blade of frontier question

[wei270]

why is he call the blade of frontier when he can't even use most blades..........., none armor, isn't he suppose to be a captain of those armored knights? did he sudden forgot how to use armor and martial weapons or was he so bad that he never learned how to used them before?

he even have a cool two handed weapon in his character poster that you can't not use....

[Clovis Sangrail]

STR sucks, DEX sucks, and what is he supposed to do with 16 CHR?

He kind of reminds me of Star-Lord in Guardians of the Galaxy --

"Who calls him 'Blade of Frontiers'"?

"He does."

I guess you could take him shopping. That CHR ought to get you good prices.

[Yojo0o]

He's horribly built as a character, has been since day 1.

I hope he's reconfigured for 1.0, but I'd have expected us to see the new and improved version of him during EA, and we're out of time there.

[danielfruth]

I thought he was a hexblade when I first saw him. Maybe they will add that class and he'll make sense.

[Dragon Master]

If he's a hexblade warlock, or pact of the blade upon reaching level 3 then he'll use charisma instead of strength or dexterity.

[Razorblade]

ITT: People not understanding the difference between the Hexblade patron and the Pact of the Blade pact boon.

Wyll's patron isn't changing; being a Fiendlock is integral to his story. Pact of the Blade being unlocked as a pact boon, however, will greatly increase his melee potential. Pact of the Chain being the only pact boon atm is the largest thing that is causing his build issues.

[Pan Darius Cassandra]

Originally posted by Razorblade:

ITT: People not understanding the difference between the Hexblade patron and the Pact of the Blade pact boon.

Wyll's patron isn't changing; being a Fiendlock is integral to his story. Pact of the Blade being unlocked as a pact boon, however, will greatly increase his melee potential. Pact of the Chain being the only pact boon atm is the largest thing that is causing his build issues.

That still doesn't explain how he's proficient with rapiers...

[Yojo0o]

Originally posted by Dragon Master:

If he's a hexblade warlock, or pact of the blade upon reaching level 3 then he'll use charisma instead of strength or dexterity.

Pact of the Blade doesn't give that charisma scaling, unfortunately. It was pretty much a dud pact boon before Hexblade was introduced, and still doesn't really work for non-hexblade warlocks unless you've rolled extremely MAD.

[Yojo0o]

Originally posted by Razorblade:

ITT: People not understanding the difference between the Hexblade patron and the Pact of the Blade pact boon.

Wyll's patron isn't changing; being a Fiendlock is integral to his story. Pact of the Blade being unlocked as a pact boon, however, will greatly increase his melee potential. Pact of the Chain being the only pact boon atm is the largest thing that is causing his build issues.

Eh, Hexblade has always had a somewhat nebulous concept of who the patron actually can be. It wouldn't be too much of a stretch to be a hexblade warlock by way of a fiendish patron.

Anyway, I still don't think Pact of the Blade alone fixes him. It would give him weapon proficiency and a second attack per round at level 5, sure, but he's still operating with a pitiful +1 modifier in his weapon stat, and light armor without a shield to boot. You'd need to take Moderately Armored at level 4 to have a chance at survival, and even then he's still only looking at 14 dexterity.

[Pan Darius Cassandra]

A better question, then, might be, "Why does Larian build such terrible characters?" And also, "Will they remain this bad at launch?"

[Yojo0o]

Originally posted by Pan Darius Loveless:

A better question, then, might be, "Why does Larian build such terrible characters?" And also, "Will they remain this bad at launch?"

All of the other companions have a +3 in their primary stat and +2 in 1-2 supporting ability scores. They're not necessarily powergamed, but they're very viable.

Wyll is the only companion with ability score allocations that don't really work compared to how the game tells you to use him. He's very usable as a back-line eldritch blast bot like any baseline warlock can be, but the whole Blade of the Frontiers concept is unworkable. DnD newbies are going to have a really hard time figuring out how to use him if he isn't given a mechanical overhaul in 1.0.

[Pan Darius Cassandra]

Shadowheart isn't that great either, but better off than Wyll. The other three are fine.

What they really need to do is let us respec all characters (maybe offer this when they join the party) so that people can optimize them for the direction they intend to take them.

[Razorblade]

Originally posted by Yojo0o:

Eh, Hexblade has always had a somewhat nebulous concept of who the patron actually can be. It wouldn't be too much of a stretch to be a hexblade warlock by way of a fiendish patron.

No, Xanthar's make it completely explicit that Hexblade patrons are entities from the Shadowfell. It would be a stretch to say "the Raven Queen is my Hexblade patron" since she is from the Shadowfell, but not a sentient magic weapon. Saying "Admodeus is my Hexblade patron" would just be complete nonsense.

People are, of course, allowed to DM however they want, but the source material could not be any more explicit that Hexblades get their power from the Shadowfell. There is no element of vagueness.

[Yojo0o]

Originally posted by Pan Darius Loveless:

Shadowheart isn't that great either, but better off than Wyll. The other three are fine.

What they really need to do is let us respec all characters (maybe offer this when they join the party) so that people can optimize them for the direction they intend to take them.

I thought she was fine? 14 dex/con is very reasonable for a level 1 cleric, and 16 wisdom. Sure, I wish she had 15 con and 17 wis to make future ASIs and feats hit a bit better, but at least the modifiers are at a comfortable level to start with.

[Dragon Master]

Originally posted by Yojo0o:

Originally posted by Pan Darius Loveless:

A better question, then, might be, "Why does Larian build such terrible characters?" And also, "Will they remain this bad at launch?"

All of the other companions have a +3 in their primary stat and +2 in 1-2 supporting ability scores. They're not necessarily powergamed, but they're very viable.

Wyll is the only companion with ability score allocations that don't really work compared to how the game tells you to use him. He's very usable as a back-line eldritch blast bot like any baseline warlock can be, but the whole Blade of the Frontiers concept is unworkable. DnD newbies are going to have a really hard time figuring out how to use him if he isn't given a mechanical overhaul in 1.0.

Maybe that's the point.

Wyll has sold himself as the Blade, actively worked to make himself a legend for people to look up to when he's not that at all.

If his background was changed from Folk Hero to Charlatan then I think that would actually make his entire concept better by default.

[Yojo0o]

Originally posted by Razorblade:

Originally posted by Yojo0o:

Eh, Hexblade has always had a somewhat nebulous concept of who the patron actually can be. It wouldn't be too much of a stretch to be a hexblade warlock by way of a fiendish patron.

No, Xanthar's make it completely explicit that Hexblade patrons are entities from the Shadowfell. It would be a stretch to say "the Raven Queen is my Hexblade patron" since she is from the Shadowfell, but not a sentient magic weapon. Saying "Admodeus is my Hexblade patron" would just be complete nonsense.

I'm aware of the flavor given in the sourcebooks, but it's overly narrow compared to the other warlock subclasses, to the point that it's commonly sidestepped when playing a hexblade. It's not like the Shadowfell is accessible in a homebrew or atypical setting, but Hexblades aren't constrained by setting.