Revising some warlock invocations

[Witty Username]

I Have a warlock homebrew project I have been working on but while I was doing that I thought of some revisions to existing invocations, How do these look?:

Grasp of Hadar
When you hit a creature with eldritch blast, you may move that creature in a straight line 10ft closer to you.

Lance of lethargy
When you hit a creature with your eldritch blast, you can reduce that creature’s speed by 10ft until you the end of your next turn. You cannot reduce the same creatures speed more than once in the same turn using this effect.

Fiendish vigor
You can cast false life on yourself at will as a first level spell, without expending a spell slot or material component. Alternatively, you may cast false life on yourself as the level of your warlock spell slots without expending a spell slot or material component a number of times equal to your charisma bonus. You regain your expended uses of this innovation whenever you finish a long rest.

Thief of Fate
You may cast bane at will without expending a spell slot or material component.

Sign of ill omen- 5th level
You can cast bestow curse without expending a spell slot. You cannot do so again until you finish a long rest.

Master of Myriad Forms – 15th level
You can cast alter self at will, without expending a spell slot and not requiring concentration

Otherworldly Leap – no level restriction

Chains of Carceri – 15th level pact of the chain
You may cast hold monster at will without expending a spell slot. If you do you may not target that creature again with hold monster until you finish a short or long rest.

Witch Sight -15th level
You gain Truesight out to a range of 30ft.

[Loek]

Grasp of Hadar, I think I'd end up in the middle and let it be once per creature per round. So no dragging someone 40ft closer (or more) at higher levels. But yes to making 4 creatures move closer. (like how you handle Lance of lethargy)

Fiendish vigor, I like the "at will + stronger version", but I think I'd limit the stronger version to once per short/long rest. Especially since Cha is going to be high in most cases anyhow.

Thief of five fates, am I correct in assuming it's always cast as a level 1 spell now? I mean, even with that nerf it'd still be strong, but at least acceptable. Other alternatives: once per short/long rest at slot level (but not consuming a slot/needing components etc). My personal opinion is that spells like bane at will are a bit of a nerf stick, so should be avoided.

Master of Myriad forms, I really like this change (as I love alter self and associated shenanigans) but I fear this boost is a bit much. Maybe give normal alter self at will and an alternate with some limits that doesn't require concentration? (1 hour aquatic without concentration, 10 min appearance without concentration, 1min weapon without concentration or something like that)

Otherworldly leap, mostly I'm fine with this. But this does add some serious potential mobility in the early game. (The reason it's slowed to later levels is the same reason why water/flying forms for the druid come later, and most of the good mobility spells come later). So if you know your players/DMs this is fine. In general play, it'd be a nope (or a maybe at level 5)

Chains of Carceri, (First off, you'll need to change the name, as Carceri already points towards the outer planes). I don't know about this one. I think I'd limit it to any thing and everything non-native. So exclude: beasts, giants, humanoids, plants and maybe dragons and constructs. This way it still gets boosted quite a bit, but doesn't become to awesome. (You'd be adding: fey, abberation, monstrosity and ooze... okay, that's maybe a bit too little, so maybe dragons?) Either which way, humanoids is an instant nope for me on this one.

Witch sight, I like this one. Maybe a bit overpowered, but I like it (if complex is fine with you, maybe 15ft true sight, 30ft shapechangers, 60ft in all kinds of darkness and 120ft darkvision)

[sandmote]

Lance of lethargy
When you hit a creature with your eldritch blast, you can reduce that creature’s speed by 10ft until you the end of your next turn. You cannot reduce the same creatures speed more than once in the same turn using this effect. This seems really well done. I'd copy this for Grasp of Hadar.


Sign of ill omen- 5th level
You can cast bestow curse without expending a spell slot. You cannot do so again until you finish a long rest.
This reduces you to casting bestow curse as a 3rd level spell, in which case its weaker than Hex (more flexible, but still). Normally the advantage is this bit:


Using a spell slot of 5th level or higher grants a duration that doesn’t require concentration.
To compensate, I'd maybe try something like this:


Sign of ill omen- 9th level
You can cast bestow curse as a 5th level spell, without expending a spell slot. You cannot do so again until you finish a long rest.

[Kane0]

For all Warlock invocations that grant a spell I allow it to be cast at its base level without using a spell slot once per long rest and also add it as a spell known so can be used with a pact magic slot.
Sidenote: I change animate dead to permanently tie down your spell slot until the ubdead are destroyed or released, so you cant spam it with short rests.

[faustin]

I believe the "once per long rest cast x" would be better if adding some beneficial effect compared with a normal casting.
For example, Sign of Ill Omen granting two Bestow Curse effect rather than one.

[Yakk]

Grasp of Hadar
When you hit a creature with eldritch blast, you may move that creature in a straight line 10ft closer to you, and until the end of your next turn movement away from you is considered difficult terrain. You cannot move the same creature more than once on the same turn using this effect.

Lance of lethargy
When you hit a creature with your eldritch blast, you can reduce that creature’s speed by 10ft until you the end of your next turn. You cannot reduce the same creatures speed more than once in the same turn using this effect.

Fiendish vigor
You learn the spell false life as a warlock spell, and at the end of a short rest can cast it using a warlock spell slot without expending the spell slot. Whenever you gain temporary HP determined by dice, you gain the maximum value.

Thief of Fate
You may cast bane at will without expending a spell slot or material component. A creature that saves against your bane is immune to it until you take a long or short rest.

Sign of ill omen- 5th level
You can cast bestow curse without expending a spell slot as if you used a spell slot equal to half of your warlock level (round up, max 9). You cannot do so again until you finish a long rest.

Master of Myriad Forms – 15th level
You can cast alter self at will, without expending a spell slot and not requiring concentration

Otherworldly Leap – no level restriction

Chains of Carceri – 15th level pact of the chain
You may cast hold monster at will without expending a spell slot. If you do you may not target that creature again with hold monster until you finish a short or long rest.

Witch Sight -15th level
You gain Truesight out to a range of 30ft.

[Witty Username]

It sounds like Grasp of Hadar and Lance of Lethargy working the same is popular (I am really happy with how well received my idea on lance of lethargy is). I was thinking that I would be bringing them more in line with repelling blast but lance of lethargy is probably too strong if allowed to stack on a target, should I consider adopting this for repelling blast as well?

Oh, also, I figured 1st level spells at will is pretty in line with what the warlock does, so things like jump and bane aren't worrisome.


Fiendish vigor, I like the "at will + stronger version", but I think I'd limit the stronger version to once per short/long rest. Especially since Cha is going to be high in most cases anyhow.

Thief of five fates, am I correct in assuming it's always cast as a level 1 spell now? I mean, even with that nerf it'd still be strong, but at least acceptable. Other alternatives: once per short/long rest at slot level (but not consuming a slot/needing components etc). My personal opinion is that spells like bane at will are a bit of a nerf stick, so should be avoided.

Master of Myriad forms, I really like this change (as I love alter self and associated shenanigans) but I fear this boost is a bit much. Maybe give normal alter self at will and an alternate with some limits that doesn't require concentration? (1 hour aquatic without concentration, 10 min appearance without concentration, 1min weapon without concentration or something like that)

I like once per short rest on fiendish vigor more than once per long rest, I feel like that fits more with the warlocks design. I will give that a think. and converse a bit with my play group.

I was thinking Thief of five fates would be always at 1st level. I think being able to cast it at will is enough of a boost, I did ponder it always casting it as a 3rd level spell (so It would target up to five creatures) but I didn't think that was necessary.

My primary concern with Master of Myriad Forms is making sure it is an upgrade from Mask of Many Faces, which concentration is a big downside in comparison, maybe cutting back the natural weapons and movement options, but I am not too worried about 15th level abilities being a little strong.




This reduces you to casting bestow curse as a 3rd level spell, in which case its weaker than Hex (more flexible, but still). Normally the advantage is this bit:

To compensate, I'd maybe try something like this:


Sign of ill omen- 9th level
You can cast bestow curse as a 5th level spell, without expending a spell slot. You cannot do so again until you finish a long rest.
Oh, I like that. I will use that.




Fiendish vigor
You learn the spell false life as a warlock spell, and at the end of a short rest can cast it using a warlock spell slot without expending the spell slot. Whenever you gain temporary HP determined by dice, you gain the maximum value.

Thief of Fate
You may cast bane at will without expending a spell slot or material component. A creature that saves against your bane is immune to it until you take a long or short rest.

I didn't want to take out the at will portion on fiendish vigor, mostly because I didn't want to disrupt its function at low levels but wanted to give it some scaling to make it useful at higher level.

For Thief of fate I thought of a clause like that but I thought the effect wasn't strong enough to require one, I would totally use this if I am wrong on that though.

[Yakk]

At low levels, you mean spamming it in combat?

L2 only last a few rests. Getting 8 temp HP for free per rest is close to getting 8 per combat, and at level 3 getting 13 is a nice upgrade.

There is a narrow window where using in-combat actions could work I guess.