D&D 5E [5e] Fighter/Warlock Arcane Archer Concept

[Winterfell]

As young boy Verrin Baase was often picked on by the larger boys in Loudwater, teased and tormented when he wanted to join in on the games they were playing. He didn't have the strength and stamina to keep up in athletic endeavors, so he spent his time practicing with weapons, reading about the great warriors and mages of Faerun throughout history. Those stories brought his imagination to life.

He focused best when angry and thinking about how to get back at the bullies. Taking his father's rapier and bow from their place in the "hidden" chest into the forest; he would practice with these. Imagining he could turn his rapier into a green shaft of fire and that his bow actually shot out beams of energy. He thought about ways to get their attention from far away, and if they got close, how to protect himself from their blows. He practiced at being quick as he knew he would never have the natural strength of others.

Throughout his teenage years his anger hardened and his will solidified while reciting the wrongs against him with each stab, slash and shot of his weapons. One morning as Verrin slashed at his favorite scarred practice log a shaft of green flame shot up his sword and leapt to the tall thin pine next to it, catching it on fire. He stared in shock for a long moment before the currents of heat woke him from his stupor. Wanting to use his bed roll to smother the fire he held it out but couldn't get close due to the heat yet somehow he saw a ghostly hand streak with it towards the fire, but it was too late. The fire had burned through the trunk and the tree collapsed directly towards him. Verrin closed his eyes, screamed, and threw up his arms against a blow that never came. The tree hit a wall of force that deflected the hit. As he stood there shaking, Verrin had trouble determining whether it was out of fear or excitment.

Into adulthood Verrin continued his love of scholarly pursuits and began teaching initiates arcane history and battle tactics. His ability to read people and deceive them got him this position in the school which was more suited to a full mage. He was going to continue to living the lie for as long as he could. He knew at some point he would read the right book, find the right passage, come up with a way to get the power needed to pay people back for all the wrongs.

Honing his powers daily he found himself starring into the green flames that lingered on his sword. The flames took him back to his childhood where he imagined having the power to get revenge. Recounting all the wrongs done to him began to take its toll on his mind. The voice he heard reading off the list, wasn't his. This voice whispered promises of more power if he just opened himself up, the power to take his revenge. Tears rolled down his face as he realized he was giving in. Verrin would nevermore be just himself, the Great Old One was now a part of him.

His sudden ravings in an alien language none of the other scholars could understand and talking to himself eventually got him discredited and removed from the school. The four separate fires linked to him that burned the houses of his tormentors got him removed from Loudwater. Verrin is now a wanderer, alone but never by himself. Cloak and armor hiding his true size, he pulls the job listing from the library wall and sets off to meet the adventuring parting in need of arcane knowledge.

Name: Verrin Baase
Class: Fighter 5 / Warlock 5
Background: Sage (discredited scholar)
Race: Human Sex: Male Age: 47
Alignment: CN
Languages:
Common via Human
Elven via Human
Dwarven via Sage
Celestial via Sage

STR: 8
DEX: 16 (+1 via human)
CON: 14 (+1 via human)
INT: 12
WIS: 10
CHA: 16 (+2 via warlock ASI)

Saving Throws: CON / STR

Hit Point: 75 (8*5 + 7*5)

Feat:
Magic Initiate via human: (L1)
Cantrips:
Green-Flame Blade / Mage Hand
Spell:
Shield
War Caster via fighter: (L4)

Proficiencies:
Arcana via Sage
History via Sage
Perception via Fighter
Insight via Fighter
Deception via Human

Fighting Style: Archery
Second Wind
Action Surge
Archetype: Battle Master
Student of War: Calligrapher's Supplies
Maneuvers: Commander's Strike / Distracting Strike / Riposte

Pact of the Blade
Other Worldly Patron: Great Old One
Awakened Mind
Invocations: Agonizing Blast / Devils Sight / Thirsting Blade
Cantrip:
Eldritch Blast
Chill Touch
Spells:
L1: Hex / Dissonant Whispers
L2: Darkness / Hold Person
L3: Counter Spell / Fly

Attacks:
2 via Pact Rapier (thirsting blade)
or
2 via Fighter
or
2 via Eldritch Blast

Weapons:
Pact Rapier
Long Bow

Armor:
Scale

These are all base items and values.

All levels after 10 will be into fighter.

I plan on using a bow as a focus to fire my Eldritch Blast (Eldritch Arrows), and once I have a magic bow making that my pact weapon.

I plan on focusing on casters (taking Mage Slayer at L6 Fighter) as I know the power the arcane has to offer.

Obviously, this is not optimized, but I would love some thoughts on the build idea overall or any little tweeks you think would be fun or add flavor.

If you got through this all, thank you for your time.

 

[Crgaston]

Hi there. I like your back story. A few tweaks... At 5th level warlock, you will have 3 cantrips. Maybe poison spray? Also, since you have 2 attacks from 5th level fighter, you really don't need thirsting blade from warlock, freeing up an invocation slot for you. Maybe repelling blast? That would fit with your characters back story... Being able to throw larger enemies around with his magic.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Hey. Nice character. I support the former poster. Thirsting blade does nothing for you. But if you create the character at that level I woul rather say fighter 5 does not do a lot for you. It allows a second attack with a bow and it makes second wind stronger by 1 point. You may be a warlock 6 instead.

Edit: i just read fighter is your higher priority. So just don't take thirsting blade and you are good.
Instead of taking repelling blast I like at will evokations or as a sage maybe the eyes of the rune keeper or arcane sight.

A different idea may be not being a pact of the blade warlock at all. Instead be pact of the tome. More cantrips and rituals noce as a sage. Your fighter will cover all your weapon needs.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Also I want to add: war caster is nearly useless for an archer. You are seldom in melee, you allways have a free hand to cast after loosing the bow string. And eldritch blast does not work with war magic from level 5 and beyond by RAW. Also I think your pact weapon must be melee. So just be sure to double check that you don't chose features you can't use at all. You may just raise dex with that feat.
On the other hand, with bow in hand you can't do an opportunity attack at all. So a chill touch or something may not be useless. Especially against someone with the shield spell.

 

[FrogReaver]

A regular bow cannot be a pact weapon. It's questionable whether a magical bow can be.

However, as a DM I'd say screw the rules in this case.

 

[RCanine]

Unless you're playing in a completely combat-oriented game, I'd think chill touch is just going to be a dead spell for you. I'd swap it for something with a bit more out-of-combat utility. Looking at your spell choices, I think you've got some dead slots there too; they almost all take concentration, and you'll be concentrating on Hex for 8 hours. Counterspell is also tough to rationalize using up 50% of your spell slots. Same with Dissonant Whispers; while it's flavorful, it's damage and effect aren't going to match what you can do at-will, so it might be worth trading that flavor for something you can't already do.

 

[Winterfell]

Unless you're playing in a completely combat-oriented game, I'd think chill touch is just going to be a dead spell for you. I'd swap it for something with a bit more out-of-combat utility. Looking at your spell choices, I think you've got some dead slots there too; they almost all take concentration, and you'll be concentrating on Hex for 8 hours. Counterspell is also tough to rationalize using up 50% of your spell slots. Same with Dissonant Whispers; while it's flavorful, it's damage and effect aren't going to match what you can do at-will, so it might be worth trading that flavor for something you can't already do.

Our group is fairly combat-oriented and that makes what you say even more impactful as I would want to have hex up quite often and therefore more concentration spells wouldn't make too much sense. I will look at all of the spells again, thank you for your thoughts.

Thanks to all for your comments.

To other points brought up are strong and I will look at removing blade for tomb.

 

[pdegan2814]

A regular bow cannot be a pact weapon. It's questionable whether a magical bow can be.

However, as a DM I'd say screw the rules in this case.

Yeah, the wording is fuzzy, but someone asked Crawford on twitter last June about this, and he said the intent was for the Pact weapon to be melee-only, whether it was created or bonded by ritual.
http://www.sageadvice.eu/2015/06/26/ranged-pact-weapon/

Which is not to say a DM couldn't house-rule some changes to the Warlock to make it possible, of course.

 

[MDragonG]

You could also go Fighter 6/Warlock 4 to start and get an additional ASI or feat. Like others have said Thirsting blade is worthless.

You could also try EK instead of BM so you could have spells such as shield mirror image and take the mage Armor invocation.

Edited: blur is concentration

 

[the_move]

To me an Arcane Archer would look like that...10 lvl EK, then switch to lore bard.

Variant Human (Sharp Shooter feat)
Str 9
Dex 16
Con 12
Int 10
Wis 10
Cha 16
Urchin or Criminal Background won't be a bad pick. Get Thieve's tools.
Archery Fighting Style for +2 to hit. Use a bow.
While being EK only obtain utility cantrips and abjuration spells, or spells, which do not rely on your Int modifier. Shield, Absorb Elements...even Protection from Evil and Good might come in handy. These boost your survivability. Darkvision spell at lvl 8 is recommended, since being human has it's drawbacks (in the dark).

During your career as an EK you'll obtain 3 ASIs/feats (lvl 4/6/8) so boost your Dex to 20 and CHA to 18, Second Wind (d10+10/rest), 1 Action Surge/rest, Weapon Bond, an extra attack (less useful past lvl 10), War Magic (important), Indomitable 1/long rest, and Eldritch Strike (most important).

Lore Bard at lvl 11 grants you 4 additional skills (1 at 11th lvl, 3 more at 13th lvl). You can now use a bonus action attack (War Magic) before applying Vicious Mockery (disadvantage on Wis checka via Eldritch Strike). This should be your standard combo, when not burning spell slots.

Since Eldritch Strike can last until the end of your next turn you are able to combine it with stronger spells, too. Bard provides lots of control spells, which you should go for. Dissonant Whispers (!!!), Hold Person, Blindness/Deafness, Phantasmal Force, Confusion, Hold Monster (very late though)...to name just a few. You have proficiency in Con saves, so concentration won't be that much of an issue. You also have 2 more ASI/feats to come by, if you want to acquire advantage on your concentration checks (War Caster) or Crossbow Mastery if you'll find yourself up close and personal more often than you like, and/or Lucky.

You gain Ritual Casting, Jack of all Trades (Initiative Boost), Song of Rest (d6/8), Bardic Inspiration/Cutting Words (d6/8/10), Expertise (13th and 20th lvl), Font of Inspiration, (Additional) Magical Secrets (16th and 20th), Countercharm.

Your final amount of spell slots compare to a lvl 13 full caster. Your bard spells will be lvl 5 max in addition to your EK/wizard spells of lvl 2 max.

If you continue your career past lvl 20, Swift Quiver (Magical Secrets) might be a nice one, since you can apply Eldritch Strike up to two times with just a bonus action. Earlier on you can use Haste. Both spells grant you the ability to apply Eldritch Strike and cast a non-cantrip spell during the very same turn. Same with your Action Surge.