Hexblade/Pact of the Blade Multiclass Options

[HermanTheWize]

I was wondering if anyone has come up with some cool multi-class options for the Hexblade Warlock options from the UA?

Seems like the Patron takes care some problems(Armor, Only need Charisma for Attacks Mostly) and may open up more multi-class options.

[Syradin]

In one of the games I'm currently playing in, I play a Hexblade Warlock 5/Abjuration Wizard 4 and I'm having a blast with him.
My group rolls for stats and I got pretty good stats and lucked out with finding a Headband of Intellect
Half-Elf
Str 8
Dex 15+1
Con 13+1
Int 14(19) Headband of Intellect
Wis 10
Cha 16+2
Invocations are: Armor of Shadows, Devil's Sight, Thirsting Blade
I use a Sword and Shield with Mage Armor giving me an AC of 18 plus Arcane Ward and Temp HP form Armor of Agathys makes for an extremely tanky character who only has 61 HP.

[wilhelmdubdub]

One of my back up characters is a half orc, Barbarian 2 Hexblade 6
He is a basically a warlord that attained his status in the tribe by making a pact with a weapon.

In combat I would use the curse to get a crit on a 19-20, and get that extra die from being a half orc if I do. I would reckless attack, or maybe cast hold person to improve my odds. When my spell slots are all used up, "I rage!"

[HermanTheWize]

In one of the games I'm currently playing in, I play a Hexblade Warlock 5/Abjuration Wizard 4 and I'm having a blast with him.
My group rolls for stats and I got pretty good stats and lucked out with finding a Headband of Intellect
Half-Elf
Str 8
Dex 15+1
Con 13+1
Int 14(19) Headband of Intellect
Wis 10
Cha 16+2
Invocations are: Armor of Shadows, Devil's Sight, Thirsting Blade
I use a Sword and Shield with Mage Armor giving me an AC of 18 plus Arcane Ward and Temp HP form Armor of Agathys makes for an extremely tanky character who only has 61 HP.



One of my back up characters is a half orc, Barbarian 2 Hexblade 6
He is a basically a warlord that attained his status in the tribe by making a pact with a weapon.

In combat I would use the curse to get a crit on a 19-20, and get that extra die from being a half orc if I do. I would reckless attack, or maybe cast hold person to improve my odds. When my spell slots are all used up, "I rage!"


Both cool builds.

[CaptainSarathai]

How broken do you want to try and get?
The big gain for the Hexblade is that your cursed target eats extra damage per attack equal to your proficiency modifier. So, a greater number of attacks is going to be more useful.

Monk. If UA is allowed for Hexblade, then go Kensai and pick Greatswords and a monk weapon. Use Dex.
Now an attack from you looks like 2d6+Dex+Prof+Hex per Attack, and then 2d4+2Dex+2Prof+2Hex with Flurry.

Average on that secondary damage from Flurry? Well, stat at +3, proficiency at +2, that's going to be 5+6+4+7 = 22 damage. Plus the 15.5 from your regular Greatsword.
With Extra Attack at Lock5, that's a total of 53dam.

Sorcerer hey, you get armor from Warlock now, and more attacks means more boom. So grab Booming Blade and Quicken it. Now you get:
2d6+d8+Str+Prof+Hex = 20dam+secondary
And can Quicken that for 40dam each.
Not as awesome as the Monk at the same level, and takes longer to pop online, but Hexblade has a lot in common with a Paladin, and Sorcadins are awesome. You want to burn slots to Smite and bump that damage a little? Break down Lock Slots for Sorc Points and create useful low level slots for at least +2d8 (avg 9) on that number. Plus typical stuff like throwing Quickened Shields and so on.

[Malifice]

I'm rocking a Fighter/ Hexblade (shadow Sorcerer levels to come) at the moment.

He is a Shadowvar (human) refugee from the city of Shade. One of the few survivors after Elminster crashed it into Myth Drannor. He worships Shar mainly only in an existentialist or nihilist way. He has seen his entire civilisation destroyed by Elminster and his entire family killed and culture extinguished. He still recalls the stories of how his Netherese ancestors were similarly wiped out.

He views Elminster as an evil genocidal monster on par with the phaerimm.

We allow charisma to be used for hit and damage with the great sword pact weapon, but nerfed the smite damage from Hexblade down to be on par with Paladin (2d8+1d8 per level past 1st max 5d8). I'm a Fighter 1/ Hexblade 3 at present.

Hex and Hellish rebuke are the go-to spells. Green(violet)flame blade as the go-to cantrip. Devils sight and Curse bringer as invocations.

I took fighter at first for heavy armour and constitution saves. HAM is the vuman feat. Far traveller background.

Plan is to ride Warlock to 5th level for thirsting blade. From there ill nab Fighter 2 for action surge, then branch into Sorcerer for 4 (slots for smites, darkness at will, quicken and extend, pact magic plus font of power spell battery) then ride warlock all the way to 14th level.

[CaptainSarathai]

I'm rocking a Fighter/ Hexblade (shadow Sorcerer levels to come) at the moment.


We allow charisma to be used for hit and damage with the great sword pact weapon, but nerfed the smite damage from Hexblade down to be on par with Paladin (2d8+1d8 per level past 1st max 5d8). I'm a Fighter 1/ Hexblade 3 at present.

NO!
They did this for a reason, and its really one of the very few "balance" thoughts they had with Hexblade. Letting a class go roughly SAD with a Greatsword and all the idiocy that entails (GWM) is a very bad idea.
At least RAW, if you want to have that level of absurdity, you have to invest in Str as well as Cha.
Seriously, I wouldn't muck with that.

Plan is to ride Warlock to 5th level for thirsting blade. From there ill nab Fighter 2 for action surge, then branch into Sorcerer for 4 (slots for smites, darkness at will, quicken and extend, pact magic plus font of power spell battery) then ride warlock all the way to 14th level.

As a word of caution, Sorc4 isn't worth much with a Warlock. You only have 4 Spell Points, which is exactly enough to break a 3rd level slot (5sp) into a pair of 1st level slots (2sp each), OR fuel Quicken twice.

That said, I like your character concept, and I am actually playing a Fey Pact Warlock (no UA allowed) that has the same kinda "shadowy vibe" going on. I just went a different direction.


For this post, let's assume I use Hexblade instead of Fey Pact
VHuman - Sentinel
Fighter 1 - Two Weapon Fighter
TWF outstrips a greatweapon at low level, and can use Dex rather than Str. Important later. Anyway, GW is 2d6+Str. TWF gets 2d6+2Dex.

Warlock 1 - Hexblade, Hex
At this point, once per short rest, this Warlock can basically "action surge" for a whole combat with Hex, dealing 2d6+Dex + 2d6+Dex with his Attack and Bonus Attack. Oh, and yeah - plus Proficiency to both of those with Curse. Technically, as these are not 2Hand weapons, he could use Cha for attack/dam on this, but I want the Dex for my AC and other goodies later on

Warlock 2 - Armor of Shadow, Fiendish Vigor
Yay, we get AC now. Also, free TempHP

Warlock 3 - Blade
Duh

Warlock 4 - Tricky...
In my case, I was using rolled stats and had the same scores in Str and Dex (only 14 in Cha, fwiw) and could afford to wear Heavy Armor and thus grabbed HAM here. If you're going Cha over Dex, you could do the same thing and get your Str high enough to wear armor and get HAM. Otherwise, this is an ASI/Feat that has no tax. Go ugly, get Dual Wielder, or Warcaster, or just pump a stat somewhere.

Warlock 5 - Thirsting Blade
[I]duh. You are now once again out-stripping Fighters with a total of 6d6+3Dex for damage. 3x your Proficiency modifier on that is also loads of silliness.

Fighter 2 - yay Action Surge

Fighter 3 - Battle Master w/ Parry, Riposte, and Tripping Strike
Parry is why I stayed Dex-based. It's d8+Dex damage resistance as a Reaction when hit.
Riposte is a Reaction Attack when hit. Tripping Strike is easy Advantage, and you Crit on 19s so...
But the real bread and butter is that you're casting Armor of Agathys on yourself and then punishing everything they do:
Hit you - Parry to reduce damage, while they eat AoA.
Miss you - Riposte to attack them
Hit friendly - Sentinel to attack them
Move away - OA with Sentinel

So that's level 8, and we're not "shadowy" yet. Bigger weapons could make more out of all those "opportunity" smacks, but we went Dex, remember? So why not Rogue? That adds SA damage, and you can Sneak Attack on Reaction attacks as well as during your turn. So boom.

Rogue 1-2
[I]goodies abound.

Rogue 3 - Swashbuckler or Trickster
Trickster for Spell Slots. Swashbuckler for more ways to get SA damage

Rogue 4 - another AS

Rogue 5 - Uncanny Dodge to at-will reduce damage by half with a reaction. Clears up uses of Parry, let's you get more chances to Riposte or Trip.

Finish out as Warlock.

[Laserlight]

I've been playing a Devotion Paladin 9 / Hexblade 1, mainly because I didn't see him as being incredibly strong. Hexblade lets him swing his mace with CHA. "My melee attack rolls are as the melee attack rolls of STR20, because my heart is pure !" He casts Hex with a higher Paladin slot, uses his L1 slots for Shield and the rest for Smite. On our last fight, I got to say "I smite on the crit and do 70 damage....that's my first attack. For my second attack..."

[PeteNutButter]

In one of the games I'm currently playing in, I play a Hexblade Warlock 5/Abjuration Wizard 4 and I'm having a blast with him.
My group rolls for stats and I got pretty good stats and lucked out with finding a Headband of Intellect
Half-Elf
Str 8
Dex 15+1
Con 13+1
Int 14(19) Headband of Intellect
Wis 10
Cha 16+2
Invocations are: Armor of Shadows, Devil's Sight, Thirsting Blade
I use a Sword and Shield with Mage Armor giving me an AC of 18 plus Arcane Ward and Temp HP form Armor of Agathys makes for an extremely tanky character who only has 61 HP.

Just curious, why not wear medium armor? Saves you an invocation and increases AC.


As a word of caution, Sorc4 isn't worth much with a Warlock. You only have 4 Spell Points, which is exactly enough to break a 3rd level slot (5sp) into a pair of 1st level slots (2sp each), OR fuel Quicken twice.

That couldn't be more wrong. Sacrifice warlock slots for SP, convert SP to spells, short rest repeat... for as many hours as the party can spare. Metamagic alone is worth it, and can be fueled by the burning the sorc slots if needed.

To the OP: The best MC with Hexblade is paladin. The smites are totally different abilities and nothing says they don't stack... UA /facepalm. Something like Paladin 2/Warlock 5/Sorc 13 or Paladin 6/Warlock 3/Sorc 11 can smite so hard. By level cap you are a 14th level caster so could use the pact weapon to "smite" with those 6th and 7th level slots and still throw on 5d8 paladin smites on top of that.

PAM with Haste looks like this: [1d10+6+5d8(smite)+14d8 (pact smite)] +[1d10+6+5d8(smite)+12d8 (pact smite)]+[1d10+6+5d8(smite)+10d8 (pact smite)]+[1d4+6+5d8(smite)+10d8 (pact smite)]. Using Sorc Points to have the extra 4th and 5th level slots. That's 343 average damage. If you can reliably hit you could in theory add 40 damage form GWM, but in practice it's definitely not worth it if you are trying to burst down an ancient dragon or some such.

If it's a mob that might fail a wisdom save, quicken a hold person/monster to start and just do the first two attacks for auto-crits dealing 362 average damage.

Now of course that is silly NOVA math, but the point is to prove the problems in balance. To DMs, I'd recommend either reducing smite damage to paladin levels, (maybe lifting or raising the cap of 5d8) or limiting it to warlock slots only. Additionally some wording to prevent paladin smiting along with the weapon smite would be advised.

[Malifice]

As a word of caution, Sorc4 isn't worth much with a Warlock. You only have 4 Spell Points, which is exactly enough to break a 3rd level slot (5sp) into a pair of 1st level slots (2sp each), OR fuel Quicken twice.

Every time I short rest:

1) Burn 3 sorcery points to create 1 x 2nd level slot (1 SP remains)
2) Channel 1 x 3rd level Warlock slot to refill SP back to 4.
3) Burn those 4 SP to create 2 x 1st level slots
4) Channel my second 3rd level Warlock slot to fill up SP back to 3 (at Warlock 7 this restores my SP to full).

At the end of 1 hour I have created [2 x 1st level slots, and 1 x 2nd level slot]. I regain both Warlock slots and have 3 SP remaining. If I have another hour to spare:

1) Burn 3 SP to create a 2nd level slot.
2) Channel a Warlock slot into my SP getting back 3 SP
3) Burn 2 SP to create a 1st level slot. 1 SP remains
4) Channel a Warlock slot into my SP filling them back up to 4

At the end of two hours, I now have now created [3 x 1st level slots, and 2 x 2nd level slots]. My SP are back to full (4).

If I have 4 hours spare, it becomes 6 x 1st level slots, and 4 x 2nd level slots. Added to my Slots for Sorcerer 4 and I now have 10 x 1sts and 7 x 2nds (plus my Warlock slots, invocations and arcana).

Rinse and repeat as long as you want (and the adventure allows) gaining a bunch of 1st and 2nd level slots each time (they last until you long rest). At Warlock 11, you have 3 slots to play with, generating you 2 more 1st level slots per short rest.

You burn those slots on Smites (via Curse Bringer), Shields, Hexes (when concentration drops) and the odd Hellish rebuke or Mirror image. A 1st level slot adds +2d8 damage to an attack.

During your last rest, you pop an Extended Armor of Agathys (now lasts 2 hours; it lingers for 1 hour after the rest finishes) before milking an extra 2nd level slot.

Sorcerer 5 would be nice (Its enough Sorcery points to create 3rd level slots at 5SP each, and it meshes nicely with Warlock spells capping at 5th level with each Warlock spell generating an even 5 SP)

The question is do you want those bonus SP, or do you want 8th the level Warlock Arcanum and an extra invocation?

Im still torn personally.

[skaddix]

Depends on how long the campaign goes...but really Hexblade 3/Sorcerer 17 or something like Fighter 1 (GWF), Hexblade 5 and Sorcerer 14 if you really want Extra Attack. You can move 1 lvl from Sorcerer to Hexblade or Fighter if you want.

So Fighter 1 or 2
Hexblade 5 or 6
Sorcerer 13 or 14

[HermanTheWize]

I'm actually playing one right now and am 3 levels in with all Warlock Hexblade/Pact of the blade.

Just wondering after I hit level 5 for my extra attack if it would be more fun to jump into another class.(Or if it made since, I could jump out now).

Note: My guy is sword and board using charisma for attacks.





Btw, thanks for all the replies. I'm getting good ideas on what I could do.

[joaber]

Every time I short rest:

1) Burn 3 sorcery points to create 1 x 2nd level slot (1 SP remains)
2) Channel 1 x 3rd level Warlock slot to refill SP back to 4.
3) Burn those 4 SP to create 2 x 1st level slots
4) Channel my second 3rd level Warlock slot to fill up SP back to 3 (at Warlock 7 this restores my SP to full).

At the end of 1 hour I have created [2 x 1st level slots, and 1 x 2nd level slot]. I regain both Warlock slots and have 3 SP remaining. If I have another hour to spare:

1) Burn 3 SP to create a 2nd level slot.
2) Channel a Warlock slot into my SP getting back 3 SP
3) Burn 2 SP to create a 1st level slot. 1 SP remains
4) Channel a Warlock slot into my SP filling them back up to 4

At the end of two hours, I now have now created [3 x 1st level slots, and 2 x 2nd level slots]. My SP are back to full (4).

If I have 4 hours spare, it becomes 6 x 1st level slots, and 4 x 2nd level slots. Added to my Slots for Sorcerer 4 and I now have 10 x 1sts and 7 x 2nds (plus my Warlock slots, invocations and arcana).

Rinse and repeat as long as you want (and the adventure allows) gaining a bunch of 1st and 2nd level slots each time (they last until you long rest). At Warlock 11, you have 3 slots to play with, generating you 2 more 1st level slots per short rest.

You burn those slots on Smites (via Curse Bringer), Shields, Hexes (when concentration drops) and the odd Hellish rebuke or Mirror image. A 1st level slot adds +2d8 damage to an attack.

During your last rest, you pop an Extended Armor of Agathys (now lasts 2 hours; it lingers for 1 hour after the rest finishes) before milking an extra 2nd level slot.

Sorcerer 5 would be nice (Its enough Sorcery points to create 3rd level slots at 5SP each, and it meshes nicely with Warlock spells capping at 5th level with each Warlock spell generating an even 5 SP)

The question is do you want those bonus SP, or do you want 8th the level Warlock Arcanum and an extra invocation?

Im still torn personally.

Probably many DMs will not let players do so many short rests. You still can burn warlock slot for sorcerer, but if you can't short rest again, doesn't worth it.

[CaptainSarathai]

Probably many DMs will not let players do so many short rests. You still can burn warlock slot for sorcerer, but if you can't short rest again, doesn't worth it.

Yep. This is an issue that only crops up with MC SorLocks, so I don't think that the devs really bothered limiting people to prevent wierd "I take 4 short rests" situations.
Personally, as a player and a DM, I have never gotten/allowed multiple short rests in a span.
The rulebook says that during a short rest, you cannot do anything more strenuous that eat, drink, read, or tend to wounds.
To me, this means no travel, and no dice rolling (except regaining HP).
The game mechanics already assume that you take 2-3 Short Rests per day, which I usually attribute to meal times.

So what you're suggesting, is basically blasting away an extra several hours at some point, just lazing around so that you can have lots of slots. The rest of your party gains nothing.

And yes, I'm aware of "Java, the [half]Elf" who only needs 4hrs of trance to gain the benefits of 8hrs of sleep. People seem to think that equates to 4hr "long rests." It does not, necessarily. A Long Rest and "8hrs of sleep" are not the same thing, a Long Rest can be a little as 6hrs of sleep. If the Elf didn't need 8hr long rests, the Devs would use that specific term,
"An Elf only needs to enter a trance for 4hrs to gain the benefits of a Long Rest."
They don't use that language though. Long Rests are 8hrs. Elves and Half Elves cannot break a Long into 4 Short Rests and a 4hr trance. By RAW, at least. And I'd argue that it's also RAI.

So yes, theoretically you could have TONS of slots. Just sit around being lump until noon, and then walk around boasting about how you're filled to bursting with Eldritch Might. Except, if a DM is letting you get away with that, what kind of "adventure" are they really running??

[joaber]

Yep. This is an issue that only crops up with MC SorLocks, so I don't think that the devs really bothered limiting people to prevent wierd "I take 4 short rests" situations.
Personally, as a player and a DM, I have never gotten/allowed multiple short rests in a span.
The rulebook says that during a short rest, you cannot do anything more strenuous that eat, drink, read, or tend to wounds.
To me, this means no travel, and no dice rolling (except regaining HP).
The game mechanics already assume that you take 2-3 Short Rests per day, which I usually attribute to meal times.

So what you're suggesting, is basically blasting away an extra several hours at some point, just lazing around so that you can have lots of slots. The rest of your party gains nothing.

And yes, I'm aware of "Java, the [half]Elf" who only needs 4hrs of trance to gain the benefits of 8hrs of sleep. People seem to think that equates to 4hr "long rests." It does not, necessarily. A Long Rest and "8hrs of sleep" are not the same thing, a Long Rest can be a little as 6hrs of sleep. If the Elf didn't need 8hr long rests, the Devs would use that specific term,
"An Elf only needs to enter a trance for 4hrs to gain the benefits of a Long Rest."
They don't use that language though. Long Rests are 8hrs. Elves and Half Elves cannot break a Long into 4 Short Rests and a 4hr trance. By RAW, at least. And I'd argue that it's also RAI.

So yes, theoretically you could have TONS of slots. Just sit around being lump until noon, and then walk around boasting about how you're filled to bursting with Eldritch Might. Except, if a DM is letting you get away with that, what kind of "adventure" are they really running??

Yes, and short rest is "at least 1h". So DM can easily increase rest time to avoid abuses

[Syradin]

Just curious, why not wear medium armor? Saves you an invocation and increases AC..

Couple reasons;
1: Armor of Shadows give me a resourceless way of turning on my Arcane Ward (I don't do the infinite recharge cheese, just use it to get it going first thing after a long rest).
2: I actually don't want my AC to be too high as a lot of my damage comes from being hit via Armor of Agathys, and when I get 4th level wizard spells, Fire Shield.
3: And finally cause I like the image of my character looking like this scrawny Half-Elf with a sword and shield that he has no right to be wielding.

[PeteNutButter]

Couple reasons;
1: Armor of Shadows give me a resourceless way of turning on my Arcane Ward (I don't do the infinite recharge cheese, just use it to get it going first thing after a long rest).
2: I actually don't want my AC to be too high as a lot of my damage comes from being hit via Armor of Agathys, and when I get 4th level wizard spells, Fire Shield.
3: And finally cause I like the image of my character looking like this scrawny Half-Elf with a sword and shield that he has no right to be wielding.

So RP reasons... Respect.

[GPS]

Holy...your DM let's you multiclass hexblade?! You gotta milk this puppy for all it's worth! Sorc it up, draconic style!

[HermanTheWize]

Holy...your DM let's you multiclass hexblade?! You gotta milk this puppy for all it's worth! Sorc it up, draconic style!

Elaborate please

[GPS]

Elaborate please
Draconic Sorcerer mainly because of elemental affinity and draconic resilience being ok side benefits on top of the regular benefits of a hexblade/sorc multiclass. They're slightly better than wild magic sorcerer abilities for your build. You don't really need the resilience, but you also don't really need the wild magic 6th level ability. Base sorcerer does more for the build than the specific subclass abilities of course, but between subclasses draconic is the best choice.

[Syradin]

Holy...your DM let's you multiclass hexblade?! You gotta milk this puppy for all it's worth! Sorc it up, draconic style!

While I will admit that a Sorcerer/Warlock multiclass is powerful, what does Sorcerer really bring for a melee Warlock?

I will say that I completely ignore the existence of the Curse Bringer invocation and the other smite invocations. I really don't think that they should exist.

[Rowan Wolf]

I am playing a stone sorcerer 1/Hexblade 4 at the moment and after I get 5th in warlock I am debating how to continue. I am leaning towards Sor 6 / Lock 14, as master of hexes looks powerful.

[8wGremlin]

I'm playing with a Hexblade/Favoured Soul - it's working wonders, the Hexblade's AC is good (medium armour, shield, dex), and I'm relying on CHA only for my attacks.

I used Hex, Eldritch blast with 'Agonising blast', but swapped that out for 'Book of ancient secrets'.
this has given me greater flexibility, and some great roleplaying aspects.

I use friends with mask of many faces for more shenanigans - very effective.

She is a drow, and doesn't sleep just meditates and converts her warlock spells over

BuildLevels

Sorcerer 1st level - Favoured Soul
Warlock 1st level - Hexblade
Warlock 2nd level -
Sorcerer 2nd level -
Sorcerer 3rd level -
Sorcerer 4th level - feat - Warcaster
Sorcerer 5th level -
Warlock 3rd level - Tomelock

HP: 56
(6+5+5+4+4+4+4+5 = 37 + ((ConMod*7) = 14) +5 (supernatural resilience))
Metamagic:Quicken (2 pts) Twin(spell level pts)
SpellsCantrips:W: Eldritch Blast W: Friends S: Guidance S: Booming Blade S: Prestidigitation S: Shocking Grasp S: Minor Illusion, TL: Hand of radiance (UA start spells), TL: Thornwhip, TL: Mending
Spells known:Sorcerer: (6)Cure light wounds (1), Shield of Faith (1), Magic Missile (1), Hold Person (2), Haste (3), Sacred Guardian (3),
Warlock: (4)Shield (w1), Hex (w1), Armour of Agathys (w1), Mirror Image (w2)
Spells slotsSorcerer1st: 4 2nd: 3 3rd: 2
WarlockKnown: 2 cantrips, 4 spells
2/short rest: 2nd level.
Book of Ancient Secrets - Rituals

Ceremony (UA starter spells)
Find Familiar

Invocation: (2)Mask of Many faces, Book of Ancient Secrets (Agonizing Blast)

[Willywilliamrtx]

Paladin/Hexblade, preferrably Oathbreaker/Hexblade because we like to torture people with our flat +STR +CHA +CHA damage modifier on all our attacks. Throw in GWF as our Paladin Fighting Style and take Cursebringer. If you manage to get your 2 damage/spell save stats to 20, you're doing +15 on all your melee attacks as a minimum (you lose out on +3 cursebringer because of your lower warlock lvl, but +2 is still very neat). Save your slots for the stupidly OP hexblade smites for your big bads.

All in all you're not too MAD. STR/CHA main stats and CON as next priority. (Seriously though, read up on Oathbreaker, the synergy with the broken hexblade is kind of out there)

[skaddix]

While I will admit that a Sorcerer/Warlock multiclass is powerful, what does Sorcerer really bring for a melee Warlock?

I will say that I completely ignore the existence of the Curse Bringer invocation and the other smite invocations. I really don't think that they should exist.

Metamagic and a better spell list that also keys off Charisma. Better being relative Sorcerer still gimped compared to the Wizard.
But I assuming point buy. If you rolled your stats and came out like Roy...I honestly suggest going down Blade Singer Wizard.

No Smite Invocations greatly weakens the synergy though. Assuming we are talking about a 6 Sorcerer and 14 Warlock split...Haste springs to mind.

I suppose if you go new Favored Soul you can also get Spiritual Weapon combine that with Haste and congrats you can now attack 4x essentially not unlike a 20th Level Fighter. Stone gives you a new armor class calculation.

Stone gives you a reaction based TP and free attack at lvl 6. And at level 1 an alternate armor calculation that keys of CON...so you can conceivably sack Dex. Focus on CHA and CON...and STR although if you are getting magic items to enhance that STR...might boost the Dex to not take the Initiative Penalty.

[HermanTheWize]

I'm playing with a Hexblade/Favoured Soul - it's working wonders, the Hexblade's AC is good (medium armour, shield, dex), and I'm relying on CHA only for my attacks.

I used Hex, Eldritch blast with 'Agonising blast', but swapped that out for 'Book of ancient secrets'.
this has given me greater flexibility, and some great roleplaying aspects.

I use friends with .....

Are you using the old favored soul from modifying classes or the new one that came out with the four different kinds?

[Finlam]

Paladin/Hexblade, preferrably Oathbreaker/Hexblade because we like to torture people with our flat +STR +CHA +CHA damage modifier on all our attacks. Throw in GWF as our Paladin Fighting Style and take Cursebringer. If you manage to get your 2 damage/spell save stats to 20, you're doing +15 on all your melee attacks as a minimum (you lose out on +3 cursebringer because of your lower warlock lvl, but +2 is still very neat). Save your slots for the stupidly OP hexblade smites for your big bads.

All in all you're not too MAD. STR/CHA main stats and CON as next priority. (Seriously though, read up on Oathbreaker, the synergy with the broken hexblade is kind of out there)
How are you getting STR+2xCHA?

Hex Warrior allows you to replace STR with CHA. Aura of Hate allows you to add CHA to melee attacks. Where does the +STR come from?

Also, Cursebringer is a two handed weapon so Hex Warrior sprees not apply and the damage modifiers are +Str+Cha.

[Princess]

5 levels of Hexblade + Swashbuckler X. Devil's sight + Darkness, plus extra attack are with a magic weapon +1 and the sneak attack dice improve damage at higher levels. Your main stats are Dex and Cha which now both improve initiative, so you get to start shanking that much sooner.

[8wGremlin]

Are you using the old favored soul from modifying classes or the new one that came out with the four different kinds?

I'm using the new revised favoured soul.

[DracoKnight]

How are you getting STR+2xCHA?

Hex Warrior allows you to replace STR with CHA. Aura of Hate allows you to add CHA to melee attacks. Where does the +STR come from?

Also, Cursebringer is a two handed weapon so Hex Warrior sprees not apply and the damage modifiers are +Str+Cha.

Lifedrinker at Warlock 12, I'm guessing.

[Ruebin Rybnik]

I am playing a stone sorcerer 1/Hexblade 4 at the moment and after I get 5th in warlock I am debating how to continue. I am leaning towards Sor 6 / Lock 14, as master of hexes looks powerful.

I am currently building one and i love it. Here is the rough build concept
Definitely Sor 6 / Lock 14 Eldritch Hex Blaster
Draconic Origin lvl 6 gives you: 6 points, 3rd lvl slots, and Elemental affinity for +cha dmg to EB
Hexblade pact lvl 14 gives: hex(1d6), Hex curse at will(+6 dmg), shield/med armor prof, EB, Agonizing blast(+cha dmg), and 50% invulnerability to attacks.

AC= 13+5(dex)+2(shield)= 20 w/50% miss chance as a caster
1 round w/ Hex and Hexblade curse active:
EB [6(1d10)+5(cha)+6(prof)+4(hex)] * 4 +5cha= 89 dmg, use quickened to cast again= 177 per round consistently. Plus push up to 80 ft.

Then take spells and rest of invocations for flavor/utility. I cant wait til I reach PC lvl 8 where this starts kicking off.

[PhantomSoul]

Draconic Origin lvl 6 gives you: 6 points, 3rd lvl slots, and Elemental affinity for +cha dmg to EB


At least by RAW (for existing dragon ancestries) I don't think you can do that, since elemental affinity only applies to your draconic ancestry's type and there's no ancestry for force damage (which is what EB does).

[bid]

2) Channel 1 x 3rd level Warlock slot to refill SP back to 4.
Nope.

You went along with the original mistake, but "Converting a Spell Slot to Sorcery Points" has a 1:1 conversion rate. The 5SP creates 3rd slot is for "Creating Spell Slots".

[Ruebin Rybnik]

At least by RAW (for existing dragon ancestries) I don't think you can do that, since elemental affinity only applies to your draconic ancestry's type and there's no ancestry for force damage (which is what EB does).

Directly from PHB page 102
"Dragon Ancestor
At 1st level, you choose one type of dragon as your ancestor.
The damage type associated with each dragon is used by features you gain later."

RAW it doesn't restrict you on what dragon, so you could choose an Ethereal or even Radiant dragon which both use force dmg.

However RAI you may be restricted to dragons of the material plane. Even if so that is only a 5 dmg drop per cast, which puts you at 84 dmg a cast or 168 per round. Still alot to put out consistently.

[PhantomSoul]

RAW it doesn't restrict you on what dragon, so you could choose an Ethereal or even Radiant dragon which both use force dmg.

Ah, I thought we were restricted to the dragons listed in the PHB (shy of having a generous DM), which is how my group would likely play it anyway (especially given the formatting makes it look like the table on page 102 gives your draconic bloodline options without note of other draconic lines being possible).

[Sabeta]

Honestly if a player tried pulling off the Cofee Drow build I'd shut it down. Especially on a Hexblade where you're basically fueling Smites.

I'd either rule that you can't chain short rests without it becoming an attempted long rest, and if they tried to get cheeky about that by jogging or studying to bypass the "light activity" limit, then I'd just tell them you can't have more spell slots than max and call it at that.

[joaber]

some time ago I did this one: www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?515637-Oshikuru-Demon-Samurai-Hexblade-Samurai-Fallen-Aasimar

Samurai 3/Hexblade 17 (at least samurai 3/hexblade 5 to get "on", but start fighter 1/hexblade5)

never played with it, I can see is tought and can do a great nova, but looks bonus action starved.

[Clover_Groom]

Our group is gearing up for a new campaign which will be set in the "Thundercats" universe. I'm looking at making a hexblade / paladin. The Sword of Omens will be the weapon I've made my pact with.
Does anyone have any advice on the MC cutoff points? I'd go at least Hexblade 2 for to Agonizing Blast (fantastic ranged attack: check). Beyond that, at least Pally 8 for 2 ASIs to max Charisma, extra attack, +Cha to saves, and immunity to charms (Oath of Devotion).

[Ebon Rogue]

I've used two.

The first was a Fighter 2, Warlock 5, Sorc 13. Fighter start got heavy armor and action surge. Warlock to 5 for Hexblade patron and Pact of Blade with Cursebringer. Sorcerer was Shadow Origin for darkness(1 sorc point for a darkness cast) and spellslots. He was pretty good. Used that cursebringer smite a lot with the sorcerer spell slots and by 3-4 level in sorcerer darkness was a non-issue. Was Str>Con>Dex>Wis>Cha>Int stated with GWM.

The second, who is still leveling in a campaign is currently Charisma-based. He is Warlock 9 and sorcerer 2. With charisma-based hexblade, you can only use a one-handed weapon(or versatile), but you get agonizing blast and enemies usually fail against your spell saves, which means auto-crits for days. Sorcerer is once again shadow origin, because darkness is OP. End result should be Warlock12/Sorc8.

The first requires a lot more to get rolling that the latter, but does a lot more nova DPS. The second, I feel will outplay in a longer dungeon where rests are far and few between, since you have the option to play the classic eldritch blaster.


Hexblade does well regardless with MC into fighter and sorcerer, it seems. You can dive into Warlock for that +5 damage invocation, or take as little as 3 level and just get a badass pact weapon.

Mace of the Dispator + Fighter 11 = a lot of advantage. You can also grapple the enemy so their speed is 0. No speed, no getting back up.

Claw of Acmar is just pure control. You pair that up with tunnel fighter and sentinel, you become an impassable wall. Throw on some plate and a shield, and your a wall that people don't want to attack(but have no other choice).

Moonbow is a pretty flexible weapon. You can spec into ranger, bard, mystic, rogue, any caster... Its hard to go wrong. It has the advantage of being able to smite a fool at 600 feet.


This patron was made to multi-class. There's very little worth staying around past level 5. Feel a little incomplete, TBH, but it is a load of fun and makes the bladelock more viable.

[Talionis]

If you go Fighter 2 it maybe worth Fighter 3 -- Champion so you get improved Critical Hits which is really nice with the ability to Smite.

[joaber]

I've used two.

The first was a Fighter 2, Warlock 5, Sorc 13. Fighter start got heavy armor and action surge. Warlock to 5 for Hexblade patron and Pact of Blade with Cursebringer. Sorcerer was Shadow Origin for darkness(1 sorc point for a darkness cast) and spellslots. He was pretty good. Used that cursebringer smite a lot with the sorcerer spell slots and by 3-4 level in sorcerer darkness was a non-issue. Was Str>Con>Dex>Wis>Cha>Int stated with GWM.

The second, who is still leveling in a campaign is currently Charisma-based. He is Warlock 9 and sorcerer 2. With charisma-based hexblade, you can only use a one-handed weapon(or versatile), but you get agonizing blast and enemies usually fail against your spell saves, which means auto-crits for days. Sorcerer is once again shadow origin, because darkness is OP. End result should be Warlock12/Sorc8.

The first requires a lot more to get rolling that the latter, but does a lot more nova DPS. The second, I feel will outplay in a longer dungeon where rests are far and few between, since you have the option to play the classic eldritch blaster.


Hexblade does well regardless with MC into fighter and sorcerer, it seems. You can dive into Warlock for that +5 damage invocation, or take as little as 3 level and just get a badass pact weapon.

Mace of the Dispator + Fighter 11 = a lot of advantage. You can also grapple the enemy so their speed is 0. No speed, no getting back up.

Claw of Acmar is just pure control. You pair that up with tunnel fighter and sentinel, you become an impassable wall. Throw on some plate and a shield, and your a wall that people don't want to attack(but have no other choice).

Moonbow is a pretty flexible weapon. You can spec into ranger, bard, mystic, rogue, any caster... Its hard to go wrong. It has the advantage of being able to smite a fool at 600 feet.


This patron was made to multi-class. There's very little worth staying around past level 5. Feel a little incomplete, TBH, but it is a load of fun and makes the bladelock more viable.

Moonbow, claw and mace are option for other patrons. Hexblade is one reason why UA isn't balanced for multiclass. But is a solid option if you go straight too.


If you go Fighter 2 it maybe worth Fighter 3 -- Champion so you get improved Critical Hits which is really nice with the ability to Smite.

Hexblade can crit with 19, what he need is garantee advantage. Samurai is better for that. You can get advantage in all attacks for 6 rounds/short rest, and resistance to most common damages (really good with armor of agathys)

[Ruebin Rybnik]

This patron was made to multi-class. There's very little worth staying around past level 5. Feel a little incomplete, TBH, but it is a load of fun and makes the bladelock more viable.

If your are going for a melee character you're right it might not be worth much past 5th lvl. However if you are going ranged(caster or archer) then it's a different story. A 50% miss chance to att rolls on you at 10th lvl is very nice, and then at 14th lvl you get to curse at will which means you get the consistent +6 dmg. This makes it very nice for ranged combat as you will be hard to hit and be dealing lots of dmg to the big bad of the enemy group.

[nmitchell2]

Personally I wouldn't allow the 'Smite' part of Cursebringer as the lack of level cap on it is just brutal when multiclassed with full spellcasters of any kind and allowing it to stack with Divine Smite from Paladin goes into stupid territory. I would also make Cursebringer a Longsword rather than a Greatsword as the anti-synergy with Hex Warrior is baffling to me. I will provide my judgements for Hexblade both with and without those changes as not everyone would make them.

Paladin is great. Oathbreaker can go SwB and stack CHA to damage with Aura of Hate and Lifedrinker, be a Dwarf and you can keep STR at 13 while still wearing heavy armour. If you play with Cursebringer as a Longsword, you can feasibly use Hexblade's Curse in that big battle once per rest regardless of whether it's a mob or a solo boss. If you stick with Cursebringer as a Greatsword, it greatly improves an already well-established build with Devotion that stacks Sacred Weapon and Bless to offset the penalty to Great Weapon Master and combine it with Hexblade's Curse to stack even more extra damage equal to your proficiency bonus. You quite like short rests because you refresh your Hexblade's Curse and your Warlock spell slots that you can use to Divine Smite. If you allow the Cursebringer 'Smite' then you get even more damage.

I can't believe no one mentioned Bard. College of Swords absolutely adores using CHA to attack and damage with. Attacking and casting off the same stat in the same turn, with access to 9th level spells and Magical Secrets to load up your spell list with, is ridiculous. This build is closer to the spellcaster end of the gish spectrum and thus you must think carefully about whether you want to wander into melee, this build plays similarly to the Bladesinger in that it can potentially hold off an attack long enough for the party to regroup but it doesn't want to tank on a regular basis. For this purpose, Armour of Agathys is a great HP buffer that doesn't let up all of the DPR. The exception to this rule is against dedicated spellcasters, against these you want to be in range to use Counterspell (woo Jack of All Trades) and deal damage in melee where you have the advantage.