Looking ahead a few levels, I'm debating on whether I should go crusher feat with the bump to strength or charisma +2. The plan is to be primarily the tank for a party that includes a dwarf fighter (ranged, unsure about planned subclass), a half-elf artificer (unsure about subclass, but probably battlesmith or alchemist), halfling ranger (ranged, suspect beastmaster but only because we've got a running joke about her loving wolves could be any), and a ranged vhuman (soon to be swashbuckler) rogue with sharpshooter. There is a possibility of an additional party member would would likely be some kind of a ranged caster. I'm planning on going oath of the Ancients. I've considered the telekinetic feat, as it does most of what I want from the crusher feat while allowing me to bump my charisma instead, but I like that I can hit a creature to get damage to move the creature better. The ranged ally failed save is a nice fall back, though.
With Charisma, I'd be able to get my attack modifier up to +7 at fifth level, extra attack at 6th (I know, I should wait until 6th to MC...), and Aura of protection with +4 at 7th. That would leave Crusher coming in at 9th, just before we'd be finishing up with COS. Crusher on the other hand would give me the movement ability with my flail attacks at +6 at fifth and bump my bonus action attacks with charge up to a +5 at fifth. I'd still get the boost to charisma at 9th, just in time for end game.
Alternatively, I could just max Charisma between the two, or take Telekinetic and another charisma boost half feat. Ideas?
Hexadin, eh? Let's take a look at those warlock spells.... Hrm. If you had taken Booming Blade and Shield, then I would have suggested War Caster. As it is, I'd recommend the +2 charisma instead. As a hexblade/paladin, you have so many abilities and features tied to charisma that you really should be maxing it out asap if you don't absolutely need something else. Examples of must-have feats that could justify such an exception include polearm master for a spear/shield build, or war caster if you have key spells that require it to be effective (again, booming blade & shield are the key hexadin examples). Maybe sentinel for some builds in some parties. There are others that might be worth the delay in some particular builds, but I personally wouldn't include crusher in them, especially if you aren't actually using the strength bonus from the feat for your attack & damage.
That said, are you super committed to your warlock spells, and is it too late to change them? Chill Touch in particular I'm not sure will be serving you well. If you're looking for a fallback ranged option, Eldritch Blast (even without agonizing blast) or Toll the Dead will generally be more powerful, while mind sliver will help set up targets for spellcasting allies, and if you're not looking for backup ranged power there are better utility options (mage hand, minor illusion). And, of course, Booming Blade, though once you get extra attack booming blade will only be useful if you also get the Warcaster feat, and if you get the Warcaster feat then you really want to take advantage of hexblade's patron list access to the Shield spell. Otherwise, though, the spells are fine. I like expeditious retreat (which in practice on a paladin is more often 'glorious advance').
What oath are you leaning towards? As a selesnya type, I'd guess ancients, but then again for a selesnya character I wouldn't have guessed hexblade, which in ravnica I associate more with the orzhov, or maybe the dimir.
Hexadin, eh? Let's take a look at those warlock spells.... Hrm. If you had taken Booming Blade and Shield, then I would have suggested War Caster. As it is, I'd recommend the +2 charisma instead. As a hexblade/paladin, you have so many abilities and features tied to charisma that you really should be maxing it out asap if you don't absolutely need something else. Examples of must-have feats that could justify such an exception include polearm master for a spear/shield build, or war caster if you have key spells that require it to be effective (again, booming blade & shield are the key hexadin examples). Maybe sentinel for some builds in some parties. There are others that might be worth the delay in some particular builds, but I personally wouldn't include crusher in them, especially if you aren't actually using the strength bonus from the feat for your attack & damage.
That said, are you super committed to your warlock spells, and is it too late to change them? Chill Touch in particular I'm not sure will be serving you well. If you're looking for a fallback ranged option, Eldritch Blast (even without agonizing blast) or Toll the Dead will generally be more powerful, while mind sliver will help set up targets for spellcasting allies, and if you're not looking for backup ranged power there are better utility options (mage hand, minor illusion). And, of course, Booming Blade, though once you get extra attack booming blade will only be useful if you also get the Warcaster feat, and if you get the Warcaster feat then you really want to take advantage of hexblade's patron list access to the Shield spell. Otherwise, though, the spells are fine. I like expeditious retreat (which in practice on a paladin is more often 'glorious advance').
What oath are you leaning towards? As a selesnya type, I'd guess ancients, but then again for a selesnya character I wouldn't have guessed hexblade, which in ravnica I associate more with the orzhov, or maybe the dimir.
Ancients. The hexblade aspect is because of his flaw. He feels that everyone else can hear the voice of Mat'Selesnya better than him. During the first couple of fights that we had (against some ghouls and a vampire spawn), he heard a voice that he perceived as coming from the wooden handle of his flail. It told him that he was needed to help defeat a threat and that he was being given a blessing to help enable him to do it.
The voice could be from Mat'Selesnya, it could be from Strahd (playing Curse of Strahd, everyone asks if I'm going to crap on the floor since I'm a centaur and they haven't seen centaurs before. I'm preempting it now, but will weaponize it if the opportunity presents itself), or it could be someone else like a rival of Strahd or someone that wants to take his place.
I'm pretty set on my flail in hopes of getting a [Tooltip Not Found] and that means no PAM for this character. I'm not wanting Warcaster for this character, though I did consider Sentinel and decided against it when I was using Point Buy for the character. I might consider it now that I have to use Standard Array.
The spells are pretty well set. I originally had thought to use Eldritch Blast, Shield, and Armor of Agathys along with Druidcraft. I decided against EB because of flavor and after seeing the Vampire Spawn heal on us, the no regeneration clause from Chill Touch will be useful, as will the disadvantage on attacks against me from undead. Expeditious Retreat is anticipated to be used as a set up shop/Calvary Charge/Rescue opportunity option and should mesh well with the centaur's base speed of 40. If the DM gives us the Horseshoes of Speed and Saddle of the Cavalier, even better.
I didn't want to have to deal with material components on the first MC character that I had, especially in Barovia where I've heard that buying new options isn't always practical. This is the first MC character we've had with this DM and I opted for spells that felt on flavor and usable without metal components. Warlock doesn't have lots of nature themed spells and Arms of Hadar was at least a control spell. I'll flavor it as being the arms of whatever Barovia's version of Mat'Selesnya would be in the mind of the PC. Chill Touch and Arms of Hadar both will have a sense of decay and return to the natural cycle of things for him, which chill touch does a decent job of doing as is. The plan is to go straight Paladin the rest of the way.
Part of the reason that I like Crusher is because of the control aspect that it has and the synergy it has with my flail and the centaur's unarmed hooves attacks, particularly the charge variant. While I can use my hex warrior to get attacks with my flail with charisma, I can't do that with the hooves. Going back to the rescue theme from Expeditious retreat, I can envision coming in, attacking with my flail and hooves (as a bonus attack), moving that enemy 5 ft to clear the OA possibility against my ally, and then retreating. The movement normally can help control the battlefield and crits can give advantage on all attacks against the creature until the start of my next turn. Understanding that you have to hit first and that a crit likely gets a Divine Smite makes it so that it's not a no brainer for me. The original plan was to have a 15 con and put the stat there, but that changed going from Point Buy to Standard Array. With strength as my only odd, the fact that my hooves attacks will benefit, and the other benefits and character concept synergy, I'm strongly leaning towards it.
I did go GWM on my last character and had Reckless Attacks to augment the chance to hit, but still felt that 5% difference from my allies. The fact that a Hexadin gets so much benefit from Charisma is a strong pull, but that does leave some of the flavor off until 9th level. Still the flavor doesn't matter if the I can't hit and the "Glorious" Rescue probably won't be a common thing.
Fair enough all round. To be clear, crusher isn't a bad feat for this character, I just wouldn't take it before maxing you your charisma, not when your melee attacks, spell attacks, save DCs, and aura of protection all rely on your charisma bonus. Remember that if you really need to move an enemy, you can always shove them normally. It only costs a single attack out of your attack action, once you have extra attack you can even make a flail attack before the shove if need be.
Fair enough all round. To be clear, crusher isn't a bad feat for this character, I just wouldn't take it before maxing you your charisma, not when your melee attacks, spell attacks, save DCs, and aura of protection all rely on your charisma bonus. Remember that if you really need to move an enemy, you can always shove them normally. It only costs a single attack out of your attack action, once you have extra attack you can even make a flail attack before the shove if need be.
That's probably best, I have used my action to just pull allies out of harm's way before anyway. Crusher at 9th it is and Charisma at 5th.
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Looking ahead a few levels, I'm debating on whether I should go crusher feat with the bump to strength or charisma +2. The plan is to be primarily the tank for a party that includes a dwarf fighter (ranged, unsure about planned subclass), a half-elf artificer (unsure about subclass, but probably battlesmith or alchemist), halfling ranger (ranged, suspect beastmaster but only because we've got a running joke about her loving wolves could be any), and a ranged vhuman (soon to be swashbuckler) rogue with sharpshooter. There is a possibility of an additional party member would would likely be some kind of a ranged caster. I'm planning on going oath of the Ancients. I've considered the telekinetic feat, as it does most of what I want from the crusher feat while allowing me to bump my charisma instead, but I like that I can hit a creature to get damage to move the creature better. The ranged ally failed save is a nice fall back, though.
With Charisma, I'd be able to get my attack modifier up to +7 at fifth level, extra attack at 6th (I know, I should wait until 6th to MC...), and Aura of protection with +4 at 7th. That would leave Crusher coming in at 9th, just before we'd be finishing up with COS. Crusher on the other hand would give me the movement ability with my flail attacks at +6 at fifth and bump my bonus action attacks with charge up to a +5 at fifth. I'd still get the boost to charisma at 9th, just in time for end game.
Alternatively, I could just max Charisma between the two, or take Telekinetic and another charisma boost half feat. Ideas?
Hexadin, eh? Let's take a look at those warlock spells.... Hrm. If you had taken Booming Blade and Shield, then I would have suggested War Caster. As it is, I'd recommend the +2 charisma instead. As a hexblade/paladin, you have so many abilities and features tied to charisma that you really should be maxing it out asap if you don't absolutely need something else. Examples of must-have feats that could justify such an exception include polearm master for a spear/shield build, or war caster if you have key spells that require it to be effective (again, booming blade & shield are the key hexadin examples). Maybe sentinel for some builds in some parties. There are others that might be worth the delay in some particular builds, but I personally wouldn't include crusher in them, especially if you aren't actually using the strength bonus from the feat for your attack & damage.
That said, are you super committed to your warlock spells, and is it too late to change them? Chill Touch in particular I'm not sure will be serving you well. If you're looking for a fallback ranged option, Eldritch Blast (even without agonizing blast) or Toll the Dead will generally be more powerful, while mind sliver will help set up targets for spellcasting allies, and if you're not looking for backup ranged power there are better utility options (mage hand, minor illusion). And, of course, Booming Blade, though once you get extra attack booming blade will only be useful if you also get the Warcaster feat, and if you get the Warcaster feat then you really want to take advantage of hexblade's patron list access to the Shield spell. Otherwise, though, the spells are fine. I like expeditious retreat (which in practice on a paladin is more often 'glorious advance').
What oath are you leaning towards? As a selesnya type, I'd guess ancients, but then again for a selesnya character I wouldn't have guessed hexblade, which in ravnica I associate more with the orzhov, or maybe the dimir.
Ancients. The hexblade aspect is because of his flaw. He feels that everyone else can hear the voice of Mat'Selesnya better than him. During the first couple of fights that we had (against some ghouls and a vampire spawn), he heard a voice that he perceived as coming from the wooden handle of his flail. It told him that he was needed to help defeat a threat and that he was being given a blessing to help enable him to do it.
The voice could be from Mat'Selesnya, it could be from Strahd (playing Curse of Strahd, everyone asks if I'm going to crap on the floor since I'm a centaur and they haven't seen centaurs before. I'm preempting it now, but will weaponize it if the opportunity presents itself), or it could be someone else like a rival of Strahd or someone that wants to take his place.
I'm pretty set on my flail in hopes of getting a [Tooltip Not Found] and that means no PAM for this character. I'm not wanting Warcaster for this character, though I did consider Sentinel and decided against it when I was using Point Buy for the character. I might consider it now that I have to use Standard Array.
The spells are pretty well set. I originally had thought to use Eldritch Blast, Shield, and Armor of Agathys along with Druidcraft. I decided against EB because of flavor and after seeing the Vampire Spawn heal on us, the no regeneration clause from Chill Touch will be useful, as will the disadvantage on attacks against me from undead. Expeditious Retreat is anticipated to be used as a set up shop/Calvary Charge/Rescue opportunity option and should mesh well with the centaur's base speed of 40. If the DM gives us the Horseshoes of Speed and Saddle of the Cavalier, even better.
I didn't want to have to deal with material components on the first MC character that I had, especially in Barovia where I've heard that buying new options isn't always practical. This is the first MC character we've had with this DM and I opted for spells that felt on flavor and usable without metal components. Warlock doesn't have lots of nature themed spells and Arms of Hadar was at least a control spell. I'll flavor it as being the arms of whatever Barovia's version of Mat'Selesnya would be in the mind of the PC. Chill Touch and Arms of Hadar both will have a sense of decay and return to the natural cycle of things for him, which chill touch does a decent job of doing as is. The plan is to go straight Paladin the rest of the way.
Part of the reason that I like Crusher is because of the control aspect that it has and the synergy it has with my flail and the centaur's unarmed hooves attacks, particularly the charge variant. While I can use my hex warrior to get attacks with my flail with charisma, I can't do that with the hooves. Going back to the rescue theme from Expeditious retreat, I can envision coming in, attacking with my flail and hooves (as a bonus attack), moving that enemy 5 ft to clear the OA possibility against my ally, and then retreating. The movement normally can help control the battlefield and crits can give advantage on all attacks against the creature until the start of my next turn. Understanding that you have to hit first and that a crit likely gets a Divine Smite makes it so that it's not a no brainer for me. The original plan was to have a 15 con and put the stat there, but that changed going from Point Buy to Standard Array. With strength as my only odd, the fact that my hooves attacks will benefit, and the other benefits and character concept synergy, I'm strongly leaning towards it.
I did go GWM on my last character and had Reckless Attacks to augment the chance to hit, but still felt that 5% difference from my allies. The fact that a Hexadin gets so much benefit from Charisma is a strong pull, but that does leave some of the flavor off until 9th level. Still the flavor doesn't matter if the I can't hit and the "Glorious" Rescue probably won't be a common thing.
Fair enough all round. To be clear, crusher isn't a bad feat for this character, I just wouldn't take it before maxing you your charisma, not when your melee attacks, spell attacks, save DCs, and aura of protection all rely on your charisma bonus. Remember that if you really need to move an enemy, you can always shove them normally. It only costs a single attack out of your attack action, once you have extra attack you can even make a flail attack before the shove if need be.
That's probably best, I have used my action to just pull allies out of harm's way before anyway. Crusher at 9th it is and Charisma at 5th.