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Switch to Forum Live View Hexblades - what do they need?
1 year ago  ::  Dec 29, 2011 - 7:29PM #21
Plot.Device
Plot.Device
Date Joined: Oct 15, 2010
Posts: 51
It doesn't create the same problem in the opposite direction; it creates more equal choices.

Right now, Hexblades are equal damage to warlocks, and all their damage boosting options are also available to warlocks, which means they don't make a difference. Warlocks have lots of utility that Hexblades don't have (I'm lumping encounter powers and class features into "utility").

With the addition of Warlock's Curse to Hexblades, you have Hexblades the same as now, but with more damage (and a little utility from Warlock's Curse feats and items), and Warlocks have less damage but more utility. Voila! Now there are two equal but different choices, where before one was strictly superior. I will say, though, that it might be good to weaken the Hexblade curse a bit, as the full curse + full static damage unbalances them a bit compared to other strikers. Perhaps starting it at d4 instead of d6 and allowing Killing Curse to make it d6.
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1 year ago  ::  Dec 29, 2011 - 7:40PM #22
Neutronium_Dragon
Neutronium_Dragon
Date Joined: Aug 11, 2006
Posts: 5,779
Since the hexblade's damage output is not the problem, what if the hexblade could apply a "curse" when they attack a target (as a non-action, like the fighter's mark) until EONT; it doesn't grant additional damage in any way, but it counts as a warlock's curse for other purposes (like rod properties), thus opening up at least some of the otherwise-lacking utility interactions?

  This also makes it distinct from the standard curse in terms of how it's applied; no minor-vs-nearest target, and it's not persistent. Of course, this would probably have some unwanted interactions, but as a top-of-my-head thought it might be worth looking into.

  (Of course, it could be taken in a different direction - the hexblade's "curse" functions more like a defender's mark, or a leader's my-allies-like-hitting-you effect. Hmm...)
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1 year ago  ::  Jan 04, 2012 - 2:33AM #23
Oni_Kagura
Oni_Kagura
Date Joined: Jul 18, 2007
Posts: 237
A lot of the main flaws have been discussed, but I'm going to throw in a few small ideas.

1. More Radiant damage feats for non-divine characters. There are currently two builds centered around radiant damage, but most of the great feats for radiant damage are tied down to Divine powers. Furthermore, Wellblades are stuck with a power that doesn't scale because it applies vulnerability to all enemies in the aura, but Warlocks have few ways to deal radiant damage in burst.

Court Hexblades and Infernal Hexblades get good support for their damage types, but Star and Wellblades are left with little beyond Starfire Womb and Silverly Glow.

2. Evolving Blades. By this, I mean the pact blade itself could improve over time. This could be as simple as all Pact Blades gaining Brutal 1 at Paragon and Brutal 2 at Epic, or as complex as gaining weapon properties or powers specific to your pact.

3. Intellingent Blades. I would love to see a Hexblade pact where your patron is the Pact Blade itself. STEAL THIS IDEA, WIZARDS. D:<

4. Hexblade Themes. Warlocks come by their powers in a way that's completely different than any other class, so having unique themes could be a good idea.

5. Rods made for Hexblades. I think this would be the best way to distinguish normal Warlocks from Hexblades. Normal warlocks have rods that focus on their curse, so naturally having Rods that can be interchangable but build on your pact weapon is a way to not only distinguish the two classes, but to distinguish the pact blade from any ordinary magic weapon (because Pact Blades should be better than an ordinary magic weapon, given that the entire class is built around it).

For example, if Rod A has the property "Necrotic attacks made with your Pact Blade are crits on a roll of 19-20" and Rod B has the property "When you deal necrotic damage through an attack with your Pact Blade, you gain a +1 bonus to AC", having both rods and being able to adapt the pact blade to the situation would make the Hexblade a much more interesting class strategically.

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I don't know -  I think Wizards knows that the Hexblade class has a lot of cool potential given that they've released three entirely new builds since HotFK, but just releasing a bunch of builds doesn't make the class any more fun. I think having unique Hexblade rods was the best suggestion in this thread, but the trouble with that is you'd have to collect a bunch of rods to make it work. I dunno.




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