How to play a Hexblade without being an Edgelord | Dungeons & Dragons Warlock Subclass

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Күн бұрын

We give you everything you need to know when making a hexblade warlock in this video. Covering the abilites, feats, spells, races and eldrtich invocations all in one video.This subclass can be found in Xanathar's guide to Everything and is one of the best warlock subclasses for melee and close combat.
"You have made your pact with a mysterious entity from the Shadowfell - a force that manifests in sentient magic weapons carved from the stuff of shadow. The mighty sword Blackrazor is the most notable of these weapons, which have been spread across the multiverse over the ages. The shadowy force behind these weapons can offer power to warlocks who form pacts with it. Many hexblade warlocks create weapons that emulate those formed in the Shadowfell. Others forgo such arms, content to weave the dark magic of that plane into their spellcasting.
Because the Raven Queen is known to have forged the first of these weapons, many sages speculate that she and the force are one and that the weapons, along with hexblade warlocks, are tools she uses to manipulate events on the Material Plane to her inscrutable ends."
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@RichMerry 3 жыл бұрын

A playlist of other warlock subclasses: kzfaq.info/sun/PLcJxbxz7P6i0IUJMtL8oX_D2fwEdPik4W I'm currently designing my own Dungeons & Dragons compatible subclass book, check out the behind the scenes video: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/d7OmhLGlr8Cxaas.html Link to the UA I mentioned in the video:media.wizards.com/2017/dnd/downloads/20170213_Wizrd_Wrlck_UAv2_i48nf.pdf

@calebhall5927 2 жыл бұрын

The warlock I am currently playing in Rime of the Frostmaiden is a hex blade. I stuck to the edgy tropes as far as flavoring spells and class abilities but in terms of how I roll play the character it is quite the opposite. He is a changeling who had a pretty good life growing up getting into mischief until his father was owed a debt to a cult of firna and I was tribute. Eventually he was rescued by a traveling adventurer but for his safety the travelled suggested he head north. my character was lost hiding in a cave around ten towns for shelter from a blizzard. As the cold began to take its toll a force drew my character deeper into the cave and I found the dead body and blade of the previous warlock. An act of desperation led him to grab the blade unintentionally making a pact for his life. Now he is dealing with the dilemma of not knowing the full scope of his power. (Unintentionally blowing the leg off a moose with eldritch blast because I the player thought you could declare nonlethal strikes with spells) His good natured ideals conflict with the nature of the class and he strives to do good with the power he is cursed with. Update: warlock has been murdered by another party member in the midst of combat.

@Maxiiimoto 2 жыл бұрын

I like the idea how the character came to it's powers...but sorry for your loss mate!

@eduardoarancibia169 Жыл бұрын

Lol, tell us how!

@feywildheart2878 3 жыл бұрын

I've made it a goal of mine to play literally ANY other warlock besides this class, out of spite for all the min-maxers who keep telling me to play it whenever I ask for advice on martial leaning spellcasters. I don't damn well want to play a hexblade warlock, not on a thread about bladesingers.

@JustASpider980 27 күн бұрын

As for the role-playing of the specter; since it is forced to follow verbal commands, you can just Command it to Pass on. Or Flavor a "request" of assistance before doings so would be to augment your attacks with advantage. Or maybe you /have/ to do it to the BBEG. Instead of killing them, they are suspended until this "Pass On" command is given. Maybe they evade the mortal coil by finding a new body?

@Ant3rn Жыл бұрын

Short answer to the preview image: as a warlock you are either bladelock or eldrichblaster for 80% of your turns. First case, the hexblade is straightforward better. Second case, you need big arguments to compete with the raw power of hexblade curse and “free” medium armour feat. There is only 1 other option with the same power level: genie lock, because of wish and limited wish.

@HamMan215 2 жыл бұрын

Love listening to your videos always have something new to listen to.

@torch1028 2 жыл бұрын

Im literally playing a hexblade oathbreaker and presenting him as a royal guard

@arrowodd7695 3 жыл бұрын

I have played several warlocks and not one was a hex blade lol

@RichMerry 3 жыл бұрын

Fathomless is my favorite from the newest Warlocks, What subclass did you pick?

@arrowodd7695 3 жыл бұрын

@@RichMerry I've play a dao genie warlock and a great old one warlock. Both very different Dao genie uses eldritch blast movement and spike growth and the great old one is the best Infiltrator and info gatherer in the game. Oh almost forgot the first character I played was a tough lock celestial warlock. Max healing was fun I put myself into a mimic once to tank for the party they were a masochist and wanted to experience the attacks of every monster in the realm

@dustingerber2038 2 жыл бұрын

Played 3 types of warlocks so far never a hexblade nor taken eldritch blast. fave was an aasimar celestial warlock/lore bard

@lonewaer 5 ай бұрын

@@arrowodd7695 _« Dao genie uses eldritch blast movement and spike growth »_ No it doesn't. It can, and everyone and their mother chooses to, but the Dao doesn't just do that. You avoided the trope of the edgelord Hexblade and fell right into the trope of the Dao cheese grater. You chose to do that, you can very much do other stuff with it. But to be fair, it is true that people do choose to fall into most of those over played tropes, but I blame the design of the warlock in general. Warlock does offer a lot of possibilities, but since some of those possibilities are so much more powerful than others, a lot of people just chose to become the trope. Similarly, particularly when talking about the Genie Warlock, a _lot_ of people just default to Pact of the Chain, pick the imp, and talk about doing infiltration as if they've discovered something that most people haven't when looking at the class (they haven't). I made a Djinni warlock, and I wanted to avoid most tropes. So he's not a Dao (so not a cheese grater), he's Pact of the Tome (so not a gish, nor will he abuse imp+vessel), and he doesn't use Eldritch Blast. It's not an optimal build (how could it be, really, I've forsaken everything powerful about the warlock), but I can say the character is more original than 95% of warlocks.

@Electric_Wizard999 3 жыл бұрын

Some chill videos, keep up the good work

@TVMAN1997 Жыл бұрын

Backstory: Grandpa gave me a sword for my birthday and now the blade won’t stop talking

@infiniteink4790 8 ай бұрын

I'm gonna be making a hexblade soon. But he's gonna be a short Italian man who flavors all his spells and abilities to be food related, for example, fireball is really just *A SPICY A MEATBALL 👌*

@Taygon45 2 жыл бұрын

I love playing a Hexblade as a worshiper of Eilistraee. The weapon isn't cursed. You don't have a pact with a vile aberration across the veil. You forge a relationship with a Goddess who has sword forging in her portfolio and has a bastard sword over the moon in her religious symbol. It's in her dogma that everyone who worships her should be kind and giving outside of combat, even trying to make peaceful resolutions with enemies, even if Eilistraee's enemies may be beyond redemption. It's her goal to have Drow accepted on the surface. Show that Drow are capable of peace and love, but that they are unmatched with the sword against evil. That's not an edgelord lol. Though the rising the dead specter can be flavored to not be as specter and be fresh Einheriar. They're the spirits of departed humanoid warriors and Eilistraee is said to even have some in her service. If that isn't flavor enough I don't know what is.

@alexplayer8367 Ай бұрын

I have this caotic evil edgelord hexblade character with the twist that he made a pact with a benevolent entity and he is forced to act like a lawful good and be a hero; so he is looking for a way to break his pact since he is actually having a mental breakdown cause there's no return clause NPC: "We are so grateful that you build this orphanage" PC: "I hope all of you burn inside that building" NPC "What?" PC: "I said that i hope that all the kids have fun inside that building"

@antondevonlh 2 жыл бұрын

I have actually started leaning into the hex and undead summoning aspects of the Hexblade, especially with the new summons from Tasha's Cauldron spells (such as the ghost wall and customized ghost/skeleton spell). The character is also very much a departure of gritty edgelord tropes, as she is a Dragonborn who was raised, along with a dozen other of her kin (in unmatched colors) by a High Elf noble who stole the eggs from "trophy hunters" within her Kingdom's noble courts, and raised them as her heirs in secret. My character is the mid-pack "spunky" one with the Gladiator Background, who uses a billowing cape and feather fall ring to drop into the arena like M. Bison. She became a Hexblade after a terrorist attack by Naturalist Werewolves on the Coliseum nearly killed her and infected her sister with Lycanthrope. Now she works as a Merc to find her sister, free her from the pack, and use her saved up gold to cure her of her curse. The moral justification for her necromancy is that she only raises those she, personally, kills, and argues using them to battle her foes is no less morally wrong then looting their corpses for pocket change. She makes sure to lay them to rest when she is done with them, and I don't cast the summon spells until after I have wrecked at least one creature with an every changing roulette of weapons (since with PotB she can summon up the right tool for the job).

@EvelynSucksAtLife Жыл бұрын

I know this is a very old comment, but could you help with building a necromancy based hexblade?

@antondevonlh Жыл бұрын

@@EvelynSucksAtLife It's no problem, I don't mind offering a little help.

@EvelynSucksAtLife Жыл бұрын

@@antondevonlh What spells did you take in the earlier levels?

@antondevonlh Жыл бұрын

@@EvelynSucksAtLife This particular campaign started at level 3, so I had Eldritch Blast, Prestidigitation (this was a choice for the Gladiator. Still good for stuff, but for a more "pure" necromancer I might recommend Minor Illusion or Mage hand as your utility cantrip), Hex, Shield, and Invisibility. I also went pact of the blade, but you could go Pact of the Tome for Ritual Spells later, if that'd fit you better. Sadly, you don't really get to dive into the Necromancer aspect until 6th level, when you get Accursed Specter and either Spirit Shroud or Summon Undead (be sure to work with your GM to make sure you can get the costly material component, if you go the Summon Undead route, otherwise it's no help at all). I also got Minor illusion at that point, but if you already took it you can pick up Mind Sliver for Pact of the Tome or Booming Blade for Pact of the Blade. By level 6, my spells look like this: Eldritch Blast, Minor Illusion, Prestidigitation; Hex, Shield; Invisibility, Suggestion, Hypnotic Pattern, Vampiric Touch. (Keep in mind, this was before Tasha's came out. I would recommend replacing Vampiric Touch with either Spirit Shroud for Blade, or Summon Undead for Tome).

@EvelynSucksAtLife Жыл бұрын

@@antondevonlh Thanks!

@fl4ming_r4ven 2 жыл бұрын

My first playable character (I'm usually a DM) was a Hexblade. Her name was Thalia, and her blade was a family heirloom. It was forged by an ancient demon hunter, think Van Helsing mixed with Doom Slayer. He fell in battle with Asmodeus, and to save his soul from being taken by Asmodeus he placed it into his blade. He then tutored every single member of his line who picked up the blade. It was a colossal responsibility, and Thalia didn't really want it. She was the last of the Line of Nilo, so she was bound to the blade's fate. I played her as a bird/cage archetype. Constantly trying to enjoy every single moment outside of combat, and surrendering to the blade during battle. It was a very touch and go situation, especially as we were running this in *Descent into Avernus* for God's sake.

@thecharmer5981 2 жыл бұрын

I’m a huge fan of Gish characters so I’m a fan of hexblades, I just wish other warlocks made as great gish characters because hexblade outshines them to much.

@holhorse5606 2 жыл бұрын

I do play a hexbalde right now. And I enjoy a lot playing it. I am basically playing a super friendly crippled noble kid who ended up finding a magical weapon that promised him some power and to help him make a name for himself. My character as very low physical stat (he is a cripple after all) and high mental stat. He is like the perfect glass canon. It's really fun.

@Idlemage Жыл бұрын

I wanna do a character who is a hexblade of Sune. Gonna need to do some re flavoring thou

@senseiblizzard Жыл бұрын

What about tanashas guide to everything custom liniage with +2 charisma then you can pick magic initiate then you could get shield booming blade and green flame blade

@notusingmyname4791 2 жыл бұрын

ok I've seen a ton of build videos.. how about battle tips, what are hexblades supposed to do? how do we survive a battle?

@wasabisniffles Жыл бұрын

Mine is the noble-stupid type. I built a levistus tiefling himbo who is like a sheltered noble from a family of corrupt philistines who long ago were given the protectorship of an area by a long forgotten god. They completely stopped doing that shit in recent years in favor of like canablism and general perverseness. my dude has been shunned by these guys all his life because of his demon blood (humans am I right) and decided that was probably for the better so he stole the families ancestral blade and strove out to find the true meaning of beauty. Originally I wanted him to be a paladin but our party already had one and my dm suggested making the family's ancestral blade my patron and becoming a pact of blade warlock instead and I fell in love with that idea! Currently I'm playing a fire and ice Frontline tank role with Armor of Agathys and Hellish Rebuke alongside a pact great sword and Thorn Whip (roses are a big motif with this guy)

@86redfield 2 жыл бұрын

Lol another great vid and always done for edge lord humor 😎

@shawnberry760 Жыл бұрын

I hope you stay rich, and merry! My question is about a celestial warlock. Is it possible to make one with a little bit of Melee prowess? I’m trying to build a character akin to cyclops from the X-Men. Will I have to multi class or can I stay with the celestial sub class?

@anotterwithaphone3077 2 жыл бұрын

I have a harengon rogue noble that will be going hexblade next level. He was passed over as heir to his hosues head after he got a fey curse from foolishly sneaking into the Witchlight carnival. His family does still care about him, as he does them.. but they see him as a bit of a screw up, and fear making him head will cause the fae to curse the entire house. He is planning after helping prismir to go off and become a bandit lord targeting the corrupt nobles in the sword coast who have kept his families influence to their farming town they own, stealing the last name and alias "Longscarf"

@notjohnbruno1522 Жыл бұрын

I’m currently playing a hexblade based off of one of my favorite series, Kamen Rider Blade, which is famous for its edginess and angst. I’m keeping the edgy backstory of my old mentor and best friend betraying the organization we worked for, but I’m also really playing up how nice of a guy the character is in spite of it and how determined he is to help people. I’ve found it works a lot better than “I’m mean to everyone because I’m just so edgy and angsty and make roleplay bad for the party so I can live out my power fantasy and fulfill my main character syndrome.” Sometimes it’s fun to have a ridiculously edgy backstory, but I’ve also found it incredibly fun to just be a nice person.

@DarthJimius Жыл бұрын

Kinda normal that this class attracts all the edge. It is based on the OG edgelord.

@gustaafargoan 2 ай бұрын

They don't always pick Hexblade.

@funbro99 2 жыл бұрын

Meanwhile im just a crossbow slinger...not my fact the lever action fires hellish blasts.

@oddbodskins 2 жыл бұрын

I have to be honest, I was expecting a bit more exploration of the lore, or alternative origins, possible (less edgy) character archetypes, etc. Based on the video's title, anyway.

@theonlymatthew.l 3 жыл бұрын

U neglected to mention the Satyr's Innate Magic Resistance.....🤨

@RichMerry 3 жыл бұрын

Great catch! I only had 10 minutes and wanted to cram everything else in, i'm sure the more observant watchers will notice it on screen.

@GoddessCynthia 2 жыл бұрын

Not on topic of hexblades, but on topic of Shadow Sorcerers, I made a shadow sorc satyr bc i love the idea of an anti edgelord fun loving satyr playing an edgelord class

@scottsmith9936 2 жыл бұрын

My Hexblade is a Lady of the Well moonblade hexblade Elf. Inspired by the 4e subclass

@quester5059 3 жыл бұрын

To be honest, these recommendations for feats and spells are, at least, questionable. Most of them are not good, really. I mean, Elemental Weapon?! Your main is a Pact Weapon, which counts as a +1 magic weapon already, and you can't use this spell unless it is a nonmagic weapon. And it is a very common mistake to say that you make a pact with sentient weapons. As per XGtE, you make a pact with an ENTITY - which may manifest through sentient weapons. Among other things...

@RichMerry 3 жыл бұрын

Good catch on the pact weapons sentience, that allows a lot more flexibility on the origin story for people making there own characters.

@quester5059 3 жыл бұрын

@@RichMerry A lot. It is a single detail that changes everything.

@seeinred 10 ай бұрын

The main reason is pretty obvious and has nothing to do with people being edgy. Hexblade is the only specialty that grants the user ability to use spell modifier stat for attack. If this wasn't a class feature, but let's say, a feat that anyone could take - we wouldn't have hexblades in every game ever.

@sliceking4790 Жыл бұрын

no u

@Keldren. 2 жыл бұрын

Doesn't the main hex that gives you a million bonuses only last a freakin minute? So yeah you can go toe to toe with a tarrasque for what.. ONE TURN? Whoooopty dooooo.. and then what? the whole subclass is neutered for the rest of the fight? Every single fight?

@RichMerry 2 жыл бұрын

A minute is 10 turns, and a warlock gets a lot of its benefits from short rests. if your DM is giving you multiple fights per rest then they are being very harsh with the combat.

@Keldren. 2 жыл бұрын

@@RichMerry not 10 turns for the warlock tho right? Ten turns including everyone so 5 or 6 pc's and like 4 enemies/npc's and the hex is long gone before the warlocks next turn is what I'm thinking..

@RichMerry 2 жыл бұрын

@@Keldren. by turn it means round of combat, so the warlock get 10 turns (10 actions to do stuff) before the hex wears off.

@Keldren. 2 жыл бұрын

@@RichMerry oh boy.. that changes everything 😳 thank you

@OKI2314xREMIX 2 жыл бұрын

Yeah each round of combat is only 6 seconds

@AmirRozenshpeer Жыл бұрын

how to I make my hexblade more edgy?

@sauljaffe4268 5 ай бұрын

Very misleading title. It says NEXT TO NOTHING about how to be a hexblade without being an edgelord. It's just an overview of the abilities of the hexblade, and suggestions on race and feats.