Glaive of the Hellfire Warlock (3.5e Optimized Character Build)

Introduction
Summary::Use the eldritch glaive to deal massive damage to foes while locking them in place in addition to great mobility and battlefield control. Also has great versatility, being able to switch from melee to ranged and back from round to round, depending on what suits one best.

Invocations

 * Eldritch Glaive (1)


 * Baleful Utterance (2)


 * Entropic Warding (5)


 * Hellrime Blast (9)


 * Flee the Scene (13)


 * Fell Flight (15)


 * Vitriolic Blast (16)


 * Eldritch Cone (18)


 * Chilling Tentacles (20)

Progression
Starting Ability Scores (Before Racial Adjustments): (Assuming 32 Point Buy) 17 14 15 10 10 9

Race (Templates): Race::Human

At level 20: Final Class Progression::Bloodline 3 / Warlock 12 / Hellfire Warlock 3 / Chameleon 2

Items of Note

 * Goggles of Foefinding (Get this ASAP to ignore soft cover)


 * Greater Chausable of Fell Power


 * Gloves of Eldritch Admixture


 * Warlock's Sceptre (when not using Eldritch Glaive)

Highlights

 * Maintain the Combat Focus version of Aptitude Focus.

Assumed stats at level 20:

 * Strength: 17 (Base) + 1 (Bloodline) + 5 (Level) + 6 (Item) + 5 (Tome) = 34 (+12)


 * Attack Bonus: 12 (BAB) + 12 (Str) - 12 (Power Attack) + 2 (Aptitude Focus) = +14/+9/+4


 * Damage: 7d6 (Eldritch Blast) + 12d6 (Hellfire Blast) + 2d6 (Greater Chausable of Fell Power) + 18 (Strength) + 24 (Power Attack) + 2 (Aptitude Focus) = 21d6+44


 * Total damage per attack comes out to 117.5 (on average). Should all attacks hit, that's 352.5 damage.


 * Nova: Spend all the charges on Gloves Eldritch Admixture while Maximizing your Eldritch Blast to deal 194 damage with each attack. Add on a Quickened/Maximized Eldritch Cone beforehand for even more damage.


 * Able to craft nearly any item by level 20 with the combination of Imbue Item and the Chameleon's floating feat.

Tactics

 * Use Entropic Ward as a defense against ranged attacks.


 * Use Chilling Tentacles as battlefield control.


 * Flee the Scene and Fell Flight will confuse enemies.


 * Use Vitriolic Blast against enemies with Spell Resistance.


 * Use Eldritch Cone to clear out mooks.


 * Use Eldritch Glaive in combination with Stand Still and Thicket of Blades to stop enemies from getting move closer or farther from you, and punish them with attacks.


 * Take no Constitution damage from Hellfire Blast through the use of the Strongheart Vest soulmeld.


 * The bloodline stacks with Hellfire Warlock for increases in the damage of Hellfire Blast since it's level-based.

Further Optimization

 * Pick up augmented Psionic Tattoos of Expansion to get a bigger reach for even better zone control.
 * Find a way to get Turn Undead and pick up Travel Devotion (Complete Champion) to move as a swift action so you can use Eldritch Glaive in the same round.

Limitations

 * Low saves, teleporting foes, concealment.


 * Poor combat abilities before level 10-12.

DM Counters

 * Defenses apart from AC (illusions, concealment, etc)


 * Target low saves.


 * Foes attacking from all sides en masse.

Variants

 * The Storm Giant major bloodline also works well if you'd rather not be quite so fiendishly aligned. If doing so, raise Wis by one and lower Cha by one.
 * Take Charm as one of your invocations and pick up a level of Mindbender for Telepathy, then take Mindsight so that no-one can hide from you.
 * Take a level of cleric for the Travel Devotion feat to move up to your speed as a swift action, allowing you to move before or after using Eldritch Glaive.