Tiefling Warlock---twisted.

[asmartfellow]

Building a Winged Tiefling Tome Warlock, lvl 7. Here's what I have so far (that's pertinent):

His CHA is 17, DEX 14. Rest is meh. FEAT taken: medium Armor training. Gives Medium Armor and Shield access.

Equipped with +1 Breast Plate & +1 Shield & Ring of Protection. AC should be 22 or 23. Armor is Adamantine, so can't be Crit.

Using Eldritch Blast, because duh.

Tome Lock so can be utility like no other with book having metric tons of rituals, from any class.

Patron is Celestial. Quasi-ranged Healer. Base with lots of radiant spells. (with the book feature)

Speak with animals at will, Read any languages, and DISGUISE SELF at will. (This last part is KEY to him)

Using Disguise self at will, have him permanently appear angelic. Good looking human with angel wings. (Can't remove devil wings with this, but can make them look like angel wings!)

Will play him as an avatar of the God of Light.


Thoughts? What would you do to alter/augment this character? Already told DM that anyone able to shut down his disguise reavealing his "true" form might lend to some intersting party interactions.

[sophontteks]

Actor feat is a must with disguise self at will. I'd rather have the invisible imp familiar to scout ahead and gather intel on diguised targets. Though you seem to only want the ability as fluff anyway.

You need an additional invocation for the tomelock to use rituals. I think that puts your invocation count at 5 when you only have 4.

[MarkVIIIMarc]

Building a Winged Tiefling Tome Warlock, lvl 7. Here's what I have so far (that's pertinent):

His CHA is 17, DEX 14. Rest is meh. FEAT taken: medium Armor training. Gives Medium Armor and Shield access.

Equipped with +1 Breast Plate & +1 Shield & Ring of Protection. AC should be 22 or 23. Armor is Adamantine, so can't be Crit.

Using Eldritch Blast, because duh.

Tome Lock so can be utility like no other with book having metric tons of rituals, from any class.

Patron is Celestial. Quasi-ranged Healer. Base with lots of radiant spells. (with the book feature)

Speak with animals at will, Read any languages, and DISGUISE SELF at will. (This last part is KEY to him)

Using Disguise self at will, have him permanently appear angelic. Good looking human with angel wings. (Can't remove devil wings with this, but can make them look like angel wings!)

Will play him as an avatar of the God of Light.


Thoughts? What would you do to alter/augment this character? Already told DM that anyone able to shut down his disguise reavealing his "true" form might lend to some intersting party interactions.

You have an interesting concept with the DISGUISE SELF Tiefling.

I need my hand held for a moment about the AC.

Breast Plate +1 = 17
Shield +1 = 20
Ring of Protection makes = 21

21 is still a very reasonable AC.

Is there a Warlock ability or bonus from one of them Feats I"m not taking into account?

[Theaitetos]

Actor feat is a must with disguise self at will.

Not worth it imo. As long as you don't want to go undercover as someone else or be otherwise deceptive, there's not much use for actor. And even if you do, learning Alter Self is a more efficient way to change your voice than using a feat. If you aim for the Charisma+1, Flames of Plegethos is better for a tiefling; you can even wrap yourself in fire at will with the Produce Fire cantrip and pretend to be an angry solar or something.:smallbiggrin:

You could multiclass and take 1-3 levels of Sorcerer (Divine Soul), granting you access to some good spells (Shield, Silence, Bless, …), some useful 1st- & 2nd-level spellslots, and metamagics like Subtle, Twinned, or Heightened. Using perfectly good 5th-level spellslots for warlock spells is often a waste and it's good to have some sorcerer slots for things like a short Hex.

[sophontteks]

Not worth it imo. As long as you don't want to go undercover as someone else or be otherwise deceptive.
.
True, though that also pretty much covers all the uses of a disguise in the first place.:smallwink:

Alter self defeats the point of an at-will disguise, because it has limited uses. The draw is that the disguises never end. Actor is at-will and warlocks won't have a hard time making all the checks.

[MagneticKitty]

Disguise self at will takes your concentration slot. This means when you sleep you look like your normal self. When you go unconscious or fail a con check as well. This is a great ability for a lot of different temporary guises, but if you only want one I would recommend a physical disguise.

If you want to always be in disguise instead check the secret identity background. Seems like a better fit!

[Hytheter]

Disguise self at will takes your concentration slot.

No, disguise self doesn't require concentration. That said it only lasts an hour, so you are right that you couldn't be disguised while you sleep.

[MagneticKitty]

No, disguise self doesn't require concentration. That said it only lasts an hour, so you are right that you couldn't be disguised while you sleep.
Oh ok. My bad. XD
still you will have to sneak off to sleep. And being unconscious might be ruled as no longer being a valid target for the spell. And people can see through it, especially if they bump into or frisk you

[sophontteks]

Secret identity is a great suggestion for OP's idea though.

[Theaitetos]

True, though that also pretty much covers all the uses of a disguise in the first place.:smallwink:

Alter self defeats the point of an at-will disguise, because it has limited uses. The draw is that the disguises never end. Actor is at-will and warlocks won't have a hard time making all the checks.

Alter Self has unlimited uses, because you can use your action to change appearance again, including race, voice, … . This means you have at-will voice changes too, covering the Actor feat.

And warlocks get Disguise Self as at-will invocation at level 2 and at higher levels they get Alter Self as at-will invocation. Summarized: Disguise Self invocation & Alter Self spell at lower levels and Alter Self invocation at higher levels covers all the ground without spending an ASI.

Actor is just not worth taking as a warlock.

[sophontteks]

Alter Self has unlimited uses, because you can use your action to change appearance again, including race, voice, … . This means you have at-will voice changes too, covering the Actor feat.

And warlocks get Disguise Self as at-will invocation at level 2 and at higher levels they get Alter Self as at-will invocation. Summarized: Disguise Self invocation & Alter Self spell at lower levels and Alter Self invocation at higher levels covers all the ground without spending an ASI.

Actor is just not worth taking as a warlock.
If you are talking about the invocation, it requires the player to be level 15. The player here is level 7. Actor/Mask of many faces works at level 4. Most games do not even go up to level 15. Its not even a consideration.

[Theaitetos]

I'm saying, below level 15 you take the Disguise Self invocation and the Alter Self spell.
And at level 15 you replace the invocations Disguise Self → Alter Self and unlearn the Alter Self spell.

That way you don't have to spend a feat on something that's easily replaced with a level 2 spell on a short-rest recharge warlock. Actor is for people who can't afford a 2nd level spellslot.

[sophontteks]

I'm saying, below level 15 you take the Disguise Self invocation and the Alter Self spell.
And at level 15 you replace the invocations Disguise Self → Alter Self and unlearn the Alter Self spell.

That way you don't have to spend a feat on something that's easily replaced with a level 2 spell on a short-rest recharge warlock. Actor is for people who can't afford a 2nd level spellslot.
Alter self is not even on the warlock spell list AFAIK.

[Hytheter]

Alter self is not even on the warlock spell list AFAIK.

Correct. Warlocks don't get Alter Self without a later invocation.

Also, it isn't necessarily ideal to replace the Disguise invocation with the Alter invocation because the latter is concentration and also can't change the appearance of your equipment.

Anyway, Actor is a half-feat that grants charisma, so it's not like the opportunity cost is that high. Definitely not a bad pick if you finangle your stats right.

[Theaitetos]

That's why I wrote at the beginning to dip into sorcerer.

First feat at lvl4 was Medium Armor + Shields proficiency. (1st ASI)
That leaves to reason that War Caster will follow soon, otherwise he can't cast non-material somatic spells (e.g. Eldritch Blast) with a Rod of the Pact Keeper, a staff or something similar while wielding a shield. (2nd ASI)
Then it's necessary to take a +2 ASI on Charisma, no feat. (3rd ASI)
Then it's necessary to take a +1 ASI on Charisma, which could be a feat like Actor. (4th ASI)

If he dips for more than 1 level, then these are all the ASIs he can get. So the opportunity cost is "Actor" vs "Plegethos" vs "2x +1 on a stat".

Depending on the other stats either the two stat improvements or Plegethos is better imo.
If there's any stat with an uneven number, the second stat improvement is very useful.
If the DM allows the Radiant Soul feature on Plegethos, then this feat is must. Even has some optical potential as simple cantrips like Produce Flame can trigger the fire shield.

If he doesn't dip for more than 1 level, then there's a 5th ASI, lowering the opportunity cost of taking "Actor". But it also opens up the option of taking another stat improvement or feat like the Tiefling's Infernal Constitution. Example: CHA+1 & CON+1 (ASI 4) and Infernal/Resilient Constitution would raise the CON modifier by +1, and either granting cold & poison resistance or proficiency for CON saves. Is that worth Actor?

And again, the OP described his character as someone who just wants to appear angelic, not a deceptive infiltrator pretending to be other people, so Actor's use is not clear to me.


For comparison, I had a similar Winged Tiefling Warlock (Celestial), who pretended to be an Avariel Half-Elf. Didn't play her too far, but the built looked like this:

Warlock (Celestial) 1, started with DEX15, CON13, INT12+1, CHA15+2
Sorcerer (Divine Soul) 1, spells 1 Bonus (Bless), Command, Sanctuary
Warlock 2, invocations Agonizing Blast, Mask of Many Faces (Disguise Self)
Wizard (Warmage) 2, spells Shield, Absorb Elements
Warlock X
ASIs (aimed for): CHA+1 & DEX+1, CHA+2, Infernal Constitution (or Resilient CON), variable


Warlocks don't have CON proficiency, so concentration is a constant threat, making either War Caster or Resilient CON a necessity. Or you somehow bolster your saving throws for bad rolls like in this build (Bless, Divine Soul feature, Warmage reaction feature). I was struggling to cover all her bases (AC, saving throws) with limited ASIs, especially since Tieflings have a +1 on INT as racial stat, which is usually totally wasted, so I just don't see how Actor could fit in there…

I decided against higher AC, because permanent Flying allows you to stay out of melee combat – if your party isn't made up of even weaker members than a non-melee Warlock – so the Shield spell and Warmage feature should suffice for the occasional ranged attack. Therefore going with Medium Armor + Shields seemed like a waste.

Maybe the OP should tell us some more about his party and whether he goes into melee sometimes.

[sophontteks]

Unfortunately, the OP listed everything that they won't be changing, so a coffeelock is off the menu. (But I think they are still 1 invocation too many)

Alter self is a fine spell, but its a concentration spell with limited uses. The ability to keep a disguise throughout the day, and speak as if you were that person at-will is very powerful in campaigns with a bit more social and mystery elements, like Curse of Strahd and Ghosts of the Saltmarsh. I've used it and had players use it. Its fun, and crazy strong when a player needs to infiltrate an area, or gather information. And this isn't requiring 3 levels of sorcerer, its just requiring a half-feat.

Judging by your builds, you tend to run campaigns more focused on combat optimization, which is fine.

[Theaitetos]

Unfortunately, the OP listed everything that they won't be changing, so a coffeelock is off the menu. (But I think they are still 1 invocation too many)

OP said he won't change what he has so far, but never said anything about where to go next or excluding multiclassing.


Alter self is a fine spell, but its a concentration spell with limited uses. The ability to keep a disguise throughout the day, and speak as if you were that person at-will is very powerful in campaigns with a bit more social and mystery elements, like Curse of Strahd and Ghosts of the Saltmarsh. I've used it and had players use it. Its fun, and crazy strong when a player needs to infiltrate an area, or gather information. And this isn't requiring 3 levels of sorcerer, its just requiring a half-feat.

Alter Self allows you to speak as if you were that person at-will, too. It's even better than Actor in this regard: Actor's voice mimicry can be discovered by ability checks, but Alter Self's voice cannot be detected as fake.

Alter Self is not an illusion and cannot be discovered without truesight. Others aren't granted any ability checks to discover your true self.

But anyone with a successful Investigation check can see through Disguise Self and people can notice the failing physical interaction of objects. Even the standard situation of walking up to two guards is already unsafe, as they get to roll a check with advantage against your spell DC when investigating you. Infiltrating a place the entire day and succeeding on every single ability check, while the others always fail theirs? Unlikely.

----

Edit: The cost of 3 levels as sorcerer isn't really big for a warlock, which is why it's one of the most common multiclass builds: Warlock X / Sorcerer 3.
The last 3 levels of Warlock offer only 1 ASI, 1 invocation (from 7 to 8), "0" capstone, and 3 additional hit points.
The first 3 levels of Sorcerer offer 4 cantrips, 4 spells, 6 spell slots (1,1,1,1,2,2), 2 Metamagics, Font of Sorcery, and a strong Origin Feature.
Even if you add Actor to the Warlock as its ASI, it will still pale to the Sorcerer. And infiltrators will love the Subtle metamagic.

[sophontteks]

OP said he won't change what he has so far, but never said anything about where to go next or excluding multiclassing.



Alter Self allows you to speak as if you were that person at-will, too. It's even better than Actor in this regard: Actor's voice mimicry can be discovered by ability checks, but Alter Self's voice cannot be detected as fake.

Alter Self is not an illusion and cannot be discovered without truesight. Others aren't granted any ability checks to discover your true self.

But anyone with a successful Investigation check can see through Disguise Self and people can notice the failing physical interaction of objects. Even the standard situation of walking up to two guards is already unsafe, as they get to roll a check with advantage against your spell DC when investigating you. Infiltrating a place the entire day and succeeding on every single ability check, while the others always fail theirs? Unlikely.
Alter self also requires concentration, 3 levels of sorcerer, and only lasts an hour (vs. being always on.) I get that it has advantages, but I don't see your obsession.

[Theaitetos]

Concentration on Alter Self doesn't matter much during infiltration: with Disguise Self you can't cast any spells unless nobody watches you; you might even risk to run out of your disguise if you can't manage to be alone every hour. With Sorc 3 Alter Self you can take Subtle spell and still cast non-concentration spells or renew Alter Self.

I'm saying that Celestial Warlocks have a hard time as it is and should be very careful where to put their ASIs/feats. If you're the party healer, then you can't risk being knocked out early (e.g. due to low saves) because it's unlikely someone else can heal/save you. And a party without healer… well, that's really dangerous.

Actor has a very limited usability for infiltration. It's much better to use versatile spells for niche applications (you're a spellcaster with cool magic after all!) and use the rare ASIs for things that are not as easily achievable by spells.

Maybe I better outline the sorcerer dip a bit more. 3 levels in Sorcerer (Divine Soul) will give you
4 cantrips, e.g. Thaumaturgy, Guidance or Resistance, Shocking Grasp, Shape Water
3 spells of 1st-level, e.g. Bless, Command, Sanctuary
2 spells of 2nd-level, e.g. Alter Self, Silence or Enlarge/Reduce
4 spellslots of 1st-level
2 spellslots of 2nd-level
one 2d4 saving throw roll bonus per short rest
3 sorcerery points & coffeelock ability
2 metamagics, e.g. Subtle, Heightened or Quickened


The warlock has only 2 spell slots – 3rd slot is gained at level 11 – so the sorcerer slots come in handy for simple lvl1 spells that do not need to be upcast; e.g. a disability Hex (out of combat) to make someone else fail their ability checks (insight, investigation, perception, …) during infiltration, or a Shield, a Sanctuary, a Command, a Suggestion, … without burning your precious lvl5 warlock slots. You effectively quadruple the amount of spell slots from 2 → 8. This is especially important out of combat, where many small things are required instead of one big blast.
The spells I gave as example scale very well into high levels, despite being lvl1 spells, as Silence neutralizes enemy spellcasters while your Subtle metamagic protects your magic power. A well-timed Sanctuary can save you or a friend; a Command can make an enemy surrender or a rival fart at the queen; Enlarge/Reduce can sink ships or open doors; and Bless helps your party dish out damage and pass their saving throws – depending on how much you come to cast your Eldritch Blast during strong encounters.

I marked the divine spells in light blue, to give an impression of how much the angelic appearance would be enhanced by this dip. Some spells like Bless and Sanctuary really scream "divine power" in-game, yet cannot be obtained by Celestial Warlocks. So these spells very much fortify this idea of an angelic being that the OP wants to portray ingame.

[da newt]

A 1 lvl dip in rogue might be nice for expertise in Deception / Persuasion or whatever you think will best support your theme.

[asmartfellow]

Thanks all for the tips. I haven't made this character yet per se, so I'm not totally married to the build I have yet. I'm open to some changes.

For example, I had considered starting with 1st lvl fighter (maybe 2nd as well for action surge) The swapping to Warlock. This prevents me needing to take the Med. Armor FEAT and could be used instead for War Caster. (also have access to swords and such).

BUT, that lessens the starting power of my Warlock abilities by a significant level.

If I go that route, I can go with +1 HEAVY armor for higher AC by a couple, instead of stopping at Medium, and I could move my DEX points to some place else. These are spitball ideas. Losing the dex bump but gaining heavy may not even equate to a higher AC.

The Invocations I have are Beast Speech, Book of Ancient Secrets, Mask of Many Faces, and Eyes of the Rune Keeper. (If I only have 3, I'll drop the last, but I think at lvl 7 I have 4).

Something to note: Looking like a SPECIFIC other person is out of the question and moot. Including sounding like them....UNLESS they have wings and a tail. Remember, this is a Winged Tiefling, and Disguise Self doesn't let me re-arrange limbs. IE, I have wings, so my disguise has wings. I'm just shifting them from Devil looking to Angel looking. Yes, once I am lvl 15 (if Ever) Master of many forms let's me shift and NOT have wings. Better and worse at the same time, as this invocation will eat up my Concentration whereas Disguise Self does not.


Someone mentioned a Coffee Lock, and I admit to not knowing what that is. Previously I played a Warlock who was all about his Eldritch Blast dealing oodles of DMG and moving opponents around the board. I plan to use Eldritch Blast as my primary attack with this character also, likely, because the dmg is hard to beat. The free CHA Bump to my Radiant damage is nice though, and I'm taking a couple of Radiant DMG spells also, not just for flavor. I don't know if 2 attacks at 1d10 each is better than 1 attack at 2D8 +3? Time will tell.


Thanks again for all the help. I really appreciate it, and have read all the replies.