I posted about this more in the tips and tricks section - so I won't repost to avoid just spamming stuff - but is seems worthy to talk about a specific build here. Goblin warlock with undead servitude, summon undead, and investment of the chain master could have a lot of undead followers pretty early on by level 5 - which seems pretty cool! I'd the viability or if their may be a more viable one? Note - I like melee, and 100% would try to get melee into the build with a dip of fighter or going OG hexblade (though pact of the blade really rains on hexblade's parade)
It appears that you can concentrate you invocations on the blade or on spells, not on both.
Agonizing blast basically acts like a bow. You auto get multiple shots based on your total level, not warlock one. This invocation just adds to the damage.
If you plan to go for the melee attack like a fighter, you probably need to start level 1 as a martial class, to get access to armor/shield.
That dip does but you are behind because you can't get multiple hits until you are warlock 5 aka total 6th level due to dip.
At warlock 5 you need 4 invocations for melee fighting. That allows one invocations for pact of the chain which is fine, but to use your familiar you need an attack action, which limits your swings with a weapon.
The necromancer idea sounds viable but I would avoid going in the melee direction.
If you want to to invest in the familiar and do spells at level 6 (no need to dip) you need (if going familiar) at least 3 but you probably want Agonizing blast for ranged combat, so again you need 4. If you go pact of blade, it is probably more for self-defense then to make you an offensive powerhouse. And if you want sit back, there might be better invocations to use.
As a Verdan Fighter/Warlock I approve these messages!
Like Character 77006 said, you need a fighter or a paladin to start with in order to use armor and shields. Boy, wouldn’t a Paladin necromancer be a dynamic twist! Saving their souls by trapping them in their corpses!
Anyway, most other classes that dabble with necromancy (sorcerer and wizard) don’t have access to those. You are already starting out tougher with light armor and a d8 hit die versus no armor and a d6, so I wouldn’t worry about it. Even if you did, I wouldn’t go for any melee features if the goal is to be a necromancer
I would stick strictly to the summoning abilities or melee combat. An undead that goes after two brains ends up with none, so you don’t want to crowd your eldritch invocations.
I posted about this more in the tips and tricks section - so I won't repost to avoid just spamming stuff - but is seems worthy to talk about a specific build here. Goblin warlock with undead servitude, summon undead, and investment of the chain master could have a lot of undead followers pretty early on by level 5 - which seems pretty cool! I'd the viability or if their may be a more viable one? Note - I like melee, and 100% would try to get melee into the build with a dip of fighter or going OG hexblade (though pact of the blade really rains on hexblade's parade)
It appears that you can concentrate you invocations on the blade or on spells, not on both.
Agonizing blast basically acts like a bow. You auto get multiple shots based on your total level, not warlock one. This invocation just adds to the damage.
If you plan to go for the melee attack like a fighter, you probably need to start level 1 as a martial class, to get access to armor/shield.
That dip does but you are behind because you can't get multiple hits until you are warlock 5 aka total 6th level due to dip.
At warlock 5 you need 4 invocations for melee fighting. That allows one invocations for pact of the chain which is fine, but to use your familiar you need an attack action, which limits your swings with a weapon.
The necromancer idea sounds viable but I would avoid going in the melee direction.
If you want to to invest in the familiar and do spells at level 6 (no need to dip) you need (if going familiar) at least 3 but you probably want Agonizing blast for ranged combat, so again you need 4. If you go pact of blade, it is probably more for self-defense then to make you an offensive powerhouse. And if you want sit back, there might be better invocations to use.
As a Verdan Fighter/Warlock I approve these messages!
Like Character 77006 said, you need a fighter or a paladin to start with in order to use armor and shields. Boy, wouldn’t a Paladin necromancer be a dynamic twist! Saving their souls by trapping them in their corpses!
Anyway, most other classes that dabble with necromancy (sorcerer and wizard) don’t have access to those. You are already starting out tougher with light armor and a d8 hit die versus no armor and a d6, so I wouldn’t worry about it. Even if you did, I wouldn’t go for any melee features if the goal is to be a necromancer
I would stick strictly to the summoning abilities or melee combat. An undead that goes after two brains ends up with none, so you don’t want to crowd your eldritch invocations.
Shameless plug here, but if you do want to go for a melee fighter/warlock, might I suggest something like this?: www.dndbeyond.com/sheet-pdfs/Actionsparda_150088777.pdf