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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Hawk Diesel" data-source="post: 7303827" data-attributes="member: 59848">Looking at the Pact Boons, I do agree that the Pact of the Blade is a bit lacking. But lets break down what each Pact does. Pact of the Chain grants a free familiar that is more powerful (up to CR 1) and can take the attack action in place of one of your attacks. This grants some scouting and potential other benefits from the familiar's specific attack capabilities, as well as potential defensive abilities (as from the Pseudodragon).Pact of the Tome grants an improved version of the Ritual Caster feat, plus 3 cantrips from any class that count as Warlock cantrips.Pact of the Blade effectively gives you proficiency in Martial Weapons (though limited to melee weapons unless you bond to a magic ranged weapon). You are effectively always 1 action away from being armed, and it is always considered magic.From this perspective, Pact of the Blade is a bit lacking. Pact of the Tome is roughly equivalent to about 2 feats (Ritual Caster + Magic Initiate). Pact of the Chain and Pact of the Blade are more difficult to break down in terms of feat cost. Depending on the familiar chosen, Pact of the Chain could be roughly equivalent to 1.5 feats (Half of Magic Initiate, another half for the improved familiar selection, and another half to allow it to attack using your attack action). Pact of the Blade is worth probably about 1 feat (half for Weapon Master, and another half feat for bonded weapons being counted as magic and being able to summon them). Of course, others may weight these values differently.So from my vantage point, both Pact of the Chain and Pact of the Blade could use a slight bump. I'd say probably giving the Voice of the Chain Master invocation for free. That would bring it up to roughly 2 feats worth of value.As for Pact of the Blade, it feels like you have design space for something equivalent to a full feat. Granting medium armor and shield proficiency could bump it up by half a feat. I'd say granting green-flame blade and booming blade cantrips would settle the other half of the feat. Allowing the Bladelock to use Charisma in place of Strength or Dexterity is probably worth a full feat on its own, so you couldn't do that AND grant the armor/shield proficiency. An alternative option that is probably worth a feat would be allowing you to make an attack as a bonus action when you use that attack action. So I'm thinking adding the following in some combination would be worth considering in total values equaling 1 feat to Pact of the Blade would not be unreasonable:-Medium Armor and Shield Proficiency (Half Feat)-Booming Blade and Green-Flame Blade (Half Feat)-Use Charisma in place of Strength or Dexterity (Full Feat)-Able to make an attack as a bonus action with your Pact Weapon when you take the Attack action with your Pact Weapon (Full Feat)EDIT: Whoops! I messed up. When I read over Pact of the Tome, I realized I was including the invocation Book of Ancient Secrets as if it was included in Pact of the Tome. That's what happens when you assume rather than carefully read over what you are arguing. In this case, it makes the Pacts all roughly equivalent. Pact of the Chain actually comes out a little ahead of the others. Without the Ritual Caster aspect of Pact of the Tome, it really is worth only one feat (Magic Initiate), and Pact of the Blade is also only worth about one feat (Half of Weapon Master + another Half for counting as magic and being able to summon with an action). I still say Pact of the Chain is probably worth 1.5 feats based on its power and the familiars you can use. This means Pact of the Tome could potentially get a half feat bump, though I'm not sure what that could be. If you were to do that, then theoretically, you could grant the Pact of the Blade either Medium Armor Proficiency and Shields (worth half a feat) or Green-Flame Blade and Booming Blade (worth half of a feat), but not both. And definitely not using Charisma in place of Strength/Dexterity or the Bonus Attack Action I suggested earlier.</blockquote>

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