Hey so I'm going to be joining a friend's campaign here in a few weeks and I've decided on playing a warlock. According the the DM we'll be starting at 3rd level, plus we'll be starting with a bag of holding but we have the option to trade that for another uncommon item. I know I'm going to make the Hexblade pact and I'm going to do Pact of the Blade at 3rd level, possibly focusing on a polearm like a glaive, but otherwise I don't quite know what else I should do. My party consists of a warforged rogue, a human warlock who's going for Pact of the Tome I dont know the patron, a goliath fighter and a Tabaxi Druid. I typically roll for my stats and I allocated the results like this: STR 12 DEX 15 CON 14 INT 14 WIS 12 and CHA 16, I'm going to play a Tiefling so my CHA will go up to 18 and the INT to 15, but I'm not quite sure if it would be better to swap my STR and INT scores. Whatever help I could get would be appreciated and will be very useful for future campaigns.
I’d swap your planned Dex and Int scores. That will give you another +1 bonus to your ability scores because you’ll end up with every ability score being an even number instead of 2 odd numbers.
Other than that, I’d consider Armor of Agathys since you’ll be a melee character and it’s a great defensive spell that is also offensive that doesn’t require Concentration.
You’re probably going to want to pick your Eldritch invocations to maximize your melee fighting, but you might want to pick one that isn’t focused on melee fighting and is just fun for role playing.
Polearm master is fantastic with a hexblade. Use it with repelling blast eldritch invocation. Push enemies away from you and into range of your rogue or fighter. If the enemy really wants to be fighting you, it'll get hit with opportunity attacks from your rogue friend for leaving his/her range and another one for entering yours. This is what I'm doing at my current table and it is not only super fun but super effective. I wouldn't do this if you have any interest in doing the darkness/devil sight combo though. You'll be too in the mix and blinding your buddies. It can work though with the added range on your polearm and it does provide advantage to attacks which makes Greater Weapon Fighting very attractive (polearm master first). I like sentinel though.
Another option is going the double bladed scimitar route. It works similarly to polearm mastery attacks in that you get a 1d4 bonus attack. You could take the revenant blade feat to get another 1d4 damage on your bonus attack, 1 dex or str (neither useful) and 1 AC, but I think your lvl 4 ASI is way better spent on taking Resilient Con. Bonus actions are at a premium for Hexblades so you will only get limited use out of the extra 1d4. You will want to switch your Con and Dex stats. You only need 14 dex to get the most AC while wearing medium armor so 16 is largely pointless. Taking resilient con while having 15 con grants you better con saves and more HP from getting to 16. I generally think every hexblade should take either warcaster or resilient con. Resilient Con works out to be the better option when you have an odd number of Con. This build works well with the darkness/devil sight combo. Cast it on yourself and go attack something off by itself preferably in the back line. Try not to end your turn with your teammates being in the darkness though. Remember, your enemies can't see you so they don't get an opportunity attack when you leave their melee range. Go in, attack, then move to set up your teammates for success. Try to come up with an easy way to cover up whatever you're casting darkness on so you can turn it off if you need.
One other thing to think about as well is spell economy. Your spell slots are very limited so try to focus on spells with lasting effects. Hex is without question your best spell. Upcasting it means you can basically use it on every enemy you fight inside the duration. If you're taking damage, armor of agathys can not only save your life, but deal some good damage. It's always cast at max spell level so that can mean some very good temporary hit points and some very good damage when someone attacks you. Hunger of Hadar takes up your concentration which replaces your darkness or your hex, but it's good AoE damage. With Darkness/devils sight, you can cast it on an area on one turn, go in, hit something, and leave while taking no damage. It is difficult terrain but it's still doable. Especially useful if your team can keep enemies in it. Repelling blast is useful here again because it can push enemies into the hunger of hadar area. If you went with polearm mastery, position yourself for bonus attacks just outside of the area. If you later take sentinel they'll be stuck inside there. Hexblades are melee but warlocks have so many good uses for Eldritch Blast that knowing when to use melee over blasting is what makes this class so fun.
Warlocks are probably the most versitile class in the game though. While these are two great options, there are so many great ways to play the class. That is one of the many things that makes Warlocks so much fun in combat. Lots of fun options, lots of utility, and tons of damage. All that is left is to find fun ways to roll play your warlock!
Hey thanks guys for the info this is really good to know. So to Recap I should either swap my CON and DEX scores OR swap my DEX and INT scores. Also if I'm going a more martial route with the Polearm than I should get Polearm Master at 4th level than at 8th level Sentinel. If I were going to use more spells with lasting effects than I should go for Resilience: CON for the concentration checks. Is that about the gist of it. If I were to trade away my bag of holding should I try to acquire Mithral Half Plate in its place?
Yeah I think that's the gist of it. Concentration is really important for warlocks. Most of your really good spells require it. Even if you go more melee oriented, you're going to want to keep hex on your kill target for an extra 1d6 of damage (which you use on both your main attack and your bonus polearm attack. It's really up to you though what feats you take when. They're all good feats.
Don’t forget, increasing your Charisma as you level up will also increase your attack bonus with your melee weasons and your spells. Balance that with the feats that you pick.
Hey so I'm going to be joining a friend's campaign here in a few weeks and I've decided on playing a warlock. According the the DM we'll be starting at 3rd level, plus we'll be starting with a bag of holding but we have the option to trade that for another uncommon item. I know I'm going to make the Hexblade pact and I'm going to do Pact of the Blade at 3rd level, possibly focusing on a polearm like a glaive, but otherwise I don't quite know what else I should do. My party consists of a warforged rogue, a human warlock who's going for Pact of the Tome I dont know the patron, a goliath fighter and a Tabaxi Druid. I typically roll for my stats and I allocated the results like this: STR 12 DEX 15 CON 14 INT 14 WIS 12 and CHA 16, I'm going to play a Tiefling so my CHA will go up to 18 and the INT to 15, but I'm not quite sure if it would be better to swap my STR and INT scores. Whatever help I could get would be appreciated and will be very useful for future campaigns.
I’d swap your planned Dex and Int scores. That will give you another +1 bonus to your ability scores because you’ll end up with every ability score being an even number instead of 2 odd numbers.
Other than that, I’d consider Armor of Agathys since you’ll be a melee character and it’s a great defensive spell that is also offensive that doesn’t require Concentration.
You’re probably going to want to pick your Eldritch invocations to maximize your melee fighting, but you might want to pick one that isn’t focused on melee fighting and is just fun for role playing.
Professional computer geek
Polearm master is fantastic with a hexblade. Use it with repelling blast eldritch invocation. Push enemies away from you and into range of your rogue or fighter. If the enemy really wants to be fighting you, it'll get hit with opportunity attacks from your rogue friend for leaving his/her range and another one for entering yours. This is what I'm doing at my current table and it is not only super fun but super effective. I wouldn't do this if you have any interest in doing the darkness/devil sight combo though. You'll be too in the mix and blinding your buddies. It can work though with the added range on your polearm and it does provide advantage to attacks which makes Greater Weapon Fighting very attractive (polearm master first). I like sentinel though.
Another option is going the double bladed scimitar route. It works similarly to polearm mastery attacks in that you get a 1d4 bonus attack. You could take the revenant blade feat to get another 1d4 damage on your bonus attack, 1 dex or str (neither useful) and 1 AC, but I think your lvl 4 ASI is way better spent on taking Resilient Con. Bonus actions are at a premium for Hexblades so you will only get limited use out of the extra 1d4. You will want to switch your Con and Dex stats. You only need 14 dex to get the most AC while wearing medium armor so 16 is largely pointless. Taking resilient con while having 15 con grants you better con saves and more HP from getting to 16. I generally think every hexblade should take either warcaster or resilient con. Resilient Con works out to be the better option when you have an odd number of Con. This build works well with the darkness/devil sight combo. Cast it on yourself and go attack something off by itself preferably in the back line. Try not to end your turn with your teammates being in the darkness though. Remember, your enemies can't see you so they don't get an opportunity attack when you leave their melee range. Go in, attack, then move to set up your teammates for success. Try to come up with an easy way to cover up whatever you're casting darkness on so you can turn it off if you need.
One other thing to think about as well is spell economy. Your spell slots are very limited so try to focus on spells with lasting effects. Hex is without question your best spell. Upcasting it means you can basically use it on every enemy you fight inside the duration. If you're taking damage, armor of agathys can not only save your life, but deal some good damage. It's always cast at max spell level so that can mean some very good temporary hit points and some very good damage when someone attacks you. Hunger of Hadar takes up your concentration which replaces your darkness or your hex, but it's good AoE damage. With Darkness/devils sight, you can cast it on an area on one turn, go in, hit something, and leave while taking no damage. It is difficult terrain but it's still doable. Especially useful if your team can keep enemies in it. Repelling blast is useful here again because it can push enemies into the hunger of hadar area. If you went with polearm mastery, position yourself for bonus attacks just outside of the area. If you later take sentinel they'll be stuck inside there. Hexblades are melee but warlocks have so many good uses for Eldritch Blast that knowing when to use melee over blasting is what makes this class so fun.
Warlocks are probably the most versitile class in the game though. While these are two great options, there are so many great ways to play the class. That is one of the many things that makes Warlocks so much fun in combat. Lots of fun options, lots of utility, and tons of damage. All that is left is to find fun ways to roll play your warlock!
Hey thanks guys for the info this is really good to know. So to Recap I should either swap my CON and DEX scores OR swap my DEX and INT scores. Also if I'm going a more martial route with the Polearm than I should get Polearm Master at 4th level than at 8th level Sentinel. If I were going to use more spells with lasting effects than I should go for Resilience: CON for the concentration checks. Is that about the gist of it. If I were to trade away my bag of holding should I try to acquire Mithral Half Plate in its place?
Yeah I think that's the gist of it. Concentration is really important for warlocks. Most of your really good spells require it. Even if you go more melee oriented, you're going to want to keep hex on your kill target for an extra 1d6 of damage (which you use on both your main attack and your bonus polearm attack. It's really up to you though what feats you take when. They're all good feats.
Don’t forget, increasing your Charisma as you level up will also increase your attack bonus with your melee weasons and your spells. Balance that with the feats that you pick.
Professional computer geek