Disciple of the Lich Paragon Path

[Subumloc]

Hi everyone
As a DM, I've always been a thinkerer - I love to make up new material for my homebrew campaigns, and this time it's not different. However, since I'm not 100% sure about my "balancing" capabilities with the new edition, if someone could give my work a look it would be great.


A bit of context: I'm running a converted Red Hand of Doom, and the PC are approaching paragon levels. Recently, we went through chapter 3, where the PCs met a powerful lich, the Ghostlord. One of the players, a power-hungry elf warlock, surprised us by offering his allegiance to the undead creature. I took this as an opportunity not only for roleplay but also for a "mechanical" distinction, and whipped up this paragon path.
For inspiration, I started from the lich template in the DMG, keeping an eye on the other published paragon paths for the framework. This is the result.


(Note: English is not my first language, so I won't even try to translate the fluff. I'll try to explain the reasoning behind my choices however.)




DISCIPLE OF THE LICH
"My master taught me dark secrets. My path is not over yet, but my arcane arts are already stronger than you can imagine."


Prerequisite: Warlock, nongood allignment
(I know the alignment part may be a 3.x-ism, but given the context, I just can't see a good warlock in service of an undead monster)


DISCIPLE OF THE LICH PATH FEATURES


Spell Master (11° level): You can spend an action point to regain one warlock encounter power you have already used, instead of taking an extra action. (This is taken from the Astral Weapon PP and also a nod to the lich template)


Unholy Vigor (11° level): You gain a +5 bonus to saving throws against poison and to checks you make to resist the progression of a disease. (I wanted the Path to have something akin to "undead traits" withouth giving it flat-out immunities. +5 may be too much, but I figured it's very situational.)


Student of Necromancy (11° level): When you use a power that deals energy damage, you can choose to deal necrotic damage instead of the type it would normally deal. (This is again a nod to the lich template. I'm not sure about changing damage types, but I don't think it would be much of a problem, especially since several monsters have necrotic resistance and the warlock already has other less-common energy types).


Lesser Necromantic Aura (16° level): When an enemy hits you in melee, he takes necrotic damage equal to you Charisma modifier (max 5 damage). (This emulates a lich's necrotic aura without giving a true aura effect. I put a damage cap to play it safe but it might not be necessary.)


DISCIPLE OF THE LICH SPELLS


A general note on the spells: I eyeballed the damage values looking at other warlock PPs and higher level powers, so they might be off.


Cursed Word Disciple of the Lich Attack 11
Encounter ✦ Arcane, Implement, Necrotic
Standard Action Ranged 20
Target: One creature
Attack: Charisma vs. Will
Hit: 2d8 + Charisma necrotic damage, and you place your Warlock's Curse on the target. If the Curse was already in place, the target is stunned until the end of your next turn.


Consume the Soul Disciple of the Lich Utility 12
Daily ✦ Arcane
Free Action Personal
Trigger: A creature within range and affected by your Warlock’s Curse drops to 0 hit points or fewer
Effect: You gain temporary hit points equal to your level, and you can spend an healing surge.


(I wanted a power with a regeneration feel, but withouth giving "true" regeneration. The temp hp are there to make the power do something even when the warlock is at full health since it's a daily.)


Cloud of Disease Disciple of the Lich Attack 20
Daily ✦ Arcane, Implement, Necrotic
Standard Action Area Burst 2 within 10 squares
Target: Each creature in burst
Attack: Charisma vs. Fortitude
Hit: 3d10 + Charisma necrotic damage.
Effect: Target is weakened and grants combat advantage to his enemies until the end of your next turn.

 

[Nur-ab-sal]

I quite like this.

I put a damage cap to play it safe but it might not be necessary.

Probably not. Since it's the primary attack stat it will do more than some similar abilities, but even in epic it'll be, what, 10 damage?

Cursed Word Disciple of the Lich Attack 11
Encounter ✦ Arcane, Implement, Necrotic
Standard Action Ranged 20
Target: One creature
Attack: Charisma vs. Will
Hit: 2d8 + Charisma necrotic damage, and you place your Warlock's Curse on the target. If the Curse was already in place, the target is stunned until the end of your next turn.

This power will always stun if it hits; stun is such a powerful effect that I can't imagine anyone using it just to deliver a curse (though I suppose if the BBEG is hiding behind loooots of other enemies, maybe). I don't know if easy stunning is appropriate for encounters at this level (I don't know meaning I really don't know, not that I think it isn't; I'm not familiar enough with the power level of early paragon).

Consume the Soul Disciple of the Lich Utility 12
Daily ✦ Arcane
Free Action Personal
Trigger: A creature within range and affected by your Warlock’s Curse drops to 0 hit points or fewer
Effect: You gain temporary hit points equal to your level, and you can spend an healing surge.

(I wanted a power with a regeneration feel, but withouth giving "true" regeneration. The temp hp are there to make the power do something even when the warlock is at full health since it's a daily.)

Given that fighters have a level 2 daily utility that grants encounter-long regeneration (and shifters' racial encounter that grants regeneration when bloodied), I don't see there being a real balance problem with granting limited actual regeneration. (Remember regeneration doesn't work if you're unconscious.) In any case, this seems weak for a daily.

 

[Subumloc]

Thank you for the feedback.

This power will always stun if it hits; stun is such a powerful effect that I can't imagine anyone using it just to deliver a curse (though I suppose if the BBEG is hiding behind loooots of other enemies, maybe). I don't know if easy stunning is appropriate for encounters at this level (I don't know meaning I really don't know, not that I think it isn't; I'm not familiar enough with the power level of early paragon).

The intent here was to have two possible outcomes, but clearly there's a problem with the wording - if there's any suggestion that doesn't come out too complicated, that'd be great.
Re: stunning - what if it's dazed instead?

 

[Nur-ab-sal]

Oh no, there's no problem with your wording, I'm sorry. I meant that because stun is so much more powerful than placing the curse on a non-nearest target, I can't see it ever being used except to stun.

Dazing would certainly not be overpowered, but as I said, I don't know if stunning is either; one would have to examine other paragon path encounter attacks.

 

[rowport]

DISCIPLE OF THE LICH
DISCIPLE OF THE LICH PATH FEATURES
DISCIPLE OF THE LICH SPELLS
Cursed Word
Consume the Soul
Cloud of Disease

I really like the flavor and feel of this paragon path. It is even cooler that it responds to a player's idea-- big cool DM points for that. I think all the features are flavorful and balanced, so have no suggestions there. On the spells:
Cursed Word is too tempting for a Warlock player to game. Since Stunning an enemy is such a powerful effect, the player will always be tempted to save the power to use against an enemy he already cursed. (I think that was Nur's concern about it as well.) My suggestion is to weaken the effect and combine it with the Curse. So, it might instead say "Hit: 2d8 + Charisma necrotic damage, you place your Warlock's Curse on the target and the target grants combat advantage against you until the end of your next turn." That way it is not a true "stun" but could easily be flavored that the enemy drops its defenses versus the Warlock.

Consume the Soul should really be regeneration instead of the current version. As written, this is a great power for some Warlocks (like Dark Pact or Star Pact) but terrible for Infernal Pact, since temporary hit points do not stack. Half the power is a normal ability for Infernal Warlocks! Even amending it to allow the temporary hit points to stack is a kludge fix.

Cloud of Disease is too weak for a 20th level attack. I would suggest 4d10 instead.

 

[Subumloc]

Great suggestions, let's see what we can do.

THE ENCOUNTER POWER
I really like rowport's idea - the power gives CA if the target is already cursed. I'm going to try it out in-game but it seems appropriate.

THE UTILITY
I'm not sure about this one. As I said, I tend to "play it safe", so in the end things come out too weak. Right now I've two alternatives in mind:
- A daily that gives regeneration for an encounter as a minor. Now, there aren't lots of powers that give regeneration, so I'd say the right amout should be around 5 or a little more, but maybe it could have a secondary effect (some resistance maybe?)
- Change it to an encounter power without the TempHP part, keeping the same trigger (essentially, get a healing surge when you kill an enemy). There's an encounter attack 17 that deals damage and lets you spend a surge, so it shouldn't be too much (but maybe it's still too weak?).

THE DAILY
I went with 3 dice of damage because other path powers deal 4 dice to a single target, and this is an area attack. Upping it one dice is not a problem though.

 

[rowport]

THE ENCOUNTER POWER
I really like rowport's idea - the power gives CA if the target is already cursed. I'm going to try it out in-game but it seems appropriate.

Cool. I noticed that my language above was wrong; what you said here is what I meant to suggest.

THE UTILITY
I'm not sure about this one. As I said, I tend to "play it safe", so in the end things come out too weak. Right now I've two alternatives in mind:
- A daily that gives regeneration for an encounter as a minor. Now, there aren't lots of powers that give regeneration, so I'd say the right amout should be around 5 or a little more, but maybe it could have a secondary effect (some resistance maybe?)
- Change it to an encounter power without the TempHP part, keeping the same trigger (essentially, get a healing surge when you kill an enemy). There's an encounter attack 17 that deals damage and lets you spend a surge, so it shouldn't be too much (but maybe it's still too weak?).

I like the second idea (absolutely as an encounter power, not just daily). If you wanted to beef it a bit, you could use the language from one of the Warlord powers that say "as if you spent a healing surge" rather than actually costing a healing surge, but I think it is fine to use a surge.

THE DAILY
I went with 3 dice of damage because other path powers deal 4 dice to a single target, and this is an area attack. Upping it one dice is not a problem though.

I looked (quickly) through the level 20 Warlock powers of paragon paths in PHB, FRPG and Dragon. There is a frustrating large disparity on damage, lowest at 2d10 and highest at 5d10. As you note, most (but not all) are single target, but the biggest difference is a huge variance of secondary effects. Still, my gut check has it at 4d10 with the rest as-written.

 

[rowport]

Thanks for the XP! Whee!