Hi everyone, i'm making a pure hexblade for tomb of annihilation, so it should be up to level 10.
It's gonna be a scourge aasimar with 8/14/16/10/10/16 at first level (and probably plan on going featless for the con and cha boost to 18, if you have better ideas feel free to share, for both stats and ASIs), I gave him low strength on purpose due to backstory reasons
I have 2 questions as it is the first time playing this class and a spellcaster for that matter: 1) What's my best "tactic" when in melee? As in, do i cast AoA, or Shadow of moil, Hex, Radiant Consumption, or something else ... so many choices hahahahahha one thing for sure is i won't use polearm master/gwm/darkness. I don't hate pam, but the other two are just.. no. I used gmw on my chara already and promised myself not to ever again hahahahh and darkness is just a pain for the party and an invocation slot, so nah
2) Any advices on spell progression are more than welcome
These are the questions, but i won't mind any suggestions or advices... heard that it's gonna be reaaaaally hard so i went a lil in paranoia hahahaha didn't want this chara to die
Remember Tomb of Annihilation is not, strictly speaking, a roleplaying game. It's a puzzle game with your roleplaying characters. "What do I do?" not "What would my character do."
As for your Hexblade, an annoyance of the tomb is that if you fail one of the puzzles you're likely to end up at the start again without your weapons and equipment.
Fortunately Pact of the Blade Warlocks are basically equipment independent. Improved Pact Weapon gives you +1 magical weapons, and Armor of Shadows gives you on demand Mage Armor. That also means the only statistics you really care about are Charisma (because that's your combat stat when playing a Hexblade) and Dexterity (because your AC is 13 + Dex Mod). I would start with 8/15/16/8/8/17 then use the first ASI to bump Dex and Cha.
If you were playing with a shield I would take War Caster at level 4, then the ASI boost at level 8, but if you're not (just summoning a greatsword) then I'd take the Cha to 20 at level 8.
More important than spells are your invocations, and Pact of the Blade typically needs 3 (4 if you reach level 12). Improved Pact Weapon, Thirsting Blade, Eldritch Smite. Eldritch Smite is a toss up because you don't really have spell slots to spare on it, but it can be nice to have. If we add in Armor of Shadows that means your progression will be, Level 2: Armor of Shadows plus anything. Level 3: Armor of Shadows plus Improved Pact Weapon, Level 5: Armor of Shadows plus Improved Pact Weapon plus Thirsting Blade, Level 7 Armor of Shadows plus Improved Pact Weapon plus Thirsting Blade plus Agonizing Blast. Level 9: Armor of Shadows plus Improved Pact Weapon plus Thirsting Blade plus Agonizing Blast plus Eldritch Smite.
Remember that Pact of the Blade allows you to summon a lance. That can be helpful as a substitute for a ten foot pole for testing the floors, walls, and ceilings.
I really like the Drow Half-elf variant for the the two +1 ability improvements plus the +2 to CHA Also giving you all the Drow magic (including Darkness) to pair with the Devil's sight Invocation, no Sunlight sensitivity debuff, Now you can Pick up the Elven Accuracy Feat (picking CHA) for the 18 CHA and you new get to Crit Fish anytime you have advantage, Hexblade Cures helps with that
Another option is my personal favorite the Satyr Race: +1 DEX, +2 CHA... and Magic resistance plus 35 foot movement and a few other great features I Dip 1 level of Fighter for the STR & CON Proficiencies, then Dump STR, The STR Proficiency especially balances the two, could take Athletics to help even more. Magic Resistance gives you Advantage on all Magic Based Saving throws which is amazing NOW multiclass into Hexblade... with all the equipment you would have hat to buy.... I take and keep the Heavy Armor (wearing it give without the proper STR gives you -10 to movement, but partly made up by the Satyr Races 35 foot movement) .
I find the best value for a Hexblade ends about level 5. you have Lvl 3 Spellslot which you regain on a short rest, you get Three Other Worldly Invocation, One ability score increase
Remember, a Hexblade has massive Action Economy issues.
Hex is a Bonus Action, Hexblade's Curse is a Bonus Action, other spells like Misty Step are Bonus Actions. And also huge Concentration based spell issues. You will never have Hex and Shadow of Moil up at the same time, or any number of other spells that seem cool. You might find that Hex is a nice thing, but gets in the way of so many other things that you give it up, very early in your char progression.
If you go Hexblade, you must accept on focusing on a couple methods of play, some that are incompatible with one another:
a. Hex and Eldritch Blast combo, and your char stays at range.
b. Armor of Agathys, and then wade into melee combat, and avoid Conc spells, since you will likely lost Conc often.
c. Focus on ranged and debuff spells, but given you only have 2 spell slots, why do this at all, and just play a Sorcerer or Wizard?
If you're starting low level, I absolutely recommend Fiendish Vigor as a Invocation. This let's you cast False Life at will as a 1st level spell. Since you will likely be in the thick of combat with generally lower AC than most martial classes (I recommend taking a shield to offset this, and your weapon will become your spellcasting focus), this let you get temporary HP whenever you take as an Action, while still keeping your Bonus Action available.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Hi everyone, i'm making a pure hexblade for tomb of annihilation, so it should be up to level 10.
It's gonna be a scourge aasimar with 8/14/16/10/10/16 at first level (and probably plan on going featless for the con and cha boost to 18, if you have better ideas feel free to share, for both stats and ASIs), I gave him low strength on purpose due to backstory reasons
I have 2 questions as it is the first time playing this class and a spellcaster for that matter:
1) What's my best "tactic" when in melee? As in, do i cast AoA, or Shadow of moil, Hex, Radiant Consumption, or something else ... so many choices hahahahahha one thing for sure is i won't use polearm master/gwm/darkness. I don't hate pam, but the other two are just.. no. I used gmw on my chara already and promised myself not to ever again hahahahh and darkness is just a pain for the party and an invocation slot, so nah
2) Any advices on spell progression are more than welcome
These are the questions, but i won't mind any suggestions or advices... heard that it's gonna be reaaaaally hard so i went a lil in paranoia hahahaha didn't want this chara to die
Remember Tomb of Annihilation is not, strictly speaking, a roleplaying game. It's a puzzle game with your roleplaying characters. "What do I do?" not "What would my character do."
As for your Hexblade, an annoyance of the tomb is that if you fail one of the puzzles you're likely to end up at the start again without your weapons and equipment.
Fortunately Pact of the Blade Warlocks are basically equipment independent. Improved Pact Weapon gives you +1 magical weapons, and Armor of Shadows gives you on demand Mage Armor. That also means the only statistics you really care about are Charisma (because that's your combat stat when playing a Hexblade) and Dexterity (because your AC is 13 + Dex Mod). I would start with 8/15/16/8/8/17 then use the first ASI to bump Dex and Cha.
If you were playing with a shield I would take War Caster at level 4, then the ASI boost at level 8, but if you're not (just summoning a greatsword) then I'd take the Cha to 20 at level 8.
More important than spells are your invocations, and Pact of the Blade typically needs 3 (4 if you reach level 12). Improved Pact Weapon, Thirsting Blade, Eldritch Smite. Eldritch Smite is a toss up because you don't really have spell slots to spare on it, but it can be nice to have. If we add in Armor of Shadows that means your progression will be, Level 2: Armor of Shadows plus anything. Level 3: Armor of Shadows plus Improved Pact Weapon, Level 5: Armor of Shadows plus Improved Pact Weapon plus Thirsting Blade, Level 7 Armor of Shadows plus Improved Pact Weapon plus Thirsting Blade plus Agonizing Blast. Level 9: Armor of Shadows plus Improved Pact Weapon plus Thirsting Blade plus Agonizing Blast plus Eldritch Smite.
Remember that Pact of the Blade allows you to summon a lance. That can be helpful as a substitute for a ten foot pole for testing the floors, walls, and ceilings.
I really like the Drow Half-elf variant for the the two +1 ability improvements plus the +2 to CHA Also giving you all the Drow magic (including Darkness) to pair with the Devil's sight Invocation, no Sunlight sensitivity debuff, Now you can Pick up the Elven Accuracy Feat (picking CHA) for the 18 CHA and you new get to Crit Fish anytime you have advantage, Hexblade Cures helps with that
Another option is my personal favorite the Satyr Race: +1 DEX, +2 CHA... and Magic resistance plus 35 foot movement and a few other great features I Dip 1 level of Fighter for the STR & CON Proficiencies, then Dump STR, The STR Proficiency especially balances the two, could take Athletics to help even more. Magic Resistance gives you Advantage on all Magic Based Saving throws which is amazing NOW multiclass into Hexblade... with all the equipment you would have hat to buy.... I take and keep the Heavy Armor (wearing it give without the proper STR gives you -10 to movement, but partly made up by the Satyr Races 35 foot movement) .
I find the best value for a Hexblade ends about level 5. you have Lvl 3 Spellslot which you regain on a short rest, you get Three Other Worldly Invocation, One ability score increase
Remember, a Hexblade has massive Action Economy issues.
Hex is a Bonus Action, Hexblade's Curse is a Bonus Action, other spells like Misty Step are Bonus Actions. And also huge Concentration based spell issues. You will never have Hex and Shadow of Moil up at the same time, or any number of other spells that seem cool. You might find that Hex is a nice thing, but gets in the way of so many other things that you give it up, very early in your char progression.
If you go Hexblade, you must accept on focusing on a couple methods of play, some that are incompatible with one another:
a. Hex and Eldritch Blast combo, and your char stays at range.
b. Armor of Agathys, and then wade into melee combat, and avoid Conc spells, since you will likely lost Conc often.
c. Focus on ranged and debuff spells, but given you only have 2 spell slots, why do this at all, and just play a Sorcerer or Wizard?
If you're starting low level, I absolutely recommend Fiendish Vigor as a Invocation. This let's you cast False Life at will as a 1st level spell. Since you will likely be in the thick of combat with generally lower AC than most martial classes (I recommend taking a shield to offset this, and your weapon will become your spellcasting focus), this let you get temporary HP whenever you take as an Action, while still keeping your Bonus Action available.