I tried a Paladin/Barbarian in my last campaign, but due to being the defensive tank of the party thanks to my paladin armour I rarely used any of the Barbarian traits in a meaningful way, After a few sessions, and a side chat with the DM, I switched to a Battle Master Fighter instead. It opens up other weapons to be pact weapons, but mainly you snag this just to make your pact weapon a +1 weapon for extra damage output. The battlefield flexibility coupled with the defensive . So I ended up building STR+2 CON+2 DEX+2 INT-1 WIS-1 CHA+3 enough to multiclass, get my highest AC, have decent hit points, and max out my casting/attacking stat. Its not impossible to play this combination but youll be very locked into a couple specific options. Were doing this specifically to pick up the fathomless patron and the 1st level ability tentacle of the deeps. Originally introduced in Eberron: Rising From the Last War, the artificer class was later . Since the beginning of time (5e), we have been taught that Barbarians and spellcasting don't mix. Barbarian Bard Cleric Druid Fighter Monk Paladin Ranger Rogue Sorcerer Warlock Wizard Artificer - D&D 5e Multiclassing If you intend on being primarily an Artificer, we personally love the level-twenty ability of +1 bonus to all saving throws for each magic item you are attuned to (up to 6!). Also thirsting blade does not stack with extra attack. So in the end I figured I would cut my loses and stop at 4 levels and put my efforts into Barbarian. If youre focusing on barbarian and just dipping into warlock, you can drop. Polearm Master 5e | DnD Feat Optimization Guide | Arcane Eye When you gain your 4th level ability score increase, youll need to pump Strength up to at least a 16 or else your attack rolls will drop off. No. You also want WIS (for all the class skills, including the important WIS (Perception) rolls). Now weve already got access to medium armor and. 19 AC with shield and sword. Ipicked up polearm master as well so the retaliation isn'tbeing made up for by the extra opportunityattack. The more involved build requires 5 warlock levels and 3 barbarian levels, so we wont be seeing it in real action until level 8 and won't feel powerful until about 10th level. Paladin. The Support Build: Ancestral Guardian Barbarian X + Celestial Warlock 3. My thought was to start with Barbarian 1/Warlock (hexblade) 2 for two castings of first levelarmor of agathys and one casting of the second level version. Unarmored defense gives us a better base AC equal to 10 + Dex mod + Con mod so long as were not wearing armor. And decided to have a crack at it with a twist. I find that it's not the strongest offensive option though for us. The information contained on www.SkullSplitterDice.com website (the "Service") is for general information purposes only. By accepting all cookies, you agree to our use of cookies to deliver and maintain our services and site, improve the quality of Reddit, personalize Reddit content and advertising, and measure the effectiveness of advertising. that essentially adds extra rage damage equal to our proficiency once per turn. If youre looking to make a barbarian + warlock multiclass in fifth edition, appease your patron and get mad as we go through everything you need to know. If youre focusing on warlock and just dipping into barbarian you can drop Strength all the way down to 10, I wouldnt take a negative in it but you dont need much for melee combat. Resistance to physical damage keeps you swinging a heck of a lot longer than a full warlock build. Perhaps the best thing you can do as a paladin is multiclass into a class that has increased spellcasting. Check out our, Want to play a proud horse person? Are they other players not getting frustrated that you are not carrying your share? You can go with. Since I'm only taking 4 levels of Warlock, at best, the [Armor of Agathys] gives us 10 temp HP (cast at 2nd level), but [False Life] gives 8 temp HP so almost no difference. If you areintending on a bearbarian warlock, like gagaepic is, then you need 13 STR, 13 WIS and 13 CHA. . Mirror Image - Good option for survivability, scales with DEX. I would go Paladin 6, then take Warlock and Paladin levels as you desire. This lets you cast false life on yourself for free which grants you 1d4 + 4 temporary hit points and very conveniently does not use concentration. Of course, that makes Perception less useful, but on a MAD class like the Paladin that's still a good . The Warlock aspect is mostly for RP but provides some utility outside of combat in addition to pre battle buff spells. To make this insane barbarian projectile work I recommend a split of. Regardless, we only recommend products or services we believe will add value to our readers. Warlocks are normally stuck in light armor but we also get shields and medium armor proficiencies from barbarian. Hit Points: d10 hit points is standard for a martial fighter-equivalent class.. The natural weapons don't do much more in terms of damage. Druid is the most powerful spellcaster class to dip into as a barbarian. To even be able to create a paladin and monk multiclass, a character needs a 13 in Strength, Dexterity, Wisdom, and Charisma. This super charges your melee weapon attack with martial melee weapons! Tomb of Levistus (Requires Level 5) - Situational damage block (not as effective due to having fewer Warlock levels, but it's still at least 50 hp). The other archetypes all have minor synergies (mostly due to utilizing bonus actions, which are often unused), but are less synergistic compared to the former. False Life is 8 temp hp so there is only a 2 hp difference. This means if you click on an affiliate link and purchase the item, we will receive an affiliate commission. to solve one of the biggest blade pact strategies which is survivability. It's good, but sadly about all we can use at the 4th level slot on the warlock spell list. And as your spells already key off of your charisma score, you'll mix best with other classes that use charisma as their primary spellcasting stat. Not being a warlock doesn't really make sense, and I also can't use Shillelagh without the levels in Warlock while keeping my Paladin auras, as I would need 6 in Bard as well as using a Magical Secrets on a cantrip. Basic Rules for Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) Fifth Edition (5e) - D&D Beyond So why spend all those levels learning spells you can only cast on your down time? And since psychic damage is pretty rare you can fairly confidently resist any attack damage. It sounds like you're only taking Warlock levels to boost Armor of Agathys. Saves: The Paladin's saves will keep you from being charmed or mind controlled, but you'll have problems with Constitution saves, in which Barbarians and Fighters both get proficiency.When you pick up Aura of Protection, you suddenly get a huge boost to all of your saves, potentially giving you better saves . D&D: 10 Best Barbarian Multiclass Combos - CBR and thinking. Beyond that we can make being near us lethal in a couple ways. Doesn't scale with level, but very effective at level 2. Need a New Dice Set? Great if someone else brings darkness, still good if not. Warlock brings utility to the usually combat-focused class of Barbarian Benefits greatly from short rests Cons: Very MAD - unlikely to get feats (true for baseline Barbarian as well) Lower AC and HP than traditional Barbarians (Compensated with better damage avoidance or mitigation) Slower Barbarian progression means less rage damage While youre in there you can hear whats going on outside, but youre otherwise in a pocket dimension. Ok, so weve turned ourselves into a projectile, now what? We have to devote a lot to Dex and Con in order to get better than the medium armor which we already have among our defensive options as a barbarian. Invaluable when you really need to push through that attack roll. 3d6 points of healing that can be used at range and as a bonus action while raged, and they can impose disadvantage to enemy attacks that cant target them. . No two campaigns will be the same or run the same even if its a module because the players are different. Firstly, we can take the path of the storm herald and choose the desert option. Warlocks are normally stuck in light armor but we also get shields and medium armor proficiencies from barbarian. for a permanent mage armor, but mage armor works out to about the same as our AC without spells used. First, we cant cast spells without our vessel, so all our spell slots should be used on buffs that last without concentration like, Beyond that we can make being near us lethal in a couple ways. Not worth missing out on 5 barbarian levels if youre majority barbarian, but a great option for the primarily warlock builds. Barbarian on the other hand was great fun with high strength giving good mobility, good damage and the . I think Reckless attack is the best thing a Barbarian offers a Paladin and any more than 2 or maybe 3 Barbarian levels probably results in diminishing returns compared to adding more of the Paladin's excellent chassis or just getting more spell slots . Its an odd dip but just 2 levels of warlock can give our barbarian access to a great big pool of healing to make us an incredible damage sponge. For most of our builds youre best off just getting up to +2 Dexterity and wearing medium armor. No. Note, that the hexblade patron also provides you with medium armor proficiency, so if your build is taking hexblade you can start with either class without missing out. Between Fey Ancestry, immunity to fear, and Aura of Protection, paladins can generally afford to dump Wisdom. As a warlock 2, you will only have two castings of the 1st level spell. How To Multiclass A Paladin In D&D 5e - CBR It gets a bit trickier, but I can streamline it down. Scan this QR code to download the app now. . . Absolutely. At level 9, a 6 Barb/3 Lock could tank about ~500 damage over a long fight. Dungeons & Dragons, D&D, their respective logos, and all Wizards titles and characters are property of Wizards of the Coast LLC in the U.S.A. and other countries. If youre focusing on barbarian and just dipping into warlock, you can drop Charisma all the way down to just 13 (or 14) since most of the features well be snagging dont actually use the casting stat. Just lovely. By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. all the way down to 10, I wouldnt take a negative in it but you dont need much for melee combat. One of the disadvantages is the multiple attribute dependancy (MAD) of the multiclass. Sensing a theme? Paladin and Warlock can work in just about any combination. Free bonus hit points whenever you have a moment to breathe seems like the exact sort of thing a barbarian build could use. Path of the Ancestral Guardian gives a highly supportive approach. The Blade Pact can now be considered due to the Eldritch Smite invocation, which works nicely with your 4th level spell slots. Spells are limited in selection, but you don't have many spell slots to work with anyway. He laughs as he charges toward the frost giant who dared poach his people's elk herd. By accepting all cookies, you agree to our use of cookies to deliver and maintain our services and site, improve the quality of Reddit, personalize Reddit content and advertising, and measure the effectiveness of advertising. By using the affiliate links, you are helping support the Service, and we genuinely appreciate your support. As well as smite more often then a lvl 20 paladin. Functionally similar to divine smite, this lets you convert your spell slot into 1d8 force damage per spell slot level (so 3d8 when you first gain this at 5 warlock levels). Put them together and we get the loose cannon champions of otherworldly patrons fueled by both their patron and their undying rage. darkness which is an otherwise extremely rare ability. I wouldn'twant to go sword and board anyways, because of the damage my foes take upon hitting me, spending resources (like an open hand) to make my armor class higher wouldn't make sense. . The price of the item is the same whether it is an affiliate link or not. The issue is mainly the barbarians, , which specifically prohibits you from casting spells or concentrating on spells while raging. we get all the smashy goodness of a barbarian but with extra defensive measures for our allies through the, essentially forces enemies to attack you instead of your squishier allies and. We are now resistant to ALL damage. DND warlock multiclass combinations are already easy to flip into a battle ready damage dealer like the martial classes and a frothing rage monster sworn to an otherworldly patron is a fun character concept. Reddit, Inc. 2023. How to Build DnD's Most Powerful Paladin barbarian, document monk provides, paladin, subclass and warlock. New to find a D&D Group? You might be tempted by our access to finesse weapons like a rapier instead and while it's a tempting option for relying on dexterity for damage instead of strength. "I can't do any of that while I rage". The Barbarian Class for Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) Fifth Edition (5e) - D on yourself for free which grants you 1d4 + 4 temporary hit points and very conveniently does. Also be aware that mage armor is an option, but these are the options for AC without spells. And since psychic damage is pretty rare you can fairly confidently resist any attack damage. You don't get 2nd level slots until warlock 3, and even then you only get 2 castings per short rest. Barbarian Warlock multi-class Good? - Tips & Tactics - D&D Beyond Bunch of questions in there so I'll try breaking it all apart. normally, but this invocation lets you cast it for free whenever youd like. I've seen some people work to gain heavy armor proficiency on this type of build, but I don't see the value. Ranger - Dexterity 13 and Wisdom 13: light armor, medium armor, shields, simple weapons, martial weapons, one skill from the class's skill list. is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. Note that if your DM hates fun they might put a stop to this, but rules as written even if they impose disadvantage for the bottle being attached to the arrow you should still be able to fire and smash the bottle wherever youd like within a longbows mighty (600 ft!) Its not. Barbarians are wild muscle machines fueled by adrenaline and wrath to smash everything and take any punishment. The barbarian warlock multiclass is arguably the least synergistic combination of 5e classes with only barbarian/wizard competing for it. Good point Thirsting blade wouldn't be necessary after five levels of Barbarian, and I didn'ttake more than two attacks into account in the Damage Calculation. where you very eloquently and correctly pointed out, you do them before you rage. The other obvious one is Fighter for first level then the rest warlock to get heavy armor, but he may not have the cash to afford the really good heavy armor since even splint is 200 gp (so it's unlikely he'd be able to actually get it until much later) and then of course, mage armor doesn't work, so it's just a flat 18 AC anyway. is a good place to start if you want to go more face of the party with the build as well. You can go witharmor of shadows for a permanent mage armor, but mage armor works out to about the same as our AC without spells used. Magic Touch. This is not a value build where youre able to mix and match features to work together, this is a gimmick build thats still likely not worth it but is technically feasible. Cookie Notice For a completely spell-free class like barbarians having 1 or 2 extra spell slots to spend every short rest can be very useful. I can get behind that, but I was thinking that it worked very well in the combat and action economy sense and was hoping that someone could point out why so many people think that it does not. Especially since you intend on highly leveling warlock but rarely casting. Sadly, you need 5 levels of warlock to gain access to this one but its one of the only ways to directly convert your warlock spells into additional damage while in rage. Cleric. I've tried both warlock and barbarian (berserker), and I'm torn. These should generally be cast round 1, after which you enter rage in round 2 (to avoid rage dropping instantly from not hitting anything). I tend to value Con more than Wis but theyre both objectively good saving throws worth having and both options are valid since neither gains additional proficiencies. We do lose out on the retaliation, but if they are close enough to hit the [Armor of Agathys], they are close enough for us to pound on by walking into our PAM reach for a free attack of 1d10 + STR, balancing the whole thing out. etc. We would like to show you a description here but the site won't allow us. If youre going this high in the warlock levels, this is a good one to have in the pocket. Alignments other than True Neutral make it impossible to choose certain pacts. Add in the temp HP granted every time you reckless attack (Battlerager 6th lvl), you're gonna be nearly impossible to put down. armor of agathys does not require concentration and can be cast before raging, and the Hexblade's curse also does not require concentration, I'm not planning on casting any spells post-rage, or concentratingon any of them. aid other tabletop gamers in creating memorable characters. "If you are able to cast spells, you cant cast them or concentrate on themwhile raging.". Any build that includes the. Level 3 is appealing due to second level spells, which gives a 10-hp Armor of Agathys and Mirror Image. I get that you didnt. I could kind of see this, but at the same time some of the benefits from Barbarian are incompatible with being a Warlock, such as spell casting. Part 1 options for the This Is PlaytestMaterial The material in this article is presented for playtesting and to spark your imagination. I would probably only take 3 levels of warlock, but if you are really set on those temporary hitpoints and enjoy roleplaying it, go for it. D&D 5e Guide: How to Multiclass Paladins Relentless Hex - (Requires Hex/Curse, Level 7) - Great mobility towards a single target per short rest. Now weve already got access to medium armor and unarmored defense so the odds of having already better or equal AC access is pretty high. If youre focusing on warlock and just dipping into barbarian you can drop. Go for it. Tentacle of the deeps functions a lot like the spell spiritual weapon. Thisll correspond fairly well to the shift from warlock to barbarian levels so just trust in the process for now. I'm taking 3 levels of barbarian and the rest in warlock, meaning that the Armor of Agathys would be giving 25 Temp Hp at later levels, compared to the 6.5 generated on average by false life. It has a 5th level requirement so we cant snag this on a dip, but cloak of flies doesnt use concentration and it doesnt count as spellcasting so were free to rage up with flies on. Bard Example Builds. Essentially, youre a literal genie in a bottle and you can disappear inside it as an action. I would try this out for the first few sessions and see how you like it, but if I were you I might go for Fighter instead of Barbarian. Rage persists when you use Wild Shape, so you can easily rage, turn into a Dire Wolf, and go to town on an enemy. If your build is stretched on ability scores this is a tempting option though. You might be tempted by our access to finesse weapons like a rapier instead and while it's a tempting option for relying on dexterity for damage instead of strength. You get some slightly different proficiencies and saving throws in multiclass builds depending on which class you start out with. We've got a few defensive options. Ancestral shield essentially forces enemies to attack you instead of your squishier allies and spirit shield lets you prevent incoming damage for them. As a barbarian you want STR for damage, DEX and CON for health and armourclass. When you do so, choose a number of paladin spells equal to your Charisma modifier + half your paladin level, rounded down (minimum of one spell). Not everything is about or needs to be about combat and action economy, if you think it'd be fun or interesting, or would like to roleplay it. so the earliest youll have access to it is 3rd level. Darkvision isnt that unique or interesting, but this grants 120 ft sight that even sees through magical darkness which is an otherwise extremely rare ability. I've done the theory crafting of a Barb/Warlock and decided against Armor of Agathys. Bear Totem 3/Devotion Paladin 7/10 Valor Bard. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. I was planning out the levels for my new character and was thinking about going for a build based off of the spell armor of agathys I selectedLevistus Tiefling and am starting at 3rd level. And it doesnt use concentration so your target should remain charmed even while youre enraged. While youre in there you can hear whats going on outside, but youre otherwise in a pocket dimension. Dwarven Battlerager Barb/Chain Pact Warlocks are insanely good at tanking damage all day long. I'll probablyswap it out for something else, good catch. A lot of this comes from the critical hit opportunities you get when you roll two dice. The rest of the party consists of ranged attackers and support characters. You don't get any extra proficiencies by starting with one or the other, just different skill list options for skill proficiencies. What else would you be using the spell slots for? The top three options are bard, sorcerer, and warlock. The classic out of combat control spell, this has myriad uses most of which should be happening. Blueshift Nine, LLC is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com or endless.com, MYHABIT.com, SmallParts.com, or AmazonWireless.com. We get a number of d6s in healing equal to 1 + our warlock level (so 3). We get a number of d6s in healing equal to 1 + our warlock level (so 3). website (the "Service") is for general information purposes only. Its an odd dip but just 2 levels of warlock can give our barbarian access to a great big pool of healing to make us an incredible damage sponge. The bonus action it grants allows you to add your attack bonus to the hit, stretching your damage per round. Anytime we arent using the hexblade patron we get the big old two-handed weapons so greataxe, greatsword, and maul all work for us. this seems like a solid combo to me but in other forums, everyone says that Warbariansare bad and I can't figure out why. so the odds of having already better or equal AC access is pretty high. Youll likely have seen these elements before, but youll want to take the hexblade patron along with the pact of the blade for a full martial warlock strategy. It's just a strange way of going about it to combine classes such that a core feature of the class is largely unusable. In particular, warlocks have spells and features . For most of our builds youre best off just getting up to +2 Dexterity and wearing medium armor. By reducing a creature's speed, we can essentially keep it in range every turn and we can often force attacks of opportunity. Check out our guide on, Want to wield two swords like Drizzt? This works because Warlocks, of all the spellcasting classes, are the least dependent on actual spells and gain the most from class features and invocations. invocation which has a very similar but shorter range effect for bonus poison damage on everybody near us equal to our Charisma modifier. The prime example of the creativity spell, prestidigitation has a long list of very minor magical tricks it can perform that all depend on you to find a use for them. gets you 1d4 + 4 temporary hit points that you can use to heal yourself, and since it doesnt use concentration, you dont lose them while in rage. Getting skill proficiencies in. We get a 5-foot aura of buggy goodness that gives us advantage on Intimidation checks and deals bonus poison damage equal to our Charisma modifier to anybody who starts their turn in the aura. Keep in mind that this pact is NOT necessary for the Hex Warrior feature, since we don't care about substituting CHA for STR anyway. . This one is a bit out there and maybe a bit inefficient but, it is fun. This site works best with JavaScript enabled. Spirit Guardian Barb, Warlock of the Raven Queen. Even more so than cleric levels for channel divinity, rogue levels, or the old level of fighter dip. For invocations, I was planning on picking up the cloak of flies for the extra CHA damage every round and maddeninghex (for the hexbladecurse) to do it again plus Thirsting blade for two attacks so that at level 8 with GWM I can deal (average if both attacks hit and I get hit once) 67 points of damage, or 81 if I get hit twice. The beast barbarian is also a decent damage dealer option with a selection of fun natural weapons in beast form. DnD 5e - Practical Guide to Multiclassing | RPGBOT Thinking about other classes? Resistance to physical damage keeps you swinging a heck of a lot longer than a full warlock build. However, a few levels of D&D warlock can provide some specific boons for a monk. Next, we can make great use of the fiendish vigor invocation that lets us cast false life at first level on ourselves whenever we want without spending spell slots. Were going to have to scrape the bottom of the barrel to get some actual synergies here. Armor of Agathys is nice though, as it deals a deseptivly high amount of damage. . Multiclassing allows you to gain levels in multiple classes. Affiliate advertising programs that the Service uses are: A 5e Guide to the Barbarian + Warlock Multiclass -, The barbarian warlock multiclass is arguably the, synergistic combination of 5e classes with only barbarian/wizard competing for it. Ultimate Optimizer's Multiclassing Guide People aren't thinking about it the way you are and how it is for RAW or RAI. 14 levels of warlock lets me move my curse around like a hex or hunters mark allowing me to keep up the damage bonuses and the crit chance. You get some slightly different proficiencies and saving throws in multiclass builds depending on which class you start out with. Polearm Master is one of those feats that entirely created a build archetype. False life Gives 1d4+4, or 6.5 average THP not 8. Learning is power, power corrupts, study hard be Evil. One of the best races for the Paladin build is the Dragonborn. lets you prevent incoming damage for them. The Damage Build: Totem Barbarian X + Hexblade Warlock 7. to this mix but that still means we have 4 ability scores to care about which is a bit of a stretch. Barbarian . The beast barbarian is also a decent damage dealer option with a selection of fun natural weapons in beast form. (. Worst case scenario your vessel can still get lobbed like a grenade. This is a solid utility option thats always flexible and rarely goes unused. I am now picking up 2 levels of GOO Warlock in order to be able to have some ranged attack options (eldritch blast) before wild shaping and grappling. For more information, please see our Maybe go to 10th just to get a patron feature. The issue is mainly the barbarians rage, which specifically prohibits you from casting spells or concentrating on spells while raging. Barbarian/Paladin multiclass? : r/3d6 - Reddit Pact of the Chain is better for a 3-level dip due to the utility of the familiar and the Gift of the Ever-living Ones invocation. Since barblocks cant make much use of cantrips in combat this out of combat cantrip may fit the bill. Not amazing if youre facing numerous enemies with small attacks, but it can be a lifesaver against enemies with a low number of high-damage attacks. Both spells, [Armor of Agathys] and the [False Life] are (V, S, M) meaning we need a free hand to cast. Escape spells: Misty Step, Thunder Step, Dimension Door, Invisibility. We have updated our privacy policy. This combination was affectionately . this gives me 20 THP and puts my effective health at 51, compared to the 35 I'd have as a straight barbarian. Cookie Notice I did not include general utility invocations, since they are usually used out of combat so there aren't any rage restrictions. 1 Warlock. With just two levels of warlock dnd you gain 2 spell slots to use every short rest, 2 invocations, and the 1st level feature of a patron. Our DM uses a "quirk" system to help build flaws and stuff and allowed me to take mounted combatant for some additional flaws.