Have you had fun with the warlock? What was fun about it?

[Rfkannen]

Just curious, I rolled a warlock but haven't seen one in play before and was wondering if you had fun with it and what you found fun about it!

[Dalebert]

Being a 20 lb kobold warlock at 3rd level with an imp who can fly me around and always grant me pack tactics by being invisible next to enemies and stuff. Being a flying ball of darkness that both of us can see through thereby countering my sunlight sensitivity as needed. Having a whole other set of actions via my imp every turn for things like assisting someone, administering a healing potion to a fallen ally, stinging someone in the darkness and then both of us flying away without AoO.

Things I'm looking forward to:
Giving it a tentacle rod that doesn't break invisibility. Giving it a wand of magic missiles that doesn't break invisibility. Maybe giving it a Ring of Spell Storing it can use without breaking invisibility. Putting a bunch of Silent Images in the ring and letting the imp cast it and control the images so I can do other things with my actions.

Stuff like that.

[JellyPooga]

The most fun I had with a Warlock was this one time with a stunning looking Tiefer..., uh *ahem*, a Halfling Rogue/Warlock (it was the pregen Rogue from the LMoP Starter originally) who I immediately multiclassed to GOO Tomelock at 2nd level. The decent into madness was a blast to play out, but aside from that little bit of RP, I loved the telepathy and tons of cantrips and rituals. Very versatile and very sneaky with Expertise in Stealth from starting Rogue combined with some creative use of Minor Illusion at-will.

[Crgaston]

I've had fun with one (fiend chainlock) being a social goddess, crowd controlling archer and uber scout with her invisible familiar. The campaign was kind of lacking in the short rest department so she didn't feel like a full caster so much, but there was a lot of other things to do both in and out of combat.

[Demonslayer666]

Just curious, I rolled a warlock but haven't seen one in play before and was wondering if you had fun with it and what you found fun about it!

I went straight Warlock, and didn't do the dip. When I could cast Darkness and Eldritch Blast stuff using Devil's Sight and Agonizing Blast, it was a lot of fun and very effective. I went Great Old One, and my DM used that to add to the story. I played up the scary and intimidating.

Since spell slots were in short supply, it was always challenging to decide what to use and what to save. I also found it challenging to juggle the concentration spells.

[NecroDancer]

Yep, however you need to remember that you will be stuck with 2 spell slots for 10 levels. You aren't a full spell caster, you are an Eldritch Blaster who has 2 powerful spells per short rest. During a long battle you will be using Eldritch Blast for 90% of it, if you can't deal with a small amount of spell slots don't be a warlock (this came as a rude awaking to me).

Pro Tip: get a horse and a wagon so you can take short rests while traveling.

[Jerrykhor]

The fun part is the interaction with your patron. If you have a decent DM who is willing to work with you on that, its great. Other fun stuff include annoying the resident paladin, being all dark and mysterious with the source of your powers, and being the face of the group.

[LordNibbler]

I had a pact of the fiend bladelock4/fighter6 who wielded a glaive. He had to handle an antechamber full of enemies so the rest of the party wouldn't be attacked as they went by. After darkness + devil's sight + Polearm Master + action surge, screams were heard. When the lights came on, there were many bodies on the floor and the party passed by safely.
The only problem was after such events, the rest of the party would notice the bloodlust in his eyes. The lawful good cleric was a little skeptical about my character's excuses and for some reason, his healing spells didn't work as well as they should have on the warlock.
In the end, my character sacrificed himself so that the party could survive. When a devil showed up to claim his soul, it was instead redeemed because of his final good deed.
(Yes, we stole the scene from Faust)

[Sigreid]

I've played one warlock in 5e, and one in 3.5. I don't like them. I'm not sure why, but the way they play just doesn't jive with me.

I'm sure lots (most) people who play them have lots of fun, but I though you should hear that they aren't for everyone.

[Malifice]

Before playing a Warlock chat with your DM about the adventuring day.

If he's a newb who doesnt know or understand the 6-8 encounter/ 2-3 short rest meta, or he does know it but doesnt intend to stick to it or police it (meaning hes certain to just start throwing single 'super deadly' encounters at you) avoid the Warlock.

If the rest meta allows for frequent (around 6) encounters and short rests (at least 2) per long rest for around 50 percent or more of the 'adventuring days', then Warlock is great.

TL;DR - chat with your DM about the adventuing day and rest meta. If you get a blank look, its best to avoid the class.

[DeathIncarnate]

Warlocks Invocations allow you to just have minor magical boosts without having to worry about casting spells. Silent image and detect magic at will are great. Silent image paired with telepathy from great old one is amazing. Also, once you have third level slots, bladelock with armor of agathys is great because 15 damage when ever you are hit until the temps run down. Potentially great against low level mooks. Also, repelling blast.:smallwink:

[Malifice]

Yep, however you need to remember that you will be stuck with 2 spell slots for 10 levels.

If your DM is sticking to the DMG (2-3 short rests per adventuring day as a default median standard) youre actually getting 6-8 (maximised) spell slots per long rest.

If your DM is ignoring the DMG and not ensuring 2-3 short rests per long rest in any appreciable way, then you suck.

Your DM's rest meta is super important here. Having a chat with him first is vital.

[Misterwhisper]

If your DM is sticking to the DMG (2-3 short rests per adventuring day as a default median standard) youre actually getting 6-8 (maximised) spell slots per long rest.

If your DM is ignoring the DMG and not ensuring 2-3 short rests per long rest in any appreciable way, then you suck.

Your DM's rest meta is super important here. Having a chat with him first is vital.

I had this issue, my dm did not use the short rest mechanic rules at all, and only had combat 4 times between level 1 and level 14, in a game that later over a year.

Warlocks can never be the utility caster, they are dependent on the DM letting you be worthwhile, and their best spell does not scale with spell level even though they have no choice but to upcast.

In a game with no other arcane caster, you can get by, in a game with a Bard, Sorcere, or Wizard, be prepared to just be artillery and not.much else.

[ShneekeyTheLost]

Fun? Absolutely. But don't expect to be the most powerful character in the party.

First off, you never run out of pew-pew. Eldritch Blast + Agonizing Blast means you always have a pretty strong ranged attack at your beck and call. This is your bread and butter. Expect to snipe enemies and steal kills. If there's a Ranger in the party, you can enjoy being better than him and ranged combat, and kind of underpinning just how useless the Ranger class really is.

Second off, you've got some at-will abilities that you can pull out of your hat at the most opportune of moments. What you pick up will depend on what you want to be useful at. You can do battlefield control by pushing or pulling with your blasts, you can do party utility with tome lock and Book of Ancient Secrets, you can do more boom and actually be able to drop fireballs with Kiss of Mephistopheles... so you do have some options at low levels.

Your strength is that, no matter what happens, you'll always have a way of doing damage, and potentially also pushing people around at the same time. Your weakness is that you really won't be doing much else very often. It's going to be several levels before you can do anything other than hex + blast before your next short rest plus whatever other invocation you grabbed besides Agonizing Blast.

But hey, you aren't monodimensional. You can do stuff out of combat, like Party Face with Mask of Many Faces + Beguiling Influence + the Friends cantrip. You can do Detect/Identify Magic with a Tome-lock to make sure no one gets stuck with a belt of gender bending. You can even Remove Curse to get rid of it if you want. There's an idea floating around that the only things Warlocks do is pew-pew, and that's not really true. Sure, the DO the pew pew, but that's not ALL they do.

But my favorite moment? Druid dropped down Spike Growth for some battlefield control. Hex + Repelling Blast + Grasp of Hadar made some exceptional use out of it. We called it the ol' meat grinder.

[JakOfAllTirades]

I played a Tiefling Fey Pact BladeLock (single classed) with the Noble background. His (mostly) human family refused to acknowledge him or provide any sort of training, so he made a pact with the Fey and called himself a "Knight of the Summer Court, mainly to annoy his father. Adventures and tomfoolery ensued. It was a blast!

I enjoyed the at-will disguise and levitation invocations the most. Aside from those, I had the usual; agonizing blast, mage armor, and thirsting blade. (Lifedrinker was a late add, too.) The Fey pact abilities for level 1 and 6 were useful and fun; having a high-powered misty step with an invisibility rider was amazing. The immunity to charm at 10th level actually came into play once: a succubus tried to charm me and I got to turn her own ability against her. I was like, "Hey look guys, I got my very own succubus!" But that did not end well....

The option to switch off between melee with my pact blade and ranged attacks with eldritch blast meant I was never out of options. And nobody could take away my pact blade. W00T! Spellcasting wasn't easy with only two slots; I focused on spells that lasted for several rounds (or longer) rather than instantaneous spells. I got a lot more bang for my buck using Hex, Armor of Agathys, Mirror Image, etc. There were exceptions; Hypnotic Pattern pretty much ruled.

And when it came to role-playing, the Dream spell was my absolute favorite. I could contact NPCs anywhere in the world, as long as they were asleep, and without the 25-word limit of the Sending spell. YMMV, depending on the amount of role-playing in your campaign, but that spell is often under rated.

I also enjoyed being the party's "face" character. Sure, lots of folks don't trust Tieflings, but with the Mask of Many Faces Invocation and the Tongues spell, I could talk to pretty much anyone looking and sounding like one of their own.

Next time I play D&D, it'll be hard to choose another class.

[JellyPooga]

First off, you never run out of pew-pew.
...
Second off, you've got some at-will abilities that you can pull out of your hat at the most opportune of moments.
...
But hey, you aren't monodimensional. You can do stuff out of combat, like Party Face with Mask of Many Faces + Beguiling Influence + the Friends cantrip. You can do Detect/Identify Magic with a Tome-lock to make sure no one gets stuck with a belt of gender bending. You can even Remove Curse to get rid of it if you want. There's an idea floating around that the only things Warlocks do is pew-pew, and that's not really true. Sure, the DO the pew pew, but that's not ALL they do.

I'm still pretty convinced that you could play a Warlock as a 007/James Bond-style assassin/agent. Just be sure to have some appropriate sound-bites handy on your phone/tablet for opportune moments when you're being awesome!

Edit: Hmm... What Patron would a 007 Warlock have? Archfey: Queen of England, perhaps?

[Kane0]

Yes, i've had fun with warlocks

Nice things I've found about them:
- Eldritch blast is a solid and consistent fallback option with a low cost, meaning you can do whatever you like and don't have to worry about being useless
- Pact magic slot level is easy to track and always gives best results for scaling spells
- The pact magic few slots on a short rest mechanic applies resource pressure without rendering you useless when you run out
- Invocations are varied and most arent resource limited
- Mystic arcanums are simple to use and not tied to other resources
- You have more options than most: Patron, Pact, Invocations and Spells. This also means theres lots of ways for you to build a warlock and they have a certain jack of all trades quality to them

That said they can be complex compared to other characters, but that's half the fun!

[Vaz]

I'm still pretty convinced that you could play a Warlock as a 007/James Bond-style assassin/agent. Just be sure to have some appropriate sound-bites handy on your phone/tablet for opportune moments when you're being awesome!

Edit: Hmm... What Patron would a 007 Warlock have? Archfey: Queen of England, perhaps?

That or Fiend. Merrshaulk or Sertrous are Yuanti Shapeshifting Demon Lords.

[Dappershire]

That or Fiend. Merrshaulk or Sertrous are Yuanti Shapeshifting Demon Lords.

I cant help but throw GOO into the contention. Sure, it doesn't help him headshot the dozens of goons. Or gadget himself out of certain death. But there is a reason that at the end of each campaign, he's stripping down with whoever has the highest charisma score. And GOO even gives us the reason why said girl isn't there the next day. Suggestion doesn't last.

And Moneypenny would make a very likely Thrall target. Just sayin'.

I think I'll be making my next character a GOOlock by the name of Bonded. Chains Bonded.
And I think an Imp makes a perfect utility use to cover as all his gadgets.

[Vaz]

I still think that a Shapeshifting Lizard Over-queen is best represented by a Fiend :)

[NecroDancer]

I feel you are worried about your character's utility power then you should take the book of ancient secrets to get a lot of rituals, this will make you into a diviner as well (use rituals like augury, divination, commune with nature, etc).

Or you can go fighter 1/warlock X and be an amazing bladelock (this is pure optimization a fighter level isn't necessary to enjoy being a bladelock).

[Willie the Duck]

Just curious, I rolled a warlock but haven't seen one in play before and was wondering if you had fun with it and what you found fun about it!

The fun part of warlock is that it has some wonderful flavor, rp opportunities, etc.

The up/downside is that it has a recharge mechanic that most of the other classes do not use (or use for their minor, not major, ability recharges). Now, if you have a battlemaster, a monk, and a rogue as party members, and intend to dungeon delve with many short rests happening before you end for the day, then warlocks (or cleric/warlock, paladin/warlock, etc.) start to outclass the spells/day classes. That's a rather specific campaign/situation however.

The other up/downside is that the warlock has one thing that they are really good at (eldritch blast, one of/the best unlimited ranged attack out there) that they are compelled to do at every opportunity. There is a lot more that warlocks can do, but you kind of have to plan that out as you are building/leveling your character and choosing your invocations, patron, pact, skills, and attributes. Despite the whole 'you spend most of your combat time rolling attacks, and then damage' thing they have going on, they are not the simple build you give to a beginner player that that suggests.

That said, if you want a face character, they can do that. If you want a sneak character, they can do that. You want a battlefield controller, they can help there. You just have to choose and build for it.

[Laserlight]

I think I'll be making my next character a GOOlock by the name of Bonded. Chains Bonded.
And I think an Imp makes a perfect utility use to cover as all his gadgets.

+1 Internet to you

[Laserlight]

I am running a hexblade with a fighter dip. Reasons I like him:
a) he's the Party Face, complete with Mask of Many Faces. And Suggestion, if necessary.
2. His religion isn't just a "remind me, which temple do I look for?" affair; it affects his spells, his tactics, his goals. In fact, it has a (sharp, pointy) manifestation right in his hand.
iii: a hexbade is a melee combatant with a little bit of emergency/utility casting. Because it doesn't have the "I WIN" buttons that a full caster has, but that just forces me to be clever in selecting and using cantrips and spells to best effect. The limitations can actually make it more interesting.

[EvilAnagram]

You know, I really enjoyed playing as a GOOlock. Once I had access to it, Hunger of Hadar was my go-to. I would hide in the shadows zap any enemy who left the area with Repelling Blast, sending them right back into the zone. It was downright diabolical.

I tried the same thing as a DM and nearly killed two party members.

[Millstone85]

You know, I really enjoyed playing as a GOOlock. Once I had access to it, Hunger of Hadar was my go-to. I would hide in the shadows zap any enemy who left the area with Repelling Blast, sending them right back into the zone. It was downright diabolical.That's what I plan to do with my GOOlock too. It feels so thematic.

But maybe it should be precised that, technically, HoH isn't a patron spell.

[Vaz]

No, but Black Tentacles is. :)

[polymphus]

I'd disagree with the 'you're not a pure caster' thing. You don't have a lot of spell slots, but you have a lot of other ways to cast spells. With the Tome and Book of Shadows, you're a regular spellcasting monster. You're incredibly versatile.

I found the Warlock best as a debuffer -- steal a bunch of cantrips like Vicious Mockery and use them to lock down key opponents. GOO spells combined with high charisma make you excellent at shutting things down in and out of combat.

[Vaz]

I'd disagree with the 'you're not a pure caster' thing. You don't have a lot of spell slots, but you have a lot of other ways to cast spells. With the Tome and Book of Shadows, you're a regular spellcasting monster. You're incredibly versatile.

I found the Warlock best as a debuffer -- steal a bunch of cantrips like Vicious Mockery and use them to lock down key opponents. GOO spells combined with high charisma make you excellent at shutting things down in and out of combat.

You're not a pure caster, but you can't contribute in the same capability as an other pure caster, and have to mitigate that by running support?

Que?