Warlock Suggestion

[PaladinFreak]

I've been looking at the Warlock class recently, and an idea struck me.

What if you gave the option to not gain a invocation, and instead add 1d6 to your Eldritch Blast's damage? Do you think this would be a viable option? Should there be a feat you need to take to do this? Would you want to do this?

Opinions please.

[Dragonmuncher]

Eh... maybe. I've always thought the Invocations were the coolest part of a Warlock, though.

What I've always thought would be a good idea would be to award a few free Blast Shape and Essence Invocations, in addition to the normal Invocation progression.

[FireSpark]

I've been looking at the Warlock class recently, and an idea struck me.

What if you gave the option to not gain a invocation, and instead add 1d6 to your Eldritch Blast's damage? Do you think this would be a viable option? Should there be a feat you need to take to do this? Would you want to do this?

Opinions please.

My opinion is that this could, and would, spiral quickly out of control. Considering the number of invocations a warlock eventually receives, you'd have an artillary cannon, dumping 15 or more d6 damage into his enemies with a touch attack. Not. Balanced.

[PaladinFreak]

My opinion is that this could, and would, spiral quickly out of control. Considering the number of invocations a warlock eventually receives, you'd have an artillary cannon, dumping 15 or more d6 damage into his enemies with a touch attack. Not. Balanced.

See, that is where I disagree. Sure, you have massive damage at higher levels, but what else can a Warlock who has done that do? He has virtually no other options. He is great in a fight, but virtually useless in any other circumstances.

[Jimp]

He is great in a fight, but virtually useless in any other circumstances.

That's where a lot of the invocations come in. Things like +to to bluff or spider climb or charm can be very handy outside of combat.

[Arbitrarity]

Hmmm...
19d6 + 2d6/round over 4 rounds, 20 ft burst. Ref for 1/2. That's about the maximum, seeing as one has to give up blast shapes etc. for the extra damage. Pretty powerful, as one can designate targets.

*Looks at meteor swarm/wail of the banshee* limited uses!

*Looks at ToB* Hmmm....

Oh, invocation levels (dark, etc.)? Nvm. That's really balanced, if not underpowered. Probably the latter, really.

[Kurald Galain]

MConsidering the number of invocations a warlock eventually receives

Er, that would be four.

Methinks a 20th level warlock with a 9d6 blast and four invocations is significantly stronger (not to mention more versatile) than a 20th level warlock with only a 13d6 blast.

[Tor the Fallen]

Er, that would be four.

Methinks a 20th level warlock with a 9d6 blast and four invocations is significantly stronger (not to mention more versatile) than a 20th level warlock with only a 13d6 blast.

Yeah, compare that to a reserve feat, or say, power attacking meleer's.

[Thinker]

My opinion is that this could, and would, spiral quickly out of control. Considering the number of invocations a warlock eventually receives, you'd have an artillary cannon, dumping 15 or more d6 damage into his enemies with a touch attack. Not. Balanced.

Up to 70 damage a round does not make that much of a difference. It would still be underpowered compared to any decent build. Meleers should easily be doing 50+ damage a round by level 10, does that make them overpowered as well?

That aside, I don't think the idea is very good. One of the major drawbacks to a warlock is the lack of versatility since they don't have that many invocations to begin with and those they do have are pale imitations of spells.

[LordLocke]

Considering even the Least Invocations are generally more useful then an additional d6 in damage, I'm going to have to go with no. Warlocks are pretty bad in a fight after the novelty of free perma-flight wears off- maybe about level 9 or so- and spend most of their life as an odd cross between being a mediocre archer and a specialized skill monkey.

Besides, no matter how many invocations you throw away, a wand-wielding Warlock using Deceive item (especially with a few wand-wielding feats) will generally be a better field combatant then the average Blaster warlock- 9d6, 13d6, 21d6, whatever. Especially since he's second only to the Artificer in making his own wands. Of course, that's partially because that makes them mini-arcane casters, but that's besides the point.