Sell me on the Warlock

[mellored]

A fiend lock can cast fireball every battle. That's enough of an impact without eldrich blast.

 

[Jester David]

Sticking with rules as intended, I'd like to see your awesomeness. Create the best 9th Warlock you can with the one exception being that he does NOT have Eldritch Blast. By "best," you'll have to balance offense, defense, and out of combat effectiveness.I suspect that this will demand a high level of 5e gung fu.

A pact of the blade warlorck with armour of shadows should be interesting. Maybe throw on Polearm Mastery or Great Weapon Mastery. Should be pretty effective.
Pact of the tome gives you lots of different cantrips to use from multiple classes. While you won't add Cha to damage, diversity in damage type will useful.

 

[feartheminotaur]

A pact of the blade warlorck with armour of shadows should be interesting. Maybe throw on Polearm Mastery or Great Weapon Mastery. Should be pretty effective.

IME you have to pump Str (for heavy weapons) to make the -5 with GWM work effectively. That's less Dex or Con - which are vital for AC and Concentrating on those spells that allow you get Advantage on your attacks. Like a rogue, Dex based is the way to go, I think.

PAM is great for getting a bonus action attack, for sure, but still requires some investment in Str.

Pact of the tome gives you lots of different cantrips to use from multiple classes. While you won't add Cha to damage, diversity in damage type will useful.

I love Tome. Personally, that's my favorite feature of the Warlock. I played a booklock that had every ritual in her book. Talk about versatility.

 

[Guest 6801328]

I agree with the poster who said that's like building a fighter who doesn't wear armor. So I'm going to ignore the "no Eldritch Blast" part. I'd much rather take the cheap and easy DPR, and then put all my spells and points into more fun things, rather than having to use all my fun features to get the damage back up to par.

Everything else in the game? That's where it gets fun.

I'd go Tiefling for the Thaumaturgy and free Hellish Rebuke. And pure flavor.

Fiend is the obvious choice, but all three are tasty options. I'm kind of partial to Archfey, both for the flavor as a trickster Warlock, and because Misty Escape is oh-so-useful.

Tome Lock. That puts Cantrips up to Eldritch Blast, Friends, Thaumaturgy, Shillelagh, Vicious Mockery, and Sacred Flame.
Sacred Flame because Ravenloft just launched so you just know it's going to be useful. And because the idea of a Warlock casting Sacred Flame just amuses me. Shillelagh because sometimes you gotta get physical.

By level 9 you've got 20 Charisma. Screw Feats.

Let's see, Invocations:
- Agonizing Blast, of course
- Repelling Blast. With two beams that's 20' knockback each turn.
- Book of Ancient Secrets with Find Familiar. Owl. Oh, Advantage on every attack? TYVM. Eventually get Leomuds Tiny Hut and Phantom Steed.
- Ascendant Step. Levitate at will. "Can't we just nuke them from orbit?"
- One with the Shadows. Invisibility at will (requires dim light...of which there should be plenty in Ravenloft. In a pinch use Tiefling Darkness)

Spells:
- Hex (at 5th level you only need to cast it 1/day)
- Hold Person
- Hold Monster
- Counterspell
- Dispel Magic
- Banishment
- Vampiric Touch
- Magic Circle
- If Fiend: Flame Strike
- If Archfey: Seeming

 

[Ganymede81]

Like the previous poster, I'm going to ignore the "no eldritch blast" limitation. On the other hand, I'm also going to ignore the "warlock" limitation as well.

My character will be a Half Orc Champion Fighter with Eldritch Blast via the Magic Adept feat.

Hmm... I think he will take both the great weapon master feat alongside the two weapon master feat for maximum versatility.

With the free first level spell from Magic Adept, he will take Find Familiar and take a toad as his familiar.

He will refer to the toad as Mr. Hare, and for roleplay reasons he will be under the impression that the toad is a fluffy bunny.

 

[Horwath]

Making warlock without eldritch blast is like making a monk that is armored in fullplate.

honestly, they should have made eldritch blast hardcoded to warlock like in 3.5e not make it an cantrip that only warlock can make it powerfull.

 

[Lejaun]

In one of my games (I play in two), I played a Warlock for the past six months. I died last week, and I've never been happier to roll up a new character. I realize that there are a lot of different things you can do as a Warlock, but my game sessions felt kind of like this:

Me: Do the same thing I always do
Others: Do something

Next round
Me: Do the same thing I always do
Others: Do something different

Next round
Me: Do the same thing I always do
Others: New a new third thing.

It just wasn't fun for me. Insanely powerful, but for me the most boring character I've played.

 

[AtomicPope]

Gung Fu?

Start Fighter for the proficiencies. Then take 3 levels and choose Battle Master. You'll gain the following class features that recharge on a short rest:
* Action Surge - In the first round you can Hex a target then make 4 attacks.
* Fighting Style - TWF or Duelist are both good for damage; you can Hex in the 1st rnd then draw a second weapon if you want to be a TWF
* Maneuvers - Disarm, Evasive Footwork, Riposte
* Second Wind - Self heal for 1D10+3

The next 6 levels will be Warlock with Pact of the Blade. What kind of character do you want?

If you want to be like a scrappy, tricksy Rogue I'd suggest Fey Patron:
* Misty Escape - turn Invisible and Teleport away as a reaction (recharges on short rest)
* Fey Presence - mass charm/frighten (recharges on short rest)

Cantrips:
* Chill Touch - target cannot heal or be healed for one round; this is how you can assassinate certain creatures
* Poison Spray - alternate damage spell; save or take 2D12
* Prestidigitation - you're not a spell caster without this spell

Spells:
* Armor of Agathys - good damage shield with no concentration; increases with level; 15 temp hp; and does 15 cold damage when attacked in melee; increases with level
* Blink - good defensive spell with no concentration
* Charm Person - affects 3 targets at this level
* Faerie Fire - advantage for you and allies
* Hex - extra damage is good
* Hold Person - you will be able to target two creatures, and then butcher them
* Mirror Image - no concentration, decent defensive spell

Invocations:
* Thirsting Blade - two attacks with pact weapons
* One With Shadows - Invisibility in dim light or darkness
* Mask of Many Faces - Disguise Self at will

Make him a 1/2 Elf for the boost to Dex, Con, and Cha, not to mention bonus skills, bonus languages, and Darkvision. Take the background Street Urchin for access to Thieves' Tools and other Thief skills. Start as a Fighter for a good spread of Saving Throws (prof in Str and Con, high stats in Dex and Cha) making you durable in several areas, and high starting hit points. Also, prof in Con is good for concentration saves.

You'll have a character that is good in and out of combat with a wide range of spells and abilities, does good damage, and has some durability.

 

[mellored]

It just wasn't fun for me. Insanely powerful, but for me the most boring character I've played.

You could try a fighter. At least they won't expect you to do anything different.

 

[Ganymede81]

Making warlock without eldritch blast is like making a monk that is armored in fullplate.

I wouldn't go that far. My warlock uses Pact of the Blade, the Mobile feat, and judicious use of Expeditious Retreat to do pretty well without Eldritch Blast.