Help me optimize a Half-Elf Sorcerer/Warlock!

[KingWhipsy]

Hey all, I made a post a few days ago about a warlock I was going to be playing in ToA and i've changed my build around a bit.

I'm planning on playing a Half-Elf Sorcerer/Warlock and was wondering what the best way to build this would be. Does it make any sense to go a Half-Elf variant or should I just keep the 2 skills? What subclasses mix best for this multiclass? Was thinking Shadow and Fiend would be cool but read something about Hexblade being the best, even for a blaster. Do I go Sorc3, then Warlock2, then sorcerer? Is it worth it to grab Warlock 3 for a chain familiar? So many questions and i've never been a magic blaster before so I am a bit lost on how to optimize. Any discussion would be helpful. The idea is basically hex and then eldritch blast with metamagic for big nukes.

Thanks for your time and suggestions!

[sophontteks]

If you just want to be a blaster, just go fiendlock. Use hex. Get to level 5 for maddening hex. Hex will quickly last 8 hours, so just cast it on a rat when you wake up, kill the rat, and short rest. Move it onto an enemy as a bonus action. Beef up your EB. Cast powerful AOE and control spells as necessary. At level 14 can do 10d10 damage on top of your EB. Is it worth pushing that back?

[Keravath]

The usual builds are
17 sorcerer/3 warlock or 18 sorcerer/2 warlock both will get 9th level spells.

Most common warlock choice is pact of the tome for all the ritual casting goodness. Assuming your DM makes the scrolls or spell books available as treasure in game you can get every ritual from every class plus some additional useful cantrips. The rituals include find familiar ... so if you go chain pact you are basically looking at a pretty cool slightly upgraded familiar vs tons of spell versatility.

Hexblade is usually considered the best choice for the following very good reasons ... medium armor, shields, martial weapon proficiencies (you can use any weapon you find in the rare cases you need a weapon (i.e. stuck in melee and decide to use booming blade)). In addition, hexblade's curse 1/short rest and shield spell on the warlock list (though you can pick it up from sorcerer ... but it frees a very valuable sorcerer spell slot). Finally, if you find yourself making a weapon attack, you can use charisma to hit instead of dex/str ... which will keep your to hit semi-competitive in the rare cases you end up in melee. In comparison the only thing a fiend lock gives you is a maximum of 7 temp hit points (at maxed charisma) if you happen to be the one who reduces a target to zero hit points. No benefit if someone else does it. However, the boost to AC provided by medium armor+shield+shield spell far outweighs a few temp hit points in my opinion.

As for level progression ... some say go to 5 in sorcerer first for 3rd level spells. Personally, I went 3 sorc/2 warlock for the warlock benefits (but mine is a variant human with the resilient feat so they are proficient in both con and wis saves at first level and I wanted devils sight and eldritch+agonizing blast from the warlock online as early as possible).

Sorc choices ... shadow sorc is very flavourful and mixes well with the hexblade fluff and the common tie in to the plain of shadows. On the other hand, mechanically a divine soul provides a huge choice of spells and some nice benefits. The other sorcerer options can also be good (elemental affinity(fire) and elemental adept(fire) work pretty well for a dragon sorcerer ... except for fire immune creatures but it does get around resistance).

[KingWhipsy]

The usual builds are
17 sorcerer/3 warlock or 18 sorcerer/2 warlock both will get 9th level spells.

Most common warlock choice is pact of the tome for all the ritual casting goodness. Assuming your DM makes the scrolls or spell books available as treasure in game you can get every ritual from every class plus some additional useful cantrips. The rituals include find familiar ... so if you go chain pact you are basically looking at a pretty cool slightly upgraded familiar vs tons of spell versatility.

Hexblade is usually considered the best choice for the following very good reasons ... medium armor, shields, martial weapon proficiencies (you can use any weapon you find in the rare cases you need a weapon (i.e. stuck in melee and decide to use booming blade)). In addition, hexblade's curse 1/short rest and shield spell on the warlock list (though you can pick it up from sorcerer ... but it frees a very valuable sorcerer spell slot). Finally, if you find yourself making a weapon attack, you can use charisma to hit instead of dex/str ... which will keep your to hit semi-competitive in the rare cases you end up in melee. In comparison the only thing a fiend lock gives you is a maximum of 7 temp hit points (at maxed charisma) if you happen to be the one who reduces a target to zero hit points. No benefit if someone else does it. However, the boost to AC provided by medium armor+shield+shield spell far outweighs a few temp hit points in my opinion.

As for level progression ... some say go to 5 in sorcerer first for 3rd level spells. Personally, I went 3 sorc/2 warlock for the warlock benefits (but mine is a variant human with the resilient feat so they are proficient in both con and wis saves at first level and I wanted devils sight and eldritch+agonizing blast from the warlock online as early as possible).

Sorc choices ... shadow sorc is very flavourful and mixes well with the hexblade fluff and the common tie in to the plain of shadows. On the other hand, mechanically a divine soul provides a huge choice of spells and some nice benefits. The other sorcerer options can also be good (elemental affinity(fire) and elemental adept(fire) work pretty well for a dragon sorcerer ... except for fire immune creatures but it does get around resistance).

Alright. You sold me on hexblade, even for a blaster. And it sounds like the sorcerer subclass doesn't matter much between draconic and shadow. We are going to have a cleric and paladin in the party so i'm leaning away from the cleric-y subclass.

[em.]

Alright. You sold me on hexblade, even for a blaster. And it sounds like the sorcerer subclass doesn't matter much between draconic and shadow. We are going to have a cleric and paladin in the party so i'm leaning away from the cleric-y subclass.

Generally it's Sorceror at first level to snag the Constitution Save. I'd recommend Half Elf, myself - as your ASI are going to be delayer from the Multiclass.

[Galithar]

Just want to point out that Pact of the Tome is based on Warlock level for which rituals you can learn. I see a lot of people that think a Tomelock 3/Sorcerer X can cast any ritual they find. In reality they would be limited to second level rituals (half your warlock level rounded up)

I think for a Sorlock a Pact of the Chain is much better unless you really want those Tome cantrips. An at-will invisibility flying scout with hands and a mouth (can talk even without VotC just not in your voice). AKA Imp is a lot more valuable to me then level two rituals. Scouting can be invaluable, someone else can pick up the rituals.

Edit: I recommend Shadow Sorcerer if your DM actually uses and pays attention to lighting conditions. 120 feet of darkvision at level one. Of course this is irrelevant if you are planning on taking Devil's Sight as one of your Invocations.

[KingWhipsy]

Generally it's Sorceror at first level to snag the Constitution Save. I'd recommend Half Elf, myself - as your ASI are going to be delayer from the Multiclass.

Yeah planning on sorcerer until 3 I think, then Warlock for 3, then the rest in Sorcerer. I am going to be playing Half-Elf for sure. Basically down to Hexblade Warlock and Shadow Magic Sorcerer I think. The only bad thing about this is delaying my ASI's for so long. But it should be fine if I start with a statline of STR 8, DEX 16, CON 16, INT 8, WIS 10, CHA 16.

I think I want to go Pact of the Chain as having a strong familiar sounds great, with invisibility scouting and whatnot.

[cyberfunkr]

In the sorcerer/warlock I'm building, I am going all the way to Sorc 4 before switching to make sure I get the ASI for Cha18 first. Then going Celestial/Pact of the Tome; mostly for thematic/RP reasons.

The Celestial isn't his patron, it's using him as a vessel and is kind of power-mad. Collecting all types of spells so he can regain what was lost to him.

[Keravath]

Just want to point out that Pact of the Tome is based on Warlock level for which rituals you can learn. I see a lot of people that think a Tomelock 3/Sorcerer X can cast any ritual they find. In reality they would be limited to second level rituals (half your warlock level rounded up)

I think for a Sorlock a Pact of the Chain is much better unless you really want those Tome cantrips. An at-will invisibility flying scout with hands and a mouth (can talk even without VotC just not in your voice). AKA Imp is a lot more valuable to me then level two rituals. Scouting can be invaluable, someone else can pick up the rituals.

Edit: I recommend Shadow Sorcerer if your DM actually uses and pays attention to lighting conditions. 120 feet of darkvision at level one. Of course this is irrelevant if you are planning on taking Devil's Sight as one of your Invocations.

You're absolutely right about the rituals ... however, there are a lot of useful first and second level rituals that can come in very handy ... just starting with detect magic, identify and comprehend languages, find familiar, unseen servant, alarm, augury and a few situational ones. Plus you can use an owl from find familiar for scouting and helping in combat if desired. The chain pact familiars are certainly better and are great for roleplaying .. so it generally comes down to individual choice.

One thing to keep in mind is that darkvision is better in dim light and devils sight is better in complete darkness (devils sight doesn't do anything in dim light). For perfect vision (without disadvantage on perception checks) under all conditions you need both devils sight and darkvision. A shadow sorcerer with devils sight sees perfectly within 120' under all lighting conditions.

[Keravath]

Yeah planning on sorcerer until 3 I think, then Warlock for 3, then the rest in Sorcerer. I am going to be playing Half-Elf for sure. Basically down to Hexblade Warlock and Shadow Magic Sorcerer I think. The only bad thing about this is delaying my ASI's for so long. But it should be fine if I start with a statline of STR 8, DEX 16, CON 16, INT 8, WIS 10, CHA 16.

I think I want to go Pact of the Chain as having a strong familiar sounds great, with invisibility scouting and whatnot.

If you are going to go hexblade and wear medium armor then you could drop dex to 14 and bump up str and int to 10 or (str or int) to 10 and wis to 12 for better saves and skills.

[jiriku]

Pact of the chain is far superior unless no one else in your party is a ritual caster. Once anyone can cast rituals, it really doesn't matter who casts them. On the other hand, the imp familiar is a unique resource that no one else in the group can duplicate.