Build Path for Hexblade Warlock / OA Paladin

[GMan04]

As the title says, what would be the roadmap you would take for a build? I started with paladin at level 1 and have three levels of warlock. I was thinking about my pc leaning more into the paladin side as I level but I want to get the most value out of my warlock as I can. Thoughts?

If you think warlock is the better path to go then please give me a roadmap for that as well please.


Thank you

[animorte]

I love me some Warlock, but to get the best value out of a few levels, probably taking Pact of the Tome at level 3 with Book of Ancient Secrets invocation. More cantrips from any list and ritual casting, highly valuable.

[Hael]

Usually if you are going warlock past 1 or 2 levels in a Hexadin build, thats b/c you are going 2handed melee or ranged.

Rule of thumb is that more warlock levels provide more at will damage (invocations/recharging spell slots for smite/self advantage/more offensive gish spell choices) as well as more casting options in general.

The flipside is that paladin levels gives you much better defensive abilities (auras, more spell slots for shield spells, better HD, lay on hands progression) as well as movement (find steed).

The problem is that the really good abilities for warlocks are 4th and 5th lvl spells (lvl 7 and lvl 9), and the really good abillity for paladins is lvl 6 and sometimes lvl 7 (second aura). So you rarely get the time to get both unless you are starting much later in a campaign or are planning on a very long investment.

[Keravath]

The roadmap depends on how you want the character to develop.

The most popular paladin features are heavy armor and d10 hps at level 1, smites at level 2, extra attack at level 5, aura of protection at level 6, other aura at level 7, aura of courage at level 10, improved divine smite at level 11

To make the most out of IDS at level 11, the paladin probably would prefer to have fairly reliable 3 attacks/turn. This would mean PAM+dualing with quarterstaff of spear or possibly GWM with a two handed sword.

The typical character would have at least one level of hexblade warlock so that their weapons can attack with charisma and it saves them having to use ASIs to boost both charisma and strength but can focus just on charisma.

However, in this case, a GWM paladin would likely want 3 levels of hexblade for blade pact warlock which allows them to use charisma to attack with their pact weapon which can be a greatsword (or anything else - greatsword doesn't work with the hex warrior feature without the blade pact).

The desired hexblade features are usually ...
- hexblade 1 - hex warrior so the character can use charisma for their weapon attacks - 1 sr spell slot, 2 cantrips (eldritch blast +1), shield spell
- hexblade 2 - 2 sr spell slots, 2 invocations (agonizing blast+1 - agonizing blast gives the paladin a good ranged attack which they often don't have and there WILL be encounters where a paladin without a ranged attack might find themselves running around doing little or nothing).
- hexblade 3 - pact, 2 sr level 2 spell slots - tome pact is good for a bit of utility - blade pact for using 2 handed weapons with hex warrior feature

Further levels of hexblade give you some more spells to choose from and higher level slots but until level 11 the hexblade will only have 2 sr spell slots - even though they are higher level - they don't provide much resources for smiting or for casting spells like shield.

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So the typical build might be:
- variant human or custom lineage and start with PAM
- 1 level paladin + 1 level hexblade (cha SAD) + 5 levels paladin (this gets the aura of protection and extra attack, eldritch blast gives an ok ranged attack even without agonizing blast) - character level 7
- at that point decide whether more warlock features or more paladin features are more desirable

One path would be +1 hexblade (6 paladin/2 warlock) - adds invocations and improves ranged attack +5 paladin levels (paladin 11/hexblade 2 - level 13)

Other options would be
+5 paladin for 11 paladin/1 hexblade
or
+2 warlock +5 paladin to get to 11 paladin/3 hexblade at level 14 - this is a possible path for a GWM paladin - since they will be able to use hexwarrior with a great sword at level 9.

However, you seem to be 1 paladin/3 hexblade. If you go blade pact then you could use the great sword with hexwarrior right away - paladin to level 6 might be your next goal if you want to emphasize the melee side of the paladin though extra attack and aura won't come on line until level 8/9. GWM can boost damage against low AC targets but a paladin needs to pay more attention to it since IDS increases each attacks damage and every hit is an opportunity to use regular smites so using GWM will reduce the number of opportunities to smite and thus reduce the paladin's alpha strike potential - for that reason PAM is often a better choice with the dueling fighting style and a quarterstaff or spear for good damage, good AC and more attacks that will likely hit.