Hexblade Warlock - Subclass Guide - Xanathar's - D&D 5e
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- Опубликовано: 3 июл 2024
- In this episode, Al takes a look at the Hexblade subclass for 5e Warlocks. Though the subclass has been around quite some time, it totally holds up.
Questions or feedback? Leave a comment!
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Music: Battle of the Creek by Alexander Nakarada (www.serpentsoundstudios.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons BY Attribution 4.0 License
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0:00 Introduction
0:46 Class Identity
1:46 Expanded Spell List
3:30 Hexblade's Curse
6:15 Hex Warrior
10:13 Accursed Spectre
14:27 Armor of Hexes
15:54 Master of Hexes
18:11 Overall Thoughts and Ranking
23:31 
Игры
I throw away the whole shadow fell idea . My hexblade was the last member of drwarf cleric order tasked with fleeing the under attack monastery with the relic they were tasked with protecting . A sentient hammer
That's absolutely awesome. Reflavoring the shadow fell bit is one of my favorite parts about seeing everyone's different Hexblade. It leaves a lot of room for creativity, like your cool sentient hammer character!
-Al
Such a badass backstory!
They should have played into the weapon focus, so each step (6th, 10th, 14th) is an addition to the weapons power, so it ends up as a representation of the "master blade".
I would love this as a player. The thing I gravitate most to, is the awesome blade that the class is named after. Less so spooky specters and the like. I understand the subclass can get pretty powerful, especially with some of the blade invocations, but more utility or power in melee could be nice. Thanks for the comment!
-Al
Just to clarify, the expanded spell list can be chosen from when selecting known spells, not added to what you know.
Yes! Thank you for clarifying! It is easy to get tripped up on that since Warlocks work differently in that regard than most other expanded lists. Thanks again!
-Al
@@ShortRestTabletop NO sweat! The rest of the guide/review was spot on and entertaining. Looking forward to seeing whats next
Enjoyed the video, very informative on how to make/develop a hexblade warlock. On the houserule, instead of diminishing the hexblade warlock by taking away a lower level bonus to the choice now requiring more stats to be boosted for survival and switching pact rules, why not just require anyone "dipping" into the class to have to dedicate 3 levels in it before switching back. If it's the "dip" you are trying to nerf, go after that in a houserule instead of impacting the player that wants a dedicated warlock. Thanks for sharing.
Hexblade, the class for those who grew up loving Bleach, especially if you have a DM who isn't afraid to reflavor it for you to suit whatever you're going for. Also, hands up to anyone who has done, or considered doing three levels hexblade and the rest in paladin. That being said, I do like use the first paragraph of the first hexblades ability and applying it to all Pact Of The Blade users to keep the other warlocks with variant patrons relevant.
My guy at level 20 is a hexbreaker hex blade oathbreaker I get plus 18 with thirsting blade and the oath breaker ability and that's without a actual magic weapon.
No mention of Elric's Stormbringer or Mournblade/Ravenbrand? Dragon Sword? A multidimensional blade that possesses its weilder is pure Moorcock. Also, in the context of Hexblade 'hex' means 'curse,' not just magic.
Really enjoy your presentation style. I'm going to play a hexblade in an upcoming campaign and this helped me understand what aspects I need to balance in terms of gameplay.
First off, thank you! I really appreciate your comment. I am super glad that you were able to get some value out of this video. I really hope you enjoy the hexblade, I know I sure do! :)
-Al
i decided to go with this for my first ever campaign. thanks for this video, super super helpful!
Imagine a Hexblade that was a vampire or monster hunter who seeked out a legendary sentient crossbow and made a pact with it
Just like someone else said, disregard the shadowefell, an acient samurai from a long long time ago got sealed into his katana when he was slain to make sure he never reigned terror again and now i found the sword, long ago one of his other users found out the spell couldnt be undone and now the samurai lives with it, being a sentiant katana, which has extreme power and he loans me power so i dont die, and he be left alone again for years to come
You can do something similar with any warlock if you pick Pact of the Tome at Level 3, and select Shillelagh from the druid's spell list as one of your cantrips. You can now attack with a d8 staff or club using your Charisma for attack and damage instead of Strength, and it counts as magical damage.
Thanks for vid
One simple fix my tables use for dipping into hexblade is to make the character have to obtain the weapon to make the multiclass with as the whole lore behind the hexblade is that they make a deal with some sentient weapon which logically can’t be done without having it to begin with
@james Deer i think you misread my comment this is specifically pertaining to multiclass dips into hexblade (say a fighter taking one level in hexblade) as the amount of features it gives for a single level is on the heavy side which is why I gave a solution that dosnt impact the class at all mechanic wise as if you are playing a full hexblade from level one this is just some backstory and flavour
love the content bros
Thank you!
-Al
A Shadar-Kai Hexblade Elf seems quite flavourful.
Two things I think could change to make the theme more coherent: The Accursed Specter is out of place and could be replaced, I just don't know what with; and Cone of Cold is a bit out of place on the spell list- it is a pretty good spell, don't get me wrong, but Steel Wind Strike would be a better 5th level addition for the theme.
To me, acursed spector feels the most out of place ability for the entire subclass, it feels like an after thought to try and stick with the shadowfell theme, and if u change that bit of theme/story the spector really feels out of place, for example like if u found a sentient weapon with an angel or some other "good" type creature within, in this case i have made a defensive ability reaction instead that gives a small boost to u or someone in ur party's ac temporarily (proficiency times per long rest) it makes the ability a bit more useful and waaaay less niche...
Kass’s sword was a hex blade made by Vecna if I’m not mistaken.
I kind of want to make a hexblade that hella fanboys for rogues and tries to be one while doing his own sound affects like cronk. with a hexblade dagger that is kind of anxious like he draws it and it’s like “oh geeze, this doesn’t look good” and when I stab with it and it’s like “oh yuck!”
I really like your idea of locking the Hex Warrior feature behind taking Pact of the Blade at third level. Taking a dip into Hexblade is quite powerful, especially for Swords/Valor Bards and Paladins; so making it so they have to commit to at least 3 warlock levels instead of taking 1 level and going "thanks for the new powers, see ya!" makes it a harder decision to take the Hexblade multi class and can also lead to some interesting role-play :)
Good in the "we don`t want level 1 Dips" way but now build a Warlock and make your start worse.
Now you need your Weapon stat ST or Dex way higher for level 1 and 2.
All ST Weapons are hard to pay with Attribut points in this way at level 1-2
(With Med Armor Dex is not the same problem) but you get only +2 with Med Armor.
I’m currently playing in a west March called the forged the concordance and I was planning on playing a hexblade flavored as a more sword in the stone sorta feeling being more of a Paladin
Ooo, I like the sword in the stone vibe quite a bit, very cool! I love the flexibility in flavor of this subclass, a character's weapon is so evocative of who they are as a person.
-Al
Okay, exactly how does Hex Warrior work? When I attack, what exactly am I rolling and what am I adding?
When you attack, you will roll your charisma modifier to hit (+your proficiency bonus if you are proficient in the weapon, which you should be). This means a level 1 hexblade with a 16 charisma will roll +5 (+3 from charisma and +2 from proficiency bonus). To hit, you would roll a d20 and add the +5.
For damage, you will roll the weapon damage dice plus your charisma modifier.
This would be 2d6+3 if you have 16 charisma and are wielding a great sword.
It basically allows you to use your charisma instead of strength or dexterity like you normally would. I hope that clarifies a bit!
ipotetically can't you bring along some small animals to curse and then kill to keep the curse active?
I multiclassed with rogue and use a long sword with the cha mod. The dex is for everything else
I really like the hexblade’s abilities, but the original description of the patron is just confusing. Everybody is reading it different and some think they are given a mighty sentient weapon to run around with at level one.
Yeah, it's kinda become a weird staple when the blade doesn't have to be sentient at all. The blade can just be an anchor, relic or housing for a spirit
Forgive my ignorance but what is a GISH type? I can only presume it is a acronym, and go from context, but I remain stumped. Help!
No forgiveness needed! It is an old term to describe basically a character who uses magic and martial ability. Here is an excerpt I found that explains it fairly concisely "The term originates in the Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) game, where it originally referred to a Githyanki fighter/wizard combination. Gish is still an official term used in D&D referring to this, but is also used to refer to any character who has a martial/spellcasting combination of abilities." It's just a bit of lingo that has resulted from older editions of the game :)
-Al
This is kind of what I was looking for except
I was wondering how the curses work I'll omen hex are different spells but they count for some bonuses??
Hello! I'd love to give you my thoughts on your question here, but I am not 100% certain of the question. I think I might be missing something, if you could elaborate further I'd love to offer my thoughts!
@@ShortRestTabletop there are warlock abilities that work with the three curses but they are all independent thing's
So I just don't get how it's supposed to work and not work together
Aka I feel like thing's stack that don't or are just pointless but are not
Just not sure what the aim is of the warlock skills are
I have a very dumb question. Can you use the sentient weapon that gave you your powers as an actual melee weapon? Or do you just carry them for the powers and use a random weapon
In my experience, if you roll up a hexblade with the sentient weapon flavor, the weapon that you actually use for combat is indeed the weapon from which you draw your power. Whether the weapon itself is the powerful being or, more commonly, a conduit for a much more powerful being that communicates and transfers power through the weapon. Hope that helps!
@@ShortRestTabletop I see! tysm
my DM let me swap out the Spector for Shadow (miss the ability to make more shadows) cuz i was going for a shadowfell fueled hexblade build
I like that a lot! Switching up the monster to suit your table and needs is awesome!
I don't like moving the cha bonus to Pact of the Blade for two reasons:
1. It pretty much ties Hexblade into that Pact.
2. It makes the Hexblade pretty crappy to play before level 3. You either have to have a secondary attack stat or you're sitting back with your martial weapons and good armor pinging Eldritch Blast at things.
Level 1 of hexblade is to powerful. Hex warrior with only profency in medium armor, shield and martial weapon still be a very good trait for level 1 and dont forget hexblade curse. Besides, pact of blade is to weak compared with the others pact and now you can be a bladelock with any patron and no feel like "you would be better bladelock is you take hexblade"
Okay, so I actually agree with both of your points pretty strongly. I do think the shift presents these new problems. However, I still think the rampant power of the level one dip and the "hexblade is the only good sword warlock" needs to be addressed. While I do think the moving the CHA bonus to pact of the blade is the easiest quick fix, if your worried about the side effects, you can mitigate those with further stipulations such as;
- Hexblades still get the CHA bonus at level one natively if you start as a hexblade. However, if you multiclass into Hexblade, you do not.
-The CHA bonus is still added to the pact of the blade. Other warlocks and multiclass builds can still get it, making them an effective Warlock spellswords. At the same time, hexblades aren't shoehorned into it since they already have it and two instances are redundant (no stacking).
That would be my more complicated fix that would help some of the issues you outlined, while still fixing the problems it set out to. Thanks for the comment!
Echo knight fighter or blood hunter might be cool
Echoe knight is mega fun
I'm not the most familiar with either of them, but I would love to take a deeper look at them. I will likely do a video on either or both! Thanks for the comment H.B., I always appreciate seeing you in our community!
-Al
I've been meaning to get around to looking at them, is there any fun shenanigans that you can do with them? Do you feel like they are balanced?
-Al
@@ShortRestTabletop well the are the most fighter subclass I’ve found that can make the most attacks they have a scout like echo form which is fun. And you are hard to pin down unless you get grappled so it’s a fun strength based character to zip around. And you can play as a support with it causing your echo to take the blow instead of your ally’s. Your echo is an object so most spells can’t target them. Summoning uses your bonus actions but it’s unlimited. If you get Uber low hide take some cover and have your echo do the heavy lifting. All in all solid class and wish to see more creative things like it
Does Armor of Hexes negate a critical hit against you?
If it is the target of your Hexblade's curse that is hitting you with the attack and you use your reaction to roll a 4 or higher on the d6, then it will miss even if it was a crit. If you roll 3 or lower it will still hit and still be a critical.
The text doing the heavy lifting here is the part of armor of hexes where it says "the attack instead misses you, regardless of its roll." This is a case where the specific rule (armor of hexes) carries more weight than the general rule (criticals)
3 level hexblade 17 bard(college of sword) and now you can lay dragon solo
Oh, for sure! Hexblade and swords bard is a nasty combo
-Al
@@ShortRestTabletop ye better ac and multiatack carry the world
My fellow players told I couldn't just murder vagrants if needed a spector
That is mega evil, but it gets the job done!
-Al
i dont understand , i got the dnd5 and hexblade warrior does not exist
As a DM I don't think I would allow a character to take 1 level in Hexblade just to get a couple of perks. Personally, I'm not a fan of that sort of min/maxing. Just my opinion.
That's totally fair! I can understand that, especially if the players are doing it only mechanically and don't work very hard to interweave it in their backstory. Just saying no to a 1 level hexblade dip is probably the easiest rule of them all. Though if everyone is not on the same page, it can get a little contentious and feel like you're being targeted. All that being said, If you have a mature table that is okay with it, I think just saying no to TOO min/max builds is the best way to go about it. Thanks for the comment and posting a totally viable and easy solution!
@james Deer exactly my thoughts. You shouldn't be a DM if you want to actively limit your players like that.
If you are > level 6 and the DM gives you no humanoid to fight… have a good look at your party, I mean is that annoying bard really that helpful? He looks kind of weak anyway… 🤪
Lmao! Now THERE's an idea 😂
-Al
There is no need to nerf the multiclass ability of the hexblade. It opens up a lot of options and that is the good thing. I dont see why there is this constant need to nerf everything where I look...lol. The game needs buffs, not more nerfs. Multiclassing, even one level, already can be bad for a lot of classes, and the ones it isnt bad for, probably need the help anyway...
Can someone please help address this elephant in the room: Attack with your weapon using charisma!?!?! What does this mean??? Using your strength or dex to blast through or sneak around defense makes sense. Simply willing your blade to hit is totally different. Everyone is just glossing over this point like ‘nice boon’, but every one seems afraid to tackle the role play part. What is actually happening here? The blade is not using power or finesse but personality? Is anyone role playing this?
Well theoretically you could play it as it being a sentient weapon, and your charisma is actually used to convince the weapon to help you be effective.
Would have preferred if the hexblade had been far more dedicated to the melee theme in the later levels. Instead of it being a random hodgepodge of ideas that are forced together into a subclass. All the meat is right at first level.
I agree the theming loses steam the further you get into the subclass.
So stereotypical to go the dark edge lord emo route…the legendary Arthur and Excalibur comes to mind as a more righteous concept.
For a celestial connection the angels Jophiel or Michael or Raphael or Gabriel all have swords etc.
You can also use Samurai Jack and/or Zatoichi as a reference.
Quit playing emo edge lords please, everyone is tired of it.