Help with dex bladelock concept please!

[kellyda4]

So here it is, another bladelock thread!

I'm joining a game at level 7 in a week and toying around with a few different characters/half-baked ideas including the idea of a warlock that is of the criminal/street urchin deception type.

My idea is to take the actor feat, shadow armor (free mage armor at will), and mask of many faces invocations. Because he has a pact weapon he also doesn't have to carry a weapon around. My thought is basically he's an unarmed street clothes wearing guy who when needed turns on his armor and summons his weapon to begin battle. Excellent character for those times when you get your gear taken and are taken prisoner! Also, I'm hoping to gratitously use the deception and other charisma based skills to be an interesting character in social situations. I see myself using different voices at the table, etc.

I haven't fleshed out his background too well, but am still working on that; the warlock lends itself to some really cool ones though.

My problem though is with the rest of the build, for example, what weapon type(s) does he use? Sword and Board, Duel Wield, Two handed? In my head, I more see the character as a dex-based rapier using pretty boy who's acrobaticlly moving around battle than some strong man smashing people with a greatsword. Also, upping dex stat will help AC over time rather than having to up strength for attacks. Well, with that thought in mind though, two handed is kind of ruled out which makes things more difficult in combat, i.e. almost requires war caster feat, dipping a level of fighter for fighting style/shield use.

Which brings me to my next question/problem; if I "dip" another class, is it 1 level of fighter? Or is it something else entirely; I can also see the merit of getting expertise and even cunning action from going rogue and making my guy some super acrobatic parkour character with dark magic. Well, if i'm thinking of that kind of style, I could instead do a few levels in bard and go for the college of satire. Problem with that though is that I don't have the fighting style for duel wield nor shield profiency and am stuck using a one handed rapier.

I also toyed around with the crazy idea of dipping Paladin for a sword and boarder; character backstory it would work great and I would get a fighting style, some spells, etc. Or another idea for the dip was to go ranger for the third level horde breaker (more attacks!) or collus slayer.

Of course there's also the often mentioned problems with dual wielding/shields and pact weapons, aka I won't get to have my character walking around in his clothes before summoning his weapon.

Some other thoughts I have had are staying all warlock and taking the medium armor feat, taking defensive duelist at some point, and of course taking the duel wielder feat for AC bonus and better weapons.

Phew that's a lot to consider. Any thoughts, please help!

[Gastronomie]

Any Bladelock who wants to be "strong" should start level 1 as Fighter for the Fighting Style and CON save (as well as proficiency in all armor and shields, if you're to use them). Dueling works amazing for Rapier+Shield.

[bid]

Which brings me to my next question/problem; if I "dip" another class, is it 1 level of fighter?
Fighter (and cleric to a weaker degree) is the perfect start dip for Str: you get heavy armor, Con save, defense style. And mace does more damage than EB.

Dex bladelock doesn't need the dip so much. You'll like medium armor early on and dueling style won't go out of style. But that doesn't fit your concept at all.

You could almost start draconic sorcerer for Con save and "free" mage armor. Later on, you can share your concentration spell by twinning, or use twin BB cheese.

Swashbuckler synergize with your Cha, and AT can give you utility slots. But a 3 level delay to your spell progression is a lot. You will want bladelock 5 and 3rd spells before pushing MC beyond a 1-level dip.


For Dex, here's my thought pattern:
- start draconic for AC/Con, or skip sorcerer entirely
- reach bladelock 5
- think of dipping rogue 3 (if not draconic)
- think of pushing sorcerer 3 (if draconic)
- reach bladelock 12
- push for rogue 8 or sorcerer 8 (or however your concept evolved)

[djreynolds]

I am of the opinion, that you want wisdom save proficiencies as much as constitution, so begin as your concept would. I'm taking resilient wisdom or resilient con, I have failed too many of either one.

Also, I'm unsure and you may have to go on the RAW thread, but you only create one pact weapon. So I'm not sure how it works out for duel wielding, do both weapon get the life-drinker at 12th? If your DM OKs it,... awesome.

Anyhow with mage armor and max dex you can get an 18 AC. And that is just fine.

My recommendation is a dip into sorcerer, wizards, or Eldritch knight to secure the shield spell, but the last is a 3 level dip, could be expensive but you do get weapon bond.

But what could be cool, if you are rolling for stats, is a dip of monk for unarmored defense. It does two things, 1 if you have max dex and just 16 in wisdom, that's an AC of 18. But also you could use a quarterstaff with finesse as monk weapon.

You could be Darth Maul, focusing on dex and wis and chr. Its a 1d8 weapon, and it can be magically summoned, or a short sword etc.

Now MR BID has some excellent points about starting sorcerer. But if you are rolling for stats or go half-elf, monk could be a reasonable but expensive dip. It could be very cool

[Belac93]

Well, I have a similar character. He is a high-elf undying bladelock. Here are my thoughts:

Rapier. Nothing in your off hand. Its not worth the trouble spellcasting, and for the character you seem to want, carrying around a shortsword seems dumb (which you would need for two-weapon fighting).

Get Armour of Agathys or fiendish vigor, and also hellish rebuke and hex if you can spare the slots, definitely mirror image. Maybe a 1 level dip into fighter for dueling and extra survivability. Play a half-elf, have 16 dex, 16 cha, and 14 con (can be done with point buy). Boost up dex or cha alternating (you will start at level 7, so I would go with 18 dex to start, and then boost cha at level 8).

[gfishfunk]

Based on your concept:

- Do not go sword and Board for your concept: you can get rid of the pact weapon and hide it for your urchin concept, but you cannot do that with a shield. Instead, dueling works really well with Dex builds, should you pick up a fighting style.

- A whip is a great dex weapon, and with the Pact Weapon feature, you are considered proficient. You definitely lose some damage (a rapier is d8, a whip is a d4), but you gain the reach property. It depends on the party composition and play style, but it is pretty good. It also works with a rogue multi-class.

- Eldrich Knight is not too shabby if you avoid Int. based casting, which is entirely possible. For a bladelock, you really want a good Cha, Con, Dex....and then Int. That being said, you don't need Int for Shield spamming, Blink, etc.

- I like rogue for a multiclass much more than fighter, but you can do either. Rogue also seems to fit into your story well,