Glaivelock Help

[JNAProductions]

So a Glaivelock seems like fun. But that's about all I know about it. How do I build one, and how do they work?

In addition, are they Pathfinder compatible?

[xyianth]

I can't speak to the Pathfinder compatibility. (I know next to nothing about Pathfinder)

I can however give you the basics on glaivelock:
Obviously, it is a melee warlock build that specializes in the use of the eldritch glaive invocation. (found in Dragon Magic, a least invocation) The basic idea is that the invocation takes a full round action to use. As part of that action you are considered armed with a weapon-like spell in the shape of a glaive. You can make a full attack action with that glaive and resolve each attack as a touch attack. Every attack that hits deals damage equal to your eldritch blast. Eldritch glaive counts as a blast shape invocation, so you can choose to apply an eldritch essence invocation to it. The essence applies to each touch attack individually. In addition, your glaive remains in your hands until the beginning of your next turn, which means you can make attacks of opportunity with it when the opportunity presents itself.

There are several ways to optimize around eldritch glaive. The most obvious one is to optimize your eldritch blast damage. This is usually done by combining items that boost it's damage with the vitriolic blast essence and levels in Hellfire Warlock. (prestige class from FCII) Sneak attack can also be used. If using Hellfire Warlock, you will need some means of countering the Con damage inflicted by the use of Hellfire Warlock's abilities. There are three main options: items that restore con damage, a 1 level dip in the Binder class for the Naberius vestige, and the strongheart vest soulmeld from MoI. The first two are generally accepted at most tables, the soulmeld is controversial.

Another method of optimizing around eldritch glaive is to improve your reach. There are many ways of doing this, so I will not list them all here. I will however point out one of my personal favorites: a 3 level dip in the Sentinel of Bharrai prestige class (from Book of Exalted Deeds) lets you turn into a polar bear at-will. I just love the image of a polar bear wielding a glaive made of hellfire and dripping acid.

Yet another aspect to consider is movement. Because eldritch glaive requires a full round action, your movement options are limited. It can be beneficial to find a reliable method of movement as a swift action. The easiest is probably Travel Devotion + turn undead attempts, but there are other options out there.

The final aspect of eldritch glaive to consider is the activation time. Eldritch glaive is a spell-like ability, so you can technically apply the Quicken Spell-like Ability feat to it. This is somewhat wasteful in my opinion since it can only be used 3/day, but a full attack routine as a swift action is pretty potent.

Perhaps the best aspect of the glaivelock is that it requires so few of your invocation slots to be viable. Thus you can still select several utility/battlefield control invocations to fall back on if for some reason melee combat isn't an effective strategy in a particular situation.

[Florian]

In addition, are they Pathfinder compatible?

No, they aren't compatible at all. No neccesary class, PrC or Feat has been updated to PF and they never will.

Basic Glaivelock is nothing else than a rogue auto sneak attacking with a touch attack weapon.

[ZamielVanWeber]

Basic Glaivelock is nothing else than a rogue auto sneak attacking with a touch attack weapon.

With reach! And spell-like abilities to back it up! So a lot more than a rogue sneak attacking with a touch attack weapon.

[Florian]

With reach! And spell-like abilities to back it up! So a lot more than a rogue sneak attacking with a touch attack weapon.

Let's compare the basic chassis first.
The Warlock is 3/4 BAB with scaling 1d6 damage based on a single attack und you must spent your SLA slots to work on the eldritch blast feature.
All blast shapes that allow to upgrade to multiple attacks have strange drawbacks. The Glaive uses a full round action to work, for example, doesn't work with power attack, has problem with a lot of Bo9S stuff and has to cope with beating SR, unless you invest in vitriolic or somesuch.
The only way to realiably upgrade the damage is via Hellfire Warlock and for that to work, you'll need a way to mitigate Con damage, mostly meaning Binder or Arcanum levels.

So, in the pure damage department, most if not all PF classes easily outclass the Glaivelock without breaking a sweat. Outfit a (Un)Rogue with a Glaive and Shatter Defenses and have a go at it!
Hell, use a Kineticist with Kinetic Whip and have a go at it, still better results.

Let's compare Utility:
First of, one of the most acclaimed Warlock features, Deceive Item, is covered by the Master Craftsman feat and has become a non-ability.
Yes, at will SLAs. Stuff like Flight and such is nice to have, but they run on the same cost as the eldritch blast.
A Kineticist would compare favourably here, but still nothing to wrote home about.

Now what really is the dealbreaker on all that are the two "theurge"-type classes that don't have an equivalent in Pathfinder. Especially the divine variant broadens up the options of the class by a magnitude of maybe ... three?

Edit: Compare a (Un)Monk with attached VMC Rogue and a couple of Qigong powers and the nasic Linge feat to the old regular Glaivelock Build.

[Forrestfire]

Well, Warlocks' utility SLAs are significantly better than the stuff the Kineticist gets, it doesn't have to deal with Burn (or burn, since it's a one feat cost to not care about hellfire), its damage works without having to flank, and finally, you should reread Deceive Item Imbue Item (Deceive Item is 'always take 10 on UMD,' which other classes get way late, if at all) and Master Craftsman, because the former does important, powerful things that the latter does not. The foremost of which is letting you craft scrolls, wands, and staves, which noncaster crafters in Pathfinder cannot do.

And warlocks were always outclassed in the pure damage department outside of spike damage at high levels with Quicken/Empower/Maximize Spell-Like Ability and eldritch glaive, and with them, it'll outdamage everything listed, so I'm not sure what that complaint is supposed to be about :smallconfused:

[nedz]

Here's (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?252715-The-New-Warlock-Handbook-3-5-WIP) a handbook.

Note: the question about whether you can use Power attack with Eldritch Glaive is hotly contested. There is no definitive answer by RAW so you have to ask your DM.