Building Help: Guerrilla Journalist

[Mercurias]

A few friends of mine have been setting up a tabletop story that diverges a bit from Swords and Horses in the beginning by fighting the good fight in a smaller-scale City-State. Much of the characters’ lower levels will be spent in the shadows, building up a rebellion as the party picks up power.

We currently have:
-An elf Dex Rogue who is planning to slip into Dex Paladin as the character develops. Seems like a lot of fun. Acts as the group lead.
-A human Cleric who is a mix of Friar Tuck and Daredevil in personality. Healer, 2nd chair melee, and lookout.
-An air genasi Storm sorcerer. Acts as the public face of the group as well as the blaster.
-A dwarf Battle Master as the muscle and 1st chair face-punching melee character.

It’s been settled with my friends that my character will be a tiefling warlock, acting as a sneak, face, and secondary blaster. Spell-wise, I’d like just enough oomph to carry my weight in a fight and just enough utility from my spells to help sneak into and out of places I shouldn’t be while gathering intel.

For Roleplay reasons, I’m going with the fiend pact archetype, which gives aof the offense I’ll end up needing. As far as whether to go chains or tome? Clueless. Same with magic, attribute priorities, and stealth. Any help Would be hugely appreciated.

[ImproperJustice]

I’m firmly in the camp that for an espionage based game, an invisible, virtually unkillable, intelligent companion would be invaluable beyond measure.

Pact of the Chain all the way.

You canuse your buddy to scout, spy, deliver goods and messages, and likely many other useful tasks.

Grab some good invocations too. Disguise Self at will is attractive here as well as being able to read any language (through your eyes or your familiar’s).

[sophontteks]

I was looking at something similar. Using thaumaturge to get advantage on intimidate has to be the coolest way to be the party face. I like the tiefling, but he has no bonus skills and the +1 int isn't going to help you sneak. I tried and couldn't find a way to make it work. I didn't think the rogue backgrounds worked either. I'm a warlock! Not some petty criminal. I research ancient forbidden secrets, always seeking to increase my power. Instead, maybe go for the Invisible flying familiar so he can sneak for you. That'll allow you to focus your attention on your other roles.

For invocations. You need Agonizing blast and you want devils sight at level 5 to see through your own darkness. Depending on the situation you may need mask of many faces to hide your identity.Repelling blast is good when you get additional blasts.

The infernal spells are awesome. I doubt you'll have trouble finding enough good spells. I doubt its optimal, but you could pick elemental adept so your many fire spells do more damage and ignore resistance. Otherwise its just the usual spellcaster stuff, you know war caster.

Voice of the chain master might be fun to play with and you could be really stupid by taking the spell sniper feat with eldritch spear. Now your Eldritch blast has a 600 foot range and isn't effected by light/moderate cover. Your familiar spots for you and you literally snipe targets down from 2 football fields away. That would satisfy the sneak/secondary blaster role right?

[Quoz]

I would maybe take a harder look at tome. With the ritual caster arcana you can pick up find familiar and in an urban setting a rat if pigeon is almost as good as invisible. The no restrictions cantrips can be awesome for versatility, especially if you want to have a guidance boost when working alone or split off from the cleric. Unlimited access to rituals is also a huge boost in a game that will give you time to set up and prepare.

Have you looked at the alternate tiefling options in SCAG? Going dex based or having flight from level 1 may be more appealing to your build.

[Laserlight]

I’m firmly in the camp that for an espionage based game, an invisible, virtually unkillable, intelligent companion would be invaluable beyond measure.

Pact of the Chain all the way.

You canuse your buddy to scout, spy, deliver goods and messages, and likely many other useful tasks.

Grab some good invocations too. Disguise Self at will is attractive here as well as being able to read any language (through your eyes or your familiar’s).

There's a feat that lets you lipread, which makes seeing through your familiar's eyes (or Arcane Eye) rather more useful.

[Vogie]

It's too bad you're set on Fiend, because Raven Queen Warlock would be a blast in that scenario. Being able to shift into a raven to sneak in or GTFO would be fantastic. And while you could do Chainlock so you have both a familiar and a faux-miliar, I would have chosen Tome so you could use Chronicle of the Raven Queen to also "interview" creatures after death, without having to burn spell or invocation slots for Speak with Dead.

[Mercurias]

Raven Queen looks really cool for an assassin type hexblade, that’s for sure. I hadn’t seen it before. I’m going to need to look into one for another game, someday. I like the mental image of popping out of raven form and descending on someone with a Conjured weapon sparking to life in one hand.

I went for the Tiefling race and Fiend pact for story/roleplay reasons. My DM and I like the idea of this Warlock, who has so much riding on his shoulders, being truly swayed and tempted by his patron, and making the threat of him turning a genuine concern for the party.

Mechanically, I am officially sold on the Imp. I’ll probably pick up the ability to talk through it also. Eldritch Spear sounds like a lot of fun, given the nature of the character as a hidden asset. Disguise spells sound like a go, also. I’ll have to write it out, but it looks like this is gonna a whole lot of fun!

Thanks guys! I really appreciate it!

[sophontteks]

The cool thing is that you can change an invocation every time you level, so you can mess around. I'm jealous honestly. I really want to play a infernal warlock as well.

Oh man, if you use eldritch spear to hurl someone through hell at 300 meters let me know. Act all non-chalant like "Oh hey, I'm going to deal 3d10+12 plus 10d10 to that distant npc next to my familiar."

[Vogie]

The cool thing is that you can change an invocation every time you level, so you can mess around. I'm jealous honestly. I really want to play a infernal warlock as well.

Oh man, if you use eldritch spear to hurl someone through hell at 300 meters let me know. Act all non-chalant like "Oh hey, I'm going to deal 3d10+12 plus 10d10 to that distant npc next to my familiar."

Doubly so with Spell Sniper, sending people to hell from 600ft away once per long rest. You're likely gonna need a spyglass.

[Nidgit]

Particularly in an urban environment, an Eldritch Sniper could make good use of Repelling Blast or Grasp of Hadar to push/drag people out of buildings for extra damage. If your DM allows UA, grab Kiss of Mephistopheles to give yourself the option of 600 ft range Fireballs, which sound like an awfully lovely way to assassinate a whole room.

Beyond that, Devil's Sight, Eldritch Sight, Eyes of the Rune Keeper, Ghostly Gaze, Mask of Many Faces, and One with Shadows are all great supplemental options.

Obviously Agonizing Blast, Eldritch Spear, and Voice of the Chain Master are all priority.