Hello everyone I am in need of advice for my multi classing. I am currently a lvl 6 Oath of Ancients Paladin but I want to do a warlock,dip specifically hexblade. Lore wise my god,Bahumut wants my PC to kill the chromatic dragons and bestowed a weapon,me and my DM reflavored some of the hexblade stuff to be less sinister. My issue is what is a good ratio to dip into for hexblade and what invocations should I get besides agonizing eldritch blast and other tips I should do. Thanks for help in advance.
Since you are already a paladin, you have less to gain from a hexblade dip. Most spellcasters benefit from medium armor and martial weapons, but you already have that. If your STR is already higher than your CHA, then you don't benefit from the optional weapon ability score either. (You may consider celestial warlock instead).
Critique aside, I find a 2-4 level dip to be optimal depending on what you want to gain/lose from the multiclass. A 1 level dip loses the paladins level 20 feature, in this case Elder Champion, a pretty good reason to stay pure paladin IMO, and you only gain some cantrips and spells, hex warrior which does little for a paladin, and hexblade curse.
A 2 level dip loses an ASI, but gains Eldritch invocations and a second pact magic spell slot. I recommend grasp of hadar and lance of lethargy to tie in with a paladin's can't escape abilities. Eldritch sight gives you at will detect magic, good for finding magic traps, magic items, enchanted individuals, and conjured or transmuted objects. Fiendish vigor gives you at will false life for theoretically infinite (practically, not so much) tanking. If you've already decided to take the loss at first level dip, you have more to gain than loose by going one more.
Level 3 is another big loss for the paladin, the aura improvement. But it's not like the auras get worse, and you already went 17 levels without the improvement. On the up side your 2 pact magic slots are level 2 now, and you gain level 2 warlock spells and your pact boon. Paladins don't have ritual casting, so I recommend getting pact of tome, taking vine whip as a cantrip, and swapping grasp of hadar invocation with book of ancient secrets.
Level 4 is another poor trade. The paladin will lose access to 5th level spells at this level, the only gain is getting your lost ASI back.
Alternative suggestion: celestial warlock. Mostly the same losses and benefits, except swap hex warrior and hexblade curse with healing light and 2 extra cantrips. Healing light will act as a second set of lay on hands, making you tankier and supportier, but no damage boost from hexblade curse. The light and sacred flame cantrips are both handy and free.
To summarize, I think it may be best to stay 20 levels paladin, but 3 levels dip celestial warlock is second best. You can form a pact with your God's divine messenger or with your God itself if your DM wants to spin it that way. Hexblade warlock is not a blade choice, it at least ties with celestial if your CHA is higher than your STR, or if you are more of the melee damage dealer in the party.
Thank you for the response! My str and cha are the same atm so I was quite torn on what to do. The main reason I wanted hexblade was to up my damage but I will take a longer look at it since we also have an oath of conquest Paladin and I felt I was not doing enough.
For some people, Paladin is about the abilities... but let's be real, Paladin is really all about using Divine Smite to spike your DPS higher than the rogue (and getting a cool horse I guess as a distant second). Multiclassing warlock doesn't help you smite that much better, since you receive pitifully few slots, and those warlock levels aren't added to your Paladin levels for effective caster level on the multiclass table... and if your strength is already 16 or more, you probably don't need hexblade that badly if you've gotten through 6 levels without it. Meanwhile, taking sorcerer will start making you a better Evil-smiter as soon as after two levels, and the more sorcerer you take the futher and further ahead you pull on smites-per-day.
If you care about Find Greater Steed, go Paladin 14/Sorcerer 6, which gives you 3-5 more smites per day, and a sixth and seventh level spell slot you wouldn't have otherwise reached. If you don't care about riding a gryphon, be even more aggressive and go Paladin 8/Sorcerer 12 (probably smart since it lets you pick up that Oath of Ancients magic resistance), or just Paladin 6/Sorcerer 14 if you're a real wild man and want to get Wish! (edit: wait, 9th level spell slot =/= 9th level spells... oh well.)
There'd be an argument for going Divine Soul, but lets be honest... you aren't in this to heal people. Draconic Soul or Giant Soul will both keep your HP count at near-pure paladin levels. If you take Giant Soul (Hill Giant) you can even kind of sort of be a hexblade, by using a charisma-based Shillelagh for attack and damage rolls! Being a Paladin of Bahamut makes me think you'd be more comfortable as a Draconic Soul though... it even gets you a bonus on initimidation checks against chromatic dragons! :D Or you could take Shadow Soul... hard to argue that that would be in-character, but with your Paladin save-bonus, you essentially become immune to death the first time per day that you're dropped to 0 hp.
Hmm alright I will think about going in sorcerer I am already a dragonborn as well so some stuff seems a bit redundant but those extra slots would do me good.Our campaign is very short rest heavy as well so warlock small usage is a but bigger in theroy. But thank you for the advice, if anything I really like paladin so a sorc first paladin second character is someone I wanna plan. I should have mentioned i wanted least 15 levels in Ancients so I get undying sentinel as well aura of warding is just too good to pass up so I wanna make a sorc that multis into paladin another campaign.Thanks for the ideas!
Well, if your DM actually lets you take short rests.... ok I guess Warlock aint so bad then (mine always make everything so urgent that there's never time to rest!). 5 levels of 'lock gives you 2 4d8 smites every time you rest and an extra invocation, 4 levels of 'lock gives you 2 3d8 smites and an extra feat. Shrug.
Hello everyone I am in need of advice for my multi classing. I am currently a lvl 6 Oath of Ancients Paladin but I want to do a warlock,dip specifically hexblade. Lore wise my god,Bahumut wants my PC to kill the chromatic dragons and bestowed a weapon,me and my DM reflavored some of the hexblade stuff to be less sinister. My issue is what is a good ratio to dip into for hexblade and what invocations should I get besides agonizing eldritch blast and other tips I should do. Thanks for help in advance.
Since you are already a paladin, you have less to gain from a hexblade dip. Most spellcasters benefit from medium armor and martial weapons, but you already have that. If your STR is already higher than your CHA, then you don't benefit from the optional weapon ability score either. (You may consider celestial warlock instead).
Critique aside, I find a 2-4 level dip to be optimal depending on what you want to gain/lose from the multiclass. A 1 level dip loses the paladins level 20 feature, in this case Elder Champion, a pretty good reason to stay pure paladin IMO, and you only gain some cantrips and spells, hex warrior which does little for a paladin, and hexblade curse.
A 2 level dip loses an ASI, but gains Eldritch invocations and a second pact magic spell slot. I recommend grasp of hadar and lance of lethargy to tie in with a paladin's can't escape abilities. Eldritch sight gives you at will detect magic, good for finding magic traps, magic items, enchanted individuals, and conjured or transmuted objects. Fiendish vigor gives you at will false life for theoretically infinite (practically, not so much) tanking. If you've already decided to take the loss at first level dip, you have more to gain than loose by going one more.
Level 3 is another big loss for the paladin, the aura improvement. But it's not like the auras get worse, and you already went 17 levels without the improvement. On the up side your 2 pact magic slots are level 2 now, and you gain level 2 warlock spells and your pact boon. Paladins don't have ritual casting, so I recommend getting pact of tome, taking vine whip as a cantrip, and swapping grasp of hadar invocation with book of ancient secrets.
Level 4 is another poor trade. The paladin will lose access to 5th level spells at this level, the only gain is getting your lost ASI back.
Alternative suggestion: celestial warlock. Mostly the same losses and benefits, except swap hex warrior and hexblade curse with healing light and 2 extra cantrips. Healing light will act as a second set of lay on hands, making you tankier and supportier, but no damage boost from hexblade curse. The light and sacred flame cantrips are both handy and free.
To summarize, I think it may be best to stay 20 levels paladin, but 3 levels dip celestial warlock is second best. You can form a pact with your God's divine messenger or with your God itself if your DM wants to spin it that way. Hexblade warlock is not a blade choice, it at least ties with celestial if your CHA is higher than your STR, or if you are more of the melee damage dealer in the party.
Thank you for the response! My str and cha are the same atm so I was quite torn on what to do. The main reason I wanted hexblade was to up my damage but I will take a longer look at it since we also have an oath of conquest Paladin and I felt I was not doing enough.
For some people, Paladin is about the abilities... but let's be real, Paladin is really all about using Divine Smite to spike your DPS higher than the rogue (and getting a cool horse I guess as a distant second). Multiclassing warlock doesn't help you smite that much better, since you receive pitifully few slots, and those warlock levels aren't added to your Paladin levels for effective caster level on the multiclass table... and if your strength is already 16 or more, you probably don't need hexblade that badly if you've gotten through 6 levels without it. Meanwhile, taking sorcerer will start making you a better Evil-smiter as soon as after two levels, and the more sorcerer you take the futher and further ahead you pull on smites-per-day.
If you care about Find Greater Steed, go Paladin 14/Sorcerer 6, which gives you 3-5 more smites per day, and a sixth and seventh level spell slot you wouldn't have otherwise reached. If you don't care about riding a gryphon, be even more aggressive and go Paladin 8/Sorcerer 12 (probably smart since it lets you pick up that Oath of Ancients magic resistance), or just Paladin 6/Sorcerer 14 if you're a real wild man and want to get Wish! (edit: wait, 9th level spell slot =/= 9th level spells... oh well.)
There'd be an argument for going Divine Soul, but lets be honest... you aren't in this to heal people. Draconic Soul or Giant Soul will both keep your HP count at near-pure paladin levels. If you take Giant Soul (Hill Giant) you can even kind of sort of be a hexblade, by using a charisma-based Shillelagh for attack and damage rolls! Being a Paladin of Bahamut makes me think you'd be more comfortable as a Draconic Soul though... it even gets you a bonus on initimidation checks against chromatic dragons! :D Or you could take Shadow Soul... hard to argue that that would be in-character, but with your Paladin save-bonus, you essentially become immune to death the first time per day that you're dropped to 0 hp.
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I'm going to make this way harder than it needs to be.
Hmm alright I will think about going in sorcerer I am already a dragonborn as well so some stuff seems a bit redundant but those extra slots would do me good.Our campaign is very short rest heavy as well so warlock small usage is a but bigger in theroy. But thank you for the advice, if anything I really like paladin so a sorc first paladin second character is someone I wanna plan. I should have mentioned i wanted least 15 levels in Ancients so I get undying sentinel as well aura of warding is just too good to pass up so I wanna make a sorc that multis into paladin another campaign.Thanks for the ideas!
Well, if your DM actually lets you take short rests.... ok I guess Warlock aint so bad then (mine always make everything so urgent that there's never time to rest!). 5 levels of 'lock gives you 2 4d8 smites every time you rest and an extra invocation, 4 levels of 'lock gives you 2 3d8 smites and an extra feat. Shrug.
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I'm going to make this way harder than it needs to be.