D&D 5E How do accuracy and power interact for Blade Pact Warlocks?

[Warpiglet]

My preference is the tanklock version of the pact blade. Fiend Patron, Max out Strength first (16 or 17 with feat), charisma is usually a 14 to begin with. Variant human, feat: Heavy Armor Master (+1 str, DR 3). First level is fighter, the rest are Warlock. Wear plate, use a heavy weapon (Greatsword, Greataxe, Maul). Take Great Weapon Master when you can (either at level 5, or level 9).

You focus on using Armor of Agathys and various damage reduction techniques (DR 3 from Heavy Armor Mastery, Blade ward when appropriate, etc), and lay into them with your weapon, daring them to hit you. By the time they eat through your Armor of Agathys you should be starting to drop them, giving you renewing temp HP.

Upside: an incredibly resilient tank at low levels, and strong up through at least lvl 10. Fantastic against hordes of mooks.

Downside: Weaker against ranged attacks, and single boss monsters. I also suspect your lower AC will be a bigger issue above level 10 when the big monsters start hitting incredibly hard.

I have taken variant human with moderately armored with highest scores in STR and CHA. I also take a greatsword! I took fiend for spell selection (fluff wise was trained by and then betrayed a night hag! Good times.

I am currently looking at a hexblade in a similar vein but am thinking about a mace and shield for the look of it (he will be a fallen cleric perhaps). Cannot wait!

 

[Blue]

My only caveat is this: I may simply go with what looks and feels cool. I have thought about a suboptimal mace as the pact weapon because I think evil looking maces are fun! Thanks in advance for your perspectives....

Well, a powerful reach weapon is far from the worst thing for a squishy. Though it requires non-Hexblade pact, so it wouldn't be CHR based. As a matter of fact, every single one of the new invocation bladepact weapons do not get CHR - either they require a non-Hexblade patron, or they are a two-handed weapon. All except the Moon Bow are STR, which is not normally considered the best for Warlocks who go more finesse weapons if they want melee because of all the goodness DEX brings.

So it comes down to - do I want one of the new invocation weapons I can pump with spell slots, or do I want a hexblade with one handed weapon(s) using CHR?

The Hexblade/Pact of the Blade Greatword is eligible for GWM's -5/+10. (Everything is eligible for GWM's bonus attack on crit or kill.)

 

[Warpiglet]

Here is what I am asking in the OP:

If I have hex, extra damage from prof bonus via hexblade hex, possibly magic weapon bonus from improved pact weapon and eventually life drinker and thirsting blade as "go to" options, is it really worth going GWM "great weapon master" and swinging for the fences? In short, each miss is a greater loss. But each hit is potentially a big hit. All of this stacked on a mace (more likely to hit) is another ray to go particularly if you are only pumping up Charisma and not worrying early on about maxing strength. Which truly is a bigger butt kicker?

I am probably going with fluff over crunch but just wondered how much I am really giving up.

In other words, if I go mace and shield for flavor reasons, is it really that much of a sacrifice for the hexblade blade pact warlock? The thing we really lose is the pseudo smite. However, over some rounds of combat, hex would add up eventually (mostly?).

I am willing to lost power for flavor but wonder how much it really entails. Another thought is that if I burn spells for the "smite," I have fewer of them for other things.

Perhaps I am missing something. I just find it odd (I won't go so far as to say frustrating) that the hexblade and not the fiend pact requires the use of a two handed weapon in order to "warlock smite."

If you go all in with such a build (focused on greatsword, (i.e. curse bringer, great weapon master, likely heavy armor and upping strength) a lot of other options are foresaken and frankly, flavor starts to be limited in terms of these selections. As others have discussed, you can have a lot of versatility with the warlock...or you can be a one trick pony!

 

[TwoSix]

I look at it this way. If you're going to build a hexblade smite build, there's no accuracy issue, because you aren't going to be pumping up Charisma anyway, you're going to pump Strength. All you lose is some life drinker damage, and some accuracy on eldritch blast and spells. If you're not pumping Charisma, then

a) you don't have to worry about eldritch blast, and you have more invocation options since you don't need agonizing blast.
b) you don't have to worry about spell accuracy or saving throws since you want to use your spell slots to smite.

Now, personally, I would do Fey/Blade for a smiting build because archery is always better.

 

[Warpiglet]

I look at it this way. If you're going to build a hexblade smite build, there's no accuracy issue, because you aren't going to be pumping up Charisma anyway, you're going to pump Strength. All you lose is some life drinker damage, and some accuracy on eldritch blast and spells. If you're not pumping Charisma, then

a) you don't have to worry about eldritch blast, and you have more invocation options since you don't need agonizing blast.
b) you don't have to worry about spell accuracy or saving throws since you want to use your spell slots to smite.

Now, personally, I would do Fey/Blade for a smiting build because archery is always better.

You are right. Once again, it comes down to painful choices. There are multiple fun choices...

I really have to decide if I want a brawling brute or something more subtle and versatile that can also get in the mix. I am undecided on the whole smite thing anyway...

 

[TwoSix]

You are right. Once again, it comes down to painful choices. There are multiple fun choices...

I really have to decide if I want a brawling brute or something more subtle and versatile that can also get in the mix. I am undecided on the whole smite thing anyway...

It is painful. I hate leaving class features on the table, especially strong ones like the +Cha to attack, but hexblade is pretty good regardless of the direction you build.

 

[Pickles III]

The more damage you do the less of a benefit you get from GWM, conversely the more accurate you are the more benefit you gain. So the answer to the first part, where you are getting a lot of damage boosts anyway is probably not, especially given the opportunity cost of a feat/ASI.

There are certainly some "nombos" in the evocations/pact/patrons!