D&D 5E Looking to make my first 5e character, feeling pretty overwhelmed and looking for help

[Ark the Pie King]

Ahoy ahoy! Title says it all, here. I've been reading threads and guides and articles for two solid days now, but the more I look into things the more I get confused. I'll confess I don't really know the rules super well, but I'm an old 3.5/4e vet so I know most of the terminology pretty well. The problem really lies in the fact that I don't know precisely what I should be looking for, and from what I've been reading there are a hefty number of trap options which is also making he hesitant to commit to any one idea.

So, I really like Gish types. Swordmages, Duskblades, Hexblades, Maguses, Eldritch Knights, Bladesingers, Battle Mages, Red Mages, whatever you want to call them. I'm all about that guy who can swing a sword and blast someone else with a spell, and in a perfect world also cure a buddy but I'm not gonna be greedy because I realize that last one is probably out of reach. I've been looking over several of the different options but I'm having a lot of trouble telling what the actual differences in them are and which ones are worth taking. Eldritch Knight, Paladin/Sorcerer multiclass, Mystic Soulknife, Bladelock, Favored Soul, etc. I'm not sure which ones are really going to support what I want to do and still be effective on the battlefield and assistance in figuring this out would be super helpful.

 

[bid]

It depends how strong you want your caster side. And if you want extra attack or will use SCAG's booming blade.

EK is a full fighter but you won't get 3rd spell slots (fireball) until level 13.
Paladin gets 3rd slots at level 9 and can choose different spells every day.
Paladin 2 / sorcerer at level 7 but no extra attack
Bladelock / fighter 1 at level 6.

Some pure casters are gish with extra attack:
Valor bard gets extra attack but is more controller than blaster.
Bladesinger (SCAG) gets extra attack but has low hp.
Dex bladelock works with an offhand dagger, otherwise you might as well blast with EB.

Arcane cleric (SCAG) can get booming blade.

If you have access to UA, bladelock with hexblade patron gives you medium armor and attack with Cha. Lovely with polearm master feat.

 

[Yunru]

Sounds like you want a Lore Bard with a SCAG cantrip.
Lore Bards get the choice of every spell. Ever.

 

[WarpedAcorn]

If this is your first trip into the world of 5th Edition, I wouldn't recommend going overboard with multi-classing yet. Start off with a base Paladin class. They fulfill all of your roles except in terms of ranged blasting. Their spell slots can be used for buffs or for Smites, making you feel like you are infusing magical energy into your physical attack. They get Heavy Armor, All Weapons, and have amazing class abilities. Don't think of them as Lawful Good goody-two-shoes either, since they don't have to be that.

If you go to at least 6th level Paladin, you will be set. If you decide you want to be more magically blasty, then the Sorcadin is an option to can choose to pick up later...you don't even have to plan for it at the start since the Paladin's Charisma matches with the Sorcerer's reliance on it. If you want to take that route, check out this link: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/show...e-to-the-Ultimate-Paladin-Sorcerer-Multiclass .

 

[Quickleaf]

Ahoy ahoy! Title says it all, here. I've been reading threads and guides and articles for two solid days now, but the more I look into things the more I get confused. I'll confess I don't really know the rules super well, but I'm an old 3.5/4e vet so I know most of the terminology pretty well. The problem really lies in the fact that I don't know precisely what I should be looking for, and from what I've been reading there are a hefty number of trap options which is also making he hesitant to commit to any one idea.

So, I really like Gish types. Swordmages, Duskblades, Hexblades, Maguses, Eldritch Knights, Bladesingers, Battle Mages, Red Mages, whatever you want to call them. I'm all about that guy who can swing a sword and blast someone else with a spell, and in a perfect world also cure a buddy but I'm not gonna be greedy because I realize that last one is probably out of reach. I've been looking over several of the different options but I'm having a lot of trouble telling what the actual differences in them are and which ones are worth taking. Eldritch Knight, Paladin/Sorcerer multiclass, Mystic Soulknife, Bladelock, Favored Soul, etc. I'm not sure which ones are really going to support what I want to do and still be effective on the battlefield and assistance in figuring this out would be super helpful.

The good news is you have options

Without knowing more specifically about what you're looking for, MOST of the options you list could work both from a mechanical and a narrative standpoint. Here are the ones I'd recommend you consider, based on your preference and what supports you PC concept...I also recommend you take a look at the cantrips from Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide, several of which should remind you of the 4e swordmage.

• Bard (Valor) – in 5e the bard is a full caster with healing options, and Valor subclass has a warrior-esque feel
• Fighter (Eldritch Knight) – mostly a fighter, with just a touch of abjuration & evocation spells, the main appeal are some of the sub-class features which really support a Gish allowing you to cast & swing a sword in the same turn at higher levels
• Paladin / Sorcerer – lots of cool ways to multi-class these two and get what you're looking for
• Warlock, blade – even more limited spellcasting than the Eldritch Knight, but some very cool special abilities "Invocations" which you could select with an eye toward supporting your concept
• Mystic (Soul Knife) – first off, be aware that this is from PLAYTEST material, so it's entirely up to your DM whether or not to allow it in his or her game, but if you want to play a character like Psylocke from the X-Men it's a good choice

EDIT: And if you're playing with feats, and healing is really important to you, you could always pick up the Magic Initiate feat and grab some healing spells from the Cleric spell list.

 

[mellored]

The closest to a jack-of-all-trades would probably be a tome warlock/paladin. Blade warlocks are a bit of a trap. Tome warlocks can get shillelagh and booming blade, which lets you make decent melee attacks with Cha, doesn't cost you 2 invocations, and still has an extra cantip of choice form any class (guidance is good). Warlocks also get other offensive and disabling spells, and ranged damage (eldrich blast + agonizing blast), and utility invocations (including all the rituals from tome). Paladin provides armor, smites (fueled by warlock slots), healing, and some great defensive auras, as well as more spells. I prefer ancent, but devoction can work well with hypnotic pattern or cause fear, plus their sacred weapon.


If you want to be more spell heavy, valor bard, or lore bard/something for armor. (Blade singer doesn't have healing spells, though more utility spells).

If you want to be more damage heavy, eldrich knight.

 

[gargoyleking]

I have two main suggestions.

First, follow the PHB character creation steps, but once you know which class you want, skip to professions. Because they will give you two skills that may be on your class list. Once finished then go back and work on the class stuff. (Just makes life easier this way.)

Second, don't multiclass until you get a hang of the spellcasting system. The multiclass setup has a weird effect on most characters, but you really have to know your stuff when it comes to how to mergethe spellcasting shenanigans. Keep it simple. EK would be my suggestion as it has some excelent options and if you pick up the Sword Coast Adv. Guide you'll find some amazing cantrips that will let you bust out the sword wielding badassery you want. (Also, you get an extra attack action a few levels in which makes life fun.)

Squirrels are evil!

 

[Ark the Pie King]

Hey, so first off thank you so much for all the suggestions! There really is a ton of ways to approach this and its been enjoyable looking at all the different ways. For my personal inner vision of what I want this character to do, it's sounding like the a Hexblade Bladelock is going to be what I want, at least I think so. I looked into the options involved with that, and I like the idea of playing this sort of, 'frozen blade' assassin. Someone who infiltrates a party/business deal/shady organization with their grace and charms, then conjures a weapon from the shadows and kills their target in an instance, then spells their way out. Plus the Hexblade's Curse and the Hex spell both seem like neat options for more traditional combat. It's not quite the blaster I'd hoped for, but it's still really cool. And I can take Green-Flame Blade and Eldritch Blast for more spell-slinging and pick up the more blasty Warlock spells later in life if need be, like Shatter. I know this isn't exactly what I'd said in my OP, but the concept sort of grew organically as I saw different class features and went 'oh dang that'd be SUPER cool!'. And this lets me do it without multi-classing which is kind of an oddity for me at this very moment. My only concern now is that it seems like the Warlock starts to run out of steam later. It seems like it's a pretty front-loaded class, but if that's the case then I can always multiclass into another class later and I'll just shore up my deficiencies that way I guess. Probably sometime after level 5 so I can make sure to get the Thirsting Blade invocation.

 

[Volund]

I play a Fiend fighter/bladelock in AL games and a Hexblade eldritch knight/tomelock in a homebrew game where UA material is allowed. If you are set on a bladelock, I think Fiend might be a better choice overall. First, I find I get a lot more hp from the temp hp given by Dark One's Blessing than I do from regaining hp from Hexblade Curse. With the former, I get hp from killing any monster, whether or not I've lost any hp yet, but with Hexblade Curse I sometimes don't get any at all if I haven't been hit, and once the Curse ends I won't get any more hp until I take a short rest and then use the curse again. You're going to want as many extra hp as possible since you are a squishy melee character compared to fighters, paladins and esp barbarians. Second, the Hexblade Curse extra crits look good on paper but in actual play don't happen very often. Adding your proficiency bonus as part of the Hexblade Curse is more valuable than the extra crit chance. Finally, the Hexblade's best tool for melee damage - the Curse Bringer invocation - requires a two-handed weapon so you won't be able to take advantage of the Hexblade Warrior's ability to attack using charisma. You'll have to use strength instead. If you want the better armor that Hexblade gives you, just start with a level of fighter for heavy armor, a fighting style, Second Wind for even more hp, and con saves, which you'll want anyway to keep your hex up. I recommend starting as a variant human with the polearm master feat for two attacks out of the gate and two chances to add Hex damage every turn, and a third attack of opportunity with Hex on incoming enemies.

I also like the Fiend's spell list better. Shield is great as a first level spell, but not so great when at later levels you have to use one of your 2 fourth level slots to cast it. I'm not a big fan of the smite spells either. You only know 2 spells to start and for a long time only have two spell slots, and compared with what else you could know and cast, smite spells seem underwhelming. Hex and Armor of Agathys last for an hour, so one shot spells need to be extra effective. Cast Hex for one hour and do an extra d6 on every hit plus gimp an ability (eg wisdom while you attempt stealth or deception), or smite a d6 of extra damage one time and possibly frighten a creature until it makes a save? Hex every time. Command is a nice first level spell. "Lay down so we can all attack you with advantage!" - "Why yes, that sounds great - I shall obey your command."

The 6th level ability, Dark One's Own Luck is a versatile ability that is useful all the time whereas Shadow Hound could be useful for ranged attacks and keeping track of rogues who are trying to hide I guess. Also, the Fiend's Kiss of Mephistopheles invocation is a great way to add fireball to your repertoire without having to pick the fireball spell as one of your known spells.

Warlock is a great choice for a 5e character. You'll have fun with it no matter what you do. Just adding my 2 cents of experience with warlocks in low to mid-level play.

 

[Ark the Pie King]

Oh man that was a ton of info! It does seem like the Hexblade gives less than it appears. Especially since with my DM's slightly higher point buy I can start with an equally high Dex/Cha so I don't even have to use Cha for melee attacks, I plan on taking the Mage Armor invocation (works with the unarmed assassin concept I worked out) and I'm not planning on taking curse bringer. That just leaves the curse which is sorta humdrum. I'll have to give Fiend a 2nd look.

Here's a problem I found that I don't quite know how to tackle. I 100% want to use a one handed weapon. 'Rule of cool' and all that. The prblem is that it just flat out always does less than Eldritch Blast and aside from Multiclassing which I can't do all the the start of the game if I want my pact blade, and I sorta need that since it's the basis of my whole backstory and character. I'm at a loss as to what to do here. Thoughts? It seems like Eldritch Blast spam is just better.