Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General Which Non-PHB subclass would you like to be in the game *REDUX*

Blood Hunter - Order of Profane Soul just as well. IMHO it even fits Wyll much better.

Which ties in nicely to the parallel debate about classes taking place over at https://forums.larian.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=852509#Post852509, given I believe Blood Hunter is a class developed for the Critical Role setting Tal'Dorei and am not sure if there's (yet) any canon that could explain its powers manifesting on Toril. But as I just said on that other thread, as long as whoever is first introducing a class/race goes to at least some effort to explain its appearance I'm perfectly open to the idea.

Though my pet theory about Wyll was that he was conceived as a multiclass Fiend Warlock/Swashbuckler Rogue (hence the otherwise puzzling reference to his background as a thief). That would require the non-PHB Swashbuckler class. And Hexblade doesn't seem right to me for him, given the very prominent role expected for his cambion patron. And I'm not seeing Blood Hunter in him either - the monster hunting sure, but it seems like that came after his pact whereas I think the pact comes at level 3 for Order of the Profane Soul so that and the blood magic would need to be rewritten in from the start to make it work. Though either option probably could be made to fit with a bit of rejigging, given I believe we've been told that the actual act 1 will be quite different from EA.

The only problem with Wyll being a hexblade is, that Mizora is an important part of his story - and she is his patron and a fiend.

exactly. I don't know why people think Wyll should be Hexblade simply because he has a title with "blade" in it and completely ignore the fact his patron is a fiend. Warlock's power is defined by their patron, not their title.

I do. It's what he's known for.

I don't care if he's a hexblade or if Larian changes the pact of the blade into something resembling the hexblade.

Is it said anywhere that Wyll is known for swordsmanship? My impression was that he mostly carried a sword around because he isn’t exactly forthright with people about being a Warlock, but I have never run into anything saying he is particularly associated with swords.

I’m pretty sure Blade if the Frontier refers to his role in society, not literally carrying around a sword. Similarly, the main character of FF16 is the Shield of Rosaria and he doesn’t even carry a literal shield. It’s just a title.

I agree. He is the Blade of Frontier, but his strength doesn't seem to be swordmanship - on the other hand, he can throw a fireball as a fiendlock.
I think, people are too fixated on his title, it's what he calls himself. Don't get me wrong, I want hexblade to be in the game ... for my character.

he does have rapier proficiency, which is something warlock doesn't have in default. so the sword does exist but that thing doesn't really come from his patron.

he has a blade weapon but that is not his warlock power learned from his patron. he never mentioned Mizora teaching him how to use a rapier, but he does mention the fiendish ability she taught him.

What he is known for has little to do with what his patron abilities are, as it does not seem that Wyll actively advertises himself to people as being a Warlock at all.

He has a proficiency with a rapier that doesn't come from his race or class.

He's called the Blade.

We meet him while he's training sword fighting techniques.

The "just a title" angle doesn't feel good to me.

Obviously, so many folks think his character would function better as a Hexblade for a reason. It just makes sense. Or at least him having the pact of the blade, which explains his odd proficiency. Now it's just a question of beefing up what Pact of the Blade means in BG3, because what it means in 5e probably doesn't translate that well into the game.

Like mentioned above, Wyll has a rapier proficiency that is not common for Warlocks and knows sword techniques (most likely from his past training with the famous organization), so making him a spellblade Warlock could make sense.

Though, I reread the Hexblade description and as it is based on entirely different patrons from Fiends to which Mizora belongs, I can agree that Hexblade is not very fitting for him. However, at the very least he should have compatible stats for Pact of the Blade playstyle and the pact itself should be made compelling enough in BG3 to fit the lore mentioned above.

He can't be a hexblade, since he has a fiend patron that is important for his backstory.
And as you said, his rapier ability has nothing to do with his class, so maybe in full release he might be multiclass.

I always viewed Wyll's rapier proficiency as a story thing, not some hint of what's to come.

I enjoy it when story and class are tied together, so hope Wyll's rapier proficiency is brought into line with 5e rules and is grounded in a class or feat on full release, and has only been bolted on in EA as it's required for flavour but whatever it's from in the character concept isn't implemented yet.

Eg In the full game Wyll could be a variant human with the weapon master feat. Or my swashbuckler rogue multiclass idea would give him a rapier proficiency too, though only I think if he started as a rogue then took warlock at level 2. Which would make sense in terms of his backstory but unfortunately not of the character creation process for an origin level 1 character as it feels like Wyll has to be able to start the game as a warlock for his story to make sense. (As a companion, of course, he could be level 2 when we meet him.)

Wouldn't him being pact of the blade make sense? He'd have proficiency with his pact weapon so rapier proficiency is basically here as a placeholder until that class is implemented.

Yes, that would also make sense. Fiend warlock with pact of the blade makes more sense than hexblade in my opinion. It has a similar problem to multiclassing that he is meant to have been the Blade before we meet him but he’d only get the pact at level 3. Easily solved as a companion by just having him level 3 when we meet him, and if someone’s playing him as an origin then hopefully it’s up to them how closely they stick to what makes narrative sense.

The advantage it has over my multiclass theory is that he can be a warlock at level 1 and still eventually get his proficiency without a feat. And of course he could be a variant human with the weapon master feat too, representing his background as a soldier as well as folk hero, and also a multiclass rogue!

I’ll still be keeping my fingers crossed for a swashbuckler rogue multiclass option, as I’d like what Wyll says about having been a thief to tie into his build somehow, it fits his character, gives us another rogue option for our parties, and it gives him somewhere obvious to go if he breaks his pact with Mizora and can’t level up as a Warlock. He’d need better Dex, though!

Plus I just like charisma builds, so a rogue that can take some advantage of it would be an appealing potential dip for me. But I’m just going off reading about it, and I’ll admit it doesn’t have as clear benefits as some of the other subclasses folk are keen to see.

I thought it was either pact of the blade or his DM approved a special background

Still very much hoping for Swashbuckler or College of Swords...

Voted for gloomstalker. I love stealthy characters like Rangers and Rogues.

Btw i like how Solasta goes about adding new subclasses. Mix of PHB and non-PHB with some fresh archetypes for each DLC.