Warlock Feats / Invocations

[Quirinus_Obsidian]

First: I am building a Gnome Warlock/Heckfire Warlock. Pathfinder campaign.
We are allowing Bloodlines, so I went with the Devil bloodline (it fits with the character concept that I have. I realize that it is not the most optimal thing, but hey, I am not the biggest optimizer.

I was looking for some ideas on feats and invocations to take.

I already have listed
Ability Focus
Extra Invocation
Toughness
Dodge
Empower Spell Like Ability
Quicken Spell Like Ability

For Invocations, I have chosen Eldritch Spear and Hideous Blow. I know there is another Invocation that is melee based, but I can't remember the name of it. Any thoughts?

[KillianHawkeye]

Eldritch Glaive >> Hideous Blow

Devil's Sight fits the concept, and Baleful Utterance is always fun.

[Caeldrim]

+1 for devil's sight and baleful utterance, but check out 'see the unseen' as well.

Also, I love the flavour of spiderwalk. 24x7 spiderclimb is badass. Not strictly as powerful as 24x7 flight, but somehow it's more fun.

[MammonAzrael]

1. The Warlock Handbook.
2. Hideous blow is, well, hideous. Grab Eldritch Glaive instead, as it is far superior (It's in Dragon Magic).
3. Typically you'll want to grab Eldritch Spear or Eldritch Glaive. Spear if you want to focus on Sniping, and Glaive if you want to mix it up in melee. It's generally not great to grab both.
4. You'll want to grab Vitriolic Blast, to get through SR when you have to.
5. You'll want to take the Shape Soulmeld (Strongheart Vest) feat to mitigate the Con damage from Hellfire Warlock.
6. Seriouly, that handbook should have all the info you could want when it comes to making your character stronger, and has dozens of ideas. You should be able to tune to flavor perfectly!
7. I would hold off on grabbing Extra Invocation until you know all the Invocations you really want, and you need to take it.
8. Toughness is not worth a feat. If you're really that worried about HP, grab Improved Toughness instead at least.
9. Dodge is likewise pretty poor. You're better off with other feats unless you're taking it specifically as a prereq. (And something tells me that Toughness and Dodge aren't really there for super flavor purposes, since they're so incredibly generic.)

[Zergrusheddie]

Hellfire Warlock packs considerably more firepower, but the 1 Constitution damage adds up if you are not careful. Be sure to let your Cleric know that you'll either need a Restoration or a Resurrection at the end of the day.

Best of luck
-Eddie

[ShneekeyTheLost]

Hellfire Warlock packs considerably more firepower, but the 1 Constitution damage adds up if you are not careful. Be sure to let your Cleric know that you'll either need a Restoration or a Resurrection at the end of the day.

Best of luck
-Eddie

Or take a level in Binder and bind Naberious to heal stat damage as it occurs...

[Draz74]

We are allowing Bloodlines, so I went with the Devil bloodline (it fits with the character concept that I have. I realize that it is not the most optimal thing, but hey, I am not the biggest optimizer.

Actually, depending on DM interpretation, bloodlines + Hellfire Warlock can be a cheesy-powerful combo.

A hellfire blast deals your normal eldritch blast damage plus an extra 2d6 points of damage per class level.

Normally, that caps at +6d6 damage, because the class only has 3 levels. But:

Include the character's bloodline level when calculating any character ability based on his class levels (such as caster level for spellcasting characters, or save DCs for characters with special abilities whose DCs are based on class level). The character doesn't gain any abilities, spells known, or spells per day from the addition of his bloodline levels, though—only the calculations of his level-based abilities are affected.

Arguably, that means Bloodline Levels count as Hellfire Warlock levels for calculating Hellfire Blast's damage, bringing it up to +12d6 damage per blast at high levels. Yikes.

With multiple Eldritch Glaive attacks per round. Double yikes.

[Fax Celestis]

See also: Uncanny Trickster and/or Legacy Champion.

[Swooper]

Arguably, that means Bloodline Levels count as Hellfire Warlock levels for calculating Hellfire Blast's damage, bringing it up to +12d6 damage per blast at high levels. Yikes.

With multiple Eldritch Glaive attacks per round. Double yikes.

Nasty! Here I was, comfortable with the notion that bloodlines were underpowered and useless...

[Eldariel]

Cleric/Warlock/Hellfire Warlock/Eldritch Disciple is pretty potent; you get Divine Power from Cleric which means that...ouch. Full BAB iterative touch attacks dealing Lots D6 damage, and a full array of restorations to heal yourself up after fight. Earth Spell [Races of Stone] and you'll lose only one Invocation-level.

There're means of pimming out Hellfire Warlock though. The mentioned Bloodlines are one. Legacy Champion [Weapons of Legacy] are another (who said Weapons of Legacy doesn't have anything worthwhile?), although CustServ ruled they can only progress Base Class abilities (Eldritch Blast). Uncanny Trickster [Complete Scoundrel] also gets two level progression, and apparently Aberrant Paragon [Dragon #322] also gives you advancement. That said, even without extra advancement, Hellfire Warlock is fine.

[Tokiko Mima]

Ditch Toughness, Dodge and/or Ability Focus unless Pathfinder somehow radically improved them.

You want to also add Maximize Spell-like Ability. Remember that all the SLA feats got errata'ed in Monster Manual III so that Quicken is a swift action and Maximize and Empower can be added without an action in the same round. This means you can use all of them at once and bring utter devastation down on your enemies 3/day. Properly done, almost nothing in the Epic level Handbook can survive past one round with a Hellfire Blast using this technique.

If you don't want to worry about Naberius binding or Strongheart Vest (though a two level Incarnate dip for a Crystal Crown bind is neato) there's an item called 'Rod of Bodily Restoration' that's really cheap, uses charges/day, and restores enough Constitution than you Hellfire Blasting should never be an issue.

Other good items from Complete Mage include the Rods of Eldritch Power (the ideal way to get Eldritch Shape invocations like Eldritch Doom/Spear that you might want every now and then but would be a waste of a Invocation slot to choose) and a Rod of Magical Precision (ignores concealment times/day, and also its like getting the Precise Shot feat without having to take the Point-Blank Shot feat too.) There's also some goggles that improve the range of all your blasts by 50% but I can't remember the name off the top of my head. Far.. something.

[Fixer]

If you are going the item-low route, like the Strongheart Vest, and insist on keeping Dodge and Toughness as prerequisites, try taking Azure Toughness and Midnight Dodge instead. Each grants a point of essentia for free, and you can use that essentia to boost up the power of the Strongheart Vest (if your character level is high enough).

[Quirinus_Obsidian]

Quicken and Empower Spell-Like Ability kinda confused me a little.

It says that you can cast a spell = 1/2 your caster level -2 (and -4 for Quicken)

As a Warlock, my "caster level" is equal to 1/2 my Warlock level.

So then, how exactly would that benefit me?

I will not be taking Hideous Blow ; unless it would somehow stack with Eldritch Glaive, but somehow, I don't think that my DM would agree with me. Eldritch Glaive is the better invocation.

I am taking Eldritch Spear because it is an insane range (250 ft.) because of the pathfinder world we are in.

Toughness in the Pathfinder world is awesome. +3 HP, +1 per character level. It bascally combined Toughness and Improved Toughness into one feat.

The new Dodge is a swift action to gain +1 AC for one round. Period. Does not get assigned to a specific creature. It is a bloodline bonus feat.

The Bloodline levels will also increase my Eldritch Blast damage to 10d6 at 13th class level .

I have a 20 CON (nat 18 and +2 racial); and my best friend is the cleric. :smalltougue:

I doubt that I would be classing into Legacy Champion or Incarnum, because I want to keep the multiclassing to a minimum.

Thanks for the hints and the handbook ; this still remains the bestest 3.5 forums in the interwebs. xD

[Arcane_Snowman]

Quicken and Empower Spell-Like Ability kinda confused me a little.

It says that you can cast a spell = 1/2 your caster level -2 (and -4 for Quicken)

As a Warlock, my "caster level" is equal to 1/2 my Warlock level.

the Ordinary Eldritch Blast is the equivalent of a 1st level spell (at least after the erratta) and Empower/Quicken SLA allows you to cast SLAs with a Spell level equal to the given equation (at least in 3.5).

The new Dodge is a swift action to gain +1 AC for one round. Period. Does not get assigned to a specific creature.

which is really horrible. Consider this: Quicken SLA is a swift action which will allow you to do EB 2/round (or EB/Eldritch Glaive).

I have a 20 CON (nat 18 and +2 racial); and my best friend is the cleric. :smalltounge:

I doubt that I would be classing into Legacy Champion or Incarnum, because I want to keep the multiclassing to a minimum.

Thanks for the hints and the handbook ; this still remains the bestest 3.5 forums in the interwebs. xD

You don't need to multiclass into anything incarnum, you just need the feat Shape Soulmeld (Strongheart Vestment), otherwise you can get a Wand of Lesser Restoration seeing as you have UMD as a class skill.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

I have no idea how any of this advice will be affected by the Pathfinder rules.

Be sure to get Fell Flight, and get the feat Flyby Attack from the Monster Manual. It's like Spring Attack, but you'll be able to use an Eldritch Blast or any other Invocation that takes a standard action with it.

Ability Focus: Eldritch Blast isn't a bad choice, since you'll get +2 DC to any Eldritch Essence you use with it. I'm a fan of using (spamming) Blinding Blast with Eldritch Chain every round. If you're going to boost your DCs, you may want to consider the feats Fiendish Heritage and Fiendish Power from Complete Mage. Fiendish Legacy is also a decent choice.

[monty]

As a Warlock, my "caster level" is equal to 1/2 my Warlock level.

I may be remembering wrong, but I thought that warlocks get full caster level.

[Arcane_Snowman]

I may be remembering wrong, but I thought that warlocks get full caster level.

You are very correct, it's the Eldritch Blast that is equal to a spell of that level [Warlock level /2 min 1, max 9]although it has been errataed to simply 1.