D&D 5E Creating my first Warlock

Lanliss · Feb 22, 2017

My opinions on playing Warlock.

1) A lot of people are saying to take EB. Don't feel like you have to. My favorite part of the Warlock is the flavor, and "I cast Eldritch Blast" is not very interesting. The only reason I might recommend it is if you want something reliable and effective to fall back on when things get serious, and it is time to stop trying flavorful risky things. Unless your DM rewards those kinds of things, in which case you don't need to stop ever.

2) You say you are not going for full optimization, so you should be fine with any Boon, and any patron. Just find one that tells the story you want. If you have a specific patron in mind, talk with your DM about what area that Patron would fall under. For example, I wanted a Bladelock of Davy Jones, so I wound up as Undying. You could also go Tomelock of Undying, and have your patron be Necronomicon. Or chainlock, and have your Patron Ghost be your familiar. Just have fun, and make it interesting to yourself, and you should be fine.

Hathorym · Feb 22, 2017

spongebob1138 said:
So, I want to create a Warlock pc for the first time. (Snip)

Any suggestions? What spells/cantrips/pacts/invocations have you liked/disliked? Thanks in advance for your input!

I use neither Hex nor Eldritch Blast. When making Warlocks, I guess I just feel like EB/Hex is a crutch; that is the Warlock Class can be so much more than a one trick pony. That is, of course, only my opinion. I am privledged to have a group where this sort of "non-optimisation" is acceptable. I just feel as if it gIves me more options, more strategies, and honestly, more fun.

YMMV

Examples:

I usually make Human Variant single class Warlocks.

Nature's Voice: Archfey/Chainlock with Magic Initiate (Druidcraft, Shillelagh, Animal Friendship), Faerie Fire.

Acolyte of Hells: Fiend/Tomelock with Firebolt, Hellish Rebuke, and Command, with Elemental Adept (Fire).

Mad Enchanter: GOO/Tomelock using Dissonant Whispers, Charm Person, Vicious Mockery etc

Thinking about an Undying (SCAG), I think I'd go Bladelock, with a longsword used only as versatile and reskinned as a scythe, Magic initiate with Greenflame Blade and Shield, False Life and Hex, because in this case I think it would be thematically appropriate. Let's call it Deathwhisperer or something equally cheesy.

The new UA invocations should be perused, to add more flavor.

Ath-kethin · Feb 22, 2017

I agree on the "don't take eldritch blast if you can help it" camp. If you have it, you will never do anything else in combat, ever. It's incredibly dull. The warlock PC in my game tries to avoid using it just because it's so dull, but it's so much more effective an option than any other he has it becomes a real issue.

The problem then becomes, what DO you do in combat? Again, eldritch blast is annoyingly effective. A lot will depend on your group and your DM, but be aware that this is going to be something you need to deal with and plan ahead for it.

jgsugden · Feb 23, 2017

Warlock, more so than other classes, is a class best served by putting the character concept before the character mechanics.

If you're not a power gamer, and you only need to do a reasonable amount of damage, you're really quite wide-open with what you can do with a warlock. There's really no wrong choice. I'd suggest starting with a character concept that sounds like fun and then constructing the character abilities to support that character concept. For example, you might decide to do a character that was an academic studying the Elder gods who ended up falling into a pact with Cthulhu. If you start with a concept like this and then figure out what ability supported, abilities off and just select themselves for you.

If you start with the concept of the character and then figure out what abilities match up to the concept, will still end up with a very viable character and you'll have more fun playing that character.

I've played six warlocks. Some of them I played for only a session while others I played for a prolonged period. Each has been very different in their structure and all have been capable of contributing enough to combat that they felt like a significant member of the party.

Ganymede81 · Feb 23, 2017

It would be helpful if you could share a little about how you see your warlock.

What is your warlock's alignment, personality traits, ideal, bond, and flaw?

Guest 6801328 · Feb 23, 2017

Start with a really great story and unique personality, and then choose patrons, pacts, spells, etc. appropriately.

If you love your warlock's personality then whether or not you have EB won't really be important.

ad_hoc · Feb 23, 2017

Agonizing Blast isn't very good before 5th level and you only have 2 precious invocations. Take a look at the at will spells. Detect Magic and Silent Image are great to be able to cast whenever you like. You can also pick up some decent abilities with invocations.

Hex is also overrated (though not in this thread apparently which is nice to see). It's decent at low level but quickly isn't worth the high level spell slot (and concentration) that it requires.

As a Warlock remember that you are a full caster. The main difference is that you have more max level spells than other full casters but fewer spell slots overall. Aim to make the best use of those few slots.

Taronkov · Feb 23, 2017

Hex is overated later but the first few levels I find it to be particularly useful (unless fighting lots of undead), with the best use for my particular group is hexing a big monster, giving it disadvantage in str so either the druid can knock prone or the fighter can grapple. The damage isn't the important part of that spell. Early level I like the invocation that gives false life as well (swapped out at level 5). Those extra hp walking into every fight saved me more than a few times.

JackOfAllTirades · Feb 24, 2017

doctorbadwolf said:
The problem I have with Blade Pact pre-UA, is that it costs invocations to be as effective as the other two are without invocations. This limits the Blade pact warlock's choices, and leaves them less free to take invocations that increase their spellcasting, or give them always on abilities that help outside of combat, like 120ft darkvision, or atwill Jump/Levitate/whatever.

This is pure nonsense; all three Pacts in the PHB have their own dedicated invocations which are all but required for Warlocks who take that particular pact. The Blade Pact is no worse off than the others in this regard.

FrogReaver · Feb 24, 2017

JackOfAllTirades said:
This is pure nonsense; all three Pacts in the PHB have their own dedicated invocations which are all but required for Warlocks who take that particular pact. The Blade Pact is no worse off than the others in this regard.

Well he kind of is....

D&D 5E Creating my first Warlock

Lanliss

Explorer

Hathorym

Explorer

Ath-kethin

Elder Thing

jgsugden

Legend

Ganymede81

First Post

Guest 6801328

Guest

ad_hoc

(they/them)

Taronkov

Explorer

JackOfAllTirades

Explorer

FrogReaver

As long as i get to be the frog

Similar Threads