Quote Originally Posted by Corran View Post
Cool build. Only had a quick look and will read it more carefully later, but yeah, cool build.
One of the other ways to go about it (assuming the aim is retaliatory damage), could be hexblade1 or 2/phoenix sorc 18 or 19. Sorcerer will get us stoneskin (we can extend it if we like) and higher level slots with which to use armor of Agathys. Plus the phoenix (UA, unfortunately) features, although a bit lackluster, play well with our aim here. More slots to use hellish rebuke with, if we want to.

One suggestion would be to take absorb elements (didn't spot it after a quick read), cause it will spare you pain from attacks that will eat into your AoA hp without provoking retaliatory damage. Second suggestion, make room for both resilient con and warcaster, otherwise you will end up losing concentration pretty often (because remember, we are not strictly tanking with AC, but also with hp, so we can be expecting hits). Lastly, consider involving the blade ward cantrip.

Edit: Minion killer is another good name for such builds, cause it will be fights against looooots of minions (correction: a lot of melee minions) where they'll shine the most. And you can kill them (at least most of them) without spilling minion blood all over your good weapons!
Thanks! Lol re the minion blood - somehow, I've never thought of the character as fastidious, but that would actually be a hoot to rp. Think "Monk," but with a Fiend pact.

Phoenix Sorcerer looks interesting; the original idea for this came from the UA Undying Light Warlock, who got fire shield as well. Those two combo-ed would be pretty nasty, though I'm not sure I'd go full sorcerer on the build; I think you get the vast majority of the benefit with a 1 level dip for mantle of flame.

Absorb elements is a great suggestion, but the build as written doesn't have access to it natively; you'd have to pick it up via Magic Initiate or something similar. Warcaster and Resilient are both great choices; maybe I'll extend the build out to Lvl 20 next week and show how a final version might look.

Thanks so much for the feedback!