Summoner Gish: Hexblade Chainlock/Bard Multiclass.

[narrator667]

How's a Hexblade Chainlock/Bard with the idea of a Necromancer Gish sound? Right now the only thing I have set in stone is a three level dip into Hexblade Warlock for pact of the chain. I want that Sprite to be my character's right hand man. Other than that, I've been looking at the Warlock's Spectral Summons at level 6, Lore Bard's quick access Raise and Animate Dead with just six levels, and Valor Bard for having both an extra attack option and access to Necromancy spells through Magic Secrets albeit at a later level. This build really won't be coming online until level 12 minimum and level 16 maximum which is a problem however. What should my level dips look like and which Bard's College should I go for?
For roleplay reasons my character can't go Sorcerer or Wizard, and I'm looking at either Half-Orc or Zari Tiefling as far as races go. We're using 27 point buy. Any tips?

[Quoxis]

How's a Hexblade Chainlock/Bard with the idea of a Necromancer Gish sound?

Uh, dope i‘d say.



Right now the only thing I have set in stone is a three level dip into Hexblade Warlock for pact of the chain. I want that Sprite to be my character's right hand man.

That one you need to explain to me.



Other than that, I've been looking at the Warlock's Spectral Summons at level 6, Lore Bard's quick access Raise and Animate Dead with just six levels, and Valor Bard for having both an extra attack option and access to Necromancy spells through Magic Secrets albeit at a later level. This build really won't be coming online until level 12 minimum and level 16 maximum which is a problem however.
What should my level dips look like and which Bard's College should I go for?


You answered that yourself: anything else but lore delays your necromancy to at least level 10, which is about as far as most campaigns go, tops.



For roleplay reasons my character can't go Sorcerer or Wizard, and I'm looking at either Half-Orc or Zari Tiefling as far as races go. We're using 27 point buy. Any tips?

Focus on Cha and Dex, obviously. If you’re not going blade pact, you can’t use heavy weapons with cha, so you need to settle for 1d8-10 weapons (somewhat hurting your „savage attacks“ feature if you go half-orc).

While you’re grabbing animate dead with your bard’s magical secrets, take a look at the paladin‘s „aura of vitality“ spell - 2d6 hp healed on a bonus action each turn for a minute, and it’s one of the few spells that can heal undead targets (which should come cheaper than having to re-raise them as soon as they drop dead-er).

Make sure your warlock spell level is high enough for your animate dead spell to maximize its usefulness - it takes a casting per day to keep the undead under your control, if i‘m not mistaken, which will hurt significantly less if your slot returns after a short rest - you could even build a small undead army, GM allowing.

Danse macabre from Xanathar’s guide is a neat spell if you’re in a bind and iirc it’s on the warlock spell list. 5th level though.