Getting the most out of an Hexblade

[Soranar]

So, after seeing the tiering thread on the hexblade and how low other people rate it, I figured I'd try to spell out efficient strategies for one

Obviously this means Hexblade 20

So here's my first thought when seeing the class

Race: Daelkyr halfblood (for aberration type)
Alignment: Must be Lawful Neutral for this build

ACF

trade familiar for dark companion (not that useful at first, will get the familiar back with obtain familiar later)

Feats combos

Level 1 open for now
Level 3 open for now
Level 6 open for now
Level 9 open for now
Level 12 Obtain Familiar
Level 15 Dragon Familiar
Level 18 open for now


Why Dragon familiar? As a caster level 12 you can take a silver dragon wyrmling as a familiar

-it has a paralysing breath (and you debuf saves with your dark companion + curses and maybe the aura of sadness from improved bind vestige)
-it can transform into a legendary ape (which has 30 STR and can use weapons and armor)

Considering you have full BAB and d10 hitpoints your pet is pretty damn strong

As for combat, I'm thinking a normal humanoid form is fine for level 1-7 (with martial weapons that should be enough)
from level 8-13, you can use alter self to turn into a gibbering mouther (6 bite attacks + 1 spittle as a free action that can blind, again you debuff saves)
level 14+, you can use polymorph to turn into appropriate fighting forms depending on the situation


Since this build relies on various weapons (natural or not), I'm considering investing in knowledge devotion since a hexblade has all the knowledge skills (would require a decent INT score though)

As I mentioned earlier, I think bind vestige + improved bind vestige would further help your debuffing abilities (another -2 to saves)

I'm also considering taking martial study + martial stance for utlity abilities (mountain hammer to deal with DR and martial spirit for healing with gibbering mouther that's a lot of healing per round)

[mabriss lethe]

You'll have to pick up Practiced Caster for some of your earlier feats if you want that Dragon. Hexblades calculate their caster level based on 1/2 their class level, meaning they wouldn't have a caster level of 12 until reaching Epic level play (level 24) without some help. But you're not wrong for going with an improved familiar of some sort. Hexblades can turn familiars into truly nasty combat assets.

[Anthrowhale]

Instead of Dragon Familiar you might just purchase the services of a dragon at 500gp/hd/year according to Draconomicon. This is a reasonable investment at level 15 and it might even be a better spellcaster than you.

[Soranar]

I hadn't considered the half caster restriction, that means going for the dragon familiars is pointless

Practiced spellcaster is a must though, if only to bump my HD cap on polymorph

I'm better off taking a normal familiar (the albatros is a small animal, found in stormwrack I think) and use polymorph on it (or share it with share spells). That way the familiar's stats just don't matter but the combo won't work until level 14 (instead of 12) so I might as well wait to take the familiar until then unless there's a decent improved familiar that doesn't require a huge caster level

polymorph only lets you take a form 1 step larger so my albatros would be limited to medium creatures but there are a few options that should contribute to combat nonetheless. The will o wisp for example is not a bad deal

The Grell on the other hand is downright insane with 10 tentacle attacks, a paralysis effect and a bunch of sensory and movement abilities are are too good to pass up (mostly useless as alter self but great for polymorph)