Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 whagberg Sep 05, 2015 19:42:49	I am building a warlock for a campaign and need help with a few decisions. My DM had me roll for my characteristics and I got the following: 17 16 15 15 12 10 I was going to run a half-elf with strength as the low spot and put the 17 in CHA, making it a 19 with the 16 going into dex with the +1 for a 17. After much reading I decided I rather liked the idea of a smart but scattered half-crazy chaotic neutral GOO pact warlock. Now I can't decide whether to go go blade, book, or chain and all sound good but need the numbers slightly different. Help me figure out the best way to allot my admittedly over-powered rolls. I can't even decide if half-elf or alt human with a feat is better.
#2 jaappleton Sep 05, 2015 20:18:03	I'd avoid Blade Pact. The Pact itself it fine. However, it's better suited for Archfey or Fiend Pacts. GOO's features are the most out of combat oriented, they don't have the toughness or defensive abilities of the other two. Not to say GOO is bad, it isn't. It's just that it's abilities don't lend itself well to someone wielding a weapon on the front lines.
#3 jaappleton Sep 05, 2015 20:26:33	The Chain Pact can get some exclusive familiar. Some are invisible. Some share their magical resistance with you. Remember you can deliver melee touch spells through your Familiar. You MIGHT even be able to argue that an invisible familiar using Vampiric Touch against an enemy has advantage on the roll (I say it does), making them very interesting... Though their HP doesn't scale (I think), and your DM could just get annoyed and open every fight with a Fireball on your party because it's pissing him off. Tome Pacts get to pick Cantrips from wherever and can learn every Ritual in the game, provided you can place it into your Book of Shadows. Though the only offensive cantrips I'd suggest are Frostbite and Vicious Mockery because they impose Disadvantage, and Sacred Flame to handle things vulnerable to Radiant damage.
#4 bid Sep 05, 2015 20:56:29	Even everything up {str10 dex17+1 con15+1 int12 wis15 cha16+2}. I'd consider starting as draconic sorcerer for the con/cha saves and ac 17. Resilient will even wis later.   I'm sold to tome because of the cantrips and rituals, but chain has better RP potential imho.
#5 33Painmaster33 Sep 05, 2015 23:09:32	Nice rolls that would make a crazy good Barbarian .
#6 pdegan2814 Sep 06, 2015 8:20:09	If I play a Warlock at some point, I'll likely be going Tome, because more spells is just too tempting to pass up. I also kinda like the idea of picking up Shillelagh at Lvl3 and being able to swing my staff around with Charisma as my attack stat(since it was erratat'd that all cantrips you cast via Tome count as Warlock cantrips), from a purely role-player perspective(and because I'd like to try and create a Warlock that wasn't just an Eldritch Blaster, as good as that spell is). Jaappleton is right, Great Old One & Blade aren't really a great fit. The way I see it, take a close look at what Chain gives you, what you might do with the familiar, etc. If you can come up with some cool things you'd do with Chain's abilities, give it a shot. If you aren't sure you can make it work, pick Tome. No caster ever went wrong having more spells at their disposal, especially when it lets them dip outside their class' spell list.
#7 whagberg Sep 06, 2015 8:52:21	Lots of cool things I'd like to do. The character must be human or half-elf though for concept.  Will it be better with the human and a feat or better with the half-elf and the extra stat boost? And should the way I want to go later change the way I stat him out?   If human what feat should be first?
#8 Lord_Kadarian Sep 06, 2015 9:28:04	If you go blade I would advise finding a magic bow as quick as possible the main reason is that you can add a magic weapon as your pact weapon, you are proficient in your pact weapon so now you are proficient with that long bow, in the end thought it pays better in most cases especially with the warlock ability to add charisma to damage if you did not want to spend the invocation on charisma to damage thought then I would say bow based blade lock could be interesting   (you can easily get an 18 dex with your stats and half elf race) 1d8+4 damage is not bad compared to 1d10, but at higher level the blade lock caps at 2 attacks while eldritch blast will eventually have 4.
(Reply to #7) bid	whagberg wrote:
#10 whagberg Sep 06, 2015 10:49:57	OK. I'm convinced to keep with the half elf. Just can't decide tome or chain. Was straight tome when I started reading the guide but the utility of the chain and using the invisible pet to scout/spy/direct battle is a fun idea. Still thinking of the tome though for rp and out of combat spells. Both sound interesting. Perhaps if I share the back story it might make it easier. Lareth of the city watch solved a series of murders by a cult that was attempting to bring about the arrival of the GOOs. The culminating event was a ritual sacrifice that Lareth stopped, but in killing the high priest accidentally became the recipient of the power the high priest had coveted. He left the watch and entered a life devoted to scholarship to find out what he could about the Old Ones and how to stop them. He has emerged from scholarship to prevent (or cause?) things that would open our world to their power. His studies have driven him slightly insane and he has gone from lawful good to chaotic neutral.
#11 jaappleton Sep 06, 2015 13:36:41	Going GOO with Chain can be great. Remember, you can communicate with it telepathically. So picking an invisible familiar and seeing through its eyed can make you the greatest scout in the game.
#12 Yunru Sep 06, 2015 13:43:37	Plus psuedodragons are awesome.
#13 jaappleton Sep 06, 2015 13:58:35	With GOO, you can have your Patron be the Hypnotoad from Futurama. No other class gets to have that much fun :P
#14 whagberg Sep 06, 2015 14:36:17	Honestly I was thinking GOO straight out of Monster Hunters International. Contact with them bends and warps reality and therefore the human mind can't comprehend. Lareth's mind snapped a little as his powers came to the fore.
#15 pdegan2814 Sep 06, 2015 18:38:37	whagberg wrote:
#16 whagberg Sep 07, 2015 1:06:57	I can't say yet how the party is for that as I don't know yet. We haven't met to game yet and the DM hasn't said what the rest are playing. Since I don't know theirs I just made what seemed fun to me. But we are starting at first level so I have some time.
#17 pdegan2814 Sep 07, 2015 7:28:16	whagberg wrote: