I'm building a hexadin to join my friend's campaign. The party is at level four already with a ranger, bard, and barbarian. I have a well-crafted back story that gets me from paladin to hexblade. my plan is to sword and board, defend the team, heal them when I can, and hide my warlock side until needed and just burst on em. ("Em" being monsters of course.) a Little backstory is that this paladin still wants to do good and is not giving up on the light even for personal gain. He wants to protect others and hit the bad guy really, really hard. He wants to hide and keep at bay his warlock abilities for as long as he can
any help would be appreciated.
One question I do have is that if I take dueling to get the +2 for the roll, plus I get to keep the shield. However, once I get my pact blade, does the +2 still apply because it becomes a magical weapon at that point?
And then, what about pact of the tome?
Update: Strongly considering pact of the tome to nab some extra helpful cantrips: guidance, toll the dead, spare the dying ( already have green flamed blade and eldritch blast)
Also was honing in on Oath of Conquest.
So all in all: pal2/war2, oath conquest/hexblade, pact of blade, sword and board. currently have antagonizing blast and fiendish vigor as invocations (eyeballing swapping one with devil's sight and potentially taking darkness spell at war3)
Update: Pal2/War2 With devils sight, fiendish vigor, eldritch blast, green-flamed sword -> level up, pact of blade -> Pal2/War3 -> level up, oath of conquest -> Pal3/War3 -> go to Pal6, then rest in War. Taking warcaster feat asap. ****Still very torn about pact of the tome. I can pick up spare the dying and other support spells to go along with my paladin story.***
Yes, dueling still applies if you are using a magical weapon.
What do you mean about what would pact of the blade change state-wise?
Some things to keep in mind. Green flame blade/booming blade will not be as effective after you hit level 5 in pally, since you're usually going to be better off attacking twice than you are using the cantrip and attacking once (you can not use the cantrip and attack twice). You should also check with you DM about it. Smiting requires a melee weapon attack, and some rule that green flame/booming is a spell attack, so not eligible. Just better to ask the question in advance and know. Cantrips can give you some good range, but you can't smite from range -- often better to spend the action dashing to close with the enemy. Also two attack cantrips is probably one too many, especially for a paladin. Better off with a utility like guidance (first choice), light (unless someone else has it, or you all have darkvision), mending, prestidigitation, etc.
Darkness isn't all its cracked up to be. Remember that the rest of your party will be as blinded by it as your enemies, so unless you end up soloing someone far away from the rest of the party, it can do more harm than good.
I understand about darkness, that makes sense. Is it still worth it to take devil's sight. The patron has already changed one of my eyes anyway (flavor) so I thought it would make sense. Green flame and booming blade also require a melee attack and are after-effect spells like thunderous smite, so I would argue I could cast booming blade, land the attack, divine smite, booming blade gets enacted. But it's all rather moot bc you have a good point about dropping them all together once I hit pal5. However, I still like the idea of taking pact of the tome to get spare the dying. Pact of the blade is okay but since I'm sticking with Sword and shield I don't see all the benefits.
And what I meant stat wise is can I make the pact weapon a longsword and turn it into my hexblade?
Turning your Pact weapon into a longsword is an absolute yes. Though it won’t be your hexblade, as in the creature you have your pact with. The hexblade is some kind of ancient otherworldly creature. The sword you swing around is not the hexblade (typically, really that’s up to your DM and you if you want to try and make it that way) I agree about green flame/booming working with smite, but your DM’s opinion is the one that matters, so you should check with them, was my suggestion.
Benefits of blade pact are never losing your weapon, and it counting as magic, which may not matter so much if you get one as treasure. But in a low-magic campaign, it can be very valuable.
okay, Hex weapon then. DNDBeyond allows me to check a box on my longsword to choose Hex Weapon. The description is then changed to hex weapon instead of melee weapon. It allows me to choose longsword as hex weapon and pact weapon so I'm guessing its doable
but most of this is moot bc I'm probably going to take the pact of the tome so I can get those support spells even though blade pact gives me a magical weapon I can't lose.
got warcaster? if not, your dm may not allow you to cast eldritch blast while using a sword and shield. Sure, there are ways to get around it, like dropping your sword as a free action, casting EB, and then item interaction picking your sword up, but it may be a handful.
Warcaster is the next feat I'm taking. However, I don't intend to use eldritch blast much bc my PC is wanting to hide the warlock side of him. However, once the party learns more about my PC that will change. But for now, I'm trying to stick with paladin with some support warlock spells, at least until pal4/war4
I'm building a hexadin to join my friend's campaign. The party is at level four already with a ranger, bard, and barbarian. I have a well-crafted back story that gets me from paladin to hexblade. my plan is to sword and board, defend the team, heal them when I can, and hide my warlock side until needed and just burst on em. ("Em" being monsters of course.) a Little backstory is that this paladin still wants to do good and is not giving up on the light even for personal gain. He wants to protect others and hit the bad guy really, really hard. He wants to hide and keep at bay his warlock abilities for as long as he can
any help would be appreciated.
One question I do have is that if I take dueling to get the +2 for the roll, plus I get to keep the shield. However, once I get my pact blade, does the +2 still apply because it becomes a magical weapon at that point?
And then, what about pact of the tome?
Update: Strongly considering pact of the tome to nab some extra helpful cantrips: guidance, toll the dead, spare the dying ( already have green flamed blade and eldritch blast)
Also was honing in on Oath of Conquest.
So all in all: pal2/war2, oath conquest/hexblade, pact of blade, sword and board. currently have antagonizing blast and fiendish vigor as invocations (eyeballing swapping one with devil's sight and potentially taking darkness spell at war3)
Update: Pal2/War2 With devils sight, fiendish vigor, eldritch blast, green-flamed sword -> level up, pact of blade -> Pal2/War3 -> level up, oath of conquest -> Pal3/War3 -> go to Pal6, then rest in War. Taking warcaster feat asap. ****Still very torn about pact of the tome. I can pick up spare the dying and other support spells to go along with my paladin story.***
Yes, dueling still applies if you are using a magical weapon.
What do you mean about what would pact of the blade change state-wise?
Some things to keep in mind. Green flame blade/booming blade will not be as effective after you hit level 5 in pally, since you're usually going to be better off attacking twice than you are using the cantrip and attacking once (you can not use the cantrip and attack twice). You should also check with you DM about it. Smiting requires a melee weapon attack, and some rule that green flame/booming is a spell attack, so not eligible. Just better to ask the question in advance and know. Cantrips can give you some good range, but you can't smite from range -- often better to spend the action dashing to close with the enemy. Also two attack cantrips is probably one too many, especially for a paladin. Better off with a utility like guidance (first choice), light (unless someone else has it, or you all have darkvision), mending, prestidigitation, etc.
Darkness isn't all its cracked up to be. Remember that the rest of your party will be as blinded by it as your enemies, so unless you end up soloing someone far away from the rest of the party, it can do more harm than good.
I understand about darkness, that makes sense. Is it still worth it to take devil's sight. The patron has already changed one of my eyes anyway (flavor) so I thought it would make sense. Green flame and booming blade also require a melee attack and are after-effect spells like thunderous smite, so I would argue I could cast booming blade, land the attack, divine smite, booming blade gets enacted. But it's all rather moot bc you have a good point about dropping them all together once I hit pal5. However, I still like the idea of taking pact of the tome to get spare the dying. Pact of the blade is okay but since I'm sticking with Sword and shield I don't see all the benefits.
And what I meant stat wise is can I make the pact weapon a longsword and turn it into my hexblade?
Turning your Pact weapon into a longsword is an absolute yes. Though it won’t be your hexblade, as in the creature you have your pact with. The hexblade is some kind of ancient otherworldly creature. The sword you swing around is not the hexblade (typically, really that’s up to your DM and you if you want to try and make it that way)
I agree about green flame/booming working with smite, but your DM’s opinion is the one that matters, so you should check with them, was my suggestion.
Benefits of blade pact are never losing your weapon, and it counting as magic, which may not matter so much if you get one as treasure. But in a low-magic campaign, it can be very valuable.
okay, Hex weapon then. DNDBeyond allows me to check a box on my longsword to choose Hex Weapon. The description is then changed to hex weapon instead of melee weapon. It allows me to choose longsword as hex weapon and pact weapon so I'm guessing its doable
but most of this is moot bc I'm probably going to take the pact of the tome so I can get those support spells even though blade pact gives me a magical weapon I can't lose.
got warcaster? if not, your dm may not allow you to cast eldritch blast while using a sword and shield. Sure, there are ways to get around it, like dropping your sword as a free action, casting EB, and then item interaction picking your sword up, but it may be a handful.
Warcaster is the next feat I'm taking. However, I don't intend to use eldritch blast much bc my PC is wanting to hide the warlock side of him. However, once the party learns more about my PC that will change. But for now, I'm trying to stick with paladin with some support warlock spells, at least until pal4/war4
On this website you have a pretty good tutorial and explanation of the oath of conquest, in there there is a hexadin build too
https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?543427-The-Wall-of-Fear-A-Complete-Guide-to-the-Oath-of-Conquest
in there they explain the uses of all the abilities, races, Asi's and feats