Fey Pact Warlock: Best Scout?

[Easy_Lee]

A scout shouldn't just be stealthy. They need to identify threats, explore every area, and above all be able to observe.

It's well-known that rogues aren't the best at this. Shadow monks, for example, can cast pass without trace on themselves and beat a rogue's stealth score, in addition to typically having higher wisdom for perception checks.

But what about a fey pact warlock?
- Gaseous Form, Misty Step, Spider Climb to get where you need to be
- Invisibility, Greater Invisibility
- Eldritch Sight: detect magic at will, see magical traps, can also Dispel Magic
- Devil's Sight: no kind of darkness impedes your sight
- Hypnotic Pattern: somatic so it doesn't break stealth, can incapacitate entire groups for a full minute.
- Fey Presence & Misty Escape: can bail out of bad situations.

Other casters can do many of the same things, but the eldritch sight and devil's sight combo is unique to warlocks and seems unbeatable for general adventuring. No one else can detect magical traps at a distance in darkness for free all day long starting at level 2, as far as I know.

[lunaticfringe]

Hill Dwarf Bearbarian + Dungeon Delver + Tough. Skill Checks are for *******, Rage & Run.

[Dudewithknives]

Wouldn't it be easier just to use a pact of the chain.

Constantly invisible, flying, telepathic expendable scout.

[Easy_Lee]

Wouldn't it be easier just to use a pact of the chain.

Constantly invisible, flying, telepathic expendable scout.

It can't see magical traps. There are quite a few of those in published adventures, and many DMs are fond of them. That said, you could have a chain pact fey warlock.

[KorvinStarmast]

Wouldn't it be easier just to use a pact of the chain.

Constantly invisible, flying, telepathic expendable scout. That's what I did. Too bad we didn't get to very high levels before the campaign ended. Very effective.

[Chunkosaurus]

You want a good scout grab a Mystic nomad. Invisibility, teleportation, on demand proficiency, divination powers, advantage on stealth, a super powerful find creature, ability to know all languages, also an invisible phasing scouting eye, a way to teleport your party to you from a mile away, true sight, and xray vision. All of this you can get only from the Nomad disciplines. Mystics are the best scouts bar none.

[Dudewithknives]

That's what I did. Too bad we didn't get to very high levels before the campaign ended. Very effective.

I did too.

I gave my imp a hat of disguise and had it walk around as my "halfling girlfriend"

It took the party 6 game sessions before anyone realized I was not really a sorcerer and my girlfriend was not really a halfling.

[Largo833]

Yeah, I find that taking Pact of the Chain to get an imp familiar makes for the best scout- though it can't see magical traps, I think that's outweighed by the fact that there's virtually no risk in using it. Even if the familiar gets spotted and drops to 0 HP, the warlock can just re-summon it, whereas it's a much more dangerous situation if the warlock himself is scouting ahead and gets noticed.

[Easy_Lee]

While the pact of chain comments are true, I worry that it's asking for trouble from the DM. If traps don't work on the party, he'll either stop using them or come up with traps that will. In this case, magical traps that don't trigger when an outsider passes by, or that have a weight requirement. If a scout is technically placing himself in danger but still able to effectively scout everything a party would normally encounter, that's not asking for trouble.

One has to remember this is a game with a DM and not a computer simulation.

[Zalabim]

The area that the warlock lacks as a scout is in stealth, perception, and investigation. They're not as good at avoiding and spotting mundane threats.

[Squibsallotl]

Pact of the Chain Imp, and give the Imp a Wand of Magic Detection and/or a Wand of Secrets (both uncommon, neither requires attunement).

You now have a flying, invisible, stealthy, expendable scout that can auto detect magic, traps and secret doors.

[Aett_Thorn]

Raven Queen patron Warlock isn't bad, either. Not as stealthy, but who is going to suspect that the bird on the window ledge is actually spying on them?

[Dalebert]

- Gaseous Form, Misty Step, Spider Climb to get where you need to be
- Invisibility, Greater Invisibility

These are really expensive just for a scouting mission considering how few slots a lock gets. I wouldn't keep them in the list for comparision. Consider that a shadow monk will eventually have invisibility at will, can teleport silently at will. I think arguably the best scout is a shadow monk with a 2 level warlock dip for Devil's Sight and all shadow monks take a two level warlock dip. Devil's Sight is key. Just make sure you remind the DM that anyone with regular darkvision in total darkness has disadvantage on perception while your warlock does not have that limitation. Give the shadow monk Alert and he's even better at making sure he doesn't get ambushed while scouting.

[Easy_Lee]

These are really expensive just for a scouting mission considering how few slots a lock gets. I wouldn't keep them in the list for comparision. Consider that a shadow monk will eventually have invisibility at will, can teleport silently at will. I think arguably the best scout is a shadow monk with a 2 level warlock dip for Devil's Sight and all shadow monks take a two level warlock dip. Devil's Sight is key. Just make sure you remind the DM that anyone with regular darkvision in total darkness has disadvantage on perception while your warlock does not have that limitation. Give the shadow monk Alert and he's even better at making sure he doesn't get ambushed while scouting.

I don't know that all shadow monks take a two level warlock dip. I wouldn't if I could help it. Delayed monk progression is no fun, devil's sight or not.

And the point of the spell selection is that warlocks refresh on a short rest and will only need maybe one spell to scout with in a given situation. The point of a wide spell selection is that you don't know what you'll need if the DM is doing his job.

[Kobard]

Why are people talking about a Fey Warlock and Chain Boon Warlock as if these were mutually exclusive options?

[Aett_Thorn]

Why are people talking about a Fey Warlock and Chain Boon Warlock as if these were mutually exclusive options?

Not necessarily exclusive, just a lot of redundancies. Or at least you'd be scouting in different ways. However, a Chain Feylock would allow you to scout two different areas at once.

[ImproperJustice]

Here's a thought I have been chewing on:

Can a chain lock with voice of the chain master(allows familiar to speak with your voice) and beast speech, send the familar to go ask the local wildlife for directions/intel/ if they have noticed anything unusual?

Possibly enlist their aid if used creatively?

[Aett_Thorn]

Here's a thought I have been chewing on:

Can a chain lock with voice of the chain master(allows familiar to speak with your voice) and beast speech, send the familar to go ask the local wildlife for directions/intel/ if they have noticed anything unusual?

Possibly enlist their aid if used creatively?

If I were the DM, I'd allow it. But I'm betting that RAW prevents it unless you cast beast speech before you use voice of the chain master.