Arelith

This post will only focus on hexblades as several level investments as opposed to deep hexblade builds.

I 'm exploring a new rogue character that really needs a familiar for IC reasons, and realized that a 24 or 25 rogue with some hexblade levels was actually somewhat feasible (if suboptimal) for getting this idea off the ground.

What's been a little disappointing is seeing just how sub-par an option hexblade is for the classic BAB/discipline dump class. You don't get anything that can compete with what fighters, rangers, blackguards and invisible blades have to offer.

Hex is not useless, as it seems to be an instant action and at least has some effect. Dark blessing is there to shore up saves somewhat, even if your charisma is 8 and you need to use a ward to milk it for +1 to saves. If you're using hexblade as your dip class you really want six levels to get anything out of it, which will give you curse of hypocrisy (basically a typed damage equivalent of weapon specialization), one HP worth of of life drain from another free curse and another hex. Somehow you won't even get spellcraft access which would be beneficial. This is surprising given the arcane nature of the class.

I know that this post may seem a bit pushy, because I'm complaining about the first several levels of a class that has no reputation for dip use. But taking a few levels in something purely for the attack bonus and discipline access is a very common chore and I was disappointed to find that such a fun and flavorful class was so lacking in that regard.

So there's my feedback: the Hexblade, while a super flavorful dip for anyone looking to make a villain who needs some combat power and magical flavor, is pretty lacking in this role. Some modest early level improvements to the class would be helpful. Fighter is dominating the martial dip game and this would help diversify things.