Hexblade swords bard?

[Spacehamster]

So need a backup for current campaign in case my current pc dies and were thinking starting 1 hexblade then go rest into swords bard, custom lineage with polearm master as feat, take dueling from swords fighting style and fight using spear & shield using CHA.
Prob starting scores 10/14/14/8/10/17.
Feat ASI’s: 5th level Fey touched, 9th level max CHA, 13th level war caster perhaps.
Magical secrets feature I’m not sure about, find greater steed & banishing smite could be cool I suppose.
Thoughts? Seems survivable and able to dish out decent amount of damage due to hex upcasted AoA, hexblade curse and so on, plus all the utility of bard with maxed CHA.

[Leon]

If it seems like a neat idea then do it, you don't need the permission of a forum to try things that sound cool and if you find that it doesn't work with your DM to sort out a alternative. Its a backup character so you have plenty of time to finetune it.

[RazorChain]

Or go Hexblade to 5 and pick up eldritch smite. You'll have two 3rd level slots on short rest to smite with for 4d8 extra damage and you knock the foe prone. So start with Eldritch smite and then you'll have advantage on rest of your attacks.

Sword bard will grant you extra attack so you don't need thirsting blade. You'll also get 2 more invocations which give you more utility.

This of course depends on how often your group takes a short rest.

[RogueJK]

If your DM is a stickler for spell components, you'll need Warcaster to cast many of your Warlock and Bard spells while your hands are full with Spear and Shield.

In that case, I'd do Warcaster at 1st level, then PAM at 4th, Fey Touched at 8th, then 20 CHA at 12th.

[Thrudd]

If your DM is a stickler for spell components, you'll need Warcaster to cast many of your Warlock and Bard spells while your hands are full with Spear and Shield.

In that case, I'd do Warcaster at 1st level, then PAM at 4th, Fey Touched at 8th, then 20 CHA at 12th.

College of Swords will let them use a weapon as the focus for bard spells, but warlock spells will still need a free hand by RAW. It would make sense to have that feature for the Hex Warrior weapon, by default. Though I guess they made it an eldritch invocation for Pact of the Blade, "Improved Pact Weapon" turns your pact weapon into a focus, so it wouldn't make sense to give it for free- but a DM might be able to be convinced. It really seems like a thing that shouldn't require an invocation, but would be a base feature of warlocks who's class features are about using weapons.

[RogueJK]

College of Swords will let them use a weapon as the focus for bard spells, but warlock spells will still need a free hand by RAW.

Bard spells with Somatic components but no Material component would also still need a free hand, without Warcaster.

[Thrudd]

Bard spells with Somatic components but no Material component would also still need a free hand, without Warcaster.

True. You really can't get away with using a shield and spellcasting.

[Spacehamster]

Luckily dm hand waves the silly free hand rule of casting so warcaster is mostly for advantage on con saves for concentration.

[tiornys]

True. You really can't get away with using a shield and spellcasting.
Sure you can. It's only when you add in a weapon (or magical staff/wand/rod/etc.) that things get sticky. :smallwink:

[Psyren]

True. You really can't get away with using a shield and spellcasting.

Artificer can as all their spells have M components


Sure you can. It's only when you add in a weapon (or magical staff/wand/rod/etc.) that things get sticky. :smallwink:

You can also stow your weapon as an object interaction when you need to cast, if you don't mind not being able to OA. (If you were planning to, say, Shield/Absorb/Counterspell with your reaction instead, this could be a good tradeoff.)

[Kenny_Snoggins]

College of Swords will let them use a weapon as the focus for bard spells, but warlock spells will still need a free hand by RAW. It would make sense to have that feature for the Hex Warrior weapon, by default. Though I guess they made it an eldritch invocation for Pact of the Blade, "Improved Pact Weapon" turns your pact weapon into a focus, so it wouldn't make sense to give it for free- but a DM might be able to be convinced. It really seems like a thing that shouldn't require an invocation, but would be a base feature of warlocks who's class features are about using weapons.

I'm pretty sure hexblades can use their weapon as a casting focus so will only be an issue if you're not using your hex weapons and can't have a free hand. I play a hexblade sword bard and that does occasionally happen but like in maybe 1 combat every 3 sessions. Pretty rare.

Polearm master is good but I think it's not the best choice. Your bonus action slot is going to be pretty busy and usually you'll have something better to do. I would take Telekinetic instead if you want specifically bonus action economy. Auto-dismounting riders and breaking grapples or pushing people into or out of auras stays useful longer than PAM does, imo. The invisible mage hand also has a bunch of out of combat utility unlike PAM.

For magic secrets, yes get find greater steed for sure, I don't think the smite is worth it though. I would do shadow blade if you have 2nd level warlock slots, otherwise spirit guardians. Aid can be really nice to if nobody has it and you have a lot of martials.

[Thrudd]

Artificer can as all their spells have M components

You can also stow your weapon as an object interaction when you need to cast, if you don't mind not being able to OA. (If you were planning to, say, Shield/Absorb/Counterspell with your reaction instead, this could be a good tradeoff.)

Yeah, that's a good point about stowing. Artificer's M component has to be a set of tools, though- so they still can't have a weapon and shield while casting.



I'm pretty sure hexblades can use their weapon as a casting focus so will only be an issue if you're not using your hex weapons and can't have a free hand. I play a hexblade sword bard and that does occasionally happen but like in maybe 1 combat every 3 sessions. Pretty rare.


It would make sense if they could, but it's not actually in the text, unless there's been an official errata somewhere. But there's a lot of spells that have S but don't have M components anyway, so it's always going to be a stowing and unstowing your weapon situation if you've got a shield, regardless.

[Psyren]

Yeah, that's a good point about stowing. Artificer's M component has to be a set of tools, though- so they still can't have a weapon and shield while casting.

Actually, they can also use any infused item as their M component/focus (TCoE 11). So if you infuse your weapon or shield (or both) you're good to go casting with sword and board.

[Thrudd]

Actually, they can also use any infused item as their M component/focus (TCoE 11). So if you infuse your weapon or shield (or both) you're good to go casting with sword and board.

oh yeah, forgot about that lol. And Armorers automatically get to use their armor as focus, too. I guess artificer is the choice if you just must be able to cast all your spells with a weapon and shield in hand. lol

[tiornys]

oh yeah, forgot about that lol. And Armorers automatically get to use their armor as focus, too. I guess artificer is the choice if you just must be able to cast all your spells with a weapon and shield in hand. lol
Or, you know, War Caster.