Edit - updated following thread discussion.
Things I don't like about warlocks:
- The staff is clunky as hell
Things other people don't like about warlocks (ref: this thread)
- Hard to survive over level 15 or so
- Mass blasts cause massive aggro, and don't do enough damage
- The minor debuffs on the blast really don't do very much.
So I've been going back to the start on warlocks, and thinking about how else I could do them. Here's what I've landed on.
Still a Bard path.
- Change hit dice to d8 (8 HP per Bard level)
- Add Uncanny Dodge damage resistance at level 10, 5/- damage resistance at level 20, and 10/- at level 30 to all physical types (piercing/slashing/bludgeoning)
- Add 5/10/15 DR at the same levels to two elements, based on path.
- Add reduced ASF 20% to armor and shields, allowing casting in light armor and large shields.
- Remove the staff and eldritch blast entirely.
- Give the bard/warlock infinite castings of the below spells based on path. Each level will bring 1-2 new spells, which will overwrite whatever the PC selects at level up. (Yes - this will limit variety between different 'locks - the bit of this I'm least happy with).
- Add a Ranged Touch spell check for every hostile spell that targets a creature.
- Whenever the Warlock casts a spell that targets a hostile opponent - unless it's a Charm/Dominate spell - they do eldritch blast damage of 1d4/level magic damage. This will only apply to the actual target of the spell (so an AoE spell will only do additional damage to the creature targeted, not others caught by the blast). This triggers eyeglow as today.
- Add a -warlock command to select the element to use, with the same restrictions as present. Different elements won't have status effects - it will just change the damage type (and eye colour).
The spell selections for the different paths push them in quite different directions.
Feylock - lots of abilities that make the 'lock hard to hit and effective in melee. Haste to let them use two spells per round (and get the extra attack etc). Lots of debuff type abilities to weaken opponents. Basically this makes feylocks trickster fighters.
Elements: cold and electrical.
Abyssal/Infernal Warlock - a focus on planar abilities here. They get the suite of summon spells (which would be buffed and more in line with Blackguard class summons). Defense mainly from Darkness/Ultravision, but some buff spells too (which work on the summon too). Grease and Fear give you two powerful area of effect control spells, Ice Storm gives you a damage dealer at higher levels (especially stacked with the blast bonus), while Dismissal is very useful against enemy summons. While the Feylock is mainly a melee character, the Abyssal Warlock relies more on their summon to help improve their damage output, though they can still be perfectly decent in melee and actually get a better raw damage output per attack than the feylock (just no haste).
Elements: Acid and fire.
Code: Select all
Fey Abyssal/Infernal
1 Daze (0), Light (0) Flare (0), Light (0)
2 Sleep (1), Exp Ret (1) Summon Creature (1), Lesser Dispel (1)
3 Mage Armor (1) Balagarn's Iron Horn (1)
4 Tasha's Laughter (2) Bull's Strength (2)
5 Cure Minor (0) Resistance (0), Grease (1)
6 Charm Person (1) Protection from Alignment (1)
7 Displacement (3) Bestow Curse (3)
8 Hold Person (2) Summon Creature (2)
9 Ghostly Visage (2) Darkness (2)
10 Hold Monster (4) Dismissal (4)
11 Invisibility (2) Ultravision (2)
Cloud of Bewilder (2) Gust of Wind (3)
12 Slow (3) Summon Creature (3)
13 Mind Fog (5), Charm Monster(3) See Invis (2)
14 Dispel Magic (3), Eagle's Splendour (2)
15 Haste (3) Fear (3)
16 Energy Buffer (6)
17 Dominate Person (4) Summon Creature (4)
18 Improved Invis (4) Cat's Grace (2)
19 Confusion (3) War Cry (4)
20 Mass Haste (6) Summon Creature (5)
21
22 Greater Dispelling (5)
23
24
25 Dirge (6) Summon Creature (6)
26
27
28 Ethereal Visage (5) Ice Storm (6)
29
30
Summon Creature 1 (level 2): Worg.
Summon Creature 2 (level 8): BG new Imp
Summon Creature 3 (level 12): BG new Succubus
Summon Creature 4 (level 17): BG new Vrock
Summon Creature 5 (level 21): Greater Vrock (new)
Summon Creature 6 (level 25): BG new Balor
Summon 6 + greater conj: Balor Lord (new).