Gruftzwerg
2022-12-29, 02:28 AM
Welcome to my newest TO build. An "NO", this is not a "touch AC" optimization. It's more about the fluff, the mobility and the deception layers of the build which lead to the title.
This time it's gonna be a Shadowcraft Warlock. So expect a bunch of rules to be dissected so much until your head aches. You have been warned..^^
And while the build is not entirely gamebreaking as some of my other builds, I still feel the need to speak out a lil warning due to the power lvl. Due to being able to spam shadow illusions at-will, this build might prove a problem for many DMs (who already dislike warlocks for their at-will stuff) and for your parties balance. So pls check with your DM and table before attempting to play this build. In the wrong hands this can easily cause a mess at your table.
Long story short, lets dive into the build. Let me introduce you to the...
MC*: "Spammer" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otCpCn0l4Wo)
* = "Main Character"
Warlock 6 / Shadowcraft Mage 5 / Shadowcrafter 9
Race: Air-Gnome
(you can take normal gnome, but I preferred +2 DEX over +2 CON. And as air creature you don't breathe. Thus allowing the easy/safe use of inhaled poisons if you want.)
Patron Deity: Shar
STR: 4 (8 base -2 race -2 pathetic)
DEX: 16 (14 base +2 race)
CON: 12
INT: 16
WIS: 10
CHA: 16*
*= mainstat: all +5 lvl up investments go in here. +5 wish +6 item also recommended.
Backstory:
The story of our MC: Spammer starts with an hyperactive gnome child, born with innate eldritch powers (from his ancestors). Even as kid he was hard to catch and stop. He "earned" his nickname "Spammer" due to constantly spamming pranks all day long. Unlocking his eldritch powers just did make everything worse for everybody else. But he did eventually get bored from always doing pranks to the same people at home. He decides to see the world and find new friends/victims for his pranks.
Skills:
If you like to use poisons (as mentioned; we are immune to "inhaled" poisons), you could drop Bluff after investing the minimum required 4 ranks and invest into Craft Alchemy or Craft Poisonmaking. Imho bluff is very fitting for the build and thus I did go for that option for this build showcase. Hide and UMD are highly recommended for this build and shouldn't be exchanged carelessly. Spellcraft is mainly for the endgame invocation Caster's Lament to be able to counterspell.
Flaws:
The main build was initially intended without flaws, but due to circumstances I ended up taken em. There is still a flawless build path in the "alternative build options" section.
Pathetic (-2 STR)
Noncombatant (-2 to melee attacks)
LVL
Class
BAB
For
Ref
Wil
Skills
*= double points
Feats
*= feat from flaw
Class Features
1st
Warlock
+0
+0
+0
+2
Bluff: 4
Disguise: 4
Spot: 4
UMD: 4
Spellcraft: 4
Spell Focus
(Illusion)
*Shadow Weave Magic
*Insidious Magic
Eldritch Blast 1d6
Summon Swarm
2nd
Warlock
+1
+0
+0
+3
Bluff: 5
Disguise: 5
Spot: 5
UMD: 5
Spellcraft: 5
Detect Magic
3rd
Warlock
+2
+1
+1
+3
Bluff: 6
Disguise: 6
Spot: 6
UMD: 6
Spellcraft: 6
Greater Spell Focus
(Illusion)
Eldritch Blast 2d6
DR 1/cold iron
Entropic Warding
4th
Warlock
+3
+1
+1
+4
Bluff: 7
Disguise: 7
Spot: 7
UMD: 7
Spellcraft: 7
Deceive Item
See the Unseen
5th
Warlock
+3
+1
+1
+4
Bluff: 8
Disguise: 8
Spot: 8
UMD: 8
Spellcraft: 8
Eldritch Blast 3d6
6th
Warlock
+4
+2
+2
+5
Bluff: 9
Disguise: 9
Spot: 9
UMD: 9
Spellcraft: 9
Sanctum Spell
Summon Swarm > Baleful Utterance
Wall of Gloom
7th
Shadowcrafter
+4
+2
+2
+7
Hide: 5
Eldritch Blast 4d6
Shadow Mien
(+2 bonus to Disguise & Hide)
8th
Shadowcrafter
+5
+2
+2
+8
Hide: 10
Enhanced Shadow Conjurations +10%
Flee the Scene
9th
Shadowcrafter
+5
+3
+3
+8
Hide: 12
Spellcraft: 10
UMD: 10*
Heighten Spell-like Ability
(Wall of Gloom)
retraining @lvl12 into
(Flee the Scene)
Shadow Spell Penetration +2
10th
Shadowcraft Mage
+5
+3
+3
+10
Hide: 13
UMD: 13*
Cloak of Shadow
Walk Unseen
11th
Shadowcraft Mage
+6
+3
+3
+11
Bluff: 13
Hide: 14
UMD: 14*
Silent Illusion
Wall of Gloom > Charm
Nightmares Made Real
12th
Shadowcraft Mage
+6
+4
+4
+11
Bluff: 15
Hide: 15
Spellcraft: 11
UMD: 15*
Darkstalker
Shadow Illusion
13th
Shadowcraft Mage
+7
+4
+4
+12
Bluff: 16
Hide: 16
Spellcraft: 14
UMD: 16*
Extend Illusion
Devil's Whispers
14th
Shadowcraft Mage
+7
+4
+4
+12
Bluff: 17
Hide: 17
Spellcraft: 17
UMD: 17*
Powerful Shadow Magic
15th
Shadowcrafter
+8
+4
+4
+13
Hide: 18*
Spellcraft: 18
UMD: 18*
Supernatural Transformation
(Flee the Scene)
Enhanced Shadow Evocation +10%
Warlock's Call
16th
Shadowcrafter
+8
+4
+4
+13
Hide: 19*
Spellcraft: 19
UMD: 19*
Resistance to Illusions
Walk Unseen > Fell Flight
Retributive Invisibility
17th
Shadowcrafter
+9
+5
+5
+14
Hide: 20*
Spellcraft: 20
UMD: 20*
Enhanced Shadow Conjurations +20%
18th
Shadowcrafter
+9
+5
+5
+14
Hide: 21*
Spellcraft: 21
UMD: 21*
Ability Focus
(Flee the Scene)
Enhanced Shadow Evocations +20%
Dark Foresight
19th
Shadowcrafter
+10
+5
+5
+15
Hide: 22*
Spellcraft: 22
UMD: 22*
Shadow Spell Penetration +4
20th
Shadowcrafter
+10
+6
+6
+15
Hide: 23*
Spellcraft: 23
UMD: 23*
No Delusion
Caster's Lament
SLA and compatibility to Spells
While this might not be obvious to everybody, SLA can profit from almost anything Spells can profit from due to the following SLA rule:
In all other ways, a spell-like ability functions just like a spell
Since no specific exceptions are made by the general SLA rules to not "count as casting a spell", this sentence grants full functionality like a "spell" (which includes the casting rules for spells, except as noted by the SLA rules).
Thurbane reminded me of the following quote from Complete Arcane P.7:
Since spell-like abilities are not actually spells, a warlock cannot benefit from the Spell Focus feat.
While this may sound like a no to many things at first glance, it does not by RAW.
The way the sentence is formulated, it doesn't establish a new rule.
It refers to "assumed" general rules and draws a conclusion from that.
But the general rules don't back up this statement and is in conflict with it. As shown above, SLA work like Spells in any way except as noted in the general SLA rules.
Sure, more specific things like e.g. the Share Spell ability of Familiars and Animal Companions can specifically exclude SLA. But that is not what the text in Complete Arcane is doing. Here we have a conclusion based of wrongly assumed general SLA rules. Thanks to the Primary Source Rule, this senctence in Complete Arcane has no persmission to make changes. It has the same problem as the quote from Complete Warrior about PRC. Both make wrong assumtions.
To give you another evidance why this sentence has to be wrong:
Complete Arcane claims that Warlocks can legally qualify and use "Sudden Metamagic"-feats. Lets have a look at the typical wording in such a feat:
Benefit
Once per day, you can apply the effect of the Empower Spell feat to any spell you cast without increasing the level of the spell or specially preparing it ahead of time. You can still use Empower Spell normally if you have it
As you can see, Sudden Empower requires you to "cast a spell", which the other statement tried to deny.
But the general SLA rules tell us that SLA function like spells. As such they have to be compatible like spells. Which basically means SLA count as casting spells unless there is an explicit call out against it. (wrong assumed general rules are not an explicit call out).
Conclusion:
Warlock can make use of Spell Focus and even metamagic feats. The latter (metamagic feats) are limited to those who work without spellslot lvl changes, since that is something SLA can't provide to fuel the benefit. But those metamagic feats that don't change the spellslots lvl like Insidious Magic and Sanctum Spell should be legal according to the general SLA rules. This is also what allows the warlock to profit from Shadow Illusions.
Warlocks and qualifying for PRC
SLA can qualify for spellcasting requirements if specific spells are required. Both used PRC require Illusions and shadow Illusion spells. These are more specific than general spellcasting requirement and thus should be legal options.
Dissecting the mechanics of Flee the Scene
Flee the Scene (FtS) effectively casts limited versions of Dimension Door and Major Image. Take the sorcerer's spell Arcane Fusion (AF) as a similar example. AF also effectively casts 2 spells from the sorcerer's spell list. It is heavily recommended that all spells keep their normal poperties and interaction. Otherwise you would end up with things like Illusions not being Illusions anymore and bypassing Ture Sight and that is definively not the intention here. Further, if we take the Primary Source Rule, neither FtS nor AF make explicit call outs to trump the general rules for those spells in that regard. "No Specific Exception = No Change".
For this build this means that the Major Image from FtS still qualifies as Major Image figment illusion as normal for the Shadow Illusion ability.
Warlocks have innate SLA
This is important to qualify for Supernatural Transformation. Note that "Innate" ain't defined by RAW.
As warlock we qualify for that by:
By harnessing his innate magical gift ...
&
Background: Warlocks are born, not made.
We start out as a simple warlock. Summon Swarm is a standard action as invocation and thus much more reliable. The dmg comes at the end of the turn, which allows you to recast it every turn and have full control where they spawn and do their swarm attack dmg. This will easily carry us trough the early levels. Entropic Warding gives us some ranged misschance and allows us to leave no trails to be tracked. See the Unseen is for general purposes.
Insidious Magic will make it extra hard for enemy casters to detect our Illusions (that we get later..^^) via divination magic (caster level check). Thus See Invisible/True Seeing might not reveal the (later) invisible (and hiding) gnome.
The dmg of Summon Swarm starts to fall off and thus we exchange it for Baleful Utterance (Shatter). This is a handy tool if you know how to abuse it (open locks/doors; destroy important enemy items/devices; distraction...). If you don't like it, you can pick something else or stick to Summon Swarm.
Wall of Gloom combined with Sanctum Spell helps us to fulfill the requirements for Shadowcrafter (3rd lvl shadow illusion).
With Flee the Scene we have another important pice to enter Shadowcraft Mage (note the gnome SLA Ghost Sound as another illusion).
Shadow Cloak allows our gnome to Hide in non-daylight areas and provides him with an increasing misschance. For that we have started to put point into Hide.
Walk Unseen gives us another layer of deception to remain unnoticed and boosts our Hide checks even further.
For Heighten SLA we first select Wall of Gloom as target SLA. This way we have now temporary access to a 4th lvl shadow spell to enter Shadowcraft Mage. Later at lvl 12 we retrain the feat to target Flee the Scene. If you dislike "retraining" delay the first lvl of Shadowcraft Mage to 12 (and use Nightmares Made Real to enter) and also move Heighten SLA (FtS) to lvl 12.
Nightmares Made Real's (standard action) main purpose is to provide this build with HIPS in daylight areas where the Shadow Cloak fails (free action & unlimited duration). The crowd-control is just the icing here.
Darkstalker ensures that we can also Hide against stuff with exceptional vision forms. It also limits the perception rolls to the higher DC of Hide and Listen, perfect for our gnome who sole relies on Hide.
Since Wall of Gloom has become pointless, we exchange it for Charm which is more fitting for this build. Charm at will ensures that you always have at least one friend and leads to all kinds of abuse^^
Devil's Whisper brings the abuse potential of the build to new heights. Now we can spam Suggestion at will while being invisible and hiding around the victims.
Warlock's Call ensures that we can communicate all important information with all allies (including NPCs). This further refines our tools as a scout.
Supernatural Transformation changes Flee the Scene into a "Supernatural Ability" (SU). This allows it (and any possible Shadow Illusion) to bypass Spell Resistance. Imho a very strong aspect of the build.
Shadow Illusion:
This is the main combo of the build. But lets first clear the pile of rules to explain how this works. The ability never requires you to "cast a spell". It works on any of the mention illusion effects. Flee the Scene's main effect consists of 2 partial effects, Dimension Door and Mayor Image. Think of this like the sorcerer's spell Arcane Fusion. The 2 spells still keep all their properties and interactions they normally have. As such the "Major Image" effect qualifies as "major image figment" to be altered by this ability. This means we have effectively access to Shadow Conjuration and Shadow Summoning with a 4th lvl figment, thus up to 3rd lvl spells. With a wand of Acorn of Far Travel and Sanctum Spell (more info in the item section) we can raise the figments lvl up to 5th lvl and thus get up to 4th lvl spells in return. Combined with Heighten SLA this allows us to raise the effective figment lvl up to lvl 7 (and cast up to 6th lvl shadow illusions) for up to 3 times per day.
This allows for all kinds of cheesy stuff. And with Shadow Summoning we can even stay invisible if we want, while still having a great offense and defense.
Ability Focus (FtS) will give the build another +2 to the DC. Together with Greater Spell Focus Illusion (+2), Shadow Weave Magic (+1) and being a gnome (+1) we are looking at a total increase of +6 to our Shadow Illusion DCs.
With Retributive Invisibility we can remain invisible while having full access to our offensive abilities. Walk Unseen has become pointless and thus gets exchanged to Fell Flight. With that our mobility has further improved, as well as the amount of possible squares/cubes we can possibly be hiding in.
Dark Foresight ensures that nothing bad happens to our lil gnome. He is always aware of possible threats and will never be surprised. It further allows for free action telepathy with nearby participants (compared to the standard action we would otherwise need for Warlock's Call, which remains useful as longer distance communication form).
As final invocation we can chose Caster's Lament. Since we have maxed Spellcraft, we can use it also to Counterspell and not sole for dispelling enchantments. The enemy casters have a hard time to detect us and we can Counterspell any of their spells at will. This should give us the edge against nasty casters.
The build has accumulated an additional +40% for its Shadow Illusions. With that and Heighten SLA we can reach up to 100% dmg against disbelievers.
Besides from the obvious CHA boosts (+5 wish; +6 CHA cloak) and other common stuff (anything that increases caster lvl: orange Ioun stone, ring of arcane magic..), the following items are of interest for this build.
I also wanted to point out here that warlocks are the sole class that can reliably UMD magic items with ongoing effects, due to their take-10 ability for UMD. Everybody else has to face a permanent 5% chance to roll a natural one once per hour per (ongoing) magic item (= 24 rolls per day per UMD-item). And if he rolls a natural one the item can't be used with UMD for the next 24h! This makes ongoing items that require you to wear em for 24h to function near impossible for anyone but warlocks. Thus I mentioned some items here (Horseshoes of Flame, Monk's Tattoo, Wild Shape Amulet;)
Wand: Acorn of Far Travel (source (https://web.archive.org/web/20140805174007/http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/fw/20040710a))
You cast this spell upon an acorn that is still attached to a living oak tree. As long as you carry the acorn , you are considered to be standing under that oak tree's canopy. We select the oak tree as our "Sanctum"(feat). This allows us for to abuse the feat for the duration of the spell (1day per caster lvl). Try to get a 20th caster lvl wand to lessen the times you need to go back to the tree to refresh the spell. If you intent to travel far away from the tree, it is recommend to buy yourself a pair of Boots of Teleportation (3/day). With these you can always easily get to your tree and back if needed.
Boots of Teleportation + Horseshoes of Flame
If you can sweet talk your DM into a custom pair of these, you are lucky. The teleportation (3/day) is nice for the Acorn wand combo and easy travel overall. The horseshoes can be used via UMD to provide nice untyped ability bonuses (+2 DEX, +10 INT, +6 CHA) and a nightmarish look.
(opional) Monk's Tattoo
When you UMD this and pretend to be a monk, you can get the unarmed dmg (not the ability sole the dmg), movement speed and AC bonus of a monk (roll UMD -20 +4 from the item to calculate your effective monk lvl). The most fitting benefit here is the movement speed bonus for this build.
(optional) Wild Shape Amulet
Another ongoing magic item that sole warlock can really abuse. This one has 2 effects. The first adds +4 to your Wild Shape ability, the second gives you the Wild Shape ability as 5th lvl druid if you shouldn't already have it. Nothing in the items description prevents both effects to be active at the same time. As such you can pretend to be a druid of "X.th lvl" to get the +4HD bonus and also get the Wild Shape ability as a 5th lvl druid (since you don't have it). The second effect gives the ability while the first effect increases your effective HD by your UMD roll (-20) +4. Now you have the Wild Shape ability of a 20th lvl druid (hardcap on the item).
(optional) Robe of Mysterious Conjuration
3/day spent a spell slot for Summon Monsters of the same lvl. UMD the spellslots to get up to SM IX. Not gamebreaking but still nice to have and fits with the shadow summons to some degree.
(optional) Wand: Santum Spell - Arcane Fusion
This is not build specific and not really required. But since we have Sanctum Spell, it can be possible to find a wand crafter with access to Arcane Fusion. As shown in my previous Croesus build, we can UMD "sorcerer spells known". This allows for a very flexible and action efficient wand.
(optional) Rod of Absorbtion
Again, not mandatory and not build specific. It absorbs any targeted spells/SLAs at you, up to 50 charges. The charges can then be spent to cast spells from any spontaneous caster's list via UMDing their spells known. While the rod can sole be charged once (50 charges) and thus is an expensive "consumable", imho it is still worth it (if you play at such high optimization). As warlock, we can also charge it up at will with our Eldritch Blast, if we want some charges.
There are some nice alternate build options. Depending on your playstyle, these may be more fitting for you. The general build focuses on the escapee nature of this build, while the other options focus on other stuff.
1) Flawless Build path
Race: Human / Strongheart Halfling
Feats:
1: Spell Focus (Illusion)
1B: Greater Spell Focus (Illusion
3: Sudden Extend
6: Sanctum Spell
9: Heighten SLA (Wall of Gloom) (again, retrain at lvl 12 to FtS. If you dislike it, delay the feat and Shadowcraft Mage to lvl 12 as in the main build)
12: Darkstalker
15: Shadow Weave Magic
18: Insidious Magic
This build path relies on the non-gnome adaptation of Shadowcraft Mage. That is the main reason why I didn't used this as main build path.
2) PRC Options
Mindbender 1
Mindsight (feat)
Exchange a lvl of Shadowcrafter and take Mindsight instead of one of the other talents. This option is more for those that want to focus on the scouting aspect of this build.
3) Racial Options
Race: Whisper Gnome (note the -2 to CHA..)
Extra Silence
Martial Study (any shadow hand maneuver)
Martial Stance: Assassin Stance
Silencing Strike
Eldritch Glaive
For this build option we first need to be a Whisper Gnome. The Darkstalker feat moves to lvl 6. We need to drop the 4 remaining non prerequisite feats (anything that is not Improved -/ Spell Focus). This delays the entry into Shadowcraft Mage to lvl 12 (since we now have to rely sole on Nightmares Made Real as 4th+ lvl shadow spell to qualify).
In exchange we can now use the whisper gnome's Silence SLA 3 + CHA times per day. Further we can apply the Silence as part of a sneak attack which bypasses the victims save roll! Eldritch Glaive can help to easily apply it (due to being a melee touch attack). This build option is more anti-mage themed, if you expect a lot of caster enemies and your team otherwise lacks a counter against caster. Maybe even take a flaw to squeeze in Supernatural Transformation (Silence SLA > SU) and make the Silence even bypass SR.
END:
We reached the end of this silly build. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.
We are looking at a very hard to detect gnome with a high mobility due to flying and dimension door at will. Run around your enemies and spam Charm & Devil's Whispers until you solve any encounter (A wand of tongues could be helpful here). Or just spam the maincombo for infinite shadow conjurations and summonings.
I appreciate any kind of feedback you have.
- What do you think about the build and the rules?
- What is your favorite build path, the original one or one of the alternatives?
- Any suggestions to improve the build or to add alternate build options?
*As always, I (and hopefully you too) will check for errors and if I have missed anything that I wanted to mention. So, potential updates may follow..
This time it's gonna be a Shadowcraft Warlock. So expect a bunch of rules to be dissected so much until your head aches. You have been warned..^^
And while the build is not entirely gamebreaking as some of my other builds, I still feel the need to speak out a lil warning due to the power lvl. Due to being able to spam shadow illusions at-will, this build might prove a problem for many DMs (who already dislike warlocks for their at-will stuff) and for your parties balance. So pls check with your DM and table before attempting to play this build. In the wrong hands this can easily cause a mess at your table.
Long story short, lets dive into the build. Let me introduce you to the...
MC*: "Spammer" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otCpCn0l4Wo)
* = "Main Character"
Warlock 6 / Shadowcraft Mage 5 / Shadowcrafter 9
Race: Air-Gnome
(you can take normal gnome, but I preferred +2 DEX over +2 CON. And as air creature you don't breathe. Thus allowing the easy/safe use of inhaled poisons if you want.)
Patron Deity: Shar
STR: 4 (8 base -2 race -2 pathetic)
DEX: 16 (14 base +2 race)
CON: 12
INT: 16
WIS: 10
CHA: 16*
*= mainstat: all +5 lvl up investments go in here. +5 wish +6 item also recommended.
Backstory:
The story of our MC: Spammer starts with an hyperactive gnome child, born with innate eldritch powers (from his ancestors). Even as kid he was hard to catch and stop. He "earned" his nickname "Spammer" due to constantly spamming pranks all day long. Unlocking his eldritch powers just did make everything worse for everybody else. But he did eventually get bored from always doing pranks to the same people at home. He decides to see the world and find new friends/victims for his pranks.
Skills:
If you like to use poisons (as mentioned; we are immune to "inhaled" poisons), you could drop Bluff after investing the minimum required 4 ranks and invest into Craft Alchemy or Craft Poisonmaking. Imho bluff is very fitting for the build and thus I did go for that option for this build showcase. Hide and UMD are highly recommended for this build and shouldn't be exchanged carelessly. Spellcraft is mainly for the endgame invocation Caster's Lament to be able to counterspell.
Flaws:
The main build was initially intended without flaws, but due to circumstances I ended up taken em. There is still a flawless build path in the "alternative build options" section.
Pathetic (-2 STR)
Noncombatant (-2 to melee attacks)
LVL
Class
BAB
For
Ref
Wil
Skills
*= double points
Feats
*= feat from flaw
Class Features
1st
Warlock
+0
+0
+0
+2
Bluff: 4
Disguise: 4
Spot: 4
UMD: 4
Spellcraft: 4
Spell Focus
(Illusion)
*Shadow Weave Magic
*Insidious Magic
Eldritch Blast 1d6
Summon Swarm
2nd
Warlock
+1
+0
+0
+3
Bluff: 5
Disguise: 5
Spot: 5
UMD: 5
Spellcraft: 5
Detect Magic
3rd
Warlock
+2
+1
+1
+3
Bluff: 6
Disguise: 6
Spot: 6
UMD: 6
Spellcraft: 6
Greater Spell Focus
(Illusion)
Eldritch Blast 2d6
DR 1/cold iron
Entropic Warding
4th
Warlock
+3
+1
+1
+4
Bluff: 7
Disguise: 7
Spot: 7
UMD: 7
Spellcraft: 7
Deceive Item
See the Unseen
5th
Warlock
+3
+1
+1
+4
Bluff: 8
Disguise: 8
Spot: 8
UMD: 8
Spellcraft: 8
Eldritch Blast 3d6
6th
Warlock
+4
+2
+2
+5
Bluff: 9
Disguise: 9
Spot: 9
UMD: 9
Spellcraft: 9
Sanctum Spell
Summon Swarm > Baleful Utterance
Wall of Gloom
7th
Shadowcrafter
+4
+2
+2
+7
Hide: 5
Eldritch Blast 4d6
Shadow Mien
(+2 bonus to Disguise & Hide)
8th
Shadowcrafter
+5
+2
+2
+8
Hide: 10
Enhanced Shadow Conjurations +10%
Flee the Scene
9th
Shadowcrafter
+5
+3
+3
+8
Hide: 12
Spellcraft: 10
UMD: 10*
Heighten Spell-like Ability
(Wall of Gloom)
retraining @lvl12 into
(Flee the Scene)
Shadow Spell Penetration +2
10th
Shadowcraft Mage
+5
+3
+3
+10
Hide: 13
UMD: 13*
Cloak of Shadow
Walk Unseen
11th
Shadowcraft Mage
+6
+3
+3
+11
Bluff: 13
Hide: 14
UMD: 14*
Silent Illusion
Wall of Gloom > Charm
Nightmares Made Real
12th
Shadowcraft Mage
+6
+4
+4
+11
Bluff: 15
Hide: 15
Spellcraft: 11
UMD: 15*
Darkstalker
Shadow Illusion
13th
Shadowcraft Mage
+7
+4
+4
+12
Bluff: 16
Hide: 16
Spellcraft: 14
UMD: 16*
Extend Illusion
Devil's Whispers
14th
Shadowcraft Mage
+7
+4
+4
+12
Bluff: 17
Hide: 17
Spellcraft: 17
UMD: 17*
Powerful Shadow Magic
15th
Shadowcrafter
+8
+4
+4
+13
Hide: 18*
Spellcraft: 18
UMD: 18*
Supernatural Transformation
(Flee the Scene)
Enhanced Shadow Evocation +10%
Warlock's Call
16th
Shadowcrafter
+8
+4
+4
+13
Hide: 19*
Spellcraft: 19
UMD: 19*
Resistance to Illusions
Walk Unseen > Fell Flight
Retributive Invisibility
17th
Shadowcrafter
+9
+5
+5
+14
Hide: 20*
Spellcraft: 20
UMD: 20*
Enhanced Shadow Conjurations +20%
18th
Shadowcrafter
+9
+5
+5
+14
Hide: 21*
Spellcraft: 21
UMD: 21*
Ability Focus
(Flee the Scene)
Enhanced Shadow Evocations +20%
Dark Foresight
19th
Shadowcrafter
+10
+5
+5
+15
Hide: 22*
Spellcraft: 22
UMD: 22*
Shadow Spell Penetration +4
20th
Shadowcrafter
+10
+6
+6
+15
Hide: 23*
Spellcraft: 23
UMD: 23*
No Delusion
Caster's Lament
SLA and compatibility to Spells
While this might not be obvious to everybody, SLA can profit from almost anything Spells can profit from due to the following SLA rule:
In all other ways, a spell-like ability functions just like a spell
Since no specific exceptions are made by the general SLA rules to not "count as casting a spell", this sentence grants full functionality like a "spell" (which includes the casting rules for spells, except as noted by the SLA rules).
Thurbane reminded me of the following quote from Complete Arcane P.7:
Since spell-like abilities are not actually spells, a warlock cannot benefit from the Spell Focus feat.
While this may sound like a no to many things at first glance, it does not by RAW.
The way the sentence is formulated, it doesn't establish a new rule.
It refers to "assumed" general rules and draws a conclusion from that.
But the general rules don't back up this statement and is in conflict with it. As shown above, SLA work like Spells in any way except as noted in the general SLA rules.
Sure, more specific things like e.g. the Share Spell ability of Familiars and Animal Companions can specifically exclude SLA. But that is not what the text in Complete Arcane is doing. Here we have a conclusion based of wrongly assumed general SLA rules. Thanks to the Primary Source Rule, this senctence in Complete Arcane has no persmission to make changes. It has the same problem as the quote from Complete Warrior about PRC. Both make wrong assumtions.
To give you another evidance why this sentence has to be wrong:
Complete Arcane claims that Warlocks can legally qualify and use "Sudden Metamagic"-feats. Lets have a look at the typical wording in such a feat:
Benefit
Once per day, you can apply the effect of the Empower Spell feat to any spell you cast without increasing the level of the spell or specially preparing it ahead of time. You can still use Empower Spell normally if you have it
As you can see, Sudden Empower requires you to "cast a spell", which the other statement tried to deny.
But the general SLA rules tell us that SLA function like spells. As such they have to be compatible like spells. Which basically means SLA count as casting spells unless there is an explicit call out against it. (wrong assumed general rules are not an explicit call out).
Conclusion:
Warlock can make use of Spell Focus and even metamagic feats. The latter (metamagic feats) are limited to those who work without spellslot lvl changes, since that is something SLA can't provide to fuel the benefit. But those metamagic feats that don't change the spellslots lvl like Insidious Magic and Sanctum Spell should be legal according to the general SLA rules. This is also what allows the warlock to profit from Shadow Illusions.
Warlocks and qualifying for PRC
SLA can qualify for spellcasting requirements if specific spells are required. Both used PRC require Illusions and shadow Illusion spells. These are more specific than general spellcasting requirement and thus should be legal options.
Dissecting the mechanics of Flee the Scene
Flee the Scene (FtS) effectively casts limited versions of Dimension Door and Major Image. Take the sorcerer's spell Arcane Fusion (AF) as a similar example. AF also effectively casts 2 spells from the sorcerer's spell list. It is heavily recommended that all spells keep their normal poperties and interaction. Otherwise you would end up with things like Illusions not being Illusions anymore and bypassing Ture Sight and that is definively not the intention here. Further, if we take the Primary Source Rule, neither FtS nor AF make explicit call outs to trump the general rules for those spells in that regard. "No Specific Exception = No Change".
For this build this means that the Major Image from FtS still qualifies as Major Image figment illusion as normal for the Shadow Illusion ability.
Warlocks have innate SLA
This is important to qualify for Supernatural Transformation. Note that "Innate" ain't defined by RAW.
As warlock we qualify for that by:
By harnessing his innate magical gift ...
&
Background: Warlocks are born, not made.
We start out as a simple warlock. Summon Swarm is a standard action as invocation and thus much more reliable. The dmg comes at the end of the turn, which allows you to recast it every turn and have full control where they spawn and do their swarm attack dmg. This will easily carry us trough the early levels. Entropic Warding gives us some ranged misschance and allows us to leave no trails to be tracked. See the Unseen is for general purposes.
Insidious Magic will make it extra hard for enemy casters to detect our Illusions (that we get later..^^) via divination magic (caster level check). Thus See Invisible/True Seeing might not reveal the (later) invisible (and hiding) gnome.
The dmg of Summon Swarm starts to fall off and thus we exchange it for Baleful Utterance (Shatter). This is a handy tool if you know how to abuse it (open locks/doors; destroy important enemy items/devices; distraction...). If you don't like it, you can pick something else or stick to Summon Swarm.
Wall of Gloom combined with Sanctum Spell helps us to fulfill the requirements for Shadowcrafter (3rd lvl shadow illusion).
With Flee the Scene we have another important pice to enter Shadowcraft Mage (note the gnome SLA Ghost Sound as another illusion).
Shadow Cloak allows our gnome to Hide in non-daylight areas and provides him with an increasing misschance. For that we have started to put point into Hide.
Walk Unseen gives us another layer of deception to remain unnoticed and boosts our Hide checks even further.
For Heighten SLA we first select Wall of Gloom as target SLA. This way we have now temporary access to a 4th lvl shadow spell to enter Shadowcraft Mage. Later at lvl 12 we retrain the feat to target Flee the Scene. If you dislike "retraining" delay the first lvl of Shadowcraft Mage to 12 (and use Nightmares Made Real to enter) and also move Heighten SLA (FtS) to lvl 12.
Nightmares Made Real's (standard action) main purpose is to provide this build with HIPS in daylight areas where the Shadow Cloak fails (free action & unlimited duration). The crowd-control is just the icing here.
Darkstalker ensures that we can also Hide against stuff with exceptional vision forms. It also limits the perception rolls to the higher DC of Hide and Listen, perfect for our gnome who sole relies on Hide.
Since Wall of Gloom has become pointless, we exchange it for Charm which is more fitting for this build. Charm at will ensures that you always have at least one friend and leads to all kinds of abuse^^
Devil's Whisper brings the abuse potential of the build to new heights. Now we can spam Suggestion at will while being invisible and hiding around the victims.
Warlock's Call ensures that we can communicate all important information with all allies (including NPCs). This further refines our tools as a scout.
Supernatural Transformation changes Flee the Scene into a "Supernatural Ability" (SU). This allows it (and any possible Shadow Illusion) to bypass Spell Resistance. Imho a very strong aspect of the build.
Shadow Illusion:
This is the main combo of the build. But lets first clear the pile of rules to explain how this works. The ability never requires you to "cast a spell". It works on any of the mention illusion effects. Flee the Scene's main effect consists of 2 partial effects, Dimension Door and Mayor Image. Think of this like the sorcerer's spell Arcane Fusion. The 2 spells still keep all their properties and interactions they normally have. As such the "Major Image" effect qualifies as "major image figment" to be altered by this ability. This means we have effectively access to Shadow Conjuration and Shadow Summoning with a 4th lvl figment, thus up to 3rd lvl spells. With a wand of Acorn of Far Travel and Sanctum Spell (more info in the item section) we can raise the figments lvl up to 5th lvl and thus get up to 4th lvl spells in return. Combined with Heighten SLA this allows us to raise the effective figment lvl up to lvl 7 (and cast up to 6th lvl shadow illusions) for up to 3 times per day.
This allows for all kinds of cheesy stuff. And with Shadow Summoning we can even stay invisible if we want, while still having a great offense and defense.
Ability Focus (FtS) will give the build another +2 to the DC. Together with Greater Spell Focus Illusion (+2), Shadow Weave Magic (+1) and being a gnome (+1) we are looking at a total increase of +6 to our Shadow Illusion DCs.
With Retributive Invisibility we can remain invisible while having full access to our offensive abilities. Walk Unseen has become pointless and thus gets exchanged to Fell Flight. With that our mobility has further improved, as well as the amount of possible squares/cubes we can possibly be hiding in.
Dark Foresight ensures that nothing bad happens to our lil gnome. He is always aware of possible threats and will never be surprised. It further allows for free action telepathy with nearby participants (compared to the standard action we would otherwise need for Warlock's Call, which remains useful as longer distance communication form).
As final invocation we can chose Caster's Lament. Since we have maxed Spellcraft, we can use it also to Counterspell and not sole for dispelling enchantments. The enemy casters have a hard time to detect us and we can Counterspell any of their spells at will. This should give us the edge against nasty casters.
The build has accumulated an additional +40% for its Shadow Illusions. With that and Heighten SLA we can reach up to 100% dmg against disbelievers.
Besides from the obvious CHA boosts (+5 wish; +6 CHA cloak) and other common stuff (anything that increases caster lvl: orange Ioun stone, ring of arcane magic..), the following items are of interest for this build.
I also wanted to point out here that warlocks are the sole class that can reliably UMD magic items with ongoing effects, due to their take-10 ability for UMD. Everybody else has to face a permanent 5% chance to roll a natural one once per hour per (ongoing) magic item (= 24 rolls per day per UMD-item). And if he rolls a natural one the item can't be used with UMD for the next 24h! This makes ongoing items that require you to wear em for 24h to function near impossible for anyone but warlocks. Thus I mentioned some items here (Horseshoes of Flame, Monk's Tattoo, Wild Shape Amulet;)
Wand: Acorn of Far Travel (source (https://web.archive.org/web/20140805174007/http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/fw/20040710a))
You cast this spell upon an acorn that is still attached to a living oak tree. As long as you carry the acorn , you are considered to be standing under that oak tree's canopy. We select the oak tree as our "Sanctum"(feat). This allows us for to abuse the feat for the duration of the spell (1day per caster lvl). Try to get a 20th caster lvl wand to lessen the times you need to go back to the tree to refresh the spell. If you intent to travel far away from the tree, it is recommend to buy yourself a pair of Boots of Teleportation (3/day). With these you can always easily get to your tree and back if needed.
Boots of Teleportation + Horseshoes of Flame
If you can sweet talk your DM into a custom pair of these, you are lucky. The teleportation (3/day) is nice for the Acorn wand combo and easy travel overall. The horseshoes can be used via UMD to provide nice untyped ability bonuses (+2 DEX, +10 INT, +6 CHA) and a nightmarish look.
(opional) Monk's Tattoo
When you UMD this and pretend to be a monk, you can get the unarmed dmg (not the ability sole the dmg), movement speed and AC bonus of a monk (roll UMD -20 +4 from the item to calculate your effective monk lvl). The most fitting benefit here is the movement speed bonus for this build.
(optional) Wild Shape Amulet
Another ongoing magic item that sole warlock can really abuse. This one has 2 effects. The first adds +4 to your Wild Shape ability, the second gives you the Wild Shape ability as 5th lvl druid if you shouldn't already have it. Nothing in the items description prevents both effects to be active at the same time. As such you can pretend to be a druid of "X.th lvl" to get the +4HD bonus and also get the Wild Shape ability as a 5th lvl druid (since you don't have it). The second effect gives the ability while the first effect increases your effective HD by your UMD roll (-20) +4. Now you have the Wild Shape ability of a 20th lvl druid (hardcap on the item).
(optional) Robe of Mysterious Conjuration
3/day spent a spell slot for Summon Monsters of the same lvl. UMD the spellslots to get up to SM IX. Not gamebreaking but still nice to have and fits with the shadow summons to some degree.
(optional) Wand: Santum Spell - Arcane Fusion
This is not build specific and not really required. But since we have Sanctum Spell, it can be possible to find a wand crafter with access to Arcane Fusion. As shown in my previous Croesus build, we can UMD "sorcerer spells known". This allows for a very flexible and action efficient wand.
(optional) Rod of Absorbtion
Again, not mandatory and not build specific. It absorbs any targeted spells/SLAs at you, up to 50 charges. The charges can then be spent to cast spells from any spontaneous caster's list via UMDing their spells known. While the rod can sole be charged once (50 charges) and thus is an expensive "consumable", imho it is still worth it (if you play at such high optimization). As warlock, we can also charge it up at will with our Eldritch Blast, if we want some charges.
There are some nice alternate build options. Depending on your playstyle, these may be more fitting for you. The general build focuses on the escapee nature of this build, while the other options focus on other stuff.
1) Flawless Build path
Race: Human / Strongheart Halfling
Feats:
1: Spell Focus (Illusion)
1B: Greater Spell Focus (Illusion
3: Sudden Extend
6: Sanctum Spell
9: Heighten SLA (Wall of Gloom) (again, retrain at lvl 12 to FtS. If you dislike it, delay the feat and Shadowcraft Mage to lvl 12 as in the main build)
12: Darkstalker
15: Shadow Weave Magic
18: Insidious Magic
This build path relies on the non-gnome adaptation of Shadowcraft Mage. That is the main reason why I didn't used this as main build path.
2) PRC Options
Mindbender 1
Mindsight (feat)
Exchange a lvl of Shadowcrafter and take Mindsight instead of one of the other talents. This option is more for those that want to focus on the scouting aspect of this build.
3) Racial Options
Race: Whisper Gnome (note the -2 to CHA..)
Extra Silence
Martial Study (any shadow hand maneuver)
Martial Stance: Assassin Stance
Silencing Strike
Eldritch Glaive
For this build option we first need to be a Whisper Gnome. The Darkstalker feat moves to lvl 6. We need to drop the 4 remaining non prerequisite feats (anything that is not Improved -/ Spell Focus). This delays the entry into Shadowcraft Mage to lvl 12 (since we now have to rely sole on Nightmares Made Real as 4th+ lvl shadow spell to qualify).
In exchange we can now use the whisper gnome's Silence SLA 3 + CHA times per day. Further we can apply the Silence as part of a sneak attack which bypasses the victims save roll! Eldritch Glaive can help to easily apply it (due to being a melee touch attack). This build option is more anti-mage themed, if you expect a lot of caster enemies and your team otherwise lacks a counter against caster. Maybe even take a flaw to squeeze in Supernatural Transformation (Silence SLA > SU) and make the Silence even bypass SR.
END:
We reached the end of this silly build. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.
We are looking at a very hard to detect gnome with a high mobility due to flying and dimension door at will. Run around your enemies and spam Charm & Devil's Whispers until you solve any encounter (A wand of tongues could be helpful here). Or just spam the maincombo for infinite shadow conjurations and summonings.
I appreciate any kind of feedback you have.
- What do you think about the build and the rules?
- What is your favorite build path, the original one or one of the alternatives?
- Any suggestions to improve the build or to add alternate build options?
*As always, I (and hopefully you too) will check for errors and if I have missed anything that I wanted to mention. So, potential updates may follow..