Mistwell
Crusty Old Meatwad (he/him)
I really like the new proposed Warlock class. I could have posted this in one of the various other Warlock threads but those seem very loaded down with people complaining about the changes. But this is not a "plus" thread (which I don't really believe in) so feel free to disagree here with all of this.
To me, Pact magic wasn't the key identity of a Warlock but was instead a short rest annoyance for the entire group. Invocations, pacts, and actually being a spellcaster are the key identity and all are better than they were in my opinion.
Pact Boon starts at first level now rather than third level, so the overall approach to the class (combat, magic, familiar) starts right away.
They have WAY more spell slots now. 15 "regular" spell slots rather than 4 over the class, and that's not including a bunch of bonus slots I'll mention later. They also have more prepared spells than they did before which is a nice boost to flexibility (more on that later).
They got rid of the short rest dependency of the class, which was a huge issue at a lot of tables. It was you and the monk begging for a short rest when the remainder of the party didn't need it. You put the DM in a tough situation constraining them to make choices in scenarios which didn't discourage short rests (like the Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan scenario or wandering monsters or many other scenarios with time pressures on the party), you put pressure on another spellcaster to take and cast spells like rope trick when the rest of the party didn't need a short rest, and you put pressure on other players to accommodate your short rest needs when they might want to continue to explore particularly if they had a spell going which would run out of duration if they took a 1 hour break.
And in response Crawford says a lot of people in playtesting (for years now) would horde those few spell slots and end up not using them in play, which effectively caused there to be no spellcasting from Warlocks aside from cantrips and invocations, which was not a good result for a spellcaster class. Crawford says a LOT of feedback over the years complained about this aspect of the Warlock, and I am very happy it's gone.
For tables somehow getting lots and lots of short rests this may not seem like the big improvement it is to me, but the class was never designed to abuse short rest mechanics and assumed two short rests a day and this really helps even things out for typical tables, along with some meaningful boosts.
Their spell slots and progression are now familiar rather than weird for new players. They match other half-casters like Paladin and Ranger, and that's east to understand rather than having to figure out an entirely different subsystem for spells. You're now looking for rests at the same time everyone else is asking for rests.
Invocations are improved on an individual basis. Mystic Arcanum is now an invocation which you can start to take sooner than you could before, and allows you to get lower level spells with it if you want where you couldn't make that choice before, for added flexibility. You now decide how much you want to dig into the spellcasting pool, or instead focus more on other aspects of a Warlock like other invocations. And a lot of those invocations are buffed. For example, Gaze of Two Minds now lets you cast spells from the space of the person whose mind you're sharing, which is awesome.
Flavor-wise there are mechanical improvements as well. You can now have multiple patrons (though you do not have to) and you can use events in the campaign itself to obtain that second patron rather than being locked into the choices you made outside the game, which opens up a world of role playing. As in, you gain the attention of another powerful entity by the way you've been gaining power, and it can emphasize the sort of Warlock theme of them grabbing power where they can find it (if that is a direction you want to go - which for me it is because I love the Dresden Files). You can now contact your patron directly at 11th level, which I always thought was a missing aspect of this class.
First level bonus spells: You now get the Hex spell and Eldritch Blast for free! This makes total sense, and allows for space for the Warlock to grab another cantrip they've wanted all these years but couldn't because they basically had a spell-tax for Eldritch Blast and often Hex for first level spells. Hex is for the Warlock what Hunter's Mark is for the Ranger, and Hex eventually becomes a cantrip if you get to high enough levels, and also can benefit from the Hexer invocation.
Armor training with Medium armor! This is a big improvement because one aspect of the class seemed to support melee combat and then the lack of a decent AC really was a disincentive to go that direction.
Patron Spells now are not just spells available for you to prepare, but are always prepared and take up no preparation slot! You can also cast one of your patron spells per day without expending a spell slot. This is a nice increase in flexibility.
Specific to the Fiend Patron, they made improvements. For example, Dark One's Blessing now triggers if a creature dies in 5' of you, even if you're not the one who made the killing blow, and Dark Ones Own Luck can now be used often 5 times rather than once per rest. Those are meaningful boosts.
To me, almost every aspect of the Warlock was improved, and the annoyances of the class were removed.
The major balancing factor for a lot of these flexibility improvements throughout the class do come though making Mystic Arcanum an invocation to get higher level spells. That is the tradeoff being made here for all these extra spell slots and more prepared spells and higher AC and improve invocations and free cantrips and spells and free patron spells and such throughout the class, and I think it's a good trade.
I can definitely see how some Warlock fans are irked by that tradeoff, as they likely enjoyed the higher level spells and had worked out to their satisfaction a lot of short rests in their games and enjoyed the highly-focused aspects of the spell choices without the flexibility of all these additional slots and prepared spells. But for me, these are huge improvements to the class which makes the appeal of this class less niche and more broadly appealing. I think more of my players would enjoy this class now than before because of these changes.
To me, Pact magic wasn't the key identity of a Warlock but was instead a short rest annoyance for the entire group. Invocations, pacts, and actually being a spellcaster are the key identity and all are better than they were in my opinion.
Pact Boon starts at first level now rather than third level, so the overall approach to the class (combat, magic, familiar) starts right away.
They have WAY more spell slots now. 15 "regular" spell slots rather than 4 over the class, and that's not including a bunch of bonus slots I'll mention later. They also have more prepared spells than they did before which is a nice boost to flexibility (more on that later).
They got rid of the short rest dependency of the class, which was a huge issue at a lot of tables. It was you and the monk begging for a short rest when the remainder of the party didn't need it. You put the DM in a tough situation constraining them to make choices in scenarios which didn't discourage short rests (like the Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan scenario or wandering monsters or many other scenarios with time pressures on the party), you put pressure on another spellcaster to take and cast spells like rope trick when the rest of the party didn't need a short rest, and you put pressure on other players to accommodate your short rest needs when they might want to continue to explore particularly if they had a spell going which would run out of duration if they took a 1 hour break.
And in response Crawford says a lot of people in playtesting (for years now) would horde those few spell slots and end up not using them in play, which effectively caused there to be no spellcasting from Warlocks aside from cantrips and invocations, which was not a good result for a spellcaster class. Crawford says a LOT of feedback over the years complained about this aspect of the Warlock, and I am very happy it's gone.
For tables somehow getting lots and lots of short rests this may not seem like the big improvement it is to me, but the class was never designed to abuse short rest mechanics and assumed two short rests a day and this really helps even things out for typical tables, along with some meaningful boosts.
Their spell slots and progression are now familiar rather than weird for new players. They match other half-casters like Paladin and Ranger, and that's east to understand rather than having to figure out an entirely different subsystem for spells. You're now looking for rests at the same time everyone else is asking for rests.
Invocations are improved on an individual basis. Mystic Arcanum is now an invocation which you can start to take sooner than you could before, and allows you to get lower level spells with it if you want where you couldn't make that choice before, for added flexibility. You now decide how much you want to dig into the spellcasting pool, or instead focus more on other aspects of a Warlock like other invocations. And a lot of those invocations are buffed. For example, Gaze of Two Minds now lets you cast spells from the space of the person whose mind you're sharing, which is awesome.
Flavor-wise there are mechanical improvements as well. You can now have multiple patrons (though you do not have to) and you can use events in the campaign itself to obtain that second patron rather than being locked into the choices you made outside the game, which opens up a world of role playing. As in, you gain the attention of another powerful entity by the way you've been gaining power, and it can emphasize the sort of Warlock theme of them grabbing power where they can find it (if that is a direction you want to go - which for me it is because I love the Dresden Files). You can now contact your patron directly at 11th level, which I always thought was a missing aspect of this class.
First level bonus spells: You now get the Hex spell and Eldritch Blast for free! This makes total sense, and allows for space for the Warlock to grab another cantrip they've wanted all these years but couldn't because they basically had a spell-tax for Eldritch Blast and often Hex for first level spells. Hex is for the Warlock what Hunter's Mark is for the Ranger, and Hex eventually becomes a cantrip if you get to high enough levels, and also can benefit from the Hexer invocation.
Armor training with Medium armor! This is a big improvement because one aspect of the class seemed to support melee combat and then the lack of a decent AC really was a disincentive to go that direction.
Patron Spells now are not just spells available for you to prepare, but are always prepared and take up no preparation slot! You can also cast one of your patron spells per day without expending a spell slot. This is a nice increase in flexibility.
Specific to the Fiend Patron, they made improvements. For example, Dark One's Blessing now triggers if a creature dies in 5' of you, even if you're not the one who made the killing blow, and Dark Ones Own Luck can now be used often 5 times rather than once per rest. Those are meaningful boosts.
To me, almost every aspect of the Warlock was improved, and the annoyances of the class were removed.
The major balancing factor for a lot of these flexibility improvements throughout the class do come though making Mystic Arcanum an invocation to get higher level spells. That is the tradeoff being made here for all these extra spell slots and more prepared spells and higher AC and improve invocations and free cantrips and spells and free patron spells and such throughout the class, and I think it's a good trade.
I can definitely see how some Warlock fans are irked by that tradeoff, as they likely enjoyed the higher level spells and had worked out to their satisfaction a lot of short rests in their games and enjoyed the highly-focused aspects of the spell choices without the flexibility of all these additional slots and prepared spells. But for me, these are huge improvements to the class which makes the appeal of this class less niche and more broadly appealing. I think more of my players would enjoy this class now than before because of these changes.
