Hexblade patron creation help

[Mwhawk2]

Hey All, a friend of mine just returned to DnD and is working on building a Hexblade character for an upcoming campaign. While he has settled on the basic concept, he’s stuck on how to design his patron. He’s leaning toward having his character ( a Variant Human with the bounty hunter background) make a pact with a “Grim Reaper-like” entity. He has been referring to it as “the Tax man”. Essentially he wants his character’s pact with this entity to be focused on an agreement requiring his Character to pursue “targets” who have either wronged his patron or other warlocks who have broken their pacts with this entity. I have some experience with Hexblades but to be honest I’ve always been a little foggy on how the pact maker / patron relationship works for Hexblade (are they required to make pacts with actual sentient weapons or can they actually make pacts with actual entities who bestow their gifts via a weapon of some sort). My buddy wants to have his character weild a quarterstaff, glaive or other polearm as he wants the weapon to evoke a Reaper’s Scythe vibe. Anyone have any experience with the Hexblade that might be willing to provide some additional suggestions to help us flesh this character and his mysterious Patron out a bit more? Honestly I love the name (the Taxman, sounds so ominous and cool) but I’m at a loss as to how to help my buddy bring the Whole concept together. Help?

[Quoz]

Hexblades are the warlock patron that requires a bit of mental stretching as a player or GM. The classic example is a semi-sentient artifact, like Blackrazor from Forgotten Realms. It could also be a fractured piece trying to put itself back together. It could be a conduit for a greater power - think like He-man "I have the power". My two favorites that I have played with were a country bumpkin with a wizards staff that had been used as the handle for a pitchfork and had somehow trapped the wizard's soul; or a dragon's hoard that has hit a magical critical mass and achieved a mind of its own.

The tax man could work pretty well. I would imagine it as an avatar of law, a personification of bureaucracy from some long dead Kingdom that has the overall goal of balancing the cosmic ledger. Bonus points if the weapon in question is a spear sized fountain pen.

[FoxWolFrostFire]

So Hex blades are meant to make a pact with a weapon. Not likely one they will ever personally wield however.
But as 5e is very homebrew and reflavor friendly this isn't that big of a sticking point.
He for sure will need boon of the blade to make use of all his weapon choices.

Another big aspect of figuring out is out side of "collecting taxes" what other forms of worship or duties he has? Maybe he has to keep his own log of each soul or what not.

Maybe he has to give them a chance to settle the debt some other way first if the patron is on the good or neutral side. Or no second chance if evil lean.

Have him every so often when he takes a long rest where he wakes up in this cosmic lobby where he needs to show his ledger for a performance review. Where the patron might reward him with a bit of extra gold or inspiration for doing a proper job.

The idea is cool in it's own rights.

[Sparky McDibben]

He sounds like a cross between the assassins in Wanted and the Shinigami from Deathnote. That's a pretty nifty concept!

I would focus less on the law side and more on the "creepy fated hitman" vibe. I would come up with a way for them to select targets, a reward system, and model the scythe as a 2d4, two-handed, reach weapon.

Also bonus points: if a party member gets resurrected, does this PC have to kill them?

[Man_Over_Game]

So Hex blades are meant to make a pact with a weapon. Not likely one they will ever personally wield however.

Similarly, a Fiend Warlock would have no expectation of ever physically summoning the demon he made a pact with.

Hexblades create a bond with a power being.

Powerful being just happens to be a magical, cosmic sword.

Powerful being gives his servant powers to do the patron's bidding.

Patron sees the servant as a tool, a weapon, so it gives his servant powers related to killing.

On top of that, the servant gets better at using tools of the trade better, so he gets bonuses to using a weapon.

It's all very circular logic that makes sense if the god you're working for is literally a cosmic blade on some distant planet, plotting the destruction of his enemies.



But really, the Hexblade Patron is no different than any other Patron, in that it can be changed around. The Fiend Patron doesn't have to be a demon, the Great Old One doesn't have to be C'Thulu. The Hexblade's doesn't have to be a sentient weapon. Personally, I'd just write off the Hexblade pact as being a bond that turns you into an assassin for your patron, as its entire point is just to make you efficient at killing things.