Warlock as Arcane Caster?

[skywalker]

I have a friend with a penchant for playing warlocks. Our group can barely find enough players to field a 4 person party, much less 5.

We recently started a dungeon(not a difficult dungeon, by any means) with a warlock, a rogue, a swordsage(me), and a cleric(also me). What does this party make-up say to you? Is it frighteningly unbalanced towards some particular aspect?

Further, what category would you put the warlock in, as far as mechanics and power level?

[onasuma]

Id say its a pretty balanced party. The warlock would come under melee caster, imo

[lord_khaine]

imo that party makeup says stealth and surprise attacks, at least if you can pry the cleric out of his standart generic fullplate :P

as for the lock, he isnt that powerfull standart, but he has access to some nasty tricks that can turn a battle if used smart.

[Hazkali]

Whilst Warlocks don't have the range or flexability of normal arcane casters, they are more than able blasters. If the warlock focusses on Blast Shape and Eldritch Essence invocations then your party should hit quite hard. If the warlock takes the invocation that allows him to channel his blast through melee attacks, then three of your party (rogue, warlock and cleric) can switch between melee and ranged attack as needs be, which makes things more interesting for the players as well as is tactically beneficial.

[Dark_Wind]

A Warlock is less an arcane caster and more an archer with a few nifty tricks up his sleeve. They're fun to play and not bad, really. Just don't expect him to have the power or versatility of a Wizard or even a Sorceror.

By the way, I agree with lord_khaine that your party is pretty much made for stealth as long as the cleric isn't running around in really heavy armor and the Warlock takes the right invocations.

[mostlyharmful]

it's also a good team for endurance, your not going to be one shotting the dragon like a bunch of Batmen but for solid, continuous hack'n'slash you can keepit up for hours.

[skywalker]

Thanks, I figured as much on the warlock being somewhat of an archer. This is what I thought as well.

He has in fact taken the invocation that lets you channel your blast in melee.

We do in fact scream(or rather, silently signal) stealth and surprise attacks, we have a cart slowly filling with loot that we leave the cleric with and the other three sneak ahead, with the Swordsage stance that gives scent I am able to smell things I fail spot and listen for. We all have good initiative modifiers so we usually go first and hit really, really hard. I think half of our victory is in demoralizing the DM when his monster is half dead before it moves(not that we mean to do this to him, it just happens.). If/when we get hurt, we run back to the cleric for healing.

I'm also glad to hear about the endurance, because we have 24hrs of game time to finish the dungeon or we lose.

[Dark_Wind]

24 hours? Ouch. Yeah, you're better off with the Warlock, then, since he can run all day without getting tired, where a Wizard needs to rest occasionally. Swordsage was a good choice too for much the same reason (not that it wouldn't be a good choice otherwise; Swordsages rock).

[dragonwings]

With the 24 hour time limit, the Warlock sounds like a good idea. They don't stop blasting until they drop dead and can use their nasty little tricks as much as they like. Pretty much your team now has an automatic boom stick that does not need reloading. Just make sure he either has Fly or sticks by the Cleric. You do not want a dead boom stick to have to lug around.

[skywalker]

Yeah, I hadn't thought about it before, but with the time-limit, we made pretty much the best choices. He isn't as squishy as most warlocks, and since we all move before a lot of monsters, sometimes they don't get an attack at all, because of the damage we tend to dish on the first round(two sneak attacks and a hideous blow). But it is a grand idea to keep him behind the two swords-y types.

The time limit isn't as bad as it sounds, we've been in such limited time situations before, it's our dm's trademark, almost. It's actually pretty thrilling.

Agreed on the swordsage rocking, we're rocking most monsters straight out of the house(here's hoping actual puzzles don't come into play).

I think we may have designed a new style of adventure. Instead of the dungeon crawl, the dungeon rush.

[Jimp]

I think we may have designed a new style of adventure. Instead of the dungeon crawl, the dungeon rush.

Sounds like a plan to me