Interesting stuff.
10th level is high level at most tables according to players. Few tables get that high.
And multiclassing is a nerf as it slows down your progression too much. You have to you power combinations just to compete
So no. Stacking these 2 styles is strong but its a HUGE nerf if you dip more than 2 levels of either class.
My group had the same "issues" in 4e. Our group powergames quite a lot and we play quite strategically, so we cut through "hard" encounters like they were nothing. Just gotta design tougher encounters if that's the case, and if that is a problem. Have stronger enemies. Have more enemies. Have enemies that the players aren't used to dealing with. Have encounters that puts the party at a disadvantage.
Here's the issue: one of the major themes/balancing factors of the warlock class is that their power comes at a price. They bargain with powerful, dangerous beings to get their powers. And eventually, somehow, they have to pay. (Or cheat.) Every GM handles this differently: it can be a personal side quest, central campaign plot line, or handled "off-screen", but it's always been part of the warlock class. You play a warlock, you're going to have "patron problems" at some point.
They've kinda thrown all that aside with the Undying Light warlock, so yeah, I'll definitely come up with an actual Named Outsider associated with positive energy (or maybe a celestial?) if I have someone play one of these in my campaign. All I can say for sure is that whoever wrote this totally failed to "get" the central theme of the warlock class. Mechanically, it's interesting. From an RP standpoint, it's a failure.
PHB pg105 said:A warlock is defined by a pact with an otherworldly being. Sometimes the relationship between warlock and patron is like that of a cleric and a deity, though the beings that serve as patrons for warlocks are not gods. A warlock might lead a cult dedicated to a demon prince, an archdevil, or an utterly alien entity-beings not typically served by clerics. More often, though, the arrangement is similar to that between a master and an apprentice. The warlock learns and grows in power, at the cost of occasional services performed on the patron's behalf.
PHB pg106 said:Your patron's demands might drive you into adventures, or they might consist entirely of small favors you can do between adventures.
What kind of relationship do you have with your patron? Is it friendly, antagonistic, uneasy, or romantic? How important does your patron consider you to be? What part do you play in your patron's plans? Do you know other servants of your patron?
It may be a subjective, but I think that most of the best features in the game are gained in early lvls while high lvl feature lack.
most of the base classes after lvl 11 progress VERY slowly.
But talking specifically you really think that a ranger 6 is gonna perform better that a ranger 5/fighter 1 with both fighting styles?
You really think that it wouldn't be woth going even fighter 2 for the action surge?
There are SO many cases where multiclass build outperform single class builds that i can't list them.
Multiclass is very powerful in this game and is convenient even without these fighting styles, now it opens even more options but i don't believe they are balanced.
+ 3 to attack with ranged attacks is OP in this edition.
Have you actually read the warlock in the PHB or are you simply projecting what you thing the warlock should be onto the class.
No where does it say that they HAVE to pay a price. While it's a common FLUFF theme behind the warlock it's not a pre-requisite to the class. The character never has to pay up (or cheat) their benefactor if that's not the story that they create.
A perfectly valid warlock story is that they're on friendly terms with their patron who is teaching them just like a wizard and an apprentice. Does the wizard, or fighter for that matter, have to pay up to their mentor?
It gets frustrating to me how many people get stuck in this "they've sold their soul" way of thinking and lock the warlock, and only the warlock, into this one and only way their fluff can go.
I was going to make a "Paladin of Wrath" by re-skinning the infernal warlock but I think I can use this new Undying Light just as well.