If you compare the hexblade to the duskblade from PH 2, you can see how the thinking has changed. The spell mage armor is as good as medium armor, and its duration allows most mages to keep it active at all times. Spells and magic items allow an unarmored mage to build great defenses. Them seem really powerful, but in the long run they aren't. Armored mages fall into the first category. Other times, we learn things that look fine don't actually work in play. As R&D pushes the boundaries of the game, we learn that some things we thought were risky or potentially broken aren't. The hexblade suffers a little because he came on the scene relatively early in 3.5's life. Several years ago, one of the creators of the class, Mike Mearls, made some suggestions of boosting up the hexblade. For example compare the hexblade class with her sister class, the duskblade from player's handbook II, a much more mature gish. Unfortunately, the contrary is true, but the hexblade still suffers from the punishment of early armored mages. This is because, in the early days of 3.5 (the hexblade class is from complete warrior, an early 3.5 supplement), the R&D thought that a class which could wear armor, grab martial feats and use magic would be potentially broken.

A hexblade however can prove to be a great asset to a party, helping your casters getting a spell through.īefore moving on, it is more than obvious that hexblade is an underpowered class.

While they are proved to be better than most martial classes in the player's handbook due to their magic abilities, their skills are quite limited.

Be warned that playing a hexblade in a competent campaign can prove to be quite a challenge. As such they need high physical stats to be able to get through a fight and nice charisma to get the maximum of their abilities. Hexblades are fighters with a touch of arcane magic.

D&d 3.5 soulknife handbook powerpoint