Building an Archfey Bladelock

[Edgerunner]

At first I wanted to build a Fighter that dipped into Warlock....
Now That I've done some studying I want a Archfey Bladelock!

The idea of being able to go from Ranged to Melee intrigues me. Misty Step, Greater Invisablility, Faerie Fire, and Blink all appeal to me.

Why Bladelock? Just seems plain interesting to be able to gish.

I am looking at Dex based so I can move easily around the battlefield. The feat Mobile and Warcaster both seem beneficial to this type of character and for attacks I figure a Rapier would be an excelent option.

None of this is written in stone except Archfey and Bladelock.
I don't mind muilticlassing as long as I get at least 14 lvls of Warlock.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[Tanarii]

What kind of Cha are you planning relative to Dex? If you want to be more melee than ranged, you can focus more on Dex and pick spells that aren't attribute dependent, which includes every one you listed plus Hex and Armor of Agathys. But don't ignore Cha too much. You'll probably still want to Eldritch Blast occasionally, and at lvl 12 you can take the Invocation that adds your Cha bonus to melee damage.

IMO War caster is kind of a waste. You'll have one hand free anyway for somatic and material components. And you'll use your Pact Weapon for melee attacks. You'd be better taking Resilient (Con) for +1 Con and proficiency for the concentration benefit.

Multiclassing 2 levels of Rogue at some point after you get your pact weapon would net you Cunning Action plus Sneak attack. The way you're describing your character, he's going to play sort of rogue like anyway, dashing in to strike and getting back out of danger again. Cunning action will be a huge benefit with that style of play.

[Edgerunner]

What kind of Cha are you planning relative to Dex? If you want to be more melee than ranged, you can focus more on Dex and pick spells that aren't attribute dependent, which includes every one you listed plus Hex and Armor of Agathys. But don't ignore Cha too much. You'll probably still want to Eldritch Blast occasionally, and at lvl 12 you can take the Invocation that adds your Cha bonus to melee damage.


We will be rolling Abilities so I am planning on trying to give Dex and Chr as equal footing as possible with Con being the next highest.
If The rolls are way off I will go Chr before Dex.
I was hoping to go V Human for the extra feat but that would mean Devil's Sight is a must.
I will go another race if the ability scores really need the extra bump.

[somehownotsingl]

I would second warcaster being a bit of a waste. Don't get me wrong; there are some benefits there for your build, but not enough benefits to be worth a precious ASI/feat slot -- especially when some of those benefits can be recreated through other, better feats.

[Tanarii]

That means you just have to decide how much to focus on melee invocations and spells over ranged. Or if you want to balance them.

Your first spell picks will probably want to be Armor of Agathys and one of Hex/Faeire Fire/Sleep. You'll want to retrain Faerie Fire eventually because it's level 1 only. Expeditious Retreat is a good 3rd spell pick, which you can retrain to Misty Step at level 3. Keep an eye on which spells are usable with higher level slots, and retrain out of ones that can't as you level.

The main thing to keep in mind as you pick spells is you can only concentrate on one at a time. OTOH, the other is you'll probably only use one per fight, assuming 2 encounters per short rest. So variety isn't all bad.

On invocations, you're best bet is two out of Agonizing Blast, Armor of Shadows and Fiendish Vigor. Followed by Thirsting Blade at level 5.

[JakOfAllTirades]

I'm currently playing a Fey/Blade Warlock at 10th level and it's a blast. And I'll agree with the advice above.

I decided against Warcaster and I don't miss it. I took Defensive Duelist, but after a few levels with it I think I shouldn't have, because I've got too many other options when it comes to using my Reaction on a hit. (Misty Escape and Hellish Rebuke are both good.) The Blade Pact needs multiple ability scores to really work well, so DEX and CHA boosts are better than Feats, IMHO.

Have you chosen a Background yet? Choosing the right Background can really help you if there's a lot of prejudice or suspicion against Warlocks in your campaign. You'll have a lot less trouble if you take the Noble background (you're in a position of authority) or if you take the Charlatan background and everyone thinks you're a Noble. Another handy trick: with the Mask of Many Faces Invocation, you can easily pass yourself off as an Eldritch Knight (of some well-liked order) and you won't even have to stop casting spells.

I chose Tiefling over variant human for my character's race, and I highly recommend it. The INT bump is pointless, but the CHA bonus is good, and the racial spell-like abilities really help make up for the Warlock's spell slot shortage, especially in the early levels. The extra Thaumaturgy cantrip is lots of fun; I never run out of uses for it. All that, plus you get horns and a tail. And Fire Resistance. Many fire spells require a Dex save, in which Warlocks are not proficient, so that helps too.

And nobody else gets horns and a tail! Except Minotaurs. You ever see a Minotaur Warlock? Hahaha! No.

[Tanarii]

Have chose Tiefling over variant human for my character's race, and I highly recommend it.I consider Disguise Self a required spell for any Dragonborn or Tiefling character. Love me some Mask of Many Faces. :)

IMO for feybladelocks, Half-elf is the go-to race. +2 Cha, +1 Dex and +1 Con is great (less so for rolled stats but still good). Darkvision. Fey Ancestry is half of Beguiling Defense nine levels early. Two skills on top of all that is icing on the cake.

I've also always thought High Elves or Forest Gnomes would be thematically appropriate, especially for a higher Dex than Cha feybladelock.

I like the Charlatan background feature too. It's really nice with the Actor feat. Disguise Self at-will would make both a little less appealing, but not pointless.

[Strill]

am looking at Dex based so I can move easily around the battlefield. The feat Mobile and Warcaster both seem beneficial to this type of character and for attacks I figure a Rapier would be an excelent option.DEX is irrelevant to mobility.

[Edgerunner]

Multiclassing 2 levels of Rogue at some point after you get your pact weapon would net you Cunning Action plus Sneak attack. The way you're describing your character, he's going to play sort of rogue like anyway, dashing in to strike and getting back out of danger again. Cunning action will be a huge benefit with that style of play.

Well I decided to go 3 lvls of Rogue for Arcane Trickster or Swashbuckler and then to set out towards Warlock.
It works for that backstory and the extra spells/cantrips. Mage Hand should rock.

Any other suggestions for the Archfey Bladelock portion of the build?

[Tanarii]

Remember those AT cantrips and spells are Int based, so they don't make very good attacks/charms, or possibly even illusions (depending on how often your DM disbelieved illusions). OTOH extra daily 1st level spell slots are nice for a Warlock, especially a Feylock with Faerie Fire and Hex (for extra short duration castings).

Related, and I brought it up before, but it's important to realize your spell use will be low in any given encounter, 0-2 per fight. It's easy to fall into the trap of assuming multiple spells will be available simultaneously as your spells known list increases.

You stick with human (variant) in the end? What feat? One to consider is Defensive Duelist. Itll give you a use for your reaction when enemies aren't provoking OAs, and add some defense.

[Edgerunner]

Remember those AT cantrips and spells are Int based, so they don't make very good attacks/charms, or possibly even illusions (depending on how often your DM disbelieved illusions). OTOH extra daily 1st level spell slots are nice for a Warlock, especially a Feylock with Faerie Fire and Hex (for extra short duration castings).

Related, and I brought it up before, but it's important to realize your spell use will be low in any given encounter, 0-2 per fight. It's easy to fall into the trap of assuming multiple spells will be available simultaneously as your spells known list increases.

You stick with human (variant) in the end? What feat? One to consider is Defensive Duelist. Itll give you a use for your reaction when enemies aren't provoking OAs, and add some defense.
We won't be rolling until next Tuesday.
Yes I do realize what the situation is with the AT/Warlock spells, just thought some extra free cantrips couldn't hurt.

Yea I been looking at Defensive Dualist.
It's also why I put Swashbuckler in there. It seems to suit Bladelock very well.

Swashbuckler
You focus your training on the art of the blade, relying
on speed, elegance, and charm in equal parts. While
some warriors are brutes clad in heavy armor, your
method of fighting looks almost like a performance. Duelists
and pirates typically belong to this archetype.
A Swashbuckler excels in single combat, and can
fight with two weapons while safely darting away from
an opponent.

Fancy Footwork
When you choose this archetype at 3rd level, you learn
how to land a strike and then slip away without reprisal.
During your turn, if you make a melee attack against a
creature, that creature can’t make opportunity attacks
against you for the rest of your turn.

Combine this with Greenflame Blade and Hex..... It seems you may have an actual reason to use the damned blade instead of staying at range and spamming EB.

[JakOfAllTirades]

IMHO, the best synergy between Swashbucklers and BladeLocks is the 3rd level feature that adds CHA to their Initiative score.

The improved Sneak Attack doesn't hurt either; Finesse BladeLocks can always use a little extra damage boost.