UA Hexblade 2025 Feedback

Quote from emerylopes >>

 What I expected:

Hexblade Spells

The magic of your otherworldly patron ensures you always have certain spells ready; when you reach a Warlock level specified in the Hexblade Spells table, you thereafter always have the listed spells prepared.

Hexblade Spells

Warlock Level	Spells
3	Shield, Wrathful Smite*, Misty Step, Mirror Image
5	Haste, Lightning Bolt
7	Freedom of Movement, Staggering Smite*
9	Banishing Smite*, Cone of Cold

 

Hexblade’s Curse

At 3rd level, your Hexblade Patron empowers your curses. You always have the Hex spell prepared. You can cast Hex spell without using a spell slot. Until the curse ends, you gain the following benefits:

• You don't need Concentrate on the Hex spell.
• You gain your proficiency bonus to damage rolls against the cursed target.
• Any attack roll you make against the cursed target is a critical hit on a roll of 19 or 20 on the d20.
• If the cursed target drops to 0 Hit Points, you can end the Hex spell to regain hit points or Temporary Hit Points equal to your warlock level plus your Charisma modifier (minimum of 1 hit point) or curse a new creature on your later turns. (no Action required).

You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum of once), and you regain all expended uses of it when you finish a Long Rest.

Hex Warrior

At 3rd level, you acquire proficiency with Medium Armor and Shields. You also gain a Fighting Style, you can use the mastery properties of your pact weapons and when you gain a Ability Score Improvement in Strength or Dexterity, you can gain in Charisma instead, to maximum of 20. 

At 5th level in this class, you can create or transform up to two weapons into your pact weapons. At 11th level in this class, you can create or transform up to three weapons into your pact weapons.

Accursed Power

At 6th level, when you drop a creature to 0 Hit Points,  you can drain and store three Accursed Power. You can manipulate these powers in any of the ways described below:

• Accursed Magic: You can spend one Accursed Power(no action required) to use Eldritch Smite or cast a spell without expending Pact Magic spell slot. Once you use this feature twice, you can’t use it again until you finish a Long Rest.
• Accursed Summon: As a Reaction, immediately after you drain Accursed Power, or as a Magic action you can spend two Accursed Power to cast Summon Undead or one summon spell that you know from warlocks class without expending Pact Magic spell slot. This summon spell is cast one level higher than your highest Pact Magic spell slot and doesn’t require concentration. The summoned creature always obeys your verbal commands and remains in your service until the end of your next Long Rest, at which point it vanishes leaving nothing behind.

Once you drain Accursed Power with this feature, you can’t use the feature again until you finish a Long Rest.

Armor of Hexes

At 10th level, if a creature cursed by your spells or warlock features hits you with an attack roll, you can to roll a d6. On a 4 or higher, you can use your Reaction to make the attack miss you, regardless of its roll.

Master of Hexes

At 14th level, your Armor of Hexes and Hexblade’s Curse grow stronger.

Master of Armor of Hexes

You have Resistance to all damage from creatures cursed by your spells or warlock features.

Master of Hexblade’s Curse

At 14th level, your Hexblade’s Curse gains two additional benefits:

• You have Advantage on D20 Test against creatures cursed by your spells or warlock features.
• The damage of your Hex spell is now 3d6.

 aka what I'm currently using, though I have a few thoughts -

1. I'm not sure no-concentration Hex shouldn't have a reduced 1 or maybe 10 minute duration instead of an hour.

2. Additional Pact Weapons should come at 6th and 10th level, remaining in line with regular subclass upgrades (though 5th and 11th make a certain amount of sense with caster upgrade levels).

3. Jumping from 1d6 to 3d6 is weird on Hex. I know the version I'm currently running of this shows as 2d6 at 14th level, wondering if 3d6 here is a typo. 

Overall though, it's working out well, but we just hit level 6, so we'll see what I think balance wise with the new abilities that came with that. But certainly better than the crap they put out as a Hexblade in the UA (which I could have designed better in my sleep).

Quote from MaverickWolf >>

Quote from emerylopes >>

 What I expected:

Hexblade Spells

The magic of your otherworldly patron ensures you always have certain spells ready; when you reach a Warlock level specified in the Hexblade Spells table, you thereafter always have the listed spells prepared.

Hexblade Spells

Warlock Level	Spells
3	Shield, Wrathful Smite*, Misty Step, Mirror Image
5	Haste, Lightning Bolt
7	Freedom of Movement, Staggering Smite*
9	Banishing Smite*, Cone of Cold

 

Hexblade’s Curse

At 3rd level, your Hexblade Patron empowers your curses. You always have the Hex spell prepared. You can cast Hex spell without using a spell slot. Until the curse ends, you gain the following benefits:

• You don't need Concentrate on the Hex spell.
• You gain your proficiency bonus to damage rolls against the cursed target.
• Any attack roll you make against the cursed target is a critical hit on a roll of 19 or 20 on the d20.
• If the cursed target drops to 0 Hit Points, you can end the Hex spell to regain hit points or Temporary Hit Points equal to your warlock level plus your Charisma modifier (minimum of 1 hit point) or curse a new creature on your later turns. (no Action required).

You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum of once), and you regain all expended uses of it when you finish a Long Rest.

Hex Warrior

At 3rd level, you acquire proficiency with Medium Armor and Shields. You also gain a Fighting Style, you can use the mastery properties of your pact weapons and when you gain a Ability Score Improvement in Strength or Dexterity, you can gain in Charisma instead, to maximum of 20. 

At 5th level in this class, you can create or transform up to two weapons into your pact weapons. At 11th level in this class, you can create or transform up to three weapons into your pact weapons.

Accursed Power

At 6th level, when you drop a creature to 0 Hit Points,  you can drain and store three Accursed Power. You can manipulate these powers in any of the ways described below:

• Accursed Magic: You can spend one Accursed Power(no action required) to use Eldritch Smite or cast a spell without expending Pact Magic spell slot. Once you use this feature twice, you can’t use it again until you finish a Long Rest.
• Accursed Summon: As a Reaction, immediately after you drain Accursed Power, or as a Magic action you can spend two Accursed Power to cast Summon Undead or one summon spell that you know from warlocks class without expending Pact Magic spell slot. This summon spell is cast one level higher than your highest Pact Magic spell slot and doesn’t require concentration. The summoned creature always obeys your verbal commands and remains in your service until the end of your next Long Rest, at which point it vanishes leaving nothing behind.

Once you drain Accursed Power with this feature, you can’t use the feature again until you finish a Long Rest.

Armor of Hexes

At 10th level, if a creature cursed by your spells or warlock features hits you with an attack roll, you can to roll a d6. On a 4 or higher, you can use your Reaction to make the attack miss you, regardless of its roll.

Master of Hexes

At 14th level, your Armor of Hexes and Hexblade’s Curse grow stronger.

Master of Armor of Hexes

You have Resistance to all damage from creatures cursed by your spells or warlock features.

Master of Hexblade’s Curse

At 14th level, your Hexblade’s Curse gains two additional benefits:

• You have Advantage on D20 Test against creatures cursed by your spells or warlock features.
• The damage of your Hex spell is now 3d6.

 aka what I'm currently using, though I have a few thoughts -

1. I'm not sure no-concentration Hex shouldn't have a reduced 1 or maybe 10 minute duration instead of an hour.

2. Additional Pact Weapons should come at 6th and 10th level, remaining in line with regular subclass upgrades (though 5th and 11th make a certain amount of sense with caster upgrade levels).

3. Jumping from 1d6 to 3d6 is weird on Hex. I know the version I'm currently running of this shows as 2d6 at 14th level, wondering if 3d6 here is a typo. 

Overall though, it's working out well, but we just hit level 6, so we'll see what I think balance wise with the new abilities that came with that. But certainly better than the crap they put out as a Hexblade in the UA (which I could have designed better in my sleep).

1. WoTC has decided they are against no concentration “target specific damage boost on hit” spells like hex and HM. I doubt that will ever make it to official release especially not at lvl 3. Hex already gives a damage boost, so I’m not sure why you add your PB to damage as well. I like bringing the the enhanced crit range back to lvl 3. It belongs there. Hex warrior is also a must, but just let it do what it did 2014. It’s fine. Having both a hex blade and a pact weapon isn’t bad, or you could replace your pact of the blade invocation if you wanted. I don’t like giving out fighting styles, or weapon masteries to any more subclasses. Too many have it already. Anyone else who wants them should be getting them via a feat.
2. Accursed power is far too strong. The duration, no concentration, ease of getting it (no longer requiring  humanoid, which I like) and level boost puts it far above the 2014 specter. 
3. I don’t know if hex should be getting a damage increase at 14 when you have damage increases from having more attacks from invocations and cantrips just getting stronger as you level. 
4. I’m sure everything I mentioned negatively is working fine at your table and you are having fun. I’m not trying to diminish your enjoyment I’m just saying I wouldn’t like those things to become the official rules. Bringing the enhanced crit range and the features of 2014 hex warrior back to level 3 are things I would like to see in the 2024 Hexblade. 

Hey everyone, feedback is always welcome!

As others have pointed out, the new Hexblade design is pretty underwhelming. In fact, my custom subclass has received 100% positive feedback even before its UA release

We shouldn't treat concentration as game-breaking when it's a core mechanic tied to specific spells. Think about it: by level 5, not having to concentrate on Hex gives you around +3 average damage per hit. By level 14, that jumps to about +10. And let’s not forget—Lifedrinker used to be much stronger in earlier versions.

Keep in mind, this subclass is meant to be a killer—but only for its cursed target. Most of its features rely on that curse being active, which I think is both a solid balancing factor and thematically awesome.

Any point about "The Lore(TM)" is irrelevant because this is not Xanathar's Hexblade, nor is this based on external works.

If they'd just bring back the Medium Armor & Shields, & not ramrod Hex usage into another Warlock, a lot of this would work as a maneuver-based(Maneuver points?) Warlock which doesn't exclude non-optimizers who play Hexblade with the Chain or Tome. Likewise, this addresses an issue with the 2014 Hexblade being backwards compatible with 2024 Warlock(I expect a fix for Shepherd Druid is also inevitable) in the form of invocations & early feats reducing that initial feature.

I think Warlock Subclasses in general should have more direct & substantial effects on PHB invocations as a general fix to overspecialization akin to the Profane Soul Blood Hunter. But that's a discussion for another time & place.

Hexblade already gets access to Shield in the UA. They just need Mage Armor and they'd be solid. They definitely shouldn't get access to medium armor, shields, or weapon masteries. Getting proficiency in armor and shields just means that they're eligible for getting magic armor and shields and the last thing a martial needs is competition for magic items from a primary spellcaster.

HI Captain, keep in mind, we're talking about a subclass with shield proficiency.

I looked over it twice and I don't see shield proficiency in the class or in the UA. So unless I missed it, we're not talking about a subclass with shield proficiency. 

Quote from CaptainArch >>

Hexblade already gets access to Shield in the UA. They just need Mage Armor and they'd be solid. They definitely shouldn't get access to medium armor, shields, or weapon masteries. Getting proficiency in armor and shields just means that they're eligible for getting magic armor and shields and the last thing a martial needs is competition for magic items from a primary spellcaster.

 
There’s an Invocation for casting Mage Armor at will.

Quote from The_Ace_of_Rogues >>

Quote from CaptainArch >>

Hexblade already gets access to Shield in the UA. They just need Mage Armor and they'd be solid. They definitely shouldn't get access to medium armor, shields, or weapon masteries. Getting proficiency in armor and shields just means that they're eligible for getting magic armor and shields and the last thing a martial needs is competition for magic items from a primary spellcaster.

 
There’s an Invocation for casting Mage Armor at will.

Right. I forgot about that lol It was in the back of my head but it slipped my mind. So Hexblades are in a good place defensively then. At most they could just revert the Armor of Hexes to the old version and that'd be that (assuming the math checks out to be generally more useful).

Quote from CaptainArch >>

Quote from The_Ace_of_Rogues >>

Quote from CaptainArch >>

Hexblade already gets access to Shield in the UA. They just need Mage Armor and they'd be solid. They definitely shouldn't get access to medium armor, shields, or weapon masteries. Getting proficiency in armor and shields just means that they're eligible for getting magic armor and shields and the last thing a martial needs is competition for magic items from a primary spellcaster.

 
There’s an Invocation for casting Mage Armor at will.

 

Right. I forgot about that lol It was in the back of my head but it slipped my mind. So Hexblades are in a good place defensively then. At most they could just revert the Armor of Hexes to the old version and that'd be that (assuming the math checks out to be generally more useful).

 False, they aren’t in a good place defensively. Casting the shield spell should only be done in the most dire of situations and is not as consistently good as holding a physical shield. Mage Armor at will is no way equal to Medium Armor training. Having a Warlock competing for magical shields and armor is no different than having an Eldritch Knight, Paladin, Ranger, or Arcane Trickster competing for a pearl of power, wand of the war mage, or etc. It’s okay to have a warlock subclass that has access to Armor, shield, and Weapon training. Without shields and armor training it is far superior to play a ranged warlock even with the UA Hexblade subclass. Nothing in this class draws you toward melee combat.

Quote from CaptainArch >>

Quote from The_Ace_of_Rogues >>

Quote from CaptainArch >>

Hexblade already gets access to Shield in the UA. They just need Mage Armor and they'd be solid. They definitely shouldn't get access to medium armor, shields, or weapon masteries. Getting proficiency in armor and shields just means that they're eligible for getting magic armor and shields and the last thing a martial needs is competition for magic items from a primary spellcaster.

 
There’s an Invocation for casting Mage Armor at will.

 

Right. I forgot about that lol It was in the back of my head but it slipped my mind. So Hexblades are in a good place defensively then. At most they could just revert the Armor of Hexes to the old version and that'd be that (assuming the math checks out to be generally more useful).

lol you are very wrong my friend.

One strange detail (among many) is that this subclass is being built around the hex spell, yet the great old one subclass gets a boost to hex at level 10 that is arguably stronger than anything in the hexblade UA.

Warlocks also have Armor of Agathys for defense, and with the free casts of Hex it doesn’t chew through their slots all that quickly, relative to typical encounter length. No, they’re never going to boldly stand at the front like a Paladin or Fighter, but neither do Bladesingers or martial Bards.

Hexblade already had Medium Armor and Shield. I don't even know why Its a discussion .

Well said Great Old One Hex is far better.

Quote from emerylopes >>

Hexblade already had Medium Armor and Shield. I don't even know why Its a discussion

Because this one is not designed to be a dedicated weapon-user, and ergo doesn’t have the same need for AC.

Quote from The_Ace_of_Rogues >>

Quote from emerylopes >>

Hexblade already had Medium Armor and Shield. I don't even know why Its a discussion

 

Because this one is not designed to be a dedicated weapon-user, and ergo doesn’t have the same need for AC.

 
So the admitting the new Hexblade that has blade on its name is not weapon based? So whats is based on?

Quote from emerylopes >>

Quote from The_Ace_of_Rogues >>

Quote from emerylopes >>

Hexblade already had Medium Armor and Shield. I don't even know why Its a discussion

 

Because this one is not designed to be a dedicated weapon-user, and ergo doesn’t have the same need for AC.

 
So the admitting the new Hexblade that has blade on its name is not weapon based? So whats is based on?

 
Hex, clearly. I’ve said a few times it needs to be renamed rather than trying to carry forward an existing name. 

Quote from The_Ace_of_Rogues >>

Quote from emerylopes >>

Quote from The_Ace_of_Rogues >>

Quote from emerylopes >>

Hexblade already had Medium Armor and Shield. I don't even know why Its a discussion

 

Because this one is not designed to be a dedicated weapon-user, and ergo doesn’t have the same need for AC.

 
So the admitting the new Hexblade that has blade on its name is not weapon based? So whats is based on?

 
Hex, clearly. I’ve said a few times it needs to be renamed rather than trying to carry forward an existing name. 

 It's based on receiving power FROM a blade that you do not necessarily possess, & lowering the need to make it power FOR a blade.

Quote from MaedraDawnkeeper >>

Quote from The_Ace_of_Rogues >>

Quote from emerylopes >>

Quote from The_Ace_of_Rogues >>

Quote from emerylopes >>

Hexblade already had Medium Armor and Shield. I don't even know why Its a discussion

 

Because this one is not designed to be a dedicated weapon-user, and ergo doesn’t have the same need for AC.

 
So the admitting the new Hexblade that has blade on its name is not weapon based? So whats is based on?

 
Hex, clearly. I’ve said a few times it needs to be renamed rather than trying to carry forward an existing name. 

 It's based on receiving power FROM a blade that you do not necessarily possess, & lowering the need to make it power FOR a blade.

 
I read the bumper sticker, but for all practical purposes the “blade” bit is just being shoehorned in as they try to reuse the existing name even though they’re stretching to the breaking point to make a connection.

Quote from The_Ace_of_Rogues >>

Quote from MaedraDawnkeeper >>

Quote from The_Ace_of_Rogues >>

Quote from emerylopes >>

Quote from The_Ace_of_Rogues >>

Quote from emerylopes >>

Hexblade already had Medium Armor and Shield. I don't even know why Its a discussion

 

Because this one is not designed to be a dedicated weapon-user, and ergo doesn’t have the same need for AC.

 
So the admitting the new Hexblade that has blade on its name is not weapon based? So whats is based on?

 
Hex, clearly. I’ve said a few times it needs to be renamed rather than trying to carry forward an existing name. 

 It's based on receiving power FROM a blade that you do not necessarily possess, & lowering the need to make it power FOR a blade.

 
I read the bumper sticker, but for all practical purposes the “blade” bit is just being shoehorned in as they try to reuse the existing name even though they’re stretching to the breaking point to make a connection.

 There's that "Pact of the Hexblade/Pact of the Blade+" mentality, that, which worked in 2014, causes redundancy in 2024, while also excluding Pact of the Tome & Pact of the Chain users.

It's valid when contained in 2014, but this is clearly meant to be something more neutral aka divorced more from lore.

If they kept the manuever-style bits & added back medium armor & shields, this wouldn't be a feedback disaster. The Hex ramrodding is the problem.

People simply can't force a Hexblade Dip in 2024 anymore, because, for all intents & purposes, that's what most optimizers did.

As for the Hexblade in the title, I've already thought of at least 3 different ways to write it into a 2024 backstory w/o using a single bit of Xanathar's lore or external reading.

1. An Ancestor of a Gold Dragonborn Clan Chief's son cut themselves on a blade dripping with the ichor from a dying arch hag. The man, so many  number of generations down, begins manifesting strange magic after hearing the hag's voice on the wind.
2. A rookie treasure hunter, by pure luck, accidentally found a magic cane while bumming around a cave nearby Baldur's Gate. The cane contained a sliver of a forgotten Demon Prince, who gave the treasure hunter a reward:blade-shaped scar on their arm that eventually manifested as dancing accursed rotting spectral energy blades, starting from a minor curse cast in jest in a battle of wits
3. A haughty Aereni High Elf sat at the judgement of the Undying Court, accused of betraying her people for a jeweled sword. While in reality it was a test of character, said sword was bound to her soul via the court's power, and she was made a direct agent, with miniature versions of the sword manifested & danced upon her invoking a dread word, flensing those whom she was dispatched to deal with as her "penance".