So, I wanted to play a hexblade tomelock with crossbow expert feat to be quite tanky in melee when we're going to play Storm King's Thunder.
But for some reason my DM won't let me play Hexblade (he wants us to play goodie-two-shoes and doesn't think the hexblade fits what he has in mind).
So then I thought I'd make a celestial tomelock instead. But I want him to be ok in melee, because the rest of the party seems to be quite squishy as well.
My best idea right now is to take variant human with medium armor feat and 8-14-14-10-12-16 (standard array). Then I will get OK armor class at least. I'll run around with a dagger until I'll reach 3 where I can take Shillelagh and green-flame and/or booming blade. Or perhaps it's better to take crossbow expert at 4th? But then I'll have low cha for a while... I'm not too keen on pact of the blade since it'll limit the versaility and the eldritch blast often will be a better choice anyhow.
If I was to multiclass, I would have to stay with the first class until I've chosen the subclass (says our DM) and find a mentor for the new class. I'm not sure I want to go three levels into another class before becoming a warlock - or the other way around. Will also have to meet the stats requirement with standard array. And I initially would like to stay single class, but I suppose I could be persuaded to go multiclass.
I'm sorry if I'm rambling a bit in this post, but I hope I get my point across. Is there a way to build a tanky celestial warlock who is quite good in melee without having to use more than 1 feat?
Your DM sounds like a real killjoy 🙃 Here's some alternatives you may not have considered:
Multiclass into cleric. You can get all armor proficiencies plus two 1st level spell slots for when your higher level warlock slots are overkill. Life Domain improves your healing spells, Forge Domain lets you give a suit of armor a +1 AC bonus.
Multiclass into Sorcerer. Use those two 1st level slots to cast Shield or Absorb Elements as needed. Draconic Bloodline gets you permanent Mage Armor, Storm Sorcery lets you disengage after casting a spell, Shadow Magic gives you 120' darkvision and potentially lets you avoid dropping to 0 HP once.
You can also consider picking an exotic race, though I doubt your DM would allow these. Stick to Armor of Shadows and skip Medium Armor Master so you can raise your CHA:
Aarakocra or the winged Tiefling variant gets you a flying speed you can use to stay out of harm's way.
Tortle gets you a flat AC 17 natural armor.
Warforged gets you +2 CON, you can still get +1 CHA and a +1 bonus to your AC. Stick to Mage Armor through Armor of Shadows and skip Medium Armor Master to improve your CHA.
Air Genasi gets you +2 CON and Levitate once per day to get out of melee reach.
Hill Dwarf gets you +2 CON and +1 HP per level on top of that.
Shadar-Kai elf gets you +2 DEX, +1 CON, a free 30 foot teleport once per day and at 3rd level resistance to all damage for that turn as well.
Eladrin elf gets you +2 DEX, +1 CHA, and a 30 foot teleport per short rest with varying effects.
Levistus Tiefling gets you +2 CHA, +1 CON and a free casting of Armor of Agathys.
This is a really good build. Pretty sure they take the Moderately Armored feat as a variant human which gives proficiency with medium armor and shields.
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Canto alla vita alla sua bellezza ad ogni sua ferita ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
This is a really good build. Pretty sure they take the Moderately Armored feat as a variant human which gives proficiency with medium armor and shields.
Or you could start as a Mountain Dwarf. You gain proficiency with medium armour and a couple of extra melee weapons.
Stats: 14,14,15,10,10,14. Level 4 take Resilient (Con) to get con saves and 16 constitution.
Outfit yourself (once you get some gold) with a pair of hand axes and a battle axe and a breastplate.
Alternatively, whatever race you pick, make sure your dexterity is high enough to take level 1 (or 1 and 2) as Fighter for all armour and weapon proficiencies, a fighting style, (and action surge).
That said, the Variant Human with the Moderately Armored feat gives you +1 strength or dexterity, and proficiency with medium armor and shields, and that is pretty good.
Using Point Buy you can start with 8,13,16,10,10,16 and then bump your dexterity to 14 with your feat. +3 to con gives you more HP, and 14 dex is all you need for medium armor.
Or you could start as a Mountain Dwarf. You gain proficiency with medium armour and a couple of extra melee weapons.
I skipped Mountain Dwarf on purpose since they won't be able to afford half plate early on and without that they'll only have 1 more AC than casting Mage Armor. I don't think that's worth giving up the extra HP Hill Dwarves get. The weapons don't help much either since CHA, CON and DEX take priority over STR and they're going to be spamming Eldritch Blast and Sacred Flame.
I think the best option is either Draconic Sorcerer 1 followed by Warlock, or Fighter 1 with defense fighting style followed by Warlock. Both ways give you proficiency in constitution saving throws, and they both let you get 13+Dex for your AC. Fighter lets you use a shield and gives you a once per short rest Bonus Action self heal, whereas Sorcerer gives you the Shield spell, four cantrips, and one other first level spell (assuming you want the Shield spell). I'm confused about why you're interested in wasting a feat on Crossbow Expert. You're wanting to take it just so that you don't have disadvantage when using Eldritch Blast in melee range? Is that really worth taking a feat? Or are you actually thinking of using a Crossbow?
I'm playing a Fighter 1 Pact of the Chain Celestial Warlock 6 in Storm King's Thunder right now. I don't even know the Eldritch Blast cantrip, I use Green Flame Blade with a shortsword or with Shadow Blade. Shadow Blade is a great spell for Warlocks because it is concentration and it scales up nicely in higher level spell slots. I'm looking forward to getting access to Shadow of Moil at next level, that's also a fantastic spell for tankiness. My level 6 Celestial Warlock ability increases my fire damage, which is great because Green Flame Blade deals fire damage. It also increases the damage on Sacred Flame for when I can't get up close enough to hit something with my sword.
It's nice not having to use my invocation slots on stuff like Agonizing Blast and Repelling Blast, it lets me build a more customized Warlock. Choosing Gift of the Ever-Living Ones is fantastic for a tanky Warlock like mine, especially since I can use the Second Wind ability once per short rest, and I get a nice big pool of Healing Light D6s every long rest. Mask of Many Faces is great for infiltration (especially since I have proficiency in deception). Tomb of Levistus is another invocation that is fantastic for making my character more tanky. Before you get access to Tomb of Levistus, the Fiendish Vigor invocation is overpowered for a few levels before tailing off quickly. I'm running around with 19 AC thanks to 18 Dexterity with defense fighting style, studded leather, and a shield. My self healing abilities are remarkable (and I would get max healing whenever an ally heals me, which doesn't ever happen because I use my Bonus Action for Second Wind and Healing Light to keep myself in good shape).
The only feat I plan on taking is war caster. I plan on staying with Warlock until the end of the campaign, so I'll be something like a Fighter 1 Warlock 12 near the end of the campaign.
I think the best option is either Draconic Sorcerer 1 followed by Warlock, or Fighter 1 with defense fighting style followed by Warlock.
They can't do Fighter 1 because the DM has a house rule that they can't multiclass until they choose a subclass. That means they'd have to take 3 levels in Fighter.
OOlld link. But I think for the future readers might mention it as well (briefly mentioned in that link as well though)
If tomelock. You can get Sheleigh and Green Flame Blade. This, on a Celestial, means you can get moderatlly good fire damage ouput in melee. More so if you end up getting the elemetnal feat (costy though).
I think the best option is either Draconic Sorcerer 1 followed by Warlock, or Fighter 1 with defense fighting style followed by Warlock.
They can't do Fighter 1 because the DM has a house rule that they can't multiclass until they choose a subclass. That means they'd have to take 3 levels in Fighter.
That feels to me to be a pointless and extra harsh houserule. It's saying "Martial characters get a build disadvantage " and that's it
Dwarven Champion of the Planar. Many tables I know of don't overtly metagame and tell each other what they're playing. RP'ing a dwarven soldier who has been given power over life and death by a celestial (of course they'll tell the group their deity and pretend to be a cleric for fun) sounds like great fun.
Go Pact of the Blade if you want to be a "paladin"; Tome or Chain for "cleric". Just have the DM help you convince them your psuedodragon is a gift from the heavens and telepathically speak to everyone on the deities behalf and boom, you're a tanky dwarf with all the divine flavor. They don't believe you? Throw a Guiding Bolt, pop them up with "healing word" from your healing pool. I'm rolling this one at level 4 to start out, and plan on taking all the "life/death" stuff like animate dead, danse macabre, revivify, at will speak with the dead etc. Plate armor, battle axe/greenflame blade is decent at-will damage at 2d8+8 + 1d8+4, a super familar that will be rolling DC 16 poison saves that if they fail they're OUT for an hour.
Did I mention your have 11 healing words and the ability to instant heal yourself for 24 HP with a bonus action? Throw in Armor of Agathys for some real fun there, but only after your group has figured it out... :)
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So, I wanted to play a hexblade tomelock with crossbow expert feat to be quite tanky in melee when we're going to play Storm King's Thunder.
But for some reason my DM won't let me play Hexblade (he wants us to play goodie-two-shoes and doesn't think the hexblade fits what he has in mind).
So then I thought I'd make a celestial tomelock instead. But I want him to be ok in melee, because the rest of the party seems to be quite squishy as well.
My best idea right now is to take variant human with medium armor feat and 8-14-14-10-12-16 (standard array). Then I will get OK armor class at least. I'll run around with a dagger until I'll reach 3 where I can take Shillelagh and green-flame and/or booming blade. Or perhaps it's better to take crossbow expert at 4th? But then I'll have low cha for a while... I'm not too keen on pact of the blade since it'll limit the versaility and the eldritch blast often will be a better choice anyhow.
If I was to multiclass, I would have to stay with the first class until I've chosen the subclass (says our DM) and find a mentor for the new class. I'm not sure I want to go three levels into another class before becoming a warlock - or the other way around. Will also have to meet the stats requirement with standard array. And I initially would like to stay single class, but I suppose I could be persuaded to go multiclass.
I'm sorry if I'm rambling a bit in this post, but I hope I get my point across. Is there a way to build a tanky celestial warlock who is quite good in melee without having to use more than 1 feat?
Check out the Celestial Generalist build in the first post here: https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?583957-An-Eclectic-Collection-of-Fun-and-Effective-Builds
The only feat I see mentioned is War Caster.
EDIT: and Moderately Armored.
Your DM sounds like a real killjoy 🙃 Here's some alternatives you may not have considered:
You can also consider picking an exotic race, though I doubt your DM would allow these. Stick to Armor of Shadows and skip Medium Armor Master so you can raise your CHA:
The Forum Infestation (TM)
This is a really good build. Pretty sure they take the Moderately Armored feat as a variant human which gives proficiency with medium armor and shields.
Canto alla vita
alla sua bellezza
ad ogni sua ferita
ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty
To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me
The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
Right you are.
Thanks! Excellent advice!
Or you could start as a Mountain Dwarf. You gain proficiency with medium armour and a couple of extra melee weapons.
Stats: 14,14,15,10,10,14. Level 4 take Resilient (Con) to get con saves and 16 constitution.
Outfit yourself (once you get some gold) with a pair of hand axes and a battle axe and a breastplate.
Alternatively, whatever race you pick, make sure your dexterity is high enough to take level 1 (or 1 and 2) as Fighter for all armour and weapon proficiencies, a fighting style, (and action surge).
That said, the Variant Human with the Moderately Armored feat gives you +1 strength or dexterity, and proficiency with medium armor and shields, and that is pretty good.
Using Point Buy you can start with 8,13,16,10,10,16 and then bump your dexterity to 14 with your feat. +3 to con gives you more HP, and 14 dex is all you need for medium armor.
I skipped Mountain Dwarf on purpose since they won't be able to afford half plate early on and without that they'll only have 1 more AC than casting Mage Armor. I don't think that's worth giving up the extra HP Hill Dwarves get. The weapons don't help much either since CHA, CON and DEX take priority over STR and they're going to be spamming Eldritch Blast and Sacred Flame.
The Forum Infestation (TM)
? Just make your hexblade patron into a holy/blessed blade patron. If he doesn't want any evil stuff just reskin spells to fit that.
I think the best option is either Draconic Sorcerer 1 followed by Warlock, or Fighter 1 with defense fighting style followed by Warlock. Both ways give you proficiency in constitution saving throws, and they both let you get 13+Dex for your AC. Fighter lets you use a shield and gives you a once per short rest Bonus Action self heal, whereas Sorcerer gives you the Shield spell, four cantrips, and one other first level spell (assuming you want the Shield spell). I'm confused about why you're interested in wasting a feat on Crossbow Expert. You're wanting to take it just so that you don't have disadvantage when using Eldritch Blast in melee range? Is that really worth taking a feat? Or are you actually thinking of using a Crossbow?
I'm playing a Fighter 1 Pact of the Chain Celestial Warlock 6 in Storm King's Thunder right now. I don't even know the Eldritch Blast cantrip, I use Green Flame Blade with a shortsword or with Shadow Blade. Shadow Blade is a great spell for Warlocks because it is concentration and it scales up nicely in higher level spell slots. I'm looking forward to getting access to Shadow of Moil at next level, that's also a fantastic spell for tankiness. My level 6 Celestial Warlock ability increases my fire damage, which is great because Green Flame Blade deals fire damage. It also increases the damage on Sacred Flame for when I can't get up close enough to hit something with my sword.
It's nice not having to use my invocation slots on stuff like Agonizing Blast and Repelling Blast, it lets me build a more customized Warlock. Choosing Gift of the Ever-Living Ones is fantastic for a tanky Warlock like mine, especially since I can use the Second Wind ability once per short rest, and I get a nice big pool of Healing Light D6s every long rest. Mask of Many Faces is great for infiltration (especially since I have proficiency in deception). Tomb of Levistus is another invocation that is fantastic for making my character more tanky. Before you get access to Tomb of Levistus, the Fiendish Vigor invocation is overpowered for a few levels before tailing off quickly. I'm running around with 19 AC thanks to 18 Dexterity with defense fighting style, studded leather, and a shield. My self healing abilities are remarkable (and I would get max healing whenever an ally heals me, which doesn't ever happen because I use my Bonus Action for Second Wind and Healing Light to keep myself in good shape).
The only feat I plan on taking is war caster. I plan on staying with Warlock until the end of the campaign, so I'll be something like a Fighter 1 Warlock 12 near the end of the campaign.
They can't do Fighter 1 because the DM has a house rule that they can't multiclass until they choose a subclass. That means they'd have to take 3 levels in Fighter.
The Forum Infestation (TM)
OOlld link. But I think for the future readers might mention it as well (briefly mentioned in that link as well though)
If tomelock. You can get Sheleigh and Green Flame Blade. This, on a Celestial, means you can get moderatlly good fire damage ouput in melee. More so if you end up getting the elemetnal feat (costy though).
That feels to me to be a pointless and extra harsh houserule. It's saying "Martial characters get a build disadvantage " and that's it
Dwarven Champion of the Planar. Many tables I know of don't overtly metagame and tell each other what they're playing. RP'ing a dwarven soldier who has been given power over life and death by a celestial (of course they'll tell the group their deity and pretend to be a cleric for fun) sounds like great fun.
The "cleric": https://ddb.ac/characters/54369202/nyU1nB
Go Pact of the Blade if you want to be a "paladin"; Tome or Chain for "cleric". Just have the DM help you convince them your psuedodragon is a gift from the heavens and telepathically speak to everyone on the deities behalf and boom, you're a tanky dwarf with all the divine flavor. They don't believe you? Throw a Guiding Bolt, pop them up with "healing word" from your healing pool. I'm rolling this one at level 4 to start out, and plan on taking all the "life/death" stuff like animate dead, danse macabre, revivify, at will speak with the dead etc. Plate armor, battle axe/greenflame blade is decent at-will damage at 2d8+8 + 1d8+4, a super familar that will be rolling DC 16 poison saves that if they fail they're OUT for an hour.
Did I mention your have 11 healing words and the ability to instant heal yourself for 24 HP with a bonus action? Throw in Armor of Agathys for some real fun there, but only after your group has figured it out... :)