Min/Max Boards

I wanted to offer a few more thoughts about warlock/sorcerer mix, specifically comparing it to the Sorcadin.  As spelled out in the very well done Sorcadin guide (linked above), one of the features of that build is the nova damage potential by combining Divine Smite + extra attack + burning spell slots.  I'm not claiming I have put nearly as much thought into this as the author of the Sorcadin guide, but it seems to me that any of the weapon invocations from the UA warlock let you achieve a very similar build as the Sorcadin, but substituting Warlock for Paladin.  I think purely from a damage perspective the "Sorlock" actually comes out ahead because Divine Smite adds +2d8 base, +1d8 per spell level above 1st and is capped at 5d8.  The warlock invocations do 2d8 per spell level and don't impose such a cap.

The Sorcadin guide uses as an example of a nova attack at lvl 11 that results in 114 dmg (two attacks both using divine smite).  The warlock equivilent would be averaging 174 dmg in the same scenario.  I think the Sorcadin also hits a sort of plateau at that point because he can't channel higher spells into divine smite, while the Sorlock would theoretically be able to continue scaling damage with higher level spell slots (again, using the same secenario as the guide, but burning a 7th and 8th level slot as a 5 lock/15 sorc) would average ~300 dmg.  Of course, like the Sorcadin, you that's not counting the fact that you can still quicken metamagic a spell the same round if you want to. 

I think for this reason alone looking at one of the weapon invocations and building a melee Sorlock around it is viable.  Obviously such a build is different from the Sorcadin insofar as the base levels in Paladin are different from the base levels of Warlock (read: they are pretty different, but it's ultimately up to you to decide if you can live with the features of a Warlock base over a Paladin base).

I would also personally avoid hexblade for this reason.  I see the "Hex Warrior" ability as a trap because it is incompatible with any of the weapon invocations.  Subbing CHA in for STR on attack/damage sounds nice until you realize it doesn't work if you want attacks with potentially +16d8 dmg on them.  Lacking the armor proficiency could be bad, but more on that in a moment.
 Giving up the Hexblade's curse is a little bit more painful, but still not that bad unless you are really in it for the Hexblade flavor.

I like the combo of Great Old One Bladelock with Stone Sorcery.  This does a few things for you:
-AC is set to 13+CON plus you can wear a shield.  Shouldn't be overly hard to reach for 20ish AC this way (I think it comes out ahead of the Hexblade in medium armor, with the added advantage of not having to worry about DEX at all)
-That lack of need for even a bit of DEX to AC is welcome because you want STR/CHA/CON anyway. 
-Extra HP is always welcome.
-Claw of Acamar is my favorite of the Warlock weapon invocations simply because it has reach.  Reach not only gives you better odds of a monster ending up close enough for you to hit it, but in this case also works as a weird defensive mechanism because you can move to within 10' of a melee enemy (assuming it doesn't also have reach) and set its speed to 0' until the end of your next round. 
-In case you wanted Hexblade partially for the expanded spell list, Stone Sorcery covers some of the same options.
-When you get Stone Aegis (whether you want to start with it or pick it up later in progression) the damage reduction will probably be welcome by your party.  It isn't super high, but at least it isn't like certain BPS reductions that are bypassed by magic.  Moreover, it gives you a situational mobility option.

*******

Since you are starting at 9, obviously a split that gives 4 in each class would be nice for the ASI or feats if you have some you want.  You probably want the 2nd attack from bladelock so I would guess 5 warlocks is a sensible starting point.  5 Warlock (GOO if you like the above, Hexblade if you want the flavor)/4 Stone Sorcerer sounds like a good starting point.  From there I think you have a minor decision point regarding whether or not you want one more level of Warlock for Entropic Shield, or if you just go pure Sorcerer.

Quote from: DeadEnough on April 30, 2017, 04:43:29 AM

Why is Curse Bringer Greatsword (STR) and Hexblade requirement? The first level Hexblade basically wants you to utilize Charisma while using a weapon that's not two handed.

I'm really curious about this myself.  Personally it seems like bad design, but I've seen some say it was a very conscious decision to make the player choose between different (good) options.  In my opinion this works when a player has multiple good options in front of them and has to pick one (think of picking a Paladin fighter style), but falls apart when one is a core feature of the hexblade and the other is very tasty looking option later on, which requires you to be a hexblade but is counter-intuitive to a core feature given by the subclass (which of course can't be traded for anything else).