Need advice with Celestial Tomelock melee build

[athorod]

My level 6 Celestial Warlock (Tome Pact) just reached level 7, and I need to focus on melee survivability, as my party turns out to be even flimsier in melee than me. I planned on him being able to do ok both ranged and melee, but it seems I have to be the main melee guy.

So this is my character thus far:
Stats: 9,14,14,10,12,18
Feat: Moderately armored
Cantrips: Eldritch Blast, Sacred Flame, Booming Blade, Shillelagh, Green-Flame Blade, Guidance, Thaumaturgy, Light
Spells: Spirit Shroud, Hypnotic Pattern, Revivify, Hex, Armor of Agathys, Misty Step, Cure Wounds
Invocations: Book of Ancient Secrets, Agonizing Blast, Repellent Blast

I'm now trying to level from 6 to 7 and deciding what to do. I get 1 spell and 1 invocation and can change some of what I have.

I've already recieved some advice; to get Mirror Image and The Fiendish Vigor invocation. But other invocations/spells I should consider getting/swapping?

Oh, and we're playing Storm King's Thunder. Which means that I will be hit hard. And often.

[diplomancer]

Shadow of Moil is THE survivability spell for melee warlocks

[athorod]

Shadow of Moil is THE survivability spell for melee warlocks

Thanks for the tip. I think I might get a Cloak of Displacement for my character soon (if the character finishes the quest that has it as a reward that is...).

But a question about SoM. It says that the area around the character will be in darkness if it's dim light. Will I be able to see through it, even without darkvision and Devil's Sight?

[diplomancer]

Thanks for the tip. I think I might get a Cloak of Displacement for my character soon (if the character finishes the quest that has it as a reward that is...).

But a question about SoM. It says that the area around the character will be in darkness if it's dim light. Will I be able to see through it, even without darkvision and Devil's Sight?

I think the answer to your question is DM dependent. But even if your DM goes in that direction, you are a Celestial Warlock, which means you have the light cantrip. Just have a lighted rock in your belt pouch and open it with your free object interaction on round 1

[MaxWilson]

My level 6 Celestial Warlock (Tome Pact) just reached level 7, and I need to focus on melee survivability, as my party turns out to be even flimsier in melee than me. I planned on him being able to do ok both ranged and melee, but it seems I have to be the main melee guy.

So this is my character thus far:
Stats: 9,14,14,10,12,18
Feat: Moderately armored
Cantrips: Eldritch Blast, Sacred Flame, Booming Blade, Shillelagh, Green-Flame Blade, Guidance, Thaumaturgy, Light
Spells: Spirit Shroud, Hypnotic Pattern, Revivify, Hex, Armor of Agathys, Misty Step, Cure Wounds
Invocations: Book of Ancient Secrets, Agonizing Blast, Repellent Blast

I'm now trying to level from 6 to 7 and deciding what to do. I get 1 spell and 1 invocation and can change some of what I have.

I've already recieved some advice; to get Mirror Image and The Fiendish Vigor invocation. But other invocations/spells I should consider getting/swapping?

Oh, and we're playing Storm King's Thunder. Which means that I will be hit hard. And often.

Don't be the main melee guy. Learn Summon Greater Demon and make a Barlgura (for DPR) or Shadow Demon (for weapon resistance) be the main melee guy. Learn Sculptor of Flesh too (you can drop it at level 11ish) so you have an alternate option (make someone else into a main melee guy) for when demons are too risky.

[Wraith]

Depending on how your party is set up, you might consider the combination of the Devil's Sight invocation and the Darkness spell. Being able to consistently impose Disadvantage on your opponents would hugely improve your survivability, however if your party doesn't have a good mix of Blindsight or spells that don't require line of sight then you might hinder them more than you are helping yourself. Alternatively if you are *the* front line and everyone is standing behind you, it might not be a bad idea.

In a similar vein, the best defence is often a good offence - because you have Book of Ancient Secrets, I'd strongly suggest that you try to get Find Familiar and/or Unseen Servant scribed as Rituals, as being able to consistently order them to flank your opponent and give you Advantage on attacks (without putting your squishy party members at risk) ensures that you're taking down threats efficiently.

[athorod]

It would be cool to summon demons, but I don't think the party members would approve. :(

I did consider the darkness/devil's sight combo, but I think I'll go for the Shadow of Moil first. Not sure if I'll get the Devil's Sight or take Fiendish Vigor (again) along with Eldritch Mind (swapping out Repellen Blast).

I think my spells will be tossing out Hex and getting Mirror Image instead.

Also have the opportunity to get the Cloak of Displacement as a quest reward, so I will hopefully get that too.

I do actually have a familiar, but unfortunately it often gets killed quite quickly. But that is sometimes my fault...

Thanks for all your input, appreciate it!

[MaxWilson]

It would be cool to summon demons, but I don't think the party members would approve. :(

Maybe you can frame it as a Blood War thing. "Is it better for innocents or evil fiends to suffer and die fighting evil?"

And take Sculptor of Flesh. Even at once per day, Polymorphing a possibly-injured flimsier-than-you PC into an undamaged 150 HP Giant Ape is worthwhile, for a big fight.

[Keravath]

You didn't mention your character's race? From the sounds of it they don't have darkvision. One big issue for a melee warlock is that proficiency with constitution saving throws becomes very important. You only have two spell slots/short rest. You will get hit and you do want to keep the spell running so at some point you will need to pick up either Resilient con or warcaster or both.

Are you playing with Tasha's rules that allow you to swap things out?

Unfortunately, with your stats, your melee attacks with a weapon will never be very good (only +2 from dex and no strength options) which means that your weapon choice and damage are very limited unless your DM gives you the hexwarrior feature from hexblade .

Honestly, you might be better off taking the Xbow expert feat and firing agonizing blast when in melee since it is probably your best damage option available.

[Unoriginal]

Unfortunately, with your stats, your melee attacks with a weapon will never be very good (only +2 from dex and no strength options) which means that your weapon choice and damage are very limited unless your DM gives you the hexwarrior feature from hexblade.

Pretty sure OP is using the old "CHA-based Shillelagh thanks to Book of Shadows" trick.

Which is still far from good if you want to be the main melee against Giants and associates, but not as big an issue.

[Debaterinarms]

Unfortunately, with your stats, your melee attacks with a weapon will never be very good (only +2 from dex and no strength options) which means that your weapon choice and damage are very limited unless your DM gives you the hexwarrior feature from hexblade .

Presumably OP is using Shillelagh and BB/GFB for that. Given the Celestial bonus to fire damage at level 6, GFB is really pretty good if you are okay with spreading damage around.

I have a similar character in one of my campaigns that actually took the moderately armored feat to get shield proficiency and half plate. Alternatively, you could take a level of paladin (and presumably a second one to get access to smite).

I concur with the assessment of Shadow of Moil, but it is somewhat redundant with a Cloak of Displacement and also means you can't concentrate on Hex at the same time. I don't think you will find the Temp HP from Fiendish Vigor worth it at this level and against giants especially, you are better off with Sculptor of Flesh for sure.

Honestly you never want to be in melee with giants. Even dedicated melee tanks are not well served in melee with giants. Repelling Blast works against giants and in combination with a Wall of Fire (which you get at level 7) is pretty solid. Another spell you get at level 7 that helps against giants is Banishment, which is even better at level 9 when you get two targets and therefore are less likely to do nothing because of a high enemy save.

Giants have high accuracy and damage because of their size and strength, and they attack twice as fast in melee as at range, if they even have rocks to throw at all. Further, their range is not great given how big giant-size forts and other locations tend to be. Pushing them away and bottlenecking them is best.

Perhaps you can get Summon Greater Demon reskinned by your DM? A Celestial warlock suffers from many warlock spells being the wrong theme, alternatively perhaps your DM will let you learn the new Tasha's Summon Celestial at level 9. Summon Fey/Undead/Shadowspawn are all accessible now and offer some decent options, especially the ones that have fear effects. I could see describing your summoned Shadow Spirit as being the flickering shadow of your flame spells. A Yin and Yang vibe perhaps.

[athorod]

Yes, I do use Shillelagh and GFB (or BB) with CHA for melee damage.

I know I don't want to be in melee with giants, and I will try to avoid it, but thinking that I (or the rest of the party) can avoid being in melee all the time is a bit unrealistic, to say the least.

But I will take everything you say here into consideration. I have tried telling the other members of our group to focus more on control spells and how to improve their own and our party's survivability as well. Hopefully they'll come up with some nice stuff for our next session.

[Unoriginal]

Yes, I do use Shillelagh and GFB (or BB) with CHA for melee damage.

I know I don't want to be in melee with giants, and I will try to avoid it, but thinking that I (or the rest of the party) can avoid being in melee all the time is a bit unrealistic, to say the least.

But I will take everything you say here into consideration. I have tried telling the other members of our group to focus more on control spells and how to improve their own and our party's survivability as well. Hopefully they'll come up with some nice stuff for our next session.

Well the issue is, Giants are great at fighting casters, so while you may have to melee them, it's hard to prepare for it.

Shapeshifting one of the Giants into a big sea mammal while you deal with the others can be efficient.