Monstrous Compendium Vol. 1: Spelljammer Creatures
Frozen Sick
D&D Beyond Basic Rules
Basic Rules (2014)
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Monstrous Compendium Vol. 1: Spelljammer CreaturesFrozen SickD&D Beyond Basic RulesBasic Rules (2014)Sign in to view your library & saved favorites.
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Hi everyone, I'd like your opinion on a character I'm going to create.
I want to create a Fighter 1 / Warlock X. He's a Goliath (Stone), and his first level is Fighter. The other levels will be Warlock.
Consider two options:
1) Focused more on magical attacks:
Strength 16, Dexterity 8, Constitution 14, Intelligence 8, Wisdom 10, Charisma 17.
He would use heavy armor, shield, longsword. Pact of the Chain (familiar to help), Pact of the Blade.
At Warlock level 4 I would take Spellsniper to attack with Eldritch Blast up close without suffering disadvantage (my group needs a frontliner), focusing on pushing enemies with Repelling Blast and throwing them towards the damage areas of my teammates' spells. Initially I will concentrate on Hex and at higher levels I would have a summon (Summon Undead or Summon Fey) to complement my damage. He would deal single target damage from a distance. At level 8, I would put +2 Charisma to reach 20 Charisma. I would try to get a Rod of the Pactkeeper.
2) Focused more on physical attacks:
Strength 17, Dexterity 8, Constitution 14, Intelligence 8, Wisdom 10, Charisma 16. He would use heavy armor, a maul. Pact of the Chain (familiar to help), Pact of the Blade.
At level 4 I would take Great Weapon Master. At level 8 I would take Heavy Armor Master to reduce damage taken (I know, I wouldn’t get 20 Strength, but I think the damage reduction from the feat combined with the Goliath's resistance could greatly enhance my Armor of Agathys).
The goal here is to deal a lot of damage with melee attacks, invest my spell slots in Agathys Armor, and use the damage reduction feat to make Agathys Armor last as long as possible. He has always concentrating on Bladeward to increase his AC.
Which of these options would be mathematically more powerful, and which subclass would best fit each one? The rules I can use are only the D&D Player's Handbook 5.5 (2024), Heroes of Faerûn (2025), Astarion Book of Hunger, Exploring Eberron and Eberron Forge of the Artificer. All from the 5.5 version of D&D.
If you have another good option, I would love to know :)
I can't speak to "mathematically more powerful" because that's never something I care about, but I'm currently playing a Fighter/Sorcerer who does the same Armor of Agathys/damage reduction combo you're thinking about with the second option, albeit in a different way. I can say it's extremely satisfying to get hit in melee, and then have the enemy take more damage than they manage to inflict upon you
One thing to watch out for is not to boost your AC too high if you want to get max utility out of that combo. My little guy's a DEX build with an AC of 20, and there have been times I've slapped on an upcast AoA, only to go the entire combat without anyone laying a finger on me. If you get something like the Tough feat in there so you can soak more damage, you can more easily leave your AC in a "hittable" range
Active characters:
Edoumiaond Willegume "Eddie" Podslee, Vegetanian scholar (College of Spirits bard)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Peter "the Pied Piper" Hausler, human con artist/remover of vermin (Circle of the Shepherd druid)
PIPA - Planar Interception/Protection Aeormaton, warforged bodyguard and ex-wizard hunter (Warrior of the Elements monk/Cartographer artificer)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
Thank you very much for your answer :)
At Warlock level 4....
Assuming you are starting at level 1 and advancing, you do realize that warlock 4 is actually level 5 for everyone? Any boost from starting as fighter 1 will be harder to justify as your mates get ASI/Feat boost at level 4, but your multiclass means you get it at level 5.
Warlock becomes very nice at level 5, but you and everyone else will be at level 6 when you get it.
Dex 8 may cause more problems then it is worth by using it as a dump. -1 initiatives, -1 dex saves to get 1/2 damage.
There’s a small problem with your setup: you cannot cast most spells with your hands full like they are with a sword and shield. If you want to use the shield eventually, I’d start with just the longsword until then so you can use it as a two-handed weapon until you get warcaster at level 5 (Warlock level 4). If you are going pact of the blade anyway, I wouldn't worry about spell sniper personally. Having said that, if you want to go the AoA route, you might not want a shield anyway and focus more on HP rather then AC.
Just for fun, I’ll attach my old Fighter 1/Warlock 19 build. I’m not sure which subclass you are going with, but I went with Celestial and made my character have as much health as possible so that when searing bengence or boon of recovery activated I’d get back as much health as possible. The biggest difference between our builds is I went Charisma and medium armor instead of strength and heavy armor. Hopefully it helps; I took great pride in it before I switched to Paladin 1/Warlock 19 and had to go with some strength as well as dropped my Constitution in favor of better mental stats. Anyway, here it is:
https://www.dndbeyond.com/characters/150088777
Best of luck, fellow warlock!
P.S.: One final fact I just thought of you might want to take i to consideration that I did not know about originally: The starting heavy armor chain mail only requires a strength of 13 to wear, so if you weren’t going to use a heavy weapon (at least originally, or if you are sticking with default equipment) you can start out with either a 13 or a 14 and either take a +2 to strength or a +1 feat to strength and use those extra points elsewhere and still get advanced heavy armor when it matters later. Just a thought.
The rules of somatic components says a spellcaster must use at least one of their hands to perform the movements. But the rules of material components says i need to hold the components and It can be the same hand used to perform Somatic components. This same rule say I can substitute these components for a spellcasting focus if im holding it, but Pact of the blade turns my weapon into my Spellcasting Focus. So, while im holding my pact longsword I can perform material and somatic components using the same hand.
Oh, ok. Clearly I still have much to learn.
On one hand, now I’m wondering whether or not to go spell sniper. War Caster is still really good though. On the other hand, if you are going Pact of the Blade anyway, I don’t see the point of spell sniper for up close combat… unless you are using AoE spells and want to repelling blast people into them.
I have a different understanding, you may want to discuss with your DM how that is interpreted. But all have said I can keep the pact sword but not the shield.
Basically I intend to have options to "stop" enemies from attacking my party. Weapon masteries, Topple, Push, Sap in adition of Repelling blast to hit those far from me. I want to protect my bros. ha ha ha. My party is really "unique" we have a Valor bard, a lore Bard, a Stars druid and a Moon Druid. Yes its weird, but its what I have now ha ha ha.
Option 1 is probably not going to work that well:
Balance I guess.
Paladins get two extra 1st level spell slots for hex, but fighters are in trouble, yes.
War Caster is generally better than eldritch mind.
That’s why I went with 14 to start and took a +1 feat at level 8 with chain mail.
You got me there with the 14 Constitution, but dumping other stats just doesn’t seem like a good idea.
You think I should go Option 2 then? Or another option? I'd like some suggestions about warlock subclass.
Between the two, perhaps yes. It’s quite a do as I say not as I do thing for me, but I’ve heard great things about two-handed weapon warlocks. If you’re going Pact of the Blade, it makes some sense to go all in. Then again, it’s good to have options… which is why I have both pact of the blade invocations and eldritch blast cantrips.
Personally, I’m questioning my own build now if a 14 in Constitution isn’t enough. I ended up going back to 15/8/20/8/8/20 for my level 20 Paladin 1/Celestial Warlock 19 build instead of 15/10/16/8/12/20. Not to hijack your thread, but I could use some help too. I mean, is 40 extra hit points worth dumping so many other stats?
My point is we’re in similar situations with our builds. I went with more of an option 1, but in ways there seems like more logic in going with Option 2.
Sorry if this doesn’t help; I’m just trying to type what I’m thinking.
I think your title "focused more on X" Is in name only. As you are playing this, do you want to sit in the back and cast spells or do you want to get up front and hack with a sword?
Warlocks do not make great hybrids. Either plan to sit in the back and cast spells or not. If you are doing front line pact of the blade, then to maintain the front line status is going to suck up all of your invocations. In addition, on paper starting fighter 1 looks really good on paper, but when you are starting to hit the big monsters at level 4 or 5 and you need to wait until you are level 6 to get a second weapon attack (because of the 1 level dip) you will start to 2nd guess your choice to multi class.
Your A/C will be your big weakness, and dipping into fighter seems like an easy fix. It is an easy fix of A/C, but creates other issues inherent to being behind everyone in levels.
Getting EB is a great cantrip, as it is a ranged weapon and scales to your over all level and acts as a Bow does for other classes. But EB can suck up invocations as well. So again, choice to be a fighter type or a mage type.
As for putting in rolls into abilities, the warlock appears to be a single ability to be good, but in reality, depending on what you want to end up with, it can be a a class that needs several high scores. if you are doing spells, then you need a good CHA, if you are going Pact of the Blade and frontline you need a good CHA, and a good CON & DEX as well.
So, if you wanna melee as a warlock, you will need pact of blade, thirsting blade, devouring blade, and life drinker invocations.
At level1 fighter, you can pick up 3 weapon masteries, so pick the ones that let you topple, push, and slow.
Topple forces the target prone, so everyone can melee attack them with advantage, and they use half their movement to stand up. If rest of party is a lot of range attacks, they will attack a prone target at disadvantage. Normal movement is 30ft, so topple uses 15 feet to get back up, leaving 15 feet for the enemy to close.
Slow reduces speed by 10. Leaving 20 feet, which is often not enough to keep enemy from your glass cannons.
The best way to slow an enemy is probably to use a whip with the slasher feat. Together they reduce an enemy's speed by 20feet and whip has reach meaning you can attack from 10 feet away, on a hit slow enemy by 20 leaving 10 feet of movement, then back up 5 feet. The enemy cant close with you to melee you. You could make a whip your pact weapon, and slasher feat at level 4. But slasher feat can only increase your str or dex, which makes you less effective as a warlock. Your tohit for your pact weapon is based on your charisma.
The other good option to keep an enemy away from your allies is grapplingz but all.of grappling is based on strength. And you need high charisma to be a decent warlock and strength for anwarlock is usualy a dump stat.
The issue seems to be youre trying to go into 2 classes and using features that require high ability scores for each. That makes he build MAD Multi Ability Dependent and will spread you thin.
1 level of fighter gets you armor and some weapon masteries, but masteries dont really stop enemies from attacking thr rest of the party. Grappling does, but only 1 enemy. And prone has all range attacks at disadvantage.
The clutch mastery is vex which gives advantage on the next attack, which is really useful for rogues so they can qualify for sneak attack.
Honestly, my experience is the best way to protect the glass cannons is to have them stay in the back, and you or someone else tanks. That means you are up in melee, doing ok damage, but rocking an amazing ac so the enemy wastes their attacks trying to hit you instead of the wizard. Plate armor and shield, plus a shield spell, plus mirror image. That is the standard build of an armorer artificer. Start with magic initiate wizard for shield spell. Go armorer for plate armor. You can make plate armor one of your replicated magic items at level 2, so you have plate without having to pay 1500 good.
Warlocks are built around eldritcg blast. It is the most powerful cantrip in the game, has 120 ft of range, and uses force damage which is rarely resisted. Agonizing blast lets you add chamod damge to each beam, and your beam count is 2 at level 5.
There is an invocation tha lets you push a target 10 feet per turn with eldritch blast. But youre protecting the party by killing bad guys as fast as possible (lots of reliable, no cost damage), not by tanking and not by topple or whatever. And then you get 2 pact slots that let you do some high level spell for aeo or battlefield control.
If youre playing for flavor, warlocks have ton of flavor. But if you really wanna protect the glass cannons, i think by level 5 to 10, you might become frustrated.