Warlock MC - Barbarian of Fighter dip

[BladedWizard]

Hi All,

I will be starting a quest soon and I was wondering if any of you have played a Bladelock multiclass with Fighter or Barbarian?

Did you like it? Do you think Fighter is better than Barbarian. I intend to dip 1 to 4 level into either Fighter or Barbarian and rest in Warlock.

The fighter would give me Con save proficiency, fighting style (TWF) and heavy armor. Barbarian give me Con save and the ability to rage to prevent half the damage from piercing, bludgeoning and slashing damage (but I won't be able to concentrate or cast spell when raging). Do you think the damage reduction is preferable to heavy armor? I intend to melee a lot with my Bladelock.

I am not into min/maxing. I prefer the RP side of it, however, I don't want to gimp myself either. So my two options for race right now are the following:

Half-Orc (16, 12, 16, 8, 8, 14) or Half-Elf (16, 12, 14, 8, 10, 16).

With half-elf I can get a better charisma and two more skills, however, the half-orc give me better constitution and other cool abilities (Relentless Endurance and Savage Attack). Are these two Half-Orc abilities better than having a bit more charisma?

I will take the criminal background which give me stealth. I would have disadvantage with stealth if I wear heavy armor. My DM said that Barbarian would be better early level but later on, wearing heavy armor would benefit more. What are you thoughts on this?

Sorry for the multiple question.

TL; DR - What did you prefer for your Bladelock? Dipping a few level of fighter or barbarian?

Thank you,
BW

[ImSAMazing]

Fighter. Barbarian doesn't allow you to cast spells in a Rage.

[Corran]

Barbarian's rage does not work with concentration spells, as you mentioned, which is a huge bummer. The only cool thing I can think for a barbarian1/warlockX multiclass, is that rage will work well with armor of agathys, especially if you cast armor of agathys at the highest level possible. Watch out for those ranged and magical attacks though....

[gfishfunk]

Barbarian's rage does not work with concentration spells, as you mentioned, which is a huge bummer. The only cool thing I can think for a barbarian1/warlockX multiclass, is that rage will work well with armor of agathys, especially if you cast armor of agathys at the highest level possible. Watch out for those ranged and magical attacks though....

Armor of Agathys (by invocation) only grants level 1. It helps for early levels, but does scale as you level. There are other cool combos, though. I wish I had my book here with me....

In short - go fighter if those are your two choices (for RP reasons).

[Sigreid]

7 levels of ek and you can attack with your pact weapon and EB in the same action. 8 and you get a bonus ASI.

[djreynolds]

Go sorcerer. Con saves. Metamagic