3.5 Warlock Help

[Artica]

Hi everyone. I'm new here (and new-ish to D&D as well), and I'm looking for a bit of help with my warlock. As far as prior experience in D&D goes, I played half a campaign which got burnt to the ground by one of my party members within the second week of playing.

The campaign I'm running him in involves my party being part of a crime syndicate, which means a split of about 55/45 between doing hits on people within the city, and adventuring/dungeon crawls. Other party members include a Wizard, Fighter, Druid, Archer, Thief, and myself the warlock. I'm a secondary damage dealer, hence the reason I chose what feats I did. I tend to be the party face as well on occasion, hence the CHA of 16. So without further adieu, onto my character.

Race: Silverbrow Human

Class: Warlock 6

Feats: Eldritch Claws, Improved Unarmed Strike, Superior Unarmed Strike

Invocations: Baleful Utterance, See the Unseen, Spiderwalk, The Dead Walk

STR: 15
Dex: 12
CON: 13
INT: 10
WIS: 11
CHA: 16


What I'm really looking for is any and all tips and suggestions on where to go from here. My DM isn't terribly familiar with Warlocks, so I'm left to find basically all my own information on where I want to take this.

Tips, suggestions, and thrown fruit alike welcomed!

Thanks!

EDIT: I do have a few questions though. I've read several different descriptions of Deceive Item, and frankly I still don't know what it does. I'm similarly confused by Imbue Item. I THINK it lets me create magic items? But I'm going to need feats to do so?

[Daer]

something worth looking. "The New Warlock Handbook [3.5, WIP]"
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=252715

personally, wouldn't take unarmed strike feats.. kinda expensive even that you would be going for clawer. Not too much benefit.

[Tokiko Mima]

I'm assuming you want to keep with your general character concept. If you've got that lineup of Eldritch Claws and unarmed damage, it would be a shame if you didn't pick up Beast Strike (DM 355 pg 76.) If you can do some retraining, consider taking a level of Monk or Unarmed variant Swordsage (ToB) to free up one of your feat slots and get you into a better damage progression.

[Vanitas]

You don't need that much Charisma. You only use it for Baleful Utterance and it's better used out of combat, where it can be spammed anyway. You would be better served by better Dex/Con, since you're in melee constantly.

Silverbrow Human makes it easier to qualify for Chameleon. Consider it - a two-level dip could make you a very good crafter later on.

Deceive Item allows you to take 10 on Use Magic Device checks. You don't roll the dice, you just consider that you rolled a 10 on your d20. Imbue Item indeed allows you to craft magical items, Chameleon helps you get the feats needed.

Melee warlock handbook (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=8898052), btw.

[Artica]

I'm assuming you want to keep with your general character concept. If you've got that lineup of Eldritch Claws and unarmed damage, it would be a shame if you didn't pick up Beast Strike (DM 355 pg 76.) If you can do some retraining, consider taking a level of Monk or Unarmed variant Swordsage (ToB) to free up one of your feat slots and get you into a better damage progression.

I do indeed want to keep with this. Thanks for the recommendation on Beast Strike. Definitely something I"m going to pick up. Unfortunately, I'm not going to be able to do some retraining. The DM won't allow it. Would it be feasible to take a level in monk after this one? EDIT: Also, I can't seem to find beast strike on that page. Its all about Psion abilities. Nevermind that, I found it.


Silverbrow Human makes it easier to qualify for Chameleon. Consider it - a two-level dip could make you a very good crafter later on.

Deceive Item allows you to take 10 on Use Magic Device checks. You don't roll the dice, you just consider that you rolled a 10 on your d20. Imbue Item indeed allows you to craft magical items, Chameleon helps you get the feats needed.

Melee warlock handbook, btw.

Yeah, I was thinking about going for Chameleon, for that purpose. Also, I dunno about that link. My browser and antivirus software both scream about malware.

[Tommy2255]

I do indeed want to keep with this. Thanks for the recommendation on Beast Strike. Definitely something I"m going to pick up. Unfortunately, I'm not going to be able to do some retraining. The DM won't allow it. Would it be feasible to take a level in monk after this one? EDIT: Also, I can't seem to find beast strike on that page. Its all about Psion abilities

Does your DM enforce alignment restrictions? If so, only a Lawful Evil Warlock can take a level of monk without losing the ability to continue advancing in warlock later, since Monk is lawful only and Warlock is Chaotic or Evil.

[Artica]

Does your DM enforce alignment restrictions? If so, only a Lawful Evil Warlock can take a level of monk without losing the ability to continue advancing in warlock later, since Monk is lawful only and Warlock is Chaotic or Evil.

Lawful Evil actually fit in with my character's backstory, so he's already fit into that requirement, thankfully. My DM would definitely enforce the alignment if not, as this is an evil campaign.

[Particle_Man]

If you are sometimes a party face, there is a least invocation that gives you +6 on diplomacy, bluff and intimidate. At level 6 you can pick up an extra least invocation via the feat "extra invocation".

Later, you might consider the invocation that renders you invisible (to make hits) or the one that lets you dimension door/fake your death (to make a getaway).

At higher levels, vitriolic blast can bypass SR, which is a nice option (unless the opponent also has acid resistance or immunity).

[Tokiko Mima]

I do indeed want to keep with this. Thanks for the recommendation on Beast Strike. Definitely something I"m going to pick up.

The fun part is that the damage equation works like this: Your Eldritch Claw damage is eldritch blast damage plus your base unarmed damage. With Beast Strike you add your claw damage to your existing base unarmed damage, so you end up unarmed striking for your normal eldritch blast damage plus double base unarmed damage.

The only other thing I can think of is to buy a monk's belt (DMG) when you can.


Unfortunately, I'm not going to be able to do some retraining. The DM won't allow it. Would it be feasible to take a level in monk after this one?

Yeah, but don't dip in for too long. You only want one or two levels- especially for some of the wierd rules benefits. Your Improved Unarmed Strike feat only lets you punch. With monk levels you can unarmed strike with any part of your body, meaning you could be hogtied and still effectively do damage. Who needs escape artist when you can melee attack the handcuffs? Also, it means that buffs that improve either your natural attacks or manufactured weapons both give you a bonus.

Be sure and ask your DM that since you'll be getting Improved Unarmed Strike Feat twice from your first level of monk, see if he'll let you switch it to Combat Casting or something. Combat Casting would let you go directly into Enlightened Fist PrC(CA), which is good because you can progress Monk and Warlock at the same time, bad because after level 2 a lot of the class abilities won't apply to you. (They wrote it so warlocks could get in easily, but not so that it would be good for warlocks per say.)

Mainly, I'd try and keep my warlock spellcasting levels up. You want to put your major focus on eldritch stuff, and take options that let you channel that through unarmed strike. Don't get bogged down in being the best unarmed combatant, as that is suboptimal in the first place. You just wanna be decent.

[Artica]

The fun part is that the damage equation works like this: Your Eldritch Claw damage is eldritch blast damage plus your base unarmed damage. With Beast Strike you add your claw damage to your existing base unarmed damage, so you end up unarmed striking for your normal eldritch blast damage plus double base unarmed damage.

The only other thing I can think of is to buy a monk's belt (DMG) when you can.



Yeah, but don't dip in for too long. You only want one or two levels- especially for some of the weird rules benefits. Your Improved Unarmed Strike feat only lets you punch. With monk levels you can unarmed strike with any part of your body, meaning you could be hogtied and still effectively do damage. Who needs escape artist when you can melee attack the handcuffs? Also, it means that buffs that improve either your natural attacks or manufactured weapons both give you a bonus.

Be sure and ask your DM that since you'll be getting Improved Unarmed Strike Feat twice from your first level of monk, see if he'll let you switch it to Combat Casting or something. Combat Casting would let you go directly into Enlightened Fist PrC(CA), which is good because you can progress Monk and Warlock at the same time, bad because after level 2 a lot of the class abilities won't apply to you. (They wrote it so warlocks could get in easily, but not so that it would be good for warlocks per say.)

Mainly, I'd try and keep my warlock spellcasting levels up. You want to put your major focus on eldritch stuff, and take options that let you channel that through unarmed strike. Don't get bogged down in being the best unarmed combatant, as that is suboptimal in the first place. You just wanna be decent.

Thanks for the post! I was wondering how that damage equation worked, so thanks for clarifying that! I'm probably only going to dip for one level into Monk, then from there move to qualifying for Chameleon. My DM probably won't let me change the extra Improved Unarmed Strike into Combat Casting, but I'll ask anyhow.

I do have another question. Can I use an Eldritch essence, like Vitriolic Blast, and apply it to my Eldritch claws?

[Tokiko Mima]

I do have another question. Can I use an Eldritch essence, like Vitriolic Blast, and apply it to my Eldritch claws?

Unfortunately, the answer is no. Eldritch Claws isn't application of eldritch blast, and so can't use blast shapes or essences. On the other hand, it's not subject to spell resistance so you only miss out on the extra acid damage from Vitriolic.

I can recommend Eldritch Glaive Invocation to you, if want a blast shape that's melee and can take eldritch essences. Eldritch Glaive is a touch attack, so it's very handy for big/slow monsters with a ton of armor, it has an iterative that's based on your BAB. Get a wand of divine power for maximum effect.

[Particle_Man]

I think so. You usually can apply one "Shape" and one "essence" to the same eldritch blast, so if claws are the "Shape" and vitriolic is the "Essence" you get vitriolic claws.

[Edit: Wow, I am ninja'd and wrong to boot!] :smallsmile: Never mind.

Well in that case, I will throw in the usual damage pump for warlocks: one level of binder (to get the vestige that heals con damage) and 3 levels of the prestige class hellfire warlock (for extra eldritch blast damage at the cost of con damage). And of course, getting/making a chasuble of fell power as soon as possible (this is one of the few magic items you don't have to wait until 12th level to create).

[AmberVael]

Well in that case, I will throw in the usual damage pump for warlocks: one level of binder (to get the vestige that heals con damage) and 3 levels of the prestige class hellfire warlock (for extra eldritch blast damage at the cost of con damage).

It's worth noting that Eldritch Claws aren't Eldritch Blast, and in fact explicitly bar use of Eldritch Blast while shaped, so they can't benefit from Hellfire Blast.

It's a good option if you decide to go with Eldritch Glaive instead though.