Warlock(ish) in Pathfinder?

[Dalebert]

I'm about to play in my first ever Pathfinder game. I've got a lot of reading to do, obviously, but thought some veterans might point me in the right direction to start.

I kind of like the concept of warlocks, or more likely some prestige class that includes aspects of warlocks mixed with other spellcasting to some extent. I had been looking at the Eldritch Theurge and the Eldritch Disciple. Does something like that exist in PF?

[Vanitas]

What exactly do you like about Warlocks? While they have not been officially converted to PF, the 3.5 version is still playable. The PF Witch has hexes, which is a kind of at-will magic, so it could be close to what you're looking for.

[Dalebert]

What exactly do you like about Warlocks? While they have not been officially converted to PF, the 3.5 version is still playable. The PF Witch has hexes, which is a kind of at-will magic, so it could be close to what you're looking for.

Yes, that's a big part of it. I did take a look at witches but haven't had a chance to really grasp them. At a glance, they seem more obviously evil than a warlock and some of their abilities seem impractical for adventuring. That's just at a glance though. I saw something about cauldrons and cooking people in them. =\ Also, I like some specific invocations that warlocks have, particularly with unlimited usage, like greater invis. Things like that make me wish there were some kind of warlocky rogue prestige class.

[Ninjaxenomorph]

Witches are primarily about debuffing enemies. They can hex people all day long, but someone can only be hexed once in a day by a particular hex. Fortunately, they have some fun spells, too. Like Lipstitch. I heard a good description that basically they are a PC version of the Adept NPC class. Cure spells and a bit of utility, they have a complicated spell list.

[Benthesquid]

The Pathfinder Witch does have some... odd hexes. They're mostly flavored to be similar to Fairy Tale/Disney witches. The obvious solution, is not to take, for example, the Hex that allows you to sniff out children (or any Young creature), or the Hex that lets you bake people into delicious magical pies. Instead, take the hex that lets you put enemies to sleep, or the one that lets you assign a variety of debuffs to them. Or the one that lets you fly.

I believe that the Witch is the closest that official Pathfinder comes to the Warlock. There's also a third party Warlock built to work with Pathfinder rules here (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/3rd-party-classes/adamant-entertainment/warlock#TOC-School-Ability).

[Novawurmson]

I believe that the Witch is the closest that official Pathfinder comes to the Warlock. There's also a third party Warlock built to work with Pathfinder rules here (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/3rd-party-classes/adamant-entertainment/warlock#TOC-School-Ability).

Note that that Warlock is garbage. Seriously, it's really bad, both in execution and editing.

If you're willing to consider 3rd party, I'd consider the Cryptic (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/psionics-unleashed/classes/cryptic). Disrupt Pattern is similar to Eldritch Blast, but you'd be dealing with PP instead of all-day-at-will invocations.

While witches are made to be a little towards "fairy tale villain," there's still plenty of room for a "good witch," too.

Edit: There was a thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=14166749&postcount=44) where people rated some 3rd party classes awhile back. Here's what I had to say about the Warlock:


Warlock: Tier [Unplayable]. A very poorly worded class that swings wildly with how you interpret the rules around it. How many times can you use each school ability? At-will unless otherwise noted? 1/day unless otherwise noted? Summon Monster II 1/day is nigh worthless, even with a duration of 24 hours; Summoner Monster II at will is nigh-broken, even without the duration increase (if you think Summon Monster II at will with a duration of 24 hours could be broken, look at Summoning Master). What school abilities allow a save? It says you don't need a lower level school ability to take a higher level school ability, but some school abilities seem to modify a lower-level ability; for example, if I take Arcane Eruption, do I have to take Arcane Bolt? Phantasmal Demon funtions as Phantasmal Killer...only the creature is not subjected to instant death? What is "magic resistance?" What does "Damage Reduction /Cold" or "Damage Reduction /Fire" do? This is a poorly designed and terribly edited class; use the 3.5 Warlock or one of the many excellent PF conversions for it on GitP, please. If I haven't been clear enough, this class is a miss.

[Dalebert]

While witches are made to be a little towards "fairy tale villain," there's still plenty of room for a "good witch," too.

Yeah, it appears so. There is some room for personal flavor. I'm not even opposed to playing a tactically evil character; just not in-your-face wear-it-on-your-sleeve kinda Disney evil. haha.

[Ninjaxenomorph]

Yes, Witches are great for that. Also, prehensile hair is awesome.

[Sception]

If you're going to go 3rd party, you might as well just port over the original warlock if that's what you want.

The witch is pretty cool, but there are some pretty significant drawbacks, mostly in that you have to commune with your familiar to regain spells. You're basically a wizard who is only ever allowed to own a single spellbook at a time, and unlike regular inanimate spellbooks it is relatively easy to identify and automatically targeted by any area damage it happens to be caught in.

Basically, it is much easier for a witch to lose their familiar than it is for a wizard to lose their spellbooks, and curses or no a witch unable to prepare spells is basically no better off than a wizard without spells.

The familiar can be replaced if it dies, but you're basically going to lose at least a full day to do it, and it costs a fair chunk of gold (500gp per level). If you can't afford it, you're little better than a commoner until you can scrape the gold together.


Again, wizards can suffer the same fate, but the GM basically has to be gunning for the wizard's book specifically held items aren't typically affected by area attacks for instance. In contrast, a GM can kill a witches familiar by accident. On top of that, the wizard, again, can make backup spellbooks.

Also, if you like actually using your familiar tactically, you're better off with a wizard as well, since sending your familiar into combat situations wouldn't be putting your primary class features on the line.


You basically have to treat it as a Lich would their Phylactory.


Not that the witch is unplayable for it or anything, it's still a pretty cool class overall, but it's something to be aware of when considering what to play.

[Tulya]

DSP's Wilder (www.d20pfsrd.com/psionics-unleashed/classes/wilder) can be played similarly to a Warlock, especially with the Blasting Wilder (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/psionics-unleashed/classes/wilder/archetypes/dreamscarred-press/blasting-wilder) archetype.

Surge Blast is usable at-will by expending Psionic Focus.
You can manifest Wilder powers for free once per 10 minutes by expending Psionic focus. (Though you have a risk of suffering Psychic Enervation and losing some power points anyway.)

By spending a few power points, you can emulate some Blast Shape effects with the Modified Blast (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/psionics-unleashed/feats/modified-blast-psionic) feat. (The Blasting Wilder also gets a free extra Chaining effect at 10th level.)

Edit: This is aside from its status as a full manifester.