I have a love/hate relationship with the very idea of optimizing in D&D. I think the game works fine if you're just doing straightforward builds - even a Champion Fighter who does nothing but take ASIs will still... no, hold on, that's insane. Even a Devotion Paladin who takes nothing but ASIs will still perform just fine, and a party of simple, straightforward characters will be able to overcome the challenges balanced with the encounter math in the Dungeon Master's Guide. There might be some hairy situations here and there, but they'll probably be fine.
And I also think that optimization can sometimes come at the expense of immersing yourself in a character. Indeed, I think far worse than picking off-theme options to ensure your character is powerful, the worse thing is when you want to pick thematic choices that wind up sabotaging your character. Like, a Cleric/Paladin multiclass would make a ton of sense for a character who wants to live in the overlap between those classes, but the mechanics don't support it very well, splitting your spellcasting between two ability scores.
And yet...
I also think that with games that are lighter on rules, like my experience with Kids on Bikes, there's a certain flatness to them, where there's no real way to "play well" in a mechanical sense.
And maybe that's an unresolvable issue - a game that is perfectly balanced and allows you to pick any character options that is guaranteed to allow you to be just as effective as any other array of choices must sort of undercut the effectiveness of rules mastery and system analysis.
So, here I am, someone who really loves the potential for original storytelling in D&D, but also who really wants my numbers to be big.
And I think part of why there's an industry of optimization discourse online is that it's just something that can actually be calculated. While there's plenty of scholarship on what makes good storytelling work, it's also subjective, whereas you can back up an optimized build with math.
I wrote recently about comparing Warlocks that go with Pact of the Blade and really focus on fighting with a melee weapon versus a more "classic" Warlock that fights from afar, primarily using Eldritch Blast.
Perhaps moreso when 5E was new, but I do see a lot of people are drawn to the Warlock to play a kind of dark spellcaster, and wind up disappointed when they realize how limited the class is in terms of the amount of spellcasting you can do. I realized pretty early on, though, that the trick to the Warlock is to think of them not as a limited spellcaster, but as a very versatile martial class.
Any character in D&D can weaponize their magic, but a Warlock is one that really treats its magic (especially Eldritch Blast) as a weapon, and thus their gameplay in combat really resembles a martial character.
Pact of the Blade, then, makes that basically literal.
Now, I have generally been inclined more toward the "Blastlock" style of Warlock, and my very first character was built along those lines (though only made it to level 2, as it was for a limited campaign where my best friend was first trying out DMing - something he now does professionally). But I then played one in a Descent into Avernus game (yes, I played a Hexblade but did not go Pact of the Blade. Is that weird?)
So I do sort of feel like I'd want to go Bladelock just to do something new.
But beyond that, what kind of Bladelock do we want to be?
5.5 made a giant improvement to Pact of the Blade by allowing you to use Charisma as your ability to attack with that weapon. This had previously only been a feature for the Hexblade subclass, which made it the obvious option for any Bladelock.
But there are other issues.
Warlocks only gain access to Light Armor. Even if you are a Dex-based class like a Rogue or most Rangers, it takes a while to actually get a decent AC with light armor (I'd generally take medium armor instead on a Ranger). The best mundane light armor simply gives you an AC of 12+Dex, which means that capping it out will get you 17, and even for a Rogue that's not likely to happen until level 8 or even level 10 (when Rogues get their third feat). For Bards, Druids, and Warlocks, who are probably not going to be able to focus very much on Dex, even if they start off with a +3 to Dex, they're unlikely to be able to raise their AC above 15 or so until maybe level 16 (barring, of course, magic armor). Now, in the case of Bards, if you're playing a melee-focused Bard subclass, you typically get either medium armor training or unarmored defense. And Druids can pick the Warden Primal Order at level 1 to get medium armor training, or will get the new Moon Druid armor bonus when in their Wild Shape.
The Hexblade came with training in medium armor and shields along with martial weapon proficiency (the latter of which is irrelevant if we're getting Pact of the Blade). So, rather than struggling with an AC of, like 13 at level 1, you could very quickly get an AC of 16 or 18 (with a shield in the latter case).
For Blastlocks, this isn't as big of an issue - having a low AC as a ranged character isn't too bad because most of what comes at you from range are effects that call for saving throws, and you're generally playing around making sure that you keep some distance from foes that could hit you.
But the whole idea of a Bladelock is to be able to close in with your foes.
Sadly, there's not an obvious solution within the class itself (other than the Xanathar's version of the Hexblade, which is probably getting an update without any armor training in the Arcana Unleashed book). You could take Moderately Armored, though frustratingly, if you also wanted shield training, you'd have to also get Lightly Armored, half of which is redundant for you. These feats don't increase Charisma, so you'd also be penalizing your Charisma progression.
And furthermore, you're also probably going to want to pick up some kind of weapon-focused feat the increase your damage, which will also not improve your Charisma, so it's sort of extra costly.
Thus, as much of an improvement as the 5.5 Pact of the Blade is compared to the 5.0 version, I think that any reasonable build is going to do some multiclassing.
Boo! Hiss!
Yeah, I've said many times that I am not a fan of multiclassing. I love subclasses that can incorporate elements of another class into your class to give you that kind of hybrid identity, like the Eldritch Knight as the "Wizard-like Fighter," but I think multiclassing can melt down class identities.
But just to make a Bladelock build work, it's just so effective at fixing some of these issues that it's hard to pass up.
Now, how and what to multiclass into?
As I see it, one of the top priorities is to get something with some armor training. While a Sorcerer/Warlock build can work fantastically, that's going to be great if you are really focusing on spells. We'd want to grab something with either medium or heavy armor training, but I'd also say we probably don't want to introduce any more ability requirements, especially as we're already going to be stretched a little thin.
Thus, I think that the Fighter and the Paladin are the clear best options here.
Let's talk about why for each:
First off, both give you Medium and Heavy armor training - though the latter only if you start off with that class. Weirdly, the only class that can give you Heavy Armor with a single-level dip after you've already started with Warlocks is the Cleric, thanks to the Divine Order choice, but that would also mean we'd be splitting our spellcasting between Charisma and Wisdom.
If we're fine with just Medium armor, then it's ok, but I think we're going to want to get Heavy armor instead for two main reasons:
One is that it just caps out a little higher, letting us get an AC of 18 with just mundane equipment (or 20 if we have a shield). But more importantly, we need to figure out our weapon choice.
As I see it, melee builds in 5.5 are going to want to grab one of four feats: Dual Wielder, Great Weapon Master, Polearm Master, or Shield Master (actually, Grappler is another possibility, though I think that's not going to be one that Warlocks pick). Dual Wielder isn't going to work for us, because we only get the one Pact Weapon, and even if we get a great off-hand weapon, we won't be able to bond with it to make our attacks with Charisma. So we really want to focus on a single weapon.
Shield Master is also questionable. First off, we don't inherently get Shield training, though again, we're assuming starting with a level of Fighter or Paladin, so we will get it. But its Shield Bash option scales only with Strength. That actually might not be a terrible problem because we're actually going to likely be getting our Strength reasonably high anyway, but I think we've got some other options that can be better.
Great Weapon Master, generally when I've calculated things, gives you the most overall damage for any martial build. Given the nerf to Sharpshooter in 5.5, it's even a pretty good thing to take on a ranged martial build.
However, Polearm Master is also a very solid, and importantly, a very versatile feat to build around. While I usually think of builds with this feat as using just those d10 heavy reach weapons, both of its components (Pole Strike and Reactive Strike) actually work just as well with Spears and Quarterstaves. While none such weapons are Finesse weapons, you can also choose to boost your Dexterity with this feat. I assume that's to make it usable with Monks (though the Pole Strike feature is less exciting for a Monk who always gets a bonus action attack anyway).
Still, if we want to take Great Weapon Master (which I do think still gives the most damage of all of these) you'll need a minimum 13 in Strength. Pushing Strength and using Heavy Armor will then allow you to worry less about Dex as you can get a decent AC without it. Now, this also commits us a bit - Chain Mail won't slow you down if you have a 13 or higher Strength, but to move unimpeded with Splint or Plate, you need 15.
If you do want to go this route, then, you might consider starting off with a 14 in Strength (either taking it with Point Buy or using a background that lets you get there from 13) so that simply taking Great Weapon Master will get you to the place where you can wear any heavy armor and you'll never have to worry about it again (though if you also hate having odd-numbered ability scores, you might consider rounding that out after you've capped you Charisma later on).
Something you'll get from both classes as well is Weapon Mastery. Generally, I think Graze beats just about all other options, but having Cleave or Topple or Push can be great as well. As good as Graze is, it's not something you need to build around like Nick, so if your DM gives the party a really awesome Greataxe, you can still feel comfortable taking it.
Now, between Fighter and Paladin, which is the one to go with?
I think there are good arguments for both, but I'll say this: it's going to be pretty hard to resist putting several levels into Paladin. Aura of Protection is among the best class features in the game, and as a Charisma-focused character, it'll be even better for us than it would be for a traditional Paladin who might not have more than a +3 to Charisma until tier 3.
Depending on how far your campaign goes, this might mean that you wind up being more of a Paladin than a Warlock. Now, you don't have to do this - you could just grab a single level to get the armor training and such, and then have two more spell slots that you can use on spells that don't scale all that well.
For Fighters, it's a bit easier to just do a single-level dip. One of the big things here is that you'll get here is a change to your saving throw proficiencies (Warlocks and Paladins I believe get the same ones, Wisdom and Charisma). By getting Con save proficiency, you'll be protecting your concentration spells, which will be precious given how few spell slots you have. Also, with just one dip, you'll already get a Fighting Style feat. I actually think that the Great Weapon Fighting style is pretty bad compared to what dual-wielders or sword-and-board people can get, but you can also pick up something like Defensive to just be a bit harder to hit, or Blindsight (though this is less exciting if we get Devil's Sight). Interception is actually great, and doesn't require you to specifically have a shield like Protection does.
Now, I think eventually getting a second level of Fighter to pick up Action Surge is probably worth it eventually, but it's also pretty easy to just dip in once and then focus on Warlocking it up.
Notably, because Pact Magic and Spellcasting are different features, the spellcasting of a Paladin doesn't actually help at all with your spellcasting progression as a Warlock, which I think moves the needle a little away from them.
And lastly, picking either class first is going to give you a tiny bonus to your max HP. At level 1, you'll have 10+Con, whereas a Warlock will get just 8+Con. Taking average rolls, subsequent levels of Warlocks will give you 5+Con while levels of Paladin or Fighter give you 6+Con, meaning that by starting off Fighter/Paladin, you get 1 more HP!
Ok, but now that we've made a truly foul bargain with the mysterious entities behind the mechanical design of the game (multiclassing is the true devil's bargain we take for power,) we're going to commit to Warlock.
Obviously, at level 1, our biggest decision to make is that first Eldritch Invocation, and the whole point of this was to go Pact of the Blade. So that's what we do.
For spells, honestly, I don't think any of this is going to be very shocking. We'll still want Eldritch Blast because it's nice to have a ranged option. We actually don't really want to pick up Booming Blade or Green-Flame Blade because eventually we'll do more damage just by attacking multiple times.
As much as I complain about Hex, it's still going to be great at this level and for a little while to come. Armor of Agathys is also good, though it's less exciting at 1st level, as it can be wiped out by a single attack pretty easily.
Broadly speaking, I'd then try to stick to Warlock until we're level 12 - Fighter 1/Warlock 11.
We have several Invocations that are basically non-negotiable. Thirsting Blade will come at level 6 (Warlock 5) and give us Extra Attack. That does mean that while our full Fighter/Paladin/Monk/Barbarian/Ranger friends are getting their second attack, we'll be sadly crying in the corner with the Rogue. However, just like Valor Bards and Bladesinger Wizards, we'll then get that extra attack a single level later (sorry Rogues). Then, at Warlock 11, we'll take Devouring Blade, which gives us a third attack, which is huge.
Other less mandatory but still interesting options are Eldritch Smite, which lets us use a Pact Slot to add 1d8 force damage for each level of the spell slot. Notably, this didn't get turned into a bonus action or count as casting a spell, unlike Divine Smite. I would still save this for crits, though. Lifedrinker is ok, giving us an extra d6 of damage per turn and potentially let us do some emergency healing, though it won't scale with our attacks, unfortunately.
For spells, there's kind of an interesting question:
I do like Spirit Shroud, which lets us add a d8 of damage to each of our hits, and scales up to 2d8 when we have 5th level slots. Once we have Devouring Blade, that can mean an extra 6d8 damage per turn (around 27 average). It is for sure more damage than Hex (though it doesn't last as long). However, a Summon spell can potentially get you some more. At 5th level, a Summon Undead spell with, say, the Skeletal Spirit, will get you two attacks that each do 2d4+8, which is slightly less. Summon Fey requires you minion to get into melee, but it can deal 2d6+8, which winds up being a little more.
However, if we do get to 11 levels in Warlock, we can pick up Summon Fiend. Unfortunately, we can't just upcast any of our 1-5 spells any higher, but as a natively 6th level spell, Summon Fiend will give us a fiend that gets to make three attacks. The Devil version hits for 2d6+9 on three attacks, meaning potential damage of 48 damage per turn, which is going to do better than we can with Spirit Shroud.
The downside to these spells, of course, is that you need to protect both your concentration and your minion's HP. But I think particularly the Skeletal Undead, the Beholderkin Aberration, and the Devil Fiend are solid options here because they can stand at pretty far range (the Beholderkin and Devil can also fly and thus stay away from melee-oriented monsters).
Pretty much any spell that any Warlock would like will work with a Bladelock, but apart from Spirit Shroud, are there any that really reinforce the melee combatant toolkit? The truth is... not really? Armor of Agathys, which by the time you can cast it at level 5, is going to be pretty sweet, and probably net you 50 damage or more (if you have a way to recharge your Temp HP, that can extend the life and thus the damage of that spell).
Ok, so what about subclasses?
Archfey's emphasis on Misty Step will certainly help you be a bit more of a "hit and run" melee combatant, allowing you to A: get away from foes when you get into trouble and B: get to far-away foes.
Celestial honestly doesn't offer a ton that's melee-specific. It's thematically cool if you are multiclassing with Paladin, of course, and the healing can help with the fact that you're probably taking more damage.
Fiend has a pretty big survivability feature in Dark One's Blessing (remember when I mentioned Armor of Agathys being better if you can recharge your Temp HP?) And if you get 10 levels, you could potentially give yourself resistance to one of the common melee types of damage (though you have to kind of guess if you're more likely to encounter bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing damage). Fiend does get Scorching Ray, which will scale very well with something like Spirit Shroud, but doesn't, you know, really help with our melee theme.
Great Old One sort of encourages you to get closer to your enemies for Clairvoyant Combatant, though only with 30 feet (and I think if it works, you can then back off. Still, if you can give a foe disadvantage on all attacks against you while you get advantage, that's pretty nice.
Undead (which is the one I'd do a Bladelock with, mainly for thematic/aesthetic reasons) gives you some extra Temp Hp with Form of Dread, and the ability to frighten foes can also effectively improve your survivability and give you some battlefield control. Thanks to the fact that your Pact Blade can do Necrotic damage, you can thus apply the Dreaded Necrosis bonus from Grave Touched to your weapon attacks. This might make you consider a Greataxe to get a full extra d12 each turn rather than just another d6.
What Does This Get You?
The real question here is this: do you wind up being more powerful than a normal martial character?
I think the answer is probably "maybe a little." Indeed, a lot of what we're doing with the build is kind of just making sure we can do with Charisma what a comparable Fighter would do with Strength. We do have various magical abilities, which inherently give us a bit more versatility. But we're not going to be the grand toolbox that is a Wizard or the damage-dealing powerhouse that is the Sorcerer.
But I also think you'll hold your own decently. I'm sure there are some more narrowly optimized builds out there that can squeeze a ton out the class, but outside of dipping into more classes and further-deemphasizing the Warlock of it all (and I don't even know what specifically I'd do to get that) I think this is about all I can figure out at this point.
Taking the build past level 12, I think it's actually a pretty reasonable breakpoint where we could consider going outside of Warlock again. Maybe one more level in Warlock to get the feat at level 12, though putting another 5 in Fighter will get us two additional feats along with unlocking a subclass for the Fighter. In fact, if we went Eldritch Knight and put a full six more levels (this would have us at level 18 at this point, so that's pretty high up) we could get War Magic and start weaving in either Booming Blade or Green-Flame Blade, or even starting off with an Eldritch Blast and then making two more attacks, and then we could Action Surge for another Eldritch Blast and two attacks because we'd be casting it as part of the Attack Action rather than the Magic Action and thus get around the restriction on Action Surge. That means that, yes, again, at level 18, we'd be able to effectively make 12 attacks in a single turn (which would make that Spirit Shroud scaling start to look real good) and even after we Action Surge, we could still do 6 per turn (we might want Spell Sniper to ensure we can cast in melee without problems, though if we start using a Glaive or other Heavy Reach weapon we could try to always stay exactly 10 feet away).
No comments:
Post a Comment