PDA

View Full Version : [4e] Star Pact Warlock Help



codexgigas
2008-09-21, 12:39 AM
Alright, I'm about to start my first 4e campaign in a week. I've decided on playing a star pact warlock (I confess that the Lovecraftian spin was too much to pass up). Half-elf looks like it gives me the best stat boosts, and I'd rather avoid Tiefling, so I'm pretty set on the race. The DM has said that the campaign will probably take us from levels 1-7, so while I want to plan on a paragon path, I'm more interested in effectiveness now than later.

Stats are going to be rolled 4d6, and we'll be doing that at the first session, so I just need a priority to put them in (it looks like CHA, CON, INT, DEX, WIS, STR to me). I'm really looking for feat and power advice. I especially have no idea which at-will to pick up for my racial ability.

Cybren
2008-09-21, 01:06 AM
I would say int over con. It seems most of the effects that are int based are better than the ones that are con based. (plus i'm a sucker for multiclassing to wizard from warlocks)

RTGoodman
2008-09-21, 01:11 AM
I'm not sure what to tell you for the Dilettante feature either (though anything that's an Implement power with Cha, Con, or Int as the stat would work), but I can tell you that you might want to take a look at the article from last month's Dragon Magazine about Star Pact Warlocks - it's got some really neat powers (I really like the Level 6 Utility "Rending Fear of Khirad" or whatever it's called), and some of the feats are really cool, too. I like Starfire Womb for my Paladin/Warlock - every time I deal damage with a Radiant or Fear power (which is most of mine :smalltongue:) I can immediately roll a saving throw. HERE (http://wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/drfe/20080822a)'s the link for the article, or HERE (http://wizards.com/files/366_Warlocks.pdf) in PDF format.

EDIT: I do agree with Cybren - I prefer Int over Con. Of course, with the stat boosts for Half-Elf, you can probably end up with something like 18 Cha, 16 Cha, 16 Con, and then the rest (though that'll be harder with rolling for stats).

EDIT 2: Looking over the at-wills of most of the classes, the ones from Wizard are probably your best bet. I'd probably go with Ray of Frost or Illusory Ambush (Dragon #364) since the other Wizard at-wills either utilize Wisdom (Thunderwave, Cloud of Daggers), which you don't have much of probably, or are just straight damage (Scorching Burst, Magic Missile), which you'll already have enough of as an Arcane Striker.

ghost_warlock
2008-09-21, 03:49 AM
I'm not sure what to tell you for the Dilettante feature either (though anything that's an Implement power with Cha, Con, or Int as the stat would work), but I can tell you that you might want to take a look at the article from last month's Dragon Magazine about Star Pact Warlocks - it's got some really neat powers (I really like the Level 6 Utility "Rending Fear of Khirad" or whatever it's called), and some of the feats are really cool, too. I like Starfire Womb for my Paladin/Warlock - every time I deal damage with a Radiant or Fear power (which is most of mine :smalltongue:) I can immediately roll a saving throw. HERE (http://wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/drfe/20080822a)'s the link for the article, or HERE (http://wizards.com/files/366_Warlocks.pdf) in PDF format.

EDIT: I do agree with Cybren - I prefer Int over Con. Of course, with the stat boosts for Half-Elf, you can probably end up with something like 18 Cha, 16 Cha, 16 Con, and then the rest (though that'll be harder with rolling for stats).

EDIT 2: Looking over the at-wills of most of the classes, the ones from Wizard are probably your best bet. I'd probably go with Ray of Frost or Illusory Ambush (Dragon #364) since the other Wizard at-wills either utilize Wisdom (Thunderwave, Cloud of Daggers), which you don't have much of probably, or are just straight damage (Scorching Burst, Magic Missile), which you'll already have enough of as an Arcane Striker.

The star pact warlock article has been errata'd. Most of the changes are minor, but it's worth noting that once the compiled .pdf (http://www.wizards.com/files/366_Dragon_Hi.pdf) (article starts on page 17) is released that should be the primary source as the individual articles are not updated with the changes that make it into the compilation.

Although it's usually better just to use eldritch blast (http://ww2.wizards.com/dnd/insider/power.aspx?id=1333&searchterm=eldritch+blast), there are circumstances where it's more useful to use dire radiance (http://ww2.wizards.com/dnd/insider/power.aspx?id=1457&searchterm=dire+radiance) - which you'll need Con for. Considering those are your only at-will powers, this might take precedence over your handful of encounter and daily powers because you're going to use your at-will far more often than any other power.

Useful dilettante powers are thunderwave (http://ww2.wizards.com/dnd/insider/power.aspx?id=1169&searchterm=thunderwave), if you've got at least a 12 Wisdom, and scorching burst (http://ww2.wizards.com/dnd/insider/power.aspx?id=1166&searchterm=scorching+burst). Both are AoEs, useful for helping the wizard clear out minions or just dumping some damage on clustered foes. Thunderwave can also be useful to push foes off cliffs and such, or just give you some breathing room if you get melee'd - use thunderwave to push the foe(s) back, then you can move your full speed away so they can't melee you again on their next turn unless they've got high speeds.

For stat prioritization, I'd probably go Cha > Con > Int > Wis (if MC'ing wizard) > Dex > Str. If possible, having at least 16's in both Con and Cha would be ideal.

AvatarZero
2008-09-21, 06:17 AM
You don't really have to invest heavily in CON as a Star Warlock, especially if you're allowed to use the Dragon #366 material. By using that, or taking the occasional non-star CHA-based power, you'll be able to keep your INT high as you level up instead of being stuck playing attention to a second primary stat. That might not be your cup of tea, but I think it'd be more optimal.

KillianHawkeye
2008-09-21, 08:04 AM
I'd also reccomend thunderwave or scorching burst for the AoE, since Warlock powers are pretty much all single target effects.

Jokes
2008-09-21, 08:38 AM
Well, don't forget that you can get a wand of thunderwave or any other wizard at will power (Adventurer's Vault), castable 1/encounter, starting at level 3.

Shame there are so few other classes that run on CHA and INT, and I doubt you'll be in melee enough to do anything Paladiny.

Ooh, how about Artificer? (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/drfe/20080702) I'd probably go with Thundering Armour for Dilettante, since Aggravating Force requires a ranged weapon.

codexgigas
2008-09-21, 10:15 AM
Thanks for the help. I'll probably pick up Thunderwave or Thundering Armor for my dilettante at-will. I've been looking over feats, and I'm down to three for my feat at first level. One's Linguist, so I need to check with the DM to see if that would be helpful. The other two are Improved Fate of the Void or Ritual Caster. I'll be picking both of them up, but I wanted input on how viable rituals are out of the box. I'll be training both Religion and Arcana.

hamishspence
2008-09-21, 11:55 AM
Since I've got that compilation: 366-HI: will it be error-free, or will another one come out that fixes errors?

RTGoodman
2008-09-21, 12:52 PM
The star pact warlock article has been errata'd. Most of the changes are minor, but it's worth noting that once the compiled .pdf (http://www.wizards.com/files/366_Dragon_Hi.pdf) (article starts on page 17) is released that should be the primary source as the individual articles are not updated with the changes that make it into the compilation.

See, I always thought the updated the individual articles when they did the "errata" for the compilation, and that's the SECOND time in 24 hours that I've been screwed up because they don't. :smallannoyed:

hamishspence
2008-09-21, 01:07 PM
I chucked out the individual articles as soon as I had compilation, to save space, Now, is compilation OK, or do I need to search for errata?