D&D 5E Is Hex actually that great?

[Sword of Spirit]

that is the textbook definition of the bag of rats trick.

I don't know. The way I represent my worlds, I see a significant difference between smacking a small creature because somehow your act of violently shedding blood will cause your lawful good deity to heal one of your allies, and performing a ritual morning sacrifice of a creature to a fiendish patron to empower your magical abilities for the day.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

Since it only takes a bonus action to cast...I'm not sure why casting it before combat would really be relevant. You can still attack on your first turn with it.

But you cannot cast a second spell on the round when you cast with a bonus action. Pre-casting lets you Hex and Scorching Ray, for example, if you want to.

Also, you don't need verbal and somatic components.

 

[Staffan]

But you cannot cast a second spell on the round when you cast with a bonus action. Pre-casting lets you Hex and Scorching Ray, for example, if you want to.

You can if the other spell is a cantrip, such as eldritch blast. Doesn't work with scorching ray, but then again only Fiend-bound warlocks have access to that.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

You can if the other spell is a cantrip, such as eldritch blast. Doesn't work with scorching ray, but then again only Fiend-bound warlocks have access to that.

Hmmm. It's hard to think of other self-contained uses, but I can imagine that you might want to Fireball and help out your local paladin in his grappling by Hexing his victim's Strength.

And, as mentioned, it also lets you Hex people in social situations (Hex: Wisdom) without them seeing you cast a spell on them.

 

[Caliban]

Yeah, that would make sense. I don't see it as irritating in the way the bag of rats stuff is though. In the case of a fiend pact warlock it makes perfect sense--since they would do well to sacrifice some small creature each day to start out with some nice temp hit points from their patron feature. Might as well hex the critter before you kill it.

For less nasty warlocks, starting out your day by hexing something (or doing so right before a rest) isn't necessarily the best role-playing thing to do most of the time, but I can see it as something that they could do if they needed the power. It doesn't conflict with the fiction of their powers, basically.

On my warlocks, I've offered to cook breakfast for the party. Get up a little early, Hex a chicken or small woodland creature, blast it and then cook it for breakfast. Your fellow party members may notice a bit of an off taste from the necrotic damage on the chicken fillets, but a little cilantro and salt complements it nicely.

 

[Mephista]

On my warlocks, I've offered to cook breakfast for the party. Get up a little early, Hex a chicken or small woodland creature, blast it and then cook it for breakfast. Your fellow party members may notice a bit of an off taste from the necrotic damage on the chicken fillets, but a little cilantro and salt complements it nicely.

And, interestingly, cooking breakfast is an acceptable part of a short rerst, recovering the spell slot; yay for 8+ hour duration!

 

[Mirtek]

I don't know. The way I represent my worlds, I see a significant difference between smacking a small creature because somehow your act of violently shedding blood will cause your lawful good deity to heal one of your allies, and performing a ritual morning sacrifice of a creature to a fiendish patron to empower your magical abilities for the day.

Warlocks and evil clerics had their bag'o'rats shenanigans shot down by DMs since 3.x for a reason.

Get up a little early, Hex a chicken or small woodland creature, blast it and then cook it for breakfast.

You must have sorry desperate patrons if they accept a chicken or doe from their warlocks. That may be okay for the amateur-cultist in a dampy basement, but guess what, these guys don't receive any warlock power at all. If you want to be like them instead of one of their true warlocks, sure, be my guests. Your adventuring career will probably be very short though.

 

[Caliban]

You must have sorry desperate patrons if they accept a chicken or doe from their warlocks. That may be okay for the amateur-cultist in a dampy basement, but guess what, these guys don't receive any warlock power at all. If you want to be like them instead of one of their true warlocks, sure, be my guests. Your adventuring career will probably be very short though.

You seem to be confused. Hexing and killing something isn't a sacrifice to their patron. Warlocks don't work that way. They don't worship their patron or make blood sacrifices to them. (They can, but it's not required. It's pact, not worship. More like a business relationship than a religious one.)

So please, don't attempt to tell me how my character and their relationship with their patron works. You aren't my DM and I'm not playing in your game world.

 

[abirdcall]

I don't know. The way I represent my worlds, I see a significant difference between smacking a small creature because somehow your act of violently shedding blood will cause your lawful good deity to heal one of your allies, and performing a ritual morning sacrifice of a creature to a fiendish patron to empower your magical abilities for the day.

The rules are written for simplicity and ease of use. They are not written to avoid this kind of abuse because that is wasted effort. There will always be a way to abuse them.

Otherwise there would be a blurb about Warlock sacrifices.

If you want there to be a thing about Warlock sacrifices in your game, there is nothing wrong with making that happen.

Say you were inspired by this rules abuse if you like.

Or if you think Warlocks are underpowered give them a free casting of Hex every day.

But call it what it is.

 

[Mirtek]

You aren't my DM

of course, otherwise you'd long since stopped trying to wiggle out an extra spell slot