Great Old One Bladelock? Help!

[Penelomeeg]

I just rolled a new character and am coming in as a level 2 GOO warlock and plan to go bladelock next level. The character is a half-drow and as such I took an altered version mask of many faces as one of my incantations to help disguise herself on the surface.

I need build tips/spell suggestions because I'm a bit unsure how to make this build work tbh. I've got the following stats with racial modifiers already added in.

HP 19
Str 9
Dex 16
Con 14
Int 10
Wis 13
Cha 18

I honestly am playing the character mostly for the backstory and flavor amd don't mind being non optimal but I'd really like to actually be useful as well. Right now I'm thinking of playing them as a mixture of back up melee/rogue and out of combat support but would appreciate advice there as well. Please and thank you to anyone who responds!

[rbstr]

The plan is to stay single-classed?
Do you want your focus to be on melee damage or do you want it to be an extra thing?

You're not really going to be able to stand up in the thick of things like a fighter might and you can't get out of the way as easily as a rogue. But you do get Armor of Agathys for some sweet temporary hit points and damage, GOO's Entropic ward at level 6 can help things miss you.

To do damage with it you can take one of the Melee Cantrips like Booming Blade or Green Flame Blade. Then you've go the Thirsting Blade invocation at level 5 for Extra Attack and Lifedrinker at level 12 for added damage. The cantrips aren't compatible with extra attack so picking one or the other might be a good idea.

If you can use the Unearthed Arcana stuff there's also Improved Pact Weapon that'll make your blade into a +1 weapon. That's available right away at level 3

[Penelomeeg]

I was considering taking a fighter level to get access to a fighting style and maybe shields. But I'm not sure if its worth a delayed extra attack etc. My thought was that I'd go dual wield with Green Flame Blade and have Hex as a nice go to spell.

[Dudewithknives]

The plan is to stay single-classed?
Do you want your focus to be on melee damage or do you want it to be an extra thing?

You're not really going to be able to stand up in the thick of things like a fighter might and you can't get out of the way as easily as a rogue. But you do get Armor of Agathys for some sweet temporary hit points and damage, GOO's Entropic ward at level 6 can help things miss you.

To do damage with it you can take one of the Melee Cantrips like Booming Blade or Green Flame Blade. Then you've go the Thirsting Blade invocation at level 5 for Extra Attack and Lifedrinker at level 12 for added damage. The cantrips aren't compatible with extra attack so picking one or the other might be a good idea.

If you can use the Unearthed Arcana stuff there's also Improved Pact Weapon that'll make your blade into a +1 weapon. That's available right away at level 3

If you have Booming Blade or Green Flame Blade, which you should, there is no huge rush to get Thirsting Blade.

Since you are not a hexblade, your attack and damage stat for your weapon are not going to be your primary stat more than likely.

Ex.
@5:
Rapier Pact Blade, with +3 Dex means you will have a +6 to hit, maybe a +7 if you have a magic one, or if you can take the UA invocations.
This means: +6/7 to hit for (1d8+3/4) x2 or essentially: roughly 15 damage assuming you hit both times, and it takes up an invocation.

or

Same set up but instead of taking the invocation for thirsting blade, just use Boomingblade/Green Flame Blade.
This means: same to hit but instead for 2d8+3/4 + an additional 2d8 if they move if BB, or + 1d8 + 4 to adjacent enemy. so BB roughly 12 damage but a chance at ~9 more if they move or GFB ~12 damage to primary target and 8.5 to their friend if he has one nearby.

The problem with Pact of the Blade warlocks are three fold:

1. You will never have good enough AC to be a melee combatant without either blowing a feat, or multi classing.
2. Although not as bad, con is not going to be super high and you are a d8 HD so you will not have great HP.
3. This is the big one, it takes you having, 1 specific pact, 2 specific invocations, and a certain distribution of stats just to MAYBE break even against just shooting something with Eldritch Blast. This is compounded even more if you chose to go the more damaging route when you finally get Lifedrinker at 12, assuming you are in a campaign that gets that far, is that many people try to squeeze in Polearm Master and maybe even Great Weapon master to get the most out of pact of the blade. That is A LOT of investment and spreading stats very thing to just be a hair better than EB that spend a total of 1 invocation and can do it from range.

As not a hex blade, I would just use the pact of the blade abilities as a backup if things get in your face, or if your DM allows UA, then taking the Improved Pact Weapon at level 5 is great, just don't bother with Thirsting Blade or Lifedrinker later.

GOO is an amazing patron for RP reasons, I played one for a very long time, and as a pact of the blade for a while of it until I just saw how much of a sink it is on your abilities and he let me remake him as a pact of the chain.

Pact of the chain + GOO + Voice of the Chain master is great for creeping people out. Having an invisible little imp floating around and talking through with your voice, from unlimited range and also messing with them with short range telepathy makes it pure gold for RP.

[rbstr]

I was considering taking a fighter level to get access to a fighting style and maybe shields. But I'm not sure if its worth a delayed extra attack etc. My thought was that I'd go dual wield with Green Flame Blade and have Hex as a nice go to spell.

A level of fighter will suit you pretty well. The defense style, TWF or Dueling are all open choices.
However, Green Flame Blade doesn't work with either extra attack or two-weapon fighting.
If you want to TWF that's fine. Take Thirsting Blade. Dip fighter for the style. Armor of Shadows can shore up AC some when you get another invocation slot. Hex isn't really as good as you might think here. You need ~3 rounds of hits for it to come ahead of just using TWF your first round. You've probably got better stuff to cast even if it's not raw damage.

If you want to use GFB use a rapier. Dip fighter to pick up a Shield and either defense or dueling style.
You can do the same thing but with Thirsting Blade instead of GFB, basically.

In any of those your lower-ish AC is fine if you plan on making use of Armor of Agathys or Mirror Image or something like that.
You can shore it up other ways if that's not your style. If you want to single-class only Armor of Shadows is +1 AC on regular studded leather. 18 AC at 20dex w/o a shield is not really that bad. A dip in fighter can give you defense style to do that too. You can combine both of them and/or use a Shield for pretty dang good AC. Plenty of Great-Weapon characters are only ever going to rock 18AC and it works out fine - you basically can use THP to make up the hit-die difference.

People will go on and on about being short a couple DPR, shy by 1 AC or how it's "high investment". Fact is that it will work well enough if it's the kind of character you'd envisioned.

[Penelomeeg]

A level of fighter will suit you pretty well. The defense style, TWF or Dueling are all open choices.
However, Green Flame Blade doesn't work with either extra attack or two-weapon fighting.
If you want to TWF that's fine. Take Thirsting Blade. Dip fighter for the style. Armor of Shadows can shore up AC some when you get another invocation slot. Hex isn't really as good as you might think here. You need ~3 rounds of hits for it to come ahead of just using TWF your first round. You've probably got better stuff to cast even if it's not raw damage.

If you want to use GFB use a rapier. Dip fighter to pick up a Shield and either defense or dueling style.
You can do the same thing but with Thirsting Blade instead of GFB, basically.

In any of those your lower-ish AC is fine if you plan on making use of Armor of Agathys or Mirror Image or something like that.
You can shore it up other ways if that's not your style. If you want to single-class only Armor of Shadows is +1 AC on regular studded leather. 18 AC at 20dex w/o a shield is not really that bad. A dip in fighter can give you defense style to do that too. You can combine both of them and/or use a Shield for pretty dang good AC. Plenty of Great-Weapon characters are only ever going to rock 18AC and it works out fine - you basically can use THP to make up the hit-die difference.

People will go on and on about being short a couple DPR, shy by 1 AC or how it's "high investment". Fact is that it will work well enough if it's the kind of character you'd envisioned.

Thanks for the advice! What would you reccomend I do until I get to level 3 (when I take my level in fighter) at the moment at level 2 I only really have access to daggers and a light crossbow.

I'll probably weight the benifits/cons of both styles. I'd either like to two weapon or single with a whip (a whip weilding warlock is just a cool image in my mind) and the dueling fighting style.

[Citan]

A level of fighter will suit you pretty well. The defense style, TWF or Dueling are all open choices.
However, Green Flame Blade doesn't work with either extra attack or two-weapon fighting.
If you want to TWF that's fine. Take Thirsting Blade. Dip fighter for the style. Armor of Shadows can shore up AC some when you get another invocation slot. Hex isn't really as good as you might think here. You need ~3 rounds of hits for it to come ahead of just using TWF your first round. You've probably got better stuff to cast even if it's not raw damage.

If you want to use GFB use a rapier. Dip fighter to pick up a Shield and either defense or dueling style.

Hi OP
I agree with Rbstr's suggestion if you want to go dual-wielding.
Strongly disagree on the GFB option.

However, if you plan on using only weapon cantrips (which is perfectly fine really, since they scale automatically), then War/Life/Knowledge Cleric dip is better by miles.
You can Bless or Shield of Faith yourself for better offense/defense, or use emergency Healing Words/Sanctuary, you get all armor proficiency you need and a few nice options.

As by using weapon cantrips, you can safely pick other Invocations thand Thirsting Blade until you get somewhere around level 10, then swap a known one for it in preparation for level 12's Life Drinker. At which time you may stay like this (Extra Attack with +CHA on damage) or dip Fighter to go dual-wielding for a full third attack (although, technically, it's "just" +5 damage, I'm really not sure that's worth the level).

[Corran]

If you want to melee it up, I would suggest taking at least 2 levels in rogue (for cunning action), and also taking BB as your cantrip. So I would aim for warlock 3/ rogue 2 by character level 5. No need for thirsting blade invocation, and unless you want the Copperfield sword trick, no real need for pact of the blade either (though I haven't gone through the UA invocations, so there might be sth good there). Rapier and a free hand (no need for warcaster), if halfdrows are proficient with it, like the drows, else dagger.

Or alternatively, if you really want a whip, you can take spell sniper at warlock 4 (and ofc BB remains a must-have), and enjoy striking from a distance (though I would still advise taking 2 rogue levels).

Now, regarding mask of many faces, I think that actor is a feat that complements it really well (as it allows you to change the voice of your character), so despite your even score in charisma, I would probably invest in this feat (I would round out the stats later on). The cantrips friends also has good synergy with mask of many faces, so I would probably take that too.

That would be my plan for the next few levels.

ps: And ofc, there is always the devil's sight & darkness combo (though it can get a bit tiresome after a while; still, a nice trick to have for when you need it).

[Psikerlord]

Arent GFB and BB swordmage cantrips, the warlock cant use them can he?

[bid]

My thought was that I'd go dual wield with Green Flame Blade and have Hex as a nice go to spell.
You can't TWF with BB/GFB since "cast a spell" action is not "attack" action.

BB/GFB is best paired with tomelock (and shillelagh), a rogue / bladelock MC will prefer 3 attacks. If you want medium/shield, wait until you have thirsting blade.

[Potato_Priest]

Arent GFB and BB swordmage cantrips, the warlock cant use them can he?

There is no swordmage class in 5th edition, and as far as I'm aware the warlock can pick up both cantrips. (I don't have that book on me at the moment though) Have you stumbled into the wrong section of the forums or is there some other confusion?

[Joe the Rat]

They're both on the Warlock list.

A level of fighter will get your fighting style, and access to medium armor, so you can skip Armor of Shadows. Two gets you action surge. Action surge is pretty awesome. Three levels? Eldritch Knight, and skip the blade pact.
Two levels of rogue gets you cunning action - as a nimble melee, get out of dodge disengage as a bonus action is handy. Three levels? 2d6 sneak (which beats Hex), and Swashbuckler, to better capitalize on your charisma.
Two levels of Ranger can get you a fighting style, and a couple of 1st level slots to stretch your casting a little. Plus a few ranger spells (given the low DC, I'd look at utility here. Three levels? Hunter. If you are twf hex-using slash-fest, horde breaker. Otherwise colossus slayer.

More than that, and you are seriously stepping away from warlock. Which is fine, but level 7 is rather fun. (Banish, Black Tentacles, and 3-man Invisibility)

On Thirsty Boomers: Nothing says you can't grab both Thirsting Blade for extra attack, and blade cantrips both... you just have an either/or situation. And if you are Bladelocking, you can always come back later for extra attack.

If you are strictly cantrip-fighting, you might consider tomelock. Why? Thorn Whip. It's a nice little pull to bring folks in. Since you are already potentially looking at spell sniper to go with your greenflame whip-reach, that's a 60' spiked tentacle melee attack.

[Penelomeeg]

They're both on the Warlock list.

A level of fighter will get your fighting style, and access to medium armor, so you can skip Armor of Shadows. Two gets you action surge. Action surge is pretty awesome. Three levels? Eldritch Knight, and skip the blade pact.
Two levels of rogue gets you cunning action - as a nimble melee, get out of dodge disengage as a bonus action is handy. Three levels? 2d6 sneak (which beats Hex), and Swashbuckler, to better capitalize on your charisma.
Two levels of Ranger can get you a fighting style, and a couple of 1st level slots to stretch your casting a little. Plus a few ranger spells (given the low DC, I'd look at utility here. Three levels? Hunter. If you are twf hex-using slash-fest, horde breaker. Otherwise colossus slayer.

More than that, and you are seriously stepping away from warlock. Which is fine, but level 7 is rather fun. (Banish, Black Tentacles, and 3-man Invisibility)

On Thirsty Boomers: Nothing says you can't grab both Thirsting Blade for extra attack, and blade cantrips both... you just have an either/or situation. And if you are Bladelocking, you can always come back later for extra attack.

If you are strictly cantrip-fighting, you might consider tomelock. Why? Thorn Whip. It's a nice little pull to bring folks in. Since you are already potentially looking at spell sniper to go with your greenflame whip-reach, that's a 60' spiked tentacle melee attack.

You ended up giving me an amazing idea that involves a quarter staff with my casting focus attatched to it, the moderately armored feat at level 4 to get a shield, and shilleaugh with GFB/BB

Add in thorn whip and eldritch blast and no where is safe from this warlock