Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Xabre 12-07-05, 03:25 PM	I really like the Warlock class from CA... I was just wondering if anyone has every tried creating such a character using exclusively Eldritch Blasts and Blast Invocations... the arcane match for a ranged Ranger. Obviously a massive Dexterity is key; possibly even an elf to start with a 20 if possible. Weapon Focus and various archery feats would be nice, and probably Empower Spell Like Ability when available also. Any other thoughts? What would be a good build for this?
DruidWannabe 12-07-05, 03:37 PM	I don't think there is anything wrong with just a blast warlock, some might say that it is a one trick pony, but even if you focus mainly on the blast with feats, you still have UMD and your invocations, making you able to pull off a variety of roles.
Xabre 12-07-05, 03:43 PM	I don't think there is anything wrong with just a blast warlock, some might say that it is a one trick pony, but even if you focus mainly on the blast with feats, you still have UMD and your invocations, making you able to pull off a variety of roles. Ah, but you just contradicted yourself. I was saying could a Warlock be done using ONLY the blast... including taking the blast invocations (spear, hellrime, etc). He'd have UMD, but he would NOT have other invocations. Creating a 'normal' warlock, I'd take mostly blast feats, and still have other invocations to back me up.
DruidWannabe 12-07-05, 03:47 PM	Ah, but you just contradicted yourself. I was saying could a Warlock be done using ONLY the blast... including taking the blast invocations (spear, hellrime, etc). He'd have UMD, but he would NOT have other invocations. Creating a 'normal' warlock, I'd take mostly blast feats, and still have other invocations to back me up. Well even taking all balst invocations would have UMD like you said. That really is where you get versatility, and I believe would still be viable. Although as a blast warlock I expect you would still have fell flight to help stay away from the enemy. Of course using the spear you have a good head start on things laff.
Skulan 12-07-05, 04:00 PM	I'd think a pure blasting warlock would be less effective than a mostly-blasting warlock with Fell flight, Flee the Scene, and Retributive Invisibility. That's just me, though. -Skulan
Seeker of Truth 12-07-05, 04:27 PM	Your blaster warlock will out damage a well build archer almost all of the time from levels 5-10, but starting with the archer getting a 4th attack at level 11 the archer will be gaining on you (at least vs single targets). A level 20 warlock will likely be regularly out damaged by a well built archer except in niche circumstances such as catching many oponents in an AE blast. Typically archers and Warlocks provide similar combat roles, but different non-combat roles. Most archers provide some valuable skill support and serve as party tracker. Most warlocks contribute flexability with UMD and a few utility abilities. The viability of a blaster warlock in the archer role depends on party make-up and level range you expect to be playing in. Things tip in the warlocks favor if playing in the low-mid level range and if the wilderness scout type skills are well covered by other party members.
Fwib 12-07-05, 06:31 PM	I'm playing a mostly-blasty pure warlock, the thing that makes him work is that he has the greater chasuble and a GM-granted item that gives +4d6 blast, which stack :) Having played other warlocks a bit too, I'd say they feel weakish without bonus damage.
Gerdreg 12-08-05, 09:05 AM	Greater Psionic Shot Feat (uses Foucs) will add 4d6. Incarnum Blast Invocation (costs upto 4 essentia) will add upto 4d6 against enemies with a different alignment than your own.
Xabre 12-08-05, 09:11 AM	I'm playing a mostly-blasty pure warlock, the thing that makes him work is that he has the greater chasuble and a GM-granted item that gives +4d6 blast, which stack :) Having played other warlocks a bit too, I'd say they feel weakish without bonus damage. Greater Chasuble? And I'd love to see that item... didn't the Warlock Scepter or some such rod from CA add damage, as well? Greater Psionic Shot Feat (uses Foucs) will add 4d6. Incarnum Blast Invocation (costs upto 4 essentia) will add upto 4d6 against enemies with a different alignment than your own. I've considered this... a Xeph qualifies for all the Psi feats to Blast away with. Psionic Shot and then Greater Psi shot would be nice, along with Empower Spell-Like abilities, and the like.
Xeraph 12-08-05, 09:47 AM	Only blasting warlock is not as good as the also blast warlock. That said you have plenty of evocations to both be a blaster and a tricky mystical envocation warlock. I am currently playing a warlock 16//psychic warrior 16 in a gestalt game. Feat to take are: Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Psionic Shot, Greater Psionic Shot, Maximize SLA (EB), Quicken SLA (EB). Spell Penetration and Greater Spell Penetration has helped me numerous times. I like Eldritch Spear, Vitrolic Blast together, who needs a trapscout when you just melt everything away? Keep flying, keep invisible and keep you distance. See the Unseen is also good, especially at low levels. A Quickened Path of Shadows is also very nice for escape plans. Believe me. Chausable of Fell Power is a must. A but a couple of Warlocks Scepters. High UMD and plenty of scrolls is very nice. Do the "reverse gravity + gate" trick against foes who are not above 20ft in size. Scroll of True Seeing is nice at times. Also you can make a very decent warlock without any charisma at all. Especially if you focus on blasts you don't need charisma for anything. Get high Dex, high Con, maybe a little in Wis, for your saves. A single level dip at some point in Mindbender is also very very good. Being flying, invisible and telepathic at the same time is great. If you want to make a race that relies on charisma, i suggest, lesser feytoched magic blooded. Thats a +4 bonus to charisma and its a legal LA+0 choice of race. Remember your strength is that you "work" all day long, so stack up healing scrolls, most other casters will empty ut at some point, your duracell. And with ventrolic blast you can damage the most. Note: Dont mess with a Tarrasque, you can do nothing, and the cahnce of you forcing it to Shadow Walk into plane of Positive Energy with a quickened Path of Shadows is very small. So just hang back, blast, support, and let the psions, wizrds and sorcerers do the big enocunters while you concentrate on the larger perspective. Blah blah blah... Back to work. ;)
Xabre 12-08-05, 10:24 AM	Hmm. I'm thinking Xeph, with the Magic-Blooded template... They become the perfect race for Warlock, imho, although their darkvision ends up downgraded to low light. Now I need to pick two flaws and a trait. I'm thinking Noncombatant... -2 to melee doesn't mean much if I want to constantly be using Eldritch Blast on stuff... Possibly Inattentive could work, spot and listen.. eh. Agressive might be a good trait... the initiative to shoot first will outmatch the pt of AC, if I'm trying to stay out of combat all the time. Starting Feats (3 of em) would probably be Precise, Point Blank, and Psionic Shot.
DDogwood 12-08-05, 10:27 AM	I'd have to agree that a pure blasting Warlock would not be as effective as a more balanced Warlock. Even if your focus is on blasting, I think you need to consider how other invocations can make your blasts more effective (by keeping you out of melee range, etc.), and give you different options when dealing with opponents who have high Spell Resistance or Spell Immunity (via an ability, or a Globe of Invulnerability). The problem with being super-effective but a one-trick-pony, like a pure blasting Warlock, is that your DM is guaranteed to put you into situations where your one trick is useless. Having a few other options, just in case, will make the character more fun to play. This is similar to the problem with a Gatling Chain Tripper, an Uber-Charger, and a Reaping Mauler - if they are optimized in one area, they often start to show severe deficiencies in situations where they can't trip/charge/grapple.
Iaimeki 12-09-05, 01:56 PM	The warlock's fundamental problem is a lack of multiple attacks. At level 6, an archer can have four attacks from Rapid Shot, haste, and BAB. With a 16 Str and a +1 bow, the archer's attacks will do 1d8+4 (avg. 8.5), in comparison to the warlock's 3d6 eldritch blast (10.5). The warlock hits more often because eldritch blast is a touch attack and they aren't taking attack penalties, but in order to beat the archer, they have to hit around three times as often. However, the problem is that the warlock is already having trouble competing at this level: because attacks multiply damage, as the archer gets more attacks and boosts their base damage, the warlock will fall further and further behind. Conclusion? You can play a blast warlock, but you will not do anywhere near as much damage as an archer.
Xabre 12-09-05, 02:13 PM	Yeah, but if you're going on that 6th level example... if you take the right selection of feats and race... for instance, for this purpose, I'd use a Xeph... you could, at 6th level, take Psionic Shot and Empower SLA... suddenly you're at 5d6 on those blasts when you can take a turn to charge it (or if you take Psionic Meditation, concentration and fire each turn without moving). If you don't want to go Psionic at all, you could have Empower or Maximize... sure, only thrice a day, but that's 18 pts of damage guaranteed... or 3d6 + 1/2 the result.
Worguron 12-09-05, 03:36 PM	A blast Warlock can be quite effective if you use various Essences to debuff and debilitate the enemy. Two Nauseating Chains can take a huge number of enemies out of a fight.
Xabre 12-09-05, 03:44 PM	The way I see it, IF you decide to create a Blaster Warlock, taking only Essence and Blast Shape invocations, you end up with something along the lines of the Soulknife; you have a unique method of attack, with quite a few extra effects. A Soulknife isn't as powerful as a full oout fighter, but has some uniqueness to his abilities. A Warlock who goes all Blast can end up being an amazing damage dealer, along with all the extras from different essence invocations. I know that at 20th level I'd love to be able to stand on a grassy knoll at Rediculously Long Range, aim at JFK, and nail him for 11d6 (Greater Chausuble) + 4d6 (Greater Psi Shot) + 1/2 (Empower) all Maximized... 113 pts of damage, plus a few negative energy levels... all thanks to Eldritch Utterdark Spear...
DM_Dracophile 12-09-05, 03:55 PM	What is magic blooded and where can I find it? Thanks
Xabre 12-09-05, 04:00 PM	I'm not sure if I can post it, because it's from Dragon Magazine 306. It's a +0LA template. It changes you into a race that's far more suitable to be a sorcerer (which is also good for warlock). You get a few spellcasting skill bonuses, and whatever sight you have becomes lowlight (which means you could actually downgrade your darkvision). Wisdom hit seems counter productive to Will saves for arcane classes, however.
Vesper1979 12-09-05, 04:16 PM	Well, in my opinion, a blasting warlock and an archer are going to be very similar in power, rather than one shooting way ahead of another. This leveling out of abilities will take a while, but should become apparent around level 9 or so. Heres my thought: Level 9 Xeph Warlock. With a greater chausible of fell power, greater psionic shot, psionic meditation(to become focused as a move action every round), and the warlock rod; your looking at about 13d6 damage, hopefully arced to hit more targets (or vitriolic blast at 11th). This is assuming that you take a conservative , two charges from the rod per blast approach. Level 9 Archer. Hmm, well, lets consider our fictitious archer has three attacks. Focus, specialization, a str bonus of at least +2, +1 Collision composite longbow (mighty +2), point blank shot (and is within range), were looking at a damage bonus of 1d8 + 10. Now, although the archer has three shots per round, courtesy of rapid shot, figured 9/4 for a base, with another 5 for stat and magic items, this gives us an attack bonus of 14/9, or 13/13/8 with rapid shot and point black shot. So, although there are three attacks, the third one has a pretty dismal propability of hitting, I'd say a 40 percent chance to hit off of the top of my head. So, over three rounds, were gonna say the archer hits all six times with its two higher attacks, and once with its lower attack. This gives us a total damage of 7d8+70. Average: 101.5, call it 102. Our warlock, assuming two charges per round, and hitting all three times(not that hard with a touch attack), were looking at 39D6 +3 [Point blank Shot]. For an average of 139.5, call it 140 damage. On the other hand, the archer can also do the greater psionic shot trick, along with the multishot feat. Refocusing with his move action every round, and using many shot as the standard action for the round. Given three attacks and three hits(at a +15 because of no rapid shot and point blank shot) over three rounds. Were looking at 2d8+20+4d6 every round, for a total of 6d8+60+12d6. Averaging out to 129 points of damage, much closer to the warlock. Although still a normal ranged attack and not a touch attack, but with higher bonus damage besides the dice. Now, consider this, at level 11. The warlocks base damage for edlritch blast will not increase, but he will get another 2d6 the round after by using vitriolic blast. So well put him in for 16d6, 48d6 over three rounds, with an average of 168. The archer, at level 11 will get another arrow with manyshot, bringing his up to 3d8+30+4d6 every round, for 9d8+90+12d6 over three rounds, averaging out to 172.5 over three rounds. As you can see, the two classes scale very close together using the manyshot/fell blast + greater psionic shot every round trick. Now, it could be said that an archer could get more damage with Greater Braceres of archery, better stats, and so forth. Well, in response I will say that the warlock could always use more than two charges with his fell blast, as well as taking specialization in ray attacks for some more damage. Also the warlock can empower and quicken his powers for more damage in bursts. All in all, I would put the two types of ranged attacks at near the same functionality, although slightly in favor of the warlock due to the touch based nature of his attacks. Note: There are considerations to take in effect when using quicken spell like ability on your fel blast. According to the errata for the Complete Arcane, the fell blast is a first level power, before adding essence or shape invocations to it, and uses the higher spell level of either the essence or blast when those are applied. Now in order to quicken an unmodified eldritch blast, you must have a caster level of ten, I.E. tenth level warlock. Adding blast shape and invocations to this raises it, to a maximum of caster level 20 for the 6th level equivalent invocations. Empower is slightly less intense, but still requires a caster level of 6 for the unmodified eldritch blast( a 1st level spell equivalent) on up to level 16 for the 6th level equivalent blast modifications. The statistics for caster level in reference to spell level for quicken and empower spell like ability can be found on page 304 of the Monster Manual. P.S. Its near impossible to take a purely blast warlock, and I would have to agree with others on this forumn about how you would be seriously gimping your warlock in doing so. You can only use one blast and one essence at a time. And, when you get access to the higher level essence's , there is no real point is using the much less effective lower level essences. Your other invocations will increase your survivability and functionality to a great degree, and ignoring them will most likely make this argument moot, as you will probably be eaten at an early stage in your life. Just my opinion, have a nice day :)
Lusden Veharo 12-09-05, 04:19 PM	The warlock's fundamental problem is a lack of multiple attacks. At level 6, an archer can have four attacks from Rapid Shot, haste, and BAB. With a 16 Str and a +1 bow, the archer's attacks will do 1d8+4 (avg. 8.5), in comparison to the warlock's 3d6 eldritch blast (10.5). The warlock hits more often because eldritch blast is a touch attack and they aren't taking attack penalties, but in order to beat the archer, they have to hit around three times as often. However, the problem is that the warlock is already having trouble competing at this level: because attacks multiply damage, as the archer gets more attacks and boosts their base damage, the warlock will fall further and further behind. Conclusion? You can play a blast warlock, but you will not do anywhere near as much damage as an archer. And what about actually hitting your target? The Warlock is all but assured to hit his target in most situations, while the Ranger is looking at taking a penalty to hit and aiming at a much higher AC. The Warlock isn't spending any money buying a weapon, nor is he buying Potions of Haste or getting the party Wizard to cast one of his top level spells on him. He can't buy scrolls and use them effectively because UMD is cross class and charisma is a dump stat to Ranger and Fighter. His damage actually compares reasonably well after the first encounter, when the Ranger doesn't have Haste up anymore, and that's the Warlock's specialty-endurance. You can't just brush aside accuracy, either, especially against very high AC enemies. Except for Monks and very small critters, touch AC is almost never a serious problem for the Warlock to hit, but I've played many games where my archer had trouble hitting high AC enemies that took cover against me. If I had a Warlock, that wouldn't have helped-I'd have gone invisible, flown over them, and dropped my Blasts on their head. This highlights another good Warlock feature: he's not forced to take a full attack action to deal top damage, and so there's no sacrifice of mobility. Finally, while Spell Resistance forces you to burn two feats, damage reduction is never a problem, so there's no need to carry a sack of costly special arrows.
Todd 12-09-05, 04:25 PM	Incarnum invocations, feats, & soulmelds can also help the warlock out. Incarnum Blast at 20th level adds 4d6 per blast. It works best with either taking several feats (potentially as many as 5) or dipping into a meldshaping class / PrC. Sneak attack can boost damage quite a bit too. A daggerspell warlock isn't bad at all though he is going to have some "useless" feats if he intends to operate at range most of the time & will loose at least two caster levels. Greater Psionic shot has already been mentioned but I'll just note that it's the easiest of the three to do though it does burn you move actions to boost damage and takes 3-4 feats to do well. It's not that hard to do two of these three to really boost damage output for a "blastlock" though it takes careful building to do so. It’s even possible to do all three. Halfling Rogue 1 / Warlock 5 / Daggerspell Mage 10 / Incarnate 4 1. Wild Talent 3. Two Weapon Fighting 6. Weapon Focus (Dagger) 9. Psionic Shot 12. Psionic Meditation 15. Greater Psionic Shot 18. Extra Essentia Capacity 7d6 Base Eldritch Blast Damage 4d6 Sneak Attack 4d6 Psionic Shot 4d6 Incarnate Blast Invocation 2d6 Causable of Fell Power ____ 21d6 You can add up to 4d6 more with a Warlock’s Scepter if you have it. Shape and bind the Sighting Gloves to get a virtual Precise Shot feat if you want it. As you can see it would be easier to cut out either Daggerspell Mage or the Incanum and get Dark Invocations and a better caster level. You also can’t use both Incarnum Blast and Vitriolic Blast meaning that any Incarnum build is going to be doing less damage against high SR foes.
Xabre 12-09-05, 04:32 PM	I don't have Incarnum, and looking through it gave me a bit of the creeps... I've never liked when they redesign magic systems, which is all that book is. Unless Incarnate Blast Essence doesn't require Essentia or any of that, making a very simple extra Essence to take...
Todd 12-09-05, 04:58 PM	Incarnate Blast requires Essentia ... you invest it in the invocation the same way you invest it into feats. I like Incarnum ... I don't see it as a 'redesign' of magic. It's just new and interesting. Doesn't invalidate any previous stuff or anything like that. Now the fact that you use "souls" or "soul energy" to power it, even if it doesn't hurt them in most cases, does creep me out.
Iaimeki 12-10-05, 01:14 PM	Well, in my opinion, a blasting warlock and an archer are going to be very similar in power, rather than one shooting way ahead of another. This leveling out of abilities will take a while, but should become apparent around level 9 or so. Heres my thought: Level 9 Xeph Warlock. With a greater chausible of fell power, greater psionic shot, psionic meditation(to become focused as a move action every round), and the warlock rod; your looking at about 13d6 damage, hopefully arced to hit more targets (or vitriolic blast at 11th). This is assuming that you take a conservative , two charges from the rod per blast approach. Level 9 Archer. Hmm, well, lets consider our fictitious archer has three attacks. Focus, specialization, a str bonus of at least +2, +1 Collision composite longbow (mighty +2), point blank shot (and is within range), were looking at a damage bonus of 1d8 + 10. Now, although the archer has three shots per round, courtesy of rapid shot, figured 9/4 for a base, with another 5 for stat and magic items, this gives us an attack bonus of 14/9, or 13/13/8 with rapid shot and point black shot. So, although there are three attacks, the third one has a pretty dismal propability of hitting, I'd say a 40 percent chance to hit off of the top of my head. So, over three rounds, were gonna say the archer hits all six times with its two higher attacks, and once with its lower attack. This gives us a total damage of 7d8+70. Average: 101.5, call it 102. Our warlock, assuming two charges per round, and hitting all three times(not that hard with a touch attack), were looking at 39D6 +3 [Point blank Shot]. For an average of 139.5, call it 140 damage. On the other hand, the archer can also do the greater psionic shot trick, along with the multishot feat. Refocusing with his move action every round, and using many shot as the standard action for the round. Given three attacks and three hits(at a +15 because of no rapid shot and point blank shot) over three rounds. Were looking at 2d8+20+4d6 every round, for a total of 6d8+60+12d6. Averaging out to 129 points of damage, much closer to the warlock. Although still a normal ranged attack and not a touch attack, but with higher bonus damage besides the dice. Now, consider this, at level 11. The warlocks base damage for edlritch blast will not increase, but he will get another 2d6 the round after by using vitriolic blast. So well put him in for 16d6, 48d6 over three rounds, with an average of 168. The archer, at level 11 will get another arrow with manyshot, bringing his up to 3d8+30+4d6 every round, for 9d8+90+12d6 over three rounds, averaging out to 172.5 over three rounds. As you can see, the two classes scale very close together using the manyshot/fell blast + greater psionic shot every round trick. Now, it could be said that an archer could get more damage with Greater Braceres of archery, better stats, and so forth. Well, in response I will say that the warlock could always use more than two charges with his fell blast, as well as taking specialization in ray attacks for some more damage. Also the warlock can empower and quicken his powers for more damage in bursts. All in all, I would put the two types of ranged attacks at near the same functionality, although slightly in favor of the warlock due to the touch based nature of his attacks. Note: There are considerations to take in effect when using quicken spell like ability on your fel blast. According to the errata for the Complete Arcane, the fell blast is a first level power, before adding essence or shape invocations to it, and uses the higher spell level of either the essence or blast when those are applied. Now in order to quicken an unmodified eldritch blast, you must have a caster level of ten, I.E. tenth level warlock. Adding blast shape and invocations to this raises it, to a maximum of caster level 20 for the 6th level equivalent invocations. Empower is slightly less intense, but still requires a caster level of 6 for the unmodified eldritch blast( a 1st level spell equivalent) on up to level 16 for the 6th level equivalent blast modifications. The statistics for caster level in reference to spell level for quicken and empower spell like ability can be found on page 304 of the Monster Manual. Your level 9 example above greatly exceeds the wealth tables. A 9th-level character should have no more than 36k gold, with no more than 9k of it in a single item. Moreover, having the warlock use a consumable item (the warlock rod) and not giving the archer access to consumables, e.g., magical arrows, is not fair. So, with these factors in mind, let's consider a revised example. Level 9 Xeph Warlock: Feats: Point-Blank Shot, Psionic Meditation, Psionic Shot, Greater Psionic Shot (all the character's feats) Relevant Equipment: chasuble of fell power (8k) Eldritch blast damage: 5d6 + 1d6 (chasuble of fell power) + 4d6 (Greater Psionic Shot) + 1 (Point Blank Shot) = 10d6+1 = 36 Level 9 Elf Ranger: (This is a fairly weak archer build) Str 16 Feats: Point-Blank Shot, Rapid Shot, Manyshot, three other feats Relevant Equipment: +1 psychokinetic bow (mighty +4), +2 gauntlets of ogre strength Four attacks at -2/-2/-2/-7 from BAB, Rapid Shot, and haste Arrow damage: 1d8 + 1d4 (psychokintetic) + 1 (enhancement) + 4 (Str) + 1 (Point-Blank Shot) = 13 The warlock has to hit about 1.4 times as often to equal the archer's damage, which is probably achievable because of the touch AC and full attack bonus factors. Of course, the archer is not optimized for damage and isn't getting, e.g., favored enemy damage or using their spells; whereas the warlock is; and I haven't factored the archer's other feats in, either. At level 11, the characters have more money to spend. According to the wealth tables, they still shouldn't quite be able to afford 18k items, but let's assume they can, so the warlock gets a greater chasuble and the archer a +1 collision bow and +4 belt of giant strength. Level 11 Xeph Warlock Eldritch Blast Damage: 6d6 + 2d6 (greater chasuble of fell power) + 4d6 (greater psionic shot) + 1 (Point-Blank Shot) = 12d6+1 = 43 Level 11 Elf Ranger: Feats: Point-Blank Shot, Rapid Shot, Manyshot, Improved Precise Shot, three other feats. Five attacks at -2/-2/-2/-7/-12 from BAB, Rapid Shot, and haste. Damage: 1d8 +1 (enhancement) + 5 (Str) + 5 (collision) + 1 (Point-Blank Shot) = 16.5 The warlock has to hit about 1.9 times as often as the archer to match the archer's damage. This is still probably possible. However, the warlock has about capped out at this point. Eldritch blast damage only increases at 1d6/3 levels now, the only item which can increase it further costs 28k for 50 charges, and the psionic shot tree is finished. Meanwhile, the archer will continue to get faster BAB improvement, will stay ahead in feats, and continues to pick up spells. Moreover, a more optimized archer can do considerably more damage than this rather unoptimized elf ranger. And what about actually hitting your target? The Warlock is all but assured to hit his target in most situations, while the Ranger is looking at taking a penalty to hit and aiming at a much higher AC. The Warlock isn't spending any money buying a weapon, nor is he buying Potions of Haste or getting the party Wizard to cast one of his top level spells on him. He can't buy scrolls and use them effectively because UMD is cross class and charisma is a dump stat to Ranger and Fighter. His damage actually compares reasonably well after the first encounter, when the Ranger doesn't have Haste up anymore, and that's the Warlock's specialty-endurance. You can't just brush aside accuracy, either, especially against very high AC enemies. Except for Monks and very small critters, touch AC is almost never a serious problem for the Warlock to hit, but I've played many games where my archer had trouble hitting high AC enemies that took cover against me. If I had a Warlock, that wouldn't have helped-I'd have gone invisible, flown over them, and dropped my Blasts on their head. This highlights another good Warlock feature: he's not forced to take a full attack action to deal top damage, and so there's no sacrifice of mobility. Finally, while Spell Resistance forces you to burn two feats, damage reduction is never a problem, so there's no need to carry a sack of costly special arrows. The first responsibility of an arcane caster at the levels where haste becomes available is casting it: it's far more effective than offensive spells at increasing the party's damage output in most cases. With CV, later on a ranger can provide some of their own haste once they get 2nd-level spells. Eventually, magic items mean everyone should have haste on during the battle if they want it. The warlock gets one attack that usually hits. The ranger gets multiple attacks, at least one of which will usually hit. Archers get feats to deal with cover. (Improved Precise Shot, notably.) This is a comparison between a blaster warlock and an archer. This character, by assumption, doesn't have fell flight or retributive invisibility. You list off the other advantages of a warlock, without also mentioning the other advantages of an archer. Bows have longer ranges than even eldritch spear. Ranger-archers get ranks in Hide and Move Silently, and so can often use sniping attacks in a way that warlocks can't (particularly if the enemy has a way to see invisible creatures or negate invisibility); they also get skills like Spot, Listen, and Survival. Etc. Halfling Rogue 1 / Warlock 5 / Daggerspell Mage 10 / Incarnate 4 1. Wild Talent 3. Two Weapon Fighting 6. Weapon Focus (Dagger) 9. Psionic Shot 12. Psionic Meditation 15. Greater Psionic Shot 18. Extra Essentia Capacity 7d6 Base Eldritch Blast Damage 4d6 Sneak Attack 4d6 Psionic Shot 4d6 Incarnate Blast Invocation 2d6 Causable of Fell Power ____ 21d6 Shape and bind the Sighting Gloves to get a virtual Precise Shot feat if you want it.. This build isn't legal as written because Psionic Shot requires Point Blank Shot.