Warlock equivalent in Pathfinder?

[andhaira]

Is there a Warlock class equivalent for Pathfinder? I know I could port the class over from 3e wholesale, but the fact of the matter is Pathfinder classes are more powerful over all (and better designed) than 3e ones. Is there anyway there is an official equivalent I could just use in any sourcebook? Or something I could reskin?

[Kane0]

The closest you would get is the kineticist from the new occult book thats in beta at the moment.

Failing that you could always use a homebrewed one. I have a few in the CCCC in my sig.

[PsyBomb]

The Witch can be close if built right. No EB equivalent, but the BFC at-wills are there

[Ssalarn]

I was going to suggest the Kineticist from the Occult Adventures playtest as well. I'm pretty sure it was mechanically inspired by the 3.5 Warlock as several of the abilities are actually almost identical to some of the warlock ones. Depending on which parts of the Warlock appealed to you and what you meant by "official", Dreamscarred Press has a couple classes that fill that niche as well. The Vizier from their Akashic Mysteries line can provide you with scaling at-will blasting and a few of the Warlock's crafting / item use type abilities, the Cryptic can also provide all day (though not super powerful) blasting options with a robust and versatile set of supporting options, and the Dread has the darksome evil guy with an at-will power thing going on, though his touch ability isn't as good as what either of the other two classes can muster and he has less flexibility in the options you can pick and still end up with a higher op character.

With the right choices, you can get something fairly "warlock-y" out of the Occultist from the Occult Adventures playtest as well; an Occultist with Evocation and Divination implements looks a lot like most lower level warlocks I used to play.

[Extra Anchovies]

The playtest kineticist is rather subpar next to 3.5 Warlock (I can explain in detail if you want, but it boils down to them having to wait longer and spend more build resources to match a Warlock in some areas, and have no way to match the Warlock in many other areas), and will be obsolete in July when OcA is actually released.

[Ssalarn]

The playtest kineticist is rather subpar next to 3.5 Warlock (I can explain in detail if you want, but it boils down to them having to wait longer and spend more build resources to match a Warlock in some areas, and have no way to match the Warlock in many other areas), and will be obsolete in July when OcA is actually released.

It should work fairly well in the interim though. It helps to incorporate some of the changes Mark has said will feature in the final version (particularly them getting bumped to 4 + INT skill points and composite blasts being part of the main class progression at the level they first come online instead of needing a Wild Talent spent to acquire them), and a lot of the things I'm sure won't change much, if at all, like Burn, which does pretty much exactly what it's supposed to do at the rate it's supposed to do it. I kind of suspect that the Kineticist's biggest change won't involve the chassis or class features (outside of the two changes already mentioned), but instead will primarily just be that there will be a lot more options to choose from with your talents.

[Psyren]

Nothing out right now will really match the 3.5 Warlock. I suggest porting it in with the following buffs:

1) Hit die d8, 4+Int skills. Gains Diplomacy as a class skill.

2) EB progression every odd level (up to 10d6 at 19.)

3) Add Cha bonus to EB damage. (No reduction for Cha penalty.)

4) Grant detect magic SLA at level 1. At level 2, grant any one cantrip or orison from any other class as a SLA, unlimited use.

5) Add the following to the DR ability: "As an immediate action, the Warlock can double the damage reduction received from this ability for one round."

6) Fiendish Resilience - now gained at 4th level and usable 1+Cha mod times per day. The amount of fast healing increases by 1 for every 4 levels. Each use lasts 1 minute; swift action to activate.

7) Grant one extra invocation known at each level, to end at 13 (a nice warlocky number.)

[Extra Anchovies]

It should work fairly well in the interim though. It helps to incorporate some of the changes Mark has said will feature in the final version (particularly them getting bumped to 4 + INT skill points and composite blasts being part of the main class progression at the level they first come online instead of needing a Wild Talent spent to acquire them), and a lot of the things I'm sure won't change much, if at all, like Burn, which does pretty much exactly what it's supposed to do at the rate it's supposed to do it. I kind of suspect that the Kineticist's biggest change won't involve the chassis or class features (outside of the two changes already mentioned), but instead will primarily just be that there will be a lot more options to choose from with your talents.

Oh, yes, Burn is, as I've figured out through a bit of theorycrafting, more of a way to delay access to some talents than it is a way to get more out of your character. It's... kind of a stupid idea, for example, to take your HD in damage every time you want to use Kinetic Blade, so you wait until level 5 and get your first Form Infusion Specialization. Kinetic Whip is the same, except it has to wait until level 8. I assembled a fairly competent Aerokineticist build that stays at range from levels 1-4, enters melee at level 5, and is primarily melee-focused until level 15, when they can throw around a Composite Blast Chain Lightning every round (assuming they use their move action to reduce burn), for some serious multi-target damage. It would be a pretty effective damage-dealer, but the issue is beyond direct damage it can't do much, other than fly. I am, similarly to you, hoping that the buffs they get are mostly increases in versatility, but I do also hope that Composite Specialization comes online sooner so the non-melee builds can stay effective.

[AmberVael]

7) Grant one extra invocation known at each level, to end at 13 (a nice warlocky number.)

You know, I honestly can't quite decide what you mean by this. Your wording and numbers just don't match up in any way I can figure. If it was one extra invocation (that is, extra as in above and beyond the invocations a warlock normally gets), then they'd get 32 invocations in total which seems kind of high. You then say 'to end at 13' which uh, what? Ending at level 13? Ending at 13 total invocations?

Did you maybe mean one extra invocation known at first level? That seems to fit best.


Personally I would suggest even more extra invocations than that. Somewhere between 16-20 total, perhaps.

[Psyren]

You know, I honestly can't quite decide what you mean by this. Your wording and numbers just don't match up in any way I can figure. If it was one extra invocation (that is, extra as in above and beyond the invocations a warlock normally gets), then they'd get 32 invocations in total which seems kind of high. You then say 'to end at 13' which uh, what? Ending at level 13? Ending at 13 total invocations?

Did you maybe mean one extra invocation known at first level? That's seems to fit best.

By "level" I meant "row on the table," sorry. So yeah, just one extra. I thought 20 was a bit much.

[AmberVael]

By "level" I meant "row on the table," sorry. So yeah, just one extra. I thought 20 was a bit much.

It really just depends on where you want their power level to be, and what kind of theme you're shooting for with them I suppose. One extra invocation seems rather small in comparison to some of the buffs the spellcasters get though- sorcerer gets all kinds of extra spells known in Pathfinder. But then, comparing to the power classes is maybe not the best idea.

Still, I've always felt the low number of invocations was the greatest downfall of the class, and one of the ways it could be best improved. Giving a few more invocations really adds to its variety and the interest of the class (since it allows for more customization and more tools to be actively used by the player), and since it is lower powered than many classes it can definitely be boosted without pushing it too far.

[PsyBomb]

I gave them the ability to select any level of invocation they qualify for on the retrain points, much like initiators. That is a VERY quick fix to the "Power" side of things, and often to the versatility one as well (since the upper ones are much more likely to be multi-use)

[Erik Vale]

There's also third party warlocks, with varying quality. Often poor.

[Extra Anchovies]

I gave them the ability to select any level of invocation they qualify for on the retrain points, much like initiators. That is a VERY quick fix to the "Power" side of things, and often to the versatility one as well (since the upper ones are much more likely to be multi-use)

Wow. Yes. This boosts them quite nicely. Then they can pick, say, that spider climb one at level 1 or 2, then replace it with full-on flight after level 6. I like.