Infernal Hexblade and Arcane Admixture

[BobTheNob]

I have a very big problem with the infernal hexblade. I love it (any striker with Con as a secondary is very good) except that its go-to power "Soul eater" (its at-will, melee basic attack) is necrotic. One of the most resisted damage types in the game. Undead fights would be a joke. You still have eldritch bolt but...well, yawn.

With essentials following a pattern of dumping pre-reqs for feats, is it a massive streatch to say that "Arcane Admixture" could be treated as a heroic feat? This would solve the problem quite elegantly. Its not a "gimme" : you still have to pay with a feat, but it does solve the problem.

What abuses/exploits (if any) could evolve in the heroic teir of this was done?

 

[renau1g]

Ummm...well any of the abuses that show up in Paragon tier. They could get an elemental weapon (or radiant) to mitigate the problems of necrotic damage.

 

[BobTheNob]

Ummm...well any of the abuses that show up in Paragon tier. They could get an elemental weapon (or radiant) to mitigate the problems of necrotic damage.

Even the weapon approach wouldnt work because the hexblades weapon is "summoned" : i.e. they dont actually use a physically existant weapon. Unless if you could get an "elemental rod" (do they even exist?)

 

[stonegod]

- Arcane Implement Prof: Light Blades or Heavy Blades
- Lighting/Flaming/Radiant/Frost Weapon
Applies benefits of the weapon to the hexblade. And allows Dual Implement Spellcaster & Two-Weapon Fighting (and all its combinations)

Best for a Feyblade, but can be made to work for a InfBlade

 

[BobTheNob]

- Arcane Implement Prof: Light Blades or Heavy Blades
- Lighting/Flaming/Radiant/Frost Weapon
Applies benefits of the weapon to the hexblade. And allows Dual Implement Spellcaster & Two-Weapon Fighting (and all its combinations)

Best for a Feyblade, but can be made to work for a InfBlade

That is interesting.

So your suggesting using the "off hand" to hold an elemental weapon, and use primary hand to hexblade weapon.

Weird situation with Dual Implement though. I appreciate the hexblade is a heavy/light blade, but does that mean that it can act as an implement? By raw I suppose the answer is yes, but its one of those things that sets my "spidy-senses" tingling (and the fact that errata nearly always ends up matching house rules I had put in place months before...I trust that sense)

Is there any offhand heavy blades?

 

[Mithreinmaethor]

That is interesting.

So your suggesting using the "off hand" to hold an elemental weapon, and use primary hand to hexblade weapon.

Weird situation with Dual Implement though. I appreciate the hexblade is a heavy/light blade, but does that mean that it can act as an implement? By raw I suppose the answer is yes, but its one of those things that sets my "spidy-senses" tingling (and the fact that errata nearly always ends up matching house rules I had put in place months before...I trust that sense)

Is there any offhand heavy blades?

The Drow Long Knife is the only Heavy Bladed Off-hand weapon that I can think of.

 

[pclaw8]

- Arcane Implement Prof: Light Blades or Heavy Blades
- Lighting/Flaming/Radiant/Frost Weapon
Applies benefits of the weapon to the hexblade. And allows Dual Implement Spellcaster & Two-Weapon Fighting (and all its combinations)

Best for a Feyblade, but can be made to work for a InfBlade

My infernal pact PHB lock has this setup. With hellbringer prc, and a flaming khopesh (prof from Turathi Weapon Training) monsters cannot resist my powers at all. Even, say a a fire elemental, takes full damage from all of my attacks.

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[Ryujin]

Rod of Stolen Starlight (Adventurer's Vault 2) - Works best for a Warlock who has the ability to Curse, because it allows an extra die of Curse damage to undead when you hit, but it also has the at-will power (minor action) of swapping necrotic or poison damage for radiant, instead. That would make a necrotic-dealing Infernal Hexblade a pretty handy undead slayer, plus radiant isn't something that a lot of things have resistance to.

 

[DracoSuave]

That is interesting.

So your suggesting using the "off hand" to hold an elemental weapon, and use primary hand to hexblade weapon.

Weird situation with Dual Implement though. I appreciate the hexblade is a heavy/light blade, but does that mean that it can act as an implement? By raw I suppose the answer is yes, but its one of those things that sets my "spidy-senses" tingling (and the fact that errata nearly always ends up matching house rules I had put in place months before...I trust that sense)

Is there any offhand heavy blades?

Please bear in mind that I do not have HotFK so this is just what I belly feel... but a few problems with this.

1) Dual Implement Spellcaster does not allow you to use the properties of your off-hand to modify attacks made with your main-hand. Specifically, you're not actually attacking with your off-hand, and therefore powers it has that allow you to change the damage done with attacks it makes are pointless, because you're never making attacks with that off-hand accessory.

2) Hexblade powers are weapon powers. Dual Implement Spellcaster works with Implement powers. Why this does not work out in your favor is an exercise for the student.

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That said, because the Hexblade's powers are weapon powers, you can just simply use a weapon with them. You could keep a Flaming Staff on the side so you can deal with that monster that is resistant to necrotic damage. You'd take a hit in the damage department for that one monster, because of the downgraded weapon, but on the other hand, you're not spending three feats just to cover the corner case of a monster that is resistant to your attacks; something that should not occur with reliable regularity if your DM runs his games according to DMG guidelines. The % of representation in the MM for monsters with necrotic resistance is not the same as the % of representation in a DM's game if he is following the guidelines set out in the DMG, and designing your character and feat-expenditure around the MM demographics is fail. Design it around the actual campaign in play.

 

[Aegeri]

Hexblade powers actually have both the weapon AND implement keywords - making them pretty unique as far as powers go. A Hexblades pact weapon is a heavy/light blade with a fixed damage die, but they also get the properties and benefits of their implement at the same time. The really confusing thing in the rules for them isn't DIS, it's if they can get light blade expertise through the use of a pact blade implement (which can be a light blade) on their heavy blade pact weapon. Nobody has been able to conclusively answer that one unfortunately.