I’m having a blast playing (pun intended) and I’m about to hit level 5, and from what my party tells me, some serious stuff opens up to me at that level. I’m playing a fallen aasimar warlock with a celestial patron. What I want to build is a powerful blaster that can also control the battlefield with AoE, but in the event a creature gets within melee range, I want to be able to either protect myself from whatever damage they would cause or, preferably, cause some decent melee damage in return. I’m making this thread because at level 4 there were a ton of options and I want to get this right when I hit level 5. Thanks in advance.
What really opens up is the ability to to get 2 attacks with a melee weapon. Also the ability to use your familiar as a point of origin for spells.
But you don't get enough invocations to do both well. If you are a melee fighter that second attack is great. But you need about 4 invocations out of 5.
The big things for a level 5 warlock are you get a second shot with eldritch blast in your turn, and you get access to 3rd level spells. Are you the party’s main healer? If so, you’ll want to acquire a couple 300 gp diamonds, as you’ll always have revivify prepared. I once played as the main healer with a celestial warlock, one thing it meant was I really only had 1 spell slot as I had to save my second for revivify if someone died. So that’s something to keep in mind.
But 3rd level spells are really big. That’s where there’s stuff like fly, counterspell, dispel magic and more. As you have limited slots, and limited spells known. you should try and coordinate with other casters in the party, so you’re not duplicating very much.
If you’re a blast from range type warlock, you’ll don’t want to be trying to do melee damage to someone who runs up on you. You just want to get away. Slugging it out will not end well for you. So, either make use of the disengage action, or get misty step.
I’ve found it possible to be a bit of a hybrid between melee and ranged, but it will all depend on what eldritch invocations you have already taken (unless your DM is feeling particularly generous and lets you retrain them without leveling up and doing it one at a time.)
As implied, you’d want to have taken Pact of the Blade, presumably at level 1. At level 2 you probably would have wanted to have taken agonizing and repelling blast, but I’ve strategized you can wait on repelling blast until level 7 when you get wall of fire to knock them into it. The only exception to this is Hunger of Hadar that you can get earlier to knock people into, but I’ve found it to be a bit overrated myself. I chose Agonizing Blast and Devil’s Sight since my species lacked darkvision. Level 5 is when you would get access to thirsting blade and eldritch smite to melee attack twice and deal extra melee damage respectfully. Finally, jumping ahead to level 12 you get devouring blade to melee attack 3 times.
That’s a melee/ranged hybrid (“gish”) in a nutshell… according to me at least. The only other thing that I’m afraid is too late for is starting with a level in fighter or something for weapon masteries to go with your melee attacks, but truth be told I forget those all the time with my Barbarian anyway!
If you want melee for the just in case i am stuck in melee moments I'd check with the DM on how they rule with agonizing blast and true strike. if they rule it works with it 1 invocation will make you okayish in melee at level 5 with one attack hitting for weapon damage+1d6+8. imo better than going the pact of the blade route which takes multiple invocations for only a slight gain, which if you were jumping into melee likely is worth it but if its a back up not so much. but the thing is we can't really give much advice as we have no idea what spells and invocations you have taken so far. If you took pact of the tome I'd have a different suggestion than if you have pact of the blade or chain. Do you have repelling blast yet. what feat did you take at level 4. I mean if you took spell sniper eldritch blast is your melee attack for example.
DnD is like a productivity triangle. It's Melee, Ranged, and Spellcasting - pick two. You're asking for a ranged attacker with powerful spells who's good at melee - it doesn't exist, my friend. Focus on ranged attacks and spellcasting, and trust your allies to keep you out of melee. Grab an "Oh shit!" spell, like Misty Step or Invisibility to get you out of danger if something slips by, and just focus on your magic. As to invocations, assuming you took Eldritch Blast, the two must-haves are Agonizing and Repelling Blast. After that, you can kind of pick your poison. Eldritch Mind is good for concentration, Devil's Sight is good for awareness. As a general rule, the "cast X spell without a spell slot" invocations are a pass, unless a specific spell really tickles your pickle. Fiendish Vigor is pretty decent - twelve free hp any time you have a free action is better than you'd think. Pact of the Tome for a few more spells, Pact of the Chain for a little buddy to follow you around, probably skip Pact of the Blade - simply not it. If you don't already have it, plan to grab Spell Sniper ASAP - that will solve your melee troubles, as you can blast the everloving hell out of anybody who gets near you.
After that, grab spells. Warlock doesn't have a lot of bad 3rd-level spells, so follow your bliss. Remember, you can drop a lower-level spell and pick two third-level spells if you want.
So my statement may be strange here from most others. But if you want to be able to mix it up in melee AND be able to do ranged damage as your primary while keeping a control caster sort of method Warlock is one of the few classes that can do it. The suggestion would be Agonizing Blast, Pact of the Blade, Thirsting Blade and then pick 2 other invocations one of which I would probably select for survival like fiendish vigor or lessons of the first one tough if I plan to occasionally mix it up in melee. If, as Rwinnie suggested, you picked up spell sniper at level 4 than you can drop pact of the blade and thirsting blade for repelling blast and another invocation of your choice.
Spells wise if you are looking for a pure control spell you are probably looking at Hypnotic pattern or Fear if you want something that does some damage while controlling Hunger of Hadar is your go to after that remember that you can change a lower level spell for a higher one when you level up and that the 2024 rules gives you ritual casting so keep those in mind with your other spell selections. You only have 2 slots per fight and can only concentrate on one spell at a time so you likely dont need more than 2 to 3 go to combat spells for the different situations you will run into and the rest should be used for utility spells that you can rest after using during exploration or social stuff or knowns should be used on ritual spells for more resource free casting. Unfortunately the free spells you get from celestial at 5 aren't particularly great, but short rest recoverable 3rd level cast of cure wounds is really good for party out of combat recovery.
I will roll back to my true strike/agonizing blast point. If your DM allows it then at level 5 you'd hit for weapon dmg+1d6+8, at level 6 that increases to wpm dmg+1d6+12 since you too the celestial subclass. lets say you are using a quarterstaff that is 1d8+1d6+12. so when you hit you will average around 20 damage assuming you don't have any other damage increases happening. that is one heck of a wallop. And since you are pact of the tome taking true strike is pretty easy. 1 invocation and you are competent at doing damage in melee. the problem is you get kind of locked into it since you want the invocation to mean something. even if they don't let agonizing, assuming they let your celestial feature work with it at level 6 it is doing okay damage. and in that case id take pact of the chain to really ramp up gaze of two minds.
the other invocation id trend toward gaze of two minds, while you might not have the ramped up familiar with pact of the chain, you very easily should have a normal one via pact of the tome. one with shadows would be my second pick invisibility almost at will(only need dim light) is pretty sweet. though if you are consistently running hex still it would get in the way due to concertation issues.
Spells if you don't have a wiz/sor in the party id look towards counter spell if you see a spell on your list you are okay unlearning. my 1st pick would be either fear or hypnotic pattern at 7th level id pick up summon X whichever one fits your personality best, they are all good and the summons get a 2nd attack when using a 4th level slot.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
I’m having a blast playing (pun intended) and I’m about to hit level 5, and from what my party tells me, some serious stuff opens up to me at that level. I’m playing a fallen aasimar warlock with a celestial patron. What I want to build is a powerful blaster that can also control the battlefield with AoE, but in the event a creature gets within melee range, I want to be able to either protect myself from whatever damage they would cause or, preferably, cause some decent melee damage in return. I’m making this thread because at level 4 there were a ton of options and I want to get this right when I hit level 5. Thanks in advance.
What really opens up is the ability to to get 2 attacks with a melee weapon. Also the ability to use your familiar as a point of origin for spells.
But you don't get enough invocations to do both well. If you are a melee fighter that second attack is great. But you need about 4 invocations out of 5.
The big things for a level 5 warlock are you get a second shot with eldritch blast in your turn, and you get access to 3rd level spells.
Are you the party’s main healer? If so, you’ll want to acquire a couple 300 gp diamonds, as you’ll always have revivify prepared. I once played as the main healer with a celestial warlock, one thing it meant was I really only had 1 spell slot as I had to save my second for revivify if someone died. So that’s something to keep in mind.
But 3rd level spells are really big. That’s where there’s stuff like fly, counterspell, dispel magic and more. As you have limited slots, and limited spells known. you should try and coordinate with other casters in the party, so you’re not duplicating very much.
If you’re a blast from range type warlock, you’ll don’t want to be trying to do melee damage to someone who runs up on you. You just want to get away. Slugging it out will not end well for you. So, either make use of the disengage action, or get misty step.
I’ve found it possible to be a bit of a hybrid between melee and ranged, but it will all depend on what eldritch invocations you have already taken (unless your DM is feeling particularly generous and lets you retrain them without leveling up and doing it one at a time.)
As implied, you’d want to have taken Pact of the Blade, presumably at level 1. At level 2 you probably would have wanted to have taken agonizing and repelling blast, but I’ve strategized you can wait on repelling blast until level 7 when you get wall of fire to knock them into it. The only exception to this is Hunger of Hadar that you can get earlier to knock people into, but I’ve found it to be a bit overrated myself. I chose Agonizing Blast and Devil’s Sight since my species lacked darkvision. Level 5 is when you would get access to thirsting blade and eldritch smite to melee attack twice and deal extra melee damage respectfully. Finally, jumping ahead to level 12 you get devouring blade to melee attack 3 times.
That’s a melee/ranged hybrid (“gish”) in a nutshell… according to me at least. The only other thing that I’m afraid is too late for is starting with a level in fighter or something for weapon masteries to go with your melee attacks, but truth be told I forget those all the time with my Barbarian anyway!
If you want melee for the just in case i am stuck in melee moments I'd check with the DM on how they rule with agonizing blast and true strike. if they rule it works with it 1 invocation will make you okayish in melee at level 5 with one attack hitting for weapon damage+1d6+8. imo better than going the pact of the blade route which takes multiple invocations for only a slight gain, which if you were jumping into melee likely is worth it but if its a back up not so much. but the thing is we can't really give much advice as we have no idea what spells and invocations you have taken so far. If you took pact of the tome I'd have a different suggestion than if you have pact of the blade or chain. Do you have repelling blast yet. what feat did you take at level 4. I mean if you took spell sniper eldritch blast is your melee attack for example.
I took pact of the tome. Agonizing and repelling blast. I also took primal savagery in case enemies get close enough my best option was melee
DnD is like a productivity triangle. It's Melee, Ranged, and Spellcasting - pick two. You're asking for a ranged attacker with powerful spells who's good at melee - it doesn't exist, my friend. Focus on ranged attacks and spellcasting, and trust your allies to keep you out of melee. Grab an "Oh shit!" spell, like Misty Step or Invisibility to get you out of danger if something slips by, and just focus on your magic. As to invocations, assuming you took Eldritch Blast, the two must-haves are Agonizing and Repelling Blast. After that, you can kind of pick your poison. Eldritch Mind is good for concentration, Devil's Sight is good for awareness. As a general rule, the "cast X spell without a spell slot" invocations are a pass, unless a specific spell really tickles your pickle. Fiendish Vigor is pretty decent - twelve free hp any time you have a free action is better than you'd think. Pact of the Tome for a few more spells, Pact of the Chain for a little buddy to follow you around, probably skip Pact of the Blade - simply not it. If you don't already have it, plan to grab Spell Sniper ASAP - that will solve your melee troubles, as you can blast the everloving hell out of anybody who gets near you.
After that, grab spells. Warlock doesn't have a lot of bad 3rd-level spells, so follow your bliss. Remember, you can drop a lower-level spell and pick two third-level spells if you want.
So my statement may be strange here from most others. But if you want to be able to mix it up in melee AND be able to do ranged damage as your primary while keeping a control caster sort of method Warlock is one of the few classes that can do it. The suggestion would be Agonizing Blast, Pact of the Blade, Thirsting Blade and then pick 2 other invocations one of which I would probably select for survival like fiendish vigor or lessons of the first one tough if I plan to occasionally mix it up in melee. If, as Rwinnie suggested, you picked up spell sniper at level 4 than you can drop pact of the blade and thirsting blade for repelling blast and another invocation of your choice.
Spells wise if you are looking for a pure control spell you are probably looking at Hypnotic pattern or Fear if you want something that does some damage while controlling Hunger of Hadar is your go to after that remember that you can change a lower level spell for a higher one when you level up and that the 2024 rules gives you ritual casting so keep those in mind with your other spell selections. You only have 2 slots per fight and can only concentrate on one spell at a time so you likely dont need more than 2 to 3 go to combat spells for the different situations you will run into and the rest should be used for utility spells that you can rest after using during exploration or social stuff or knowns should be used on ritual spells for more resource free casting. Unfortunately the free spells you get from celestial at 5 aren't particularly great, but short rest recoverable 3rd level cast of cure wounds is really good for party out of combat recovery.
I will roll back to my true strike/agonizing blast point. If your DM allows it then at level 5 you'd hit for weapon dmg+1d6+8, at level 6 that increases to wpm dmg+1d6+12 since you too the celestial subclass. lets say you are using a quarterstaff that is 1d8+1d6+12. so when you hit you will average around 20 damage assuming you don't have any other damage increases happening. that is one heck of a wallop. And since you are pact of the tome taking true strike is pretty easy. 1 invocation and you are competent at doing damage in melee. the problem is you get kind of locked into it since you want the invocation to mean something. even if they don't let agonizing, assuming they let your celestial feature work with it at level 6 it is doing okay damage. and in that case id take pact of the chain to really ramp up gaze of two minds.
the other invocation id trend toward gaze of two minds, while you might not have the ramped up familiar with pact of the chain, you very easily should have a normal one via pact of the tome. one with shadows would be my second pick invisibility almost at will(only need dim light) is pretty sweet. though if you are consistently running hex still it would get in the way due to concertation issues.
Spells if you don't have a wiz/sor in the party id look towards counter spell if you see a spell on your list you are okay unlearning. my 1st pick would be either fear or hypnotic pattern at 7th level id pick up summon X whichever one fits your personality best, they are all good and the summons get a 2nd attack when using a 4th level slot.