I just hit level three with my group. I have a glaive and went improved pact weapon and pact of the blade. With what you are stating with it being moot, was that a waste on my part?
Not sure who you're referencing but improved pact weapon is a great option. Pact of the blade is basically required for a hexblade. For other subclasses it might not be the best option.
Actually Hexblade patron warlocks are good with any pact. If you look at the features none of them require a melee attack from you. So for example if your were pact of the tome using hexblades curse to increase damage of hits with eldritch blast(1d10) + agonizing blast (+ CHA bonus damage) + hex blades curse (+prof bonus damage and crit on 19) + hex (1d6) … you would also get opportunity attacks with your Arcane Quarterstaff focus using Charisma as your attack ability and have higher medium armor.... so none of the features are less valuable with a ranged caster tome warlock than a melee pact of the blade or even a archer pact of the blade. In fact… at higher levels when eldritch blast has 4 beams and all the same bonus you will do more damage as a ranged spell caster hexblade using eldritch blast than any pact of the blade using a melee or archery weapon. Add something like Illusionist's Bracers which let you attack with eldritch blast a second time and you smoke the damage out put of any pact of the blade warlock not doing the same thing a pact of the tome or pact of the chain could do.
The lack of inflection in text means that a reader of any post adds their own inflection as they "verbalize" it in their head. I write long and repetitive in an effort to be clear and avoid my intent from being skewed or inverted. I am also bad at examples. It is common for people to skim my posts pull out the idea they think I mean or want to argue against or focus on my bad example instead of the point I am actually trying to make. I apologies for the confusion my failure to be clear and concise creates.
To check your point in bold, I just did the math real quick. Factoring everything I could think of ranging from damage and hit chance (improved pact weapon gives +1 to hit), eldritch invocations, spells, and the hex curse, assuming no magic items, the hexblade with polearm master deals almost identical damage to the hexblade that focuses on casting eldritch blast while peaking at a lower level (12 as opposed to 17). This did not include opportunity attacks from the polearm master. It only factored the action and bonus action on a characters turn (while hex curse, and hex or elemental weapon is already active). I'm not totally sure what would happen to the numbers as magic items start getting included as there are so many and none of them are guaranteed in a game. Ilusionist bracers are very rare and really can't be expected in a game. It also doesn't factor in the fact that magic items often have a + chance to hit for attacks as well as damage, and that would be easier to attain in a normal game while also pushing the melee hexblade over the blaster hexblade. Forcing opportunity attacks by various means also pushes the damage in favor of the melee hexblade. Also did the math for a double bladed scimitar with revenant blade, that narrowly does the most damage on your turn of the three options.
You're right though, the hexblade works just fine with other pacts. Thematically I think it's meant to be played more as a weapon oriented subclass but it doesn't really matter. There are good reasons to take the other pacts.
To check your point in bold, I just did the math real quick. Factoring everything I could think of ranging from damage and hit chance (improved pact weapon gives +1 to hit), eldritch invocations, spells, and the hex curse, assuming no magic items, the hexblade with polearm master deals almost identical damage to the hexblade that focuses on casting eldritch blast while peaking at a lower level (12 as opposed to 17). This did not include opportunity attacks from the polearm master. It only factored the action and bonus action on a characters turn (while hex curse, and hex or elemental weapon is already active). I'm not totally sure what would happen to the numbers as magic items start getting included as there are so many and none of them are guaranteed in a game. Ilusionist bracers are very rare and really can't be expected in a game. It also doesn't factor in the fact that magic items often have a + chance to hit for attacks as well as damage, and that would be easier to attain in a normal game while also pushing the melee hexblade over the blaster hexblade. Forcing opportunity attacks by various means also pushes the damage in favor of the melee hexblade. Also did the math for a double bladed scimitar with revenant blade, that narrowly does the most damage on your turn of the three options.
You're right though, the hexblade works just fine with other pacts. Thematically I think it's meant to be played more as a weapon oriented subclass but it doesn't really matter. There are good reasons to take the other pacts.
Your last line is my primary point. You are correct that at lower levels you have fewer attacks and melee is closer to eldritch blast. However, at level 17 eldritch blast gets a 4th attack every round without trying to get inconsistent opportunity attacks. Eldritch blast also has 120ft range so your far more likely to get to send all 4 beams at a target than melee. On top of that Wand of the war mage {uncommon (+1), rare (+2), or very rare (+3)} and rod of the pact keeper {uncommon (+1), rare (+2), or very rare (+3)} mean that warlocks can just as easily get +to hit as they can with melee. My point about "Ilusionist bracers" is that even while very rare, eldritch blasters can double to 8 attacks and not matter how much they wish they could hex blade polearm masters can never get above 4 melee attacks, the opportunity attack is not guaranteed or even likely every round, all and even then one of those has to be a 1d4 butt end attack. Additionally, the Legendary Staff of the Magi might be uncommon to see but it stacks with the Wand of the War Mage and Rod of the Pact Keeper for a possible +8 which is again, while not likely for the caster its impossible for the melee warlocks to match.
-Hexblades curse is the same +Prof per hit to damage so only matters if you have more hits and it matters more a higher levels when you have a higher proficiency bonus - Hex +1d6 or Shadow of moil advantage on attacks increases per hit so if you have the same number of hits it doesn't matter lvl 5 warlock Pact Weapon Glaive 1d10 + cha (5) x2 thirsty blade invocation + 1d4 +cha polearm master > Eldritch Blast 1d10 + Cha(5) x2 lvl 11 warlock Pact Weapon Glaive 1d10 + cha (5) x2 thirsty blade invocation + 1d4 +cha polearm master < Eldritch Blast 1d10 + Cha(5) x3 lvl 17 warlock Pact Weapon Glaive 1d10 + cha (5) x2 thirsty blade invocation + 1d4 +cha polearm master < Eldritch Blast 1d10 + Cha(5) x4
Getting a +1 weapon means that your to hit will go up but if you get a new +2 weapon you can't stack them and this includes the improved pact weapon +1... so you end up with a +3. If you get a Rod of the pact keeper +1 and a Wand of a war mage +2, you end up with a +3. The ability to get combination of 8 (excluding double rod or wands) items that stack make getting "+ to hit" bonuses for a blaster warlock easier than a melee warlock. You could say that a human variant polearm master has and early lead at the cost of a feat, but then if the blaster gets a feat … spell sniper which ignores cover at range resulting in +2 to +5 hit on a target a melee fighter can't even attack because its 140ft away it needs to teleport dash for a few turns while the blaster is killing it. Sure we can say enemies will start point blank and out of cover sometimes but that door swings both ways so at best its even below level 11 and after level 11 the blaster takes it easily. More so because many GMs hear "warlock" and will give the character a Rod of the Pact Keeper as an iconic warlock weapon. I know my GM gave me a Rod of the Pact Keeper +1 at level 4, why? because he wanted to give each of once 1 character specific item each then after that he gives random table draws to the group knowing we all have at least one item even if the rest of the draws favor one character or another but don't spread evenly.
The lack of inflection in text means that a reader of any post adds their own inflection as they "verbalize" it in their head. I write long and repetitive in an effort to be clear and avoid my intent from being skewed or inverted. I am also bad at examples. It is common for people to skim my posts pull out the idea they think I mean or want to argue against or focus on my bad example instead of the point I am actually trying to make. I apologies for the confusion my failure to be clear and concise creates.
I was agreeing with you. However, your math is ignoring a lot of things that adds to melee damage including some very important class features.
Elemental weapons is better than hex after level 9 .
You're ignoring life drinker so missing out on 15 damage per round after level 12 (2 attacks and a bonus attack)
The bonus attack from polearm master also does the damage from hex (RAW it would alternatively get the bonus from Elemental weapons), bonus damage from lifedrinker, and the CHA bonus.
Here is the breakdown. I am ignoring hit percentagebut that does inflate the relative numbers for eldritch blast because of the slightly higher hit chance on polearm).
You can talk all you want about all the magic stuff your GM gives you but there are a ton of good melee items out there too. A ring of haste and a magic polearm of awesome and I would be willing to bet that the two builds are going to even out again. You definitely know more about the gear in the game but I'm sure if you put your mind to it you could come up with some pretty awesome stuff for a melee lock too. Polearm lock from 17 to 20 has an edge doing about 7% more damage.
However, prior to level 17 the math tips heavily in favor of the polearm lock. Here it is at 16.
Polearm math is about the same. Damage works out to be 82.5. Only difference is the proficiency bonus from Hexblade curse.
The eldritch blast math decreases the number of beams to 3. ((1d10 Eldritch Blast + 5 CHA + 1d6 hex + 5 Hex Curse) * 3 attacks) = 57
Here we can see that the blaster warlock does about 69% the damage of the polearm warlock. This damage disparity is true levels 12 - 17.
Levels 1-10 the polearm lock does 1d4 + CHA + Hex or elemental weapon + Hex Curse more damage per round due to the bonus attack (works out to be 11 to 16 average damage depending on level). It's not even close. The EB lock does about 55%-65% the damage of the melee lock until level 11. At level 11, the blaster lock catches up and does slightly less than the polearm lock . When lifedrinker comes online at 12, the heavy advantage goes back to the polearm lock.
Eldritch Blast never does more damage than the Polearm lock.
I think where the blaster lock is noticeably better is the fact that the damage is broken into 4 attacks instead of 3 and is ranged while also not requiring the bonus action. Here is one scenario to illustrate why this is good. If a target is down to 10 Hit points and you hit it with your eldritch blast for 20 (average per beam with all the goodies) points of damage, that's only 10 points of overkill. You have your bonus action free to move hex and can use your other 3 beams to hit something else. However, if in this scenario the polearm hexblade hit the target for 30 (average main attack rounded up with the goodies), that's 20 points of wasted damage. You also have less things you need to do with your bonus action that can cost me damage on some rounds.
All that being said, play however you want. It's a fun class that has a ton of viable options and really fun mechanics to build around. I happen to find positioning a ton of fun and think the way repelling blast and polearm master work together is a fun mechanic. If the enemy is trying to fight me in melee, I repelling blast him away. Every time it comes back into my range, I get an opportunity attack. If he stays at range, I'll just do the normal attacks keeping him at my max range. I also love repelling blast for pushing the enemy into our tank. If he or she still wants to fight me in melee, the tank gets an opportunity attack, and so do I. It might be my favorite ability in the whole game. The point is, this class is awesome and a ton of fun with a lot of viable builds.
I tried posting the actual math breakdown at every level in a table but the formatting didn't work and it sucked to try to read. Here is how much more average damage the Polearm lock is doing compared to the EB lock at every level though (omitting chance to hit).
Actually Hexblade patron warlocks are good with any pact. If you look at the features none of them require a melee attack from you. So for example if your were pact of the tome using hexblades curse to increase damage of hits with eldritch blast(1d10) + agonizing blast (+ CHA bonus damage) + hex blades curse (+prof bonus damage and crit on 19) + hex (1d6) … you would also get opportunity attacks with your Arcane Quarterstaff focus using Charisma as your attack ability and have higher medium armor.... so none of the features are less valuable with a ranged caster tome warlock than a melee pact of the blade or even a archer pact of the blade. In fact… at higher levels when eldritch blast has 4 beams and all the same bonus you will do more damage as a ranged spell caster hexblade using eldritch blast than any pact of the blade using a melee or archery weapon. Add something like Illusionist's Bracers which let you attack with eldritch blast a second time and you smoke the damage out put of any pact of the blade warlock not doing the same thing a pact of the tome or pact of the chain could do.
The lack of inflection in text means that a reader of any post adds their own inflection as they "verbalize" it in their head. I write long and repetitive in an effort to be clear and avoid my intent from being skewed or inverted. I am also bad at examples. It is common for people to skim my posts pull out the idea they think I mean or want to argue against or focus on my bad example instead of the point I am actually trying to make. I apologies for the confusion my failure to be clear and concise creates.
To check your point in bold, I just did the math real quick. Factoring everything I could think of ranging from damage and hit chance (improved pact weapon gives +1 to hit), eldritch invocations, spells, and the hex curse, assuming no magic items, the hexblade with polearm master deals almost identical damage to the hexblade that focuses on casting eldritch blast while peaking at a lower level (12 as opposed to 17). This did not include opportunity attacks from the polearm master. It only factored the action and bonus action on a characters turn (while hex curse, and hex or elemental weapon is already active). I'm not totally sure what would happen to the numbers as magic items start getting included as there are so many and none of them are guaranteed in a game. Ilusionist bracers are very rare and really can't be expected in a game. It also doesn't factor in the fact that magic items often have a + chance to hit for attacks as well as damage, and that would be easier to attain in a normal game while also pushing the melee hexblade over the blaster hexblade. Forcing opportunity attacks by various means also pushes the damage in favor of the melee hexblade. Also did the math for a double bladed scimitar with revenant blade, that narrowly does the most damage on your turn of the three options.
You're right though, the hexblade works just fine with other pacts. Thematically I think it's meant to be played more as a weapon oriented subclass but it doesn't really matter. There are good reasons to take the other pacts.
Your last line is my primary point. You are correct that at lower levels you have fewer attacks and melee is closer to eldritch blast. However, at level 17 eldritch blast gets a 4th attack every round without trying to get inconsistent opportunity attacks. Eldritch blast also has 120ft range so your far more likely to get to send all 4 beams at a target than melee. On top of that Wand of the war mage {uncommon (+1), rare (+2), or very rare (+3)} and rod of the pact keeper {uncommon (+1), rare (+2), or very rare (+3)} mean that warlocks can just as easily get +to hit as they can with melee. My point about "Ilusionist bracers" is that even while very rare, eldritch blasters can double to 8 attacks and not matter how much they wish they could hex blade polearm masters can never get above 4 melee attacks, the opportunity attack is not guaranteed or even likely every round, all and even then one of those has to be a 1d4 butt end attack. Additionally, the Legendary Staff of the Magi might be uncommon to see but it stacks with the Wand of the War Mage and Rod of the Pact Keeper for a possible +8 which is again, while not likely for the caster its impossible for the melee warlocks to match.
-Hexblades curse is the same +Prof per hit to damage so only matters if you have more hits and it matters more a higher levels when you have a higher proficiency bonus - Hex +1d6 or Shadow of moil advantage on attacks increases per hit so if you have the same number of hits it doesn't matter lvl 5 warlock Pact Weapon Glaive 1d10 + cha (5) x2 thirsty blade invocation + 1d4 +cha polearm master > Eldritch Blast 1d10 + Cha(5) x2 lvl 11 warlock Pact Weapon Glaive 1d10 + cha (5) x2 thirsty blade invocation + 1d4 +cha polearm master < Eldritch Blast 1d10 + Cha(5) x3 lvl 17 warlock Pact Weapon Glaive 1d10 + cha (5) x2 thirsty blade invocation + 1d4 +cha polearm master < Eldritch Blast 1d10 + Cha(5) x4
Getting a +1 weapon means that your to hit will go up but if you get a new +2 weapon you can't stack them and this includes the improved pact weapon +1... so you end up with a +3. If you get a Rod of the pact keeper +1 and a Wand of a war mage +2, you end up with a +3. The ability to get combination of 8 (excluding double rod or wands) items that stack make getting "+ to hit" bonuses for a blaster warlock easier than a melee warlock. You could say that a human variant polearm master has and early lead at the cost of a feat, but then if the blaster gets a feat … spell sniper which ignores cover at range resulting in +2 to +5 hit on a target a melee fighter can't even attack because its 140ft away it needs to teleport dash for a few turns while the blaster is killing it. Sure we can say enemies will start point blank and out of cover sometimes but that door swings both ways so at best its even below level 11 and after level 11 the blaster takes it easily. More so because many GMs hear "warlock" and will give the character a Rod of the Pact Keeper as an iconic warlock weapon. I know my GM gave me a Rod of the Pact Keeper +1 at level 4, why? because he wanted to give each of once 1 character specific item each then after that he gives random table draws to the group knowing we all have at least one item even if the rest of the draws favor one character or another but don't spread evenly.
The lack of inflection in text means that a reader of any post adds their own inflection as they "verbalize" it in their head. I write long and repetitive in an effort to be clear and avoid my intent from being skewed or inverted. I am also bad at examples. It is common for people to skim my posts pull out the idea they think I mean or want to argue against or focus on my bad example instead of the point I am actually trying to make. I apologies for the confusion my failure to be clear and concise creates.
I was agreeing with you. However, your math is ignoring a lot of things that adds to melee damage including some very important class features.
Here is the breakdown. I am ignoring hit percentage but that does inflate the relative numbers for eldritch blast because of the slightly higher hit chance on polearm).
Level 20:
You can talk all you want about all the magic stuff your GM gives you but there are a ton of good melee items out there too. A ring of haste and a magic polearm of awesome and I would be willing to bet that the two builds are going to even out again. You definitely know more about the gear in the game but I'm sure if you put your mind to it you could come up with some pretty awesome stuff for a melee lock too. Polearm lock from 17 to 20 has an edge doing about 7% more damage.
However, prior to level 17 the math tips heavily in favor of the polearm lock. Here it is at 16.
Here we can see that the blaster warlock does about 69% the damage of the polearm warlock. This damage disparity is true levels 12 - 17.
Levels 1-10 the polearm lock does 1d4 + CHA + Hex or elemental weapon + Hex Curse more damage per round due to the bonus attack (works out to be 11 to 16 average damage depending on level). It's not even close. The EB lock does about 55%-65% the damage of the melee lock until level 11. At level 11, the blaster lock catches up and does slightly less than the polearm lock . When lifedrinker comes online at 12, the heavy advantage goes back to the polearm lock.
Eldritch Blast never does more damage than the Polearm lock.
I think where the blaster lock is noticeably better is the fact that the damage is broken into 4 attacks instead of 3 and is ranged while also not requiring the bonus action. Here is one scenario to illustrate why this is good. If a target is down to 10 Hit points and you hit it with your eldritch blast for 20 (average per beam with all the goodies) points of damage, that's only 10 points of overkill. You have your bonus action free to move hex and can use your other 3 beams to hit something else. However, if in this scenario the polearm hexblade hit the target for 30 (average main attack rounded up with the goodies), that's 20 points of wasted damage. You also have less things you need to do with your bonus action that can cost me damage on some rounds.
All that being said, play however you want. It's a fun class that has a ton of viable options and really fun mechanics to build around. I happen to find positioning a ton of fun and think the way repelling blast and polearm master work together is a fun mechanic. If the enemy is trying to fight me in melee, I repelling blast him away. Every time it comes back into my range, I get an opportunity attack. If he stays at range, I'll just do the normal attacks keeping him at my max range. I also love repelling blast for pushing the enemy into our tank. If he or she still wants to fight me in melee, the tank gets an opportunity attack, and so do I. It might be my favorite ability in the whole game. The point is, this class is awesome and a ton of fun with a lot of viable builds.
I tried posting the actual math breakdown at every level in a table but the formatting didn't work and it sucked to try to read. Here is how much more average damage the Polearm lock is doing compared to the EB lock at every level though (omitting chance to hit).