#Hex works with shrines plus#

Just pump your charisma first for maximum social skills, bard smites, and spellcasting DC. Out of combat, you have a super high charisma, expertise in two skills, jack of all trades, and probably a couple tool sets. Needless to say, you are one painful swordman. That's burning one warlock slot and one bardic inspiration die per turn to boost damage output.

#Hex works with shrines plus#

Your smite could be looking at 3d8 force damage, a no-save knockdown for huge or smaller things, 2d6 psychic damage, plus 2d10 (versatile sword) damage per turn. Overall, your smites are nearly unparalleled, you get two attacks per turn, 3 invocations, a bunch of cantrips, expertise in some skills, and a fair amount of spells overall. Short rest dependent (2 per day on average) Hexblade 5/ Whispers Bard 3 then continue as you like.Ģ. This route works well with Swords Bard, because you can only use one Blade Flourish per turn anyway, and the damage from BB/GFB scales with character level to keep up with martial class Extra Attack progression. This would look like Hexblade 1 or 2, then Bard 5, then Hexblade X from there. The alternate option is to skip Extra Attack altogether and rely on BB/GFB for the remainder of your career. This delays getting Extra Attack until Level 8ish, but you can lean on Booming Blade or Green Flame Blade to make up the difference in the meantime. I'd likely start Hexblade 1 or 2, then Blade Bard 6, then maybe Hexblade 3 to pick up Tome Pact for some extra Cantrips and the ritual book Invocation, and the rest Bard. Warlock is very front-loaded, with the first 1-3 levels having the most benefits, and 6+ levels of Swords Bard gets you nearly everything you'd have from Warlock, plus more. Unless you're dead-set on maximizing your short rest Warlock slots, I concur that Hexblade 2 or 3 and the rest Swords Bard is the best option, for reasons listed above. Picking up Mirror Image and Misty Step at Hexblade 3 for more ridiculous melee survivability and mobility, just like a master swordsman should have. Between unlimited Disguise Self, Silent Image and Ritual Casting, I never felt I had to ration slots.Ĭould wade straight into the thick of battle, toss out a defensive flourish for imrpoved AC, Healing word whenever I needed, Shield whatever managed to get through my Medium Armor and Defensive Flourish. Reasons for pushing Bard to 6 first were:Ģ.Extra attack at 6 opens up an invocation that would otherwise go to Thirsting Blade at Hexblade 5 if/when you get there otherwise.ģ.More 1st and 2nd level spell slots. Took Toll the Dead to have a save vs damage at will option as well. Will switch out Mask for Improved Pact Weapon at Hexblade 3, making a +1 Longbow with the Invocation and keep my +1 Longsword from Adventure League spoils to have a melee and ranged option for magic damage. Ended up with misty visions and mask of many faces for invocations at Hexblade 2. For my Hexblade2/ Swords Bard 6, I leaned more heavily into Bard for 2 reasons.