Monstrous Compendium Vol. 1: Spelljammer Creatures
Frozen Sick
D&D Beyond Basic Rules
Basic Rules (2014)
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Monstrous Compendium Vol. 1: Spelljammer CreaturesFrozen SickD&D Beyond Basic RulesBasic Rules (2014)Sign in to view your library & saved favorites.
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Since Pact of the Blade is an invocation. The Hexblade can get maybe a name and concpet change.
Make it more a Self-Buffer and enemy De-Bufer
Have the Class feature boost the pacts
BLADE = Something to boost AC/HP and maybe add an effect when hitting cursed target.
TOME = Once per short rest a spell cast from tome can bypass damage resistance / give a disadvantage to save. (Maybe add a higher level ritual as a ribbon)
CHAIN = Reaction teleport to Warlock and intercept an attack against the Warlock made by a cursed target.
Proficiency with medium armor and shields is not the overpowered feature that some people seem to think it is. If it was, players would still be using the 5.0 hexblade with the 5.5 warlock.
It's not overpowered in a vacuum. But it does take up a large portion of a power budget for a class without significant armor training in comparison to what other subclasses get. I argue this is more a problem of the base Warlock subclasses being a bit undertuned but here we are. Medium Armor & Shields is going to boost AC by 4-5 on average vs a light armor user with no shield. That is a significant boost in survivability especially in Tier 1 & 2.
If every Warlock subclass got some sort of comparable skill or ribbon feature along with their active level 3 feature, it would be fine. But most don't which is why its problematic. It forces you to either really tone down the power of the Hexblade curse for balance or publish a blatantly power crept subclass in comparison to the base PHB subclasses. Personally I like every subclass to give a flavorful ribbon skill/tool/armor proficiency along with an active power/ability. Archfey should have gotten automatic persuasion proficiency and expertise in a charisma skill of their choice. Fiend should have given automatic intimidation proficiency and maybe poisoners tools proficiency. Etc Etc.
But since the baseline design is just one active ability feature at level 3 for the most part, this is why Hex Warrior + Hexblade's curse is frequently viewed as power creep.