The Magister of Mystra - A Specialist's Guide to Coffeelocks [WIP]

[Rhocian Xothara]

The Magister of Mystra
A Specialist's Guide to Coffeelocks

Introduction

Greetings. My name is Rhocian Xothara. I'm a long-time lurker of this forum (since 2016), but haven't felt the need to post very much (if at all) because there frankly isn't a lot I could contribute that hasn't already been done by someone else.

However, Coffeelocks are almost a taboo subject in the D&D 5e community, it seems. People with zero table experience of Coffeelocks dismiss them as 'too OP' and 'too broken' and instead clamour to their beloved Sorcadin builds whilst lamenting at how people abuse mechanics to make powergamey builds...

As a self-styled "Coffeelock Specialist", this makes me sad. I am therefore resolved to taking up the mantle of making the case for the Coffeelock as a viable and respectable build in D&D 5e. The bulk of this build will be explaining:


What is a Coffeelock and how are they built?
Making the case for the Coffeelock
What's GOOD about Coffeelocks/Why should you make one?
What's BAD about Coffeelocks/When should you NOT make one?



What is a Coffeelock?

A Coffeelock is a very specific Multiclass of Sorcerer and Warlock that relies on the fact that a Warlock's spell slots recover on a Short Rest. A Coffeelock can use the 'Flexible Casting' 2nd-level Sorcerer feature to convert a Warlock's spell slots into Sorcery Points, and then convert those Sorcery Points into Sorcerer Spell Slots.

Through specific Warlock Invocations (or some rare racial features - more on that later...), a Coffeelock never needs to sleep. As food/drink can be consumed as part of a Short Rest along with some light activity, the Coffeelock can instead take Short Rests (8 of them whilst the party slumbers, if need be) and constantly convert Spell slots into Sorcery Points and back again. And it's this point that critics get all uppity about.

As RAW, a Long Rest requires food, drink and sleep. By removing sleep (and/or food & drink) and replacing it with activity such as keeping watch, making party rations for the day(s) ahead, or chatting to punters in the Tavern all night for the local gossip, you are instead taking Short Rests. Lots of them. The features that remove your requirement for sleep specify you will not incur exhaustion by not sleeping. However: An Optional Rule in 'Xanathar's Guide to Everything' suggests that going 24 hours without a Long Rest will incur exhaustion. If the DM decides to implement this rule then you, my Coffeelock friend, are screwed. Unless, of course, your character is rich and doesn't mind being a 'Cocainelock' instead...



Making the Case for the Coffeelock

I want to preface this part with this disclaimer: If a DM decides not to allow Coffeelocks in their game, that is their prerogative. It's no different to them saying that the Optional Rule of Multiclassing is not permitted, or they're not allowing Orcish races because Orcs don't exist in their worldsetting, or whatever else.

This guide is not written to argue with any of that. A DM's ruling is Law. Part of their jobs as DMs is to make rulings for/against things and this is no different, so do not present this guide to your DM and try to say they have to let you play this because I am categorically saying they don't. I don't think anyone on this Forum needs this explaining to them, but there it is anyway.

No, this guide is written for the fact that whilst I have enjoyed playing Coffeelocks at many a DM's table, many DMs have disallowed it for reasons that stem from the fact that they don't know what a Coffeelock is; that the build sounds broken and therefore must be feared banned. They don't see or understand the considerable downsides to this build that ultimately (in my opinion) balances the build to acceptable levels. The thing I take personally is DMs disallowing the build on the basis of "it's too OP", but allow Sorcadins. Having played both builds extensively I can tell you unequivocally and wholeheartedly that in terms of combat prowess, a Sorcadin is far more powerful. By extension, a Sorcadin is in many respects far more damaging to a group and/or a D&D campaign. It is the most powerful Multiclass in Fifth Edition (barring, of course, my 'Coffeelockadin'... oooh; foreshadowing!).

Finally, it's also worth noting that Coffeelocks don't actually do any more per turn than other characters; they are behind their fellow sorcerer peers on spell levels and spells known by a minimum of 3 Character Levels, and their strength over the course of levels 1-20 is a bell curve, meaning after 13th level or so your strength starts to wane significantly. A Sorcadin meanwhile continues to bust names and take asses (am I *sure* it's that way around?) and even the Coffeelock will kneel before God-King Sorcadin like everyone else.


What's GOOD about Coffeelocks/Why Should You Make One?

In terms of party roles, Coffeelocks are the masters of the one thing most spellcasters are responsible for in D&D: Utility. With two caster classes' worth of cantrips and spell slots not being an issue for you, you now have no excuse to not have levelled utility spells available when the party needs it. You are also the party's healbot (assuming you took Divine Soul as your Sorcerer subclass - and you'd better have a damn good reason if you didn't!) If there is ever a situation where you have to decide between a Utility Spell and a blasting spell, take the Utility - your party (and maybe even your DM) will thank you for it. You can Quicken 'Eldritch Blast' and 'Fire Bolt' indefinitely; you don't need to fill your spell sheet up with blaster magic.

Also understand that your role as a Coffeelock extends much further beyond your spellcasting abilities. As someone who not only never needs to sleep but actually profits from not doing so, your party never needs to ask "Who's on watch duty/what's our watch order?" because the answer is always you. If you're in a safe environment like a town or city, consider spending the night enjoying a Tavern's 'lock-in', gleaning the gossip from the locals. There's lots you can be doing whilst enjoying a Short Rest or eight...

There are certain situations in which I would actively encourage you to play a Coffeelock - and encourage DMs to allow them. You should choose to play a Coffeelock if:

You are a small group of players (fewer than 4). Party roles cannot be easily filled and Coffeelocks tick off two of the most laborious ones right off the bat.
Your DM likes using player-specific details as plot hooks. Becoming an 'arcane battery' can have its consequences. One DM I played with homebrewed 'Mana Hounds' - aberrations drawn to powerful sources of magic - for this purpose.
You're playing a difficult campaign in which powergaming is encouraged. I'm making a Coffeelock for a 'Tomb of Annihilation' run and my DM is encouraging me to "take any advantage possible" with it.
Your DM's campaign allows your party to be the heroes of their story. For many, D&D is escapism where the depressed player gets to let off steam by travelling to another universe, finding the Secret McGuffin, murdering the Bad Guys(TM) and Saving the Day(TM). Your character feels good and so you feel good, and your DM is the great facilitator in all of that. It's a great way to enjoy our amazing game, albeit not the only way to enjoy it.
Lastly and most importantly: You're excellent at managing your character. The Coffeelock is easily the most mathematically demanding build you'll ever make for Fifth Edition and it is NOT for the faint-hearted. If this isn't you then you will infuriate your DM and you should not play this build.




What's BAD About Coffeelocks/When Should You NOT Make One?

Ahh, the part many DMs don't realise...

In D&D, running out of resources as a character can be crippling. As a Coffeelock, you have transcended resource-management for precisely one aspect: Spell Slots* (*Technically two aspects: Sorcery Points being the other one. But seeing as you have to burn one resource to get the other, does it still count?).

It is critical to remember that there are a lot of features and resources that are of limited use and recharge on a 'Long Rest', meaning that until you take said Long Rest and 'reset' your spell slots, you will never regain them. They are:

Racial Features. Your Aasimar's cool features will never be a thing, for example.
Class Features. Lay on Hands? Healing Light? Literally anything else that says "Once per Long Rest"? All out of reach, I'm afraid.
Hit Dice. The ONE thing that lets you recover HP without magic, potions or a Long Rest, and you don't have them. You can find yourself very dead very quickly.
Spell Slots above 5th level. Yup, 'Flexible Casting' only works up to 5th level, so once your 6th level and higher slots are gone, they're gone forever. Expect your Coffeelock's strength to peak at around 12th level.


The lack of these can vary from being "somewhat inconvenient" to "the character's Death Knell". Mechanically you are giving up a lot in pursuit of breaking the spell slot limits, and even as a Spellcaster you are giving up ever casting high-level magics even if you technically "know" them as a high-level Sorcerer. Great power often comes at a great cost. The above is what it costs you, and there are great roleplay opportunities around that.

We've touched on both the great benefits of a Coffeelock, and touched on the drawbacks of them. Here are reasons why you should NOT build a Coffeelock:

If your party has plenty of players. If there are ample players to fill party roles and you rock up with a character that can do several roles at once, you're going to steal the limelight and look a bit of a d***.
This goes double if your party already has a spellcaster. It's the "I'm you, but better" scenario. It sounds cool, but notice how the person saying it never has any friends? Don't be this guy; don't overshadow your friend.
Any one-shot session. Your Coffeelock requires time to prepare. This is not a build you can just rock up to a single session with and expect it to function any better (or even as good) as a single-class caster.
Your DM's Campaign is 'low magic'. Kind of self-explanatory. In the same vein though, whilst we talked about some DMs allowing the party to be the heroes of their story, for some people D&D is about the exact opposite of that. It's a game that demonstrates that you're not the main character and that you don't benefit from 'main character' tropes like Plot Armour. Sometimes it's about mortals in their finite capacity struggling against the Great Threats that loom over them. Anyone who has played 'Curse of Strahd' will know what I mean.
If your DM uses XGtE's Optional Rule on Long Rests. It's still doable with Greater Restoration, but to spend 100GP on components every day in pursuit of a mechanical cheese that's not all that OP? Ehhh...
You are not great at managing your character's resources. One of the few arguments against Coffeelocks that I 1000% agree with is that some players will ask the DM things like "Wait, so how many Sorcery Points can I generate with that?", or "How many Sorcery Points does it cost to make a 4th-level spell?" and all that jazz. It is not the DM's job to know that or tell you these things. YOU are responsible for your character and your character's resources; the DM has enough work in running the game. Read your class features and then read them again. Commit them to memory. Bring a cheat-sheet to the game if you must, but for the love of Mystra if you have to constantly badger the DM for the info then I fully support them banning your Coffeelock from any and all future games until such a time that you can get your s**t together.


Phew. Sorry. Bit of a rant, there...



A Note about Short/Long Rests and Exhaustion

I got into a debate literally as I was writing this guide with a fantastic DM and all-round great guy who does not allow Coffeelocks in his games. His view is that rests are all about the length of time you are 'resting', not so much the activity you are doing. So for example if you're resting around a campfire having food & drink for 8 hours, that's a Long Rest.

My argument is that - with respect to him as a DM - that's bull****.

Races that do not require sleep - Warforged; certain Elves etc - instead have actions they can do to still gain the benefits of a Long Rest. Warforged essentially enter a 'power-saving mode' and can still see/hear normally. Elves can enter a meditative trance for 4 hours. These to me are all specific actions done instead of sleep.

Furthermore, I am a great advocator of Coffeelock players doing more than simply sit and play with Sorcery Points. I mentioned before that they should be doing other things with their time: They're keeping watch all night; rolling Perception Checks every 2 hours or so. They're preparing rations for the party for the days ahead. Or maybe they're propping up the bar in the tavern whilst the party sleeps upstairs, listening in on conversations to see what gossip they overhear. These are all stuff that is relaxing enough to count as Short Rests, but definitely don't qualify as 'Long Rests'.

The Sorcery Point conversion thing can just be something going on behind the scenes every hour, like it's just the way your body processes magical energy. Or maybe this is how your Pact with your Patron functions; it's designed to break the limits of your own innate spellcasting ability rather than gift you goodies like an Eldritch Sugar-Mommy.

Exhaustion is ultimately down to whether your DM uses Xanathar's Optional Rule. The DM I was discussing this with argued that being active to any degree 24/7 will incur exhaustion, which is basically the optional rule. That's how he runs his games and that's fair enough. Not all DMs do, though, or they'll run 'house rules' on it. For example, as a DM I generally run it for those who require sleep. Sleep is required to stave off tiredness and to allow the body to heal. In Coffeelocks, the tiredness is negated by literally not needing sleep (they still need Food & Drink though), and the healing factor is already supported by their lack of Hit Dice.

Ultimately, it's entirely down to the DM. This guide was never to say DMs can't ban Coffeelocks; it's to challenge the common reasons given for the ban. :smallbiggrin:


How Does One Build a Coffeelock?

With one notable exception, Coffeelocks all require the same setup. They come online at 5th level, and really the easiest thing for me to do is to link to Easy Lee's rather brilliant explanation back in 2017. But as I don't have the ability to add links or images yet, I'll paraphrase it here:


Take three levels of 'Pact of the Tome' Warlock and pick up the 'Aspect of the Moon' Invocation. You no longer need sleep and no longer suffer exhaustion from a lack of it.
Start taking levels of Sorcerer ('Divine Soul' if you have any sense). At 2nd level you get Flexible Casting - the bread and butter of this build.
Never, EVER take a Long Rest. Take 8 Short Rests whilst the Party sleeps and fill it with 'light activity' like Watch Duty or something.
After every Short Rest, use 'Flexible Casting' to turn your Warlock Spell Slots (which recover on a Short Rest) into Sorcery Points. Now, convert those Sorcery Points into Sorcerer Spell Slots. These last until your next Long Rest - which you are never going to take.


The build typically comes online at Tomelock 3/Sorcerer 2 when you finally have all the necessary ingredients for 'Coffeelocking': 'Flexible Casting'; Warlock Spell Slots and the 'Aspect of the Moon' Invocation. This is an ideal setup because you have enough Warlock Spell Slots (and at a high enough level: two second-level Spell Slots) to generate 4 Sorcery Points per Short Rest. The only problem is that with only 2 levels of Sorcerer, you can only ever have a maximum of 2 Sorcery Points maximum, so in effect you have to do the conversions one spell slot at a time. Still, when the Party takes an 8-hour Long Rest this is good for 32 Sorcery Points, which you'll convert into 16 1st-level Spell Slots.

As for the conversion values? Here:




Spell Slot Level

Sorcery Point Cost



1st

2



2nd

3



3rd

5



4th

6



5th

7



Converting spell slots to sorcery points, meanwhile, is done at a rate of 1 point per spell slot level.

I want to make this clear as day: It is your job as a Player to commit these values to memory. If you don't or you cannot, the Coffeelock is NOT for you. This is a very demanding build because the mental arithmetic involved is the greatest of any build by far. If you can convert slots and points on the fly without much effort, your DM will thank you.

I am a 'Coffeelock Specialist'; I have gotten good at this through sheer practice. But even I myself have banned a Player from playing a Coffeelock for the simple reason that I ended up managing his character for him, which is too much work for a DM to do and they frankly shouldn't have to do it. Do not be that Player.

Lecture over. Let's move on.

[Rhocian Xothara]

Building a Coffeelock
A 'How to' and Optimisation Guide


Coffeelock Optimization
We have the foundations. Now, let's do Mystra proud!

As is tradition for GitP character guides, I'll be using a colour coding system to indicate the value or 'rank' of your options. These are:

Gold: A Mandatory option. It's either not a Coffeelock without it, or it's a very dead one.
Cyan: A great option; even if not necessarily a requirement. If you're not taking it it's because you have something else of similar value in mind.
Green: Average. There are more optimal options, sure, but you can make this work nicely enough.
Purple: Situational; depends on the campaign setting or - worse still - a DM's ruling. You choose these options only because your character's backstory or roleplaying aspect demands it.
Red: Red is dead. I'm not joking, taking some of these options over others will actually kill your character.


Ability Scores

Strength: Dump Stat. Even if you eventually need to make some sort of gap-jump, or climb that wall, or pull that rusted lever, that's what your bottomless well of magic is for.
Dexterity. The thing that'll give you your AC and save you from your own misjudged Fireball (because let's be honest; it's gonna happen). I'd even be willing to say it's your most important Ability Score. Ooh, controversial...
Constitution. Another controversial rank. Coffeelocks don't actually need it as desperately as a conventional spellcaster. You can Shield-React (or Counterspell) every turn if needed and you shouldn't be on the frontlines. If you break concentration, you can just cast the thing again.
Intelligence. An ability score for roleplaying as a powerful Arcanist, but in terms of skill checks that's what 'Identify' is for...
Wisdom. You know what? Actually pretty important. You're a squishy who is on 'watch duty' every single night. You *need* to be able to see the ambush before it becomes an ambush.
Charisma: A Sorlock's Primary Stat, but actually, Coffeelocks only really need it for their Spell Save DCs. That's enough to give it a Cyan rating, but I could easily make the case for a green rating here, especially if you're focusing more on Blaster-casting and less on 'control' spells like 'Hold Person'.



Class Features & Proficiencies
You're a multiclass, so this is gonna look a bit... unusual. Bear with.

Hit Dice: D8 + D6. You might be a powergamer's build, but you're still a spellcaster through and through alright. Taking your first three levels in Warlock is at least going to give you some sort of HP boost, but most Coffeelocks will go flat-out Sorcerer from there onwards. Furthermore, outside of your maximum HP calculations: As a Coffeelock, Hit Dice do not exist. You will never have access to these for HP recovery, or any features or spells that require a HD roll. Definitely worth remembering.

Saving Throws: Very much depends on how you start your build. Starting as a Sorcerer gives you CON + CHA saves. Starting as Warlock gives you WIS + CHA saves. CON and WIS saves come up often enough for either to be an option, and you can mitigate whichever one you lost out on by taking the Resilient Feat (yay for Variant Humans!) or giving it a suitably high base Ability Score. Worth remembering though that though either choice is fine, Constitution does govern your Spell Concentration...

Armour Proficiencies. The Light Armour Proficiency brought by Warlocks is plenty enough, and some people prefer Mage Armour anyway. I've seen some people say Hexblades are useful for the Medium Armour proficiencies, but honestly it does nothing for you that Studded Leather won't do. That being said, there are other reasons for going Hexblade. More on that later.

Weapon Proficiencies: Simple Weapons and you'll not be using them. Hexblades get better stuff and may even use the bloody things, but your HP pool tells you you really shouldn't be on the frontlines anyway. Besides, wanna make a gishy Coffeelock? When the time is right, take levels in Paladin and apply 5th-level Smites to every attack. Booyah!

Tool Proficiencies. If you want them, go fish for them from your Background 'coz you ain't getting them from your classes. Or, y'know - why get your hands dirty when you have ~Magical Powers~?

Skill Proficiencies: You're no Rogue, Knowledge Cleric or Lore Bard, so you get two, and which two you get depends on your starting class. Sorcerers get a better deal than Warlocks thanks to the option of Insight Proficiency (ironic, since it's the Warlock class that gives you Wis saves...) and Persuasion. Both give you Arcana, which as the party's Spellcaster is very much your wheelhouse, but Identify should cover artifacts nicely enough. It's worth noting here that Feats such as Prodigy and TCoE's Skill Expert are both good Feats that help cover some of your skill bases and give you the opportunity for Expertise in the God-King of Skill Checks: Perception.



Races
Traditionally, this is where all the races that give buffs to primary stats get rated as cyan or even gold, and martial races get rated purple or even red. Coffeelocks are a unique build; they take things from their racial base a little differently to other classes. For example, an Aasimar Coffeelock - an Angel of the Higher Planes with heavenly spellcasting powers - sounds cool, right? Well it's arguably a worse option than a Goliath. I am not joking. In fact, Goliaths at high levels can potentially make extremely powerful Coffeelock(adin)s. That said, there aren't going to be too many surprises in this list.

I intend to cover all official content races from PHB to Tasha's. *cracks knuckles* let's get started!

Player's Handbook Races

Dragonborn. Actually a decent option. It gives a +2 to your Dump Stat which sounds bad but helps towards a Paladin Multiclass option at later levels, and gives a +1 to a primary stat. 'Dragon Breath Weapon' isn't the greatest racial feature ever, but it recovers on a Short Rest. Plus a choice of resistances based on colour choice. You could do worse than a Dragonborn Coffeelock.
Dwarf (Hill). Another good option. Buffs to Constitution helps with saves; a Wisdom buff helps with that Perception skill, and the extra HP boost is valuable to you as a squishy. On top of that you're a Dwarf - Darkvision; Poison resistances; racial tool profs; extra weapon profs... all stuff that's very nice to have.
Dwarf (Mountain). It's rated the same colour, but Hill Dwarves are slightly better *unless* you intend on taking Paladin levels later on in life. THEN this hits the high-end of Cyaaannn...
Elf (Drow): Sunlight Sensitivity means you should really choose a different Elf. Sorry.
Elf (High): Dex boosts; can't be forced to sleep; Darkvision and proficiency with Perception. Plus you get an extra cantrip. Noice.
Elf (Wood): See above, but trade in that extra cantrip for 5ft extra movement and better stealthiness. It's the High Elf, but better.
Gnome (Forest): Gnome Cunning, Darkvision and a small Dex buff keeps this in the green. Without them, it'd be pretty much Red.
Gnome (Rock): Purple, only because the Con buff is nice and gaslighting yourself into thinking you're an Artificer gives you something to do during your many Short Rests.
Half-Elf: Darkvision; CHA buff plus buffs to two other scores of your choice (I'd go Dex and either Con or Wis); extra skill proficiencies and no gimmicky "Long Rest" features... Yeah, this is one of the best choices in the game.
Halfling (Lightfoot): Buffs to Dex and Cha; stealth features; that amazing Lucky racial (I've seen DMs ban this feature). Cyanning this hard...
Halfling (Stout): Just play a Dwarf who likes food; it's way better.
Half-Orc: Ehhh... If you're taking Paladin levels then 'Savage Attacks' and boost to the (now needed) Dump Stat helps, but their famous "Relentless Endurance" is a dreaded 'Long Rest' feature so it's useless with a capital 'F'.
Human: You get +1 to everything that is nice especially if you're going into Paladin later on (taking on three classes gets a bit M.A.D; who knew?!), but otherwise it's a little overshadowed by its absolute chad brother that is...
Human (Variant): These get banned at almost as many tables as the Coffeelock build does, and it's not hard to see why. An extra skill proficiency; freedom to put those ASIs where you like, and that amazing Feat option was powerful with just the core rulebook options, but with all the sourcebooks 5e now has this is arguably a Gold-Tier Racial Option. And chances are, if your DM allows Coffeelocks, they probably allow Variant Humans too, because they, too, are a Chad that knows no fear.
Tiefling: Charisma boost; fire resistance and Darkvision are all nice things to have. Too bad Infernal Legacy will be useless. If it caught me on a bad day I'd rate it Purple, but it's not a bad option; just... there are better.


Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes

Elf (Eladrin): There are lots of Elf options at this point, and whilst Fey Step once per rest is nice it literally doesn't matter to an Elf who can cast Misty Step (or even Thunder Step, which is arguably much better) all day long. Pick it for RP reasons, like being a Feylock, but otherwise there are better options.
Elf (Sea): Dex boosts and a swim speed. Great if you're playing something like a Saltmarsh campaign. Otherwise...
Elf (Shadar-Kai): Necrotic resistance, but as great as Raven Queen's Blessing is it's a Long Rest Feature. This is not the build for a Shadar-Kai, I'm afraid.
Dwarf (Duergar): Rating it Red purely because it pales so badly in comparison to other Dwarven races. It's a sub-par Dwarf with sunlight sensitivity. Choose something else.
Githyanki: Tempting for a 'Coffeelockadin' until you realise you'd get those proficiencies as a Paladin anyway, and the extra spells are Long Rest Resources...
Githzerai: The better Gith choice, thanks to saves against charm and fear. Still not great.
Tieflings (all MToF subclasses): Bundling them together because they all have Long Rest Resources. In a nutshell: Fire resistance and Darkvision, and a cantrip based on your subrace. Not terrible, but there's better out there.


Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide

Gnome (Svirfneblim): Great Darkvision and Gnome Cunning, and Stone Camouflage can work nicely in most 'natural' dungeon-crawls. Good stealthy option; in some campaigns this will easily be Cyan, if not Gold.
Halfling (Ghostwise): Not a bad choice; the telepathy is thematically nice as an arcane powerhouse.


Volo's Guide to Monsters

Aasimar: Resistances are nice (especially if you're playing something with a lot of undead, like Tomb of Annihilation or Curse of Strahd), but all your cool 'angel of the Higher Planes' features won't exist for you, including flight! This is actually a pretty poor choice for you. Shame.
Bugbear: Nice if you're going the Paladin brand of Coffeelock as Reach will really help control the field, but you're still more squish than gish, and picking a race based on Reach and surprise attacks seems a bit short-sighted. Still, the wording of Surprise Attack means it can apply to spells. I wonder if that also applies to AoE stuff like Fireball...
Firbolg: They make pretty poor conventional Sorcerers and Wizards, but great Coffeelocks. Notice how their Racials recover on *any* kind of rest? Detect Magic and Disguise Self may key off your sub-par wisdom modifiers, but they're two extra spells you *don't* have to have in your (very small) Sorcerer spell list. Also whilst Speech of Beast & Leaf is extremely situational, it does at least key off your main stat. If you want a giantkin Coffeelock, this is probably your pick.
Goblin: Buffs to Dex and Con; extra power from Fury of the Small to anything 'medium' size or larger, and some rogue features without actually going rogue. This is a great choice.
Goliath: If you didn't choose Firbolg as your Giantkin Magister, you chose this. The Con buff is nice but not important, and a big boost to your dump stat is rubbish at first, but it might be the boost you need to start taking Paladin levels later on. If you're playing to 20th level, this is easily a Cyan choice. Otherwise, it stays green.
Hobgoblin: Martial Training gives you nothing (especially if you're a Hexblade), and Saving Face just isn't good enough to improve this guy's prospects. Pick Goblin and thank me later.
Kenku: I like the idea of maxing Charisma for a creature that can't really talk... Anyway, extra dex is always great and Kenku Training helps supplement the fact you're not really going to have many skill proficiencies, but this is nothing a Half-Elf couldn't give you...
Kobold: Do it. Make an amazing Meepo build! I will rate this super mega uber-gold if it convinces you to! In all seriousness, whilst 'Grovel, Cower & Beg' is meaningless to someone who *should* be social-distancing from hostiles, Pack Tactics is a god-tier feature. Plus the +2 to Dex is great. I couldn't rate it Gold however much I really want to, but still. Pick Kobold. Long Live Meepo!
Lizardfolk: Great if you're looking at the Draconic Soul Sorcerer and thinking "I want the unique AC buff, but I don't want to NOT go 'Divine Soul'...". A nice 'have your cake and eat it' choice if nothing else (and there really is nothing else about this...)
Orc: Only really one racial feature to note and it's designed to get you - a long-range squishy - closer to the enemy. I'd rate this Infra-Red if I could, but... then you wouldn't see it at all.
Tabaxi: Boosts to two very important stats; Proficiency in two very important skills, a climb speed and Feline Agility to help you get away if you're ambushed and the enemies are a little too close for your liking. I mean, what more do you really want? Darkvision? Done - you've got that, too. One of the best races in the game for a Coffeelock.
Triton: Resistance to a fairly rare damage type (though I'd personally argue it should give advantage on cold weather survival checks), and they make decent Paladin-dipped Coffeelocks. Shame your extra spells won't exist for you. You could make it work (and even work well) but there are better choices.
Yuan-Ti Pureblood: Poison immunity is great, since Poison is bloody nasty in D&D. Plus you get a buff to a mainstat and advantage on saves against magic (the only thing that should be hitting you if you're doing your job properly). An excellent choice.


Elemental Evil & Tortle Package

Aarakocra: Flight speed (and a great one at that), and a good boost to dex. It's less useful in dungeon-crawly campaigns but great everywhere else. The flight alone is extremely useful, especially as the spell version is temporary *and* a 3rd level spell, meaning you wouldn't normally get it until 8th level or so anyway. Easily a cyan choice.
Genasi: I should rate their subtypes individually, but they're all bad. Their subtype features are Long Rest resources, and whilst the Fire and Water types give you an extra cantrip (nice to have, even if rarely needed) it's not enough to save them as racial choices overall. Pass.
Tortle: One of the big draws of 'Draconic Soul' is 'Draconic Resilience', which providing you invested well into Dex should give you a reasonable AC. The downside is that you lose out on the invaluable healing spells that come with Divine Soul. Tortles are a great way of having your cake and eating it. In addition, if you like using Concentration spells, just fire the spell, then climb into your shell for +4 to your AC (which is already at base 17 anyway, and it stacks with things like bracers of defence and cloak of protection). A good choice for a defensive play, but not quite good enough to reach Cyan by itself, especially as a Draconic Soul with 20 Dex has a better base AC *and* a bunch of racial stuff from their race choice on top.


Eberron: Rising from the Last War

Changeling: +2CHA and +1 anywhere else (probably dex, unless you're evening out an odd stat), and the appearance ability is in my mind one of the single most interesting racial abilities in 5e. There are more optimal choices (and well, this is an 'Optimisation' guide...), but you could have a lot of fun with this. A green choice for sure.
Khalashtar: The +2 to Wisdom is great for the Coffeelock who is *always* on watch duty (seeing as they never sleep), and Wisdom Saving Throw proficiencies means you should start as a Sorcerer or waste a free save proficiency. Psychic resistance is nice, if rarely needed, and Telepathy is thematically cool for a Chosen of Mystra like you. Decent choice all round.
Shifter: It's a shame that this sourcebook cut out Keen Senses and other good stuff from the original flavour; it might have saved it from being red. Speaking of, unless the DM allows you to shift before each Perception Check during your party's Long Rest then the Wildhunt is the best subrace, but otherwise, choose something else.

Dragonmarked Races

Mark of Detection (Half-Elf): Nope. The extra spells are terrible; 'Magical Detection' is a Long Rest resource and keys off a dump stat, and to make matters worse this is vastly overshadowed by the regular Half-Elf!
Mark of Finding: See above. In fairness it's a better choice than the regular Half-Orc, but in fairness most of the race guide is better than the regular Half-Orc. Meanwhile: Who TF gives up Variant Human for THIS!?
Mark of Handling: *sigh*... if you wanna be a druid, go be a druid. This doesn't offer you a lot, but at least Primal Connection is a Short Rest Resource. That's... something?
Mark of Healing: Here we go! The single best race for a Coffeelock. Look at that list of extra spells! You've basically got all of a Cleric's healing spells, which is much more than 'Divine Soul' gives you. Play this along with Clockwork Soul and you my friend are unkillable.
Mark of Hospitality: The charisma boost is welcomed and 'Leomund's Tiny Hut' is good for protection from adverse weather conditions, but even that's nothing a "Book of Ancient Secrets" invocation can't give you.
Mark of Making: Gaslighting yourself into thinking you're an Artificer? Pass.
Mark of Passage: Dex boost is great, and the extra spells are useful. Not a terrible Dragonmark to have.
Mark of Scribing: Nope.
Mark of Sentinel: Bonus to Perception checks, but if you're taking this it's probably with a view to taking levels in Paladin at some point, so what's the point of the Paladin-themed spells?
Mark of Shadows: Play a Firbolg; your invisibility will help you more than this.
Mark of Storms: Buffs to two important ability scores, but otherwise there are many better options.
Mark of Warding: You're a Sorlock, not a Wizard. Pass.


Explorer's Guide to Wildemount

Dragonborn (Draconblood): Honestly? PHB Dragonborn makes a better Coffeelock. Not much has changed, save for trading a resistance in for 'Forceful Presence' (and I'd rather have the resistance), but the +2 to strength in the PHB could at least be put towards Paladin potential later on. Int does nothing for you.
Dragonborn (Ravenite): Another Paladin-orientated 'Coffeelockadin' candidate, but I feel like 'Vengeful Assault' is a trap. It requires you to be in melee range, which isn't ideal for coffeelocks, and it requires the enemy attack to actually hit you, which isn't great. Pass.
Elf (Pallid): Two decent skill proficiencies is all you really get from this, and there are much nicer Elf options available.
Halfling (Lotusden): Timberwalk is nice if you're being pursued or tracked. How often are you being pursued or tracked?


Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica

Centaur: A gishy Coffeelock could use this - especially if the DM rules that Centaurs can wield lances as mounted units do - but otherwise there's nothing here that lends itself to a Coffeelock.
Loxodon: Natural Armor gives a reasonable AC option that is supported by the +2 CON buff. Keen Smell is great for watch duty if the DM rules the ambushers haven't bathed recently. If you're making a bulky Coffeelock and want to boost that CON to primary stat status, then this is a solid option.
Simic Hybrid: A fascinating choice, and some of the Animal Enhancements are nice (I'd go with Manta Glide and Carapace). Just don't expect to win any beauty pageants outside of Monster-F***er circles...
Vedalken: Advantage on mental saving throws (Int, Wis and Cha) against magic is nice, especially when I've never come across anything that requires one of those saves that hasn't been magical in nature. Aether Lore means you get to play the 'smart' spellcaster without actually having a stellar Intelligence stat. The only reason it's not higher than green (and it is barely a green choice) is because the Ability Scores aren't useful for you.


Mythic Odysseys of Theros

Leonin: 5ft extra movement and a Short Rest 'Daunting Roar' helps keeps people away. Extra con is great for the spells that need concentration. A surprisingly okay choice, in all fairness.
Minotaur: Ugh. Gish traps. You're not supposed to be on the frontlines until you take Paladin levels - which shouldn't be until you're in double-digit levels anyway!
Satyr: Buffs to two important stats, extra movement; proficiency in a couple of charisma skills; advantage on saves vs magic... Darkvision would have made this a cyan choice but hey, we can't have everything.


Tasha's Cauldron of Everything: Custom Lineage
More a discussion point than a list:
It goes without saying that being able to swap and change ability scores, languages, even choose a Feat if you're using a Variant Human base, etc means you can swap out the stuff that's not ideal for a Coffeelock in favour of the stuff that *is* optimal. If this is permitted in your game then there's actually no reason why this couldn't be a Gold option. You literally get to build your character from scratch.

How you wish to do that is ultimately up to you; we have six years' worth of sourcebook content above that should by now give you an idea of what works and what doesn't work for Coffeelocks, and in all honesty for the stuff you can swap and change with Custom Lineage, proficiencies and the like don't matter all that much. Maybe take Perception and Persuasion; you're probably the Party Face and always on Watch Duty. Beyond that? I don't really know how to 'rate' this. It could be terrible or it could be amazing; it's really up to you.


A Note About Warforged
Those of you with the 'Observant' Feat will have noticed I left this race out, and that's because it merits its own separate discussion.

"Constructed Resilience" states you do not need to sleep. To my mind that is almost exactly the same as the 'Aspect of the Moon' Invocation (aside from the fact you also don't need to eat, drink or breathe). There's no reason in the basic rules at least as to why you'd need to take a Long Rest (aside from recovering resources).

It's important - and consequently one of the very few Gold racial choices - because it means it's the only racial choice that can unlock Coffeelocking abilities as low as 3rd level - Sorcerer 2/Warlock 1. Seeing as most campaigns start at anywhere between 1st to 3rd level, this means you can start accumulating spell slots right away. Hell, a DM might even rule that you start with already a dozen 1st-level spell slots (but in all the times I've played Coffeelocks this has never happened, so don't get your hopes up).

The drawback to starting the process at 3rd level is that it is incredibly slow. You need a lot of Short Rests to get anything like a respectable number of 1st-level spell slots, and the only way forward from there is to take another level or two in Warlock, and by 5th level if you're Warlock 3/Sorcerer 2, you're pretty much every other Coffeelock but with a head-start.

However, if your campaign is a sandbox and features plenty of downtime, there's no reason why you can't end up with a completely arbitrary number of 1st-level spell slots. You can then start powering through levels of Sorcerer 2 levels earlier than any other Coffeelock. It also means that the build is "finished" at 10th level, not 12th, and a 'Coffeelockadin' using 5th-level Smites all day long can be done at 12th level. This is ideal for a lot of 'Module Book' campaigns that typically finish around 10th-12th level. There aren't many campaigns that run all the way to 20th level.

Or maybe you want to re-jig a Coffeelock into the ultimate warrior; a 'Coffeelockadin': Providing you meet the Multiclass requirements, that could be done at, say, Warlock 1/Sorcerer 3 (might as well get that Metamagic)/Paladin 2. You now have a 6th-level character with enough spell slots to Smite with every hit, and Metamagic to Quicken spells with as a Bonus Action. You're a Sorcadin that covers off the one weakness Sorcadins have (resource management; your 'Nova/Burst/Max Damage Output' is now your DPR!), making you the single most powerful build in D&D 5e. Change my mind.



Classes
Finally, we're getting to the good stuff!

When choosing your subclasses it is vitally important to consider how you want to play your character in combat. For example, someone who wants to use a Coffeelock base to make an extremely powerful gish warrior may invest in Hexblade and may even take Warlock levels beyond the recommended 3 levels (since the bulk of the Invocation goodies for 'Pact of the Blade' only become available after 5 levels of Warlock). But if you're doing that because it sounds cool, but then at the table you actually lean more on your spells than on weapon attacks, then congratulations: You just wasted 2 extra levels of Warlock you didn't need an entire subclass choice. That said, literally any Warlock subclass will work just fine for a Coffeelock. It's just some will actually contribute to your build better than others.

Sorcerer subclasses are even more important. They can make or break a Coffeelock, and picking the wrong one will genuinely be the Death Knell of your character.

Paladin levels are honestly optional, but definitely optimal at higher levels. There are builds where you can afford to take three different classes at a low enough level (circa 6th/7th level) providing you have the stats for it, and taking these levels means you're pretty much committing to more of a 'Sorcadin' style of combat. That's a little risky considering most of your levels are in caster classes, meaning that whilst a 20th-level "Coffeelockadin" is easily the most powerful build in Fifth Edition (change my mind!), it is altogether much more squishy than a 20th-level Sorcadin. And remember: You still have to get there first!

Anyway. Let's start with the Sorcerer:


Sorcerer Subclasses
Aberrant Mind (TCoE)
One of Tasha's Cauldron's attempts to bring psionic options to D&D 5e in a way that doesn't make DMs cower in fear (Mystic, I'm looking at you...). Personally not a fan of the flavour text: "An alien influence has wrapped its tendrils around your mind, giving you psionic power." It honestly feels like a Warlock Patron more than a Sorcerer subclass; Warlocks have powers granted to them in this sort of way whilst Sorcerers have innate spellcasting ability in their own right. But no matter; I'm not here to bitch. I'm here to evaluate.

Psionic Spells: Great 'crowd control' spells - especially at 3rd and 4th level (even if they do feel like Lovecraftian Hentai...) - but for me the star of the show is the Mind Sliver Cantrip. Firstly - it's a cantrip - and secondly, how many creatures are honestly good at Intelligence Saving Throws? Illithids and their ilk, and... not a whole lot else? On a failed save they take a 1D4 penalty to their next Saving Throw. My advice? Cast this as an action, and then Quicken a more powerful spell that requires a saving throw on the same turn. This spell's dirty secret though is it's actually a Sorcerer cantrip anyway, meaning You don't need this subclass to get this cantrip.
Telepathic Speech: I feel bad for rating it as Purple. In situations when you want to confer with a party without raising suspicion from NPCs, this is awesome. It's also great for things like stealth missions and such. So there are a number of ways in which you'll get a lot of mileage out of this, but it is ultimately very situational. You could just as easily go a whole campaign without ever using it. And besides - 'Message' Cantrip...
Psionic Sorcery: Ehhh... It's a way of using the 'Subtle Spell' Metamagic without using (or having) the Metamagic in the first place, meaning you could do this and apply a Metamagic to the spell. Your mileage will vary with this, but I can't justify anything higher than a purple rating - its usefulness is very situational.
Psychic Defenses: If you're playing an optimised Coffeelock, chances are you already have advantage on those saves. Psychic damage resistance is great if you, say, pissed off an entire Bard's College and have to fend off barrages of 'Vicious Mockery' but it's not a common damage type.
Revelation in Flesh: I'm not saying that this isn't an amazing feature, because in a vacuum it absolutely is. It's just that as a Coffeelock with 14 levels of Sorcerer, this is giving you nothing that you couldn't already do endlessly with magic. I guess this saves you one of your many, many spell slots though?
Warping Implosion: Awesome, but 18th-level. Unless you're a Warforged who somehow survived to 20th level with 2 or fewer Warlock levels, you're not getting 18 levels in Sorcerer. You'll likely have stopped at 14 levels, tops.


Clockwork Soul (TCoE)
Another Tasha's Cauldron subclass and honestly one of my favourites. It's also absolutely silly how powerful this class is as a Coffeelock. It's only a Cyan rating because of the lack of healing (though 'Aid' is absolutely broken as a Coffeelock spell) If you pair this with the 'Mark of Healing' Halfling Variant this is absolutely a Gold subclass choice.

Clockwork Magic: Some of these you'll use, others you won't. The 'Restoration' spells are always nice, and 'Dispel Magic' will have enough mileage to earn its place on your limited 'Spells known' list, but the true star of the show is 'Aid'. Read the spell; notice the lack of Concentration required. When you put two and two together, you'll realise that the opportunity for cheese here is absolutely Gorgonzolan.
Restore Balance: Long Rest resource, so this does not exist for you.
Bastion of Law: By all that is holy, this is amazing. You probably won't get this until 9th or 10th level (depending on how much you invest into Warlock - and you'll want at least 2 if not 3 levels) but providing you have the Sorcery points to spare, you can now have a ward that can soak up to 5D8pts worth of damage. And for anywhere between 1-5 Sorcery Points, you can just cast it again! Can you imagine pairing this up with a race that could cast Cure Wounds all day? And now you see why this subclass was damn near Gold...
Trance of Order: Long Rest Resource unless you spend 5 Sorcery Points to use it, and it's 14th level. In return you get to negate advantage against you, and you'll get to treat all D20 rolls of a 9 or lower as a 10 attack rolls, skill checks and saving throws for 1 minute. This is worth taking 14 levels of Sorcerer in, but between this and Bastion of Law you're burning through a hell of a lot of Sorcery Points. You'll discover that even the mighty Coffeelock can tire quickly, and that's why I can't rate it higher than Green. Else in a contextless vacuum, this'd be Gold.
Clockwork Cavalcade: Technically possible to benefit from this 18th-level feature if you went Warforged, and the healing provided is amazing, but I'll be amazed if this gets any table time for a Coffeelock. Ignore it.


Divine Soul (XGtE)
Yep. I'm rating this Gold and I'm not even sorry. Because unless you're choosing something like 'Mark of Healing Variant Halfling', or going with a subclass that has damage negation, or you have a lovely Cleric in your party somewhere, you will be dead if you don't take this. It's as simple as that; losing Hit Dice and Long Rest features is just too big a sacrifice to negate any other way.

Divine Magic: Choose 'Good' and grab Cure Wounds. A simple yet effective spell, and will literally save your life. This is why you've chosen this subclass.
Favoured by the Gods: It's like Bless once per Short Rest. Neat.
Empowered Healing: This is actually really nice. It really sucks for any player to spend a resource on healing, only to roll terribly and recover just one or two hit points. It matters less for a Coffeelock who can cast Cure Wounds all day long, but I've played at tables who have a Table Rule of 'Healing gets max dice' just to get around players feeling bummed when all they're trying to do is not die. This isn't quite as broken as that, but goes a little way to solving the problem of healing being terrible.
Angelic Form: Free flight is always nice. You and the Draconic Soul can then take to the skies to duke it out over which subclass looks the most badass in another facet of Deities vs Primordials...
Unearthly Recovery: LOL. 18th level, and a Long Rest resource. This doesn't exist.


Draconic Bloodline (PHB)
You know what sucks? Most Sorcerer subclasses (in fact it might even be all of them...) get their own additional spells added to their spell choices. Except this one! No wonder Dragons are rarely happy; their illegitimate progeny got cheated...
Saying that, there's a reason this is D&D's most popular Sorcerer subclass, because what you lack in Subclass-specific spells, you make up for with these handy features instead:

Draconic Resilience: Extra HP (it's basically the 'Tough' Feat) and a decent AC option. And you get this right out of the gate. Fantastic.
Elemental Affinity. Sorcerer veterans know the drill with this: Combine with Elemental Adept Feat and go full 'Mad-King Aerys' on them all.
Dragon Wings: Free flight. Combine with a red Dragonborn and be a Charizard for a living.
Draconic Presence: Aww man, the run of great features had to come to an end at some point. If you're this hellbent on using Fear, just take levels in Vengeance/Oathbreaker Paladin


Shadow Magic (XGtE)
Every class has an 'edgelord' option. This is the Sorcerer's. Take this class, cover your character in belts, and insist on playing Nobuo Uematsu's 'One-Winged Angel' on your phone every time it's your turn in combat...
I'm being mean, but in the case of this as a Coffeelock option I don't have much scope for being nice, either. Remember a while back, I said that Coffeelocks take very specific and sometimes unique things from their subclasses, meaning that good classes can become bad and vice-versa? This is such an example. Generally this is a very powerful subclass - especially for those maxing Dex and want to give their character an edge in stealthiness, but honestly it doesn't work for a Coffeelock. Not well, anyway.

Eyes of the Dark: 120ft Darkvision (so even the Variant Humans now have eyes!) and the Darkness spell. Furthermore, if you cast it with your Sorcery Points, you get to remove the biggest drawback of the 'Darkness' spell, too. But the bit I'm surprised they haven't errata'd? This is a 2nd level spell. It costs 3 Sorcery Points to create a 2nd level Spell Slot. Yet this only costs 2, so it's actually more cost-effective to cast it that way!
Strength of the Grave: "You can't use this feature again until you finish a Long Rest"...
Hound of Ill Omen: 3 Sorcery Points to create a weak summon. You have better uses for your Sorcery Points than this.
Shadow Walk: Like the Thunder Step spell, but worse, and you had to take 14 levels of this sub-par class to get it.
Umbral Form: You know what would have made this worth taking 18 levels of Shadow Sorc? Immunity to damage. Instead you've gotten a Bear-Totem's Rage with some freedom of movement. I'd sooner you take levels of sodding Barbarian than take 18 levels of Shadow Magic for this POS.


Storm Sorcery (SCAG)
I stand corrected; 'Draconic Bloodline' isn't the only subclass without subclass-specific spells! You do get some great flavour though and I personally love this subclass on its own. But as a Coffeelock option, I remain unconvinced...

Wind Speaker: Funny. It's called 'Wind Speaker', yet you understand all of the elemental dialects of Primordial. This is a ribbon and little more.
Tempestuous Magic: Great if you have been ambushed and the hostiles are far too close for comfort. My question is: Do you levitate? Do you fall back down immediately? There's no 'Sage Advice' on this yet and that means you're at the mercy of a 'DM Ruling'. A shame.
Heart of the Storm: Much better. Two thematic resistances and some 10ft crowd control. Combine with Chain Lightning for some devastation.
Storm Guide: Ahh, lovely. I'm preparing for a 'Tomb of Annihilation' run and I was looking for a way to mitigate exhaustion from Chult's endless weather. Situational, but Gold for *my* situation.
Storm's Fury: "No touchy!" now has mechanical backing. This is fine if you've a habit of letting people touch you in the first place, but if so I'm surprised you survived this long as a Coffeelock without Healing Spells...
Wind Soul: WotC has confirmed: Peter Pan was an 18th-level Storm Sorc. Who knew? Alas, it's an 18th-level feature, so you know the drill by now...


Wild Magic (PHB)
So, funny story: I played in a local monthly D&D event in which we run several D&D one-shots. People would take their characters from table to table, month after month, and play. One guy played 'Grutch'; a Half-Orc Wild Magic Sorcerer. He ended up performing the single most amazing feat of magic I've ever seen in D&D and it was an honour and a privilege to have DMed him. However, the players and DMs at other tables hated his character... because he accidentally killed a few of theirs.
Here's the thing: You're a Coffeelock. You're gonna be casting a lot of levelled spells, and furthermore because you won't have any uses of 'Tides of Chaos' left, your DM can make you roll on the Surge table after every single levelled spell if they so wish.
You're either going to be the most powerful mortal in the Forgotten Realms, or you and your entire party are going to be cleaned off the dungeon floor with a hose. Maybe both within the same session. Let's roll those dice...

Wild Magic Surge: Please. I beg of you. Please don't ask me to rate this...
Tides of Chaos: A Long Rest Feature, meaning the floodgates are permanently open. Rainbow Rating it is, then!
Bend Luck: Doesn't do what you *hoped* it would do. It's a Bane Spell and a waste of a 6th level feature.
Controlled Chaos: I mean, this is great, but the better question is: How on Toril did you survive this long!?
Spell Bombardment: They say the candle that burns twice as bright lives half as long. If you ever get to use this in a Coffeelock situation, this is Gold. Otherwise... yeah. 18th-level feature and no Wild Magic Coffeelock is living this long.




More Coming Soon

[Rhocian Xothara]

Warlock Subclasses
In this section I'm going to ignore the subclass spell lists because the reality is as a Coffeelock, you're using your Warlock Spell Slots to fuel your Sorcery Points, so you shouldn't be wasting them on Warlock spells. In fairness I nearly skipped this section entirely, on the basis that it is unlikely that you'll be taking more than 3-5 levels of Warlock anyway. Still, some Patrons offer great early-level goodies, so since you're going shopping for an arcane sugar daddy/mommy it's worth comparing the market.

The Archfey (PHB)
The Archfey is a powerful choice of Patron. You are unlikely to take more than 3 levels of this, but Fey Presence is a strong enough 1st-level reason to go for this subclass by itself. Enjoy!

Fey Presence: D&D vets know how powerful the 'Frightened' condition is in D&D 5e, and this is a great way of keeping people out of melee range from you as a squishy caster. It's not important enough to rate Gold, but it's top end of Cyan.
Misty Escape: Another great feature that unfortunately gets demoted to purple, purely because if you're taking 6 levels of Feylock you need to ask yourself why...
Beguilding Defences: 10th level Feature, and even in a vacuum it's not actually that great considering it does what quite a few racial features offer anyway.
Dark Delirium: Chances are if you're making an 'Itachi Uchiha' weeb character, you're not building a Coffeelock. Taking 14 levels of Warlock is doable but absolute madness for this kind of build.

The Celestial (XGtE)
There are thematic reasons to go for this: Coupling it with Divine Soul Sorcerer means that your progenitor is a little better than an absentee parent. Plus you get some bonus cantrips (always welcome; guide writers tend to undervalue extra cantrips and I don't get why...) and the healing stuff is great for Coffeelocks looking to survive long enough to get their much-needed 5th-level.

Bonus Cantrips: You get Light and Sacred Flame, and they don't count towards your total of known cantrips as a Warlock. Considering levelled Warlock spells will be inaccessible to you as a Coffeelock, this is very welcome.
Healing Light: You're a Warlock, yet this is a 'Long Rest' feature. Personally I think The Celestial got cheated here, but I guess it's all in the pursuit of balance. Still, it'll help keep you alive until 5th level.
Radiant Soul: Another great feature let down by the fact it's at a higher level than you're likely to pursue. Two resistances, and bonus damage to Fire and Radiant attacks. Nice in a vacuum; situational in context.
Celestial Resistance: Hands up who has ever actually read the RAW on Temporary HP? If you did, you'll know you lose these hit points on a *Long Rest*. At the cost of taking far more levels of Warlock than you reasonably want to take, your HP can rise exponentially. Couple it with some decent downtime and you (probably) have more HP than your Patron. The polarised rating is because if you're taking 10 levels of Warlock, it's because you fully expect to go to 20th level, and didn't fancy the Paladin options.
Searing Vengeance: Long Rest feature for a Short Rest class. Boo.

The Fathomless (TCoE)
WotC has done that thing again where they use clever names to subvert expectations. For example, 'Tales from the Yawning Portal' makes you think of planar travel, when in fact the Yawning Portal is a pub in Waterdeep. 'The Fathomless' isn't an incomprehensible Eldritch entity; it's 'Fathom' as in the nautical measurement. TL;DR: Your Patron is why the Mariana Trench exists, with a 'holiday home' in the Bermuda Triangle. Probably.

Tentacle of the Deep: Good thing this is a Long Rest feature, else your group would have to make Wisdom Saves against your constant "I've seen enough Hentai..." jokes.
Gift of the Sea: A great 1st-level boon... providing you ever encounter the water.
Oceanic Soul: 6th level, and situational at best.
Guardian Coil: Tied to your 1st-level Long Rest feature, so this is useless.
Grasping Tentacles: 10 levels of Warlock to learn a 3rd level spell, and it's "once per Long Rest". Pass.
Fathomless Plunge: Y'know, I kinda wish I played a Fathomlock in my recent Saltmarsh game. This would have been *perfect* for constantly busting out of jail... As for this context, it's a 14th-level feature. You know the drill by now.

The Fiend (PHB)
A fan favourite and for good reason. If you're not after anything else in particular, you're taking this and your DM will hate your guts for it. Lets explore why:

Dark One's Blessing: This is why. The more you kill, the more HP you get, and you lose that temporary HP on the Long Rest you'll never take. Expect this to be nerfed as a Table Rule unless the DM really doesn't care about the fact you're never going to die.
Dark One's Own Luck: If you do take more than 3 levels of Warlock, your next stopping point should be 6th level, to pick up this beauty.
Fiendish Resilience: It's cool that they included the weakness (if you could call it that) that all fiends share. Otherwise, it's too high-level to be of use to you.
Hurl Through Hell: 14th level Long Rest feature.

The Genie (TCoE)
It's interesting reading the flavour options and seeing how WotC has tried to cover a lot of the cultural differences in 'Genie' mythologies. I'm slightly disappointed that they didn't include an option to flavour your own 'lamp' or whatever else, but any DM worth their salt would let you do so, I'm sure.

Genie's Vessel: Funny thing about Coffeelock Genies is that entering your vessel is a "once per Long Rest" thing. So you're essentially locked out of your own home. Priceless. Extra elemental damage is nice though, and just saves it from being Red.
Elemental Gift: Long Rest resource. Just play an Aarakocra if you really want flight.
Sanctuary Vessel: A really nice feature by itself, but otherwise it's of no use to you even if you did take 10 levels of Genie.
Limited Wish: I mean the level requirement is red, but I just love how this essentially renders the 11th-level Mystic Arcanum pointless.

The Great Old One (PHB)
Thematically, this is what The Fathomless should have been, in my mind. But then it couldn't be, because this is one of the OG Warlock subclasses. So I guess the joke is on me...

Awakened Mind: Telepathy: Great when it's useful, but isn't often useful.
Entropic Ward: Very useful in a vacuum, and I can imagine how powerful this would be when paired with something like Clockwork Soul's 'Bastion of Law'.
Thought Shield: Just scrounge a Ring of Mind Shielding from your DM, it's better than taking 10 levels of Warlock.
Create Thrall: You, too, can be a Patron. Sorta. Just not as a Coffeelock.

The Hexblade (XGtE)
The Subclass of choice for gishy Coffeelocks. It's useful if your stats mean that you can't easily take levels of Paladin, or you simply don't wish to go that route, and the extra proficiencies help with this.

Hexblade's Curse: It's kinda like Hunter's Mark, but better. And much like Hunter's Mark, be prepared to constantly forget to use this! Otherwise: Very useful.
Hex Warrior: Oof. The best way to actually make use of the main part of this feature is to take a Long Rest once and then never again. Just be aware that changing your weapon will mean another Long Rest.
Accursed Spectre: Long Rest Feature.
Armor of Hexes: The level requirement isn't so bad because Hexblade Coffeelocks will probably be taking more Warlock levels than most anyway, so this is nice, if not all that powerful.
Master of Hexes: It's a shame this was never an option from 1st level to be fair; this is way too underpowered for a 14th-level feature.

The Undying (SCAG)
The Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide is an underrated sourcebook. Change my mind. Also, this subclass gives you an excuse to tell your DM you're pursuing Vecna's artifacts, and so they have to give them to you. Those are just the rules; I don't make 'em!

Among the Dead: A very useful Cantrip, advantage on saves against disease, and a good chance to 'nope' attacks by Undead. And all at 1st level!
Defy Death: Basically you have to pass one death save to be stabilised, and stabilising others heals you. Thank you!
Undying Nature: Imagine giving this to a Warforged. Snort. Useful in principle for Coffeelocks, but at this level it's a useless ribbon.
Indestructible Life: I wonder if the body part reattachment includes one's own head...? It'd be cool to play as a Dullahan. Otherwise this is a Fighter's Second Wind, but worse. Pass.



A Note about Pacts & Invocations
Sigh... Want me to cover Pacts? Fine. I'll cover Pacts: 99% of Coffeelocks must take Pact of the Tome for the build to work. There literally is no other option. At present only a Warforged can afford to choose anything else. A Gishy Warforged will go for Pact of the Blade; Pact of the Chain's only saving grace is the 'Gift of the Ever-Living Ones' Invocation which is absolutely incredible for Divine Soul Coffeelocks, and Pact of the Talisman is what you pick if you want a bunch of Invocations that are "Once per Long Rest" and therefore unusable.

There. Pacts: Covered.

Invocations will get slightly less passive-aggression: Since most Coffeelocks will only go 3 levels of Warlock (and in fairness there's no convincing reason to go more than that), you're only going to have two Invocations available and one of those needs to be 'Aspect of the Moon'. So you get to choose one more. And since there's so many, I've abridged the options into a list of my recommendations:

Agonizing Blast: It's a Green rating if you're using your many spell slots to cast levelled blasting spells, but if you're sensible you'll learn a whole bunch of utility/healing spells and take this beauty.
Devil's Sight: Less useful if you're a race with Darkvision, but still useful for being able to cast 'Darkness' without blinding yourself.
Eldritch Sight: Personal favourite. It lets you do the thing you as the resident Spellcaster are responsible for, but at-will without cost and without wasting a space on your spell list.
Gift of the Ever-Living Ones: Already covered. If for some reason you went Chain Pact, you need this.
Improved Pact Weapon: Still think you should have gone Paladin, my dear Blade Pact... But since you didn't, take this - it's dangerous to go alone.
Repelling Blast: Good for keeping people away from you. How do I learn this in real life?



A Note about Paladins
I've mentioned numerous times about the virtues of adding levels of Paladin to a Coffeelock build, giving a tremendously powerful 'gish' option. I won't go into Paladin subclasses because they honestly don't matter. The main reason you're going Paladin at all is for their weapon and armour proficiencies, and of course their smites.

Still, there are three key cut-off points for Paladin levels. They are:

2nd level: You get what you came for - Proficiencies; a choice of Fighting Styles, and Smites. You could stop here pretty easily.
4th level: 3rd level gives you Channel Divinity and immunity to Disease. But if you went to 3rd level, might as well go to 4th and get that ASI/Feat, too.
6th level: You get Aura of Protection and now can truly call yourself a Paladin. Your party will thank you for it. But most importantly, at 5th level you get Extra Attack - one more attack to add your Smite to!




Feats
I'm gonna level with you: You're only going to take a couple of these. Spellcasters don't benefit from these nearly as much as martial classes do, but there are a few staple, universally good Feats that's always worth taking. I won't go through the full list (because there are now 72 Feats in official content and you're only going to take maybe two of them - three, tops). You will likely want to prioritise ASIs - especially if you intend to take levels of Paladin.

Instead, here's a list of ones I recommend:

Alert: Universally good, and this allows you as the resident squishy to get to safety before raining fire on their squishies.
Defensive Duelist: If you're making a Dexadin Coffeelock, this is great. The perils of being a squishgish is mitigated by decent AC with this Feat.
Dragon Fear: Dragonborn only of course, but it means the sub-par Breath Weapon can now instill a much more useful Frightened condition.
Elemental Adept: Usually paired with Draconic Bloodline to get powerful elemental magic, and it's popular for a reason.
Metamagic Adept: If you enjoy using Metamagic, this becomes Gold. Two extra Metamagic options is great, especially given the extra Metamagic options that came with the same sourcebook as this.
Observant: If your DM is a fan of throwing midnight ambushes at you, this is important. Otherwise... ehh. Let the Ranger/Druid/Cleric handle it.
Resilient: Extra saving throws and half an ASI. Always a winner.
Spell Sniper: For when you *really* want to stay out of harm's way. A rubbish Feat normally, but useful for you.
Tough: I took this with a Draconic Bloodline Sorcerer once. My HP was on par with the party Paladin's. It doesn't look like much, but it all mounts up in the end.
War Caster: If you're going Gish, you need this. If you're casting Concentration spells, you need this. And if you're doing both then... I need to find a colour better than Gold...



Example Builds
And so, ladies and gentlemen, we come to the end of my guide. But before I leave, I want to throw a few of my favourite builds at you, as examples of the different ways you can build a Coffeelock. Feel free to contribute your own builds in the comments below.

The Soulreaver
Race: Halfling (Mark of Healing Variant)
Classes: Fiendlock 3 (Tome Pact)/Clockwork Soul X
Feats: Elemental Adept (Fire)

This gets its name from the fact that it rains fiery death on the enemies with Scorching Rays and Fireballs. Their life energy on death is added to your own thanks to your Patron's Blessing. You secretly relish fighting mobs and hordes; the more you kill the stronger you become. But you share your gifts with others - your party enjoys plentiful healing whenever they want it, and you can protect the tank with your Bastion of Law's protective ward.

The Ultimate Sorcadin
Race: Human (Variant)
Classes: Fiendlock 3 (Tome Pact)/Divine Soul 2+ (ideally 9+)/Paladin 2+ (ideally 6)
Feats: Warcaster; Resilient (CON or WIS)

The one weakness of Sorcadins is resources: They are masters of 'burst damage' which they usually reserve for a 'Boss Fight', and vie to end the fight in one or two rounds. But what if you could keep that up indefinitely, quickening upcast Fireballs and applying 5th-level smites to your two attacks per turn, every turn? Your lower level spell slots are for Shield-reacts and healing spells, but your higher level slots are purely for death. Might be worth going 4 levels into Fiendlock to get that extra ASI, but as is typical of Sorcadins this is really a build meant for higher levels.

Android Prototype Mk:ZERO
Race: Warforged
Classes: Fiendlock 3 (Chain Pact)/Divine Soul X
Feats: Metamagic Adept; Warcaster (if you're dipping into Paladin)

Remember the Androids from Dragonball Z? Trunks lored that "Their energy lasts forever", and in some of the videogames they genuinely don't run out of Ki, or they recharge it passively and much more quickly than others. This is that same concept. Since you're Pact of the Chain, take the 'Gift of the Ever-Living Ones' Invocation to ignore having to roll dice on healing spells. You can of course dip into Paladin if you want to start getting into the frontlines and tank with the extra HP you'll be getting, but honestly this will work just as nicely from the rear.

[Anjun]

This build is no problem for me as a GM. Just consider you cannot get above your max sorcery points (sorcerer level (+feat if applicable))

[Naanomi]

Note that at higher levels, Greater Restoration can fix the exhaustion you may accrue from Tasha's rules (or that you may pick up by happenstance doing other stuff)

[Unoriginal]

EDIT: I was 100% incorrect in my assertions.


I sincerely apologize.

[Naanomi]

This build is no problem for me as a GM. Just consider you cannot get above your max sorcery points (sorcerer level (+feat if applicable))
This is vital to understand for the build; with the Warlock and Sorcerer levels needing to stagger the right way to get maximum benefits; and the end ratio depending entirely on if you want to maximize the benefit of a single short rest or you plan on being able to 'recharge' after several short rests reliably.


"Coffeelock doesn't work unless your DM makes the active decision that Long Rests can be turned into Short Rests" is the more accurate reason.
I mean... some version of the build where you avoid taking long rests (even if that doesn't turn into 8 short rests) is probably possible; and even usable sometimes in a 'normal' Warlock/Sorcerer multiclass

[Warder]

Super interesting to read the perspective of someone who has actually played the Coffeelock and liked it - to me, it's always been a thought experiment people bring up for the laughs rather than as a serious build. I disagree with the conclusions, but I respect the perspective if your table approves. The only thing I can argue against is the name of the guide, no mere warlock would become Magister of Mystra. :smallamused:

[Rhocian Xothara]

Thank you everyone for your responses - whether for or against.

I am updating this constantly today and will be completed over the course of the week. I realise I've released this guide far too early because a lot of people's concerns about Coffeelocks haven't yet been addressed properly.

All I can ask is: Watch this space!

[Segev]

This is an interesting article and I look forward to your build guide. It's worth noting that most games end before you reach "peak power" and start to dwindle by your estimation - Tomb of Annihilation ends at level 11, in theory, for example (which I call out because you're building a coffeelock for it). However, you make one factually inaccurate claim:

It should be noted that these values are reversible - meaning that converting, say, a 3rd level spell slot gives you 5 Sorcery Points, and creating a 3rd level Spell Slot costs 5 Sorcery Points.The rules for converting spell slots to sorcery points are that you get a number of sorcery points equal to the spell slot level. It is explicitly an inefficient process: if you convert spell slots to sorcery points, then back to spell slots, you get fewer/lower level spell slots back out.

This means that the Warlock 3/Sorcerer 2 is actually not squandering any SP when he converts his 2nd level Pact Magic spell slots: each one is 2 SP, so he refills his meager SP pool with each Pact Magic spell slot he converts.


Coffeelock is trying to exploit the rules about resting and to exact-word things into existence. Er, only in the same sense that a DM who doesn't permit you to call eight hours of light activity a long rest is "exact-word things" out "of existence." The rules definitions for long and short rests aren't being carefully finagled, here; an hour of light activity is a short rest. A DM who rules otherwise is within his rights, but he's the one changing the base rules of the game.


One Long Rest is *not* eight Short Rests, inherently. By definition, yes, but it's not "exact-word" manipulation to assert that if you don't meet the conditions for a long rest (and, in fact, never sought to take one) that you don't, in fact, long rest.


A non-sleeping Warlock who watch the night for 8 hours is a Warlock having a Long Rest. A non-sleeping Warlock who gets up every hours to do a job or whichever other activity is a Warlock having an interrupted Long Rest, which gives no benefit. There's no such thing as "an interrupted Long Rest." You can have your long rest interrupted, thus making you not have a long rest, but there's no mechanical rules object that is "an interrupted long rest" that somehow makes it impossible to short rest.


The whole premise Coffeelocking is built on does not work. At least not without the DM deciding it does.It works just fine unless the DM decides it doesn't. (There is a difference, even if in practice any DM who uses your reasoning probably wants to ban the coffeelock anyway, so the argument is moot since DMs have absolute right to ban any build they deem undesirable for their game.)


By RAW, you take a Short Rest when the DM says you can, if you want to. Not more than that. Please show me in the RAW where it says this. The RAW, to my knowledge, spell out the conditions that are required for a short rest, and "the DM tells you you may" doesn't appear. This statement is technically and practically true in the sense that a DM can cause any attempt at a short rest to be interrupted if he wants to (though unless he rules that [I]rope trick's duration is such that you can't actually short rest inside it, rope trick makes it VERY DIFFICULT for him to do so in a natural-seeming way), but to my knowledge there is no rule that says the party has to wait for the DM to say, "Okay, you guys can take a short rest now," before the party can deliberately stop, rest for an hour, and recoup short rest resources/spend HD for healing.


Saying "I am not making a ruling to allow something that would otherwise not work" is different than saying "X optional rule doesn't apply at my table" or "X species doesn't exist in this setting".It is, indeed, but the DM doesn't need to make some odd reading of the rules for the coffeelock to work. He needs to not use one optional rule from Xanathar's Guide to Everything, and to otherwise let the RAW stand.


"Coffeelock doesn't work unless your DM makes the active decision that Long Rests can be turned into Short Rests" is the more accurate reason.This is simply false.

Not only can you decide you're taking a short rest by engaging in the appropriate activities for an hour, therefore you can, in fact, take 7-8 short rests in the time other PCs take a long rest, but even if the DM for some reason house rules that you can't take back-to-back short rests, or that somehow the eight hours everyone else is spending long resting is a "ruined short rest" for you, you still can take short rests with the others and do the coffeelock thing.

I think it an entirely unreasonable ruling by the DM to insist that you can't get AT LEAST ONE short rest in in the time the rest of the party is long resting. I think it ludicrous to assert that, despite the fact that a party could easily take 2-3 short rests in an eight-hour adventuring day, you can't take at least that many short rests during the eight hours others are long resting.

Again: there is nothing that says, "Well, since you rested for 2 hours before you got interrupted in your light activity sufficiently to make your long rest be 'interrupted' and give no benefit, you can't get the benefit of a short rest." You COULD argue, at BEST (or worst, depending on point of view), that the player has to decide whether he's short or long resting at the start of the rest period, and thus deny the benefits of a short rest when he tried to long rest and had it interrupted. But if a player says, "I'm going to take a short rest," when the rest of the party says "we're taking a long rest," there's nothing in the rules that says the player can't do that. He takes his short rest, then goes and engages in - for example - some combat training or item crafting or the like. It would require a DM who is actively trying to prevent coffeelocking to find some way of reading the rules that says he can't spend 15 minutes in activity that would interrupt a long rest after his short rest, then take another short rest.

At absolute worst, a DM who was solely concerned with the letter of the RAW and was fine with coffeelocks as long as the RAW supports them might insist that you can only get 6 short rests in during an 8 hour period due to "needing" to engage in 15 minutes of rest-interrupting activity between each of them to ensure that it doesn't become a long rest. Note: this is, itself, an extreme reading of the RAW, since I believe a long rest is interrupted by 10 minutes or more, cumulative, of rest-interrupting activity. (I could be mistaken here.)

Regardless, Unoriginal, your assertion is simply not true, to the best of my understanding of the RAW, and I ask that you provide citations for your claims that cause you to assert that coffeelocks cannot work without DMs making specific rulings in order to allow them. To reiterate: I assert that DMs would have to make very strange readings of the RAW to come close to validating your assertions, and may actively need to make house rules to make your assertions true, but I invite you to provide rules citations that prove your claims are actually how the RAW work.

[Avonar]

Spell Slot Level

Sorcery Point Cost



1st

2



2nd

3



3rd

5



4th

6



5th

7



It should be noted that these values are reversible - meaning that converting, say, a 3rd level spell slot gives you 5 Sorcery Points, and creating a 3rd level Spell Slot costs 5 Sorcery Points.

So putting aside personal feelings, it's worth pointing out that this part is actually incorrect.


Converting a Spell Slot to Sorcery Points.
As a bonus action on your turn, you can expend one spell slot and gain a number of sorcery points equal to the slot's level.

The values are not reversible, it costs more points to create a spell slot than you get from converting a spell slot. A 3rd level spell slot gives you 3 Sorcery Points.

[meandean]

IMHO, the side that's being overly legalistic is the side emphasizing that the Xanathar's rule is "optional", and implying that not using it is similar to not using flanking or whatever. It's not that sort of "optional" rule; rather, it's explicitly stating something that always should have been obvious, but was forced to be explicitly stated based on how people were playing. There's also no explicit rule saying that you have to excrete, or that you need your heart to be able to pump blood. Does that mean that those aren't things that a D&D character needs to live, and if they were prevented from happening, the character wouldn't die? If your physiology even vaguely resembles a human's, of course you need to sleep. (If you're a Warforged, then the argument at least isn't barred by common sense, although I still don't think it's RAI.)

It's OP's life of course, but if I were him, I wouldn't devote any time to discussing whether it should be legal. People aren't going to be convinced, and just initiating the discussion will vastly distract from his point (as it already has). If your DM allows the coffeelock -- which they're perfectly within their rights to do -- then this guide will help you; otherwise, it won't. That should suffice for purposes of the guide.

[Rhocian Xothara]

This is vital to understand for the build; with the Warlock and Sorcerer levels needing to stagger the right way to get maximum benefits; and the end ratio depending entirely on if you want to maximize the benefit of a single short rest or you plan on being able to 'recharge' after several short rests reliably.


I mean... some version of the build where you avoid taking long rests (even if that doesn't turn into 8 short rests) is probably possible; and even usable sometimes in a 'normal' Warlock/Sorcerer multiclass

You're absolutely right on all accounts.

At 5th level, without the Sorcery Points cap, you can actually generate six sorcery points per Short Rest at Warlock 3/Sorcerer 2, but the Sorcery Point Cap at Sorcerer 2 means you can only create 4. It means that after 5th level, you can and absolutely should start taking levels in Sorcerer (at least 4 more levels, ideally) before going back to Warlock. One of the things coming up in my guide later is the 'levelling path' - a level-by-level guide on some of the best ways to build a Coffeelock. I just can't decide if I want to leave that to the end of the guide, or do it right away, so I'll take suggestions.

I've had DMs that have ruled that whilst the Party is sleeping, my Short Rests are every two hours, not one. Their argument - which I agree with - is that because Perception Checks by whoever is on watch duty is typically done every 2 hours into a Long Rest, it's fair that those Perception Checks are also checkpoints for when one Short Rest ends and another begins. It's still enough to generate a healthy pool of Sorcery Points (16 per 8 hours, minimum) and you can still be a decent Coffeelock without casually bragging to your table you have 147 1st-level Spell Slots.

And besides: Not much is stopping you from taking more levels in Warlock to increase that conversion. Build options in terms of Warlock/Sorcerer levels is something I'm gonna touch on in my 'reserved' comment, I think.

[Segev]

IMHO, the side that's being overly legalistic is the side emphasizing that the Xanathar's rule is "optional", and implying that not using it is similar to not using flanking or whatever. It's not that sort of "optional" rule; rather, it's explicitly stating something that always should have been obvious, but was forced to be explicitly stated based on how people were playing. There's also no explicit rule saying that you have to excrete, or that you need your heart to be able to pump blood. Does that mean that those aren't things that a D&D character needs to live, and if they were prevented from happening, the character wouldn't die? If your physiology even vaguely resembles a human's, of course you need to sleep. (If you're a Warforged, then the argument at least isn't barred by obvious common sense, although I still don't think it's RAI.)

It's OP's life of course, but if I were him, I wouldn't devote any time to discussing whether it should be legal. People aren't going to be convinced, and just initiating the discussion will vastly distract from his point (as it already has). If your DM allows the coffeelock -- which they're perfectly within their rights to do -- then this guide will help you; otherwise, it won't. That should suffice for purposes of the guide.

If you want to argue that way, then it is also "overly legalistic" to try to claim that XGE's long rest exhaustion rule still applies to creatures who have explicit mechanics that make them not need to sleep at all. Aspect of the Moon should actually remove the need for long resting entirely (other than, you know, to recover long rest resources). It doesn't call out "not getting exhausted" because that IS an optional rule.

You're right that the optional rule is there to point out that D&D isn't supposed to have normal human, dwarf, gnome, halfling, etc. adventurers never, ever sleeping based on a lawyerly reading of the RAW regarding long rests that would permit them to say, "Well, we didn't get into any encounters today, so we don't need to rest; we can delve into this dungeon despite having just (successfully) made four saves vs. exhaustion for forced marching, since there's no penalty."

When you have a mechanic that literally says "you don't need sleep," arguing you still need "a long rest" to not get exhausted is...straining things. A DM is within his rights, but it's at that point trying to ban coffeelocks without banning coffeelocks, since it's just not likely to otherwise come up.

[Rhocian Xothara]

It's OP's life of course, but if I were him, I wouldn't devote any time to discussing whether it should be legal. People aren't going to be convinced, and just initiating the discussion will vastly distract from his point (as it already has). If your DM allows the coffeelock -- which they're perfectly within their rights to do -- then this guide will help you; otherwise, it won't. That should suffice for purposes of the guide.

I'm gonna go ahead and put your entire quote in Bold (EDIT: Ew. Getting rid of the Gold. My eyes hated that!) This is 100% my intention. The first part of my guide mentions numerous times that I am not here to argue with DMs who disallow Coffeelocks at their table - that's 100% their right as DMs.

This guide is for those who want to build a Coffeelock but don't fully understand them, but more importantly (and more hopefully on my part), it's for DMs who perhaps have been asked by a player if they can play a Coffeelock and they want to better understand the build before they say yay or nay.

The build sounds far more broken than it ever is in practice. I see lots of hate for the build concept, but never any actual, at-the-table horror stories of "How the Coffeelock Broke the Game". It just doesn't happen.

[diplomancer]

IMHO, the side that's being overly legalistic is the side emphasizing that the Xanathar's rule is "optional", and implying that not using it is similar to not using flanking or whatever. It's not that sort of "optional" rule; rather, it's explicitly stating something that always should have been obvious, but was forced to be explicitly stated based on how people were playing. There's also no explicit rule saying that you have to excrete, or that you need your heart to be able to pump blood. Does that mean that those aren't things that a D&D character needs to live, and if they were prevented from happening, the character wouldn't die? If your physiology even vaguely resembles a human's, of course you need to sleep. (If you're a Warforged, then the argument at least isn't barred by obvious common sense, although I still don't think it's RAI.)

It's OP's life of course, but if I were him, I wouldn't devote any time to discussing whether it should be legal. People aren't going to be convinced, and just initiating the discussion will vastly distract from his point (as it already has). If your DM allows the coffeelock -- which they're perfectly within their rights to do -- then this guide will help you; otherwise, it won't. That should suffice for purposes of the guide.

In that regard, it should be noted that it is only a particular reading of that rule, which ignores the explanatory text of what that rule is supposed to model (i.e, natural bad effects from lack of sleep), that makes the coffeelock hard to play unless you have access to Greater Restoration, despite having racial or class features that explicitly say you have no need of sleep.

[Unoriginal]

Regardless, Unoriginal, your assertion is simply not true, to the best of my understanding of the RAW, and I ask that you provide citations for your claims that cause you to assert that coffeelocks cannot work without DMs making specific rulings in order to allow them. To reiterate: I assert that DMs would have to make very strange readings of the RAW to come close to validating your assertions, and may actively need to make house rules to make your assertions true, but I invite you to provide rules citations that prove your claims are actually how the RAW work.

After re-reading the rules, I can see that my assertion was indeed untrue. I apologize for that, and have edited my previous post in consequence.

It seems I was misremembering something and made a fool of myself.

However:

PHB, p. 186



Adventurers, as well as other creatures, can take short rests in the midst of a day and a long rest to end it.

[...]

Short Rest
A short rest is a period of downtime, at least 1 hour long, during which a character does nothing more strenuous than eating, drinking, reading, and tending to wounds.

[...]

Long Rest
A long rest is a period of extended downtime, at least 8 hours long, during which a character sleeps for at least 6 hours and performs no more than 2 hours of light activity, such as reading, talking, eating, or standing watch. If the rest is interrupted by a period of strenuous activity—at least 1 hour of walking, fighting, casting spells, or similar adventuring activity—the characters must begin the rest again to gain any benefit from it.

Xanathar's p. 56:


Aspect of the Moon
Prerequisites: Pact of the Tome
You no longer need to sleep and can't be forced to sleep by any means. To gain the benefits of a long rest, you can spend all 8 hours doing light activity, such as reading your Book of Shadows and keeping watch.


So:

1) A short rest is: a downtime period of at least 1 hour that can be taken in the midst of the day, during which a character does nothing strenuous.

2) A long rest is: an extended downtime period of at least 8 hours that can be taken to end the day, during which a character sleeps for at least 6 and does nothing strenuous for 2 hours is a long rest. Can be interrupted by 1 hour of doing something strenuous. If interrupted, the character has to re-start doing nothing strenuous for 2 hours and sleeping for 6 hours to benefit from it.

3) The Warlock class recovers spell slots at the end of a short rest or of a long rest.

4) The Aspect of the Moon Invocation changes a long rest into: an extended downtime period of at least 8 hours during which a character with the Aspect of the Moon Invocation does nothing strenuous. Can be interrupted by 1 hour of doing something strenuous. If interrupted, the character with the Aspect of the Moon Invocation has to re-start doing nothing strenuous for 8 hours.

The assertion the Coffeelock is built on is, to the best of my knowledge:

A: a downtime period that ends the day of 1 hour of non-strenuous activities, interrupted by 1 hour of strenuous activities, followed by returning to non-strenuous activities, is a short rest.

I challenge this assertion. 1 hour of non-strenuous activities, interrupted by 1 hour of strenuous activities, followed by returning to non-strenuous activities, is exactly the situation that the "if the rest is interrupted by a period of strenuous activity [...] the characters must begin the rest again to gain any benefit from it" part of the rules covers. Aspect of the Moon changes nothing to that situation.



In that regard, it should be noted that it is only a particular reading of that rule, which ignores the explanatory text of what that rule is supposed to model (i.e, natural bad effects from lack of sleep), that makes the coffeelock hard to play unless you have access to Greater Restoration, despite having racial or class features that explicitly say you have no need of sleep.

"No need to sleep" is not the same as "no need to rest".

Aspect of the Moon makes so the character require no sleep, but it explicitly still expect said character to still take long rests (otherwise, half of its text would be useless).

[Segev]

1) A short rest is: a downtime period of at least 1 hour that can be taken in the midst of the day, during which a character does nothing strenuous.

2) A long rest is: an extended downtime period of at least 8 hours that can be taken to end the day, during which a character sleeps for at least 6 and does nothing strenuous for 2 hours is a long rest. Can be interrupted by 1 hour of doing something strenuous. If interrupted, the character has to re-start doing nothing strenuous for 2 hours and sleeping for 6 hours to benefit from it.

3) The Warlock class recovers spell slots at the end of a short rest or of a long rest.

4) The Aspect of the Moon Invocation changes a long rest into: an extended downtime period of at least 8 hours during which a character with the Aspect of the Moon Invocation does nothing strenuous. Can be interrupted by 1 hour of doing something strenuous. If interrupted, the character with the Aspect of the Moon Invocation has to re-start doing nothing strenuous for 8 hours.Excellent summation. Thank you for putting it together!


The assertion the Coffeelock is built on is, to the best of my knowledge:

A: a downtime period that ends the day of 1 hour of non-strenuous activities, interrupted by 1 hour of strenuous activities, followed by returning to non-strenuous activities, is a short rest.

I challenge this assertion. 1 hour of non-strenuous activities, interrupted by 1 hour of strenuous activities, followed by returning to non-strenuous activities, is exactly the situation that the "if the rest is interrupted by a period of strenuous activity [...] the characters must begin the rest again to gain any benefit from it" part of the rules covers. Aspect of the Moon changes nothing to that situation.No, the assertion is that, as long as you never long rest, you don't reset your sorcerer spell slots. In addition, you can take short rests "during the night." i.e. when others are long resting.

If you say, "I am taking a short rest," and then do nothing strenuous for an hour, did you not take a short rest just because you kept doing nothing strenuous for another half hour? In fact, the way the rules are written, it would seem that a character can decide he's taken a short rest after any hour of no-strenuous-activity, and by taking the benefits of the short rest, he has made it not part of a long rest. Or, even, possibly, he can take the benefits of a short rest after any given hour during a long rest...but if he finishes the long rest, he definitely overwrites any short rest benefits (as I don't think there's anything that you GET from a short rest that a long rest doesn't also give).

So all the coffeelock has to do is never take a long rest. Which means he'd better have more than an hour of strenuous activity breaking up his night. So he still should be able to get around six short rests into other characters' 8 hours of long resting, just making sure to get up and exercise or otherwise engage in some sort of long-rest-illegal activity periodically in such a way that it constitutes interrupting his long rest for more than an hour. This could be as easy as taking 7 short rests in a row over 7 hours, and then starting strenuous workouts or something 30-60 minutes before the party gets up, and refraining from re-engaging the rest of the long rest until at least another just-over-an-hour has passed (which would force him to re-start his long rest from scratch...if he wanted a long rest).


"No need to sleep" is not the same as "no need to rest".

Aspect of the Moon makes so the character require no sleep, but it explicitly still expect said character to still take long rests (otherwise, half of its text would be useless).Well, not useless. It tells him how to do it, because most characters want long rests for their benefits. Whether it fails to eliminate the need for rest to the point that the DM should apply Exhaustion is, well, a DM call. Given that it almost certainly will hinge solely upon whether the player wants to be a coffeelock, this really amounts to whether the DM wants to permit coffeelocks or not.

[Willie the Duck]

Super interesting to read the perspective of someone who has actually played the Coffeelock and liked it - to me, it's always been a thought experiment people bring up for the laughs rather than as a serious build. I disagree with the conclusions, but I respect the perspective if your table approves. The only thing I can argue against is the name of the guide, no mere warlock would become Magister of Mystra. :smallamused:

Agree here. I treat Coffeelocking similar to how I see shield and one-handed quarterstaff with Shillelagh + PAM -- it has nothing to do with whether it is overpowered or not, it just seems like futzing with odd (probably unintended) combinations of rules, which is generally not what I want out of my game and I'd rather the game not be about that. Also generally agree with the assessment that Coffeelock comes online too late to worry about for most groups. It(has been to me)'s an odd little quirky aside (kinda like AD&D's bard), without much applicability for my group either. That said, more power to the OP if they can find joy in exploring the ins and outs of the thing.

[Rhocian Xothara]

Well ladies and gents, it has been a labour of love but I've finally completed this guide.

It's not as comprehensive as I'd have liked and that's because I kept hitting the PHP character limit a few times on some of these posts. Turns out reserving three posts for myself for this guide wasn't quite enough. Four would have been the right number.

Let me know what you think.

[Segev]

Well ladies and gents, it has been a labour of love but I've finally completed this guide.

It's not as comprehensive as I'd have liked and that's because I kept hitting the PHP character limit a few times on some of these posts. Turns out reserving three posts for myself for this guide wasn't quite enough. Four would have been the right number.

Let me know what you think.

I need to go read the additions since I was last here, but you might be able to ask a moderator to insert a post or something. Or maybe talk to whoever has the post in your way and ask if they'll edit in the last page for you?

[diplomancer]

Good guide. One observation though, about Temporary Hit Points; though you only lose them on a Long Rest, you can't stack them. So Fiend Pact 1 or Celestial 10 don't actually make you immortal, as you can't add THPs over THPs. Everytime you get new THPs, you get to choose between gaining the new ones or keeping the old ones, but you don't add them together.

[Captain Panda]

Good guide. One observation though, about Temporary Hit Points; though you only lose them on a Long Rest, you can't stack them. So Fiend Pact 1 or Celestial 10 don't actually make you immortal, as you can't add THPs over THPs

Good guide! I've played as a coffeelock myself and found it fun.

[Thunderous Mojo]

I appreciate the guide. The effort that went into producing the guide is evident. I'm confused, generally, by what 'role' a "coffeelock" is supposed to play?

Is the idea to "spring it" upon a DM? "Ha you thought I was out of magical juice, but I'm a magical, (and really sleepy), nigh Endless Juice Box of Doom! Bhaawhaaa"

I could see myself doing that if my brother was DM-ing.🥸

To regenerate the spell slots of a 10th level takes around 68 Sorcery Points. This guide advises to not take more than 6th levels of Warlock, so one is looking at using Flexible Casting to generate 4 to 6 Sorcery Points per hour. This translates to a 'cofeelock' needing 11 to 16 hours to replicate for spell slots only, what one Long Rest does in 8 hours.

It seems like a strategy of using coffee and cocaine to achieve 'high performance' doesn't work in fantasy life, as well as in real life.🃏

How does a build that creates a spell caster that doesn't cast 6th level spells helping the group? Is this a Tier 1 or 2 build only?

As a DM I typically put proposals like a player wanting to play something like a 'Cofeelock' up to secret ballot vote. As a competing option I would offer the Table as a whole use the optional Epic Rest rules..

The 'Coffelock' leverages two very specific table decisions; namely, that not taking Long Rests is not harmful to one's health, and that Pact Magic slots can be used for anything other than casting spells.

[Segev]

I appreciate the guide. The effort that went into producing the guide is evident. I'm confused, generally, by what 'role' a "coffeelock" is supposed to play?

Is the idea to "spring it" upon a DM? "Ha you thought I was out of magical juice, but I'm a magical, (and really sleepy), nigh Endless Juice Box of Doom! Bhaawhaaa"

I could see myself doing that if my brother was DM-ing.🥸

To regenerate the spell slots of a 10th level takes around 68 Sorcery Points. This guide advises to not take more than 6th levels of Warlock, so one is looking at using Flexible Casting to generate 4 to 6 Sorcery Points per hour. This translates to a 'cofeelock' needing 11 to 16 hours to replicate for spell slots only, what one Long Rest does in 8 hours.

It seems like a strategy of using coffee and cocaine to achieve 'high performance' doesn't work in fantasy life, as well as in real life.🃏

How does a build that creates a spell caster that doesn't cast 6th level spells helping the group? Is this a Tier 1 or 2 build only?

As a DM I typically put proposals like a player wanting to play something like a 'Cofeelock' up to secret ballot vote. As a competing option I would offer the Table as a whole use the optional Epic Rest rules..

The 'Coffelock' leverages two very specific table decisions; namely, that not taking Long Rests is not harmful to one's health, and that Pact Magic slots can be used for anything other than casting spells.

It is also regenerating spell points/slots over whatever short rests the party is taking, and assumes occasional downtime to build up to monstrous levels of spell slots. It's worth noting that the coffeelock isn't forbidden from taking a long rest, so if it ever is more efficient to do so, he can and will. Though it does waste the build if he has to do so as his primary mechanic.

[Bloodcloud]

Nitpick, but the way you word your evaluation of Dark one's blessing leaves me wondering if you think THP can be stacked, and they explicitly cannot. It is really not infinite HP and more of a small buffer, especially with few warlock levels...

[KorvinStarmast]

Nitpick, but the way you word your evaluation of Dark one's blessing leaves me wondering if you think THP can be stacked, and they explicitly cannot. It is really not infinite HP and more of a small buffer, especially with few warlock levels... If I may jump on this bandwagon, for the OP: please revise this statement.

Dark One's Blessing: This is why. The more you kill, the more HP you get, and you lose that temporary HP on the Long Rest you'll never take. Expect this to be nerfed as a Table Rule unless the DM really doesn't care about the fact you're never going to die. It does not take a nerf, nor a table rule. Each time you get Temp HP They Do Not Stack With Previous Temp HP!

Put into red for emphasis. All you do with each accrual of Temp HP is replace the previous instance, or, if that has been used up, add Temp HP again. Granted, it is very, very handy to have that damage buffer but Temp HP Do Not Stack.

A revision of that entry, and possibly a down grade to cyan, is in order.
1) A short rest is: a downtime period of at least 1 hour that can be taken in the midst of the day, during which a character does nothing strenuous.

2) A long rest is: an extended downtime period of at least 8 hours that can be taken to end the day, during which a character sleeps for at least 6 and does nothing strenuous for 2 hours is a long rest. Can be interrupted by 1 hour of doing something strenuous. If interrupted, the character has to re-start doing nothing strenuous for 2 hours and sleeping for 6 hours to benefit from it.

3) The Warlock class recovers spell slots at the end of a short rest or of a long rest.

4) The Aspect of the Moon Invocation changes a long rest into: an extended downtime period of at least 8 hours during which a character with the Aspect of the Moon Invocation does nothing strenuous. Can be interrupted by 1 hour of doing something strenuous. If interrupted, the character with the Aspect of the Moon Invocation has to re-start doing nothing strenuous for 8 hours.

The assertion the Coffeelock is built on is, to the best of my knowledge:

A: a downtime period that ends the day of 1 hour of non-strenuous activities, interrupted by 1 hour of strenuous activities, followed by returning to non-strenuous activities, is a short rest.

I challenge this assertion. 1 hour of non-strenuous activities, interrupted by 1 hour of strenuous activities, followed by returning to non-strenuous activities, is exactly the situation that the "if the rest is interrupted by a period of strenuous activity [...] the characters must begin the rest again to gain any benefit from it" part of the rules covers. Aspect of the Moon changes nothing to that situation.

"No need to sleep" is not the same as "no need to rest".

Aspect of the Moon makes so the character require no sleep, but it explicitly still expect said character to still take long rests (otherwise, half of its text would be useless). Thanks for that summary. :smallsmile:

That said, more power to the OP if they can find joy in exploring the ins and outs of the thing. Yeah; for the OP, thanks for the labor of love that you shared with us. :smallcool:
Good guide. One observation though, about Temporary Hit Points; though you only lose them on a Long Rest, you can't stack them. So Fiend Pact 1 or Celestial 10 don't actually make you immortal, as you can't add THPs over THPs. Everytime you get new THPs, you get to choose between gaining the new ones or keeping the old ones, but you don't add them together. Bingo

I'm confused, generally, by what 'role' a "coffeelock" is supposed to play? It is that slice of cheese on your D&D Burger. :smallbiggrin: I'd suggest going all in and adding some bacon slices. :smallcool:

[Thunderous Mojo]

It is also regenerating spell points/slots over whatever short rests the party is taking, and assumes occasional downtime to build up to monstrous levels of spell slots. It's worth noting that the coffeelock isn't forbidden from taking a long rest, so if it ever is more efficient to do so, he can and will. Though it does waste the build if he has to do so as his primary mechanic.
Precisely, the "build" presumes that you can generate and hold spell slots in excess of the numbers listed under the Sorcerer class chart, (or multi-class spell casting chart if Paladin levels are added).

This is one more presumptive condition, for a build that is already riddled with numerous necessary preconditions essential for it to operate.

It seems less a 'build' and more a rare celestial event. Like Haley's Comet, once every 75 years a DM will allow you to play a 'Cofeelock'.

Even if your DM doesn't require PCs to sleep. Even if your DM will allow you to create and hold spell slots in amounts greater than your character's spellcasting chart, essentially you wind up being akin to an Artificer's Spell Storing item.

The 'Cofeelock' is able to produce a considerable series of lower level spell effects.
Is there something I'm missing?

Again, why allow a 'Cofeelock'? Why not just run the Epic Rest rules variant, and let everyone participate on the same footing?

[diplomancer]

Precisely, the "build" presumes that you can generate and hold spell slots in excess of the numbers listed under the Sorcerer class chart, (or multi-class spell casting chart if Paladin levels are added).

This is one more presumptive condition, for a build that is already riddled with numerous necessary preconditions essential for it to operate.

It seems less a 'build' and more a rare celestial event. Like Haley's Comet, once every 75 years a DM will allow you to play a 'Cofeelock'.

Even if your DM doesn't require PCs to sleep. Even if your DM will allow you to create and hold spell slots in amounts greater than your character's spellcasting chart, essentially you wind up being akin to an Artificer's Spell Storing item.

The 'Cofeelock' is able to produce a considerable series of lower level spell effects.
Is there something I'm missing?

Again, why allow a 'Cofeelock'? Why not just run the Epic Rest rules variant, and let everyone participate on the same footing?

If a DM wants to ban the coffeelock, that's alright, but they shouldn't nerf Sorcerers just in order to do it. Sorcerers can create spell slots with Flexible Casting. There is no restriction on maximum, no text about regaining spent spell slots, like in the Wizard's Arcane Recovery. They can create it; period. They can even create HIGHER spell slots than they have spells known for (a 6th level sorcerer can use all their points to create a 4th level slot).

[Thunderous Mojo]

If a DM wants to ban the coffeelock, that's alright, but they shouldn't nerf Sorcerers just in order to do it. Sorcerers can create spell slots with Flexible Casting. There is no restriction on maximum, no text about regaining spent spell slots, like in the Wizard's Arcane Recovery. They can create it; period. They can even create HIGHER spell slots than they have spells known for (a 6th level sorcerer can use all their points to create a 4th level slot).
The above is one interpretation of how the rules interact.

Another interpretation is that the class chart indeed is a hard limit of how many spell slots a caster can have at a time. Level, one could argue, should have it's benefits. 😉

Flexible Casting is still Flexible Casting; one simply can't create 'extra spell slots' when one's magical tank is full. This reading also eliminates the oddity that a 6th level Sorcerer can create a 4th level spell slot.

I'm not saying I, personally, endorse this interpretation, but I do play in a game that does operate under this interpretation. The Sorcerer seems fine, and is not 'nerfed'.

[diplomancer]

The above is one interpretation of how the rules interact.

Another interpretation is that the class chart indeed is a hard limit of how many spell slots a caster can have at a time. Level, one could argue, should have it's benefits. 😉

Flexible Casting is still Flexible Casting; one simply can't create 'extra spell slots' when one's magical tank is full. This reading also eliminates the oddity that a 6th level Sorcerer can create a 4th level spell slot.

I'm not saying I, personally, endorse this interpretation, but I do play in a game that does operate under this interpretation. The Sorcerer seems fine, and is not 'nerfed'.

It's not an interpretation; it's a houserule. Might even be a good one, who knows? But unless there is some rule text that, in any way whatsoever, allows for that interpretation, it's a houserule. Is there any such? If you can create a slot, and there is no rule text saying that you cannot do it when "your tank is full", than you can create a slot. Notice that, while the rules are explicit in disallowing having more sorcerery points than your level allows, they say absolutely nothing about disallowing having more spell slots than your level allows.

Whether the Sorcerer feels fine under this houserule is also a different question than whether he's nerfed; if you take an ability away from a Class, that class is nerfed, even if it's not the most powerful or relevant ability.

[Thunderous Mojo]

SPELL SLOTS
The Sorcerer table shows how many spell slotsyou have to cast your sorcerer spells of 1st level and higher. To cast one of these sorcerer spells, you must expend a slot of the spell's level or higher. You regain all expended spell slots when you finish a long rest. For example, ifyou know the 1st-level spell burning hands and have a 1st-level and a 2nd-level spell slot available, you can cast burning hands using either slot.

Can you put 16 Gallons of liquid into a 15 Gallon container?
No.

The same logic can be applied to spell slots.
Diplomancer, you don't have to agree with the interpretation, but I find, it is impolite to label that which you don't like as a "Houserule".

There is nothing in RAW that states explicitly that a Sorcerer can create spell slots in excess of the number listed on the chart, is there?

This is a paradigmatic case of the "Rulings not Rules" philosophy of 5e. The text contains at least two, consistent and viable interpretations of the text.

I will end my discussion of this particular point there, I don't wish to threadjack.

[diplomancer]

SPELL SLOTS
The Sorcerer table shows how many spell slotsyou have to cast your sorcerer spells of 1st level and higher. To cast one of these sorcerer spells, you must expend a slot of the spell's level or higher. You regain all expended spell slots when you finish a long rest. For example, ifyou know the 1st-level spell burning hands and have a 1st-level and a 2nd-level spell slot available, you can cast burning hands using either slot.


There is nothing in RAW that states explicitly that a Sorcerer can create spell slots in excess of the number listed on the chart, is there?

Yes there is:


Creating Spell Slots. You can transform unexpended sorcery points into one spell slot as a bonus action on your turn. The Creating Spell Slots table shows the cost of creating a spell slot of a given level. You can create spell slots no higher in level than 5th.

If I can do X, and there is no mentioned restriction elsewhere to doing X, then I can do X.

But I also don't want to highjack the thread, so I will also stop here, with just the extra comment that saying "Y is a houserule, not a ruling" is not a statement of value, it has nothing to do with what I like or dislike; Y may be a GOOD houserule, better than the "official" rule, and if the group is happy, then that's all there is to it.

For instance; if a player comes to me interested in playing a Coffeelock, I'd say "yes, but you can't create spell slots during downtime". This should be enough to keep it an interesting, but not broken, choice. It's also a blatant houserule.