PDA

View Full Version : Player Help Rogue/Warlock multiclass hideous blow (Sorry, I know.)



Tadders
2015-10-04, 11:33 AM
I dual wield short swords. I have two weapon fighting. I also have hideous blow. If I use Hideous Blow on my primary weapon, do I still get my attack with the second weapon? My friend says no, because he thinks that would make my character too OP on sneak attacks.

FocusWolf413
2015-10-04, 12:11 PM
It doesn't work RAW. You get one attack as a standard action. Also, see if you can get this moved to the 3.5 subforum.

Tadders
2015-10-04, 03:17 PM
But a regular melee attack is a standard action. If I make another attack it becomes a full round action. Hideous Blow is not an attack. It is a Blast Shape Invocation. Wizards of the Coast has stated that neither Blast Shape nor Blast Essence Invocations count as actions. Therefore, Hideous Blow is not a standard action. The description says that you can make a standard action attack, but that is just your normal melee plus the bonus damage. I should still get my second attack, without the bonus damage, by taking a full round attack action. Firing Eldritch blast counts as a standard action, but shaping it is not an action. With Hideous Blow, you never fire it. Therefore, no attack of opportunity. Hideous blow is a standard melee attack plus bonus damage. Why wouldn't I get my second attack? This is my thought process. I've read Complete Arcane, Dragon Magic, and the Player's Handbook, and this seems like it makes sense.

Nifft
2015-10-04, 03:56 PM
Hideous Blow modifies Eldritch Blast.

If you're using Hideous Blow, then Eldritch Blast is your action, not Full Attack.

Eldritch Glaive is a different modification which explicitly does allow multiple attacks, and is generally regarded as better than Hideous Blow in part for that reason.

FocusWolf413
2015-10-04, 04:08 PM
You might want to pick up the eldritch claws feat.

TheIronGolem
2015-10-04, 06:11 PM
I dual wield short swords. I have two weapon fighting. I also have hideous blow. If I use Hideous Blow on my primary weapon, do I still get my attack with the second weapon? My friend says no, because he thinks that would make my character too OP on sneak attacks.

You're both wrong.

You are wrong in that you can't use Hideous Blow and still attack with the offhand weapon. As others noted, using Hideous Blow by definition requires using Eldritch Blast, which is a standard action. Without houserules, you just plain aren't getting around that.

Your friend is wrong that it's not allowed on the basis that it would make you overpowered. It's not allowed because of the action-economy reasons already explained. That aside, it wouldn't actually be as powerful as it seems. Bonus damage dice look stronger than they really are, because we tend to be biased towards thinking of the maximum value instead of the average. Also, by multiclassing you are by definition making a tradeoff between Eldritch Blast damage and Sneak Attack damage, and the two scale at the same rate. This means that in most cases, your EB+SA damage is going to be about the same as it would have been if you were only using SA (like a single-class Rogue) or only EB (like a single-class Warlock).

I second the previous posters' recommendations to pick up Eldritch Glaive or Claws. Hideous Blow is a trap option.