Willie the Duck
Hero
I remember a semi-common character concept with D&D '14 combining barbarian and warlock. I'm interested in whether it plays out differently now (and if any rules changes make it unviable or unsatisfying). Generally the build is Barbarian 1/ Warlock (bladelock) 1-19 or Barbarian 5 / Warlock (any) 1-15. For combat, the idea is to pre-buff with non-concentration spells -- notably Armor of Agathys (whose temp hp last twice as long when coupled with rage) and then fight using str-based combat (necessary for the rage bonus to damage to occur). Other spell usage might happen outside of combat, and most non-spell warlock abilities work fine while raging.
The notable things I can see that have changed that might impact this include:
No idea where this is going, I just was clicking through a list of character concepts getting 2024 facelifts, and wondered about this one. Thanks in advance.
The notable things I can see that have changed that might impact this include:
- Pact of Blade can be combined with Pacts of Chain and Tome, meaning you can have an Imp familiar helping in the fight and/or supplement your OOC abilities with cantrips and ritual spells.
- Nick-property two-weapon fighting synergizes with bonus-action abilities, although the obvious choice of Hex doesn't work alongside raging (but maintaining rage does). It looks like 2wf works fine with Pact of Blade, Thirsting Blade, and Devouring Blade, so long as you aren't expecting your off-hand weapon to be cha-based (which you don't, since you want to use str).
No idea where this is going, I just was clicking through a list of character concepts getting 2024 facelifts, and wondered about this one. Thanks in advance.