Im currently looking into a few Multiclass ideas but i keep running into something i dont understand. a few of my multiclass ideas use warlock to some extent, but everyone keeps saying i should take the "pact of Blade", but i dont understand why so many people think its so good. reading the rules it says: i get to conjure a melee weapon of my choice and i get proficiencies with that weapon. the problem is that i plan on multiclassing with a warrior or paladin or something like that. these are giving me proficiency with pretty much all melee weapons anyway. is there something im missing with "PACT OF BLADE"? is there some other bonus to attack or damage or something? or is it better to multiclass into warrior if you want melee proficiency?
Depending on your build, the advice may be due to Pact of the Blade being a prerequsite for certain eldritch invocations, such as Improved Pact Weapon, Eldritch Smite, Lifedrinker, Thirsting Blade, etc.
I don't do a whole lot of martial builds, so I don't know what the specific reason is, but the Pacts are gateways to other features.
counts as magical (Very important in low level/ low magic campaigns
ANY melee type and changeable.
That you gain proficency in so effectively you are proficient with all melee weapons
can not be stolen or sold - so you have it even if captured or thown overboard
can bond to an existing magic weapon so your found magic weapon can no longer be stolen and you have proficiency with it no matter what.
Benefits are minimal if you are totally focused on combat only. But D&D is more than a combat simulator. My party had to fight a bunch of government agents that wanted to arrest us for opening a rift to the Abyss. ("Yes, we did it, but we did not mean to and we are really, really sorry" was not going to cut it. I mean really, who puts a bunch of Tomes/Manuals of +2 to stats right next to a book whose main purpose is blocking a hole in the universe?)
It really depends on what features you want for your build from warlock whether pact of the blade makes sense in your case.
If you plan on taking a significant number of levels of warlock and rely on warlock to get extra attacks with your pact weapon then you need blade pact and thirsting blade.
If you are playing relatively low level or low magic then a third level warlock can take improved pact weapon giving your pact weapon a +1 bonus and letting you create long bows/cross bows and other options as your pact weapon. This can be useful in games where you decide to play a PAM fighter and magical polearms are hard to come by. This lets the warlock use their pact weapon as a +1 glaive, +1 spear, +1 staff or +1 whatever else that works with the weapons you want to use. This is particularly true if you are playing a hard cover adventure and the DM is not modifying it. The number of magical bows or magical glaives are typically small or non-existent (Tomb of Annihilation for example has NONE :)). So blade pact can help a martial get exactly the magical weapon they want to use. (In addition, a hexblade warlock gets to use charisma to attack with for their pact weapon, whatever it is ... so this can mesh pretty well with various fighter builds if you have a dex/cha based fighter ... you could still go the PAM route and use a glaive with charisma while dumping strength).
However, outside of those, if you don't plan on using those features then tome pact can add some cantrips or rituals to the character and chain pact gives an exceptional familiar. It really depends on your build and what you want to get out of it.
Hexblade Pact of the Blade warlocks can use CHA for their attack stat, making multiclass builds very single-ability-score dependent.
This is the #1 reason taking 1-3 levels of Hexblade Warlock is super popular for Paladins. Paladins are basically MAD with 3 ability scores: Charisma, Strength, and Constitution. Being able to use CHA for your melee attack rolls, damage rolls, and spellcasting is huge.
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You don't know what fear is until you've witnessed a drunk bird divebombing you while carrying a screaming Kobold throwing fire anywhere and everywhere.
Hexblade Pact of the Blade warlocks can use CHA for their attack stat, making multiclass builds very single-ability-score dependent.
This is the #1 reason taking 1-3 levels of Hexblade Warlock is super popular for Paladins. Paladins are basically MAD with 3 ability scores: Charisma, Strength, and Constitution. Being able to use CHA for your melee attack rolls, damage rolls, and spellcasting is huge.
Going this route also makes taking 3 levels for pact of the blade a near requisite. Otherwise you're stuck using a one handed weapon to benefit hexwarrior.
Im currently looking into a few Multiclass ideas but i keep running into something i dont understand. a few of my multiclass ideas use warlock to some extent, but everyone keeps saying i should take the "pact of Blade", but i dont understand why so many people think its so good. reading the rules it says: i get to conjure a melee weapon of my choice and i get proficiencies with that weapon. the problem is that i plan on multiclassing with a warrior or paladin or something like that. these are giving me proficiency with pretty much all melee weapons anyway. is there something im missing with "PACT OF BLADE"? is there some other bonus to attack or damage or something? or is it better to multiclass into warrior if you want melee proficiency?
Depending on your build, the advice may be due to Pact of the Blade being a prerequsite for certain eldritch invocations, such as Improved Pact Weapon, Eldritch Smite, Lifedrinker, Thirsting Blade, etc.
I don't do a whole lot of martial builds, so I don't know what the specific reason is, but the Pacts are gateways to other features.
You get the following benefits:
Benefits are minimal if you are totally focused on combat only. But D&D is more than a combat simulator. My party had to fight a bunch of government agents that wanted to arrest us for opening a rift to the Abyss. ("Yes, we did it, but we did not mean to and we are really, really sorry" was not going to cut it. I mean really, who puts a bunch of Tomes/Manuals of +2 to stats right next to a book whose main purpose is blocking a hole in the universe?)
Hexblade Pact of the Blade warlocks can use CHA for their attack stat, making multiclass builds very single-ability-score dependent.
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It really depends on what features you want for your build from warlock whether pact of the blade makes sense in your case.
If you plan on taking a significant number of levels of warlock and rely on warlock to get extra attacks with your pact weapon then you need blade pact and thirsting blade.
If you are playing relatively low level or low magic then a third level warlock can take improved pact weapon giving your pact weapon a +1 bonus and letting you create long bows/cross bows and other options as your pact weapon. This can be useful in games where you decide to play a PAM fighter and magical polearms are hard to come by. This lets the warlock use their pact weapon as a +1 glaive, +1 spear, +1 staff or +1 whatever else that works with the weapons you want to use. This is particularly true if you are playing a hard cover adventure and the DM is not modifying it. The number of magical bows or magical glaives are typically small or non-existent (Tomb of Annihilation for example has NONE :)). So blade pact can help a martial get exactly the magical weapon they want to use. (In addition, a hexblade warlock gets to use charisma to attack with for their pact weapon, whatever it is ... so this can mesh pretty well with various fighter builds if you have a dex/cha based fighter ... you could still go the PAM route and use a glaive with charisma while dumping strength).
However, outside of those, if you don't plan on using those features then tome pact can add some cantrips or rituals to the character and chain pact gives an exceptional familiar. It really depends on your build and what you want to get out of it.
Kinda seems like you read the bit about giving Proficiency with the chosen weapon, and really didn't read any of the rest of the parts of the ability.
This is the #1 reason taking 1-3 levels of Hexblade Warlock is super popular for Paladins. Paladins are basically MAD with 3 ability scores: Charisma, Strength, and Constitution. Being able to use CHA for your melee attack rolls, damage rolls, and spellcasting is huge.
You don't know what fear is until you've witnessed a drunk bird divebombing you while carrying a screaming Kobold throwing fire anywhere and everywhere.
Going this route also makes taking 3 levels for pact of the blade a near requisite. Otherwise you're stuck using a one handed weapon to benefit hexwarrior.
That bit is only meant to apply to pact weapons you create, like the rest of the first paragraph. If you turn a magic item into your pact weapon, it's up to you to have proficiency.
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