Scorching Ray and Warlocks?

[Citadel97501]

Hello all, I was just wondering how people feel about Scorching Ray for Warlocks? It seems to be relatively solid due to our large number of ways to get advantage, possible crit fishing with Hexblade or just straight damage boosts from either Celestial Warlock or Pact of the Wyrm (Mystical Companions OGL source book) https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/187894/5th-Edition-Role-Playing--Mystical-Companions

But I wanted to compare it to eldritch blast, and the usual optimizing and unfortunately I am not impressed for a warlock spell slot.

At level 6 as this is where most of our dps comes online, and is a reasonable level for comparisons.
Scorching Ray
Base: 4 rays for 2d6 average of 7 for 28 average damage if all 4 hit.
Crit Fishing: 27% chance to crit increases damage to 50.8 damage (Hex Blade Curse with Elven Accuracy).
Celestial Warlock: 33
Hex then firing Rays: 4 rays at 2d6 fire & 1d6 necrotic= 40
Pact of the Wyrm: 4 rays at 3d6 = 40

Eldritch Blast
Base: 1d10+5 x 2 rays = 21 average if both hit.
Crit Fishing: 34.29
Hex: 28

Firebolt just for completeness although fewer blasts is a problem.
Base: 2d10 = 11
Crit Fishing: 31.75
Celestial Warlock: 16
Hex: 2d10+1d6 = 14.5
Pact of the Wyrm: 2d10+1d6 = 14.5

[stoutstien]

With warlocks limited spell selection grabbing a spell that is already covered by EB doesn't seem worth it.
Fire is resisted alot

[Wildarm]

Hello all, I was just wondering how people feel about Scorching Ray for Warlocks? It seems to be relatively solid due to our large number of ways to get advantage, possible crit fishing with Hexblade or just straight damage boosts from either Celestial Warlock or Pact of the Wyrm (Mystical Companions OGL source book) https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/187894/5th-Edition-Role-Playing--Mystical-Companions

But I wanted to compare it to eldritch blast, and the usual optimizing and unfortunately I am not impressed for a warlock spell slot.

At level 6 as this is where most of our dps comes online, and is a reasonable level for comparisons.
Scorching Ray
Base: 4 rays for 2d6 average of 7 for 28 average damage if all 4 hit.
Crit Fishing: 27% chance to crit increases damage to 50.8 damage (Hex Blade Curse with Elven Accuracy).
Celestial Warlock: 33
Hex then firing Rays: 4 rays at 2d6 fire & 1d6 necrotic= 40
Pact of the Wyrm: 4 rays at 3d6 = 40

Eldritch Blast
Base: 1d10+5 x 2 rays = 21 average if both hit.
Crit Fishing: 34.29
Hex: 28

Firebolt just for completeness although fewer blasts is a problem.
Base: 2d10 = 11
Crit Fishing: 31.75
Celestial Warlock: 16
Hex: 2d10+1d6 = 14.5
Pact of the Wyrm: 2d10+1d6 = 14.5

Scorching Ray on a Warlock might be OK at certain levels for a Warlock namely:
Level 3-4
Level 7-10

These levels they get a potential boost in damage over plain EB due to the different scaling of warlock spell slots vs cantrips.

Overall I'd have to say it's OK and since you can swap spells known each level on the warlock you could swap it in at levels where it is more effective. That being said, you have MUCH better things to do with your spell slots as a warlock than a marginal uptick in damage twice per short rest.

[Vogie]

Hello all, I was just wondering how people feel about Scorching Ray for Warlocks? It seems to be relatively solid due to our large number of ways to get advantage, possible crit fishing with Hexblade or just straight damage boosts from either Celestial Warlock or Pact of the Wyrm (Mystical Companions OGL source book) https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/187894/5th-Edition-Role-Playing--Mystical-Companions

But I wanted to compare it to eldritch blast, and the usual optimizing and unfortunately I am not impressed for a warlock spell slot.

At level 6 as this is where most of our dps comes online, and is a reasonable level for comparisons.
Scorching Ray
Base: 4 rays for 2d6 average of 7 for 28 average damage if all 4 hit.
Crit Fishing: 27% chance to crit increases damage to 50.8 damage (Hex Blade Curse with Elven Accuracy).
Celestial Warlock: 33
Hex then firing Rays: 4 rays at 2d6 fire & 1d6 necrotic= 40
Pact of the Wyrm: 4 rays at 3d6 = 40

Eldritch Blast
Base: 1d10+5 x 2 rays = 21 average if both hit.
Crit Fishing: 34.29
Hex: 28

Firebolt just for completeness although fewer blasts is a problem.
Base: 2d10 = 11
Crit Fishing: 31.75
Celestial Warlock: 16
Hex: 2d10+1d6 = 14.5
Pact of the Wyrm: 2d10+1d6 = 14.5

Only Fiendlock has access to Scorching Ray, so you wouldn't be able to crit fish with it with Hexblade's curse or use Celestial's +Cha to fire damage. You also can't cast Hex as a bonus action and Scorching ray as an action in the same turn.

I don't know anything about pact of the wyrm, and the reviews of the pdf you've linked to state that the homebrew document seems to be based on 3e rules even though it has 5e in the title.

[Damon_Tor]

Only Fiendlock has access to Scorching Ray, so you wouldn't be able to crit fish with it with Hexblade's curse or use Celestial's +Cha to fire damage. You also can't cast Hex as a bonus action and Scorching ray as an action in the same turn.

I don't know anything about pact of the wyrm, and the reviews of the pdf you've linked to state that the homebrew document seems to be based on 3e rules even though it has 5e in the title.

Hex lasts all day at even mid levels: your first en****er of the day you'll face this problem, but the bonus action "reapplication" of the hex isn't casting the spell again, and doesn't incur that penalty.

To the OP: Scorching Ray's small but numerous damage dice (and frequently resisted damage type) make it the perfect candidate for Elemental Adept.