Conquest Hexblade Question - +1 AC or +1 CON Mod?

[stayhoided]

Starting at Level 2 in Lost Mines and launching from that into Storm King's Thunder. Rest of the party is Melee Rogue, Wizard, Witch homebrew thing, and Swarm Ranger.

As for my build, I'm going PAM Shield + Spear, probably Conquest 9/1 Hexblade since SKT tops out around Level 10, Conquest gets Fear at Level 9, and almost all of the other multi-options lose out on Fear and/or an ASI. DM wanted us to roll for stats and I ended up with 14 14 15 9 12 17. With vhuman, that's 18 CHA that can be bumped at 5th level for 20.

Now my main question is - is it worth it to throw the extra +1 into CON for 16 CON, or throw it into STR so that I can wear plate? At level 5 I will be going ASI for the +20 CHA, so whichever I wait on, I won't get my half feat until the campaign is almost over. If I go CON, I will have 1 ore HP per level, but will lose out on 1 AC using Half Plate (19 AC) instead of Plate until level 9 (20 AC). Seems pretty even but I'm not sure.

Also a second, yet smaller question - 1st Level spells - Taking shield, then unsure. Armor of Agathys is already on the Conquest list and Wrathful Smite is already on the Paladin list. This leaves Hex which will compete for concentration with Bless, Cause Fear which seems like a waste considering I have Wrathful Smite, and Expeditious Retreat which might be nice with no teleport spells available.

edit: typo

[Marcloure]

+1 CON. If it were between Dex and Con, it could be debatable, but between Strength and Constitution, I think Con is much better. It's a better save and concentration. The HP bump is minimal, sure, but 1 AC is good but also not that incredible, and you might not get a full plate until the 5th level or so. Sincerely, I would likely dump STR as a hexblade; I think every other stat is better.

[stayhoided]

I can't dump STR to either the 9 or 12 because I have to have 13 minimum to multiclass with Paladin.

[RogueJK]

Definitely +1 CON. You have two good options here, both of which involve starting with 14 STR and 15+1 CON:

Medium Armor Option: Put your other 14 in DEX and just stick to wearing Medium Armor. Half Plate gets you to within 1 AC of Plate Mail without the STR requirement and at half the price.

Heavy Armor Option: Put the 12 or even 9 in DEX and start off by wearing Chain Mail. Then bump your STR to 15 at Paladin 4 and then you can switch to Plate Mail. You'll be less likely to be able to acquire Plate Mail before Tier 2 anyway. (Crusher would be an especially good option for a STR half-feat here, granting you some useful rider effects to your PAM staff attacks.)


Either route, you're going to have a 18 AC throughout your Tier 1 adventuring:

Scale Mail 14 + DEX 2 + Shield 2
or
Chain Mail 16 + Shield 2

And after that, you're either at 19 with Half Plate or 20 with Plate.

[RogueJK]

Cause Fear which seems like a waste considering I have Wrathful Smite

Cause Fear has a range of 60 feet, while Wrathful Smite requires a melee attack.

Therefore, they're each useful in different circumstances.

A Frightened creature cannot move closer to the source of its fear (you). So this lets you halt a dangerous charging melee enemy in their tracks up to 60' away, and then the party can pelt them at range. (You using Eldritch Blast.)

[stayhoided]

Nice. Yeah I'd probably go the DEX route since with the hexblade dip, the only thing I'm really getting from STR is the ability to wear heavy armor. The pushback feature looks pretty cool on Crusher especially if utilized with booming blade, but I think having the 20 CHA earlier is better.

Just wasn't sure if going from 19 to 20 AC is more or less valuable than 1 more HP per level as well as a higher CON save.

[RogueJK]

Nice. Yeah I'd probably go the DEX route since with the hexblade dip, the only thing I'm really getting from STR is the ability to wear heavy armor. The pushback feature looks pretty cool on Crusher especially if utilized with booming blade, but I think having the 20 CHA earlier is better.

There's a third option that has you wearing Medium Armor while still picking up Crusher at 4: Start with just 15 CON, and then go Crusher at Paladin 4 for 16 CON. This would let you use that initial +1 to bump the 9 to a 10, so you won't have any stat penalties.

[da newt]

I agree with the others - +1 con for saves (concentration) and HP for all levels is > +1 AC for later levels when you can afford plate. Also, w/ 1/2 plate you have the option of doffing some of it to go breast plate only and stealth better pretty easily/quickly, and maybe you'll find some magic armor / shield / ring or cloak of protection ...

As for spells, hellish rebuke is always a decent option as it fills a unique spell niche - reaction attack damage, but it will compete w/ PAM op att, and I also like to have Prot from G&E because it is so good against the right enemies.

[diplomancer]

Remember also that the Str requirement for armor is only to avoid movement penalties. And I suppose in SKT you will be able to get your Steed inside most places, so nothing stops you from getting a Plate Mail (and bring an extra set of Breastplate in case your Steed dies and you can't resummon it before the next combat).

[stayhoided]

Thanks for your help everybody.

I think what I am going to do is start with 15 STR 15 CON 18 CHA and then take Resilience: CON at first ASI, delaying my CHA to 20 until my second ASI. That way I get everything. I do miss out on a bit of CHA at first but I think being at 18 will be okay for a while.

[diplomancer]

Thanks for your help everybody.

I think what I am going to do is start with 15 STR 15 CON 18 CHA and then take Resilience: CON at first ASI, delaying my CHA to 20 until my second ASI. That way I get everything. I do miss out on a bit of CHA at first but I think being at 18 will be okay for a while.

This is also a decent option, but I'd raise Cha first. As a Hexadin, Cha helps you with everything, physical offense, magical offense, magical defenses...

It's not that you will suffer with Cha 18 (you won't, Cha 18 is sufficient), but you will lose effectiveness (without probably realizing it).

Though, to be fair, I'd still say to go with CON 16, raise Cha at 5 and get Inspiring Leader at 9, unless your party has good THP generation. That's a feat that makes everyone love you (and helps keep your Steed alive longer).

[Theodoxus]

Another option is to throw a +1 at the 12 to make it a 13 Str for MC purposes. 13 Str, 14 Dex, 15 Con, 18 Chr... gives you lots of options at level 5 for an ASI or feat (Crusher for +1 Con isn't horrible, Res: Con is good too... (too bad Warcaster doesn't come with a +1 Con), though I agree with Diplomancer that +2 Chr is probably ideal).

At 9th, you can then do the opposite. +2 Chr or the Con boosting half feat...

ETA: I'd round out the stats with a 9 Int and 14 Wis and pray you don't run into any Intellect Devourers :smallconfused:

[Samayu]

Also a second, yet smaller question - 1st Level spells - Taking shield, then unsure. Armor of Agathys is already on the Conquest list and Wrathful Smite is already on the Paladin list. This leaves Hex which will compete for concentration with Bless, Cause Fear which seems like a waste considering I have Wrathful Smite, and Expeditious Retreat which might be nice with no teleport spells available.

I played a similar build. My go-to spells were Bless and Hex. Also, Prot. Evil when undead where common. Once the aura came online, then Fear , which is AoE. I hardly ever used Wrathful Smite. I had good armor, so I never needed Shield (plus Shield ends up being a slot-suck, and you already have Smites). And being the tank, I didn't want to dissuade people from attacking me, by using Armor of Agathys.

[Corran]

I'd go 18 CHA 16 STR and I'd just delay the warlock level (you need warcaster to make the most of it anyway, especially since you are going with a shield). From warlock I'd go with shield and hex. Hex takes up concentration but it's nice to have something to throw on top of EB when you want to rely on ranged attacks.