Pure warlock Optimization

Ah. I did not know that about chain mail. Ok, done. Thanks!

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I saw the level 20 character, not sure what level you are actually playing at or if it is a level 20 one shot, but going to 13+1 on con would allow you to get 4 more points to take wisdom to 12 and create +2 more to wisdom saves. Which as I said earlier does make a big difference when you have wisdom proficiency.

 

Edit: Also will say that if you are playing to 20 most warlocks should multi-class the warlock capstone just isn't very good. It is when not playing to 20 that you have reason to not multi-class. Like if only going to 11 for 6th level spells and the 3rd slot or 12 of playing blade lock to get the 3rd strike. 14 is the subclass capstone which are all pretty good. 9 is 5th level spells so on and so forth.

 Agreed on the capstone.

It is very tempting to run a Paladin 6/Warlock 14 split for the aura, but not only does it require an “unnecessary” eldritch invocation in thirsting blade when I already have extra attack from the paladin, but part of my strategy involves having as much health as possible so when I revive from searing vengeance and boon of recovery i have as much health as possible. It’s also worth noting I have advantage on wisdom and charisma saving throws as a Verdan, so that helps.

6 pally/ 14 warlock ironically always feels more like you are playing a pally than you are playing a warlock especially when you do it from level 1 because your first level is pally second level will typically be warlock for pact of the blade and then you would shoot straight for pally 6 then go back to warlock the rest of the way so it isn't till level 13 that you have more warlock than pally and more than half your career is mostly pally.

Also while you have advantage on wisdom saves it should be noted that the higher the save the better your odds are with advantage. At level 20 for example you will be facing threats like the archag, pit fiends, liches and animal lords their spell save DC's range from 20 to 22 with a + 5 at advantage you succeed on a 15 or better against lowest of these numbers or a 30% chance with advantage your number jumps to about 51% if you took a 1 bump to your con to get +2 more to your wisdom you would succeed on a 13 or better or 40% chance and with advantage to nearly 65% chance of success which is 30% increase in success for the cost of less than 10% of your health. The numbers are even bigger at the higher end with it becoming that 51% previously mentioned figure coming all the way from needing a 17 or better or .36% at advantage at the higher numbers.

(this, of course is with no magic items, the magic items can help a lot here.)

 Interesting strategy. Most things that I’ve read say to take more in warlock for various reasons. I see what you’re going for though and agree it would feel more like a Paladin for the most part.

(Sigh.) I probably should invest more in my wisdom. One option would be for me to sacrifice Resilient Constitution in favor of Constitution +2 to remove a point in Constitution for two points in Wisdom. How would those percentages look?

I’d almost argue to go Paladin 8/Warlock 12, sacrificing the warlock subclass capstone in favor of two epic boons. Do you think that could work?

 So the stat line would still allow you to keep resilient con because con saves can take you out of a fight as well. going from a 20 to an 18 in con to bring you to a 10 in a wisdom would take your DC 20 saves from the 51% to around 58% so maybe not huge but it would take your dc 22's from the 36% to 44% still a pretty solid bump In theory you could make your strength 14, 8 dex, 15 con (14+1 from background), 8 int, 12 wis, 17 charimsa. Take a +1 feat at level 4 to bring charisma to 18, +2 to charisma at level 8, level 12 feat would be resilient con to take you to the 16 con and at level 16 take a +1 to strength from defensive duelist or great weapon master or even mage slayer to auto succeed on those rare fails including int saves from mind flayers and get your strength to 15, could even get the mage slayer earlier at like level 8 and push the +2 charisma to 12 and wait for the con boost late as possible when you have the whole reason we are increasing health as high as possible. This is probably how I would recommend it, the +1 to cha feat at level 4 (character level 5), Mage slayer at character level 9 when money to get the heavier armor is more plentiful and get your auto saves started, +2 to charisma at character level 13 and finally at character level 17 get the con resilient and instantly gain 17 additional health in one go.

As far as 8 and 12, I love the idea of getting 2 epic boons, the issue with doing so is you have to do it at 19 and 20 which in this case means you don't get the third attack from warlock until level 19 because you have to wait to take the level 12 in warlock until level 19. If you are just going to play at level 20, go for it. But if you are playing from level 1 or level 3 that is a long time to wait for that.

Edit: Ironically to get 2 epic boon feats by level 20 I feel the best way is 16 warlock/4 pally, which can feel a little wrong because we are missing the aura, but it also comes with not feeling like a pally most of the game and allows the lock to get everything up to witch sight before level 19, but this does mean 1 less normal ASI bump as well and also means no level 9 spell. Honestly 1 and 19 I think is the best way to make you feel like a warlock while also getting good armor, first level slots and weapon masteries.

 Yeah, I get what you mean by delaying devouring blade.

I changed a few things around, dropping 40 hit points from my final total and changing my stats around to 15+1, 8, 13+3, 8, 12, and 15+5. The only real difference is I didn’t drip strength and let it go to 16 for an even number. That way too I can take the starting gear’s chain mail without a penalty. Check the link in my first comment if you want or ask whatever questions and tell me what you think.

 Chain mail only requires a strength of 13 to have no penalty. You can start with strength of 14 and get no penalty you only need the 15 at higher level for no penalty with full plate, just as a note, that could allow you 2 more points for dex to not take a -1 penalty to AC if you want but other than that ya I am glad I have brought some awareness to the value of other stats on a warlock.

Edit: looking at your spells may I suggest to consider the situations you are casting which spells, especially the concentration spells since you can only have 1 active at a time. If you can't think of a time you would use one spell over another then consider trading it for some ritual spells. Ritual spells don't use your slots so having things like comprehend languages, detect magic, unseen servant or even speak with animals that you don't need to use a slot on could be useful.

 Oh! I did not know that about chain mail. Ok done. Thanks!

Yeah as far as my spells go… I just went for the strongest I could at the level I have them since warlock spell slots scale, hence why there are so many level 5 spells. I’m honestly not sure which ones to keep and which ones to get rid of in favor of rituals. I’m also curious about at what levels I should take which.

I generally agree but I'd say stealth might be important to a warlock so completely dropping dex might not work out. Especially if you are going goo as you can cast enchantment/illusion spells and remain hidden. it is not eldritch blast but agonizing on mind sliver may pan out due to being able to remain hidden with it. 

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I generally agree but I'd say stealth might be important to a warlock so completely dropping dex might not work out. Especially if you are going goo as you can cast enchantment/illusion spells and remain hidden. it is not eldritch blast but agonizing on mind sliver may pan out due to being able to remain hidden with it. 

 As a Paladin/Warlock, I’ll be wearing heavy armor, giving disadvantage to my stealth roles, so I don’t think I can really pull off such a thing. With that in mind, do I go for 8 in Dexterity and 10 in Intellect, or do I go 10 in Dexterity and 8 in Intellect anyway?

I could never figure out how to assign agonizing blast to a specific spell in D&D Beyond. Even if i could, I find using repelling blast with things like wall of fire to be a strategy I’d like to use, so switching my agonizing blast from eldritch blast to mind sliver wouldn’t work well for me anyway.

I appreciate the ideas though!