Metastachydium
2023-02-25, 01:30 PM
There was this old debt I've owed to, well, myself for a while now: much as its makers seem to have disliked it, the Warlock has always been close to my heart. That said, its fluff is confusing, its alignment restrictions are dumb and nonsensical and (and this is one big old gripe of mine) it doesn't do what the 4e version ended up doing right: using CON.
The premises for today's experiment are, accordingly these:
–before the Binder came out, the good old archetypical "I sold my soul for power and stuff" niche was (at least nominally) covered by the Warlock, and given what Binders deal in, the base variant of the theme were established cosmic factions empower agents in such a manner remains open even post-ToM;
–such relationships built upon a contractual basis would seem to be a traditionally devil thing to do; and yet: a Warlock can be CG, but not LN and the standard issue DR/cold iron only serve to underscore that for some reason, WotC saw this as a type of deal somehow exclusive to demons and the fair folk;
–having magic use be based on mental stats makes an ample amount of sense, and more than having it rely on the physicals; however, a contract-based Warlock is merely a conduit, and not a terribly wise one at that, seeing how they made the contract in the first place (don't get me wrong, it's not a bad deal, but it surely is a shady deal made with things sane people prefer not to trust);
–subsequently, if a magic user is to not be based on and around a mental stat, the Warlock is an excellent candidate, and out of the physical stats CON is the (comparatively) obvious pick, if we understand it, say, as the capacity to withstand the strain of powerful energies flowing through a body not designed to accomodate them.
The conclusion I drew is straightforward enough: the world needs a Law-oriented, somewhat diabolic variant Warlock – and this variant Warlock may as well be CON-based. In other words, it could easily look something like the
PACTMAKER WARLOCK
Alignment: Any lawful or any evil
Class Skills
Remove the following warlock class skills from the pactmaker warlock's class skill list: Bluff, Disguise.
Add the following skills to the pactmaker warlock's class skill list: Handle Animal, Use Rope.
Class Features
Invocations: The save DC for an pactmaker warlock's invocations (if they allows a save) is 10 + equivalent spell level + the infernal warlock's Constitution modifier.
Damage Reduction (Su): A pactmaker warlock's damage reduction is bypassed by silver, rather than cold iron. It is gained at 3rd level and it increases by 1 point every four levels.
♣
Now, the common complaint about CON-based magic is that CON is too good to do that as well, in addition to all that it already does. So why do I think this is a good passable idea anyhow? Two reasons:
1. I like it (sue me!); and
2. for the Warlock, this is something of a lateral improvement:
–it does grant the Warlock better hp and a boost to Fort saves and Concentration; but out of those, Fort saves are not a big issue, given the Warlock's poor progresion and good CON on an 1d6 HD class is not a game breaker either;
–more importantly still, it doesn't really make the Warlock more powerful, seeing how
at-will magic is majestic and I love it, but invocations aren't neccessarily the strongest assets a Warlock commands;
that distinction should probably go to their supreme UMD abilities: a fourth level Warlock gains easy access to an insane number of spells through items with very little investment;
and that only gets better from there onwards: with Imbue Item, a Warlock who pumped one skill can pull ANY spell from their rectum like there's no tomorrow – indeed, Warlock 12 is perhaps the earliest one can put both Wish and Miracle in one's repertoire;
now, if we swap CHA for CON as the "casting stat" of a Warlock, the change only affects invocations that offer saving throws (i.e. not most of them);
but the modicum of synergy with UMD? It's lost.
The premises for today's experiment are, accordingly these:
–before the Binder came out, the good old archetypical "I sold my soul for power and stuff" niche was (at least nominally) covered by the Warlock, and given what Binders deal in, the base variant of the theme were established cosmic factions empower agents in such a manner remains open even post-ToM;
–such relationships built upon a contractual basis would seem to be a traditionally devil thing to do; and yet: a Warlock can be CG, but not LN and the standard issue DR/cold iron only serve to underscore that for some reason, WotC saw this as a type of deal somehow exclusive to demons and the fair folk;
–having magic use be based on mental stats makes an ample amount of sense, and more than having it rely on the physicals; however, a contract-based Warlock is merely a conduit, and not a terribly wise one at that, seeing how they made the contract in the first place (don't get me wrong, it's not a bad deal, but it surely is a shady deal made with things sane people prefer not to trust);
–subsequently, if a magic user is to not be based on and around a mental stat, the Warlock is an excellent candidate, and out of the physical stats CON is the (comparatively) obvious pick, if we understand it, say, as the capacity to withstand the strain of powerful energies flowing through a body not designed to accomodate them.
The conclusion I drew is straightforward enough: the world needs a Law-oriented, somewhat diabolic variant Warlock – and this variant Warlock may as well be CON-based. In other words, it could easily look something like the
PACTMAKER WARLOCK
Alignment: Any lawful or any evil
Class Skills
Remove the following warlock class skills from the pactmaker warlock's class skill list: Bluff, Disguise.
Add the following skills to the pactmaker warlock's class skill list: Handle Animal, Use Rope.
Class Features
Invocations: The save DC for an pactmaker warlock's invocations (if they allows a save) is 10 + equivalent spell level + the infernal warlock's Constitution modifier.
Damage Reduction (Su): A pactmaker warlock's damage reduction is bypassed by silver, rather than cold iron. It is gained at 3rd level and it increases by 1 point every four levels.
♣
Now, the common complaint about CON-based magic is that CON is too good to do that as well, in addition to all that it already does. So why do I think this is a good passable idea anyhow? Two reasons:
1. I like it (sue me!); and
2. for the Warlock, this is something of a lateral improvement:
–it does grant the Warlock better hp and a boost to Fort saves and Concentration; but out of those, Fort saves are not a big issue, given the Warlock's poor progresion and good CON on an 1d6 HD class is not a game breaker either;
–more importantly still, it doesn't really make the Warlock more powerful, seeing how
at-will magic is majestic and I love it, but invocations aren't neccessarily the strongest assets a Warlock commands;
that distinction should probably go to their supreme UMD abilities: a fourth level Warlock gains easy access to an insane number of spells through items with very little investment;
and that only gets better from there onwards: with Imbue Item, a Warlock who pumped one skill can pull ANY spell from their rectum like there's no tomorrow – indeed, Warlock 12 is perhaps the earliest one can put both Wish and Miracle in one's repertoire;
now, if we swap CHA for CON as the "casting stat" of a Warlock, the change only affects invocations that offer saving throws (i.e. not most of them);
but the modicum of synergy with UMD? It's lost.