Source for Entropic Warding rule, and other Warlock questions

[SouthpawSoldier]

Trying to find the source for ruling on Entropic Warding duration. Google search pulls up this old thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?298486-How-long-does-entropic-warding-last) with nedz's answer:

Nothing in the Errata, the FAQ says this, for what it's worth.


When a warlock’s invocation emulates two different spell effects with different durations (such as with entropic warding), what duration should the invocation use?
Apply each duration separately, just as the spell emulated by the invocation. A 10th-level warlock who uses entropic warding gains the entropic shield effect for 10 minutes, but gains the pass without trace effect for 10 hours. (Since the warlock can use his invocations at will, this duration isn’t really significant unless he’s prevented from using the invocation again.)
The only Warlock related FAQ I can find is this one (http://community.wizards.com/forum/previous-editions-general/threads/975156); but I'm not finding the relevant quote.

I'm finding lots of other questions that bug me too; for example, since invocations aren't spells, but are SLA's with unlimited use, does the warlock really need rest?

Does anyone have links to official rulings and answers on the Warlock, or does this class just require liberal use of Rule 0?

[malonkey1]

A Warlock does not need rest to use his abilities (although fatigue might be a concern). I'm really not sure on the differing spell effects rule, I usually rule it as lasting the full length of the longer duration. Considering the limited selection of invocations, I don't think that tips power so much.

[SouthpawSoldier]

To be honest, I doubt it tips balance much, even with it running as a 24hr Invocation. My big need is official rules, to show to my group. Forum consensus bears no weight at our table.

[malonkey1]

Well, according to the SRD:


...A spell-like ability that can be used at will has no use limit.

Which implies no need to rest. Again, I'm not aware of any such FAQ.

[Flickerdart]

A Warlock does not need rest to use his abilities (although fatigue might be a concern).
Fatigue doesn't affect ability activation - warlocks, wizards, clerics, psions, etc. could be exhausted all day and still rattle off purple laser beam after purple laser beam.

You don't really need to look for "rulings" on this, OP. It's a cut and dry case - at-will SLAs are at-will because that's what at-will means. Warlocks never need to rest to use their abilities because the rules don't say that they need to. That's all there is to it. Granted, there are other reasons they might want to rest (such as natural healing) but using their class features is not one of those reasons.

The durations? SLAs work as the spells they reference unless otherwise noted (as said in the description of what SLAs are). Since Entropic Warding doesn't provide a duration, it respects the durations of the original spells, just as the FAQ says. Also straightforward.

[malonkey1]

Fatigue doesn't affect ability activation - warlocks, wizards, clerics, psions, etc. could be exhausted all day and still rattle off purple laser beam after purple laser beam..

I say "concern" in the sense that fatigue may be an issue in general, not specifically for casting,

[SouthpawSoldier]

My only concern is that it isn't enough to show a quote of the FAQ; I may have to show the answer in the FAQ itself. Going through the linked FAQ, I didn't see that specific question.

To be honest, I'm not too worried about it. Rule 0 is applied pretty fairly in my new group. I may disagree with some of the rulings, but generally it goes fine.

[Karnith]

My only concern is that it isn't enough to show a quote of the FAQ; I may have to show the answer in the FAQ itself. Going through the linked FAQ, I didn't see that specific question
Said FAQ answer is on page 26 of the main 3.5 FAQ (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/er/20030221a). If you see someone talking about "the FAQ," chances are that's the document that they are referencing.

But, as has been stated previously in the thread, the rules on this are pretty clear-cut. The FAQ rulings on the Warlock class are, for the most part, just reiterations of the rules for Invocations (or the more general rules on SLAs, weapon-like spells, etc.). Sometimes the FAQ author is even kind enough to quote or cite the relevant rules (and, unusually for the FAQ, there don't seem to be rules made up out of nowhere in the Warlock answers).