As one last follow up (as at this point this discussion is obsolete unless WoTC actually gives us another UA hexblade to try out and give feedback on), I tried to ‘fix’ their UA version of the hexblade without adding or removing much of anything, but just polishing its functionality a bit and just add some power to 2 specific features that did not scale at all and felt almost useless.
Hexblades Curse - lvl3
Charisma number of uses per long rest. Curse a target and get benefits against that target. Accursed critical: crit on a 19 or 20 (moved here from 14) Hungering hex: when cursed target dies, regain D8+CHA modifier hit points.
Unyielding Will - lvl3
Accursed shield: While concentrating on a spell, and not wearing medium or heavy armor or wielding a shield, you get a +2 bonus to AC. (Tied it to concentration and without range restriction on cursed target so it’s easier to turn on and maintain, also not limited by hexblades curse uses and stacks with light armor). Vengeful Hex: Whenever you succeed on a concentration saving throw, you may deal necrotic dmg to all creatures of your choice within 10 feet of you equal to D8+Warlock level. Once you use this feature you can’t so again until the start of you next turn. (Made it scale with warlock level to keep it relevant throughout the entire progression. Could be scrapped in favor of proficiency dmg on hexblades curse). Eldritch fortitude: Whenever you would fail a concentration saving throw you may choose to succeed instead and gain a number of temp HP equal to D8+warlock level. Refreshes on a long rest.
Malign Brutality - lvl6
Harrowing hex: After you cast a leveled spell, you may make one weapon attack as part of the same action (attack is made as part of same action so not to clash with hexblades curse, animate objects command timing and to make feel close to what other gish subclasses get). Hindering hex: when you hit the hexblades curse target with a weapon attack, it gets disadvantage on its next saving throw before the start of your next turn. Inescapable hex: When you put your hexblades curse on a creature, or as a bonus action on your turn, you may teleport up to 30 feet to an empty space within 5 feet of you hexblades curse target (teleports are cooler than anime running towards you target, plus the ‘straight’ clause on the UA wording made it weird to use and also provoked AoO. It foes require your BA for future uses, but I think it would be a good trade off for better functionality).
Armor of Hexes - lvl10
Dmg reduction vs cursed target (Unchanged).
Masterful Hex - lvl14
Lingering hex: If a creature cursed by your hexblades curse dies, you can use a BA to curse a new target on subsequent turns. This does not refresh its duration. (Instead of gaining back 1 measly use of the curse with magical cunning, restored ability to move the curse around to be effective against multiple targets. While at such late level this would probably be less useful, I think it’s still nice to have and ok as half of a capstone). Exploding hex: When you hit the hexblades curse target with a weapon attack, you can cause an explosion in a 30-foot emanation from the cursed creature. That creature and all creatures of your choice within the emanation take 4D6+warlock level necrotic, radiant or psychic dmg and are knocked prone. Refresh on a long rest or can be used with a pact magic slot (dmg increased and scales with warlock level to be kelt relevant and worthy of a pct magic slot if one decided to use it that way. Slow effect replaced with applying prone, meaning slow effect is better because this usually means half movement and adds utility because melee attackers get advantage until they get back up, which for a capstone I think it feels much more impactful)
Together with this, I suggest home-brewing armor of shadows to be 10+DEX+CHA instead of mage armor (all it means is that it grants +1 more AC at lvl4 and an additional +1 at lvl 8 if both feats are used to increase the Charisma score). Nothing too crazy IMO seeing as sorcerers got this and even bards got this this and I think it would be a gkkf change to make warlocks feel good about their AC without multiclassing (AoS assuming 14 DEX grants 15 AC at lvls 1-3, at which point the subclass comes i granting a potential +2 for an AC kf 17. At lvl 4 CHA gies to 18 and AC goes to 16 or 18 with accursed shield, and finally at lvl8 CHA goes to 20 and AC goes to 17 base or 19 with accursed shield, which can be further improved by investing in DEX if one wishes to do so, and I do no think these values are crazy our unbalanced)
Thats just my 2 cents. Hopefully WoTC can come up with something better in the near future.
Arcane subclasses update in newest UA and Hexblade is nowhere to be found. Guess we have spent months arguing and discussing for nothing because the designers clearly do not care enough to take the feedback and work on it, they just want to pump out content as quickly as possible and all that matters is money in the end. Guess its time to switch to a new game system where the designers/the people in charge care about the game not about the numbers in their bank account.
Maybe they’re preparing something for the new UA. It’s too early to assume anything. We need more inputs, and they need more feedback. As the article itself highlights.
Your Feedback Matters
Once you’ve read or played with these playtest materials, be sure to fill out the survey on D&D Beyond, coming on September 25, and let us know what you think.
If it's not there, they may have received enough feedback, possibly consistent feedback, that they are satisfied with the path forward. It does not mean that the UA version will be the final version (but there is a good chance).
If it's not there, they may have received enough feedback, possibly consistent feedback, that they are satisfied with the path forward. It does not mean that the UA version will be the final version (but there is a good chance).
Yeah but if they are not releasing another UA it means its gonna be the UA version with tweaks, and the UA version, to put it mildly, is trash (if for example accursed shield stays the same but stacks with light armor its still garbage). So yeah, I do not have any hopes, deva are clueless and WotC only care about money. The DnD Ship is sinking, time to jump.
Must have been a temporary glitch or a desktop issues. I couldn't see the latest UA via the sources menu, but I didn't seem to have issues reloading the direct link.
Edit: Weird. I can't see it on my desktop, but I can on my phone. Same desktop browser and incognito mode and it's fine. Maybe the page is cached.
The new Hexblade is stupid, confusing, boring, slows the game down with inconsequential damage rolls, and is not fun to play. Nobody will play this garbage. Your aren’t proving anything by absolutely ruining this beloved subclass and vanquishing it to obscurity.
The old Hexblade is fun. The class is already fixed by moving CHA base attacks to Pact of the Blade and moving the subclass to level 3. Players only multiclass in Hexblade because warlock is broken, only receiving 2 spell slots until tier 3, not because Hexblade is broken.
Every warlock is reduced to an eldritch blaster after one round of combat. Players have to multiclass warlock to have some spell slots to cast utility spells. If a class is reduced to eldritch blast and they get everything they need to do it in the first few levels then why keep going? Hiding those abilities behind a level 14 firewall won't solve anything. It will just mean they switch to a different warlock with a better level 3 mechanic.
Warlock is broken because of the unlimited short rest mechanic, rather than limiting short rests to once per day, which should have been the focus of 5.5. Unlimited short rests also slow the game down considerably. Anyone with a modicum of talent for game design and experience at a D&D table recognizes this.
(Reply to NullStalker's comment on missing the Hexblade in the updated Arcane Subclass UA)
I think a more likely scenario is that they tried an experiment for the new Hexblade and got very mixed feedback, so they are pulling it back to cook some more.
To me this is a good thing, because the first UA Hexblade is not really something I find exciting and doesn't fill the role that the old Hexblade did (for the Warlock, not for multiclassers). I understand what they wanted to go for but I think the result is pigeonholing the subclass in an unhealthy way.
The second UA Hexblade (from Arcane Subclasses) was a lot more appealing in direction but felt weak and full of conditions/limits. Especially the lvl 3 features were only granting a bit of healing on kill and some AC when unarmored and some conditional return-damage. Warlock already have Light Armor Training for a Studded Leather Armor's 12 + DEX (and whatever magic items can later be acquired). This leads to an incentive to use Mage Armor's 13 + DEX AC with +2 from the Curse (adding more to the Invocation-tax to run a melee build). The healing is proc'ed on kill, which would also end the curse on the target and your +2 AC... So on one hand you want to kill to get HP back and on the other hand you want to remain shielded. This feels like a bad version of the Bladesinger's Bladesong with little else to weigh up.
Really, some of the designers need to check themselves into a clinic to treat their addiction to keying classes and subclasses to a specific 1rst level concentration spell for all 20 levels of play. It's bad design no matter how many times they try.
Really, some of the designers need to check themselves into a clinic to treat their addiction to keying classes and subclasses to a specific 1rst level concentration spell for all 20 levels of play. It's bad design no matter how many times they try.
Really, some of the designers need to check themselves into a clinic to treat their addiction to keying classes and subclasses to a specific 1rst level concentration spell for all 20 levels of play. It's bad design no matter how many times they try.
the last iteration isnt really built around hex spell use forever.
The separated the functionality from a specific spell, you can curse targets without using a spell, or you can apply that curse when you apply other curse spells. All hex is in the current
you can find it in the first arcane subclasses pdf
hexblade iteration is one of the spells that curses a target.
And to be honest, they kinda should have kept hex as 5 free casts, even if it wasnt heavily tied to mechanics imo
I've been playing with a different design pattern for the Hexblade that some might compare to the Partnered Content, the Illrigger. Basically a Martial class with a magical resource.
My thoughts were that the Hexblade is often used to craft a melee Warlock. And for that build there are some very... shall we say very good or poor to discard Eldritch Invocations that functions for that build? The spellcaster Warlock have few Invocations that really scream "pick me!" and thus they have more open choices for Invocations and still perform well - mostly due to Eldritch Blast paired with the Agonizing Blast Invocation.
A melee Warlock feels subpar if you don't pick up: Pact of the Blade, Thirsting Blade and Devouring Blade. Arguments could be made to consider Lifedrinker just as fitting - if you're already going to smack people with a blade, why not add some extra damage and some healing on top?
There are definitely more Invocations that feel preferable to pick for a melee Warlock (Eldritch Smite, Devil's Sight, Fiendish Vigor, Armor of Shadows and more). However these feel more like strong contenders and not "feel bad to not pick". Still they result in the following:
As such you have fewer flexible Invocation slots to use for spellcasting/utility. This means you don't really feel all that much like a Spellcaster and more like a weird but fragile Paladin. So what if the Hexblade could encompass a bit more of that spellcasting feel but channel it to increase their combat performance, both offense, defense and utility.
For the sake of brevity I'll put the suggested design in a spoiler, but this design is something I feel like could be interesting and meaningful for the Hexblade:
Level 3 features:
Hex Magic
You have a number of Hex Magic charges equal to 2 + half your Warlock level (rounded down). These charges can be used to cast magical effects and you regain all spent charges when you finish a Short Rest or a Long Rest. Whenever you use your Magical Cunning feature you also restore a number of spent Hex Magic charges equal to half of your maximum Hex Magic charges (rounded down).
Hex Magic options:
Hexblade's Curse (1 charge) As a Bonus Action you may spend 1 charge of your Hex Magic to curse a target within 30 ft. of you with the Hexblade's Curse. Instead of spending a Bonus Action you may also curse the target of an attack or a spell - with a single target - that you make on your turn, as part of the same action.
The curse lasts 1 minute and provides the following benefits: Your attack rolls against a target cursed by your Hexblade's Curse has increased critical hit range. Lower the minimum die result on the D20 required for you to make a critical hit by one. (For example if you normally would make a critical hit on a roll of 20 on the D20 for an attack roll, you instead make a critical hit if you roll a 19 or a 20 on the D20.) Once on each of your turns when you hit a target cursed by your Hexblade's Curse with a melee weapon attack or Unarmed Strike, you may deal bonus Necrotic damage equal to 1d6 + half your Warlock level (rounded down).
Hexblade's Shield (1 charge) When you are hit by an attack roll, you may spend 1 charge of your Hex Magic as a Reaction to shield yourself. Gain +2 to your AC until the beginning of your next turn, including against the triggering attack - potentially causing it to miss.
When a target cursed by your Hexblade's Curse is reduced to 0 Hit Points within 30 ft. of you, you may regain Hit Points equal to 1d6 + your Charisma modifier (no action required). If you are Bloodied, regain twice that amount of Hit Points. In addition, if you have less than 3 unspent charges of your Hex Magic, you regain 1 charge of it. (For clarity this is not linked to you being Bloodied)
.
Relentless Assault
After you cast a level 1+ spell with a casting time of an Action, you may make one attack as a Bonus Action.
.
Additional Hex Magics
Your Hex Magic improves, adding the following options to your Hex Magic feature:
Hexblade's Twist of Fate (1 charge) When you fail a saving throw or a creature cursed by your Hexblade's Curse that you can see within 60 ft. of you succeeds on a saving throw, if that saving throw was caused by a spell or magical effect, you may spend 1 charge of your Hex Magic as a Reaction to reroll the saving throw. You or that creature must use the new roll.
Cursebound Specter (2 charges) When a Humanoid creature cursed by your Hexblade's Curse dies within 60 ft. of you, you may spend 2 charges of your Hex Magic (no action required) to raise the creature's soul as a Specter. The Specter's statistics can be found in the Monster Manual. The Specter acts on your turn and obeys your verbal commands. The Specter appears with a number of Temporary Hit Points equal to your Warlock level. It gains a bonus to its attack rolls equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum of +0). The Specter remains in your service until it dies or you finish a Long Rest, whereafter its soul departs for the afterlife. You can only have one Specter in your service at a time. If you ever have two Specters in your service, choose one to send to the afterlife.
Level 10 features:
Engulfed in Hexes
Your Hex Magic improves, adding the following options to your Hex Magic feature:
Hexplated (1 charge) When a creature cursed by your Hexblade's Curse deals damage to you, you may spend 1 charge of your Hex Magic as a Reaction to reduce that damage by an amount equal to 1d10 + your Warlock level. If you are Bloodied, you don't have to use a Reaction to activate this feature.
Inescapable Hex (1 charge) As a Bonus Action or as part of the Attack Action before you make any attacks with that action, you may spend 1 charge of your Hex Magic to teleport to an unoccupied spot within 5 ft. of a creature cursed by your Hexblade's Curse that you can see.
Improved Hexblade's Shield When using the Hexblade's Shield you don't have to use a Reaction to activate that feature. Multiple activations of Hexblade's Shield don't stack and can provide a maximum of +2 to your AC.
Level 14 features:
Hexmaster
Your Hex Magic improves, adding the following option to your Hex Magic feature:
Explosive Hex (3 charges) When you deal damage to a creature cursed by your Hexblade's Curse, you may spend 3 charges of your Hex Magic (no action required) to cause black flames to burst from the creature. That creature and all creatures of your choice within 30 ft. of the creature takes 2d8 Fire damage and 2d8 Necrotic damage and their Speed is lowered by 10 feet until the start of your next turn.
Channel Pact Magic At the beginning of your turn, you may expend a Pact Magic spell slot or a use of a Mystic Arcanum to restore 3 spent charges of your Hex Magic.
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Afterwords
This design should ensure benefits that are useable by both melee and ranged Warlock builds but provides additional benefits for the melee build just as some of the PHB's subclasses mostly benefit a ranged Warlock build.
The design attempts to not incorporate the plethora of conditions or limits that the UA Hexblades seem to be filled with; Conditional bonus to unarmored AC, AoE-damage on succeeding Concentration Saving Throws, only one target can be cursed by the Hexblade's Curse at a time - making the offensive and defensive benefits that specifically links to the curse-target feel very limiting and conflicting between the curse-benefits.
I also really really detest the use of unarmored benefits, totally neglecting that Warlocks do have Light Armor Training. It also completely removes armors as magic items for the Hexblade if you want your subclass benefits. And even if they multiclass to pick up Medium or Heavy armor (like any bloody spell caster can do), they require a Stat investment to fully utilize that increase to AC (13/15 STR to avoid -10 Speed or 14 DEX for Medium) - I think that's fair. No need to punish by locking defensive subclass benefits behind a no-armor clause if you can avoid it.
I've been trying to use the Valor Bard and Bladesinger Wizard as benchmarks in terms of what they can do. And while the Hexblade don't get the cantrip-replacement in their Extra Attack feature they instead get a fair amount of additional damage from their lvl 3 feature that scales with Warlock levels (class purist benefit). The reason to not give them the cantrip-replacement is mostly because... Eldritch Blast... and also you cannot guarantee that people pick the Thirsting Blade invocation (nor Pact of the Blade). The Hexblade then mostly gain defensive/utility benefits on later levels. This also means that multiclass dips don't get the 2014 defensive benefits that a lot of players have bashed the subclass for providing.
Early on the Hexblade can mostly muddle through with the Fiendish Vigor invocation, 2x Pact Magic slots for Shield/Blur plus a Studded Leather Armor + DEX. To accommodate the lower amount of Hex Magic charges and to incentivize using the Hexblade's Curse often, the level 6 feature's "on-kill" ensures you often have a few charges available to curse or shield. Additionally there's a piece of tech with the Relentless Assault feature meaning you can cast Fiendish Vigor for 12 Temp HP and then use your Bonus Action to make one weapon attack - making the invocation gain a lot of value for the Hexblade and remain useful beyond level 5. This is not different from the latest UA's level 6 feature.
Later on the Hexblade gain more and more Hex Magic charges to throw away at using Hexblade's Shield/Twist of Fate and then Hexplated can provide a solid amount of damage reduction, especially while Bloodied. Speaking of Hexplated it mirrors the Monk's Deflect Attack. Instead of providing an ability modifier as bonus damage reduction and the ability to turn defense into offense like the Monk, the Hexblade instead get to throw all their Hex Magic into softening blows against them with no Action economy limit when they start getting desperate. Still Hexplated only applies against cursed targets and at level 10 you have 7 charges per Short Rest minus 1 for cursing the target.
I struggled a bit with what to give them at level 14. I felt too much bonus damage would make them too strong with a 3x attack turn + the lvl 3 burst, so I opted to keep the UA's AoE damage (18 on average) and put it at a premium. The Explosive Hex is also sort of a "mana sink" when you have an overflow of charges and don't need the defensive options as much. Additionally I put in a way to convert your Warlock magic to Hex Magic in case the Hex Magic was better suited to your needs. This could very well be true for the Mystic Arcanum that otherwise might just sit there unused on your melee Warlock.
This Hexblade design does break a bit with the template that the PHB's Warlock subclasses seems to follow. But then again if things gets too formulaic it becomes dull.
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As one last follow up (as at this point this discussion is obsolete unless WoTC actually gives us another UA hexblade to try out and give feedback on), I tried to ‘fix’ their UA version of the hexblade without adding or removing much of anything, but just polishing its functionality a bit and just add some power to 2 specific features that did not scale at all and felt almost useless.
Hexblades Curse - lvl3
Charisma number of uses per long rest. Curse a target and get benefits against that target.
Accursed critical: crit on a 19 or 20 (moved here from 14) Hungering hex: when cursed target dies, regain D8+CHA modifier hit points.
Unyielding Will - lvl3
Accursed shield: While concentrating on a spell, and not wearing medium or heavy armor or wielding a shield, you get a +2 bonus to AC. (Tied it to concentration and without range restriction on cursed target so it’s easier to turn on and maintain, also not limited by hexblades curse uses and stacks with light armor). Vengeful Hex: Whenever you succeed on a concentration saving throw, you may deal necrotic dmg to all creatures of your choice within 10 feet of you equal to D8+Warlock level. Once you use this feature you can’t so again until the start of you next turn. (Made it scale with warlock level to keep it relevant throughout the entire progression. Could be scrapped in favor of proficiency dmg on hexblades curse). Eldritch fortitude: Whenever you would fail a concentration saving throw you may choose to succeed instead and gain a number of temp HP equal to D8+warlock level. Refreshes on a long rest.
Malign Brutality - lvl6
Harrowing hex: After you cast a leveled spell, you may make one weapon attack as part of the same action (attack is made as part of same action so not to clash with hexblades curse, animate objects command timing and to make feel close to what other gish subclasses get). Hindering hex: when you hit the hexblades curse target with a weapon attack, it gets disadvantage on its next saving throw before the start of your next turn. Inescapable hex: When you put your hexblades curse on a creature, or as a bonus action on your turn, you may teleport up to 30 feet to an empty space within 5 feet of you hexblades curse target (teleports are cooler than anime running towards you target, plus the ‘straight’ clause on the UA wording made it weird to use and also provoked AoO. It foes require your BA for future uses, but I think it would be a good trade off for better functionality).
Armor of Hexes - lvl10
Dmg reduction vs cursed target (Unchanged).
Masterful Hex - lvl14
Lingering hex: If a creature cursed by your hexblades curse dies, you can use a BA to curse a new target on subsequent turns. This does not refresh its duration. (Instead of gaining back 1 measly use of the curse with magical cunning, restored ability to move the curse around to be effective against multiple targets. While at such late level this would probably be less useful, I think it’s still nice to have and ok as half of a capstone). Exploding hex: When you hit the hexblades curse target with a weapon attack, you can cause an explosion in a 30-foot emanation from the cursed creature. That creature and all creatures of your choice within the emanation take 4D6+warlock level necrotic, radiant or psychic dmg and are knocked prone. Refresh on a long rest or can be used with a pact magic slot (dmg increased and scales with warlock level to be kelt relevant and worthy of a pct magic slot if one decided to use it that way. Slow effect replaced with applying prone, meaning slow effect is better because this usually means half movement and adds utility because melee attackers get advantage until they get back up, which for a capstone I think it feels much more impactful)
Together with this, I suggest home-brewing armor of shadows to be 10+DEX+CHA instead of mage armor (all it means is that it grants +1 more AC at lvl4 and an additional +1 at lvl 8 if both feats are used to increase the Charisma score). Nothing too crazy IMO seeing as sorcerers got this and even bards got this this and I think it would be a gkkf change to make warlocks feel good about their AC without multiclassing (AoS assuming 14 DEX grants 15 AC at lvls 1-3, at which point the subclass comes i granting a potential +2 for an AC kf 17. At lvl 4 CHA gies to 18 and AC goes to 16 or 18 with accursed shield, and finally at lvl8 CHA goes to 20 and AC goes to 17 base or 19 with accursed shield, which can be further improved by investing in DEX if one wishes to do so, and I do no think these values are crazy our unbalanced)
Thats just my 2 cents. Hopefully WoTC can come up with something better in the near future.
Arcane subclasses update in newest UA and Hexblade is nowhere to be found. Guess we have spent months arguing and discussing for nothing because the designers clearly do not care enough to take the feedback and work on it, they just want to pump out content as quickly as possible and all that matters is money in the end. Guess its time to switch to a new game system where the designers/the people in charge care about the game not about the numbers in their bank account.
Maybe they’re preparing something for the new UA. It’s too early to assume anything. We need more inputs, and they need more feedback. As the article itself highlights.
I hope.
If it's not there, they may have received enough feedback, possibly consistent feedback, that they are satisfied with the path forward. It does not mean that the UA version will be the final version (but there is a good chance).
How to add Tooltips.
My houserulings.
Yeah but if they are not releasing another UA it means its gonna be the UA version with tweaks, and the UA version, to put it mildly, is trash (if for example accursed shield stays the same but stacks with light armor its still garbage). So yeah, I do not have any hopes, deva are clueless and WotC only care about money. The DnD Ship is sinking, time to jump.
Is anybody else unable to access the current UA? Perhaps it was released prematurely?
How to add Tooltips.
My houserulings.
Nope. It's right here: https://media.dndbeyond.com/compendium-images/ua/arcane-subclasses-update/LEwFmioFBYHWqzpd/UA2025-ArcaneSubclassesUpdate.pdf
Must have been a temporary glitch or a desktop issues. I couldn't see the latest UA via the sources menu, but I didn't seem to have issues reloading the direct link.
Edit: Weird. I can't see it on my desktop, but I can on my phone. Same desktop browser and incognito mode and it's fine. Maybe the page is cached.
How to add Tooltips.
My houserulings.
The new Hexblade is stupid, confusing, boring, slows the game down with inconsequential damage rolls, and is not fun to play. Nobody will play this garbage. Your aren’t proving anything by absolutely ruining this beloved subclass and vanquishing it to obscurity.
The old Hexblade is fun. The class is already fixed by moving CHA base attacks to Pact of the Blade and moving the subclass to level 3. Players only multiclass in Hexblade because warlock is broken, only receiving 2 spell slots until tier 3, not because Hexblade is broken.
Every warlock is reduced to an eldritch blaster after one round of combat. Players have to multiclass warlock to have some spell slots to cast utility spells. If a class is reduced to eldritch blast and they get everything they need to do it in the first few levels then why keep going? Hiding those abilities behind a level 14 firewall won't solve anything. It will just mean they switch to a different warlock with a better level 3 mechanic.
Warlock is broken because of the unlimited short rest mechanic, rather than limiting short rests to once per day, which should have been the focus of 5.5. Unlimited short rests also slow the game down considerably. Anyone with a modicum of talent for game design and experience at a D&D table recognizes this.
(Reply to NullStalker's comment on missing the Hexblade in the updated Arcane Subclass UA)
I think a more likely scenario is that they tried an experiment for the new Hexblade and got very mixed feedback, so they are pulling it back to cook some more.
To me this is a good thing, because the first UA Hexblade is not really something I find exciting and doesn't fill the role that the old Hexblade did (for the Warlock, not for multiclassers). I understand what they wanted to go for but I think the result is pigeonholing the subclass in an unhealthy way.
The second UA Hexblade (from Arcane Subclasses) was a lot more appealing in direction but felt weak and full of conditions/limits. Especially the lvl 3 features were only granting a bit of healing on kill and some AC when unarmored and some conditional return-damage. Warlock already have Light Armor Training for a Studded Leather Armor's 12 + DEX (and whatever magic items can later be acquired). This leads to an incentive to use Mage Armor's 13 + DEX AC with +2 from the Curse (adding more to the Invocation-tax to run a melee build). The healing is proc'ed on kill, which would also end the curse on the target and your +2 AC... So on one hand you want to kill to get HP back and on the other hand you want to remain shielded. This feels like a bad version of the Bladesinger's Bladesong with little else to weigh up.
Really, some of the designers need to check themselves into a clinic to treat their addiction to keying classes and subclasses to a specific 1rst level concentration spell for all 20 levels of play. It's bad design no matter how many times they try.
SO REAL, THANK YOU
the last iteration isnt really built around hex spell use forever.
The separated the functionality from a specific spell, you can curse targets without using a spell, or you can apply that curse when you apply other curse spells. All hex is in the current
you can find it in the first arcane subclasses pdf
hexblade iteration is one of the spells that curses a target.
And to be honest, they kinda should have kept hex as 5 free casts, even if it wasnt heavily tied to mechanics imo
I've been playing with a different design pattern for the Hexblade that some might compare to the Partnered Content, the Illrigger. Basically a Martial class with a magical resource.
My thoughts were that the Hexblade is often used to craft a melee Warlock. And for that build there are some very... shall we say very good or poor to discard Eldritch Invocations that functions for that build? The spellcaster Warlock have few Invocations that really scream "pick me!" and thus they have more open choices for Invocations and still perform well - mostly due to Eldritch Blast paired with the Agonizing Blast Invocation.
A melee Warlock feels subpar if you don't pick up: Pact of the Blade, Thirsting Blade and Devouring Blade. Arguments could be made to consider Lifedrinker just as fitting - if you're already going to smack people with a blade, why not add some extra damage and some healing on top?
There are definitely more Invocations that feel preferable to pick for a melee Warlock (Eldritch Smite, Devil's Sight, Fiendish Vigor, Armor of Shadows and more). However these feel more like strong contenders and not "feel bad to not pick". Still they result in the following:
As such you have fewer flexible Invocation slots to use for spellcasting/utility. This means you don't really feel all that much like a Spellcaster and more like a weird but fragile Paladin. So what if the Hexblade could encompass a bit more of that spellcasting feel but channel it to increase their combat performance, both offense, defense and utility.
For the sake of brevity I'll put the suggested design in a spoiler, but this design is something I feel like could be interesting and meaningful for the Hexblade:
Level 3 features:
Hex Magic
You have a number of Hex Magic charges equal to 2 + half your Warlock level (rounded down). These charges can be used to cast magical effects and you regain all spent charges when you finish a Short Rest or a Long Rest.
Whenever you use your Magical Cunning feature you also restore a number of spent Hex Magic charges equal to half of your maximum Hex Magic charges (rounded down).
Hex Magic options:
Hexblade's Curse (1 charge)
As a Bonus Action you may spend 1 charge of your Hex Magic to curse a target within 30 ft. of you with the Hexblade's Curse. Instead of spending a Bonus Action you may also curse the target of an attack or a spell - with a single target - that you make on your turn, as part of the same action.
The curse lasts 1 minute and provides the following benefits:
Your attack rolls against a target cursed by your Hexblade's Curse has increased critical hit range. Lower the minimum die result on the D20 required for you to make a critical hit by one.
(For example if you normally would make a critical hit on a roll of 20 on the D20 for an attack roll, you instead make a critical hit if you roll a 19 or a 20 on the D20.)
Once on each of your turns when you hit a target cursed by your Hexblade's Curse with a melee weapon attack or Unarmed Strike, you may deal bonus Necrotic damage equal to 1d6 + half your Warlock level (rounded down).
Hexblade's Shield (1 charge)
When you are hit by an attack roll, you may spend 1 charge of your Hex Magic as a Reaction to shield yourself.
Gain +2 to your AC until the beginning of your next turn, including against the triggering attack - potentially causing it to miss.
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Hexblade Spells (Unchanged from the UA material.)
Lvl - Spells
3 - Arcane Vigor, Hex, Shield, Wrathful Smite
5 - Bestow Curse, Confure Barrage
7 - Freedom of Movement, Staggering Smite
9 - Animate Objects, Steel Wind Strike
Level 6 features:
Essencestealing Curse
When a target cursed by your Hexblade's Curse is reduced to 0 Hit Points within 30 ft. of you, you may regain Hit Points equal to 1d6 + your Charisma modifier (no action required).
If you are Bloodied, regain twice that amount of Hit Points.
In addition, if you have less than 3 unspent charges of your Hex Magic, you regain 1 charge of it. (For clarity this is not linked to you being Bloodied)
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Relentless Assault
After you cast a level 1+ spell with a casting time of an Action, you may make one attack as a Bonus Action.
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Additional Hex Magics
Your Hex Magic improves, adding the following options to your Hex Magic feature:
Hexblade's Twist of Fate (1 charge)
When you fail a saving throw or a creature cursed by your Hexblade's Curse that you can see within 60 ft. of you succeeds on a saving throw, if that saving throw was caused by a
spell or magical effect, you may spend 1 charge of your Hex Magic as a Reaction to reroll the saving throw. You or that creature must use the new roll.
Cursebound Specter (2 charges)
When a Humanoid creature cursed by your Hexblade's Curse dies within 60 ft. of you, you may spend 2 charges of your Hex Magic (no action required) to raise the creature's soul as a Specter. The Specter's statistics can be found in the Monster Manual. The Specter acts on your turn and obeys your verbal commands. The Specter appears with a number of Temporary Hit Points equal to your Warlock level. It gains a bonus to its attack rolls equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum of +0).
The Specter remains in your service until it dies or you finish a Long Rest, whereafter its soul departs for the afterlife.
You can only have one Specter in your service at a time. If you ever have two Specters in your service, choose one to send to the afterlife.
Level 10 features:
Engulfed in Hexes
Your Hex Magic improves, adding the following options to your Hex Magic feature:
Hexplated (1 charge)
When a creature cursed by your Hexblade's Curse deals damage to you, you may spend 1 charge of your Hex Magic as a Reaction to reduce that damage by an amount equal to 1d10 + your Warlock level.
If you are Bloodied, you don't have to use a Reaction to activate this feature.
Inescapable Hex (1 charge)
As a Bonus Action or as part of the Attack Action before you make any attacks with that action, you may spend 1 charge of your Hex Magic to teleport to an unoccupied spot within 5 ft. of a creature cursed by your Hexblade's Curse that you can see.
Improved Hexblade's Shield
When using the Hexblade's Shield you don't have to use a Reaction to activate that feature. Multiple activations of Hexblade's Shield don't stack and can provide a maximum of +2 to your AC.
Level 14 features:
Hexmaster
Your Hex Magic improves, adding the following option to your Hex Magic feature:
Explosive Hex (3 charges)
When you deal damage to a creature cursed by your Hexblade's Curse, you may spend 3 charges of your Hex Magic (no action required) to cause black flames to burst from the creature. That creature and all creatures of your choice within 30 ft. of the creature takes 2d8 Fire damage and 2d8 Necrotic damage and their Speed is lowered by 10 feet until the start of your next turn.
Channel Pact Magic
At the beginning of your turn, you may expend a Pact Magic spell slot or a use of a Mystic Arcanum to restore 3 spent charges of your Hex Magic.
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Afterwords
This design should ensure benefits that are useable by both melee and ranged Warlock builds but provides additional benefits for the melee build just as some of the PHB's subclasses mostly benefit a ranged Warlock build.
The design attempts to not incorporate the plethora of conditions or limits that the UA Hexblades seem to be filled with; Conditional bonus to unarmored AC, AoE-damage on succeeding Concentration Saving Throws, only one target can be cursed by the Hexblade's Curse at a time - making the offensive and defensive benefits that specifically links to the curse-target feel very limiting and conflicting between the curse-benefits.
I also really really detest the use of unarmored benefits, totally neglecting that Warlocks do have Light Armor Training. It also completely removes armors as magic items for the Hexblade if you want your subclass benefits. And even if they multiclass to pick up Medium or Heavy armor (like any bloody spell caster can do), they require a Stat investment to fully utilize that increase to AC (13/15 STR to avoid -10 Speed or 14 DEX for Medium) - I think that's fair. No need to punish by locking defensive subclass benefits behind a no-armor clause if you can avoid it.
I've been trying to use the Valor Bard and Bladesinger Wizard as benchmarks in terms of what they can do. And while the Hexblade don't get the cantrip-replacement in their Extra Attack feature they instead get a fair amount of additional damage from their lvl 3 feature that scales with Warlock levels (class purist benefit). The reason to not give them the cantrip-replacement is mostly because... Eldritch Blast... and also you cannot guarantee that people pick the Thirsting Blade invocation (nor Pact of the Blade). The Hexblade then mostly gain defensive/utility benefits on later levels. This also means that multiclass dips don't get the 2014 defensive benefits that a lot of players have bashed the subclass for providing.
Early on the Hexblade can mostly muddle through with the Fiendish Vigor invocation, 2x Pact Magic slots for Shield/Blur plus a Studded Leather Armor + DEX. To accommodate the lower amount of Hex Magic charges and to incentivize using the Hexblade's Curse often, the level 6 feature's "on-kill" ensures you often have a few charges available to curse or shield. Additionally there's a piece of tech with the Relentless Assault feature meaning you can cast Fiendish Vigor for 12 Temp HP and then use your Bonus Action to make one weapon attack - making the invocation gain a lot of value for the Hexblade and remain useful beyond level 5. This is not different from the latest UA's level 6 feature.
Later on the Hexblade gain more and more Hex Magic charges to throw away at using Hexblade's Shield/Twist of Fate and then Hexplated can provide a solid amount of damage reduction, especially while Bloodied. Speaking of Hexplated it mirrors the Monk's Deflect Attack. Instead of providing an ability modifier as bonus damage reduction and the ability to turn defense into offense like the Monk, the Hexblade instead get to throw all their Hex Magic into softening blows against them with no Action economy limit when they start getting desperate. Still Hexplated only applies against cursed targets and at level 10 you have 7 charges per Short Rest minus 1 for cursing the target.
I struggled a bit with what to give them at level 14. I felt too much bonus damage would make them too strong with a 3x attack turn + the lvl 3 burst, so I opted to keep the UA's AoE damage (18 on average) and put it at a premium. The Explosive Hex is also sort of a "mana sink" when you have an overflow of charges and don't need the defensive options as much. Additionally I put in a way to convert your Warlock magic to Hex Magic in case the Hex Magic was better suited to your needs. This could very well be true for the Mystic Arcanum that otherwise might just sit there unused on your melee Warlock.
This Hexblade design does break a bit with the template that the PHB's Warlock subclasses seems to follow. But then again if things gets too formulaic it becomes dull.