Barbarian Warlock, how well can it work?

[Ralanr]

So one of my favorite odd multiclass combos is combining bear totem barbarian with fiend blade warlock. Taking advantage of the barbarian's resistances, con saves, and rewarding reason for building Con combined with the damage reflection spells of armor of agathys and fireshield, and the other warlock goodies (temp HP sustain, passive invocations, etc) that can also provide out of combat utility.

But I've also noticed the major flaws in this build. You lose out on pretty much all Warlock features when raging and unless you have the element of surprise or the knowledge that a fight will happen, you spend two rounds giving self buffs before raging.

This is probably why Fighter is a better MC for Warlock, which brings me to my question.

For a backup character, is there any way I can make a barbarian Warlock (barbarian 3 at max) work better or at least equally to a fighter Warlock? Trying to decide if I should do Fighter or Barbarian you see.

[Matrix_Walker]

I think if you think it will be fun, go for it.

You know the problems and why it is a sub optimal build, but if it fits your notion of a good time, who cares? You might play your powers in "modes" rather than with great synergy, and there is nothing wrong with that. You can certainly smite while raging, so there is that as well.

[NecroDancer]

True you can smite while raging and if you cast mirror image before you rage then the spell is still active.

[Ralanr]

True you can smite while raging and if you cast mirror image before you rage then the spell is still active.

Is mirror image a core Warlock spell or a feylock spell? AFB.

[sightlessrealit]

Is mirror image a core Warlock spell or a feylock spell? AFB.

Core Warlock Spell.

[Ralanr]

Core Warlock Spell.

Huh. Awesome. A bit dex reliant though which makes my build so much more MAD.

[jaappleton]

It'll work fairly well.

You have to be selective about when to play into your Warlock side and when to play into the Barbarian side.

You'll always get your weapon attacks. You can't Concentrate while Raging. You'll still get the Temp HP bonus damage for being a Warlock when you kill things.

So, you can be fairly effective. But honestly? Not until lv8.

Warlock 5 gets you third level spells and two attacks. Bear Totem Barbarian 3 nets you resistance to everything, couple Rages a day, etc.

And honestly? At 9th level, you can do a number of things. One more Barbarian level nets you an ASI. You can go Fighter for a fighting style.

[GlenSmash!]

There was a thread on Enworld that basically said the Barbarian/Warlock could do just as well in Melee as the regular Barb, but actually end most fights with lest loss of HP due tho the Temp HP, plus it could eldrith blast at range. Seems like it works just fine to me.

[jaappleton]

There was a thread on Enworld that basically said the Barbarian/Warlock could do just as well in Melee as the regular Barb, but actually end most fights with lest loss of HP due tho the Temp HP, plus it could eldrith blast at range. Seems like it works just fine to me.

It's pretty MAD, that's the issue.

You'll want decent Charisma. Need Strength and Con. Dex is needed for your AC.

And you never want to dump Wisdom, since it's the target of so many nasty effects.

So you can dump.... Intelligence, which you were going to dump anyway.

[willdaBEAST]

I've been running a level 7 abjuration wizard/barbarian and haven't had any problems contributing to fights. I went 5 levels of barbarian first though, so I'm a functional frontline fighter with growing spell utility. I've been using the abjuration ward much like warlock temp hp, being able to use shield or absorb energy as a reaction to power that up has been tremendously helpful.

Finding spells that don't require concentrate are key, it is fairly easy to snap out of rage though which alleviates some of the opportunity cost. As Matrix_Walker pointed out, at the very least you can expend all of your abilities for one class and then switch to the other. I've been building my character to be able to sustain long fights and avoid being crippled by having to rest too often.

Personally I like the challenge of balancing the two different classes and trying to optimize using them in concert.

[Bloodcloud]

You'd probably be better off as a Blade lock X Fighter 1 with Heavy armor master and Sentinel. Just find a friendly cleric to cast Warding bond on you. That armor of aghatys is gonna last long and your enemies will be in quite the conundrum.

[Quoxis]

Easy fix: mix in two levels of paladin. Smite away while raging and choose invocations that don't involve spells, like "beguiling influence" for Bonus proficiencies or "devil's sight" for seeing in (magical) darkness, or take ones that can be apllied out of combat - also, depending on how sadistic your DM is, you might run out of rages, and then you're a normal mortal again, so you'll be glad to have empowered eldritch blasts just to be safe.

[Quoxis]

It's pretty MAD, that's the issue.

You'll want decent Charisma. Need Strength and Con. Dex is needed for your AC.

And you never want to dump Wisdom, since it's the target of so many nasty effects.

So you can dump.... Intelligence, which you were going to dump anyway.

For the standard "feel my burning rage and chilling armor" barblock you'll want your charisma to be just above average to be able to multiclass, and your m.o. is getting hit to deal damage with armor of agathys, so as long as you can keep your opponents in close combat you don't need high AC either. Focus on Str and Con like a real barbarian and keep the rest at average scores, i say.

[Steampunkette]

Dump Wisdom and Intelligence, and never get Charisma above 13.

Don't worry overmuch about your Dexterity. Yes, it's where half of your AC comes from, but that's not important with your damage reduction. Especially not if you're stacking yourself up with Temp HP from False Life and Armor of Agathys. By the way? Get Fiendish Vigor. Neither False Life nor Armor of Agathys require concentration, and both last for an hour. Once you've got both those spells online, you WANT to get hit. Often. Mirror Image is all well and good, but if you're not taking damage you're missing out on damage you could be doing.

Definitely go Hexblade. Grab Cursebringer, or grab the new UA's smite invocation if Hexblade isn't an option. While Hex requires concentration, the Hexblade's Curse doesn't, nor is it a spell for the purpose of placing it on a target while you're raging. While your Curse is on a target, RECKLESSLY ATTACK without hesitation. You'll get hit more often, but that 19-20 critical range will seriously benefit from the extra rolls. And, hey, when you kill 'em (Or someone else does) you'll get some HP back.

If you're -seriously- worried about getting taken down, grab Shield. It's not a spell you'll cast too often, only when your HP are kinda on the low side. But it's enough to keep you safe when the rubber hits the road.

This build is for playing a monstrously powerful Barbarian with mystical power augmenting their physical might. Not for playing someone balancing Battle and Spellcasting.

[Foxhound438]

So I've accidentally built this before, and honestly its golden. You do lose casting while raging, but its pretty easy to manage. As far as doubling down on reflects, I've tried that and it does in fact take too long. Pick your favorite. I like aoa. What you keep in Warlock is your invocations and patron features, basically, so pick invocations that will help you. If you have access to ua in your game, there's eldritch smite and the insect swarm thing that I can't remember the name of.

Edit: stats of 16/12/16/x/x/14 can work for mountain dwarf, or otherwise 10 dex for human and rely on hp to live. Leveling should be barb1->lock5->barb3->lock x.

[Quoxis]

Dump Wisdom and Intelligence, and never get Charisma above 13.

Two hearts, one thought :D
I'd argue not to "dump" wisdom, but with int and cha i'm totally of the same opinion.


Don't worry overmuch about your Dexterity. Yes, it's where half of your AC comes from, but that's not important with your damage reduction. Especially not if you're stacking yourself up with Temp HP from False Life and Armor of Agathys. By the way? Get Fiendish Vigor. Neither False Life nor Armor of Agathys require concentration, and both last for an hour. Once you've got both those spells online, you WANT to get hit. Often. Mirror Image is all well and good, but if you're not taking damage you're missing out on damage you could be doing.

I think false life/fiendish vigor and Armor of Agathys both give temporary hp, and those don't stack per RAW, so once you cast both you lose the first one. You could still take fiendish vigor in case you run out of spell slots in an area where short rests aren't available, but in such cases 8 hp will probably not be of much help.


This build is for playing a monstrously powerful Barbarian with mystical power augmenting their physical might. Not for playing someone balancing Battle and Spellcasting.

Couldn't have phrased it better myself.

[Citan]

So one of my favorite odd multiclass combos is combining bear totem barbarian with fiend blade warlock. Taking advantage of the barbarian's resistances, con saves, and rewarding reason for building Con combined with the damage reflection spells of armor of agathys and fireshield, and the other warlock goodies (temp HP sustain, passive invocations, etc) that can also provide out of combat utility.

But I've also noticed the major flaws in this build. You lose out on pretty much all Warlock features when raging and unless you have the element of surprise or the knowledge that a fight will happen, you spend two rounds giving self buffs before raging.

This is probably why Fighter is a better MC for Warlock, which brings me to my question.

For a backup character, is there any way I can make a barbarian Warlock (barbarian 3 at max) work better or at least equally to a fighter Warlock? Trying to decide if I should do Fighter or Barbarian you see.
Not necessarily, or maybe even plain untrue depending on how you build your Warlock. ;)

Let's get into a quick (or not?) analysis.
1) Spellcasting while raging is disabled = big drawback?
My opinion: NO, absolutely NOT.
You get several great spells that last without requiring concentration.
- Armor of Agathys is one-hour long, so chances are you can activate it before a fight unless you are really surprised.
- Comprehend Languages is also one-hour, and since it's more for an out of combat use generally it won't conflict with the Rage.
- Mirror Image: only 1mn but still non-concentration. IF you build Barbarian to use Unarmored Defense, it is a very worth buff for the toughest fights even if it has to eat one turn.
- Plant Growth (Fey): even for a Barbarian, this can be put to good use before raging, if you want for example to split a big group of foes or give your squishies/archer more time before being threatened.
- Fire Shield (Fiend): "only" 10mn but you should still be able to precast it in most situations except ambushes obviously, and it's a great asset for someone that actually want to be hit.

More importantly, you let's not forget that you get only 2-3 rages per long rest for quite some time. Just two levels of Warlock will provide you strong alternative attack options (Eldricht Blast, weapon cantrips) for when you are out of rage, as well as good spells to use along with (Hex for better Shoving for example, or Expeditious Retreat, or Fear.

2) Lose all features on raging?
Again, absolutely not: most archetype features that a Warlock get are not "spellcasting" so are perfectly compatible per se with your rage.
In particular, Fey's "Misty Escape like" or Fiend's "THP on kill" are 100% compatible.
Pact of the Blade gives you a magic weapon which is always a good thing for someone that usually hits people.
Pact of the Chain gives you a familiar which "works" as well while you rage.
Other Invocations are unrelated to spells while giving you great benefit (free "Mage Armor" for high DEX medium CON Barbarian, Devil's Sight always useful, additional skills, etc).

And if really you prefer taking Warlock options that are actually spells (Ritual Invocation with Tome for example, or free Levitate/Detect Magic/etc), well, it just means your Barbarian has become damn more useful even when not raging, whether in conflictual situation or otherwise.

If you are really that worried about the multiclass working subpar because of action economy, you can maybe consider later a small dip in Fighter for Action Surge.
But honestly, as I tried to explain here, whether you try to maximise the synergy or not, this is a very viable multiclass. So embrace it and enjoy without regrets. ;)

[jaappleton]

Two hearts, one thought :D
I'd argue not to "dump" wisdom, but with int and cha i'm totally of the same opinion.



I think false life/fiendish vigor and Armor of Agathys both give temporary hp, and those don't stack per RAW, so once you cast both you lose the first one. You could still take fiendish vigor in case you run out of spell slots in an area where short rests aren't available, but in such cases 8 hp will probably not be of much help.



Couldn't have phrased it better myself.

It's pretty hard to disagree with Punkette, isn't it? She knows her ****.

[PeteNutButter]

It isn't at all subpar. It's actually very strong.

If there were a concentration spell that was only a bonus action to cast added +2 to your melee damage and made you resistant to all damage, but came with the downside of not being able to cast any other spells... it'd be a great spell. That is what rage is.

If you think about it, a bladelock doesn't really want to cast spells in battle anyways. They should be (although not always are) better at swinging that blade. The only spells they cast would be a buff like AoA or Hex. Hex damage is pretty similar to rage bonus, especially when you factor in the not having to move rage (very important on PAM builds). The only time they want to resort to spells is when swinging a sword won't work, like if the foes are unreachable. In those situations, barblocks wouldn't be raging anyways.

I'd recommend barbarian 1/warlock 5/barbarian to 3/warlock the rest. Sneak in paladin 2-4 at some point if you want to smite. Human Variant for 16, 14, 14, 8, 9, 13 with PAM or GWM.

[Talionis]

Two ideas that might help.

1. Don't forget that Barbarian can wear medium armor and shields. That is almost 100% going to be better than Unarmored Defense in most situations. Accept that. Also if you are running Armor of Agathys you want to get hit some to have it do damage and not be wasted.

2. If you can use UA (the Faithful), the Seeker Patron is very interesting for Warlock Barbarian because you can cast two buffs spells in one round. You lose the temporary hit points of Fiend, but if you are trying to keep Armor of Agathys up then you really can't use those Fiend temporary hit points anyway (they don't stack). Seeker also doesn't add Fire Shield to your spell list. But being able to in one round cast AoA and Mirror Image (or some other concentration less spell) is very interesting. So at least its down to only one buff round.

Bonus: I'll also second, "jaappleton Re: Barbarian Warlock, how well can it work? It'll work fairly well. You have to be selective about when to play into your Warlock side and when to play into the Barbarian side."

You only are getting three Rages a long rest. So basically half or more of combat you will not be raging. This can mean different things, maybe you slug it out in melee, but maybe you use Hex and Eldritch Blast during these non-rage combats. You only have so many spell slots per short rest so you'll average casting one or two spells per combat even at high levels. Some combats it maybe a good use of your spells to cast fireball as one of those spells.

The Barb3/Warlock X is not a full time melee frontliner. Fighter 1(or2)/Warlock X can be a full time front liner. So can Cleric 1/Warlock X. Both of those can get Heavy Armor and bonuses to help them. Cleric allows you cast healing spells in your Warlock slots, this will normally be between fights. Both of these Warlock variants make for very fun melee characters.

Barbarian Warlock is going to be a sometimes melee character. It plays with a lot more nuance and plays very different in every combat. This can either be really frustrating or very liberating.

Your Danger Sense makes Shield Master a very interesting feat. Its nice to be able to protect yourself from AoE damage completely when you have AoA up.

[Steampunkette]

I think false life/fiendish vigor and Armor of Agathys both give temporary hp, and those don't stack per RAW, so once you cast both you lose the first one. You could still take fiendish vigor in case you run out of spell slots in an area where short rests aren't available, but in such cases 8 hp will probably not be of much help.


You are correct, they do not stack. However, they don't cancel each other out, either. So as long as you can maintain even 1 Temp HP while Armor of Agathys is still online, essentially, that hit point counts as Armor of Agathys HP for the purposes of the spell's effect.

Got 10 AoA HP? Lose 8. Pop on False Life. Every False Life HP is now Armor of Agathys HP, too.

False Life gives you an infinite supply of refreshing the AoA by just a little bit, making AoA last longer alongside your Damage Resistances.

Honestly? I'd even go so far as to suggest Frenzy or Storm with this build instead of Bear. Yeah, you'll lose the AoA HP quicker, but with Frenzy on top of Hexblade's Curse that's 3 (Eventually 4) attacks per round with Reckless Attack against a 19-20 crit.

And since Hexblade's extra damage is based on Proficiency, rather than Warlock Level Proficiency, it's icing on the extra damage.

[Ralanr]

You are correct, they do not stack. However, they don't cancel each other out, either. So as long as you can maintain even 1 Temp HP while Armor of Agathys is still online, essentially, that hit point counts as Armor of Agathys HP for the purposes of the spell's effect.

Got 10 AoA HP? Lose 8. Pop on False Life. Every False Life HP is now Armor of Agathys HP, too.

False Life gives you an infinite supply of refreshing the AoA by just a little bit, making AoA last longer alongside your Damage Resistances.

Honestly? I'd even go so far as to suggest Frenzy or Storm with this build instead of Bear. Yeah, you'll lose the AoA HP quicker, but with Frenzy on top of Hexblade's Curse that's 3 (Eventually 4) attacks per round with Reckless Attack against a 19-20 crit.

And since Hexblade's extra damage is based on Proficiency, rather than Warlock Level Proficiency, it's icing on the extra damage.

Wait, so long as I have temp HP, AoA is on?

That's awesome.

Also I was originally going fiend because I didn't check the UA. Fiend can still work right?

[Steampunkette]

Fiend works, but Hexblade works better. Better synergy.

That said: It -is- another source of Temp HP.

[SMac8988]

I just started it, and I love it. I may only level 3, and it's only the beginning but I really like the concept and how it plays.

My DM let me re flavor a bunch of stuff to go to ice based stuff. Like booming blade and green flame are ice based.

I love it.

[Talionis]

I think Armor of Agathys only works so long as you have at least one of the temporary hit points granted by AoA. The AoA wording is "these temporary hit points" which seems to reference only the Temporary hit points originally granted by AoA.

Temporary hit points have there own rules stating they can't stack. Creating situations where you have two temporary hit points left from AoA and can receive eight temporary hit points from your Fiendish Patron but you refuse the new temporary hit points so you can get another damage out of AoA.

[Steampunkette]

I think Armor of Agathys only works so long as you have at least one of the temporary hit points granted by AoA. The AoA wording is "these temporary hit points" which seems to reference only the Temporary hit points originally granted by AoA.

Temporary hit points have there own rules stating they can't stack. Creating situations where you have two temporary hit points left from AoA and can receive eight temporary hit points from your Fiendish Patron but you refuse the new temporary hit points so you can get another damage out of AoA.

I guess it depends on the DM? I and the ones I've played with merge totals.

So if you've got 1 AoA when you gain 5 from another source you essentially wind up with 6, but two of them overlap rather than stack so it only grants you 5 over the top of your max health, and when you're back down to 1 (which is technically two) taking 1 point of damage kills both of them.

[SMac8988]

I guess it depends on the DM? I and the ones I've played with merge totals.

So if you've got 1 AoA when you gain 5 from another source you essentially wind up with 6, but two of them overlap rather than stack so it only grants you 5 over the top of your max health, and when you're back down to 1 (which is technically two) taking 1 point of damage kills both of them.

That makes this type of build very strong. I would more say they replace the current, but maybe the effect lasts as long as yoy have temp hit points. Cause you could take the fiendish vigor invocation and just spam that forever before a fight since it costs nothing, and never lose your temp hp....

[Matrix_Walker]

If new temp hit points replace those granted by AoA, AoA ends


I guess it depends on the DM? I and the ones I've played with merge totals.

So if you've got 1 AoA when you gain 5 from another source you essentially wind up with 6, but two of them overlap rather than stack so it only grants you 5 over the top of your max health, and when you're back down to 1 (which is technically two) taking 1 point of damage kills both of them.

That's house rule territory, I'm pretty sure.

[Ralanr]

If new temp hit points replace those granted by AoA, AoA ends.

So if I gained temp hitpoints from another source without losing any from AoA, AoA ends? That's kinda dumb.

I'd imagine you'd just have to keep them tracked separately.

[Sirdar]

So if I gained temp hitpoints from another source without losing any from AoA, AoA ends? That's kinda dumb.

I'd imagine you'd just have to keep them tracked separately.

PHB p198: Healing can't restore THP and they can't be added together. If you have temporary Hit Points and receive more of them, you decide whether to keep the ones you have OR gain the new ones. For example, if a spell grants you 12 THP when you already have 10, you can have 12 or 10, not 22.

PHB p215: A protective magical force surrounds you, manifesting as a spectral frost that covers you and your gear. You gain 5 temporary hit points for the duration. If a creature hits you with a melee attack while you have these hit points, the creature takes 5 cold damage.


It is quite clear that if you have some thp from AoA and cast fiendish vigor (false life) and accept the new thp, AoA ends since you don't have any thp from AoA as source any more.

[Quoxis]

I guess it depends on the DM? I and the ones I've played with merge totals.

So if you've got 1 AoA when you gain 5 from another source you essentially wind up with 6, but two of them overlap rather than stack so it only grants you 5 over the top of your max health, and when you're back down to 1 (which is technically two) taking 1 point of damage kills both of them.

That is an incredibly generous house rule, but a house rule nonetheless.
The phb states that temporary hp replace each other, while aoa has the following description:
"You gain 5 temporary hit points for the duration. If a creature hits you with a melee attack while you have these hit points, the creature takes 5 cold damage."
I'm also rather sure any kind of spell giving temp hp ends by the rules if another source of temp hp pops up, but i'm afb currently.
If that worked, fiendlocks would be near invincible in horde battles because their armor would refill way too quickly.

[Citan]

You are correct, they do not stack. However, they don't cancel each other out, either. So as long as you can maintain even 1 Temp HP while Armor of Agathys is still online, essentially, that hit point counts as Armor of Agathys HP for the purposes of the spell's effect.

Got 10 AoA HP? Lose 8. Pop on False Life. Every False Life HP is now Armor of Agathys HP, too.

False Life gives you an infinite supply of refreshing the AoA by just a little bit, making AoA last longer alongside your Damage Resistances.

Honestly? I'd even go so far as to suggest Frenzy or Storm with this build instead of Bear. Yeah, you'll lose the AoA HP quicker, but with Frenzy on top of Hexblade's Curse that's 3 (Eventually 4) attacks per round with Reckless Attack against a 19-20 crit.

And since Hexblade's extra damage is based on Proficiency, rather than Warlock Level Proficiency, it's icing on the extra damage.


Wait, so long as I have temp HP, AoA is on?

That's awesome.

Also I was originally going fiend because I didn't check the UA. Fiend can still work right?
Hi
I'm with Talionis on this one. IMO this is a houserule (or at the very least a very liberal interpretation of PHB XD) because spell text targets "these" thp (those directly confered by the spell).
To say otherwise, I don't have knowledge of any errata or official tweet that would explicitely allow this.

Now, I don't see any cases where allowing the mechanic suggested by Steampunkette would break anything but I see cases where it could end more powerful than intended.

For a solo Warlock it should be fine most of the time (it takes an action to cast False Life), except for a Fiend Warlock at higher levels (because of Dark One's blessing) but even then, it would not make that much of a difference against the most dangerous creatures, only very powerful against mid-class ones or lower.

For a multiclass Warlock/Sorcerer, it would still be very reasonable (even with free False Life cast as Quickened, it's still taking a bonus action) even in the very particular Undying Light 14+ / Sorcerer one (cast Extended Armor of Agathys then take a short rest, but it is only useful for a low-level cast and very situational so...).

In a group or some other multiclasses though, it may end very powerful: particularly with other multiclasses providing strong defense (Barb resistance, friend's Warding Bond) or other way of getting THP (Long Death Monk, Cleric's or Paladin's Heroism, new UA Druid's Bear Spirit).

Too powerful? I'd say it's up to each DM to decide. I would probably allow it if that was the core concept of one player's character (he *really* wants to play a "thorns creature") and adapt preemptively but otherwise I'm not sure.
Unless obviously someone here shows up any official ruling that say it's allowed. ;)

[Laserlight]

That makes this type of build very strong. I would more say they replace the current, but maybe the effect lasts as long as yoy have temp hit points. Cause you could take the fiendish vigor invocation and just spam that forever before a fight since it costs nothing, and never lose your temp hp....

THP don't stack, so the most you'd get out of Fiendish Vigor's False Life is, what, 8? And while you're raging you can't cast False Life again to refresh your AoA thp. Maybe I'm just low of caffeine but I'm not seeing how this would work.

[Ralanr]

THP don't stack, so the most you'd get out of Fiendish Vigor's False Life is, what, 8? And while you're raging you can't cast False Life again to refresh your AoA thp. Maybe I'm just low of caffeine but I'm not seeing how this would work.

If you're a fiend lock you can get temp HP from killing people.

[GlenSmash!]

If you're a fiend lock you can get temp HP from killing people.

Yup, this is why I'd still take Fiend over Hexblade on this build.

[Ralanr]

Yup, this is why I'd still take Fiend over Hexblade on this build.

I probably will since I'll also get pychic resistance.

[Talionis]

Yup, this is why I'd still take Fiend over Hexblade on this build. But that's sort of the problem if you are trying to keep AoA up, you can't stack the Fiend temp hitpoints onto Armor of Agathys.

So other Patrons like Seeker and Hexblade merit serious consideration because you won't always get the benefit of the Fiendish Hit Points.

[NecroDancer]

For patron I'd go fey for misty escape/beguiling presence.

Misty Escape is crazy good for tight spots or if you need a movement boast and beguiling presence gives AoOs.

At low levels a barbarian that can cast sleep is insane and at higher levels greater invisibility will be hilariously good (although rageing will be a problem).

You could flavor your patron as "a lord of the hunt".

[Night Eternal]

Its going to be a bit bad. But if you roll for stats it definitely possible. I have a character build designed around that. The main things is you have to get the invocation that gives you smite. that what u are going to use your spellslot mostly for. As per sage advise you can rage and use smite. Before you go into a rage though you want to cast and buff or debuff spells before raging. My suggestion would be to use mirror image, armour of agathys. Your invocation are going to be the brunt of your ablities using those to give us advatages. My suggestion would be to go mustly warloock to increase damage smites. Don't know if this is going to help you.

My character is a lvl 3 bear totem and going warlock the rest of the way. My patron is the darkone in order to get the extra health when i kill enemies the knockdown everytime you attack ( ua invocation). Cloak of beezelub. Hope this helps.

[Trampaige]

Its going to be a bit bad. But if you roll for stats it definitely possible. I have a character build designed around that. The main things is you have to get the invocation that gives you smite. that what u are going to use your spellslot mostly for. As per sage advise you can rage and use smite. Before you go into a rage though you want to cast and buff or debuff spells before raging. My suggestion would be to use mirror image, armour of agathys. Your invocation are going to be the brunt of your ablities using those to give us advatages. My suggestion would be to go mustly warloock to increase damage smites. Don't know if this is going to help you.

My character is a lvl 3 bear totem and going warlock the rest of the way. My patron is the darkone in order to get the extra health when i kill enemies the knockdown everytime you attack ( ua invocation). Cloak of beezelub. Hope this helps.

Yeah, I'm a 1 barb/4 fiendlock that pre-dates Hexblade's existence (just hit 6, should be taking lock5) and I agree about rolling for stats. As a Vhuman I've got 18 str 14 dex 16 con 7 int 13 wis 15 cha, and it wouldn't be terribly practical with point buy. I plan to do the opposite of you, however, I'm staying lock5 for some time and starting to take eldritch knight levels.

I loved mirror image when I got it, but the idea of burning a lvl3 or lvl4 spell slot to cast a lvl2 spell that doesn't scale makes me want to vomit. Pact magic is really frustrating, particularly as a gish type build. As called out above, misty step is a supremely useful spell that I already kind of resent now that I have access to lvl3 pacts. Armor of Agathys is a lot more viable now that it's going to deal 15/15, and I think I'd rather cast it most of the time instead of mirror image.

Fiendish resilience is a fantastic ability that I wish I had taken earlier (originally I had repelling blast) if for no other reason than out of combat uses vs puzzles and hazards, and the roleplay fluff of shrugging off getting impaled or bathing in acid.

I really enjoy the character and the campaign that I'm in, but my issues with pact magic (the lack of scaling on so many spells and the all too common short adventuring day) and invocations (bladelocks are ridiculously invocation taxed, even moreso now by smite and improved pact weapon) make me feel that a fighter/sorcerer is more appealing mechanically.

Crit fishing with smite would be a lot of fun, but I'm mostly looking forward to action surging fireballs and tunnel fighter at this point, and access to Shield.

[Ralanr]

Sadly my group doesn't allow rolls anymore and uses a very annoying point buy system.

These are what I got (added in Dragonborn racials).

16 str
10 dex
15 con
8 int
14 cha
10 wis

2 plus 11 You get 12 points to start
3 plus 9
4 plus 8 each score starts at 10
5 plus 6
6 plus 5 All points must be spent
7 plus 3
8 plus 2 Racial modifiers apply
9 plus 1 after point buy
10 0 <- base
11 minus 1
12 minus 2
13 minus 3
14 minus 5
15 minus 6
16 minus 8
17 minus 9
18 minus 11

This is the point system.

[CaptainSarathai]

Yup, this is why I'd still take Fiend over Hexblade on this build.
Hell no! Fiend only gets Cha+LockLevel and only if you get the kill shot. Thinking you'll net lots of THP from Fiend is a trap. And this is coming from someone who's PCs have almkst all had levels of Warlock, since 5e came out.


Sadly my group doesn't allow rolls anymore and uses a very annoying point buy system.

These are what I got (added in Dragonborn racials).

16 str
10 dex
15 con
8 int
14 cha
10 wis

2 plus 11
3 plus 9
4 plus 8
5 plus 6
6 plus 5
7 plus 3
8 plus 2
9 plus 1
10 0 <- base
11 minus 1
12 minus 2
13 minus 3
14 minus 5
15 minus 6
16 minus 8
17 minus 9
18 minus 11

This is the point system.

My GOD that is a janky point-buy system. I mean, you could break it to prove a point I guess.

Use medium armor, and you only need Dex16 max. You only need Cha13. Str and Con as high as possible.

I'm not so sure I'd use Dragonborn for this. Half Elf would technically be the sexiest option, but I'm also thinking that standard human could be pretty gnarly here as well. Consider:

.5Elf
Str 17+1 (-9)
Dex 14 (-5)
Con 13+1 (-3)
Int 4 (+8)
Wis 12 (-2)
Cha 11+2 (-1)

Human
Str 17+1 (-9)
Dex 13+1 (-3)
Con 13+1 (-3)
Int 5+1 (+6)
Wis 11+1 (-1)
Cha 12+1 (-2)

You'll be dumb as a box of rocks, but whatever - you're a Barbarian who was obviously stupid enough to enter into a pact with the devil.

Also: when you get to sufficiently high level (5th level slots, iirc) you no longer need to concentrate to maintain Curse. Which is basically Hex with a d8.

Also also: if you don't like getting ambushed or "wasting a turn" self buffing prior to your Rage, take 2 levels of Fighter and get Action Surge.

Also also also: Any Rogue can also reduce 50% damage as a Reaction, beginning at 5th(?) level, with Uncanny Dodge. Doesn't take away your spell casting. Rogues can also totally ignore AoE damage with their abilities, making them much preferable for AoA exploitation.
Rogues also get SA damage, and depending on the Rogue, this can make Pact of the Chain pretty sexy. Use SCAG Cantrips on a Hexblade and you're suddenly so SAD it's ridiculous.

Also also also also: 3 levels of Fighter is the sexiest, by far. Go Battle Master. At 8th level you have Lock5, Bat3. You've got Heavy Armor (and access to HAM), weapons, and Con proficiencies out of the box. You're a bit less MAD now since Heavy Armor let's you ignore Dex, or you can use Dex and without the Str emphasis of Barbarian. Heck, you can have pretty decent AC wearing something short of Full Plate and going Defense Style and/or using a Shield, and then use Hexblade's Cha for all attacks.
With Battle Master, you get Parry as a maneuver. That's d8+Dex damage reduction as a reaction.
You also get Riposte, which is an attack+d8 damage if the enemy misses you.
Throw in Sentinel and you can hit them if they (wisely) choose to target your friend instead of you.

Also also also also also: Goliaths get some sexy damage reduction, d12+Con per short rest, as a reaction.

[nmitchell2]

Maybe it's just because I'm playing with a DM that allows tempHP to stack and Armour of Agathys damage to apply to all of it, but my Barbarian 3/Warlock X is working out a treat. The higher level we go, the more the DM tries to overwhelm us with numbers, tactics and not letting us take a rest without being interrupted. Trying to overwhelm with numbers hasn't worked out so well against a character that can stack tempHP after a kill, especially seen as I have a Maul (read: benefits from Great Weapon Master) that lets me attack enemies that hit my allies. Also, it's literally made from a dragons leg bone. Yeah.

[gloryblaze]

http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/rules-answers-january-2016

Sage advice has ruled on AoA and THP stacking - it doesn't work as per RAI. Obviously if your DM is ok with it, that trumps Sage advice.

[polymphus]

I've been considering running something like this, and I think it's workable. As far as I can see, your big tactical concern is knowing when not to rage. You're not somebody who rages for a living: you're a spellcaster who can suddenly flip out to bring the close combat pain.

I drew up a Dragonborn Barbarian 2/GOOlock 17 (blade). Cha>Str>Con>Dex>Wis>Int. Usually you're running around with a 1-handed blade and spellcasting, but if **** gets real, use your action to summon a Pact Greataxe and your Bonus to Rage.

[nmitchell2]

http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/rules-answers-january-2016

Sage advice has ruled on AoA and THP stacking - it doesn't work as per RAI. Obviously if your DM is ok with it, that trumps Sage advice.

Normally we would follow Sage Advice and I wouldn't bring anything like this to Adventure League. My group all agreed that the Bladelock needs the help and so we agreed to this house-rule a while back for a different character (not mine) and it allowed him to achieve his character concept and contribute meaningfully to the party without breaking anything. We generally like to play high-difficulty campaigns, the DM isn't scared of killing PCs and we enjoy the edge it brings.

[Maxilian]

It's pretty MAD, that's the issue.

You'll want decent Charisma. Need Strength and Con. Dex is needed for your AC.

And you never want to dump Wisdom, since it's the target of so many nasty effects.

So you can dump.... Intelligence, which you were going to dump anyway.

Well... i guess you could go Hexblade and drop STR (or have just a minimun amount) -that would make you a... weird Barb.

[Maxilian]

I guess it depends on the DM? I and the ones I've played with merge totals.

So if you've got 1 AoA when you gain 5 from another source you essentially wind up with 6, but two of them overlap rather than stack so it only grants you 5 over the top of your max health, and when you're back down to 1 (which is technically two) taking 1 point of damage kills both of them.

By RAW you would actually just have 5 (they don't stack, you are stacking them and using the word merge :P )

Though i'm unsure if that change would make the AoA still active (i imagine it won't be active)

[Maxilian]

Easy fix: mix in two levels of paladin. Smite away while raging and choose invocations that don't involve spells, like "beguiling influence" for Bonus proficiencies or "devil's sight" for seeing in (magical) darkness, or take ones that can be apllied out of combat - also, depending on how sadistic your DM is, you might run out of rages, and then you're a normal mortal again, so you'll be glad to have empowered eldritch blasts just to be safe.

You could, also, go with Rune Master Fire (if your DM allows it),

Some of the abilities can be used while raging (like Combustion), you could also use the Fire Brand on your weapon, making it do Fire damage, and letting you reroll the damage of every attack (You can reroll every fire damage roll).

-The Fire Brand let you spend spell slot to add +1 or +X to your weapon attacks.