Monstrous Compendium Vol. 1: Spelljammer Creatures
Frozen Sick
D&D Beyond Basic Rules
Basic Rules (2014)
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Monstrous Compendium Vol. 1: Spelljammer CreaturesFrozen SickD&D Beyond Basic RulesBasic Rules (2014)Sign in to view your library & saved favorites.
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hey everyone it my first time here at dnd beyond and i would like to ask everyone what do you guys think whats the best way a make a bladelock in 2024 using multiclass or not im not sure if i should post this here since in theory it may include multiclass but whatever i would like to know spell feats eldritch invocations and spell please thanke you so much and have a nice day.
obs:for any bad english it isnt my first language so i ask for patience thx
All you really need is pact of the blade and its dependent invocations. (Devouring blade, thirsting blade, maybe eldritch smite and/or lifedrinker) This is sufficient. Eldritch mind lets you hold concentration spells better, which may be worth it for you.
For defense, you probably want either armor of shadows or light armor. Either way, you want dexterity.
Another approach is to take a level of fighter to get the better armor proficiencies, and go for medium armor with dex, or heavy armor and strength. (You can also get medium armor with a feat at 4th instead of by multiclassing. The two feats needed for heavy seems like overkill, and fighter also gives you shields.)
(If you're using older subclasses, hexblade also gives you shields, but it's got features that are redundant with the 24 blade pact. They haven't updated it yet, but are likely going to in the future.)
Not going to go into spells, except to warn you off hex -- you can often get better effect from other concentration spells, and they're usually more fun.
To add to this I believe the fiend and the fey are the best subclasses for the bladelock because of the natural defenses these two subclasses come with. On fiend you have dark one's blessing, dark one's own luck for better saves and fiendish resistance to add to your defenses. And the fey you have misty escape, refreshing steps beguiling defenses in addition to spells like blink and greater invisibility.
First and foremost, welcome!
Second of all, pretty much everything jl8e said with the exception that you don’t need as much dexterity if you are going with the fighter dip for medium armor and a shield. For that, I would spread my stats 8, 14, 15+1, 8, 10, 15+2. It’s what I do anyway.
Lastly, as far as feats/ASI go, I would strongly consider Warcaster at level 4 (especially if you take a fighter dip) to even up your Charisma as well let you cast spells with a shield equipped as a fighter/warlock.
I’ll try and attach my character sheet as an example the next chance I get. It’s more of a hybrid build, but it should give you a good idea of what you can do.
Good luck!
www.dndbeyond.com/sheet-pdfs/Actionsparda_150088777.pdf
thank you so much everyone i cant believe that i made this post and got three response in 2 hours thank you so much
a little random but your character look so cool
Thanks, I think. Lol
Why not start as Fighter for 1 level and get heavy armour? Yes you don't get locky until level 2 but you have a fighting style (AC+1 maybe), can go heavy armour and shield. I would suggest think of the char as a fighter foremost and use the magic stuff to enhance the fighting. Invocation to cast jump spell at will - boost your move to get into the fight right there +20' move each round etc. Thirsting blade helps you stay in the fight longer as you can spend your hit dice 1/rnd i think with CON bonus as as free action.
Life's hard - get a helmet!
I actually like the Hexblade Dual-Wielder. Take a level of Fighter at level 1 for weapon masteries, CON save proficiency, and Two-Weapon Fighting, pick up a Shortsword and Scimitar (or similar weapons, as long as one has the Nick mastery), get Thirsting Blade and Devouring Blade along with the Dual-Wielder feat, then cast Spirit Shroud on yourself before you start swinging. At level 13 you will be making 5 attacks per round using your charisma for the attack and damage rolls with both weapons, with each getting 2d8 extra damage from Spirit Shroud. Total damage (assuming all 5 hit) would be 5d6+10d8+25 (87.5 average), with the option to use Eldritch Smite for an extra 6d8 damage when the fancy strikes you. It's pretty strong for damage you can maintain using minimal resources.
Pact of the Blade can only apply to one weapon - making TWF a fairly problematic venture. You might be thinking of Eldritch Knight that can bond to two weapons.
To me there are three main venues to make a Bladelock:
- Going Damage with: Fighter at level 1, and then multiclass to Warlock afterwards with a stat spread of (STR 14 / DEX 10 / CON 15 + 1 / INT 8 / WIS 8 / CHA 15 + 2). Pick up Fighting Style: Defense (to reach 18 + 1 AC) and use a Greatsword / Greatmaul.
> Going with STR means we can use Heavy Armor and Heavy weapons, and later on we can get the feat Great Weapon Master to add Prof.Bonus to our weapon attack damage and possibly utilize our Bonus Action for a bonus attack whenever we Crit or kill a target. We are more vulnerable to AoEs targeting our DEX, and our WIS save. We might want to pick up Origin Feat: Lucky to try to pass difficult Saving Throws that renders us in a bad position. We can choose to start with 13 STR and 10 WIS, but this delays Splint/Plate armor to lvl 9 (8 Warlock)
- Going Versatile with: Fighter at level 1, and then multiclass to Warlock afterwards with a stat spread of (STR 8 / DEX 14 / CON 15 + 1 / INT 8 / WIS 10 / CHA 15 + 2). Pick up Fighting Style: Defense (to reach 15 + 2 DEX + 1 AC) or Dueling.
> FS: Defense means we can use a Versatile weapon for the d10 damage die and still have good defense with little need to invest more into the build. FS: Dueling means we can go for a Shield (15 + 2 DEX + 2 AC), but will likely require that we pick up feat War Caster to cast while both hands are full.
- Going full Warlock with whatever subclass can boost our survivability. Focusing more into DEX, 14 if Hexblade returns with Medium Armor Training, 15 + 1 if we have to go Light Armor. Picking up Armor of Shadows for 13 + 3 DEX AC and hope we find defensive magic items (Bracers of Defense, Studded Leather +2-3). Otherwise yeah, Fiend and Fey are the next best option. We use a Versatile weapon for the d10 damage die and pray we can cower behind a more sturdy frontliner if we cannot get defenses through Hexblade (that also likely grants additional defensive spells like Blur, Haste). When we get 4th level spells and grab the backwards compatible Shadow of Moil spell, we're in a better position, but without CON save proficiency from Fighter, we do still risk dropping Concentration - especially if we're forced to run 15 + 1 DEX and deprioritizing to 14 CON - again hoping Hexblade can alleviate some pressure here.
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There is also the "secret" tech: We go Paladin level 1, multiclass at level 2 to Warlock to grab Pact of the Blade, then we head back to Paladin to be a Paladin that uses CHA as our weapon stat. We only need 15 STR for Heavy Armor, and we can dump DEX, INT, WIS, so we can pick up 15 + 1 CON and 15 + 2 CHA. Once we hit Paladin lvl 6 we fix our Saving Throws with Aura of Protection by adding +CHA (4) to all our saves. We wont get Extra Attack x3, but Radiant Strikes' +1d8 to weapon attacks are still fairly good. We get Paladin's slew of spells that includes 1st lvl Bless for +1d4 to ATK rolls and Saving Throws to 3 lads, 1st lvl Divine Favor for +1d4 dmg on your own attacks, and 3rd lvl Crusader's Mantle that's basically Divine Favor for you and your frontline lads.
You may consider going Warlock lvl 2 at some point (after Paladin lvl 6) to pick up 2 more Invocations and +1x Spell Slot of 1st level that replenish on a Short Rest +1x Spell Slot of 1st level replenish per Long Rest (Magical Cunning). The invocations could be:
Agonizing Blast with Eldritch Blast to always have a solid ranged attack option.
Eldritch Mind for ADV on Concentration checks.
Devil's Sight for 120 ft. Dark Vision + Magical Darkness Vision.
Lessons of the First Ones: Tough/Lucky.
Repelling Blast with Eldritch Blast to add some battlefield control options.
Paladin is also not amazing after level 6, but you might as well grab your subclass' lvl 7 bonus to your Aura and then the lvl 8 ASI. You do first get 3rd lvl Pala spell slots at lvl 9, so that might be tempting for Crusader's Mantle, Blinding Smite, and Revivify. The first major Paladin feature after lvl 6 is lvl 18's Aura expansion from 10 ft. to 30 ft. The rest are mostly neat benefits. So it could be considered to go more Warlock to increase Pact Slot levels, or go for Sorc to add more Spell Slots, Meta Magic for BA-casting, and add Arcane spells not available to Warlock; like Shield, Absorb Elements, Silvery Barbs (consult DM), Haste.
'
If your DM allows it you could also just go full Paladin and pick up the old feat Eldritch Adept to pick up the new Pact of the Blade Eldritch Invocation. Still... that's also going to delay your ability to attack with CHA to level 4 at the earliest, and you will be behind -1 on your CHA mod from level 4 until you can get 20 at level 12. Overall it seems less troublesome to just multiclass 1+ level of Warlock.
A Hexblade can have one Pact Weapon and one Hex Weapon, and each will use their charisma for attack and damage rolls. Add in the two-weapon fighting style and weapon masteries from a Fighter dip, and you have a charisma-based dual-wielder.
Ah, I forgot that was a thing with the 2014 Hexblade.
For the 2H damage, why not go with Polearm mastery; giving an extra pommel attack as a bonus attack for an extra 1D6 (HEX) +1D4 (Weapon damage) +CHA attack each round as opposed to the proficiency bonus to Maul / great sword. You also get a reaction if an ennemi walks in range.
The polearm mastery kind of does the same thing as DW with a lower dice damage then a 1D6 with a off-hand weapon.
I would advice getting False Life to get 26-32 temp hp. Then cast Agathys before combat, and regain spell slots. Try to get resistances to damage types if you can (Tasha’s Cauldron, etc). You can also use Archfey ability Beguiling defense to halve damage you take. Getting that 25 Cold damage everytime someone hits you gives good dpr. Use the new Backlash spell to protect Agathys and deal extra damage. Use a good Summon spell like Summon Fey to do extra damage.
The highest dpr is anyhow use of Weapon Mastery Push together with Wall of Fire. Still use Agathys to take hits and give Cold Damage back.
How do you do that? The invocation only gives you 12 points. You basically only have 2 spell slots, so you use 1 of your spell slots to cast this spell?
When are you getting additional spell slots? You will only get 1 and maybe it is my DMs but spending those 10 minutes to get another slot back is not easy.
You just had a player use 2 spell slots, unless they are in double figures of levels, the PC has blown all of there slots.
You get access to False Life from Magic Initiate, either at character creation or using the invocation giving you origin feats. Then cast it using your pact slots in beginning of the day, and make sure to get a short rest before going into any action.
Before going to combat I cast Agathys and use Magical Cunning to get the slot back. If a party member has Prayer of Healing that provides the benefit of a short rest.
You cannot do this all the time, but a bit of planning helps many times.
I am still lost.
Why do I want to waste my background on Magic Initiate? Or using the invocation? Invocations are difficult enough to choose and you never have enough.
Temp points are not cumulative either. If I use the invocation and get 12, then cast false life, I don't add the two sources up. So again, how do you get 26-32 temp points? Do you actually get that many points or is it a math error?
I have never come across a a DM that will let me do Magic cunning before combat, as if I choose to, I will be slaughtered because in that 1 minute, everyone opponent would charge me to get free hits at minimal AC (no dex bonus can be used)
You can't do that at all, planning or no planning. so expending a spell, is just burning all of them for the upcoming combat.
They're not talking about using the invocation that grants you the ability to cast False Life whenever you want. They're talking about casting it with a spell slot, which once you have level 5 spell slots (the maximum for a Warlock) would get you 26-32 temp HP. This is a little bit more than casting Armor of Agathys at 5th level, so some might find it worthwhile.
They are clearly not talking about using it while enemies are actually attacking, but as a preemptive measure before getting into combat.
pronouns: he/she/they
Thank you both for your comments, I should have clarified that I was talking about Warlock level 11. I have found that casting False Life typically allows the Armor of Agathys spell to survive longer with the additional temp hp. Also, Backlash is useful as it allows you to have Agathys survive out of your own turn, while also getting in some extra return damage. And then having the bonus action available for something else than recasting Armor of Agathys. As an Archfey Pact of the Blade, this has been my go to, alongside using Summon Fey. And I sometimes managed to cast both Agathys and Summon Fey ahead of combat, giving me three spell slots to spend when combat came, after using Magical Cunning.
At Warlock level 2, Fiendish Vigor and Armor of Agathys are also a go to. As you are always able to refill the temp hp back to 12. At level 1 you can use False Life from Magic Initiate, but then only get this extra supply of temp hp once. Still that is quite useful.