Make Bladelock Great Again

Everyone knows the Pact of the Blade is badly designed, requiring taxes without actually working the way it was intended. Frankly, a Pact Boon should give utility, not change the character's combat identity. With that in mind, I propose the following changes to make melee warlocks viable.

Eldritch Blast Changes

Eldritch blast is no longer a warlock cantrip and cannot be selected upon leveling up by any means except via the new Eldritch Warrior class feature.

Pact Boon Changes

Pact of the Blade no longer exists. Good riddance.

Invocation Changes

Lifedrinker and Thirsting Blade no longer exist, since their benefits are accessible via other features.

Warlock

Eldritch Warrior

At 1st level, choose one of the following options. This choice represents how you manipulate eldritch energy in combat.

Eldritch Marksman

You channel eldritch energy into potent blasts that devastate your enemies from afar.

You learn the eldritch blast cantrip, and it counts as a warlock cantrip for you. You may learn invocations that require knowledge of eldritch blast.

This is the base option that all currently-existing warlocks are assumed to have taken. Because let's be honest, every warlock currently knows eldritch blast.

Eldritch Vanguard

You channel eldritch energy into powerful weapons that rip your enemies to shreds.

You can create an eldritch weapon in an empty hand. This is identical to the Pact of the Blade feature with the following differences:

• You use a bonus action to create the weapon, rather than an action.
• You can bind an artifact or sentient weapon, although you cannot dismiss it into an extradimensional space.

While you hold it, this weapon weighs nothing and moves almost more in response to your thoughts than your muscles. No matter what form your weapon takes, you may use either strength or dexterity to determine its attack and damage bonuses.

At 5th level, you can attack twice with your eldritch weapon, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn.

You may learn invocations that require knowledge of eldritch blast. If you do, their effects apply whenever you attack with your eldritch weapon. You may also learn any UA invocations your DM allows that require the Pact of the Blade feature. However, you may not increase the range or reach of your weapons using these options.

Design Intent and Clarification

Not only does the melee warlock need to be viable, it needs to have a separate identity from other magical melee warriors ("gishes"). The following principles must therefore be observed:

• Magical: the warlock uses magic in battle. The Eldritch Vanguard must thus derive its power from the use of magic, not just martial weapon use. Liberal use of hex and various invocations is necessary for this option to function well. You don't like it, play a rogue.
• Glass Cannon: the "high-damage-low-health" niche is fairly unexplored among melee options (the rogue being the only real example). This allows melee warlocks to forge a unique gish identity instead of being shitty clerics/paladins/valor bards. So we're not giving them medium armor or high health (unless they multiclass, they should maintain a high dexterity), but we're giving them access to damage-boosting invocations.
• Melee: The primary issue with the current Bladelock is that he's still compelled to use eldritch blast, whether for his own safety at range or becaue it does more damage. So Eldritch Vanguards simply do not get the cantrip.
• Character Options: It is in no way my intent to step on the toes of the standard warlock. Any changes in this document will therefore ensure that the warlock can still be played as it is played currently. Unless you're using Pact of the Blade. A warlock who picks Eldritch Marksman should see no difference in gameplay.

If all goes well, the Eldritch Vanguard will be able to dish out significant (and consistent) damage using magical abilities while not feeling too safe in melee. It's all positioning and teamwork, the way God intended.

A quirk of the design process is that melee warlocks have good crowd control with access to Repelling Blast. This further gives them an interesting identity, even if it wasn't originally intended. Just like with the official monk.

Final note: I know the Hexblade exists. I don't think a patron is the right solution because I want to play a melee Feylock, dammit.

Bonus Page: Comparison To Other Melee Characters

Barbarians

Damage comparable at all levels. Survivability significantly lower. Utility higher. CC higher.

Melee Bards

Weapon damage higher at all levels, but without options for range or alternate elemental types (bards have access to elements that very few enemies resist). Melee bards slightly tankier, with access to shields and possibly the shield spell. Utility less varied than bard but more consistent at lower levels. CC comparable.

Melee Clerics

Damage higher, but survivability much lower. Utility as with bard, except clerics are better at healing. CC comparable.

Fighters

Damage comparable to non-tank fighters at low-mid levels, being slightly higher consistently but without burst potential; at higher levels, fighters overtake in consistent damage as well. Survivability significantly lower, but more utility. CC higher, comparable with battlemaster.

Monk

Damage comparable at early levels, slightly higher later on. Less mobility. Probably less AC. Utility comparable. CC comparable.

Paladin

Damage slightly higher at all levels but without access to the paladin's impressive burst potential. Even if UA is used, warlocks can smite much less often. Much lower survivability. Better utility. CC comparable.

Melee Ranger

Damage somewhat higher, survivability lower, CC comparable. Fairly comparable across the board, actually (both have consistent utility).

Rogue

Damage higher at low levels, comparable at high levels. Rogues somewhat more survivable. CC higher. Utility lower, though slightly more reliable.

Bladesinger

Not a melee class.