Bar-Bladelock-arian

[JellyPooga]

Here's an amusing little build;

Barbarian 3/ Warlock 12

- Bear Totem : for Resistance to everything but Psychic damage and general rageyness.

- GOO Bladelock : Thought Shield reflects Psychic damage right back at your assailant and the usual Bladelock goodies stack up nicely with the Barbarian MO of "smash things good". Entropic Ward is also nice for mitigating the disadvantages of Reckless Attack. The Charisma focus is generally good for being Intimidatin' too.

The point of the build (resistance to all damage) doesn't come online until level 13, but I think it's generally quite playable throughout. Self buff with Armour of Agathys and Mirror Image and wade in Raging, confident that very little will touch you and without worrying about all that Concentration nonsense.

[Gastronomie]

I'm one of those insane Bladelock cultists worshipping the Darkness + Devil's Sight Combo, so I don't think I will ever use this, but the concept itself is interesting, and besides, it's almost impossible to build a "weak" character in 5e. Maybe even re-fluff the Rage to be "possessed by the emissary of an otherworldly entity"?

[Grixis]

Mirror image may not be worth the casting. Bard is mainly good to get spell slots for AoA Rage effectively doubles the temp HP from AoA and AoA will always deal the same damage as long as you have any of the temp HP left. In fact, you probably want to get hit. Reckless attack and let your finger touch your lips, "Oh no, you have advantage...teehee."

I love the idea of compensating for the psychic weakness with the Warlock.

[RSP]

Fiend may work better: still can get resist psychic damage at lvl 10 but give up reflecting it back for temp HPs on kills and Dark One's Luck (add d10 to sv).

AoA+resistance is nice in a melee build.

[Grod_The_Giant]

I might go Warlock 5 first, to get my extra attack on time.

[JellyPooga]

I might go Warlock 5 first, to get my extra attack on time.

Barbarian has better Save profs, so I'd want to go Barb 1 before MCing out. Even that delays Extra Attack to 6th, so I figure we might as well get Resistance to all-but-psychic damage online 1st. Barbarian, on the whole, makes for a pretty survivable early game, so I'm not too fussed about being offensively competetive in the mid-game. Extra Attack at 8th is fine by me, considering that at 5th, I will have picked up Invocations. It's not Extra Attack, but it's a significant bump in power.

[Grod_The_Giant]

Barbarian has better Save profs, so I'd want to go Barb 1 before MCing out. Even that delays Extra Attack to 6th, so I figure we might as well get Resistance to all-but-psychic damage online 1st. Barbarian, on the whole, makes for a pretty survivable early game, so I'm not too fussed about being offensively competetive in the mid-game. Extra Attack at 8th is fine by me, considering that at 5th, I will have picked up Invocations. It's not Extra Attack, but it's a significant bump in power.
True enough. I suppose you can always grab a melee cantrip or resort to Eldrich Blast or something if you feel the lack.

[Specter]

That is a character I'd love to Dominate Person as a DM!

[Arial Black]

I've been working on a Bar/War for the last couple of days. :)

Half-Elf. Starting stats: Str 16 Dex 8 Con 12 Int 12 Wis 12 Cha 16.

Lvl 1- Warlock 1: Fiend patron, Eldritch Blast, Friends, Armour of Agathys, Charm Person.

Lvl 2- Barbarian 1: Rage, Unarmoured Defence.

At 7th level you should be Bar 2/War 5, at 10th you should be Bar 3/War 7, and at 20th Bar 3/War 17.

At War 5 you will have the Invocations Beast Speech, Mask of Many Faces, and (crucially) Thirsting Blade. You will have the Blade Pact and it will usually manifest as a greatsword. You will have the Great Weapon Master feat, Eldritch Blast, Friends and Prestidigitation cantrips, and the spells Armour of Agathys, Charm Person, Invisibility, Scorching Ray, Fireball and Fly.

At Bar 2 you will have Reckless Attack and Danger Sense.

Sometime between 7th and 10th level, your Fiend-given Rage becomes so overwhelming that when you take your 3rd Barbarian level you will take the Path of the Berserker and get the Frenzy ability. After that it's Warlock all the way, increasing your Str and Cha as you get your ASIs. You don't need any more feats; Warcaster is useless to you.

Obviously you can vary this build in many ways, but here are the crucial parts:-

* your first level must be in Warlock. Initially, Barbarian seems the logical choice, but you want the Wis save prof. (combined with Fey Heritage) to avoid getting Charmed/Dominated. You don't need Con save prof. because you don't use Concentration spells in combat (because you are Raging!). You are 2 hit points worse off; never mind! You don't have medium armour prof., but you aren't wearing armour

* this character is built around wanting to get hit so that your enemies take damage from Armour of Agathys while you only take half damage because you are Raging. This means that AofA lasts longer, and when it runs out then you'll get the THPs from your Fiend Pact, which will also last twice as long. Your offensive spells are only to be cast before you get into melee (pick one), you do not want defensive spells that make you harder to hit, but Fire Shield works alongside AofA if you should need it. Your other spells/Invocations are used out of combat for infiltration purposes (Disguise Self at will alongside Friends so that they hate the wrong person, Charm Person for longer lasting allies, Invisibility to take the stealth up a notch, Fly to get you where you need to be, and Speak With Animals at will because they are ubiquitous and see everything

* you wield a magic, hide-able, disguise-able greatsword. You have the option of -5 to hit for +10 damage, and reckless attack helps this hit at the same time as making you even easier to hit (which we want, remember?). You get a bonus action attack plenty often against mooks, and Frenzy will make that always against the BBEG

I choose the Urban Bounty Hunter background from SCAG, and I have six skills: Stealth, Investigation, Insight, Perception, Deception, Intimidation. One trick is to Disguise Self as someone you want to take the blame and cast Friends and use the advantage on your Intimidation check.

Any ideas on how to make it even better?