For Pact of Blade, it allows for CHA bonus to be used instead of STR/DEX.
Just want to confirm, if my STR/DEX bonus modifier is higher than my CHA bonus modifier, I can still use the higher relevant modifier for my attack/damage.
That's correct, because it says "you can use your Charisma modifier", not "you must use your Charisma modifier".
That said, a Warlock with a Strength or Dexterity modifier higher than their Charisma modifier is pretty rare, and the usefulness of Pact of the Blade for such a character would be pretty limited.
That's not true at all. Pact of the Blade is much more than allowing you to sub in your cha for dex or str on your weapon attack rolls. Pact of the blade opens up all of the invocations that support melee. A str/dex based warlock gets to use the melee feats while still getting full benefit of the ASI increase they grant.
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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.
As for Strength and Dexterity, there is a real consideration around the Heavy Property as some of the best pact weapons have this property, Most 2-handed weapons (including Polearms and heavy crossbow) have this property and it requires you to have 13 Strength (if Melee) or 13 Dexterity (if Ranged). If you do not meet the requirements then you get disadvantage on all attacks which is pretty crippling towards using Heavy weapons. There is also the potential to start with 12 Strength and get to 13 with Great Weapon Master, to pick up Great Weapons at that point.
If you are not using heavy weapons then Dexterity will always be better than Strength for a Warlock, but Charisma should always be the highest attribute, since it affects spellcasting, which even a Pact of the Blade user should be using spells. Else wise, why even go Warlock? That said, a melee Warlock could be done without Charisma by focusing on spells that do not benefit from it, like Spirit Shroud or Darkness for example but a lot of good Warlock spells do greatly benefit from Charisma.
I don't agree. A low cha warlock could be using their spell slots for smites rather than casting spells. A low char does not impact that at all.
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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.
I don't agree. A low cha warlock could be using their spell slots for smites rather than casting spells. A low char does not impact that at all.
I don't recommend Eldritch Smite due to the limited number of pact slots that Warlock has and that it's most useful only for critical hits or the prone condition... other invocations can prove to be better choices and other spells can prove to be a better use of pact magic slots, given their limited number, more so in Tier 1 & 2 game play.
I did already note that there are ways to build low charisma warlocks with pact of the blade, just that it will never be an optimum build and Eldritch Smite would not be the reason to do it, if you're just after a melee that smites with Strength or Dexterity weapons, Paladin does that job better but I don't really recommend smites on Paladin either for 2024.
I can't agree with that. I've always felt that eldritch smite feels very good to use. Then again, I am drawn to a barbarian|warlock MC, which very much wants eldritch smite because he can't cast in combat anyways. That said, when I warlock, for the most part, blade isn't want I am looking for and the focus on blade is one of my many gripes with the 2024 warlock.
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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.
Yes, you can still use your higher STR or DEX modifier for your attack and damage rolls if it's greater than your CHA modifier. Pact of the Blade allows you to use your CHA modifier instead of your STR or DEX modifier, but it doesn't force you to use CHA if your STR or DEX is higher. It's a choice, so if you have a stronger STR or DEX modifier, you can stick with those for your melee attacks. Just keep in mind that CHA is still crucial for your spellcasting, so you’ll want to balance those priorities as you level up. 🧙♂️
One of the most consternating things about warlock is all of the choices you have to make between invocations, spells, subclass, ability scores, skills, and feats. They all interact in subtle and intriguing ways. I've never played a warlock, but I would like to, so I've made several builds. Going through all of the choices is mind boggling. Reading the forums it seems like many of the people who post here -- this could just be confirmation bias talking, so please take it with a grain of salt -- favor Hex, EB + AB, Pact of the Blade, and Hexblade. I can understand why. They have the most obvious payoff.
The argument that Character (OP) is making that maxing DEX is a good strategy for the AC, ST, and skills benefit is a valid one. One of my builds was taking only invocations that didn't involve casting or taking only cantrips just to avoid the two spell slot bottleneck. With maxed DEX, studded leather, and +1 to AC, you've got an 18 AC. I'll take that. I took Tough as an origin feat, and have a great HP. I feel like it is a decent melee character following the Pact of the Blade path or support character following Pact of Tome.
Edit: That said, in one of my build most of my spells have a DC to beat, so upping your CHA has a other benefits beyond swinging a sword, improving to hit, and augmenting damage.
As someone said, optimizing your damage abilities is a good strategy, but there are others, and warlock gives you some interesting options for pursuing them. But, my goodness, it is a bewildering set of options that takes time and care to sort through.
I can't agree with that. I've always felt that eldritch smite feels very good to use. Then again, I am drawn to a barbarian|warlock MC, which very much wants eldritch smite because he can't cast in combat anyways. That said, when I warlock, for the most part, blade isn't want I am looking for and the focus on blade is one of my many gripes with the 2024 warlock.
Well that is the multiclass that really pushes strength in that set-up, which is fine but it is a multiclass as opposed to pure warlock. If you're multiclassing, then it's going to change how you play around with attributes. It is also why you're using Eldritch Smite, Barbarian gives higher HP and it's own version of unarmored defense, if you start as barbarian you also get medium armor and constitution saves... you don't need as much investment in survivability for melee range, nor maintaining concentration, since you aren't using any concentration spells most of the time. You also need to make attacks with strength for rage bonus damage.
If you're playing a pure blade Warlock (which is essentially what I have been talking about) then strength is only there to meet the Heavy property and no more investment in strength is really beneficial compared to Charisma which is different to Dexterity, as Dexterity is +AC, +Initiative, DEX save (vs. STR save) and it affects more skills (vs STR). While DEX gives a lot, I would still save CHA gives more with spell attacks and spell save DCs, ultimately you get more versatility as a CHA based warlock than a DEX based one, more so you are better when out of melee range (i.e. can cast Eldritch Blast better) and you can better utilise a higher range of potential spells.
With a level 5 set-up such as: 13, 12, 15(14+1), 8, 10, 18(15+2+1) Taking Warcaster as the level 4 feat and invocations of Pact of the Blade, Thristing Blade, Agonizing Blast (Eldritch Blast), Fiendish Vigor and Devil's Sight you have more versatility than you can get from a DEX or STR based warlock. I don't think I need to cover Pact of the Blade or Thirsting Blade. Agonizing Blast means you still do good damage outside of melee range, Fiendish Vigor gives you 12 TempHP at the start of every battle and Devil's Sight means you can use spells like Darkness or Hunger of Hadar well. Warcaster then helps keep up concentration spells.
If you don't want Devil's Sight then instead take Eldritch Mind and switch the level 4 feat to something else, you could even pick up Heavy Weapon Master but I'd personally leave that one until level 8 or 12. You could also pickup something like Shadow-Touched, Fey-Touched or Spell-Sniper for more Charisma and more utility (either more spells or even more improved ranged). If you don't want Fiendish Vigor, there is also the option to take Inspiring Leader instead but at that point you'd definitely want Eldritch Mind.
You can still take Eldritch Smite but I just think there is better uses of an invocation and there is better uses of a pact spell slot. In the Barbarian multiclass that is likely not the case due to the inability to focus on concentration spells.
If we are talking about if a DEX based or STR based Warlock is viable, a DEX based one is viable but a STR based one is just going to suffer, going STR based is the domain of multiclassing, you need a multiclass like Barbarian, Paladin or Fighter to make it more viable, but Paladin usually benefits from going CHA in such a multiclass.
Ultimately, anybody can play what they want to play but there is what is advisable and what is not advisable for enjoying a character. You could make Intelligence your highest ability score on a pure Warlock, you can still cast spells and swing a weapon but you're going to lose out a lot in terms of attack rolls, save DCs, saving throws and various other aspects making a character that is generally going to under perform.
From a pure damage perspective, if I remember Treeantmonk's videos correctly, CHA only slightly outperforms STR/DEX, and only at higher levels. That's solid balance, mathematically. Anything else, is player agency. You're not making a useless character, either way you go.
The reason why STR is appealing, is you can take your melee boosting feats and not throw the ASI in the rubbish bin. The idea around cha is if you are using your spells in combat. If that's not your intent, you can take fluff spells and go hard on your melee feats.
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.
From a pure damage perspective, if I remember Treeantmonk's videos correctly, CHA only slightly outperforms STR/DEX, and only at higher levels. That's solid balance, mathematically. Anything else, is player agency. You're not making a useless character, either way you go.
The reason why STR is appealing, is you can take your melee boosting feats and not throw the ASI in the rubbish bin. The idea around cha is if you are using your spells in combat. If that's not your intent, you can take fluff spells and go hard on your melee feats.
Treeantmonk does a lot of theorycrafting but his numbers are very obviously generated from ideal situations, if you move away from ideal situations to realistic game play CHA massively out does STR/DEX.
Strength
Strength scales well with all melee weapons and you need 13 of it for wielding Heavy Melee weapons effectively, however Strength does not scale with ranged weapons and thrown weapons do not work well with pact of the blade.
Classes that Multiclass best with Pact of the Blade using Strength: Barbarian* & Fighter
Dexterity
Dexterity scales well with all ranged weapons and all versatile weapons, however none of the ranged weapons particularly out damage Eldritch Blast, more so now that Wand of the War Mage is a thing and you need to use feats to keep up with Eldritch Blast. The versatile weapons all do less damage than Eldritch Blast. The benefits for Dexterity are higher AC, Initiative and DEX saves, however you sacrifice a lot of DPR for it.
Classes that multiclass best with Pact of the Blade using Dexterity: Rogue*, Ranger, Monk
*Swashbuckler would be best with Charisma
Charisma
Charisma scales will all weapons, you'll still need 13 strength for the heavy melee weapons that work best with Pact of the Blade, however you can get there by taking 12 points of strength and picking up Great Weapon Master at level 4. Alternatively you can use the build I put above. For multiclassing, you would need 13 Charisma anyways, additionally a lot of subclasses have features that scale with Charisma, if you go Fiend for example, the Dark Ones Blessing and Dark Ones Own Luck scale specifically to Charisma. Archfey Steps of the Fey scales to Charisma, additionally Taunting Step and Dreadful Step use spell save DC (Charisma). Dreadful Step is likely required for the highest average DPR a Warlock can get but not something easy to map out on how much DPR it actually adds, as it's an AoE that can be activated on reaction or bonus action.
Charisma is then used for all other spellcasting, with Charisma, you are never out of position from doing decent damage, you just do more when you're in melee range but while outside of it you can still Eldritch Blast to be putting down a lot of damage, thus in realistic gameplay, you will get battles and scenarios where Charisma is still performing but Strength or Dexterity just aren't.
Classes that multiclass best with Pact of the Blade using Charisma: Paladin, Bard, Sorcerer
Sure, do the Warlock/Barbarian multiclass, but ultimately it is not a strong multiclass option, you can get better benefits than Barbarian from instead going Paladin. I doubt I need to explain why Paladin is a significantly better multiclass. I'm not saying not to do such a build but let's not pretend it's equal in how viable or usable it actually is, A Warlock/Paladin or Paladin/Warlock is always going to outperform a Warlock/Barbarian or a Barbarian/Warlock. If we are talking DPR for multiclasses then Warlock/Sorcerer probably does the best unless looking at 6 levels of Valor Bard. Sorcerer wins due to Quickened Spell, the ability to toss out Eldritch Blasts as bonus actions for multiple rounds makes it a monster in DPR performance.
No, you do not need to explain it. However, the idea is that you cast armor of agathys before combat, then rage for resistance to keep those juicy thp up while things hit you. fiend regenerates those THP, and gives you some smites to go along with it. Enemies beat themselves to death on the damage shield, which will always be cast at max level due to pact magic scaling.
Paladin, cannot build that character, so in this case, it's not a superior option.
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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.
No, you do not need to explain it. However, the idea is that you cast armor of agathys before combat, then rage for resistance to keep those juicy thp up while things hit you. fiend regenerates those THP, and gives you some smites to go along with it. Enemies beat themselves to death on the damage shield, which will always be cast at max level due to pact magic scaling.
Paladin, cannot build that character, so in this case, it's not a superior option.
You don't have resistance but you can still do this with Paladin and it works better as Paladin can still cast in battle you can cast a certain spell called Hellish Rebuke or take Oath of Vengeance to perform attacks when you get attacked and using this tactic means even less pact slots available for Eldritch Smite. And if you take Archfey you can both regenerate temporary HP or do an AoE as a reaction which you can do neither as a raging barbarian.
For Pact of Blade, it allows for CHA bonus to be used instead of STR/DEX.
Just want to confirm, if my STR/DEX bonus modifier is higher than my CHA bonus modifier, I can still use the higher relevant modifier for my attack/damage.
That's correct, because it says "you can use your Charisma modifier", not "you must use your Charisma modifier".
That said, a Warlock with a Strength or Dexterity modifier higher than their Charisma modifier is pretty rare, and the usefulness of Pact of the Blade for such a character would be pretty limited.
pronouns: he/she/they
That's not true at all. Pact of the Blade is much more than allowing you to sub in your cha for dex or str on your weapon attack rolls. Pact of the blade opens up all of the invocations that support melee. A str/dex based warlock gets to use the melee feats while still getting full benefit of the ASI increase they grant.
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
What does ASI stand for? Ability increase? If it increases abilities not sure how?
I do agree it is rare, but it is very possible:
Better dex at character creation to take advantage of better AC.
a hand me down strength increasing magic item aka belt et. al.
Ability Score Improvement
As for Strength and Dexterity, there is a real consideration around the Heavy Property as some of the best pact weapons have this property, Most 2-handed weapons (including Polearms and heavy crossbow) have this property and it requires you to have 13 Strength (if Melee) or 13 Dexterity (if Ranged). If you do not meet the requirements then you get disadvantage on all attacks which is pretty crippling towards using Heavy weapons. There is also the potential to start with 12 Strength and get to 13 with Great Weapon Master, to pick up Great Weapons at that point.
If you are not using heavy weapons then Dexterity will always be better than Strength for a Warlock, but Charisma should always be the highest attribute, since it affects spellcasting, which even a Pact of the Blade user should be using spells. Else wise, why even go Warlock? That said, a melee Warlock could be done without Charisma by focusing on spells that do not benefit from it, like Spirit Shroud or Darkness for example but a lot of good Warlock spells do greatly benefit from Charisma.
I don't agree. A low cha warlock could be using their spell slots for smites rather than casting spells. A low char does not impact that at all.
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
I don't recommend Eldritch Smite due to the limited number of pact slots that Warlock has and that it's most useful only for critical hits or the prone condition... other invocations can prove to be better choices and other spells can prove to be a better use of pact magic slots, given their limited number, more so in Tier 1 & 2 game play.
I did already note that there are ways to build low charisma warlocks with pact of the blade, just that it will never be an optimum build and Eldritch Smite would not be the reason to do it, if you're just after a melee that smites with Strength or Dexterity weapons, Paladin does that job better but I don't really recommend smites on Paladin either for 2024.
You make that sound like that is a bad thing.
That is true, you don't need to be an optimum build, it's just some choices feel bad for taking em and Eldritch Smite is one of those for me.
I can't agree with that. I've always felt that eldritch smite feels very good to use. Then again, I am drawn to a barbarian|warlock MC, which very much wants eldritch smite because he can't cast in combat anyways. That said, when I warlock, for the most part, blade isn't want I am looking for and the focus on blade is one of my many gripes with the 2024 warlock.
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
Yes, you can still use your higher STR or DEX modifier for your attack and damage rolls if it's greater than your CHA modifier. Pact of the Blade allows you to use your CHA modifier instead of your STR or DEX modifier, but it doesn't force you to use CHA if your STR or DEX is higher. It's a choice, so if you have a stronger STR or DEX modifier, you can stick with those for your melee attacks. Just keep in mind that CHA is still crucial for your spellcasting, so you’ll want to balance those priorities as you level up. 🧙♂️
Howdy y'all!
One of the most consternating things about warlock is all of the choices you have to make between invocations, spells, subclass, ability scores, skills, and feats. They all interact in subtle and intriguing ways. I've never played a warlock, but I would like to, so I've made several builds. Going through all of the choices is mind boggling. Reading the forums it seems like many of the people who post here -- this could just be confirmation bias talking, so please take it with a grain of salt -- favor Hex, EB + AB, Pact of the Blade, and Hexblade. I can understand why. They have the most obvious payoff.
The argument that Character (OP) is making that maxing DEX is a good strategy for the AC, ST, and skills benefit is a valid one. One of my builds was taking only invocations that didn't involve casting or taking only cantrips just to avoid the two spell slot bottleneck. With maxed DEX, studded leather, and +1 to AC, you've got an 18 AC. I'll take that. I took Tough as an origin feat, and have a great HP. I feel like it is a decent melee character following the Pact of the Blade path or support character following Pact of Tome.
Edit: That said, in one of my build most of my spells have a DC to beat, so upping your CHA has a other benefits beyond swinging a sword, improving to hit, and augmenting damage.
As someone said, optimizing your damage abilities is a good strategy, but there are others, and warlock gives you some interesting options for pursuing them. But, my goodness, it is a bewildering set of options that takes time and care to sort through.
Game On, Siblings!
Jack
Well that is the multiclass that really pushes strength in that set-up, which is fine but it is a multiclass as opposed to pure warlock. If you're multiclassing, then it's going to change how you play around with attributes. It is also why you're using Eldritch Smite, Barbarian gives higher HP and it's own version of unarmored defense, if you start as barbarian you also get medium armor and constitution saves... you don't need as much investment in survivability for melee range, nor maintaining concentration, since you aren't using any concentration spells most of the time. You also need to make attacks with strength for rage bonus damage.
If you're playing a pure blade Warlock (which is essentially what I have been talking about) then strength is only there to meet the Heavy property and no more investment in strength is really beneficial compared to Charisma which is different to Dexterity, as Dexterity is +AC, +Initiative, DEX save (vs. STR save) and it affects more skills (vs STR). While DEX gives a lot, I would still save CHA gives more with spell attacks and spell save DCs, ultimately you get more versatility as a CHA based warlock than a DEX based one, more so you are better when out of melee range (i.e. can cast Eldritch Blast better) and you can better utilise a higher range of potential spells.
With a level 5 set-up such as: 13, 12, 15(14+1), 8, 10, 18(15+2+1) Taking Warcaster as the level 4 feat and invocations of Pact of the Blade, Thristing Blade, Agonizing Blast (Eldritch Blast), Fiendish Vigor and Devil's Sight you have more versatility than you can get from a DEX or STR based warlock. I don't think I need to cover Pact of the Blade or Thirsting Blade. Agonizing Blast means you still do good damage outside of melee range, Fiendish Vigor gives you 12 TempHP at the start of every battle and Devil's Sight means you can use spells like Darkness or Hunger of Hadar well. Warcaster then helps keep up concentration spells.
If you don't want Devil's Sight then instead take Eldritch Mind and switch the level 4 feat to something else, you could even pick up Heavy Weapon Master but I'd personally leave that one until level 8 or 12. You could also pickup something like Shadow-Touched, Fey-Touched or Spell-Sniper for more Charisma and more utility (either more spells or even more improved ranged). If you don't want Fiendish Vigor, there is also the option to take Inspiring Leader instead but at that point you'd definitely want Eldritch Mind.
You can still take Eldritch Smite but I just think there is better uses of an invocation and there is better uses of a pact spell slot. In the Barbarian multiclass that is likely not the case due to the inability to focus on concentration spells.
If we are talking about if a DEX based or STR based Warlock is viable, a DEX based one is viable but a STR based one is just going to suffer, going STR based is the domain of multiclassing, you need a multiclass like Barbarian, Paladin or Fighter to make it more viable, but Paladin usually benefits from going CHA in such a multiclass.
Ultimately, anybody can play what they want to play but there is what is advisable and what is not advisable for enjoying a character. You could make Intelligence your highest ability score on a pure Warlock, you can still cast spells and swing a weapon but you're going to lose out a lot in terms of attack rolls, save DCs, saving throws and various other aspects making a character that is generally going to under perform.
From a pure damage perspective, if I remember Treeantmonk's videos correctly, CHA only slightly outperforms STR/DEX, and only at higher levels. That's solid balance, mathematically. Anything else, is player agency. You're not making a useless character, either way you go.
The reason why STR is appealing, is you can take your melee boosting feats and not throw the ASI in the rubbish bin. The idea around cha is if you are using your spells in combat. If that's not your intent, you can take fluff spells and go hard on your melee feats.
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
Treeantmonk does a lot of theorycrafting but his numbers are very obviously generated from ideal situations, if you move away from ideal situations to realistic game play CHA massively out does STR/DEX.
Strength
Strength scales well with all melee weapons and you need 13 of it for wielding Heavy Melee weapons effectively, however Strength does not scale with ranged weapons and thrown weapons do not work well with pact of the blade.
Classes that Multiclass best with Pact of the Blade using Strength: Barbarian* & Fighter
Dexterity
Dexterity scales well with all ranged weapons and all versatile weapons, however none of the ranged weapons particularly out damage Eldritch Blast, more so now that Wand of the War Mage is a thing and you need to use feats to keep up with Eldritch Blast. The versatile weapons all do less damage than Eldritch Blast. The benefits for Dexterity are higher AC, Initiative and DEX saves, however you sacrifice a lot of DPR for it.
Classes that multiclass best with Pact of the Blade using Dexterity: Rogue*, Ranger, Monk
*Swashbuckler would be best with Charisma
Charisma
Charisma scales will all weapons, you'll still need 13 strength for the heavy melee weapons that work best with Pact of the Blade, however you can get there by taking 12 points of strength and picking up Great Weapon Master at level 4. Alternatively you can use the build I put above. For multiclassing, you would need 13 Charisma anyways, additionally a lot of subclasses have features that scale with Charisma, if you go Fiend for example, the Dark Ones Blessing and Dark Ones Own Luck scale specifically to Charisma. Archfey Steps of the Fey scales to Charisma, additionally Taunting Step and Dreadful Step use spell save DC (Charisma). Dreadful Step is likely required for the highest average DPR a Warlock can get but not something easy to map out on how much DPR it actually adds, as it's an AoE that can be activated on reaction or bonus action.
Charisma is then used for all other spellcasting, with Charisma, you are never out of position from doing decent damage, you just do more when you're in melee range but while outside of it you can still Eldritch Blast to be putting down a lot of damage, thus in realistic gameplay, you will get battles and scenarios where Charisma is still performing but Strength or Dexterity just aren't.
Classes that multiclass best with Pact of the Blade using Charisma: Paladin, Bard, Sorcerer
Classes that don't multiclass well: Artificer, Barbarian, Cleric, Druid, Monk & Wizard
Sure, do the Warlock/Barbarian multiclass, but ultimately it is not a strong multiclass option, you can get better benefits than Barbarian from instead going Paladin. I doubt I need to explain why Paladin is a significantly better multiclass. I'm not saying not to do such a build but let's not pretend it's equal in how viable or usable it actually is, A Warlock/Paladin or Paladin/Warlock is always going to outperform a Warlock/Barbarian or a Barbarian/Warlock. If we are talking DPR for multiclasses then Warlock/Sorcerer probably does the best unless looking at 6 levels of Valor Bard. Sorcerer wins due to Quickened Spell, the ability to toss out Eldritch Blasts as bonus actions for multiple rounds makes it a monster in DPR performance.
No, you do not need to explain it. However, the idea is that you cast armor of agathys before combat, then rage for resistance to keep those juicy thp up while things hit you. fiend regenerates those THP, and gives you some smites to go along with it. Enemies beat themselves to death on the damage shield, which will always be cast at max level due to pact magic scaling.
Paladin, cannot build that character, so in this case, it's not a superior option.
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
You don't have resistance but you can still do this with Paladin and it works better as Paladin can still cast in battle you can cast a certain spell called Hellish Rebuke or take Oath of Vengeance to perform attacks when you get attacked and using this tactic means even less pact slots available for Eldritch Smite. And if you take Archfey you can both regenerate temporary HP or do an AoE as a reaction which you can do neither as a raging barbarian.