Thoughts on a non-hexblade melee Warlock?

[MustacheManny]

I've been wanting to try out a warlock as I've never done that class before and had an idea that I just love. The premise is a miner who after being caught in a cave-in is rescued by a spirit who offers him his life in exchange for a service. His goal is to inscribe a glyph into cave or mine walls that act as a way for this spirit to travel between different cave systems as it cannot go into open air.
Anyway, all that is to say I want to play a melee Undying Warlock. I chose variant human at level 3 and ended up with:
16 Strength
14 Dexterity
12 Constitution
8 Intelligence
10 Wisdom
14 Charisma
For my cantrips I took green flame blade and piercing thorn (for synergy with other spell-casters)
I went blade pact and took a maul (I figure a coal miner would know his way around a hammer)
I know that at higher levels I probably lag behind a bit on damage, but I don't figure this game will get much beyond double digits level wise. I am worried that I won't be able to contribute enough at low-mid levels since I won't be using EB at all. Is it worth being this un-optimized for the sake of flavor or should I go a more traditional route?

[Garfunion]

What feat did you choose as a variant human? I’m also not familiar with the cantrip “piercing thorn”.

[Smoothjedi]

I've been wanting to try out a warlock as I've never done that class before and had an idea that I just love. The premise is a miner who after being caught in a cave-in is rescued by a spirit who offers him his life in exchange for a service. His goal is to inscribe a glyph into cave or mine walls that act as a way for this spirit to travel between different cave systems as it cannot go into open air.
Anyway, all that is to say I want to play a melee Undying Warlock. I chose variant human at level 3 and ended up with:
16 Strength
14 Dexterity
12 Constitution
8 Intelligence
10 Wisdom
14 Charisma
For my cantrips I took green flame blade and piercing thorn (for synergy with other spell-casters)
I went blade pact and took a maul (I figure a coal miner would know his way around a hammer)
I know that at higher levels I probably lag behind a bit on damage, but I don't figure this game will get much beyond double digits level wise. I am worried that I won't be able to contribute enough at low-mid levels since I won't be using EB at all. Is it worth being this un-optimized for the sake of flavor or should I go a more traditional route?

I'll start off with some concerns for your choice. First off, unless you're in a campaign with a lot of undead, you don't have a lot of options to protect yourself in melee. You're going to be pretty squishy with a low AC and hit points. The save DCs for your spells will also be on the lower end with 14 Charisma. 16 Strength should be adequate for your to hit bonuses to start. I would consider Booming Blade over Green Flame Blade, as the former doesn't have a scaling ability modifier, as yours will be relatively low. I haven't looked at the UA Piercing Thorns spell.
My main concern is what your plan for him would be as you level up. 14 Cha is a long hill to climb to get to 20, and if you wanted to focus on strength for attacks you don't have the advantage of wearing heavy armor without multiclassing or heavy feat investment. You're going to eventually be stuck just using your spell slots for buffs, rather than any CC or damage spells.

I think your flavor is cool, but honestly I think you're probably better off pumping your Charisma and going ranged. If you don't want to do EB, maybe you could use a Bow as your (improved) pact weapon and pump your Dex instead of Strength. Maybe that cave-in taught you the hard way that swinging your hammer around is a lot more dangerous than you originally thought, and it's time to hang it up.

[MustacheManny]

What feat did you choose as a variant human? I’m also not familiar with the cantrip “piercing thorn”.

I chose War Caster for my feat, and piercing thorn is essentially 1d6 damage now and 1d6 5ft AoE after getting hit with a 1st level or higher spell.

[MustacheManny]

I'll start off with some concerns for your choice. First off, unless you're in a campaign with a lot of undead, you don't have a lot of options to protect yourself in melee. You're going to be pretty squishy with a low AC and hit points. The save DCs for your spells will also be on the lower end with 14 Charisma. 16 Strength should be adequate for your to hit bonuses to start. I would consider Booming Blade over Green Flame Blade, as the former doesn't have a scaling ability modifier, as yours will be relatively low. I haven't looked at the UA Piercing Thorns spell.
My main concern is what your plan for him would be as you level up. 14 Cha is a long hill to climb to get to 20, and if you wanted to focus on strength for attacks you don't have the advantage of wearing heavy armor without multiclassing or heavy feat investment. You're going to eventually be stuck just using your spell slots for buffs, rather than any CC or damage spells.

I think your flavor is cool, but honestly I think you're probably better off pumping your Charisma and going ranged. If you don't want to do EB, maybe you could use a Bow as your (improved) pact weapon and pump your Dex instead of Strength. Maybe that cave-in taught you the hard way that swinging your hammer around is a lot more dangerous than you originally thought, and it's time to hang it up.

I appreciate that feedback! I think your concerns about the leveling path are right on. I did find myself taking mostly buff spells instead of damage or cc, I figured that might bite me later on. Thanks!

[Sorinth]

You can certainly make a decent non-hexblade melee warlock, however they tend to be PAM/Sentinel based since you are squishy and that can help keep you out of danger. If you are in a party with a strong tank then grabbing the Mobile feat and kiting is another decent option, in this case you'd want BB over GFB.

You may also want to consider starting as a 1st level be fighter, and then switching into Warlock since that will net you heavy armor and con saves. Since I'm guessing you'll be running Hex all the time having profiency in Con saves is important.

If you aren't wedded to being a human, going Mountain Dwarf is a decent option. It nets you medium armor and a better con score, the strength boost would work well for you. It also fits the theme of being a miner.

[Desteplo]

Variant human feet you can pick up medium armor proficiency. Should get your AC easy
-you do want a 14 con if melee. That extra buffer if health is pretty nice
-that is stretching stats thin but if you can manage that. Might need to dump wisdom to accomplish that on top of the other stuff
-hard to mess up a character. Just play how you want. 14 charisma is decent (half Orc wizards do just fine. You’ll do fine)

[Theaitetos]

Do you play with the UA: Class Feature Variants? If so, then just pick the Eldritch Armor invocation and you can use all armor with proficiency. If you do not, then the Moderately Armored feat (medium armor & shield proficiency) is a must-have.

If you go with Sorinth's suggestion and take 1 level of Fighter, maybe your DM lets you pick the Tunnel Fighter fighting style from the UA (don't remember which one), as it would be fitting thematically. It enables opportunity attacks without using your Reaction.

War Caster without a shield and without Booming Blade makes no sense. Be advised, you cannot use Green-Flame Blade as a spell for those War Caster opportunity attacks: These require that the spell targets ONLY the person triggering the OA, but GFB targets two enemies. Booming Blade works though.

If you want to stick with the fire over the thunder cantrip, then maybe take a celestial patron instead of an undead? The Undying is not an immortal spirit, it's a formerly living creature that defies death through powerful magic. A Celestial doesn't have to be a god, it can be a patron saint of miners or a being cursed/banished to the underground of the Prime Material (e.g. an Empyrean or Deathpact Angel).

If you choose the Celestial over the Undying, then I suggest "improving" your background story a bit: You weren't just caught in a cave-in, you were the good foreman who made sure everyone got out and sacrificed himself to save his fellow pit-men's lives. That's an explanation for your high CHA and how you got the attention of your patron.

[MustacheManny]

War Caster without a shield and without Booming Blade makes no sense. Be advised, you cannot use Green-Flame Blade as a spell for those War Caster opportunity attacks: These require that the spell targets ONLY the person triggering the OA, but GFB targets two enemies. Booming Blade works though.


That's a good point, I didn't realize that green flame blade wasn't applicable to the War Caster AoO feature! I'll take moderately armored instead.

[Garfunion]

That's a good point, I didn't realize that green flame blade wasn't applicable to the War Caster AoO feature! I'll take moderately armored instead.
Actually the way the feat is worded suggest that any spell that targets the creature will work. If the spell can target multiple creatures it’s effects only target the provoking creature. Green flame blade will work however the effects that target an additional creature do not go off, additionally magic missile can also work as long as all the missiles target the provoking creature.

[MustacheManny]

Actually the way the feat is worded suggest that any spell that targets the creature will work. If the spell can target multiple creatures it’s effects only target the provoking creature. Green flame blade will work however the effects that target an additional creature do not go off, additionally magic missile can also work as long as all the missiles target the provoking creature.

That's pretty interesting! Until level 5 though when it can do an additional 1d6 on top of the weapon damage I may as well go with booming Blade. I like the damage potential of GFB a lot more than Booming Blade for sure.

[Smoothjedi]

Actually the way the feat is worded suggest that any spell that targets the creature will work. If the spell can target multiple creatures it’s effects only target the provoking creature. Green flame blade will work however the effects that target an additional creature do not go off, additionally magic missile can also work as long as all the missiles target the provoking creature.

Honestly I never paid attention to the wording of the feat; I thought it was just a cantrip. So I guess you could hit the target with a hold person or disintegrate. I guess there's actually some value to being a wizard wielding a whip!

[Theaitetos]

True, I didn't look at it this careful either. As an opportunity attack it still loses out heavily compared to Booming Blade, but for normal attacks on your turn GFB is stronger than BB – especially since there is no AC or save to protect the second enemy from taking that fire damage.

If you keep GFB, then a Celestial patron is still the stronger option, as you can add your CHA modifier as bonus damage to one of the fire damage rolls.

[Nagog]

If your DM allows UA, the recent Pact of the Blade Invocation called Eldritch Armor allows you to instantly don any armor you touch, and while you wear it, you are proficient with it. That and some of the other Pact of the Blade invocations (Thirsting Blade, Eldritch Smites, etc.) can turn any Warlock into a workable melee caster. It makes them fairly MAD and like a much less streamlined Paladin, but it works.