I wasn't happy with Skip William's latest '...with Class' article, regarding warlocks. I think the Warlock class deserves more than the cursory and error-prone glance the author took, particularly because the Warlock is a deceptively complex class to play.
The Pros and Cons of Warlocks
Though Warlocks carry a taint of evil, at least some end up being good and heroic. Either way, Warlocks have some unique and challenging abilities.
Warlock Assets
The warlock's primary weapon is his eldritch blast. A warlock will also pick up a small number of powers as he gains levels, but each of those powers may be used over and over. In this way, a warlock is somewhat similar to a sorcerer, and indeed, he has many of the same planning issues that a sorcerer has, but the effect is only magnified by the small number of invocations he gains.
- Good Will saves: A warlock gets the best progression for will saves, which allows him to throw off magical effects that would try to bind or control him, and some harmful spells like inflict as well.
- Good Attack Bonus: With a 3/4 base attack bonus, a warlock has attack rolls equivalent to a cleric or monk. This is important, since an eldritch blast requires a touch attack, and a warlock will use this a lot.
- Eldritch Blast: Since we're on the subject, eldritch blast allows a warlock to fire a bolt of raw magical energy that deals a good amount of damage. Though its range is limited, and it strikes only a single target, the blast is available at all times, as often as the warlock wants to use it. Some invocations can remove these weaknesses, too.
- Invocations: Invocations are at-will spell-like abilities. Over the course of his career, the warlock will gain only twelve invocations. Each invocation is rated with one of four power levels -- Least, Lesser, Greater, or Dark -- which limit your choices at each level. When you gain an invocation, you can always choose one of a level lower than the highest you could take. This may reduce your total power, but sometimes you really want a particular invocation for a combo you've dreamed up.
- Many Class Features: A warlock's supernatural heredity grants him many useful abilities, including damage reduction, fast healing, energy resistance, and the ability to make and use magic items of all kinds.
- Fair weapon selection: Since a warlock gets proficiency with all simple weapons, he has a great selection of weapons available. They may not be the most deadly, but in a tight situation (or depending on your build) they could come in handy.
- Fair Armor selection: Warlocks can wear and cast in light armor without risking spell failure. This is a great advantage, since it gives them a better AC than most other arcane casters.
- Winning Ways: A warlock's save DCs are based on Charisma. This means that the same stat that makes your spells hard to resist also gives you an edge in negotiations, lying, or just looking scary.
Warlock Weaknesses
The warlock has some powerful disadvantages to go with his powerful spells. A player must keep these in mind at all times!
- Fairly Low HP: You have a d6 hit die, which means you're tougher than most arcane casters. But you're still pretty fragile -- like a rogue, you'll need to get a high Constitution if you plan on being anywhere near melee combat! This is a matter of choice, of course -- you can happily stand back and blast, so defenses may not be your primary concern.
- Low Skill Points: Warlocks have a nice skill list, but only 2+INT skill points per level. A good Int score can help with this, but it isn't a primary stat for the warlock, so he may end up with very few skills. Add to that the fact that a warlock really needs to max out his Use Magic Device skill (see below), and you're left with only a smattering of skills.
- Poor Reflex and Fortitude Saves: Warlocks have a low progression for their other two saves. They're not great at avoiding damage to their bodies.
- Limited Magic: A Warlock starts play with only one invocation. He gains new invocations relatively slowly, about one every other level (see Table 1-1 in Complete Arcane; the rightmost column that lists invocations known is easy to miss). Having only 12 invocations across 20 levels means you have to be cautious about your choices -- in fact, these choices are what will define your character! There is a limited ability to replace your invocations; three times you will have a chance to exchange a single lower-level invocation, so plan for those chances.
Playing a Classy Warlock
A good warlock is difficult to play. It takes planning and care to be effective, so try to incorporate some of the ideas below.
Have a Blast
Eldritch blast is unlimited in use, and deals decent damage. Furthermore, it deals non-elemental magic damage, so it ignores both DR and resistances. You can happily fire on anything you meet, with secure knowledge that you're probably going to hurt it. You only get one shot (as a standard action) each turn, but on the other hand, that means you can stay mobile, which is an advantage in a fight. Fire at will any time you don't have anything better to do.
Be Careful Out There
Your blast is powerful, but you probably can't drop an enemy with one shot unless it's quite a bit below your level. Just like an archer, don't open fire on an enemy until you're sure you want to take it on. Sometimes stealth is a better option, or simply coming back when you're stronger. Likewise, one of your other abilities might be more effective.
You're No Spellcaster, Boy!
A warlock should not have the mindset that he is a spellcaster. It looks that way, certainly, but the mechanic of his class makes the warlock more like a magical archer with interesting special abilities than a full spellcaster.
You have none of the limitations of a normal spellcaster -- you don't worry about running out of spells every day or about preparing them in the morning. You don't have to carefully consider what spell to cast next, because you only have a dozen choices at best. And you don't worry about whether you'll need the spell later, because you'll still have it available even if you use it right now.
Be Charismatic! ...or Don't?
Charisma is your basic casting statistic. But unlike other spellcasters, you don't necessarily need it! Your charisma score doesn't limit the level of invocations you can use, nor do you get extra invocations for having a high score. In fact, only your save DCs and Use Magic Device checks are based on charisma. It may slow your skill checks down, but it's quite possible to build a warlock that never uses abilities with saves -- which means he wouldn't care what his charisma looked like. This can be a particularly stong choice when used for multiclassing, since that's one less statistic you need to worry about.
Critical Statistics
You'll want to have a good Dexterity if you plan to use your eldritch blast very often. You need to be able to actually hit creatures to do damage. Constitution is also important, since your hit die isn't that great. I already mentioned charisma above, but strength is an important decision. If you plan to multiclass (or simply concentrate on melee), strength may be important so that melee attacks can hit and do decent damage. Combined with Hideous Blow and (perhaps) better armor, you may be able to decide that your Dexterity isn't an important stat after all. However, most characters will want it anyway -- if you want to fight up-close and personal, it's foolish to completely throw away ranged combat.
Maximize Your Class Abilities
You get several class abilities that revolve around Use Magic Device. You should put as many skill points into that skill as you can afford to, since that will give you the most use out of the class abilities. By the time you're 4th level, you can take 10 on the check any time you want, so you can actually activate wands and such without risking failure, if you have enough skill points put into Use Magic Device. Then, at 12th level, you'll pick up Imbue Item: the unique ability to create any magic item -- even divine items -- with a Use Magic Device check. If you don't keep your skill maxed out, that ability becomes much less powerful. Also, remember to take item creation feats if you're interested in putting the Imbue Item ability to work. You still need that side of the creation process, like everyone else.
Diversify
Since your eldritch blast is a decent attack, the other invocations you take should probably be directed towards other areas. You may want to spend some invocations on other things like defense, mobility, or stealth. Also, keep in mind that you can use your Decieve Item class ability to effectively activate wands, scrolls, and so on. By 12th level, you can even create those items with your Imbue Item ability!
Choose Wisely
A warlock requires some planning and careful decision making.
Invocations: Watch out! You only get 12 of these, or 15 if you count the ones you can trade out. When you select a power, you should have a clear idea of how it interacts with your other abilities. I'll discuss some basic combos in a moment.
Items: From fourth level on, you can probably trigger wands without too much difficulty by taking 10 on your Use Magic Device check, and that quickly expands your avilable spells. Spell items tend to be more useful as storage for utility spells than attack spells, since they tend to have a low caster level and save. So, while a wand of Fireball may not be the best choice, you probably won't go wrong with a wand of Knock.
Working With Your Allies
Precise shot is an excellent feat selection for a Warlock. When he's working with a party, he'll often be firing his eldritch blast into melee, and Precise Shot allows him to do that much more reliably. Coordinating with other spellcasters opens up a new realm of combo attacks, as well as allowing the ally's spells to cover holes in the warlock's repertoire. For example, wizard may produce powerful evocations to offer area spell support to the warlock's pinpoint attacks, which can easily strike enemies who are close to team members.
I'm Only Using 20% Of My True Power!
The Metamagic Spell-Like Ability feats are important options for a warlock. They allow him to modify his abilities in unexpected ways when battling a critical target. Heighten Spell-Like Ability is nice if you have trouble with save DCs, for example. But be careful! The feats can only apply to abilities with relatively low effective spell levels -- in other words, you can't use them on your best abilities. However, by the time you can take the feats, they can always apply to your unaugmented Eldritch Blast, with its effective level of only 1. Note that there's no point to putting Heighten on an unaugmented blast, since it only affects save DC and effective spell level. Also, as a DC booster, Ability Focus (from the Monster Manual) is always better than Heighten Spell-Like Ability -- Ability Focus works all the time, not just three times per day.
Making the Most of Your Options
Blast Shapes and Essences
Blast shape invocations allow you to instantly change your eldritch blast into different shapes, while Essences add status effects or elemental damage to the attack. They also increase the blast's effective spell level, potentially increasing its save DC and allowing it to penetrate level-based effects like a Globe of Invulnerability.
One interesting (by which I mean controversial) blast shape is Hideous Blow, which channels your blast through a melee weapon. Be careful about this one! A warlock will often not have the attack bonus or defenses to use a melee attack, especially one that draws attacks of opportunity, though use of a longspear can help with that. With even minimal concentration skill, you can use Hideous Blow defensively, though, and avoid that problem entirely. This power gives no particular advantage over a ranged attack. It adds a die of weapon damage, but unless your strength is very high, there isn't much point. Hideous Blow is usually a better choice for multiclass warlocks who are taking a melee-heavy class as their second -- it's a useful opening gambit to move into position and attack with a Hideous Blow, then switch into full-attacks once you have the chance. Alternatively, it could work for a character who has a good strength and constitution, but low dexterity. Many people feel that Hideous Blow should be houseruled to have no attack of opportunity, because that would bring it more into line with the other blast shapes. If you're giving up your range and touch attack in exchange for the extra weapon damage, they say, you shouldn't have to take an attack of opportunity as well. As written, Hideous Blow may be entirely useless; it's under debate. Feel free to discuss this with your DM if you think it applies to your character.
On a more positive note, Eldritch Spear is a great shape if you like staying at longer ranges -- it makes your blast into a ray with a 250 foot range, instead of the usual 60.
Essences add elemental or status-changing effects. Frightful or Sickening blast, for example, cause the target to make a save, and if they fail, they are Shaken or Sickened. These can be good choices for abilities to take at 1st level and trade out later, particularly if you have a mediocre charisma. As saves increase, your blast effect will become easier and easier to avoid unless you add on a blast shape that gives the blast a higher effective spell level. You can only add one essence and one shape to your blast at the same time, so low-level essences will eventually be difficult to affect targets with, and worth exchanging for something more useful.
Warlock vs. Spell Resistance
All casters fear Spell Resistance. Warlocks may have more reason to fear it, because their limited number of options includes very few ways to get around the enemy with a high SR. A warlock may want to consider the Spell Penetration feat if he expects to get into battle with such creatures. It's likely that he won't need to worry for quite a while, though, since it's a rare creature under CR 10 that has Spell Resistance. An important point is the Vitriolic Blast essence -- it turns the blast into acid damage, and ignores Spell Resistance. This may be a must-have for warlocks; at the very least it's a strong choice, though you don't gain access to it for a long time. By the way, the Clay Golem is the natural enemy of Warlocks, even more than other casters. Acid damage heals them, they're immune to your invocations, and you don't have access to the few abilities that would affect them. If you run into one of these (or, for that matter, any other creature with an SR you can't beat or get around), just stand back and use your Deceive Item ability to cast healing and buffs on your party.
Other Invocations
Whatever your warlock chooses for invocations, you should design a set of techniques around that particular build. If you are looking at a particular power to take a sixth level, you should plan to take powers early on that will provide synergy with that power. You can't afford to snatch at whatever looks shiny and interesting at the moment; you'll regret it later if you aren't careful. Take your trades into account -- three times over your career, you can throw away something useless and get a new, more interesting power of the same rank.
Specific Combos
Here, I'll provide some combinations of powers as examples. Come up with your own combos; examine the invocation lists carefully and think about which abilities mix well.
If you're evil and the DM doesn't mind too much, look at The Dead Walk combined with Utterdark Blast and a shape that lets you hit more than one target (Eldritch Chain, Cone, or Doom). That will allow you to not only raise temporary minions, but heal them in the middle of combat while also hurting the enemies! Though skeletons are too weak to be worth much by the time you can take Utterdark, this is a great distraction technique, and the skeletal minions can make a perfectly good shield-wall to stop enemies from charging through to you too quickly.
Combine Utterdark blast with the Tomb-Tainted Soul feat. The feat allows negative energy to heal you, like an undead, though healing spells lose their effectiveness. But who needs healing spells when you can Utterdark Blast yourself in the face to heal several d6 of HP? Combine this with the above techniques, and you can drop an area effect on your position to heal yourself AND all your undead minions at the same time!
A less powerful, but easier to get ability is combining The Dead Walk with Hellrime Blast and an area shape. Skeletons are immune to cold damage, so the blast will go right through them, only damaging the enemy.
Charm and Beguiling Influence go well together; the Diplomacy and Bluff bonuses of the latter make it easier to convince the Charmed target to do what you wish.
Several stealth-based powers work well together as well. Breath of Night, Darkness or Hungry Darkness, and Dark Discorperation allow you to hide effectively. Better yet, Darkness and Enervating Shadow synergize perfectly, first throwing up an area of darkness, then letting you become effectively invisible inside that area and drain enemies' strength scores.
Devil's Sight allows you to see through Darkness perfectly, and See the Unseen works in regular darkness, letting you see when enemies can't. To a limited extent, Voidsense does the same.
Walk Unseen, granting Invisibility at will, is a nice power, equivalent to a 20,000 GP ring of Invisibility. Mix this invocation with your blast and some rogue levels for sneak-attack goodness! Alternatively, being able to go invisible and fly at will can make your warlock a great scout, able to sneak around to see what's going on, with the power to hover out of reach if spotted and fly back to the party. Flee the Scene is a nice addition, too.
Am I Evil?
You have to choose between Evil and Chaotic when you enter the Warlock class. Characters who want to be good are stuck with the Chaos end of alignment, and may be put off by the definite influence of evil in this class. It would be quite easy, though, to rewrite some of the powers of this class to make them more palatable to good characters. For example, you could declare that the powers come from a connection to the Fae rather than shadow or evil, and go from there. You might re-write some powers to reflect that -- such as replacing the bats in Hungry Darkness with a swarm of glowing faeries, and making the area act as a constant Glitterdust spell instead of Darkness. (The Glitterdust effect would, for this purpose, fade as soon as the affected creature left the area, instead of sticking like the glitterdust spell.)
If you'd rather not rewrite powers, just pick powers that don't have a darkness-and-evil flavor, like Walk Unseen and Flee the Scene, and (if necessary) rewrite the flavor text to represent a more nature- and good- based power.
Key Equipment
Your powers are more important than your equipment, but there are a few important points.
- Armor: You can wear light armor without spell failure. Take advantage of that. Get the best armor you can afford, upgrade to mithral armors when you have a chance, and enchant what you can. You are much more able to protect yourself than a wizard or sorcerer -- take advantage of it.
- Other Defenses: Magic items that boost your AC are good too, such as Rings of Protection and Amulets of Natural Armor. Lots of small-bonus items are cheaper than one big-bonus, so take advantage of that. And try to get save-boosting items as well, to bolster the low Reflex and Fortitude you're likely to have.
- Melee Weapon: While you can build a single- or multi-classed warlock for melee, this isn't your best place to be. You can handle a few weapons that are worth using and your HP aren't terrible, so you probably will want something decent to carry around if things get close, but you're likely to be better off at a distance, dropping invocations and eldritch blasts from behind the front line. Longspears can be particularly effective, letting you deliver attacks (or even Hideous Blows) without actually entering the melee yourself.
- Ranged Weapon: Your defining class ability is a ranged weapon in and of itself, so carrying a crossbow is probably unnecessary. You may occasionally meet a creature with spell resistance so high that you can't beat it reliably, but anything with such a high SR is not going to die easily from a few crossbow bolts. All in all, you are already all the ranged weapon you're likely to need. Keep the Vitriolic Blast essence in mind if SR is a worry.
- Diverse Magic: Pick up wands, scrolls, and other limited use magic items as often as you can. You can activate them easily after 4th level, and you should take advantage of that fact. It will greatly increase your value to the party if you can produce useful utility magic effects outside combat as well as being a powerful archer-type. Defensive spells are also great when you get into combat, and you can help your friends with defense and buff spells as well. You can back up the party healer -- or even replace him, if you don't have a cleric!
Multiclassing
A warlock can effectively multiclass into almost anything except a primary spellcaster. Primary spellcasters usually do better to improve their spellcasting rather than looking at invocations, and warlocks rarely need access to the low levels of spells that they could reasonable get -- they can Use Magic Device to get access to that sort of thing if they want it, or muticlass into a partial-caster class like Bard.
Even barbarians can make interesting warlocks -- though they can't use their spell-like abilities while raging, most of the powers last 24 hours at a time, allowing him to turn them on before combat.
Likewise, a heavily armored character may not necessarily be affected badly by the arcane spell failure chance that comes with his protection. If he doesn't mind the disruption to his eldritch blast, he can activate magical defenses before a battle, spending as long as necessary to overcome his armor's spell failure. However, the character might be better served by simply multiclassing into a warrior class that does not rely on heavy armor, such as Ranger.
Rogue/Warlock multiclassing deserves a special mention. Even a few levels of warlock gives a Rogue a powerful set of abilities that help him deliver sneak attacks with ease. The Lesser invocation list is particularly nice -- Flee the Scene can be used to move into flanking position instantly as well as confuse your enemies, while Walk Unseen provides Invisibility, the Rogue's favorite spell effect, and Fell Flight provides a fly speed not normally associated with Rogues. Hideous Blow can add eldritch blast damage to a melee sneak attack, or you can simply sneak attack from range with the standard Blast. You could even add a status effect like fear or sickness to add insult to injury when you sneak attack. Hide your passage with Entropic Warding, take Devil's Sight to deliver sneak attacks accurately even in total darkness, or See the Unseen to trade seeing through magical darkness for seeing invisible foes.
Even the Least invocation Beguiling Influence can be useful to a rogue (or bard, for that matter) who concentrates on verbal skills. A +6 to three skills is an amazing bonus for a single level of multiclassing!
Speaking of Bards, a few of the invocations could benefit them as well. The eldritch blast can supplant their crossbow as the usual ranged attack, while abilities like Charm supplement the usual Bard spell list nicely. (A charm effect that lasts forever? Who doesn't like that?)
It is worth mentioning that certain creature types are more dangerous to Warlocks than others. For example, Golems are difficult for a warlock to defeat, so constructs as a class are more deadly than average to a warlock. Multiclassing with Ranger might help in this, using Favored Enemy bonuses to help offset the difficulties. Alternatively, Hexblade levels (from Complete Warrior) can provide Hexblade's Curse, a supernatural ability which could be used to cripple enemies that are untouchable by spell-like abilities.
In The End
A warlock is a powerful class when it's played with intelligence. Like a Sorcerer, it's a more advanced type of spellcaster that requires careful planning, and may not be best for first-time players. If you're familiar with the rules, though, the Warlock is a fun class with a lot of flavor. Just remember to think of yourself as a magical archer rather than a true caster, and you shouldn't have a problem using the class to its full potential!
I can of course nitpick:- I would like to see an example of the good upgrades. Other than the "bats - fairies" thing. That makes a fine example, but take out one more step and suggest a specific creature from somewhere. Though in an additional note, why not birds? Birds can be considered fae and they aren't magical creatures, like bats aren't magical creatures.
- I get this feeling (where does that finger go?) that the Classy section has some redundancies that could be streamlined
- You bring up the golems a couple of times and I just want to have a "rouges gallery" or something section where you list the top ten "problem children" of the warlock
- I have only ever glanced at the complete handbooks, so I'm certain there is something you're missing. I just can't point it out ;)
Nothing's perfect, but this one is really good
The formatting is nice too btw Question: Are you just interested in the warlock getting fair treatment? or is there a complete
series in the making?* I would like to see an example of the good upgrades. Other than the "bats - fairies" thing. That makes a fine example, but take out one more step and suggest a specific creature from somewhere. Though in an additional note, why not birds? Birds can be considered fae and they aren't magical creatures, like bats aren't magical creatures.
I'm not really interested in going in and doing a complete Dark Powers to Fae Powers conversion. I just wanted to give some idea of what I was talking about. For a class that claims it isn't limited to evil, and can source its power in non-evil beings, it sure has a lot of dark-gods flavor. Some things are fine as they are, like Walk Unseen or Stony Grasp. Others just need a name change and some flavor-text to be fine, like Fell Flight and Curse of Despair. But several of the abilities have a definite evil tinge, like Hungry Darkness, Dark Discorperation, or The Dead Walk. A non-evil Warlock who doesn't want to "wear the black armor," as one poster put it, is obliged to either avoid these invocations or find a way to alter them to be more oriented towards light and life.
* I get this feeling (where does that finger go?) that the Classy section has some redundancies that could be streamlined
Eh, possibly. I think it stands well, though, so I won't be editing it any. (I went through a pretty long editing process before sending it here!)
* You bring up the golems a couple of times and I just want to have a "rouges gallery" or something section where you list the top ten "problem children" of the warlock
I think I covered that pretty effectively with simply "things with lots of SR, and Golems". The warlock's problems are the same as any spellcaster's problems, though perhaps more extreme because of the limited number of options they have.
Question: Are you just interested in the warlock getting fair treatment? or is there a complete series in the making?
No, this is a one-off. I was particularly irritated, as were many other posters, by the treatment Warlocks got in the "...with Class" series. The document seemed to have been written without taking the time to understand the class or read the actual ability descriptions. Even after the article was edited, it still wasn't clear on how many times you get to trade an old invocation for a new one (answer: three times only), and it still ignored some of the most integral parts of playing a warlock. I wanted to remedy as much as I could, thus this post.
Finally, another person who believes the warlock to be a very capable and effective character when done CORRECTLY. Too many people don’t appreciate the warlock and all of its potential just because they have to think a little bit about how they are going to do things. In any case, very well done article. I plan on printing it and showing it to my players during my next session, just to show them that the warlock isn’t, some sissy blaster-thing.Peace,
Konphujun
- I would like to see an example of the good upgrades. Other than the "bats - fairies" thing. That makes a fine example, but take out one more step and suggest a specific creature from somewhere. Though in an additional note, why not birds? Birds can be considered fae and they aren't magical creatures, like bats aren't magical creatures.
FEAR NOT! SHADOWFOOT HAS HEARD THY PLEA AND RESPONDED 7 MONTHS BEFORE YOU ASKED! I GIVE YOU -SHADOWFOOT GOODNESS
by the time you can take the feats, they can always apply to your unaugmented Eldritch Blast, with its effective level of only 1
Just a comment about the level of the Eldritch Blast - it doesn't stay at 1st level, but increases with class level:
An eldritch blast is the equivalent of a spell whose level is equal to one-half the warlock's class level (round down), with a minimum level of 1st and a maximum of 9th when a warlock reaches 18th level or higher. -- Class description, Complete Arcne, pg.7 Levels of prestige classes that provide +1 level of spellcasting effectively stack with the warlock's level to determine his eldritch blast damage ... and his eldritch blast caster level (half his total caster level from his warlock levels and his levels in the prestige class that grant him an increased spellcasting level). -- Complete Arcane, pg.18
As a side note, the feat Maximize spell-like ability as presented in Complete Arcane disbars its use with any eldritch blast, as it stipulates:
The spell-like ability you wish to maximize can be chosen only from those abilities that duplicate a spell of a level less than or equal to 1/2 your caster level (round down), minus 2.
As the eldritch blast has its effective spell level derived by 1/2 caster level (round down), these feats are either badly written, or of no use to the warlock, as the description for the eldritch blast currently stands.
That said, I like this a lot and appreciate the work that you put into it. One of the things that makes the warlock so scary isn't that they run out of ammo, it's that their technical primary stat is unimportant. Ironically they're a spellcaster that excels with stats more similar to a ranger going for ranged combat than for say, a sorcerer.
Archer's run out of arrows; sorcerers, wizards, clerics, etc. run out of spells and spell components.
Cities which employ spellcasters in their army’s ranks would be hard pressed to find a reason to hire an arcane spellcaster of any kind over a Warlock.
When does a warrior run out of weapon swings? The "unlimited use' thing just isn't important. A low-level Warlock is far less dangerous that an archer for an army, as for all intents and purposes they can have more or less unlimited arrows with a MUCH longer range.
by the time you can take the feats, they can always apply to your unaugmented Eldritch Blast, with its effective level of only 1
Just a comment about the level of the Eldritch Blast - it doesn't stay at 1st level, but increases with class level:An eldritch blast is the equivalent of a spell whose level is equal to one-half the warlock's class level (round down), with a minimum level of 1st and a maximum of 9th when a warlock reaches 18th level or higher. -- Class description, Complete Arcane, pg.7 Levels of prestige classes that provide +1 level of spellcasting effectively stack with the warlock's level to determine his eldritch blast damage ... and his eldritch blast caster level (half his total caster level from his warlock levels and his levels in the prestige class that grant him an increased spellcasting level). -- Complete Arcane, pg.18
As a side note, the feat Maximize spell-like ability as presented in Complete Arcane disbars its use with any eldritch blast, as it stipulates:The spell-like ability you wish to maximize can be chosen only from those abilities that duplicate a spell of a level less than or equal to 1/2 your caster level (round down), minus 2.
As the eldritch blast has its effective spell level derived by 1/2 caster level (round down), these feats are either badly written, or of no use to the warlock, as the description for the eldritch blast currently stands.
You have, apparently, missed the official errata on Eldritch Blast which changes it from a level-equivalent that scales with the level of the Warlock to a 1st-level equivalent. This change was made to fix the problem with using the meta spell-like ability feats that you mentioned.
Just a comment about the level of the Eldritch Blast - it doesn't stay at 1st level, but increases with class level:
As a side note, the feat Maximize spell-like ability as presented in Complete Arcane disbars its use with any eldritch blast, as it stipulates:
As the eldritch blast has its effective spell level derived by 1/2 caster level (round down), these feats are either badly written, or of no use to the warlock, as the description for the eldritch blast currently stands.
Not anymore. The Eldritch blast spell like ability has been updated in the errata.
Change
“An eldritch blast is the equivalent of a spell whose level is equal to one-half the warlock’s class level (round down), with a minimum spell level of 1st and a maximum of 9th when the warlock reaches 18th level or higher”
To
“An eldritch blast is the equivalent of a 1st-level spell. If you apply a blast shape or eldritch essence invocation to your eldritch blast (see page 130), your eldritch blast uses the level equivalent of the shape or essence.”
Any other references to eldritch blast being something other than the equivalent of a 1st-level spell should be disregarded. Any other references claiming that eldritch blast is not an invocation should be disregarded. A warlock can use eldritch blast at will.
Utterdark Blast + Tomb-Tainted Soul. Congratulations. You just broke the warlock.
HOOEY I SAY!!!!!!
Utterdark Blast MAKES YOU SAVE AGAINST 2 NEGATIVE LEVELS. Being healed by negative energy DOES NOT GRANT IMMUNITY TO NEGATIVE LEVELS!
Check here:
http://realmshelps.dandello.net/cgi-bin/feats.pl?Tomb-tainted_Soul,LM
The feat specifically states that it doesn't provide any other benefits that being healed by negative energy and harmed by positive.
If I'm a 16th level warlock I'm going to have enough of a score in UMD to pull that handy dandy scroll of Heal out of my pocket to heal myself and I'll spend that feat on something that's not going to require a scroll of Restoration.
I'm sorry for "yelling" but I'm fed up with seeing tomb tainted soul as a good feat for a warlock. It's suicide to heal yourself with something that could hit you with negative levels unless there is an "Immunity to Negative Levels" feat out there. (Ha!)
An evil cleric is much closer to broken with tomb tainted soul. Especially at higher levels.
On to a different subject:
The best solution for Golems that I can see is always having at least two wands of two different orb spells. The Orb line of spells is conjuration and DOESN'T suffer spell resistance. (I recommend force and electricity.) Of course, playing backup cleric/buffer is also another option when dealing with golems.
There are also a few Invocations that do not suffer Spell Resistance. The summon swarm invocation is one. Stony Grasp (The earthen hand invocation) might be another.
Buying a scroll of "Fire Seeds" is another option. (Expensive, but effective when needed) Just make sure to state that your character collected a few acorns and holly berries.
Next Subject:
Hideous Blow: I'm on the no attack of opportunity side of the argument. Hideous blow was designed specifically to bypass the attack of oppurtunity.
It's all here, written by the writer of the warlock class himself, Rich Baker: http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=405215 Skip Williams is the one that disagreed with the intent of Hideous Blow, nerfing it into oblivion.
More on Skip Williams later.
Onward good steed, to the next issue:
I agree that warlocks need more invocations and invocations that aren't so slanted towards "fiendish". Shadowfoot has given us an excellent start, if not a finish as well.
Last But Not Least:
I think it's an excellent article you've written, Keenath. It's everything that a "With Class" article should be. And personally, I find that the With Class articles are cookie cutter advice articles that recycle entire sections of text with each new article. Also, some of the articles seem like the author, Skip Williams, isn't really putting his best work into writing them.
So again I say (For the first time) Thank You Keenath, for the excellent unofficial "With Class" article that you've written. May this thread never be deleted.
Utterdark Blast MAKES YOU SAVE AGAINST 2 NEGATIVE LEVELS. Being healed by negative energy DOES NOT GRANT IMMUNITY TO NEGATIVE LEVELS!
Um. Wow. You're absolutely right!
I hadn't thought of that, but... a warlock would have to be really sure of his fort save to pull that stunt in combat. I guess warlocks aren't affected like normal spellcasters by negative levels, in that SLAs don't vanish due to energy drain (as high level spell slots do), but it's still a pretty bad idea if you're in danger.
It COULD be a cool and flavorful element for your character, though -- sort of an extremely painful healing that partially incapacitates him for an hour. (Luckily, the levels don't last long enough to risk permanent level loss). Only a good idea if you're pretty sure you won't be in danger any time soon.
I kind of like the idea of a warlock who can heal himself, but spends the next hour shaking and sweating afterward.
Welcome back "Charisma-as-a-dump-stat"! We've missed you!
Another class I believe would be very well suited for multiclassing with the warlock is from Complete Adventurer: the Spellthief. This gives you almost all the benefits of the rogue with the addition of many special abilities that really complement the Warlock's powers.
Although this might seem to be the case at first glance, I would say that neither class multiclasses well; each loses too much versus what it gains, given that its abilities tend to scale up into the higher levels.
When taking a prestige class with "+1 level of existing spellcasting class" does the Warlock gain anything, and if so what? It seems to me that they should probably gain Invocations and increased Eldritch blast damage from these (but not the other special abilities).
You are correct. Most people think it's just new invocations and an increase in caster level, but it also includes the eldritch blast damage progression. In some cases, prestige class descriptions specifically point out that eldritch blast is included (for example Eldritch Disciple and Eldritch Theurge in Complete Mage).
The combination of a Fighter with mild DR, a decent ranged attack without have to take out a bow, and the ability to use wands and other magical devices came in handy.
I recommend anyone else who wants to try this class out to read the archetypes section of Complete Mage, particularly Fighters and Snipers. It is a very enlightening supplement if you have trouble understanding spellcasting. Not too mention it has new invocations.
P.S. The direction in which the character was going was to do ranged disarm/ or ranged trip attacks.... with hideous blow in tow. Trip your opponent deal an eldritch blast to him as he land prone on the group. Fun idea but the campaign fizzled to soon.
Signed:
Someone very pleased with his old fighter/warlock
HOOEY I SAY!!!!!!
Utterdark Blast MAKES YOU SAVE AGAINST 2 NEGATIVE LEVELS. Being healed by negative energy DOES NOT GRANT IMMUNITY TO NEGATIVE LEVELS!
It's suicide to heal yourself with something that could hit you with negative levels unless there is an "Immunity to Negative Levels" feat out there. (Ha!)
An evil cleric is much closer to broken with tomb tainted soul. Especially at higher levels.
Or you play a warforged warlock with tomb-tainted soul. Immunity to negative levels as a racial ability, LA +0, healed by negative energy from the feat and, of course, utterdark blast is not a conjuration (healing) spell, so depending on warforged version (Eberron, MM3, errata?) you could heal full effect instead of half.
The best non-warforged can do is to use the Heart of Nabassu feat from hordes of the abyss to ignore a certain number of negative levels per day (depends on how many other abyssal heritor feats you have), and thus use utterdark blast to heal each day until you have failed enough fort saves to use up your buffer.
A warlock is a powerful class when it's played with intelligence. Like a Sorcerer, it's a more advanced type of spellcaster that requires careful planning, and may not be best for first-time players. If you're familiar with the rules, though, the Warlock is a fun class with a lot of flavor. Just remember to think of yourself as a magical archer rather than a true caster, and you shouldn't have a problem using the class to its full potential!
Great overall but there are a few problems I have noticed (still have to look through a few sources to find out). One problem I did notice is that you stated a high Dex is a must. No it is not. Eldritch Blast is a ranged touch attack meaning even at say 6th level Human Warlock with a BAB of +4, a Dex of 14 (+2), Point Blank Shot & Weapon Focus: Ray and Ranged Spell Specialization who focuses on Eldritch Blast could come out with a +9 to hit up to 30ft and a +8 to hit up to 60ft (more distance depending on the Invocation). On an average roll of 10 that means a Warlock would be able to hit a creature with a Touch AC of 19 (18) which is especially rare at 6th lvl. All that is done with a measly 14 in its Dex. Im not saying that a high score in Dex is not a bad thing but it could be used somewhere else like in Con to make up for its poor HP.
Not anymore. The Eldritch blast spell like ability has been updated in the errata.
Change
“An eldritch blast is the equivalent of a spell whose level is equal to one-half the warlock’s class level (round down), with a minimum spell level of 1st and a maximum of 9th when the warlock reaches 18th level or higher”
To
“An eldritch blast is the equivalent of a 1st-level spell. If you apply a blast shape or eldritch essence invocation to your eldritch blast (see page 130), your eldritch blast uses the level equivalent of the shape or essence.”
Any other references to eldritch blast being something other than the equivalent of a 1st-level spell should be disregarded. Any other references claiming that eldritch blast is not an invocation should be disregarded. A warlock can use eldritch blast at will.
So this means I can use Quicken Spell-Like Ability on Eldritch Blast now to be chucking it around twice in one round? With no drawback? With just the formality of a touch attack between my opponents and fiery oblivion?
That’s a bit good isn't it?
So this means I can use Quicken Spell-Like Ability on Eldritch Blast now to be chucking it around twice in one round? With no drawback? With just the formality of a touch attack between my opponents and fiery oblivion?
That’s a bit good isn't it?
Not overwhelmingly so.
Quicken Spell-Like Ability used with Eldritch Blast is still subject to the rules of "half caster level minus four" and "three times a day". That means that a 12th level Warlock (the earliest level a Warlock can get Quicken Spell-Like Ability) could only quicken an EB with a 2nd-level equivalent blast shape and/or eldritch essence added to it.
Anything with less than a 4th-level equivalent blast shape and/or eldritch essence added to it will be stopped by a Lesser Globe of Invulnerability, and a Globe of Invulnerability will stop anything less than a 5th-level equivalent. Eldritch Blasts of those levels will still be subject to spell resistance as well.
A Warlock would have to be 18th level before he could quicken a 5th-level equivalent Eldritch Blast, and 20th level before he could quicken a Vitriolic Blast (a 6th-level equivalent which also ignores spell resistance).
So this means I can use Quicken Spell-Like Ability on Eldritch Blast now to be chucking it around twice in one round? With no drawback? With just the formality of a touch attack between my opponents and fiery oblivion?
That’s a bit good isn't it?
Only three times per day. Also you need to be a tenth level warlock (CL 10), by which time the other casters are building up metamagic love or high-level spells 'o' doom.
More important, really, is the question of whether quicken spell-like ability (eldritch blast) applies only to the base blast, or works on any blast shape or eldritch essence invocations applied (i.e. do you have to buy quicken spell-like ability (brimstone blast with eldritch spear)?)
If the former is true, by the same argument you could surely say lesser spell immunity (eldritch blast) works universally regardless of how tricked out the blast is, (even if it goes above the 4th level spell limit?). In which case a wizard of same level as the warlock can become totally immune to his blasting for 1 hour 40 minutes with a single spellcasting (without having to play the 'guess which invocations the warlock has' game, just by recognising the guy blasting him as a warlock). If the warlock didn't take a backup attack invocation (like the baleful polymorph one), he's rather screwed.
Whereas if the latter is true, the warlock may be able to blow a lot of feats on getting a lot of different quickened blasts in a day, but it also means your two blasts a round trick only works in specific circumstances until you get enough feats (I can eldritch blast the enemy mage twice but I can only vitriolic blast the golem/drow once per round, and I can only hit multiple targets once per round...) which makes the tactic a lot less versatile and appealing. Is there a ruling on this anywhere?
Furthermore, the little level one errata means that a wizard of caster level ten can put up lesser globe of invulnerability to totally ignore your eldritch blast (spells and spell-like effects of 3rd level or below are negated), unless you have some pretty heavy invocations which boost its effective spell level past 3. Considering how few invocations you get and how many cool non-blast ones there are, I don't think its a foregone conclusion to assume any warlock would be able to boost the blast past spell equivalent 3, nor that the invocations required be optimum for the wizard-blasting role.
To be honest, I rather preferred eldritch blast when it became a higher level spell equivalent as you leveled up. As well as helping against the various globe of invulnerabilities, it also burned through spell turning a lot faster when you were the sort of level such things mattered.
Of course, it helps if your DM allows you to take flaws. Since I figured that my Warlock would be in trouble anyway if he ever got into melee, I took Non-Combatant (-2 in melee), and Meager Fortitude (-3 on Fort Saves).
The first Demon I faced was a Hezrou, and the first round hit it with a Maximized Eldrich Blast with Baneful Blast Essence and a Greater Chasuble of Fell Power (54 HP Damage). Most of the rest of the party got Nauseated. The 2nd round I critted and did 68pts and it was over. Good Times.:D
Originally Posted by RLRapp
Another class I believe would be very well suited for multiclassing with the warlock is from Complete Adventurer: the Spellthief. This gives you almost all the benefits of the rogue with the addition of many special abilities that really complement the Warlock's powers.
Although this might seem to be the case at first glance, I would say that neither class multiclasses well; each loses too much versus what it gains, given that its abilities tend to scale up into the higher levels.
In fact, teaming a Warlock WITH a Spellthief is ideal. Every duration invocation the Warlock has, the Spellthief can steal and have for himself as well. Basically you're getting two Warlocks and one Spellthief out of two PCs. ;)
If you really want to bust through SR, do what I did when I built my Warlock to fight Evil Outsiders; Spell Penetration, Greater Spell Penetration, and Arcane Mastery. With these, at 10th level, my Warlock can automatically overcome an SR of 24. Add in Favored Magical Foe and/or Fey Heritage & Fey Power, and you're up to 25 or 26.
There is a simple way of dealing with any and all SR. Take the SUPERNATURAL TRANSFORMATION feat (from Savage Species, I believe), which allows one to change one Spell-like ability into a Supernatural ability--which are NOT subject to SR. Problem solved and several feats saved.
Alexander
There is a simple way of dealing with any and all SR. Take the SUPERNATURAL TRANSFORMATION feat (from Savage Species, I believe), which allows one to change one Spell-like ability into a Supernatural ability--which are NOT subject to SR. Problem solved and several feats saved.
That is only a viable option if the DM allows it. By the rules, Supernatural Transformation can only be used on spell-like abilities that are gained from a character's race - not those gained from class levels.
There is a simple way of dealing with any and all SR. Take the SUPERNATURAL TRANSFORMATION feat (from Savage Species, I believe), which allows one to change one Spell-like ability into a Supernatural ability--which are NOT subject to SR. Problem solved and several feats saved.
This depends on your DM. Many DMs don't view Eldritch Blast as "Innate". You might be able to convince a recalcitrant DM to allow supernatural transformation if your character's backstory states that he inherited his warlock power. But the DM might still say no.
Arguably, your warlock should have SOMETHING that lets him strike at enemies with high SR without using EB. Either an invocation that doesn't allow SR, (other than vitriolic blast, as clay golems and black dragons kill that) or items that allow other options.