Dhampir Undead-Pact Bladelock as front-liner?

[Willie the Duck]

Hi. My Dhampir Battlemaster build cascaded into instead thinking about going all-in on the undead theme. I am considering a Pact of Undead Bladelock, either straight up, or with a dip into fighter for heavier armor. We are starting at level 3. Do people think this is doable? If so, best options?

The rest of the party are lizardfolk ranger, half-elf rogue-wizard and drow wizard. I'm a little concerned about the 3 characters who pick up weapons all using Dex-based weapons (who will wield the super-fancy warhammer +50 that shows up at some point? Who will open stuck doors?) but at the same time a Str-bladelock build is tough (and other than these concerns, probably immaterial as I doubt I will have feats free for GWM/PAM/HAM). That's why a fighter dip sounds tempting (plus some more appropriate skills, and starting out with Con proficiency), but it does delay progression. Limping through with middling dex and mage armor until level 4 and grabbing moderately armored then is another option, but is a precious feat.

After that, there are spells (sp), invocations (i), feats (ft) and Undead Pact class abilities (und) to consider (the only requirement I will give is that I need to include Mask of Many Faces (i) as an invocation for story reasons). Form of Dread (und) is an amazing ability which costs a bonus action (so doesn't use up a main attack sequence), grants temp hp (so overlaps with fiendish vigor (i) and Armor of Agathys (sp), but you could always use it after those are used up), and does not require concentration. Undead warlock also gets Blindness (sp) as a spell, which is another great way not to use up concentration. Armor of Shadows (i) is tempting on a Dex build and a fighter-less str build until Moderately Amormed (ft) feat can be gotten (or another option seeing if DM would allow UA material and grab Edritch Armor. It would be nice to flesh out the spell list with Shadow Touched (ft) and Fey Touched (ft), but that will compete with getting defense online, a decent Wis save at high levels, and being more MAD than a hexblade or pure fighter. Interesting spells (sp) include 0: Toll the Dead (I figure this less invocation-heavy than keeping Eldritch Blast competitive), Green flame blade (before 2 attacks, swap out later for a utility or the like); 1: Armor of Agathys, Cause Fear, Charm Person, Hex; 2: Blindness, Invisibility, Misty Step, Shadow Blade; 3: Counter/Dispel, Fear, Fly, Spirit Shroud, Summon Undead; and then who knows for L4 and above (that's a long way off).

Thoughts? Ideas? Suggestions? Advice on which selection makes sense? Anyone played an undead pact bladelock before? How did it go?

And of course, thanks everyone!

[RogueJK]

I'm a little concerned about the 3 characters who pick up weapons all using Dex-based weapons (who will wield the super-fancy warhammer +50 that shows up at some point? Who will open stuck doors?) but at the same time a Str-bladelock build is tough (and other than these concerns, probably immaterial as I doubt I will have feats free for GWM/PAM/HAM).

If you want to be a frontliner with a non-DEX-based, non-Hexblade Warlock, you really do need to dip Fighter at Level 1. That not only gets you armor and weapon proficiency, but also CON save proficiency, along with either an additional +1 AC from Defense Fighting Style or the handy Blind Fighting Style.

Or maybe even take the Superior Technique style, to grab a Battlemaster Maneuver to carry over from your initial character vision. Good options could include Ambush for +1d6 to one Initiative roll each short rest, Commander's Strike to allow the Rogue to get one additional off-turn Sneak Attack per short rest, or Commanding Presence to boost your already high CHA by +1d6 for one Face skill roll per short rest.


With a Fighter dip, a STR-based Bladelock is totally doable, especially with heavy instead of medium armor. Something like this:

Dhampir Fighter 1/Undead Warlock 2
STR 15+2
DEX 8 or 10
CON 14
INT 8
WIS 10 or 8
CHA 15+1
Wear Heavy Armor and wield a 2H weapon like a Greataxe. 2H means you'll always have a hand available for casting without requiring Warcaster, and Greataxe gets a larger extra damage die from Undead's Level 6 Grave Touched ability. (Greataxe would be doing 2d12 vs. Greatsword only doing 3d6.)

ASIs could be something like Heavy Armor Master (18 STR) at Warlock 4, then either GWM or +2 CHA at Warlock 8. HAM pairs nicely with Armor of Agathys, since the B/P/S damage is reduced before it's applied to AoA's Temp HP, potentially extending the amount of time AoA sticks around dealing its damage.

Or if you want additional spellcasting, start 16 STR/17 CHA and take Fey Touched/Shadow Touched at 4 and then +2 STR at 8.

Either way, go Blade Pact at Warlock 3, aiming for the Thirsting Blade invocation at Character Level 6 (Fighter 1/Warlock 5).


If you do go the GWM route, the Improved Pact Weapon invocation can also helps you blunt GWM's attack penalty, as can leaning into tactics like Darkness+Devil's Sight/Blind Fighting for Advantage on your attack rolls.

The Eldritch Smite invocation is also potentially handy for times when you want to nova.

Eventually, the Level 12 Lifedrinker invocation's added necrotic damage is not only thematically appropriate but also adds a nice chunk of damage to each attack. (About half the GWM bonus damage, without any accompanying attack penalty.)



Toll the Dead (I figure this less invocation-heavy than keeping Eldritch Blast competitive)
I'd still take Eldritch Blast over Toll the Dead, unless you just want TtD for thematic reasons. Eldritch Blast scales just as much as Toll the Dead, even without investing in any invocations:
1d10 vs. 1d8/1d12
2d10 vs. 2d8/2d12
3d10 vs. 3d8/3d12
4d10 vs. 4d8/4d12

Additionally, you'll have higher overall average damage from EB thanks to the multiple attack rolls. TtD is all-or-nothing, doing either full damage on a failed save or no damage on a successful save. EB can do full damage if all beams hit, partial damage if some hit, or no damage if none hit.

Plus, EB can be used against multiple enemies thanks to its independent rays, in the few situations where that makes sense compared to focusing fire.

EB also has twice the range of TtD.

Finally, there are fewer enemies resistant/immune to EB's Force damage than TtD's Necrotic. (And you already have a bunch of sources for Necrotic damage anyway...)

[Willie the Duck]

Finally, there are fewer enemies resistant/immune to EB's Force damage than TtD's Necrotic. (And you already have a bunch of sources for Necrotic damage anyway...)

Still digesting the rest, but this last part I had not recognized. Good catch!

[Willie the Duck]

Okay, update:

DM allowed the Eldritch Armor invocation from UA, so that is how I addressed the armor situation. We levelled to L4 already (not entirely sure how this will go, seems like it might be a Monty Haul situation a bit) so I picked up Resilient:Con. I kinda had to get a good Wisdom save as well as a decent Con save pretty early. The DM* decided that I should make daily Wisdom (DC = 2* # of days since feeding) saves vs. giving into blood craving on days where I have had a chance to consume the blood of a humanoid. I expect the whole thing to either fall apart or get conveniently side-barred once he realizes how much time that will take up.
*Who I think read a bunch of Vampire: the Masquarade in the 90s, but didn't play it much

So I have a pure Undead Pact Bladelock with AC 17 (splint mail. Doesn't look like you can do a shield with Eldritch Armor), 16 Con (decent rolls), and some fun spells (AoA, Blindness/Deafness, Cause Fear, EB, GFB, Hex, Invisibility, Mage Hand). My other invocation is Fiendish Vigor*, not Mask of Many Faces as I indicated before -- character has a backstory where he's the town doctor, and prescribes a lot of bloodletting, instead of feeding on the helpless in back alleys and such where a disguise is vital (we shall see how things go when we are on the road more and he can't just hang the shingle to get more victimspatients). Thus far it has worked fairly well: start fights with False Life or AoA temp HP up (these overlap, but not sure which to lose), and if things stay rough, throw up Form of Dread when the initial THP are depleted. Doing 2-weapon fighting atm, which works fairly well with hex (the whole bonus-action casting/moving of it competing with off-hand attack being the biggest limitation, as every ranger has already figured out with Hunter's Mark). Probably will switch to greatsword at L5.
*probably will get swapped out eventually, as 1d4+4 temp HP declines in value and as I get more Forms of Dread per day.

All in all, it is interesting, but certainly not better at being a fighter than a fighter would be.