D&D 3E/3.5 [3.5] How does this Warlock build look?

[Particle_Man]

CG Human

Level 1-6 Warlock, 7-8 Enlightened Spirit (1-2), 9 Binder 1, 10-12 Hellfire Warlock (1-3), 13-20 Enlightened Spirit (3-10).

Feats: Spell Penetration, Greater Spell Penetration, Arcane Mastery, and all the rest Extra Invocation (which will get a big pile of Least Invocations).

Using the Binder level to get the vestige that lets one heal con damage (which would happen a lot with Hellfire Warlock).

I think it holds together. Is there something I should be aware of with respect to this build?
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[Dandu]

Enlightened Spirit doesn't give much, iirc.

 

[Persiflage]

It'd be easier to tell you whether there are any kinks to be straightened out if you told us what you wanted the build to achieve. I mean, it's legal and it does "stuff" - which is what I take from "holds together" - but without a bit more specificity as to goals, it's a little hard to praise or criticise.

Making a game stab in the absence of such information...

For what it's worth, if I wanted to play a Warlock and was going to be making a dip to a class that didn't advance my Warlock features, that class would be Cleric and I'd make it my first. You can qualify for Eldritch Disciple with a single level in Cleric (through Versatile Spellcaster and Heightened Spell). Play a human Cloistered Cleric at level 1 with both feats, take Warlock at 2nd and then prestige into Eldritch Disciple at 6th: 10 levels of Cleric spellcasting (including the one you already have) beats the snot out of a single level of Binder when it comes to... well, pretty much everything. Healing Con damage? Yeah, Clerics can do that

Trade out the Knowledge domain from Cloistered Cleric for Knowledge Devotion if you're going to be blasting stuff a lot: every little helps.

If your DM is prepared to swallow it, use Legacy Champion to advance your Hellfire Warlock progression when you've taken all 3 levels. Then switch back to Eldritch Disciple. The toys you get from that far outstrip anything Enlightened Spirit gets you, by an order of magnitude; and that's not even counting the Cleric spellcasting, which all by itself is hard to beat... unless, of course, you've got something specific in mind that you want out of Enlightened Spirit. I mean, it has a certain roleplaying cachet in the fluff text, but the crunchy bits don't make much of a meal

 

[Corwin of Amber]

Just a suggestion that I wish I had seen when I was playing a Warlock, the Demonbinder grants some nice abilities along with 9/10 invocation/blast progression. The only thing is that it requires an evil character, but could pretty easily be reflavord as a Celestialbinder. Although I have not tried that change, I have given it thought. The main caveat of the Demonbinder is the unholy nature that causes it to be despised. This could be mimicked by, instead, a growing detatchment on part of the character in order to create the same social stress on the non-combat situations. There is also a suggested adaptation for a demonbinder that reluctantly uses the powers, in the service of good.

If your DM is prepared to swallow it, use Legacy Champion to advance your Hellfire Warlock progression when you've taken all 3 levels.

I had always thought that Legacy Champion/Uncanny Trickster just replaced those levels and actually shortened the classes. Something along the lines of using them to skip over the levels that don't grant "+1 to spellcasting" in partial casting PrCs while still getting the special abilities.

 

[Particle_Man]

I guess part of what I am going for is a "no paperwork magic-user". Mainly a blaster/sniper, but I don't want to have to keep track of spell slots, spell points, X's per day, item creation, etc. Just plug and play. I would like to be non-evil if possible.

 

[Persiflage]

I had always thought that Legacy Champion/Uncanny Trickster just replaced those levels and actually shortened the classes. Something along the lines of using them to skip over the levels that don't grant "+1 to spellcasting" in partial casting PrCs while still getting the special abilities.

Not a bit of it...

Class Features: At each level except 1st and 7th, you gain class features and an increase in effective level as if you had also gained a level in a class to which you belonged before adding the prestige class level.

The specific class features you gain include spells per day (and spells known, if applicable), improved chance of turning or destroying undead, metamagic or item creation feats, bonus feats, monk special abilities, sneak attack progressions, and so on, depending on the class. You do not, however, gain the benefit of your previous class’s Hit Dice, attack progression, skill points, or saving throws.

The argument in favour of extending Hellfire Warlock with Legacy Champion is predicated on the fact that the 2d6 hellfire damage and progression of your original invoking class are clearly stated as being per class level. So even though HW has no class features beyond third level, LC can still increase your class level and therefore your hellfire damage, invocations known, etc.

I guess part of what I am going for is a "no paperwork magic-user". Mainly a blaster/sniper, but I don't want to have to keep track of spell slots, spell points, X's per day, item creation, etc. Just plug and play. I would like to be non-evil if possible.

OK, well, fair enough. In which case, have you considered Sentinel of Bharrai (BoED)? You do end up with a couple of x per y abilities... but one of those is summoning an army of giant face-eating bears once per week.

 

[Empirate]

On a low-middling optimization level, I'd still skip Enlightened Spirit in favor of straight Warlock. There are a few other PrCs you can get into with Warlocks and that will advance your invocation progression. Take a peek here.

A few other things to consider:

Hellfire Warlock is, IMO, really hard to justify with a good-aligned character. Optimization-wise, it's often recommended. Try to get there without an actual Binder level, though. Uncanny Trickster and Legacy Champion are two ways to advance your Hellfire Blasts; a Bloodline is another, and offers other benefits.

Chaotic Good Warlocks make great Fey-flavored characters. Fey Heritage and the rest of that feat line are not too bad, actually. You could end up with very nice DR/Cold Iron that way (coz it stacks with your Warlock class feature), and Fey Power is very nice indeed for the boost to Invocation save DCs. If you can buy off the LA, Feytouched is a nice template to go with your base race. Or just be a Pixie or Petal in the first place for tons of pure awesome, of course.

Spell Penetration is not that greatly needed, IMO. Greater Spell Penetration is, frankly, a waste. Two of your precious few feats to get even more of a small bonus useful only in relatively (especially at low to mid levels) rare circumstances? No deal. Arcane Mastery - same vein.
Your choice of Invocations should just make sure you have something useful to do in case high-SR enemies show up. But that's not always the case and is heavily campaign-dependent. Also, you could still UMD a Wand of Web or something.

Two levels of Chameleon, though not so good for your Invocation advancement, offer the awesome possibility of daily changing one Invocation via the floating feat (Extra Invocation, natch). This is a unique ability, and very useful for the flexibility-wise challenged Warlock.

 

[SnowHeart]

I would also consider dumping the spell penetration feats (both of them). As a warlock, you can take vitriolic blast to overcome spell resistance (at least for purposes of dealing damage; the warlock's version of the orb spells) and I think there are some admixture gloves or something in the MIC that will let you change the energy from acid to something else (if you run into a creature immune to acid).

 

[Dandu]

Hellfire Warlock is, IMO, really hard to justify with a good-aligned character.

"It is not the weapon that is evil, but the wielder."
-- Galena Todrick, hellfire warlock

 

[Empirate]

Yeah, but what if the wielder is good, not evil?

We're talking HELLfire here. To slightly misquote Frank & K: in Hell, even the sand is evil. But sure, as long as the character concept holds enough water for the DM to be happy with it...