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View Full Version : working on a Bloodborn themed hexblade warlock. Could use some feedback



Davrix
2018-02-08, 05:42 AM
(I'm posting this before heading to bed so any replies from me will come in a few hours)

So me and my Dm are having a bit of fun designing a character around the idea of a bloodborn hunter. (please though I'm not trying to simulate your favorite weapon from the game and Ive sort of chosen the theme I want so lets stick to that idea if we can. Don't suggestion something around a two hand sword and nothing else. It's not going to be helpful for me but YOU ARE more then welcome to include such ideas on top of any thoughts and feedback on what I am trying to do)

In our current setting there are the creatures called the nameless others. (In short the cthulhu mythos assaulted the world and "Kind of lost" but lots of bad things still linger, that are called the nameless others) I came up with a hunting order called The Faceless. The character in question is part of said order and we have been trying to re-fluff / tweak some of the hex-blade and warlock features to best simulate the mechanics. I thought I would share some of the idea's we have been tossing around. We have been trying to keep it pure hex-blade but taking a two lv fighter or paladin dip at the start hasn't seemed like a bad idea.

So right now the character in question would be a Lv-10 Human

The idea behind the pact for this vs of hex-blade is based around the idea that they bond to their weapons which are made up of the body parts of slain nameless beasts. They draw power from their weapons and by slaying other nameless beats or powerful creatures and grafting parts onto their weapons increases the power of their own bond. The idea behind this is to take the pact weapon a little further and allow it to morph itself into a two different weapons. In this case its a Longbow that switches into a whip to simulate the trick weapons in the game. Another feature will probably be that the stronger the bond the more the weapon and hunter become one and it starts to graph itself over the hunters body when armor of hexes comes online. (there essentially living weapons of blood and bone)

Ok so thats the basic premise we have going. The two biggest changes we are probably going to make is first taking the invocation that lets you polympoh using a warlock spell slot and turn that into beast mode from the game. We were thinking of making it work like this.

It still costs the invocations slot & still applies the same rules for stats that polymporh uses but with the following changes.
- Once per day you can draw upon your weapon and feed off its blood to transform yourself into a raging beast.
- It uses the giant ape or T-Rex stat block (we are still tossing over which one) creature block
- It lasts only (two or three) rounds but if a creature dies from your attack or adjacent to you, as an action you can feed off the creature and continue to use the form for another (Two or three round) We are still debating on the length.
(this probably needs more work but the goal was to make something that didn't require concentration but wouldn't last the full duration)

The second change is how the weapon works as we are making it even more part of the class so gaining magical weapons probably wouldn't work for this character. It would be more like graphing different monster parts changes abilities and uses for the character but we wanted a baseline to work with. Here are some of the idea's we have been tossing around. please note none of this is finally so please don't scream oh god broken because its not a finalized item yet.

Ok so the Bow-Whip as we are calling it. (Inspired by the one from bloodborn but a bow instead of a sword) also as a side note he has an offhand pistol as they do exist in this setting and its something hunters had in the game. So we are using the crossbow expert feat (taken at 1st lv) and re-skinning it for guns.

To change from Bow to whip requires your item-interaction. (we want this seamless like in the game not eating up the bonus)

This probably consumes the improved pack weapon invocation as there needs to be at least some sort of cost around having this being extra special

Whip form - Base 1D6 slashing with reach
Bow form - Base 1D8 Piercing standard bow range
(Both of these might be able to be augmented with parts to increase the D damage maybe)

Whip Form - +1 to melee attacks and damage
Bow Form - +1 to spell attack and Spell Sv DC
(The benefit changes depending on the form)

Whip form - As a bonus action you can attempt to grapple a (Huge/Large not sure what size yet) Or smaller creature using your casting stat instead of str for your athletics check. As long as the monster is grappled it takes your char modifier, minimum of 1 at the start of its turn until it breaks free.

Bow Form (we are a little more sketchy on this so feel free to toss any ideas but here is sort of what i am thinking)

The bow re-fluffs Eldritch Blast and fires force shots instead of arrows out of the bow but it can still function like one so this wont interfere the double attack invocation
- The bow has X amount of charges, you may spend X amount of charges to fire an Eldritch Blast from the bow as a bonus action. (yes I realize this is powerful and why you go sorc usually)
- The other idea was sort of baking in that shots fired, cause push back or slow but I'm trying not to just steal free invocations for the thing.
(so yea half baked idea's on this one, feedback welcome specifically here)

So that's sort of what we figured on, we are then toying with graphing on add-on's with specific monsters or parts based on what they are perhaps or just simply a chart of features rolled on based on CR. But here are some of the ideas for features we were thinking of.

Giving fighting styles based on the weapon form. So for example.
- Bow form gives the archery fighting style
- Whip form Gives the defensive fighting style

allows ammo fired from the bow to be coated in poison to cause the condition on a failed con sv. Or cause it when it grapples

maybe something (sort of monster hunter esk here) that causes a stacking counter to go up on a target that if a certain number is reached the target either falls asleep or becomes paralyzed for a short duration.
- Something like on a hit monster makes a con save. on a fail it gains one stack of a debuff, at say 4 or 6 stacks it falls under that condition for one minute or until it takes damage.

Ok so thats all the idea's being tossed I should probably include what his current build is on paper or at least the basic outline so far.

Lv - 10 Human

AC -16 Hp - 82

Stats
Str- 8 Dex - 14 Con - 14 Int - 10 Wis - 12 Char - 18

Feats
Crossbow(Gun) Expert
Sharpshooter

invocations
- Agonizing Blast
- Devil Sight
- Edrtich Smite
- Relentless Hex
- Thirsting Blade

Far to many spells to list but based on what you have read, any suggestion on good synergy spells would be very helpful.

Vogie
2018-02-08, 10:54 AM
That's a lot of stuff. I'm not sure if I've gotten it all, but here's what I think you'd end up with, if you wanted to use the least amount of homebrew. You'll need 1 more point in Wisdom, and be given the ability to switch pact weapons (or make it transform) as a bonus action.

Archfey Bladepact Warlock 5 / Moon Druid 2 / Gloom Stalker Ranger 3

Feats:
Defensive Duelist
Sharpshooter

Invocations
Moon Bow (refluffed from Radiant Damage to Poison Damage)
Improved Pact Weapon
Thirsting Blade

I think that's everything you wanted.

Warlock:
Summon both Whip and Bow, give proficiency in both and do additional damage from both (makes it a +1 weapon)
Moon bow gives infinite bow ammo, and ability to Sacrifice Warlock Spell Slots for that poison
Have multiple attacks when using the pact weapon
Can use the weapon as a spellcasting focus (so you can eldritch blast while holding a whip, bow, or both)
Feats:
Have a "defensive" style while wielding a whip
Druid:
Shapeshift into an Ape (a 1/2 CR), and CR 1 animals
Ranger:
Gain a fighting style (either Archery, Close-Quarters Shooter, or TWF)
Gain an additional source of multiple attacks (Dread Ambusher) in first turn
Darkvision
Natural Explorer & Favored Enemy

Davrix
2018-02-08, 06:05 PM
That's a lot of stuff. I'm not sure if I've gotten it all, but here's what I think you'd end up with, if you wanted to use the least amount of homebrew. You'll need 1 more point in Wisdom, and be given the ability to switch pact weapons (or make it transform) as a bonus action.

Archfey Bladepact Warlock 5 / Moon Druid 2 / Gloom Stalker Ranger 3

Feats:
Defensive Duelist
Sharpshooter

Invocations
Moon Bow (refluffed from Radiant Damage to Poison Damage)
Improved Pact Weapon
Thirsting Blade

I think that's everything you wanted.

Warlock:
Summon both Whip and Bow, give proficiency in both and do additional damage from both (makes it a +1 weapon)
Moon bow gives infinite bow ammo, and ability to Sacrifice Warlock Spell Slots for that poison
Have multiple attacks when using the pact weapon
Can use the weapon as a spellcasting focus (so you can eldritch blast while holding a whip, bow, or both)
Feats:
Have a "defensive" style while wielding a whip
Druid:
Shapeshift into an Ape (a 1/2 CR), and CR 1 animals
Ranger:
Gain a fighting style (either Archery, Close-Quarters Shooter, or TWF)
Gain an additional source of multiple attacks (Dread Ambusher) in first turn
Darkvision
Natural Explorer & Favored Enemy


Mechanically this isn't bad but I think you missed the part where we were trying to keep it as pure Hexblade as possible. with maybe a 1 or 2 lv dip into something. The main idea being that the weapon is a living thing of eldritch horror that is slowly bonding / consuming the caster the more powerful they grow in the hex sub-class.

Vogie
2018-02-09, 08:53 AM
Mechanically this isn't bad but I think you missed the part where we were trying to keep it as pure Hexblade as possible. with maybe a 1 or 2 lv dip into something. The main idea being that the weapon is a living thing of eldritch horror that is slowly bonding / consuming the caster the more powerful they grow in the hex sub-class.

No, I saw it. I get the reference. But there isn't anything like that in RAW or RAI, so I got as close as possible. You'd play with that base, and eventually get to Warlock 15 / Druid 2 / Gloom Ranger 3... which is really Warlock-y. Then just RP the difference.

If you want to tie into the Hexblade, just play a hexblade. If you do, you'll lose most of the rest of what you want... or, there is a perfectly good homebrew forum if you'd like to just your customizations examined and honestly commented on.

You will need Improved Pact Weapon invocation to create a bow or light crossbow with your pact weapon.
You could use Lance of Lethargy invocation and refluff it as "the reason the target is slowed is due to poison" even though it won't actually be poisonous.