D&D 5E Is Hex actually that great?

[spectacle]

The Problem for me is not about damage but that that it needs Concentration, where you have much more important Spells that could occupy it like Invisibility, Hold Person, Suggestion, etc.

Yeah, concentration is the big issue with Hex. Unless you have a fiend pact then the warlock list is rather short on useful spells that don't require concentration, so if you actually want to make use of hex's long duration then you have to limit your spellcasting quite a lot.

 

[Weathercock]

Oh are you allowed to Short/Long Rest and maintain Concentration? It's part of Spellcasting and is considered taxing mentally, so our games rule no benefits from rests if you are maintaining a spell.

As per the PHB, page 203, your concentration on a spell ends only if you cast another spell that requires concentration, you fail a concentration check upon taking damage, or you are incapacitated or killed. The only action during a rest that would require breaking your concentration would be sleeping, which you only need to do during a long rest. Short rests (and long rests if you're a race that doesn't need to sleep) would not break your concentration.

If you use house rules to depower specific abilities, you shouldn't be surprised that those abilities are not functioning optimally.

Without house rules made to nerf it, Hex is a perfectly viable and very powerful tool in the Warlock's arsenal. 1d6 per hit may not sound like much at first, but the ability to keep it active all day long for almost no cost (past level 5, just wake up an hour early, cast it, and short rest before you head out) allows you to add some serious damage output to your arsenal. Used in concert with Eldritch Blast, it'll increase your damage by over a third over the course of the day. The debuff on ability checks is just gravy, and allows for plenty of creative uses. The only time you shouldn't have Hex up is when you have an immediate need for another spell that requires concentration.

It's hard to really say how useful it might be for bladelocks, since those don't tend to be very optimal in the first place. But in that case, you should be using it similarly to the above. The only real difference being that you'll probably have more concentration-based spells to consider.

 

[Bolares]

Concentration doesn't break on rests, there are specific conditions to lose concentration:
-cast another concentration spell;
-being damaged an not passing the test;
-being incapacitated or dead;

If in your game you want to put some other conditions its ok, but don't use that as a reason for a spell to suck XD

 

[NimrodvanHall]

For my lvl 8 GOO tome lock, hex is a great spell, it helps him do more dmg against a single target in close to medium range. The Paladin in the party with the shield master feat really likes the disadvantage it can grant on STR checks. The Spell is great for grinding true lots of medium tough targets.

I guess i manage to have the spell running about half the time in game. between my mediocre AC (15) and low concentration check (+2) i lose concentration on the hex quite often when an opponent shoots an arrow at me. We fight a great deal of Humanoids, and against tougher opponenets (our DM builds most if not all NPC's himself) i find myself dropping hex quite often to cast a hold person to reduce incomming dmg on our mêlée line, and to allow them to turn all their hits into crits (god bless critical smites!)

 

[gyor]

Another character that would love you for granting enemies disadvantage on strength checks is a Beast Master Ranger with Panther companion, targets of pounce have a strength check to resist being knocked down.

 

[Celtavian]

Oh are you allowed to Short/Long Rest and maintain Concentration? It's part of Spellcasting and is considered taxing mentally, so our games rule no benefits from rests if you are maintaining a spell.

Yep. You are allowed to short rest while maintaining concentration on a spell. Maintaining concentration is not taxing. If you want to run a house rule that makes spellcasting weaker, have at it. I don't play that way.

 

[jrowland]

Out of curiosity, where or rather whom is the Hex affecting while you are taking a short rest? Seems like it needs to be targeting a creature to function.

 

[Dausuul]

Past level 5, just wake up an hour early, cast it, and short rest before you head out...

Who are you casting it on? You need a target. And you can't pick a new target until the first one is reduced to 0 hit points, so your fellow PCs are... sub-optimal choices. This trick doesn't work unless your DM allows "bag-of-rats" shenanigans.

Out of curiosity, where or rather whom is the Hex affecting while you are taking a short rest? Seems like it needs to be targeting a creature to function.

When the target is reduced to 0 hit points, you don't have to choose a new target immediately. You can do it "on a subsequent turn of yours," that is, any turn after the target is reduced to 0 and before the spell ends. So this one does work; you hex an enemy, kill it, and the hex stays on the dead creature until you're ready to select a new victim.

However, if the target of your hex escapes, you're going to have to either track it down and kill it, or let the spell go and burn another slot to re-cast.

 

[Celtavian]

Out of curiosity, where or rather whom is the Hex affecting while you are taking a short rest? Seems like it needs to be targeting a creature to function.

The last person you targeted, even if they are dead and turned to ash. It does not say hex ends if it is not active on a target. You can't choose a new target until you kill the target it is currently on. Otherwise it remains active until the duration expires allowing you to choose new targets.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

If you want to get maximum utility out of hex, you will need to reserve your concentration for it and use eldritch blast. But that's a really good tactic, and the extra damage is really nice. Remember that it applies to each of your attack rolls. At 20th level that's an extra potential 4d6 damage every time your cast your eldritch blast, which you are also applying Agonizing Blast to. It turns a good average damage of 42 to a great average damage of 56.

And after you take a short rest you get that slot back, but the spell is still going unless you get smacked and lose concentration. At which point you cast it again.

Now, if you plan to regularly use other concentration spells as your go to procedure, then hex might not be the best choice. It's similar to the paladin's dilemma. His nice smite spells use concentration, which prevents him from keeping up all of those nice buff spells. If he wanted to maximize effectiveness he'd pretty much choose to go one way or the other. But paladins are so nice in this edition that he doesn't really need to worry about effectiveness. Warlocks are more debatable, but I think Agonizing Blast is enough to keep them quite effective.