i hate to ask this, but did they drop Hexblades? I mean, it sounds like you’re suppose to be able to use old builds/classes, but if i can’t do it here on DnD Beyond I’m out of luck.
If it’s updated, I guess I could make it a 3 dip if they still gave the option of Hexblade and just rearranged some stuff. If not, I guess I still get light armor and eldritch blast from a 2 dip as well as two eldritch invocations (one as early as level 1.)
I currently use an actor build with mask of many faces, so I’m not sure taking a feat instead of an eldritch invocation would be very helpful. …or would it?
While they haven't said so for certain, there's no way you won't still be able to play with 2014 classes and subclasses. It would break all the existing campaigns otherwise.
Hexblade is not in the new PHB, which doesn't necessarily mean we won't see it again.
However, Hexblade was the "I want to play pact of the blade, but don't want to have to do two stats" patron, and a lot of the things people took it for are now in pact of the blade, so they may simply not update it, and leave it for people playing 2014 warlocks.
Or maybe they'll update it to something more distinct, as opposed to "I dunno... Shadowfell, Blackrazor, Raven Queen... something to do with intelligent weapons but you don't get one or anything."
Crawford's videos have talked a lot about playing a 2014 build alongside a 2024 build. I read this as meaning that you could build a Hexblade, but you would not be allowed to use the new 2024 toys. We have not seen any conversion documentation, and with this tone I don't think we will. I am worried we won't get any info on what previous books are 2024 compliant (Fizban's or the giant book for example). If none of the previous books can be used then that is really terrible.
i hate to ask this, but did they drop Hexblades? I mean, it sounds like you’re suppose to be able to use old builds/classes, but if i can’t do it here on DnD Beyond I’m out of luck.
If it’s updated, I guess I could make it a 3 dip if they still gave the option of Hexblade and just rearranged some stuff. If not, I guess I still get light armor and eldritch blast from a 2 dip as well as two eldritch invocations (one as early as level 1.)
I currently use an actor build with mask of many faces, so I’m not sure taking a feat instead of an eldritch invocation would be very helpful. …or would it?
In the playtest a lot of the benefits of hexblade have just been rolled into the pact of the blade which you can take as an invocation at level 1. This includes things like charisma being able to be used for your weapon attacks. Further, at level 2 in the playtest, you could get an origin feat that allowed you to gain medium armor and a shield. You could still use a pure 2014 version of the hexblade warlock in a 2024 game if you wanted but there likely isn't much of a point to do so. You would still be able to take the actor feat and mask of many faces with just a 2 level dip as well.
i hate to ask this, but did they drop Hexblades? I mean, it sounds like you’re suppose to be able to use old builds/classes, but if i can’t do it here on DnD Beyond I’m out of luck.
If it’s updated, I guess I could make it a 3 dip if they still gave the option of Hexblade and just rearranged some stuff. If not, I guess I still get light armor and eldritch blast from a 2 dip as well as two eldritch invocations (one as early as level 1.)
I currently use an actor build with mask of many faces, so I’m not sure taking a feat instead of an eldritch invocation would be very helpful. …or would it?
In the playtest a lot of the benefits of hexblade have just been rolled into the pact of the blade which you can take as an invocation at level 1. This includes things like charisma being able to be used for your weapon attacks. Further, at level 2 in the playtest, you could get an origin feat that allowed you to gain medium armor and a shield. You could still use a pure 2014 version of the hexblade warlock in a 2024 game if you wanted but there likely isn't much of a point to do so. You would still be able to take the actor feat and mask of many faces with just a 2 level dip as well.
Interesting. Now I’m kind of curious what I could do instead taking the medium armor and shield since i won’t have warcaster necessarily. Then again, if i can take that feat instead of an eldritch invocation (basically)… I could take agonizing blast, medium armor/shield, warcaster… or agonizing blast, mask of many faces and actor… how many levels of Warlock for 3 eldritch invocations?
i hate to ask this, but did they drop Hexblades? I mean, it sounds like you’re suppose to be able to use old builds/classes, but if i can’t do it here on DnD Beyond I’m out of luck.
If it’s updated, I guess I could make it a 3 dip if they still gave the option of Hexblade and just rearranged some stuff. If not, I guess I still get light armor and eldritch blast from a 2 dip as well as two eldritch invocations (one as early as level 1.)
I currently use an actor build with mask of many faces, so I’m not sure taking a feat instead of an eldritch invocation would be very helpful. …or would it?
In the playtest a lot of the benefits of hexblade have just been rolled into the pact of the blade which you can take as an invocation at level 1. This includes things like charisma being able to be used for your weapon attacks. Further, at level 2 in the playtest, you could get an origin feat that allowed you to gain medium armor and a shield. You could still use a pure 2014 version of the hexblade warlock in a 2024 game if you wanted but there likely isn't much of a point to do so. You would still be able to take the actor feat and mask of many faces with just a 2 level dip as well.
Interesting. Now I’m kind of curious what I could do instead taking the medium armor and shield since i won’t have warcaster necessarily. Then again, if i can take that feat instead of an eldritch invocation (basically)… I could take agonizing blast, medium armor/shield, warcaster… or agonizing blast, mask of many faces and actor… how many levels of Warlock for 3 eldritch invocations?
3 invocations + pact of the blade? that would be 5 and you would actually have 4 + pact of the blade. For 2 and pact of the blade just 2. I don't see why you won't have warcaster. It depends on if Actor is a origin feat or not. Because if actor is an origin feat you can get that at level 1 and after 4 levels of any class you could still get warcaster. You could also just use invocations to get eldritch mind for advantage on saves.
i hate to ask this, but did they drop Hexblades? I mean, it sounds like you’re suppose to be able to use old builds/classes, but if i can’t do it here on DnD Beyond I’m out of luck.
If it’s updated, I guess I could make it a 3 dip if they still gave the option of Hexblade and just rearranged some stuff. If not, I guess I still get light armor and eldritch blast from a 2 dip as well as two eldritch invocations (one as early as level 1.)
I currently use an actor build with mask of many faces, so I’m not sure taking a feat instead of an eldritch invocation would be very helpful. …or would it?
In the playtest a lot of the benefits of hexblade have just been rolled into the pact of the blade which you can take as an invocation at level 1. This includes things like charisma being able to be used for your weapon attacks. Further, at level 2 in the playtest, you could get an origin feat that allowed you to gain medium armor and a shield. You could still use a pure 2014 version of the hexblade warlock in a 2024 game if you wanted but there likely isn't much of a point to do so. You would still be able to take the actor feat and mask of many faces with just a 2 level dip as well.
Interesting. Now I’m kind of curious what I could do instead taking the medium armor and shield since i won’t have warcaster necessarily. Then again, if i can take that feat instead of an eldritch invocation (basically)… I could take agonizing blast, medium armor/shield, warcaster… or agonizing blast, mask of many faces and actor… how many levels of Warlock for 3 eldritch invocations?
3 invocations + pact of the blade? that would be 5 and you would actually have 4 + pact of the blade. For 2 and pact of the blade just 2. I don't see why you won't have warcaster. It depends on if Actor is a origin feat or not. Because if actor is an origin feat you can get that at level 1 and after 4 levels of any class you could still get warcaster. You could also just use invocations to get eldritch mind for advantage on saves.
That’s true; I forgot about origin feats. As for War Caster though I just like the idea of having a shield while casting. It made Custom Origins very tempting, but i really like the Verdan race, so these updates could help me combine a build or two.
My current build blueprint is a Divine Soul 18/Hexblade 2. The three possibilities were to either Have warcaater to use spells and a shield, max my health for the level 18 Divine Soul ability that restores half my health (so max Con plus tough), and/or use an actor build with the Masks of Many Faces Eldritch Invocation. So far I’ve only been able to do the first and last with my multiclass, but these new features should let me do all of them individually if not maybe combine a few!
i hate to ask this, but did they drop Hexblades? I mean, it sounds like you’re suppose to be able to use old builds/classes, but if i can’t do it here on DnD Beyond I’m out of luck.
If it’s updated, I guess I could make it a 3 dip if they still gave the option of Hexblade and just rearranged some stuff. If not, I guess I still get light armor and eldritch blast from a 2 dip as well as two eldritch invocations (one as early as level 1.)
I currently use an actor build with mask of many faces, so I’m not sure taking a feat instead of an eldritch invocation would be very helpful. …or would it?
In the playtest a lot of the benefits of hexblade have just been rolled into the pact of the blade which you can take as an invocation at level 1. This includes things like charisma being able to be used for your weapon attacks. Further, at level 2 in the playtest, you could get an origin feat that allowed you to gain medium armor and a shield. You could still use a pure 2014 version of the hexblade warlock in a 2024 game if you wanted but there likely isn't much of a point to do so. You would still be able to take the actor feat and mask of many faces with just a 2 level dip as well.
Interesting. Now I’m kind of curious what I could do instead taking the medium armor and shield since i won’t have warcaster necessarily. Then again, if i can take that feat instead of an eldritch invocation (basically)… I could take agonizing blast, medium armor/shield, warcaster… or agonizing blast, mask of many faces and actor… how many levels of Warlock for 3 eldritch invocations?
3 invocations + pact of the blade? that would be 5 and you would actually have 4 + pact of the blade. For 2 and pact of the blade just 2. I don't see why you won't have warcaster. It depends on if Actor is a origin feat or not. Because if actor is an origin feat you can get that at level 1 and after 4 levels of any class you could still get warcaster. You could also just use invocations to get eldritch mind for advantage on saves.
That’s true; I forgot about origin feats. As for War Caster though I just like the idea of having a shield while casting. It made Custom Origins very tempting, but i really like the Verdan race, so these updates could help me combine a build or two.
My current build blueprint is a Divine Soul 18/Hexblade 2. The three possibilities were to either Have warcaater to use spells and a shield, max my health for the level 18 Divine Soul ability that restores half my health (so max Con plus tough), and/or use an actor build with the Masks of Many Faces Eldritch Invocation. So far I’ve only been able to do the first and last with my multiclass, but these new features should let me do all of them individually if not maybe combine a few!
My typical recommendation is don't think or build a level 20 build unless your game is starting at level 20. Instead look at it in stages, starting place, than middle stages, late stages and then full build. Because the full build is not likely to see much actual play.
i hate to ask this, but did they drop Hexblades? I mean, it sounds like you’re suppose to be able to use old builds/classes, but if i can’t do it here on DnD Beyond I’m out of luck.
If it’s updated, I guess I could make it a 3 dip if they still gave the option of Hexblade and just rearranged some stuff. If not, I guess I still get light armor and eldritch blast from a 2 dip as well as two eldritch invocations (one as early as level 1.)
I currently use an actor build with mask of many faces, so I’m not sure taking a feat instead of an eldritch invocation would be very helpful. …or would it?
In the playtest a lot of the benefits of hexblade have just been rolled into the pact of the blade which you can take as an invocation at level 1. This includes things like charisma being able to be used for your weapon attacks. Further, at level 2 in the playtest, you could get an origin feat that allowed you to gain medium armor and a shield. You could still use a pure 2014 version of the hexblade warlock in a 2024 game if you wanted but there likely isn't much of a point to do so. You would still be able to take the actor feat and mask of many faces with just a 2 level dip as well.
Interesting. Now I’m kind of curious what I could do instead taking the medium armor and shield since i won’t have warcaster necessarily. Then again, if i can take that feat instead of an eldritch invocation (basically)… I could take agonizing blast, medium armor/shield, warcaster… or agonizing blast, mask of many faces and actor… how many levels of Warlock for 3 eldritch invocations?
3 invocations + pact of the blade? that would be 5 and you would actually have 4 + pact of the blade. For 2 and pact of the blade just 2. I don't see why you won't have warcaster. It depends on if Actor is a origin feat or not. Because if actor is an origin feat you can get that at level 1 and after 4 levels of any class you could still get warcaster. You could also just use invocations to get eldritch mind for advantage on saves.
That’s true; I forgot about origin feats. As for War Caster though I just like the idea of having a shield while casting. It made Custom Origins very tempting, but i really like the Verdan race, so these updates could help me combine a build or two.
My current build blueprint is a Divine Soul 18/Hexblade 2. The three possibilities were to either Have warcaater to use spells and a shield, max my health for the level 18 Divine Soul ability that restores half my health (so max Con plus tough), and/or use an actor build with the Masks of Many Faces Eldritch Invocation. So far I’ve only been able to do the first and last with my multiclass, but these new features should let me do all of them individually if not maybe combine a few!
My typical recommendation is don't think or build a level 20 build unless your game is starting at level 20. Instead look at it in stages, starting place, than middle stages, late stages and then full build. Because the full build is not likely to see much actual play.
Yeah, good point. I guess perfect con and tough should be put aside.
So if I need level 2 levels for two invocations. Seemingly the same, but without the medium armor and shield built in via Hexblade! I need them to be Agonizing Blast and Masks of Many Faces to optimize my Actor build.
So it sounds like while the potential of having extra feats is good for some builds, they’re essentially taking aomw abilities away and selling them back via Eldritch Invocations. A different way to acquire them without having to be a Hexblade sure, but selling them back nonetheless for those who want a traditional hexblade build.
is the other patron also messed up? meaning will i be able to use genie patron with a 2024 character?
The closest recommendation I think anyone has for playing the other subclasses at this point is just gain the subclass at level 3 instead of level 1 and you gain the pact spells always known instead of only adding them to the possible spells you learn.
Interesting. Now I’m kind of curious what I could do instead taking the medium armor and shield since i won’t have warcaster necessarily. Then again, if i can take that feat instead of an eldritch invocation (basically)… I could take agonizing blast, medium armor/shield, warcaster… or agonizing blast, mask of many faces and actor… how many levels of Warlock for 3 eldritch invocations?
They had Medium Armour + Shield as a first level feat. I don't know if it's going to stay (or be rewritten slightly so wizards/sorcerers only get light armour from it). Also they've boosted pact of the blade to the point you probably don't need both it and EB/AB.
One of the fun things is that they've actually thought about how to make the Pact of the Blade work. The Archfey is now all about the Misty Step (of which they get multiple for free and get riders when they use it) so you have a teleporting blademaster, and the Fiend gives you your thp when someone dies within 10' of you rather than just for your kills.
is the other patron also messed up? meaning will i be able to use genie patron with a 2024 character?
The closest recommendation I think anyone has for playing the other subclasses at this point is just gain the subclass at level 3 instead of level 1 and you gain the pact spells always known instead of only adding them to the possible spells you learn.
Darn. Ok. Thanks again for answering all my questions so far.
Interesting. Now I’m kind of curious what I could do instead taking the medium armor and shield since i won’t have warcaster necessarily. Then again, if i can take that feat instead of an eldritch invocation (basically)… I could take agonizing blast, medium armor/shield, warcaster… or agonizing blast, mask of many faces and actor… how many levels of Warlock for 3 eldritch invocations?
They had Medium Armour + Shield as a first level feat. I don't know if it's going to stay (or be rewritten slightly so wizards/sorcerers only get light armour from it). Also they've boosted pact of the blade to the point you probably don't need both it and EB/AB.
One of the fun things is that they've actually thought about how to make the Pact of the Blade work. The Archfey is now all about the Misty Step (of which they get multiple for free and get riders when they use it) so you have a teleporting blademaster, and the Fiend gives you your thp when someone dies within 10' of you rather than just for your kills.
It does sound exciting; don’t get me wrong. Heck, it’s probably better than my current build.
The only big issue I see with warlock update is how frontloaded there are to level 5.
Most classes are very frontloaded. (Full casters perhaps the least.) It's just the way of 5e.
Kind of hard to justify not multiclassing in my opinion
I've never had any urge to multiclass.
To each their own. That’s probably part of the new design is to get people to multiclass less.
At this point I might just go full Celesteal Warlock if their play-style is appealing. That was my first pick before i realized i could multiclass into sorcerer for more spells.
It’s just disappointing that I just found the perfect class for me only for things to change soon. I know to most its’ been this way for quite some time, but still…
Well the multi-classing has always been a bit of a question of what do you get next level and what are you delaying.
Warlock from 1 to 2 gets 2 more invocations, as it always did and, for many, this was worth it. Level 3 is now your subclass when it used to be your pact boon. The pact boons were small enough that sometimes you wanted them and other times they were ignored, but now the subclass may actually be meaningful. The big threshold for most classes is level 5. If level 5 is a good enough investment than whether multi-classing is good or not doesn't really matter as we have reached a hump where sometimes it will be a splash and sometimes you will just continue as warlock.
The Playtest warlock gets 2 invocations at level 5 and some of the later invocations have been moved to this level. Before Warlock only got 1 invocation at this level. The question becomes is 2 invocations and scaling into 3rd level spells worth taking a feat at 4th level and continuing to 5th level over going to another class and becoming a hybrid half caster with your spell progression, but having more spell slots.
Well the multi-classing has always been a bit of a question of what do you get next level and what are you delaying.
Warlock from 1 to 2 gets 2 more invocations, as it always did and, for many, this was worth it. Level 3 is now your subclass when it used to be your pact boon. The pact boons were small enough that sometimes you wanted them and other times they were ignored, but now the subclass may actually be meaningful. The big threshold for most classes is level 5. If level 5 is a good enough investment than whether multi-classing is good or not doesn't really matter as we have reached a hump where sometimes it will be a splash and sometimes you will just continue as warlock.
The Playtest warlock gets 2 invocations at level 5 and some of the later invocations have been moved to this level. Before Warlock only got 1 invocation at this level. The question becomes is 2 invocations and scaling into 3rd level spells worth taking a feat at 4th level and continuing to 5th level over going to another class and becoming a hybrid half caster with your spell progression, but having more spell slots.
I think at this point I’ll just scrap Warcaster shield build but keep the two levels in Warlock for Agonizing Blast and Mask of Many Faces. At least getting one at level one will make the build go smoother when leveling up. Plus now I can say I’ve sworn no pact yet but still get some benefits from the class. I wonder how many of my sorcerer or warlock cantrips will remain the same?
i hate to ask this, but did they drop Hexblades? I mean, it sounds like you’re suppose to be able to use old builds/classes, but if i can’t do it here on DnD Beyond I’m out of luck.
If it’s updated, I guess I could make it a 3 dip if they still gave the option of Hexblade and just rearranged some stuff. If not, I guess I still get light armor and eldritch blast from a 2 dip as well as two eldritch invocations (one as early as level 1.)
I currently use an actor build with mask of many faces, so I’m not sure taking a feat instead of an eldritch invocation would be very helpful. …or would it?
The BIG Hexblade feature - Cha as a melee stat, got rolled into Pact of the Blade, making the Hexblade patron kind of redundant without somewhat of a revamp.
i hate to ask this, but did they drop Hexblades? I mean, it sounds like you’re suppose to be able to use old builds/classes, but if i can’t do it here on DnD Beyond I’m out of luck.
If it’s updated, I guess I could make it a 3 dip if they still gave the option of Hexblade and just rearranged some stuff. If not, I guess I still get light armor and eldritch blast from a 2 dip as well as two eldritch invocations (one as early as level 1.)
I currently use an actor build with mask of many faces, so I’m not sure taking a feat instead of an eldritch invocation would be very helpful. …or would it?
The BIG Hexblade feature - Cha as a melee stat, got rolled into Pact of the Blade, making the Hexblade patron kind of redundant without somewhat of a revamp.
I don’t even use it for that; I did it for the medium armor and shield that none of the other subclasses offered.
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i hate to ask this, but did they drop Hexblades? I mean, it sounds like you’re suppose to be able to use old builds/classes, but if i can’t do it here on DnD Beyond I’m out of luck.
If it’s updated, I guess I could make it a 3 dip if they still gave the option of Hexblade and just rearranged some stuff. If not, I guess I still get light armor and eldritch blast from a 2 dip as well as two eldritch invocations (one as early as level 1.)
I currently use an actor build with mask of many faces, so I’m not sure taking a feat instead of an eldritch invocation would be very helpful. …or would it?
While they haven't said so for certain, there's no way you won't still be able to play with 2014 classes and subclasses. It would break all the existing campaigns otherwise.
Hexblade is not in the new PHB, which doesn't necessarily mean we won't see it again.
However, Hexblade was the "I want to play pact of the blade, but don't want to have to do two stats" patron, and a lot of the things people took it for are now in pact of the blade, so they may simply not update it, and leave it for people playing 2014 warlocks.
Or maybe they'll update it to something more distinct, as opposed to "I dunno... Shadowfell, Blackrazor, Raven Queen... something to do with intelligent weapons but you don't get one or anything."
Crawford's videos have talked a lot about playing a 2014 build alongside a 2024 build. I read this as meaning that you could build a Hexblade, but you would not be allowed to use the new 2024 toys. We have not seen any conversion documentation, and with this tone I don't think we will. I am worried we won't get any info on what previous books are 2024 compliant (Fizban's or the giant book for example). If none of the previous books can be used then that is really terrible.
In the playtest a lot of the benefits of hexblade have just been rolled into the pact of the blade which you can take as an invocation at level 1. This includes things like charisma being able to be used for your weapon attacks. Further, at level 2 in the playtest, you could get an origin feat that allowed you to gain medium armor and a shield. You could still use a pure 2014 version of the hexblade warlock in a 2024 game if you wanted but there likely isn't much of a point to do so. You would still be able to take the actor feat and mask of many faces with just a 2 level dip as well.
Interesting. Now I’m kind of curious what I could do instead taking the medium armor and shield since i won’t have warcaster necessarily. Then again, if i can take that feat instead of an eldritch invocation (basically)… I could take agonizing blast, medium armor/shield, warcaster… or agonizing blast, mask of many faces and actor… how many levels of Warlock for 3 eldritch invocations?
3 invocations + pact of the blade? that would be 5 and you would actually have 4 + pact of the blade. For 2 and pact of the blade just 2. I don't see why you won't have warcaster. It depends on if Actor is a origin feat or not. Because if actor is an origin feat you can get that at level 1 and after 4 levels of any class you could still get warcaster. You could also just use invocations to get eldritch mind for advantage on saves.
That’s true; I forgot about origin feats. As for War Caster though I just like the idea of having a shield while casting. It made Custom Origins very tempting, but i really like the Verdan race, so these updates could help me combine a build or two.
My current build blueprint is a Divine Soul 18/Hexblade 2. The three possibilities were to either Have warcaater to use spells and a shield, max my health for the level 18 Divine Soul ability that restores half my health (so max Con plus tough), and/or use an actor build with the Masks of Many Faces Eldritch Invocation. So far I’ve only been able to do the first and last with my multiclass, but these new features should let me do all of them individually if not maybe combine a few!
(Here’s my current design if you were curious: www.dndbeyond.com/sheet-pdfs/Actionsparda_126661750.pdf.)
My typical recommendation is don't think or build a level 20 build unless your game is starting at level 20. Instead look at it in stages, starting place, than middle stages, late stages and then full build. Because the full build is not likely to see much actual play.
is the other patron also messed up? meaning will i be able to use genie patron with a 2024 character?
Nobody knows for sure. You'll probably have to do some tinkering to make it happen.
That’s right; I forgot about the genie! :(
Yeah, good point. I guess perfect con and tough should be put aside.
So if I need level 2 levels for two invocations. Seemingly the same, but without the medium armor and shield built in via Hexblade! I need them to be Agonizing Blast and Masks of Many Faces to optimize my Actor build.
So it sounds like while the potential of having extra feats is good for some builds, they’re essentially taking aomw abilities away and selling them back via Eldritch Invocations. A different way to acquire them without having to be a Hexblade sure, but selling them back nonetheless for those who want a traditional hexblade build.
(Thank you for talking with me by the way!)
The closest recommendation I think anyone has for playing the other subclasses at this point is just gain the subclass at level 3 instead of level 1 and you gain the pact spells always known instead of only adding them to the possible spells you learn.
They had Medium Armour + Shield as a first level feat. I don't know if it's going to stay (or be rewritten slightly so wizards/sorcerers only get light armour from it). Also they've boosted pact of the blade to the point you probably don't need both it and EB/AB.
One of the fun things is that they've actually thought about how to make the Pact of the Blade work. The Archfey is now all about the Misty Step (of which they get multiple for free and get riders when they use it) so you have a teleporting blademaster, and the Fiend gives you your thp when someone dies within 10' of you rather than just for your kills.
The only big issue I see with warlock update is how frontloaded there are to level 5.
Kind of hard to justify not multiclassing in my opinion
Most classes are very frontloaded. (Full casters perhaps the least.) It's just the way of 5e.
I've never had any urge to multiclass.
Darn. Ok. Thanks again for answering all my questions so far.
It does sound exciting; don’t get me wrong. Heck, it’s probably better than my current build.
To each their own. That’s probably part of the new design is to get people to multiclass less.
At this point I might just go full Celesteal Warlock if their play-style is appealing. That was my first pick before i realized i could multiclass into sorcerer for more spells.
It’s just disappointing that I just found the perfect class for me only for things to change soon. I know to most its’ been this way for quite some time, but still…
Well the multi-classing has always been a bit of a question of what do you get next level and what are you delaying.
Warlock from 1 to 2 gets 2 more invocations, as it always did and, for many, this was worth it. Level 3 is now your subclass when it used to be your pact boon. The pact boons were small enough that sometimes you wanted them and other times they were ignored, but now the subclass may actually be meaningful. The big threshold for most classes is level 5. If level 5 is a good enough investment than whether multi-classing is good or not doesn't really matter as we have reached a hump where sometimes it will be a splash and sometimes you will just continue as warlock.
The Playtest warlock gets 2 invocations at level 5 and some of the later invocations have been moved to this level. Before Warlock only got 1 invocation at this level. The question becomes is 2 invocations and scaling into 3rd level spells worth taking a feat at 4th level and continuing to 5th level over going to another class and becoming a hybrid half caster with your spell progression, but having more spell slots.
I think at this point I’ll just scrap Warcaster shield build but keep the two levels in Warlock for Agonizing Blast and Mask of Many Faces. At least getting one at level one will make the build go smoother when leveling up. Plus now I can say I’ve sworn no pact yet but still get some benefits from the class. I wonder how many of my sorcerer or warlock cantrips will remain the same?
The BIG Hexblade feature - Cha as a melee stat, got rolled into Pact of the Blade, making the Hexblade patron kind of redundant without somewhat of a revamp.
I don’t even use it for that; I did it for the medium armor and shield that none of the other subclasses offered.