D&D 5E Front Line Warlock (Or other caster)

[Warpiglet]

I have a one tracked mind of late. Apologies. I am fascinated by the Warlock. Though some of this might be extended to other classes.

I recently made some statements about Blade Pact Warlocks which are up for debate...I stand by my opinions but came across another way of doing something similar.

Has anyone played a frequently front line Warlock that is not Blade Pact?

I believe it would be very viable particularly for a variant human or mountain dwarf. The plan would be to wear medium armor and use a shield if possible. Thereafter, take Crossbow Expert. From there, you have a good AC, good HP if you prioritize CON and no disadvantage with Eldritch Blast. I would want to take a cantrip to help survive combat to that point such as greenflame blade or acid splash.

A moderately armored human could point buy: 10, 14, 16, 10, 8, 16 with the bonus from Moderately Armored going into DEX.

By level 4, you could blast in melee. Temporary hit points would help and rather than hex, perhaps Armor of Agathys would be the go to.

I ask about this combination because of the boredom many people complain of when playing EB spammers from the back rank.

Lastly, does anyone else have full casters tricked out for the front? I suspect Warlock has an advantage starting with some armor. Nevertheless there have to be other combinations which while not optimized, would work.

 

[Mephista]

I've done a Bladesinger. Those are front line melee. I used Favored Soul and Clerics as well. Technically, there is Moon Druid as a front line full caster, but I hate how the shapeshifting works in 5e, and I feel that the subclass lacks any real gishing ability, so I've never done it.

Tried the whole cantrip-mix with Shillegh that was suggested, and wasn't impressed, to be honest. Its just a different kind of spamming. Sure, you can twink it out, but it was disappointed at the lack of synergy with actual warlock abilities as well beyond the most basic.

 

[Yunru]

Don't forget to throw Warcaster into the mix, so you can get EB goodness on your Reaction!

 

[Warpiglet]

I've done a Bladesinger. Those are front line melee. I used Favored Soul and Clerics as well. Technically, there is Moon Druid as a front line full caster, but I hate how the shapeshifting works in 5e, and I feel that the subclass lacks any real gishing ability, so I've never done it.

Tried the whole cantrip-mix with Shillegh that was suggested, and wasn't impressed, to be honest. Its just a different kind of spamming. Sure, you can twink it out, but it was disappointed at the lack of synergy with actual warlock abilities as well beyond the most basic.

Yes, I was not thrilled with the imagery or effect of Shill and GFB. It is fine.

I am really bouncing between another blade pact and being able to EB up close. It is spamming as well, but no more than swinging a sword. I do like the idea of being in the middle of it with replling blast trowing people left and right. With an armored warlock doing this, it reminds me of Darth Vader in Rogue one tossing people around. The dagger and green flame blade is just a fall back for a few levels until crossbow expert comes online.

I am really struggling with choosing. I can be up front in a few ways. I did think about a half orc sorcerer in the future with a greataxe and GFB. Again, it is just something that sounds fun. Not really the strongest option...

 

[Warpiglet]

Don't forget to throw Warcaster into the mix, so you can get EB goodness on your Reaction!

Totally. But it seems feats are so hard to come by! If I did this I would have to leave CHR untouched until 12th or higher level...

 

[Barolo]

High AC is not really the only way to go. A lot of temporary HPs can occasionally help almost as much, or in some cases even more. Consider for instance a warlock with armor of agathys and blade ward. Against enemies that hit hard this is may not be the best idea, but against soft hitters who have a lot of attacks, it can be decimating. I have seen in my table even creatures that have elemental resistance but multiple attacks (red slaads) having a really bad time against such strategy*. You can pair it up with warcaster (for booming blade) and sentinel feats, to provide a losing proposition for your enemies. You can go any pact and still do this, blade is somewhat simpler and can be beefed up by weapon selection, tome can keep CHA primary by using shillelagh.

When fighting against masses in long battles, the subclass feature dark one's blessing can do a lot too. Another PC in another campaign was playing as an assassin bladelock multiclass, and in one session lost a lot of HPs by necrotic drain, that he could only replenish after removing a curse, which was not available immediately for the party. He managed to keep himself on his feet solely by managing a steady mob kill rate in the end of the dungeon, which was really tense for him, but impressive for everybody in the table, and ultimately quite fun.

The other usual (full caster) suspect that does not (always) rely on good AC is the abjurer with their ward, which will be drained until they start using shield to avoid more hits and consequently replenish the ward for prolonged staying power.

* In this game, the warlock in question had a bad AC, so he was being hit quite often. Nonetheless, he had a lot of HPs and temporary HP sources, and made constant use of blade ward, which meant his HPs/temp HPs were drained really slowly. It was a 7th level party against mobs of slaads. Casting 4th level armor of agathys gave him 20 extra HPs. Each attack from a red slaad would average to only 3 or 4 damage subtracted from the armor after blade ward, but retaliate 10 damage (already halved for resistance) back at the slaad. This was not even a good use of the spell, as the damn aberration was halving the damage too, but still, 30 damage back per round per slaad while avoiding all the damage, proved to be a good tanking for the rest of the party. And had the slaad decided to just move past to attack somebody else, it would have eaten up a booming blade, so a truly bad spot for it to be. Were these mobs of trolls instead, or xorns, gladiators, umber hulks, or vampire spawns, just to list a few monsters that could make nice mobs for that play level, the strategy would go even better.

 

[Warpiglet]

High AC is not really the only way to go. A lot of temporary HPs can occasionally help almost as much, or in some cases even more. Consider for instance a warlock with armor of agathys and blade ward. Against enemies that hit hard this is may not be the best idea, but against soft hitters who have a lot of attacks, it can be decimating. I have seen in my table even creatures that have elemental resistance but multiple attacks (red slaads) having a really bad time against such strategy*. You can pair it up with warcaster (for booming blade) and sentinel feats, to provide a losing proposition for your enemies. You can go any pact and still do this, blade is somewhat simpler and can be beefed up by weapon selection, tome can keep CHA primary by using shillelagh.

When fighting against masses in long battles, the subclass feature dark one's blessing can do a lot too. Another PC in another campaign was playing as an assassin bladelock multiclass, and in one session lost a lot of HPs by necrotic drain, that he could only replenish after removing a curse, which was not available immediately for the party. He managed to keep himself on his feet solely by managing a steady mob kill rate in the end of the dungeon, which was really tense for him, but impressive for everybody in the table, and ultimately quite fun.

The other usual (full caster) suspect that does not (always) rely on good AC is the abjurer with their ward, which will be drained until they start using shield to avoid more hits and consequently replenish the ward for prolonged staying power.

* In this game, the warlock in question had a bad AC, so he was being hit quite often. Nonetheless, he had a lot of HPs and temporary HP sources, and made constant use of blade ward, which meant his HPs/temp HPs were drained really slowly. It was a 7th level party against mobs of slaads. Casting 4th level armor of agathys gave him 20 extra HPs. Each attack from a red slaad would average to only 3 or 4 damage subtracted from the armor after blade ward, but retaliate 10 damage (already halved for resistance) back at the slaad. This was not even a good use of the spell, as the damn aberration was halving the damage too, but still, 30 damage back per round per slaad while avoiding all the damage, proved to be a good tanking for the rest of the party. And had the slaad decided to just move past to attack somebody else, it would have eaten up a booming blade, so a truly bad spot for it to be. Were these mobs of trolls instead, or xorns, gladiators, umber hulks, or vampire spawns, just to list a few monsters that could make nice mobs for that play level, the strategy would go even better.

that sounds damn entertaining. I am going to think these things through a bit more. my strategy was to avoid some, but not all hits and use armor of agathys. blade ward however just moved up my list.

 

[Corwin]

that sounds damn entertaining. I am going to think these things through a bit more. my strategy was to avoid some, but not all hits and use armor of agathys. blade ward however just moved up my list.

I enjoyed the occasional use of blade ward with my EK. Especially against large mobs, given that I also had HAM. I would blade ward, and still get a bonus action attack (because of war magic). I was quite formidable in a few of the mass battle scenarios we waded through. Fun times.

 

[Mephista]

Yeah, the Fiend 'blade is really meant to be more like the Barbarian than the Fighter in this way. Lots of THP and soaking it in, but dealing damage to enemies if they do so. Fun Fact. The Fiend path originally allowed you to take half damage from everything instead of just one type of damage. It was judged to be a bit too strong, so they nerfed it. A bit too much, in fact, rendering its use rather questionable. But there you go.

 

[thethain]

I have a warlock that is Paladin 2/ Warlock X. He is pact of the Tome. Has Shillelagh and Booming Blade. Its not really perfect, I also normally have a phantom steed up (from book of secrets) so I will move from melee to range fairly often if the situation demands it.