I'm considering using a combination of abilities on a level 8 character and I'm wondering whether anyone else has had any good games with such a combo.
Warlock + Polearm Master + War Caster + Repelling Blast
So the combination of Polearm Master and War Caster allows you to hold a pike (you don't need to be proficient with it) and then cast a spell with a time of one action at a creature who enters your reach with the pike, IE 10ft.
This opens a world of options for spells, but for the "baseline" I would use Eldritch Blast to send 2 shots at them, each of which deals 1d10 damage and pushes them backwards by 10ft. I'm also considering using Lance of Lethargy eldritch invocation to also slow them down by 10ft.
This seems like a good way to control a single enemy, and as the invocations don't have size limits, can scale well into fighting big monsters (though they may have reach...).
I believe this has been called a force Lance build or something similar if I recall correctly.
I think there might be guidance about it on tabletopbuilds website.
I would also advise caution if attempting to run a build similar to this. DMs or other players who aren’t keen on multiple mechanical feature combinations or interactions may not receive this well. I’d recommend being open about the intentions of the character and what your expectations are for this build. Try to make sure everyone’s on the same page.
I would second discussing it with your DM. If that were me, I’d need you to paint me a vivid picture of how your character acts in combat, so that the build feels like a natural expression of your character’s concept, rather than merely an exploitation of an unintended rules interaction. (The wording for both feats has been changed in the UA2 document, such that they no longer interact in this way; I would hence infer that the interaction is not RAI.) I’d also want some justification for why your character is a “master” of a weapon with which they are not proficient.
It might be worth playtesting the build to ensure your DM is happy that they can balance combats around it. For comparison, the new weapon masteries would let a character with a lance make one attack and Push 10 ft when using the Reactive Strike from PAM. This build, if combining Repelling Blast and Lance of Lethargy, would be able to make up to four attacks (as it’s only one casting of EB), applying the equivalent of both Push and Slow to each hit. Ouch.
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I'm considering using a combination of abilities on a level 8 character and I'm wondering whether anyone else has had any good games with such a combo.
Warlock + Polearm Master + War Caster + Repelling Blast
So the combination of Polearm Master and War Caster allows you to hold a pike (you don't need to be proficient with it) and then cast a spell with a time of one action at a creature who enters your reach with the pike, IE 10ft.
This opens a world of options for spells, but for the "baseline" I would use Eldritch Blast to send 2 shots at them, each of which deals 1d10 damage and pushes them backwards by 10ft. I'm also considering using Lance of Lethargy eldritch invocation to also slow them down by 10ft.
This seems like a good way to control a single enemy, and as the invocations don't have size limits, can scale well into fighting big monsters (though they may have reach...).
Has anyone else tried this combo?
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I believe this has been called a force Lance build or something similar if I recall correctly.
I think there might be guidance about it on tabletopbuilds website.
I would also advise caution if attempting to run a build similar to this. DMs or other players who aren’t keen on multiple mechanical feature combinations or interactions may not receive this well. I’d recommend being open about the intentions of the character and what your expectations are for this build. Try to make sure everyone’s on the same page.
I would second discussing it with your DM. If that were me, I’d need you to paint me a vivid picture of how your character acts in combat, so that the build feels like a natural expression of your character’s concept, rather than merely an exploitation of an unintended rules interaction. (The wording for both feats has been changed in the UA2 document, such that they no longer interact in this way; I would hence infer that the interaction is not RAI.) I’d also want some justification for why your character is a “master” of a weapon with which they are not proficient.
It might be worth playtesting the build to ensure your DM is happy that they can balance combats around it. For comparison, the new weapon masteries would let a character with a lance make one attack and Push 10 ft when using the Reactive Strike from PAM. This build, if combining Repelling Blast and Lance of Lethargy, would be able to make up to four attacks (as it’s only one casting of EB), applying the equivalent of both Push and Slow to each hit. Ouch.