DND 2024 Warlock Build: Fiend, Tome, and Blade Options

Rules: revised 2024 tabletop D&D, SRD 5.2.1, and current official corrections. The main character is a single-class Fiend Warlock from levels 1-12. This is not a 2014 or Baldur's Gate 3 build.

This DND 2024 Warlock build combines Eldritch Blast, Pact of the Tome, and the Fiend patron for reliable ranged turns and flexible spellcasting. Start Human with the Acolyte background, Charisma 17, and Constitution 15. Choose Tome at level 1, Agonizing Blast and Repelling Blast at 2, and Fiend at 3. Improve Charisma and Constitution at 4, reach Charisma 20 at 8, then Constitution 18 at 12.

The character works without magic items, multiclassing, or unlimited resting. Its main limitations are low Armor Class, few spell slots at a time, and competition between Concentration spells. A separate Blade progression later in the guide shows exactly what changes if you prefer weapon attacks.

The rules check includes the current official Player's Handbook corrections. Use the revised entries consistently when adding this character to a campaign.

Starting character and legal ability scores

Buy Strength 8, Dexterity 14, Constitution 15, Intelligence 8, Wisdom 10, and Charisma 15. Those scores cost 0 + 7 + 9 + 0 + 2 + 9 = 27 points.

Acolyte permits Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma increases. Choose +2 Charisma and +1 Wisdom, producing 8/14/15/8/11/17. Constitution remains 15 at level 1. Do not move that background increase to Constitution simply because it would be convenient. Revised origins and character creation.

Choose Deception and Arcana from Warlock, Insight and Religion from Acolyte, and Perception from Human. Acolyte supplies Calligrapher's Supplies proficiency. Pick Common, Common Sign Language, and Dwarvish as your languages. Your saving throw proficiencies are Wisdom and Charisma; you have Light armor and Simple weapon proficiency, but no Shield training.

For Magic Initiate, select Sacred Flame, Spare the Dying, and Healing Word, using Charisma. These choices add support and a saving-throw attack without requiring unprovided material components. Healing Word has one free level-1 casting per Long Rest and can also use an available spell slot. The feat does not give you an extra level-1 slot.

Alert adds proficiency to Initiative, making your modifier +4 at levels 1-4, +5 at 5-8, and +6 at 9-12. Its willing-ally initiative exchange can help the party establish a plan. Human also gains Heroic Inspiration after a Long Rest. This guide assumes the first adventure begins after that rest, allowing both that benefit and your first Tome book. Feats, Warlock and invocation rules.

DnDDen's character creation walkthrough can help organize these choices before you add the separate spell lists below.

Compare other roles in the revised tabletop build hub, and use the feat guide for the general selection framework.

Equipment and defenses from level 1

Take Warlock equipment A: Leather Armor, Sickle, two Daggers, an Arcane Focus orb, an occult-lore Book, Scholar's Pack, and 15 GP. Take Acolyte equipment A: Calligrapher's Supplies, prayer Book, Holy Symbol, ten Parchment sheets, Robe, and 8 GP.

The combined cash is 23 GP. For travel, buy a Bedroll for 1 GP, full Waterskin for 2 SP, five days of Rations for 2 GP 5 SP, Rope for 1 GP, and Traveler's Clothes for 2 GP. Total cost is 6 GP 7 SP, leaving 16 GP 3 SP. These are game-rule prices, not current shopping prices. Equipment rules.

Leather gives AC 11 + Dexterity 2 = 13. The numerical ledger keeps that actual equipment throughout. Buying Studded Leather later for 45 GP raises AC to 14, but your starting balance does not fund it. No free Shield, Mage Armor, or armor invocation has been assumed in the main route.

Stay behind sturdier allies and use cover where possible. Temporary HP help absorb damage, but they do not make low AC disappear. An emergency Dagger attack starts at +4 to hit and deals 1d4 + 2 Piercing damage; it is not the character's principal combat plan.

Keep a hand available for applicable components. An appropriate focus replaces ordinary unpriced, unconsumed materials for spells it can serve; it does not waive every spell component. The selected Magic Initiate spells have no Material component, avoiding an assumption that your Warlock focus automatically serves any Cleric-list feat spell.

Level progression, spell statistics, and slots

Maximum HP uses the full d8 at level 1 and a fixed 5 thereafter. Constitution increases apply retroactively. Temporary HP are separate and are not included in this table.

Your final abilities are 8/14/18/8/11/20. Spell attacks add proficiency and Charisma. Save DC adds 8 to that total. The selected feat spells use the same Charisma, without becoming Warlock spells merely because their numbers match.

Pact slots all have the level shown. At Warlock 7, casting Misty Step spends a level-4 slot even though it is a level-2 spell. Spending a higher slot does not improve a spell unless its text says so.

Short and Long Rests restore Pact slots. From level 2, Magical Cunning takes one minute and restores half your maximum slots, rounded up, once per Long Rest. That restores one through level 10 and two from 11. It is not a combat Bonus Action. Class progression and recovery.

Every invocation in the DND 2024 Warlock build

Invocations are chosen class abilities, not extra spells you automatically receive from selecting a patron. This route makes eight selections, with no replacements.

Agonizing and Repelling require Warlock 2 and an eligible cantrip; Eldritch Blast satisfies their respective conditions. Fiendish Vigor and Mask require Warlock 2. Gift requires Warlock 9 and Tome; Visions requires Warlock 9. All are acquired at legal levels. Invocation options.

Repelling's push is optional. Do not move an enemy somewhere that ruins your ally's plan or leaves subsequent attacks without a legal target. It does not require an enemy save under this invocation, but size and direction still matter.

At Charisma 20, Gift's page can hold five creatures' names, entered with your permission. If an eligible named creature drops to 0 HP without dying outright, it drops to 1 instead. One activation serves the whole page, not one per creature. Record the shared use clearly and arrange the names when the page appears.

Slot-free does not mean action-free, component-free, or Concentration-free. Cast False Life when circumstances permit instead of assuming it refills during an enemy attack. Disguise Self changes appearance, not physical form or another person's willingness to believe you. Arcane Eye scouts through spaces it can actually enter; moving it uses a Bonus Action, and solid barriers still matter.

Cantrips, Tome, and spells from other sources

Fixed cantrip choices

• Warlock class: Eldritch Blast and Prestidigitation at 1; add Minor Illusion at 4 and Chill Touch at 10.
• Tome: Guidance, Light, and Mage Hand.
• Magic Initiate: Sacred Flame and Spare the Dying.

That is seven distinct cantrips initially, eight from level 4, and nine from 10. The class count itself is only two, three, then four. Revised Chill Touch has Touch range; do not use the old ranged version by accident.

Choose Detect Magic and Unseen Servant as the Tome rituals. These are separate from your ordinary prepared selections. Keep the same pair for this route. Tome permits new eligible choices when a new book appears after a Short or Long Rest, but does not accumulate an unlimited permanent ritual collection.

While the book is on you, its chosen spells function as Warlock spells, and the book can serve as a focus. Neither selected ritual needs a priced component. If you later choose something like Find Familiar or Identify, obtain the required consumed incense or priced pearl; Tome does not provide them. Tome and component rules.

Ordinary prepared spells, level by level

This table contains only ordinary Pact Magic selections. Fiend spells, Tome rituals, and other features are counted separately. A level without a new selection is not a missing entry.

Each spell is within the available slot level when selected. You may prefer retaining Invisibility, but then do not also add Hold Monster without making a different legal replacement. Fly comes late here because earlier selections prioritize other control and escape options. That is an editorial tradeoff, not a claim that early flight is weak.

Fiend spells and higher-level features

The patron adds these always-prepared spells without using the ordinary limit:

Healing Word is also always prepared from your feat. At 9, Contact Patron adds Contact Other Plane and a once-per-Long-Rest slot-free use to contact your patron with its save automatically passed. That special protection is not permission for unlimited risk-free ordinary ritual castings.

At 11, choose Eyebite as your level-6 Mystic Arcanum. It has a separate once-per-Long-Rest casting; you do not gain a level-6 Pact slot. Eyebite requires Concentration, and targeting another creature on a later turn takes your Magic action, competing with Eldritch Blast. Warlock and Fiend progression.

Choosing the spell that solves this encounter

Eldritch Blast and Hex

Eldritch Blast makes one attack at levels 1-4, two at 5-10, and three at 11-12. From level 2, Agonizing Blast adds Charisma to each beam's damage. Resolve the attacks separately, including any chosen pushes.

Hex uses a Bonus Action and Concentration. Your attack-roll hits against the cursed target add 1d6 Necrotic damage; saving-throw spells and automatic damage do not qualify. Its chosen ability suffers Disadvantage on ability checks, not saving throws. Choosing Constitution does not make Counterspell or Concentration saves harder.

Higher slots extend Hex's possible duration, not its damage die. Moving it requires its target to reach 0 HP while the spell remains active, then a Bonus Action on a later turn. It does not jump between every beam of one casting. Revised Hex.

Use it when repeated attacks against an appropriate target justify the setup. If the encounter needs an area-control spell or a rescue, Hex is not mandatory just because the character can cast it.

Area control, immediate damage, and escape

Hunger of Hadar creates a hazardous 20-foot-radius sphere with Darkness, Difficult Terrain, and a Blinded condition for creatures fully inside. Starting a turn there deals 2d6 Cold damage; ending a turn there requires a Dexterity save, taking 2d6 Acid on failure and none on success. Entry alone does not deal damage. Allies are vulnerable too.

A fifth-level casting increases one of those damage types by 2d6, not both. Pushing an enemy toward the area is a positioning tactic, not automatic damage on entry. This route has no Devil's Sight and makes no claim to see through the spell. Licensed revised Hunger of Hadar.

Fireball supplies an available non-Concentration area-damage option from the patron. At 9, Synaptic Static offers an Intelligence save against 8d6 Psychic damage, half on success, plus its failed-save penalty, without starting Concentration. Read its target restrictions and repeat-save timing before choosing the area. Licensed revised Synaptic Static.

Misty Step and Dimension Door are escape tools as much as movement conveniences. Reserve a slot when the party expects isolation, blocked exits, or a vulnerable ally needing extraction. A damage spell is not automatically the best use of the last resource.

Counterspell is different in these rules

When the visible casting trigger occurs within 60 feet, Counterspell makes the enemy caster attempt a Constitution save against your spell DC. On failure, the spell has no effect and the action, Bonus Action, or Reaction used is wasted, but its slot, if any, is not expended. You still spend your own slot normally.

There is no automatic cancellation threshold based on the enemy spell's level, and no spellcasting ability check. Eldritch Mind helps saves to maintain Concentration; it does not give Advantage against Counterspell merely because both use Constitution. Revised Counterspell.

Temporary HP, Concentration, and competing resources

Temporary HP are a separate protective pool. They do not heal actual damage and do not stack with another pool. Choose which pool to keep rather than adding them together.

Fiendish Vigor gives 12, calculated as maximum 2d4 + 4. A slot-free casting is not automatically upcast to your Pact slot level. Dark One's Blessing provides Charisma modifier plus Warlock level when you reduce an enemy to 0 HP, or another creature reduces an enemy within 10 feet of you to 0. At level 5 that is 9, so it does not add 9 to Vigor's 12.

Armor of Agathys uses a Bonus Action, lasts up to an hour without Concentration, and gives temporary HP and Cold retaliation based on the slot actually used. A level-3 slot supplies 15 temporary HP and the spell's 15-damage retaliation when its melee-hit condition applies. It ends early when you have no temporary HP. Do not add its pool to another or assume a later replacement revives an already ended spell. Licensed revised Armor of Agathys.

Concentration allows one ongoing effect of that kind at a time. Hex, Hunger of Hadar, Suggestion, Banishment, Hold Monster, Fly, Guidance, Detect Magic, Arcane Eye, and Eyebite all compete. Starting another ends the previous one.

Guidance improves checks using a selected skill; it does not improve attacks, saves, or Initiative. Ritual casting also requires Concentration during the longer casting time, even when the eventual effect does not. Casting ritual Unseen Servant therefore interrupts Hex too. The DND 2024 Warlock build remains flexible because you choose which benefit matters now, not because all its effects run simultaneously. Guidance, spellcasting rules.

At 6, Dark One's Own Luck adds a d10 to a check or save after seeing the roll but before its effects occur, once per roll. This route has four uses per Long Rest at 6-7 and five from 8. At 10, Fiendish Resilience provides one chosen damage resistance other than Force after a Short or Long Rest. Start with Fire if nothing suggests a better threat-specific choice; resistance is not immunity.

Worked combat turns

Level 1: an actual first-session turn

Assume a visible enemy 60 feet away, no hostile creature within 5 feet of you, no cover or resistance, and your one Pact slot available.

1. Use your Bonus Action to cast Hex, spending that level-1 slot.
2. Use your Magic action for one Eldritch Blast attack at +5.
3. On a normal hit, deal 1d10 Force plus 1d6 Necrotic.

There is no Charisma damage bonus yet. The conditional mean is 5.5 + 3.5 = 9, excluding accuracy and critical hits. No Pact slot remains afterward.

Alternatively, use the free Healing Word on a visible wounded ally within 60 feet and then attack with Eldritch Blast. The healing is 2d4 + 3 at this level. You cannot also start or move Hex with that same Bonus Action.

Level 5: two beams and a remaining slot

Under the same visibility and range assumptions, start with both level-3 Pact slots. Bonus Action Hex spends one. Eldritch Blast then makes two separate attacks at +7. Each normal hit deals 1d10 + 4 Force and 1d6 Necrotic.

If both hit the same surviving target, the conditional total averages 26. One level-3 slot remains. The calculation excludes misses, critical hits, cover, resistance, and other effects. It is not promised damage or a simulation result.

Decline a push if it would make the next beam impractical. If area control is more valuable, cast Hunger instead, ending Hex if active; you cannot also cast Eldritch Blast with that same action. On later turns, positioning and ordinary attacks can support the ongoing control spell.

DnDDen's dice roller can help rehearse separate attack and damage rolls. Record each beam independently so a miss is not accidentally counted as a hit.

One spell slot per turn

The revised rule allows only one spell slot to be expended to cast spells on a turn. After using a slot for Hex on your turn, you cannot spend another for a Reaction spell on that same turn. Another creature's later turn is a different turn.

Slot-free casting does not spend that allowance. Free feat Healing Word plus a one-slot action spell can be legal, provided their actions, components, and other restrictions are satisfied. This is different from importing the 2014 Bonus Action spell restriction. Revised casting rule.

Blade alternative: replace choices, do not add them

For a weapon-oriented variation, keep the same Human/Acolyte origin, abilities, ASIs, Fiend patron, ordinary spell ledger, and Magic Initiate choices. Replace the invocation progression with this complete route:

Conjure a Rapier with Blade's Bonus Action when needed. You gain proficiency with the pact weapon and can use Charisma for attacks and damage. Its ordinary hit deals 1d8 + Charisma. There is no Weapon Mastery grant. Before level 5, its Attack action makes one attack; Thirsting Blade gives two from 5, and Devouring Blade gives three at 12. Their prerequisites are satisfied. Blade and related invocations.

Remove Leather before using Mage Armor from Armor of Shadows at 7. With Dexterity 14, that spell gives AC 15, lasts eight hours, and requires no Concentration. It does not stack with worn armor. Keep a hand available for applicable spell components and remember that conjuring the weapon competes with Hex or another Bonus Action on that turn.

This alternative loses the three Tome cantrips, both Tome rituals, Gift, Visions, and Fiendish Vigor. It retains the class and Magic Initiate cantrips and therefore keeps a ranged fallback. It does not have Eldritch Smite or any unselected invocation.

At level 5 with the weapon ready and Hex already active, two ordinary Rapier hits total 2d8 + 8 + 2d6, a conditional mean of 24. That is not proof the route is stronger or weaker overall: distance, accuracy, defenses, damage types, and tactical options differ. Its modest early AC makes deliberate positioning especially important. The main Tome route remains the recommendation for players who prefer a safer ranged position and broader utility.

Practical questions before your next session

What if a proprietary spell is unavailable?

The class and Fiend route are supported by the free rules, but Armor of Agathys, Hunger of Hadar, and Synaptic Static use separately published spell entries. For a route using only free-source selections, take Expeditious Retreat instead of Armor of Agathys at 1, Fear instead of Hunger at 5, and Hold Monster instead of Synaptic Static at 9. At 10, retain Invisibility rather than replacing it with a spell you already selected. These are alternative functions, not identical effects: all three replacements need Concentration, and the first trades a protective buffer for movement. Read their individual spell entries before use. Official Warlock spell list.

Should I multiclass for more power?

This route stays Warlock to preserve slot progression, invocation access, and Mystic Arcanum at 11. Multiclassing requires a specific purpose and permission, not just an attractive level-20 combination. DnDDen's existing 2014 tabletop Sorlock route in the build comparison is explicitly a different rules route, not a source of extra revised features for this character.

What should I track on my sheet?

Keep separate boxes for Pact slots, Magical Cunning, free Healing Word, Dark One's Own Luck, Gift's shared activation, Contact Patron, and Mystic Arcanum. Note current Concentration and temporary HP beside actual HP. Keep prepared spells grouped by source.

For physical accessories, use the set-selection guide to compare appearance and practical handling. Clear d20, d10, and d6 results matter more to operating the character than a particular theme.

A dependable DND 2024 Warlock build gives you a strong default turn and a reason to depart from it. Preserve slots when ordinary attacks suffice, and spend them on a spell that helps the whole party handle a harder situation.

Rules attribution: This work includes material from the System Reference Document 5.2.1 ("SRD 5.2.1") by Wizards of the Coast LLC, available at D&D Beyond's SRD page. The SRD 5.2.1 is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Build choices, explanations, and calculations are original adaptations. Separately cited proprietary spells are summarized independently.

For the video game rather than tabletop rules, the separate Baldur’s Gate 3 Hexblade walkthrough uses BG3’s own mechanics.