Editing Hexblade (section)

==5th Edition D&D==
In [[5e]], hexblades work differently yet again. They ultimately figured "you know what, screw it; this is basically a [[gish]]y [[warlock]]" and tried to make it work from that angle.

In the PHB, warlocks are presented with the Pact of the Blade option for the 3rd-level Pact Boon feature. This gives the warlock a free magical weapon that they can power up via various "Eldritch Invocations" and which they can turn into whatever shape they want. It was... underwhelming, because the warlock was still a caster class first and foremost, making it very squishy. Still, it works alright with multiclassers.

Then, Hexblade was added as an actual subclass for the warlock. Whilst the fluff was atrocious, not least of which was that you were somehow drawing power from the creator of intelligent magical weapons in the [[Shadowfell]] (who may or may not be [[the Raven Queen]], but she's already got her own separate pact available as playtest content... shh don't tell) - and ''didn't need to take the Pact of the Blade feature'', the mechanics are... well, decently solid. This pledge makes the warlock more of a melee combatant, in the vein of the class it takes its name from; their two level 1 features are Hexblade's Curse (1/short rest, place a curse on a foe within 30ft that makes your attacks more likely to hit and heals you if they die while cursed) and Hex Warrior (you can enchant one-handed weapons you are proficient with to use Charisma for their attack & damage rolls; if you've chosen Pact of the Blade, your Pact Weapon always has this trait as well no matter the form it takes, also you get free proficiency with medium armor, shields and martial weapons). At level 6, they gain Accursed Specter (raise a slain humanoid as a loyal specter 1/day). Their level 10 feature, Armor of Hexes, buffs up their curse by letting the warlock negate a cursed opponent's attack against them on a 4+. Finally, at level 14, they get Master of Hexes, which lets them forgo the healing effect for dropping a cursed opponent to instead immediately reapply that curse to a fresh opponent. Its bonus spells are close-ranged, a mixture of protective spells (Shield, Blur, Blink) and temporary weapon enchantments - the only exceptions are Phantasmal Killer and Cone of Cold.

Ironically, this focus on continually cursing an enemy to weaken them, dropping that enemy, and then cursing a new enemy is basically a shout-out to the core mechanic of warlocks in the previous edition.

The 5e Hexblade is also one of the more front-loaded class options, making it a common dip in many multiclass builds.

{{D&D5-Classes}}