last update: Please help balance these warlock invocations

[Spiritchaser]

During a recent bout of Morningstar induced trauma, Our assasin was contacted by some type of fiend who has offered him blessings of power... Dipping bladelock would work well thematically, but might not be optimal mechanically for him or for our group.

Assuming he goes this way (probably a meta-plot hook as well), what are peoples thoughts on the following?

Accursed blade: Prerequisite: Pact of the blade, level 5
At level 5, the warlock may use a warlock spell slot to cast the bestow curse spell At level 9 they may use a warlock spell slot to cast contagion. As part of the casting, the warlock makes a single melee attack. If the target is hit, the target suffers all the normal effects of the melee attack, as well as the normal effects of the spell. If the attack misses the spell slot is not wasted.

Hexblade: Prerequisites: Pact of the blade, The ability to cast Hex.
While the warlock is maintaining concentration on the Hex spell, and when they take the attack action, they may make a melee attack as a bonus action. On a successful attack, the Hex debuff is transferred to the target, and that target suffers all the normal effects of the attack. On a miss, the warlock must make a DC 12 charisma save or lose concentration on the spell.

Eldritch Wings: Prerequisite: level 12. Once per short rest the warlock may cast the fly spell (self only). Upon doing so, they manifest wings of a form befitting their nature and or that of their patron... Feathered, shadowy, batlike, burning, whisps of light, Smokey, skeletal or other as appropriate. Armor, if worn must be specially made to accommodate Wings, and some types of clothing could be damaged or destroyed. Note: unlike the similar sorcerer power, concentration is still required.

[Grod_The_Giant]

As written Accursed Blade gives you a second spell and melee attack each round-- you can attack/cast once with your normal action, then do your attack/cast combo with your bonus. I'd change it to something like "as an action, expend a spell slot and make a melee attack; on a hit, the target must make a save or be affected by a Bestow Curse spell."

Hexblade seems pretty weak.

Eldritch Wings is probably fine, though 5e seems to have weirdly mixed feelings about flight. ("It's a racial ability!" "It's a third level spell that only affects one target for a short time!" "It's a high-level class ability!") I might drop the Concentration requirement, though; the Sorcerer feature is pretty comparable and there's an opportunity cost to picking the invocation that isn't there for the class feature.

[tieren]

I agree with the above poster on the accursed blade but I would also remove contagion as an option.

I disagree on Hexblade, its a significant increase in dpr to get to use your bonus action for a third attack instead of just moving the hex target. I think it is too strong.

Eldritch Wings I would make into one of the once a day cast it with a slot type invocations instead of at Will. There are already invocations for at Will Jump and Levitate that would be diminished in comparison to at will flight.

[GWJ_DanyBoy]

On Accursed blade: I'd need to know how you rule on Contagion to know how powerful it is. (Do Contagion effects happen immediately, then stop if the creature makes their saves, or does it only take effect after failing the saves?)
Turning these normally full-action spells into bonus actions WITH a bonus attack is a large buff. But wasting a warlock spell slot on a miss a big deal too. High risk vs High reward. A very swing-y power. Could be problematic if mixed with another full casting class.

On Hexblade: Lets warlocks get an attack in while moving hex, but risk losing the spell. A medium buff. I would either drop the level requirement entirely if you keep the chance to lose the spell (Since the odds of losing the spell will decrease will level, a sort of natural scaling.), or I would remove the chance to lose the spell and bump the level requirement up to 11.

Accursed Blade & Hexblade: Perhaps should be limited to Bladelock only, and I would carefully consider changing them from "bonus action" to "instead of an attack when you take the attack action". Both give bonus action attacks WITH bonus riders, in a place where bonus action attacks might be otherwise difficult to get. I'm picturing a Heavy weapon user who now can freely skip Polearm or Great Weapon master Feats, since they now have an easy way to get an extra attack. That's a lot of at-will damage coming out of a full-caster chassis.

On Eldritch Wings: Seems pretty cool, considering concentration is still required and costs one of their few invocations, it seems relatively balanced. Makes "Ascendant Step" fairly redundant though.

[GWJ_DanyBoy]

Eldritch Wings is probably fine, though 5e seems to have weirdly mixed feelings about flight. ("It's a racial ability!" "It's a third level spell that only affects one target for a short time!" "It's a high-level class ability!") I might drop the Concentration requirement, though; the Sorcerer feature is pretty comparable and there's an opportunity cost to picking the invocation that isn't there for the class feature.

The opportunity cost is choosing a dragon sorcerer over anything else. It's actually a much more limiting choice.

[Spiritchaser]

Good point on the second spell... Getting a second spell in certainly wasn't the intent. I'd add"when you take the attack action"

Hexblade does allow an attack as a bonus action, albeit wit the risk of losing your concentration on a miss. Perhaps a low DC? Maybe a high one?

[Grod_The_Giant]

I disagree on Hexblade, its a significant increase in dpr to get to use your bonus action for a third attack instead of just moving the hex target. I think it is too strong.
I missed that it was a bonus action. Probably fine, then. Plenty of ways to get bonus action attacks.


The opportunity cost is choosing a dragon sorcerer over anything else. It's actually a much more limiting choice.
Eh, Sorcerer is choosing one of two options, each with a big list of abilities and flavor. It's not really comparable.

Flight may invalidate Otherworldly Leap and Ascendant Step (mostly), but those aren't very good invocations (hooray for 5e not being able to decide how it feels about flight!), so <shrug>. Casting a third level spell 1/day just sounds awful.

[GWJ_DanyBoy]

Flight may invalidate Otherworldly Leap and Ascendant Step (mostly), but those aren't very good invocations (hooray for 5e not being able to decide how it feels about flight!), so <shrug>. Casting a third level spell 1/day just sounds awful.

As written it's at-will, not 1/day.

Edit: Also, OP should maybe specify if the spell is "self-only" or is going to be cast-able on other characters.

[Spiritchaser]

Thanks for all the comments so far guys, I've added pact of the blade as prerequisite, that was always my intent, I just failed to write it

Also, flight is definitely intended as self only

What type of DC do people feel might be sane for these?

[Spiritchaser]

Per other comments I've modified accursed blade such that it functions on the attack action, not on the bonus attack.

I'm still not sure if it should be further limited to one melee attack. My thought is that if it were, spell failure chance on miss should be removed.

Thoughts?

[Spiritchaser]

Ok final edit before presenting it to the DM, any last comments appreciated.

[Talamare]

I missed that it was a bonus action. Probably fine, then. Plenty of ways to get bonus action attacks.

It's a bonus action attack with any weapon, including the 2d6 monster

It's basically Barbarian Frenzy rage without any downsides, its probably OP


TWF = 3d8 = 13.5
PWM = 2d10+1d4 = 13.5
This = 6d6 = 21

[Spiritchaser]

It's a bonus action attack with any weapon, including the 2d6 monster

It's basically Barbarian Frenzy rage without any downsides, its probably OP


TWF = 3d8 = 13.5
PWM = 2d10+1d4 = 13.5
This = 6d6 = 21

The intended downside is the potential loss of hex on a miss. I've got to admit I really don't know what save DC is ideal for that. Anything from 12 to 14 "feels" like a good place to start

[Dimolyth]

The intended downside is the potential loss of hex on a miss. I've got to admit I really don't know what save DC is ideal for that. Anything from 12 to 14 "feels" like a good place to start

You bond the save DC to spellcasting ability of caster (which tends to be the highest or so ability for character) in which the character has proficiency. So, the character has +5 bonus on this save at 2nd level and +11 at 20th. If the chance to miss target`s AC is 60% (which is pretty much average), you have 40% chance to roll the save. If you set DC 16 Cha for this - you will have strict 50% chance to loose your hex at 1st level.
That means with DC 16 Cha you will have 20% chance to loose your hex at 2nd level and only 8% at 20th level. As for me - that is much lesser than "frenzy" drawback. Maybe, that would be better to make a standard DC 10 Con (which leads the character to spend feat/multiclass/magic item to improve Con saves - so, spend his resources on this).

Though, maybe I just misread the ability. Is it intended to be "whenever you want", or just "When the hitpoints the target of your Hex are below 0, on your next turn you can make a bonus attack...".
If you add the condition, this invocation is just a "hex improve" button (we already have plenty for EB, so why not?) and concentration save is not needed.

[Spiritchaser]

The assasin in question is proficient in intelligence and dexterity saves, though in the general case, most players will have charisma proficiency (probably not too relevant, Our group won't see THAT many warlock... Er... Unless the DM decides to see how many souls he can acquire... Which now that I think of it... Er... He may actually...

Topic for another thread...

Anyway: I can certainly see the advantage in going with a constitution save... It doesn't seem like such a good fit, but it's hardly bad.

Perhaps a DC 12 or 14 Con save?