Help leveling from level 5 to 15, Hexblade Warlock

[WaroftheCrans]

After our last session, in which the party fought a 7000 year old white dragon that killed half of us, the DM announced that the campaign would become more serious in plot and difficulty, and we're now level 15. I need that done by this Friday, and I have nary a clue what to do.

Basics:
Envoy Warforged Hexblade Warlock
AC: 26
HP: 158 (If no more fighter levels, this was rolled with the assumption of d8's.)
Feats: Warcaster, Resilient Con, and one undecided.
20 in Charisma, 18 in Con, 16 in Dex and Int.
Pact of the Tome
Items: +3 shield, Ring of Spell Storing, Illusionists Bracers
This is a mix between a power gaming and story telling table, and very high magic. If there's a specific magic item you think could help my character there's a decent chance I can obtain it.

I took 1 level of fighter for the close quarters shooter fighting style, and I'm considering taking a second for the action surge.

Feat's I'm considering:
Sentinel/PAM - To be used in conjunction with warcaster for some good OA's, using either SCAG cantrips or EB. If EB, I might pick up Repelling Blast for the control.
Shield Master: Campaign will likely be fighting in the abyss, nine hells, and a bunch of dragons. Adding +5 to my dex saves, and taking no damage on a success is looking very nice.
The evergreen feats:
Lucky, Alert, Tough - These are all pretty self explanatory, but not sure which I should take.

Lastly, the spells. I have no clue what to use for my mystic arcanum, and I'd only just finished deciding which spells of first through third level I liked, and I don't know much about the others.

Any advice?

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

What do you typically do, melee attacks or ranged weapon attacks or EB?

You have one level of Fighter, why not take a second level for Action Surge, or three for Eldritch Knight to get some 1st level spell slots for casting Shield, Absorb Elements, and maybe some other just in case utility like Feather Fall.

Consider taking two or more levels of Sorcerer (Shadow Magic) to coffeelock Warlock slots to sorcery points to 1st level slots and short rest and do it all again. Warlock 12/ Fighter 1/ Sorcerer 2 or Warlock 12/ Fighter 3 or Warlock 10/ Fighter 3/ Sorcerer 2 are all viable.

Any of those options will give you more cantrips, see if you can swap Pact of the Tome for Pact of the Blade and pick up Thirsting Blade and maybe Improved Pact Weapon and/or Eldritch Smite.

[WaroftheCrans]

What do you typically do, melee attacks or ranged weapon attacks or EB?

You have one level of Fighter, why not take a second level for Action Surge, or three for Eldritch Knight to get some 1st level spell slots for casting Shield, Absorb Elements, and maybe some other just in case utility like Feather Fall.

Consider taking two or more levels of Sorcerer (Shadow Magic) to coffeelock Warlock slots to sorcery points to 1st level slots and short rest and do it all again. Warlock 12/ Fighter 1/ Sorcerer 2 or Warlock 12/ Fighter 3 or Warlock 10/ Fighter 3/ Sorcerer 2 are all viable.

Any of those options will give you more cantrips, see if you can swap Pact of the Tome for Pact of the Blade and pick up Thirsting Blade and maybe Improved Pact Weapon and/or Eldritch Smite.

Pact of the Tome is hardwired into my character, storywise, as its the link to the patron. I don't yet have my hexblade weapon, instead, my character as a blacksmith, is receiving instructions from the tome as to how to craft it, and where to get the exotic materials required.

I was originally going melee, and using blade cantrips, because illusionists bracers is brokenawesome and essentially give me a better extra attack. I didn't even learn EB till 5th level, but the group has no one capable of ranged damage, so I'm probably going to transition to that.

As for multiclassing, the issue is that if I go more than 3 levels outside of Warlock, I won't get my 9th level spells. I'm not sure if EK or sorcerer have enough to justify going too far off track.
Another level of fighter also means no feat at lvl 19, but I think action surge more than makes up for that.



A powerful illusionist of House Dimir originally developed these bracers, which enabled her to create multiple minor illusions at once. The bracers' power, though, extends far beyond illusions.

While wearing the bracers, whenever you cast a cantrip, you can use a bonus action on the same turn to cast that cantrip a second time.

Party members:
Life Cleric
Eloquence Bard - Summoning and buffing
Conquest Paladin
Samurai Fighter
Hexblade Warlock - Mine

[Keravath]

One quick comment .. I hope there are other casters in the party to fill your ring of spell storing. A spell is cast as the level of the spell slot used to cast it. A shield spell cast by a high level warlock uses a 5th level spell slot and is a 5th level slot because those are the only slots they have. This means that ONE shield spell will fill the ring of spell storing. Same with one HEX spell though at least the duration is extended in that case. My level 11 character (10 hexblade/1 sorcerer) ended up multiclassing in part just to get the 2 level one spell slots so I could fill the ring of spell storing ... though the 4 cantrips, 2 first level spells and sorcerer features were also really useful.

As for whether you really need the 9th level mystic arcanum, that is a judgement call. You get one 9th level spell, once/day ... for a melee focused hexblade you are probably looking at Foresight ... though there might be other options. Depending on which direction you want to take your character, multiclassing into various classes might or might not make sense.

However, I was trying to figure out what pact you are. It sounds like you are a homebrewed pact of the tome who can smith a pact weapon for themselves? Can you use the blade pact invocations like thirsting blade? Can you create a weapon like a glaive, which is compatible with polearm master and/or great weapon master? These options might increase your melee damage though it sounds like you were considered moving towards ranged damage in which case Xbow expert and Sharpshooter might be options ... but you need Lifedrinker/Thirsting blade and possibly improved pact weapon invocations to have a hexblade that can do more damage with weapons than Agonizing blast.


P.S. I now understand your broken comment regarding the illusionist bracers ... with that item, I would definitely switch to ranged using Agonizing blast with the option for repelling blast and possibly the other EB boosting invocations. With that item there is a good chance you would outdamage any other character in the party with single target damage. However, since EB scales with character level and not class, you can feel free to multiclass without affecting your primary damage mechanism. Three levels of sorcerer gives you two metamagics, 2 level 2 and 4 level 1 long rest spells slots, sorcerer class features, additional cantrips and some sorcery points .. so it might really be worth considering though it will push your 9th level mystic arcanum from 17th to 20th level.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Pact of the Tome is hardwired into my character, storywise, as its the link to the patron. I don't yet have my hexblade weapon, instead, my character as a blacksmith, is receiving instructions from the tome as to how to craft it, and where to get the exotic materials required.

I was originally going melee, and using blade cantrips, because illusionists bracers is brokenawesome and essentially give me a better extra attack. I didn't even learn EB till 5th level, but the group has no one capable of ranged damage, so I'm probably going to transition to that.

As for multiclassing, the issue is that if I go more than 3 levels outside of Warlock, I won't get my 9th level spells. I'm not sure if EK or sorcerer have enough to justify going too far off track.
Another level of fighter also means no feat at lvl 19, but I think action surge more than makes up for that.

A Warlock only gets a single 9th level spell usable once per long rest, but I understand the desire to obtain that. You can still get that taking Fighter 3 for EK, which is worth it for just gaining Absorb Elements, everything else is icing on the cake. You'll get 1st level slots and the ability to learn Shield, Absorb Elements, and another 1st level utility spell, plus two more cantrips. You can learn a higher level Warlock spell in place of Shield as well.

After reading the Illusionist's Bracers, I'd say going primary ranged but being melee-capable is the way to go. EB will get three shots at your current level, each of which adds your Cha bonus to damage with Agonizing Blast, and you can use it twice per round for six shots. With Action Surge you can EB again or cast an actual spell in addition to your six EB shots. In two more levels you go to eight shots per round, or twelve if you do another EB with Action Surge.

[WaroftheCrans]

One quick comment .. SNIP
Yeah, our group was playing it wrong, but with that in mind, and considering I'm only using it for shield anyway, I think I might see about obtaining a Staff of Defense to replace it. Or I could just be happy with my AC of 26, and not need my AC to go up to 32. Especially if I get the staff of power or the magi.




As for whether you really need the 9th level mystic arcanum, that is a judgement call. You get one 9th level spell, once/day ... for a melee focused hexblade you are probably looking at Foresight ... though there might be other options. Depending on which direction you want to take your character, multiclassing into various classes might or might not make sense.
Foresight or True Polymorph is probably what I'm going to take, but I'll see how the campaign goes. I have a feeling I'm actually going to need this 9th level spell.


However, I was trying to figure out what pact you are. SNIP

I'm playing a totally RAW Pact of the Tome, the bit about crafting a weapon is about the actual hexblade pact itself. Basically, my patron is using me as a conduit to create itself a physical form of a blade. No mechanical benefits, just fluff. I can only use invocations from Tome, and I'm actively using BoAS.


P.S. I now understand your broken comment regarding the illusionist bracers ... with that item, I would definitely switch to ranged using Agonizing blast with the option for repelling blast and possibly the other EB boosting invocations. With that item there is a good chance you would outdamage any other character in the party with single target damage. However, since EB scales with character level and not class, you can feel free to multiclass without affecting your primary damage mechanism. Three levels of sorcerer gives you two metamagics, 2 level 2 and 4 level 1 long rest spells slots, sorcerer class features, additional cantrips and some sorcery points .. so it might really be worth considering though it will push your 9th level mystic arcanum from 17th to 20th level.

The more I look at it, the more advantageous EB is over anything else. With Spirit Shroud and Hexblade's curse, I'd be doing a ridiculous 6d10+18d8+60 DPR, which I could bump up if I took Sign of Ill Omen. Considering this, fighter 2 is mathematically my best option. The levels of sorcerer are tempting, but I'd have to either give up all my fighter levels or 9th level spells and 2 feats. Metamagic, a few slots, and an increase to 11 cantrips is a tempting concept, but it seems excessive/unnecessary. (I really don't need 11 cantrips.) None of the subclasses are very frontloaded, most just have ribbon features that are equivalent to an invocation that I'd lose.

Thanks for helping me make up my mind on progression and playstyle, now I just need to figure out how to choose my feats and spells.

[Keravath]

A Warlock only gets a single 9th level spell usable once per long rest, but I understand the desire to obtain that. You can still get that taking Fighter 3 for EK, which is worth it for just gaining Absorb Elements, everything else is icing on the cake. You'll get 1st level slots and the ability to learn Shield, Absorb Elements, and another 1st level utility spell, plus two more cantrips. You can learn a higher level Warlock spell in place of Shield as well.

After reading the Illusionist's Bracers, I'd say going primary ranged but being melee-capable is the way to go. EB will get three shots at your current level, each of which adds your Cha bonus to damage with Agonizing Blast, and you can use it twice per round for six shots. With Action Surge you can EB again or cast an actual spell in addition to your six EB shots. In two more levels you go to eight shots per round, or twelve if you do another EB with Action Surge.

One quick comment, you won't be able to cast a regular spell with action surge if you use your bonus action to cast a cantrip. Using your bonus action to cast ANY spells, limits all other spells cast on your turn to be be cantrips with a casting time of one action. So you could cast two leveled spells using the cast a spell action and your action from action surge ... but you can't cast a bonus action spell of any kind in that case. Casting the bonus action spell means that all your other spells have to be cantrips.

However, you would be able to fire 9 bolts from EB in a single round once/short rest if you have action surge from a fighter dip.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

One quick comment, you won't be able to cast a regular spell with action surge if you use your bonus action to cast a cantrip. Using your bonus action to cast ANY spells, limits all other spells cast on your turn to be be cantrips with a casting time of one action. So you could cast two leveled spells using the cast a spell action and your action from action surge ... but you can't cast a bonus action spell of any kind in that case. Casting the bonus action spell means that all your other spells have to be cantrips.

However, you would be able to fire 9 bolts from EB in a single round once/short rest if you have action surge from a fighter dip.

You're right, for some reason I was thinking only one leveled spell and as many cantrips as you want. You could cast a bonus action leveled spell and EB twice with action surge, but not cast a leveled spell and a bonus action cantrip on the same turn.

[WaroftheCrans]

So between PAM and Sentinel which would be better to take considering Warcaster's OA substitution?

Sentinel means that if they attack one of my allies, I could blast them up to 40 feet away, and reduce speed to 0 with no save, while PAM means that I can blast them up to 40 feet away if they come within 5 feet of me.

In general, which would be more helpful?

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

So between PAM and Sentinel which would be better to take considering Warcaster's OA substitution?

Sentinel means that if they attack one of my allies, I could blast them up to 40 feet away, and reduce speed to 0 with no save, while PAM means that I can blast them up to 40 feet away if they come within 5 feet of me.

In general, which would be more helpful?

Sentinel:
"When a creature within 5 feet of you makes an attack against a target other than you (and that target doesn't have this feat), you can use your reaction to make a melee weapon attack against the attacking creature."

1. Opponent must be within 5 feet of you.
2. It's not an opportunity attack, so their speed isn't reduced by it, and you can't replace it with a spell.

[WaroftheCrans]

Sentinel:
"When a creature within 5 feet of you makes an attack against a target other than you (and that target doesn't have this feat), you can use your reaction to make a melee weapon attack against the attacking creature."

1. Opponent must be within 5 feet of you.
2. It's not an opportunity attack, so their speed isn't reduced by it, and you can't replace it with a spell.

Right. So the only benefit would be speed of 0 after OA's, and disengage doesn't matter. PAM would be better than Sentinel, but at this point I'm questioning if the other feats are better.

Shield Master is the evasion feature
Tough would make me more of a bag of meat, but I'm not sure how necessary that is.
Alert would win me initiative, and remove any chance of surprise.
Lucky is rerolls which is always nice.

Aside from that I'm really not sure what direction I should go in. Maxing out con couldn't hurt, but tough is probably just slightly better.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

If you're going to be focusing on EB with the ability to melee when needed, are you going to be making many opportunity attacks as it is? Keep in mind War Caster only lets you cast a spell when a hostile creature's movement provokes an opportunity attack from you, not for every opportunity attack.

I'd say get PAM for the OA when they move adjacent, hit them with a Booming Blade, and then on your turn EB them away and they go kaboom. You don't even need to use more than one EB shot on them. They can repeat that same sequence the next turn or go after someone else.

[WaroftheCrans]

If you're going to be focusing on EB with the ability to melee when needed, are you going to be making many opportunity attacks as it is? Keep in mind War Caster only lets you cast a spell when a hostile creature's movement provokes an opportunity attack from you, not for every opportunity attack.

Due to how Spirit Shroud and Close Quarters Shooter works, I'm trying to stay within 10-15 feet of an enemy, for the +3d8 per hit, and +1 to attack rolls. Eldritch Blast is actually perfectly sufficient in this regard.


I'd say get PAM for the OA when they move adjacent, hit them with a Booming Blade, and then on your turn EB them away and they go kaboom. You don't even need to use more than one EB shot on them. They can repeat that same sequence the next turn or go after someone else.

Unfortunately Booming Blade doesn't have this interaction. :smallfrown: It lasts to the start of your next turn, and forced movement doesn't work. The more I think about this, the more conflicted I am. Normally a creature will only provoke an OA once, but if I pushed them away, they might provoke it twice. That being said, I don't want to push them out of my Spirit Shroud, which leaves me with a conundrum. Is this feat worth the opportunity cost?

I looked more at shield master, and it probably won't serve the purpose I want it to, as it can't help with either dragon's breath or fiendish fireballs. Lucky might honestly be more of a boon to those than it.

Tough lets me be better at taking hits. Alert is just alert. I really don't know of any other worthwhile feats for this.

[Hael]

You have a bit of a clashy build but have ridiculous stats and items. You definitely don’t need to go sorcerer if you already have illusionist bracers. Nor is PAM or sentinel recommended as you don’t have 2h reach weapon and your bonus action is accounted for with the bracers.

Action surge is of course very strong and is probably the only MC lvl I might recommend.

Xbow mastery allows for melee range EB, but if you are going into a crazy hard dungeon I think lucky is your best bet for a feat as the only thing that you’re missing is saves.

Look to get that warlock rod that adds an extra slot and spell accuracy.