Zardnaar
Legend
One of the better Gish builds I have seen in 5E is the Bladelock. This guide is about a specific way of building said gish and will have a narrow focus. By gish I mean a warrior type who uses arcane magic so that technically excludes the Paladin even though the Paladin is one of the best blade and spell type classes in the game. The number 1 rule with my take on a bladelock (Pact of the BLade warlock) however is do not play a solo class warlock. Why? there are multiple reasons.
1. You do not start with proficiency in con saves. Important since you want to use Hex.
2. Your AC tends to be terrible.
3. The class is MAD or multple ability dependent. Ideally you want high dexterity, charisma, constitution score and you do not get that many ASI to buff to scores.
4. RAW you more or less need the warcaster feat.
However there has been errata added to the game which impacts gish types.
Two-Handed (p. 147). This property is relevant only when you attack with the weapon, not when you simply hold it
This makes it a lot easier to cast spells using a two handed weapon. Whatever type of gish you make use a two handed weapon unless you take very specific spells or the warcaster feat. There is also not much point in using a ranged weapon because you may as well just play a normal warlock and spam eldritch blast. Pact of the blade only applies to melee weapons anyway but in general a two handed weapon is now your best option. This guide is actually for a multiclass gish and you are actually starting the game as a fighter and multiclassing into the warlock at level 2. The fighter splash level is very important the main reaosns are.
1. Proficiency in heavy armor.
2. Proficiency in constitution saves
3. Weapon style. two handed weapon is the best one probably followed by duelist depending on what you want to do.
You also get a small second wind ability, fighter weapons, strength saves
My rating system (inherited from the WotC boards)
Red
Purple
Black Average
Blue Good stuff you probably want this
Sky Blue You want this period.
Gold Why haven't you taken this yet? A defining choice for the whole class or build
Ability Scores
This is assuming you use point buy or the default stat array. If you are rolling the dice this still gives you an indication of where to place your ability scores.
Strength You are going to be in melee. You want to hit stuff hard with some sort of melee weapon.
Dexterity With the default array something has to below
Constitution Constitution is good for every class, even more important for a gish due to concentration saves and d8 hit dice.
Intelligence Prime dump stat material with the default array.
Wisdom
Charisma A decent charisma is nice. It gives you versatility and the option to use other spells on occasion.
Dragonborn Dragonborn get +2 strength and +1 charisma. Put 15 in your strength score, 13 in your charisma and 14 in you constitution. The breath weapon is also useful for a melee gish.
Half Elf Half Elves get +2 charisma and +1 on two ability scores of their choice. Put the 14 in charisma, 15 in strength and 13 in constitution. This give you 16 strength and charisma at level 1. two extra skills of your choice are also nice.
Human (Variant) What is better than having 16 charisma and strength at level 1? A bonus feat.
1. You do not start with proficiency in con saves. Important since you want to use Hex.
2. Your AC tends to be terrible.
3. The class is MAD or multple ability dependent. Ideally you want high dexterity, charisma, constitution score and you do not get that many ASI to buff to scores.
4. RAW you more or less need the warcaster feat.
However there has been errata added to the game which impacts gish types.
Two-Handed (p. 147). This property is relevant only when you attack with the weapon, not when you simply hold it
This makes it a lot easier to cast spells using a two handed weapon. Whatever type of gish you make use a two handed weapon unless you take very specific spells or the warcaster feat. There is also not much point in using a ranged weapon because you may as well just play a normal warlock and spam eldritch blast. Pact of the blade only applies to melee weapons anyway but in general a two handed weapon is now your best option. This guide is actually for a multiclass gish and you are actually starting the game as a fighter and multiclassing into the warlock at level 2. The fighter splash level is very important the main reaosns are.
1. Proficiency in heavy armor.
2. Proficiency in constitution saves
3. Weapon style. two handed weapon is the best one probably followed by duelist depending on what you want to do.
You also get a small second wind ability, fighter weapons, strength saves
Ability Scores
My rating system (inherited from the WotC boards)
Red
Purple
Black Average
Blue Good stuff you probably want this
Sky Blue You want this period.
Gold Why haven't you taken this yet? A defining choice for the whole class or build
Ability Scores
This is assuming you use point buy or the default stat array. If you are rolling the dice this still gives you an indication of where to place your ability scores.
Strength You are going to be in melee. You want to hit stuff hard with some sort of melee weapon.
Dexterity With the default array something has to below
Constitution Constitution is good for every class, even more important for a gish due to concentration saves and d8 hit dice.
Intelligence Prime dump stat material with the default array.
Wisdom
Charisma A decent charisma is nice. It gives you versatility and the option to use other spells on occasion.
Races
Ideally you want a 16+ strength and 14+ charisma and constitution. With the default array 3 races can get this.Dragonborn Dragonborn get +2 strength and +1 charisma. Put 15 in your strength score, 13 in your charisma and 14 in you constitution. The breath weapon is also useful for a melee gish.
Half Elf Half Elves get +2 charisma and +1 on two ability scores of their choice. Put the 14 in charisma, 15 in strength and 13 in constitution. This give you 16 strength and charisma at level 1. two extra skills of your choice are also nice.
Human (Variant) What is better than having 16 charisma and strength at level 1? A bonus feat.