Best Prestige Classes for an Epic Warlock

[Rater202]

So I was bored and decided how to calculate the most optimal way to get literally every Warlock Invocation in the game simultaneously.

Naturally, this would require you to go into epic levels and require multiple instances of the Extra Invocation and Epic Extra Invocation

There are 21 least invocations, 29 lesser invocations, 20 greater, and 11 dark Invocations, for a total of 81 not counting ones that are given as class features for Warlock-specific Prestique Classes. It simply isn't mathematically possible to have them all before going deep into Epic levels.

However... Honestly, it would be easy enough to compare how many instances of (Epic) Extra invocation someone would need and add up how many levels that would take.

The little devil on my shoulder wants to know what the most optimal way for a Warlock 20 heading into epic levels to get those epic levels and attendant feats is. Epic Warlock doesn't exactly give you much that you can't get from a class that progresses invoking or spellcasting.

So, prestige classes.

For the sake of keeping this simple: The warlock's build is flexible enough that they can qualify for most things by level 20 and they do not multiclass until level 21. Nothing that explicitly requires non-warlock levels or something that a pure warlock can't get themselves.

So, what are some good options for this warlock who wants good bang for their buck?

[Troacctid]

It's hard to beat single-class warlock. It's the only class in the game that grants epic warlock feats as bonus feats. It also grants epic invocations, which are really really good. I would just go Warlock 50.

[Rater202]

It's hard to beat single-class warlock. It's the only class in the game that grants epic warlock feats as bonus feats. It also grants epic invocations, which are really really good. I would just go Warlock 50.

I was not aware that epic Invocations were a thing that existed officially. I can only find homebrew threads for them.

And looking at the Epic Warlock Feats, (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ei/20061027a) none of them require anything that in turn requires more than 20 levels of warlock. Getting them as bonus feats is nice, but the priority for the build is getting the most bang for your buck as you acquire enough feats to get

If you're talking prestige classes that advance spellcasting, the only thing you're objectively losing out on is improved Damage reduction.

[Troacctid]

What class features are going to be better than more epic feats? Bonus epic feats are just the best thing you can possibly be doing at epic levels. Epic warlock levels, maybe mix in half-elf paragon/human paragon/ardent dilettante. That's all you need.

If you really want something different, you could go into sublime chord, thrall of Fraz-Urb'luu, enlightened spirit, chameleon, etc. But that's usually more something I'd go for if the game got to epic levels the hard way, and my build wasn't set up to take 21+ levels of the base class. If you're theorycrafting, I think it makes the most sense to single-class it.

[Gruftzwerg]

Chameleon 2 for the floating feat. You can select Extra Invocation with it and thus have a cheap access to all downtime related invocations (e.g. The Dead Walk). Further turns you into a full crafter that can craft almost anything. Gives access to all spells via scrolls/wands/rods..

Escalation Mage is a good options to have some metamagic feeling as warlock. Being able to swift up a few Eldritch Blasts/Invocations per day is awesome. The most powerful PRC for a warlock besides Hellfire Warlock (this one should be self explanatory).

Arcane Trickster can be entered with the feats "Spell Hand" (for Mage Hand), Martial Study & Martial Stance: Assassin's Stance (for 2d6 sneak attack). Gives you access to rogue skills and sneak attack which works with Eldritch Blast/Glaive/Claws (for those blast shapes that have an attack roll).

[Darg]

Eldritch disciple is a good choice, lots of synergy and scaling benefits. Not to mention it halts your aging which means you might live long enough to reach your goal.

Soulcaster is another option that can provide a lot of benefits such as a large essentia pool to fuel incarnum invocations (every 4 levels is basically a free epic eldritch blast when combined with incarnum blast.

However, it should be noted that the equivalent spell level of the SLAs granted by the epic Warlock feats is equal to half your caster level. So, pick the invocations with epic extra invocation feat that you would normally not pick because the DC would be hard to deal with like word of changing.

As Troacctid said, the best warlock you can be is pretty much straight warlock. A splash of hellfire might be worth losing one epic feat for though.

It should be noted, to get all available invocations one must have at least 9 levels of enlightened spirit and each type selected for bane blast is a separate invocation.