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2015-11-15, 11:27 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Aug 2013
Warlock class beautification (updated)
THE WARLOCK, Corrected
Update 2018
Design Notes: IMO, spell slots that shoot up to 5th level then stop, followed by spurts of Mystic Arcanum, is an ugly kludge. Converting Mystic Arcanum (and the other daily spell options) into a single invocation simplifies & unifies the class design. Swapping Eldritch Invocation and archetype features between 1st and 2nd level improves symmetry and reduces the impact of poorly-designed archetypes (yes, I specifically mean Hexblade).
Version Notes: 17th level casters always get a big spell.
Level
Class Features Invocations
KnownCantrips
KnownSpells
KnownSpell
SlotsSlot
Level1stEldritch Invocations, Pact Magic 12211st2ndOtherworldly Patron, Pact Boon 12321st3rd- 22422nd4thAbility Score Increase 23522nd5th- 33623rd6thOtherworldly Patron Feature 33723rd7th- 43833rd8thAbility Score Increase 43933rd9th- 531034th10thOtherworldly Patron Feature 541134th11th- 641244th12thAbility Score Increase 641344th13th- 741345th14thOtherworldly Patron Feature 741345th15th- 841355th16thAbility Score Increase 841355th17thBonus Mystic Arcanum 94 1355th18thPact Boon 94
1355th19thAbility Score Increase 104
1355th20thEldritch Master 104
1365th
PACT MAGIC
(change: the warlock spell list ends at 5th level; all higher level spells moved to the Mystic Arcanum invocation.)
PACT BOON
Pact of the Chain
(added): Your familiar has bonus hit points equal to twice your warlock level, and its proficiency bonus is equal to yours.
At 18th level, your familiar's ability scores each increase by 2. Also, if you would lose concentration on a spell before its duration expires, you can have your familiar maintain concentration on it until the end of your next turn, when you may resume concentration. Your familiar cannot do this again until you complete a short or long rest.
Pact of the Blade
(added): Your pact weapon can take the form of any melee weapon that lacks the heavy property. When you attack with your pact weapon, you can use your Charisma modifier, instead of Strength or Dexterity, for the attack and damage rolls.
At 18th level, when you use your action to cast a spell, you can make one weapon attack as a bonus action.
Pact of the Tome
(added): At 18th level, choose a spell of up to 7th level from any class with a 9 level spell list. You gain a bonus Mystic Arcanum invocation for it.
(MYSTIC ARCANUM moved to invocation.)
BONUS MYSTIC ARCANUM
At 17th level, you get a bonus invocation, which must be Mystic Arcanum.
OTHERWORLDLY PATRONS
ARCHFEY
Fey Presence
(added): The size of the cube increases by 5 feet for every two warlock levels.
(added): The Archfey lets you add the following spells as options for the Mystic Arcanum invocation: Conjure Fey, Mind Blank, Shapechange. You may cast Conjure Fey again after completing a short rest.
THE FIEND
Hurl Through Hell
(changed): If the target is not a fiend, it takes 10d10 psychic damage as it reels from its horrific experience, or half damage if it succeeds on a Charisma saving throw.
(added): The Fiend lets you add the following spells as options for the Mystic Arcanum invocation:Disintegrate, Delayed Blast Fireball, Incendiary Cloud.
GREAT OLD ONE
Awakened Mind
(changed): You can communicate telepathically with any creature you are aware of within a range of 60 feet plus 5 feet per warlock level.
(added): The Great Old One lets you add the following spells as options for the Mystic Arcanum invocation: Magic Jar, Symbol, Time Stop. At 14th level, you gain a bonus Mystic Arcanum invocation for the Telepathy spell, which does not count against the number of allowed spells for Mystic Arcanum.
ELDRITCH INVOCATIONS
(removed invocations, merged into Mystic Arcanum): Bewitching Whispers, Dreadful Word, Minions of Chaos, Mire the Mind, Sculptor of Flesh, Sign of Ill Omen, Thief of Five Fates.
Agonizing Blast
(changed): When you cast eldritch blast, add the lesser of your warlock level or your Charisma modifier to the damage it deals on a hit.
Armor of Shadows, Ascendant Step, Fiendish Vigor, Otherworldly Leap
(changed): You treat {Spell Name} as a spell known, and you can cast it on yourself at will at its lowest level without expending a spell slot or material components.
Beguiling Influence
(added): If you have proficiency in either or both from another source, you may add twice your proficiency bonus to that skill instead.
Chains of Carceri
(changed): You treat Hold Monster as a spell known. Celestials, elementals, and fiends have disadvantage on saving throws against this, and you can cast it once targeting such a creature without expending a spell slot or material components. You can do so again after completing a short or long rest.
Eldritch Spear
(added): Also, when you cast other warlock cantrips with a range greater than touch, their range is doubled.
Eyes of the Rune Keeper
(added): Also, you treat Comprehend Languages and Illusory Script as spells known.
Master of Myriad Forms
(changed): Prerequisite: 11th level
Otherwordly Leap
(changed): Prerequisite: 3rd level
(added): Mystic Arcanum
Prerequisite: see table
Select a spell from the following list for which you meet the prerequisite (see table). You can cast it using a warlock spell slot, at your slot level or the spell's lowest level, whichever is higher. You can't cast it again until you complete a long rest, or a short rest if your warlock level is high enough (see table).
You can select this invocation multiple times, each time choosing a different spell, up to the maximum allowed for its spell level (see table).
Spell
LevelWarlock
Prereq
LevelMystic Arcanum Spell List # allowed
of level or higherShort
Rest Level1st-Bane 912nd3- 853rd5Bestow Curse, Slow 794th7Compulsion, Confusion, Freedom of Movement, Polymorph 6135th9Conjure Elemental 5176th11Create Undead, Eyebite, Flesh to Stone, Investiture of F/I/S/W, Mass Suggestion, Mental Prison, Scatter, Soul Cage, True Seeing 4-7th13Crown of Stars, Etherealness, Finger of Death, Forcecage, Plane Shift, Power Word Pain 3-8th15Demiplane, Dominate Monster, Feeblemind, Glibness, Maddening Darkness, Power Word Stun 2-9th17Astral Projection, Foresight, Imprisonment, Power Word Kill, Psychic Scream, True Polymorph 1-
Xanathar's Guide to Everything
OTHERWORLDLY PATRONS
CELESTIAL
(added): The Celestial lets you add the following spells as options for the Mystic Arcanum invocation: Heal, Conjure Celestial, Holy Aura.
HEXBLADE
Hex Warrior
(second paragraph removed. Charisma feature transferred to Pact of the Blade.)
(added): The Hexblade lets you add the following spells as options for the Mystic Arcanum invocation: Blade Barrier, Mordenkainen's Sword, Antimagic Field.
ELDRITCH INVOCATIONS
Aspect of the Moon
(general ruling): You cannot take a short rest during the 8 hours of a long rest.
Grasp of Hadar
(added): As a bonus action on the same turn, you can make that creature roll a Strength saving throw. On a failure, it is knocked prone.
Lance of Lethargy
(changed): When you hit a creature with your eldritch blast, you can reduce that creature's speed by 10 feet (to a minimum speed of 10 feet) until the end of its next turn.
Trickster's Escape
(removed, merged into Mystic Arcanum.)Last edited by foobar1969; 2018-08-23 at 07:55 PM. Reason: 2018 update
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2015-11-15, 12:27 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Aug 2014
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Re: Warlock base class design beautification
Just to clarify, do you believe that the base warlock is OP, or you just object to the design aesthetic? This redesign is much weaker, but I'm not sure if that's a feature or a bug. As of right now, this seems to make the warlock fall even further behind the other full casters in power- from my experience, warlocks aren't that good to begin with (aside from eldritch blast, which is a 1st/2nd level feature), and this just exacerbates the problem. Chains of Carceri is now an amazingly strong invocation, but the Fiend pact capstone has been seriously nerfed and the whole class just feels weak.
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2015-11-15, 01:01 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Aug 2013
Re: Warlock base class design beautification
Interesting. I was worried the spell slot bump might be too strong. Yes, my goal is a cleaner design, but equal to (or slightly ahead of) the original. No problem, plenty of easy ways to tweak.
Chains of Carceri is now an amazingly strong invocation, but the Fiend pact capstone has been seriously nerfed and the whole class just feels weak.
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2015-11-15, 01:25 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Aug 2014
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Re: Warlock base class design beautification
I think it's more the at-will use. I agree that adding it as a spell known seems very fair and makes Chain more worth taking. I'm a little concerned with being able to use it as an at-will, because paralysis is very strong and it's a 5th level spell. Obviously, it's very campaign-dependent, but in a fiend-heavy campaign it's very powerful.
Fiend seems fair as a save for half.
I like the idea of different arcanums for the different patrons, that's a nice touch.
My gut instinct is that the loss of higher-level spells is a big loss, but it would be good to see it playtested.
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2015-11-16, 10:45 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Aug 2013
Re: Warlock base class design beautification
Thanks much for the input.
I've marked the table where my revision makes positive and negative changes to the class. The key comparisons to determine balance:
L7: 2x 4th level slots vs 3x 3rd level slots?
L11: 3x 5th level slots +1 arcanum vs 4x 4th level slots + 1 invocation?
L17: 4x 5th level slots + 4 arcanum vs 5x 6th level slots + 2 invocations? (+ L18 pact capstone?)
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2015-11-16, 11:30 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Aug 2015
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- Austria
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Re: Warlock base class design beautification
I like the general idea and I love the warlock class...
I think with the extra Spell lists, the Fiend Warlock clearly comes out ahead, next is GOO and third the archfey mainly because he gets one spell less to choose from.
The lvl 18 abilities are all quite potent.. They look good on paper, but need some time and a wicked mind to see if those could be broken. - I like them also for the purpose that they discourage multiclassing.
And the multiclassing problem (Warlock 2/ CHA-based anything X) with agonizing blast is still there with your "fix". Honestly, restricting it to lvl3 only makes the Warlock drastically weaker on lvl 1-2 and requires a dip to lvl3 - that is not that bad, given that the lvl3 is very good. (I suppose that this was your intention to add that lvl limit.)
Changing the slot levels seems to be a very dangerous game in terms of game balance. - all spells upped to lvl 6 instead of 5 is huge, but the same is true for the few levels where you reduced them.
All in all, I have the feeling that you made the class weaker at the beginning and added a lot more punch on the higher levels.
Cheers!
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2017-12-02, 03:58 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Aug 2013
Re: Warlock base class design beautification
With further testing, I'm fairly confident that this is the right design. +1 slot at -1 slot level (in class levels 7-12) is a fair trade, not overall weaker.