Currently in a Ghost of Saltmarsh/Call from the deep campaign with my Glasya Tiefling Swashbuckler rogue and thinking about multi classing into Hexblade warlock. The party is currently at lvl 4 and the stats are STR: 8 DEX: 18 CON: 14 INT: 8 WIS: 10 CHA: 18. I've never played either rogue or warlock before so I'm not too familiar with their potential builds. Is its viable to take a dip in Hexblade for some extra magic and range, or stay on the Swashbuckler path. Party is likely only going to level 13 or 14.
It's a solid pairing... you can get Medium Armor, for one. Here's the combo I recommend...
Take just 3 levels of Warlock... you can take Pact of the Blade, but the most important part is getting access to 2nd level spells. Take Devil's Sight as your invocation, which allows you to see through Magical Darkness. Then you can cast Darkness, which you can attach to an object that you're carrying so that the orb of Darkness follows you. Now you have Advantage on all attacks, you can't be targeted by a most spells, and you can use your Cunning Action to Hide completely. Just remember that your allies can't see through the Darkness, so it's not a good idea to use this combo in every single combat, but it's a great trump card to keep in your back pocket in case you need to 1v1 somebody. It might even be worth it to take the Metamagic Adept feat at some point, if only so you have the option to cast Darkness as a bonus action.
I deliberately made a suboptimal build so as to not overshadow the rest of the party, but if you want an optimized character this is what I would do:
Swashbuckler - 5 - Get that 3d6 sneak attack and Uncanny Dodge to keep you alive.
Warlock - 5 -> use the ASI to max out your DEX, Take Pact of the Chain and choose one of the familiars that can turn invisible Spells: Booming Blade (BB + your free disengage with your swashbuckler ability means this spell at 5th level is giving you 3d8 extra damage most of the time), Invisibility (Rogue + Invisibility is so fun for infiltration!), Blink (blink is by far the best defensive spell for a warlock or rogue), Thunderstep (Combines long-range teleportation utility with AoE damage giving it lots of uses in different situations)
Special mentions: Suggestion can give you a great option for dealing with sticky social situations, Protect G/E can save you from being forced to turn your OP damage on your own party, Hex gives you a little extra damage, Eldritch Blast is a good option if you don't want to use a bow for your ranged damage.
Invocations: Gift of the Ever Living Ones (if you're struggling to stay standing for long dungeon crawls) Agonizing Blast (if you don't want to use a bow for ranged attacks) Gift of the Depths (since you're in a nautical campaign) Choose your favourite!
Lastly go back to Rogue to get Evasion which is a life saver at level 10+
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Currently in a Ghost of Saltmarsh/Call from the deep campaign with my Glasya Tiefling Swashbuckler rogue and thinking about multi classing into Hexblade warlock. The party is currently at lvl 4 and the stats are STR: 8 DEX: 18 CON: 14 INT: 8 WIS: 10 CHA: 18. I've never played either rogue or warlock before so I'm not too familiar with their potential builds. Is its viable to take a dip in Hexblade for some extra magic and range, or stay on the Swashbuckler path. Party is likely only going to level 13 or 14.
Totally viable and a lot of fun. I played a 5-Swash + 5-Genie lock in a campaign and had a blast!
It's a solid pairing... you can get Medium Armor, for one. Here's the combo I recommend...
Take just 3 levels of Warlock... you can take Pact of the Blade, but the most important part is getting access to 2nd level spells. Take Devil's Sight as your invocation, which allows you to see through Magical Darkness. Then you can cast Darkness, which you can attach to an object that you're carrying so that the orb of Darkness follows you. Now you have Advantage on all attacks, you can't be targeted by a most spells, and you can use your Cunning Action to Hide completely. Just remember that your allies can't see through the Darkness, so it's not a good idea to use this combo in every single combat, but it's a great trump card to keep in your back pocket in case you need to 1v1 somebody. It might even be worth it to take the Metamagic Adept feat at some point, if only so you have the option to cast Darkness as a bonus action.
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I deliberately made a suboptimal build so as to not overshadow the rest of the party, but if you want an optimized character this is what I would do:
Swashbuckler - 5 - Get that 3d6 sneak attack and Uncanny Dodge to keep you alive.
Warlock - 5 -> use the ASI to max out your DEX, Take Pact of the Chain and choose one of the familiars that can turn invisible
Spells:
Booming Blade (BB + your free disengage with your swashbuckler ability means this spell at 5th level is giving you 3d8 extra damage most of the time),
Invisibility (Rogue + Invisibility is so fun for infiltration!),
Blink (blink is by far the best defensive spell for a warlock or rogue),
Thunderstep (Combines long-range teleportation utility with AoE damage giving it lots of uses in different situations)
Special mentions: Suggestion can give you a great option for dealing with sticky social situations, Protect G/E can save you from being forced to turn your OP damage on your own party, Hex gives you a little extra damage, Eldritch Blast is a good option if you don't want to use a bow for your ranged damage.
Invocations:
Gift of the Ever Living Ones (if you're struggling to stay standing for long dungeon crawls)
Agonizing Blast (if you don't want to use a bow for ranged attacks)
Gift of the Depths (since you're in a nautical campaign)
Choose your favourite!
Lastly go back to Rogue to get Evasion which is a life saver at level 10+