I'm going to be playing a melee Hexblade warlock. The campaign will be starting at level 4 or 5 (TBD), no other party members are taking typical "front-liner" characters. Is it worth taking 1 level of fighter to help boost my durability/tankiness (heavy armor, con proficiency, second wind)?
I think my progression would be • 1 fighter • 5 warlock (for thirsting blade) • 1 fighter (for action surge) • x warlock
Taking 2 Fighter and the rest of the levels Warlock is definitely going to work, especially if you take Fighter as your first level. I know from experience.
1 level of fighter gets you full armor prof/ fighting style/ 2 more HP/ second wind/ con saves. As a hexblade you are already charisma based meaning you can always fall back on Eldritch/Agonizing Blast until you get extra attack. If you start at 4th taking 1 level of fighter just means you might spend more of 5th level using EB+AB than swinging a sword. Long term its worth it.
I am not as big of a fan of action surge on a caster and would wait until you have extra attack to go back and grab it. Even then consider that upcasting spirit shroud at 9th level gets pushed back by grabbing another fighter level.
It's not something I'd do. I think that heavy armor is overrated. Con saves are not overrated, but I wouldn't delay warlock features for them.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
To me the only reason it works is that EB+AB+Hex still does good damage at level 5 and the extra beam is like an extra attack without having to have 5 levels in a single class. If you just spend the time swinging your sword you will find yourself behind.
Your plan is rock solid, OP! Even having access to green flame blade is going to make your melee experience pretty good even if you don’t have extra attack.
Nothing is inherently wrong with the plan but you need a 15 strength to go heavy armor, while you only need a 14 dex to max out AC with medium armor. I'm not sure 1 AC a couple hit points, action surge, second wind, con save is worth losing a spell level, a wisdom save and invocation delays, increased initiative from the dex focus etc. If you know you are going to 20 or something it can work out. But lets go the other end, you stop at level 11, you gave up on a 3rd pact slot, and your first mystic arcanum. As you level the action surge and con save will be felt but so will the loss of a spell level and generally one less invocation.
End of the day I am basically saying it feels like a wash to me, so if it fits your character go for it. But I would not feel obligated to cram it in for optimization.
Unless the sole purpose of the two level dip is to get action surge, I'd say it's not worth it. The 15 strength requirement for heavy armor is a bit steep on a hexblade, if you really want the fighting style you could take the fighting initiate feat instead, or the resilient feat for the constitution saves (or both). IMHO, the delay on your spell casting and invocations probably isn't worth the dip, but it's your character, so do what feels right to you.
This is great; thanks for all the advice. From a strict optimization POV, it doesn't seem the best option, but the way I've been building the backstory makes sense and doesn't sacrifice toomuch. DM has us starting at level 4, so I'll go Fighter 1/Hexblade 3. I likely won't come back for Fighter 2 until I've got 5 levels of Hexblade.
It seems the starting level (1 Fighter/3 Hexblade) will feel weakest, but once I take a 4th level in Warlock, I can get PAM, and then 5th will give me Thirsting Blade and 3rd-level casting. We've also been given 250 GP rather than base equipment, so I should be able to start with Splint Armor for 18 AC (with the Defense Fighting Style).
I think its a reasonable start. I think its important to remember that you still have eldritch blast and with hexblade you don't have to choose between str and charisma.
This is great; thanks for all the advice. From a strict optimization POV, it doesn't seem the best option, but the way I've been building the backstory makes sense and doesn't sacrifice toomuch. DM has us starting at level 4, so I'll go Fighter 1/Hexblade 3. I likely won't come back for Fighter 2 until I've got 5 levels of Hexblade.
It seems the starting level (1 Fighter/3 Hexblade) will feel weakest, but once I take a 4th level in Warlock, I can get PAM, and then 5th will give me Thirsting Blade and 3rd-level casting. We've also been given 250 GP rather than base equipment, so I should be able to start with Splint Armor for 18 AC (with the Defense Fighting Style).
In my opinion, (if you started with a 17 in CHA) you should take fey touched instead.
Your bonus action gets used a lot as it is as a hexblade warlock, you have access to hexblade's curse, you have hex, and you'd have misty step. That's so much bonus action usage, that it it might make PAM's value decreased to the point where it's not as helpful to you. Plus, increasing your CHA means everything improves for you, including your EBs. If you're using green flame blade to keep up in damage even while everyone has extra attack, increasing CHA improves it's damage too.
Then at 8th warlock level I'd recommend GWM just because you have enough proficiency and you'd have access to shadow of moil for a source of good advantage, making it easier to land those big hits. You'd be a hard hitting front liner!
I do have a 17 in charisma and was considering Fey Step as an option and picking up Gift of Alacrity as the other spell. My character race is bugbear, so the boost to initiative would be very helpful to using their Surprise Attack ability (If you hit a creature that has not taken a turn yet in the current combat with an attack roll, it takes an extra 2d6 damage).
I see your point about the BA with PAM. I think the more valuable part of that could be the Opportunity Attack when entering reach. With a Bugbear, my reach is an extra 5ft on my turn, so 15ft; but the Opportunity Attack would only trigger if a character enters reach (10ft with a polearm) since it wouldn't be on my turn. So it could be very interesting to be able to attack at 15, then attack again if they move to attack me. Assumes melee combat, though.
You bring up a good point though, and that maybe that would be too situational and not out-weight the +4 to charisma (along with other Fey Step stuff).
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
I'm going to be playing a melee Hexblade warlock. The campaign will be starting at level 4 or 5 (TBD), no other party members are taking typical "front-liner" characters. Is it worth taking 1 level of fighter to help boost my durability/tankiness (heavy armor, con proficiency, second wind)?
I think my progression would be
• 1 fighter
• 5 warlock (for thirsting blade)
• 1 fighter (for action surge)
• x warlock
Thoughts?
Taking 2 Fighter and the rest of the levels Warlock is definitely going to work, especially if you take Fighter as your first level. I know from experience.
1 level of fighter gets you full armor prof/ fighting style/ 2 more HP/ second wind/ con saves. As a hexblade you are already charisma based meaning you can always fall back on Eldritch/Agonizing Blast until you get extra attack. If you start at 4th taking 1 level of fighter just means you might spend more of 5th level using EB+AB than swinging a sword. Long term its worth it.
I am not as big of a fan of action surge on a caster and would wait until you have extra attack to go back and grab it. Even then consider that upcasting spirit shroud at 9th level gets pushed back by grabbing another fighter level.
It's not something I'd do. I think that heavy armor is overrated. Con saves are not overrated, but I wouldn't delay warlock features for them.
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Tasha
To me the only reason it works is that EB+AB+Hex still does good damage at level 5 and the extra beam is like an extra attack without having to have 5 levels in a single class. If you just spend the time swinging your sword you will find yourself behind.
Your plan is rock solid, OP! Even having access to green flame blade is going to make your melee experience pretty good even if you don’t have extra attack.
Nothing is inherently wrong with the plan but you need a 15 strength to go heavy armor, while you only need a 14 dex to max out AC with medium armor. I'm not sure 1 AC a couple hit points, action surge, second wind, con save is worth losing a spell level, a wisdom save and invocation delays, increased initiative from the dex focus etc. If you know you are going to 20 or something it can work out. But lets go the other end, you stop at level 11, you gave up on a 3rd pact slot, and your first mystic arcanum. As you level the action surge and con save will be felt but so will the loss of a spell level and generally one less invocation.
End of the day I am basically saying it feels like a wash to me, so if it fits your character go for it. But I would not feel obligated to cram it in for optimization.
Unless the sole purpose of the two level dip is to get action surge, I'd say it's not worth it. The 15 strength requirement for heavy armor is a bit steep on a hexblade, if you really want the fighting style you could take the fighting initiate feat instead, or the resilient feat for the constitution saves (or both). IMHO, the delay on your spell casting and invocations probably isn't worth the dip, but it's your character, so do what feels right to you.
This is great; thanks for all the advice. From a strict optimization POV, it doesn't seem the best option, but the way I've been building the backstory makes sense and doesn't sacrifice too much. DM has us starting at level 4, so I'll go Fighter 1/Hexblade 3. I likely won't come back for Fighter 2 until I've got 5 levels of Hexblade.
It seems the starting level (1 Fighter/3 Hexblade) will feel weakest, but once I take a 4th level in Warlock, I can get PAM, and then 5th will give me Thirsting Blade and 3rd-level casting. We've also been given 250 GP rather than base equipment, so I should be able to start with Splint Armor for 18 AC (with the Defense Fighting Style).
I think its a reasonable start. I think its important to remember that you still have eldritch blast and with hexblade you don't have to choose between str and charisma.
Good luck.
In my opinion, (if you started with a 17 in CHA) you should take fey touched instead.
Your bonus action gets used a lot as it is as a hexblade warlock, you have access to hexblade's curse, you have hex, and you'd have misty step. That's so much bonus action usage, that it it might make PAM's value decreased to the point where it's not as helpful to you. Plus, increasing your CHA means everything improves for you, including your EBs. If you're using green flame blade to keep up in damage even while everyone has extra attack, increasing CHA improves it's damage too.
Then at 8th warlock level I'd recommend GWM just because you have enough proficiency and you'd have access to shadow of moil for a source of good advantage, making it easier to land those big hits. You'd be a hard hitting front liner!
I do have a 17 in charisma and was considering Fey Step as an option and picking up Gift of Alacrity as the other spell. My character race is bugbear, so the boost to initiative would be very helpful to using their Surprise Attack ability (If you hit a creature that has not taken a turn yet in the current combat with an attack roll, it takes an extra 2d6 damage).
I see your point about the BA with PAM. I think the more valuable part of that could be the Opportunity Attack when entering reach. With a Bugbear, my reach is an extra 5ft on my turn, so 15ft; but the Opportunity Attack would only trigger if a character enters reach (10ft with a polearm) since it wouldn't be on my turn. So it could be very interesting to be able to attack at 15, then attack again if they move to attack me. Assumes melee combat, though.
You bring up a good point though, and that maybe that would be too situational and not out-weight the +4 to charisma (along with other Fey Step stuff).