Having played with warlock, I am curious what do you want to get from Warlock?
Is what you want worth while compare to what you lose by dipping? Assuming you want some Eldritch invocations, you might need to go to level 2, depending on what you actually want you might have to go up level 5 (min level for some options). If you are doing that, it becomes a major issue.
Part of it's role play. My character is a dwarf outcast because of rumors of fey heritage. He's a tall skinny dwarf and we're kind of leaning into everyone thinking he's a half elf and one of the affects of taking the FW class are the physical changes. I was going to select horns to lean into mistaken species idea because with the horns he could be a tiefling. The thought was the character would move further away from his dwarf haritage towards fey incrementally through the campaign. The FW and Warlock feed into that backstory but I also want to maximize the character's potential. The other players are more optimizers than strict role players. No judgement, I definitely look at dpr on my characters but I try to have a back story to support my decisions. I want maximize the character's survival chances. It hard for the DM to balance encounters if a couple players optimize and other players don't. I was looking at Archfey NPCs and one is a vampire hence the idea of the undead patron but obviously the straight AF patron works too.
The plan was to go to level 5 ranger to get the extra attack. I was looking at pact of the blade to thirsting blade, so at least 5 in warlock. If I read it correctly with dual wield and 2 attacks I would essentially get 5 attacks with the bonded weapon with the nick property. 1st Attack, TB bonus attack, offhand attack, 2nd attack, offhand attack.
I've been playing a Fey Wanderer Ranger in a game for a few months now, and I'm really enjoying it. I've taken a level of Warlock, and I intend to take more. I should lead with the fact that, because my group is smaller than usual, my DM has allowed us to take something like an elite stat array, which makes it work better, but would otherwise function just as well with a standard array, with slightly worse stats. The goal is to go with some combination of Fey Wanderer Ranger and Archfey Warlock, and the character concept is that he's a dude who grew up in the deep woods with his dad, and he's the most congenial redneck you've ever met in your life. Someone in my group called him "Ranger Ted Lasso," and, in a roundabout way, that actually was the idea for the build.
I built him as fully Wisdom-based, using Shillelagh and True Strike/Booming Blade/Green-Flame Blade. I've actually been kicking around a build guide for a Wisdom Ranger, because the only one I saw on here was using the 2014 rules. I know it sounds crazy, but Warlock is huge for this build. Three big reasons: First, I only get one attack, so it's important that it hits. So I've got a familiar whose job in combat is just to give me the Help action on every attack. Second is so I can grab Repelling Blast for Booming Blade. That way, I can hit somebody, Topple them, push them ten feet, and then sheath them in energy, so when they get up and come after me, I deal even more damage. Last, eventually I hope to get my hands on a Staff of Power, which should pretty much do me. At the moment, I've got a +2 Quarterstaff, and a 20 Wisdom, so I have a +10 to attack, and when I hit, I deal 1d10+1d6+7 Force damage plus 1d8 Thunder damage plus 1d4 Psychic damage, so... 23 average damage per turn, with a DC 16 Topple chance, and a pretty solid crit chance, thanks to my familiar.
Also, as a non-combatant, I'm an absolute unit with Persuasion. With the Expertise granted by Deft Explorer, a 20 Wisdom and 16 Charisma and a Luckstone, I have a +15 Persuasion. If I was building this with standard array, I'd still have an 18 Wisdom and 14 Charisma, so a +13. Also, I picked up Guidance as my second Druid Cantrip, and my familiar is a Sphinx of Wonder, so, with a little prep, I'm adding 3-6 to any check, putting my potential roll over 40, and I'm no slouch in other skills.
As for how to incorporate the Warlock, there are lots of Warlock spells and abilities that aren't dependent on a spellcasting ability score, so even if you've only got the 13 Charisma, you can make a totally viable character. I picked up Armor of Agathys, which is great, since I'm a melee build, and Protection from Evil and Good which I expect to come in clutch for my Barbarian, as we're wandering into a tomb right now, which I imagine will be riddled with undead.
Would people be interested in an updated Wisdom Ranger build? Or is there already one out there that I've missed?
The plan was to go to level 5 ranger to get the extra attack. I was looking at pact of the blade to thirsting blade, so at least 5 in warlock. If I read it correctly with dual wield and 2 attacks I would essentially get 5 attacks with the bonded weapon with the nick property. 1st Attack, TB bonus attack, offhand attack, 2nd attack, offhand attack.
I'm afraid you aren't reading that part right. The rules pretty clearly state that multiple class features that provide extra attacks don't stack. Also, both the Ranger class feature and Thirsting Blade pretty clearly state you get two attacks instead of one when you take the Attack action, not that you get an additional attack. You're better off taking a different class feature if you're already a Ranger 5, like Eldritch Smite, or skipping Ranger 5 and going Ranger 4/Warlock 6.
As for how to incorporate the Warlock, there are lots of Warlock spells and abilities that aren't dependent on a spellcasting ability score, so even if you've only got the 13 Charisma, you can make a totally viable character. I picked up Armor of Agathys, which is great, since I'm a melee build, and Protection from Evil and Good which I expect to come in clutch for my Barbarian, as we're wandering into a tomb right now, which I imagine will be riddled with undead.
I agree there are a lot of good warlock spells, but how do you transfer that to actually playing on the table? Armor of Agathys, is great, but you need to boost temp hit points. That means you need a few levels. This is the whole crux of multiclassing, being behind you peers as you can do x & y, but they can do X much better, but can't touch Y.
If there is a upcoming fight, I spend a round to cast Armor of Agathys, and a second round cast Protection from Evil and Good so the third round I can now swing my weapon. By casting two spells, unless I am an 11th level warlock, I have now spent all of my spells for the day.
The other issue is Somatic. Holding weapons makes casting problematic doesn't it? For Armor of Agathys, you need no weapons in hand to cast it, then you need to get the weapon in hand.
The other issue is Somatic. Holding weapons makes casting problematic doesn't it? For Armor of Agathys, you need no weapons in hand to cast it, then you need to get the weapon in hand.
You only need one hand free to perform somatic components for spells. You can hold a weapon in the other hand.
Just curious why the 2024 warcaster feat says you can cast with one occupied? If it is written that way, it would appear that you need two hands for Somatic spells?
Just curious why the 2024 warcaster feat says you can cast with one occupied? If it is written that way, it would appear that you need two hands for Somatic spells?
War Caster allows you to perform somatic components with both hands occupied with weapons or a shield, which otherwise wouldn’t be possible.
Also worth pointing out this from the Player's Handbook section on spell components:
Somatic (S)
A Somatic component is a forceful gesticulation or an intricate set of gestures. A spellcaster must use at least one of their hands to perform these movements.
Yeah, as long as you have one hand free, you can still cast spells with a Quarterstaff in the off-hand. The goal is to eventually pick up War Caster, though, as I'd like to up my AC and go for a little tankier build. I realized a little late that I could also have picked up Great Weapon Fighting as my Fighting Style feat. Even though there's no benefit to wielding the quarterstaff with two hands when casting Shillelagh, I end up rolling so many dice that it'd have a pretty impressive impact on my average damage. But I went with Defense to keep me alive until I can get a shield.
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Part of it's role play. My character is a dwarf outcast because of rumors of fey heritage. He's a tall skinny dwarf and we're kind of leaning into everyone thinking he's a half elf and one of the affects of taking the FW class are the physical changes. I was going to select horns to lean into mistaken species idea because with the horns he could be a tiefling. The thought was the character would move further away from his dwarf haritage towards fey incrementally through the campaign. The FW and Warlock feed into that backstory but I also want to maximize the character's potential. The other players are more optimizers than strict role players. No judgement, I definitely look at dpr on my characters but I try to have a back story to support my decisions. I want maximize the character's survival chances. It hard for the DM to balance encounters if a couple players optimize and other players don't. I was looking at Archfey NPCs and one is a vampire hence the idea of the undead patron but obviously the straight AF patron works too.
The plan was to go to level 5 ranger to get the extra attack. I was looking at pact of the blade to thirsting blade, so at least 5 in warlock. If I read it correctly with dual wield and 2 attacks I would essentially get 5 attacks with the bonded weapon with the nick property. 1st Attack, TB bonus attack, offhand attack, 2nd attack, offhand attack.
I've been playing a Fey Wanderer Ranger in a game for a few months now, and I'm really enjoying it. I've taken a level of Warlock, and I intend to take more. I should lead with the fact that, because my group is smaller than usual, my DM has allowed us to take something like an elite stat array, which makes it work better, but would otherwise function just as well with a standard array, with slightly worse stats. The goal is to go with some combination of Fey Wanderer Ranger and Archfey Warlock, and the character concept is that he's a dude who grew up in the deep woods with his dad, and he's the most congenial redneck you've ever met in your life. Someone in my group called him "Ranger Ted Lasso," and, in a roundabout way, that actually was the idea for the build.
I built him as fully Wisdom-based, using Shillelagh and True Strike/Booming Blade/Green-Flame Blade. I've actually been kicking around a build guide for a Wisdom Ranger, because the only one I saw on here was using the 2014 rules. I know it sounds crazy, but Warlock is huge for this build. Three big reasons: First, I only get one attack, so it's important that it hits. So I've got a familiar whose job in combat is just to give me the Help action on every attack. Second is so I can grab Repelling Blast for Booming Blade. That way, I can hit somebody, Topple them, push them ten feet, and then sheath them in energy, so when they get up and come after me, I deal even more damage. Last, eventually I hope to get my hands on a Staff of Power, which should pretty much do me. At the moment, I've got a +2 Quarterstaff, and a 20 Wisdom, so I have a +10 to attack, and when I hit, I deal 1d10+1d6+7 Force damage plus 1d8 Thunder damage plus 1d4 Psychic damage, so... 23 average damage per turn, with a DC 16 Topple chance, and a pretty solid crit chance, thanks to my familiar.
Also, as a non-combatant, I'm an absolute unit with Persuasion. With the Expertise granted by Deft Explorer, a 20 Wisdom and 16 Charisma and a Luckstone, I have a +15 Persuasion. If I was building this with standard array, I'd still have an 18 Wisdom and 14 Charisma, so a +13. Also, I picked up Guidance as my second Druid Cantrip, and my familiar is a Sphinx of Wonder, so, with a little prep, I'm adding 3-6 to any check, putting my potential roll over 40, and I'm no slouch in other skills.
As for how to incorporate the Warlock, there are lots of Warlock spells and abilities that aren't dependent on a spellcasting ability score, so even if you've only got the 13 Charisma, you can make a totally viable character. I picked up Armor of Agathys, which is great, since I'm a melee build, and Protection from Evil and Good which I expect to come in clutch for my Barbarian, as we're wandering into a tomb right now, which I imagine will be riddled with undead.
Would people be interested in an updated Wisdom Ranger build? Or is there already one out there that I've missed?
I'm afraid you aren't reading that part right. The rules pretty clearly state that multiple class features that provide extra attacks don't stack. Also, both the Ranger class feature and Thirsting Blade pretty clearly state you get two attacks instead of one when you take the Attack action, not that you get an additional attack. You're better off taking a different class feature if you're already a Ranger 5, like Eldritch Smite, or skipping Ranger 5 and going Ranger 4/Warlock 6.
I agree there are a lot of good warlock spells, but how do you transfer that to actually playing on the table? Armor of Agathys, is great, but you need to boost temp hit points. That means you need a few levels. This is the whole crux of multiclassing, being behind you peers as you can do x & y, but they can do X much better, but can't touch Y.
If there is a upcoming fight, I spend a round to cast Armor of Agathys, and a second round cast Protection from Evil and Good so the third round I can now swing my weapon. By casting two spells, unless I am an 11th level warlock, I have now spent all of my spells for the day.
The other issue is Somatic. Holding weapons makes casting problematic doesn't it? For Armor of Agathys, you need no weapons in hand to cast it, then you need to get the weapon in hand.
You only need one hand free to perform somatic components for spells. You can hold a weapon in the other hand.
pronouns: he/she/they
Just curious why the 2024 warcaster feat says you can cast with one occupied? If it is written that way, it would appear that you need two hands for Somatic spells?
War Caster allows you to perform somatic components with both hands occupied with weapons or a shield, which otherwise wouldn’t be possible.
Also worth pointing out this from the Player's Handbook section on spell components:
pronouns: he/she/they
Yeah, as long as you have one hand free, you can still cast spells with a Quarterstaff in the off-hand. The goal is to eventually pick up War Caster, though, as I'd like to up my AC and go for a little tankier build. I realized a little late that I could also have picked up Great Weapon Fighting as my Fighting Style feat. Even though there's no benefit to wielding the quarterstaff with two hands when casting Shillelagh, I end up rolling so many dice that it'd have a pretty impressive impact on my average damage. But I went with Defense to keep me alive until I can get a shield.