Hexblade mild optimization

[sonofzeal]

Heyo playground! I'm helping a friend who's made a Hexblade, and frustrated with the DC. I already pointed him to Ability Focus, but are there any other straightforward ways to boost it? Mild homebrew is allowed if it's based on something pre-existing. We have two feats and a respectable pile of gold to spend.

[~LuckyBoneDice~]

Lemmie make this plain:

Race: Human
Class: Paladin of Slaughter (Feat version) 5/Hexblade 3/Battledancer 1/Blackguard 1/Suel Archanamac 4/Abjurant Champion 5/Spellsword 1

[LibraryOgre]

Hexblades actually do fairly well as Dragon Disciples.

[sonofzeal]

Lemmie make this plain:

Race: Human
Class: Paladin of Slaughter (Feat version) 5/Hexblade 3/Battledancer 1/Blackguard 1/Suel Archanamac 4/Abjurant Champion 5/Spellsword 1

Er, sorry, I should have made it more clear - he's MADE the Hexblade. Race, stats, and level breakdown (Lesser Tiefling Hexblade 11) are already established. The ONLY things we have to work with are the feats and the gold, or things that can be retconned easily and don't involve a serious rebuild.

For example, I'm thinking of retconning on the Draconic template (with LA buyoff), since that'll boost his Cha and general combat ability without any serious change beyond a few scales. He was already a bit freaky looking though, so no big deal.

[RagnaroksChosen]

Er, sorry, I should have made it more clear - he's MADE the Hexblade. Race, stats, and level breakdown (Lesser Tiefling Hexblade 11) are already established. The ONLY things we have to work with are the feats and the gold, or things that can be retconned easily and don't involve a serious rebuild.

For example, I'm thinking of retconning on the Draconic template (with LA buyoff), since that'll boost his Cha and general combat ability without any serious change beyond a few scales. He was already a bit freaky looking though, so no big deal.

Tell him to eaither take the ACF for the shadow debuffer thing and obtain familiar

Regardless Make sure you get improved Familiar. At that level winterwolfs. the quilhound , mehpit, and imps i belive are the best.

[wizuriel]

You using the unofficialy fixes from the author? Lost the link but have the quote

"The hexblade suffers a little because he came on the scene relatively early in 3.5's life.
As R&D pushes the boundaries of the game, we learn that some things we thought were risky
or potentially broken aren't. Other times, we learn things that look fine don't actually
work in play.

Armored mages fall into the first category. Them seem really powerful, but in the long run they aren't. Spells and magic items allow an unarmored mage to build great defenses. The spell mage armor is as good as medium armor, and its duration allows most mages to keep it active at all times. If you compare the hexblade to the duskblade from PH 2, you can see how the thinking has changed.

If you want to boost the hexblade, I'd try the following changes:

* Good Fortitude save
* Curse ability usable 1 + the hexblade's Cha modifier per day
* Curse ability usable as a swift action
* Curse ability does not count as used if the target makes his saving throw
* Ability to cast in light or medium armor and while carrying a light shield or buckler
* At 6th level, the hexblade can cast one hexblade spell per day as a swift action, as long as its original casting time is a standard action or faster. He gains an additional use of this power at levels 8, 11, 14, and 18.

The key to the hexblade is his curse ability, but it's a little un-fun to have it so limited in use. The hexblade also has trouble casting spells and using his melee attacks, so shifting spells to swift actions fits in with the idea of an armored mage."


Also can use the variant in PHB2 for the dark companion instead of a familiar. Finally if you take 2 feats in Tome of Magic (bind vestiege, improved bing vestiege for aura of sadness) you can get an aura to further debuff people (–2 penalty on attack rolls, saving throws, and skill checks for being next to him). That way at the start of your turn you set your dark companion, charge (making your opponent next to you and your aura) and the opponent is taking penalties to saves BEFORE you use a free/swift action to curse them and attack. Combine that with feats that force intimidate checks on the charge and you have a pretty strong debuffer. There is this ring set in complete mage (Spellguard Rings) that makes you immune to spells cast by someone wearing the other ring. Give the second ring to a friendly spellcaster in the party and have him AOE around the hexblade while the hexblade is in the middle of a fight debuffing opponents.

edit: There is also an item in MiC to help hexblade (hexbands)

edit: for his next levels would also look into trying to multiclass into paladin of tyranny if LE. that way he gets a 2nd aura to debuff people next to him and gets double CHA to saves.

[sonofzeal]

Tell him to eaither take the ACF for the shadow debuffer thing and obtain familiar

Regardless Make sure you get improved Familiar. At that level winterwolfs. the quilhound , mehpit, and imps i belive are the best.

We went for the Shadow Panther (PHB2), yeah. The character was made in a rush though so we didn't bother with Obtaim/Improved Familiar, and he's not so keen on the penalties for losing one.

[Thrawn183]

I think the Veil of Allure item from MIC will boost the DC by 2, but I don't have the book w/ me at the moment, so you'll have to look it up yourself.

[LibraryOgre]

Yeah, I was gonna suggest a magic item that boosts the curse DC... maybe a rod or a specific sword that would do so.

[Amphetryon]

Use the Mearls Hexblade Fix.

ACF for the Debuffer-Hound at 4th.

Obtain/Improved Familiar for Winter Wolf.

If allowed, Wild Cohort (online feat from WotC, link in the Surrealdex there) for another wolf.

Spell Focus/GSF Enchantment.

Your friend can be a viable debuffer with solid melee contributions thanks to his BAB and the pets.

[sonofzeal]

Bind Vestige sounds good!

Hexbands sound good!

Veil of Allure sounds good!

Paladin of Tyranny is an interesting idea, I'll run it past him!

Thanks all!

[RagnaroksChosen]

We went for the Shadow Panther (PHB2), yeah. The character was made in a rush though so we didn't bother with Obtaim/Improved Familiar, and he's not so keen on the penalties for losing one.

Well he shouldn't especialy if its an imp it can stay invis except for when it umd's or needs to flank or what not.

or just give it a bow/xbow and have it ping from the back(if its got arms)

I highly recomend grabbing obtain and improved familar there great especialy for a hex blade.

D10 hd full bab, decent saves. all very good.

[Ernir]

Grab Imperious Command (Drow of the Underdark) along with Fearsome armor from the same book. He should have the Charisma to pull it off. Frightful Presence (Draconomicon) if you need more fear. Don't forget the Never Outnumbered skill trick (Complete Scoundrel).

The Sudden Stunning weapon enhancement from DMG2. Cha-based save DC vs. stun. Uses per day are cha-based too. If the DM thinks it's overpowered, raise the amount of gold you are willing to pay for it. Because you want it, and you are willing to pay more than list price for it.

There is a bunch of nice spells on the Hexblade class list. Including Polymorph (!!!). He can't cast it yet, and when he can, the spells per day will still stink, so grab a wand. Have fun being a War Troll or something worse.

Hexbands (Magic Item Compendium), one of the few items actually made for the Hexblade. Cheap.

I think the Veil of Allure item from MIC will boost the DC by 2, but I don't have the book w/ me at the moment, so you'll have to look it up yourself.

That it does! Costs 14k.

[Hawk7915]

This is an interesting, save and duration boosting feat. Not sure if it is usable, though: Linky

You could also check out The Hexblade Handbook; it gives advice on the best spells to take, good feat options (I guess by RAW you can get a decent spellpower boost with Practiced Spellcaster), and a list of dragon magazine feats that would add extra effects to your curse.

[true_shinken]

Yeah, I was gonna suggest a magic item that boosts the curse DC... maybe a rod or a specific sword that would do so.

MIC has hexbands, I believe they do exactly this.

[Keld Denar]

I know you only said mild homebrew, but I gotta mention this. Its an invocation-style hexblade that redoes the whole hexing and spellcasting niche into one robust, diverse feature. Lets face it, Hexblade casting is a joke. Only a couple of good buffs, but mostly attack style debuffs that have saves, which, by the time you get them, are laughable.

I've seen this in play (DMed for a half dozen games with a 6th level hexblade using this fix). Its kinda strong vs a single foe, but in well rounded group vs group encounters, its good, pulls its own weight, and seemed really fun to play. Check it out.

[Mephibosheth]

Here's a whole mess of Hexblade-related homebrew, if you're interested. In particular, Scathing Curse will let you use an intimidate check to boost your DC.
[/shamelessselfpromotion]

Those and the others mentioned are all I can think of by way of feats that boost the curse DC. Hexbands are fun and Veil of Allure will help as well. I assume he's already got a Cloak of Charisma, but if not, any item that boosts charisma will help too.

[JasonP]

I know you only said mild homebrew, but I gotta mention this. Its an invocation-style hexblade that redoes the whole hexing and spellcasting niche into one robust, diverse feature. Lets face it, Hexblade casting is a joke. Only a couple of good buffs, but mostly attack style debuffs that have saves, which, by the time you get them, are laughable.

I've seen this in play (DMed for a half dozen games with a 6th level hexblade using this fix). Its kinda strong vs a single foe, but in well rounded group vs group encounters, its good, pulls its own weight, and seemed really fun to play. Check it out.

I think this is a really great fix, except I think the curse effects could use some a little tweaking; make at least the 2nd level ones similar to the hexblade curse feats in Dragon Magazine 339 (also found in Crystal Keep's feat index) and compare them to DFA breath effects, maybe have one of the 10th level ones do Cha mod damage/round. Also I would add back in the Hexblade bonus feats with the same list but add in all (or most) of the familiar feats and include a feat to take the Shadow Panther acf from phbII.

[Person_Man]

Consider:

• Frightful Presence Dreadful Wrath
• Brutal Strike
• Netherese Battle Curse
• Obtain Familiar (if you want a Dark Companion and a Familiar)

He might also want to buy:

• Spell Storing Weapon
• Frightful Crest draconic graft (Races of the Dragon pg 128)
• Mohrg’s Tongue undead graft gives you a secondary touch attack that Paralyzes enemies (Libris Mortis pg 80)
• Roaring weapon enhancement - Evil creatures must Save or be Shaken. (Book of Exalted Deeds pg 113).
• Subjugating weapon enhancement - All enemies must Save or be Shaken. (Heroes of Battle pg 130).