I want to primarily focus on making a melee focused warlock with Hexblade pact of the Blade. We are starting the campaign at level 2 and the DM is giving everyone a free feat at level 1. I'm looking for suggestions as to how to build him from level 2 on. Here is what I have so far; any suggestions are welcome. Choosing a glaive as my weapon, Polearm Master as the feat along with Improved Pact Weapon and Devil Sight for invocations. I'm looking at booming blade and minor illusion as cantrips; and for 1st level spells: Hex, Armor of Agathys, and Unseen Servant. I want to focus on the blade as the primary focus of the character with spells and invocations looking to accentuate the blade. I was planning on grabbing Darkness when I got to level 3. I already have my Ability scores (not including race since i haven't decided yet)
with a glaive, don't you want a higher strength score, since that's a heavy weapon?
Pact of the Blade (any melee weapon) + Hex Warrior (CHA for ATK/DMG) negates that need.
As Sillvva said, as a HexBlade you get your Cha modifier instead. Which is awesome for a bladelock with melee preferences. Especially at the lower levels, since your Glaive counts as a +1 magic weapon.
Actually... would Hex Warrior work with a glaive, since it’s a two-handed weapon?
I think that may have been my sticking point with Glaive, since I forgot Hex Warrior allows CHA for ATK/DAM instead of having to use a 9 STR. But, yeah, 2-handed... at least 3rd level PotB allows ANY weapon to be the pact weapon.
My Hexblade uses a 2-handed Katana as her pact weapon, but I think I had to use lower ATK / DAM scores until I got to 3rd level and PotB kicked in, and I could use CHA modifiers.
Given the lack of spells and slots for warlocks, taking Unseen Servant is borderline criminal. Armor of Agathys is debatable when cast as a first level spell, too. Half your spell slots for 5 temporary hit points and five (maybe ten if you're lucky) damage is pretty inefficient. It's not a horrible idea, though. Shield can be a life saver, and Cause Fear or Wrathful Smite can take a creature out of the fight for a round or more. I'd take Hex, Shield, and Wrathful Smite. Then I'd get rid of one of Wrathful Smite at level 3 to pick up both Shatter and Darkness.
You can take Polearm Mastery as your feat, and if you use a quarterstaff until you get Pact of the Blade and Improved Pact Weapon at level 3, you can still take advantage of it.
I think the obvious choice here is half-elf. You get 2 to Charisma to get to max. You get 1 for dex and 1 for con to round those out to get another ability modifier for those stats. Also lets you take elvish accuracy later to really take advantage of darkness/devils sight combo.
As someone else said improved pact weapon only becomes available after you've taken Pact of the Blade. You can't do that until lvl 3. At 5 you'll need to take Thirsting blade to get your second attack. Then it's basically profit.
I want to primarily focus on making a melee focused warlock with Hexblade pact of the Blade. We are starting the campaign at level 2 and the DM is giving everyone a free feat at level 1. I'm looking for suggestions as to how to build him from level 2 on. Here is what I have so far; any suggestions are welcome. Choosing a glaive as my weapon, Polearm Master as the feat along with Improved Pact Weapon and Devil Sight for invocations. I'm looking at booming blade and minor illusion as cantrips; and for 1st level spells: Hex, Armor of Agathys, and Unseen Servant. I want to focus on the blade as the primary focus of the character with spells and invocations looking to accentuate the blade. I was planning on grabbing Darkness when I got to level 3. I already have my Ability scores (not including race since i haven't decided yet)
A couple of minor considerations. 1.) GM dependent, are you using encumbrance or variant encumbrance? If your not, no problem with that 9 strength. If you are then you should consider that half plate giving you your best AC15+2dex weighs 40lbs a glave is 6lbs so your over your encumbered with 46/45lbs and -10 to speed if your naked and carrying no other gear.... Alternatively, switch strength and intellect because why does your melee fighter need good intellect? Then you have a 70lbs to work with leaving you 25 after armor and the weapon. 2.) you can only use a two handed weapon for your Hex Warrior if its your pact weapon which you don't get until level 3. That means your using dex for your weapon but if your planning on a 9 strength and a glave at -1 to hit and damage... its one level and it will not last long but you still have to survive it.
My suggestion... Strength: 15 Dexterity: 14 Constitution: 17 Intelligence: 9 Wisdom: 14 Charisma: 18 …. variant encumbrance is now 75lbs and you have a +2 for hit and damage for the glaive at level 2. I am assuming you "rolled" stats since you have states over 16, so I kept the stats the same and just changed their positions. Wisdom is useful for spot checks for ambushes but Intellect is only useful for hidden traps and doors and if your the melee fighter that doesn't seem like what your goal is. Unless your goal is to be a powerful mind jack of all trades but somehow be good in melee too. Your focusing on damage thought with polearm master and not taking skilled so I am thinking no, your stated primary goal is melee fighter as you said. You may also find high strength lets you shove and grapple which will open up melee options your not getting from Hex warriors charisma. You could also take 2 strength and Heavily Armored (+1 strength) for 18AC which is higher than you can get with medium armor without magic or the Medium Armor Master feat.
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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.
Apologies for not replying earlier, i decided to go half-elf and we actually started at lvl3 therefore the glaive, pact weapon issue was moot. Additionally we are not using encumbrance in the sence of micromanaging it, if there is an extremely heavy item it may be taken into consideration but weight in general doesn't matter. Also it turns out that we have no healing in our group so now that we are lvl 4, i am multiclassing bard to pick up cure wounds, any other suggestions with the bard multi class? I'm wondering how far to go into bard and when i should be taking levels in warlock and when i should take levels in bard.
If you're going to be the healer, you might want to go Celestial instead of hexblade. If you're taking a level in bard just to cast a level one cure wounds, you'll find that you're better off just doing damage to kill something faster so they don't do more damage. I'd ask my GM if I could switch to Celestial if I were the healer :/
If you're going to be the healer, you might want to go Celestial instead of hexblade. If you're taking a level in bard just to cast a level one cure wounds, you'll find that you're better off just doing damage to kill something faster so they don't do more damage. I'd ask my GM if I could switch to Celestial if I were the healer :/
Yeah I made a Protector Aasimar Fighter 2/Celestial Warlock 5 (PotB) so I can front-line sword and board, as well as drop handfuls of Healing Words in battle.This is a backup in case my Hexblade dies.
If you're going to be the healer, you might want to go Celestial instead of hexblade. If you're taking a level in bard just to cast a level one cure wounds, you'll find that you're better off just doing damage to kill something faster so they don't do more damage. I'd ask my GM if I could switch to Celestial if I were the healer :/
What he/she/hen/it said. The spells wont matter much at higher level and you might as well call it a waste of level and abilities. If you really have to multiclass to something, multiclass to something that will help you in the long run. Make a plan and do your research and stick to it (unless something new is released or something is changed in the system).
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?
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.
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I want to primarily focus on making a melee focused warlock with Hexblade pact of the Blade. We are starting the campaign at level 2 and the DM is giving everyone a free feat at level 1. I'm looking for suggestions as to how to build him from level 2 on. Here is what I have so far; any suggestions are welcome. Choosing a glaive as my weapon, Polearm Master as the feat along with Improved Pact Weapon and Devil Sight for invocations. I'm looking at booming blade and minor illusion as cantrips; and for 1st level spells: Hex, Armor of Agathys, and Unseen Servant. I want to focus on the blade as the primary focus of the character with spells and invocations looking to accentuate the blade. I was planning on grabbing Darkness when I got to level 3. I already have my Ability scores (not including race since i haven't decided yet)
Strength: 9
Dexterity: 15
Constitution: 17
Intelligence: 14
Wisdom: 14
Charisma: 18
Just pointing out that you can't take Improved Pact Weapon at level 2.
with a glaive, don't you want a higher strength score, since that's a heavy weapon?
Just a thought. Take a ranged attack cantrip because even melee characters need range sometimes.
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EB is pretty unavoidable as arguably the best range cantrip. But, there's a few decent ones with more flavor.
I took Misty Step as a way to get myself INTO melee, not just as an escape.
Pact of the Blade (any melee weapon) + Hex Warrior (CHA for ATK/DMG) negates that need.
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As Sillvva said, as a HexBlade you get your Cha modifier instead. Which is awesome for a bladelock with melee preferences. Especially at the lower levels, since your Glaive counts as a +1 magic weapon.
Actually... would Hex Warrior work with a glaive, since it’s a two-handed weapon?
I think that may have been my sticking point with Glaive, since I forgot Hex Warrior allows CHA for ATK/DAM instead of having to use a 9 STR. But, yeah, 2-handed... at least 3rd level PotB allows ANY weapon to be the pact weapon.
My Hexblade uses a 2-handed Katana as her pact weapon, but I think I had to use lower ATK / DAM scores until I got to 3rd level and PotB kicked in, and I could use CHA modifiers.
Given the lack of spells and slots for warlocks, taking Unseen Servant is borderline criminal. Armor of Agathys is debatable when cast as a first level spell, too. Half your spell slots for 5 temporary hit points and five (maybe ten if you're lucky) damage is pretty inefficient. It's not a horrible idea, though. Shield can be a life saver, and Cause Fear or Wrathful Smite can take a creature out of the fight for a round or more. I'd take Hex, Shield, and Wrathful Smite. Then I'd get rid of one of Wrathful Smite at level 3 to pick up both Shatter and Darkness.
You can take Polearm Mastery as your feat, and if you use a quarterstaff until you get Pact of the Blade and Improved Pact Weapon at level 3, you can still take advantage of it.
How are your starting stats so high?
Mine was even better on my warlock and I was lucky on my roll.
We have always rolled on my group, makes it more fun and random
I think the obvious choice here is half-elf. You get 2 to Charisma to get to max. You get 1 for dex and 1 for con to round those out to get another ability modifier for those stats. Also lets you take elvish accuracy later to really take advantage of darkness/devils sight combo.
As someone else said improved pact weapon only becomes available after you've taken Pact of the Blade. You can't do that until lvl 3. At 5 you'll need to take Thirsting blade to get your second attack. Then it's basically profit.
You looking for anything else?
A couple of minor considerations. 1.) GM dependent, are you using encumbrance or variant encumbrance? If your not, no problem with that 9 strength. If you are then you should consider that half plate giving you your best AC15+2dex weighs 40lbs a glave is 6lbs so your over your encumbered with 46/45lbs and -10 to speed if your naked and carrying no other gear.... Alternatively, switch strength and intellect because why does your melee fighter need good intellect? Then you have a 70lbs to work with leaving you 25 after armor and the weapon. 2.) you can only use a two handed weapon for your Hex Warrior if its your pact weapon which you don't get until level 3. That means your using dex for your weapon but if your planning on a 9 strength and a glave at -1 to hit and damage... its one level and it will not last long but you still have to survive it.
My suggestion... Strength: 15 Dexterity: 14 Constitution: 17 Intelligence: 9 Wisdom: 14 Charisma: 18 …. variant encumbrance is now 75lbs and you have a +2 for hit and damage for the glaive at level 2. I am assuming you "rolled" stats since you have states over 16, so I kept the stats the same and just changed their positions. Wisdom is useful for spot checks for ambushes but Intellect is only useful for hidden traps and doors and if your the melee fighter that doesn't seem like what your goal is. Unless your goal is to be a powerful mind jack of all trades but somehow be good in melee too. Your focusing on damage thought with polearm master and not taking skilled so I am thinking no, your stated primary goal is melee fighter as you said. You may also find high strength lets you shove and grapple which will open up melee options your not getting from Hex warriors charisma. You could also take 2 strength and Heavily Armored (+1 strength) for 18AC which is higher than you can get with medium armor without magic or the Medium Armor Master feat.
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.
Apologies for not replying earlier, i decided to go half-elf and we actually started at lvl3 therefore the glaive, pact weapon issue was moot. Additionally we are not using encumbrance in the sence of micromanaging it, if there is an extremely heavy item it may be taken into consideration but weight in general doesn't matter. Also it turns out that we have no healing in our group so now that we are lvl 4, i am multiclassing bard to pick up cure wounds, any other suggestions with the bard multi class? I'm wondering how far to go into bard and when i should be taking levels in warlock and when i should take levels in bard.
If you're going to be the healer, you might want to go Celestial instead of hexblade. If you're taking a level in bard just to cast a level one cure wounds, you'll find that you're better off just doing damage to kill something faster so they don't do more damage. I'd ask my GM if I could switch to Celestial if I were the healer :/
Yeah I made a Protector Aasimar Fighter 2/Celestial Warlock 5 (PotB) so I can front-line sword and board, as well as drop handfuls of Healing Words in battle.This is a backup in case my Hexblade dies.
ddb.ac/characters/5964283/cMNJwV
What he/she/hen/it said. The spells wont matter much at higher level and you might as well call it a waste of level and abilities. If you really have to multiclass to something, multiclass to something that will help you in the long run. Make a plan and do your research and stick to it (unless something new is released or something is changed in the system).
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.