Character Concept Help

[Ghostwidow]

So, I have a character concept in mind, but having trouble coming up with the type of build that fits...

He would be a tiefling, very charismatic and able to perform ( bard instrument ). However, he would have a warlock pact and would have a shadowy motive behind him. He would be able to take souls and gain strength from them, and would also be a bounty hunter of sorts in underground networks ( kind of like a snoother Harry Heck from the Punisher, and more devil like ). I picture him with either a good ranged attack ( eldritch blast + agonizing blast ). Or with a menacing glaive ( hexblade dip ).

Initially I was thinking Lore Bard/Warlock Fiend pact, or hexblade, but I would have to put a lot of Bard abilities on hold if I dip 2 Warlock. I really dont want to dip beyond 1 level in multiclass if at all.

Is there any other combination I can do to bring this character to life that I am missing?

[Unoriginal]

So, I have a character concept in mind, but having trouble coming up with the type of build that fits...

He would be a tiefling, very charismatic and able to perform ( bard instrument ). However, he would have a warlock pact and would have a shadowy motive behind him. He would be able to take souls and gain strength from them, and would also be a bounty hunter of sorts in underground networks ( kind of like a snoother Harry Heck from the Punisher, and more devil like ). I picture him with either a good ranged attack ( eldritch blast + agonizing blast ). Or with a menacing glaive ( hexblade dip ).

Initially I was thinking Lore Bard/Warlock Fiend pact, or hexblade, but I would have to put a lot of Bard abilities on hold if I dip 2 Warlock. I really dont want to dip beyond 1 level in multiclass if at all.

Is there any other combination I can do to bring this character to life that I am missing?

You don't need to be a Bard to play music, and in term of powers younonly discussed the Warlock ones. What Bardic capacities do you want?

[Composer99]

You don't need to be a Bard to play music, and in term of powers younonly discussed the Warlock ones. What Bardic capacities do you want?

I concur - the character sounds like a hexblade, with a background that gives proficiency in a music instrument or two.

[BerzerkerUnit]

So, I have a character concept in mind, but having trouble coming up with the type of build that fits...

He would be a tiefling, very charismatic and able to perform ( bard instrument ). However, he would have a warlock pact and would have a shadowy motive behind him. He would be able to take souls and gain strength from them, and would also be a bounty hunter of sorts in underground networks ( kind of like a snoother Harry Heck from the Punisher, and more devil like ). I picture him with either a good ranged attack ( eldritch blast + agonizing blast ). Or with a menacing glaive ( hexblade dip ).

Initially I was thinking Lore Bard/Warlock Fiend pact, or hexblade, but I would have to put a lot of Bard abilities on hold if I dip 2 Warlock. I really dont want to dip beyond 1 level in multiclass if at all.

Is there any other combination I can do to bring this character to life that I am missing?

I guess Phantom Rogue is also in there, but the Soul taking doesn't happen until 9.

Warlocks are Charismatic by default, the Entertainer background covers Performance and the Investigation or Survival skills covers bounty hunting. Alternatively you could take Bounty Hunter background and Perform skill or Instrument proficiency.

I don't know why you wouldn't go straight Warlock. Fiend 1 or Hexblade 6 covers taking souls. Couple that with Tome Pact, Book of Shadows and get Ritual versatility and Gift of the Protectors (a shared Death Ward each day) or Talisman Pact, basic talisman function, Protection and Rebuke of the Talisman, and I think you'd be good to go.

Bonus chat:
As a DM I always want my players to feel like their character is performing well. Some players are fine having their turn come around dealing low to middling damage while peers are felling foes in a single strike, and they're fine bc they "just wanted to use a whip" or "are more concerned with the bonus action buff/heal they do." etc. But more often they get frustrated when the idea they had in their head for something cool underperforms mechanically. Weak is rarely cool.

For that reason, I'd discourage any character not going all in on a Bladepact from taking it. 2 levels of hexblade won't allow you to use a glaive with your Charisma, Lore bard is melee averse by default. Given your described build you'd never get extra attacks or any of the bladepact stuff that can make hitting once worthwhile. If you want to do a fancy glaive, then you really need to either multiclass with melee in mind, or singleclass and lean heavy on the pact.

Here are some quick builds out to level 6:

Tiefling Entertainer
1 16 Cha, Hexblade, uses 1 handed weapon and shield until 3rd, Hex spell
2 Devilsight, Eldritch Mind Invocations
3 Bladepact, trade Eldritch Mind for Improved Pact Blade
4 Feat Polearm Master
5 Thirsting Blade Invocation, trade Devilsight for Eldritch Smite
6 Specter

By level 6 you are getting 4 attacks a round after killing a humanoid (2 from glaive, 1 bonus with haft, 1 from Specter) Average damage of those attacks is 13, 13, 9, and 10 from the specter. You can choose to Smite for another 18 and a knock down for allies. That's strong, you're taking the souls of the fallen, you're using skills or tool proficiency to meet your RP needs and the vision of your PC as described is met at level 3.

This is more like a brains/information broker type. The other PCs are more like goons/catspaws/fall guys.
Tiefling Urban Bounty Hunter background (background grants Instrument proficiency)

1 Warlock Fiendpact, Eldritch Blast, Hex spell
2 Agonizing Blast, Gaze of Two Minds
3 Talisman Pact. If you have a PC ally the DM loves to swarm in melee, trade Devilsight for Rebuke of the Talisman
4 +2 Charisma or Elemental Adept Fire (a lot of resistance to fire out there, fun to ignore it).
5 Learn Summon Undead spell, trade a spell out for Fireball
6 Dark One's Own Luck

You can play an instrument, you can reap the souls of the living to protect you, you blast, at level 5 you can summon the corpse or ghost of a former foe to serve you, you can hand a trinket to a creature and boost its abilities or use a reaction when they're attacked to psychically blast their attacker away. If you force them to eat it, at level 12 you can teleport to their side no matter where they go, that's pure bounty hunting gold. Again, skills and tool proficiency are fulfilling your RP goals.

No matter what you decide, Good Luck and have fun!

[MrStabby]

Valor bard.

You can still say your magic comes from a pact and your relationship with a patron can be embedded in your backstory.

[RogueJK]

You don't need to be a Bard to play music



You can still say your magic comes from a pact and your relationship with a patron can be embedded in your backstory.

Yep. Most of the aspects of this character concept don't have to be implemented mechanically by being baked into your class. You can be a performer without being a Bard. You can have a pact or deal with a shadowy patron without being a Warlock. You can be an underground bounty hunter without being a Rogue or even having the Urban Bounty Hunter background. You can absorb souls without being a higher level Phantom Rogue or Fiend/Hexblade Warlock.

So if you'll decide on what you specifically want to do mechanically - like shoot eldritch blasts, swing a glaive on the front lines, get a mechanical benefit from absorbing souls, and/or inspire your allies, etc. - and pick a class (or a primary class with a 1 level multiclass dip) based on that, you can implement all the rest through roleplaying, flavor, and skill/background/feat choices.

While Bard or Warlock (or a combo) would appear to be the most on-the-nose class option, you're not even locked into just these classes. Depending on what you specifically want to achieve mechanically, you could conceivably do it with something like a charismatic glaive-wielding Eldritch Knight with the Performer background that's been reflavored as gaining their spellcasting from their patron. Or a Shadow Sorcerer with the Spell Sniper (Eldritch Blast) and Inspiring Leader feats. Or a Vengeance Paladin with either the Magic Initiate: Warlock feat or a 1 level Hexblade dip. Or...


Also, as pointed out, a dip of 1 or 2 levels in Hexblade isn't enough to effectively wield a Glaive. You have to be a Pact of the Blade Hexblade to wield a Glaive as your pact weapon, which means this won't come online until at least Level 3. From there, unless you're planning to take 5+ levels in another class that gets Extra Attack, to make the most of it you'll need to have at least 5 levels of Hexblade to be able to take the Thirsting Blade Invocation. (Although you could stay mostly competitive without Thirsting Blade by leaning on Booming Blade or Green Flame Blade to boost your single Glaive attack.) Therefore, if you want to be a Glaive-Wielding Hexblade, that would mean you'll ideally want to just focus on Warlock levels. However, there are other ways to wield a Glaive besides just being a Hexblade.

[Ghostwidow]

I like the Bardic spell list, the diverse skillset, and the ability to assist or manipulate/control on the battlefield. Thats why Bard levels appeal to me.

I picture this character as a dark bard, a devilish pied piper. Although there is somewhat of a darker bard college, whispers does not appeal to me.

[MrStabby]

I like the Bardic spell list, the diverse skillset, and the ability to assist or manipulate/control on the battlefield. Thats why Bard levels appeal to me.

I picture this character as a dark bard, a devilish pied piper. Although there is somewhat of a darker bard college, whispers does not appeal to me.

Well the glamour bard as a puppetmaster might be something you enjoy?

[RogueJK]

Okay, so it sounds like Bard should probably be your sole/primary class. (And any Bard character can be roleplayed as a "dark bard"; it doesn't require an explicitly "dark" subclass to do that.)

Valor Bard is a good option, if you want to be able to wield a glaive well. Valor gets you Medium Armor and Martial Weapons, plus eventual Extra Attack. Then to get Eldritch Blast, you could do a 1 level Warlock dip, or take the Spell Sniper or Magic Initiate: Warlock feat. You could even have this feat at 1st level if you choose a Custom Lineage Tiefling using the rule from Tasha's, although that requires giving up your innate Tiefling spellcasting and resistance in exchange.

Swords Bard with a 1 level Hexblade dip would also work, getting you Medium Armor, Martial Weapons, and Eldritch Blast from the Hexblade level, and eventual Extra Attack from Swords Bard.

You could do 2 levels of Warlock dip to get Agonizing Blast, but that starts cutting pretty deeply into your Bard progression, and may not be worth the cost if the Glaive is your primary combat option and EB is just your backup ranged option that's only used on occasion. Or if you roll well for stats and don't need the ASI as much, you could potentially spend an ASI on the Eldritch Adept feat to get Agonizing Blast, but again, it may not be worth the cost.

And with either Swords or Valor Bard, this means you'll need to invest in STR as well as CHA, since there's no way to wield a glaive with CHA without investing at least 3 levels in Hexblade, which will really derail your Bard progression too much.

[Ghostwidow]

Therein lies my frustration to attempt to create this character. Here are the things I like and would want to implement...

* Dark ones blessing type ability ( doesnt have to be that specific ability, but the concept of soul taking to get stronger)
* battlefield control spells
*skill diversity
* performance and charm ability
* medium armor and use with the glaive ( or another menacing type weapon )
* good ranged backup ( possible eldritch blast)

And I pictute him as a tiefling, but I guess I could substitute another race if needs be.

I could open to other class/race combos to get this, but dont want to progress too far behind by a huge multiclass dip. Can these implementations even be done without huge multiclass investments?

[RogueJK]

* Dark ones blessing type ability ( doesnt have to be that specific ability, but the concept of soul taking to get stronger)
* battlefield control spells
*skill diversity
* performance and charm ability
* medium armor and use with the glaive ( or another menacing type weapon )
* good ranged backup ( possible eldritch blast)

Can these implementations even be done without huge multiclass investments?

Yes, it can be done rather easily.

A Valor Bard with a 1 level dip into Fiend Warlock for Dark One's Blessing and EB gets you all of that. You just won't be able to use Medium Armor or a Glaive until you hit Bard 3.

A Blade Pact Fiend Warlock with a 1 level dip into Fighter for Martial Weapons/Medium Armor (and a Fighting Style), plus a background like Entertainer or Gladiator for Performance skill, also checks all those boxes. Or you could even go Blade Pact Hexblade Warlock, with no dip needed for Weapons/Armor and less need to focus on STR, if the Hexblade's Accursed Specter ability is an acceptable substitute for Dark Ones Blessing for "steal their soul" purposes. And unlike Valor Bard, either of these Bladelock options lets you start using a Glaive and wearing Medium Armor at 1st level (provided you start out with Fighter as your 1st level if going the Fiend route, which you'd likely want to do anyway for the CON save proficiency and a few extra HP).

The Valor Bard option will have more charm/control/etc. spellcasting options and be better at more skills, but will have a lesser benefit from Dark One's Blessing and their EB will be less powerful. The Bladelock option will have less control/charm spellcasting, but get more benefit from Dark One's Blessing and will be able to take Agonizing Blast to boost their EB. Go with the former if you want to be more of a spellcaster and skill monkey supplemented by some melee and EB, or go with the latter if you want to be more of a melee combatant and Eldritch Blaster supplemented by some other spellcasting.