Warlock - Dragon Pact

Khaalis · Jun 27, 2008

Hey all. I have a homebrew world in which one continent is ruled by ancient dragons and their draconic houses. The dragons rule much like god-kings (aka pharaohs). In this society, dragonborn and kobolds are at the top of the social caste regardless of their profession. However, many mortals attain power in the draconic house by making warlock pacts with the ancient dragon of the house. To do this I am working on putting together a Warlock Dragon Pact, but I could use some help on ideas on how to focus the abilities of the pact.

This is what I have so far.

WARLOCK CLASS FEATURES

ELDRITCH PACT – DRAGON
You have forged a pact with a chromatic or metallic dragon lord. Some are benevolent and caring spirits, while others are cruel and capricious. They bestow powers that are elemental in nature, but remember … it’s never safe to deal with a dragon.
..........Choose a damage type from the following choices: acid, cold, fire, lightning or poison. This is the type of damage your dragon pact grants for your powers. This choice remains throughout your character’s life and does not change a dragon pact power’s other effects.

Energy Burst: You known the energy burst at-will spell.

Draconic Frenzy: You have the Draconic Frenzy pact boon. Your curse feeds off the demise of a cursed enemy empowering your future attacks.
..........When an enemy under your Warlock’s Curse is reduced to 0 hit points or fewer, you gain a +2 bonus to the next damage roll you make during your next turn. If you don’t use this bonus by the end of your turn, it is lost.
..........This bonus is cumulative; if three cursed enemies drop to 0 hit points or fewer before your next turn, you gain a +6 bonus to a damage roll during your turn.

DRAGON PACT WARLOCK POWERS

LEVEL 1 AT-WILL SPELLS

ENERGY BURST -- Warlock (Dragon) Attack 1
You hurl forth a ball of pure draconic energy.
At-Will ✦ Arcane, Implement; Acid, Cold, Fire, Lightning or Poison
Standard Action -- Ranged 10
Target: One creature
Attack: Charisma or Constitution vs. Reflex
Special: At 1st level, you determine whether you use Charisma or Constitution to attack with this power. Once you make that choice, you can’t change it later.
Hit: 1d6 + Charisma or Constitution modifier damage of your dragon pact’s energy type plus see Special (below).
Increase damage to 2d6 + Charisma or Constitution modifier at 21st level.
Special: On a successful hit, you also add the following effect based on your dragon pact’s energy type.
Acid: Weakened until the end of your next turn.
Cold: Slowed until the end of your next turn.
Fire: Add your Intelligence modifier to the damage roll (minimum +1).
Lightning: Dazes until the end of your next turn.
Poison: Ongoing 5 poison until the end of your next turn..

Comments, thoughts, suggestions?

Asmor · Jun 27, 2008

Wow. All those secondary effects on Energy Burst seem absolutely broken for an at-will power.

Starfox · Jun 27, 2008

The pact damage bonus looks a little weak compared to the to-hit bonuses of another pact.

Khaalis · Jun 27, 2008

Asmor said:
Wow. All those secondary effects on Energy Burst seem absolutely broken for an at-will power.

The inspiration for this is taken from the Kobold article with the Kobold Wild Mage.

:ranged:

Wild Magic (standard; at-will) ✦ Implement and Fire, Cold, Lightning, or Poison
Ranged 10; +9 vs. Reflex; on a hit roll 1d4 to determine the effect:
1—Flame Bolt, 1d8 + 4 fire damage and ongoing 5 fire (save ends).
2—Frost Bolt, 1d6 + 4 cold damage and immobilized (save ends).
3—Lightning Arc, 1d8 + 4 lightning damage and dazed (save ends).
4—Venom Bolt, 1d6 + 4 poison damage, ongoing 5 poison and slowed (save ends both).

PS: Also keep in mind that you only get 1 Energy Type you are associated with, chosen at 1st level. So if for example you chose Cold, you would be doing:

Ranged 10; +CHA or CON vs. Reflex; 1d6 + CHA or CON cold damage and the target is immobilized (save ends)

Khaalis · Jun 27, 2008

Starfox said:
The pact damage bonus looks a little weak compared to the to-hit bonuses of another pact.

Most of the powers, from what I can tell are based around the equation:
+1 Attack bonus = +2 Damage bonus

However, I'm not technically thrilled with the additional damage as the bonus to give, I just haven't come up with anything better. The only other one I have been toying with is as follows:

"When an enemy under your Warlock’s Curse is reduced to 0 hit points or fewer, you gain energy resistance 5 + 1/2 your level until the end of your next turn."

DogBackward · Jun 27, 2008

Yeah, the special effects of that At-Will are hugely unbalanced. The Kobold Wild-Mage's ability is nifty, but it's not meant to be a PC ability. Not a 1st level at-will, anyway. If you want it to not be horribly broken, try this;

Acid: Weakened until the end of your next turn.
Cold: Slowed until the end of your next turn.
Fire: Add your Int. modifier to the damage roll (minimum +1).
Lightning: -1 to attacks and defenses until the end of your next turn.
Poison: Ongoing 5 Poison damage untilt he end of your next turn.

These put this power in line with other 1st level At-Will powers, while keeping the basic "feel" of the secondary effects you had included, I think. The original power was, no offense, very badly broken. Far too powerful.

As for your Warlock's Curse ability... the Resist x is nice, but I'm thinking that this Pact seems more damage-focused. How about;

Draconic Wrath: When an enemy under the effects of your Warlock's Curse is reduced to 0 HP, all enemies adjacent to it take damage of your chosen energy type equal to 3 plus 1/2 your level as your foe explodes with elemental power.

There is one possible problem; the Rod of Corruption would pretty much allow a massive minion wipe with this, with a little planning. If you can curse a minion, then kill it, spreading the curse to all within 5 squares, it's possible to then kill another minion, triggering a chain reaction of elemental explosions.

Would this be a huge problem? If so, how might we avoid something like that? The idea of a Dragon Pact Warlock is pretty cool, and I wanna use this Pact Boon, but I wanna avoid a minion-splosion without just outright saying "No, it doesn't work."

Khaalis · Jun 27, 2008

DogBackward said:
Yeah, the special effects of that At-Will are hugely unbalanced. The Kobold Wild-Mage's ability is nifty, but it's not meant to be a PC ability. Not a 1st level at-will, anyway. If you want it to not be horribly broken, try this;

Acid: Weakened until the end of your next turn.
Cold: Slowed until the end of your next turn.
Fire: Add your Int. modifier to the damage roll (minimum +1).
Lightning: -1 to attacks and defenses until the end of your next turn.
Poison: Ongoing 5 Poison damage untilt he end of your next turn.

These put this power in line with other 1st level At-Will powers, while keeping the basic "feel" of the secondary effects you had included, I think. The original power was, no offense, very badly broken. Far too powerful.

I wasn't sure which was worse "until the end of your next turn" or "(save ends)". In retrospect the "your turn" equals to one round, while the "save" could technically be more than one. I like these suggestions with one possible change.

Lightning: Dazed until the end of your next turn.

This seems more in line with the others.

As for your Warlock's Curse ability... the Resist x is nice, but I'm thinking that this Pact seems more damage-focused.

The basic "Draconic" themes for the powers I am currently look at are:

-- Energy with side effects
-- Resistances and Defense bonuses
-- Flight &/or Shifting
-- Fear (as weakness, pushing or other debuff)

How about;
Draconic Wrath: When an enemy under the effects of your Warlock's Curse is reduced to 0 HP, all enemies adjacent to it take damage of your chosen energy type equal to 3 plus 1/2 your level as your foe explodes with elemental power.

There is one possible problem; the Rod of Corruption would pretty much allow a massive minion wipe with this, with a little planning. If you can curse a minion, then kill it, spreading the curse to all within 5 squares, it's possible to then kill another minion, triggering a chain reaction of elemental explosions.

Would this be a huge problem? If so, how might we avoid something like that? The idea of a Dragon Pact Warlock is pretty cool, and I wanna use this Pact Boon, but I wanna avoid a minion-splosion without just outright saying "No, it doesn't work."

I like the concept of this power. However, where did you come up with the 3 + 1/2 Level for Damage?

As for the other problem, I can't see a way around it unless you put a timer on it or a trigger.

Timer - When an enemy under the effects of your Warlock's Curse is reduced to 0 HP, at the end of your next turn the affected target detonates in a Close burst 1 doing damage of your draconic pact's energy type equal to 3 plus 1/2 your level to all creatures in the burst.

Trigger - When an enemy under the effects of your Warlock's Curse is reduced to 0 HP, the affected target detonates in a Close burst 1 doing damage of your draconic pact's energy type equal to 3 plus 1/2 your level to all creatures in the burst the first time a creature ends or begins its turn adjacent to the target.

Note; All creatures, not all enemies.

Thoughts?

Khaalis · Jun 27, 2008

Possibilities for 1st and 2nd level powers. This is based on using the following basic concepts or themes to the draconic power.

-- Energy with side effects
-- Resistances and Defense bonuses
-- Flight &/or Shifting
-- Fear (as weakness, pushing or other debuff)

Frightful Blast -- Warlock (Dragon) Attack 1
You hurl forth a blast of energy that instills fear that unbalances your foe.
Encounter ✦ Arcane, Fear, Implement and Acid, Cold, Fire, Lightning or Poison
Standard Action -- Ranged 5
Target: One creature
Attack: Charisma or Constitution vs. Reflex
Hit: 2d8 + Charisma or Constitution modifier damage of your dragon pact’s energy type, and the target takes a -1 penalty to Reflex defense until the end of your next turn.
Dragon Pact: The penalty to Reflex defense is equal to your Intelligence modifier.

Dragon Cloak -- Warlock (Dragon) Attack 1
You surround yourself in a sheath of draconic energy that protects you and damages others.
Daily ✦ Arcane and Acid, Cold, Fire, Lightning or Poison
Standard Action Personal
Effect: You gain a +1 power bonus to all defenses until the end of the encounter. Until the end of the encounter, an enemy that starts its turn adjacent to you takes 1d6 + Charisma or Constitution modifier damage of your dragon pact’s energy type.

Glide -- Warlock (Dragon) Utility 2
You begin to tap the dragon’s innate ability of magical flight and can glide gently to the ground from a height.
Encounter ✦ Arcane
Free Action -- Personal
Trigger: You fall
Effect: You take no damage from the fall, regardless of its distance, and do not fall prone at the end of the fall.

DogBackward · Jun 27, 2008

Heh. I figured out an easy way to stop Rod of Corruption'd Draconic Wrath cheese. Just say "When an enemy under the effects of your Warlock's curse is reduced to 0 HP by an effect other than Draconic Wrath..." Easy.

Frightful Blast is an interesting idea, but fear effects are usually a "The target moves its speed away from you." type deal. Maybe reduce the damage to 1d10 and add that to account for the fear bit? Glide is pretty cool, too. There should be something about the appearance of spectral wings or something like that, to make the draconic tie-in obvious.

Dragon Cloak's defense bonus is nifty and all, but the secondary effect is kinda similar to the Infernal one. You might wanna make it a littl emore distinct. I'd suggest something akin to the Cleric's Beacon of Hope. Something like;

"Any time you hit with a Melee or Ranged Basic Attack, or any attack that deals energy damage of the type matching your Dragon Pact, you deal extra damage equal to your Intelligence Modifier (minimum +1)."

Either that, or a flat +5 bonus, like Beacon of Hope adds. That makes it differnt from Armor of... Agathys, I think? Some wierd name, anyhow.

I like this, though. Dragon Pact Warlock is a pretty good concept. I'm gonna try and work up a few powers to toss in, too, later on. Plus, the Paragon Path, of course.

rpglucas · Jun 28, 2008

What about a bonus to resistance of +2 for every creature killed affected by your curse?
It could be called Draconic resilience!
I loved the draconic pact warlock, would you mind if I tried writing my own?
Ill make it different.... i promise