Official /5eg/ Mega Trove v3:

Don't*

Oh, and before I forget, AGAIN she was a Duchess of Hell too.

Wasn't it explicitly stated that Takhisis and Tiamat were NOT the same entity? (Mind you, it was a stupid assertion if it was made because they clearly are, but I think canonically they aren't)

Apparently Tracy Hickman (creator of Dragonlance) says they're separate entities, but Jeff Grub (major Dragonlance author) believes they're the same. And WotC eventually stated (in 4e) that they are, in fact, the same deity.

So how do you transition out of combat naturally without making things too mechanical and game-y? We all had a fun time last night when I DM'd for a newbie group. Combat went swell but one thing I noticed on my part was that when an encounter had it that one of the bandits ran off when he was outnumbered by the party 4 to 1, some things of concern came up to me:

>I described that the bandit was running off to warn a nearby camp.
>Wizard calls the Fighter to shoot an arrow at the fleeing enemy
>Fighter goes to say "I can't, it's not my turn"
>Wizard asks me if we're out of combat so they can disregard combat turns so Fighter can loose the arrow
>I just go "Um, yeah." before allowing him to loose an arrow

It's not a big deal though at the end of the day but it felt off to me and I think I could have handled that better. That and it got too common when the party kept asking if they're "out of combat" so they can forgo turn-based actions and act out like they were in the non-combat parts of the game where turns (in the mechanic sense where initiative is concerned) is disregarded (at least in how I run it.)

Am I being bothered too much? I think I am but one of my player messaged me asking something about this cause he felt that he wished he had a better grasp of what was "out of combat" and "in combat" and I didn't have a clear answer to tell him but gave him the vague "As a DM, I'll call for it so don't worry about it."

Advice? I guess the ultimate thing here is that I just don't want my playerrs to feel they're in a video game where combat happens like how players in a JRPG get random encounters with a screen transition swirl and be in some battlefield.

So I am building up that one cavern in the Dripping Cave in Chapter 1 of Storm King's Thunder.

Idea is since this is in an Elven forest that this cave goes for a few hundred yards until it leads to a ruined wall to some ancient Elven tomb of a great Elf Warrior. After spendin ga few rounds there a Wraith of the Elf will manifest. The Wraith still believes his lands to be threaten by men and that they still wage war, however the party can trick him with deception calming that the war is over and the elves are the victors. Which in this case the Wraith will find rest. Or of course they can just fight him.

Do you think a Wraith is a fair fight for 5-6 players at lvl 3? Also was thinking that he has Elven Chain for his treasure, would that be too powerful of an item to give?

Canonically, deities can "die" on some worlds and be alive on others as long as they have power and influence there, and indeed most can have different "aspects" that have entirely different personalities as defined by their worshippers.
Deities are potent beings that exist on multiple levels in D&D.
Hickman is very protective of his personal setting, as is Margret Weis.
They tend to say everything in Krynn is unique and separate and it is treated as unique and separate in their novels, but since they don't really own or control anything it's not really their choice and numerous things have talked about Krynn as sharing space on the Prime Material Plane with Toril and Oerth.

Don't use initiative to begin with.

Seriously. You can maintain the flow of combat quite easily without it. Basically, whoever's closest to the action (or the barbarian) gets to act first, if they just punched someone they get to react, etc; and then just repeat the same order in future "rounds," unless something changes (like someone joining combat, at which point they would act instead of waiting their turn, which is dumb and bad).

When combat "ends," nobody is concerned with turns, because they weren't really observed to begin with.

Would go with a Banshee and build a story around that, perhaps the party has to appeal to her vanity, or scary enough, have her demand that someone kiss her.
As for magical items, I think Cloak of Elvenkind would be better suited for my recommendation.

I wouldn't worry too much about whether it's a fair fight, unless you specifically want them to fight. Otherwise, you could easily just put them up against a monster they can't beat in a straight up brawl - nothing wrong with that.

So how does one go about a Groundhog Day-esque scenario? My friends are looking to a new adventure but told me they want something like a gimmick to keep in interesting.

I was thinking maybe a Groundhog Day type adventure will work and have it that a previous artifact from an old adventure was the one that caused it and they have to repeat the days until they fulfilled a requirement. Still not sure how to go about the details yet though.

Any ideas?

Thanks, will think on it.

Issue is if they do get into a fight I would like for therm to at least have a fighting chance, especially at a low level. Might go with the Banshee seeing as the Wraith could kill a lvl 3 character in one hit.

Can you two hand a long sword, one hand it for the next attack, then pull out another longsword for a two weapon attack bonus action? Assuming you have the feats required

What alignment would suit an Aarakocra based off of Solo Wing Pixy?

Any idea when the map for SKT are going to be released? Running an online game with friends and the map making software on Roll20 is dogshit.

Just stay in initiative until they are satisfied. If the guy is fleeing then he is using his action to run/hide and the players are trying to kill him while he does that. I have also used chase rules and had a pre-set 'escape' distance, but I think the best way is to just play it out. This is especially true when you know how far the person is from their encampment/hideout that they are fleeing to.

Is it better to roll a dexfag or strengthfag fighter? Part of me wants to play a GWM warhammer beefcake, but a rapier/crossbow fucker sounds like some fun shit too.

Either are fine. If you are trying to min max, hand xbow with sharpshooter and xbow expert or two handed weapons with GWM are the way to go

What's the best feat for a variant human Moon Druid to start with?

read this article:
theangrygm.com/three-shocking-things-you-wont-believe-about-dd-combat/
TL;DR: this guy knows what's up.

I'm looking for advice on how to deal with the atmosphere at the table when things go bad for the party. If they get into an obviously unwinnable fight, for example, and some of them decide to surrender while others want to keep struggling until the last hit point and get pissy at those who're not doing everything they could and using every last consumable resource.

There isn't really a 'best'. Personally I would go with;
War Caster
Resilient (Con)
Observant
Sentinel
Lucky

Others I might go with that aren't as good;
Savage attacker (moon druid damage dice are normally a bit higher than other classes, depending on the animal)
Tough
Mobile

That's either very good roleplaying or very bad roleplaying. Either some are saying "my character is pragmatic, and values his life," and some are saying "my character fights to the last breath," OR some are saying, "I don't want my character to die," and some are saying "I'm pretty okay with having to roll a new character if it means a cool story."

Either way, your table has hit on a human truth: people willing to die for X (be it gold, glory, God, or Germany) generally despise people who are willing to surrender. In your shoes I would emphasize that this is pretty much exactly how the fight is actually going, whether they intended to "roleplay" or not, and turn this into an opportunity for the remaining party members to explore survivor's guilt, assuming they survive.

What got you into DnD?
What was your first edition?
Was it your first PnP?
How you do you feel about 5e compared to the first edition you played? (disregard if you started with 5e)

It makes sense that my post was a tl;dr of that article because it was basically inspired by that article.

Any good retrospective vids or documentaries about DnD? Been watching old retrospectives of video games from old Gametrailers' Retrospective series and it made interested if someone made one for DnD and its past editions.

A buddy of mine introduced me to D&D 3.5 in high school. Before that I'd been interested, but was way too poor and lonely to do anything but watch the Freaks and Geeks episode and drool.
5e is GREAT. It's streamlined in a way that other editions and even other games I've played (3.5, PF, 4e, FATE) just can't match, and as someone who wants grid combat and cool tactical options without going full minis and wargame status, it works well. It's not perfect, especially balance-wise (for example my roommate played a ranger and I played a bard, and at the levels we played at (1 to 5), he just felt overshadowed unless we were specifically tracking or hunting or something, since I was a better caster, better skill monkey, and was also dancing around in melee while he shot arrows. That said, it's fucking fun. I have a really rules-light homebrew game that I dust off when there are complete newbies, but for people with some experience, 5e is actually relatively easy to pick up and play. It feels intuitive, and there isn't anything that I feel like has been obviously missing from gameplay. Obviously there are things it doesn't do well, but most of those are genre things and not the fault of the system.

Oh, jeez.

> What got you into DnD?
> What was your first edition?

That was actually one of my players; I was running Exalted 2e, and was getting tired of it (as was everyone else), and I'd been curious about D&D, so I suggested we try out 4e. It worked out, for a while. Did some Faerun, did more Dark Sun (loved that...miss it only slightly). Then, that same player went, "Hey, you want to try 2e D&D?" and I went, "Sure!" Down the rabbit-hole I went. I also ran, for about a year, a mix of 2e, 3.5, PF, and B/X, before 5e came out.

> How do you feel about 5e, etc, etc?

Love it. 4e was trash. 2e was fun, but was a headache. Don't even get me started on 3.5 and PF. I actually ran PF for the beginning of Rise of the Runelords, before 5e came out and I converted it to 5e for exactly that purpose.

>It's streamlined in a way that other editions and even other games I've played (3.5, PF, 4e, FATE) just can't match

I've grown accustomed to the idea that streamlining things could lead to casualizing the game and losing depth, what is it about 5e that manages to streamline stuff and be praised for it?

I'm a 5e babby here so I can't really say for previous editions. Just curious cause you'd think that it might come off as dumbing it down to get a bigger audience (not saying it is though)

Stupid question time: how do I show the dungeon map to the players? Do I let them draw what they see as they walk or do I give them the map from the start? Playing on a grid, by the way.

My boss gave me a literal real-life high-five today, but for some reason I'm way more proud of that Fonz jpg.

Also:
On Eberron, Tiamat is one of about 30 thirty overlords who are embodiments of Khyber. They are nearly god-like and may as well be gods considering how absent the gods in Eberron are.

I think it's valid to say it's been "dumbed down," since it definitely takes less brainpower to play, but personally, even as someone who's capable of crunch, I always find that crunch slows down pace, removes real tension, and hurts roleplaying. My homebrew is shit-simple, and people, non-gamers especially, love it because it really gives them the feeling that they can do anything (or at least try to do anything).

I don't have a great answer for you, but somehow the way 5e is streamlined it lets you inhabit this magical fantasy world without having to think too often about dice and math, while still having enough rules that you feel constrained by the "physics" of the world. It's struck a balance that I think works really well for what a lot of people want.

>What got you into DnD?
My, and my friends', curiosity.
>What was your first edition?
4E, when it first came out. We spent a few weeks before we realised the monster HP values were all to cock, and I gave minions d6 hp instead of just 1 because the warlock figured out a way to deal 1 damage for free every round (might have been an item)
>Was it your first PnP?
I'd played a game of the GW Judge Dredd rpg before, as well as a 3e D&D zombie game one of my friend's brother ran, but basically yeah
>How you do you feel about 5e compared to the first edition you played?
Improvement. As much as I enjoyed 4E, having fewer gamey parts is good. The huge list of options at every level up it accumulated as it aged made leveling unfun. The character creator subscription thing was dumb too.

Draw it as they are travelling
Draw it all before hand and cover unexplored bits with paper
Draw it out part by part on plastic sheets and put them on the grid as they explore, or buy some gaming paper (its like wrapping paper with a grid), draw the map, and cut it up into rooms

I feel player made maps are better when either someone is scouting, or its an overworld map

Friends brought me into a new game (only 2 of the 10 had ever played before) of 3e.
Yes, it was.
I greatly prefer 5e to the mess that was 3/3.5/P

>What got you into DnD?
Uncle played in the 70s. I like my uncle.
>What was your first edition?
2nd in theory, 3rd in practice.
>Was it your first PnP?
If you don't count my brother's friend Jimmy using pen and paper to run a sort of impromptu Masters of Orion Homebrew while I was a kid, yeah.
>How you do you feel about 5e compared to the first edition you played? (disregard if you started with 5e)
Simpler in a lot of ways and I'm pretty cool with that.

I only bring the grid out when battles happen, and even then only if it's necessary. The rest of the time I'm drawing not-to-scale maps as they explore, or drawing rough areas as they fight a single opponent or other simple confrontation. Enough info to play with, but not as time consuming as measuring stuff out on the grid.

For dungeon maps, I tend to draw them room by room, as our table's not too big.

For world or overland maps, I make them purchase them if they want them (and they have an easier time navigating). I have a worldmap that I follow along their progress with. If they want better, they have to go buy it or steal it.

Like it or not, tabletop gaming has to compete with video games for people's attention, and the strength of tabletop is the roleplay and open-ended interactions. A more streamlined tabletop system plays to those strengths and spends less time bogged down in resolving equations that technology could do faster than you can blink.

>What got you into DnD?
I went to college and the first group of friends I made were people playing MtG. I got along with them well and one invited me to play D&D with him.

>What was your first edition?
3.0. What a clusterfuck it was, but I didn't know any better at the time.

>Was it your first PnP?
Yes. I thought it was something old people did before I met people close to my own age who wanted to play. Where I grew up, no one ever talked about TTRPGs.

>How do you feel about 5e compared to the first edition you played?
I love it. I never had a problem with the math of 3.0 and then 3.5, but I played with plenty of people who did take forever because of all the modifiers they had to remember. The only thing I miss is having 6+ books to pull monsters from when I was DMing 3.5, and that will come with time anyway. I'm a lot more creatively inspired as a 5e DM since I broke away from 3.5's mentality that everything on the DM's side must be governed by the same rules the players use. Knowing the game is balanced for no magic items, I have much more fun creating magic items with no numerical benefits that my players still have fun with.

My therapist said I should try to do something social and I liked crpgs
4e
Yes
Prefer 5e much more. Much more simple. Couldn't even make a 4e character without the builder and it felt like the abilities held you back from creativity in combat.

Second the relative lack of monsters. Probably my biggest "complaint" so far, and one that will solve itself really quickly.

Hey guys, I'm going to be running my first game of Fifth edition this coming Thursday, if all things go well, and I just have a few quick questions before I set out.

The game will be set on Innistrad using the Plane Shift document that was recently released, and the players will be starting at fifth level. I've already got the town that they'll be starting in set up and I have a number of NPCs that are designed as far as background goes, but have not yet been stated, and plothooks enough to (hopefully) keep them interested.

So I was curious, I'm assuming that statting an NPC is the same as statting a player character of the level?

Are there any guidelines for how to stat custom monsters? A lot of the creatures I'll be using are going to be generated based off of cards from Magic:The Gathering, at least for the larger encounters, and while I want it to be challenging I don't want to murder my whole player group (at least at first).

Also how powerful is a group of 5th level characters in Fifth edition? I know they'll start at around 10,000 exp, but does that mean that they'll be well-known adventurers off the bat?

Thanks for help in advance, I really appreciate it.

>What got you into DnD?

I got the expert blue box for old D&D for Christmas. Nobody knew clearly what it was, so thus the confusion.

>What was your first edition?

My first real game play would be 1e. However, my heaviest game play was 2e by far when it came out.

>Was it your first PnP?

Yes. Although until 2e came out I spent more time playing Champions than D&D.

>How you do you feel about 5e compared to the first edition you played? (disregard if you started with 5e)

I miss the complete handbooks - I would really like to see them come back. But, for me, 5e plays like I remember the good sessions of 2e playing.

If your players are also somewhat new, I would like to suggest starting at a lower level. Say 2nd level instead. That way they can grow in to their archetypes.

Fifth level characters can do lots of stuff. That is a lot of stuff for new players, and a new GM, to handle and be aware of. Consider lowering everything a bit. At least to third level perhaps.

>So I was curious, I'm assuming that statting an NPC is the same as statting a player character of the level?

It can be. But I think most people don't go in to that kind of detail. Make notes of the most important stuff you want to remember, keep it simple after that.

>Are there any guidelines for how to stat custom monsters? A lot of the creatures I'll be using are going to be generated based off of cards from Magic:The Gathering, at least for the larger encounters, and while I want it to be challenging I don't want to murder my whole player group (at least at first).

I'd suggest just using the closest monster from the Monster Manual. Then just change the fluff description to match what you want, maybe with an ability change as needed.

>If your players are also somewhat new, I would like to suggest starting at a lower level. Say 2nd level instead

My group and I are veteran players, I'm just new to GM'ing personally. I appreciate the suggestion though.

Ok, I'll try that.

>Also how powerful is a group of 5th level characters in Fifth edition? I know they'll start at around 10,000 exp, but does that mean that they'll be well-known adventurers off the bat?

It will depend on each campaign of course. But in most games I have run I would consider them to be locally known heroes. They have done some real shit. Probably not known outside their local area, at least not in the famous sense.

Largely it would depend on what they did to get to 5th level and who would have been impacted by that. If it was mostly defeating stuff around their local village, then just the local area would know/care. If it was the nations capital, then more people might know.

These are also good. I'll keep them. Thanks.

Trying to desing a crit-fishing build

Vhuman, (Lucky), Champ 3, Rogue X? Or should I go barb to reckless attack?

Champion fighter has a 10% chance to critically hit. Advantage gives you 2 chances to critically hit. You have a 90% chance that your first die is NOT a critical, meaning that 90% of the time the advantage die is worth another 10% of 90% chance to critical, so advantage turns the Champion feature from 10% to 19% chance to critically hit. Reckless attack is the easiest way to have advantage all the time.

If I build it as a single attack per round, I can buy scrolls of find familiar and have the familiar use the assist action every round to give me advantage.

If you're DM is cool with that, go ahead, but don't assume scrolls like that are available without talking to your DM first.

>Adventure's League
It's been discussed repeatedly. They're fine with treating it as a 100 gp tax. Hell, the store owner's character uses his familiar to hit on his smites

>Adventure's League
Never played it. I don't have problems forming groups, so why deal with the most autistic of the autists in the community?

How would you cast it?

It's a scroll, anyone can cast a scroll

>I don't have problems forming groups
>So why are you doing X?
Gee, it's almost like you answered your own question.

>It's a scroll, anyone can cast a scroll
That's how I houserule it, but it's not by the rules, unfortunately. RAW you can only read a scroll if its spell pertains to your class's spell list. Otherwise it is unintelligible.

Halfling with two-weapon fighting, Halfling Luck also allows you to reroll 1s on advantage-- remember that. Most of the best damage magical damage dice weapons are 1h, get another attack and you can also apply more poisons. Lucky Feat won't help you that much, you'll end up using it for saves and important skill checks in actual play really.

Multi-classing is very risky in 5e, you have to time your levels perfectly. It's the only way to truly fuck a character up in 5E into uselessness. Going straight fighter is probably your best choice if you have magical support, you get more ASIs and attacks.
If you know what you're doing, go paladin with a champ dip or Fighter 1/Warlock 5/ Paladin 2/ Champ 3 is a fun bladelock build; smiting with pact magic and an expanded crit range is great.

Just flank, hit them in the back or knock assholes prone, reckless attack is dangerous if you don't have rage up and you probably won't as a dip.

I don't know about AL rules, but you can't RAW. Only non spell caster than can use them is a thief

Flank is an optional rule. Not everyone uses it

I'll double check, but I think there was a ruling, perhaps explicitely for AL since they give scrolls as loot.

Hmm, perhaps straight fighter grapple build. Push them down, grapple them on my action surge/second attack, then go to town with the rest of my party?

I ran a campaign my friends refer to as "The Rollercoaster" because of how hard I railroaded them, but they still had a good time. Odds are, they would have a much better time if I didn't railroad them. How can I make a more "open" campaign? How do I plan for something like that?

Just pretend they have choice, but no matter what they do, just give them the shit you planned. The won't know ;^)

So are diagonals, rare races, magic items, multi-classing, skills and feats.

If you don't use flanking, even with theater of mind, your DM pretty much just hates melee and wants all the power gamers to roll sharp shooters instead.

You need downtime in order to have openness, where players decide what to do next and manage what they have(such as holdings, lairs, crafting or slaves). That means episodic or survival campaign rather than an epic. Thule setting is probably the best option for 5E right now in that regard.

My older brother had me play healbot cleric in revised 2e when I was like 5.
I prefer 5e to 2e for it's simplicity, but liked the variety of options available in 2e. Overall I hated 4e, liked 3.5e but was too "OP" compared to the people I played with( 2 rogue/assassin characters and a basic sorcerer... yeah it wasn't hard to be OP compared to them), I like/liked pathfinder but prefer it with a bunch of houserules that make it more like 2e so nobody I know wants to play in games I DM.

Grapple builds are more supporty anti-caster, they work well for meatshields. A crit build is more of a damage dealing carry type.

Ball bearings, grease spell, wolves and shield bashers are really good ways to knock enemies prone. Ball bearings and mastiffs are something you ought to buy.

Nah man, flanking can completely invalidate some abilities, like Reckless Attack, cunning action hide, the third-level wolf totem, and others. It can work in some groups but it's honestly not worth using in others.

It was something I wanted to try and a friend from work invited me.

First game was a simple no-system thing with a bunch of people, it was a blast. First system I really played regularly was 3.PF.

5e is the best edition by a mile.

She's never been in the abyss, she's been in the first layer of the Nine Hells (sometimes the ruler of it, sometimes just trapped there).

Not really, melee is high risk and it requires teamwork; it's not up as much as you might think especially if you use facing and the monster grapple players. Flanking is hard against smart creatures like hobgoblins that understand military tactics, but easy against stupid ones that break rank. It requires players working together and makes formations a bigger deal, as it should be.
Reckless Attack is still used all the time, barbarians are retards that love going off on their. Wolf totem is still fine, since now the other melees don't have to isolate themselves to flank and they can just form a shield wall instead.

>cunning action hide
You better be just talking about lightfoot halfings, no way should melee be hiding in the middle of a brawl otherwise.

>What got you into DnD?
I like books
>What was your first edition?
Very tail end of 2e, but mostly 3.0.
>Was it your first PnP?
Yep
>How you do you feel about 5e compared to the first edition you played?
In retrospect, 5e's pretty solid. Even if the options are fewer, the rules (barring some silly RAW) show the experience and nuance gained through 3/3.x/SWSE/4e, etc. I do miss some things about 3.0, in particular (the population statistics in the 3.0 DMG is a particularly noteworthy example of 3.x's (poorly executed?) simulationist ruleset), but I can live without them.

I have to say, though, after 4e I really thought I was done with D&D. So I suppose 5e's done something right to pull me back in.

Which one is more fun to play? A shadow monk/assassin or a deathbloom druid? Either way I rolled very very well on stats so I wouldn't have to worry about that part of it at all.

>What got you into DnD?
Saw one of the old box sets. Wanted it.
Loved fantasy novels already.
>What was your first edition?
AD&D/2e
>Was it your first PnP?
Yup.
>How you do you feel about 5e compared to the first edition you played? (disregard if you started with 5e)
I like it a lot so far.
It captures the feel of 2e while streamlining the rules easier for new players and thus making it easier to get people into it.

2h str is most damage slightly, dex is good overall, and obviously allows range. dex is also "easier" and "more forgiving" since it allows your offensive, and defensive stat to be the same

Our current campaign is drawing to a close and I am working on making an assassin. I want to focus on DPR so I can sneak ahead and take out high profile targets. To accomplish this I think I am going to take a few levels in fighter, and maybe some in ranger... My question for you guys is: at what level should I start taking fighter levels and how many should I take (the campaign is likely to end around 10, but could go longer.

Why hand crossbow over other kinds? Is it just for that bonus action attack?

Not that user, but the extra +10 dmg from sharpshooter with the extra attack is the real draw I think.

Hey guys running a one off during downtime on a vacation with some friends. It's only two players, one experienced and one not. The less experienced player wants to roll Ranger, but from last I remember standard PHB Ranger eats dirt real easily. How do I pre-build his character for him so that he stands a fighting chance? Other player is a rogue and is fairly adept. Assume they start at level 3.

>Assume they start at level 3
Have the ranger be a hunter, and make sure he takes the Break the Horde or whatever feature gives an attack against an adjacent enemy, and make sure to set it up where he can get those off. That way he'll be attacking twice if he does things right, versus the rogue's one stronger (potentially) attack.
Maybe give them each a starting feat, if the hunter has Crossbow Expert and a hand crossbow he could even make another attack as a bonus action.

you could also use some of the homebrew fixes to ranger if you think its that bad
ranger just works in a way where its not terrible, but unless certain things happen, they all add up to a subpar class. so if you never deal with food, tracking, or survival, he's lost 1/3 of his abilities

consensus ranger is an alright fix, but not everyone likes it, because magic/nonmagic ranger opinions

oh, i also forgot that its BM fix is pretty fuckin barebones, its barely any actual change. i personally think its good though, but if he wants to have a pikachu, be prepared to do a little extra work with him

Ahh, gotcha. I was actually gonna set the game up as a hunt that ends with confronting the beast in its lair, so that's helpful. I'm so used to having to wrangle power gamers I've nearly forgotten how to work with some of the "weaker" classes. Basically gonna reflavor a behemoth or something as a Tetsucabra from Monster Hunter.

Speaking of downtime, how does a DM run downtime sessions? Just treat it like a slice of life anime? I have never done it before and my table is gonna end their adventure soon. Players are going of om how they want to spend their downtime doing this and that. I look at the DMG and PHB and it has stuff like training for 250 days and shit.

Just wing it bro.

I love Blade Pact Warlocks, but they're considered to be the weakest option for warlocks. I'm trying to come up with some homebrew ideas to buff them. can I get some opinions on these?

Arcane Blade
Prereqisite: Pact of the Blade
You may use your pact weapon as an arcane implement. Whenever you cast a spell or use an abilty that requires you to touch a target, you may make a single melee attack with your pact weapon instead, delivering the spell and dealing weapon damage.

Blinkblade
Prerequisite: Pact of the Blade, level 11
You may summon your pact weapon as a bonus action. When you use your action to make one or more attacks with your pact weapon, you can cause the weapon to blink in and out of reality, attacking from unexpected angles. Until the beginning of your next turn, you have advantage on all melee attacks made with your pact weapon. You may use this ability a number of times equal to your Charisma bonus, after which you must take a short or long rest before using it again.

Hideous Blow
Prerequisites: Pact of the Blade, Eldritch Blast cantrip
When you use an action make a melee attack with your pact weapon, you deal 1d10 force damage in addition to your normal damage. You may apply any invocation that modifies your eldritch blast to this attack, except for invocations that alter it's range. If you have multiple rays of eldritch blast (gained at levels 5, 11, and 17) and multiple attacks (for example, from the thirsting blade invocation), you may apply this damage once per attack, limited by your maximum rays or maximum attacks (whichever is fewer).

I only have the 3 core books so I dunno if anything like these already exists.

imgur.com/a/qDzJ1
if theres tracking, he'll be a little happy getting some use out of his semi useless abilities
also, if its within reason try to throw him a bone with his favored enemy.
he doesn't get any bonus to fighting it for some godforsaken reason, but he'll be happy to be killing them anyway

MY DM IS A FUCKMAN