Opinions on a half orc champion warlock

[danpit2991]

hello everyone,
i am going to be playing in a game soon and was thinking about a concept a half orc champion warlock and an looking for opinions on level split and things like patron and pact, all official material is authorized i dont have XGTE yet but any input would be appreiciated

i was thinking start fighter to 4 then 3 maybe 4 warlock then rest champion as for patron i dont have any preference but i was thinking tome for the cantrips and rituals

[Bahamut7]

hello everyone,
i am going to be playing in a game soon and was thinking about a concept a half orc champion warlock and an looking for opinions on level split and things like patron and pact, all official material is authorized i dont have XGTE yet but any input would be appreiciated

i was thinking start fighter to 4 then 3 maybe 4 warlock then rest champion as for patron i dont have any preference but i was thinking tome for the cantrips and rituals

I assume your character has the appropriate stats to access Warlock. Sounds like an interesting combination. I don't see the Champion's style and Tomelock mixing...but perhaps if you explain what cantrips and warlock invocations that you want, I might be able to help better.

[Vorok]

It's an interesting thought. What do you want from the warlock multiclass? Do you want more magical utility? Do you want a different 'Eldritch Knight', maybe the blade pact would give you more utility (you can conjure a weapon more suited to the task at hand, and it's a free magical weapon)? (Possibly with the GOO patron?)
If you start with champion, I'd recommend sticking to lvl 5, as to not delay the extra attack feature too much, unless you feel like the stuff you're getting from the warlock is better.

[LeonBH]

I can see this working. If you go Champion 5/Warlock 3, you get access to Shadow Blade, giving you a 2d8 light, finesse weapon that you roll at advantage with under dim light or dark conditions. Due to being a Champion, your Con saves are pretty good, so you won't waste this spell often.

It lets you be SAD if you allow your Charisma to rest at only 13. On top of that, you have an increased crit range. You would be an excellent two weapon fighter (wielding a short sword with your off hand). If you go this path, GWM and PAM will not be your style.

As for the patron, Celestial is good for you. This is because Pact of the Chain synergizes with it well. Select Gift of the Ever Living Ones as your invocation. This maximizes any and all healing you receive (including hit dice and second wind), but it also synergizes well with the Healing Light ability of the Celestial Warlock, which lets you heal 1d6 HP with a bonus action (at level 3, you have a pool of 4d6, and with a 13 Charisma, you can spend 1d6 of this per bonus action; or you can spend 2d6 if you went to 14 Charisma).

This means, if you're in need of healing, you can either take a second wind bonus action to heal up 17 HP (1d12 maximized + fighter level 5) or, if you're done with that, use Healing Light to heal 6 HP (or 12 HP, depending on your Charisma modifier).

You probably won't want to cast any other spell than Shadow Blade, and you'll only have two spell slots to cast from. This means you shouldn't cast any other spell in combat in case you lose concentration. So your other spells should all be utility like Invisibility.

[Specter]

Personally I'd recommend only two levels of Warlock.

What you really want out of it is Hex. As a champion, you want extra dice damage to make those crits matter, and Hex does exactly that. The rest of the spells can go towards utility if you're into that. Devil's Sight and Fiendish Vigor can't hurt, either.

Going too deep delays you too much, and frankly don't give too much for melee. If you're only interested in dice damage, other options would be War Cleric (Divine Favor) and Ranger (Hunter's Mark).

[Easy_Lee]

What do you want from champion, what do you want from warlock, what do you want this build to do, and what level do you expect to reach?

[Chugger]

If you're going half-orc for role playing reasons - good. What you're planning could work, but we need more details to help you if you want to optimize some.

If you're pure optimizing, you really need to tell us more.

And while I'm at it, for pure optimizing there are crazy builds, like half-elf triple-advantage-attacking often-critting champion/hexblade combos that look very tempting. You go probably 6 lvls into champion to get the 19 or 20 crit. At lvl 4 you do elven accuracy to turn your 17 cha into 18. Then lvl 6 you take GWM.

Lvl 7 and 8 you're hexblade and you won't suck, but you haven't "turned on" yet. At lvl 9 - hexblade lvl 3 - you get dev sight and darkness. Now you can attack at advantage often and have three rolls a blow to land the -5 to hit +10 damage GWM thing. Twice a turn. After that maybe go one more lvl in warlock to get asi and go cha 20.

Then go back to champ maybe to hit lvl 8 fi to get another ASI/feat - or go ranger if you can have the wis - you get another FS which is nice - and you get maybe the gloomstalker first round extra attack or w/e.

[danpit2991]

thanks everyone for your responses,

to answer some questions i picked half orc because they are my favorite of all time and blessedly in 5E they dont take too much of a hit for int classes like they used to

stats have not been rolled yet but i would be totally surprised if i didn't have at least two 13s (4d6 drop lowest 7 times drop lowest after all we are heroes, or point buy if the dice hate you that day) so im not terribly concerned about that

from champion i am looking to get all of the smashy choppy goodness that orc fighters excel at and the armor and general badassness without it being too complicated

then i want to complicate it with a pact lol from warlock i figure hex and eb are musts regardless cause i wont always be close enough to hit them with my sword and the extra damage is good i was thinking that some magic utility/ control in the form of cantrips like mold earth, create bonfire, control flames,shape water ect would be the reason for tomelock and the rituals cant forget them

not really looking for optimization this time just looking to play a smashy choppy orc that can pull a surprises out of his toolbox imagine your facing Turk the half orc fighter and in the middle of things bam your in a pit then get set on fire insta BBQ lol so i gues im looking for as many cantrips as i can and who would expect the orc in battered armor to cast spells it just twigs my sense of the random and absurd i know i could go wizard or sorc or even EK but studying doesnt seem orcy and my last character was a sorcerer and EKs just dont do it for me maybe in the future but not now

[djreynolds]

I have played a half Orc champion to level 20, it was actually 18 fighter/ 2 rogue for expertise in athletics

If you are going to level 20, you want survivor. It is awesome. But survivor is level 18 and it is a long time to wait. 18 levels or possibly 20 with multiclassing is IMO just too long

Personally I think an eldritch knight might serve you better, there is the magic connection there that makes it easy to see why you became a warlock.

You can grab some cool spells you don't have access to as well... like shield

And if you are using something like booming blade, then you could just grab 7-8 levels of eldritch knight for war magic.

The question to think about is, how many attacks do you want? Are you going pact of the blade?

[Finney]

hello everyone,
i am going to be playing in a game soon and was thinking about a concept a half orc champion warlock and an looking for opinions on level split and things like patron and pact, all official material is authorized i dont have XGTE yet but any input would be appreiciated

i was thinking start fighter to 4 then 3 maybe 4 warlock then rest champion as for patron i dont have any preference but i was thinking tome for the cantrips and rituals

If it were my character, I would get to level 5 as a fighter before taking a dip into another class. Otherwise, you are going to delay second attack which is a significant bump to your damage output.

As for the warlock patron (if you are only doing a 3 level dip), I would avoid Hexblade because the expanded critical range granted by Hexblade's Curse duplicates the improved critical feature from Champion. The fiend is also not a great choice, since the temporary hit points from Dark One's Blessing scale with charisma modifier and warlock level - not character level.

The Fey Presence fear from Archfey and telepathy from the Great Old One are not fantastic, but better than what you would get from Hexblade and Fiend, in my opinion.

[Dappershire]

Start off Warlock 1. Keep going until 3. Choose wisely.

Then continue with Warlock 4 through 19. For your last level, pick Warlock.

Call yourself Champion.

Profit.

[Easy_Lee]

Champion 6 can get you GWM and most likely 18 Strength. From there, I would take three warlock levels, then fighter to 11, then warlock onward. That's my suggestion.

[djreynolds]

Champion 6 can get you GWM and most likely 18 Strength. From there, I would take three warlock levels, then fighter to 11, then warlock onward. That's my suggestion.

See that's a good build.

The focus being the fighter's attacks, 2 at 5th or 3 at 11th.

Just deciding how many attacks you would like in the future helps narrow down your decisions

[Easy_Lee]

See that's a good build.

The focus being the fighter's attacks, 2 at 5th or 3 at 11th.

Just deciding how many attacks you would like in the future helps narrow down your decisions

Thank you. And I agree. I assumed the OP wanted more attacks and general martial prowess.

Assuming two attacks and GWM, there's little reason not to go pure warlock (perhaps with two or three fighter levels) due to Hexblade + Blade pact. But fighter 11 has another attack and fighter + champion perks. It's sufficiently different.

[djreynolds]

Thank you. And I agree. I assumed the OP wanted more attacks and general martial prowess.

Assuming two attacks and GWM, there's little reason not to go pure warlock (perhaps with two or three fighter levels) due to Hexblade + Blade pact. But fighter 11 has another attack and fighter + champion perks. It's sufficiently different.

The power of magic initiate...... warlock

Booming blade
Eldritch blast
Hex

What 20th level fighter would not want that

[Easy_Lee]

The power of magic initiate...... warlock

Booming blade
Eldritch blast
Hex

What 20th level fighter would not want that

Hex is once per day and lasts an hour when cast at first level. It's significant, no doubt, but there are competing feats that may be stronger depending on one's build.

On the other hand, three levels of warlock to pick up easy advantage (darkness + d-sight) on a Half-orc champion is quite something. A fighter can action surge to still make his full set of attacks on the same round as he casts Darkness.

[Malifice]

hello everyone,
i am going to be playing in a game soon and was thinking about a concept a half orc champion warlock and an looking for opinions on level split and things like patron and pact, all official material is authorized i dont have XGTE yet but any input would be appreiciated

i was thinking start fighter to 4 then 3 maybe 4 warlock then rest champion as for patron i dont have any preference but i was thinking tome for the cantrips and rituals

Fighter to 5. You dont want to miss extra attack.

[danpit2991]

hello everyone

we rolled up stats and after racial i have 17str 15dex 16con 9int 10wis 14cha not godly but quite good

the dm only allows MC if it happens in the story or right at creation i covered it with backstory, we are starting at level 3 so right now i am fighter 2 warlock 1
so i am going to be slightly behind everyone else but not too badly , (im the only MC so far)

and talking to others who have played with this DM before it looks like magic loot is going to be quite scarce so i figure blade might be the way to go just to be sure of a magic weapon but im not sure i will have to see the tone of the campaign first, as for the patron i chose celestial like LeonBH suggested

and for level progression i think i will follow easy_lee suggestion

as far as spells and invocations those will be selected based on how the adventure goes
my starting list is EB,presdigitation , expiditious retreat and hex

once again thank you all for your input it is greatly appreciated