The Hexblade (Essentials Warlock) is up!

[Obryn]

I can't say the new ones aren't good, they are. I like them.

And weapliment users currently have staff expertise to help them along... and it's actually pretty decent to turn a staff into a reach weapon.

Oh heck yeah - it's great! If you can use a staff!

If, say, you're tied to using heavy or light blades, however...

-O

 

[Obryn]

I like it... except for what appears to be an inability to choose encounter powers. Those are the best powers.

This is kind of a theme with Essentials classes, though. "If you love interesting Encounter powers, mostly look elsewhere."

-O

 

[Jack99]

Two things I really like about the devil.

1) the aura of intimidation - totally a fluff thing, but given crunchy backup.
2) the fact that they are forced to serve out of fear, and that you (usually) summon the same devil who will have a grudge. Small things but they should provide lots of fun.

More of that, Mearls!!

 

[yesnomu]

I'm fairly conflicted about this one. On one hand:

• At-wills put me to sleep. Fluff up Soul Eater as much as you want, it's never going to be exciting. Why is Eldritch "Bolt" not a free power like Magic Missile? Especially galling since you'll want to be Human for another at-will, but Hexblades need a good secondary stat...
• C'mon, can one E-class besides the Mage get encounter power options?
• "Exploiting loopholes"? Hated by devils? Way to take the edginess out of the class.
• Where'd Dex come from? Why aren't Eladrin natural Fey pact'ers?
• Star pact was way cooler than fey, they should have swapped which one went in Dragon.
• A single-target Sorcerer (damage-wise)? They know that sorcs need to AoE to keep up, right?

On the other:

• Summoning classes are sweet. Having a personal devil that ridicules and insults you at every turn is adorable.
• Nice fix to the weaplement problem, channeling your implement into a blade.
• Cervantes is now a fully supported class.

So it's not my ideal class, but it's flavorful and interesting. It doesn't make me grind my teeth like the Sentinel. I could see myself playing one! A Human one, at least.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Two things I really like about the devil.

1) the aura of intimidation - totally a fluff thing, but given crunchy backup.
2) the fact that they are forced to serve out of fear, and that you (usually) summon the same devil who will have a grudge. Small things but they should provide lots of fun.

More of that, Mearls!!

Yep. I think the flavor is still pretty good.

The fact that you summon your weapon and still have your implement in one hand seems a very odd way to handle things. Maybe it's just so you can't use a shield (ensuring a low Striker AC), still - odd.

I kinda miss the ability to curse my opponents.

 

[Lord Ernie]

It looks interesting. It fixes some of the fiddlyness of the old warlock, but at the same time, being able to curse was very flavourful.

The summon looks awesome; not because it seems powerful, but it does look very cool .

"Exploiting loopholes"? Hated by devils? Way to take the edginess out of the class.

Except this is pretty much the suggested flavour in the PHB:

Long ago a forgotten race of devils created a secret path to power and taught it to the tieflings of old to weaken their fealty to Asmodeus. In his wrath, Asmodeus destroyed the scheming devils and struck their very names from the memory of all beings—but you dare to study their perilous secrets anyway.

Where'd Dex come from? Why aren't Eladrin natural Fey pact'ers?

I agree with this part. I'd prefer it if Warlocks had Int somewhere in their stats, but then again, they gain their power from making deals with extraordinary beings, not from training or study. I dunno.

A single-target Sorcerer (damage-wise)? They know that sorcs need to AoE to keep up, right?

The sorcerer's biggest problem damage-wise starts at higher levels (mid paragon onwards), and exists mainly because of two things:

1. Their high-level power selection stinks, and their PP's mostly suck.
2. They use implements to deal damage, and weapons just have better support.

The Hexblade doesn't suffer from problem number 1. Problem number 2 remains to be seen.

Overall, I'm skeptical, but interested.

 

[Bongo]

• Where'd Dex come from? Why aren't Eladrin natural Fey pact'ers?

I'm guessing the infernal pact will be statted for Tieflings and fey pact will be statted for Drow.

 

[Oulak]

I kinda miss the ability to curse my opponents.

I think that's kinda part of the point with the new essentials design - fewer things to keep track of mid-combat. No marks, no striker features (i.e. curse, quarry, shrouds, etc.). I see merit in this design.

 

[Peraion Graufalke]

They still use Rods, so we can now expect a Rod Expertise feat.

Rod Expertise has been confirmed in the recent podcast.


The hexblade looks nice. I'm guessing that the star pact will have Int as a secondary.

 

[thewok]

I don't like the Infernal at-will. Necrotic damage has to be one of the worst damage types to deal; very few things are vulnerable (are any?) and tons of things are resistant (any undead.) If it was fire and necrotic then we can talk. Also, the rider seems kind of bland. Would have preferred something more thematic to hell and stuff. The general concepts, though, I like.

Eldritch bolt is ranged and Soul Eater is melee. Not exactly interchangeable. I'd use them both in different situations.

[MENTION=11821]Obryn[/MENTION] Yeah, eldritch bolt is completely bland.

Why is Eldritch "Bolt" not a free power like Magic Missile? Especially galling since you'll want to be Human for another at-will, but Hexblades need a good secondary stat...

It might be that Eldritch Bolt is indeed like Magic Missile, and that hexblades get it "free."

The level 1 features for the hexblade are:
Eldritch bolt
Pact Reward
Pact Boon
Pact Weapon
Daily power

The Pact Reward for the Infernal pact is the damage bonus. The Weapon entry includes the weapon description, the at-will and the encounter power. Daily powers are self-explanatory. That leaves the Pact Boon, which is not mentioned other than to say that "You gain a power associated with your pact."

Now, it could be that there are one or two choices per pact to take for the pact boon, but I'm not going to hold my breath for that. Still, it does seem like the hexblade will be getting 3 at-will powers. And, I'm hoping that the Pact Boon will do fire damage.

Or maybe they'll just write up new Pact Boons for each pact that aren't dependent on killing Cursed enemies.