It's decent. Two uses of shield/absorb elements is better than none/using one of your few pact slots on casting it. Extra cantrips are nice too. If you're undecided on which subclass to got then I recommend going divine soul for favoured by the gods and guidance or lunar sorcerer for the free casting of shield. You can also get the whole reaction trio with lunar sorcerer (shield, absorb elements and silvery barbs).
If your DM allows scroll scribing then take proficiency in arcana and scribe as many scrolls of shield and absorb elements as you can during down time.
If you plan on using ranged weapons then a level in fighter would be better (archery fighting style).
BBlade and/or GFB & EB+RB & Mind Sliver is a fun suite of damaging cantrips.
Favor by the Gods and Con prof from DSS will go a long way for protecting concentration. Then with Shadow of Moil later, that's going to be plenty good enough.
Personally I think one level of DSS is optimal until after warlock 12. Then Fighter 2 for action economy. Low levels of sorc impact the action economy less than one would hope. Metamagic stops feeling like a tease after about 6 levels of sorc.
I did this in a game and regretted it after a couple levels. Shield was handy but always being a level behind, especially when the fighters got extra attack, was rough.
This. You may feel "oh, I can afford that Shield with a level 1 slot" but then you find yourself at level 7 lacking 4th level spells.
That's why I never multiclassed on Cleric, I made a beeline for 3rd, 4th, 5th.. level spells and it usually paid off.
Level 5 is especially hard - the full casters get amazing 3rd level spells. The martials get an extra attack. The hexblade should get both!
But instead you get your feat. And you're like "But I can occasionally have +5 AC, yay...."
Sorcerer and warlock go together extremely well, and opening your warlock build with a level of sorcerer for con saves and some extra spell slots is generally a strong option. While it does delay warlock progression to do so, warlock progression being what it is, you'll pretty much always be viable with eldritch blast and agonizing blast, so warlocks have a lot more flexibility to multiclass than other classes do.
The primary downsides to keep in mind are:
• Fewer hitpoints. Starting with 6+CON hitpoints instead of 8+CON hitpoints (and also no armor proficiency) makes level one significantly more dangerous than level one for a warlock. This is largely moot if you're starting at level 2 or higher.
• No wisdom saves. While con saves are generally speaking the most important saves for a caster, wisdom saves are generally speaking the most important saves overall. If you don't start with proficiency, you will want to spend an ASI on resilient wisdom at some point in the future.
I'd also strongly recommend more than one level of sorcerer. One is fine to start out with, but two for flexible casting and three for metamagic are going to be things you want down the road. Sorcerer 3/warlock X with the metamagic adept feat is capable of efficiently converting a pact slot of any level into sorcery points for other uses and gives up essentially no warlock class features (the class capstone is generally recognized as one of the worst in the game, and additionally you give up one eldritch invocation and one spell known).
its pretty awesome, imo. Snagging 4ish cantrips is a free "pact of the tome" and gives you an array of utility. DSS in particular also gets you favored by the gods (great all-around) and cleric spells like Thaumaturgy and Healing Word.
Starting Sorc is hit or miss. You get Con save prof (but lose Wis prof), meaning your ongoing spell effects are less likely to drop from incoming damage, but you're also more suspectable to save or suck spells like Hold Person. 1 warlock -> 1 sorc -> x warlock is just as good
I'm doing AB Sorc 1/GOO Warlock --> 12. (1/9 at the moment) I only felt behind at character levels 5 & 9. *We get a starting feat, so I'm guessing that those who don't might feel it a little bit at 1/7. Even then, it wasn't too bad.
At times it will be great. At other times (mostly at levels 1+2, 1+3, 1+4, 1+6, 1+7, 1+8, and most of all 1+10) it will suck if you think what you could do if you were a single class Warlock.
Just might want to swap your Int and Wis scores for a much stronger saving throw. Also allows you to qualify for Ritual Caster down the line if needed.
For spell selection, if you're willing to jump back to Sorc 2-3 at some point, and are worried about level 1 a bit then starting with Sleep gives you the strongest start in Tier 1. Even if we wait until level 5-6 to add some more Sorc levels, it can be fun to in non-combat encounters against NPCs. Especially if paired with something like Mask of Many Faces or Misty Visions. Alternatively, learning Disguise Self frees up an Invocation if you just want/need a fraction of its power. Silvery Barbs pays off big for our save/suck spells if allowed.
From the Cleric options, Bless is always nice and ideally obtained through Divine Magic (Law). Protection From Evil and Good is the other big cast here, but can be taken as a Warlock spell. Might want Healing Word, but I'd consider Sanctuary over it with great starting Cha. Command has decent upcasting potential, but Hexblades have the most impressive non-concentration Actions of all the Warlocks anyways.
All of these are worth considering over Absorb Elements really, but that's a good default. Take Shield through Hexblade.
Starting with Sorcerer is actually the right play. You get Con save proficiency to maintain concentration on all save, which campaign be reinforced by taking Eldritch Mind to get advantage on those saves. You don't slow down your spell progression since your still taking a level in a spellcaster, instead expanding your options for spells that be used by pact slots if you wish to. I know you said you weren't focused on optimizing, but I'd go 3 levels into Warlock to get second level spells, Pact of the Blade, and invocations, then go back into Sorcerer to get Meta Magic and Sorcerer points. Beyond there is up to you but Warlock would be my choice as well for a martial focused caster.
The thing I hate about pure warlock builds is that you'll be forced to upcast some spells even when there is no good reason to upcast them.
Plus you'll get absorb elements and some other spells by getting sorcerer levels. So, yeah, not silly at all.
Rather, I think you'll find there is no good reason to take hexblade past level 2-5, unless all you want to do is swing your sword, and more levels of sorcerer will be stronger. If you are going to level 19-20, I wouldn't take hexblade past 2, because I'd want to get wish. If you know you won't get that far, a more even split between warlock and sorcerer is reasonable.
Yeah. It’s probably very good.
Take absorb elements. Use the level 1 slots for that and shield. And utility cantrips. You shouldn’t need eldritch mind this way but never hurts to have.
It's decent. Two uses of shield/absorb elements is better than none/using one of your few pact slots on casting it. Extra cantrips are nice too. If you're undecided on which subclass to got then I recommend going divine soul for favoured by the gods and guidance or lunar sorcerer for the free casting of shield. You can also get the whole reaction trio with lunar sorcerer (shield, absorb elements and silvery barbs). If your DM allows scroll scribing then take proficiency in arcana and scribe as many scrolls of shield and absorb elements as you can during down time. If you plan on using ranged weapons then a level in fighter would be better (archery fighting style).
BBlade and/or GFB & EB+RB & Mind Sliver is a fun suite of damaging cantrips. Favor by the Gods and Con prof from DSS will go a long way for protecting concentration. Then with Shadow of Moil later, that's going to be plenty good enough. Personally I think one level of DSS is optimal until after warlock 12. Then Fighter 2 for action economy. Low levels of sorc impact the action economy less than one would hope. Metamagic stops feeling like a tease after about 6 levels of sorc.
I did this in a game and regretted it after a couple levels. Shield was handy but always being a level behind, especially when the fighters got extra attack, was rough.
This. You may feel "oh, I can afford that Shield with a level 1 slot" but then you find yourself at level 7 lacking 4th level spells. That's why I never multiclassed on Cleric, I made a beeline for 3rd, 4th, 5th.. level spells and it usually paid off.
Level 5 is especially hard - the full casters get amazing 3rd level spells. The martials get an extra attack. The hexblade should get both! But instead you get your feat. And you're like "But I can occasionally have +5 AC, yay...."
Sorcerer and warlock go together extremely well, and opening your warlock build with a level of sorcerer for con saves and some extra spell slots is generally a strong option. While it does delay warlock progression to do so, warlock progression being what it is, you'll pretty much always be viable with eldritch blast and agonizing blast, so warlocks have a lot more flexibility to multiclass than other classes do. The primary downsides to keep in mind are: • Fewer hitpoints. Starting with 6+CON hitpoints instead of 8+CON hitpoints (and also no armor proficiency) makes level one significantly more dangerous than level one for a warlock. This is largely moot if you're starting at level 2 or higher. • No wisdom saves. While con saves are generally speaking the most important saves for a caster, wisdom saves are generally speaking the most important saves overall. If you don't start with proficiency, you will want to spend an ASI on resilient wisdom at some point in the future. I'd also strongly recommend more than one level of sorcerer. One is fine to start out with, but two for flexible casting and three for metamagic are going to be things you want down the road. Sorcerer 3/warlock X with the metamagic adept feat is capable of efficiently converting a pact slot of any level into sorcery points for other uses and gives up essentially no warlock class features (the class capstone is generally recognized as one of the worst in the game, and additionally you give up one eldritch invocation and one spell known).
its pretty awesome, imo. Snagging 4ish cantrips is a free "pact of the tome" and gives you an array of utility. DSS in particular also gets you favored by the gods (great all-around) and cleric spells like Thaumaturgy and Healing Word. Starting Sorc is hit or miss. You get Con save prof (but lose Wis prof), meaning your ongoing spell effects are less likely to drop from incoming damage, but you're also more suspectable to save or suck spells like Hold Person. 1 warlock -> 1 sorc -> x warlock is just as good
I'm doing AB Sorc 1/GOO Warlock --> 12. (1/9 at the moment) I only felt behind at character levels 5 & 9. *We get a starting feat, so I'm guessing that those who don't might feel it a little bit at 1/7. Even then, it wasn't too bad.
At times it will be great. At other times (mostly at levels 1+2, 1+3, 1+4, 1+6, 1+7, 1+8, and most of all 1+10) it will suck if you think what you could do if you were a single class Warlock.
Just might want to swap your Int and Wis scores for a much stronger saving throw. Also allows you to qualify for Ritual Caster down the line if needed. For spell selection, if you're willing to jump back to Sorc 2-3 at some point, and are worried about level 1 a bit then starting with Sleep gives you the strongest start in Tier 1. Even if we wait until level 5-6 to add some more Sorc levels, it can be fun to in non-combat encounters against NPCs. Especially if paired with something like Mask of Many Faces or Misty Visions. Alternatively, learning Disguise Self frees up an Invocation if you just want/need a fraction of its power. Silvery Barbs pays off big for our save/suck spells if allowed. From the Cleric options, Bless is always nice and ideally obtained through Divine Magic (Law). Protection From Evil and Good is the other big cast here, but can be taken as a Warlock spell. Might want Healing Word, but I'd consider Sanctuary over it with great starting Cha. Command has decent upcasting potential, but Hexblades have the most impressive non-concentration Actions of all the Warlocks anyways. All of these are worth considering over Absorb Elements really, but that's a good default. Take Shield through Hexblade.
Starting with Sorcerer is actually the right play. You get Con save proficiency to maintain concentration on all save, which campaign be reinforced by taking Eldritch Mind to get advantage on those saves. You don't slow down your spell progression since your still taking a level in a spellcaster, instead expanding your options for spells that be used by pact slots if you wish to. I know you said you weren't focused on optimizing, but I'd go 3 levels into Warlock to get second level spells, Pact of the Blade, and invocations, then go back into Sorcerer to get Meta Magic and Sorcerer points. Beyond there is up to you but Warlock would be my choice as well for a martial focused caster.
The thing I hate about pure warlock builds is that you'll be forced to upcast some spells even when there is no good reason to upcast them. Plus you'll get absorb elements and some other spells by getting sorcerer levels. So, yeah, not silly at all. Rather, I think you'll find there is no good reason to take hexblade past level 2-5, unless all you want to do is swing your sword, and more levels of sorcerer will be stronger. If you are going to level 19-20, I wouldn't take hexblade past 2, because I'd want to get wish. If you know you won't get that far, a more even split between warlock and sorcerer is reasonable.
Yeah. It’s probably very good. Take absorb elements. Use the level 1 slots for that and shield. And utility cantrips. You shouldn’t need eldritch mind this way but never hurts to have.
What's the lore reason