Now, we chose our factions and rolled our backgrounds. I am a Harper Agent, but more like... a section 31 agent. The reason being, my family used to be members of the Cult of Dragons. They were killed by a rival faction in the cult, viewing them as having too much power. My character was presumed dead. He now fights for good, and is seeking to eliminate 3 key members of the cult.

I like the idea of this, a lot. I just don't know how to focus the actual character. I want to be useful at the table and keep things moving, but I'm a sucker for flavor. I like the joker (he's currently a charlatan) who uses it to hide the pain and sins from his past. He's a gambler and a liar, but doesn't want anyone to have to go through what he did again. Basically, a conman with a heart of gold. Steal from the rich, keep moving and trying to help all the while, eliminating that cult.

I just don't know what build or pact fits the flavor the best. I was looking at a Fey Pact Half Elf but I'm not sure. It's also a bit redundant. Some other races I had in mind were Dragonborn or Tiefling, but I'm not sold on flavor and stats yet. And fiend pact just... sounds too evil. I mean, devil deals.

There is a league rule on stat arrays and point buying, so I can either use a standard array (15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8). I point bought, ending with (15, 15, 14, 10, 10, 8).
So I'm in a bind. I don't know what to build that would be powerful and good flavor.
Could anyone offer suggestions? I really want to make a fun and interesting character, but i'm so wrapped up in boons and pacts, I'm not sure where to go.

[Scirocco]

Dunno, the Section 31-style Harper thing sounds somewhat incompatible with your scoundrel with a heart of gold concept.

If the Operative component of your character is the most important one I'd go with the Fiend pact for sure. Segue into Mal's conversation with the Operative and entering into the part where he says that he'll kill children if he has to.

[Yorrin]

Fey Pact Half-Elf would be my choice, given what you've outlined above, but let's explore some options.

Fiendish could be a thing that your parents forced you into. This would add the angle of wanting to take down the cult to potentially regain some portion of your soul. Fey, otoh, would make sense if you've always reacted negatively to the cultish things and wanted to seek an alternative path to power.

Blade vs Chain vs Tome: mechanically speaking Blade works best with Fiendish Pact and Tome with Fey. Chain pact, while flavorful, is weak.

Blade-fiend basically makes you a very magical gish, with Dex at least as important as Cha. Pick up invocations such as Armor of Shadows, Fiendish Vigor, Lifedrinker, and Thirsting Blade.

Fey-Tome is a versatile caster, and depending on what cantrips you pick up basically makes you the most versatile member of the party. The Book of Ancient Secrets invocation takes this to the next level, giving you access to rituals from other classes. For offense you'll want to focus on Eldritch Blast with invocations like Agonizing Blast and perhaps Eldritch Spear and/or Repelling Blast. Combine Eldritch Spear with the Spell Sniper feat and you've got a 600ft range on EB, making you a true sniper.

Beyond that you've got some great invocations that work with your character concept like Beguiling Influence, Gaze of Two Minds, Mask of Many Faces, Misty Visions, One With Shadows, and Visions of Distant Realms, all of which would be tremendously useful to a "secret agent" type character. The hardest part is narrowing that list down. This is another reason I'd go with Fey-Tome, as you've really only got two mandatory invocations (BoAS and Agonizing Blast), freeing you up to take more from the rest of the list.

As far as race- Half Elf is a beast of a Fey-Tome warlock. +2Cha and put the +1s in Dex and Con for defensive purposes. Human would also be a decent choice, with +1Cha +1Con and you can pick up Spell Sniper right at level 1. If you go Blade-Fiend you'll want a race that gives a bump to Dex. Wood Elf, Drow, Human, and Halfling are all fine choices, for various reasons.

[eastmabl]

Hey guys. I'm a long time lurker here, and I registered as I'm jumping back into DnD. Today was our first session, and it was really just a character building day. And with a new edition, I wanted to go back to my roots. My first character ever was a Fey Pact warlock, and I figured what the hell, let's make another.

Now, for those of you unfamiliar, Tyranny of Dragons is the new D&D encounters. A cult called the Cult of Dragons is trying to bring Tiamut back, and bring her to Faerun. Now, we chose our factions and rolled our backgrounds. I am a Harper Agent, but more like... a section 31 agent. The reason being, my family used to be members of the Cult of Dragons. They were killed by a rival faction in the cult, viewing them as having too much power. My character was presumed dead. He now fights for good, and is seeking to eliminate 3 key members of the cult.

I like the idea of this, a lot. I just don't know how to focus the actual character. I want to be useful at the table and keep things moving, but I'm a sucker for flavor. I like the joker (he's currently a charlatan) who uses it to hide the pain and sins from his past. He's a gambler and a liar, but doesn't want anyone to have to go through what he did again. Basically, a conman with a heart of gold. Steal from the rich, keep moving and trying to help all the while, eliminating that cult.

I just don't know what build or pact fits the flavor the best. I was looking at a Fey Pact Half Elf but I'm not sure. It's also a bit redundant. Some other races I had in mind were Dragonborn or Tiefling, but I'm not sold on flavor and stats yet. And fiend pact just... sounds too evil. I mean, devil deals.

There is a league rule on stat arrays and point buying, so I can either use a standard array (15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8). I point bought, ending with (15, 15, 14, 10, 10, 8).
So I'm in a bind. I don't know what to build that would be powerful and good flavor.
Could anyone offer suggestions? I really want to make a fun and interesting character, but i'm so wrapped up in boons and pacts, I'm not sure where to go.

I would do this as fiendish pact.

His parents were killed, and he was presumed as well? How about this - when his parents were killed, a lesser devil approached him and offered him a deal - accept my pact and I'll protect you from the cultists, give you power and together we'll work to eliminate the threat of the Cult of the Dragon. Being a gambler at heart and motivated by a certain amount of self-interest, he accepted the pact. Either the lesser devil whisked him away or used illusions to hide him from the cultists. Once the threat was abated, he entered a training montage and came out a 1st level 'lock.

While in the training montage, he realized just how vile the Cult was, and became determed to stop evil in all its forms - even if he has to harness a lesser evil to do so. Now he's gambling that whatever pact he accepted was for the greater good, and works alongside other agents of goodness and freedom to defeat his parents' murderers and his former friends.

[ChurchXC]

Thank you guys for responding. You've given me a lot to think about.

Yorrin, I had thought about grabbing many of those invocations to help the secret agent angle that was given to me by the DM. We had a test run yesterday, and we're still able to completely change the characters, but I did use a disguise kit to fool a bunch of cultist into walking right into an ambush. Those sorts of things are a lot of fun. Currently, his cantrips are Eldritch Blast, Minor Illusion, and his level one spells are Witch Bolt and Sleep.

I didn't realize upon first read how versatile the Tome pact could really be. The more I think about it, just wow. I wonder if the DM will give me the time to inscribe all the rituals...

We are a table of 8 (yeah, I know) currently, with a cleric, wizard, sorcerer, rogue, bard, paladin, and I can't remember the last member. He didn't do much, but seemed a bit ranged.

For flavor reasons, like eastmabi brought up, I was thinking of going infernal pact. That seems more of "I'm already damned so I'll do the dirty work so you don't have to".

One of the cantrips I'll probably take is shillelagh if I go tome pact. Might need the melee. This is a league thing and death will happen and it's not easy to come back from. It's one of the reasons I'm hesitant on builds.

Flavor? I like the idea of a man who sold his soul to a devil trying to trick them so he can save the world and maybe his soul in the process, but that's just a bonus. He keeps his hands dirty so you don't have to. He's tricky, getting things done with smarts and wit and a smile over force. But he's not above the force if necessary

I also don't know many Fey in 5e, so that kind of limited the flavor as well. I'll have to look them up.

The breakdown I had on his stats was 10, 16, 15, 10, 8, 17.