Its my first character and first campaign. I wasnt into the idea of multiclassing but it seems inevitable. My first choice was a pure lock, archfey patron, chain pact and go use EB flavored as a bow attack use invisibility etc. Then I heard about hexblade bow builds. I saw like 3 MC builds fighter/lock/ranger and it was too much.
However I saw gloomstalker and thought it could be a way to MC and stay competitive with 3 attacks first round. Advantage when I do find darkness (devils sight darkness seems like people would roll their eyes at me all the time). Plus I could get the bonuses from ranger class etc.
However I am just worried about stats like dex and wisdom needing to be higher than im capable of getting without really giving up damage from cha and con. As well as needing mich higher dex for stealtier armor etc to use gloomstalkers stealthier approach effectively.
I hope all this makes sense. Apologies in advance for my ignorance. What im really asking is does gloomstalker and hexblade MC well? I know I need to make more attacks with advantage and I want to do that in a more flavored way than devils sight darkness.
Before you go into all of this, find out from your DM what level the campaign starts at and what level the campaigns ends at.
Anyways, Gloomstalker does not multi-class well with Hexblade. You would need Dexterity and Wisdom for Gloomstalker, and Charisma for Hexblade. Needing three stats is somewhat difficult. It's far more complex than you should do for your first character.
I don't know why you say multiclassing seems inevitable, my advice in general is to not multical until you have played a few campaigns and gotr to know the advantages and disadvantages of different types of build.
Single classing is relatively straight forward for a new player the skills and abilities you get generally follow on from one another. With multiclassing you are missing out on the highest tier abilities of both classes. For example one of the advantages of warlocks is all their spells are at the highest level available, so at (say) level 5 you will be able to cast 3rd level spells where as a ranger (gloomstalker) 3 hexblade 2 you would only be able to cast 1st level spells. You would also be missing an ASI /feat at that point (improving your main stat makes a huge difference) and would not have a 2nd attack that you would if you have gone ranger 5.
As you also point out managing abilites becomes more difficult especially as Rangers use wisdom for their spells and warlocks use charisma (both classes need a reasonable amount of Con and dex though a ranger would normally have Dex as their primary stat).
You also need to think about your character's backstory, what led you to be at home in the darkest of places, why did you make a pact with a mysterious character from the shadowfell, both of these are very strange things and combining the two is difficult to make a believable character. You then want to ask why that character would choose to go adventuring with the rest of the party.
There is a lot of chat on the forums about making the most powerful charater possible but that can take some of the fun away from the roll play side. Who else is in the party, if they are all experienced players with a tendancy formaking powerful characters have a word with your DM if you are worried you wont be competitive? If you are all overpowered then the DM will just make the opponent stougher to compensate. I find it much more fun to play an ordinary character who becomes a superhero than a character who is super-humanoid before the campaign even starts.
The three characters I have in campaigns at the moment are all single class with ordinary backgrounds (the 3rd is a bit odd but it fits in with another campaign the DM is running and he keeps the world the same for all of them so events in one campaign affect what happens in the world of the others)
A city guard who started doing undercover work (swashbuckler fighter)
A tinker who learnt to infuse magic into mundate items (Artificer)
A messenger / ambassador who accidentally travelled into an area of interplaner instability, went unconcious and when he awoke had the ability to cast magic (Sorcerer)
For my first campaign I looked at all the posts I could find on powerful builds and went to the DM with my ideas for a Gloomstalker / Assassin rogue. I hadn't thought about it but the DM pointed out my character was basically batman, (without Robin, his background was working alone). I was basically thinking along the same lines as you. He said that he had a rule that all ne players had to play a single class and I had to create a more realistic backstory. I ended up going for a forge cleric and am very glad ythat I did.
Backstory and RP really isnt a problem for me, Ive got my characters backstory made and the general theme of it can be tweaked to make gameplay more fun for me. Im an experienced writer and ive been into dnd for a while now, this is just my first opportunity to play. So ive seen it played quite a lot I just dont know the mechanics of the game. After talking with some other people I think ive settled on going straight hexblade for a while, using a bow with pact and all then going into bard or sorcerer for extra spell slots once hexblade stops being so great.
The game im joining has been going on for over a year and everyone is level 10 or 11. So im just kind of coming in to a game that already has 5 players. Ive worked a lot on my chatacter not being too edgy despite being a warlock. Not trying to fufil every role etc. What I want to be sure of is that I dont come in and be bad in combat and cause these peoples chatacters to die.
Ranger is a good class for a slightly larger multiclass dip (i.e. taking more than one level in your secondary class). But it just doesn't go very well with Warlock. Especially because of Warlock's pact magic not mixing well with the Ranger being a 1/2 spellcaster.
Warlock is a fun class to play, but it is one of the most advanced classes and difficult for a newcomer to learn because of how customizable it is. Also, having just 2 spell slots can be a challenge to manage. If you want to do Warlock, I recommend either straight Warlock, or maybe just a 1 level dip in Fighter or Sorcerer. But nothing more than a 1 level dip so that your character will still get those 5th level spell slots at level 10. In general, I would recommend that a new player take at most a 1 level dip in a secondary class and nothing more. But especially with a Warlock and their pact magic, I would really advise against doing a deep multiclass dip. And especially multi-classing into another class that needs two good stats, neither of which is Charisma.
Its my first character and first campaign. I wasnt into the idea of multiclassing but it seems inevitable. My first choice was a pure lock, archfey patron, chain pact and go use EB flavored as a bow attack use invisibility etc.
I think this is actually perfectly fine character to go with as your first character. You'll do very respectable damage and multiclassing is not inevitable. Are you starting at the same level as everyone else or are you starting lower? One little trick I would point out if you go Archfey Chainlock is that any of the invisible familiars won't break invisibility if they use the Help action because it is neither a spell nor an attack.
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Canto alla vita alla sua bellezza ad ogni sua ferita ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
I wanna back Ophid on this... there's absolutely nothing wrong with going Pure 'Lock, and there's no inherent weakness to the particular subclass and ability combination you've brought up. I think that any player will eventually have a "Grass is Greener" moment looking at other classes. I can understand the allure of Gloomstalker because it's very front-loaded with useful abilities beyond just the spells you get as a half-caster, but it's still a 3 level dip to get at those unique Gloomstalker abilities. I think that smart use of an additional 3 levels of Warlock will be far more useful than a 3 level Ranger dip just to get at those sweet Dread Ambusher quirks.
Well you're on par damage with any damage dealing base class using Hex+Eldritch blast with Agonizing Blast. Some classes get the option of gwm/sharpshooter of -5 acc +10 damage at the cost of the feat, but you get magic slots, so it's not unfair.
You're opting on losing out on 3 levels of natural warlock progression... so what are you willing to trade? I'd consider 17Warlock/3Other is pretty good once you're level 17 knowing you're aiming to hit level 20 and if you're a min/max kinda person.
And yea warlock is probably the most multi-classable class alongside rogues and fighters, since Eldritch Blast scales with character level not class level. But Rogues can go full 20, Fighters can go full 20, and Warlocks can go full 20.
So what level are you right now? I don't think you're missing out on any significant damage: If you take the Attack action on that turn, you can make one additional weapon attack as part of that action. If that attack hits, the target takes an extra 1d8 damage of the weapon’s damage type. Personally I don't really see how that's going to benefit you, unless your DM interpretted to allow your spellcasting cantrip as an Attack action (which isn't). If your EB is just flavored as a bow, and not a real bow, this won't work
First off, what is your race? If you're allowed, tabaxi would work for the multiclass. But like everyone else, I think pure lock is better. For a bow build, taking pact of the blade and improved pact weapon is really good. Then picking up the ritual caster feat later to get find familiar. If not, chain is still very good. But don't multiclass unless it's worth it from a combat, roleplay and exploration view, at least two of the three.
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'The Cleverness of mushrooms always surprises me!' - Ivern Bramblefoot.
But don't multiclass unless it's worth it from a combat, roleplay and exploration view, at least two of the three.
I think that's an important feature that a lot of players ignore. It's easy to focus just on combat, but it's worth sacrificing some combat efficiency in order to focus on exploration and roleplay. Especially roleplay... in my experience, characters with a lot of roleplay abilities have always been more fun and rewarding than the ones that are min-maxed for combat.
But don't multiclass unless it's worth it from a combat, roleplay and exploration view, at least two of the three.
I think that's an important feature that a lot of players ignore. It's easy to focus just on combat, but it's worth sacrificing some combat efficiency in order to focus on exploration and roleplay. Especially roleplay... in my experience, characters with a lot of roleplay abilities have always been more fun and rewarding than the ones that are min-maxed for combat.
Totally agree. It's the most fun thing to do.
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'The Cleverness of mushrooms always surprises me!' - Ivern Bramblefoot.
Thanks for all the advice and I really hope its not a hassle.
Right so Ive been trying to choose between using aa hexblade or going archfey and then just flavoring EB as a bow as its important to my character that they have some semblance to their past as a capable fighter. I wont bore anyone with my backstory but its basically a capable fighter that was injured and made a deal with (insert patron) to be capable again.
That was the story I envisioned when I made this character. Someone who had pride and confidence taken away from them, and feels shame that he has to rely on magic to be capable to the point of sometimes trying to hide it. So I looked around and felt like my best option was to play a warlock and then I started looking at gameplay.
I looked at warlock subclasses and liked archfey for greater invis to gain advantage for gameplay and to play into the character, but I felt like there was little to tie him to his past as a capable fighter so i thought I could just ask my DM to let EB be cast through a staff that was shaped like a bow without strings.
Then I looked at hexblade and thought this may be a better option to tie him to his past. Plus gameplay doesnt seem too bad. I just want basic gameplay advantages. Attack more times and attack more times with advantage. I personally with my limited experience feel that if I can do that I will fill the role I need to fill.
Im not opposed to any ideas I just want my character to make sense with his backstory. A fighter that has to use magic because his body is really messed up. I wouldn't be opposed to melee I just felt a bow would help him hide his injuries better but if magic is involved its explainable.
I think Hexblade fits best for that backstory you thought up. Especially because you can choose to use CHA as your attack modifier instead of STR or DEX, so it could represent the character losing their strength through injury and faking it with arcane power instead.
That's a pretty cool backstory. You've got such a neat idea that I wouldn't throw away a good story for the sake of crunching numbers. Do what you think is best and persuade your DM into putting a Ring of Invisibility into your adventure if you need to. Maybe even modifying it for greater invis through your patron.
I think Hexblade fits best for that backstory you thought up. Especially because you can choose to use CHA as your attack modifier instead of STR or DEX, so it could represent the character losing their strength through injury and faking it with arcane power instead.
This is a good point. Something else to remember is that your backstory doesn't mean that you need to be proficient in physical combat anymore. Having little things that tie it back to that prowess would be awesome flavor. Having your arcane focus being a staff that you flavor as being your old bow is an excellent way to show that. Another would be taking Booming Blade and/or Green Flame Blade would be another.
Most of these things can be done with any subclass. However, if you really want to lean into the melee aspect, then Hexblade is definitely the way that you want to go. Look through the invocations to see if there are any that you really want to have since some can only be done with a certain pact. Many of the melee flavored invocations require pact of the blade. However, going pact of the blade or pact of the chain will limit the cantrips that you know, which in turn means you won't want both SCAG cantrips as this will either place you squarely in melee constantly or you'll have no utility cantrips.
If going Archfey is what you want to do, do that. Consider grabbing Pact of the Tome to grab more cantrips and choose one or two of the SCAG cantrips and roleplay the loss of physical skill similar to Doctor Strange from the Marvel movie.
The point is, play what you want to play and work with your DM to get the exact flavoring right.
Thanks for all the advice and I really hope its not a hassle.
Right so Ive been trying to choose between using aa hexblade or going archfey and then just flavoring EB as a bow as its important to my character that they have some semblance to their past as a capable fighter. I wont bore anyone with my backstory but its basically a capable fighter that was injured and made a deal with (insert patron) to be capable again.
That was the story I envisioned when I made this character. Someone who had pride and confidence taken away from them, and feels shame that he has to rely on magic to be capable to the point of sometimes trying to hide it. So I looked around and felt like my best option was to play a warlock and then I started looking at gameplay.
I looked at warlock subclasses and liked archfey for greater invis to gain advantage for gameplay and to play into the character, but I felt like there was little to tie him to his past as a capable fighter so i thought I could just ask my DM to let EB be cast through a staff that was shaped like a bow without strings.
Then I looked at hexblade and thought this may be a better option to tie him to his past. Plus gameplay doesnt seem too bad. I just want basic gameplay advantages. Attack more times and attack more times with advantage. I personally with my limited experience feel that if I can do that I will fill the role I need to fill.
Im not opposed to any ideas I just want my character to make sense with his backstory. A fighter that has to use magic because his body is really messed up. I wouldn't be opposed to melee I just felt a bow would help him hide his injuries better but if magic is involved its explainable.
Either patron could work. I think my question would be did your character used to be a melee fighter or an archer? Check it out:
Archfey - Desperate to feel the twang of the bow again, the broken archer went out to hunt the most challenging of game animals despite the protests of his friends. As he faced down a charging boar his weakened hands slipped and the bowstring snapped. In that moment, staring down the bloodthirsty boar with a broken weapon, time slowed to a standstill. The moment between one heartbeat and the next stretched and stretched and a massive figure stepped out from between two oak trees. Magnificent antlers spanned almost the length of the boughs and the nude figure bristled with ropes of muscle. WHAT WOULD YOU GIVE TO HUNT ONCE AGAIN? Boomed a voice that seemed to echo from every corner of the forest an into the archer's very soul. WOULD YOU PLEDGE YOUR LIFE? And with an almost desperate relief, the archer said yes in the deepest reaches of his mind. The Horned God nodded once and disappeared. Time sped up again, the boar bearing down on the archer, but he calmly reached down to his unstrung bow and nocked it. An arrow appeared between his fingers, glowing a lambent green, and he loosed it, knowing with a deep certainty that he would hit his mark.
Hexblade - The wounded soldier limped his way to the pauper's graveyard long after the last of his nursemaids had left for the night. His hands ached fiercely, clutching the crutches, but not as fierce as the ache in his soul. "Never hold a sword again," he grumbled, "pah ... what good is a soldier who cannae hold his sword?" It took him an embarrassingly long time to make his way to the shallow mounds that were all that were left of his brothers and sisters in arms. Slumping down in the dirt, he fumbled with the bundle on his back. Unfurling the cloth revealed the shards of his broken sword, shattered in the disastrous rout that cost him his regiment. Determined to join them, he placed one of the longer shards against his wrist ... but was interrupted by a soft, resonant, voice. "Is that how you would remember your comrades? By taking your life? Are their memories so painful?" Peering into the night, the soldier could just make out the form of a cloaked person standing over a grave. Something about her demanded a truthful answer and so, "Aye lass, I've nothing left in this world but pain in here," he held out his broken hands, "and here," he thumped his chest over his heart. The figure cocked its head slowly to one side. "And if I could take your pain and give you back your sword? Would you choose to stay?" The soldier thought about it a moment and then shrugged, "Aye, I think I would."
From his satchel, the broken shards of his sword rose up into the air. With a eerie grace, the reassembled themselves into his sword before drinking in the moonlight, turning grey, then black, and then absorbing the light into a lightless, sword shaped void.
The soldier blinked around at the empty graveyard. What was he doing here? Whose graves were these? Muzzily shaking his head, he looked down at his empty satchel and gathered it to himself before making his unsteady way back to the medical tent.
So yeah I think either patron would work. If you didn't catch the second one, the Raven Queen is something of a memory eater/horder.
Woah thats crazy those two stories are so similar to the one Ive made. That really is cool. I love the idea of someone who has to come to terms with giving up their pride. It really speaks to how people define themselves and what those identities mean to them. This soilder may have never been a glorious knight but he did his job and people reapected him for it. He was proud that he protected his family and city. It defined him. Suddenly thats taken away, his family is venerable, his city doesnt need him and he doesn't know what he is anymore. Then some possibly evil entity offers you the ability to be more than you ever were. EVERYONE would take the deal.
Now he can strive towards things he could never before. Maybe the things he held so dear stop meaning so much to him now. His family becomes an afterthought. He leaves his city behind. All the while he knows its unearned and the values he held as a soilder peck at the back of his head. Just a tiny voice saying "hypocrite." That drives him further away from home, why see the people that knew you abandoned your values? The just make your days harder.
Yeah I love this. I love making fantasy as believable as possible. Just for a second make you think youre there. I like the idea of characters having values good or bad and hates and likes. I really like the raven queen but it seems really clique. So Ive always imagined him serving a small time living cult queen-anything to make him feel needed and like he is protecting something, anything he believes in.
This was really cool. Ive always been into writing and fantasy. Ive written a book or two. So I think dndn will be really fun.
Its my first character and first campaign. I wasnt into the idea of multiclassing but it seems inevitable. My first choice was a pure lock, archfey patron, chain pact and go use EB flavored as a bow attack use invisibility etc. Then I heard about hexblade bow builds. I saw like 3 MC builds fighter/lock/ranger and it was too much.
However I saw gloomstalker and thought it could be a way to MC and stay competitive with 3 attacks first round. Advantage when I do find darkness (devils sight darkness seems like people would roll their eyes at me all the time). Plus I could get the bonuses from ranger class etc.
However I am just worried about stats like dex and wisdom needing to be higher than im capable of getting without really giving up damage from cha and con. As well as needing mich higher dex for stealtier armor etc to use gloomstalkers stealthier approach effectively.
I hope all this makes sense. Apologies in advance for my ignorance. What im really asking is does gloomstalker and hexblade MC well? I know I need to make more attacks with advantage and I want to do that in a more flavored way than devils sight darkness.
Before you go into all of this, find out from your DM what level the campaign starts at and what level the campaigns ends at.
Anyways, Gloomstalker does not multi-class well with Hexblade. You would need Dexterity and Wisdom for Gloomstalker, and Charisma for Hexblade. Needing three stats is somewhat difficult. It's far more complex than you should do for your first character.
I don't know why you say multiclassing seems inevitable, my advice in general is to not multical until you have played a few campaigns and gotr to know the advantages and disadvantages of different types of build.
Single classing is relatively straight forward for a new player the skills and abilities you get generally follow on from one another. With multiclassing you are missing out on the highest tier abilities of both classes. For example one of the advantages of warlocks is all their spells are at the highest level available, so at (say) level 5 you will be able to cast 3rd level spells where as a ranger (gloomstalker) 3 hexblade 2 you would only be able to cast 1st level spells. You would also be missing an ASI /feat at that point (improving your main stat makes a huge difference) and would not have a 2nd attack that you would if you have gone ranger 5.
As you also point out managing abilites becomes more difficult especially as Rangers use wisdom for their spells and warlocks use charisma (both classes need a reasonable amount of Con and dex though a ranger would normally have Dex as their primary stat).
You also need to think about your character's backstory, what led you to be at home in the darkest of places, why did you make a pact with a mysterious character from the shadowfell, both of these are very strange things and combining the two is difficult to make a believable character. You then want to ask why that character would choose to go adventuring with the rest of the party.
There is a lot of chat on the forums about making the most powerful charater possible but that can take some of the fun away from the roll play side. Who else is in the party, if they are all experienced players with a tendancy formaking powerful characters have a word with your DM if you are worried you wont be competitive? If you are all overpowered then the DM will just make the opponent stougher to compensate. I find it much more fun to play an ordinary character who becomes a superhero than a character who is super-humanoid before the campaign even starts.
The three characters I have in campaigns at the moment are all single class with ordinary backgrounds (the 3rd is a bit odd but it fits in with another campaign the DM is running and he keeps the world the same for all of them so events in one campaign affect what happens in the world of the others)
For my first campaign I looked at all the posts I could find on powerful builds and went to the DM with my ideas for a Gloomstalker / Assassin rogue. I hadn't thought about it but the DM pointed out my character was basically batman, (without Robin, his background was working alone). I was basically thinking along the same lines as you. He said that he had a rule that all ne players had to play a single class and I had to create a more realistic backstory. I ended up going for a forge cleric and am very glad ythat I did.
Backstory and RP really isnt a problem for me, Ive got my characters backstory made and the general theme of it can be tweaked to make gameplay more fun for me. Im an experienced writer and ive been into dnd for a while now, this is just my first opportunity to play. So ive seen it played quite a lot I just dont know the mechanics of the game. After talking with some other people I think ive settled on going straight hexblade for a while, using a bow with pact and all then going into bard or sorcerer for extra spell slots once hexblade stops being so great.
The game im joining has been going on for over a year and everyone is level 10 or 11. So im just kind of coming in to a game that already has 5 players. Ive worked a lot on my chatacter not being too edgy despite being a warlock. Not trying to fufil every role etc. What I want to be sure of is that I dont come in and be bad in combat and cause these peoples chatacters to die.
Ranger is a good class for a slightly larger multiclass dip (i.e. taking more than one level in your secondary class). But it just doesn't go very well with Warlock. Especially because of Warlock's pact magic not mixing well with the Ranger being a 1/2 spellcaster.
Warlock is a fun class to play, but it is one of the most advanced classes and difficult for a newcomer to learn because of how customizable it is. Also, having just 2 spell slots can be a challenge to manage. If you want to do Warlock, I recommend either straight Warlock, or maybe just a 1 level dip in Fighter or Sorcerer. But nothing more than a 1 level dip so that your character will still get those 5th level spell slots at level 10. In general, I would recommend that a new player take at most a 1 level dip in a secondary class and nothing more. But especially with a Warlock and their pact magic, I would really advise against doing a deep multiclass dip. And especially multi-classing into another class that needs two good stats, neither of which is Charisma.
I think this is actually perfectly fine character to go with as your first character. You'll do very respectable damage and multiclassing is not inevitable. Are you starting at the same level as everyone else or are you starting lower? One little trick I would point out if you go Archfey Chainlock is that any of the invisible familiars won't break invisibility if they use the Help action because it is neither a spell nor an attack.
Canto alla vita
alla sua bellezza
ad ogni sua ferita
ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty
To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me
The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
I wanna back Ophid on this... there's absolutely nothing wrong with going Pure 'Lock, and there's no inherent weakness to the particular subclass and ability combination you've brought up. I think that any player will eventually have a "Grass is Greener" moment looking at other classes. I can understand the allure of Gloomstalker because it's very front-loaded with useful abilities beyond just the spells you get as a half-caster, but it's still a 3 level dip to get at those unique Gloomstalker abilities. I think that smart use of an additional 3 levels of Warlock will be far more useful than a 3 level Ranger dip just to get at those sweet Dread Ambusher quirks.
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Don't play warlock. Play champion fighter.
Well you're on par damage with any damage dealing base class using Hex+Eldritch blast with Agonizing Blast. Some classes get the option of gwm/sharpshooter of -5 acc +10 damage at the cost of the feat, but you get magic slots, so it's not unfair.
You're opting on losing out on 3 levels of natural warlock progression... so what are you willing to trade? I'd consider 17Warlock/3Other is pretty good once you're level 17 knowing you're aiming to hit level 20 and if you're a min/max kinda person.
And yea warlock is probably the most multi-classable class alongside rogues and fighters, since Eldritch Blast scales with character level not class level. But Rogues can go full 20, Fighters can go full 20, and Warlocks can go full 20.
So what level are you right now? I don't think you're missing out on any significant damage: If you take the Attack action on that turn, you can make one additional weapon attack as part of that action. If that attack hits, the target takes an extra 1d8 damage of the weapon’s damage type. Personally I don't really see how that's going to benefit you, unless your DM interpretted to allow your spellcasting cantrip as an Attack action (which isn't). If your EB is just flavored as a bow, and not a real bow, this won't work
First off, what is your race? If you're allowed, tabaxi would work for the multiclass. But like everyone else, I think pure lock is better. For a bow build, taking pact of the blade and improved pact weapon is really good. Then picking up the ritual caster feat later to get find familiar. If not, chain is still very good. But don't multiclass unless it's worth it from a combat, roleplay and exploration view, at least two of the three.
'The Cleverness of mushrooms always surprises me!' - Ivern Bramblefoot.
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I think that's an important feature that a lot of players ignore. It's easy to focus just on combat, but it's worth sacrificing some combat efficiency in order to focus on exploration and roleplay. Especially roleplay... in my experience, characters with a lot of roleplay abilities have always been more fun and rewarding than the ones that are min-maxed for combat.
Watch Crits for Breakfast, an adults-only RP-Heavy Roll20 Livestream at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
And now you too can play with the amazing art and assets we use in Roll20 for our campaign at Hazel's Emporium
Totally agree. It's the most fun thing to do.
'The Cleverness of mushrooms always surprises me!' - Ivern Bramblefoot.
I'll worldbuild for your DnD games!
Just a D&D enjoyer, check out my fiverr page if you need any worldbuilding done for ya!
Thanks for all the advice and I really hope its not a hassle.
Right so Ive been trying to choose between using aa hexblade or going archfey and then just flavoring EB as a bow as its important to my character that they have some semblance to their past as a capable fighter. I wont bore anyone with my backstory but its basically a capable fighter that was injured and made a deal with (insert patron) to be capable again.
That was the story I envisioned when I made this character. Someone who had pride and confidence taken away from them, and feels shame that he has to rely on magic to be capable to the point of sometimes trying to hide it. So I looked around and felt like my best option was to play a warlock and then I started looking at gameplay.
I looked at warlock subclasses and liked archfey for greater invis to gain advantage for gameplay and to play into the character, but I felt like there was little to tie him to his past as a capable fighter so i thought I could just ask my DM to let EB be cast through a staff that was shaped like a bow without strings.
Then I looked at hexblade and thought this may be a better option to tie him to his past. Plus gameplay doesnt seem too bad. I just want basic gameplay advantages. Attack more times and attack more times with advantage. I personally with my limited experience feel that if I can do that I will fill the role I need to fill.
Im not opposed to any ideas I just want my character to make sense with his backstory. A fighter that has to use magic because his body is really messed up. I wouldn't be opposed to melee I just felt a bow would help him hide his injuries better but if magic is involved its explainable.
I think Hexblade fits best for that backstory you thought up. Especially because you can choose to use CHA as your attack modifier instead of STR or DEX, so it could represent the character losing their strength through injury and faking it with arcane power instead.
Watch Crits for Breakfast, an adults-only RP-Heavy Roll20 Livestream at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
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That's a pretty cool backstory. You've got such a neat idea that I wouldn't throw away a good story for the sake of crunching numbers. Do what you think is best and persuade your DM into putting a Ring of Invisibility into your adventure if you need to. Maybe even modifying it for greater invis through your patron.
This is a good point. Something else to remember is that your backstory doesn't mean that you need to be proficient in physical combat anymore. Having little things that tie it back to that prowess would be awesome flavor. Having your arcane focus being a staff that you flavor as being your old bow is an excellent way to show that. Another would be taking Booming Blade and/or Green Flame Blade would be another.
Most of these things can be done with any subclass. However, if you really want to lean into the melee aspect, then Hexblade is definitely the way that you want to go. Look through the invocations to see if there are any that you really want to have since some can only be done with a certain pact. Many of the melee flavored invocations require pact of the blade. However, going pact of the blade or pact of the chain will limit the cantrips that you know, which in turn means you won't want both SCAG cantrips as this will either place you squarely in melee constantly or you'll have no utility cantrips.
If going Archfey is what you want to do, do that. Consider grabbing Pact of the Tome to grab more cantrips and choose one or two of the SCAG cantrips and roleplay the loss of physical skill similar to Doctor Strange from the Marvel movie.
The point is, play what you want to play and work with your DM to get the exact flavoring right.
Either patron could work. I think my question would be did your character used to be a melee fighter or an archer? Check it out:
So yeah I think either patron would work. If you didn't catch the second one, the Raven Queen is something of a memory eater/horder.
Canto alla vita
alla sua bellezza
ad ogni sua ferita
ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty
To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me
The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
Woah thats crazy those two stories are so similar to the one Ive made. That really is cool. I love the idea of someone who has to come to terms with giving up their pride. It really speaks to how people define themselves and what those identities mean to them. This soilder may have never been a glorious knight but he did his job and people reapected him for it. He was proud that he protected his family and city. It defined him. Suddenly thats taken away, his family is venerable, his city doesnt need him and he doesn't know what he is anymore. Then some possibly evil entity offers you the ability to be more than you ever were. EVERYONE would take the deal.
Now he can strive towards things he could never before. Maybe the things he held so dear stop meaning so much to him now. His family becomes an afterthought. He leaves his city behind. All the while he knows its unearned and the values he held as a soilder peck at the back of his head. Just a tiny voice saying "hypocrite." That drives him further away from home, why see the people that knew you abandoned your values? The just make your days harder.
Yeah I love this. I love making fantasy as believable as possible. Just for a second make you think youre there. I like the idea of characters having values good or bad and hates and likes. I really like the raven queen but it seems really clique. So Ive always imagined him serving a small time living cult queen-anything to make him feel needed and like he is protecting something, anything he believes in.
This was really cool. Ive always been into writing and fantasy. Ive written a book or two. So I think dndn will be really fun.
That archfey one was epic... Please let me steal it!
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Canto alla vita
alla sua bellezza
ad ogni sua ferita
ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty
To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me
The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!