D&D (2024) The bladelock two-weapon fighter: fundamentally unsound?

[Paul Farquhar]

I just wish Hexblade had better flavor than "a mysterious force from the shadowfell is your patron."

It’s fine. It’s Stormbringer.

 

[Ancalagon]

That's why I think the first Chain Pact familiar I want to try is the Skeleton. It has so many unique qualities, among them a ranged attack.

the other familiars are immensely useful out of combat, and make excellent scouts. The skeleton lacks a lot of that utility

 

[Kurotowa]

the other familiars are immensely useful out of combat, and make excellent scouts. The skeleton lacks a lot of that utility

You can't have it all. You want a scouting familiar? Take something small and stealthy that can turn invisible. Want something Medium sized with hands that can use adventurer scaled gear and items? Something big enough and strong enough that it can give a Small sized Warlock a piggyback ride around, while having flight from Chain Master? You're not getting any of that from an Imp.

Skeletons aren't strictly better than the other options, but they have unique strengths that none of the others offer.

 

[Ancalagon]

https://www.dndbeyond.com/equipment...A-FlwdCRvnuxy1deRnzqWbkf_1g-SaHDMJ2jBrqQS8tHe

this material is not 5.5 compatible

 

[Ancalagon]

Get the Polearm Master feat later. It allows that bonus attack to be with your Warlock's pact weapon. As others mentioned, a double-weapon as your pact weapon also works nicely.

The Warlock Hexblade archetype gets martial weapon proficiency, medium armor, and shields, so no need to level dip into Fighter.

a pole arm is not two weapon fighting style.

 

[Ancalagon]

as you really need to find light magic weapons to stay on top. Swinging your non-magic dagger and Hand Axe +1 can be pretty demoralizing when other members in the party have a Staff of Striking, longsword flametongue, +2 Rapier and +2 Warhammer (actual examples from play in a campaign currently level 6). I think other options offer more flexibility.

I did not mention this in my OP (I didn't want to get too specific, I find details can distract more than they contribute), but for this campaign this is not an issue (It's a PF1 campaign being converted to 5.5e, I'm a level 11 magus with the bladebound archetype, so I will start with a potent magical sword ... and the other one will probably be a vanilla +1 or something equally modest, as the main sword doesn't like competition.

The fighting style is to use Spirit shroud and as many attacks as possible, hence the fighting style, use of nick weapons etc. This is the closest I can do to re-create the character (a direct 1-1 translation of the Magus is impossible in 5e)

 

[Paul Farquhar]

this material is not 5.5 compatible

Everything from 5.0 is compatible with 5.5 until an updated version is realised.

 

[Ancalagon]

You can't have it all. You want a scouting familiar? Take something small and stealthy that can turn invisible. Want something Medium sized with hands that can use adventurer scaled gear and items? Something big enough and strong enough that it can give a Small sized Warlock a piggyback ride around, while having flight from Chain Master? You're not getting any of that from an Imp.

Skeletons aren't strictly better than the other options, but they have unique strengths that none of the others offer.

I am going to take the skeleton (so both pact of the chain and pact of the blade) because the old PF1e character had the "defending bone" spell (it gives you some degree of damage reduction). The floating skull he called "Mr Magoo", and is the actual skull of an old groundskeeper (Mr Magoo) at the Constabulary college that always wished he could go on adventure with the royal agents.

 

[Ancalagon]

Everything from 5.0 is compatible with 5.5 until an updated version is realised.

it has no mastery property, so no not quite

 

[Paul Farquhar]

it has no mastery property, so no not quite

So it gains one. It's a scimitar, so it has nick. It's pretty culturally significant to Eberron, so ruling it out is equivalent to saying "you can't use Eberron in 5.5.".