prior to the release of xanatar's guide to everything that added a bunch of fantastic options for an pact of the blade warlock, when you only had the player's handbook to go of, how well did the pact of the blade option and the invocations that came with it work? Was it an viable way to make a decent melee combatant, or was it just kind of mediocre? how well did it compare to pact of the tombe and pact of the chain warlocks? How well did it compare to proper martial classes like fighters and paladins? how good was using your weapon compared to just spamming eldrich blast?
Well, unless you played a Mountain Dwarf, or took the Moderately Armored feat, you were limited to light armor or Mage Armor via Armor of Shadows, with no shield. That means boosting your Dexterity for a decent AC, and that compromises your casting, and even your melee options if you want to use the strength based weapons.
Because you were using either Strength or Dexterity for your melee weapon attacks you were limiting your growth in Charisma, which is the casting stat for Warlocks, putting you behind the 8-Ball compared to other Warlock builds. A Warlock is, after all, a full caster (of its own kind) so compromising its growth like that is frustrating.
Because they're lacking Improved Pact Weapon and Eldritch Smite your summoned weapons are (except against creatures resistant to magic) no better than the weapons you started the game with, although gaining proficiency in every weapon you summon is good in that respect.
Bladelock had Thirsting Blade, which gave the same effect as extra attack, but only when using your pact weapon, and Lifedrinker which acted like the Paladin's Improved Divine Smite by improving your damage profile at higher levels. Consider that just with Eldritch Blast and Agonizing Blast your regular Warlock was doing 3D10 + 15 damage at level 11. At level 12 your Bladelock (assuming they'd boosted their strength rather than Charisma) would be doing 4D6+10+2D6 with two attacks if he summoned a Great Sword, or 2D12+10+2D6 with a Great Axe. That's a maximum potential damage of 46 vs 45 for the Eldritch Blaster, and the Blaster hasn't had to compromise their casting ability, and doing it from 120 feet away instead of in their face.
Hexblade fixed that by making your melee stat the same as your casting stat, which means you don't fall behind when casting, and giving you medium armor and shields so you don't have to devote your efforts to raising your Dex. You only need Dex 14, and you can start with that. Improved Pact Weapon made your Pact Weapons +1 magical weapons, allowed you to use a Pact Weapon as a casting focus, and allowed you to summon bows and crossbows, which meant you could shoot twice with them, just like a Ranger, Fighter, or Paladin. Eldritch Smite (although sometimes a bit iffy given to your lack of Warlock spell slots) gives a very nice damage spike that scales with your Warlock slots.
To be honest Hexblade might be just a tad too good, inasmuch as pretty much any Charisma caster can derive a huge benefit from just one level in Hexblade. It certainly turned my Sword Bard into a bit of a monster. However it's not a huge problem, and the class itself is pretty fair.
prior to the release of xanatar's guide to everything that added a bunch of fantastic options for an pact of the blade warlock, when you only had the player's handbook to go of, how well did the pact of the blade option and the invocations that came with it work? Was it an viable way to make a decent melee combatant, or was it just kind of mediocre? how well did it compare to pact of the tombe and pact of the chain warlocks? How well did it compare to proper martial classes like fighters and paladins? how good was using your weapon compared to just spamming eldrich blast?
i am soup, with too many ideas (all of them very spicy) who has made sufficient homebrew material and character to last an thousand human lifetimes
Well, unless you played a Mountain Dwarf, or took the Moderately Armored feat, you were limited to light armor or Mage Armor via Armor of Shadows, with no shield. That means boosting your Dexterity for a decent AC, and that compromises your casting, and even your melee options if you want to use the strength based weapons.
Because you were using either Strength or Dexterity for your melee weapon attacks you were limiting your growth in Charisma, which is the casting stat for Warlocks, putting you behind the 8-Ball compared to other Warlock builds. A Warlock is, after all, a full caster (of its own kind) so compromising its growth like that is frustrating.
Because they're lacking Improved Pact Weapon and Eldritch Smite your summoned weapons are (except against creatures resistant to magic) no better than the weapons you started the game with, although gaining proficiency in every weapon you summon is good in that respect.
Bladelock had Thirsting Blade, which gave the same effect as extra attack, but only when using your pact weapon, and Lifedrinker which acted like the Paladin's Improved Divine Smite by improving your damage profile at higher levels. Consider that just with Eldritch Blast and Agonizing Blast your regular Warlock was doing 3D10 + 15 damage at level 11. At level 12 your Bladelock (assuming they'd boosted their strength rather than Charisma) would be doing 4D6+10+2D6 with two attacks if he summoned a Great Sword, or 2D12+10+2D6 with a Great Axe. That's a maximum potential damage of 46 vs 45 for the Eldritch Blaster, and the Blaster hasn't had to compromise their casting ability, and doing it from 120 feet away instead of in their face.
Hexblade fixed that by making your melee stat the same as your casting stat, which means you don't fall behind when casting, and giving you medium armor and shields so you don't have to devote your efforts to raising your Dex. You only need Dex 14, and you can start with that. Improved Pact Weapon made your Pact Weapons +1 magical weapons, allowed you to use a Pact Weapon as a casting focus, and allowed you to summon bows and crossbows, which meant you could shoot twice with them, just like a Ranger, Fighter, or Paladin. Eldritch Smite (although sometimes a bit iffy given to your lack of Warlock spell slots) gives a very nice damage spike that scales with your Warlock slots.
To be honest Hexblade might be just a tad too good, inasmuch as pretty much any Charisma caster can derive a huge benefit from just one level in Hexblade. It certainly turned my Sword Bard into a bit of a monster. However it's not a huge problem, and the class itself is pretty fair.