Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General Pact of Blade confirmed via interview

Ok no, at this point this has GOT to be nonsense lost in translation, bad reporting, or outright fake stories. Larian literally just confirmed all the classes and subclasses that will be in the game at launch less than two weeks ago.

Pacts aren't subclasses they are another choice in Warlock progression.

Your subclasses are your choice of Patrons: At first level you pick Fiend, Great Old One, or Fey

At 3rd level Warlocks can further customize their class by choosing a Pact. Pact of the Blade, Pact of the Tome or Pact of the Chain.

Currently in Early Access we've had two subclasses, Fiend and Great Old One, but only one Pact has ever been available, the Pact of the Chain.

Pact of the Blade does not work without The Hexblade subclass/patron(not to be confused with the Hex spell) because that patron enables the Pact of the Blade weapon to use your warlock's charisma modifier and therefore be effective...that subclass is not in BG3. What that means is that this would be a worthless pact incompatible with BG3 warlocks because it would require significant investment into strength to make the weapon work.

Nick: An example? Warlocks must choose a pact. One of these pacts is the pact of the blade, which allows him to devote himself more to weapons, create a pact weapon related to him, and so on; the part of the pact that was missing was the extra attack: a lot of martial classes have an extra attack available and Warlocks don't. The problem is that the weapons are balanced around the number of attacks per turn, so we added this to make the pact of the blade more interesting.

Interviewer: So have you integrated some of the elements of the hexblade ( a very popular Warlock subclass, but absent in Baldur's Gate 3 nd. Pregianza ) into the normal sword bond? Is that why it's missing from the game?

Nick: Exactly. It won't be possible to make a full Hexblade, but we absolutely researched the class when we implemented the changes to the Warlock. Small details, like attack modifiers, to make the playstyle possible.

Now, this doesn't actually make sense, because Pact of the Blade Warlocks could always get Extra Attack through the Eldritch Invocation: Thirsting Blade. Additionally, they don't mention anything about using your Charisma modifier, which is *the* benefit of being a Hexblade...

There is no way this is real. Absolutely no way. It's a dead pact without the extra attacks and using the charisma modifier.

There is no way this is real. Absolutely no way. It's a dead pact without the extra attacks and using the charisma modifier.

I'm having trouble understanding.

What is being said about Pact of the Blade?

That it's going to use CHA modifier for attack?

That it's going to give extra attacks?

Or both?

I apologize. I'm just having trouble understanding.

Pact of the Blade does not work without The Hexblade subclass/patron(not to be confused with the Hex spell) because that patron enables the Pact of the Blade weapon to use your warlock's charisma modifier and therefore be effective...that subclass is not in BG3. What that means is that this would be a worthless pact incompatible with BG3 warlocks because it would require significant investment into strength to make the weapon work.

Would it really be crazy for them to mix in some of the core hexblade features like Hex Warrior into Pact of the Blade?

Wizards of the Coast is releasing an updated version of the Player's Handbook in 2024.
In their most recent playtest the Pact of the Blade Warlock was overhauled.
Many of the features of Hexblade were rolled right in to pact of the blade.
Much like the special weapon attacks that were introduced in EA, the changes to Pact of the Blade are likely based off Wizard's of the Coast playtest material.

Yeah, I actually suggested they at least fold the Hex Warrior feature from Hexblade (+CHA mod) to the blade pact in a separate thread. I personally think it makes a bit more sense to me than having the whole subclass, and generally agree with that change from WOTC.

Wizards of the Coast is releasing an updated version of the Player's Handbook in 2024.
In their most recent playtest the Pact of the Blade Warlock was overhauled.
Many of the features of Hexblade were rolled right in to pact of the blade.
Much like the special weapon attacks that were introduced in EA, the changes to Pact of the Blade are likely based off Wizard's of the Coast playtest material.