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Depends on your definition of viable. It's clearly inferior, but what makes it not viable? Lot's of classes have preferred choices. Bow wielding paladins, GWF Rangers, Brawling Fighters, Sword and Shield Barbarians and EB sparing Warlocks are all legit options that aren't the best options. That...

I really think the pact of the blade is at par with the others. But, problematically (kinda like the battle master) it hints at a style of play that's not really on offer, i.e. the hexblade. People change the whole way they approach the class for for the pact of the blade, doing crazy stuff like...

I think your suggestions are inferior to the Hexblade patron in a couple of ways. You don't provide proficiency with medium armor, martial weapons or shields and you don't allow the hexblade to go Charisma primary. The hexblade pact features (Hexblade's curse, Shadow Hound) also have real...

The issue is straightforward. People make their choices in the service of certain expectations about how the game would play and how it will make them feel. This is not a problem at a homogenous table, no matter what the style. At an inhomogeneous table there are two possible outcomes: (1)...

I actually prefer the approach of giving a completely non-magical baseline and then indicating how to adjust for magic. I think this approach is to be preferred in 5e because of the wide variety campaign scenarios that are possible. If I convert a an old D&D module it will have way more magic...

Berserker Barbarian Champion Fighter Lore Bard Valor Bard Fey Warlock(Blade Pact) Rogue(low-level) Looking forward to playing Ranger and Wizard Not that interested in Monk and Druid Lore Bard has been the most fun so far.

I'd suggest building an actual backstory for your character. That will help both explain and guide your character's viewpoints, attitudes and actions. Choosing or rolling on the personality, flaws and bonds table can be a starting point. Here are some additional questions, that when answered...

One thing to remember is that the Legendary template can be applied to any NPC or monster. This is helpful if you want a strong solo challenge for, say, a 5th level party.

You'll probably never use Performance, ever especially because of your musical instrument proficiencies, so even though you are dumping Wisdom, Insight will still probably be more useful to you. Depends on whether or not you want another combat spell. Detect magic is nice, because it almost...

Grappling only reduces your opponents speed to zero and allows you to drag them around. It doesn't improve attacks against the grappled target (unless you have the Grappler feat). A shoved (and thus prone) opponent yields advantage to all attackers within 5 feet and attacks at disadvantage...

I'd go with the 12 Con, but I will note that at 2nd level you will get +1 to all untrained skill and attribute checks (including initiative), so your negative Int modifier would have only applied to the extremely rare Int saving throw. The reason for not taking a 13 in Con is because if you're...

Your group is all melee by the looks. For 1st and 2nd level you're going to be the weakest melee member of the group, there's no way around that. Fortunately 1st and 2nd level do go by rather fast. Assuming that you're using a standard point buy, I'd start with a broad array something like...

Just going to point out that although both ice and glass have some variation in hardness with temperature and composition, glass (~5.5 on Moh's scale) is typically much harder than ice (~1.5 on Moh's scale) Carry on ....

My experience is that it makes as much of a melee warrior as an EK is a spell caster, which IMO is reasonable given that EK is a subclass and Blade Pact is strictly less than a subclass. I'm currently running a pact blade lock which is roughly 50/50 melee/ranged. My mistake, I misunderstood...

The three options are parallel. If one of the them was designed to completely change the class then the other two would have needed to occupy that same scope. As it is people want those options to occupy that bigger scope, but they, in fact, simply do not. For blade lock that starts 16/16...

I think exactly this is the pain point for a lot of people: The class gives you your proficiencies, cantrips, spell slots, a big spell list, Arcanuum and Invocations. Your pact gives a 10 new spell options and 4 class features at 3rd, 6th, 10th and 14th level. If you stop right there you...

Yes, I think this a strongly influenced by personal taste. I prefer the tradeoff of less leveled spells in exchange for more meaningful 'always available' abilities via invocations, but most people likely feel the opposite. I think the issue is not that they try too hard, but that they don't...

You seem to have taken both sides of that particular argument. That said, a lot of what you said makes sense. But the question that flows from your analysis is: Should there not be a caster class that uses a completely different paradigm, or at least one that has not been widely used before...

Are saying that the entire class is just poorly conceived and executed, or that it is poorly explained in print?

This is pretty true. I think connects directly to your previous point. The progression doesn't work very well if what you want is that front line Str + Armor melee combatant