Personally I think hexblade's use of the CHA bonus for weapon attacks is pretty boring, so it's cool to see that I can be a STR warlock and still be effective. I might try this!
I think what's funny is this is my first time playing DnD - and when I went through it all - I decided to be a Warlock Polearms Master who specializes in Glaives lmao - now ChatGPT was not around when this video was made, but it definitely helped me work the same shit out that this video did
Using the UA invocations, the Improved/Superior/Ultimate pact weapon stacks nicely with the other benefits of this path. One of the best parts of this path, that I see, is that you do your damage without even expending your few WL spells slots. That goes a long way towards evening the difference in casting potency between the different spell casting classes. The Wiz or Sorc HAS to burn spell slots to make big hits, and thus gives up other options. The Glaivelock you describe here can wade in and do pretty solid damage with at least average survivability without burning his few slots, thus retaining them for special uses. Well thought out. I do wonder though, if there is enough room in this character build progression, for anything that isn't aimed directly at the combat abilities. When I read the WL class, I see a lot of potential as a spy/face/investigator role, and while this build definitely delivers potent combat, it may sacrifice a lot of those other roles to do so. Is it worth it?
I am playing this... Mountain dwarf with 17 str start, hvy armor at 4rth for plate mail and 18 str.... Fiend lock all the way, polearm master at 8th... Works the charm
Another fun thing to do with a Glaivelock is tack War Caster on top of your Polearm Master feat. Pair this with Repelling Blast and you can Eldritch Blast something when it comes within 10' of you and push it back 10' for every beam you have. Just make sure to taunt "You can't touch me!" while you do it.
It depends on your interpretation of the rules, I suppose. War Caster says "the spell ... must only target that creature." Compare that to Twinned Spell which has an errata to say it must not be able to target more than one creature. Twinned Spell's wording in the Player's Handbook is "spell that targets only one creature." Twinned Spell has a different wording and has an errata while War Caster has neither. In short, it's up to the DM to decide if "only target that creature" is a restriction on how the spell can ever be used or a restriction on how the spell can be used at that time.
Make a ranged spell attack. On hit, the target takes 1d10 force damage. The spell creates more beams when you reach higher levels: two at 5th, three at 11th, and four at 17th. You can direct the beams at the same OR different targets. Make separate attack rolls for each beam.
As an addition to this build, with the release of the Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica, we now have the Loxodon race as playable. This race lets you use your constitution rather than dexterity for your armor class modifier, making it pull double duty for your HP and AC. Thus you can focus on your constitution for defense and charisma for offense, with whatever you feel like doing for the rest of your stats.
I like this idea, have you done an updated version of this build with xanathars being published, the extra invocations and feats and so on that come into play.
You have the exact same idea I had! But to add to it, I would start (level one and two) as a Paladin so that I get heavy armor proficiency, fighting style and divine smite. Later I can use all those warlock spell slots (which replenish every short rest) to use divine smite on my first few attacks for massive damage. In the end, three levels in paladin is as far as I'd go, getting oath of devotion: sacred weapon in order to add my charisma damage to each attack again (from channel divinity). So that's 1d10+strength+charisma+charisma. Then add between 2 and 5 d8's worth of damage is you divine smite, depending on level. Heavy armor allows you to ignore dexterity and focus on strength and charisma. The fighting style is great weapon fighting so I can reroll 1's and 2's on all those extra dice from divine smite. Start out as a human with high strength and Charisma and use polearm mastery as a bonus feat. Pick up sentinel and then keep bumping Charisma. On using warlock spell slots for divine smite: rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/56889/if-i-multiclass-into-paladin-can-i-use-up-any-classs-spell-slots-for-divine-sm
Paladin doesn't go into Oaths until 3rd level. If a Patron poaches the Paladin before they hit that point, you're in the clear RP-wise. Nothing lost in your character. Of course, if you're open to allowing Unearthed Arcana stuff, there's some less evil Patrons you can pick. And the Undying Light Patron is actually from the Celestial Plane, which would make it benevolent.
you can't add your cha. mod. twice. if one ability says you add your cha. mod to the damage then another ability that says or does the same thing wouldn't give it again because you are already adding it in.
Chris, there is a way to add Charisma modifier twice. just not in the way discribed here, and you forgo your STR or DEX modifier if you do. Hexblade warlock from 1st level feature, than add lifedrinker at level 12, as it adds a whole other damage type in bonus damage to your weapon, also based on Charisma. also, I would personally allow the channel divinity option to stack with the Original modifiër, since it is a long rest resource you lose and can only use once during said period.
Actually Sacred weapon only adds your charisma to attack roles but NOT damage, but the warlock life drinker adds your charisma to damage and NOT attacks. So yea. Did not realise the great weapon feat could be used with smites tho, that looks fun.
I'm playing a Glaivelock right now, I'm not MAD at all. Hexblade patron is convenient, Charisma for everything. Glaivelock is really fun. I want Great Weapon Master but I'm really starved for feats. I have Polearm Master and Sentinel right now. Great Weapon Master is next on the list, was a hard sell between it and Sentinel.
I'm also on this path, just working out how to make the most out of it from a roleplay perspective, was debating about doing spear/shield but the loss of reach i haven't figured out how to compensate for yet so maybe just stay with glaive and 'redo the artwork to accommodate the look I'm after)
You can use Crossbow Master to also get a third attack. Even before Hexblade you just needed to make the Crossbow magic long enough to make it your pact weapon. Even if you or someone else casts Magic Weapon spell on it. Although to be fair that still isn’t a bow.
i know im about a year late now, but if you didnt know, with the raven queen blast lock's damage goes up again, because you can have hex with eldritch blast and spiritual weapon, effectively upping your max damage to 111! doubt you will see this though
Raven queen, It's a term I've been hearing more and more but I don't really know anything about it. Tell me where to find it and I'll got do some research, is it like UA or something? Also, I see everything and read all the comments at this point in time.
No that's from fighting styles available to classes like Fighter, Ranger, or College of the Sword Bard. The feat allows you to dual wield let's say 2 battleaxes or longswords (not light)
There is a loophole with the subclass hexblade: If you are pact of the blade, whatever your pact weapon is automatically gets your charisma bonus. There isn't any other restrictions that I have found with this, but that makes strength and dexterity not as useful.
For tome pact, you pick find familiar and use it as a ritual and you get the disadvantage cancelled out and get advantage on everything else through the help action on the familiar. For chain pact, you use your familiar the same way. Because of this, there is no such thing as disadvantage on eldritch blast. For a blade pact you get no such thing. Spell sniper also doesn't give any advantage or cancel disadvantage. What it does is to ignore half and 3/4 cover, double the range and you get an extra cantrip that does an attack roll. Warcaster might be the better choice even for an eldritch blaster as it gives the ability to cast a spell as an attack of opportunity, letting you cast your entire eldritch blast whenever someone goes out of your threat range. You also get advantage on constitution to maintain concentration, letting you keep hex up and you can perform somatic components with weapons and shields in your hands. (If you use a halberd, that would, RAW, mean that you get to spell people at reach as opportunity attacks). For calculating damage, the average is what should be used. That's when you add the minimum to the maximum and divide by 2. A halberd attack, d10 has an average of 5.5 damage ( (1+10) /2 ). In the long run, this is what your attacks are going to do when they hit. After that, add any modifiers such as GWM +10 dmg, hex 3.5 ( d6 = (1+6)/2 ) and strength modifier +4 (for 18 strength). That totals out to an average 5.5 + 10 + 3.5 + 4 = 23 damage per hit. For eldritch blast, the same would be d10 for 5.5 damage, hex 3.5, agonizing blast +4 from Cha modifier. Totalling a 5.5 + 3.5 + 4 = 13 dmg per hit. Now consider the hit rate. This will depend on the AC, but assume one enemy with 15 AC and one with 20 AC. For 15 AC, you hit on 15+. You roll a d20+mod, in both cases that's d20+4. That means that you have 5 as the lowest roll. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14 will miss on 15 AC. That's 10 different outcomes in 20 possible outcomes. That means that you will hit half of the time, or 0.5 or 50%. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 and 19 will miss on 20 AC. That's 15 outcomes in 20 possible. That means that you will hit a quarter of the time, or 0.25 or 25%. Now, using GWM you get a -5 penalty to hit. that means 5 more outcomes will miss, making 15 AC miss on 15 outcomes and 20 AC miss on 19 outcomes, since 20 is always a hit. So 15 AC means 0.25 or 25% hit rate 20 AC means 0.05 or 5% hit rate. So for GWM, the average dmg over all is 23 per hit times 0.25 on AC 15 = 5.75 dmg per attack (not per hit). For Eldritch blast, it is instead 13 per hit times 0.5 on AC 15 = 6.5 dmg per attack (again, not per hit). Crits are always 0.05 or 5% of the time, except when you crit on a 19. That means that we add 5% of the average dice dmg to both cases to get the final number. In both cases, that's 5.5 * 0.05 = 0.275, making the totals: GWM 6.025 AB 6.775 For 20 AC GWM = 23 * 0.05 + 0.275 = 1.425 dmg per attack AB = 13 * 0.25 + 0.275 = 3.525 dmg per attack So yes, you get more damage, but you hit -considerably- less often with GWM. This is why it's important to account for chance, and you can't do a comparison just by looking at max damage.
That was really concise, thanks for the formula to calculate average damage, i didn't know it. looking at your suggestion for "war caster", yes i can see your reasoning. that is a useful addition. On the topic of familiars, could you not use "Ritual caster" or "Magic initiate" as a supplement? you could get a familiar that way, of course it is another feat and there aren't many to spare. but as a melee combatant the blade lock would get advantage using team work with players so it's not a massive loss. Thanks for the feed back, a valuable addition too the discussion, much appreciated.
Drow Bard I think I did forget to use the proficiency for to-hit, but it's the same thing, just different numbers. As for Ritual Caster. Yes, it would work, however as you say yourself, it's another feat that you have to use up. Would you want to pick that up over for example polearm master and sentinel? Ritual Caster only allows 1 class and you use the spell DC and casting ability for that class, so the other spells may or may not be more or less worthless depending on what you find. For Magic Initiate, it would work, but you can't cast it as a ritual but have to expend a spell slot since Warlock doesn't have Ritual Casting as a feature. Tomelock bypasses this since the Book of Ancient Secrets unlocks ritual casting for Warlocks. Since Find Familiar is only 1 hour duration, it might be a bit icky to have to spend a bunch of slots all the time. As for getting advantage with other players, that would require them to take their help action instead of doing damage or for the DM to allow the flanking optional rule or by some other means. Not impossible to get, but for sure way more inconvenient and inconsistent than using a familiar. The main loss though is the damage and functionality. For example you can get Repelling blast along with Agonizing blast, to push the enemy back 10 feet for each blast that hits. 40 feet total at 4 blasts. You don't have to stay in melee to do combat, making you get a much safer position. You can use Eldritch Spear for 300 range, which, combined with spell sniper gives 600 range on your blasts. Bladelock just gets 2 attacks maximum and some extra damage with lifedrinker. Though you can probably do some cool stuff with polearm master and sentinel combined. However.. you need to up your AC significantly so that you don't die, at the same time, you need strength for the weapon and you need charisma for the lifedrinker and your spells and you need constitution for your health... As opposed to just playing eldritch blast from a range, where you can put whatever ability scores you want except for charisma. I'd love to see a way to get bladelock viable though because that's what I want to play for my next game from a theme perspective. It's just dumb that so much has to be sacrificed in order to make it kind of mediocre. There is a homebrew, Eldritch Blade cantrip, that aims to fix it, but I'm not sure it does too good of a job. But if you find a way to make it happen, you know one who wants to know :P I'll keep researching :/ Want my bladelock, but don't want my party to suffer from my choices.
No party ever suffers when the players are enjoying their characters. Again you make good and valid points, but play what makes you happy. Glaivelock is one i'd really enjoy if i got the opportunity.
What do you think of the build now with the buff to the Bladelocks, Fiend or Hexblade, in Xanathar's Guide to Everything? It seems like Glaivelocks, 2 handed Bladelocks and TWF Bladelocks are good and relatively on par with each other.
Some good stuff in the book now it's finally arrived. I don't know if your a regular viewer but I posted a video with my initial thoughts if you want to have a look.
I was thinking of building a very fey themed elven paladin-lock and was wondering how you'd think is the best way to do it, particularly on level division between the two.
Thus far I was thinking L8 Paladin (Oath of ancients) then L6 Celestial Warlock (Thinking rp some or other guardian of a nature celestial idea) and then I have no idea. Maybe some bard or something.
A paladin isn't locked into being the "holy warrior of justice and divine wrath" in 5e like it use to be in previous editions, so you can doble up and have an archfey as both your patron and your "source of divine power"
So I'm a Tiefling Fighter/Hexblade ---- should I take the Great Weapon Master feat first, or the Polearm Master duing char progression? My thinking is that Greatswords do more dmg @ 2D6 vs. 1D10 for polearms.
Pole arm master's 2nd ability usually gets overlooked when discussing damage. "While you are wielding a glaive, halberd, pike, quarterstaff, or spear, other creatures provoke an opportunity attack from you when they enter your reach." Remember your reach is 10'. I ultimately feel it's up the the player to decide which direction they want to take with their pc, but I wanted to give an option to consider.
no, pg 107-108 PHB doesn't say that. XGTE pg 55 says no two handed weapons but if you later get pact of the blade then those restrictions are removed. This is an old video though, long before Xanathar's guide to everything was availible.
Hi Bard, stumbled on to your content and I quite enjoy it. My question is what do you think about Mountain Dwarf for their armor proficiency? My concern with being Dragonborn is its squishiness. I'd like to play mono class with no dip and using point buy. The level cap will be 15 but 20 is a possibility. How would you build it with the conditions I've provided. Thanks again for the great videos.
Hows it going, thanks for the comment, i'm happy you like the content. hope we'll enjoy more comments in the future and hope you'll continue to support the channel. Dwarves are something that go under the radar with me, I just don't think about them. now that you have brought them to my attention, yes, it's an excellent choice, I like Dragonborn for it's resistance though. so.... points buy..... not something I use. Dwarf Bladelock Str:14 (16) Dex:12 Con:14(16) Int:8 Wis:10 Cha:14 Feat: Polearm Master, warcaster at 4th? Invocations: Agonizing blast, Fiendish vigor (maybe swap it later) Thirsting blade at lv 5. patron is probably not an issue but i think "Fiend" makes for better survivability. maybe sage, hermit or Charlatan background. Get Eldritch blast, Minor illusion is great utility. Hex is your best friend. Remember, you are a "Second rank warrior" use a tank/sentinel/sponge as cover.
Dragonborn, i may drop wisdom to 8 and up charisma to 15 (16) with race adjustment. fire is a element you see a lot so it's good to have resistance to it, so red it a respectable choice. but you're best off picking the character you want to play. I myself can be a bit of a prankster so copper is one i'd enjoy playing.
No worries, it just a common argument im sick of talking about in my gaming circles. Where everyone does their "math" on why this is the best yet often measures only by 100% hit rate and max damage on every roll. It works best comparing minium damage ranges or even the mean to each other rather than max damage potential, it end up being misleading. Especialy when you looking at lvl 15-20 numbers which most players will never actualy see since most modules and games lose momentum in the early teens or just straight end, I find building characters for lvl 10 instead of 20 to be more realistic. Though I do agree with you, that Blade Lock can be complely useful and fun to play even though ive never seen anyone else actualy play it instead of theory craft it. (Amoung a few other intresting builds of course, ive never actualy seen any Skill Monkey builds either but talked about often)
Why cut for the title cards and blast music at us? It's a waste of time and energy. Why show us a shot of Ashe instead of showing us the weapon, or something D&D related, or a character sheet, or something even slightly relevant? Your microphone isn't bad and your voice isn't displeasing, all you need is a little production. The graph is ugly but it was nice to see you thought this through more than just a photo of Ashe.
I thought you said you re-edited this? You mean THIS is the one you wanted us to see? (NERVE!!!! DAMAGE!!!!!!! FROM!!!!!!!!! SHREDDING!!!!!!!!!!!! MUSIC!!!!) No thanks. Unwatchable.
This is literally the best dnd warlock video. You deserve more subs!
Personally I think hexblade's use of the CHA bonus for weapon attacks is pretty boring, so it's cool to see that I can be a STR warlock and still be effective. I might try this!
You can use charisma for any weapon
This video was before hexblade
I like your videos, and I love Korn, so no complaints from me!
your volume control with your music makes me unable to listen to this video
i know, its pretty old, still, improving with practice :)
Drow Bard otherwise I wanted to hear you opinion. cheers mate
I'm just here to help, thank you.
I think what's funny is this is my first time playing DnD - and when I went through it all - I decided to be a Warlock Polearms Master who specializes in Glaives lmao - now ChatGPT was not around when this video was made, but it definitely helped me work the same shit out that this video did
Using the UA invocations, the Improved/Superior/Ultimate pact weapon stacks nicely with the other benefits of this path. One of the best parts of this path, that I see, is that you do your damage without even expending your few WL spells slots. That goes a long way towards evening the difference in casting potency between the different spell casting classes. The Wiz or Sorc HAS to burn spell slots to make big hits, and thus gives up other options. The Glaivelock you describe here can wade in and do pretty solid damage with at least average survivability without burning his few slots, thus retaining them for special uses.
Well thought out.
I do wonder though, if there is enough room in this character build progression, for anything that isn't aimed directly at the combat abilities. When I read the WL class, I see a lot of potential as a spy/face/investigator role, and while this build definitely delivers potent combat, it may sacrifice a lot of those other roles to do so. Is it worth it?
I am playing this... Mountain dwarf with 17 str start, hvy armor at 4rth for plate mail and 18 str.... Fiend lock all the way, polearm master at 8th... Works the charm
Another fun thing to do with a Glaivelock is tack War Caster on top of your Polearm Master feat. Pair this with Repelling Blast and you can Eldritch Blast something when it comes within 10' of you and push it back 10' for every beam you have. Just make sure to taunt "You can't touch me!" while you do it.
Eldritch blast is multi-target from lv 5 onwards, i doubt it'd work.
It depends on your interpretation of the rules, I suppose. War Caster says "the spell ... must only target that creature." Compare that to Twinned Spell which has an errata to say it must not be able to target more than one creature. Twinned Spell's wording in the Player's Handbook is "spell that targets only one creature." Twinned Spell has a different wording and has an errata while War Caster has neither.
In short, it's up to the DM to decide if "only target that creature" is a restriction on how the spell can ever be used or a restriction on how the spell can be used at that time.
Possibly, I like 5e but I reckon if they wrote errata for everything the book needs then we'd probably have a 6th edition :)
Make a ranged spell attack. On hit, the target takes 1d10 force damage.
The spell creates more beams when you reach higher levels: two at 5th, three at 11th, and four at 17th. You can direct the beams at the same OR different targets. Make separate attack rolls for each beam.
As an addition to this build, with the release of the Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica, we now have the Loxodon race as playable.
This race lets you use your constitution rather than dexterity for your armor class modifier, making it pull double duty for your HP and AC.
Thus you can focus on your constitution for defense and charisma for offense, with whatever you feel like doing for the rest of your stats.
I like this idea, have you done an updated version of this build with xanathars being published, the extra invocations and feats and so on that come into play.
THREE attacks?? i was so proud of my super weak 'lock's two finesse weapon attacks with hex and rebukes
You have the exact same idea I had! But to add to it, I would start (level one and two) as a Paladin so that I get heavy armor proficiency, fighting style and divine smite. Later I can use all those warlock spell slots (which replenish every short rest) to use divine smite on my first few attacks for massive damage. In the end, three levels in paladin is as far as I'd go, getting oath of devotion: sacred weapon in order to add my charisma damage to each attack again (from channel divinity). So that's 1d10+strength+charisma+charisma. Then add between 2 and 5 d8's worth of damage is you divine smite, depending on level.
Heavy armor allows you to ignore dexterity and focus on strength and charisma.
The fighting style is great weapon fighting so I can reroll 1's and 2's on all those extra dice from divine smite. Start out as a human with high strength and Charisma and use polearm mastery as a bonus feat. Pick up sentinel and then keep bumping Charisma.
On using warlock spell slots for divine smite:
rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/56889/if-i-multiclass-into-paladin-can-i-use-up-any-classs-spell-slots-for-divine-sm
That's a good idea, of course certain oaths/patron combinations could be...questionable
Paladin doesn't go into Oaths until 3rd level.
If a Patron poaches the Paladin before they hit that point, you're in the clear RP-wise.
Nothing lost in your character.
Of course, if you're open to allowing Unearthed Arcana stuff, there's some less evil Patrons you can pick.
And the Undying Light Patron is actually from the Celestial Plane, which would make it benevolent.
you can't add your cha. mod. twice. if one ability says you add your cha. mod to the damage then another ability that says or does the same thing wouldn't give it again because you are already adding it in.
Chris, there is a way to add Charisma modifier twice. just not in the way discribed here, and you forgo your STR or DEX modifier if you do. Hexblade warlock from 1st level feature, than add lifedrinker at level 12, as it adds a whole other damage type in bonus damage to your weapon, also based on Charisma.
also, I would personally allow the channel divinity option to stack with the Original modifiër, since it is a long rest resource you lose and can only use once during said period.
Actually Sacred weapon only adds your charisma to attack roles but NOT damage, but the warlock life drinker adds your charisma to damage and NOT attacks. So yea. Did not realise the great weapon feat could be used with smites tho, that looks fun.
I'm playing a Glaivelock right now, I'm not MAD at all. Hexblade patron is convenient, Charisma for everything. Glaivelock is really fun. I want Great Weapon Master but I'm really starved for feats. I have Polearm Master and Sentinel right now. Great Weapon Master is next on the list, was a hard sell between it and Sentinel.
This was uploaded before Hexblade was released.
I'm also on this path, just working out how to make the most out of it from a roleplay perspective, was debating about doing spear/shield but the loss of reach i haven't figured out how to compensate for yet so maybe just stay with glaive and 'redo the artwork to accommodate the look I'm after)
I'm wondering why a video about a glaive fighter features an archer for the entire video?
Harsh, but fair ;)
Because Ashe is best ADC girl
You can use Crossbow Master to also get a third attack. Even before Hexblade you just needed to make the Crossbow magic long enough to make it your pact weapon. Even if you or someone else casts Magic Weapon spell on it. Although to be fair that still isn’t a bow.
Sentinel plus polearm master can get you 4 attacks in a round pretty early on.
How do you get 4? I thought reactions can only be taken once before your next turn
Averages are important because of low end total being differing too. Average is just (max + min)/2.
Go back to 3rd grade
i know im about a year late now, but if you didnt know, with the raven queen blast lock's damage goes up again, because you can have hex with eldritch blast and spiritual weapon, effectively upping your max damage to 111! doubt you will see this though
Raven queen, It's a term I've been hearing more and more but I don't really know anything about it. Tell me where to find it and I'll got do some research, is it like UA or something? Also, I see everything and read all the comments at this point in time.
oh thats cool! and yes it is a UA you can find it here: media.wizards.com/2017/dnd/downloads/20170213_Wizrd_Wrlck_UAv2_i48nf.pdf
although the hexblade there is a little different than the released version
Well since you are including feats with two weapon fighting you get to add strength modifier to the off hand
No that's from fighting styles available to classes like Fighter, Ranger, or College of the Sword Bard. The feat allows you to dual wield let's say 2 battleaxes or longswords (not light)
I could use a billhook for this right?
Please put more loud, annoying, awful music clips in your videos.
hehe. I always do. still, give a guy a break. this video is like ancient for me, we can't all be pro in the beginning ;)
Drow Bard I like the music lol little loud but I like it
There is a loophole with the subclass hexblade:
If you are pact of the blade, whatever your pact weapon is automatically gets your charisma bonus. There isn't any other restrictions that I have found with this, but that makes strength and dexterity not as useful.
That's actually a The Hexblade feature and NOT Pact of the Blade
Its both pact of the blade makes 2h weapon cha bonus, but the bonus comes from hex warrior skill
Can you give me a page? I just made one of these characters and want to get the best bonuses I can
Xanarths page 55 for hex warrior and pact of the blade is page 107 PHB.
O and there was a officeel tweet on the internet from wizards of the coast about pact of the blade giving 2h the CHA bonus because of hex warrior :)
For tome pact, you pick find familiar and use it as a ritual and you get the disadvantage cancelled out and get advantage on everything else through the help action on the familiar.
For chain pact, you use your familiar the same way.
Because of this, there is no such thing as disadvantage on eldritch blast.
For a blade pact you get no such thing.
Spell sniper also doesn't give any advantage or cancel disadvantage. What it does is to ignore half and 3/4 cover, double the range and you get an extra cantrip that does an attack roll.
Warcaster might be the better choice even for an eldritch blaster as it gives the ability to cast a spell as an attack of opportunity, letting you cast your entire eldritch blast whenever someone goes out of your threat range. You also get advantage on constitution to maintain concentration, letting you keep hex up and you can perform somatic components with weapons and shields in your hands.
(If you use a halberd, that would, RAW, mean that you get to spell people at reach as opportunity attacks).
For calculating damage, the average is what should be used. That's when you add the minimum to the maximum and divide by 2.
A halberd attack, d10 has an average of 5.5 damage ( (1+10) /2 ). In the long run, this is what your attacks are going to do when they hit. After that, add any modifiers such as GWM +10 dmg, hex 3.5 ( d6 = (1+6)/2 ) and strength modifier +4 (for 18 strength). That totals out to an average 5.5 + 10 + 3.5 + 4 = 23 damage per hit.
For eldritch blast, the same would be d10 for 5.5 damage, hex 3.5, agonizing blast +4 from Cha modifier.
Totalling a 5.5 + 3.5 + 4 = 13 dmg per hit.
Now consider the hit rate. This will depend on the AC, but assume one enemy with 15 AC and one with 20 AC.
For 15 AC, you hit on 15+.
You roll a d20+mod, in both cases that's d20+4. That means that you have 5 as the lowest roll.
5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14 will miss on 15 AC. That's 10 different outcomes in 20 possible outcomes. That means that you will hit half of the time, or 0.5 or 50%.
5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 and 19 will miss on 20 AC. That's 15 outcomes in 20 possible. That means that you will hit a quarter of the time, or 0.25 or 25%.
Now, using GWM you get a -5 penalty to hit.
that means 5 more outcomes will miss, making 15 AC miss on 15 outcomes and 20 AC miss on 19 outcomes, since 20 is always a hit.
So 15 AC means 0.25 or 25% hit rate
20 AC means 0.05 or 5% hit rate.
So for GWM, the average dmg over all is 23 per hit times 0.25 on AC 15 = 5.75 dmg per attack (not per hit).
For Eldritch blast, it is instead 13 per hit times 0.5 on AC 15 = 6.5 dmg per attack (again, not per hit).
Crits are always 0.05 or 5% of the time, except when you crit on a 19. That means that we add 5% of the average dice dmg to both cases to get the final number. In both cases, that's 5.5 * 0.05 = 0.275, making the totals:
GWM 6.025
AB 6.775
For 20 AC
GWM = 23 * 0.05 + 0.275 = 1.425 dmg per attack
AB = 13 * 0.25 + 0.275 = 3.525 dmg per attack
So yes, you get more damage, but you hit -considerably- less often with GWM.
This is why it's important to account for chance, and you can't do a comparison just by looking at max damage.
That was really concise, thanks for the formula to calculate average damage, i didn't know it. looking at your suggestion for "war caster", yes i can see your reasoning. that is a useful addition.
On the topic of familiars, could you not use "Ritual caster" or "Magic initiate" as a supplement? you could get a familiar that way, of course it is another feat and there aren't many to spare. but as a melee combatant the blade lock would get advantage using team work with players so it's not a massive loss.
Thanks for the feed back, a valuable addition too the discussion, much appreciated.
Drow Bard I think I did forget to use the proficiency for to-hit, but it's the same thing, just different numbers.
As for Ritual Caster. Yes, it would work, however as you say yourself, it's another feat that you have to use up. Would you want to pick that up over for example polearm master and sentinel? Ritual Caster only allows 1 class and you use the spell DC and casting ability for that class, so the other spells may or may not be more or less worthless depending on what you find.
For Magic Initiate, it would work, but you can't cast it as a ritual but have to expend a spell slot since Warlock doesn't have Ritual Casting as a feature. Tomelock bypasses this since the Book of Ancient Secrets unlocks ritual casting for Warlocks. Since Find Familiar is only 1 hour duration, it might be a bit icky to have to spend a bunch of slots all the time.
As for getting advantage with other players, that would require them to take their help action instead of doing damage or for the DM to allow the flanking optional rule or by some other means. Not impossible to get, but for sure way more inconvenient and inconsistent than using a familiar.
The main loss though is the damage and functionality. For example you can get Repelling blast along with Agonizing blast, to push the enemy back 10 feet for each blast that hits. 40 feet total at 4 blasts. You don't have to stay in melee to do combat, making you get a much safer position. You can use Eldritch Spear for 300 range, which, combined with spell sniper gives 600 range on your blasts.
Bladelock just gets 2 attacks maximum and some extra damage with lifedrinker. Though you can probably do some cool stuff with polearm master and sentinel combined. However.. you need to up your AC significantly so that you don't die, at the same time, you need strength for the weapon and you need charisma for the lifedrinker and your spells and you need constitution for your health... As opposed to just playing eldritch blast from a range, where you can put whatever ability scores you want except for charisma.
I'd love to see a way to get bladelock viable though because that's what I want to play for my next game from a theme perspective. It's just dumb that so much has to be sacrificed in order to make it kind of mediocre. There is a homebrew, Eldritch Blade cantrip, that aims to fix it, but I'm not sure it does too good of a job. But if you find a way to make it happen, you know one who wants to know :P
I'll keep researching :/
Want my bladelock, but don't want my party to suffer from my choices.
No party ever suffers when the players are enjoying their characters. Again you make good and valid points, but play what makes you happy. Glaivelock is one i'd really enjoy if i got the opportunity.
additionally, i think find familiar is 1 hour cast time, instantaneous duration. so once you got it it's there till dead or dismissed.
Drow Bard Ah yes, you're right. I saw casting time as duration.
So essentially it's no problem casting it as non-ritual then.
Watching this vid. I noticed u don’t mention Eldritch Smite. When was ES added in the books?
What do you think of the build now with the buff to the Bladelocks, Fiend or Hexblade, in Xanathar's Guide to Everything? It seems like Glaivelocks, 2 handed Bladelocks and TWF Bladelocks are good and relatively on par with each other.
Some good stuff in the book now it's finally arrived. I don't know if your a regular viewer but I posted a video with my initial thoughts if you want to have a look.
Improved Pact Weapon. +1 Magical weapons that (as Hexblade) can be any form, and can use your Charisma.
And you only need one stat.
I was thinking of building a very fey themed elven paladin-lock and was wondering how you'd think is the best way to do it, particularly on level division between the two.
Leave that on with me and i'll look it over.
Thus far I was thinking L8 Paladin (Oath of ancients) then L6 Celestial Warlock (Thinking rp some or other guardian of a nature celestial idea) and then I have no idea. Maybe some bard or something.
A paladin isn't locked into being the "holy warrior of justice and divine wrath" in 5e like it use to be in previous editions, so you can doble up and have an archfey as both your patron and your "source of divine power"
Almost turned off when you said go from DEX to STR... Why on earth why wouldn't you use CHA?
because hexblade wasn't available at the time.
So I'm a Tiefling Fighter/Hexblade ---- should I take the Great Weapon Master feat first, or the Polearm Master duing char progression? My thinking is that Greatswords do more dmg @ 2D6 vs. 1D10 for polearms.
Pole arm master's 2nd ability usually gets overlooked when discussing damage.
"While you are wielding a glaive, halberd, pike, quarterstaff, or spear, other creatures provoke an opportunity attack from you when they enter your reach." Remember your reach is 10'.
I ultimately feel it's up the the player to decide which direction they want to take with their pc, but I wanted to give an option to consider.
I thought it was explicitly stated you couldn't get things with 'two handed' as pact weapons?
no, pg 107-108 PHB doesn't say that. XGTE pg 55 says no two handed weapons but if you later get pact of the blade then those restrictions are removed. This is an old video though, long before Xanathar's guide to everything was availible.
Hi Bard, stumbled on to your content and I quite enjoy it. My question is what do you think about Mountain Dwarf for their armor proficiency? My concern with being Dragonborn is its squishiness. I'd like to play mono class with no dip and using point buy. The level cap will be 15 but 20 is a possibility. How would you build it with the conditions I've provided. Thanks again for the great videos.
Hows it going, thanks for the comment, i'm happy you like the content. hope we'll enjoy more comments in the future and hope you'll continue to support the channel.
Dwarves are something that go under the radar with me, I just don't think about them. now that you have brought them to my attention, yes, it's an excellent choice, I like Dragonborn for it's resistance though. so.... points buy.....
not something I use.
Dwarf Bladelock
Str:14 (16)
Dex:12
Con:14(16)
Int:8
Wis:10
Cha:14
Feat: Polearm Master, warcaster at 4th?
Invocations: Agonizing blast, Fiendish vigor (maybe swap it later) Thirsting blade at lv 5.
patron is probably not an issue but i think "Fiend" makes for better survivability.
maybe sage, hermit or Charlatan background.
Get Eldritch blast, Minor illusion is great utility.
Hex is your best friend.
Remember, you are a "Second rank warrior" use a tank/sentinel/sponge as cover.
Drow Bard What Dragonborn resistance do you pick? Would you use the same stat/feat set up for them as well?
Dragonborn, i may drop wisdom to 8 and up charisma to 15 (16) with race adjustment. fire is a element you see a lot so it's good to have resistance to it, so red it a respectable choice. but you're best off picking the character you want to play. I myself can be a bit of a prankster so copper is one i'd enjoy playing.
Hexblade solves this problem
So with Hexblade out now, is it still better to be Fiend Pact for the Glaivelock?
Hexblade is pretty much the go too now.
Drow Bard thank you and welcome back :)
man… I loved the info but your segue songs are not bearable volume wise…
Pick up some ogre gauntlets
Lifedrinker?
Your Cha bonus on damage, Pg111. but I expect you've found it by now :)
Drow Bard
I was curious about the reason you did not include it.
You're trollin' me buddy :) I mentioned it loads Haha, did you watch the whole thing?
The way you pronounce the word "Halberd" infuriates me to no end, lol
Sorry :)
your voice is so low and then loud ass metal starts.... why? why the music!
Same lol
You should have reveresed the graph to show minium damage your going to do, not max. Thats cherry picking.
possibly, thought i was completely open with my intentions from the start.
No worries, it just a common argument im sick of talking about in my gaming circles. Where everyone does their "math" on why this is the best yet often measures only by 100% hit rate and max damage on every roll. It works best comparing minium damage ranges or even the mean to each other rather than max damage potential, it end up being misleading. Especialy when you looking at lvl 15-20 numbers which most players will never actualy see since most modules and games lose momentum in the early teens or just straight end, I find building characters for lvl 10 instead of 20 to be more realistic. Though I do agree with you, that Blade Lock can be complely useful and fun to play even though ive never seen anyone else actualy play it instead of theory craft it. (Amoung a few other intresting builds of course, ive never actualy seen any Skill Monkey builds either but talked about often)
minimum is still missleading, why not just do averages...
Why cut for the title cards and blast music at us? It's a waste of time and energy. Why show us a shot of Ashe instead of showing us the weapon, or something D&D related, or a character sheet, or something even slightly relevant? Your microphone isn't bad and your voice isn't displeasing, all you need is a little production.
The graph is ugly but it was nice to see you thought this through more than just a photo of Ashe.
I know, I know, old video. Possibly one of the oldest in fact. Fear not, we've improved much since then.
I thought you said you re-edited this? You mean THIS is the one you wanted us to see?
(NERVE!!!! DAMAGE!!!!!!! FROM!!!!!!!!! SHREDDING!!!!!!!!!!!! MUSIC!!!!)
No thanks. Unwatchable.
True, But it was a long time ago and volume has be corrected in the future vids.
I did not see it on your graph. Sorry. People on drugs shpuld not type.
Dude, lose the music. We aren't here to listen to death-metal. It's a big turnoff.
Thomas Theobald yes I personally get turned on otherwise