Rogue/Hexblade Multiclass

[Reevh]

So in my last game, my level 10 Arcane Trickster rogue bit the dust when struck by a Death Tyrant's Death Ray. My party managed to dispatch the Death Tyrant and Revivified me, so I'm not perma-dead, but I was thinking about how the experience of dying may have impacted my character.

In the world created by this DM, the Gods are feuding, as at least one of them is trying to move beyond the Divine Gate to take control of the Prime Material Plane. All of them have some sort of stake in the current conflict, and our characters are at the center of it. With that in mind, I thought perhaps when I died and crossed over, the Raven Queen may have taken note and allowed me to be resurrected to become her instrument. As the XGE page for Hexblade Warlocks says, Hexblades are often used by the Raven Queen for her own inscrutable ends, and this seemed like a pretty good thematic reason to multiclass into Hexblade.

So my rogue is currently level 10, Arcane Trickster, has Elven Accuracy, Mobility, Shadow Blade, and a familiar. I can get advantage on a large proportion of my attacks. So I figure that if I pick up 5 levels in Hexblade, that'd give me Hex, Hexblade's Curse (for extra damage and 19-20 crit range), shields (20 AC here I come), and Extra attack, as well as some generally useful spells and spell slots, which I can also cast with my Arcane Trickster slots.

Most importantly, it adds new dimension and flavor to a character who was feeling a bit flat to me, but it also seems like a big power boost.

I lose a little sneak attack damage, but on a round when I really want to get in the damage, with shadowblade in dim light (most dungeons), I have double advantage (from Elven Accuracy) with a 10% per roll to crit (with 3 rolls per attack that's 27% crit chance each attack), with 2d8(shadow blade)+5(dex mod)+5(hexblade's curse)+6d6(sneak attack)+1d6(hex)+4d8(eldritch smite). All those damage dice would double in a crit. And then I'd have an extra attack still.

It'd take a while to set up, since Hex, Shadow Blade, and Hexblade's Curse all require bonus actions, of course.

Is there anything wrong with those calculations? Anyone have any other advice for a Hexblade multiclass?

[Blood of Gaea]

Nope, seems you've gotten everything laid out well. You do have a decent charisma score, right?

[Reevh]

Nope, seems you've gotten everything laid out well. You do have a decent charisma score, right?

My Charisma is only 14, so not ideal, but I don't think it needs to be for any of the things I just mentioned above. It just means my other spells won't shine, right?

[Dudewithknives]

Sounds fine but I would take level 11 as rogue. Reliable talent is just that good.

With a 14 Cha, I would not bother with casting save/hit spells, just use buffs and abilites with no save.

Darkness/Devil's sight, Hex, smite, ect.

[Blood of Gaea]

My Charisma is only 14, so not ideal, but I don't think it needs to be for any of the things I just mentioned above. It just means my other spells won't shine, right?
You can make that work, just try to avoid spells that require an attack roll or saving throw.

[Reevh]

Sounds fine but I would take level 11 as rogue. Reliable talent is just that good.

How is your charisma?

Yeah, my current thinking is to take the next level as Warlock to keep the narrative hook consistent, then level 11 as rogue to get reliable talent, then warlock up to level 5 before finishing out as rogue (if the campaign gets that far).

Charisma is 14.

[Reevh]

You can make that work, just try to avoid spells that require an attack roll or saving throw.

Yeah, that was my thought too. I'm guessing I'd mostly use those slots for Eldritch Smite and Hex, neither of which have saves.

[Coec]

I lose a little sneak attack damage, but on a round when I really want to get in the damage, with shadowblade in dim light (most dungeons), I have double advantage (from Elven Accuracy) with a 10% per roll to crit (with 3 rolls per attack that's 27% crit chance each attack), with 2d8(shadow blade)+5(dex mod)+5(hexblade's curse)+6d6(sneak attack)+1d6(hex)+4d8(eldritch smite). All those damage dice would double in a crit. And then I'd have an extra attack still.

It'd take a while to set up, since Hex, Shadow Blade, and Hexblade's Curse all require bonus actions, of course.

Is there anything wrong with those calculations? Anyone have any other advice for a Hexblade multiclass?

AFB, so if I recall right hex takes an action to cast its a bonus action to move the spell Assuming you can use the arcane trickster spell slots to cast, and i don't see why not, you should be able to get two smites off. This is because you can only use warlock spell slots to use the invocation eldritch smite per Jeremy Crawford. Still two massive hits is pretty nice and it looks like you don't have to declare eldritch smite until after you've hit.

[Reevh]

AFB, so if I recall right hex takes an action to cast its a bonus action to move the spell Assuming you can use the arcane trickster spell slots to cast, and i don't see why not, you should be able to get two smites off. This is because you can only use warlock spell slots to use the invocation eldritch smite per Jeremy Crawford. Still two massive hits is pretty nice and it looks like you don't have to declare eldritch smite until after you've hit.

Until after I’ve crit!

[Coec]

You lose one round in setting up from what I can tell. On the second round, bonus action hexblades curse, attack action, 19-20 crit range and if you have advantage that just helps your crit chance. That's some nice dmg.

[Blood of Gaea]

You lose one round in setting up from what I can tell. On the second round, bonus action hexblades curse, attack action, 19-20 crit range and if you have advantage that just helps your crit chance. That's some nice dmg.
What do you mean by him losing a round?

[TheUser]

Level 13 Arcane Trickster can get haste allowing for double sneak attacks per round (1 from haste attack on your turn and the a readied attack on another turn) along with double move speed, +2 AC and the extra sneak dice you stand to lose out more by multiclassing. I think it's worth it to stick it out.

Taking sentinel at 12 and casting mirror image creates a no win situation for melee combat too; either they hit a clone or ally and trigger sentinel or hit you and get shield or uncanny dodge. Just options to add depth to your character strategy you may have missed.

[Reevh]

Level 13 Arcane Trickster can get haste allowing for double sneak attacks per round (1 from haste attack on your turn and the a readied attack on another turn) along with double move speed, +2 AC and the extra sneak dice you stand to lose out more by multiclassing. I think it's worth it to stick it out.

Taking sentinel at 12 and casting mirror image creates a no win situation for melee combat too; either they hit a clone or ally and trigger sentinel or hit you and get shield or uncanny dodge. Just options to add depth to your character strategy you may have missed.

Thanks for the ideas!

I'm pretty sure my DM would rule (and I'd probably agree with him) that the text of Haste says "gains an additional action on each of its turns." suggesting it can't be a held action. I suppose you could hold your primary action, but it feels really cheesy to me. I also have a sorcerer in the group who tends to cast haste on me.

More importantly though, more than half the reason for doing this is the RP/flavor, so the combat benefits are just a bonus.

[Coec]

What do you mean by him losing a round?

His initial set up; to cast hex as his action and shadow blade as his bonus action will take up his first round in combat. After that he just needs to use his bonus action to move hex from target to target. Hexblades curse could be cast as his bonus action before he takes his attack action.

[Reevh]

His initial set up; to cast hex as his action and shadow blade as his bonus action will take up his first round in combat. After that he just needs to use his bonus action to move hex from target to target. Hexblades curse could be cast as his bonus action before he takes his attack action.

Hex is a bonus action spell. I don't think it could be cast as an action. So it'd just be a ramp up of damage over a few rounds, not 1 full round lost.

[Coec]

Hex is a bonus action spell. I don't think it could be cast as an action. So it'd just be a ramp up of damage over a few rounds, not 1 full round lost.

I stand corrected. Thought it was an action to cast, bonus to move.

[kardar233]

I think this is a great combo, you’ll get a lot from it.

The first thing to decide is whether you’re interested in (or think you can get away with) Darkness/Devil’s Sight. It’s probably less powerful at this level now that many enemies will have Blindsight of some kind, but it’s still an amazing tool against most enemies. This will decide how far you want to go into Warlock.

You have Mobile which means that Booming Blade is your best friend. Especially at this level, it’s a huge advantage over your basic attack, as you’re not only getting 2d8 damage more or less free, but also you can probably make your enemies take the secondary damage as you can walk away from them after hitting.

If you’re going for Devil’s Sight, you’re not going to be concentrating on Hex, which means a second attack isn’t that useful for you. Here you either want to go Lock2 or 3, depending on whether you want Pact (probably Tome) benefits or not.

If you’re not going Devil’s Sight, you’ll want to go Lock5 and grab Extra Attack. That and Hex will boost your overall damage by quite a lot, especially when you can’t rely on selling Booming Blade’s secondary effect.

I wouldn’t be too concerned about your Warlock spell choices because you’re going to be casting Hex or Darkness almost every time, but I would definitely suggest grabbing Shield from the Hexblade list. It’s just so good.