New Warlock character question.

[Misterwhisper]

I am building a new Warlock for a game I am going to be in later.

I am going with a Variant Human Warlock with Raven Queen as my Patron.

Stats are:

Str: 8
Dex: 16
Con: 12
Int: 10
Wis: 12
Cha: 16

Feat: Observant

However, I am a little fuzzy on exactly how some of the details of the Raven Queen Patron work and no clue what Pact to go.

1. Does the Sentinel Raven count as a Familiar?

It does not say it is a spell or anything, nor does it say I cast summon familiar with the short rest.
Nowhere does it say it does, but it does use many of the same rules.
Does this mean i can get a scroll or whatever of Find Familiar and get another familiar.
Then possibly go with Pact of chain to have 3 effective familiars?

2. When I bond with my raven at level 6, has there been an exact ruling on what you do and do not get as the benefits?

I assume you are not untargetable and invulnerable while in melded raven form, that would be crazy powerful.
I would think it just means I have 30 feet of dark vision and my CHA added to my perception and passive perception.

3. No clue on what pact to go.

Blade does not really work because I do not have the physical stats to pull it off and I am just making a blaster warlock anyway. Would be nice If I could bond a shield to become proficient.
Tome is good, I could pick up more utility and all with things like Shillelagh, Guidance and Mend but overall not a huge deal.
Chain could be fun but that really depends on how having a sentinel raven effects having a familiar at the same time.
Honestly warlock needs more pacts to choose from instead of multiple new patrons.

Any help would be appreciated.

[Dudewithknives]

I would say that the Sentinel Raven is not a familiar at all because it is just a class feature that acts like one.

Now what that means if you do go pact of the chain could be up to the DM.

[NecroDancer]

Sentinel Raven isn't a familiar. As for the Raven form I assume that you get the stats of a Raven and whatever benefits the sentinel Raven also has (I don't have the rules with me so I may be wrong)

[Misterwhisper]

Sentinel Raven isn't a familiar. As for the Raven form I assume that you get the stats of a Raven and whatever benefits the sentinel Raven also has (I don't have the rules with me so I may be wrong)

In the UA it actually says that you become tiny and gain it's movement, it does not say anything about thats, so you would keep your own physical stats/hp or whatever.

If you use the stats of the raven then that ability becomes a death sentence.

If my level warlock of whatever level beyond 6 gets morphed into a 2HP raven when he uses the ability, nobody would ever use it.

It also never mentioned what happens if you are attacked while merged.

Do you separate, do you just take the damage and keep doing your birdie business, or what?

It is not a concentration effect so it won't make the ability drop.

This is another reason they need to clarify the ability.

[Maxilian]

In the UA it actually says that you become tiny and gain it's movement, it does not say anything about thats, so you would keep your own physical stats/hp or whatever.

If you use the stats of the raven then that ability becomes a death sentence.

If my level warlock of whatever level beyond 6 gets morphed into a 2HP raven when he uses the ability, nobody would ever use it.

It also never mentioned what happens if you are attacked while merged.

Do you separate, do you just take the damage and keep doing your birdie business, or what?

It is not a concentration effect so it won't make the ability drop.

This is another reason they need to clarify the ability.

Is true, you don't change your stats.

Also it seens that when you take damage you stay in your raven form unless you die (in that case, your raven dissapear from existence, ending the merge in the moment); so it also seens like you can get KO as a Raven, and unless you die, you will stay in that form.

Note: The Raven is not a familiar, so you can have a familiar together with the Raven.

[Ruslan]

I am building a new Warlock for a game I am going to be in later.

I am going with a Variant Human Warlock with Raven Queen as my Patron.

Stats are:

Str: 8
Dex: 16
Con: 12
Int: 10
Wis: 12
Cha: 16

Feat: Observant

Starting as a Half-Elf instead, you can get 8/16/14/10/12/16 (same stats, except CON is higher by 2).
You also get Darkvision, resistance to Charm/Sleep and two skills (well, only one skill net gain, VHuman gets one skill).

So, one one side you have: +2 Con, Darkvision, resistance to Charm/Sleep, one skill
On the other side, you have: +5 Passive Perception

Unless for some reason you terribly need the Perception, I think the half-elf is the clear winner here.

[Maxilian]

Starting as a Half-Elf instead, you can get 8/16/14/10/12/16 (same stats, except CON is higher by 2).
You also get Darkvision, resistance to Charm/Sleep and two skills (well, only one skill net gain, VHuman gets one skill).

So, one one side you have: +2 Con, Darkvision, resistance to Charm/Sleep, one skill
On the other side, you have: +5 Passive Perception

Unless for some reason you terribly need the Perception, I think the half-elf is the clear winner here.

I think the Human thing is to abuse the Passive Perception + the extra perception given by your familiar

[Misterwhisper]

I think the Human thing is to abuse the Passive Perception + the extra perception given by your familiar

Actually it if from the backstory I wrote for him. He was tortured in the pitch black dark for months by the drow for information he genuinely didn't know. Just before he was going to die a raven appeared and the Raven Queen offered me power and the sight in the dark in exchange for my eternal service.

I just picked observant because I was going to get a feat and nothing else really made sense.

I can easily change the feat, no idea what to take though.

[Ruslan]

Actually it if from the backstory I wrote for him. He was tortured in the pitch black dark for months by the drow for information he genuinely didn't know. Just before he was going to die a raven appeared and the Raven Queen offered me power and the sight in the dark in exchange for my eternal service...
... and with her help, he discovered that one of his ancestors was an Elf, tapped into his Elven legacy and got all the cool Half-Elf stuff :smallwink:

[Misterwhisper]

... and with her help, he discovered that one of his ancestors was an Elf, tapped into his Elven legacy and got all the cool Half-Elf stuff :smallwink:

If only she could morph me into a kenku with a charisma bonus.

Crow person
Sentinel crow
Chain imp in crow form

A murder of crows.

[jaappleton]

The Raven itself is NOT a familiar. It's a class feature strikingly similar to one.

HOWEVER! You can have some REAL fun with this. Ready?

Go Pact of the Chain.
Take an Imp familiar.
Read the Imp carefully; it can assume other forms. Like a Raven.
Now be a Kenku and speak only through your twin Ravens.

[jaappleton]

If only she could morph me into a kenku with a charisma bonus.

Crow person
Sentinel crow
Chain imp in crow form

A murder of crows.

Curse you for having the same idea! :smalltongue:

[Misterwhisper]

The Raven itself is NOT a familiar. It's a class feature strikingly similar to one.

HOWEVER! You can have some REAL fun with this. Ready?

Go Pact of the Chain.
Take an Imp familiar.
Read the Imp carefully; it can assume other forms. Like a Raven.
Now be a Kenku and speak only through your twin Ravens.

If I could be a kenku with a charisma bonus I would be all over it.

[LVOD]

Do you think it was intended for you to be immortal while in raven form? I keep going back and forth.

On one hand, it really doesn't seem that strong to be invincible if you have severely limited actions (you can't attack or cast spells), and NOT being invincible really doesn't net you anything other than a limited fly speed that can't be used for combat. You already have a connection to the raven, so merging with it doesn't improve your scouting abilities or anything.

Has there been any official commentary on this? Because this is the signature feature of the raven queen, so it seems pretty inportant.

[Maxilian]

The Raven itself is NOT a familiar. It's a class feature strikingly similar to one.

HOWEVER! You can have some REAL fun with this. Ready?

Go Pact of the Chain.
Take an Imp familiar.
Read the Imp carefully; it can assume other forms. Like a Raven.
Now be a Kenku and speak only through your twin Ravens.

Or be a Aasimar and call yourself Odin

[Maxilian]

If I could be a kenku with a charisma bonus I would be all over it.

That's why i basically reflavor all races to my liking :P (Well looks like that Half-elf is now a Kenku!)

[Maxilian]

Do you think it was intended for you to be immortal while in raven form? I keep going back and forth.

You are not immortal, it applies only to your Raven, when you transform into Raven, you get the same benefits YOU would get when your raven is perched in your shoulder, not the benefits your raven would get by being perched in your shoulder.



On one hand, it really doesn't seem that strong to be invincible if you have severely limited actions (you can't attack or cast spells), and NOT being invincible really doesn't net you anything other than a limited fly speed that can't be used for combat. You already have a connection to the raven, so merging with it doesn't improve your scouting abilities or anything.

It does add a form to escape to the Warlock though (Also you could have casted a Concentration based spell before you transform into the Raven).

[dejarnjc]

Do you think it was intended for you to be immortal while in raven form? I keep going back and forth.

On one hand, it really doesn't seem that strong to be invincible if you have severely limited actions (you can't attack or cast spells), and NOT being invincible really doesn't net you anything other than a limited fly speed that can't be used for combat. You already have a connection to the raven, so merging with it doesn't improve your scouting abilities or anything.

Has there been any official commentary on this? Because this is the signature feature of the raven queen, so it seems pretty inportant.

IMO you're not meant to be immortal as that would indicate that you are also incapacitated. The fact that you can bonus action turn into the raven means that you have an easy get away ability and an at will self-only fly spell (albeit you can't sling spells while doing so).

My only criticism of this patron is that I think it should also be a bonus action to turn back. But then again maybe that'd be giving too much free mobility to a warlock.

[Dudewithknives]

You are not immortal, it applies only to your Raven, when you transform into Raven, you get the same benefits YOU would get when your raven is perched in your shoulder, not the benefits your raven would get by being perched in your shoulder.



It does add a form to escape to the Warlock though (Also you could have casted a Concentration based spell before you transform into the Raven).

I will preface this by saying I completely agree with you.

Bolded:

That is not what the ability actually says.
It does not say "you gain the benefits YOU would get when your Raven is perched on your shoulder"
It says "During this time, you gain the benefits of your raven being perched on your shoulder."

It can be read correctly either way.

It could be interpreted as:
You gain the benefits you normally get while the raven is on your shoulder.
or
You gain the benefits that your Raven gets while it is on your shoulder.

You bonded yourself into the raven's form, it is the raven's body you are in, not the other way around.

Essentially it is just another very badly worded ability.