Build: TheOneEyedGhoul..Barbarian/Warlock!

[Legendairy]

Hello again playgrounders! So I am joining an anime themed game on roll20, and well, it loved me for my rolling!

For story reasons I’m going Aereni Wood Elf, after racial stat mods my stats are 18-18-18-14-16-16 (we rolled on roll20...I KNOW!)

I am pretty much basing the character off of Ken Kaneki from Tokyo Ghoul...so since he just kind of goes nuts when fighting I dig barbarian and I think warlock would fit well as well! So what I was thinking is starting barbarian and going straight to 5, then adding in some warlock levels 5 of them actually....we are using the old UA version of elven accuracy so it works with strength. Now I was thinking of mainly barb and also the lock invocations like lifedrinker are available at character level not warlock level so I can swap them out.

This would net me if going Zealot barb and Hexblade, something like +half barb level+str+prof+cha to damage before a dice is rolled....now I’m going TWF not GWF or PAM, don’t want to get too cheesy lol. We start with a feat at first level so I am snagging elven accuracy to boost the stats and get the thrice dice! That way once I can reckless it’s crit fishing-lite then hexblade will be good for big enemy on short rests.

Now I don’t know how good this is on the dice side of things 1d8 weapon 1d6 zealot...hex is nice but slots are probably better for armor of agathys or warlock smite.

Also what other feats are good....I do think I want to get the stats to 20-20-20 but I’m open to suggestions! So playground, how can this character feel more like The One Eyed Ghoul in combat, what options may I be missing, I am open to builds a bit more and would like to crit fish some....game starts 6pm EST.

Thank you all in advance, my brain is a bit mushy right now, I have like a 5 page back story for the character so I think I don’t want to deviate TOO much, but am very open to additional options and ways to improve upon this! Just realized the title could spark “the nameless king” comments, I’m sorry but not changing it lol

TLDR: looking for Barbarian/Warlock or Warlock/Barbarian...with a splash of crit fishing, with the stats to make it viable.

[Legendairy]

Is there no viability in this? Any questions comments concerns? Lol

[8wGremlin]

Your stat rolling puts people off. plus you have an awful lot of cheese in there, and then joke about not wanting too many.

Barbarian/Warlock is sub par for most as you just have to cast non concentration spells before hand.
can't cast in rage, and there is very little synergy between the two.

[Legendairy]

I guess that kind of makes sense, I can’t help the rolls, I was lucky and it’s on roll20 in front of our game, actually another player doing monk/ranger rolled almost identical stats. I suppose I was a bit tongue n cheek, didn’t realize it would be so off putting, it was late(for me) and I was dealing with toddlers all day.

As far as the cheesiness, it still doesn’t have the damage of any of the XBE/SS or PaM/GWM damagers I also think it’s sub par to the half orc racial feat line.

So what are some better ways to make it viable? I could not list the stats but then the stats help with which way the build could go. As far as UA elven accuracy and barbarian it shouldn’t be too cheesy? Hexblade fits, I just don’t know where the jump points are and if I’m going for a crit fish build, how far into lock should I go at all, barbarian will net me extra dice on crits. I was thinking barb 1 lock 5 then barb x? That would get me warlock smiting but not very high level so I don’t know if I should do that or not. I know crit fishing I should probably look at rogue and champ fighter in there somewhere as well.

[8wGremlin]

Perhaps.
But using the old UA and not the official UA because it uses STR is extreme cheese.

[BurgerBeast]

Well, gremlin speaks for herself and should not speak for others. What a hell of a thing to say. Real positive contribution, there.

[Legendairy]

Meh, maybe, didn’t want the thread going south, using UA cause that’s what the GM wanted to do cause they prefer it. Also the GM likes running a deadly game at all levels and wants us to be powerful.

[8wGremlin]

Well, gremlin speaks for herself and should not speak for others. What a hell of a thing to say. Real positive contribution, there.

You are right, I didn't contribute much at all, only pointing out some possible reasons for no one posting. and that Warlock /Barbarians being ok, but sub par, due to the lacking or synergy; not being able to cast spells, or keep concentration on spells when a barbarian rages.

Or that some aspects of the build are considered cheesy, or that there was a more up to date version of the feat than the one posted in Unearthed Arcana.

But yes, I don't speak for anyone else, nor did I said I did, I said that the "hey look at my rolls" type post often puts people off posting.

I will refrain from posting any more suggestions or comments on this thread.
But i'm glad you posted, and also helped the OP with their problem, and contributed to the solution. (oh...)

Bye, and I hope you have a fun time playing it @Legendairy (i had a fun time playing my barbarian/warlock in a one shot)

[Legendairy]

Also, I wasn’t trying to showcase or brag about my stats, from what I’ve seen stats are kind of needed to help with builds.

I think I’m going wood elf getting the first level feat of elven accuracy then going barb to 5 then warlock to 5 then barb the rest of the way, taking the cloud of flies invocation and the Eldritch smite invocation. I’m not worried about devils sight or anything. I will be taking GWF at level 4 then probably just stat bumps from there.

Thank you all for your help, sorry if anyone was offended that I rolled well or that our DM plays using a bunch of house rules that appearantly annoy people.

[Mitchellnotes]

Honestly, 5 barb levels is either too many or too few depending on how you look at it. The key to this is temp hit points both from armor of agathys and fiend pact. Raging doubles their effectiveness. Id recommend going barb 2/lock 5/ barb 2, rest lock with a fiend/blade lock and whatever barbarian. I could see ancestral or totem (bear or eagle) being very good, zealot would be fine. Grab GWM at lock 5, imp pact weapon until you get a magic weapon, and extra attack from blade pact. Fiend also gets good non concentration spells, blindness, fireball, etc. Grab armor of agathysfor sure. You dont have to avoid concentration spells, and you can still eldritch blast pretty easily if need be.

With your stats, it just makes this mix easier and opens up some more feat possibilities (gwm, pam, and sentinel while still having good cha).

Oh also, dont get elven accuracy, doesnt work with reckless attack and with rage + temp hp, no reason not to go reckless.

[Legendairy]

Thank you.

[Sexyshoeless]

So the first question in any multiclass is which class we are going more of. There are generally a couple of ways I see this going well. Level 3 in Warlock can be done for a couple of invocations, a smaller Armor of Agathys and a familiar for utility. It's a good dip point for a mostly barbarian build that you just want to add some utility to.

Alternatively, you just go Barb 5 or 6 and then pump warlock forever for a huger AoA, spellcasting utility. THe barbarian start gives you some HP, rage resistance and medium armor/extra attack.

Keeping those in mind, some suggestions for subclass. Totem bear gives you a ton of beefiness, which will help survivability if you go a mostly warlock build. Ancestral guardian/celestial chainlock gives a really interesting support/tank build. For a crit fisher build, the combo of Hexblade for hexblade's curse (note lack of proficiency) and berserker for that extra attack is great. Fiendlock as mentioned gives you that juicy THP per kill - but I personally find it is a touch situational and doesn't stack with AoA.

Pact boon wise the classic is blade so you can get eldritch smite- a way to use your spells while raging. However, as I mentioned, Pact of the chain gives a nice utility option.

[Legendairy]

All valid points, I think I’m going barb zealot 5 then warlock hexblade 5, taking cloak of flies invocation and Eldritch smite. Then going back into barbarian for extra dice on crits, with elven accuracy working with strength I will snag GWF and go with a greataxe, a hit should look something like 1d12+1d6+5+7+10 (32) and with final invocations of grabbing warlock 6 eventually 1d12+1d6+5+4+7+10 (36) while doing 4 points of aoe poison damage. A crit would look something like 3d12+6d8(ES)+2d6+5+4+6+7+10 (85.5(2 times a short rest(with hexblade curse)). A bit more while raging. With a high crit chance, the damage should be pretty good. I may go barb 7 then into lock 5. Again thank you all for your help.