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In my game one of the players is a hex blade warlock that wants to dual wield.

If I was to create a paired magic weapon and let them make it their pact weapon what risks are there?

Specifically, I'm worried about balance, what could they do with a pair of pact weapons that they couldn't do with a pact weapon and a normal weapon?

SevenSidedDie
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Skeith
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2 Answers2

8

There is some precedent for this

(Includes some information from Austin's answer)

There are two main considerations that involve your pact weapon.

Thirsting Blade Prerequisite: 5th level, Pact of the Blade feature

You can Attack with your pact weapon twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on Your Turn.

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Lifedrinker Prerequisite: 12th level, Pact of the Blade feature

When you hit a creature with your pact weapon, the creature takes extra necrotic damage equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum 1).

If you have the Polearm Master feat, you can already get extra mileage out of the Lifedrinker invocation since the bonus action attack uses the pact weapon too.

There is no other unbalancing aspect if you have the Two-Weapon Fighting option extend to Lifedrinker (it won't extend to Thirsting Blade regardless since two weapon fighting doesn't use the Attack action for the second weapon attack).

As such, if you want it to be equivalent in balance, consider making a custom feat for Warlock with dual pact weapons. Some small benefit to compare to the opportunity attack of Polearm Master could also be added to increase the allure of the feat.

Note: It is debatable whether Thirsting Blade would let you use two attacks with one of those pact weapons or have the option to attack once with each since the feature dictates a singular pact weapon

David Coffron
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  • Polearm Master does better damage (2d10+1d4 vs 3d6), enables reaction attacks and easier spellcasting, so I would say Dual Wielding is so far behind it should not cost a feat – András Feb 21 '18 at 20:53
  • @Andr That's 1 point of damage different on average. The feat enables an additional use of Lifedrinker (5 damage at that level typically) which is a more substantial benefit. That's why it should be balanced for the dual wielding – David Coffron Feb 21 '18 at 21:01
  • Dual wielding gives the exact same number of attacks as Polearm Master, so Lifedrinker does not make any difference. The first is 3d6 + 3xLifedrinker, the second 2d10 + 1d4 + 3xLifedrinker. Plus PM triggers reaction attacks reliably. It is better balanced if a pair of pact weapons doesn't cost a feat – András Feb 21 '18 at 22:44
  • @Andr If it doesn't cost a feat you would get the extra Lifedrinker WITHOUT a feat, while you need Polearm Master typically. My answer states that something else should be added to the feat to balance the reaction benefit of Polearm Master. – David Coffron Feb 21 '18 at 23:03
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    Shouldn't answers typically be standalone? As in, your answer shouldn't just say "read the other answer. also, here's some other information." If you do reference the other answer, you should quote or paraphrase the relevant parts, I think. – V2Blast Feb 21 '18 at 23:10
  • @DavidCoffron looks good! – V2Blast Feb 21 '18 at 23:20
  • @DavidCoffron in my opininon what Polearm Master provides above dual wielding, is worth a feat. – András Feb 22 '18 at 11:28
  • @Andr The point of that part of my answer was to justify an exact equivalency for balancing purposes. If the DM doesn't think allowing one potential trigger of Lifedrinker would be overturned then there would be no problem – David Coffron Feb 22 '18 at 12:20
5

It would be pretty strong, depending on how you rule a few different invocations. Consider these invocations, and how powerful it would be to have doubled this.

Thirsting Blade Prerequisite: 5th level, Pact of the Blade feature

You can Attack with your pact weapon twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on Your Turn.

This would probably only apply to one of the pact weapons, on your call. But the next would definitely apply:

Lifedrinker Prerequisite: 12th level, Pact of the Blade feature

When you hit a creature with your pact weapon, the creature takes extra necrotic damage equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum 1).

So with both of these invocations, they would be adding their charisma modifier to the damage three separate times, instead of only twice.

The game isn't balanced for two pact weapons, and usually it's impossible to have two, but you can change that. Just expect the Warlock to be a little over-tuned.

Stanfrancisco
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