Half-Orc Warlock--Which Pact Boon?

[TheCleverGuy]

I have a Half-Orc Fiend Warlock with the following rolled stats:
STR 13, DEX 14, CON 18, INT 14, WIS 11, CHA 18

Trying to decide which Pact Boon to take when I reach level 3. He's in a party with a Fighter, Paladin, and Cleric, all at 2nd level now. He's the most stealthy character we have, and he'll be the one to pick locks and disarm traps (picked up Thieves Tools Proficiency from my background).

For cantrips, I took Eldritch Blast and Mage Hand, and my spells known so far are Burning Hands, Cause Fear, and Hellish Rebuke. For Invocations, I took Devil's Sight and Fiendish Vigor.

I'd like to advantage of my high CON and racial features to get into melee, instead of spamming EB all the time. So obviously Blade Pact has lots of appeal. But I was also looking at taking the Shadow Blade spell (which should still benefit from Savage Attacks if I'm reading everything right)-- would that make the pact weapon redundant? I could also use the Chain pact for an imp familiar.

TL;DR, Blade pact or Chain for a half-orc Fiendlock with high CON and a tanky, melee-heavy party?

[KorvinStarmast]

I have a Half-Orc Fiend Warlock with the following rolled stats:
STR 13, DEX 14, CON 18, INT 14, WIS 11, CHA 18

Trying to decide which Pact Boon to take when I reach level 3. He's in a party with a Fighter, Paladin, and Cleric, all at 2nd level now. He's the most stealthy character we have, and he'll be the one to pick locks and disarm traps (picked up Thieves Tools Proficiency from my background).

I suggest chain. And you can swap familiars with each casting; if you now and again want a pseudo dragon, that can be fun. Imp is solid, though.

[Emongnome777]

Chain. If your schtick is stealth, having an imp for recon seems like the best fit.

[CTurbo]

I really like Tome for the utility. With a 13 Str and 14 Dex, you're not going to be great at melee attacks which is fine. You could take Moderately Armored for medium armor and shield proficiency would could also bump Str to 14(or Dex to 15) if you cared.

I actually played a Fiend/Tome with Moderately Armored and it was a fun character.

[Davo]

It can cost a lot in feats and invocations to "keep up" with the martials in melee.

With no other arcane caster in your group, Tome potentially helps you fill a utility void. Plus you can still scout with normal Find Familiar, and you can melee with shillelagh if you feel the need. I've never regretted going Tome pact on any of my Warlocks.

[Keravath]

The big issue with the concept of melee is that you have to attack with str +1 or dex +2 while if you take the agonizing blast invocation you will be using EB with a +4. EB will also have two bolts at level 5 and 3 at 11.

Shadowblade starts at 2d8 and goes up with casting level. Shadowblade will also give you advantage in darkness or dim light. You also only have light armor as a fiend warlock so your AC is only 14 with studded leather and you don't have a shield. An 18 con only gives you one extra hit point/level over a 16 or 2 over a 14. This amounts to 6 extra hit points at level 3.

If you were a hexblade with 16+ dex, medium armor and a shield + shadowblade it would be pretty good. As a fiend warlock with 14AC, 14 dex, light armor, no shield ... AND a tanky melee heavy party ... you are likely better off filling another role though keep shadowblade in reserve in case you do get forced into melee.

If you want a stealthy scout then find familiar is a great choice. You can get an owl via Tome pact or an imp (pretty thematic for a fiend lock) via chain pact. The owl has flyby and can use the help action in combat to give advantage on one attack. The owl or an alternate form also makes a decent scout. On the other hand, the invisible imp with alternate shapes is probably the ultimate in familar scouting capabilities. Tome however, offers all the other useful rituals and some additional cantrips. Rituals like Leomunds Tiny Hut at level 5 (if you find it) and a large number of level 1 utility rituals like detect magic and identify that your party may not have already.

Anyway, I would tend to focus on what your character does well rather than trying to be good at what everyone else does well. Using agonizing blast + hex, you will likely be doing more damage that others. Take darkness+devils sight or shadow of moil and you can be harder to hit while having advantage on all your attacks. The main issue with warlocks is that they only have 2 spell slots and those can run out very quickly.

[Warlush]

I had a Half Orc fiendish chain lock that relied on Booming Blade, but he had STR 16. If I had your stats I'd just get some melee friendly cantrips like Toll The Dead, or Shocking Grasp. Tome could get you Shillelagh, which would synergize really well with Green-Flame Blade or Booming Blade. With your team configuration though I'd say pact of the chain. You've got melee teammates and the Cleric can cast most of the rituals you could need. You'd really shine outside of combat the brightest with a lil devil/demon side kick.

[Joe the Rat]

On Blade Pact: Shadow Blade will use a spell each combat. A Pact weapon is a free summon, and the only way for you to be proficient in rapier without feat or multiclass. If your DM is amenable, you could try selling him or her on adding "Use Cha for to hit and damage with your pact weapon" to the Pact of the Blade invocation. Don't let Hexblades have all the fun.

I'm going to hop in on Tome as well - you're the only Arcanist of the lot. You and the Cleric are most likely the only ones who can do ranged (and with Eldritch Blast, you are definitely suited to range). Ritual casting (Through the Book of Ancient Secrets Invocation) with free choice of ritual spells, gives you a LOT of flexibility. You might lose the attack ability and invisibility that comes with most of the Chain familiars, but you can do fun things with standard Find Familiar familiars. Owl is notable for the flyby: swoop in, use the Help action to give someone Advantage, fly away. Familiars definitely will help with scouting, as they can often go places more unobtrusively, even without invisibility. At level five add Tiny Hut. Your party will thank you for it.

But the other side of Tome is free choice of three cantrips. If your cleric doesn't have guidance, it's a good pick - give yourself an extra d4 to your lockpicking and occasionally stealthing. Or to the rest of your party in whatever they are doing checks for.

Now let's look at melee. One option is to grab one or two save-based cantrips (again, you can choose anything). Save spells can work at melee range without any sort of penalty. Sacred Flame and Word of Radiance are radiant damage (Dex and Con save, respectively), which is a soft spot for Warlocks, albeit one stepping into your cleric's wheelhouse. You could pull some options from your list - toll the dead is the #2 warlock damage cantrip (d8 necrotic, d12 if they've already been injured). Frostbite (Cold, Con Save) and Vicious Mockery (Psychic, Wis Save, Bard list) do minor damage, but also force disadvantage on the next attack by that target. No defense like hurting their offense.

Another option are spells that enhance your own melee ability. The _blade cantrips from Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide (greenflame blade, booming blade) give you magical riders on a weapon attack. To an extent, it makes up for your lack of Extra Attack. These also work with the shadow blade, if you are using it in melee. These are available on the Warlock list, so you don't have to use Tome picks for them, but if nothing else catches your eye and the DM allows SCAG, it's worthwhile. The other big one I like is shillelagh - turn a mundane piece of wood (try to see about getting a rod or staff arcane focus that doubles as a club or quarterstaff) into a 1d8 magic bludgeon that uses your casting stat (Charsima in your case) to hit and damage. This doesn't help with shadow blade, but will do nicely the rest of the time. It also stacks with the blade cantrips. This does preclude your savage attacker, however.

A third option is to look at melee attack cantrips. Shocking Grasp (if you think you or someone else needs to step away) and Primal Savagery (for the d10 acid) are straightforward choices. But I'm a goofy guy. Thorn whip is a nice magic piercing damage melee attack cantrip with a thirty foot range. But the real point here is if you hit, you can drag someone up to 10' closer. As melee heavy as you guys are, being able to bring someone closer has its uses. Technically you can also use it on your team, if doing d6s of damage is preferable to leaving them where they are. I will point out that the Grasp of Hadar invocation adds this rider to one of your Eldritch blasts each turn - so if you don't take Tome, or skip the whip, you can still add this to your toolkit.

As a melee-centric fiendlock, you should look to capitalize on your relatively soft AC. Armor of Agathys gives you a thp shield that hurts people who hit you. The ideal situation is the hit that empties your AoA thp kills the attacker, letting you boost up with dark one's blessing thp. You should also look to being a kill-stealing sonovabitch, to cap off your dark one thp throughout combat rather than relying on fiendish vigor renewals.
Investing in Medium Armor Proficiency (Feat, a level of fighter) for the shield alone is worthwhile, but breastplate is very nice, and takes you back from the "must be easy target" approach to fighting. Inspiring Leader is yet another source of THP, but this one is for the whole party to enjoy. If you go that way, swap out Fiendish Vigor.

[QuickLyRaiNbow]

I'm also putting my support behind tome. You won't be great in melee with your stats even if you go blade, and you're really missing utility casting. Having access to ritual casting from other lists will be a huge help.

[TheCleverGuy]

Thanks for the help everyone. I'll give Tome another look.

[QuickLyRaiNbow]

Besides, if you go for a more caster-y tomelock interpretation of your half-orc, you can have a badass like this:

[Quietus]

If you've already got two solid melee presences in your party, then I would go Tome. First, because it broadens what you can do if you take the book of shadows invocation. Second, because you can take the cantrips Shillelagh and Booming or Green-flame Blade, which will cause you to make a decent second line melee if things go wild. Shillelagh will allow you to attack with Charisma, and GFB/BB will make those attacks matter. I'd probably focus on GFB for what you're doing.

If you do take Shadow Blade, remember it cannot benefit from the Charisma to attack and damage, and if you take Pact of the Blade, you can't extra attack with it. There is no difference between a pact of the blade warlock and any other warlock when using Shadow Blade.