Class Acts: The Lady’s Gift

If there’s one thing Dungeons & Dragons was missing, it would be a system of magic based around strange women lyin’ in ponds distributin’ magic swords. Thankfully, that’s been addressed. Like the star pact hexblade article, the new crunch is restricted to levels where you don’t normally get to choose. There’s also a page of flavor to dish up with it, which could provide a solid foundation for a character to go a-questin’.

At 1st-level, you get a renamed blade of annihilation and a pair of spells that let you deal radiant damage or a lot of radiant damage (and making nearby enemies vulnerable to it). Many of the attacks revolve around dealing radiant damage, but as you ascend levels you can also summon undead handmaidens, blind enemies, and transform into a radiant champion that gains a considerable speed boost and can deal automatic damage once per round.

It’s a good variation of the fey pact theme that delivers its own, solid concept of a questing knight, and will be something I’ll use when I revisit my failed primal adventure path.

Hexblade Impressions

I got to try out the infernal-pact hexblade as part of D&D Encounters tonight, which was a blast for two reasons; the first is that I was the only person in the general area aside from Shazbot that had a copy of Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms, but the second is that I like being able to conjure up a hellish sword of dark energy that deals 14 damage on average. Reminds me of the end of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.

It was the grand finale of Chapter 1, which had us stumble into a clearing while searching for someone. I don’t recall the exact plot behind the encounter because the store owner was doing it on the fly and hadn’t really read up on things. All I know is that it was a storm warpriest, dwarf slayer, and me up against a trio of lizardfolk, dragonborn, and “crazy guy”. Despite having a new guy and being outnumbered, we kicked all kinds of ass.

Unfortunately, it was only one encounter so I can’t say for certain how well the class holds up in the long term, but its a solid concept that I wholly endorse. The hit points and damage output are superb, and the Armor Class ain’t too shabby. Having Charisma and Constitution as two key stats (go tiefling racial mods!), combined with the class bonus, ensures that my Fortitude and Will are pretty high to boot. Finally, since one at-will is usable as a melee basic makes Strength a pretty distant concern, and I think I’ll focus more on Intelligence for a better Reflex and Arcana.

Since the store owner gave me a copy of both Chapter 1 and 2 for Keep on the Borderlands, I might use it for my own group for play reports.

Star Pact Hexblades

I’d almost completely overlooked this addition to the hexblade pact choices, available before Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdom was supposed to be in stores. I’m not complaining, as the star pact has always been my favorite anyway. The article provides some interesting flavor as to the nature(s) of stars and a hexblade’s relationship to them, if any. One thing of particular note is that under the races section, shades get quite a bit of mention, including confirmation that they will be in Heroes of Shadow. A nifty not-quite-easter egg.

The rest of the article has a sidebar on the Revelations of Melech, a list of known stars and qualities, in addition to new class features. Unfortunately there are no extra powers (or feats) for levels where you would get to pick something, so hopefully your DM will let you peruse Player’s Handbook and/or Arcane Power for thematic options. Most of the class features allow you to deal radiant and/or psychic damage with some blind kickers here and there, and the summons let you conjure up an invisible entity that eats thoughts or an emotion sapping void. I like the neither are really described (thought the way walker is mentioned as being vaguely humanoid), as it better invokes a Lovecraftian flavor.

Meet The Hexblade

The 3rd Edition hexblade sucked, to say the least. From what I recall, it was a hybrid class that attempted to mix martial swordplay with a pittance of arcane practice to create a sub-par fusion of incompetence. It’s key ability was to impose a generic curse upon an opponent, that would penalize them in some fashion for baaasically the entire battle.

This hexblade is a melee-oriented arcane striker that comes with a built-in pact weapon, that she can form out of raw, arcane energy.  They’re proficient with chainmail, can use all simple and military melee weapons (and simple ranged if you give two fucks), in addition to rods and wands. All of the 1st-level infernal stuff is previewed with the exception of daily spells, which is fine because I prefer devils to faeries anyway.

• This time around, eldritch bolt is the new blast. It’s still keyed to Charisma and deals the same damage, but its force instead of untyped. Infernal hexblades can conjure the blade of annihilation, which aside from sounding badass, is a heavy blade that gets +2 to attack and deals 1d12 damage. The best part? It’s one-handed.
• Like warlock pacts you get an attack based on your pact, in this case soul eater, which is a Charisma-based melee attack that deals necrotic damage and gives you a bonus on the next attack you make against the same critter.
• There’s also a previewed encounter spell, blazing doom of the void. It’s also Charisma based, but deals double-weapon damage and gives you a hefty damage bonus against the next attack you make.
• Infernal Pact Reward grants you a bonus to all damage rolls equal to your Constitution modifier.
• The last class feature previewed is level nine’s Summon Warlock’s Ally, which in the case of infernal hexblades is a spined devil lackey that grants a bonus to Intimidate checks and can make ranged attacks with its quills. I can’t tell if its a daily or what, but it might be a similar to a familiar or spirit companion. 

Personally I’d like to see a star pact hexblade, but this is pretty damned cool.