So I'm playing a hexblade warlock up to level 8 and am now thinking about multi classing into sorcerer. I'm playing a build around shadow of moil (4th level spell) and elven accuracy, which I now have, so I thought going sorcerer here gives me more spell slots to cast my lower level stuff and eventually higher level (game going to level 20) without missing out on ASIs.
On the other hand, would it just make more sense to lean more into warlock? I'd feel bad about the limited slots compared to spells known, but I'd get more invocations to really power up what I'm already doing just a bit more, but not sure if it's enough of a boost.
Yes, I'm aware the usual play is a 2-3 level dip (using 2024 rules), then go paladin or sorcerer, but what are your thoughts?
The "usual play" is just to monoclass. Most people don't multiclass at all. "2-3 level dip" is a thing people doing character builds for the internet do. (In all my 5e play, I think I've only seen two characters multiclass.)
If you're thinking of multiclassing, the most important question IMO is "does this fit the character?" Optimization is far less important in most games. But I presume you have decided it can be made to fit, and will just talk about it from the game-mechanical perspective.
If you're multiclassing a full caster, you pay a significant price in delaying your higher-level spells. You're one level away from 5th-level spells, and that's an especially big deal for warlocks, because that promotes all their slots. Unless you're going multiple encounters a day without a short rest, you're giving up quite a bit of casting power in the process. (If those low-level spells you mention are utility, you can probably cast them as rituals between fights, or burn slots before a short rest. If they're for combat, you probably have more useful things to do with your time.)
You also delay your third attack as a (presumably) blade pact warlock, and also, more immediately, Lifedrinker.
You are in the doldrums in terms of warlock spell slots, where can you really feel the lack in individual fights, but things improve considerably at level 11, and three levels of sorcerer slots probably don't make up for that third 5th-level slot.
To summarize: I don't think you'll improve your character's effectiveness by branching out, so only do it if it's the correct thing for the character.
I generally say never multiclass casters. But if you were pact of the blade a level in fighter might be worth it. Sorcerer I just don't see the point. And personally I hope they add some level 5+ invocations that make multiclassing to fighter even less enticing.
I'm aware the usual play is a 2-3 level dip (using 2024 rules), then go paladin or sorcerer, but what are your thoughts?
I have not seen or heard that the dip is 2-3 levels and going to paladin or sorcerer. Sorcerer does not do much and Paladin is probably the worse martial class. If you are doing Pact of the Blade, the big weakness is AC and the inability to use weapon mastery. Therefore fighter is probably better. Barbarian, loses some of the attributes assuming that CHA is your damage not STR. Rage can limit spells so your spells can be concentration types but need to be more buff type.
If you dip beyond level 1 you may want to dip up to 4 otherwise you are way behind the ASI curve. Going a 3 level dip really limits your ASI/Feat gain.
All very good points, so what would you recommend if I stayed full warlock? The main thing I was looking for is more casting power as like I said my main thing is shadow of moil + Eleven accuracy= enemy blender, but in testing I've failed the con save and then suddenly only have 1 slot left at level 10. If I get another slot at 11th, then maybe it's not as bad as I'm thinking, but then suddenly I'm left unable to really use any of my other spells.
No shield, no charm person, no Summon Greater Demon (that last one is just my fav spell) or any of the higher level spells if I need them before a short rest. Or if I use Charm person for role-play, then suddenly enter combat down a spell slot, I'm not sure how big a deal that is.
Since i need that last slot to get back in the fight at full power or for the next combat. Would you say a warlock hex blade, pact of blade can survive well enough even without that kind of buff? I'm thinking changing my level 8 feat for resilient con to help mitigate that and with a 16 Con I should be fine, plus eldritch mind for advantage on saves.
And I guess once I've gotten all my invocations I need, I could take pact of tome for more spells and rituals to save on spell slots?
I used DND Shorts pure hex blade build as a baseline for some of my choices if that gives some context for what I'm aiming for, but updated for 2024.
What are your thoughts? I've not played much tier 3 before, despite all my research and test building in my free time, so I'm not 100% sure what I'm saying is valid.
Really appreciate all the well-educated comments btw!
All very good points, so what would you recommend if I stayed full warlock? The main thing I was looking for is more casting power as like I said my main thing is shadow of moil + Eleven accuracy= enemy blender, but in testing I've failed the con save and then suddenly only have 1 slot left at level 10. If I get another slot at 11th, then maybe it's not as bad as I'm thinking, but then suddenly I'm left unable to really use any of my other spells.
War caster, and something to get your AC up. (I assume you have the mage armor invocation and a decent dex already.) Resilient for Con. Moderately armored, maybe. (Or does hexblade make it irrelevant?) Despite SoM's backlash damage, you still don't want to be hit.
Having just said "don't multiclass", a level of Fighter might make a lot more sense than Sorcerer did. (And it's easy to make it make sense from a character perspective.)
No shield, no charm person, no Summon Greater Demon (that last one is just my fav spell) or any of the higher level spells if I need them before a short rest. Or if I use Charm person for role-play, then suddenly enter combat down a spell slot, I'm not sure how big a deal that is.
Don't forget that you have once-a-day slot recovery.
Since i need that last slot to get back in the fight at full power or for the next combat. Would you say a warlock hex blade, pact of blade can survive well enough even without that kind of buff?
Yes. SoM is good, but blade pact warlocks can operate fine without it. If you want to summon a demon some fight, summon the demon. (Shield is probably a bad choice, but if you've got it, use it. A reaction to keep SoM up is better than recasting it.) If you only break out the shadow when the combat looks serious, you'll find yourself under less pressure on your spell slots.
I'm thinking changing my level 8 feat for resilient con to help mitigate that and with a 16 Con I should be fine, plus eldritch mind for advantage on saves.
Those are solid choices. (And EM makes war caster unnecessary.)
I used DND Shorts pure hex blade build as a baseline for some of my choices if that gives some context for what I'm aiming for.
What are your thoughts?
My main thought is: stop looking for "builds". Most D&D games don't need optimized combat, and thinking about your character choices that way can get in the way of role-playing. The unoptimized baseline classes are effective enough in combat, unless you go out of your way to make poor decisions.
Thank you so much for walking me through all of this. It really helps me feel more confident in my choices. In general then, how would you suggest I manage my spells? Using charm person or something out of combat as needed is one thing, but for combat what would be the go if any before I jump to SoM?
Would I be Hexing people or summoning my demon? Stack SoM and Mirror Image?
As a general rule I'd say you wont be using hex much. An Elf though has a bit more rest casting options once your hex lasts 8 hours. So starting the day with it is a solid option. My advice with it though is remember to drop it in any fight that looks slightly tough. Concentration is needed on hex and its not a great spell. But since you only need 4 hours on your long rest you will have time to cast and short rest so hex is kind of free at the beginning of the day. And a free d6 damage is a free d6. But a summon will do a lot more damage, crowd control effects are far more devastating than hex etc. So don't hold onto concentrating on it if casting a different spell will save the party enough resources.
A good strategy that I like to use is to take Fey Touched and pick Hex as your spell choice. That way, you get a free Misty Step once per day (which is costly for a Warlock with limited pact magic slots), and a free casting of Hex if you are out of pact magic slots or just want to save your slots for something more important if you are expecting more fights before you get to rest.
As a general rule I'd say you wont be using hex much. An Elf though has a bit more rest casting options once your hex lasts 8 hours. So starting the day with it is a solid option. My advice with it though is remember to drop it in any fight that looks slightly tough. Concentration is needed on hex and its not a great spell. But since you only need 4 hours on your long rest you will have time to cast and short rest so hex is kind of free at the beginning of the day. And a free d6 damage is a free d6. But a summon will do a lot more damage, crowd control effects are far more devastating than hex etc. So don't hold onto concentrating on it if casting a different spell will save the party enough resources.
Since Hex requires a target, and only gets moved if the target dies, I don't think most GMs would let one do this. (I certainly wouldn't.)
(I also think Hex is overrated for warlocks, and that they're better off saving the slot for something more impactful and fun.)
Hexblade's Curse is the subclass's drop-in replacement, that doesn't need a spell slot or concentration.
Thank you so much for walking me through all of this. It really helps me feel more confident in my choices. In general then, how would you suggest I manage my spells? Using charm person or something out of combat as needed is one thing, but for combat what would be the go if any before I jump to SoM?
Would I be Hexing people or summoning my demon? Stack SoM and Mirror Image?
I don't think Hex is worth it -- it's got the same problems as SoM, for much lesser effect.
As for what you should do with your spells, I cannot say. It's too situational. Try to have a variety of spells that support your playstyle, and use as appropriate. Sometimes the right thing to do will be not bother with a spell, and just jump in and stab people. Sometimes you'll want to teleport. Sometimes you'll want to break out the big damage spell that you rarely use.
Hex is better for the lower level warlock, as a d6 can be a nice damage boost, but a 10 level warlock probably has better spells.
If you are building a pure Pact of the blade, the spells should be either to provide defense like AC and attacking/damage. If you have another type of Pact, then you pick different spells.
Pact of blade puts you on the front line to do damage. The others put you in the rear. So totally different spell selection.
As a general rule I'd say you wont be using hex much. An Elf though has a bit more rest casting options once your hex lasts 8 hours. So starting the day with it is a solid option. My advice with it though is remember to drop it in any fight that looks slightly tough. Concentration is needed on hex and its not a great spell. But since you only need 4 hours on your long rest you will have time to cast and short rest so hex is kind of free at the beginning of the day. And a free d6 damage is a free d6. But a summon will do a lot more damage, crowd control effects are far more devastating than hex etc. So don't hold onto concentrating on it if casting a different spell will save the party enough resources.
Since Hex requires a target, and only gets moved if the target dies, I don't think most GMs would let one do this. (I certainly wouldn't.)
(I also think Hex is overrated for warlocks, and that they're better off saving the slot for something more impactful and fun.)
in most places you should be able to find a creature you can kill somewhere in a hour. Sure if you are in a desert or something maybe not. it is already a bad spell, i feel no need to make it even worse.
As a general rule I'd say you wont be using hex much. An Elf though has a bit more rest casting options once your hex lasts 8 hours. So starting the day with it is a solid option. My advice with it though is remember to drop it in any fight that looks slightly tough. Concentration is needed on hex and its not a great spell. But since you only need 4 hours on your long rest you will have time to cast and short rest so hex is kind of free at the beginning of the day. And a free d6 damage is a free d6. But a summon will do a lot more damage, crowd control effects are far more devastating than hex etc. So don't hold onto concentrating on it if casting a different spell will save the party enough resources.
Since Hex requires a target, and only gets moved if the target dies, I don't think most GMs would let one do this. (I certainly wouldn't.)
(I also think Hex is overrated for warlocks, and that they're better off saving the slot for something more impactful and fun.)
in most places you should be able to find a creature you can kill somewhere in a hour. Sure if you are in a desert or something maybe not. it is already a bad spell, i feel no need to make it even worse.
I think that falls afoul of:
Combat Is for Enemies. Some rules apply only during combat or while a character is acting in Initiative order. Don’t let players attack each other or helpless creatures to activate those rules.
Rules Rely on Good-Faith Interpretation. The rules assume that everyone reading and interpreting the rules has the interests of the group’s fun at heart and is reading the rules in that light.
And Hex is not a bad spell as such. It's ok. It's overrated by the people for whom DPS is the primary metric, but if you're going to be slinging lots of Eldritch Blasts, it's not a terrible choice, especially at low levels.
What it really is is a fun trap. The overemphasis on it encourages Warlocks to reflexively use it, play Eldritch Blast spam, and never use their other spells.
if you can take Resilient CON and Eldritch Mind (as you said), your spells wills stay up more often. Personally, I'd use Spirit Shroud over Shadow of Moil for the damage,. Spirit Shroud is a BA, so you're up and running on round 1 instead of losing a turn with SoM set up. Stay pure Warlock to level 12 so you can get Devouring Blade as an invocation. After that, you can easily start Sorcerer levels for the extra slots if you still want to.
Oh, and get your hands on a Rod of the Pact Keeper for the one spell slot recovery per long rest feature. Between that and Magical Cunning, you should be fine with spell slots on most days.
As a general rule I'd say you wont be using hex much. An Elf though has a bit more rest casting options once your hex lasts 8 hours. So starting the day with it is a solid option. My advice with it though is remember to drop it in any fight that looks slightly tough. Concentration is needed on hex and its not a great spell. But since you only need 4 hours on your long rest you will have time to cast and short rest so hex is kind of free at the beginning of the day. And a free d6 damage is a free d6. But a summon will do a lot more damage, crowd control effects are far more devastating than hex etc. So don't hold onto concentrating on it if casting a different spell will save the party enough resources.
Since Hex requires a target, and only gets moved if the target dies, I don't think most GMs would let one do this. (I certainly wouldn't.)
(I also think Hex is overrated for warlocks, and that they're better off saving the slot for something more impactful and fun.)
in most places you should be able to find a creature you can kill somewhere in a hour. Sure if you are in a desert or something maybe not. it is already a bad spell, i feel no need to make it even worse.
I think that falls afoul of:
Combat Is for Enemies. Some rules apply only during combat or while a character is acting in Initiative order. Don’t let players attack each other or helpless creatures to activate those rules.
Rules Rely on Good-Faith Interpretation. The rules assume that everyone reading and interpreting the rules has the interests of the group’s fun at heart and is reading the rules in that light.
And Hex is not a bad spell as such. It's ok. It's overrated by the people for whom DPS is the primary metric, but if you're going to be slinging lots of Eldritch Blasts, it's not a terrible choice, especially at low levels.
What it really is is a fun trap. The overemphasis on it encourages Warlocks to reflexively use it, play Eldritch Blast spam, and never use their other spells.
If its a trap its a bad spell, and your ruling makes the trap harder on the player who just wants it not to suck.
I’m not too experienced with 24 (our whole group prefers 14) but generally I’ve heard paladin is bad in 24 and I think lifedrinker is available at lvl 9 in 24 so that’s huge damage boost. More generally melee people love Shield and sorc is quick and easy for a couple of big moments. as an aside what are you using for hexblade in 24 or have you adapted 2014 to meet 24 rules
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And you run, and you run
To catch up with the sun, but it’s sinking
And racingaround
To come up behind you again
The sun is the same in a relative way
But you’re older
Shorter of Breath
And one day closer to death
currently in love with redesigning subclasses send me a message and I will try
My thought is that if you do not have a specific character goal, you should never multiclass.
It sounds as though you do not have a specific goal, so you should stay warlock.
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Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
I’m not too experienced with 24 (our whole group prefers 14) but generally I’ve heard paladin is bad in 24 and I think lifedrinker is available at lvl 9 in 24 so that’s huge damage boost. More generally melee people love Shield and sorc is quick and easy for a couple of big moments. as an aside what are you using for hexblade in 24 or have you adapted 2014 to meet 24 rules
Life drinker in 2024 is not a huge damage boost, its 1d6 once per turn. Personally I put in on the waste of a invocation list. If all you care about is damage and you are pact of the blade I guess sure, take it. But I think you will regret not taking something more fun as 1d6 just is not enough damage for a invocation imo.
If we get into the invocation game for optimization I highly recommend abusing the ability to take multiple origin feats with Lessons of the First Ones. In particular if you have access to some of the new ones that came out in the Realms books and online supplements. Tough/Alert/Lucky/Musician are all worth an invocation. But seriously. Tough is better than 90% of the invocations. Spellfire Spark is a nice small tier 3 damage bump. PB times per day you get to bonus action sacred flame. In addition you get a nice damage mitigation against spell attacks. Tireless Reveler is absolutely broken if you have Musician in the party. If every rest everyone in the party gets heroic inspiration and you get heroic inspiration everytime someone within 60 feet uses it you have a wonderful bit of synergy. Shadowmoor Hexer gets you Hex 1/day. Above people were discussing Hex being a bad spell. It is a terrible use of a 5th level spell slot, but cast at 1st level its a great spell. Another mentioned taking Fey Touched for 1/day Hex/Misty Step. I have done that myself for that exact reason and its great. You generally have better things to do with your 5th level slots but Hex's ability to stretch multiple fights is great assuming you have a low cost way to cast it.
Thank you so much for walking me through all of this. It really helps me feel more confident in my choices. In general then, how would you suggest I manage my spells? Using charm person or something out of combat as needed is one thing, but for combat what would be the go if any before I jump to SoM?
Would I be Hexing people or summoning my demon? Stack SoM and Mirror Image?
I think the issue here is that you're trying to do way too much through the spells. Warlock is a bit tricky in that you really need to think about your spells carefully, since the opportunity cost is very high, but can refresh on a short rest. Its why Invocations exist as mostly At-Will spells, to make cheaper utility spells more accessible. This kind of gives you two choices on spell choice.... you can either have a spell combo you just do every combat, OR long tailed spells you can maintain for most (if not all) of the encounter. Also look into the circle cast rules. Prolong is really good feature, as it can extend many of your 1 minute spells to 1 hour with one other caster giving up a 1st level spell slot.
If you're doing the combo thing, start looking at magic items. At this level you should be good to have a rare magic magic item. So talk to your DM about enspelled weapons or enspelled armor and offload one of your most commonly used spells to that. Since you have 3-6 charges per day to work with, which one kind of depends on your strategy. If you're ok with using 2 pacts slots for a spell combo every combat, you can load the enspelled item with a contingency spell.... like shield. If you want to keep Pact slots more available, then put your main concentration spell in the enspelled item, and make it your primary source of that spell*.
*Just be mindful of the Spell level to Rarity Tier relationship of enspelled items. Rare only goes up 3rd level spells, so you'd need a Very rare to access 4th/5th level spells.
Also... get Rod of Pact keeper (even an uncommon one is good enough) to let you recharge an pact slot per long rest.
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So I'm playing a hexblade warlock up to level 8 and am now thinking about multi classing into sorcerer. I'm playing a build around shadow of moil (4th level spell) and elven accuracy, which I now have, so I thought going sorcerer here gives me more spell slots to cast my lower level stuff and eventually higher level (game going to level 20) without missing out on ASIs.
On the other hand, would it just make more sense to lean more into warlock? I'd feel bad about the limited slots compared to spells known, but I'd get more invocations to really power up what I'm already doing just a bit more, but not sure if it's enough of a boost.
Yes, I'm aware the usual play is a 2-3 level dip (using 2024 rules), then go paladin or sorcerer, but what are your thoughts?
The "usual play" is just to monoclass. Most people don't multiclass at all. "2-3 level dip" is a thing people doing character builds for the internet do. (In all my 5e play, I think I've only seen two characters multiclass.)
If you're thinking of multiclassing, the most important question IMO is "does this fit the character?" Optimization is far less important in most games. But I presume you have decided it can be made to fit, and will just talk about it from the game-mechanical perspective.
If you're multiclassing a full caster, you pay a significant price in delaying your higher-level spells. You're one level away from 5th-level spells, and that's an especially big deal for warlocks, because that promotes all their slots. Unless you're going multiple encounters a day without a short rest, you're giving up quite a bit of casting power in the process. (If those low-level spells you mention are utility, you can probably cast them as rituals between fights, or burn slots before a short rest. If they're for combat, you probably have more useful things to do with your time.)
You also delay your third attack as a (presumably) blade pact warlock, and also, more immediately, Lifedrinker.
You are in the doldrums in terms of warlock spell slots, where can you really feel the lack in individual fights, but things improve considerably at level 11, and three levels of sorcerer slots probably don't make up for that third 5th-level slot.
To summarize: I don't think you'll improve your character's effectiveness by branching out, so only do it if it's the correct thing for the character.
I generally say never multiclass casters. But if you were pact of the blade a level in fighter might be worth it. Sorcerer I just don't see the point. And personally I hope they add some level 5+ invocations that make multiclassing to fighter even less enticing.
I have not seen or heard that the dip is 2-3 levels and going to paladin or sorcerer. Sorcerer does not do much and Paladin is probably the worse martial class. If you are doing Pact of the Blade, the big weakness is AC and the inability to use weapon mastery. Therefore fighter is probably better. Barbarian, loses some of the attributes assuming that CHA is your damage not STR. Rage can limit spells so your spells can be concentration types but need to be more buff type.
If you dip beyond level 1 you may want to dip up to 4 otherwise you are way behind the ASI curve. Going a 3 level dip really limits your ASI/Feat gain.
All very good points, so what would you recommend if I stayed full warlock? The main thing I was looking for is more casting power as like I said my main thing is shadow of moil + Eleven accuracy= enemy blender, but in testing I've failed the con save and then suddenly only have 1 slot left at level 10. If I get another slot at 11th, then maybe it's not as bad as I'm thinking, but then suddenly I'm left unable to really use any of my other spells.
No shield, no charm person, no Summon Greater Demon (that last one is just my fav spell) or any of the higher level spells if I need them before a short rest. Or if I use Charm person for role-play, then suddenly enter combat down a spell slot, I'm not sure how big a deal that is.
Since i need that last slot to get back in the fight at full power or for the next combat. Would you say a warlock hex blade, pact of blade can survive well enough even without that kind of buff? I'm thinking changing my level 8 feat for resilient con to help mitigate that and with a 16 Con I should be fine, plus eldritch mind for advantage on saves.
And I guess once I've gotten all my invocations I need, I could take pact of tome for more spells and rituals to save on spell slots?
I used DND Shorts pure hex blade build as a baseline for some of my choices if that gives some context for what I'm aiming for, but updated for 2024.
What are your thoughts? I've not played much tier 3 before, despite all my research and test building in my free time, so I'm not 100% sure what I'm saying is valid.
Really appreciate all the well-educated comments btw!
War caster, and something to get your AC up. (I assume you have the mage armor invocation and a decent dex already.) Resilient for Con. Moderately armored, maybe. (Or does hexblade make it irrelevant?) Despite SoM's backlash damage, you still don't want to be hit.
Having just said "don't multiclass", a level of Fighter might make a lot more sense than Sorcerer did. (And it's easy to make it make sense from a character perspective.)
Don't forget that you have once-a-day slot recovery.
Yes. SoM is good, but blade pact warlocks can operate fine without it. If you want to summon a demon some fight, summon the demon. (Shield is probably a bad choice, but if you've got it, use it. A reaction to keep SoM up is better than recasting it.) If you only break out the shadow when the combat looks serious, you'll find yourself under less pressure on your spell slots.
Those are solid choices. (And EM makes war caster unnecessary.)
My main thought is: stop looking for "builds". Most D&D games don't need optimized combat, and thinking about your character choices that way can get in the way of role-playing. The unoptimized baseline classes are effective enough in combat, unless you go out of your way to make poor decisions.
Thank you so much for walking me through all of this. It really helps me feel more confident in my choices. In general then, how would you suggest I manage my spells? Using charm person or something out of combat as needed is one thing, but for combat what would be the go if any before I jump to SoM?
Would I be Hexing people or summoning my demon? Stack SoM and Mirror Image?
As a general rule I'd say you wont be using hex much. An Elf though has a bit more rest casting options once your hex lasts 8 hours. So starting the day with it is a solid option. My advice with it though is remember to drop it in any fight that looks slightly tough. Concentration is needed on hex and its not a great spell. But since you only need 4 hours on your long rest you will have time to cast and short rest so hex is kind of free at the beginning of the day. And a free d6 damage is a free d6. But a summon will do a lot more damage, crowd control effects are far more devastating than hex etc. So don't hold onto concentrating on it if casting a different spell will save the party enough resources.
A good strategy that I like to use is to take Fey Touched and pick Hex as your spell choice. That way, you get a free Misty Step once per day (which is costly for a Warlock with limited pact magic slots), and a free casting of Hex if you are out of pact magic slots or just want to save your slots for something more important if you are expecting more fights before you get to rest.
Since Hex requires a target, and only gets moved if the target dies, I don't think most GMs would let one do this. (I certainly wouldn't.)
(I also think Hex is overrated for warlocks, and that they're better off saving the slot for something more impactful and fun.)
Hexblade's Curse is the subclass's drop-in replacement, that doesn't need a spell slot or concentration.
I don't think Hex is worth it -- it's got the same problems as SoM, for much lesser effect.
As for what you should do with your spells, I cannot say. It's too situational. Try to have a variety of spells that support your playstyle, and use as appropriate. Sometimes the right thing to do will be not bother with a spell, and just jump in and stab people. Sometimes you'll want to teleport. Sometimes you'll want to break out the big damage spell that you rarely use.
Hex is better for the lower level warlock, as a d6 can be a nice damage boost, but a 10 level warlock probably has better spells.
If you are building a pure Pact of the blade, the spells should be either to provide defense like AC and attacking/damage. If you have another type of Pact, then you pick different spells.
Pact of blade puts you on the front line to do damage. The others put you in the rear. So totally different spell selection.
in most places you should be able to find a creature you can kill somewhere in a hour. Sure if you are in a desert or something maybe not. it is already a bad spell, i feel no need to make it even worse.
I think that falls afoul of:
And Hex is not a bad spell as such. It's ok. It's overrated by the people for whom DPS is the primary metric, but if you're going to be slinging lots of Eldritch Blasts, it's not a terrible choice, especially at low levels.
What it really is is a fun trap. The overemphasis on it encourages Warlocks to reflexively use it, play Eldritch Blast spam, and never use their other spells.
if you can take Resilient CON and Eldritch Mind (as you said), your spells wills stay up more often. Personally, I'd use Spirit Shroud over Shadow of Moil for the damage,. Spirit Shroud is a BA, so you're up and running on round 1 instead of losing a turn with SoM set up. Stay pure Warlock to level 12 so you can get Devouring Blade as an invocation. After that, you can easily start Sorcerer levels for the extra slots if you still want to.
Oh, and get your hands on a Rod of the Pact Keeper for the one spell slot recovery per long rest feature. Between that and Magical Cunning, you should be fine with spell slots on most days.
If its a trap its a bad spell, and your ruling makes the trap harder on the player who just wants it not to suck.
I’m not too experienced with 24 (our whole group prefers 14) but generally I’ve heard paladin is bad in 24 and I think lifedrinker is available at lvl 9 in 24 so that’s huge damage boost. More generally melee people love Shield and sorc is quick and easy for a couple of big moments.
as an aside what are you using for hexblade in 24 or have you adapted 2014 to meet 24 rules
And you run, and you run
To catch up with the sun, but it’s sinking
And racing around
To come up behind you again
The sun is the same in a relative way
But you’re older
Shorter of Breath
And one day closer to death
currently in love with redesigning subclasses send me a message and I will try
My thought is that if you do not have a specific character goal, you should never multiclass.
It sounds as though you do not have a specific goal, so you should stay warlock.
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Tasha
Life drinker in 2024 is not a huge damage boost, its 1d6 once per turn. Personally I put in on the waste of a invocation list. If all you care about is damage and you are pact of the blade I guess sure, take it. But I think you will regret not taking something more fun as 1d6 just is not enough damage for a invocation imo.
If we get into the invocation game for optimization I highly recommend abusing the ability to take multiple origin feats with Lessons of the First Ones. In particular if you have access to some of the new ones that came out in the Realms books and online supplements.
Tough/Alert/Lucky/Musician are all worth an invocation. But seriously. Tough is better than 90% of the invocations.
Spellfire Spark is a nice small tier 3 damage bump. PB times per day you get to bonus action sacred flame. In addition you get a nice damage mitigation against spell attacks.
Tireless Reveler is absolutely broken if you have Musician in the party. If every rest everyone in the party gets heroic inspiration and you get heroic inspiration everytime someone within 60 feet uses it you have a wonderful bit of synergy.
Shadowmoor Hexer gets you Hex 1/day. Above people were discussing Hex being a bad spell. It is a terrible use of a 5th level spell slot, but cast at 1st level its a great spell. Another mentioned taking Fey Touched for 1/day Hex/Misty Step. I have done that myself for that exact reason and its great. You generally have better things to do with your 5th level slots but Hex's ability to stretch multiple fights is great assuming you have a low cost way to cast it.
I think the issue here is that you're trying to do way too much through the spells. Warlock is a bit tricky in that you really need to think about your spells carefully, since the opportunity cost is very high, but can refresh on a short rest. Its why Invocations exist as mostly At-Will spells, to make cheaper utility spells more accessible. This kind of gives you two choices on spell choice.... you can either have a spell combo you just do every combat, OR long tailed spells you can maintain for most (if not all) of the encounter. Also look into the circle cast rules. Prolong is really good feature, as it can extend many of your 1 minute spells to 1 hour with one other caster giving up a 1st level spell slot.
If you're doing the combo thing, start looking at magic items. At this level you should be good to have a rare magic magic item. So talk to your DM about enspelled weapons or enspelled armor and offload one of your most commonly used spells to that. Since you have 3-6 charges per day to work with, which one kind of depends on your strategy. If you're ok with using 2 pacts slots for a spell combo every combat, you can load the enspelled item with a contingency spell.... like shield. If you want to keep Pact slots more available, then put your main concentration spell in the enspelled item, and make it your primary source of that spell*.
*Just be mindful of the Spell level to Rarity Tier relationship of enspelled items. Rare only goes up 3rd level spells, so you'd need a Very rare to access 4th/5th level spells.
Also... get Rod of Pact keeper (even an uncommon one is good enough) to let you recharge an pact slot per long rest.