I played 2e (maybe also 1e, I can’t recall) many, many moons ago. So many fond memories of long sessions, pizza, part of the party sleeping, and delirium fueled laughter. I decided that this year I was going to get back into D&D, and I’m super excited!
I chose a half elf hexblade warlock. I’m starting at level 2, so I’m not exactly a powerhouse. The party is going to start off really small, just 2 of us, and then another couple will join in at some point. The other character is a half orc barbarian.
It kinda feels like I should be Eldrich Blasting stuff that’s outside of melee range, and then engaging with my long sword alongside the barbarian when it gets close. Spells when applicable. Is that anywhere near “correct” for the class? Would love to hear advice and tips from folks that are more experienced warlock players.
I’ve poked around a few warlock guides, and tried to build what I thought was a good starting character. (DM granted us a piece of magic gear, hence the +1 scale). Here’s my character if you’d like to take a look: https://ddb.ac/characters/91308052/LjTj4p
Sounds and looks good to me. Saw the spell choices, they’re all good picks. Remember that if you do use the spell hex, it’s duration is an hour so if you don’t loose concentration in the initial combat it was cast the. There’s decent likelihood it will still be up for the next 1.
wrathful smite can be exceedingly powerful vs a string creature. If the initial save is failed, the target has the fear condition applied to it. The spell synergizes with its own condition because afterward checks are made instead of more saves. Feared creatures roll all checks with disadvantage so it’s much more likely to last several rounds after the initial fail.
armor of agathys scales quite well and can be made more powerful under certain conditions, namely damage reduction and resistances. If your barbarian friend goes ancestral guardian then you can be incredibly effective together.
if your party doesn’t short rest you may begin to feel like you’re ineffective because if the way warlocks rely on them so much. You should be getting 1-2 short rests throughout each adventuring day to stay effective. More might be overpowered and weigh on the table and DM.
I took a look at the build and it looks great, you are a unit in fighting with 19 AC at lvl 2
One thing that you maybe have missed is that with Hex Warrior, a 1st lvl feat of the Hexblate path, you get the opportunity to add your Charisma modifier, instead of Strength or Dexterity, for the attack and damage rolls with a weapon.
Currenty in your character sheet for the attacks with your Longsword you have:
HIT/DC Damage
+1 1d8-1 (or 1d10-1)
that's because you have a -1 STR and a Longsword scales with STR.
One option can be chosing a finesse weapon that scales with DEX but an even better choice is to use the Hex Warrior feature and set it as your Hex Weapon. To do so click on the weapon in your Inventory or in your Actions and mark the Hex Weapon slot
Aha! Thank you both for the suggestions. It took me a little while to figure out that I had to do the Hex Weapon selection on the web version, not the app where I was looking. Went from 1d8-1 to 1d8+3! I’ll take it. :)
Had a bit of a “session zero” the first night. We’re playing Dragonlance Shadow of the Dragon Queen and just got started. Ran into some dragon people and had a small combat. Got to use my Eldrich Blast while they were still like 100’ away which was pretty cool. Rogue with a bow had to wait to engage for a bit. Barbarian ended up smashing one in the face with a war hammer right as they got up to melee me, so it all worked out! Had a blast figuring out the back story for the characters and figuring out how we all knew each other in game.
Next session isn’t for a couple of weeks, so I gotta wait a bit.
I'm not an optimizer, so my advice is choose weapons and spells that fit the personality of your character. I also have a half-elven hexlock who wields a greatsword, and vastly prefers wading into melee vs using eldritch blast. (It's not that he doesn't use it, but he prefers to get into the thick of things and swing away.)
hex is a favorite spell for warlocks, and rightfully so...but if you gain a few levels, look into spirit shroud.blinkand blurare also great for hexlocks who plan on doing a lot of melee combat.
I played 2e (maybe also 1e, I can’t recall) many, many moons ago. So many fond memories of long sessions, pizza, part of the party sleeping, and delirium fueled laughter. I decided that this year I was going to get back into D&D, and I’m super excited!
I chose a half elf hexblade warlock. I’m starting at level 2, so I’m not exactly a powerhouse. The party is going to start off really small, just 2 of us, and then another couple will join in at some point. The other character is a half orc barbarian.
It kinda feels like I should be Eldrich Blasting stuff that’s outside of melee range, and then engaging with my long sword alongside the barbarian when it gets close. Spells when applicable. Is that anywhere near “correct” for the class? Would love to hear advice and tips from folks that are more experienced warlock players.
I’ve poked around a few warlock guides, and tried to build what I thought was a good starting character. (DM granted us a piece of magic gear, hence the +1 scale). Here’s my character if you’d like to take a look: https://ddb.ac/characters/91308052/LjTj4p
Sounds and looks good to me. Saw the spell choices, they’re all good picks. Remember that if you do use the spell hex, it’s duration is an hour so if you don’t loose concentration in the initial combat it was cast the. There’s decent likelihood it will still be up for the next 1.
wrathful smite can be exceedingly powerful vs a string creature. If the initial save is failed, the target has the fear condition applied to it. The spell synergizes with its own condition because afterward checks are made instead of more saves. Feared creatures roll all checks with disadvantage so it’s much more likely to last several rounds after the initial fail.
armor of agathys scales quite well and can be made more powerful under certain conditions, namely damage reduction and resistances. If your barbarian friend goes ancestral guardian then you can be incredibly effective together.
if your party doesn’t short rest you may begin to feel like you’re ineffective because if the way warlocks rely on them so much. You should be getting 1-2 short rests throughout each adventuring day to stay effective. More might be overpowered and weigh on the table and DM.
hope you have a great time.
I took a look at the build and it looks great, you are a unit in fighting with 19 AC at lvl 2
One thing that you maybe have missed is that with Hex Warrior, a 1st lvl feat of the Hexblate path, you get the opportunity to add your Charisma modifier, instead of Strength or Dexterity, for the attack and damage rolls with a weapon.
Currenty in your character sheet for the attacks with your Longsword you have:
HIT/DC Damage
that's because you have a -1 STR and a Longsword scales with STR.
One option can be chosing a finesse weapon that scales with DEX but an even better choice is to use the Hex Warrior feature and set it as your Hex Weapon. To do so click on the weapon in your Inventory or in your Actions and mark the Hex Weapon slot
Aha! Thank you both for the suggestions. It took me a little while to figure out that I had to do the Hex Weapon selection on the web version, not the app where I was looking. Went from 1d8-1 to 1d8+3! I’ll take it. :)
Had a bit of a “session zero” the first night. We’re playing Dragonlance Shadow of the Dragon Queen and just got started. Ran into some dragon people and had a small combat. Got to use my Eldrich Blast while they were still like 100’ away which was pretty cool. Rogue with a bow had to wait to engage for a bit. Barbarian ended up smashing one in the face with a war hammer right as they got up to melee me, so it all worked out! Had a blast figuring out the back story for the characters and figuring out how we all knew each other in game.
Next session isn’t for a couple of weeks, so I gotta wait a bit.
I'm not an optimizer, so my advice is choose weapons and spells that fit the personality of your character. I also have a half-elven hexlock who wields a greatsword, and vastly prefers wading into melee vs using eldritch blast. (It's not that he doesn't use it, but he prefers to get into the thick of things and swing away.)
hex is a favorite spell for warlocks, and rightfully so...but if you gain a few levels, look into spirit shroud. blink and blur are also great for hexlocks who plan on doing a lot of melee combat.
I don't have any suggestions, but DID want to say, welcome back!