So i'm making a warlock...

[FuryOfMetal]

When I first saw the warlock i passed it off as some sort of lame caster without spells. But since reading the SilverClawShift campaigns, they intrigue me and they look quite fun.

But what would be a suitable race (preferably no LA)?
What should i be doing/taking over the first 1-8 levels for example?
Also i managed to roll these respectable stats: 16, 12, 15, 15, 14, 12

I defer to the knowledge of GitP!

[Swok]

Handbooks are your friend.

[Fouredged Sword]

warforged Warlock. You can be a robot that shoots lazers. What more can you ask of a fantasy setting.

[Tedesche]

The standard for pushing your eldritch blast damage higher is to go Warlock 9/Binder 1/Hellfire Warlock 3. You pick up one level in Binder to bind Naberius, which has an ability that lets you heal 1 point of ability damage per round. This offsets the fact that your CON gets damaged every time you utilize hellfire, which is the Hellfire Warlock's main problem. Once you do that, you should be 13th level, and spitting 11d6 hellfire blasts all day long.

Other options include mixing other classes and doing dual-progression PrCs, of which there are several for the warlock. Maybe I'll go into them later....

[Forever Curious]

The standard for pushing your eldritch blast damage higher is to go Warlock 9/Binder 1/Hellfire Warlock 3. You pick up one level in Binder to bind Naberius, which has an ability that lets you heal 1 point of ability damage per round. This offsets the fact that your CON gets damaged every time you utilize hellfire, which is the Hellfire Warlock's main problem. Once you do that, you should be 13th level, and spitting 11d6 hellfire blasts all day long.

Other options include mixing other classes and doing dual-progression PrCs, of which there are several for the warlock. Maybe I'll go into them later....

Could you not simply take the Bind Vestige feat to pick up Neberus (the vestige you mentioned) instead of a level dip?

I think it depends on the setting. I played a very Charisma-heavy warlock in my last game, which happened to be very political intrigue and detective work. Maxed out UMD, and by 5th level i could use any wand w/o having to make a check. Took the Charm invocation, and everyone was my friend.

That being said, it does really depend on the campaign. My build would utterly fail in a dungeon crawl.

[Prime32]

Could you not simply take the Bind Vestige feat to pick up Neberus (the vestige you mentioned) instead of a level dip?

The feat doesn't let you get all the abilities of the vestige you bind.

You could take Shape Soulmeld (strongheart vest) but there have been endless debates on whether reducing damage to zero is the same as being immune to it, and your DM may call shenanigans.

[The Shadowmind]

The Bind vestige feat only has a limited number of abilities you get with it, and the Grinning Hound's ability damage healing isn't one of them. Soulmeld a Strong Heart Vest is the feat dip version, but then you have to argue for awhile that effective DR 1 versus ability damage isn't the same as being immune to ability damage.

[Forever Curious]

Ah, i only skimmed over Tome of Magic. Forgive my ignorance.

My other advice still stands.

[FuryOfMetal]

I was perusing the binder this-morning actually, and it seems the level in binder would be mroe beneficial than the binding feat, i remember the feat being quite restrictive. Besides, binders are damn cool ;)

The DM is more of an ad-lib heavy combat kind (thought not my favourtie type of game) so the more d6's the merrier!

A warforged warlock is a very impressive mental image, difficult with the flavour though. Maybe house cannith or that particular forge were quite low on the moral spectrum at the time, seeking help from otherworldy beings to aid in their creations?

[PId6]

Well, first thing to decide is whether you want to dump Cha or not. There are a few good save-allowing invocations, but the majority of the good ones don't allow saves so you don't actually need Cha. If you want to dump Cha, Whisper Gnome (Races of Stone) is a solid choice, granting boosts to Con and Dex in exchange for penalties to dump stats. If you want to keep Cha up and use save-allowing invocations, then something with +Cha like Lesser Aasimar (Player's Guide to Faerun) would work. Alternatively, human works fine for this as they do for anything else.

[SurlySeraph]

A warforged warlock is a very impressive mental image, difficult with the flavour though. Maybe house cannith or that particular forge were quite low on the moral spectrum at the time, seeking help from otherworldy beings to aid in their creations?

It's a demon robot that shoots demon lasers. It doesn't need to be explained or justified.

[FuryOfMetal]

It's a demon robot that shoots demon lasers. It doesn't need to be explained or justified.

I am completely fine with this!

Also i was considering whisper gnome, even just for the small size and 30ft! but the +dex and +con will help at lower levels. Especially as i'll probably be dumping cha, after all i can just boost social skills more effectively

[Runestar]

Throw in fell flight and you become frickin Iron Man!

[thompur]

The standard for pushing your eldritch blast damage higher is to go Warlock 9/Binder 1/Hellfire Warlock 3. You pick up one level in Binder to bind Naberius, which has an ability that lets you heal 1 point of ability damage per round. This offsets the fact that your CON gets damaged every time you utilize hellfire, which is the Hellfire Warlock's main problem. Once you do that, you should be 13th level, and spitting 11d6 hellfire blasts all day long.

Other options include mixing other classes and doing dual-progression PrCs, of which there are several for the warlock. Maybe I'll go into them later....

Also, Make sure your Con is an odd number so you don't lose any hp when you use the hellfire blast the first time.

[Vizzerdrix]

Can't go wrong by getting a bit of sneak attack mixed into the build. Several PrCs will advance both.

[theos911]

When I first saw the warlock i passed it off as some sort of lame caster without spells. But since reading the SilverClawShift campaigns, they intrigue me and they look quite fun.

That is also where my interest in warlocks began... ahh good times... good times

[thorgrim29]

Throw in fell flight and you become frickin Iron Man!

If you do you need to either

a: loop that song for the whole game
b: always have the intro ready and start it when you do something awesome, so pretty much always, as you're a flying demonic robot that shoots lasers infused with the fires of Hell fuelled by the trapped soul of an ancient god, only thing more awesome would be if Naberius were an orphan (internet cookie for the reference)

[CockroachTeaParty]

Any suggestions for the Eldritch Theurge PrC? I'm interested in mixing wizard with warlock... I'm well aware of how painful losing 3 wizard caster levels is going to be, but it sounds like it might still be worth a few laughs.

[PId6]

Any suggestions for the Eldritch Theurge PrC? I'm interested in mixing wizard with warlock... I'm well aware of how painful losing 3 wizard caster levels is going to be, but it sounds like it might still be worth a few laughs.

Wizard 2/Warlock 3/Eldritch Theurge 10/Abjurant Champion 5

Use Precocious Apprentice for entry, and be an elf or outsider (or even take the feat) to get into Abjurant Champion. You'll end up as Wizard 17/Warlock 13, basically a wizard with a few all day tricks. It won't be great (compared to wizards), but it's not terrible either. Alternatively:

Wizard 1/Warlock 4/Eldritch Theurge 10/Hellfire Warlock 3/Abjurant Champion 2

Same as above, but this time, you're focusing on the warlock side, putting all of your Abjurant Champion level-ups into warlock. You'll end up as Wizard 11/Warlock 19, which is more of a warlock with spells than a wizard. It's almost certainly less powerful than more wizard levels, but it's also be a bit less painful, since you only lost one warlock level, as opposed to losing three wizard levels in the above build. The Abjurant Champion levels are for Swift Abjuration letting you cast Shield for +6 AC as a swift action, but you can replace it with any other arcane PrC.

[KillianHawkeye]

It's a demon robot that shoots demon lasers. It doesn't need to be explained or justified.

Are warforged immune to Con damage? If not, a warforged Hellfire Warlock = el diablo robotico.

[Sliver]

Don't forget the cloaking device guys!

[FuryOfMetal]

Are warforged immune to Con damage? If not, a warforged Hellfire Warlock = el diablo robotico.

"-Unlike other constructs, warforged are subject to critical hits, stunning, ability damage, ability drain, and death affects or necromancy effects"

My DM probbaly wouldn't realise so i could totally get away with it, but that'd be kinda cheating and i'm not ok with that :)

I actually might base the character idea around iron man i was already going for chaotic good, entropic warding, see the sunseen, spiderwalk (to be traded out for fell flight), walk unseen.

[Soranar]

another option (outside of the demon robot)

necropolitan template (being undead you have no Con stat , immunity to ability damage)

you get d12 instead of d6 + con so it's fairly decent for hp (albeit you lose bonus hp from enchantments to Con and the immunities are really useful)

and it makes you use your Cha for Con based skills (like concentration) so the synergy is great

you could play a kobold too instead of a whisper gnome (you ignore the Con score anyway)

not sure if it would be easier to pass to your DM a demonic undead instead of robot

[Fouredged Sword]

Strongheart vest soulmeld. take the feat, laugh as you hellfire everything in your path without mercy.

[Ernir]

another option (outside of the demon robot)

necropolitan template (being undead you have no Con stat , immunity to ability damage)

Unfortunately, Hellfire Warlock specifically requires you to not be immune to Con damage.

[ShneekeyTheLost]

If you do you need to either

a: loop that song for the whole game
b: always have the intro ready and start it when you do something awesome, so pretty much always, as you're a flying demonic robot that shoots lasers infused with the fires of Hell fuelled by the trapped soul of an ancient god, only thing more awesome would be if Naberius were an orphan (internet cookie for the reference)

In the original Diablo, it wasn't an orphan, but the son of King Leoric, who had the Soulstone which turned him into Diablo, which your character then defeated. Of course, your character was silly enough to turn himself into the next incarnation of Diablo, but at least he was taken care of but good in Diablo 2.

Warlocks are a hell of a lot of fun. As a dip, or as the main part of your character. There's a lot of fun things that can be done with them.

[KillianHawkeye]

Of course, your character was silly enough to turn himself into the next incarnation of Diablo, but at least he was taken care of but good in Diablo 2.

It's not his fault. It seemed like a good idea at the time.

[SaintRidley]

If you do you need to either

a: loop that song for the whole game
b: always have the intro ready and start it when you do something awesome, so pretty much always, as you're a flying demonic robot that shoots lasers infused with the fires of Hell fuelled by the trapped soul of an ancient god, only thing more awesome would be if Naberius were an orphan (internet cookie for the reference)

If Naberius is a dead god, then barring unusual circumstances he is an orphan. Gods tend to die when their followers abandon them and they have no worshipers.