Creating A Celestial Warlock for CoS

[papa ninja]

Hi all,
I am new to these forums and will be starting my second D&D campaign (thanks to my son getting me hooked). Obviously I don't have much experience playing D&D so I'm looking for some advice on building a character for the Curse of Strahd campaign I'll be in. I narrowed down my choices to either a Celestial Warlock or Divine Soul Sorcerer (my last campaign I was a gnome rogue so I want to try a magic user this go round) and I'm pretty sure I'm going with the warlock.

I would appreciate any help with build tips for my character based on what makes sense considering the rest of my party; which is comprised of a rogue, druid, paladin and ranger. I was planning on building more of a support character than straight up damage dealer.

Any help with cantrips, spells, etc. would be welcome as well as possible pit falls to avoid. I'm thinking of playing either an Aasamir because it seems like it would be a fun hook for a celestial warlock and there will be two other Aasamir characters in our party or playing a half elf.

Please let me know if I need to provide more info and thanks in advance for your help! :smallsmile:

BTW - we are rolling for stats and starting at level 1.

[KnotaGuru]

Charisma as high as you can get followed by dex/con. Then classic EB focus. Use EB for damage and control with knock back effect. Go pact of the tomb for extra cantrips (guidance, thorn whip, and cantrip of choice) and ritual spells (identify, detect magic, leomund's tiny hut). Use flaming sphere which will scale well and keep knocking/pulling bad guys into it for more damage. Use your bonus heals as needed to keep your party in the fight.

[Submortimer]

Charisma as high as you can get followed by dex/con. Then classic EB focus. Use EB for damage and control with knock back effect. Go pact of the tomb for extra cantrips (guidance, thorn whip, and cantrip of choice) and ritual spells (identify, detect magic, leomund's tiny hut). Use flaming sphere which will scale well and keep knocking/pulling bad guys into it for more damage. Use your bonus heals as needed to keep your party in the fight.

Agree to this, but I would ignore Thorn whip in favor of taking Grasp of Hadar as an invocation. Still get a 10 ft. Pull, but tied to EB. I'd either go for Shilelagh and Green flame blade or Booming blade (for a solid back-up melee attack) or shocking grasp and spare the dying (for maneuverablity and stabilization).

[DaveOfTheDead]

My wife is actually playing a celestial warlock for our CoS game!

She's playing a tiefling, because she likes the dichotomy of a devilish-looking holy person (also that CHA boost). Her main focus is EB with Agonizing Blast. I'm not sure what her other invocation is, as we haven't played in a month. She also went Pact of the Blade for when things get tight and up close and personal. They are level 4 right now, and she is the dedicated healer due to her pool of d6 and Cure Wounds. There is also a druid in the party and now a bard (RIP lightning wizard) so some of that healing responsibility is somewhat lifted.

[Crgaston]

Create Bonfire is a thematic cantrip that you can add your Cha to at L6. And since it’s concentration, you can leave it in place and knock enemies into it with Repelling Blast. Also doesn’t use up your spell slots.

[Sigreid]

My personal bias would be to prioritize con over dex. You should be ranged attacking most of the time, avoiding being targeted by melee opponents. So I bias towards the ability to absorb fewer attacks better.

[QuickLyRaiNbow]

I don't love the idea of a warlock as support character. The lists and powers are too focused towards damage. If you're interested in being more supportive and would like a charisma caster, consider the lore bard. You'll get a good number of spells known and you'll be able to cover any of the skills the rogue can't. Healing word and cure wounds are available, and you've got a lot of useful enchantments and buffs.

That said, if you're really interested in going warlock, going for pact of the tome and the Book of Ancient Shadows invocation is pretty much a must. It's the best way to get ritual casting, and it'll let you make much more of an impact outside combat.

[NecroDancer]

Make sure to take the revivify spell as soon as possible, it may seem like a waste but it will never hurt to have a quick way to bring back the dead (moreso in Curse of Strahd)

[Theodoxus]

I played a celestial warlock in CoS. I went Cleric (life) 1/Warlock 4/Cleric 2, going vhuman for Resilient Con.

The added spells and cantrips helped, especially Guidance, Sacred Flame and Toll the Dead, freeing up more utilitarian cantrips from warlock outside of EB. I liked the option of targeting saves, plus Toll is such a great backup spell.

We used point buy, so I only put a 13 in strength, to use Chain Mail - I did eventually find plate mail, but found the 20 foot move wasn't that big a hindrance, since i wasn't wading into melee - but attacking at range with cantrips.

One thing I might change, were I to do it again, would be swap Life for Grave. Thematically, it's just a bit cooler, and maximized healing on unconscious characters is better suited to my actual playstyle (letting the character drop to 0 before using a healing spell).

[papa ninja]

Thanks for all the replies, there is a lot of helpful info!

Quick question Theodoxus, you still found Toll the Dead useful in the Strahd campaign? I was afraid a lot of the monsters we'd fight would resist the necrotic damage.

@ QuickLyRaiNbow, I looked into bard, but liked the rp opportunity to play a Celestial Warlock, plus I know the DM (my son) has some interesting ideas for tying stuff into the pact I made to become a warlock.

If I don't plan on being in the front line does it still make sense to take spells like Shilelagh and Green Flame Blade or Booming Blade?

Thanks for all the help!

[QuickLyRaiNbow]

Thanks for all the replies, there is a lot of helpful info!

Quick question Theodoxus, you still found Toll the Dead useful in the Strahd campaign? I was afraid a lot of the monsters we'd fight would resist the necrotic damage.

@ QuickLyRaiNbow, I looked into bard, but liked the rp opportunity to play a Celestial Warlock, plus I know the DM (my son) has some interesting ideas for tying stuff into the pact I made to become a warlock.

If I don't plan on being in the front line does it still make sense to take spells like Shilelagh and Green Flame Blade or Booming Blade?

Thanks for all the help!

Sounds good! I hope it all works out for you.

I steer clear of stuff like green flame blade if I'm not intending to be a frontline combatant. Agonizing eldritch blast is as good a damage option as anything, especially with push or pull riders. Having additional utility is more important, I think.

Racially, I quite like half-elves since I'm a bit of a skill addict. Yuan-ti from Volo's Guide to Monsters are the strongest racial option you can find; they've got +cha, advantage against all magical effects (!!!) and suggestion and other spells, including a damage cantrip. Purely for flavor the various aasimar options are quite good, though.

[Snowbluff]

+1 vote for Yuan Ti (they are probably one of the strongest races in the game by far. Don't forget poison immunity, too!)
+1 for EB and having a radiant damage cantrip. EB is good. Radiant is a good damage type for dealing with vampires, as it cancels out their fast healing. I knew a celestial warlock one. She nearly got the team killed by hiding in a corner instead of doing that. -1 vote for that warlock.\

Blade cantrips are better for classes that don't get extra attack and get a damage bonus, IE Divine Strike Clerics and Rogues.

[pdegan2814]

I don't love the idea of a warlock as support character. The lists and powers are too focused towards damage. If you're interested in being more supportive and would like a charisma caster, consider the lore bard. You'll get a good number of spells known and you'll be able to cover any of the skills the rogue can't. Healing word and cure wounds are available, and you've got a lot of useful enchantments and buffs.

That said, if you're really interested in going warlock, going for pact of the tome and the Book of Ancient Shadows invocation is pretty much a must. It's the best way to get ritual casting, and it'll let you make much more of an impact outside combat.

Taking the Book Of Ancient Secrets invocation is most useful in a world where you're likely to encounter scrolls and spellbooks to obtain rituals from. I'm currently playing a Warlock in CoS, and avoiding spoilers as much as I can, I haven't seen that crop up much. That being said, taking it just for Find Familiar and Identify can be quite helpful to a party.

[ProsecutorGodot]

The only thing to keep in mind with the Yuan-Ti option is that, if your DM cares about this, they are evil. I'm learning pretty quickly that my bias towards keeping races at least close to their recommended alignments might be a minority opinion but you'd have to bend pretty far backwards or completely disregard their racial background to make them anything but evil.

Alignment matters more in Curse of Strahd than any other campaign that I know of, so if you have the option to play a good or neutral aligned Yuan-Ti, run with that option because it's insanely strong.

Toll the Dead will often run into the issue where creatures will resist or ignore the necrotic damage and since you get Sacred Flame for free at level 1 you might not need Toll the Dead. That said, your options for combat focused cantrips is fairly small and taking Eldritch Blast limits you to one other choice at the start. It's not a bad thing to have if you aren't interested in the flavorful cantrips like prestidigitation or mage hand.

[Rebonack]

I'm fond of Variant Human with the Inspiring Leader feat for Celestial Warlocks. That helps to take pressure off your spell slots/healing light while also encouraging your party to take short rests. Everyone likes temp HP after all.

If you're wanting to roll with a more supporty role Boon of the Chain is actually pretty great. Load your familiar down with healing potions (either bought, crafted, or conjured up via Healing Elixir) and have him pass them out to your buddies when he isn't using the Help action to make a nuisance of himself.

[Sigreid]

I'm fond of Variant Human with the Inspiring Leader feat for Celestial Warlocks. That helps to take pressure off your spell slots/healing light while also encouraging your party to take short rests. Everyone likes temp HP after all.

If you're wanting to roll with a more supporty role Boon of the Chain is actually pretty great. Load your familiar down with healing potions (either bought, crafted, or conjured up via Healing Elixir) and have him pass them out to your buddies when he isn't using the Help action to make a nuisance of himself.

CW can give thp without that feat if I remember right.

[pdegan2814]

Agree to this, but I would ignore Thorn whip in favor of taking Grasp of Hadar as an invocation. Still get a 10 ft. Pull, but tied to EB. I'd either go for Shilelagh and Green flame blade or Booming blade (for a solid back-up melee attack) or shocking grasp and spare the dying (for maneuverablity and stabilization).

I second the recommendation for Shocking Grasp. Having a melee option is very nice, and being able to zap someone and run away without provoking an AoO is fantastic. I've played Warlocks a few times, and while Shillelagh can be handy I find myself rarely making use of it.

[Rebonack]

CW can give thp without that feat if I remember right.

Sort of. That feature kicks in at level 10 and triggers on short rests.

Inspiring Leader can be used whenever (though only once per short rest).

So you use the light shield first, then IL whenever the first pile of temp HP gets blown.

[Sigreid]

Sort of. That feature kicks in at level 10 and triggers on short rests.

Inspiring Leader can be used whenever (though only once per short rest).

So you use the light shield first, then IL whenever the first pile of temp HP gets blown.

I'm pretty sure inspiring leader says at the end of a rest in the description. Afb but that would mean you can only benefit from one except you could cover more allies I suppose.

[Theodoxus]

Thanks for all the replies, there is a lot of helpful info!

Quick question Theodoxus, you still found Toll the Dead useful in the Strahd campaign? I was afraid a lot of the monsters we'd fight would resist the necrotic damage.

Surprisingly, very few things resist necrotic outside of outer planar beings, which, less surprisingly, you don't find often on a demiplane like Ravenloft. The d12 on damaged critters, from my experience, is a kill stealer. It definitely becomes less useful once you hit 5th level and have multiple EB beams, but it's still a good choice against single targets. Kinda depends on if you're bolstering EB with invocations though. EB+Cha will blow Toll away, unless you're fighting something with a very high AC and very low Wisdom (it happens, just isn't overly common.)


@ QuickLyRaiNbow, I looked into bard, but liked the rp opportunity to play a Celestial Warlock, plus I know the DM (my son) has some interesting ideas for tying stuff into the pact I made to become a warlock.

As an aside, there is a Lathander-esque deity in Ravenloft. My cleric class was tied to Lathander, while the Celestial was tied to Amaunator (the god whom Lathander supplanted). It made for an interesting dichotomy as each had slightly different motivations, though both desired to help me rid the world of undead.


If I don't plan on being in the front line does it still make sense to take spells like Shilelagh and Green Flame Blade or Booming Blade?

Thanks for all the help!

I agree with those above who downplayed their importance. If you're in melee range as a pure warlock, you're going to have a "bad time". Shocking Grasp is nice, but sometimes just sacrificing a round to disengage is your only recourse. Misty Step would help, but that burns a precious spell slot (and I'm AFB, I'm not sure you get the option).

[Kuulvheysoon]

The only thing to keep in mind with the Yuan-Ti option is that, if your DM cares about this, they are evil. I'm learning pretty quickly that my bias towards keeping races at least close to their recommended alignments might be a minority opinion but you'd have to bend pretty far backwards or completely disregard their racial background to make them anything but evil.

I know that I'm going to regret bringing this up, but there are explicitly LG yuan-ti in Eberron, called the Shulassakar.

[ProsecutorGodot]

I know that I'm going to regret bringing this up, but there are explicitly LG yuan-ti in Eberron, called the Shulassakar.

From what (little) I understand of Eberron, it's pretty common for it to have some oddballs involved, a lot of history for different races is drastically different from other DND settings. Ravenloft is actually disconnected from a conventional setting so this would be a decent enough reasoning for having a LG Yuan-Ti, the module does specifically state that PC's and NPC's alike who are dragged into Barovia can come from many different realms.

This is actually pretty interesting to learn though, there's a Yuan-Ti in a game I'm playing in right now that might be interested in reading up on this stuff as her character is good aligned.

[Kuulvheysoon]

From what (little) I understand of Eberron, it's pretty common for it to have some oddballs involved, a lot of history for different races is drastically different from other DND settings. Ravenloft is actually disconnected from a conventional setting so this would be a decent enough reasoning for having a LG Yuan-Ti, the module does specifically state that PC's and NPC's alike who are dragged into Barovia can come from many different realms.

This is actually pretty interesting to learn though, there's a Yuan-Ti in a game I'm playing in right now that might be interested in reading up on this stuff as her character is good aligned.

This is the relevant link (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ebds/20040920a). There's not too much info on them in the setting, they're more of a side note.

[Rebonack]

I'm pretty sure inspiring leader says at the end of a rest in the description. Afb but that would mean you can only benefit from one except you could cover more allies I suppose.

Nope, only limitations are the ten minute 'cast' time and the fact that someone can only be buffed once per short rest.

That makes IL significantly more powerful than the Celestial feature since it gives more temp HP while also not being bound directly to short rests. Try using it on an allys
summons, it makes a pretty huge difference.

[ProsecutorGodot]

Nope, only limitations are the ten minute 'cast' time and the fact that someone can only be buffed once per short rest.

That makes IL significantly more powerful than the Celestial feature since it gives more temp HP while also not being bound directly to short rests. Try using it on an allys
summons, it makes a pretty huge difference.

Things to note:
-They both give the same amount of temp hp*
-The Warlock feature is at 10th level while you can use inspiring leader as early as 1st level as VHuman or 4th on any other character
-The features have essentially the same cooldown, I would argue just having them after each rest is a lot more useful than having to keep track of 10 minute speeches (if that matters in your campaign)
-They target the same amount of creatures, Inspiring Leader giving you the option not to target yourself.
-Celestial 10 doesn't have to understand your language, inspiring leader requires that the target understands your language. This limits it's usefulness on Summons and most Beast companions.
-Celestial 10 will ALWAYS happen at the end of a rest, so if for some reason you can't see targets you want to give THP to, they're not going to get it.

They're near identical in functionality, having both would be almost completely redundant and none of the differences are what I would call significant.

*The celestial 10 feature uses your warlock level rather than character level so Inspiring Leader is only going to give more HP if you're above level 10 when you get it.

[KnotaGuru]

Toll the dead isn't worth it imo. Celestial warlocks get sacred flame for free and can add CHA mod to radiant damage spells starting at level 6. That's 2d8+5 (14 dmg avg) vs. 2d12 (13 dmg avg). Sacred flame is radiant and targets dex, while toll the dead is necrotic and targets con. You'd be using EB most of the time unless the target has cover or in melee range. CWs also have a great bonus action heal, so no need to take spare the dying. Book of ancient secrets gives you lots of cantrip options. You already have good damage cantrips and light, so focus on support/utility: guidance for sure, then maybe mold earth, control flames, mage hand, mending, minor illusion, or friends (if taking the disguise self invocation). If vhuman, inspiring leader is decent (though redundant at level 10) or healer, or resilient con.

[QuickLyRaiNbow]

I agree with all of that. Toll the dead is nice for many classes, but not for warlocks. I might take create bonfire, and I personally get a lot of use out of message.

[Sigreid]

Things to note:
-They both give the same amount of temp hp*
-The Warlock feature is at 10th level while you can use inspiring leader as early as 1st level as VHuman or 4th on any other character
-The features have essentially the same cooldown, I would argue just having them after each rest is a lot more useful than having to keep track of 10 minute speeches (if that matters in your campaign)
-They target the same amount of creatures, Inspiring Leader giving you the option not to target yourself.
-Celestial 10 doesn't have to understand your language, inspiring leader requires that the target understands your language. This limits it's usefulness on Summons and most Beast companions.
-Celestial 10 will ALWAYS happen at the end of a rest, so if for some reason you can't see targets you want to give THP to, they're not going to get it.

They're near identical in functionality, having both would be almost completely redundant and none of the differences are what I would call significant.

*The celestial 10 feature uses your warlock level rather than character level so Inspiring Leader is only going to give more HP if you're above level 10 when you get it.

Lots of situations where having two batches of THP per hp that can be tapped per short rest.

[papa ninja]

Wow; I just want to thank everyone again for taking the time to respond to my post, especially since I'm brand new to the forums. I'm an avid board gamer, but my son and a buddy of mine have gotten me into rp which I quite enjoy. I really enjoy the story telling aspect of the game and worry less about min/maxing stats, but there is still a ton of info to digest.

Our campaign starts a week from Saturday, so I have some time to put into a backstory and creating my character. It took me over a week just to decide on playing a CW, so having the feedback from all of you will help me as I build my character.

Thanks again for being so welcoming and for the advice!

Another question if anyone wants to take the time to explain. Being a complete noob I'm not exactly sure how having a familiar works/the benefits of having one. How would I best use one?

[Theodoxus]

Depends on if you're gaining a familiar from the Tome of Secrets or Pact of the Chain.

If Tome, your familiar is a help mate. You can use it to cast touch range spells (great for getting Cure Wounds out into your party, for instance), or it can use the Help action to grant advantage for one attack (either yours or a partymate). The familiar acts on its own initiative, so that brings in certain tactics.

The most optimal familiar for Help is the owl - it has 60 feet of flight, 120 feet of darkvision, advantage on perception checks for sight and hearing, and most importantly for combat, the Flyby ability, allowing it to distract (Help) an opponent and swoop away without incurring an Opportunity Attack.

Other good options would be obsequious critters like rats or toads; bats have 60 feet of blindsight, allowing for operation in darkness, fog cloud, etc.

If, OTOH, you're thinking Pact of the Chain, that opens up access to Imps, Pseudodragons, Quasits and Sprites. Each brings their own advantages/disadvantages. Imps and Quasits are generally considered the most useful, as they're a bit more resilient, and can shapechange into other critters. Unlike standard familiars, the Pact familiar can attack; you need to sacrifice your own attack and the familiar uses its reaction... whether that's useful or not /shrug.

The other great benefit of the four unique chain familiars is they grant their magical resistance to you when within 10 feet. That grants you advantage on saving throws vs spells and magical effects (though maybe not sprite... but they have other benefits).

In general, familiars are pretty nifty. If it helps at all, I've been rebuilding a 4th level wizard into a warlock for Adventures League and have been vacillating between Chain and Tome. I ultimately chose Tome for the familiar, as I don't need fancy familiars to use EB which will be his primary attack; and the additional cantrips and rituals will be far more useful in the long run.

[ProsecutorGodot]

Lots of situations where having two batches of THP per hp that can be tapped per short rest.

The only situation being "if you have 10 minutes that you can't argue into 60" Remember THP doesn't stack either and a warlock should always be looking for an opportunity for a short rest, it doesn't seem all that likely that you'd often get the chance to use both when you could just use the celestial 10 feature and have picked up a feat that would be more useful in general.

There is a strong argument to taking it in this case however, since modules starting at 1st level won't see much (if any) action past 10th level.

[Sigreid]

The only situation being "if you have 10 minutes that you can't argue into 60" Remember THP doesn't stack either and a warlock should always be looking for an opportunity for a short rest, it doesn't seem all that likely that you'd often get the chance to use both when you could just use the celestial 10 feature and have picked up a feat that would be more useful in general.

There is a strong argument to taking it in this case however, since modules starting at 1st level won't see much (if any) action past 10th level.

Oh, I wouldn't be likely to take one if I have the other it's not that hard to see a situation where you can scrounge 10 minutes while the rest of the party is searching a room or whatever though.

[Theodoxus]

Wow, you seriously don't have players begging the group for 10 minutes to ritually cast spells? As a DM, I've probably handwaved hundreds of hours of "ritual time".

Identify, Detect Magic and Augury are the big ones. Sometimes they lead to an actual rest, but more often than not, the caster wants to run around a dungeon with Detect running to find "all the goodies". Seems like a perfect time to "Preach to the Choir".

[rbstr]

You shouldn't get Magic Resistance from your Chain Pact familiar unless a DM isn't paying attention. Those DMG familiars are a separate thing and beyond the bounds of what a the pact boon is supposed to do. The Chain Pact Boon familiar statblocks are listed in the PHB as they are for a reason.

But I do think that the Chain is a good way to go. Tome's cantrips are overrated unless you're trying for specific builds, particularly when you get Sacred Flame and Light for free with Celestial. Rituals are great but only if you can find them to write down in the book. Maybe your DM will provide that for you, my experience is that spells are rarely around to copy.
Plus I think chain's got the better invocation option. You can get a really huge healing/survival benefit out of the Gift of the Ever Living One's invocation that I think is really good to have in CoS. Chains of Carceri is super strong if you get to that level.

[ProsecutorGodot]

Wow, you seriously don't have players begging the group for 10 minutes to ritually cast spells? As a DM, I've probably handwaved hundreds of hours of "ritual time".

Identify, Detect Magic and Augury are the big ones. Sometimes they lead to an actual rest, but more often than not, the caster wants to run around a dungeon with Detect running to find "all the goodies". Seems like a perfect time to "Preach to the Choir".

Oh I do, both as a player and a DM, but my point was that picking inspiring leader as a celestial warlock is pretty suboptimal. If he was going to play any other kind of warlock I would highly recommend the pick but for Celestial it functions almost exactly like a feature they already get, making it almost entirely redundant.

I would recommend Healer over Inspiring Leader in this case.

[Sigreid]

Oh I do, both as a player and a DM, but my point was that picking inspiring leader as a celestial warlock is pretty suboptimal. If he was going to play any other kind of warlock I would highly recommend the pick but for Celestial it functions almost exactly like a feature they already get, making it almost entirely redundant.

I would recommend Healer over Inspiring Leader in this case.

IMO a warlock should work to put crossbow expert and spell sniper in their build. So they can use EB effectively regardless of range and cover.

[QuickLyRaiNbow]

IMO a warlock should work to put crossbow expert and spell sniper in their build. So they can use EB effectively regardless of range and cover.

I think that's less important for celestial warlocks, because sacred flame ignores cover. It doesn't do as much damage, but you don't get a lot of ASIs, either.

[ProsecutorGodot]

IMO a warlock should work to put crossbow expert and spell sniper in their build. So they can use EB effectively regardless of range and cover.

Considering this character is going to be played in Curse of Strahd specifically, I don't see any reason to take Spell Sniper over the Eldritch Spear invocation, if range is really your concern. The cover aspect is mostly a non-issue, for many reasons. I definitely don't think Crossbow Expert is worth picking up either, considering you only gain a marginal benefit and it takes up one of the precious few ASI's you would have.

I've had a character in one of my games run the 600ft eldritch blast dream and it's not nearly as practical as you'd expect. In extreme fringe cases however, it can trivialize an encounter.

[Sigreid]

Considering this character is going to be played in Curse of Strahd specifically, I don't see any reason to take Spell Sniper over the Eldritch Spear invocation, if range is really your concern. The cover aspect is mostly a non-issue, for many reasons. I definitely don't think Crossbow Expert is worth picking up either, considering you only gain a marginal benefit and it takes up one of the precious few ASI's you would have.

I've had a character in one of my games run the 600ft eldritch blast dream and it's not nearly as practical as you'd expect. In extreme fringe cases however, it can trivialize an encounter.

Suppose that all depends on how your DM does cover and such and whether you want to use all your EB invocations as much as possible.

[papa ninja]

One last question... I think.

After Charisma what stats should I focus on? Con for hp or Dex for saves? Are Wis or Int important at all?

Thanks!

[KnotaGuru]

I'd vote tomb over chain. Chain's improved familiar is a nice scout and most can go invisible, but book gives you way more utility. You wanted to be a party support lock, and tomb does that very well. The access to extra cantrips is nice. You'll use guidance all the time. Druids get it, but druids are usually wildshaped or concentrating on other spells. Someone mentioned message which can be a huge help. Book locks are also the best ritual casters in the game and you're party is lacking a wizard. Find familiar is great, and you don't have to stay with the same animal, you can recast (takes an hour & 10gp) for an animal you need, though owl is usually the best. Warlocks have a decent spell list too. Scaling counterspell, hypnotic pattern, sickening radiance, hold person/monster. You'll also get access to revivy, lesser/greater restoration, flaming sphere, and wall of fire. With pushing/pulling EB, you could control the battlefield very well.

[ProsecutorGodot]

Dex and Con are about even, I think Dex is generally prefered over Con. Ideally you would have at least a 14 in both but if you have to choose I'd go with Dex.

Intelligence and Strength are dump stats, you put the lowest scores you have in those and hope desperately that you're not forced to use those stats in the few situations they'd come up for.

Wisdom is a stat that you at least want to not be a negative modifier, but it's solidly ranked 4 of 6 in your priorities. Warlocks have proficiency in wisdom saves by default so you can afford to have it a bit lower than Con and Dex.

[Rebonack]

Things to note:
-They both give the same amount of temp hp*

Wanted to point out here that this is wrong.

Inspiring Leader gives you Cha Mod plus character level temp HP to you and your buddies.

Celestial Resilience gives that much to you, but less to your pals. Assuming level ten, it's 15 temp HP to you and 10 temp HP to your buddies. At level 20, it's 25 temp HP vs 15.

And if our buddy decides to snag a familiar (and he should!) the extra HP from Inspiring Leader is a pretty huge deal.

[ProsecutorGodot]

Wanted to point out here that this is wrong.

Inspiring Leader gives you Cha Mod plus character level temp HP to you and your buddies.

Celestial Resilience gives that much to you, but less to your pals. Assuming level ten, it's 15 temp HP to you and 10 temp HP to your buddies. At level 20, it's 25 temp HP vs 15.

And if our buddy decides to snag a familiar (and he should!) the extra HP from Inspiring Leader is a pretty huge deal.

That's a pretty big oversight on my part, dang.