Goblin Warlock: Hexblade or Fiend Tome?

[Imriel]

Hi everyone! I've been dragged into a new campaign with rabdomly rolled character and got a Goblin Warlock to make! We're gonna start at level 1 with a bonus feat (DM prize for accepting the random characters from the party).

I got AMAZING ability scores (STR 10, DEX 17, CON 14, INT 15, WIS 13, CHA 17, already adjusted with racial bonus) and I'm thinking of a good build for him.

RP-wise, he's gonna be an overly curious C/N Goblin called Boo who left his village as an outcast to see the world and prank every creature he meets fornthe sake of it (level 1, so very simple backgrounds here).

I'm REALLY not sure about what to pick as patron or build though. I thought about making a Hexblade with War Caster which would use the grasp invocation as an aao to get the enemies back when they try fleeing from him. Sounds pretty epic to me, but I'm not really sure how it would fare at high levels. A classic pyromaniac Goblin, a lil more vicious, with Fiend patron and based on Eldritch Blast plus Elemental Adept (Fire) also sounds appealing.

Opinions? Advice? I'm not an expert of 5e at all 😭

[Segev]

"Prankster" suggests an Archfae Patron, to me, and the spells it opens up to you would be conducive to this. Pact of the Chain would get you a Sprite or Imp or Quasit familiar, any of which can turn invisible to help with pranking. (At 9th level, seeming is an available spell. The pranking potential for turning entire crowds into things that look entirely different is awesome.)

[Andor13]

Faylock does seem to make the most sense, but you can fluff pretty much anything.

EG: He snuck into the tribe shaman's tent to scribble rude pictures in her spell book, but opened the wrong cursed tome and of now Great Old One warlock. The tribe immediately kicked him out.

[JeffreyGator]

As the prankster I see unlimited disguise self and simple illusion invocations and possibly less eldritch blasting.

If you can wait for level six to get the bonus to damage you could be celestial and start with GFB and a dagger, at 3rd go tomelock and pick up shillelagh, firebolt and createbonfire.

Fire/Fire/Fire.

[Sinon]

I like Fey better as well, but I wonder if you framed this as a choice between Hex and Infernal because you want to get involved in melee on a regular basis? perhaps making good use of Nimble Escape?

[Imriel]

Eventually I'm gonna do Hexblade cause I had to link my bg with a Tiefling cleric of death domain 😂 gonna make it flavorish though.

It's true that I wanna make some good out of nimble escape and I just like the idea of a vicious Goblin with a magic weapon making jokes and sometimes accidentally killing others 😂😂

[Segev]

Eventually I'm gonna do Hexblade cause I had to link my bg with a Tiefling cleric of death domain �� gonna make it flavorish though.

It's true that I wanna make some good out of nimble escape and I just like the idea of a vicious Goblin with a magic weapon making jokes and sometimes accidentally killing others ����
Just to be clear, when you say "Hexblade," you're referring to the PAtron, right? Not the Pact of the Blade? These are two different things.

[CTurbo]

I say Great Old One Tomelock. Get Vicious Mockery and be the Bardiest Warlock you can be. The telepathy would be fun.

As far as free feat, I'd probably choose something that bumps Dex or Cha +1 like Actor, Moderately Armored, a skill feat, or Squat Nimbleness.

Moderately Armored is actually a pretty strong feat for a Warlock. It's essentially +3-4 to AC is you use a shield and it also bumps Dex.
Squat Nimbleness increases a Goblin's speed to 35ft, adds a skill, and bumps Dex.

[rbstr]

A level of rogue for expertise in slight of hand and then fey patron.

[Daithi]

One thing to keep in mind is that "Fury of the Small" adds your level to damage against creatures bigger than you, which is basically everyone. When this bonus is applied to Eldritch Blast it will apply to each bolt, so at 5th level you get 2 beams and 10 points extra damage. At 11th it is 3 bolts for an extra 33 points of damage, and at 17th it is 4 bolts for an extra 68 points of damage. This is on top of the 4d10 for Eldrith Blast, plus another +5x4 for Agonizing Blast, and maybe even more if you have the Hex spell or the Hexblade Curse on your target as well. Another option here is multi-classing with sorcerer and quickening Eldritch Blast to double the number of bolts and the damage.

Goblin warlocks kick butt.

[Joe the Rat]

As a caster primary with ludicrous dex, the only thing hexblade gives you is shield proficiency. Try on something different.

If you need to keep theme with your cleric, you could always go Undying. Strike terror, ignore death... hell, you're a reaction heal ability away from being a Nilbog.

The line between a joker and The Joker is smudgy. Embrace the laughing madness of being the only sane creature and go GOOlock.

Fey patrons? Yeah, I could see it. You might find something on the Winter side that fits both the death theme and the trickery.

Fiends... they truck with many dark deities of death, and have an appreciation of trickery on both sides of the isle. A South of the Border Psychopomp with a prediliction for desperation deals that make everything worse seems right in line. A lieutenant of good old Fraz Urb'luu (or the Demon Lord of Lies himself) would enjoy a little tricksyness. Or Grazzt. Always with the Grazzt.

Now then, Stragety. I'm seeing a fair bit of battle trickster.

Having both Push and Pull lets you wreak havoc. As a Tomer you could skip the grasp and take thorn whip, but that precludes doing both at once. Also remember that the ability say "up to 10 feet." Sometimes 5 feet is all you need to drop someone down a well. Not a go to, but consider Infestation for one of your cantrips, solely for that uncontrollable side-to-side option.

That's two of your Invocations. You should grab Misty Visions or Mask of Many Faces - at least one, possibly before grabbing repelling blast. I'd put priority towards Misty. You can disguise yourself to hide your identity, but you can only impersonate people at Dwarf or Below. Thief of Five Fates sounds good, but meh. What you are really looking for is level 7 - Sculptor of Flesh. Polymorph is better than Magic Mouth on a Codpiece.

Notice how Agonizing Blast isn't mentioned? That's because you don't need it. Damage is a secondary function, messing with people takes priority. This also lets you put the friendly back in friendly fire. For the price of a little pain, you can rocket jump your allies around, or drag a buddy out of melee without opportunity attacks. You've got Force Powers (Jedi Mind Trick is 2nd level), they just bang things up a little.

If you absolutely, positively must hurt people, toll the dead (the dolorous bell replaced by laughing doom), shadow blade (juggling with death!), Vampiric Touch, and, oh, Blight.