Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 corvusdrake Jun 16, 2009 20:14:28	Hi everyone! Normally I'm the DM, but I'm about to pass on the DM torch soon and will be rolling up somewhere around level 7. SOO I decided to roll 1 level of Fighter and 6 of Warlock. Precise Shot by way of Point-Blank shot is obvious, but im having issues picking invocations. Everyone says focus on the E-blasts, but I've never enjoyed making "cookie-cutter" characters. Yes, the E-blast is the point of the Warlock, but so are those lovely other invocations. Such as Beguiling Influence and Baleful Utterance. +6 to most Cha checks and the ability to shatter any Nonmagical object that weighs 10lbs*WlckLevel is broken, especially at early levels. I'm trying to decide where to go from 7. I took Fell Flight as my first Lesser invocation because I like the idea of flying above a fight and sniping from the sky. I'm considering adding Eldritch Spear later to help with this, but what I'm stuck on is that I want to use the character in ways that aren't so direct. "E-blast-Eblast-Eblast" gets old fast. Anyone have suggestions on where to taket his character using the non-eblast invocations?
#2 jgumbyrx Jun 16, 2009 21:00:05	well, the rest of your invocations are "least", right? I like summon swarm, baleful utterance, breath of the night, spider walk
#3 corvusdrake Jun 16, 2009 21:18:02	I was looking more at the longer term. THere's lots of blast essences, but I'm trying to come up with skill, feat, and invocation combinations that make....well I hate to compare to MtG but I want the character to be more a control-style character than a burn-style character. More "screw with you till you die" than "hit you over and over like a WoW addict".
#4 jgumbyrx Jun 16, 2009 23:52:10	Oh, I get it. I'm about to play a warlock myself, and I've pretty-much planned out my powers already. I've even talked my DM in to letting "spell hand" qualify me for Arcane Trickster :D The party I'll be in is Fighter, Barbarian, and Cleric; I've decided that I need to be a little more utilitarian about it as well. Anyway, this is what I've come-up with: Lesser: - fell flight and flee the scene is a must - hungry darkness -- this will let you retrain summon swarm for something else (perhaps eldritch spear?) - voracious dispelling -or- relentless dispelling - walk unseen - wall of gloom Greater: - vitriolic blast -- don't care if you want to pay attention to EB or not, this is an absolute must. - chilling tentacles -or- caustic mire - devour magic -- replaces lesser dispelling? - wall of perilous flame -- replaces wall of gloom - tenacious plague -- replaces hungry darkness Dark: - caster's lament -- replaces devour magic? - dark discorporation -- replaces tenacious plague - retributive invisibility -- replaces walk unseen - word of changing - steal summoning I realize that I have listed more invocations than you will ever be able to use, but this does narrow-down your options (I've actually decided to play it by ear, and take what will benefit me best at the time). Also, since you can retrain an invocation whenever you get a new level of invocations, you will actually be able to get most of the least and lesser ones, and get a good chunk of the greater. By listing the appropriate substitutions, this allows you to be a little more stratigic about your choices. I hope this helps (I feel your pain -- I spend most of my time behind the screen myself).
#5 corvusdrake Jun 17, 2009 1:03:08	You and I both are going to keep Word of Changing. The opportunity to turn people into toads is fantastic. The opportunity to do it to a dragon who fails a save at that one critical moment? Priceless. I actually took Frightful Blast as a Least. Since it weakens saves, it's a nice way to line up your target for the rest of your craziness. I'll probably drop it later, but it seems like a good way to "get there". And I can never see a reason for Baleful Utterance or Beguiling Influence to ever leave the powers list. And yes, V-blast is needed. Acid damage with no save, that ignores SR (rendering an open feat if you use it enough to skip out on Spell Penetration) is just too beautiful. It also has many other applications. For instance, while flying, sniping a carriage wheel from out of view with a Vitriolic Eldritch Spear....
#6 jgumbyrx Jun 17, 2009 2:50:41	For the most part, I plan on avoiding any invocations with DC's, so that I can avoid MAD as much as possible. I loaded -up on the scrolls (we're starting at 3rd lvl), and maxed my UMD. just waiting for the fun to start.
#7 corvusdrake Jun 17, 2009 8:09:56	I really should have packed more scrolls. Instead, since my lock has a dex of 18, he's walking off with a masterwork Rapier (he has WF) and a beltload of acid flasks and alchemists fires, and a +2 Mithral Shirt with Fast-Donning Straps, a Sig Crest, and with Anti-Impact reinforcment to cut down on the damage if someone dispels his flight. He's also got a Field Provisions Box. I figured that would give him weight in party politics.
#8 jgumbyrx Jun 17, 2009 12:00:25	I really should have packed more scrolls. Instead, since my lock has a dex of 18, he's walking off with a masterwork Rapier (he has WF) and a beltload of acid flasks and alchemists fires, and a +2 Mithral Shirt with Fast-Donning Straps, a Sig Crest, and with Anti-Impact reinforcment to cut down on the damage if someone dispels his flight. He's also got a Field Provisions Box. I figured that would give him weight in party politics. Good call on the acid flasks and alchemist fires <*checks available gold to see how much he can afford*> yup, got to get some. it's just too bad that I'm a halfling with an 8 strength -- just my scrolls almost max-out my "light load".
#9 Ogiwan Jun 17, 2009 17:27:31	Well, I don't usually use 'locks, but I took a quick gander at a 7th level one. Eldritch Strike seemed like a good choice, along with Dread Star, Forceful Assault, Sprite War Call, Pipes of Winter, Death's Commands, Beguiling Touch, and Fey Switch. Combined with Fey Pact, and a high CHA, you got out-of-combat capability, and significant battlefield mobility. Seems decent enough. I am a fan of the bound deamon familiar, though.
#10 jgumbyrx Jun 17, 2009 18:57:35	Well, I don't usually use 'locks, but I took a quick gander at a 7th level one. Eldritch Strike seemed like a good choice, along with Dread Star, Forceful Assault, Sprite War Call, Pipes of Winter, Death's Commands, Beguiling Touch, and Fey Switch. Combined with Fey Pact, and a high CHA, you got out-of-combat capability, and significant battlefield mobility. Seems decent enough. I am a fan of the bound deamon familiar, though. I can't find some of those -- where are they at?
#11 corvusdrake Jun 17, 2009 19:00:44	I can't find some of those -- where are they at? 4e, I think is where they are found. Edit: Yup. E-strike is a 4e "at-will" ability of a Warlock, and is subject to errata. We were discussing 3.5e, but thanks for the input Ogi. Warlocks arent' quite as nice in 4e from what I've seen as they are in 3.5.
#12 jgumbyrx Jun 17, 2009 19:11:14	4e, I think is where they are found. Edit: Yup. E-strike is a 4e "at-will" ability of a Warlock, and is subject to errata. We were discussing 3.5e, but thanks for the input Ogi. Warlocks arent' quite as nice in 4e from what I've seen as they are in 3.5. ah, got it. hey, if they've got some stuff in another addition that looks cool, there's nothing wrong with getting with the DM to adapt it to your game :D
#13 corvusdrake Jun 17, 2009 20:11:44	ah, got it. hey, if they've got some stuff in another addition that looks cool, there's nothing wrong with getting with the DM to adapt it to your game :D Yeah, but I like to keep my characters general enough that I can move them from campaign to campaign comfortably. The only thing I've got that is iffy on this character is I got permission to use Mortalbane (Monster Manual) as a feat due to background.
#14 Johnathan_Vagabond Jun 24, 2009 15:11:56	I played in an (admittedly ridiculous) campaign a while ago as a Gestalt Warlock/Dragonfire Adept. One of the Warlocks biggest strengths at mid-high level is their at will AoE area controls. Caustic Mire, Chilling Tentacles, and Nightmares Made Real. Thats 3 Greater invocations (and look how many you get, 3!) that you can slap down anywhere any time and rock everyone's socks off. As a plus, most of the Great Invocations aren't all that great. I've found the Lesser Invocations are more for keeping your butt out of the fire with Walk Unseen, Fell Flight, and Flee the Scene. With Charm following up as a pretty handy at will. Least Invocations are kind of like, buffs. See the Unseen, Entropic Warding, and the +6 to skill Invocations are all great. Consider also Dark One's Own Luck if you've got a really high Cha (to shore up that weak save). I didn't reach Dark Invocations, the game ended. But they look nice. One major note. If your DM allows you to select from the Dragon Magic invocations as well, all bets are off. Humanoid Shape, Chilling Fog, Energy Resistance, Energy Immunity (yeah, Immunity), Baelful Geas, Instill Vulnerability... it's like being a kid in a candy shop. One the other hand, there's your very juicy class bonuses to UMD. Always being able to 'Take 10' gives you a huge advantage. If nothing else, bump UMD with every level you can. If feats weren't so scarce I'd tell you to get Skill Focus: UMD. As long as you've got a total of +10 you can always use a wand or emulate a class feature. If you can get all the way up to 19 (but really, you probably only need up to +16 or 17) you will always be able to use whatever scroll you want to. Later on you can craft whatever you feel like so long as you've got the feat (Wonderous item, cough-cough hint-hint). That's all basic stuff though. Thats about power, power, and more power (mainly because the warlock get's a bad wrap for power). I do disagree with Vitrolic Blast being absolutely required. It's great in that it ignores SR, but you don't sound like E-Blasting is your main concept. In which case I again suggest: Least: Just get some good self buffs. If you want Insect Swarm it's a good 'screw with you' invocation, but trade it out later. -See the Unseen -Entropic Warding (Flat 20% Miss chance from any ranged attack, oh, no trail either) -Dark One's Own Luck or a +6 (I just noticed it gives you 3 +6s.) Lesser: Keep your ass out of the fire. -Fell Flight or Flee the Scene. I prefer Flee the Scene because you can move through walls, but Fell Flight has it's benefits too. -Walk Unseen. This only lasts until you attack, but it lasts right up until then. So you can walk around with your party looking like they're a man down. I don't remember the exact wording, so you might not be able to cast invocations while invisible. But nothing stops you from dropping your AOE Controls and then turning invisible. Use that to set yourself up for a big nasty hit. -Charm or Voracious Dispelling or Energy Resistance. Charm is just that, Charm at will all day every day and, it's not Charm Person either. Voracious dispelling on the other hand, dispells at range and deals damage for each dispell. To be a Face, I'd go charm, otherwise, it's the Dispelling disease for you. Finally, with Dragon Magic Energy Resistance might float your boat, since you can change it with every casting. I don't exacrly remember it's numbers, but I suspect it's a flat 15. Replace it with Energy Immunity at your first convenience Greater: Light 'em up. You know what I'm going to say. -Chilling Tentacles -Chilling Fog (or Caustic Mire if you can't). If you have to take Caustic Mire, keep a Wand of Fireball onhand. -Nightmares Made Real. You have free concealement all the time when standing in NMR (and it obviously doesn't hurt you), so this is a good one to drop right on yourself and disappear. -Others that might be worth your while. Baleful Geas, if your DM lets you do it as a standard action (like invocations) instead of a 10 minute action (like Gaes) Dark: Aw hell, take whatever you want.
#15 corvusdrake Jun 25, 2009 19:56:52	The only problem I see with item creation under the feat for it is this: If you fail the creation, ever......you can't try that item again until next level. Now since there are billions of magic/item combinations that doesn't sound too bad, but if you screw up on Cloak of Resistance +5 at level 20 and you're in a 20-cap situation...... Also, i find it interesting how many people end a character at campaign end these days. I hearken back from the day where you kept a character until it died, even if you played other characters later....you could always pick that one up, loot and all, and bring it into another campaign.