The Undead Patron’s 6th level ability lets you change one of your attacks to necrotic damage and roll an additional damage die when in your form of dread. I thought it would be really fun to go Pact of the Blade and use a greataxe, as that would give me the biggest damage die to add. To do this effectively I realize I’d need to go strength, and since I’m melee-oriented I need a high con, that doesn’t leave a lot for my charisma/dex stats. I think if I focus on using spells that don’t use my charisma for saving throws/attack rolls then I can have a relatively low charisma, but I’m not sure how to make up for a low dex. Is there a way to get decent AC for this build without having to multiclass?
The obvious is to grab the armor proficiency feats, but you're definitely gonna want those early ASI/feat slots for other things. Without relying on magic items, the two options that come to mind first are to be either a Tortle(base AC of 17 without armor), or a Mountain Dwarf(proficiency with Medium Armor).
Githyanki could also work. While the the 2 +2s from Mountain Dwarf is very attractive, Githyanki comes with invisible Mage Hand for some fun shenanigans and also provides once per day casts of Jump and Misty Step.
Start hobgoblin, and using point buy and custom origin, 17 STR, 16 CHA, 15 CON. Dump the rest.
3rd lvl, pick up improved pact weapon for a +1 to attack and damage rolls.
4th lvl, pick up heavily armored feat. Rounds up STR to 18, now you can wear heavy armor.
Since you start with a 16 in CHA, your DCs or eldritch blast are a decent back up.
You can pick up GWM at 8th lvl, and by 12th you could round off STR or get resilient CON.
There, a strength based warlock with heavy armor proficiency and good melee.
One little problem you can't take the Heavily Armored feat because you don't have medium armor proficiency. Your build works fine with a Mountain Dwarf or a Githyanki though.
Start hobgoblin, and using point buy and custom origin, 17 STR, 16 CHA, 15 CON. Dump the rest.
3rd lvl, pick up improved pact weapon for a +1 to attack and damage rolls.
4th lvl, pick up heavily armored feat. Rounds up STR to 18, now you can wear heavy armor.
Since you start with a 16 in CHA, your DCs or eldritch blast are a decent back up.
You can pick up GWM at 8th lvl, and by 12th you could round off STR or get resilient CON.
There, a strength based warlock with heavy armor proficiency and good melee.
One little problem you can't take the Heavily Armored feat because you don't have medium armor proficiency. Your build works fine with a Mountain Dwarf or a Githyanki though.
I was thinking this was off, until I went back and checked that hobgoblin starts off with LIGHT armor proficiency. Good catch.
The Undead Patron’s 6th level ability lets you change one of your attacks to necrotic damage and roll an additional damage die when in your form of dread. I thought it would be really fun to go Pact of the Blade and use a greataxe, as that would give me the biggest damage die to add. To do this effectively I realize I’d need to go strength, and since I’m melee-oriented I need a high con, that doesn’t leave a lot for my charisma/dex stats. I think if I focus on using spells that don’t use my charisma for saving throws/attack rolls then I can have a relatively low charisma, but I’m not sure how to make up for a low dex. Is there a way to get decent AC for this build without having to multiclass?
Undead is my favorite Bladelock. You can take the moderately armored feat, but a better option would be to play a race that gets medium armor.
Another option is a custom lineage. With the moderately armored feat, that could start you with an 18 strength. S18D14C12I8W8Ch14
Third option is to multiclass in which case I would start out as a Figther for the heavy armor and fighting style and then you could dump dexterity.
This is totally viable at least until the end of tier 2. Pick up Armor of Agathys, Hex and other weapon based spells.
My current feat of choice for pact of the blade is gift of the metallic dragon. It gives you cure wounds, and a shield spell style reaction that has nothing to do with spell slots.
Personally I would start with a level in fighter and then multi into warlock so you can have your armor without burning a feat on it.
Thanks for all the ideas! I completely forgot some races came with built-in armor proficiencies/alternative ways to calculate AC. Seems like I’ll be able to make this work after all.
Start hobgoblin, and using point buy and custom origin, 17 STR, 16 CHA, 15 CON. Dump the rest.
3rd lvl, pick up improved pact weapon for a +1 to attack and damage rolls.
4th lvl, pick up heavily armored feat. Rounds up STR to 18, now you can wear heavy armor.
Since you start with a 16 in CHA, your DCs or eldritch blast are a decent back up.
You can pick up GWM at 8th lvl, and by 12th you could round off STR or get resilient CON.
There, a strength based warlock with heavy armor proficiency and good melee.
Can't get heavy armor, but this may be good with just medium armor due to the combination of reach and frightened condition. The thing with frightened is enemies can't advance on you, so you hit them from 10 feet away, cause frightened and then move out of range. I know the original idea was a great axe, but I would keep an extra Glaive as well so you can attack from 15 feet away against enemies with reach.
Start hobgoblin, and using point buy and custom origin, 17 STR, 16 CHA, 15 CON. Dump the rest.
3rd lvl, pick up improved pact weapon for a +1 to attack and damage rolls.
4th lvl, pick up heavily armored feat. Rounds up STR to 18, now you can wear heavy armor.
Since you start with a 16 in CHA, your DCs or eldritch blast are a decent back up.
You can pick up GWM at 8th lvl, and by 12th you could round off STR or get resilient CON.
There, a strength based warlock with heavy armor proficiency and good melee.
Can't get heavy armor, but this may be good with just medium armor due to the combination of reach and frightened condition. The thing with frightened is enemies can't advance on you, so you hit them from 10 feet away, cause frightened and then move out of range. I know the original idea was a great axe, but I would keep an extra Glaive as well so you can attack from 15 feet away against enemies with reach.
Going medium armor might be a tad too MAD for this build. You need STR for your attacks and trying to sneak in 14 DEX for a good AC while still having decent CON and CHA is a stretch unless you rolled for stats and rolled well.
Start hobgoblin, and using point buy and custom origin, 17 STR, 16 CHA, 15 CON. Dump the rest.
3rd lvl, pick up improved pact weapon for a +1 to attack and damage rolls.
4th lvl, pick up heavily armored feat. Rounds up STR to 18, now you can wear heavy armor.
Since you start with a 16 in CHA, your DCs or eldritch blast are a decent back up.
You can pick up GWM at 8th lvl, and by 12th you could round off STR or get resilient CON.
There, a strength based warlock with heavy armor proficiency and good melee.
Can't get heavy armor, but this may be good with just medium armor due to the combination of reach and frightened condition. The thing with frightened is enemies can't advance on you, so you hit them from 10 feet away, cause frightened and then move out of range. I know the original idea was a great axe, but I would keep an extra Glaive as well so you can attack from 15 feet away against enemies with reach.
Going medium armor might be a tad too MAD for this build. You need STR for your attacks and trying to sneak in 14 DEX for a good AC while still having decent CON and CHA is a stretch unless you rolled for stats and rolled well.
At 4th level with moderately armored you can be S18,D14,Ch14,C12 or S16,D14,C12,Ch16
Either way, I think Reach+frightened is going to be better than the extra 1 hp per level you are going to get from a 14 constitution.
Start hobgoblin, and using point buy and custom origin, 17 STR, 16 CHA, 15 CON. Dump the rest.
3rd lvl, pick up improved pact weapon for a +1 to attack and damage rolls.
4th lvl, pick up heavily armored feat. Rounds up STR to 18, now you can wear heavy armor.
Since you start with a 16 in CHA, your DCs or eldritch blast are a decent back up.
You can pick up GWM at 8th lvl, and by 12th you could round off STR or get resilient CON.
There, a strength based warlock with heavy armor proficiency and good melee.
Can't get heavy armor, but this may be good with just medium armor due to the combination of reach and frightened condition. The thing with frightened is enemies can't advance on you, so you hit them from 10 feet away, cause frightened and then move out of range. I know the original idea was a great axe, but I would keep an extra Glaive as well so you can attack from 15 feet away against enemies with reach.
Aside from the hobgoblin armor proficiency oversight, why not? Say you go githyanki. You meet the pre-requisites for picking up heavily armored. You can now wear heavy armor!
That aside, I like your idea better of using a glaive instead of a great axe. The difference would be about 3 points of damage per round, but that's okay. In exchange for 3 points, you gain a good amount of control! That's pretty cool.
Of note enjoy the armor proficiency from githyanki while you can. The Monsters of the Multiverse revision takes it away. I would expect the same long term of mountain dwarf in a few years when they catch up with the PHB races. Getting armor proficiency from a racial choice is likely going away.
The single Fighter dip offers alot of utility for doing a STR Bladelock, also you should consider having a decent amount for Cha to tack on Lifedrinker for even more extra Necrotic dmg.
a level of fighter is good, but two levels of paladin is even better...
Kinda depends on what you’re looking for. If you value spell progression, and CON save proficiency, fighter 1 is the better choice. If you want the ability to smite and some extra spells, then of course paladin is the right choice. But, I’d really call into question just how much you’ll be smiting hard with only two slots for most of your career in any given fight? And later 3?
id go with fighter.
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The Undead Patron’s 6th level ability lets you change one of your attacks to necrotic damage and roll an additional damage die when in your form of dread. I thought it would be really fun to go Pact of the Blade and use a greataxe, as that would give me the biggest damage die to add. To do this effectively I realize I’d need to go strength, and since I’m melee-oriented I need a high con, that doesn’t leave a lot for my charisma/dex stats. I think if I focus on using spells that don’t use my charisma for saving throws/attack rolls then I can have a relatively low charisma, but I’m not sure how to make up for a low dex. Is there a way to get decent AC for this build without having to multiclass?
The obvious is to grab the armor proficiency feats, but you're definitely gonna want those early ASI/feat slots for other things. Without relying on magic items, the two options that come to mind first are to be either a Tortle(base AC of 17 without armor), or a Mountain Dwarf(proficiency with Medium Armor).
Githyanki could also work. While the the 2 +2s from Mountain Dwarf is very attractive, Githyanki comes with invisible Mage Hand for some fun shenanigans and also provides once per day casts of Jump and Misty Step.
Here's how I'd do it:
Start hobgoblin, and using point buy and custom origin, 17 STR, 16 CHA, 15 CON. Dump the rest.
3rd lvl, pick up improved pact weapon for a +1 to attack and damage rolls.
4th lvl, pick up heavily armored feat. Rounds up STR to 18, now you can wear heavy armor.
Since you start with a 16 in CHA, your DCs or eldritch blast are a decent back up.
You can pick up GWM at 8th lvl, and by 12th you could round off STR or get resilient CON.
There, a strength based warlock with heavy armor proficiency and good melee.
One little problem you can't take the Heavily Armored feat because you don't have medium armor proficiency. Your build works fine with a Mountain Dwarf or a Githyanki though.
I was thinking this was off, until I went back and checked that hobgoblin starts off with LIGHT armor proficiency. Good catch.
But it still works out!
Undead is my favorite Bladelock. You can take the moderately armored feat, but a better option would be to play a race that gets medium armor.
Another option is a custom lineage. With the moderately armored feat, that could start you with an 18 strength. S18D14C12I8W8Ch14
Third option is to multiclass in which case I would start out as a Figther for the heavy armor and fighting style and then you could dump dexterity.
This is totally viable at least until the end of tier 2. Pick up Armor of Agathys, Hex and other weapon based spells.
My current feat of choice for pact of the blade is gift of the metallic dragon. It gives you cure wounds, and a shield spell style reaction that has nothing to do with spell slots.
Personally I would start with a level in fighter and then multi into warlock so you can have your armor without burning a feat on it.
Thanks for all the ideas! I completely forgot some races came with built-in armor proficiencies/alternative ways to calculate AC. Seems like I’ll be able to make this work after all.
Can't get heavy armor, but this may be good with just medium armor due to the combination of reach and frightened condition. The thing with frightened is enemies can't advance on you, so you hit them from 10 feet away, cause frightened and then move out of range. I know the original idea was a great axe, but I would keep an extra Glaive as well so you can attack from 15 feet away against enemies with reach.
Going medium armor might be a tad too MAD for this build. You need STR for your attacks and trying to sneak in 14 DEX for a good AC while still having decent CON and CHA is a stretch unless you rolled for stats and rolled well.
At 4th level with moderately armored you can be S18,D14,Ch14,C12 or S16,D14,C12,Ch16
Either way, I think Reach+frightened is going to be better than the extra 1 hp per level you are going to get from a 14 constitution.
Aside from the hobgoblin armor proficiency oversight, why not? Say you go githyanki. You meet the pre-requisites for picking up heavily armored. You can now wear heavy armor!
That aside, I like your idea better of using a glaive instead of a great axe. The difference would be about 3 points of damage per round, but that's okay. In exchange for 3 points, you gain a good amount of control! That's pretty cool.
Of note enjoy the armor proficiency from githyanki while you can. The Monsters of the Multiverse revision takes it away. I would expect the same long term of mountain dwarf in a few years when they catch up with the PHB races. Getting armor proficiency from a racial choice is likely going away.
The single Fighter dip offers alot of utility for doing a STR Bladelock, also you should consider having a decent amount for Cha to tack on Lifedrinker for even more extra Necrotic dmg.
What about the tiefling variant that gives +1 strength? Adds a few spells too.
a level of fighter is good, but two levels of paladin is even better...
Kinda depends on what you’re looking for. If you value spell progression, and CON save proficiency, fighter 1 is the better choice. If you want the ability to smite and some extra spells, then of course paladin is the right choice. But, I’d really call into question just how much you’ll be smiting hard with only two slots for most of your career in any given fight? And later 3?
id go with fighter.