The way I wrote my Hexblade, she was transported to the Shadowfell, talked to a shadow creature (maybe a Shadar-kai?) who told her that she now serves the Raven Queen. When she reappeared in this plane, there was a katana in front of her. She trained with it, talked to it, and used it for all her for-hire kills. She was a typical orphaned teen criminal Tiefling.
The sword didn't talk, had no +1 action, and it would only "signal" her by growing cold if she was supposed to kill something with it, or grow hot if she wasn't supposed to kill a thing.
So far, once in combat it got cold, and she rushed in to kill a Nothic. With that kill, her katana (ShadowReaver) became +1, gained the finesse feature (for later...) and also 2x/day she could regain a spell slot if she killed with it. Needless to say, she's very melee heavy.
I can assume the DM will continue to modify ShadowReaver's abilities, and if may even start communicating directly with her. We'll see...
You can play your character and campaign your way but based off hexblade's bio you're not ACTUALLY using your patron itself as your weapon (hex or pact). It just grants you the power that you so crave.
There's actually another thread where OP is actually extremely peeved when players think that. IMO, it doesn't bother me one way or the other but it would put things in balance if a level 1 didn't receive a sentient weapon as soon as he started playing.
You can play your character and campaign your way but based off hexblade's bio you're not ACTUALLY using your patron itself as your weapon (hex or pact). It just grants you the power that you so crave.
There's actually another thread where OP is actually extremely peeved when players think that. IMO, it doesn't bother me one way or the other but it would put things in balance if a level 1 didn't receive a sentient weapon as soon as he started playing.
Really? I think that having found or inherited or whatever a potentially sentient artifact (and if you interpret the hexblade this way it doesn't have to be sentient to be your patron) is absolutely a starting concept.
From She-Ra and He-man and Lion-o to Elric and Raistlin Majere, these are characters whose story begins with finding the artifact of incredible power.
You can play your character and campaign your way but based off hexblade's bio you're not ACTUALLY using your patron itself as your weapon (hex or pact). It just grants you the power that you so crave.
There's actually another thread where OP is actually extremely peeved when players think that. IMO, it doesn't bother me one way or the other but it would put things in balance if a level 1 didn't receive a sentient weapon as soon as he started playing.
Really? I think that having found or inherited or whatever a potentially sentient artifact (and if you interpret the hexblade this way it doesn't have to be sentient to be your patron) is absolutely a starting concept.
From She-Ra and He-man and Lion-o to Elric and Raistlin Majere, these are characters whose story begins with finding the artifact of incredible power.
Like I said, play your campaign and character however you. MANY an adventure had started with finding (or being found by) a sentient, all powerful weapon.... but by RAW, the patron itself isn't the actual pact/hex weapon.. It's just a source of power which is channeled into another weapon of your choice.. but wielding your actual patron may or may not be belittling it, but it for sure as hell gives you a great backstory, TONS of hooks AND a character arc
You can play your character and campaign your way but based off hexblade's bio you're not ACTUALLY using your patron itself as your weapon (hex or pact). It just grants you the power that you so crave.
There's actually another thread where OP is actually extremely peeved when players think that. IMO, it doesn't bother me one way or the other but it would put things in balance if a level 1 didn't receive a sentient weapon as soon as he started playing.
Really? I think that having found or inherited or whatever a potentially sentient artifact (and if you interpret the hexblade this way it doesn't have to be sentient to be your patron) is absolutely a starting concept.
From She-Ra and He-man and Lion-o to Elric and Raistlin Majere, these are characters whose story begins with finding the artifact of incredible power.
Like I said, play your campaign and character however you. MANY an adventure had started with finding (or being found by) a sentient, all powerful weapon.... but by RAW, the patron itself isn't the actual pact/hex weapon.. It's just a source of power which is channeled into another weapon of your choice.. but wielding your actual patron may or may not be belittling it, but it for sure as hell gives you a great backstory, TONS of hooks AND a character arc
I didn't respond to or speak on the RAW nature of one's patron being the weapon one weilds. I was replying to the notion that it wasn't a level 1 concept.
ie, you said " but it would put things in balance if a level 1 didn't receive a sentient weapon as soon as he started playing." and I challenged that statement. There's nothing unbalanced about flavoring the Hexblade as having found a sentient weapon.
I was correcting a typo in my first post I made, which completely changed the meaning of everything I said.
The way I wrote my Hexblade, she was transported to the Shadowfell, talked to a shadow creature (maybe a Shadar-kai?) who told her that she now serves the Raven Queen. When she reappeared in this plane, there was a katana in front of her. She trained with it, talked to it, and used it for all her for-hire kills. She was a typical orphaned teen criminal Tiefling.
The sword didn't talk, had no +1 action, and it would only "signal" her by growing cold if she was supposed to kill something with it, or grow hot if she wasn't supposed to kill a thing.
So far, once in combat it got cold, and she rushed in to kill a Nothic. With that kill, her katana (ShadowReaver) became +1, gained the finesse feature (for later...) and also 2x/day she could regain a spell slot if she killed with it. Needless to say, she's very melee heavy.
I can assume the DM will continue to modify ShadowReaver's abilities, and if may even start communicating directly with her. We'll see...
You can play your character and campaign your way but based off hexblade's bio you're not ACTUALLY using your patron itself as your weapon (hex or pact). It just grants you the power that you so crave.
There's actually another thread where OP is actually extremely peeved when players think that. IMO, it doesn't bother me one way or the other but it would put things in balance if a level 1 didn't receive a sentient weapon as soon as he started playing.
https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/class-forums/warlock/14324-common-hexblade-misconseption-the-hexblade-is-your
Really? I think that having found or inherited or whatever a potentially sentient artifact (and if you interpret the hexblade this way it doesn't have to be sentient to be your patron) is absolutely a starting concept.
From She-Ra and He-man and Lion-o to Elric and Raistlin Majere, these are characters whose story begins with finding the artifact of incredible power.
We do bones, motherf***ker!
Did they find the items or did the items find them?
Like I said, play your campaign and character however you. MANY an adventure had started with finding (or being found by) a sentient, all powerful weapon.... but by RAW, the patron itself isn't the actual pact/hex weapon.. It's just a source of power which is channeled into another weapon of your choice.. but wielding your actual patron may or may not be belittling it, but it for sure as hell gives you a great backstory, TONS of hooks AND a character arc
A question for the player to answer or leave up to the GM, as the player prefers, AFAIC.
I didn't respond to or speak on the RAW nature of one's patron being the weapon one weilds. I was replying to the notion that it wasn't a level 1 concept.
ie, you said " but it would put things in balance if a level 1 didn't receive a sentient weapon as soon as he started playing." and I challenged that statement. There's nothing unbalanced about flavoring the Hexblade as having found a sentient weapon.
We do bones, motherf***ker!