Hi, i have to prepare backup character in case of death of first one. I was wandering around many.. And stop before hexbladesinger. Using int+char. What do you think about IT?
So I haven't spent any real time with XGE. At first glance, Hexblade obviously looks awesome. I've seen several forum posts where people complain about the Hexblade's power level, specifically as a one level dip since it's so front-loaded. I don't think it's that amazing.
Hexblade's Curse is the real reason to take this dip and is better than Hex/Hunter's Mark... somewhat true.
-The bonus damage is actually worse than Hex (3.5) on average until 9th level when your proficiency bonus reaches +4, but late game scaling was something those spells were lacking, and the Curse damage is more consistent.
-It's also concentration free, which is awesome. Like, the real reason to consider this dip. Bonus damage on every attack, which can be active while Haste is active is great.
-It's still a BA... which means your first three rounds of combat BA's are probably Bladesong, Curse, Hex... and you're not doing extra attacks until round 3 or 4 (depending on whether you Hex). Amazing when you anticipate combat, slightly slow when you're thrown into things.
-The critical hit bonus is probably solid. I haven't done that math.
-The bonus healing is only alright. It's only going to happen once per short rest by definition, but that's still helpful considering your overall low health and focus on damage prevention.
-Can only be used once per short rest. Cannot be transferred to new targets. This makes it very Nova-esque. Useless in horde fights, and you'll have to worry about whether you should be saving it for the next fight whenever you find a strong single target. That makes it a little DM/Campaign dependent. I realized this late in writing this reply, and I can't emphasize this point enough.
Hex Warrior is odd...
-The proficiencies shouldn't matter. You can't use the armor/shield, and you'll have gained your one relevant martial item proficiency from Bladesong.
-Charisma based attack and damage... First off, it applies to one single weapon, not one type of weapon, so that weakens duel wielding unless you are blessed with god stats. Duel wielding was our method of getting more hits in, accentuating the damage of Song of Victory, Hex, Curse, and any other "when you deal damage" bonuses.
Building Int+Cha in general is still questionable. You're going to use Cha for your attack and damage now, great. Maybe it will benefit a couple Warlock spells and the odd save; that's not a lot to make a core stat change for an optional feature. Dex is still a massive stat. Melee Bladesinger builds work largely in part to the huge AC and access to damage prevention. Dex is still a huge part of your AC, and it's your Initiative (which is important to get your defense on early in combat). It's also the save for many AOE based damages, which is one of your biggest weaknesses.
I think if I were doing this dip I would still dump Cha, and build Dex+Int. The only thing Cha needs to impact is the healing from Hexblade's Curse. Of the potentially interesting first level Warlock spells the two most promising (Armor of Agathys and Hex) don't require Cha.
Really you're just dipping to gain Curse and Hex, and otherwise building the same. Compare this directly with a Fighter dip for example. Ignoring the save, HP, and Second Wind (no small boons) we're basically comparing Two-Weapon Fighting with Curse.
TWF
-adds ability based damage (likely more (3-4) early game and less (4-5) late game, can be manipulated)
-only adds to off-hand attacks (typically just one attack per round, intrinsically tied to BA)
-is passively active always
-applies to any target
-only a damage buff
Curse
-adds proficiency based damage (likely less (2) early game and more (6) late game, cannot be manipulated)
-adds to every attack (up to maybe four attacks late game, doesn't require BA)
-requires BA to activate
-restricted to your curse target
-also an attack (critical) and healing buff
Hex
-adds fixed necrotic damage (no scaling)
-adds to every attack
-requires BA to activate
-restricted to spell target (can transfer on death)
-small save related buff
Looks like an overall winfor Curse+Hex, but don't let the BA to activate slip past you... You have so many cool BA's, and this adds a second/third, basically mandatory, one to the start of every combat.
If Curse was transferable like Hex, it would probably be broken (and that is why it's baked into the 14th level Hexblade class feature). As it is, this is a overpowered, less accessible Hex. It certainly makes the dip more appealing than it previously was, but not particularly amazing I think. I think I would probably rate the first level dip Sky blue, but I've also been considering Blue as I write it.
