Warlock conversion

[Kane0]

Hey all. I don't usually frequent the 4e forums but my DM wants to move towards it because he feels more comfortable in that system (also to give our fighter more things to do).

I have already converted my character from 3.5 over to 4e basic stats and class abilities and such but im a little stuck on translating the powers. So far i have my eldritch blast as an at will, both of my shapes as at wills and all my other invocations as at will utilities (Fell flight, walk unseen, beguiling influence, dark one's own luck), which leaves my with a ton of utilities and at wills but no encounters or dailies save for second wind and my item daily.
Does this seem right? Should I have the 24 hour buffs as rituals instead? Will i be about as powerful as a 4e character?

Cheers guys.

[dariathalon]

Whoa. Wait a second. Are you just trying to take the powers you had in 3.5and making up things like them using 4e rules? That's what it's sounding like to me. I can only tell you this will work out badly. The characters will not be balanced against each other at all (pretty much the way they were in 3.5).

What did the DM tell you about how to convert your character? My hope is that this isn't what he intended.

Things have changed A LOT between editions. You can hardly ever just translate a character ability-by-ability between them. The best you can really hope for is translating the "spirit" of the character.

[Kane0]

No, you have it right. I know that Save or dies and flight and things are really rare and powerful in 4e, as well as permanent buffs like beguiling influence gives, and i've told the DM. So far he's been fine with me flying around invisible and able to deal with is appropriately.

He's a pretty good and lenient DM, he said do what feels most like what i'm used to.

So far I have:
Eldritch Spear as an at will
Cantrips as at will utilities
Second Wind as an encounter
Sacrifice Familiar (from the 4e feat?) as an encounter. I haven't used this but the DM said i should have it because I took the gain familiar 3rd ed feat.
A daily from a 4e rod of blasting
Walk unseen as a ritual
Dark ones own luck as a ritual
Beguiling influence as a ritual (+4 instead of +6)
Fell flight as a ritual
Enchant and Disenchant Item as rituals (DM converted my 3rd ed Craft wondrous item feat into 4e Ritual casting feat with these two rituals picked)

There is also a pair of powers he gave me for plot reasons. One is a utility and one is an encounter.

[VeliciaL]

There isn't going to be much we can do to help you then, because how your DM is having your build a character isn't at all like how 4E characters are supposed to be built.

[Tegu8788]

The more information you can give us, the better we can guide you.

At this point, we can only assume that you are playing a warlock.

But Kane0 is right, you can't just one to one things. The fluff is similar, but the mechanics are completely different.

[VeliciaL]

As an addendum, I'm not saying you're doing things wrong; if it works for your table then that's that. But it's not how characters are built by the book in 4th edition.

[Kurald Galain]

No, you have it right. I know that Save or dies and flight and things are really rare and powerful in 4e, as well as permanent buffs like beguiling influence gives, and i've told the DM. So far he's been fine with me flying around invisible and able to deal with is appropriately.
Well, good. Frankly, 4E's whole notion that flight is ooooh so overpowered is rather silly.

Note that the feat is called Arcane Familiar, and Dark One's Own Luck is an utility power now.

Just pick a daily that sounds cool? Armor of Agathys is a pretty good match for a defensive buff, assuming your 'lock had any.

[Kane0]

Thanks for the replies guys.


There isn't going to be much we can do to help you then, because how your DM is having your build a character isn't at all like how 4E characters are supposed to be built.
I suspected that this might be too far out of the norm, thanks anyways though.


The more information you can give us, the better we can guide you.

At this point, we can only assume that you are playing a warlock.

Yep, pure warlock (Infernal Pact, but I don't think i'm getting anything from it). I'm not getting the 4e warlock abilities (Prime shot, Warlocks Curse, Shadow Walk).


As an addendum, I'm not saying you're doing things wrong; if it works for your table then that's that. But it's not how characters are built by the book in 4th edition.
Its working so far. The poor cleric is attempting to convert all his 3rd ed spells into 4e equivalents and pick out a number to set his AEDU's each morning.



Note that the feat is called Arcane Familiar, and Dark One's Own Luck is an utility power now.

Just pick a daily that sounds cool? Armor of Agathys is a pretty good match for a defensive buff, assuming your 'lock had any.

Noted, i'll look them up. Sounds like a neat power.

Edit: Here are the plot/created powers I have. Can i get a quick 'how powerful is this' on them?
-Eldritch Vortex (Encounter): Cha vs Reflex. Target immobilized in vortex (save ends) taking 2d6 + Cha damage /round
-Eldritch Rain (Encounter): Cha vs Ref. Eldritch blast damage on burst 2 within 10 squares.
-Draining Curse (Encounter): Cha vs Will. Target takes Cha mod ongoing arcane damage (save ends) and you can spend a healing surge.

[Tegu8788]

Well, while this is going to be harder given how your DM is playing it, if you using other rules as normal 4E would, that Vortex is insanely powerful. Every person get's a turn inside of each round of combat. That's a lot of damage to happen that often. The damage is about right for a single turn, against a single target. The effect is also pretty powerful. And it's unclear how large the vortex is.

[Kane0]

Well, while this is going to be harder given how your DM is playing it.
I'm a homebrewer at heart, so this is a fun exercise for me. Really make me think about the differences between 3rd and 4th.

Single target. The idea is if I land the hit (Cha vs Reflex?) they are trapped and take the damage until they make the save (they make a save once per round, d20 vs dc 10?) which ends both effects. Should the 2d6 just become ongoing 5 or something?

[Kurald Galain]

Edit: Here are the plot/created powers I have. Can i get a quick 'how powerful is this' on them?
-Eldritch Vortex (Encounter): Cha vs Reflex. Target immobilized in vortex (save ends) taking 2d6 + Cha damage /round
-Eldritch Rain (Encounter): Cha vs Ref. Eldritch blast damage on burst 2 within 10 squares.
-Draining Curse (Encounter): Cha vs Will. Target takes Cha mod ongoing arcane damage (save ends) and you can spend a healing surge.

Sure.

(1) Encounter powers are never save-ends, I'd suggest end-of-your-next-turn.
(2) Heroic-tier encounter powers are never burst 2, except if you're a wizard.
(3) "2d6+cha damage per round" is called "ongoing damage" in 4E, and the standard amount for heroic tier is 5.
(4) "Arcane damage" doesn't exist, try necrotic.

[Kane0]

Sure.

(1) Encounter powers are never save-ends, I'd suggest end-of-your-next-turn.
(2) Heroic-tier encounter powers are never burst 2, except if you're a wizard.
(3) "2d6+cha damage per round" is called "ongoing damage" in 4E, and the standard amount for heroic tier is 5.
(4) "Arcane damage" doesn't exist, try necrotic.

1. Okay. Does that increase as I increase in level? I noticed there was no equivalent for caster level other than maybe most d20 rolls adding half your level as part of the modifier.
2. Daily then? With an encounter burst 1?
3. Ongoing 5 sounds about right
4. That explains a lot about how he has me using eldritch blast...

[Kurald Galain]

(1) Nope. Encounter powers last only one turn in the game; only daily powers are allowed to last longer (with very few exceptions).
(2) Yes, that's fine. Slightly weak for a daily, even. I'd throw in something like slow (save ends) if it's a level 1 power, or dazed if it's level 5.

[Tegu8788]

1. You get to add half level, which does scale, and bonus from magic weapons/implements, so there's that. But Caster levels are gone.
2. It depends on the power level, encounters are weaker but used more often, dailies are stronger but used less often.
3. I can think of a few encounter powers with save ends effects, Dread Smite for one.

[Kurald Galain]

3. I can think of a few encounter powers with save ends effects, Dread Smite for one.
4E is an exception-based game so you can technically find an exception to basically everything. The point is that encounter powers are by design supposed to last only a single turn, and at heroic tier the exceptions are going to be weak conditions like slow/deafen/ongoing, not strong conditions like immobilize.

[Arkhosia]

Suggestions for powers:
Eldritch Vortex
Daily Power
Attack: Charisma Vs. Reflex
Close burst 1 ranged 10
Target: All creatures in blast
Hit: 2d6+CHA Mod force damage.
Targets take a -2 penalty to will defense and are slowed until next turn.

Brimstone Hail
Attack: Intelligence Vs. Reflex
Close Burst 1 ranged 5
Target: All creatures in burst
Hit: 2d10 Fire damage, targets are prone

[Kane0]

Cheers for the help guys, i'll post again once i pass this stuff by the DM.

[Echobeats]

Suggestions for powers:
Eldritch Vortex
Daily Power
Attack: Charisma Vs. Reflex
Close burst 1 ranged 10
Target: All creatures in blast
Hit: 2d6+CHA Mod force damage.
Targets take a -2 penalty to will defense and are slowed until next turn.

How can it be "close burst 1 ranged 10"? Or am I missing something.

(Also, shouldn't the target be "all creatures in burst"?)

[Gavran]

How can it be "close burst 1 ranged 10"? Or am I missing something.

(Also, shouldn't the target be "all creatures in burst"?)

I'm sure Arkhosia meant area burst 1 within 10, and Each creature in burst.

I'm also sure that's pretty obvious to anyone reading it. :X

[Kurald Galain]

Yes :) Well, aside from that, the Eldritch Vortex should say "Hit: 2d6 + cha mod force damage, and the target takes a -2 penalty to its will and is slowed until the end of its next turn.", whereas Brimstone Hail should use charisma (not intelligence) to attack, and should say "Hit: 2d10 + cha mod fire damage, and the target falls prone." Come to think of it, 2d10 may be a bit much for a first-level area attack.

[ghost_warlock]

Yeah, maybe. Tyranny of Flame is sort of middle-of-the-line single target daily that deals 3d6+ and knocks prone.

I suppose Hellfire Blast deals 3d8+ to a 3x3 area, but it's a close blast and does nothing but damage.

[Yakk]

I'm gonna go with a different approach.

List your powers. Include a brief, mechanics-free description of what each does.

Ie:
"Eldritch Vortex: Creates a spinning vortex that picks up enemies, flings them about, and hurts them."

You can include something along the lines of "basic, bread-and-butter attack" vs "super scary damaging attack" if you want to hint if the power should be a daily or an at-will or an encounter.

Include what level you are supposed to be converted to.

Do you want a 4e traditional AEDU model (at-will, encounter, daily and utility) of class, or an "Essentials" style variant build? The first one is more understood, and fits the narrative structure of 4e better, but will involve changing the use frequency of some powers.

Do you want your character to be more of a Striker (who kills things), or a Controller (who messes with foes -- like an illusionist, or a druid casting entangle type spells -- but requires other allies to kill them efficiently). (Probably not a Leader (boosts allies mainly) or a Defender (attracts blows of enemies and protects allies)).

[Kane0]

I'm gonna go with a different approach.

List your powers. Include a brief, mechanics-free description of what each does.


Alrighty. We're level 7 following standard 4e AEDU, so thats 2 at wills, 3 encounters, 2 utilities and 2 dailies right? Plus however many rituals i can fit in a ritual book.

Im going to be the blaster but i'm pretty sure im a powerful damage cannon at the moment so i was going to expand into a little controlling to balance myself away from sheer damage. The cleric isn't a healbot or melee so i guess he will be focusing on controlling more than anything else.

At wills:
Eldritch spear: Basic attack, good range and good damage
Eldritch Burst: Basic AoE, short range and good damage

Encounters:
Second Wind: Heals
Eldritch Vortex: Trap single target in magically damaging whirlwind
Eldritch Rain/Storm/Hail: Larger version of eldritch burst with better range.
Draining Curse: Deal damage over time and can spend a healing surge
Sacrifice Familiar: Interrupt to halve the damage of an incoming attack

Utilities:
Detect / Read Magic: As the 3rd ed cantrips.
Dancing Lights / Ghost Sound: As the 3rd ed cantrips

Dailies:
Armor of Agathys: Altered to deal damage to only one target and get temp HP based on damage dealt
Crown of Madness: Altered to deal less damage and force target to attack adjacent ally on next turn. No sustain.

I also have Fire and cold resist 5 and physical resist 2, with 6 healing surges.

Note: I know that my damage output is pretty good so far. My eldritch Spear, Burst and Rain/Hail/Storm all deal 4d6 + Cha damage, and Vortex/Curse deal ongoing damage so that leaves me a potent blaster as far as i can tell.
That said, we aren't anywhere close to roflstomping encounters. We only just survived our last bout with some skeletons because the Fighter stayed alive long enough for me to manage a crit AoE.

[Yakk]

So I am not going to be basing this off of 3e mechanics on a per-ability basis. These abilities will be designed with 4e mechanics in mind.

Instead, I'm going to create a Warlock class inspired by your choice of powers. I'll aim for it to be a mid to top tier damage dealer with a controller lean.

Fiendish Pact
A fiendish pact Warlock loses her Warlock's Curse ability. In exchange, she gains the summon fiendish minion power.

When you take a move action, your Fiendish Minion can take a move action. You can order your fiendish minion to take actions by taking the same kind of action -- a standard action to order the fiendish minion to take a standard, an opportunity action to order the fiendish minion to take an opportunity, etc.

If you are completely unable to take actions, the Fiendish minion will take one action per turn. This action will be generally helpful. If the fiendish minion ends its turn more than 10 squares away from you, it returns to whence it came.

Summon Fiendish Minion + At-Will Warlock Utility
Implement
Standard Action + Ranged 10
Effect: You lose hit points equal to 1/4 your maximium HP summon a Fiendish Minion to a square within range. If anything stops you from losing those HP, the Fiendish Minion is not summoned. The Fiendish Minion lasts until dismissed. You can dismiss the Fiendish Minion as a standard action, at which point you regain 1/4 of your maximium HP.

Fiendish Minion
Speed: 6 (flight)
Senses: low-light vision
Defences: 16+Level AC, 10+Level Fortitude, 16+Level Reflex, 12+Level Will.
Resist: 10 Fire and Poison (increasing to 20 at level 11 and 30 at level 21).
HP: Your bloodied value
Basic Attack: Melee 1, Tail Sting, Standard action, Implement, Poison, Fire. Your Int vs Reflex, 1d4+your level damage (increasing to 2d4 at level 11 and 3d4 at level 21) plus 1d6 poison and fire damage (increasing to 2d6 at level 11, and 3d6 at level 21). This is considered an implement attack using your implement.
Minor Action: The Fiendish Minion is invisible until the end of its next turn, or until it makes an attack.
Minor Action (once per round): If the Fiendish Minion has not attacked yet this turn, and there is a target you have hit this turn in a Standard Action, you may order the Fiendish Minion to make a Basic Attack.

Design goal: this gives you a double-tap attack as a striker class feature, sort of like the Scout. The Minion's final ability -- the follow-up attack -- is your striker class feature. It is a decent quality one.

Eldrich Spear + At-Will Warlock Attack
A spear of force shoots out and pins a target to the ground.
Standard Action + Implement, Arcane, Force
Range: 20
Target: One creature
Attack: Int vs Reflex
Hit: 1d8+Int force damage, and the target is Impaled by your Spear to their current location. While Impaled by your Spear, they are immobalized. They may remove the Spear as a move action, or tear it free as a minor action. If they tear it free as a minor action, do a secondary attack.
Eldrich Spear Secondary Attack + Implement Arcane Force
Target: Impaled creature
Attack: Int vs Fortitude
Hit: 1d8+Int force damage

Soft control. Basically a weaker prone.

Eldritch Burst + At-Will Warlock Attack
A wave of energy knocks foes flying
Standard Action + Implement, Arcane, Force
Area Burst 1 within 5
Target: All creatures within Burst
Attack: Int vs Fortitude
Hit: 1d4 force damage, and the target is pushed Charisma modifier squares away from the center of the Burst and knocked prone.

A low damage decent control effect that is visually pleasing.

Eldritch Vortex + Encounter Warlock Attack 1
A cyclone of Arcane energy traps a foe
Standard Action + Implement, Arcane, Force
Range: 10 squares
Target: One creature
Attack: Int vs Fortitude and Reflex
Hit: 1d10+Int force damage if it hits one defence, and the target may shift 1 square, 2d10+Int if it hits both (and the target may not shift).
Effect A Vortex forms in the target square until the end of your next turn. One large or smaller creature in the square is lifted 4 squares in the air, immobalized and dazed.

Pick them up and spin them. Targets two defences, so more likely to land -- has to hit twice to apply control, or if you can do it on an enemy who cannot shift away, you get the control from a single hit.

Eldritch Storm + Encounter Warlock Attack 3
Raw magical energy floods an area
Standard Action + Implement, Arcane, Force, Fire
Area Burst 2 within 10
Target: All creatures in burst
Attack: Int vs Reflex
Hit: 2d10+Int fire and force damage.
Effect: A zone is created in the burst that lasts until the end of your next turn. The zone is difficult terrain. Any creature that ends its turn in the zone takes 2d10+Int fire and force damage.

Pretty bog-standard area zone of damage.

Draining Curse + Encounter Warlock Attack 7
Which is better -- a bond of life, or a bond of death?
Standard Action + Implement, Arcane, Necrotic, Fire
Melee 1 or Range 10
Target: One creature
Attack: Int vs Will
Hit: You may expend a healing surge and gain hit points. If you do so, the target takes 1d12+Int Necrotic and Fire damage. You start sucking the life out of the target until the end of your next turn.
Miss: You may lose HP equal to your healing surge value. If you do so, repeat the attack. You can only do this once per turn.
Sustain Standard: Repeat the above attack on the same target. (Note: you can only sustain this attack if you are sucking the life out of the target. If you hit, the duration is extended. If you miss, the effect ends.)

A rather fun power design. You suck the life out of a target: but eventually you run out of healing surges.

Fiendish Lights + Encounter Warlock Utility 2
Minor action + Arcane Conjuration
Area Burst 3 within 10
Effect: A zone of fiendish lights appear until the end of your next turn. Enemies in the zone grant combat advantage, and allies treat the area as if it was brightly illuminated.
Sustain Standard: The zone persists until the end of your next turn, and you can move it up to 4 squares.

Seems more fun than Dancing Lights?

Soul Servant + Encounter Warlock Utility 6
A respite from eternal torment? Sounds like a good deed.
Minor Action + Arcane Conjuration
Range 5
Effect: You free a hapless soul from the fires of hell and bind it to your bidding until the end of your next turn, after which it returns to eternal torture. The soul servant is invisible and intangiblet. The poor soul has only the barest fragments of sanity and intelligence left, and only understands threats. As a move action, you can order the soul servant to move up to 6 squares (flying, phasing), lift an object weighing up to 5 pounds, or make a noise (but not intelligible speach) as loud as a shout. It is trained in one skill of your choice, but will not usually use that skill. Once per day you can force a Soul Servant to make a skill check in its trained skill by expending a healing surge (without gaining hit points) and making an intimidate check: your intimidate check is use as the soul servant's skill check, and the action required is the same as the action the soul servant would use to perform the skill check.
Sustain Minor: The soul servant lasts until the end of your next turn.

Seems more fun than Ghost Sound? I mean, you are a Warlock, not an Illusionist

...

Detect Magic/Read Magic are "free" from the Arcana Skill: look at what skill checks in Arcana do. :)

[Kane0]

Wow, thats pretty detailed. I'll see what I can do with them!

Also, here are some more 3rd ed warlock invocations that I have converted/made. If these are already stated above, these are the new versions.

Eldritch Blast (At will): Cha vs Reflex, close blast 3.

Eldritch Line (At will): Cha vs Reflex, close line 4 or 5 (if that exists?)

Reaving Dispel (Encounter): Cha vs Will, Range 10. Target takes 2d6 + cha damage and loses one buff

Wall of Gloom (Daily): Cover 6 consecutive squares within range 10 in darkness. Creatures moving into or through one of these squares incur a Cha vs Will or end their turn there. The wall lasts for the encounter.

The Dead Walk (Daily Utility): Animate a skeleton or zombie of level no higher than your own. Lasts until end of encounter unless you use a Black Onyx to make it permanent. You cannot switch out this power unless it is deanimated.

Flee the Scene (Daily Utility): Teleport 5 squares and leave behind an image of yourself that lasts one round. Your image uses your defenses

Charm (Encounter Utility): Cha vs Will, range 5. Target sees you as friendly and will not attack you for duration of encounter, but will still defend themselves.

See the Unseen (Encounter Utility): Minor action. See through darkness and invisibility for encounter

Walk Unseen (Daily Utility): Become invisible (total concealment?) for 1/2 level hours or until end of encounter.

Fell Flight (Daily Utility): Gain fly speed equal to speed +4 with ability to hover for 1/2 level hours or until end of encounter.

Fortify Flesh (Daily Utility): Negate and become immune to ongoing damage until end of encounter.

Devour Magic (Encounter): Remove one buff and spend a healing surge

Chilling Tentacles (Encounter): Cha vs Reflex, range 5 burst 2. Immobilized and ongoing cold damage (save ends both).

Repelling Blast (Class ability? Feat?): Attaches to Eldritch Spear or Blast to push targets back 2 squares or to Eldritch Storm or Burst to knock targets prone

Wall of Perilous Flame (Encounter): Create wall of 6 consecutive squares of difficult terrain that deals fire + radiant damage to those in/entering it.

Voidsense (Encounter Utility): attacks ignore cover and concealment for duration of encounter

Word of Changing (Daily): Cha vs Will, range 10. Transform one target into harmless/helpless form, save ends. If they fail 4 times they remain in that form indefinitely.

Dreak Spike (Daily): Cha vs AC, range 10. Target is immobilized and takes ongoing damage (save ends both). If they fail 4 times they die.

[Ashdate]

Wow, thats pretty detailed. I'll see what I can do with them!

Also, here are some more 3rd ed warlock invocations that I have converted/made. If these are already stated above, these are the new versions.

Not to damper your enthusiasm, but I wonder if instead of creating this largely homebrew character for what appears to be your first time playing the system (correct me if I'm wrong about this), perhaps you would be better served playing a "proper" 4e character for a few sessions until you can understand what the system does/does not do well. I worry that by trying to cram a square peg into a round hole, you are likely to err and create a character who is too powerful or too weak compared to a regular 4e character.

I know your DM is game, but you wouldn't start your first game in any system by adding a bunch of houserules normally, would you? I'm not suggesting that you do not homebrew a warlock that is more similar to your 3.5 counterpart, but rather, that you do so once both you (and your DM) are more comfortable with the system.

As examples...


Eldritch Line (At will): Cha vs Reflex, close line 4 or 5 (if that exists?)

There is no such thing as "close line". The closest you'd be is a "wall" effect, but that is not, I suspect, the line of effect you're looking for.


Reaving Dispel (Encounter): Cha vs Will, Range 10. Target takes 2d6 + cha damage and loses one buff

"Buffs" work very differently in 4e than in 3.5, both for players (who won't tend to have more than one on at any particular time, and often very temporarily), and especially for monsters (I would say this spell would be completely useless on most monsters).


Wall of Gloom (Daily): Cover 6 consecutive squares within range 10 in darkness. Creatures moving into or through one of these squares incur a Cha vs Will or end their turn there. The wall lasts for the encounter.

Walls (like this one) tend to be sustain minor.


The Dead Walk (Daily Utility): Animate a skeleton or zombie of level no higher than your own. Lasts until end of encounter unless you use a Black Onyx to make it permanent. You cannot switch out this power unless it is deanimated.

"Summons" work incredibly different in 4e than in 3.5e. One of the goals of the system is to prevent players from having more than one action per turn, so summons tend to "share" actions (i.e. you only get one standard action between the two of you).


Charm (Encounter Utility): Cha vs Will, range 5. Target sees you as friendly and will not attack you for duration of encounter, but will still defend themselves.

This is both too powerful for an encounter any a utility power (it would likely be a daily attack power). This terminology is both confusing (it will NEVER attack you? Even if you're attacking it?), and really requires a "save ends".


Walk Unseen (Daily Utility): Become invisible (total concealment?) for 1/2 level hours or until end of encounter.

While flight isn't as strong as the game tries to make it out to be, two problems with this power:

1) The invisibility never ends. This power effectively gives you a +2 to hit (via combat advantage) for the entire encounter, AND most attacks will be made at -5 against you. That's ridiculous under this system. This power should end when you make an attack roll.

2) I would read up on the differences between "hidden" and "invisibility", as they are a source of confusion for new players and DMs, precisely because they don't mean the same thing.


Voidsense (Encounter Utility): attacks ignore cover and concealment for duration of encounter

Really needs a "... until end of turn, sustain minor."


Word of Changing (Daily): Cha vs Will, range 10. Transform one target into harmless/helpless form, save ends. If they fail 4 times they remain in that form indefinitely.

Ridiculously powerful. "Save of Die's" (what this is) are not supposed to be a thing in this system. You would want a wording closer to the Wizard's "Sleep" spell, something like:

Hit: damage + target slowed (save ends)
On first failed save: target is immobilized instead (save ends)
On second failed save: target becomes a small animal of your choice, may not take standard actions, and may only move 4 squares (save ends).
On third failed save: target becomes a small animal of your choice, may not take standard actions, and may only move 4 squares.


Again, clearly you're enthusiastic, but I feel you would better be able to homebrew once you've got a better feeling for what the system can/cannot do. I also recommend reading the PHB Warlock and Wizard power lists, as they will hopefully give you a better idea on how to judge power level, and how they've "ported" over some of the spells/abilities.

[Kane0]

I worry that by trying to cram a square peg into a round hole, you are likely to err and create a character who is too powerful or too weak compared to a regular 4e character.

I know your DM is game, but you wouldn't start your first game in any system by adding a bunch of houserules normally, would you?

Normally not, but we have been doing homebrew and houserules since day 1. The DM and fighter are originally 4e players and the cleric and I hail from 3rd ed. We started off playing a loose 3.5 as the cleric and I taught 3rd ed then we went to a mix as we started converting to 4th ed. Now we are the ones learning and we're playing a loose 4e, keeping the 3rd ed parts that we like.
We're all fairly certain that the cleric and I could potentially be very powerful but everybody is comfortable with it and it hasn't disrupted play at all. I'm lucky to have such a great group honestly.

Anyway.



There is no such thing as "close line". The closest you'd be is a "wall" effect, but that is not, I suspect, the line of effect you're looking for.

Okay, i'll leave that one out then



"Buffs" work very differently in 4e than in 3.5, both for players (who won't tend to have more than one on at any particular time, and often very temporarily), and especially for monsters (I would say this spell would be completely useless on most monsters).

Shall i change it to "loses all temporary bonuses to attacks and defences for one round"?



Walls (like this one) tend to be sustain minor.

Got it.



"Summons" work incredibly different in 4e than in 3.5e. One of the goals of the system is to prevent players from having more than one action per turn, so summons tend to "share" actions (i.e. you only get one standard action between the two of you).

Fair enough. I think i'll wipe this one off too, i didn't intend on using it much.



This is both too powerful for an encounter any a utility power (it would likely be a daily attack power). This terminology is both confusing (it will NEVER attack you? Even if you're attacking it?), and really requires a "save ends".

Okay, so save ends and can still attack you.



While invisibility isn't as strong as the game tries to make it out to be, two problems with this power:

1) The invisibility never ends. This power effectively gives you a +2 to hit (via combat advantage) for the entire encounter, AND most attacks will be made at -5 against you. That's ridiculous under this system. This power should end when you make an attack roll.

2) I would read up on the differences between "hidden" and "invisibility", as they are a source of confusion for new players and DMs, precisely because they don't mean the same thing.

I intend for flight and invisibility to be entirely out of combat abilities. Should they be rituals if that is the case?



Really needs a "... until end of turn, sustain minor."

Done.



Ridiculously powerful. "Save of Die's" (what this is) are not supposed to be a thing in this system. You would want a wording closer to the Wizard's "Sleep" spell, something like:

I'm guessing thats the same for dread spike.



Again, clearly you're enthusiastic, but I feel you would better be able to homebrew once you've got a better feeling for what the system can/cannot do. I also recommend reading the PHB Warlock and Wizard power lists, as they will hopefully give you a better idea on how to judge power level, and how they've "ported" over some of the spells/abilities.

Will do. Thanks for the help!

Edit: So my power loadout for level 7 will be as follows:
At Will 1: Eldritch Spear
At Will 2: Eldritch Burst (nerfed)

Encounter 1: Second Wind (Racial)
Encounter 2: Sacrifice Familiar (Feat)
Encounter 3: Eldritch Storm (nerfed)
Encounter 4: Eldritch Vortex (nerfed)
Encounter 5: Draining Curse

Daily 1: Maddening Charm
Daily 2: Wall of Gloom

Utility 1: Cantrips (DM approved)
Utility 2: Shadow Step (Renamed from Ethereal Stride)
Utility 3: See the Unseen

Rituals: Fell Flight, Walk Unseen, The Dead Walk, Beguiling Influence. Combat suppresses the effects of these abilities.

End result: Good blaster (Eldritch Spear, Burst and Storm all deliver great damage), passable controller (Eldritch Vortex and Wall of Gloom) and the groups face/stealthy type out of combat since our rogue left :smallfrown:. A bit of a glass cannon though (only Shadow Step and Sacrifice familiar for running away), does that sound right?

[Dr Mushroom]

I'm a homebrewer at heart, so this is a fun exercise for me. Really make me think about the differences between 3rd and 4th.

Single target. The idea is if I land the hit (Cha vs Reflex?) they are trapped and take the damage until they make the save (they make a save once per round, d20 vs dc 10?) which ends both effects. Should the 2d6 just become ongoing 5 or something?

Yeah, even for a homebrewer these powers are going to be schizophrenic and unbalanced. But whatever suits you, I guess.

[Kane0]

Unrelated question: What is the standard/mid-op damage output of a level 7 warlock using eldritch blast?

All players handbooks and power books if that makes any difference, though I do have access to DDI.

[Yakk]

A baseline "I am doing my job" striker deals (level+3)*2 damage per round after accounting for crits, misses, hits and the use of encounter powers over a 4-6 round fight on an enemy with 14+level AC and 12+level other defences.

This corresponds to killing a single even-level foe in 4 rounds.

A solid charop build doubles that damage output.

A "nerf this build" doubles that.

A "baseline" non-striker who picks powers randomly and doesn't invest in dealing damage approaches 1/2 the "I am doing my job" striker.

(Your DPR after you divide it by (Level+3) is "normalized damage per round". Your accuracy after you subtract your level is "normalized accuracy". Your defences after you subtract your level is "normalized defences". You can use this to see how your character does in a relatively level-agnostic way.)

[Kane0]

I knew there was an easy way to look at it. Cheers!

[cildan]

I think your power Word of Changing similar to Baleful Polymorph but that is mid 20's level daily power, though im not sure if it a warlock, sorceror or wizard power.