I wonder if form of dread stops disguise self spell. I think it would be kinda funny to hide yurself among the enemies and unknowingly to them cause paranoia and terror
I love that idea but I think the frightened condition relies on being in sight or ear shot for it to stay active, so it'd be problematic if you were "hiding" or disguised because they'd have to recognize whats scaring them but that'd be up to your dm
@@lukejaffray7347not the frightened condition specifically I don't think, but most abilities or spells which cause it require the target to hear or see you. But personally, as a GM, if you wanted to play that character that lurks behind enemy lines sowing paranoia, I'd absolutely allow that because Rule of Cool. It's definitely a "discuss with GM" thing though.
I love this build and I actually made this recently with summon shadow spawn and the slasher feat to reduce enemy speed to zero while they’re afraid but because I’ve been watching your vids, I made them a goliath so they would live longer lol! I love the idea of using the fighter level to get better concentration saves tho, that opens up an invocation slot I was using for eldritch mind, great build!
Just so you know, regardless if your weapon, Booming Blade range is always 5 feet, as long as you're properly following 5e rules. You may be able to convince your DM to let you break the rules though.
@grendlew1487 No. RAW the spell gives a range of "self (5ft radius)" and the description reads "...make a melee attack with it against one creature within 5 feet of you." * Note this is the most recent iteration in Tashas Cauldron of Everything (TCE). I would argue for a change of the description reading "...make a melee attack with it against one creature within the brandish weapon's normal attack range." This makes whips usable with the spells but makes reach weapons terrifying. Imagine wielding a glaive with Pole Arm Master and War Caster. Hit an enemy with booming blade at 10ft range. Dont even worry about Sentinel because moving closer or further away from you just makes them take more damage.
Very interesting build, but I do want to pose a question/a different path because this is a character I've actually built and am waiting to play. It's a Fallen (Necrotic Shroud) Aasamar Conquest Paladin (6) Undead Warlock (14). Level progression is start with Paladin, then take 1 level in undead warlock to get those level 1 goodies. Then Paladin until 6 (7 if you really like the aura), then warlock all the way so that fantastic warlock 14 ability will essentially be your capstone. This build let's you do some amazing things with 3 different ways to generate fear all without spells, smites, fantastic flavor, great hp, great ac, and a ton more spell options considering you'll have 4 first level spells and 2 second level spells from Paladin you can use for so many different things. Heal, hex, spiritual weapon, hold person, and even heroism. All this and the fact you'll be getting a +5 to all your saving throws in addition to their normal modifier
One minute in, and I realized I had already started making this build. (But not for fear SPECIFICALLY, more for just not ever dying. Half Orc Revenant is fun.)
I know you gloss over the 1st/2nd level spells since they don't really have a big impact on the character playstyle, but I feel like Cause Fear as a 1st level Warlock spell helps bridge the gap in low levels until you get Dragon Fear online, and it upcasts well into 2nd level Warlock slots targeting multiple people until you get the true Fear spell as a more efficient large AoE with 3rd level slots and up. Even after getting Fear, Cause Fear can be the better choice in combats where party members are grouped up, or there aren't enough enemies around to make a limited Dragon Fear worth a use. I have a similar build that goes Undead Patron and Conquest Paladin as more of a battlefield controller/debuffer, and Cause Fear has worked great there. Definitely worth considering, at least as a temporary grab for those early levels before your "signature" stuff is up and running.
I did an opposite of this where I went one level in Paladin, one level in warlock, rest in paladin going conquest so that I was not only locking them down in their place but doing roughly 5 guaranteed damage on every single one of their turns. Really loved it, if I play another character and our party needs a tank I may try this route though, yours seems better at locking down though which seems cooler.
Very knowledgeable! Here's another warlock specific tool under your belt if you weren't aware. I'm talking about the ever humble spell *Darkness*. With your Devil's sight invocation, you can see in BOTH nonmagical AND magical darkness. Now let's take a glance at the text of darkness; specifically this part: "If the point you choose is on an object you are holding or one that isn't being worn or carried, the darkness emanates from the object and moves with it." That's just a convoluted way to say that if you cast it on something you're holding, it moves with you. Something... like a weapon! Congratulations! You now have advantage attacking enemies that rely on normal or dark vision (if they're inside the radius), and they have disadvantage attacking anything! Even if they're outside the darkness area (like archers), they still have disadvantage attacking you. Edit spelling ftw
The big drawback of using darkness with this build is that fear effects only work on a sight basis, so because darkness breaks an enemy's line of sight, the frightened condition stops taking effect. So while a good strategy on some builds, for this one in particular it doesn't align
@@DnD_Daily Darkness would be a supplemental tool for things immune to fear. Although I would argue that darkness may not counteract ALL of the effects of the fear condition. This surely would be negated: "A frightened creature has disadvantage on ability checks and attack rolls while the source of its fear is within Line of Sight. However... You could argue the secondary effect would persist. "The creature can’t willingly move closer to the source of its fear." It doesn't state you need to have line of sight for that effect. You're also gaining most of the features of the first by blinding your opponents. I personally would rule this works RAW and RAI since you can, and would most likely still be terrified of something that scared you and disappeared into the shadows. Up to you or DM, but I think it works.
I kind of just discovered your channel not too long ago and I am really liking your contact! It's giving me lots of ideas for character bills, and NPC's. This guy is totally going into my current campaign as a villain.
Great build! This sort of inspired a slightly different build for me. similar with the dragon fear feat but go 3 levels ancestral guardian barbarian instead of fighter. That way, against mobs, you bust out the dragon fear. But against boss monsters, who are often immune to fear, you can still taunt them and tank that way too. Plus, I find warlock tends to MC with rage better than other casters. Yes, you wouldn't be able to summon shadowspawn while raging, but warlocks definitely have a few good spells to cast before combat or as an action before rage that don't require concentration. AoA for those earlier levels, and if you get to level 9 in warlock, synaptic static works great as it isn't concentration yet behaves like a concentration spell in its effect. Drop that and then could still rage afterword. And if you could sneak in those 2 levels of fighter later, you could technically drop synaptic static, dragon fear, rage and still have an attack, at advantage, on round 1 🤣.
I love this build idea! As I was looking into it I noticed you could take that 1st level in Sorcerer instead of fighter and still gain proficiency in Con saves. This would also give you more cantrips and two 1st level spells where you could pick up spells like Absorb Elements and Shield to use in a pinch which you would not normally get acess to from the Warlock spell list. Also if you choose the Shadow Origin you would pick up the Strength of the Grave ability which would give you a 3rd potential "death ward" that doesn't give an exhaustion. You would also get Darkvision out to 120 feet from this subclass at 1st level, so you could spend an Invocation on Eldritch Armor rather than Devils Sight since you won't get the proficiency in the heavy armor that you would from taking 1st level Fighter. The only downside is you wouldn't get acess to a fighting style or that 1st level d10 hp, but I think its an interesting alternative.
Have almost this build that I've been playing for almost 2 years now. Battle Master 6/Undead Warlock 3. With investment of the chain master, form of dread, second wind, 19 AC and high CON with 93 hp at lvl 9 and cleric and mercy monk who heal me for max every time! It's almost impossible for my dm to fairly kill me honestly. I didn't even intend it as I originally intend to multiclass into Barbarian. But holy crazy its op. Am considering sentinel on 4th Warlock but that just seems unfair. With dual wielder and shadow blade AND a flame tongue the dmg is pretty crazy as well. He's ultra dumb (6 int) but a lovable guy as well (14 CHA) with prof in most social stats as well so role-playing is a blast as well. Would recommend as a fantastic campaign build or anything similar for anyone looking for a tank like paladin feel but without the oath tiedowns that role play can bring. Tyrions relatively lawful but hates contract😂 (not smart enough to grasp their meaning). But honestly great build. Nothing but fun and FULLY short rest based aprt from form of dread. 100% recommend.
This could easily have been 1 of the 4 horsemen with phantom steed (undead warlock spell list) providing the mount. Of course the most thematic dragonborn here is the 1 that does necrotic damage for an AOE self-heal for half from lvl 14 and after attack. There are also a few other benefits if we go with pact of the blade to add such as extra attack, to nova we can take eldritch smite, we will look less scary if we don't have our weapon with us so being able to summon it out of another dimension is very useful, thirsting blade also adds to the damage of the self-heal and lastly mask of many faces is a nice way to conceal our racial attack options.
The drawback of taking the necrotic damage Dragonborn is the necrotic damage resistance overlaps, but the extra healing in niche situations could be really strong 👍
@@DnD_Daily I know it's unfortunate, but you can't deny the theme/flavor for it fits really well. Sometimes flavor builds demand a sacrifice. You could always "pretty please" your DM for better synergy, like a feat to ignore resistance or to pick a different resistance. (Psychic seems on theme to me as a lot of psychic immune monsters are also undead)
Oh man, I built something very similar to this a few months ago and it was incredible, I have a weird aversion to Eldritch Blast so it was a tonne of fun
I have a fear build just like this lol. I decided to make some characters based off of the Omen movies and Lucius games, three brothers and a sister, Gabriel was the fear based one, Gabriel was a hell of a lot of fun, especially since his Form of Dread was based off of how he died (electrocuted to death, so his eyes would pop out and be replaced with small red dots, his teeth would fall out and his smile could reach the lobes of his ears). Until he used his form of dread, much like his siblings, he was actually a rather nice person, much to the chagrin of their father, they got their mom’s personality.
Tome Pact could have a 3rd death ward in the Gift of the Protectors invocation. Also, a pre-death ward feature that I think gets slept on a lot is the Tomb of Levistus invocation, a reaction for 10 THP per warlock level, activated after the damage is declared -and it recharges on a short rest. Also shadow sorcerer 1 could get you a limited death ward via strength of the grave, though it's less useful here if you start fighter since you won't have cha save proficiency. [one of the rare time a cha save actually ever comes up]
Big problem with tomb of levistus is you essentially lose a turn of combat, because the ice contains you until the end of your next turn. I do like the protector invocation for this though 👍
I am glad to see you got inspired by my tanklock build it is fun and not expected. I used my human so I could start with War Caster to hit them with booming blade if they flee. The Two weapon also i have been known to throw darts is what I started with myself mixing with Hex and to get 2 tries of getting the fear off.
@@armandomartinsdeandrade290 "When a hostile creature's movement provokes an opportunity attack from you, you can use your reaction to cast a spell at the creature, rather than making an opportunity attack. The spell must have a casting time of 1 action and must target only that creature. Nothing about a ranged and of it was an ranged attack it would be disadvantage
@@armandomartinsdeandrade290 then by that logic you can not use a spell like magic missile because it could hit multiple targets. The same reason it can't be twinned
if you go pact of the chain and take the flock of familiars spell to get a ton of familiars and choose Quasit then each can target someone with a fear effect and if you take the Investment of the Chain Master invocation then all the DC saves will be as high as yours instead of a 10 or 11 or whatever it is just an idea to take the build in a different direction familiars are better than weapons any way... because you can cuddle with them I... LOVE... YOU... lmfao
My idea for a tank warlock right now is pact of the celestial half elf with 3 levels in fighter as battle master. You pick up menacing attack and the shadow touched feat to gain cause fear for a free spell slot.
This might be one of the only viable builds for going pact of the tome, picking up shillelagh, and then using it in combination with booming blade/green flame bade. I love the utility that pact of the tome gives but its hard to make a melee warlock without going Hex Blade. Its been a combo that I've wanted to use for a while but I could never get it to work in combat. I think this build is perfect for my combo, I'd just swap of one or two of the invocations for some pact of the tome specific ones. The Thumbnail for this is dope.
Great build, thanks for sharing. I hadn't considered a lot of this before. I wonder about whether it would be worth it to dip further into fighter at higher levels to get action surge and possibly even take the champion subclass for better chances to crit. I'll definitely have to look into your other vids. thanks again
Seven levels of Oath of Conquest Paladin would be great on this. Locking down anyone too close to you makes it very hard for them to get to your back line.
I'm playing that very combo actually, currently paladin4/warlock2. It's so much fun, I haven't been attacked by a creature without disadvantage in weeks. Probably longer
I've got a PVP in April, I'm wondering how it would hold up against either level nine or 15 characters. DM said level nine…, birthday girl had already said level 15 and I'm kind of hoping she gets her way LOL
With just 4 asi and needing one for dragon fear that's only going to leave you +6 to share amongst stats or +4 if you take resilient wisdom. I love the concept but I would advise maybe looking for a belt of giant Str, and an amulet of health if you want to land your fears more often and still both land physical attacks be able to take damage. MAD builds become difficult to excell in as you progress to higher and higher ACs. Depending on rolls for stats being kind or point buy it could be worked. Standard array would hurt it badly. Asking for Cha saves will help a lower DC though as so few creatures have decent saves for that. The build might fall flat when facing mobs immune to the frightened condition and fear though. It's definitely an all your eggs in one basket build but I still love it and want to play it.
Ok several months of playing this it's insane. I don't find the fear immunity to come up too often even at 10th level. I went twilight cleric and am a blaster but the concept is the same.
This sounds really cool, thematically, but I'm not entirely convinced it serves effectively as the party "tank." You'll be tough to kill, but there isn't much incentive to target you over your allies. The purpose of the tank is to draw aggro away from your allies, because they're squishy and you're not. So while the fear effects are a decent battlefield control, there's not much stopping enemies from just ignoring you or running away (of course, they'd have to break line of sight) to negate the effects of the Frightened condition. Love the concept though, and I'd be interested in hearing any rebuttals.
I feel that the battlefield control through not letting them move past you along with giving friends targets disadvantage on all attacks is a good way to tank for the party. And you being in the Frontline not letting them past you is a good way to aggro enemies. That being said, I see your point that it could just as easily be a general debuffer instead of a frontline tanking play style
@D&D Daily Right, and not to say a debuffer is better or worse than the "tank" role, but IMO tanks typically need some sort of soft-taunt But I'll definitely agree that maintaining a large presence on the field to prevent free movement is pretty effective, just potentially situational/dependent on the environment, and of course how the DM rules line of sight. If the enemies are a bunch of low int goblins, yea they'll probably just cower in fear lol but more intelligent NPCs might consider simply breaking line of sight via cover or turning a corner.
@@DnD_Daily my main PC is a fighter/Armorer. Super beefy CON and Heavy Armor for sustain, but Gaurdian Gauntlets with 3 attacks per turn gives disadvantage to up to 3 enemies. Went Echo Knight, so I can potentially swap spaces with my Echo after attacking, which means the enemies I hit either accept disadvantage or waste their turn trying to reach me lol
Dude, how did you access my character on my Google drive. I have this same character but only difference is mine is a black dragon born. Insane. Thanks for the video. Keep it up
Gain proficiency in intimidate and Persuasion, go changeling, take the form of their late mother, sweet talk them, then once you're close, Form of Dread, I bet you could one hit KO a boss that way through emotional damage.
Why not pick up 4 levels in oathbreaker paladin instead of 1 Fighter? You get your ASI's earlier, divine smite, and your fear channel divinity. You miss out on some spellcasting and slots, but, smite.
I've come back, I've convinced myself to reflavour a dragonborn into a human. Diluted Half-Dragon bloodline, cursed from an eternal city. As he wakes up 20 years ago, and only those 20 years he can remember. All that remains are the sharp teeth from his draconic heritage. His breathweapon would've been more chromatic/metalic if he wasn't cursed by undeath, as his elemental attack would change to that of Psychic (Psychic Scream makes sense for something undead) I'm probably gonna follow it to a T, in a west marches setting, But I might lean into fighter a bit more. Action Surge seems neat on anything melee focussed. This build has been stuck in my mind, but. I don't like playing dragonborn myself.
Fear builds may be viable in one d&d with the new fear rules, but too many creatures with immunity to fear/control effects once you start getting up there in levels. Sucks to build a character around an idea and finding that their abilities outside the main class features are ineffective. Kinda feels like you’re on second teams just waiting on the bench for a moment to show what you can do.
I am currently using this build in my game by coincidence. I'm using Motm Yuan-ti Conquest pally and undead lock. Only level 4 atm. Fortunately, I got lucky with rolls, but CHA is started with a 20 (thnx RNGEESUS) so now I have to figure out my ASI's. I was thinking magic initiate for shield and Sentinel for the 0 move. What do you recommend I look at?
With a start that good you’ve got a TON of options. It’s going to be hard to go wrong so if I were in your shoes I would be asking which feat sounds like the most fun. Inspiring leader, GWM,ritual caster, ect.
@@DnD_Daily Thnx for the feedback. I'll focus on keeping it fun then. We play a big game so if I be a party buff kinda guy then it should be fun for everyone. Thnx for that.
I love all your vids and started watching recently, anyone got any ideas for a smoke build every time I try it ends up being a simple poison build (which is cool) but I can find a cool way to make a smoke them, my idea is a more utility build but being a damage, crowd control, or tank would not matter to me.
Do you mean the framed dragon pictures in the background of the video? We got those from Kaitlund Zupanic. You can check out their website Drawn to Dragons. Their art is excellent!
Love this build's design & theme. However, I have a few changes: -Invest more into Fighter. Level 2 has Action Surge, which is always extremely powerful, & Battlemaster has Menacing Maneuver, which is one more way to cause fear. -Go into Conquest Paladin, 7 levels is a heavy but more than worthy investment. All of the fear we've gotten makes everything within 10 feet of us unable to move (I know Dragon Fear does that but this gives it double), it gives us great spells to not have to invest in with Warlock, & even more ways to inflict fear, as well as lower level spell slots to use along with our 5th-level Warlock slots, making us a real threat. -Pick up Bane & Bestow Curse to inflict negatives onto enemy saves, along with Wrathful Smite. This build has a ton of ways to inflict single target fear, & larger scope fear spells typically get a few knocked out that need to be. This character can benefit from constantly inflicting fear, it could take on some very powerful enemies just by burning through legendary saves, because if they don't, they have fear+immobile+fighter & paladin, meaning big burst damage to actually take advantage of that fear. Using this as inspiration for an encounter! Maybe you can revisit this build with some changes to see how viable this is. Thanks for the inspiration!
Why not Paladin, Instead of fighter? And if you were going with more of a mixed multiclass Conquest paladin at level 7 can capitalize on frightened enemies by dealing Cha Psychic damage and really challenge those Bear totem Barbarians.
The conquest paladin undead warlock combo is a classic! As far as I've seen the build typically goes deep into paladin with only a few warlock levels, but the other way works great too! Ultimately though, do whatever sounds fun to you!
mine is reversed, going up till paladin level 8 and 14 in warlock, just enough to get what i need from paladin then the rest is warlock. Was also hopping for some opinions for my 6th level Mystic Arcanum. I got investiture of wind for mine, but am not certain if that's the best choice. Thanks by the way for the speedy reply, I was kinda expecting to be left unanswered for at least a week, given that your a content creator and you've got a lot of work to do. @@DnD_Daily
I wonder if form of dread stops disguise self spell. I think it would be kinda funny to hide yurself among the enemies and unknowingly to them cause paranoia and terror
I love that idea but I think the frightened condition relies on being in sight or ear shot for it to stay active, so it'd be problematic if you were "hiding" or disguised because they'd have to recognize whats scaring them but that'd be up to your dm
@@lukejaffray7347 Well, the idea of your mere presence terrorizing those who around you still sounds fun
If you use a Fallen Aasimar instead of the Dragonborn, you can use your Aasimar form while disguised
@@Takintomori that might work
@@lukejaffray7347not the frightened condition specifically I don't think, but most abilities or spells which cause it require the target to hear or see you. But personally, as a GM, if you wanted to play that character that lurks behind enemy lines sowing paranoia, I'd absolutely allow that because Rule of Cool. It's definitely a "discuss with GM" thing though.
I love this build and I actually made this recently with summon shadow spawn and the slasher feat to reduce enemy speed to zero while they’re afraid but because I’ve been watching your vids, I made them a goliath so they would live longer lol! I love the idea of using the fighter level to get better concentration saves tho, that opens up an invocation slot I was using for eldritch mind, great build!
Just so you know, regardless if your weapon, Booming Blade range is always 5 feet, as long as you're properly following 5e rules. You may be able to convince your DM to let you break the rules though.
Spell sniper?
@grendlew1487 No. RAW the spell gives a range of "self (5ft radius)" and the description reads "...make a melee attack with it against one creature within 5 feet of you."
* Note this is the most recent iteration in Tashas Cauldron of Everything (TCE).
I would argue for a change of the description reading "...make a melee attack with it against one creature within the brandish weapon's normal attack range."
This makes whips usable with the spells but makes reach weapons terrifying. Imagine wielding a glaive with Pole Arm Master and War Caster.
Hit an enemy with booming blade at 10ft range. Dont even worry about Sentinel because moving closer or further away from you just makes them take more damage.
Very interesting build, but I do want to pose a question/a different path because this is a character I've actually built and am waiting to play. It's a Fallen (Necrotic Shroud) Aasamar Conquest Paladin (6) Undead Warlock (14). Level progression is start with Paladin, then take 1 level in undead warlock to get those level 1 goodies. Then Paladin until 6 (7 if you really like the aura), then warlock all the way so that fantastic warlock 14 ability will essentially be your capstone. This build let's you do some amazing things with 3 different ways to generate fear all without spells, smites, fantastic flavor, great hp, great ac, and a ton more spell options considering you'll have 4 first level spells and 2 second level spells from Paladin you can use for so many different things. Heal, hex, spiritual weapon, hold person, and even heroism. All this and the fact you'll be getting a +5 to all your saving throws in addition to their normal modifier
One minute in, and I realized I had already started making this build. (But not for fear SPECIFICALLY, more for just not ever dying. Half Orc Revenant is fun.)
I know you gloss over the 1st/2nd level spells since they don't really have a big impact on the character playstyle, but I feel like Cause Fear as a 1st level Warlock spell helps bridge the gap in low levels until you get Dragon Fear online, and it upcasts well into 2nd level Warlock slots targeting multiple people until you get the true Fear spell as a more efficient large AoE with 3rd level slots and up. Even after getting Fear, Cause Fear can be the better choice in combats where party members are grouped up, or there aren't enough enemies around to make a limited Dragon Fear worth a use.
I have a similar build that goes Undead Patron and Conquest Paladin as more of a battlefield controller/debuffer, and Cause Fear has worked great there. Definitely worth considering, at least as a temporary grab for those early levels before your "signature" stuff is up and running.
Greataxe could also be a more flavorful choice as an executioner's axe
Not only powerful, but also really flavorful! Thanks Sage!
Going eldritch knight would also be great. Getting the shield spell, action surge, might be worth it idk.
I'm glad I'm not the only one that gets that feeling with builds.
INCREDIBLE build. So much flavor. Good stuff, Bud!
I did an opposite of this where I went one level in Paladin, one level in warlock, rest in paladin going conquest so that I was not only locking them down in their place but doing roughly 5 guaranteed damage on every single one of their turns. Really loved it, if I play another character and our party needs a tank I may try this route though, yours seems better at locking down though which seems cooler.
Very knowledgeable! Here's another warlock specific tool under your belt if you weren't aware. I'm talking about the ever humble spell *Darkness*. With your Devil's sight invocation, you can see in BOTH nonmagical AND magical darkness. Now let's take a glance at the text of darkness; specifically this part:
"If the point you choose is on an object you are holding or one that isn't being worn or carried, the darkness emanates from the object and moves with it."
That's just a convoluted way to say that if you cast it on something you're holding, it moves with you. Something... like a weapon! Congratulations! You now have advantage attacking enemies that rely on normal or dark vision (if they're inside the radius), and they have disadvantage attacking anything! Even if they're outside the darkness area (like archers), they still have disadvantage attacking you.
Edit spelling ftw
The big drawback of using darkness with this build is that fear effects only work on a sight basis, so because darkness breaks an enemy's line of sight, the frightened condition stops taking effect. So while a good strategy on some builds, for this one in particular it doesn't align
@@DnD_Daily Darkness would be a supplemental tool for things immune to fear. Although I would argue that darkness may not counteract ALL of the effects of the fear condition.
This surely would be negated: "A frightened creature has disadvantage on ability checks and attack rolls while the source of its fear is within Line of Sight.
However... You could argue the secondary effect would persist.
"The creature can’t willingly move closer to the source of its fear."
It doesn't state you need to have line of sight for that effect. You're also gaining most of the features of the first by blinding your opponents. I personally would rule this works RAW and RAI since you can, and would most likely still be terrified of something that scared you and disappeared into the shadows.
Up to you or DM, but I think it works.
I kind of just discovered your channel not too long ago and I am really liking your contact! It's giving me lots of ideas for character bills, and NPC's. This guy is totally going into my current campaign as a villain.
Love to hear it! I think some of our builds (like this one) almost make much better NPCs than they do PCs, hope you enjoy it!
That is a dangerous build. Well done.
Great build! This sort of inspired a slightly different build for me. similar with the dragon fear feat but go 3 levels ancestral guardian barbarian instead of fighter. That way, against mobs, you bust out the dragon fear. But against boss monsters, who are often immune to fear, you can still taunt them and tank that way too. Plus, I find warlock tends to MC with rage better than other casters. Yes, you wouldn't be able to summon shadowspawn while raging, but warlocks definitely have a few good spells to cast before combat or as an action before rage that don't require concentration. AoA for those earlier levels, and if you get to level 9 in warlock, synaptic static works great as it isn't concentration yet behaves like a concentration spell in its effect. Drop that and then could still rage afterword. And if you could sneak in those 2 levels of fighter later, you could technically drop synaptic static, dragon fear, rage and still have an attack, at advantage, on round 1 🤣.
I love this build idea! As I was looking into it I noticed you could take that 1st level in Sorcerer instead of fighter and still gain proficiency in Con saves. This would also give you more cantrips and two 1st level spells where you could pick up spells like Absorb Elements and Shield to use in a pinch which you would not normally get acess to from the Warlock spell list. Also if you choose the Shadow Origin you would pick up the Strength of the Grave ability which would give you a 3rd potential "death ward" that doesn't give an exhaustion. You would also get Darkvision out to 120 feet from this subclass at 1st level, so you could spend an Invocation on Eldritch Armor rather than Devils Sight since you won't get the proficiency in the heavy armor that you would from taking 1st level Fighter. The only downside is you wouldn't get acess to a fighting style or that 1st level d10 hp, but I think its an interesting alternative.
Also eldritch armor (as far as I know) is still in UA so it would require DM approval
I've actually been considering an Undead Warlock tank build for a long time
Fun build that I would not have thought of, and delivered straight to the point. You get a sub, sir.
Have almost this build that I've been playing for almost 2 years now. Battle Master 6/Undead Warlock 3. With investment of the chain master, form of dread, second wind, 19 AC and high CON with 93 hp at lvl 9 and cleric and mercy monk who heal me for max every time! It's almost impossible for my dm to fairly kill me honestly. I didn't even intend it as I originally intend to multiclass into Barbarian. But holy crazy its op. Am considering sentinel on 4th Warlock but that just seems unfair. With dual wielder and shadow blade AND a flame tongue the dmg is pretty crazy as well. He's ultra dumb (6 int) but a lovable guy as well (14 CHA) with prof in most social stats as well so role-playing is a blast as well. Would recommend as a fantastic campaign build or anything similar for anyone looking for a tank like paladin feel but without the oath tiedowns that role play can bring. Tyrions relatively lawful but hates contract😂 (not smart enough to grasp their meaning). But honestly great build. Nothing but fun and FULLY short rest based aprt from form of dread. 100% recommend.
This could easily have been 1 of the 4 horsemen with phantom steed (undead warlock spell list) providing the mount. Of course the most thematic dragonborn here is the 1 that does necrotic damage for an AOE self-heal for half from lvl 14 and after attack. There are also a few other benefits if we go with pact of the blade to add such as extra attack, to nova we can take eldritch smite, we will look less scary if we don't have our weapon with us so being able to summon it out of another dimension is very useful, thirsting blade also adds to the damage of the self-heal and lastly mask of many faces is a nice way to conceal our racial attack options.
The drawback of taking the necrotic damage Dragonborn is the necrotic damage resistance overlaps, but the extra healing in niche situations could be really strong 👍
@@DnD_Daily I know it's unfortunate, but you can't deny the theme/flavor for it fits really well. Sometimes flavor builds demand a sacrifice. You could always "pretty please" your DM for better synergy, like a feat to ignore resistance or to pick a different resistance. (Psychic seems on theme to me as a lot of psychic immune monsters are also undead)
One of the more interesting theory crafting builds I’ve heard.
Oh man, I built something very similar to this a few months ago and it was incredible, I have a weird aversion to Eldritch Blast so it was a tonne of fun
I see that Skyrim greataxe! Loving this very clever build!
I have a fear build just like this lol. I decided to make some characters based off of the Omen movies and Lucius games, three brothers and a sister, Gabriel was the fear based one, Gabriel was a hell of a lot of fun, especially since his Form of Dread was based off of how he died (electrocuted to death, so his eyes would pop out and be replaced with small red dots, his teeth would fall out and his smile could reach the lobes of his ears). Until he used his form of dread, much like his siblings, he was actually a rather nice person, much to the chagrin of their father, they got their mom’s personality.
Wow. This is a build I never considered. Nice!
Tome Pact could have a 3rd death ward in the Gift of the Protectors invocation. Also, a pre-death ward feature that I think gets slept on a lot is the Tomb of Levistus invocation, a reaction for 10 THP per warlock level, activated after the damage is declared -and it recharges on a short rest.
Also shadow sorcerer 1 could get you a limited death ward via strength of the grave, though it's less useful here if you start fighter since you won't have cha save proficiency. [one of the rare time a cha save actually ever comes up]
Big problem with tomb of levistus is you essentially lose a turn of combat, because the ice contains you until the end of your next turn. I do like the protector invocation for this though 👍
I designed something similar to this but I went with Oath of Conquest to deny movement speed and get the channel divinity for an additional aoe fear.
I am glad to see you got inspired by my tanklock build it is fun and not expected. I used my human so I could start with War Caster to hit them with booming blade if they flee. The Two weapon also i have been known to throw darts is what I started with myself mixing with Hex and to get 2 tries of getting the fear off.
You cant use booming Blade with warcaster because its range its self
@@armandomartinsdeandrade290 "When a hostile creature's movement provokes an opportunity attack from you, you can use your reaction to cast a spell at the creature, rather than making an opportunity attack. The spell must have a casting time of 1 action and must target only that creature. Nothing about a ranged and of it was an ranged attack it would be disadvantage
@@JCinLapel the problem is that booming Blade dont target a creature. Its target its "self". Thats why you cant use with warcaster.
@@armandomartinsdeandrade290 then by that logic you can not use a spell like magic missile because it could hit multiple targets. The same reason it can't be twinned
@@JCinLapel you were right about booming Blade, i Just find out a post of Jeremy crowford about It.
Great build, I thought about making a warlock paladin build with conquest or oath-breaker for fear abilities
if you go pact of the chain and take the flock of familiars spell to get a ton of familiars and choose Quasit then each can target someone with a fear effect and if you take the Investment of the Chain Master invocation then all the DC saves will be as high as yours instead of a 10 or 11 or whatever it is
just an idea to take the build in a different direction
familiars are better than weapons any way... because you can cuddle with them
I... LOVE... YOU... lmfao
Nice build. I did something similar using a Fallen Aasimar, Oathbreaker Paladin (6 levels), Undead Warlock for the rest.
Uhh a Dragonborn Undead Warlock who has a Dracolich as a patron... sounds interesting
My idea for a tank warlock right now is pact of the celestial half elf with 3 levels in fighter as battle master. You pick up menacing attack and the shadow touched feat to gain cause fear for a free spell slot.
This might be one of the only viable builds for going pact of the tome, picking up shillelagh, and then using it in combination with booming blade/green flame bade. I love the utility that pact of the tome gives but its hard to make a melee warlock without going Hex Blade. Its been a combo that I've wanted to use for a while but I could never get it to work in combat. I think this build is perfect for my combo, I'd just swap of one or two of the invocations for some pact of the tome specific ones.
The Thumbnail for this is dope.
Conquest paladin with a dip into undead warlock is good too. Aura of conquest combined with form of dread go well together.
Great build, thanks for sharing. I hadn't considered a lot of this before. I wonder about whether it would be worth it to dip further into fighter at higher levels to get action surge and possibly even take the champion subclass for better chances to crit.
I'll definitely have to look into your other vids. thanks again
Seven levels of Oath of Conquest Paladin would be great on this. Locking down anyone too close to you makes it very hard for them to get to your back line.
I'm playing that very combo actually, currently paladin4/warlock2. It's so much fun, I haven't been attacked by a creature without disadvantage in weeks. Probably longer
@@cademiksek6769 looks like you’re going more Paladin than Warlock. Is this the D4 build or your own?
I would not multiclass conquest pally without going 7 levels in it. Sacrilege.
@@hannayapelekai1628 I'll get there eventually! ;)
@@hannayapelekai1628 yeah, I was wrong. It’s 7 lvls as you’ve said, that I meant to say.
I am definitely using this build with the next character I make
Side note I'll probably run a glaive with the polearm master feat for a bit of funky combat things
Watch as a DM just makes all enemies immune to fear after the 5th encounter
I've got a PVP in April, I'm wondering how it would hold up against either level nine or 15 characters. DM said level nine…, birthday girl had already said level 15 and I'm kind of hoping she gets her way LOL
With just 4 asi and needing one for dragon fear that's only going to leave you +6 to share amongst stats or +4 if you take resilient wisdom. I love the concept but I would advise maybe looking for a belt of giant Str, and an amulet of health if you want to land your fears more often and still both land physical attacks be able to take damage. MAD builds become difficult to excell in as you progress to higher and higher ACs. Depending on rolls for stats being kind or point buy it could be worked. Standard array would hurt it badly.
Asking for Cha saves will help a lower DC though as so few creatures have decent saves for that.
The build might fall flat when facing mobs immune to the frightened condition and fear though. It's definitely an all your eggs in one basket build but I still love it and want to play it.
Now mix it with conquest paladin, and fear everything.
DUDE DIVINE SOUL SORCERER Con saves, metamagic, bunch of extras like fly speed (try hit that), cleric magic and arcane, polimorph, wish, etc
I would take 3 levels in Fighter to become an Echo Knight. That kicks this idea up a notch!
Them extra spell slots at lower level for the win
I've practically made this build bit with beasthide shifter..... frieza from dragonball z was my inspiration. This isn't even my final form.
Im trying this one out!
Could you consider some type of archfey / charm focus build sometime. Cheers.
Ok several months of playing this it's insane. I don't find the fear immunity to come up too often even at 10th level. I went twilight cleric and am a blaster but the concept is the same.
This sounds really cool, thematically, but I'm not entirely convinced it serves effectively as the party "tank."
You'll be tough to kill, but there isn't much incentive to target you over your allies. The purpose of the tank is to draw aggro away from your allies, because they're squishy and you're not.
So while the fear effects are a decent battlefield control, there's not much stopping enemies from just ignoring you or running away (of course, they'd have to break line of sight) to negate the effects of the Frightened condition.
Love the concept though, and I'd be interested in hearing any rebuttals.
I feel that the battlefield control through not letting them move past you along with giving friends targets disadvantage on all attacks is a good way to tank for the party. And you being in the Frontline not letting them past you is a good way to aggro enemies. That being said, I see your point that it could just as easily be a general debuffer instead of a frontline tanking play style
@D&D Daily Right, and not to say a debuffer is better or worse than the "tank" role, but IMO tanks typically need some sort of soft-taunt
But I'll definitely agree that maintaining a large presence on the field to prevent free movement is pretty effective, just potentially situational/dependent on the environment, and of course how the DM rules line of sight.
If the enemies are a bunch of low int goblins, yea they'll probably just cower in fear lol but more intelligent NPCs might consider simply breaking line of sight via cover or turning a corner.
@@DnD_Daily my main PC is a fighter/Armorer. Super beefy CON and Heavy Armor for sustain, but Gaurdian Gauntlets with 3 attacks per turn gives disadvantage to up to 3 enemies.
Went Echo Knight, so I can potentially swap spaces with my Echo after attacking, which means the enemies I hit either accept disadvantage or waste their turn trying to reach me lol
I love your vids you just radiate good vibes
Listing to this i was also thinking about the asimar sub race that can also cause fear. This would go really well with a conquest paladin mc
This is great
Dude, how did you access my character on my Google drive. I have this same character but only difference is mine is a black dragon born. Insane. Thanks for the video. Keep it up
Great minds think alike 👍
Gain proficiency in intimidate and Persuasion, go changeling, take the form of their late mother, sweet talk them, then once you're close, Form of Dread, I bet you could one hit KO a boss that way through emotional damage.
You're basically explaining the build I had on my grung named pip...
Great minds think alike
Why not pick up 4 levels in oathbreaker paladin instead of 1 Fighter? You get your ASI's earlier, divine smite, and your fear channel divinity. You miss out on some spellcasting and slots, but, smite.
I've come back, I've convinced myself to reflavour a dragonborn into a human. Diluted Half-Dragon bloodline, cursed from an eternal city. As he wakes up 20 years ago, and only those 20 years he can remember. All that remains are the sharp teeth from his draconic heritage. His breathweapon would've been more chromatic/metalic if he wasn't cursed by undeath, as his elemental attack would change to that of Psychic (Psychic Scream makes sense for something undead)
I'm probably gonna follow it to a T, in a west marches setting, But I might lean into fighter a bit more. Action Surge seems neat on anything melee focussed. This build has been stuck in my mind, but. I don't like playing dragonborn myself.
Love it, but why not call it the Dracolich build?
You do realise that 'dreadnaught' means 'fear not', right?
Necrotic Husk + Tomb of Levistus: Undead Warlock Mobile Nuke and recovery.
Fear builds may be viable in one d&d with the new fear rules, but too many creatures with immunity to fear/control effects once you start getting up there in levels. Sucks to build a character around an idea and finding that their abilities outside the main class features are ineffective. Kinda feels like you’re on second teams just waiting on the bench for a moment to show what you can do.
I think a good DM will give you a moment to really shine every once in a while. And the rest of the time you're still doing normal warlock stuff too 👍
Fear iou [melee strikes]
Fear for all [dragon scented]
Fear en mass [its magically delicious]
Fear etc. [Fear 4th wall break, so I'm out]
Darth Vader build, very cool.
If using a Great Axe does that mean the damage dice will be reduced if wielding it one handed? Because you'd have the shield as well
Can i use warfirged instead of dragonborn? I was thinking of being a dreadnought but also a haunted armor come to life😂
You can, but you lose out on Dragon Fear. So not quite the same build, but still perfectly viable
I am currently using this build in my game by coincidence. I'm using Motm Yuan-ti Conquest pally and undead lock. Only level 4 atm. Fortunately, I got lucky with rolls, but CHA is started with a 20 (thnx RNGEESUS) so now I have to figure out my ASI's. I was thinking magic initiate for shield and Sentinel for the 0 move. What do you recommend I look at?
With a start that good you’ve got a TON of options. It’s going to be hard to go wrong so if I were in your shoes I would be asking which feat sounds like the most fun.
Inspiring leader, GWM,ritual caster, ect.
@@DnD_Daily Thnx for the feedback. I'll focus on keeping it fun then. We play a big game so if I be a party buff kinda guy then it should be fun for everyone. Thnx for that.
Have it wear a Dread Helm for funsies!
does the Form of dread stack with Tasha's otherworldly guise?
Yes it should 👍
@@DnD_Daily holy crap! don't know how optimal that would be but the badass factor would probably be worth it.
I love all your vids and started watching recently, anyone got any ideas for a smoke build every time I try it ends up being a simple poison build (which is cool) but I can find a cool way to make a smoke them, my idea is a more utility build but being a damage, crowd control, or tank would not matter to me.
We'll add a smoke theme build to the list!
@@DnD_Daily awesome!!!
Why not take the grasp of Hadar invocation to both pull our enemies towrds us and away from our allays, kind of like a get over here!!
Not certain I'd want to base an entire build on spreading the Frightened condition when so many 5e monsters (290!) are immune to that condition.
Very true, may not be the best at later levels when that is common
OK this might be weird. My wife loves that dragon artwork, anyone know where it is from?
Do you mean the framed dragon pictures in the background of the video? We got those from Kaitlund Zupanic. You can check out their website Drawn to Dragons. Their art is excellent!
Love this build's design & theme. However, I have a few changes:
-Invest more into Fighter. Level 2 has Action Surge, which is always extremely powerful, & Battlemaster has Menacing Maneuver, which is one more way to cause fear.
-Go into Conquest Paladin, 7 levels is a heavy but more than worthy investment. All of the fear we've gotten makes everything within 10 feet of us unable to move (I know Dragon Fear does that but this gives it double), it gives us great spells to not have to invest in with Warlock, & even more ways to inflict fear, as well as lower level spell slots to use along with our 5th-level Warlock slots, making us a real threat.
-Pick up Bane & Bestow Curse to inflict negatives onto enemy saves, along with Wrathful Smite. This build has a ton of ways to inflict single target fear, & larger scope fear spells typically get a few knocked out that need to be. This character can benefit from constantly inflicting fear, it could take on some very powerful enemies just by burning through legendary saves, because if they don't, they have fear+immobile+fighter & paladin, meaning big burst damage to actually take advantage of that fear.
Using this as inspiration for an encounter! Maybe you can revisit this build with some changes to see how viable this is. Thanks for the inspiration!
Would be great to have a good grappler on team so enemies make those grapple checks at disadvantage
Why not Paladin, Instead of fighter? And if you were going with more of a mixed multiclass Conquest paladin at level 7 can capitalize on frightened enemies by dealing Cha Psychic damage and really challenge those Bear totem Barbarians.
Paladin would be perfectly viable as opposed to fighter, we felt that the proficiency in Con saves was a big enough deal to take fighter though
I did paladin conquest with undead warlock. could I take away a level in paladin for your plan with fighter to still work or no?
The conquest paladin undead warlock combo is a classic! As far as I've seen the build typically goes deep into paladin with only a few warlock levels, but the other way works great too! Ultimately though, do whatever sounds fun to you!
mine is reversed, going up till paladin level 8 and 14 in warlock, just enough to get what i need from paladin then the rest is warlock. Was also hopping for some opinions for my 6th level Mystic Arcanum. I got investiture of wind for mine, but am not certain if that's the best choice.
Thanks by the way for the speedy reply, I was kinda expecting to be left unanswered for at least a week, given that your a content creator and you've got a lot of work to do. @@DnD_Daily
This fits a henchman im needing to throw at my players. They're gonna hate/love it!
Duplicity
Tanks dont exist in 5e