IDK if anyone has thought about doing a build like this but I think it's a Cool Charcter Concept, anyway the idea is to fully utilize Pact of the Blade feature without being a Hexblade or Full/Half Caster but as a Martial class instead, the basic idea being that you do a 3 level dip into any warlock for the Pact of the Blade boon and picking up Improved Pact Weapon Eldritch Invocation to have all weapons available. You would still need the multiclassing minimum for your Warlock dip/multiclassing out of your class as I dont think its worth starting Warlock if your going for a martial class, focusing mainly on strangth and secondly on dexterity as all weapons utilize those attributes.
The one I have in mind would be Kalashtar Ancestral Guardian Barbarian 17/Celestial Warlock 3 with Improved Pact Weapon and Mask of Many Faces Eldritch Invocations to signify the warrior soul/weapon switching that would occur, yes there is the issue of not being able to cast or concentrate on spells while raging.
Which is why I offer you some spells that you can cast before rage that will stay while raging.
the rest of the spells i picked for this build idea were for outside of combat, utilizing the Celestial Warlock's theme which are Cure Wounds(1st level spell),Lesser Restoration(2nd level spell) and the bonus cantrips it came with.
I'd go with Battlemaster Figher. The maneuvers a Battlemaster gets would really make you a master of weapons. You could also do well with a College of Swords Bard. Bard is probably the better of the two, since its a Charisma based class.
Battlemaster fighter is always a solid choice but I believe Champion would be the better fighter route since it offers easier crits and two fighting styles(more inline with ultizing all styles,I.e two weapon and unarmed fighting style)
Thats a given that it would work well with Swords bard and would eliminate the profiencies issue it has, but the idea of this build is to be a martial focused charcter that can weapon switch on the fly.
Also off-topic when will Wizards add Superior Technique to swords bard fighting style options.
Echo knight maybe, though honestly I don't see what going warlock gives you mechanically beyond a +1 weapon and the pact of the blade boon. Of course you could still do it for rp reasons, but mechanically the main appeal of hexblade is the ability to use charisma for your weapon attacks.
If you're not focusing on charisma for your attacks, your main benefits for this class is: A bit of spellcasting, including some cantrips. Pact of the blade, improved pact weapon and another invocation. You're still locked to no more than one pact weapon at a time, and either way it requires an action to summon so it's ill adviced to use it to change weapons mid combat. You also get a +1 to one weapon.
Spellwise if you do go barbarian there's not a lot of warlock features you can benefit from mid rage like you mentioned. You can't even use cantrips for ranged.
You could go champion but it's the blandest subclass in the game imo, and doesn't offer that much. Critting on a 19 is nice, but it's not something that may come up every combat or even every session. You also get a similar feature with hexblade's curse and it's not like they stack. And beyond level 3 I don't think champions offer much personally.
So my suggestion is an echo knight. When you use the echo you can make an extra attack every round, you can use it for mobility, exploration etc. It does have some drawbacks, requiring a decent con to use the echo often, so you might want to consider getting medium or heavy armor, and max your con after charisma. Either way I think you should pick up 5 warlock levels before multiclassing.
Its mainly about utlizing the whole weapon switching feature for flavor, becoming a diffrent person corsponding to diffrent weapon or just switching willy nilly just cuz, I do agree that Echo Knight is also a great choice for this idea and would let you have flexibilty with your spell choice because you dont have to think aboust spells that still activate without casting them during your rage.
the bonus cantrips from celestial gives your a free sacred flame as well as being able to summon a bow. but if youre using ranged attacks at that point, youre probably not in rage,Magic Stone,Armor of Agathys and Mirror Image offer that opertunity to be out and ready while in rage, provided you cast them before raging.
IDK if anyone has thought about doing a build like this but I think it's a Cool Charcter Concept, anyway the idea is to fully utilize Pact of the Blade feature without being a Hexblade or Full/Half Caster but as a Martial class instead, the basic idea being that you do a 3 level dip into any warlock for the Pact of the Blade boon and picking up Improved Pact Weapon Eldritch Invocation to have all weapons available. You would still need the multiclassing minimum for your Warlock dip/multiclassing out of your class as I dont think its worth starting Warlock if your going for a martial class, focusing mainly on strangth and secondly on dexterity as all weapons utilize those attributes.
The one I have in mind would be Kalashtar Ancestral Guardian Barbarian 17/Celestial Warlock 3 with Improved Pact Weapon and Mask of Many Faces Eldritch Invocations to signify the warrior soul/weapon switching that would occur, yes there is the issue of not being able to cast or concentrate on spells while raging.
Which is why I offer you some spells that you can cast before rage that will stay while raging.
Magic Stone(cantrip) , Armor of Agathys(1st level spell), Mirror Image(2nd level spell)
the rest of the spells i picked for this build idea were for outside of combat, utilizing the Celestial Warlock's theme which are Cure Wounds(1st level spell),Lesser Restoration(2nd level spell) and the bonus cantrips it came with.
I'd go with Battlemaster Figher. The maneuvers a Battlemaster gets would really make you a master of weapons. You could also do well with a College of Swords Bard. Bard is probably the better of the two, since its a Charisma based class.
<Insert clever signature here>
Battlemaster fighter is always a solid choice but I believe Champion would be the better fighter route since it offers easier crits and two fighting styles(more inline with ultizing all styles,I.e two weapon and unarmed fighting style)
Thats a given that it would work well with Swords bard and would eliminate the profiencies issue it has, but the idea of this build is to be a martial focused charcter that can weapon switch on the fly.
Also off-topic when will Wizards add Superior Technique to swords bard fighting style options.
Echo knight maybe, though honestly I don't see what going warlock gives you mechanically beyond a +1 weapon and the pact of the blade boon. Of course you could still do it for rp reasons, but mechanically the main appeal of hexblade is the ability to use charisma for your weapon attacks.
If you're not focusing on charisma for your attacks, your main benefits for this class is: A bit of spellcasting, including some cantrips. Pact of the blade, improved pact weapon and another invocation. You're still locked to no more than one pact weapon at a time, and either way it requires an action to summon so it's ill adviced to use it to change weapons mid combat. You also get a +1 to one weapon.
Spellwise if you do go barbarian there's not a lot of warlock features you can benefit from mid rage like you mentioned. You can't even use cantrips for ranged.
You could go champion but it's the blandest subclass in the game imo, and doesn't offer that much. Critting on a 19 is nice, but it's not something that may come up every combat or even every session. You also get a similar feature with hexblade's curse and it's not like they stack. And beyond level 3 I don't think champions offer much personally.
So my suggestion is an echo knight. When you use the echo you can make an extra attack every round, you can use it for mobility, exploration etc. It does have some drawbacks, requiring a decent con to use the echo often, so you might want to consider getting medium or heavy armor, and max your con after charisma. Either way I think you should pick up 5 warlock levels before multiclassing.
Its mainly about utlizing the whole weapon switching feature for flavor, becoming a diffrent person corsponding to diffrent weapon or just switching willy nilly just cuz, I do agree that Echo Knight is also a great choice for this idea and would let you have flexibilty with your spell choice because you dont have to think aboust spells that still activate without casting them during your rage.
the bonus cantrips from celestial gives your a free sacred flame as well as being able to summon a bow. but if youre using ranged attacks at that point, youre probably not in rage,Magic Stone,Armor of Agathys and Mirror Image offer that opertunity to be out and ready while in rage, provided you cast them before raging.