D&D 5E Warlock/Fighter Multiclass advice

Penhall · Jan 3, 2018

The basics:
1) I'm in my first 5e campaign (lots of previous DnD experience), but I'm new to this rule set.
2) Our DM is not allowing any feats.
3) My first character, the party Cleric, died at 2nd level to a brutal critical hit, so I had to re-roll. The DM brought in my new character at 2nd level to keep pace with the party.
4) I wanted to play a Warlock, but as I was the 2nd character to die in our first adventure, I wanted a little bit of extra survivability.
5) Fighting style will be ranged damage w/ some control.
6) 1st level Fighter for extra HP, Defensive Fighting Style for +1 AC, Shield proficiency for +2 AC, a possible upgrade to a breastplate from studded leather at some point down the road, Con save for Concentration, access to Perception and Insight skill proficiency, and Second Wind. Warlock from there on out (currently 3rd lvl - Fighter 1/Warlock 2).

The question:
1) I am considering adding two more levels of Fighter (after two or three more levels of Warlock) to pick up Action Surge and Battle Master (Evasive Footwork, Parry, and Rally). Doing so, I could only level up to 17 as a Warlock. I would be giving up one Invocation at 18th level, 1 known spell (14 instead of 15) at 19th level, and one ASI at 19th level. Do you think this is a worthwhile trade? Thanks in advance for your feedback.

Edit: Clarified the question a little.

Blue · Jan 3, 2018

The biggest problem with multiclass characters is that while you can make perfectly good characters, it's also easy to unintentionally shoot yourself in the foot with a build that doesn't really come together until later levels.

At 5th and to a lesser extent at 11th there is a power bump for the classes. If you delay that for several levels you can feel like you aren't contributing as much as others.

The ASI advancement is by class level. Going 3 levels and then not taking the 4th for an ASI will leave you quite far behind in getting these. In a game without feats this becomes less important after your second ASI, but it's a big deal before then.

Now, Eldritch Blast for Warlock advances on character level, so if you have that it will scale correctly for your level even if you aren't advancing Warlock. If you want to focus on that.

All that said, fighter has a lot of low level goodies to cherry pick, and going Fighter first is a great idea for all of the reasons you listed. But I'd wait until I had my Warlock basics well settled (say 5th level) before going further up the fighter chart.

EDIT: Have some welcome XP! Always good to have new posters.

Penhall · Jan 3, 2018

Thanks for the feedback. I was planning to take a least 2 to 3 more levels of Warlock before taking any additional fighter levels. I just wanted to make sure that giving up my level 19 Warlock ASI, an Invocation, and a known spell was worth Action Surge and Battle Master.

UngeheuerLich · Jan 4, 2018

Don't worry about level 20. It is level 5 that you first need to worry about.

With fighter 1 and warlock 4 you are ok. You are also ok with fighter 2 and warlock 3 or fighter 3 warlock 2. At least if you have access to booming or green flame blade. Otherwise elfritch blast or 2 weapon fighting style might help. As does hex and or armor of agathys.

jimtillman · Jan 5, 2018

if the dm is not allowing feats I would suggest getting a better dm

but other then that your probably good with only 1 level of fighter or at most 3

mellored · Jan 5, 2018

If you died at level 2, then you will probably die again before level 20. No point in planning that far out.

Otherwise, warlock don't get much past level 17. So multi-classing eventually, but it's hard to say of delaying your spells for armor is better or not.

You might also consider being a mountain dwarf. They get armor.

CTurbo · Jan 5, 2018

What's the rest of the party? I wouldn't multiclass. It'd put you behind the curve on class features.

If you HAVE to multiclass, I'd start Paladin instead of Fighter. Take 2 there, switch the Warlock and never look back.

Note: Fiendlock gets temp hit points all the time so they're tougher than they look.

Also, no warlock is going to be as tough as your average Cleric. Which Cleric were you?

Penhall · Jan 8, 2018

I was a human Life Cleric. We are playing via the Fantasy Grounds app and he is using a critical hits mod that can be pretty brutal. In my Cleric's case, I was at full HP and got hit with a crit. On the severity roll, the crit came out as "Decapitation". Just bad luck. Not much you can do about stuff like that when you're running that kind of mod.

As far as the build, I've already created the character and played him several times as a Fighter 1/Warlock 2, so that ship has sailed. The main question is whether or not at some point down the road (assuming he lives that long), if it makes sense to take one or two additional fighter levels to pick up Action Surge and Martial Archetype (Battle Master taking Evasive Footwork, Parry, and Rally) at the cost of one Invocation at 18th level, 1 known spell (14 instead of 15) at 19th level, and one ASI at 19th level.

Of course, to mellored's point, the question is probably moot, since if I had a character die at 2nd level, then it's unlikely that this character will make it to 20th anyway, but hope springs eternal.

jimtillman · Jan 10, 2018

Penhall said:
I was a human Life Cleric. We are playing via the Fantasy Grounds app and he is using a critical hits mod that can be pretty brutal. In my Cleric's case, I was at full HP and got hit with a crit. On the severity roll, the crit came out as "Decapitation". Just bad luck. Not much you can do about stuff like that when you're running that kind of mod.

As far as the build, I've already created the character and played him several times as a Fighter 1/Warlock 2, so that ship has sailed. The main question is whether or not at some point down the road (assuming he lives that long), if it makes sense to take one or two additional fighter levels to pick up Action Surge and Martial Archetype (Battle Master taking Evasive Footwork, Parry, and Rally) at the cost of one Invocation at 18th level, 1 known spell (14 instead of 15) at 19th level, and one ASI at 19th level.

Of course, to mellored's point, the question is probably moot, since if I had a character die at 2nd level, then it's unlikely that this character will make it to 20th anyway, but hope springs eternal.

not sure, though now i am wondering about an arcane archer/hexblade as a concept

Caleb Carter · May 17, 2018

I have an additional question related to this. I have a 7th level fighter with 3 levels of Warlock. This was recommended by my DM due to the game flow and how my old and new characters are connected. But how do I fight with this skill set? Nobody in our group has done a fighter before, and there are some sick skills out there for a fighter, and I'm dangerous from 5 to 150 feet out, but our paladin is doing 80 damage per round to a single character, and a human barbarian in our group is keeping several enemies occupied all at once. We've got a cleric, and a wizard with some sick area of effect attacks, and our ranger is a deadly little sharpshooter. But how do I make sure I'm pulling my weight in a fight? I can eldritch blast all day, or throw my hexblade into an enemy and pull it back, or stab with my rapiers, but I max out at around 16 to 20 damage per round.

D&D 5E Warlock/Fighter Multiclass advice

Penhall

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Blue

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Penhall

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UngeheuerLich

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jimtillman

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mellored

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CTurbo

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Penhall

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jimtillman

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Caleb Carter

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