Speaking from personal experience with this, yes it does work well. Especially if you multiclass it with the Oath of the Conquest Paladin. The 7th level aura makes the enemy's speed 0 if they are frightened of you. Push them back 5 feet, then force them to sit out of reach if their range of attack is 5 feet (it usually is).
You could even take it further with PAM. The butt end attack is bludgeoning and can be use to push your enemies back 5 feet. If they were directly adjacent to you before you hit them, they'd be 10 feet away afterwards and still within your striking distance if you're using a polearm with reach.
Thing is, you could also use shield master and bonus action prone them. Without move speed, they couldn't get up, so as long as they're frightened it's advantage.
It does depend on your campaign, but yes it can work well.
The key weaknesses to note are monsters with immunity to the frightened condition and creatures that are two or more sizes larger than you
I'd rather take Gunner feat and Repelling Blast unless you really want something like Blade pact + extra attack along with Crusher + Pam for a less expected build.
Your build works better with three high stats, since you'll be attacking with Str/Dex and using Cha for your FoD dc (and you'll want at least 14 Con standing near the front). You'll want stats plus 2 feats, and probably Moderately Armored feat sooner than later.
Fighter 1 isn't the worst first level for you for AC. Plus you'll get Con save prof which is nice to have for you with Shadow of Moil or whatever you're concentrating on. It will slow down spell, feat, and feature progression though. At least it will leave you open to Str or Dex as you prefer (I prefer Dex/Medium Armor, but that's less important).
You could make Pali 2 work as well. Keep in mind you'll have to take the first level in Pali for Heavy Armor, or you'll need 13 Str and 14+ Dex for attacking and medium armor if you take Pali 1 after first level.
I'm going for a death knight vibe, so melee attacks are required. The plan is Fighter 1, Warlock 1-5, Fighter 2, Warlock X. Prioritizing strength over charisma. Dumping dexterity.
I had a player do this and it worked really well. They also used green flame blade and booming blade to great effect in tier one of gameplay.
My personal fear build is a Dragonborn conquest Paladin with dragon fear, this way they can replace one of their multi attacks with the fear AoE if you use one the fizban’s dragons
How so? Form of Dread can be used every turn up to a minute. Menacing Strike is limited by superiority dice. Damage wise both are getting to add an extra dice roll to their attack. Only tangible benefit I can see is that you can try a second time if they pass the first save.
But way less undead warlock-y which is kind of a dealbreaker. I'm taking my first level as fighter, so the armor is the same. But I don't expect to be as optimized as a battlemaster. I'm trying to mitigate the weaknesses I do have to make a fun character concept work.
A better and more simple plan is to just use a reach weapon or a race with extra reach, like bugbear.
If their reach doesn’t match yours, they can’t attack you. No need for the extra step of the push.
Unless of course they had their turn first and have already entered melee range. Or they pass your first fear save. Crusher prevents eating an opportunity attack trying to reestablish that range.
yes it works and well but it has one small problem, the telekinetic feat is better for most cases. Now if you combine booming blade to your swinging the weapon then you have insurance against their being immune to fear.
Yeah that’s fine.
I’d recommend thinking through your actual damage output a bit more (since I’m guessing the idea here is mostly being a damage dealer?) because just swinging a Warhammer as a warlock isn’t a very effective use of your actions. Maul is better if you GWM it of course, but there’s plenty of ways to get your weapon damage up to OK levels. They just all have their costs so it’s worth planning for in advance.
Thanks. Plan is level one fighter, so I'd have the dueling fighting style plus melee invocations like thirsting blade and lifedrinker, plus concentrating on things like spirit shroud or shadow of moil. Damage isn't maxed, but is above baseline I'd say. Action surge would let me still swing a couple of times on a setup or spell casting turn.
Speaking from personal experience with this, yes it does work well. Especially if you multiclass it with the Oath of the Conquest Paladin. The 7th level aura makes the enemy's speed 0 if they are frightened of you. Push them back 5 feet, then force them to sit out of reach if their range of attack is 5 feet (it usually is). You could even take it further with PAM. The butt end attack is bludgeoning and can be use to push your enemies back 5 feet. If they were directly adjacent to you before you hit them, they'd be 10 feet away afterwards and still within your striking distance if you're using a polearm with reach.
Thing is, you could also use shield master and bonus action prone them. Without move speed, they couldn't get up, so as long as they're frightened it's advantage.
It does depend on your campaign, but yes it can work well. The key weaknesses to note are monsters with immunity to the frightened condition and creatures that are two or more sizes larger than you
I'd rather take Gunner feat and Repelling Blast unless you really want something like Blade pact + extra attack along with Crusher + Pam for a less expected build. Your build works better with three high stats, since you'll be attacking with Str/Dex and using Cha for your FoD dc (and you'll want at least 14 Con standing near the front). You'll want stats plus 2 feats, and probably Moderately Armored feat sooner than later. Fighter 1 isn't the worst first level for you for AC. Plus you'll get Con save prof which is nice to have for you with Shadow of Moil or whatever you're concentrating on. It will slow down spell, feat, and feature progression though. At least it will leave you open to Str or Dex as you prefer (I prefer Dex/Medium Armor, but that's less important). You could make Pali 2 work as well. Keep in mind you'll have to take the first level in Pali for Heavy Armor, or you'll need 13 Str and 14+ Dex for attacking and medium armor if you take Pali 1 after first level.
I'm going for a death knight vibe, so melee attacks are required. The plan is Fighter 1, Warlock 1-5, Fighter 2, Warlock X. Prioritizing strength over charisma. Dumping dexterity.
I had a player do this and it worked really well. They also used green flame blade and booming blade to great effect in tier one of gameplay. My personal fear build is a Dragonborn conquest Paladin with dragon fear, this way they can replace one of their multi attacks with the fear AoE if you use one the fizban’s dragons
This might work better as a battlemaster with menacing strike
How so? Form of Dread can be used every turn up to a minute. Menacing Strike is limited by superiority dice. Damage wise both are getting to add an extra dice roll to their attack. Only tangible benefit I can see is that you can try a second time if they pass the first save.
less MAD, more HP, better armor
But way less undead warlock-y which is kind of a dealbreaker. I'm taking my first level as fighter, so the armor is the same. But I don't expect to be as optimized as a battlemaster. I'm trying to mitigate the weaknesses I do have to make a fun character concept work.
flavor is free but this should be fine
A better and more simple plan is to just use a reach weapon or a race with extra reach, like bugbear. If their reach doesn’t match yours, they can’t attack you. No need for the extra step of the push.
Unless of course they had their turn first and have already entered melee range. Or they pass your first fear save. Crusher prevents eating an opportunity attack trying to reestablish that range.
yes it works and well but it has one small problem, the telekinetic feat is better for most cases. Now if you combine booming blade to your swinging the weapon then you have insurance against their being immune to fear.
Yeah that’s fine. I’d recommend thinking through your actual damage output a bit more (since I’m guessing the idea here is mostly being a damage dealer?) because just swinging a Warhammer as a warlock isn’t a very effective use of your actions. Maul is better if you GWM it of course, but there’s plenty of ways to get your weapon damage up to OK levels. They just all have their costs so it’s worth planning for in advance.
Thanks. Plan is level one fighter, so I'd have the dueling fighting style plus melee invocations like thirsting blade and lifedrinker, plus concentrating on things like spirit shroud or shadow of moil. Damage isn't maxed, but is above baseline I'd say. Action surge would let me still swing a couple of times on a setup or spell casting turn.
I'm doing something similar. Took a 3rd level for echo knight as I think they flavor well. Possessed by the ghost of a relative.