Proposal: Star Pact Warlock additions from Dragon 366

JoeNotCharles · Feb 12, 2009

The article Wish Upon a Star from Dragon 366 (still free at Download - 366_Dragon_Hi.pdf) has new feats and powers for the Star Pact Warlock.

7 Rabbit would love to have these available by the time he hits level 2.

It contains the following feats, all requiring the Warlock class, but not specifically Star Pact:

Heroic:
Sacrifice to Caiphon
Starfire Womb
Shadow's Eclipse

Paragon:
Twofold Pact (allows use of two Warlock pacts)
Bael Turath Born (Tiefling only)

Epic Tier:
Student of the Athaneum

It also includes new Warlock powers for all levels (again, available to all Warlocks, but most useful for Star Pact), a new paragon path Student of Caiphon (which does require Star Pact), and a new epic destiny Radiant One (which actually has no prerequisites except 21st level, but is thematically most appropriate for Star Pact warlocks).

Note that there were some revisions from the standalone version of the article, so be sure to look at the complete issue linked above. (The only one I can remember is that Twofold Pact was Tiefling only in that version.)

Lord Sessadore · Feb 12, 2009

From a quick glance:

I'm not a fan of Sacrifice to Caiphon. It's especially broken at low levels. Lose 1 hp to retry that encounter power I just missed with? Yes, please! And I can do it 6+ times before it costs me a surge! I'm the only person with reliable encounter powers, yay!

The rest of the feats look OK, though I'm a bit wary of Twofold Pact ... getting the second pact boon I don't really see much of a problem with, since you can still only use one boon at a time. But getting the at-will of the pact ... currently, humans are the only race that gets a bonus at-will, and that's a big part of their schtick. I don't like giving out extra at-wills with mere feats, either.

After the feats, I only got as far as the heroic-tier powers, and those only skimming. They mostly seem ok, but is it just me or do they generally do more damage than the PHB 'lock powers? Not that that's necessarily a bad thing; in my opinion, some of the warlock powers have kind of low damage compared to other strikers, with very little means to improve them. ('Locks really get the short end of the stick there - rangers and rogues both can get Superior Weapon Proficiency and Weapon Focus, both feats without prereqs, whereas the 'lock is stuck with crappy energy equivalents of Weapon Focus which have rather steep ability prereqs.)

Edit: Ok, I never said that a quick glance meant I had little to say

Dunamin · Feb 12, 2009

I pretty much agree with all LS' concerns.

Especially with regards to Sacrifice to Caiphon, that one really seems too much. Will have to read the article through carefully later.

Oni · Feb 12, 2009

I personally think that warlocks, especially starpact could use a little more oomph in their step, so I'm partial to the article. That said I'd want to wait too see what they do with them in AP before approving the article.

Atanatotatos · Feb 13, 2009

Warlock are generally regarded to be quite underpowered in terms of damage when compared to other strikers, so if new powers are released that deal slightly more damage it should be a good thing. Not sure about sacrifice to Caiphon, but I doubt it's a big concern; warlocks tend to miss a lot at very low levels I think.

Oni · Feb 13, 2009

If you hit, Sacrifice to Caiphon doesn't do anything. It's only useful on a complete miss, and at that point your turns pretty much a complete waste anyway. It doesn't make a good result better, only mitigates a bad one a little, I don't think it's as powerful as it seems. I.E. it's nice, but I'm not sure I'd feel compelled to take it.

[edit: On the other hand I can't imagine not taking Twofold Pact ASAP.]

JoeNotCharles · Feb 13, 2009

Well, I'd certainly take Sacrifice to Caiphon, but I have no interest in twofold pact - it doesn't fit the character's flavour. However, would it be more balanced if it worked more like multiclass powers - you get the second pact's at-will as an encounter power?

Atanatotatos · Feb 13, 2009

What's unbalanced in two-fold pact?

renau1g · Feb 13, 2009

Twofold pact being Paragon doesn't make it too overpowered I'd say. By that time you have quite a few encounters/dailies/utilities that adding that wouldn't be too much. Also, most PC's use just 1 at-will, especially strikers, but as more at-wills come out in AP it could be different.

Atanatotatos · Feb 13, 2009

I don't think so. Warlocks' at-will are made so that you are usig eldritch blast practically all the time, and the alternative at-wills give you a situational damage boost(not guaranteed) or a minor defensive benefit (like eyebite).
EB is you major at-will anyway...