I am looking to make a jack of all trades sort of warlock, trying to fill in many party roles in a small group. The end result was a Fighter 1 Warlock X Celestial Tomelock.
With Fighter 1 I get proficiency in con saves plus all weaps/armor/shields. This allows me to be as tanky as a paladin or cleric (I could probably have gained more from a cleric start instead of fighter, but stat roll did not allow the dip).
The tome pact allows me many things. One the ritual aspect is always helpful as jack of all trades to provide general utility, but in particular it gives me find familiar and that gives me an ongoing source of advantage in combat. Tome also allows me to eliminate the MAD and focus primarily on CHA by using quarterstaff (also arcane focus) and taking Shillelagh cantrip from my Tome pact. Honestly though Tome/Blade/Chain are all viable options in my mind. Chain in particular is interesting as you still get the advantage on attacks from familiar, and it gives you auto-max self heals (crazy good with vampiric touch alone).
Now if I am engaged in combat I have options between sitting back with the timeless Eldritch Blast / agonizing blast, or wading into frontlines and helping absorb damage, using shillelagh + green flame blade + high AC to hold my own. In mid levels I get vampiric touch, and this is probably the best build for utilizing it as you have con-proficiency and high AC, and the lack of MAD requirements gives you flexibility to take war caster for even greater protection from dropping con. GFB in particular works well as celestial with bonus fire dmg so it can keep up fairly well with scaling through mid levels.
All the while you have access to free bonus action ranged heals to pop up your party and a familiar to deliver upcast cure wounds or revivify from a distance.
You'll do good melee damage early on, but by tier two Agonizing Blast will outperform melee if you don't have to tank.
I lean toward Hexblade Tomelock myself, but I have the convenience of a Cleric in the party. I would definitely try this (starting Cleric instead of Fighter) in a party with no other healer.
It is hard to say which Cleric would be better for this if Wis allows for multiclassing there.
The forge domain is probably my favorite as you get identify which can through investment be added to ritual book for tomelock, and you choose every day whether you want +1 AC or to boost you or a party members weapon.
Nature Domain is also interesting as you get heavy armor and druid cantrip (shillelagh) which gives you more flexibility in your pact choice and not having to dip into tomelock for it.
Life domain is very underwhelming considering how most heals do not come from casting spells (do not believe it stacks with concentration spells like vampiric touch either). Others like War are also underwhelming when you consider how much wis you need to make the effect meaningful alongside being an already bonus action hungry class.
If you want to get into the thick of things as a Celestial Warlock, then I would consider Pact of the Chain over Tome.
Chain offers access to the invocation Gift of the Everliving Ones, turning you into an amazing self-healer. Combined with heavy armour, this places you firmly in the front lines.
Very fun build with that Fighter dip (also Cleric dip works, as suggested above)
I think is a really cool idea that I'm also considering using it, but why not take 3 levels in fighter? You can get access to some really great abilities, the battle master gives you a pool of superiority dice which would really boost your combat abilities, they wont make you a monster in melee but would allow you to hold your own quite well if you end in a pickle. Also, the maneuver 'Rally' allows you to make a d8 dice roll, add that to your charisma and give that to an ally as temp hit points - as a bonus action - up to four times in between long rests - freeing up more of your spell slots for heals out of combat or just more potent damage spells. As a warlock I know you don't need to worry as much about saving spells slots because it is easier to refill them but I feel this would allow you to be even more liberal with your spells. Food for thought anyways.
Also, I lean more towards chain cos the RP uses are amazing and also the self heal it gives you too (also you mentioned getting advantage which is always nice), tho tome does give you more magic prowess. I love the idea of pact of the blade, just conjuring a phantasmic sword out of nowhere but I feel like taking all the invocation options to improve it is a bit of a waste of invocations, some really useful protection and utility invocations that would be a hame to pass up. I'm not saying don't take it, but I think you just have to weigh up how many of the blade invocations you should take if you aren't going to be a mostly melee orientated character (which celestial generally isn't).
I appreciate this post is a little late to the party but maybe it will give someone some fresh idea somewhere.
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I am looking to make a jack of all trades sort of warlock, trying to fill in many party roles in a small group. The end result was a Fighter 1 Warlock X Celestial Tomelock.
With Fighter 1 I get proficiency in con saves plus all weaps/armor/shields. This allows me to be as tanky as a paladin or cleric (I could probably have gained more from a cleric start instead of fighter, but stat roll did not allow the dip).
The tome pact allows me many things. One the ritual aspect is always helpful as jack of all trades to provide general utility, but in particular it gives me find familiar and that gives me an ongoing source of advantage in combat. Tome also allows me to eliminate the MAD and focus primarily on CHA by using quarterstaff (also arcane focus) and taking Shillelagh cantrip from my Tome pact. Honestly though Tome/Blade/Chain are all viable options in my mind. Chain in particular is interesting as you still get the advantage on attacks from familiar, and it gives you auto-max self heals (crazy good with vampiric touch alone).
Now if I am engaged in combat I have options between sitting back with the timeless Eldritch Blast / agonizing blast, or wading into frontlines and helping absorb damage, using shillelagh + green flame blade + high AC to hold my own. In mid levels I get vampiric touch, and this is probably the best build for utilizing it as you have con-proficiency and high AC, and the lack of MAD requirements gives you flexibility to take war caster for even greater protection from dropping con. GFB in particular works well as celestial with bonus fire dmg so it can keep up fairly well with scaling through mid levels.
All the while you have access to free bonus action ranged heals to pop up your party and a familiar to deliver upcast cure wounds or revivify from a distance.
What are your thoughts?
That sounds like a great build.
You'll do good melee damage early on, but by tier two Agonizing Blast will outperform melee if you don't have to tank.
I lean toward Hexblade Tomelock myself, but I have the convenience of a Cleric in the party. I would definitely try this (starting Cleric instead of Fighter) in a party with no other healer.
It is hard to say which Cleric would be better for this if Wis allows for multiclassing there.
The forge domain is probably my favorite as you get identify which can through investment be added to ritual book for tomelock, and you choose every day whether you want +1 AC or to boost you or a party members weapon.
Nature Domain is also interesting as you get heavy armor and druid cantrip (shillelagh) which gives you more flexibility in your pact choice and not having to dip into tomelock for it.
Life domain is very underwhelming considering how most heals do not come from casting spells (do not believe it stacks with concentration spells like vampiric touch either). Others like War are also underwhelming when you consider how much wis you need to make the effect meaningful alongside being an already bonus action hungry class.
Consider grabbing a second level of fighter around level 10 to get action surge.
If you want to get into the thick of things as a Celestial Warlock, then I would consider Pact of the Chain over Tome.
Chain offers access to the invocation Gift of the Everliving Ones, turning you into an amazing self-healer. Combined with heavy armour, this places you firmly in the front lines.
Very fun build with that Fighter dip (also Cleric dip works, as suggested above)
I think is a really cool idea that I'm also considering using it, but why not take 3 levels in fighter? You can get access to some really great abilities, the battle master gives you a pool of superiority dice which would really boost your combat abilities, they wont make you a monster in melee but would allow you to hold your own quite well if you end in a pickle. Also, the maneuver 'Rally' allows you to make a d8 dice roll, add that to your charisma and give that to an ally as temp hit points - as a bonus action - up to four times in between long rests - freeing up more of your spell slots for heals out of combat or just more potent damage spells. As a warlock I know you don't need to worry as much about saving spells slots because it is easier to refill them but I feel this would allow you to be even more liberal with your spells. Food for thought anyways.
Also, I lean more towards chain cos the RP uses are amazing and also the self heal it gives you too (also you mentioned getting advantage which is always nice), tho tome does give you more magic prowess. I love the idea of pact of the blade, just conjuring a phantasmic sword out of nowhere but I feel like taking all the invocation options to improve it is a bit of a waste of invocations, some really useful protection and utility invocations that would be a hame to pass up. I'm not saying don't take it, but I think you just have to weigh up how many of the blade invocations you should take if you aren't going to be a mostly melee orientated character (which celestial generally isn't).
I appreciate this post is a little late to the party but maybe it will give someone some fresh idea somewhere.