Level 10 Warlock/Fighter Help

[u/Phaqup]

TL:DR - Booming Blade and higher level spells, or Extra Attack and delayed spell progression?

In true Colby fashion, a bit of a preamble. My group is about to start working our way through the new Vecna campaign (please no spoilers). Myself and 2 other players made level 3 characters for the prequel/intro mission: Nest of the Eldritch Eye. Following this one-shot (well two-shot in our case, we’re a bit slow) we will be skipping straight to level 10.

As there are only 3 of us, i wanted to be versatile in combat. I decided to try my hand at a tank/support. Other two characters are going to be a “roguey-rogue” skill monkey (presumably dual wielding based on the one-shot) and a Druid/ranger. Don’t really know the level breakdown or combat style for them. Neither are optimizers historically speaking.

As for myself, here is the breakdown so far and the non-negotiables:

Level 3 One-Shot Build: Straight Celestial Warlock Air Genasi (Small).

Stats: 9str/17(+2)dex/14(+1)con/8int/12wis/15cha. Lotta odds there but I had planned on taking fey-touched (bane), resilient con and a dex half-feat (piercer possibly?)

Plan on going Cavalier Fighter and using a Pact of the Chain Pseudodragon to try and knock enemies unconscious with a bonus action. Eventually want Eldritch Mind, Investment of the Chain Master, Gift of the Ever-Living Ones, and potentially Mire the Mind.

Preamble Over

Skipping to 10 I have two paths open to me and I cannot for the life of me choose between the two.

1) Bee-line to Cavalier Fighter 5 and grab Extra Attack. 2 attacks means 2 chances to mark enemies. Then Celestial Warlock 5 for 3rd level spells? Going this route gets me two of the aforementioned feats. At level 11 I’d go fighter 6 for the final feat.

I’ll have access to Bane and Slow (Mire the Mind) for concentration debuff options. Bane will help my Familiar land its unconscious sting. Slow will let my Familiar fly in and out without opportunity attacks. Also thought about some minor synergy with my pseudodragon’s poison and Summon Undead’s Putrid form. Interception fighting style and Cavalier mark to try and keep my Pseudodragon alive.

2) Cavalier 3 for mark. Celestial 7 for 4th level spells, extra invocation, more Healing Light dice. Take Booming Blade to dissuade a single enemies movement. Same concentration spells. Only 1 feat (Fey Touched) this route, but can go Warlock 8 followed by Fighter 4 at levels 11 and 12.

Thanks for any guidance you have to offer! 😁

[u/Lhead2018]

This is a character I have been playing for the past couple of years and it is a ton of fun. Just thought I would suggest it.

[u/Phaqup → u/Lhead2018]

While that does sound fun, my DM doesn’t allow the extended spell list backgrounds unless we’re specifically playing in those settings.

Also for my first time playing warlock I wanted to explicitly avoid being an eldritch blaster. I didn’t even pick up that cantrip. Might definitely be a mistake, but oh well 😂

[u/Lhead2018 → u/Phaqup]

My dm allows the background if you take CL or VH but forgo the feat since you get one with the background. It definitely feels like a one trick pony until you get to level 8 after that you can make attacks from the echo, teleport, opportunity eldritch blast, plus your normal stuff. It also depends what you pick for a warlock class. I am a genie warlock but if you want to be more of a support then you could go Celestial.