D&D 5E Melee Barbarian/Warlock

brehobit · Aug 27, 2014

Hi folks,
I'd love to hear thoughts on this character: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1s7vTgl1KRuR78BDTmMIdJDLbWaRs3RTLhx3CE6QLrDE/edit?usp=sharing

I think he can nearly keep pace with pure warrior types. Close in he's doing 3 attacks per round, which when combined with Hex could be very effective. Or he can rage (can't do both). And Rage plus Armor of Agathys is really gross (the general consensus is that resistance reduces temp. hit point damage, meaning the armor can do huge amounts of damage in melee). Statted up with half plate, but has an AC of 13 with no armor.

At range he's _probably_ doing 2 attacks at d10+2 each. Only +5 to attack. Not great, but when combined with Hex is respectable (against AC 16 expected damage is 11/round).

He has a fair number of options and weird powers due to spells and invocations.

Thoughts? Errors? Things I should clearly change?

(For those that care, this is an attempt to translate a 3e Barbarian 1/Warlock 6 to 5e. It worked much better than the other translations I've been looking at. Used standard char. creation rules with optional human feat).

sithramir · Aug 27, 2014

Why +7 next to 18? Its +5. Is that supposed to be for some other check other than just strength

Make sure that when you do reactions you cannot use them while raging at the same time with your polearm

Mandragola · Aug 27, 2014

Rage and armour of agathys does seem to work pretty well. Taking barbarian first gives you con saves, which is handy for maintaining hex. Makes you proficient with stuff too.

I'd consider combat caster instead of polearm. You're going to get hit and, though you may not take much/any damage, you can expect to lose your hex sometimes. But with a decent con, con save proficiency and advantage on saves, you're a lot more likely to keep it. It's actually really nice to have the option to rage or hex, so that if you're unable to get short rests you can still do something. Maybe you just cast armour of agathys and rage, and forget about hex.

I'd argue for having a 2nd level of barbarian - though that might not be an option when converting over. That 2nd level gives you the option of reckless attack, which means more crits. In 5th I think it makes sense to eventually get a 4th level in any multiclass, for the stat boost. All of levels 1-4 give out really solid bonuses. What they don't do though is progress your spellcasting or get you nearer to lifedrinker. But with such a low charisma that isn't really a huge deal, and in fact your casting won't be amazing anyway. Better to focus more on melee, perhaps.

Good concept though and fine as it is I think. Warlocks are weird, but that's ok!

brehobit · Aug 28, 2014

sithramir said:
Why +7 next to 18? Its +5. Is that supposed to be for some other check other than just strength

It's for his strength save. +4 for stat, +3 for prof.

Make sure that when you do reactions you cannot use them while raging at the same time with your polearm

This confused me, does raging somehow prevent reactions? If so, I missed it.

Essenti · Aug 28, 2014

brehobit said:
This confused me, does raging somehow prevent reactions? If so, I missed it.

I was trying to understand this one too, I have found nothing in the rules that disallow reactions while raging... I think this is a holdover from the last playtest, which did have a rage drawback that disallowed reactions, except for opportunity attacks.

sithramir · Aug 29, 2014

Oops it is only from the playtest. I keep mixing things up. My bad!

Lean Dro · Oct 30, 2017

"Close in he's doing 3 attacks per round".

How can you do 3 attacks with one action? "Thirsting blade" gives you a second attack. The third one?

Same with "At range he's _probably_ doing 2 attacks". I'm counting just one.

Caliban · Oct 30, 2017

Lean Dro said:
"Close in he's doing 3 attacks per round".

How can you do 3 attacks with one action? "Thirsting blade" gives you a second attack. The third one?

Same with "At range he's _probably_ doing 2 attacks". I'm counting just one.

Polearm Master feat - gives a bonus action attack for 1d4+str when using a polarm.

At range, he would be using Eldritch Blast for two ranged attacks. (And presumably not raging, since you can't cast when raging.)

Armor of Agathys+Rage works.

Hex+Eldritch Blast works.

Hex+Rage doesn't work, since you can't concentrate while raging.

I think it's a decent concept, I've been thinking of making a character like this myself at some point. Probably with 3-5 levels of barbarian. (Bear totem for resistances, possibly barb 5 for the extra attack so I can take a different Warlock pact.)

Blue · Oct 31, 2017

I like the character. A couple of questions:

With a CHR of 14, are you really getting a good return on using an action to cast a spell with an attack roll or DC? I might want to drop spells that require that. Though Fireball does fill a niche you don't otherwise have covered. On the other hand you have your normal reaction actions plus the Polearm master one - I'm not sure that Hellish Rebuke is worth it's niche usage even before the low DC. Prot from Good/Evil is equally niche, but has great effects when you need it. Unseen servant has a lot of out-of-combat uses. And Command from your patron list is one of the few non-concentration debuffs - have a foe drop a weapon and then use your free item interaction to pick it up or kick it away on your turn before they can pick it up. Or flee, provoking an opportunity attack, plus the following round another one because of polearm master. (Though it does suffer from low DC.)

BTW, it's I'm nitpicking on spell choices, it's because I found the rest solid and nothing to improve. So good job. Conversions of characters often run into design philosophy changes that spawned the new edition in the first place.