Turning the Hexblade "Patron" into modular powers

[Segev]

This seems a bit much.

I could see "Use a Reaction to allow the Warlock a 1d20 roll with no modifiers. If your roll meets or exceeds the attacker's total, they miss."

This way, they couldn't easily negate a Natural 20.

Valid point; my only counterpoint is that the "1d6, misses on a 4+" is straight out of the Hexblade patron power. Maybe downgrading it in moving it to an Invocation (albeit one that costs a spell slot to use) is appropriate. On the other hand, "set your last-ditch AC to the result of an unmodified d20 roll" seems pretty weak. They rolled a d20 with bonuses, and already overcame your likely mid-teens AC. You've got less than the chances of rolling over your own AC on that d20 to negate the hit at this point. If you made it, insted, "roll an unmodified d20, and compare it to the raw result of their attack roll before bonuses. If you roll equal or higher, they miss," then it would have an overall 50% miss chance effect, but would make higher d20 rolls on their part less likely to be the ones negated, which is what you're looking for. If you want nat 20s to never be negated, then make it that the warlock has to roll higher.

@Segev
Humm. Sorry.

Once again, not having my Books on hand when posting backfires on me!
- Honestly, I don't recall where I read the Force Damage.

Mistakes happen. For the longest time, I thought projected image in 5e retained the ability to cast spells through it.

As far as Hex Armor and the Two new Curse Invocations, I think that would work.
I might even be able to convince a Player to try this out in one of my games.....

Cool! Please do let me know how it works. I don't have any Warlocks in my own home game, so I don't have anybody to talk into trying these out. Also, the party's only level 2, anyway.

Personally, I think that giving all Martial Weapons is really stepping a bit over the Gish. Makes this class a better choice then Eldritch Knight, in a lot of ways.
Or being Paladin-lite with Thirsting Blade and Eldritch Smite combo.

Especially since the Bladelock is proficient in their Bonded Weapon, and can change it each time it is Summoned. (PHB - pg 107)
*Poof* 1d10 Blunt! (Two handed Warhammer)
*Poof* 1d12 Slashing! (Greataxe)
*Poof* 600' 1d8 Piercing! (Longbow)

Really, bonding with a Magical Weapon actually limits this Ability. (I mean a +3 Legendary Weapon with extra powers might be worth it, but that's all)

To be fair, the Hexblade patron already does all of that. By design, as I think the Pact of the Blade Warlock is meant to be a solid gish. Eldritch Knight may need its own beefing up, or may not be intended to be quite as heavy a gish - more a fighter with some light gishability.

I still like Cynthaer's suggestion for Weapons by Patron at 1st level.

It's an idea, but it's a far broader re-design than I was aiming for with my efforts, which is why I haven't really tried it.

And I'd rather give a Shield over Medium Armor at 1st level. Giving both really outshines the other types of Warlock.

Yes and no; first off, it's being a Hexblade Patron that gives you that, and I'm removing that option with my efforts here. Secondly, it's only really cool if you're planning to gish; if you're planning to be a more spellcasty warlock, there's better you can do. Though it does have more solid bones than the once-per-short-rest benefits most of the others get. GoO's telepathy remains my favorite, in any event.

With your option: I see a lot of "Hexblade" (GoO for mind powers; Fiend for Fire; Archfey for Charm; Celestial for some healing; and Undying for Necromancer-lite) Warlocks going Variant Human with PAM - or either Dwarf or Elf with racial weapons - and just rocking over the majority of other Gish options.

With the changes, I don't see how adding the bonus weapon proficiencies helps. The primary thing my changes add is the ability to gish with the club that warlocks start proficient with, if they choose shillelagh as one of their cantrips, and/or pick up Eldritch Armaments as an Invocation. Proficiency with shields and armor is good, but at the cost of an invocation still doesn't resonate strongly with Elf or Dwarf racial weapon proficiencies.

Would most likely not even need to Multiclass.

I think that was an intent behind the Hexblade Patron, and remains an intent here. Having to multiclass to make Pact of the Blade not require a massive style-shift from the first two levels to the third is a bug they were trying to patch. I'm just trying to patch it a little better.

Would having a few more options for the (original) Hexblade's Patron be helpful?

I've got one done, and am working on a second.

Keep the Crunch as done here, but adding Goal/Fluff options?

Spoiler: Hexblade changes

Show

At 1st level gain the use of shields, and pick one of the Hexblade's Curse effects.
Gain a second choice at 3rd level.
Gain the last effect at 5th level.

Trade Shield spell for Ice Knife.

At 3rd level, pick a Pact: Chain, Blade, or Tome.

All other Abilities unchanged.

(Modified) Invocations

Rebuking Curse
Must be at least level 9 to take this invocation.
When you use Hexblade's Curse, you may select from the following additional options to apply to the target:

When the target hits you with an attack, as a Reaction, roll 1d20 with no modifiers. If you meet the attack's total, they miss.

When the target takes necrotic damage from any source, you heal half of that amount.

When the target makes an attack against you, you may make a melee or ranged weapon attack against the target as a reaction.

Dread Curse
Must be at least level 15 to take this invocation.

When you use Hexblade's Curse, you may select from the following additional options to apply to the target:

The target is either Charmed and Frightened by you, and may make a Charisma save each round on their turn to end this effect.

You may Dash as a bonus action so long as your movement places you closer to the target than you started, or adjacent to him. You gain the movement capabilities of the Gaseous Form spell while moving, but retain your normal speed. To observers, you appear to move between blinks and when they're not looking.

If you have hit the target with a ranged attack since their last turn, they must make a Wisdom saving throw to be able to take any voluntary movement actions which end with them further away from you than they began their turn. This includes teleportation and other magical effects. Creatures immune to being Charmed are immune to this effect.

I'll do some Playtesting, and post the results.

I'll keep an eye on the thread for your analysis of that playtesting.

I don't think having more options for hexblade patrons would help; it's still "yeah, um, this sentient weapon is your patron, but, erm, you're not wielding him or anything; yeah, he's just that powerful, able to bless you with stuff from a distance."

If "Hexblade Patron" was going to be at thing, Pact of the Blade would probably need to be excised and wholly replaced with it, with the Patron being the bonded weapon and growing in power with the Warlock with whom it's pacted. Which would likely require 1-2 more new Pacts to be available, especially since Chain and especially Tome are weird with a gishlock.

I mean, imagine even with the current rules: What does a Hexblade-Patron Tomelock really play like? What does a Hexblade-patron Chainlock play like?

...yeesh, Hexblade Patron makes warlock a prime choice for easy multiclassing to get armor proficiencies you might not get from multiclassing into "more appropriate" classes. I'd need to check Fighter and Ranger and Paladin for what they grant in proficiencies.