Utility of Wizard "dip."

[Warpiglet]

Assuming your warlock is human, I'd suggest going with the variant and taking Magic Initiate... It's what I did with mine.

On the other hand, from a cost/benefit standpoint, if you're going to be multiclassing you may as well go for two levels and pick up a school benefit and a couple more spells as well.

I struggled mightily to choose between half elf and human. Went half elf for image reasons--oddly colored eyes etc.). But your point is well taken. I thought of taking magic initiate with find familiar to fit the backstory...

 

[Ganders]

The INT 13 requirement is significant. But if you have it, great.

One of the best reasons to do it is for spells that don't scale from first level, such as Shield or Feather Fall. As a warlock, it always feels a shame to use a 4th or 5th level spell slot to cast one of those, but with a level of wizard you have some 'extra' level 1 slots to play with. Which feels sooooo good with your limited spell slots, especially when you aren't getting enough short rests.

The main argument against is that tomelocks already have access to all five of the spells that caught your eye. You don't actually need a level of wizard to cast them as rituals.

 

[Mistwell]

It gives a warlock a lot of additional utility spells due to the rituals

Huh, I had not considered that. How does that work? Do they now get access to rituals at every level that they achieve as a warlock which normally would have been wizard-only ones?

 

[Warpiglet]

Huh, I had not considered that. How does that work? Do they now get access to rituals at every level that they achieve as a warlock which normally would have been wizard-only ones?

It actually specifies "wizard spells." But would apply to a lot of neat utility at first including find familiar, et al.

I think one other benefit would be the addition of three cantrips (would want utility so the lower ability bonus would be less of an issue) and the ability to up cast some wizards spells. Not sure if say a third level false life would be worth it, but hey if you are in melee a lot? Might be nice?

 

[Pauln6]

My warlock has intelligence 17. I don't feel that she suffers from being smart - it's part of her personality - but then she is more of a utility build with magic initiate so I could use fireball and burning hands (a scalable spell if your DM is willing to let you include it).

If you have a tomelock, you are already quite versatile and there are quite a few invocations that provide at will magic. Still, a level of wizard and a full spell book can lead to lots of fun shenanigans.

 

[Warpiglet]

I am a 2nd and soon to be 3rd level hexblade. I can swing the 13 int, but that is not much of a bonus for saves. I would be looking mainly at utility spells and such.

We will see what I choose. From the first, he had wizardry in the background...just not sure if I want to make the jump. If I do, I am only doing one level and all others warlock. Likely to take elven accuracy, great weapon master and charisma bumps...

cannot do everything, so warcaster and the like are probably out...

the game is made well. choices mean a lot and are hard.

 

[Jacob Lewis]

Wizard "dip"?? You mean like "Arcane Ranch", or "Phantom Queso"? Watch for those "Ghostward Peppers"

 

[Ath'kethin]

I think the idea sounds fine. You have obviously put a good deal of thought into it.

As others have pointed out, it's not necessarily going to help you a whole lot combat-wise, but unless your campaign plays like an '80s video game combat isn't all there is to it.

Plus, you get the equivalent of the Ritual Magic and Magic Initiate feats, and more.

 

[seebs]

Seems like a really efficient way to get a lot of utility for a little loss of combat effectiveness.

 

[Warpiglet]

I think the idea sounds fine. You have obviously put a good deal of thought into it.

As others have pointed out, it's not necessarily going to help you a whole lot combat-wise, but unless your campaign plays like an '80s video game combat isn't all there is to it.

Plus, you get the equivalent of the Ritual Magic and Magic Initiate feats, and more.

Thanks for the feedback. Here is another wrinkle: most of the party is melee oriented. We have two fighters, one forge cleric and a ranger! The forge cleric is into "rune magic" so plans an level of wizard as well--so I might be redundant. But we usually play what we want and let the chips fall.

The big issue is the roleplay too. The backstory has the warlock believing ravens are the return of his mentor's spirit (the court magician/advisor) and a familiar he "talks with" might be a fun weird RP opportunity. We shall see.

(Also I like detect magic...sue me!).

I find that the warlock could use 1-2 more invocations than they are allowed...so the auto detect magic and disguise self are hard to come by...