I'm playing a rather unorthodox Warlock. I've got 18 Dexterity, 16 Constitution, 14 Charisma as a Half Elf Fighter 1 Warlock 5. I primarily attack with either a Short Sword with Green Flame Blade, or with Shadow Blade with Green Flame Blade. I'm the only melee in a four person party, so I made the character fairly durable (19 AC, 16 Con) because he will get focused on fairly often. The first level was in Fighter to get the defense fighting style, the ability to use a shield, the Second Wind self heal, and the proficiency in constitution saving throws. The rest of my levels until the end of the campaign (around level 13-15) will be as a Celestial Pact of the Chain Warlock. But I'll always be a Master Swordsman, so I am staying true to his first level in Fighter. I'm just a Fighter that chose a different path to being a very powerful Master Swordsman.
The three invocations that I have right now:
Mask of Many Faces is a really useful invocation for social situations. It doesn't have much combat value, but I've chosen it because it's fun and useful.
Gift of the Ever-Living Ones is key to my strategy. Because I'm the one most likely to be taking damage, it's useful to almost double the efficiency of any healing done on me, especially the Healing I can do on myself with Second Wind and Healing Light. It also helps with using hit dice on a short rest during the day.
Tomb of Levistus is great because I'm the only melee, so if I pop this Ice Block on myself, a lot of times all of my allies will be too far away for the enemies to be able to attack them instead. It's great to have this around for when the enemy does a critical hit on me, or just to use when I'm about to be knocked down to 0 HP to buy another round for my allies to do something to save me (or maybe more than that if my 19 AC can cause all of the attacks next round to miss).
The ones that intrigue me:
Voice of the Chain Master is very thematic, and it's useful for scouting and for roleplaying. I don't think it has any combat utility, though.
Fiendish Vigor is great at lower levels, but it's already starting to slip a bit. Being able to start every combat with 8 temporary hit points is huge. Being able to recast False Life in combat is useful in tier 1, but since we're already in tier 2 now, it's not worth casting during combat anymore. Still, starting every combat (not just after every short rest, but literally every combat) with 8 temporary hit points is still pretty nice at level 6.
Misty Visions could be quite useful, especially because the Bard in the party loves using minor illusion, and I have an invisible Familiar that can help us out as well (and the Wizard even has Mage Hand, too). This one could be used in combat, especially for a ranged player to create cover. But for a melee like me, I'm not sure if it has much combat utility.
One with Shadows fits nicely with my personal play style, and everyone in our party has +4 stealth or better, so we do like sneaking around. It is an improved version of the Dodge Action because it means I can't be targeted by any ability that requires the enemy to see their target (unless they have blind sight or true sight), and it still gives disadvantage to attacks on me (which as the only melee, I could see it being worth it to do this). It would be a useful ability if I'm running away and I find a good hiding place and hope my pursuers run past me, or it could be used to setup an ambush, or to hide from a patrol while infiltrating an enemy hideout. As you can see, it fits my play style, I'm great at thinking of ways that I could use it.
Devil's Sight would be a great choice if I didn't have dark vision, but I'm a Half Elf, and I'm melee instead of ranged, so I'm guessing I don't need it.
Beast Speech would be useful in our campaign, but it doesn't fit with my character's backstory. He's a city guy, he's not really into nature, even though our campaign is mostly taking place in nature.
Cloak of Flies would work fairly well because my character is a melee character. But with my Charisma being just 14, I don't think it's worth it. As the only melee in the party, I could take this aura without worrying about hurting my allies. And it's nice that it's an automatic damage without needing to use an Action or letting the enemy do a saving throw.
One of the great things about not doing an Eldritch Blast Warlock is that I get to take advantage of the interesting invocations that are available, I don't have to be using my first two or three on Agonizing Blast, Repelling Blast, and Lance of Lethargy.
Should I stick with the three that I have right now? I'm leaning towards Voice of the Chain Master in a couple of levels, is that the best choice? Are there any other invocations that I didn't list that I should consider?
You've got three strong invocations now, and I'd recommend keeping them. For future picks, however, you should look at Devil's Sight. Your normal darkvision treats darkness as dim light (disadvantage on perception rolls) but Devil's Sight will allow you to see normally in darkness without penalty, at twice the range. (120 feet) It will also work in magical darkness out to the same range, which darkvision won't do at all. Casting Darkness on your enemies to blind them and using Devil's Sight to attack them without penalty is pretty much the oldest Warlock trick in the book. But it works. And if you're the only melee character in your group, you shouldn't have to worry about blinding your allies.
I'm also a big fan of Relentless Hex; you can never have too much teleportation. A free 30' teleport every round into melee with the target of your Hex spell is a lot of extra movement. Combo this one with the Mobile feat: teleport in, attack, then move away without taking an opportunity attack. It'll drive your enemies crazy.
Trickster's Escape has saved my Warlock's life more times than I can count. I keep seeing Warlock guides saying this one is "too situational" but it comes into play for my character almost every single game session. Ignore all forms of difficult terrain, grapples, restraints, paralyzation, and any magical speed reduction. (I made the evil vengeance paladin cry. LOL)
I've decided that I'm using my spell slots on Shadow Blade instead of on Hex or Darkness, so that limits the utility of Devil's Sight or Relentless Hex.
Giving enemies disadvantage when attacking me would help a lot, especially when combined with having 19 AC. It would be a big drop in my damage output (I would go from 4D8+4 to 1D6+1D8+4), and it would require taking the Devil's Sight invocation but it might be worth it. Giving disadvantage is a really huge bonus (among other things, the crit chance drops from 5% to 0.25%).
My character only has +0 Perception, he's just not good at that. He relies on his Sprite familiar for Perception, although his Sprite doesn't have dark vision (an Imp or Quasit would be a better familiar, but thematically it didn't make sense). Or he relies on others in the party for perception. He has to dismiss his familiar when they're in total darkness because his familiar can't see, so I suppose Devil's Sight would help in those situations. As a melee character, how useful would it be to have 120ft Devil's Sight instead of 60ft dark vision? I wouldn't be able to attack anything outside of the 60ft range - that's the max range on throwing Shadow Blade or casting Sacred Flame.
Devil's Sight + Darkness is an interesting idea. It would definitely increase my survivability, and the rest of my party does a pretty good job with damage, so I can probably get away with lowering my damage to increase my survivability.
Even a level 2 Shadow Blade does slightly more damage than Hex (2D8 versus 2D6), and with a level 3 spell slot, it's even more of a difference (3D8 versus 2D6). Also, Shadow Blade gives me advantage in Dim Light and Darkness. Hex lasts for 8 hours, whereas Shadow Blade only lasts for one minute, but I still don't think I would switch from using Shadow Blade to using Hex. I'm not taking the Mobile Feat. I had to take an ASI at level 5 because my character started off with 17 Dexterity and 13 Charisma, so I'm not going to get war caster until level 9. And level 13 is a long way away, but I'll likely take +2 Dex or +2 Charisma at that point. I don't think Relentless Hex makes sense for my character. I'm not doing a Hex Blade or using Hex, and I don't think I'll change that.
Trickster's Escape for Freedom of Movement is an interesting one. It's nice that it doesn't take a spell slot or take concentration. I had assumed that it was a concentration spell, but I checked just now and apparently it isn't concentration. So I could use it while I'm using a Shadow Blade. It's an hour long as well, so I can cast it before the big fight of the day. It's a worthy contender for an invocation to choose.
It looks like you've thought this out really well, so kudos to sticking to your plan and theme. A level of Fighter is great for a non-Hexblade Warlock, especially a melee-focused one.
I've played numerous Hexblade Warlocks, both Blade and Tome but never Chain, and I've always taken Agonizing Blast and never any of the other EB-modding invocations. It adds so much for so little (one cantrip, one invocation) in my experience.
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I'm playing a rather unorthodox Warlock. I've got 18 Dexterity, 16 Constitution, 14 Charisma as a Half Elf Fighter 1 Warlock 5. I primarily attack with either a Short Sword with Green Flame Blade, or with Shadow Blade with Green Flame Blade. I'm the only melee in a four person party, so I made the character fairly durable (19 AC, 16 Con) because he will get focused on fairly often. The first level was in Fighter to get the defense fighting style, the ability to use a shield, the Second Wind self heal, and the proficiency in constitution saving throws. The rest of my levels until the end of the campaign (around level 13-15) will be as a Celestial Pact of the Chain Warlock. But I'll always be a Master Swordsman, so I am staying true to his first level in Fighter. I'm just a Fighter that chose a different path to being a very powerful Master Swordsman.
The three invocations that I have right now:
Mask of Many Faces is a really useful invocation for social situations. It doesn't have much combat value, but I've chosen it because it's fun and useful.
Gift of the Ever-Living Ones is key to my strategy. Because I'm the one most likely to be taking damage, it's useful to almost double the efficiency of any healing done on me, especially the Healing I can do on myself with Second Wind and Healing Light. It also helps with using hit dice on a short rest during the day.
Tomb of Levistus is great because I'm the only melee, so if I pop this Ice Block on myself, a lot of times all of my allies will be too far away for the enemies to be able to attack them instead. It's great to have this around for when the enemy does a critical hit on me, or just to use when I'm about to be knocked down to 0 HP to buy another round for my allies to do something to save me (or maybe more than that if my 19 AC can cause all of the attacks next round to miss).
The ones that intrigue me:
Voice of the Chain Master is very thematic, and it's useful for scouting and for roleplaying. I don't think it has any combat utility, though.
Fiendish Vigor is great at lower levels, but it's already starting to slip a bit. Being able to start every combat with 8 temporary hit points is huge. Being able to recast False Life in combat is useful in tier 1, but since we're already in tier 2 now, it's not worth casting during combat anymore. Still, starting every combat (not just after every short rest, but literally every combat) with 8 temporary hit points is still pretty nice at level 6.
Misty Visions could be quite useful, especially because the Bard in the party loves using minor illusion, and I have an invisible Familiar that can help us out as well (and the Wizard even has Mage Hand, too). This one could be used in combat, especially for a ranged player to create cover. But for a melee like me, I'm not sure if it has much combat utility.
One with Shadows fits nicely with my personal play style, and everyone in our party has +4 stealth or better, so we do like sneaking around. It is an improved version of the Dodge Action because it means I can't be targeted by any ability that requires the enemy to see their target (unless they have blind sight or true sight), and it still gives disadvantage to attacks on me (which as the only melee, I could see it being worth it to do this). It would be a useful ability if I'm running away and I find a good hiding place and hope my pursuers run past me, or it could be used to setup an ambush, or to hide from a patrol while infiltrating an enemy hideout. As you can see, it fits my play style, I'm great at thinking of ways that I could use it.
Devil's Sight would be a great choice if I didn't have dark vision, but I'm a Half Elf, and I'm melee instead of ranged, so I'm guessing I don't need it.
Beast Speech would be useful in our campaign, but it doesn't fit with my character's backstory. He's a city guy, he's not really into nature, even though our campaign is mostly taking place in nature.
Cloak of Flies would work fairly well because my character is a melee character. But with my Charisma being just 14, I don't think it's worth it. As the only melee in the party, I could take this aura without worrying about hurting my allies. And it's nice that it's an automatic damage without needing to use an Action or letting the enemy do a saving throw.
One of the great things about not doing an Eldritch Blast Warlock is that I get to take advantage of the interesting invocations that are available, I don't have to be using my first two or three on Agonizing Blast, Repelling Blast, and Lance of Lethargy.
Should I stick with the three that I have right now? I'm leaning towards Voice of the Chain Master in a couple of levels, is that the best choice? Are there any other invocations that I didn't list that I should consider?
You've got three strong invocations now, and I'd recommend keeping them. For future picks, however, you should look at Devil's Sight. Your normal darkvision treats darkness as dim light (disadvantage on perception rolls) but Devil's Sight will allow you to see normally in darkness without penalty, at twice the range. (120 feet) It will also work in magical darkness out to the same range, which darkvision won't do at all. Casting Darkness on your enemies to blind them and using Devil's Sight to attack them without penalty is pretty much the oldest Warlock trick in the book. But it works. And if you're the only melee character in your group, you shouldn't have to worry about blinding your allies.
I'm also a big fan of Relentless Hex; you can never have too much teleportation. A free 30' teleport every round into melee with the target of your Hex spell is a lot of extra movement. Combo this one with the Mobile feat: teleport in, attack, then move away without taking an opportunity attack. It'll drive your enemies crazy.
Trickster's Escape has saved my Warlock's life more times than I can count. I keep seeing Warlock guides saying this one is "too situational" but it comes into play for my character almost every single game session. Ignore all forms of difficult terrain, grapples, restraints, paralyzation, and any magical speed reduction. (I made the evil vengeance paladin cry. LOL)
DICE FALL, EVERYONE ROCKS!
I've decided that I'm using my spell slots on Shadow Blade instead of on Hex or Darkness, so that limits the utility of Devil's Sight or Relentless Hex.
Giving enemies disadvantage when attacking me would help a lot, especially when combined with having 19 AC. It would be a big drop in my damage output (I would go from 4D8+4 to 1D6+1D8+4), and it would require taking the Devil's Sight invocation but it might be worth it. Giving disadvantage is a really huge bonus (among other things, the crit chance drops from 5% to 0.25%).
My character only has +0 Perception, he's just not good at that. He relies on his Sprite familiar for Perception, although his Sprite doesn't have dark vision (an Imp or Quasit would be a better familiar, but thematically it didn't make sense). Or he relies on others in the party for perception. He has to dismiss his familiar when they're in total darkness because his familiar can't see, so I suppose Devil's Sight would help in those situations. As a melee character, how useful would it be to have 120ft Devil's Sight instead of 60ft dark vision? I wouldn't be able to attack anything outside of the 60ft range - that's the max range on throwing Shadow Blade or casting Sacred Flame.
Devil's Sight + Darkness is an interesting idea. It would definitely increase my survivability, and the rest of my party does a pretty good job with damage, so I can probably get away with lowering my damage to increase my survivability.
Even a level 2 Shadow Blade does slightly more damage than Hex (2D8 versus 2D6), and with a level 3 spell slot, it's even more of a difference (3D8 versus 2D6). Also, Shadow Blade gives me advantage in Dim Light and Darkness. Hex lasts for 8 hours, whereas Shadow Blade only lasts for one minute, but I still don't think I would switch from using Shadow Blade to using Hex. I'm not taking the Mobile Feat. I had to take an ASI at level 5 because my character started off with 17 Dexterity and 13 Charisma, so I'm not going to get war caster until level 9. And level 13 is a long way away, but I'll likely take +2 Dex or +2 Charisma at that point. I don't think Relentless Hex makes sense for my character. I'm not doing a Hex Blade or using Hex, and I don't think I'll change that.
Trickster's Escape for Freedom of Movement is an interesting one. It's nice that it doesn't take a spell slot or take concentration. I had assumed that it was a concentration spell, but I checked just now and apparently it isn't concentration. So I could use it while I'm using a Shadow Blade. It's an hour long as well, so I can cast it before the big fight of the day. It's a worthy contender for an invocation to choose.
It looks like you've thought this out really well, so kudos to sticking to your plan and theme. A level of Fighter is great for a non-Hexblade Warlock, especially a melee-focused one.
I've played numerous Hexblade Warlocks, both Blade and Tome but never Chain, and I've always taken Agonizing Blast and never any of the other EB-modding invocations. It adds so much for so little (one cantrip, one invocation) in my experience.