UA Undead Warlock VS Hexblade for Conquest Paladin single level dip.

[Meichrob7]

I think the conquest Paladin Has always appreciated and benefited from a single level warlock dip into hexblade. Beyond it making sense from a story perspective, Conquest paladins often prioritize charisma over strength because of their reliance on fear effects to make full use of their abilities. As a result they very often have a charisma that’s higher than their strength, and by a good bit more than any other Paladin would. This makes the effects of the hex warrior pretty damn useful, and if you’re needing to concentrate on spells you probably have a shield to take fewer hits so the “no two handed weapon” down side isn’t too bad.

Recently there was the “Subclasses part 4” UA which included “The Undead” warlock. The undead warlock has a very nice first level ability where as a bonus action they transform and gain 1d10 temporary hit points, are immune to the frightened condition, and once per turn can make an enemy who’s hit by a weapon attack have to pass a wisdom save or be frightened till the end of your next turn. This bonus action transformation can be done a number of time equal to your proficiency modifier so even with a single level dip you can use it as much as a full warlock, and the fear DC is the warlock spell dc which is identical to the paladins since they both use charisma.

I’m not quite sure which of these benefits the oath fo conquest Paladin more. Hexblade makes the weapon attacks more accurate and hit harder, which is nice because one of your best fear effects is wrathful smite which needs you to connect with an attack. On the other hand, The Undead is giving you a single free fear every round you attack, and if you take this after level 8, your proficiency bonus is high enough that you can use this 4 times per day, which covers the majority of encounters of a standard adventuring day, and honestly most game I’ve played have even fewer.

[MachineWraith]

I think the conquest Paladin Has always appreciated and benefited from a single level warlock dip into hexblade. Beyond it making sense from a story perspective, Conquest paladins often prioritize charisma over strength because of their reliance on fear effects to make full use of their abilities. As a result they very often have a charisma that’s higher than their strength, and by a good bit more than any other Paladin would. This makes the effects of the hex warrior pretty damn useful, and if you’re needing to concentrate on spells you probably have a shield to take fewer hits so the “no two handed weapon” down side isn’t too bad.

Recently there was the “Subclasses part 4” UA which included “The Undead” warlock. The undead warlock has a very nice first level ability where as a bonus action they transform and gain 1d10 temporary hit points, are immune to the frightened condition, and once per turn can make an enemy who’s hit by a weapon attack have to pass a wisdom save or be frightened till the end of your next turn. This bonus action transformation can be done a number of time equal to your proficiency modifier so even with a single level dip you can use it as much as a full warlock, and the fear DC is the warlock spell dc which is identical to the paladins since they both use charisma.

I’m not quite sure which of these benefits the oath fo conquest Paladin more. Hexblade makes the weapon attacks more accurate and hit harder, which is nice because one of your best fear effects is wrathful smite which needs you to connect with an attack. On the other hand, The Undead is giving you a single free fear every round you attack, and if you take this after level 8, your proficiency bonus is high enough that you can use this 4 times per day, which covers the majority of encounters of a standard adventuring day, and honestly most game I’ve played have even fewer.

I would absolutely take Hexblade. It lets you use CHA as your attack and damage stat with melee weapons, which means you can focus almost entirely on CHA. You only need STR 15 if you want plate armor (which you probably should). Hexblade's Curse is a pretty nice benefit, too.