fighter sublass for a warlock

[da newt]

So even though it may be a poor choice, my lvl 10 undead warlock (mostly EB) will be taking fighter levels from here on out (for reasons) - what sublcass would be handy? Which BM moves don't require weapon attacks? What Runes would be helpful? Etc ...

[stoutstien]

What do your stats look like?

[Unoriginal]

So even though it may be a poor choice, my lvl 10 undead warlock (mostly EB) will be taking fighter levels from here on out (for reasons) - what sublcass would be handy? Which BM moves don't require weapon attacks? What Runes would be helpful? Etc ...

Would you mind posting your stats/species/spells/Invocations/feats/etc, please?

Warlock and Fighter both allows quite a bit of pick-n-choose, so what's good for one configuration isn't necessarily good for another, even in the details.

Also, are there themes/playstyles/roles you like or dislike more than others?

[ender241]

Which BM moves don't require weapon attacks?

Ambush - the boost to initiative could be especially useful

Bait and Switch - may be dangerous, depending on how squishy you are, but could still come in handy

Commanding Presence - makes you even better at several Charisma checks, great if you're already the party face

Evasive Footwork - not amazing, but if you really need to get away from some enemies and don't want to use disengage, this could turn some potential hits into misses

Feinting Attack - give yourself advantage on your next EB (and some extra damage)

Rally - Decent, since you likely have high cha

Tactical Assessment - probably better things to spend your superiority dice on

BM seems like a decent choice to me. If you go all the way to 20 you'll end up with 7 maneuvers known, which is exactly how many there are that don't require a weapon attack (or taking the attack action), unless I missed any.

[da newt]

Undead Warlock (vedalken) - EB, AB, Repelling, eldritch mind, Chain (IMP), summon shadowspawn, hypnotic pattern, counterspell, banish, hold monster, - a ranged E-blaster mostly, tries to stay out of melee, drop one significant spell then snipe from cover.

10/14/14/10/12/20, breastplate and shield, defensive FS, hat of disguise (always disguised), rod of pact keeper +1

[solidork]

EK is surprisingly good, you get:
- Low level slots for things like Hex, Shield, Absorb Elements, Protection from Evil and Good, etc.
- More cantrips, which are always valuable.

I've been playing an EK/Tomelock for something like 4 years now, and we're up to level 18. Having 4 1st level slots and 2 2nd level slots is surprisingly nice - I'm sure you've noticed that as you get higher level as a Warlock, those lower level spells become less and less worth it to keep since the opportunity cost of using them is so high. You can get a lot of extra defense and versatility out of those low level slots.

[ender241]

What Runes would be helpful?

Cloud - redirecting an enemy attack to potentially hit another enemy is incredibly useful for anyone, especially if it's a crit then you know it will hit and do big damage. And advantage on sleight of hand and deception is pretty nice too.

Frost - the +2 to con saving throws for 10 minutes is probably the best part of this for you

Stone - 120' darkvision and advantage on insight checks will come in handy, and the charm feature is nice but keep in mind the DC keys off of your Con.

Hill - very handy if you face enemies that use poison often, and still useful for the temporary resistance to b/p/s

Storm - being able to apply advantage or disadvantage on basically any roll once per round for a minute is great. This includes enemy saving throws. Could combo really nicely with some of your spells, like hypnotic pattern.

I think there are enough decent runes but where you might lose out going rune knight is that you don't really benefit that much from Giant's Might. Turning large is fun but not particularly useful for you, and you're probably not making Str checks or saves very often. And finally, the bonus damage only applies to weapons and unarmed strikes.

[RogueJK]

EK is surprisingly good, you get:
- Low level slots for things like Hex, Shield, Absorb Elements, Protection from Evil and Good, etc.
- More cantrips, which are always valuable.


Yep. Eldritch Knight is definitely a solid contender.

You can still lean into the Eldritch Blast Sniper role, while buffing your defensive capabilities with access to things like Shield and Absorb Elements along with low level slots with which to cast them. And at EK 7 (Level 17 total), War Magic would allow you to Eldritch Blast + make a BA weapon attack, for effectively 5x attacks per turn.

It doesn't matter that you have a low INT, since you can focus on utility cantrips and spells that don't require attack rolls or saving throws, such as:

Control Flames
Mage Hand
Mending
Message
Mold Earth
Prestidigitation
Shape Water

Magic Missile
Shield
Absorb Elements
Protection from Good/Evil

Darkness
Warding Wind

Intellect Fortress
Protection From Energy
Leomund's Tiny Hut

[da newt]

Cloud and Storm *Stone* runes would be handy.
There are some good BM moves (Ambush, Commanding Presence, Feinting, Rally)
EK - I've already got Prot from G&E, Darkness is moot for my party - 2 flame tongue, but Shield and Absorb would be nice to have, but spell slot progression is so slow ...

[stoutstien]

Hmm the big issue is going to be your action economy. I think EK is going to win here just for that reason.

[ender241]

Cloud and Storm runes would be handy.
There are some good BM moves (Ambush, Commanding Presence, Feinting, Rally)
EK - I've already got Prot from G&E, Darkness is moot for my party - 2 flame tongue, but Shield and Absorb would be nice to have, but spell slot progression is so slow ...

Keep in mind that storm and hill runes aren't available until fighter 7, so will be a while before you can use those particular ones.

I also missed Parry in my list of usable BM maneuvers. That could be a helpful one for negating damage.

[KirbyDerby]

Echo Knight is also a great subclass if you want to go for a ghostlance build, although you’ll need War Caster to make it work. Also the subclass stops providing useful features for the build past levels 3-4, so depending on how long your campaign goes, it might turn into dead weight if you only take fighter levels.