You don't have a means of healing yourself like Fighters and Paladins do, or resist damage the way Barbarians do.
Well, technically the Hexblade can heal themself once per short rest when dropping their cursed target to 0 HP. Apart from that, Warlock's usual way of beefing up is through temporary HP, like through Armor of Agathys.However, using spell slots for temporary HP will then again hurt your spike damage, meaning the fight will take longer and that goes back to the issue of tanking.
That's why my Warlock is a Celestial Warlock with Pact of the Chain and the Gift of the Ever-Living Ones invocation (and with one level in Fighter giving Second Wind). My self healing abilities are quite good.
Since the Fighter's self heal ability is once per short rest, it's perfectly appropriate to compare the Second Wind ability to the self heal from Hexblade's curse. The Fighter has much more control over when he chooses to give himself the hit points, and because he gets to add a D10 + his figher level instead of the Warlock's Charisma modifier + Warlock level, he will get slightly more self healing than a Warlock, but the difference is pretty tiny. It's just the ability to control when you receive the self healing is pretty huge. A Warlock using his Hexblade's curse on a boss obviously can't get the self healing until after the boss is dead, whereas the Fighter can get the self healing whenever it is convenient for him.
A Hexblade will not have as much ability to absorb attacks as much as a Fighter, Paladin, or Barbarian, but it can still come pretty close, while bringing some other abilities to the table that those three classes can't bring. Is it enough resilience to be the only melee in your party? I would say no, unless your party members agree to use their abilities to help you stay up. Which they should be willing to do, but it varies from party to party for how much people are willing to do what's best for the party. If they don't want to help keep you up, then it's quite easy to just stand off to the side in combat and fight a battle off to the side, and let the majority of the enemies run at your selfish ranged teammates that don't want to use any crowd control abilities or buffs to help encourage you to hold the front line for them.
If Fiendish Vigor was something more than level 1 False Life you could use it every other turn to give yourself an HP buffer.
It's okay-ish for out of combat use, where you can keep using it until you get an 8 on the 1d8 roll, bu in combat you are probably going to get 4-6 most times which realistically wont last more than a single hit. You would need to cast it every round for it to be even remotely useful
Starting every fight with temporary hit points is /very/ useful. In combat, the warlock isn't generally taking a lot of hits. I tried it out and /love/ it.
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Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
As I said, its okay when you have cast it out of combat and have 8 temp HP starting a fight. The use you get depends on your role in a fight, - if you are going to be behind the meat shields then you might not even be targeted for a while and they will last. But for a Hexblade Fiendish Vigor is useless as you are probably using your 2 spell slots on Hex and Armour of Agathys, and the temp HP won't stack anyway. Warlocks can be built in so many ways that not all options will get the same benefits from invocations.
If Fiendish Vigor was something more than level 1 False Life you could use it every other turn to give yourself an HP buffer.
It's okay-ish for out of combat use, where you can keep using it until you get an 8 on the 1d8 roll, bu in combat you are probably going to get 4-6 most times which realistically wont last more than a single hit. You would need to cast it every round for it to be even remotely useful
False Life is actually 1D4+4, so you have a minimum of 5 and an average of 6.5
At lower levels where 5-8 temporary hit points are noticeable, it can be worth casting it during combat instead of doing an attack. For levels 2-4, it's a fantastic invocation. Once you get a second beam of Eldritch Blast (or extra attack as a Pact of the Blade, or an extra D8 on Green Flame Blade for my unique Warlock), it might not worth casting it during combat instead of doing an attack. Although if you're low on HP and the extra 5-8 temporary HP will often save you from being knocked down to 0 HP, it could be worth casting.
My Warlock gets 4th level spells at his next level, and I plan on taking Shadow of Moil, and I plan on getting the Fiendish Vigor invocation to help maintain concentration on Shadow of Moil. One neat perk is that if I get hit for a tiny amount of damage and my temporary hit points absorb all of the damage and I don't actually take any damage, I don't even need to make a Constitution Save to maintain concentration, but I still get to deal 2D8 damage if the attacker was within 10 feet of me.
Edit: I'm not as sure if Fiendish Vigor is as useful next level after all. I've also been getting away with not doing Constitution Saves to maintain concentration when using the Tomb of Levistus ability, I'll have to let my DM know that I need to start doing those.
False Life is actually 1D4+4, so you have a minimum of 5 and an average of 6.5
Correct, but the invocation Fiendish vigor can be used at will, doesn't use resources and doesn't use a spell slot. That means that out of combat the warlock can just keep using it over and over until 8 is obtained without it making any difference. In combat however you get what you get as you say.
My Warlock gets 4th level spells at his next level, and I plan on taking Shadow of Moil, and I plan on getting the Fiendish Vigor invocation to help maintain concentration on Shadow of Moil. One neat perk is that if I get hit for a tiny amount of damage and my temporary hit points absorb all of the damage and I don't actually take any damage, I don't even need to make a Constitution Save to maintain concentration, but I still get to deal 2D8 damage if the attacker was within 10 feet of me.
You still make concentration checks when you have temporary HP. You are still taking the full amount of damage, it is just being applied to a different health pool.
My Warlock gets 4th level spells at his next level, and I plan on taking Shadow of Moil, and I plan on getting the Fiendish Vigor invocation to help maintain concentration on Shadow of Moil. One neat perk is that if I get hit for a tiny amount of damage and my temporary hit points absorb all of the damage and I don't actually take any damage, I don't even need to make a Constitution Save to maintain concentration, but I still get to deal 2D8 damage if the attacker was within 10 feet of me.
You still make concentration checks when you have temporary HP. You are still taking the full amount of damage, it is just being applied to a different health pool.
Does that mean that temporary HP are also affected by damage resistances? I guess my group has been using temporary HP the wrong way.
My Warlock gets 4th level spells at his next level, and I plan on taking Shadow of Moil, and I plan on getting the Fiendish Vigor invocation to help maintain concentration on Shadow of Moil. One neat perk is that if I get hit for a tiny amount of damage and my temporary hit points absorb all of the damage and I don't actually take any damage, I don't even need to make a Constitution Save to maintain concentration, but I still get to deal 2D8 damage if the attacker was within 10 feet of me.
You still make concentration checks when you have temporary HP. You are still taking the full amount of damage, it is just being applied to a different health pool.
Does that mean that temporary HP are also affected by damage resistances? I guess my group has been using temporary HP the wrong way.
Yes. First the damage is altered by relevant modifiers (damage resistances, damage reduction effects like deflect missiles or Arcane Ward), then the result is the amount of damage you actually take (relevant for concentration checks or other features that depend on damage taken). That final number is first subtracted from your Temp HP, then all remaining damage is subtracted from your current HP.
I did play a fun one off today using a level 3 Half-Elf Hexblade Warlock, Pact of the Blade. I took Armor of Shadows and Agonizing Blast as his invocations, and found it's quite nice when you simply don't care about your equipment. You can cast mage armor at will, giving you AC16 with your normal Dex 16, and summon magical weapons to hand whenever you need them. You also have the best damage cantrip in the game as your ranged attack.
We were in a Groundhog Day like scenario where we awakened every morning in an alley with an irate dwarf kicking us in the ribs and telling us we had to find his travelling companion, Nancy. She was, of course, the reason for our time loop and every time we died, or she did, the loop would start over. We eventually identified the bad guy in one of the loops, in the next rescuing Nancy, and, the moment we encountered the villain, I used misty step to teleport behind him and slam my dagger in just under his skull. The DM thought this was a good way to go, so I roll to hit before he had a chance to cast his own mage armor. Thunk. Down he went. Instant death.
You simply DO NOT need to spam EB. Not gonna min/max this, or go into DPR math, but you can play your Hexblade any way you want. I played mine up to HB 17 / Rogue 3 Swashbuckler and loved jumping right into battles. Used Misty Step to 'port INTO melee range. Didn't bother with a shield, to use a 2-hsnded weapon. Didn't use full plate, because stealth.
All in all, in 20 levels over 2 years, I conservatively cast EB (with Agonizing, no other EB Invocs) in 40-50 rounds. There's some people who do that in 2 levels.
You can stack serious damage - HB curse, Maddening Hex, Eldritch Smite, Thirsting Blade, Lifedrinker... My HB did like 176 points of damage in one round, on one crit hit (ok, Armor of Agathys and Hellish rebuke reactions accounted for 38 of that...) The second attack missed, or she would have probably taken out a Cloud Giant in one round.
You simply DO NOT need to spam EB. Not gonna min/max this, or go into DPR math, but you can play your Hexblade any way you want. I played mine up to HB 17 / Rogue 3 Swashbuckler and loved jumping right into battles. Used Misty Step to 'port INTO melee range. Didn't bother with a shield, to use a 2-hsnded weapon. Didn't use full plate, because stealth.
All in all, in 20 levels over 2 years, I conservatively cast EB (with Agonizing, no other EB Invocs) in 40-50 rounds. There's some people who do that in 2 levels.
You can stack serious damage - HB curse, Maddening Hex, Eldritch Smite, Thirsting Blade, Lifedrinker... My HB did like 176 points of damage in one round, on one crit hit (ok, Armor of Agathys and Hellish rebuke reactions accounted for 38 of that...) The second attack missed, or she would have probably taken out a Cloud Giant in one round.
Any chance I can take a look at your character on here? I'm building a similar one and I would love to see the character sheet if at all possible.
Here she is. Did 5 levels of HB, a 3 level dip for Swashbuckler (she was already a criminal, so the DM had no problem with it) then went back to HB. The DM made my pact weapon Finesse, for Sneak Attack bonus. Among other things... Just realized how much awesome stuff you can collect over 20 levels.
Attention: I am making a new subclass for the Paladin called Oath of the Unyielding Sword, which is also known as the Sword Saint/Holy Swordsman. It is entirely based on Orlandeau from one of the best Final Fantasy games, Final Fantasy Tactics. Orlandeau is a Holy Swordsman who uses 11 very strong sword skills. I am transferring these skills over to D&D 5e in this subclass. All these skills have special effects and deal damage. Since they are incredibly strong, they do have a recharge time period between rounds. Least is 1 round, Lesser is 2 rounds, Greater is 4 rounds, and Dark is 5 rounds. These skills replace the Channel Divinity and other regular traits you can find in other Oaths. I want some people's ideas and feedback on damage, spell replication, and subclass features in a forum that will be soon created on D&D Beyond. You gain these skills when you would get an Oath feature on the Paladin's progression table.
It will also be a Human race only subclass, letting you know.
If Fiendish Vigor was something more than level 1 False Life you could use it every other turn to give yourself an HP buffer.
That's why my Warlock is a Celestial Warlock with Pact of the Chain and the Gift of the Ever-Living Ones invocation (and with one level in Fighter giving Second Wind). My self healing abilities are quite good.
Since the Fighter's self heal ability is once per short rest, it's perfectly appropriate to compare the Second Wind ability to the self heal from Hexblade's curse. The Fighter has much more control over when he chooses to give himself the hit points, and because he gets to add a D10 + his figher level instead of the Warlock's Charisma modifier + Warlock level, he will get slightly more self healing than a Warlock, but the difference is pretty tiny. It's just the ability to control when you receive the self healing is pretty huge. A Warlock using his Hexblade's curse on a boss obviously can't get the self healing until after the boss is dead, whereas the Fighter can get the self healing whenever it is convenient for him.
A Hexblade will not have as much ability to absorb attacks as much as a Fighter, Paladin, or Barbarian, but it can still come pretty close, while bringing some other abilities to the table that those three classes can't bring. Is it enough resilience to be the only melee in your party? I would say no, unless your party members agree to use their abilities to help you stay up. Which they should be willing to do, but it varies from party to party for how much people are willing to do what's best for the party. If they don't want to help keep you up, then it's quite easy to just stand off to the side in combat and fight a battle off to the side, and let the majority of the enemies run at your selfish ranged teammates that don't want to use any crowd control abilities or buffs to help encourage you to hold the front line for them.
It's okay-ish for out of combat use, where you can keep using it until you get an 8 on the 1d8 roll, bu in combat you are probably going to get 4-6 most times which realistically wont last more than a single hit. You would need to cast it every round for it to be even remotely useful
Starting every fight with temporary hit points is /very/ useful. In combat, the warlock isn't generally taking a lot of hits. I tried it out and /love/ it.
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Tasha
As I said, its okay when you have cast it out of combat and have 8 temp HP starting a fight. The use you get depends on your role in a fight, - if you are going to be behind the meat shields then you might not even be targeted for a while and they will last. But for a Hexblade Fiendish Vigor is useless as you are probably using your 2 spell slots on Hex and Armour of Agathys, and the temp HP won't stack anyway. Warlocks can be built in so many ways that not all options will get the same benefits from invocations.
False Life is actually 1D4+4, so you have a minimum of 5 and an average of 6.5
At lower levels where 5-8 temporary hit points are noticeable, it can be worth casting it during combat instead of doing an attack. For levels 2-4, it's a fantastic invocation. Once you get a second beam of Eldritch Blast (or extra attack as a Pact of the Blade, or an extra D8 on Green Flame Blade for my unique Warlock), it might not worth casting it during combat instead of doing an attack. Although if you're low on HP and the extra 5-8 temporary HP will often save you from being knocked down to 0 HP, it could be worth casting.
My Warlock gets 4th level spells at his next level, and I plan on taking Shadow of Moil, and I plan on getting the Fiendish Vigor invocation
to help maintain concentration on Shadow of Moil. One neat perk is that if I get hit for a tiny amount of damage and my temporary hit points absorb all of the damage and I don't actually take any damage, I don't even need to make a Constitution Save to maintain concentration, but I still get to deal 2D8 damage if the attacker was within 10 feet of me.
Edit: I'm not as sure if Fiendish Vigor is as useful next level after all. I've also been getting away with not doing Constitution Saves to maintain concentration when using the Tomb of Levistus ability, I'll have to let my DM know that I need to start doing those.You still make concentration checks when you have temporary HP. You are still taking the full amount of damage, it is just being applied to a different health pool.
Does that mean that temporary HP are also affected by damage resistances? I guess my group has been using temporary HP the wrong way.
Yes. First the damage is altered by relevant modifiers (damage resistances, damage reduction effects like deflect missiles or Arcane Ward), then the result is the amount of damage you actually take (relevant for concentration checks or other features that depend on damage taken). That final number is first subtracted from your Temp HP, then all remaining damage is subtracted from your current HP.
Well, I guess the DM is not going to want to let the Bear Totem Barbarian in our party get a ring of spell storing to get Armor of Agathys from me :)
I just have to keep my plans a secret....
Yes, if they hit your temp hp, you are still taking damage - even if you actual pool isn't diminished.
https://www.sageadvice.eu/2014/09/02/temporary-concentration-dc/
https://rpg.stackexchange.com/q/55609/33204
I did play a fun one off today using a level 3 Half-Elf Hexblade Warlock, Pact of the Blade. I took Armor of Shadows and Agonizing Blast as his invocations, and found it's quite nice when you simply don't care about your equipment. You can cast mage armor at will, giving you AC16 with your normal Dex 16, and summon magical weapons to hand whenever you need them. You also have the best damage cantrip in the game as your ranged attack.
We were in a Groundhog Day like scenario where we awakened every morning in an alley with an irate dwarf kicking us in the ribs and telling us we had to find his travelling companion, Nancy. She was, of course, the reason for our time loop and every time we died, or she did, the loop would start over. We eventually identified the bad guy in one of the loops, in the next rescuing Nancy, and, the moment we encountered the villain, I used misty step to teleport behind him and slam my dagger in just under his skull. The DM thought this was a good way to go, so I roll to hit before he had a chance to cast his own mage armor. Thunk. Down he went. Instant death.
You simply DO NOT need to spam EB. Not gonna min/max this, or go into DPR math, but you can play your Hexblade any way you want. I played mine up to HB 17 / Rogue 3 Swashbuckler and loved jumping right into battles. Used Misty Step to 'port INTO melee range. Didn't bother with a shield, to use a 2-hsnded weapon. Didn't use full plate, because stealth.
All in all, in 20 levels over 2 years, I conservatively cast EB (with Agonizing, no other EB Invocs) in 40-50 rounds. There's some people who do that in 2 levels.
You can stack serious damage - HB curse, Maddening Hex, Eldritch Smite, Thirsting Blade, Lifedrinker... My HB did like 176 points of damage in one round, on one crit hit (ok, Armor of Agathys and Hellish rebuke reactions accounted for 38 of that...) The second attack missed, or she would have probably taken out a Cloud Giant in one round.
Any chance I can take a look at your character on here? I'm building a similar one and I would love to see the character sheet if at all possible.
Here she is. Did 5 levels of HB, a 3 level dip for Swashbuckler (she was already a criminal, so the DM had no problem with it) then went back to HB.
The DM made my pact weapon Finesse, for Sneak Attack bonus. Among other things...
Just realized how much awesome stuff you can collect over 20 levels.
https://ddb.ac/characters/3696324/DX8zfu
I am currently playing a Warlock in my brother's campaign, with the The Celestial Pact.
Celestial is a patron, not a pact. Pacts are Tome, Blade, or Chain.
Well it is a Bladelock Celestial.
Attention: I am making a new subclass for the Paladin called Oath of the Unyielding Sword, which is also known as the Sword Saint/Holy Swordsman. It is entirely based on Orlandeau from one of the best Final Fantasy games, Final Fantasy Tactics. Orlandeau is a Holy Swordsman who uses 11 very strong sword skills. I am transferring these skills over to D&D 5e in this subclass. All these skills have special effects and deal damage. Since they are incredibly strong, they do have a recharge time period between rounds. Least is 1 round, Lesser is 2 rounds, Greater is 4 rounds, and Dark is 5 rounds. These skills replace the Channel Divinity and other regular traits you can find in other Oaths. I want some people's ideas and feedback on damage, spell replication, and subclass features in a forum that will be soon created on D&D Beyond. You gain these skills when you would get an Oath feature on the Paladin's progression table.
It will also be a Human race only subclass, letting you know.