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Mephisto
2011-02-13, 08:49 PM
So I've decided to play a warlock, but I don't really know what I'm doing with character generation since it's my first time playing D&D. Any help you can give suggesting feats and invocations would be appreciated.

Starting at 5th level
Not doing anything cheesy like Hellfire Warlock/Binder
3.5 edition

Shpadoinkle
2011-02-13, 08:53 PM
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=warlock%27s+handbook

MeeposFire
2011-02-13, 09:00 PM
Well hellfire warlock +binder is not normally considered cheesy. Hellfire with the soul vest from incarnum is at times called cheesy. Using legacy champ or bloodlines could be seen as cheesy as well but not just stock warlock binder.

Without using glaive tricks I find eldritch claw to be a good choice though it is a dragon mag feat so I do not know if that fits for you.

Mephisto
2011-02-13, 10:22 PM
Besides Complete Arcane and Complete Mage, which books have invocations and feats suited for warlocks?

MeeposFire
2011-02-13, 10:30 PM
Dragon magic has a few including eldritch glaive.

ShneekeyTheLost
2011-02-13, 10:33 PM
Dragon Magic has Eldritch Glaive, which is of use if you want to be able to melee effectively.

As a non-cheesy but still viable route, dip 2 levels in the class Chameleon. It's a fun little dip that nets you a floating feat. This can be used situationally to give you the invocation you need that day (used on the Extra Invocation feat, which means the floating invocation can be up to one category lower than your highest category), and once you get to Warlock 12/Chameleon2, it can be used for item creation feats to create pretty much anything in the game.

Some tips:

* A lot of people think that Darkness + Devil's Sight is OP, but it is quite the opposite if you actually *read* the spell description of Darkness. It's actually quite sub-par, because you are blowing two of your THREE least invocations on the trick, and probably at least one feat on the HipS thing from Drow of the Underdark, to do something most rogues can dip one level out of a class to do.

* Eldritch Glaive is a full-round action to use, and it is NOT A WEAPON. Thus a lot of things you think will work with this? Doesn't. Having said that, it is a fairly nice Least invocation.

* Quicken SLA and Empower SLA monster feats work on invocations just fine. Including Eldritch Blast. Just remember the limitation on number of times per day.

* Eldritch Chain + Hindering Blast = lulz. In fact, Eldritch Chain + any Save or Loose effect eldritch essence is fun. However, if you don't plan on using a lot of Save or Loose essences, it's almost completely worthless

* You will want some basic protectives to keep yourself alive. Fortunately, there is Walk Unseen (at-will invisibility), Flee The Scene (at-will Dimension Door + Major Image), and Fell Flight (At-will Fly). This is the holy trinity of necessary invocations that will keep you alive.

* Vitriolic Blast allows you to ignore SR. For this reason alone, this should be your first Greater essence. Period. Yes, even then.

Kuma Kode
2011-02-13, 10:34 PM
What role do you plan on filling? The warlock is capable in filling several roles, but not all at once.

Do you want blaster, to focus on direct-damage and use your eldritch blast? Did you want to be the problem solver, and constantly have access to a few powerful utility powers? Would you rather be the party face and use your dark powers to woo and manipulate others?

Or did you want to the the master of magic items, bending them to your will and using them just like, and sometimes better than, the people they were designed for?

KillianHawkeye
2011-02-13, 10:42 PM
Besides Complete Arcane and Complete Mage, which books have invocations and feats suited for warlocks?

Dragon Magic has a few invocations. Cityscape has a couple more. Then I guess Magic of Incarnum has one or two incarnum-related invocations.



As for what invocations to choose, are you going for any kind of theme? I've done a darkness-themed Warlock. You can also go for a classic Hell theme (even if you decide not to enter Hellfire Warlock), or go for more of a general mix-and-match generalist theme. You could take a lot of miscellaneous utility invocations or go all blasty with shape and essence options for your eldritch blast.

For feats, you might focus on stuff that makes your ranged attacks even better, or take stuff that improves your defenses and survivability so you can melee with eldritch glaive (or, god forbidding that Dragon Magic is unavailable, hideous blow), or else take general feats that don't deal with your Warlock abilities at all. You can even do item creation once you get higher in level.

Biffoniacus_Furiou
2011-02-13, 10:48 PM
Dragon Magic has some new invocations. The Monster Manual has Empower and Quicken Spell-Like Ability, which can be used on EB and invocations. You can also find Ability Focus in the Monster Manual, which if taken for Eldritch Blast it will add +2 DC to every Eldritch Essence you use (confirmed by official FAQ). You can also find Flyby Attack in there, just like every Druid takes Natural Spell, every Warlock takes Flyby Attack. There's a few other sources but I'm not extremely familiar with warlock resources.

Small size races are great, such as Gnome, (Water, Strongheart) Halfling, or (Desert) Kobold. Hellbred is another great choice, as is Human. They all have their selling points.

Half-Fey (http://wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/sp/20040213a) from the Fiend Folio is downright amazing, especially if you put it on a Gnome and take the feat Magic in the Blood from PGtF. This combination is extremely good, but I wouldn't call it cheesy or overpowered. Adding Necropolitan and Spellstitched would be cheesy.

Kobold can use the Draconic Rite of Passage to get Charm Person as a spell-like ability, thus allowing him to dip Mindbender without wasting an invocation on Charm. Half-Fey accomplishes this as well, though.

You can use Fey/Fiendish Heritage and Fey/Fiendish Power to go Warlock 4/ Mindbender 1, or if Half-Fey you could possibly get your DM to waive Fey Heritage as a prerequisite.

Starting at 5th level, you should probably go Half-Fey Gnome Warlock 3, with Magic in the Blood and Flyby Attack. If you can use flaws then get Ability Focus: Eldritch Blast and probably Fey Power, I'd go with Weak-Willed and Noncombatant. Invocations should be Eldritch Spear and either Baleful Utterance or Summon Swarm. Your third least should probably be See the Unseen, lesser should probably be Eldritch Chain, Beshadowed Blast, and probably Flee the Scene. WBL at 5th is 9,000 gp, get a Chasuble of Fell Power and maybe some tanglefoot bags and other miscellaneous mundane gear. Go Warlock 4 /Mindbender 1/ Warlock, get Mindsight from Lords of Madness (p126) at 6th level, and spam Beshadowed Eldritch Chain every round. Between invocations, spell-like abilities, and natural flight with flyby attack, it should be a rather versatile and useful character but far from game breaking. Please try to use Flyby Attack to end every round behind total cover.

Scarlet-Devil
2011-02-13, 10:55 PM
:sabine:: You've made a good choice by picking Warlock. It's a very fun class that, because of its low number of invocations known, and the coolness of invocations in general, can easily be made to fit a particular theme, for example, a Warlock who received his power from the Archdevil Mammon might have things like: See the Unseen/Devil's Sight, Beguiling Influence, Charm, Brimstone Blast, Devil's Whispers, Binding Blast, Caustic Mire, etc.

As far as other books with invocations, there's also Drow of the Underdark and Cityscape.

Mephisto
2011-02-14, 12:44 AM
What role do you plan on filling? The warlock is capable in filling several roles, but not all at once.

Do you want blaster, to focus on direct-damage and use your eldritch blast? Did you want to be the problem solver, and constantly have access to a few powerful utility powers? Would you rather be the party face and use your dark powers to woo and manipulate others?

Or did you want to the the master of magic items, bending them to your will and using them just like, and sometimes better than, the people they were designed for?

What I was thinking was mostly mezzing and battlefield control, using debuffing blast essences and stuff like temporary undead from The Dead Walk to completely screw with the party's enemies.

Sdonourg
2011-02-14, 03:10 AM
Drow of the Underdark has 2 more invocations.

Re'ozul
2011-02-14, 10:56 AM
Drow of the Underdark has 2 more invocations.

It also has some nice feats for darkness-warlocks:
Granted these aren't supposed to work when going with Rules as intended, but they DO only specify Darkness as an SLA for prerequisites, so...

Blend into shadows:
Sacrifice one use of your Darkness SLA for a swift action Hide in plain sight attempt, though you must be within 10' of magical darkness(since the warlocks version is at-will this basically gives you an awesome ability)

Fade into darkness:
Sacrifice one use of your Darkness SLA for a +5 to hide checks while in shadows for 10 minutes per caster level. (same as above)

Instinctive Darkness: Cast you Darkness SLA as an immediate action with NO AoO.

Intensify darkness: Your Darkness SLA becomes Deeper darkness if you take a fullround action to cast.

Again, I don't know how cheesy this is and considering how feat starved Warlocks tend to be, I don't know wether any of this is useful, but I like the ideas.