I found an amazing use for it actually, I will never not dedicate at least one slot to this whenever possible.
Cast it on a party member and declare their dump stat. (You are not planning to hit them so the extra dmg is moot, and their rolls for their dump would have been terribad anyway.)
Combine with Relentless Hex.
Battlefield Mobility profit.
Also note, that for RP purposes it is super fun to "Bamf stalk" your own people around the dungeon for hours without ever having to physically take a single step of your own movement... for hours on end.... because the duration gets huge fast, and at a 5th level spell slot does not require concentration any-longer....
So yeah, all day free Mistystep to your allies. It is incomparably useful to be able to teleport every 6 seconds for 8 hours. Run up, hit a guy, bamf away. Run over, Help the healer, bamf back to the rogue so he gets sneak attack on his next turn. Never stops being fun...
Bonus points if you MC'd with a Sorc and Twincast it, or use it in combination with Hexblade curse or Ill Omen.
If you multiclass with a monk this spell can be extremely useful. Monks like to attack more than once per turn, so 1d6 becomes more like 2 or 3d6 each time.
If you multiclass with a monk this spell can be extremely useful. Monks like to attack more than once per turn, so 1d6 becomes more like 2 or 3d6 each time.
Similarly I like it on my PAM Hexblade for an extra 3d6.
Attack for 1d10+x, Hex damage for 1d6, Thirsting Blade for 1d10+x, Hex Damage for 1d6, Polearm Bonus attack for 1d4+x, Hex Damage for 1d6.
.The other part of this that we discuss now and then is what can you actually apply the disadvantage to. Some GMs seem to allow skill checks such as persuasion and athletics, others don't because they are technically skill checks NOT ability checks. Since they are listed separately, and potentially have other non stat bonuses related they don't count for some people. which as a player wanting to use Hex isn't great but it also means it won't work against players with that kind of GM.
See Page 174 of the PHB. Skill checks are always Ability checks. they are listed as a sub-category under Ability Checks. What the skill does is allow you to add your proficiency bonus to ability checks when you have proficiency in the relevant skill. Passive checks are likewise defined as ability checks on PHB 175.
GMs who don't allow hex to affect skill checks are technically wrong.
Hexing Strength means spells like bigby's hand and telekinesis are more likely to work and the foe is less liklely to escape from web.
Hexing intelligence means a foe is less likely to successfully counterspell or dispel magic. They are also less likely to see through illusions (including phantasmal force).
Hexing Wisdom or Charisma means an opponent is at a disadvantage in a social challenge (since persuasion and deception are often resisted by insight).
Greenstone_Walker, telekinesis is also a concentration spell. I was looking forward to that combo, then my hopes were dashed by facts.
I have used Hex to give disadvantage to someone's Initiative (DEX). Obviously, I cast it pre-battle when they were unaware.
I once cast it affecting a baddie's WIS, so when he turned invisible, he decided it was better to hide a corner instead of run out of the door. It wasn't better.
Also, you don't need to affect the STR of someone just for your teammates (here's looking at you, Pact O' the Bladers). If you try to take someone's weapon/item/magic focus from them, it's their STR check vs. your DEX check. Yeah, that one is a lot of fun 🤣
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DM: Are you sure?
Wizard: Yes. I cast the Wish spell and I wish that everybody loves me!
DM: You transform into an irresistible, magnificent feast. It was so great, all who participated in devouring you tell of the joy they felt with tears in their eyes and all who hear the tale only feel sorrow that they weren't there to eat.
Yes, the combo would be great if I had "real" casters in this particular group...
Sadly, I was bested again by facts.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
DM: Are you sure?
Wizard: Yes. I cast the Wish spell and I wish that everybody loves me!
DM: You transform into an irresistible, magnificent feast. It was so great, all who participated in devouring you tell of the joy they felt with tears in their eyes and all who hear the tale only feel sorrow that they weren't there to eat.
Hexing Strength means spells like bigby's hand and telekinesis are more likely to work and the foe is less liklely to escape from web.
Hexing intelligence means a foe is less likely to successfully counterspell or dispel magic. They are also less likely to see through illusions (including phantasmal force).
Hexing Wisdom or Charisma means an opponent is at a disadvantage in a social challenge (since persuasion and deception are often resisted by insight).
You choose to Hex a single check, not the whole stat unfortunately. Not that it's not still the single best use of a spell slot most of the time but still, let's play the spell right.
Also, choose one ability when you cast the spell. The target has disadvantage on ability checks made with the chosen ability.
You choose to Hex a single check, not the whole stat unfortunately.
When you hex a target, it has disadvantage on all ability checks made with your chosev ability until the spell expires, not just the next check.
So if you pick Strength then the target has disadvantage on all grapple attempts for the next hour, as well as attempts to resist telekinesis as well as attempts to resist disarm, as well as attempts to escape from webs, etc.
I was wondering if it makes more sense to rely on hex vs. darkness/devil's sight for concentration at level 3. Hex causes harder hits and eventually lasts longer, but devil's sight cheese hits more often and provides great defense.
I'm currently starting a celestial aarokocra warlock in a Westmarches group and curious about which maked more sense to rely on.
I was wondering if it makes more sense to rely on hex vs. darkness/devil's sight for concentration at level 3. Hex causes harder hits and eventually lasts longer, but devil's sight cheese hits more often and provides great defense.
I'm currently starting a celestial aarokocra warlock in a Westmarches group and curious about which maked more sense to rely on.
It depends on the enemies AC. Against the higher AC enemies use Hex with a save spell like Toll the Dead, otherwise Darkness with EBs will be better.
I was wondering if it makes more sense to rely on hex vs. darkness/devil's sight for concentration at level 3. Hex causes harder hits and eventually lasts longer, but devil's sight cheese hits more often and provides great defense.
I'm currently starting a celestial aarokocra warlock in a Westmarches group and curious about which maked more sense to rely on.
It depends on the enemies AC. Against the higher AC enemies use Hex with a save spell like Toll the Dead, otherwise Darkness with EBs will be better.
Actually Hex damage triggers on attacks not save spells. Hex would work with EB but not Toll the Dead. Against high AC enemies, it probably is a better cantrip to use anyways, but you wouldn't get more damage from Hex.
As for the other question it might depend a bit on what enemies you will face and how often. Since you can fly, in theory you can avoid a whole lot of enemies simply by doing that, though archers and other spellcasters would still have issues hitting you with darkness up (some might not even be able to target you unless they have darkvision and you're close enough, though area spells would work).
Note: If this is abused you could easily become the target of the GM.
Hex vs. Darkness (and some flying thoughts):
Flying: Pro's: 1: Melee have a hard time hitting you when flying. 2: More importantly you can reach normally "hard to reach" places. 3: Mobility. 50' movement, flying, gives a nice advantage. Con's: 1: The GM might feel the need to adjust enemies because of this, more flying enemies, more spellcasters and archers and devious schemes. Even more dungeons preventing good usage of flight. Don't abuse it and the GM should be fine with it.
Tactics & uses: 1: Land on a rooftop and protect your team from above. Watch over them as they walk through the town. Things like this is cool usage of the ability and gives a more protective tactical feeling than a cheesy strategy feel in my opinion.
Darkness (with devil's sight of course). Pro's: 1: Enemies can't see you, so they have disadvantage on attacks against you, even if they are outside of the darkness. 2: For the same reason, since it blocks sight, many spells cannot target you (someone else using Hex for instance). 3: Advantage on enemies inside the darkness, though they can still attack you with disadvantage if you stay on the ground. 4: Enemies inside the darkness would be unable to target your friends with spells as well, and also would have disadvantage on attacks against them. Con's: 1: Your GM might take actions against this if it's abused too much. A light spell of high enough level dispels your darkness. (2: Your friends will not be able to see in the darkness normally either. This doesn't have to be a problem, but worth mentioning.)
Tactics & uses: 1: Basic strategy.The most straightforward idea is of course simply to use darkness on yourself while remaining at range to prevent some targeting and giving ranged attacks disadvantage to hit you, all the while you can laugh and shoot EB. Effective and simple. Can be combined with flying to turn the GM into a Paladin with the Oath of Vengeance. 2: Hit and Run: Offensive usage of this spell means you can move close enough to an enemy that they are inside the radius, this gives you advantage against them. With 50' flying you can easily move forward so an enemy is within range, then move back far enough for a 30' move enemy to not be able to reach you. (start 40' away, move forward 25', EB with advantage, move back 25'). 3: The tactical, protector usage of this is also a combination with flying and keeping your team safe. By carefully considering your movement and placing you could force the enemy to switch positions or be blinded. Dropping down just behind a spellcaster/archer in an alley might force them to either not cast certain spells, or move forward towards the rest of the team. They might have to get out of a good cover and similar. You could even land 15' behind a melee enemy to make it attack your team with disadvantage unless it moves. This needs to be carefully considered though, since it will also give your team disadvantage to hit the enemy (since it's covered in darkness that THEY can't see through).. They would have advantage attacking a blinded enemy, but disadvantage for not seeing them = normal attacks. It's mostly an issue for rogues, but it can be used defensively against someone facing a stronger opponent (maybe the Lorebard got attacked by a barbarian). Since you can fly you have that extra mobility options by simply flying over your team and landing behind the enemies for this tactic, though you might want a decent AC for this. 4: Friends with the Daredevil. Careful placement makes sure the 2nd con for darkness isn't a problem. Having a friend with the Blind Fighting style makes it even less of a problem as you can include them in the darkness without it limiting their attacks. In fact, you will give them some extra protection from spells and archers or other enemies as well. This is great.
Hex Pro's: 1: Bonus action, so you can do it on the same turn you're blasting. Extra damage is nice and works really well with multiple attacks since it's not one of the Once/turn things, but on every attack that hits. 2: As long as the target is defeated (brought to 0 hp) you can keep the spell going and use a bonus action to target someone else. Eventually this can be kept going throughout a whole day, though this would require Pact of the Tome and Aspect of the Moon invocation to keep it up for the full 24 hours and honestly, 1 or 8 hours is probably enough anyways. 3: Cursed in combat: Disadvantage on an ability is great in so many ways! (Not just combat!). If you face a grappling enemy, imposing disadvantage on strength is a great way to prevent it from succeeding and if you have a grappler on your team you can target either strength or dexterity to force the enemy to use it's most likely worse statistic to resist your teams grapples. In addition Initiative is a dexterity check and would be rolled with disadvantage if you target that statistic with your Hex. Imposing disadvantage on charisma or wisdom might help your party members succeed with skills or abilities that are opposed by those (rogue hiding, Inquisitive using insightful fighting and so on). 4: Cursed out of combat: This is where it gets interesting. Giving someone disadvantage is so good. Make sure a Guard doesn't see the rogue sneaking up on them? Disadvantage on wisdom checks. Easier bartering? Target Charisma. Make the noble who you don't like make a fool of themselves? Charisma again. Someone bump into you on the street and don't say sorry? Curse them with disadvantage on dexterity making them clumsy for a day! (Ok, a bit petty I guess.. ) Win the strongman competition? Target the opponents strength. This can be a bit tricky to pull of at times, but with the spell sniper feat you get a much better range and/or with the metamagic specialist feat, or some multiclassing, you can get the subtle spell metamagic for some incredibly fun usage of this without getting caught! Con's: 1: While I didn't mention concentration as a con on darkness, I will now since Hex has the possible duration of 24 hours. While of course good, it also means you can't cast other concentration spells which can be an issue and at the very least it requires consideration. Another thing to note is that you chose the cursed ability when you cast it so you couldn't target fighter in the morning battle for strength disadvantage and then 5 hours later want to curse Mrs. Goldie Glimmers the merchant for charisma disadvantage, unless you cast the spell again. Also, while both RAW and most likely RAI, some GM's might get grumpy about Hex lasting this long, be sure to explain it in a humble way and explain the other limitations for it. 2: Contrary to what many may think, it doesn't affect saves which means you cannot target a spellcasters concentration ability or a fighters chance to be disarmed, or just spellcasting in general (but that would have been to good anyways). Tactics & Usage: 1: The main usage of hex is pretty straightforward in combat. Hex someone, attack a lot, deal extra damage. Just remember it takes a bonus action to Hex a new target when it dies. 2: Another thing to consider will be using it to target an opponents dexterity, even if you're not going to be attacking it. Disadvantage on initiative might be really important for the rest of your team to act before a certain enemy, maybe a spellcaster or someone about to run away or similar situations. Using it on an opposing rogue might prevent it from making hidden attacks every round (or at least make it harder to hide). 3: Last but not least it could be used effectively in grappling situations, though primarily against enemies who use grappling attacks (an example would be my current campaign where we faced a huge tree that rooted/grappled anyone nearby every turn, but it had little treebuddies which had little hp but did a lot of damage... Of course I didn't have Hex then but if I did I could have Hexed the big tree and focused on killing the damage dealers).
Tl;dr: Darkness combination is probably stronger because of it's offensive AND defensive capabilites but Hex is still strong and situationally better while also offering great out of combat use.
Thank you for reminding me about Hex and save spells not combining. I was just too used to it working because my DM allows it at my table. Sorry for any confusion that I may have caused.
Thank you for reminding me about Hex and save spells not combining. I was just too used to it working because my DM allows it at my table. Sorry for any confusion that I may have caused.
Pretty sure most people read it like that at first ;) I know I did. It's still good though!
I was wondering if it makes more sense to rely on hex vs. darkness/devil's sight for concentration at level 3. Hex causes harder hits and eventually lasts longer, but devil's sight cheese hits more often and provides great defense.
I'm currently starting a celestial aarokocra warlock in a Westmarches group and curious about which maked more sense to rely on.
It depends on the enemies AC. Against the higher AC enemies use Hex with a save spell like Toll the Dead, otherwise Darkness with EBs will be better.
Actually Hex damage triggers . . . etc.
My thought was to take both spells, relying on darkness for fights with a lot of space, and hex for more confined spaces OR fights where the baddies don't have ranged attacks.
This is for a West Marches public server with many GM's, so the point about GM targeting is muted a bit :)
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I found an amazing use for it actually, I will never not dedicate at least one slot to this whenever possible.
Also note, that for RP purposes it is super fun to "Bamf stalk" your own people around the dungeon for hours without ever having to physically take a single step of your own movement... for hours on end.... because the duration gets huge fast, and at a 5th level spell slot does not require concentration any-longer....
So yeah, all day free Mistystep to your allies. It is incomparably useful to be able to teleport every 6 seconds for 8 hours. Run up, hit a guy, bamf away. Run over, Help the healer, bamf back to the rogue so he gets sneak attack on his next turn. Never stops being fun...
Bonus points if you MC'd with a Sorc and Twincast it, or use it in combination with Hexblade curse or Ill Omen.
If you multiclass with a monk this spell can be extremely useful. Monks like to attack more than once per turn, so 1d6 becomes more like 2 or 3d6 each time.
Similarly I like it on my PAM Hexblade for an extra 3d6.
Attack for 1d10+x, Hex damage for 1d6, Thirsting Blade for 1d10+x, Hex Damage for 1d6, Polearm Bonus attack for 1d4+x, Hex Damage for 1d6.
See Page 174 of the PHB. Skill checks are always Ability checks. they are listed as a sub-category under Ability Checks. What the skill does is allow you to add your proficiency bonus to ability checks when you have proficiency in the relevant skill. Passive checks are likewise defined as ability checks on PHB 175.
GMs who don't allow hex to affect skill checks are technically wrong.
Hex doesn't lose the concentration requirement with a 5th level slot. You are perhaps thinking of Bestow Curse?
Hexing Strength means spells like bigby's hand and telekinesis are more likely to work and the foe is less liklely to escape from web.
Hexing intelligence means a foe is less likely to successfully counterspell or dispel magic. They are also less likely to see through illusions (including phantasmal force).
Hexing Wisdom or Charisma means an opponent is at a disadvantage in a social challenge (since persuasion and deception are often resisted by insight).
Greenstone_Walker, telekinesis is also a concentration spell. I was looking forward to that combo, then my hopes were dashed by facts.
I have used Hex to give disadvantage to someone's Initiative (DEX). Obviously, I cast it pre-battle when they were unaware.
I once cast it affecting a baddie's WIS, so when he turned invisible, he decided it was better to hide a corner instead of run out of the door. It wasn't better.
Also, you don't need to affect the STR of someone just for your teammates (here's looking at you, Pact O' the Bladers). If you try to take someone's weapon/item/magic focus from them, it's their STR check vs. your DEX check. Yeah, that one is a lot of fun 🤣
DM: Are you sure?
Wizard: Yes. I cast the Wish spell and I wish that everybody loves me!
DM: You transform into an irresistible, magnificent feast. It was so great, all who participated in devouring you tell of the joy they felt with tears in their eyes and all who hear the tale only feel sorrow that they weren't there to eat.
That's what your minions¹ are for.
_____
¹ Though you may want to be polite and refer to them as "the rest of the party."
Yes, the combo would be great if I had "real" casters in this particular group...
Sadly, I was bested again by facts.
DM: Are you sure?
Wizard: Yes. I cast the Wish spell and I wish that everybody loves me!
DM: You transform into an irresistible, magnificent feast. It was so great, all who participated in devouring you tell of the joy they felt with tears in their eyes and all who hear the tale only feel sorrow that they weren't there to eat.
What damage types qualify as elemental damage?
Acid, cold, fire, electricity, thunder.
DICE FALL, EVERYONE ROCKS!
You choose to Hex a single check, not the whole stat unfortunately. Not that it's not still the single best use of a spell slot most of the time but still, let's play the spell right.
Also, choose one ability when you cast the spell. The target has disadvantage on ability checks made with the chosen ability.
Note "ability" not "ability score"
When you hex a target, it has disadvantage on all ability checks made with your chosev ability until the spell expires, not just the next check.
So if you pick Strength then the target has disadvantage on all grapple attempts for the next hour, as well as attempts to resist telekinesis as well as attempts to resist disarm, as well as attempts to escape from webs, etc.
in combat has less obvious checks...
I was wondering if it makes more sense to rely on hex vs. darkness/devil's sight for concentration at level 3. Hex causes harder hits and eventually lasts longer, but devil's sight cheese hits more often and provides great defense.
I'm currently starting a celestial aarokocra warlock in a Westmarches group and curious about which maked more sense to rely on.
It depends on the enemies AC. Against the higher AC enemies use Hex with a save spell like Toll the Dead, otherwise Darkness with EBs will be better.
Actually Hex damage triggers on attacks not save spells. Hex would work with EB but not Toll the Dead. Against high AC enemies, it probably is a better cantrip to use anyways, but you wouldn't get more damage from Hex.
As for the other question it might depend a bit on what enemies you will face and how often. Since you can fly, in theory you can avoid a whole lot of enemies simply by doing that, though archers and other spellcasters would still have issues hitting you with darkness up (some might not even be able to target you unless they have darkvision and you're close enough, though area spells would work).
Note: If this is abused you could easily become the target of the GM.
Hex vs. Darkness (and some flying thoughts):
Flying:
Pro's:
1: Melee have a hard time hitting you when flying.
2: More importantly you can reach normally "hard to reach" places.
3: Mobility. 50' movement, flying, gives a nice advantage.
Con's:
1: The GM might feel the need to adjust enemies because of this, more flying enemies, more spellcasters and archers and devious schemes. Even more dungeons preventing good usage of flight. Don't abuse it and the GM should be fine with it.
Tactics & uses:
1: Land on a rooftop and protect your team from above. Watch over them as they walk through the town. Things like this is cool usage of the ability and gives a more protective tactical feeling than a cheesy strategy feel in my opinion.
Darkness (with devil's sight of course).
Pro's:
1: Enemies can't see you, so they have disadvantage on attacks against you, even if they are outside of the darkness.
2: For the same reason, since it blocks sight, many spells cannot target you (someone else using Hex for instance).
3: Advantage on enemies inside the darkness, though they can still attack you with disadvantage if you stay on the ground.
4: Enemies inside the darkness would be unable to target your friends with spells as well, and also would have disadvantage on attacks against them.
Con's:
1: Your GM might take actions against this if it's abused too much. A light spell of high enough level dispels your darkness.
(2: Your friends will not be able to see in the darkness normally either. This doesn't have to be a problem, but worth mentioning.)
Tactics & uses:
1: Basic strategy.The most straightforward idea is of course simply to use darkness on yourself while remaining at range to prevent some targeting and giving ranged attacks disadvantage to hit you, all the while you can laugh and shoot EB. Effective and simple. Can be combined with flying to turn the GM into a Paladin with the Oath of Vengeance.
2: Hit and Run: Offensive usage of this spell means you can move close enough to an enemy that they are inside the radius, this gives you advantage against them. With 50' flying you can easily move forward so an enemy is within range, then move back far enough for a 30' move enemy to not be able to reach you. (start 40' away, move forward 25', EB with advantage, move back 25').
3: The tactical, protector usage of this is also a combination with flying and keeping your team safe. By carefully considering your movement and placing you could force the enemy to switch positions or be blinded. Dropping down just behind a spellcaster/archer in an alley might force them to either not cast certain spells, or move forward towards the rest of the team. They might have to get out of a good cover and similar.
You could even land 15' behind a melee enemy to make it attack your team with disadvantage unless it moves. This needs to be carefully considered though, since it will also give your team disadvantage to hit the enemy (since it's covered in darkness that THEY can't see through).. They would have advantage attacking a blinded enemy, but disadvantage for not seeing them = normal attacks. It's mostly an issue for rogues, but it can be used defensively against someone facing a stronger opponent (maybe the Lorebard got attacked by a barbarian).
Since you can fly you have that extra mobility options by simply flying over your team and landing behind the enemies for this tactic, though you might want a decent AC for this.
4: Friends with the Daredevil. Careful placement makes sure the 2nd con for darkness isn't a problem. Having a friend with the Blind Fighting style makes it even less of a problem as you can include them in the darkness without it limiting their attacks. In fact, you will give them some extra protection from spells and archers or other enemies as well. This is great.
Hex
Pro's:
1: Bonus action, so you can do it on the same turn you're blasting. Extra damage is nice and works really well with multiple attacks since it's not one of the Once/turn things, but on every attack that hits.
2: As long as the target is defeated (brought to 0 hp) you can keep the spell going and use a bonus action to target someone else. Eventually this can be kept going throughout a whole day, though this would require Pact of the Tome and Aspect of the Moon invocation to keep it up for the full 24 hours and honestly, 1 or 8 hours is probably enough anyways.
3: Cursed in combat: Disadvantage on an ability is great in so many ways! (Not just combat!). If you face a grappling enemy, imposing disadvantage on strength is a great way to prevent it from succeeding and if you have a grappler on your team you can target either strength or dexterity to force the enemy to use it's most likely worse statistic to resist your teams grapples. In addition Initiative is a dexterity check and would be rolled with disadvantage if you target that statistic with your Hex. Imposing disadvantage on charisma or wisdom might help your party members succeed with skills or abilities that are opposed by those (rogue hiding, Inquisitive using insightful fighting and so on).
4: Cursed out of combat: This is where it gets interesting. Giving someone disadvantage is so good. Make sure a Guard doesn't see the rogue sneaking up on them? Disadvantage on wisdom checks. Easier bartering? Target Charisma. Make the noble who you don't like make a fool of themselves? Charisma again. Someone bump into you on the street and don't say sorry? Curse them with disadvantage on dexterity making them clumsy for a day! (Ok, a bit petty I guess.. ) Win the strongman competition? Target the opponents strength. This can be a bit tricky to pull of at times, but with the spell sniper feat you get a much better range and/or with the metamagic specialist feat, or some multiclassing, you can get the subtle spell metamagic for some incredibly fun usage of this without getting caught!
Con's:
1: While I didn't mention concentration as a con on darkness, I will now since Hex has the possible duration of 24 hours. While of course good, it also means you can't cast other concentration spells which can be an issue and at the very least it requires consideration. Another thing to note is that you chose the cursed ability when you cast it so you couldn't target fighter in the morning battle for strength disadvantage and then 5 hours later want to curse Mrs. Goldie Glimmers the merchant for charisma disadvantage, unless you cast the spell again. Also, while both RAW and most likely RAI, some GM's might get grumpy about Hex lasting this long, be sure to explain it in a humble way and explain the other limitations for it.
2: Contrary to what many may think, it doesn't affect saves which means you cannot target a spellcasters concentration ability or a fighters chance to be disarmed, or just spellcasting in general (but that would have been to good anyways).
Tactics & Usage:
1: The main usage of hex is pretty straightforward in combat. Hex someone, attack a lot, deal extra damage. Just remember it takes a bonus action to Hex a new target when it dies.
2: Another thing to consider will be using it to target an opponents dexterity, even if you're not going to be attacking it. Disadvantage on initiative might be really important for the rest of your team to act before a certain enemy, maybe a spellcaster or someone about to run away or similar situations. Using it on an opposing rogue might prevent it from making hidden attacks every round (or at least make it harder to hide).
3: Last but not least it could be used effectively in grappling situations, though primarily against enemies who use grappling attacks (an example would be my current campaign where we faced a huge tree that rooted/grappled anyone nearby every turn, but it had little treebuddies which had little hp but did a lot of damage... Of course I didn't have Hex then but if I did I could have Hexed the big tree and focused on killing the damage dealers).
Tl;dr: Darkness combination is probably stronger because of it's offensive AND defensive capabilites but Hex is still strong and situationally better while also offering great out of combat use.
Thank you for reminding me about Hex and save spells not combining. I was just too used to it working because my DM allows it at my table. Sorry for any confusion that I may have caused.
Pretty sure most people read it like that at first ;) I know I did. It's still good though!
My thought was to take both spells, relying on darkness for fights with a lot of space, and hex for more confined spaces OR fights where the baddies don't have ranged attacks.
This is for a West Marches public server with many GM's, so the point about GM targeting is muted a bit :)