Creating a Bowblade Help

[Scigr]

I'm playing in a level 12 one-shot soon and I'd like to play a ranged smiter. Since paladin is melee smite only I believe that means I'll have to be at least 5 levels of bladelock. At bare minimum to pull this off I'll need Improved pact weapon and eldritch smite. Thirsting blade will depend on if I multi-class high enough with a multi-attack class. My biggest build problem has been trying to get my primary attack stat to 20 and get sharpshooter and crossbow expert. Maybe I don't need all that, but I don't know which one is less important.

Any official content is allowed, but no UA. Feats are OK as is multi-classing. I'm honestly open to whatever and curious to see what interesting builds get created.

My rolled stats are 13, 14, 15, 8, 13, 16 in no particular order which should allow for almost any multi-class combo.

Thanks.

[CheddarChampion]

Half-Elf Hexblade 11/Fighter 1
8/14/15/14/14/18 to start

Invocations:
Improved pact weapon
Thirsting blade
Lifedrinker
Eldritch smite

Archery fighting style

Feats/ASI's:
Charisma +2
Sharpshooter
Crossbow expert

Edit: maybe start fighter for Con saves.
Edit 2: the fighter level takes away one feat/ASI. Either don't take Cha +2 or don't take a level of fighter.

[Misterwhisper]

Unlike a Paladin, the warlock smite does have to use only Warlock Spell slots.

Hexblade
V.Human for which ever feat you want.
At 4 take the other.
Boost Cha to 20 with ASI from 8 and 12.

Invocations:
Improved Pact Weapon
Eldritch Smite
Devil's Sight
Thirsting Blade
Life Drinker
One other of whatever

This should give you:
+1 weapon
Cha to hit and damage with a bow
2 attacks
adding charisma again to your damage
Can smite 3 times per short rest with 5th level spell slots
One 6th level spell of choice

Not bad for a one shot

[jaappleton]

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?544943-The-argument-for-the-Warlock-Hexblade-Archer

[greenstone]

Half-Elf Hexblade 11/Fighter 1

Invocations:
Lifedrinker

You need 12 levels in Warlock for this invocation.

It's a good one, so probably worth sacrificing that one level of fighter. Also, you'll get one more ASI than if you chose W11/F1.

[Corran]

For level 12? I think a pure warlock is the best option at that specific level. I was very tempted to say that maybe a 1 or 2 level dip in fighter is worth it, for the archery fighting style and action surge (feylock's greater invisibility or darkness), but I think the 3rd slot and lifedrinker add more to the skeleton of your build (ie wants to use slots to smite and to use a hand crossbow). Once you decide on the level split (if any; I suggest none), most of the details of the build pretty much fall into place.

[Scigr]

I appreciate all the input. I don’t disagree that 12 levels of warlock is probably best. I guess the thing that keeps bothering me is I’ll know all these spells that are pretty much worthless since I’ll always be saving my spells for smite.

In my mind I keep debating if an 8/4 split with a caster class would be worth it. I’d lose the mystic arcanum, 5th level spells and a slot, but 4th is still pretty good. I keep thinking sorcerer would be great just to provide and use 1st and 2nd level spells like shield, absorb elements, hex, etc. Heck I’ve even considered war cleric for heavy armor and war gods blessing to guarantee a hit. With my stats a mad multiclass that doesn’t rely on wisdom isn’t a big deal.

I’m probably just overthinking it though. Ha

[Quoz]

Alternate idea, just for some variety and comparison.

Bugbear Pal(Choice) 8/Fighter (BM)4

3 Feats: PAM, +2 Str, your choice (Sentinel would be great)

Battlemaster fighter for Lunge maneuver gives a 20' reach an attacks during your turn. Probably 80-90% of the time that will be enough for what you need.

Lower level smites and on long rest, but you still have quite a few. And superiority dice are mini-smites as well.

Paladin levels give Aura of Protection for great saves, for Oath take Ancients for spell protection, Vengeance for automatic advantage, or Conquest for lockdown control (In which case I would go Pal 9/fighter 3, since the Fear spell is so awesome.)

[OracularPoet]

Bard 10 can get Banishing Smite from Paladin list, which is range weapon eligible.

Edit: guess that’s true of the hex blade, too.

[Nhorianscum]

I appreciate all the input. I don’t disagree that 12 levels of warlock is probably best. I guess the thing that keeps bothering me is I’ll know all these spells that are pretty much worthless since I’ll always be saving my spells for smite.

In my mind I keep debating if an 8/4 split with a caster class would be worth it. I’d lose the mystic arcanum, 5th level spells and a slot, but 4th is still pretty good. I keep thinking sorcerer would be great just to provide and use 1st and 2nd level spells like shield, absorb elements, hex, etc. Heck I’ve even considered war cleric for heavy armor and war gods blessing to guarantee a hit. With my stats a mad multiclass that doesn’t rely on wisdom isn’t a big deal.

I’m probably just overthinking it though. Ha

Not entirely certain why spells known are "worthless".

Smiting on a crit burns a 5th level slot for an additional 12d8 (56 average) or 6d8 non-crit (28)

Now no-action +56 damage is worth a 5th level slot in a fight against a single big-bad...

But a 5th level slot for 28 damage in any other situation? Hard pass no-thanks.

Blade 12 is such a loaded level that it's almost impossible to justify skipping on a hexblade.

[Scigr]

Bard 10 can get Banishing Smite from Paladin list, which is range weapon eligible.

Edit: guess that’s true of the hex blade, too.

I’ve never played with a high level paladin and have never seen that spell before. Thanks for pointing it out.

I really like the idea of starting fighter for con saves and +2 archery. Then going valor/swords bard for that and maybe even lightning arrow or something else that fits thematically.

[Degwerks]

You could do 5 Hexblade and 6 lore bard and 1 fighter. Pact of the blade with Eldritch smite and improved pact weapon and the 2 attack invocation.

Have con saves and archery style. 3rd level pact slots and 3rd level bard spells. Haste or lightning arrow or hail of thorns for magical secrets and regular bars supporting spells.

[Deadlykire]

The question to me here is: What do you want the character to do? What role do you want your character to fill?

If you are going to multiclass I'd take your first level as fighter or paladin at level 1. This gives you heavy armor prof, con save bonus, and a few other goodies. You also get martial weapon proficiency here, so you may or may not need hexblade. It opens up your warlock patron options. I'd still go hexblade because it moves you from MAD to SAD. Especially if you are really into the paladin for smite.

[Scigr]

The question to me here is: What do you want the character to do? What role do you want your character to fill?

If you are going to multiclass I'd take your first level as fighter or paladin at level 1. This gives you heavy armor prof, con save bonus, and a few other goodies. You also get martial weapon proficiency here, so you may or may not need hexblade. It opens up your warlock patron options. I'd still go hexblade because it moves you from MAD to SAD. Especially if you are really into the paladin for smite.

So my goal is to do ranged damage and to be able to have a ranged smite one way or another. That basically means that paladin is out since it’s mostly melee.

I really like the idea of going at least 10 levels of valor bard and using magical secrets to get banishing smite and lightning arrow or something else. Then I’ll just take non-save spells for out of combat use or emergency healing.

The last question I have is what to do with the other 2 levels. The obvious answer is 1 level of fighter for archery fighting style and then another level of bard for a 6th level spell. I wonder though if its worth it to instead go 2 levels of ranger for archery and hunter’s mark. I also plan on taking crossbow expert and using a hand crossbow for 3 attack’s a turn.

[Degwerks]

So my goal is to do ranged damage and to be able to have a ranged smite one way or another. That basically means that paladin is out since it’s mostly melee.

I really like the idea of going at least 10 levels of valor bard and using magical secrets to get banishing smite and lightning arrow or something else. Then I’ll just take non-save spells for out of combat use or emergency healing.

The last question I have is what to do with the other 2 levels. The obvious answer is 1 level of fighter for archery fighting style and then another level of bard for a 6th level spell. I wonder though if its worth it to instead go 2 levels of ranger for archery and hunter’s mark. I also plan on taking crossbow expert and using a hand crossbow for 3 attack’s a turn.

Take Banishing Smite and Holy Weapon. Take 1 Fighter level and 11 in Valor Bard.

[th3g0dc0mp13x]

So my goal is to do ranged damage and to be able to have a ranged smite one way or another. That basically means that paladin is out since it’s mostly melee.

I really like the idea of going at least 10 levels of valor bard and using magical secrets to get banishing smite and lightning arrow or something else. Then I’ll just take non-save spells for out of combat use or emergency healing.

The last question I have is what to do with the other 2 levels. The obvious answer is 1 level of fighter for archery fighting style and then another level of bard for a 6th level spell. I wonder though if its worth it to instead go 2 levels of ranger for archery and hunter’s mark. I also plan on taking crossbow expert and using a hand crossbow for 3 attack’s a turn.

If you decide to go Bard then I would go with 10/1/1 Bard, Fighter, Warlock this gets your style, Makes you extremely SAD with hexblade attached to your handcrossbow and gets your smites in. One thing to keep in mind is that Banishing smite takes a bonus action to apply so you are not getting your hand xbow extra attack. Curse and Hex also take your BA so you will have a lot of competing options there. In addition to that Banishing smite is 5d10 Average 27.5 and you don't choose when to apply it to an attack. Eldritch smite is 6d8 Average 27 and you choose when to use it so you can use it to crit.

Personally I would go pure warlock.

Pure Warlock 12
Half Elf (Drow)~ 8,14,16,13,14,18 Starting
ASI: +2 CHR, Sharpshooter, xbow expert
Invocations: eldritch smite, Lifedrinker, Thirsting Blade +3 others of your choice.
You can have 3 attacks per turn. Turn 1 you would only have 2. So starting from turn 2 you deal 1d6+5+5+5+10 without using a spell slot. (weapon damage+CHR+curse+Lifedrinker+sharpshooter) That's an average of 75+ damage per turn without smites. if you crit you can drop a smite to add an additional 12d8 damage Average 54 for 1 spell slot.

[MThurston]

Alternate idea, just for some variety and comparison.

Bugbear Pal(Choice) 8/Fighter (BM)4

3 Feats: PAM, +2 Str, your choice (Sentinel would be great)

Battlemaster fighter for Lunge maneuver gives a 20' reach an attacks during your turn. Probably 80-90% of the time that will be enough for what you need.

Lower level smites and on long rest, but you still have quite a few. And superiority dice are mini-smites as well.

Paladin levels give Aura of Protection for great saves, for Oath take Ancients for spell protection, Vengeance for automatic advantage, or Conquest for lockdown control (In which case I would go Pal 9/fighter 3, since the Fear spell is so awesome.)

He wants to use a bow. Not the OP PAM/Sentinel power gaming build.

[Brawnspear]

If you like the flavor of paladin over warlock, you could also ask your dm if he'd be willing to let you go ranged paladin. Offer to drop smite damage by a die size for the option to do it at range. You'd get the benefit of improved divine smite and the regular smite options, so it would be like you had hunter's mark or hex up without burning the spell slot or concentration. And you'd be able to smite more frequently, even if the smites aren't for as much damage.

For a one-shot as a DM, I may not even ask for the die size decrease, especially if the person wasn't planning on multiclassing.

[Digimike]

I'd go 7 warlock 5 sorc. 3 bow shots with haste, quicken EB on bonus action. That's 6 attacks and you'll get decent run on your HB curse.

Save the lock spell slots for smite, use sorc ones for hex casts and stuff.

[Spiritchaser]

I actually wouldn’t use that many spell slots for smite (except against a flying target... hitting something with the ground never gets old) i’d go darkness/Devil’s Sight plus sharpshooter. You can swap this out for Shadow of Moil at 7 if you want. Sure you’ll need a round to set that up, but as a ranged character that’ll actually be easier for you than melee.

With advantage and sharpshooter your damage will be just fine. Throw in a level of fighter for archery if you must. I wouldn’t, but it’s not crazy.

Frankly this is one build that benefits greatly from Elven accuracy, and the level 12 ASI on that is probably worth more than the +2 to hit from the fighting style, though obviously with invocations vs con saves in the mix, there’s more to it than that.

[Rukelnikov]

So my goal is to do ranged damage and to be able to have a ranged smite one way or another. That basically means that paladin is out since it’s mostly melee.

I really like the idea of going at least 10 levels of valor bard and using magical secrets to get banishing smite and lightning arrow or something else. Then I’ll just take non-save spells for out of combat use or emergency healing.

The last question I have is what to do with the other 2 levels. The obvious answer is 1 level of fighter for archery fighting style and then another level of bard for a 6th level spell. I wonder though if its worth it to instead go 2 levels of ranger for archery and hunter’s mark. I also plan on taking crossbow expert and using a hand crossbow for 3 attack’s a turn.

Vhuman Whisper Bard 10/Hexblade1/Ftr1

8
14
16(15+1)
13
13
19(16+1+2)

Feats: +2 Cha, XBE, SS

Get Shadow of Moil, Guardian of Nature or some other spell that grants advantage on attacks, you use the Bardic Inspirations exclusively for smites, and still have a lot of spells.