find familiar, is it good, can we make it good

so im trying to cobble 5th edition stuff from various sources into a guy that can do certain stuff...

so start with warlock 3 (fiend patron unlocks scorching ray, and also choose pact of the chain), my goals for this guy, hes a minion warlock, he has an ok defense for melee, he uses spell blasts instead of weapon attacks, and he can do spell attacks in melee without penalty.

---------------

the multiclass prereq table is the same as

[cha]: bard, sorceror, warlock
[str]: barbarian, fighter
[str][wis]: paladin
[wis]: cleric, druid
[dex][wis]: monk, ranger
[dex]: rogue, fighter
[int]: wizard

(where [cha] means you have cha 13)

our warlock, grimbert has [cha] and [dex] so, levels can be warlock, bard, sorcerer, fighter, rogue, hes not wise enough to be a monk or ranger or strong enough to be a barbarian. without [wis] he cant be a divine caster at all (which makes sense) and, if we throw away bard and sorcerer...

warlock, fighter, rogue in some combination; i think i like warrior before rogue so itd be good to do rogue stuff inside the warrior class... 3 classes is pretty hefty, because i also gotta maintain warlock level, i cant get level 3 spells until warlock 5, theres not gonna be a shorter way than taking warlock levels

this is gonna be, a mix of things that are general about characters of this type and bits of  me talking to myself about the specific character, their stats

pact of the chain
find familiar as a ritual (1hr 10min, 10 gold)
find familiar says ... telepathic bond, gets its own turn, gets an action but not an attack.
the warlock familiar can attack when the warlock uses the 'make an attack' action, eating one of the warlock's attacks, ie no spellcasting that turn. if you want the minion to attack you're not using the spell action at all, and all your blasts are on the spell action, so you're limited to weapon attacks and minion attacks.
when you get this power, in order to use this and still have the warlock attack at all, it needs to be a weapon attack that uses the bonus action (dagger etc) if you were a rogue, this where youd put sneak attacks - or, getting any attack that uses the reaction - an opportunity weapon attack, or warlock 4 (war caster), using opportunity eldritch blast - but usually the warlock attacks or the minion does.
if you had fighter 5, youd have multiattack, so you can do like... one weapon attack, one minion attack, and a bonus weapon attack. but more than this youd have... multiattack and second wind together, can be a spell as well. but remembering that your eldritch blast is better than a weapon.

invocations
agonising eldritch blast
+cha to damage. a lot of things already care about your cha: your spellcasting dc, your spell attacks, and the friends cantrip - but this is the main thing that adds cha to damage, cha is your best score. so this one makes the eldritch blast slightly better than a melee weapon, like a dagger or a rapier or something. it's just sharpens your main attack, most warlocks take this cantrip with this evocation, its a completely neutral, boring decision.

mask of many faces
dark one's blessing

then eldritch blast +hex; or scorching ray + hex; does your damage.


what levels can you put on this guy?
-------------------

WARLOCK
warlock level 4

ability score increase or feat, so  take this level either to get a feat or to get closer to warlock 5 and level 3 spells. feat options...

[war caster] melee opportunity attack spells, lets you spell with a shield, and con saves (concentration)
i think having the shield work makes this worth it, the rest of these features are free gifts, but you do want them, this is the basis of a melee guy.

if you want to round out all your saves, so that you have at least dex, con, wis saves by the end of the game, to do this you'd take two feats, take [war caster] and later get [resilient dex], but feats are very expensive especially for a multiclass, how important is it to round out your saves?

[+2 cha] gives (+1 tohit, +1 eldritch blast damage, +1 to your spell save dc)
[elemental adept:fire] to enhance your scorching ray. gets you three rays of fire that deal 2d6 each, reroll ones, and ignore resistance.

[+2 dex] for a rogue multiclass, get some ac, makes you more spry, but on my guy i only really need... +1 to dex to get it to be even, so feats that grat +1 to dex, that gets you the boost and also...
[resilient] gives +1 dex, proficiency with dex saves
[fast hands] the stealing one, one of the best feat options. also gives you the +1 to dex.

so the safe plan is to take fighter 1 (gets +2ac) and then take warlock 4 for [war caster] for another (+2 ac), this lets you be a spell and shield guy... if i get another feat around level 8 itd be good for this to be [resilient] to get those dex saves. wis, dex, con is the full set of saves that you need to not die in most situations. but dex is mostly useful before level 8 so idk. has to be war caster first, i dont want to delay having a shield.

but suppose you took the stealing one. then you get the best feature of a thief. your ac improves but not as much as with war caster, where you can use a shield. then youre weighing steal as a bonus action vs an improved opportunity attack, is what war caster gets you. fast hands is the stealy fighter, the best way to gets some rogue in your fighter. bonus action is (hex, heal, or steal).

you also gain a spell at this level, i'd choose [invisibility]

warlock level 5
this gets you level 3 spells which are probably good idk, ... i'll take this level maybe around character level 7. this also gets another warlock invocation, maybe 'gift of the everliving ones' if i havent swapped it in already...
you can get healing at level 5 from like vampiric touch, 'gift of the everliving ones', which is the best minion invocation, maximises your healing. its a shame there arent... minion invocations that make the minion better

warlock level 6
dark ones own luck - like 'lucky' feat but its the roll+d10, 1 per short rest. i could get 'lucky' at 4th level if i was super jazzed about being the lucky guy, and this is a more boring power, but you do get it. level 6 to get to higher level spells, later warlock powers, which are...

7th through 10th, level 4 and 5 spells, another feat at 8th, at 10th resistance to a damage type that i can choose each day. with multiclassing i'll get this ability maybe around character level 12-15 (ages)

FIGHTER
fighter level 1
+4 ac with breastplate and shield
fighting style:(short range shooting) +1 ranged atk, is the fighting style for blasting spells,  or you can get another +1 ac (armor fighter)
second wind (bonus action heal, heals +d8+1 hp once each short rest)
my plan is to take this at character level 4. i need the ac. this lets grimbert be a rapier/shortsword/scimitar guy, but eldritch blast is better, when you get to warlock 4 (war caster) - close quarters shooting and war caster each depend on the other for the most effective melee caster. probably fight with an orb in one hand and a shield in the other, but not until both levels.

fighter level 2
action surge gives you a second action (once each short rest) probably... best cast is probably two eldritch blasts or one spell and an eldritch blast. eldritch blast is two beams by this point so 1 every short rest you can go to 4 beams.

you can do, a spell, a minion attack, and a bonus rapier or dagger, gets you the most varied three things.

fighter level 3
fighter specialisation
[eldritch knight] needs int. the sword thing kinda replicates a blade-style warlock, which i already didnt choose... looks like 3 wizard spells/day and 2 wizard cantrips... can get out a lot of burning handses. im not sure what are the best spells for the eldritch knight, and this warlock doesnt do weapons much so theres not much there, true strike for instance is not as good as superiority dice guy's feint. id probably take minor illusion and shocking grasp, as cantrips.

[superiority dice guy] is kinda a rogue with a 4 sneaks per short rest, and the battle master has a bunch of options... the attack can usually be an eldritch blast which is nice, we like those... battle master, the old ua cavalier, scout, monster hunter are superiority guy... scout is the best variant probably. its not gonna be more than +4d8 per short rest but that seems like a good... thing to have... battle master maneuvers are disarm, distract(grants advantage on enemy), move ac, feint (costs two actions make one attack with advantage and +d8 damage, a marginally good thing to do) goad (tank mark, gives disadvantage to not hit me) lunge (+1range, gets the damage) maneuver(attack gets the damage and a friend moves half speed no oppy) frighten, parry(-d8 damage on an attack on you). he also gets proficiency with some tools, i'd say alchemy. lets say maneuver, disarm, lunge. we already care about short rests, might as well pile more stuff on.

[scout] puts superiority on skill checks (the ranger skills) attack rolls (not damage) and ac as a reaction. its a shame to not be able to put them on damage, but this puts the dice in some nice places, these are good rolls to not fail. but yeah, another luck bending mechanic, thinly themed, we dont really need it. choose this option to be a skillier guy and gain some ranger steez.

[champion] wants to make weapon attacks so he can get his crits. remarkable athlete at 7th is +2 on strength, dex and constitution checks.. not saves... but it helps inits and grapples and climbs.. 10th [second fighting style] probably protection which lets you apply disadvantage against attacks on friends who are next to you.

[samurai] gets a skill. three per long rest, grant yourself advantage on weapon attack rolls. and 5temp hp. so you can have that extra health be always on, in addition to the dark ones blessing hit points.  but weapon attack rolls, you dont want to make them. the seventh level thing, which gives you +wis to persuasion, is +0, and the int save... youll never get this far, and you dont want this feature at all. its the long rest, which we currently dont care about.

it looks like superiority dice guy wins.

fighter 4 through 9
fighter/warlock rather than warlock/fighter... probably the shortest route to a third feat at 12th (ages) ... fighter 5 gets extra attack every attack action. what this means is you can make a weapon attack and a minion attack, and a bonus action (attack, hex, or heal). want to pile rogue levels on that. indomitable rerolls saves 1/day, but you wont get this high with fighter.

ROGUE
rogue level 1
-persuasion.
-[expertise] probably in stealth (+6/+8 at 5th) and persuasion (+7/+9 at 5th) or maybe thieves tools or insight.
-[sneak attack] sadly it needs to be weapons not spells... even a good weapon, and improved dex, 1d8+1d6+3 damage cant keep up with eldritch blast(2d10+6 at 5th)
best case is probably a familiar attack + a bonus melee attack (dagger) with sneak attack; thats d4+d6+3 + the familiars thing (scare sleep etc) - this is maybe as good as an eldritch. if you choose rogue then you want to do this thing. but, seems liek soemthing youd do on an offtempo round, to get a status effect, so its an option but its not great
-[thieves cant] doesnt come up much, but its good rp

not a great choice but you want expertise. adding the bonus sneak attack dagger makes minion attacks good, maybe.

rogue level 2
[cunning action] gets you out of combat every turn as a bonus action. gets you ready to sneak attack. its good to be able to get out if need. dash, disengage, or hide. this is a good feature. but remember that you want to hex or maybe heal with that bonus action.

rogue level 3
rogue specialisation.
-[assassin]. that gives you advantage vs creatures who havent acted yet, crits against surprised creatures, wigs and makeup, and poisons. with warlock 4, get the spell invisibility, if you use it to crit with scorching ray, invisibility becomes better than a hex. at warlock 5, makes a buddy invisible as well.
-[thief]. your bonus is now (hex, sleight of hand, unlock, disarm trap, disengage, dash, hide) - so you can steal and put stuff in guys inventories in combat. you want to do this. if not this subclass you want the feat that does it.
-[swashbuckler]. +CHA to initiative, this is huge, but its only initiative, so who cares really
-melee attack against creature, that creature cant opportunity attack you. means that you can bonus action sneak attack, minion attack, and you still (mostly) disengage.
-also the duel thing, you get sneak attack when you fight 1 creature, at 5ft, and noone else is in 5 feet of you.
-that wants close quarters shooting again. so requires fighter 1, so the attack is a blast, minion or weapon attack, bonus action is like (hex, heal, dash, hide, or weapon attack). what the swashbucker wants to do is move from one guys threat, attack him, into another guys threat, attack him, and move out, like a monk might, but we already have a monk and this situation is pretty uncommon, and the monk does it better. you can attack with melee, weak disengage, and enter stealth or heal or something. i guess it works with a hex+a melee attack+weak disengage. but you want to blast and it has no synergy.
-[scout]. reaction move half your speed when a monster moves on you. no oppy. nature and survival expertise (+7 and +6 respectively)
-[mastermind] - gets disguise, forgery, gaming set, two languages, and unerring mimicry. good bunch of background stuff, but none of it really neccessary. help as a bonus action, i think bonus granting someone advantage on their best attack, is a poor ranged option, versus just making your own bonus weapon attack, the possibility of making both the good and bad attacks is better than their making one good attack with advantage, so help, you could take or leave it, then in melee you want to disengage, not help.
[inquisitive] - ok, suppose you took insight as a specialisation so you have +6 as insight. then you cant roll worse than a 14 to see if someone's lying. 14s not quite good enough, you still need to roll better than this. this is a subclass intended for a rogue with a positive WIS modifier, which you don't have. suppose you also took perception as a specialisation, then you can (spot a creature or item) as a bonus action at +6. if you took investigation (detect or decipher a clue) at +7. these are not options you normally want in combat. if you were able to do it, is it useful? would it be cool?
-but insightful fighting makes sneak attack guaranteed on a guy, so its a sort of rogue hex. so you can basically treat it as a given extra dice like a ranger thing, thats worth having. but this also wants the insight specialisation. so this is obvious choice if you go insight at rogue 1st level, choose this build to be the insight guy.
assassin, thief, swashbuckler, or maybe inquisitive.

rogue level 4 - 10
get a feat or ability score increase. though, might as well be +2 cha or some feat granting +1 dex, or +2 wis to make the inquisitive work at level 8 thereabouts. 5th level [uncanny dodge] is half all damage from attacks you can see? very nice. 7th [evasion] makes improved dex saves (dmg/half) -> (half/none) - basically you could always take rogue and never take another warlock fighter level, and it'd be fine.

feats that grant the +1 to dex are...
[resilient dex], which also gives you the dex save
[quick fingered] which gives you steal as a bonus action like the thief, and also gives you expertise  sleight of hand (+9) so that you can pull it off. if youre gonna be in melee you might as well steal as a bonus action.
DONT CHOOSE [moderately armored] has no synergy with your new +3 dex. medium and shields, but not the effect of [war caster], so you want that, its really no bonus to ac unless you can get the shield in there. if you want a shield, choose fighter 1, also gets healing and fighting style, still needs war caster.

so i think warlock4/fighter3 with war caster is a good option, thats a spelly fighter with shield in one hand and and a hellorb in the other, who can take a hit but also shoots 4 eldritch blast beams at point blank
... it might be nice to proceed to assassin or whatever from there... which i guess is pact of the fiend battle master chain assassin

but yeah,,, i previously threw away these other classes that are good options...

BARD
bard 1 gets spellcasting, including cure wounds which you can do as a touch through the familiar.
inspiration as a bonus action, because youre a warlock bard and not a warlock fighter rogue, your bonus action is like, hex, weapon attack, or inspire - and you just got new spell slots that make hex more viable. inspires not the best of these.
if you have healing you can maximise it with gift of the everliving ones. so cure wounds and vampiric touch are good options for like, a warlock 5/bard 1. or warlock 5/sorcerer 1.
bard 2 gets jack of all trades, song of rest.
bard 3 is bard specialisation.

SORCERER
sorcerer gets spellcasting and sorcerous origin. you want metamagic for twinned spell, distant spell, and etc but those are sorcerer 3.
[divine soul] gets the cleric spells. cure wounds and more importantly inflict wounds, if you get these, it pays out the idea of the minion delivering touch spells.
[pheonix sorcery] is the obvious fire guy. bonus action to turn it on, overloads hex. (but its not a spell, you can scorch on the first turn.) charisma bonus to your fire damage, and charisma fire damage to targets that hit you. your charisma bonus, if it was 4, the bonus damage would be better than a hex. but being a fire tank is cool, the retributive damage is what tips it over to good. so its a good option. 1 min per long rest.
[sea sorcery] is good with the eldritch blast that pushes or pulls. but i already used sea on the other tiefling.
[shadow] gets the darkness you can see through, but not until sorcerer 3. but it makes you hard to kill, so bonus points for that. not as good as these others.
[stone] gets smite spells, shields (but not close quarters shooting), ac17 with no armor, but you have to turn it on, as an action.
[storm] fly 10feet when you cast a spell of 1st or better. as a bonus action. this a great thing. consider hellish rebuke (eldritch blast. leave threat to provoke oppy, absorb that somehow. reaction hellish rebuke is another blast. and disengage-fly 10 feet) the storm sorcerer perk is so generally good it sucks to not take it and use it every turn. this is a disengage that 's reliable (every turn) arcane (cares about spellcasting) and potent (controls the wind).