Easy_Lee
2015-06-11, 11:00 AM
So people seem to like the idea of Agonizing Eldritch blast scaling up with level, applying CHA more than once. By the latest errata, it seems that this is here to stay. The errata also made a sorcerer / warlock 2 even more appealing due to the blasting nerf. I would feel bad if I played a sorcerer and didn't take the quicken EB route; there's no longer any real replacement for it, and it out-damages anything else I was going to do with the spell points.
There have been quite a few threads on bladelocks. The short version is that bladelocks deal inconsistent damage compared to agonizing blast. With polearm mastery it can be more at some levels, with a rapier it's less, yada yada. Certain multiclasses and races are pretty cray-cray, a pure is difficult, etc.
I'd much rather that bladelock work as intended. The pact should give the warlock a competitive melee option, nothing more and nothing less. So what does the playground think of this idea:
Eldritch blast now scales with warlock level, and you get it automatically at level 1 (you were going to take it anyway, cantrip tax).
Thirsting Blade replaced with Eldritch Strike: you may ignore the penalty when casting Eldritch Blast in melee. Any time you cast Eldritch Blast, you may make a weapon attack in place of one or more of its attacks.
Lifedrinker: any time you hit an opponent with your pact weapon, you may recover hit points equal to half the damage dealt. You may not benefit from this more than once per turn.
Benefits:
Since it's not the attack action, no dual wield or polearm mastery shenanigans.
Scales perfectly with EB. Damage is never more than 1.5 higher or 3 lower per hit, depending on weapon.
Lifedrinker actually drinks life now, giving the bladelock some much-needed survivability.
Simple
There have been quite a few threads on bladelocks. The short version is that bladelocks deal inconsistent damage compared to agonizing blast. With polearm mastery it can be more at some levels, with a rapier it's less, yada yada. Certain multiclasses and races are pretty cray-cray, a pure is difficult, etc.
I'd much rather that bladelock work as intended. The pact should give the warlock a competitive melee option, nothing more and nothing less. So what does the playground think of this idea:
Eldritch blast now scales with warlock level, and you get it automatically at level 1 (you were going to take it anyway, cantrip tax).
Thirsting Blade replaced with Eldritch Strike: you may ignore the penalty when casting Eldritch Blast in melee. Any time you cast Eldritch Blast, you may make a weapon attack in place of one or more of its attacks.
Lifedrinker: any time you hit an opponent with your pact weapon, you may recover hit points equal to half the damage dealt. You may not benefit from this more than once per turn.
Benefits:
Since it's not the attack action, no dual wield or polearm mastery shenanigans.
Scales perfectly with EB. Damage is never more than 1.5 higher or 3 lower per hit, depending on weapon.
Lifedrinker actually drinks life now, giving the bladelock some much-needed survivability.
Simple