On the Warlock Hexblade, do you start off at level 1 with this weapon as a part of your equipment? Is it automatically a magical weapon and how do you decide what weapon it is? Do you HAVE to take the pact of the blade with this patron? I know it stacks the most, but I'd love to have the weapon + the familiar/book without having to multiclass.
According to the flimsy UA rules, none of the above. It probably makes the most sense to talk to your DM about how to work this out. This isn't unusual for Warlocks, who have very personal but very vaguely-defined class features.
No, you do not have to take any particular Pact with any particular Patron.
Something we noticed: If you are a different class and multiclass into hexblade warlock, the rules given in the UA are pretty straightforward. You found a magical sword, forced multiclass, new magic weapon, no problems. Seems kinda like Arthas and Frostmourne to me. This whole subclass seems specifically tailored to be multiclassed into by means of plot and storyline. The problem is when you start off as a level 1 character, want to be a warlock, and you meet the problem of avoiding starting off the game with a sentient magical weapon without being OP or invalidating upgrading your weapon across the rest of the campaign.
How we solved my level 1 hexblade's problem.
The hexblade warlock in this campaign is not serving a specific blade, but rather a sentient amulet. The amulet has the power to give the warlock the abilities of the hexblade, and attunes to a weapon that the warlock wants to use, giving it the hexblade abilities. Only one weapon can be attuned at any given time, similar to the pact blade for the warlock and the weapon bond for the eldritch knight. This enables me to retain the hexblade class while not being constrained to a single weapon for the entire campaign. It also needn't be just an amulet. It can be a ring, bracelet, broach, any sort of sentient magical item could have the same properties of imbuing a player with warlock hexblade magic. She is also ok with me selecting a pact boon other than the pact blade, but she said it is preferred, and I'd get a different buff to account for any redundancies.
We've also put in that the amulet has not taken favor to me yet at level 1. She is currently working out a long list of features to the amulet to make it more like the moonblade or blackrazor, however to avoid me being OP at level 1, I have to earn the amulet's favor to be allowed to use such abilities. I don't know what they are yet, but I gave suggestions and I'll find out soon, I guess.
Sorry for the long winded response, and I hope someone else can use this later!
Smart! I think that probably works quite smoothly.
You could also always start with a sentient sword (the finding of which determined why you switched from your background to adventuring), but dole out its abilities over time. This actually works pretty well with a Moonblade, which already features a table for adding abilities to the blade (though it's supposed to represent how many owners the blade has had, not change it over time) every time you reach some particular milestone (e.g., every ASI). You can balance out the power of the weapon by giving it plenty of quirks, such as making it 'jealous' and preventing attunement to other items. Plus, where other Warlocks might have limited oversight from their Patron, a Hexblade is under constant scrutiny, and the blade could easily decide to shut off properties when it is annoyed with the wielder. Of course, this all requires a bit more babysitting by the player and DM than some might like.
Thanks for the suggestion. I'll look at putting it to use in other campaigns. We're starting Curse of Strahd next week, and no one was quite comfortable with me getting my own weapon at the start. It also devalues the sun sword a bit. When we get back to custom games though, that will be really efficient.
I'm a DM running a bit of a hybrid of what ratwhowouldbeking suggests. The blade has reached out to my warlock and made a pact, but it's not actually in her hands yet. I'm assuming some time around lvl 10-15 there will be a reason to head into the Abyss and find the blade, where it is being held captive (I tied the sentience of the blade to her backstory...which also explains why it's reaching out to her). Then even when she finally has it, I plan to increase it's power along with some ability buffs as they "bond" over the remaining levels.
Ultimately though, I think it could go either way. You have a blade that grows in power along side you. Or it's some uber powerful entity that the warlock may or may not ever possess. Just because it imparts some of it's power to the warlock for it's own agenda, doesn't mean it might not still think the lock is beneath wielding it.
in a play by post on these forums (void beyond the stars), I play a hexblade who has her grandfather's soul in her blade, weapon gets one minor propretiy and any warlock boosts at the moment
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Post under the same name at Giant in the Playground, and rarely here.
Something we noticed: If you are a different class and multiclass into hexblade warlock, the rules given in the UA are pretty straightforward. You found a magical sword, forced multiclass, new magic weapon, no problems. Seems kinda like Arthas and Frostmourne to me. This whole subclass seems specifically tailored to be multiclassed into by means of plot and storyline. The problem is when you start off as a level 1 character, want to be a warlock, and you meet the problem of avoiding starting off the game with a sentient magical weapon without being OP or invalidating upgrading your weapon across the rest of the campaign.
How we solved my level 1 hexblade's problem.
The hexblade warlock in this campaign is not serving a specific blade, but rather a sentient amulet. The amulet has the power to give the warlock the abilities of the hexblade, and attunes to a weapon that the warlock wants to use, giving it the hexblade abilities. Only one weapon can be attuned at any given time, similar to the pact blade for the warlock and the weapon bond for the eldritch knight. This enables me to retain the hexblade class while not being constrained to a single weapon for the entire campaign. It also needn't be just an amulet. It can be a ring, bracelet, broach, any sort of sentient magical item could have the same properties of imbuing a player with warlock hexblade magic. She is also ok with me selecting a pact boon other than the pact blade, but she said it is preferred, and I'd get a different buff to account for any redundancies.
We've also put in that the amulet has not taken favor to me yet at level 1. She is currently working out a long list of features to the amulet to make it more like the moonblade or blackrazor, however to avoid me being OP at level 1, I have to earn the amulet's favor to be allowed to use such abilities. I don't know what they are yet, but I gave suggestions and I'll find out soon, I guess.
Sorry for the long winded response, and I hope someone else can use this later!
I like the amulet idea for a 1st level character. I'm curious how your DM will let you gain the Amulet's favor. Perhaps it is a family heirloom that was found at the bottom of an old dusty box. Maybe it only works on smaller blades like daggers until the wielder gains enough experience that it can be used on a sword.
You could also choose variant human to gain access to a feat at level one. Choose the Magic Initiate feat and for the first level spell choose Find Familiar from the Wizard class to get your Owl. It says you need to take a long rest for the 1st level spell, but I think with the Warlock a short rest still applies because they gain powers from their patron. Check with your DM.
Choose the Wizard class for the Magic Initiate feat spell list. Choose the Wizard cantrip Shocking Grasp (Int based) because the Owl can deliver touch ranged spells. If the enemy is wearing metal armor, you have advantage on your attack roll, the enemy takes lightning damage, and the enemy can't use a reaction until the start of its next turn. So to start the attack the Warlock would say "When my Owl uses the Help Action". This means that the Warlock uses the Ready Action, then the Owl flies into range and uses the Help Action giving the Warlock Advantage, then the readied Action goes off, the Owl uses it's Reaction to deliver the spell and finally the Owl uses the remaining movement to fly above it out of melee range. Remember the Owl has Flyby which does not provoke opportunity attacks when they leave melee range. For your second Wizard cantrip choose Blade Ward?, because you will be in melee range with the Hex Blade (not that helpful due to cast time so choose what you want). Choose Pact of the Blade so at level 5 you will then get Thirsting Blade for 2 attacks per attack action.Then Lifedrinker at level 12. Use you the Warlock Green Flame Blade cantrip for CHA.
[EDIT] I MIGHT HAVE GOT THIS PART WRONG. I can't find it in the book, but I was told that the Magic Initiate feat has nothing to do with spell slots and the spell chosen can be cast once per day. This means it doesn't use a Warlock spell slot. Even the ritual portion of the spell does not come in to play with class options. Apparently feats are more awesome than I originally thought. [EDIT] The problem with this build is the warlock will only have 1 spell slot available if you use Find Familiar for the Owl until you get to level 11. That doesn't leave a lot of room to use the Hexblade expanded spell list. I don't know if Shocking Grasp and (Blade Ward?) from Magic Initiate is enough to help a Find Familiar + Hexblade + Pact of the Blade build. You can't use the Hex and Magic Weapon spells at the same time due to concentration, but at least Hex is spell slot efficient for multiple enemies until you get a short rest. You are probably better off using the Green Flame Blade cantrip. Not to mention Hex Warrior only gives you a proficiency in medium armor. I still think Bladelocks are better off multiclassing into fighter for heavy armor. This video shows a good Bladelock build using Unearthed Arcana for greater damage per spell slot. Unfortunately it doesn't have an Owl. There is more fun in the game than power builds for combat though. If you want an Owl and a sword at level 1-3 it is possible. Just keep in mind that Warlocks rely on cantrips with the lack of spell slots and it's hard to get away from Eldritch Blast spam. I'm by no means an expert so if anyone sees something wrong please let me know and I will correct it. I hope this helps Warlocks out there and maybe I can learn something new too.
Replace Mace of the Dispater with Eldritch Smite from the revised UA. Also read the comments for the corrected Ability array.
Holy crap, I love the idea of the "Raven's Slumber" from Critical Role also being a "Dark Shard Amulet". It even says in the description:
"This amulet is fashioned from a single shard of resilient extraplanar material originating from the realm of your warlock patron. While you are wearing it, you gain the following benefits: You can use the amulet as a spellcasting focus for your warlock spells..."
and the Hexblade explicitly mentions the Raven Queen as the potential "force" behind the shadowy power that embues these dark weapons. Why not just cut straight to the point?
I also like the property the "Ruby of the War Mage" has, that it can turn any simple or martial weapon into your spellcasting focus when you attach it to the bottom.
Anyway, it's a really solid way to lock everything down story-wise and mechanically, solving those issue you brought up like feeling stuck with a level 1 weapon and finding it strange to cut a deal with a weapon itself. Cursed weapons come up all the time in D&D but those curses are broken with relative ease. I feel like a Pact comes from a far more powerful entity, one that's not trapped inside a weapon but perhaps created the weapon in the first place and uses it to it's means. The Raven Queen is the perfect candidate, I love this amulet idea, and I think Matt Mercer's "Raven's Slumber" item is incredibly inventive and we could easily "find out" it's more than meets the eye in our own campaigns perhaps in the Tal'Dorei setting.
I'm not... exactly sure but I feel like you are thinking that in order to follow the Hexblade patron, you HAVE to have a weapon that gives you your power. A weapon gives you power. Not even one that you wield or even in the same plane of existence. My Bladelock has just a shard that was broken off of the weapon that gives him his power. The shard only acted as a conduit for the power to be issued and now that he has the power, he can freely remove the shard from beneath his skin at will but otherwise he just keeps it lodged in his arm.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
You only lose if you die. Any time else, there's opportunity for a come back.
Curious a warlock with hexblade with Thirsty Blade using green flame blade cantrip. Does the thirsty blade effect come while using the green flame blade or is it just one attack.
Curious a warlock with hexblade with Thirsty Blade using green flame blade cantrip. Does the thirsty blade effect come while using the green flame blade or is it just one attack.
Thirsting Blade
Prerequisite: 5th level, Pact of the Blade feature
You can attack with your pact weapon twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn.
That last part is where the answer can be found. You get a second attack when you take the attack action. When you cast Green-flame Blade, you are taking the Cast a Spell Action, not the Attack Action.
So I am sure it says it some where but I cant seem to find it. I have a idea for a hex blade but would like to make sure it can be played by the rules and restrictions of hex blade warlock. So are you aloud to use a lance as a pace weapon. I know there is a rule saying no heavy or two handed but technically lance doesn't have those its Reach, Special.
Going strictly by the rules, to the point that you'd have to be a computer unable to deviate from the literal word of the code, its technically a weapon with the Two-Handed property. Realistically, the Special property says that the lance needs two hands to use, so its quite clear that using the lance as a Hexblade flies in the face of the intent, and 5th edition relies on natural language over a highly technical one.
At 1st level, you acquire the training necessary to effectively arm yourself for battle. You gain proficiency with medium armor, shields, and martial weapons.
The influence of your patron also allows you to mystically channel your will through a particular weapon. Whenever you finish a long rest, you can touch one weapon that you are proficient with and that lacks the two-handed property. When you attack with that weapon, you can use your Charisma modifier, instead of Strength or Dexterity, for the attack and damage rolls. This benefit lasts until you finish a long rest. If you later gain the Pact of the Blade feature, this benefit extends to every pact weapon you conjure with that feature, no matter the weapon’s type.
Pact of the Blade
You can use your action to create a pact weapon in your empty hand. You can choose the form that this melee weapon takes each time you create it (see the Weapons section for weapon options). You are proficient with it while you wield it. This weapon counts as magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance and immunity to nonmagical attacks and damage.
According to RAW, you can as a HexPactBlade create a Lance and use it as a lance while it is your Pact Weapon. So go ahead!
(Italicized and underlined the parts important to the OP)
Thank you for the help. I ask because I have joined a adventure league group and like the idea of a charisma based lance use. AKA a chivalrous knight. Have the Mobile feat already do to being a variant human.
On the Warlock Hexblade, do you start off at level 1 with this weapon as a part of your equipment? Is it automatically a magical weapon and how do you decide what weapon it is?
Do you HAVE to take the pact of the blade with this patron? I know it stacks the most, but I'd love to have the weapon + the familiar/book without having to multiclass.
According to the flimsy UA rules, none of the above. It probably makes the most sense to talk to your DM about how to work this out. This isn't unusual for Warlocks, who have very personal but very vaguely-defined class features.
No, you do not have to take any particular Pact with any particular Patron.
Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in awhile.
Alrighty! Talked to my DM and we came up with a solution, which I think was pretty cool and am putting it up here to be shared!
Link to Hexblade PDF: http://media.wizards.com/2017/dnd/downloads/20170213_Wizrd_Wrlck_UAv2_i48nf.pdf
Something we noticed: If you are a different class and multiclass into hexblade warlock, the rules given in the UA are pretty straightforward. You found a magical sword, forced multiclass, new magic weapon, no problems. Seems kinda like Arthas and Frostmourne to me. This whole subclass seems specifically tailored to be multiclassed into by means of plot and storyline. The problem is when you start off as a level 1 character, want to be a warlock, and you meet the problem of avoiding starting off the game with a sentient magical weapon without being OP or invalidating upgrading your weapon across the rest of the campaign.
How we solved my level 1 hexblade's problem.
The hexblade warlock in this campaign is not serving a specific blade, but rather a sentient amulet. The amulet has the power to give the warlock the abilities of the hexblade, and attunes to a weapon that the warlock wants to use, giving it the hexblade abilities. Only one weapon can be attuned at any given time, similar to the pact blade for the warlock and the weapon bond for the eldritch knight. This enables me to retain the hexblade class while not being constrained to a single weapon for the entire campaign. It also needn't be just an amulet. It can be a ring, bracelet, broach, any sort of sentient magical item could have the same properties of imbuing a player with warlock hexblade magic. She is also ok with me selecting a pact boon other than the pact blade, but she said it is preferred, and I'd get a different buff to account for any redundancies.
We've also put in that the amulet has not taken favor to me yet at level 1. She is currently working out a long list of features to the amulet to make it more like the moonblade or blackrazor, however to avoid me being OP at level 1, I have to earn the amulet's favor to be allowed to use such abilities. I don't know what they are yet, but I gave suggestions and I'll find out soon, I guess.
Sorry for the long winded response, and I hope someone else can use this later!
Smart! I think that probably works quite smoothly.
You could also always start with a sentient sword (the finding of which determined why you switched from your background to adventuring), but dole out its abilities over time. This actually works pretty well with a Moonblade, which already features a table for adding abilities to the blade (though it's supposed to represent how many owners the blade has had, not change it over time) every time you reach some particular milestone (e.g., every ASI). You can balance out the power of the weapon by giving it plenty of quirks, such as making it 'jealous' and preventing attunement to other items. Plus, where other Warlocks might have limited oversight from their Patron, a Hexblade is under constant scrutiny, and the blade could easily decide to shut off properties when it is annoyed with the wielder. Of course, this all requires a bit more babysitting by the player and DM than some might like.
Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in awhile.
Thanks for the suggestion. I'll look at putting it to use in other campaigns. We're starting Curse of Strahd next week, and no one was quite comfortable with me getting my own weapon at the start. It also devalues the sun sword a bit. When we get back to custom games though, that will be really efficient.
In my games we start out flavoring the patron features as the power of the item itself.
It grows in power with you, by virtue of you gaining levels.
My Tome-Hex Warlock has a Grimoire that gives her power, including the ability to enhance her weapon attacks, for instance.
I think it would work better if the blade pact just let you use Eldritch Blast as a melee weapon attack, but this works too.
We do bones, motherf***ker!
I'm a DM running a bit of a hybrid of what ratwhowouldbeking suggests. The blade has reached out to my warlock and made a pact, but it's not actually in her hands yet. I'm assuming some time around lvl 10-15 there will be a reason to head into the Abyss and find the blade, where it is being held captive (I tied the sentience of the blade to her backstory...which also explains why it's reaching out to her). Then even when she finally has it, I plan to increase it's power along with some ability buffs as they "bond" over the remaining levels.
Ultimately though, I think it could go either way. You have a blade that grows in power along side you. Or it's some uber powerful entity that the warlock may or may not ever possess. Just because it imparts some of it's power to the warlock for it's own agenda, doesn't mean it might not still think the lock is beneath wielding it.
in a play by post on these forums (void beyond the stars), I play a hexblade who has her grandfather's soul in her blade, weapon gets one minor propretiy and any warlock boosts at the moment
Post under the same name at Giant in the Playground, and rarely here.
Holy crap, I love the idea of the "Raven's Slumber" from Critical Role also being a "Dark Shard Amulet". It even says in the description:
"This amulet is fashioned from a single shard of resilient extraplanar material originating from the realm of your warlock patron. While you are wearing it, you gain the following benefits: You can use the amulet as a spellcasting focus for your warlock spells..."
and the Hexblade explicitly mentions the Raven Queen as the potential "force" behind the shadowy power that embues these dark weapons. Why not just cut straight to the point?
I also like the property the "Ruby of the War Mage" has, that it can turn any simple or martial weapon into your spellcasting focus when you attach it to the bottom.
Anyway, it's a really solid way to lock everything down story-wise and mechanically, solving those issue you brought up like feeling stuck with a level 1 weapon and finding it strange to cut a deal with a weapon itself. Cursed weapons come up all the time in D&D but those curses are broken with relative ease. I feel like a Pact comes from a far more powerful entity, one that's not trapped inside a weapon but perhaps created the weapon in the first place and uses it to it's means. The Raven Queen is the perfect candidate, I love this amulet idea, and I think Matt Mercer's "Raven's Slumber" item is incredibly inventive and we could easily "find out" it's more than meets the eye in our own campaigns perhaps in the Tal'Dorei setting.
I'm not... exactly sure but I feel like you are thinking that in order to follow the Hexblade patron, you HAVE to have a weapon that gives you your power. A weapon gives you power. Not even one that you wield or even in the same plane of existence. My Bladelock has just a shard that was broken off of the weapon that gives him his power. The shard only acted as a conduit for the power to be issued and now that he has the power, he can freely remove the shard from beneath his skin at will but otherwise he just keeps it lodged in his arm.
You only lose if you die. Any time else, there's opportunity for a come back.
Curious a warlock with hexblade with Thirsty Blade using green flame blade cantrip. Does the thirsty blade effect come while using the green flame blade or is it just one attack.
Thirsting Blade
Prerequisite: 5th level, Pact of the Blade feature
You can attack with your pact weapon twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn.
That last part is where the answer can be found. You get a second attack when you take the attack action. When you cast Green-flame Blade, you are taking the Cast a Spell Action, not the Attack Action.
We do bones, motherf***ker!
Ohhh okay thank you very much for explaining that.
So I am sure it says it some where but I cant seem to find it. I have a idea for a hex blade but would like to make sure it can be played by the rules and restrictions of hex blade warlock. So are you aloud to use a lance as a pace weapon. I know there is a rule saying no heavy or two handed but technically lance doesn't have those its Reach, Special.
Going strictly by the rules, to the point that you'd have to be a computer unable to deviate from the literal word of the code, its technically a weapon with the Two-Handed property. Realistically, the Special property says that the lance needs two hands to use, so its quite clear that using the lance as a Hexblade flies in the face of the intent, and 5th edition relies on natural language over a highly technical one.
So, talk to your DM, but don't count on it.
According to RAW, you can as a HexPactBlade create a Lance and use it as a lance while it is your Pact Weapon. So go ahead!
(Italicized and underlined the parts important to the OP)
Thank you for the help. I ask because I have joined a adventure league group and like the idea of a charisma based lance use. AKA a chivalrous knight. Have the Mobile feat already do to being a variant human.
without* without the Two-handed property. Gah.
But read the last paragraph on Hex Warrior:
Meaning as long as you summon a Lance it is totally RAW, but if you pick up a new Lance from somewhere else it will not work.