In a game I am going to be joining (Curse of Stad) My Elf is a Hexblade (will switch to bard lore of Sword). His Patron though is the Moonblade that was stolen when his village was destroyed. Me and my DM feels that the fluff change makes no difference but works as to why a Good person may be a Hexblade.
You can fluff things however you want, however the Hexblade IS the patron. It isn't serving a patron. The connection to the Raven Queen comes into play due to her having created the first Hexblades, the rest is just in-universe speculation.
As for switching out subclass features, that's homebrew territory and shouldn't be talked over with your DM. What random people on the internet say doesn't matter. That being said, I don't think the 6th level feature is Shadowfell/Raven Queen exclusive. Almost all patrons can plausibly meddle with souls in one way or another.
The Raven Queen is popular Fluff and in world speculation as well. It says it's believed to be the Raven Queen that you somehow serve. What your actually serving is the magical Weapon an those come in lots of flavors. The raven Queen is only tangentally tied to the whole issue because she supposedly created the first Blackrazor and even the Shadow Fel is only tangentally tied from when Black Razor was a negative energy weapon and the Shadow Fel was the Negative energy plane (which was very different from the shadow fel as it is now). The Black Razor is only a sentient weapon your possibly serving but that is not actually a guarantee and the fine details actually say such. But there are a lot of other mysterious legendary sentient blades with purposes. the moonblades are one of them. Technically some form of Holy Avenger could be one. There is the Sun blade I'm trying to remember the name of that got lost in the underdark dedicated to wiping out evil. All of them can easily provide the powers of the Hexblade.
The level 6 power is the only thing that is even close to being anything intrinsically Shadow Fel/Raven Queen in nature. But that's not necessarily true since Black Razor is a soul eating sword and that spectre could just be a manifestation of the trapped soul before Black Razor eats it. It could be a manifestation of the living entities inside moonblades (some of which are past owners of such blades) taking only shadow (or cosmetically other possible) forms. Even Some Holy Avengers are actually Possessed by powerful minds or beings and might trap souls of evil beings so they can't strengthen places like the 9 hells and you could easily remask that Shadow as an ill defined Paladin like spirit for something like the Holy Avenger.
Too bad that's not actually what the Hexblade writeup says.
You have made your pact with a mysterious entity from the Shadowfell — a force that manifests in sentient magic weapons carved from the stuff of shadow. The mighty sword Blackrazor is the most notable of these weapons, which have been spread across the multiverse over the ages. The shadowy force behind these weaponscan offer power to warlocks who form pacts with it. Many hexblade warlocks create weapons that emulate those formed in the Shadowfell. Others forgo such arms, content to weave the dark magic of that plane into their spellcasting.
Because the Raven Queen is known to have forged the first of these weapons, many sages speculate that she and the force are one and that the weapons, along with hexblade warlocks, are tools she uses to manipulate events on the Material Plane to her inscrutable ends.
It seems pretty clear that the Raven Queen, or some other Dread Power type, is the one most likely granting the powers, not the sentient weapon.
I mean, no one is going to tell you what to do in your game, and there's enough ambiguity to make whatever call you want in your campaign, but the writeup doesn't really support the idea that the weapon is the one that grants the powers. The write up seems to treat it more like a familiar given by your Patron than your actual Patron.
Too bad that's not actually what the Hexblade writeup says.
You have made your pact with a mysterious entity from the Shadowfell — a force that manifests in sentient magic weapons carved from the stuff of shadow. The mighty sword Blackrazor is the most notable of these weapons, which have been spread across the multiverse over the ages. The shadowy force behind these weaponscan offer power to warlocks who form pacts with it. Many hexblade warlocks create weapons that emulate those formed in the Shadowfell. Others forgo such arms, content to weave the dark magic of that plane into their spellcasting.
Because the Raven Queen is known to have forged the first of these weapons, many sages speculate that she and the force are one and that the weapons, along with hexblade warlocks, are tools she uses to manipulate events on the Material Plane to her inscrutable ends.
It seems pretty clear that the Raven Queen, or some other Dread Power type, is the one most likely granting the powers, not the sentient weapon.
I mean, no one is going to tell you what to do in your game, and there's enough ambiguity to make whatever call you want in your campaign, but the writeup doesn't really support the idea that the weapon is the one that grants the powers. The write up seems to treat it more like a familiar given by your Patron than your actual Patron.
Yes, I think the description leaves things vague enough that you could have the patron be the sentient weapon or some mysterious entity that created the weapon. The only real solid connect is that whatever it is, it seems to originate from the Shadowfell. So the Raven Queen is an option, or maybe a Nightwalker, a powerful shade, a Shadow Dragon, an undead like a vampire or lich who’s essence is tied to the Shadowfell, a powerful Shadar-Kai mage, etc.
Edit: even then, it wouldn’t be hard to reflavor the Hexblade. Maybe your patron is a powerful undead or a being of shadows, or a witch that isn’t connected to the Shadowfell. Maybe you are a Hexblade of the unseelie court of the Fey in the Feywilds, or a Hexblade connected to a shadow demon or Leviticus the icy archdevil. Maybe you are a Hexblade connected to a god of death, winter and decay, or the embodiment of the darkest side of nature itself. Honestly their are a lot of possibilities.
I want to point somehting out. "Seems to originate from the Shadowfel." But the weapon is an important connection that exists throughout the Hexblade. Remember that it's only in universe speculation that you are actually serving something (or anything) that is behind something like the Black Razor. But the Black Razor has Risen to the point of powerful entity well beyond a simple sentient weapon itself. To the point that it has created it's own imitations.
And you really don't need to be mixing other Patron types (subclasses) to the Hexblade to dilute it just because it's suggested it might be coming from something more than the weapon. Particularly since Sentient Weapons. Specially ones that gain massive inworld and and real world fame are already their own powerful beings in essence that are the type to grant powers. Making them the actual patron to a Warlock is just scaling up what they do as a Sentient Weapon to actually powering the abilities of a class/subclass. Powerful Sentient Weapons are actually outright logical patrons.
The hexblade writeup is vague enough that you can pretty much flavor it however you like...which you should do regardless. The mechanics are important to making the game work. The flavor you choose to go about is not. That's your story to tell. I really wish the designers just stuck to the mechanics and made suggestions for fluff, rather than "hard coding" things that a player /should/ feel more free about refluffing at will.
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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.
Howdy folks, I'm interested in hexblades serving different patrons (fiend, archfey etc.. ).
The only power that seems Raven Queen specific is the lvl 6 one. Anyone foresee any issues with switching that power out for another lvl 6 patron one?
What's the problem with using Accursed Specter? It's not as if it is permanent, it only lasts until your next long rest ends. You're borrowing a soul for a few hours, so what?
Howdy folks, I'm interested in hexblades serving different patrons (fiend, archfey etc.. ).
The only power that seems Raven Queen specific is the lvl 6 one. Anyone foresee any issues with switching that power out for another lvl 6 patron one?
What's the problem with using Accursed Specter? It's not as if it is permanent, it only lasts until your next long rest ends. You're borrowing a soul for a few hours, so what?
Good for the fiend patron. You’re just borrowing some of thier car gas.
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Howdy folks, I'm interested in hexblades serving different patrons (fiend, archfey etc.. ).
The only power that seems Raven Queen specific is the lvl 6 one. Anyone foresee any issues with switching that power out for another lvl 6 patron one?
Why are you specifically seeking to have Hexblades over Simple Pact of the Blade Warlock's serving other patrons of other subclass types?
In a game I am going to be joining (Curse of Stad) My Elf is a Hexblade (will switch to bard lore of Sword). His Patron though is the Moonblade that was stolen when his village was destroyed. Me and my DM feels that the fluff change makes no difference but works as to why a Good person may be a Hexblade.
I spell Goodly.
The Raven Queen is popular Fluff and in world speculation as well. It says it's believed to be the Raven Queen that you somehow serve. What your actually serving is the magical Weapon an those come in lots of flavors. The raven Queen is only tangentally tied to the whole issue because she supposedly created the first Blackrazor and even the Shadow Fel is only tangentally tied from when Black Razor was a negative energy weapon and the Shadow Fel was the Negative energy plane (which was very different from the shadow fel as it is now). The Black Razor is only a sentient weapon your possibly serving but that is not actually a guarantee and the fine details actually say such. But there are a lot of other mysterious legendary sentient blades with purposes. the moonblades are one of them. Technically some form of Holy Avenger could be one. There is the Sun blade I'm trying to remember the name of that got lost in the underdark dedicated to wiping out evil. All of them can easily provide the powers of the Hexblade.
The level 6 power is the only thing that is even close to being anything intrinsically Shadow Fel/Raven Queen in nature. But that's not necessarily true since Black Razor is a soul eating sword and that spectre could just be a manifestation of the trapped soul before Black Razor eats it. It could be a manifestation of the living entities inside moonblades (some of which are past owners of such blades) taking only shadow (or cosmetically other possible) forms. Even Some Holy Avengers are actually Possessed by powerful minds or beings and might trap souls of evil beings so they can't strengthen places like the 9 hells and you could easily remask that Shadow as an ill defined Paladin like spirit for something like the Holy Avenger.
Too bad that's not actually what the Hexblade writeup says.
It seems pretty clear that the Raven Queen, or some other Dread Power type, is the one most likely granting the powers, not the sentient weapon.
I mean, no one is going to tell you what to do in your game, and there's enough ambiguity to make whatever call you want in your campaign, but the writeup doesn't really support the idea that the weapon is the one that grants the powers. The write up seems to treat it more like a familiar given by your Patron than your actual Patron.
Yes, I think the description leaves things vague enough that you could have the patron be the sentient weapon or some mysterious entity that created the weapon. The only real solid connect is that whatever it is, it seems to originate from the Shadowfell. So the Raven Queen is an option, or maybe a Nightwalker, a powerful shade, a Shadow Dragon, an undead like a vampire or lich who’s essence is tied to the Shadowfell, a powerful Shadar-Kai mage, etc.
Edit: even then, it wouldn’t be hard to reflavor the Hexblade. Maybe your patron is a powerful undead or a being of shadows, or a witch that isn’t connected to the Shadowfell. Maybe you are a Hexblade of the unseelie court of the Fey in the Feywilds, or a Hexblade connected to a shadow demon or Leviticus the icy archdevil. Maybe you are a Hexblade connected to a god of death, winter and decay, or the embodiment of the darkest side of nature itself. Honestly their are a lot of possibilities.
"Meddle not in the affairs of dragons, for thou art crunchy and taste good with ketchup."
Characters for Tenebris Sine Fine
RoughCoronet's Greater Wills
I want to point somehting out. "Seems to originate from the Shadowfel." But the weapon is an important connection that exists throughout the Hexblade. Remember that it's only in universe speculation that you are actually serving something (or anything) that is behind something like the Black Razor. But the Black Razor has Risen to the point of powerful entity well beyond a simple sentient weapon itself. To the point that it has created it's own imitations.
And you really don't need to be mixing other Patron types (subclasses) to the Hexblade to dilute it just because it's suggested it might be coming from something more than the weapon. Particularly since Sentient Weapons. Specially ones that gain massive inworld and and real world fame are already their own powerful beings in essence that are the type to grant powers. Making them the actual patron to a Warlock is just scaling up what they do as a Sentient Weapon to actually powering the abilities of a class/subclass. Powerful Sentient Weapons are actually outright logical patrons.
The hexblade writeup is vague enough that you can pretty much flavor it however you like...which you should do regardless. The mechanics are important to making the game work. The flavor you choose to go about is not. That's your story to tell. I really wish the designers just stuck to the mechanics and made suggestions for fluff, rather than "hard coding" things that a player /should/ feel more free about refluffing at will.
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
Nepenthe, from the domain of the carnival, detailed in VRGtR. It’s a evil sentient holy avenger longsword with a cool backstory.
What's the problem with using Accursed Specter? It's not as if it is permanent, it only lasts until your next long rest ends. You're borrowing a soul for a few hours, so what?
Good for the fiend patron. You’re just borrowing some of thier car gas.