D&D 5E Swashbuckler/warlock multi class

[auburn2]

I never thought of this but one of my players for a game I am DMing went with this class combo and it seems pretty awesome. She is a fiend kit warlock, but hexblade is probably even better. With a half drow you can get 16 Dex and 16 Charisma to start. At 6th level (rogue 4/warlock 2) with the alert feat, devil sight invocation and drow magic you can never be surprised, have a +11 to initiative and can open a tough battle with darkness that you can see through and hex (or hexlade curse) both in round 1. The woman playing this is 6th level right now and doing pretty awesome with it. I think she plans to go to 4 in Warlock and then the rest in Rogue.

thoughts?

 

[DND_Reborn]

Yeah, caster-combos with Rogue can be brutally good and fun to play. Wait until she gets Shadow Blade as well... It won't work with Darkness or Hex due to the concentration factor, but it does with the Hexblade's curse and getting auto-advantage in dim light and darkness means you can always add your Sneak Attack. I would suggest Warlock 5 for level 3 slots and an additional Eldritch Invocation.

I'm not sure about the "half drow" since you are either Drow or just Half-elf as far as I am aware...

 

[Benjamin Olson]

At fourth level Warlock she learns a cantrip, so if she doesn't know Booming Blade yet that will be the time. With a free disengaging melee Rogue it is easily the best cantrip in the game, as it both stacks with sneak attack and gives them extra thunder damage if they then try to follow you.

If I were her I would (eventually) take 5 in Warlock to take advantage of various pact weapon upgrade invocations, including an extra attack and or Eldritch Smite. Many will tell you extra attack isn't worthwhile on a Rogue, but it is a second bite at the sneak attack apple, potential extra Hex damage, and the option to hit another enemy and freely disengage as a Swashbuckler, so something worth having in your repertoire even if only used occasionally. At level 5 you'll be able to upcast Shadow Blade (a spell she should learn) to level 3 making it 3d8 instead of 2d8. This requires concentration (so no hex) and doesn't get to use pact weapon features, but it would be a 3d8 necrotic damage finesse weapon with auto advantage for sneak attack in dim light or darkness, that can be used for an offhand attack with your pact weapon, or can be used for a Booming Blade attack and that you can even throw a few feet if you really need to and then summon back.

Pump Dex over Charisma in case she has to use something other than her pact weapon. Sometimes you have to go ranged (and Eldritch Blast will eventually fall behind being able to use sneak attack) and sometimes you want to make an offhand attack. On the latter note she should go for a shortsword, so she has the offhand option. Also consider Elven Accuracy at some point. Double advantage is pretty awesome for someone who will frequently get advantage. With the Hexblade curse extended crit range advantage then gives an attack a 30 percent crit chance. It also just means that if she gets the extra attack and then make an offhand attack she is rolling 9 dice which is basically going to guarantee a hit (and thus the sneak attack) lands somewhere.

A lot of people theorycrafting will focus on one tactic, but this is a game where you benefit from having a repertoire of tactics. Being able to alternate between multiattacks with a pact weapon and a frequently free advantage 3d8 necrotic weapon (which would make the sneak attack necrotic as well) and being able to Booming Blade it up where appropriate for thunder damage is going to make her a real Renaissance woman in stabbing people.

 

[Greenstone.Walker]

…can open a tough battle with darkness that you can see through

Having played in a game with this combination, I agree, yes it is powerful for the warlock.

However, it almost completely screws over the rest of the party. The casters can't cast half their spells (the ones with "that you can see"). The archers are firing blind, guessing squares, risking hitting the warlock. Rogues using bows might not get sneak attack (they will never have advantage). The other melee characters in the darkness lose some abilities (for example protection fighting style).

It also hurts the warlock. They aren't going to be blessed, they aren't going to be healed (healing word, mass healing word and healing spirit are all "that you can see" spells).

Worse, the enemies have an easy escape from the darkness - just run away. The other meleers in the darkness can't see, so don't get to make opportunity attacks.

Darkness and devil sight work best for a ranged combatant, who can sit somewhere in their darkness away from the melee.

Finally, we had one combat where our foes turned out to have blindsight. That really, really, went bad for us...

 

[Guest 6801328]

I second the vote for Elven Accuracy.

 

[Undrave]

Fey Pact could also work, just because it gives you acess to Faerie Fire and Sleep.

 

[Todd Roybark]

I’m glad it is fun for the player and the group. Both Rogue and Warlock are great 2 level dip classes. The player, however, would have certain advantages now, by being a single class character, instead.

A 6th level Rogue would have an extra helping of Expertise goodness and Uncanny Dodge, and an extra 1d6 Sneak Attack.

A 6th level Warlock could already be casting an upcast 3rd level slot Shadow Blade and be attacking twice per round with the Thirsting Blade Invocation. Two attacks with SB is going to typically out perform SA, in damage output, at 6th level.

The oft talked about state of grace that is an upcast Shadow Blade, being used to attack with Booming Blade and Sneak Attack is nice, but mainly the domain of the Arcane Trickster.

Other characters need to consider wether to prioritize damage dice from upcasting Shadow Blade or taking levels in Rogue to improve Sneak Attack.

With the few spell slots a Warlock has, capping at 5th level slots; the Warlock just isn’t as good with the Shadow Blade spell as other classes.

A Sorcerer or Wizard using a 7th level slot to upcast Shadow Blade has a similar damage output as a 16th level Sneak Attack, with no other damage riders on the Sneak Attack,( E.G. no Booming Blade etc).

 

[Undrave]

I’m glad it is fun for the player and the group. Both Rogue and Warlock are great 2 level dip classes. The player, however, would have certain advantages now, by being a single class character, instead.

A 6th level Rogue would have an extra helping of Expertise goodness and Uncanny Dodge, and an extra 1d6 Sneak Attack.

A 6th level Warlock could already be casting an upcast 3rd level slot Shadow Blade and be attacking twice per round with the Thirsting Blade Invocation. Two attacks with SB is going to typically out perform SA, in damage output, at 6th level.

The oft talked about state of grace that is an upcast Shadow Blade, being used to attack with Booming Blade and Sneak Attack is nice, but mainly the domain of the Arcane Trickster.

Other characters need to consider wether to prioritize damage dice from upcasting Shadow Blade or taking levels in Rogue to improve Sneak Attack.

With the few spell slots a Warlock has, capping at 5th level slots; the Warlock just isn’t as good with the Shadow Blade spell as other classes.

A Sorcerer or Wizard using a 7th level slot to upcast Shadow Blade has a similar damage output as a 16th level Sneak Attack, with no other damage riders on the Sneak Attack,( E.G. no Booming Blade etc).

Yeah but that happens with ANY multiclass in 5e... it's just a question of if your MC is doing what you want it to do or not.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

With the few spell slots a Warlock has, capping at 5th level slots; the Warlock just isn’t as good with the Shadow Blade spell as other classes.

I mean, 5th level slots come toward the end of when most campaigns last, but even if they came earlier, Shadow blade is good without any upcasting.

 

[Benjamin Olson]

I mean, 5th level slots come toward the end of when most campaigns last, but even if they came earlier, Shadow blade is good without any upcasting.

Indeed, the point here was the particular synergies in a Warlock/Swashbuckler, not who has the biggest Shadow Blade. It would be a worthwhile spell for a Rogue if it just created a normal weapon that got advantage in dim light and darkness. Upcasting it only came up because we were discussing taking 5 levels of Warlock vs. 4 and that would be one of the draws for a Rogue, probably secondary to taking level 5 pact of the blade invocations and likely also learning a level 3 spell or two.