Need help on Hexblade build !!!

[Grondsmash]

My 5th level Sorlock (Shadow/Celestial) just gained a 4th level Warrior from the Deck of Many Things. The DM has ruled not only it has to be 1/2 elf Drow, like me, but also a Warlock too.

Multi-Classing is OK, most the party is, one way or another. ASI's are rationally at Character Level, not Class Level.
Prefer more tank than dps, if possible, DM likes to kill off the front line.
No limit on patron, but Hexblade, Celestial or Archfey will work thematically.
All books are OK, except world books like Strahd or Eberron but does have the Underdark, DM doesn't read and House Rules Erratas, so original printing is in play.
We roll stats and I got 18, 17, 16, 15, 14, 13, no joke!

With a 1/2 Drow, I was thinking:
Str 13
Dex 18
Con 18
Int 14
Wis 15
Cha 19 (20 with E.A. Feat)

Take Elven Accuracy at 4th?
Was thinking of using Cha for melee, so Sword and Board...?

[Wildarm]

Would recommend hexblade - 14 Dex + Medium armor + Shield will give a decent AC
CHA > CON/DEX > WIS > STR > INT

4th level feat choices that would help whole party:

Inspiring Leader
Sentinel(and later PAM)
Alert

Pact of Chain would give group a fantastic scout, potion feeder, help action giver
Pact of Tome can fill in Cantrip/Ritual weaknesses in party
Pact of Blade if going Sentinel/PAM route

[Teaguethebean]

I second Inspiring leader just to grant your party an extra 7hp consistently also probably run sword and board for maximum survivability

[Man_Over_Game]

Your Hexblade companion will gain a lot by grabbing a single level into Sorcerer after Warlock 3. The idea here is that the Hexblade wouldn't want to spend a level 2 spell slot for a level 1 nonscaling spell (Shield), and a small investment into Sorcerer will really help with that.

I'd actually invest into the Tough feat. The one thing that Hexblades don't have is HP.

[Grondsmash]

Would recommend hexblade - 14 Dex + Medium armor + Shield will give a decent AC
CHA > CON/DEX > WIS > STR > INT

4th level feat choices that would help whole party:

Inspiring Leader
Sentinel(and later PAM)
Alert

So a few questions. Why a pole-arm, when I don't have to waste the ability to use any non-two-handed weapon with my high Charisma, and use Str as my dump stat?
Is 7 hp so valuable? I have always found these temp hp as a bad trap that does nothing useful? Are every game I have played in so different to the ones where people talk about this being a good feat?
Alert is good, but I am not the party point-man, so aren't other feats more valuable to start, like:
- Elven Accuracy (One level dip in to Ranger and this blows up!)
- Resilient Wisdom, so I can resist being controlled by others.
- Shield Master, to gain the Dex benefits, and knock prone to aid in Elven Accuracy
- or Tough to balance out the hp disparity, and giving me more actual HP than 7 measly temp ones

Since he is starting at 4th level, he can even go with a great weapon fighting, as he can use Cha to wield it, no that I can get Improved Pact Weapon!

[Zyrxan]

First thing: If we're going by the deck in the DMG, the NPC is a 4th level character (Warlock in this case, normally a Fighter).


Why a pole-arm, when I don't have to waste the ability to use any non-two-handed weapon with my high Charisma, and use Str as my dump stat?
Polearm Master gives an additional attack using your bonus action at 1d4+Cha. Which works with a Spear, which can be used one-handed with a shield, or a Glaive if you take the Improved Pact Weapon invocation. It also grants an attack when something enters your reach using your reaction.


Is 7 hp so valuable? I have always found these temp hp as a bad trap that does nothing useful?

Comparison:
Tough - +8HP at level 4, only to you, scales up to +40 at level 20.
Inspiring Leader - +8 temp HP (level+Cha modifier ((+4 with a 19)) at level 4, to up to six people including the person with the feat, per short rest, scaling up to +25 at 20.

Sure, Tough increases your own survivability a little more than Inspiring Leader, until you take a short rest and reapply it. Then your effective HP bonus went from +8 to +16, or from +25 to +50 at 20.[/QUOTE]


- Elven Accuracy (One level dip in to Ranger and this blows up!)
- Resilient Wisdom, so I can resist being controlled by others.
- Shield Master, to gain the Dex benefits, and knock prone to aid in Elven Accuracy
- or Tough to balance out the hp disparity, and giving me more actual HP than 7 measly temp ones

Elven Accuracy: Very useful IF you can get advantage. Not hard (Darkness+Devil's Sight being the most common combo) but something to keep in mind
Resilient (Wisdom) - Character is a 4th level Warlock, meaning it already has Wisdom save proficiency.
Shield Master - Warlock does not have Athletics as a skill proficiency, but it can be taken with a background or race. A very good feat for the shove and the pseudo-evasion, though competes with Polearm Master if you take that.
Tough - See above.

[Grondsmash]

Comparison:
Tough - +8HP at level 4, only to you, scales up to +40 at level 20.
Inspiring Leader - +8 temp HP (level+Cha modifier ((+4 with a 19)) at level 4, to up to six people including the person with the feat, per short rest, scaling up to +25 at 20.

Sure, Tough increases your own survivability a little more than Inspiring Leader, until you take a short rest and reapply it. Then your effective HP bonus went from +8 to +16, or from +25 to +50 at 20.

So I see the problem here. The reason our games have little use for temp hp is that we use the PHB, and have the ability to read the rules...

Healing can't restore temporary hit points, and they can't be added together. If you have temporary hit points and receive more of them, you decide whether to keep the ones you have or to gain the new ones. For example, if a spell grants you 12 temporary hit points when you already have 10,you can have 12 or 10, not 22.

So +8, +16, etc. not-so-much, it is always just +8 hp, only after a short rest. In the 4th level comparison, just as you can rejuvenate the +8 by re-using the feat on short rests (but not during combat), my natural hp is also +8 with Tough, but that gets rejuvenated by healing spells in combat, healing abilities/spells and hit dice on short rests, and full healing on long rests.

in all the 5e games I've played, you could only get the temp hp of each occurrence, which then changes your Comparison to 4th level being equal bonus, and each level higher, the Tough Feat gives more survivability, being almost TWICE the bonus at level 20.

[Zyrxan]

So I see the problem here. The reason our games have little use for temp hp is that we use the PHB, and have the ability to read the rules...


So +8, +16, etc. not-so-much, it is always just +8 hp, only after a short rest. In the 4th level comparison, just as you can rejuvenate the +8 by re-using the feat on short rests (but not during combat), my natural hp is also +8 with Tough, but that gets rejuvenated by healing spells in combat, healing abilities/spells and hit dice on short rests, and full healing on long rests.

in all the 5e games I've played, you could only get the temp hp of each occurrence, which then changes your Comparison to 4th level being equal bonus, and each level higher, the Tough Feat gives more survivability, being almost TWICE the bonus at level 20.

Temp HP don't stack, this is true. What you don't seem to realize is that every time you take a long or short rest, you can apply Inspiring Leader again. So wake up in the morning, 8 temp HP from IL to your entire party.

Take a short rest after a fight where your entire party depleted their temp HP, 8 temp HP.

Take another short rest after another fight where only your frontline took damage? Temp HP of those who didn't take damage is unchanged and stays at 8, while your frontline gains those temp HP back.

Tough increases your own max HP by 8 at 4th level. Yes it can be healed, but that takes resources that could be spent... I don't know, making something more dead? Healing in combat unless it's to wake someone up is highly inefficient anyways unless it's from an ability like Second Wind.

With two short rests, you have an effective HP increase of +24 per person if the temp HP are fully depleted each time. It also doesn't eat a spell slot or an item to use each time

I'll take a slightly smaller up front boost in exchange for tripling to more than tripling my own survivability while ALSO making sure my wizard has basically double the HP he had before.

I have the PHB too. I can read too. I also know how to apply effects to get the most bang for my buck, while also considering my party, because we're a team. +8 HP to myself, or effectively +96 HP spread across the entire party (absolute minimum of +32?) Hmm...

[MThurston]

Are you set on Elf? Dragon born would work great here.

You could take Medium Armour Master to get an extra A.C. bonus with thatb18 Dex. I get that 14 is max for a.c. bonus but a +4 for init is nice.

You can't use PAM until 3rd level when you can take IPW. It's an old power gaming move and to me boring.

[Grondsmash]

Are you set on Elf? Dragon born would work great here.

Yes, Deck of Many Things states it must be the same race. DM added has warlock levels as well.

Bladesinger my be someone's personal favorites, but doesn't make sense in this instance. So, I get Shield from being a Hexblade, so I don't need wizard levels. Making an necessarily MAD character by wasting a high ability stat in Intelligence just doesn't seem logical. And using a HP die that is lower than some spellcasters while only providing 1 more point of AC seems rather "anti-warrior" and illogical.

Hexblades and Paladins can cast while wielding, so don't need Warcaster.

Barbarian doesn't really work here either.

Tough Feat, I have found is vastly superior, as there are many non-magical ways to heal up on short rests (like hit die recovery, healer's kit, poultices, etc.), so like the lesser Leader Feat, doesn't eat up magic and resources

Final Version
Paladin/Hexblade/Sword Bard, Sword & board

can cast while wielding, so don't need to waste getting Warcaster.

Have Flourishes to go with Shield, non-magical base AC 22

Although only two attacks, but loves to nova, having lots of slots to smite, eldritch and/or divine (some of which regen on short rests)

I highly recommend the combo