D&D 5E Is Warlock broken?

[MostlyDm]

Playing a warlock now. Love her. She does just fine. 5e means even mid-tier classes do really well.

The only problem is when things that are immune to low-level spells show up. Since the warlock relies on spamming a cantrip, that can be a problem. Helmed Horrors are problems for them too.

Eh, worth it for the flavour.

Helmed Horrors are a breath of fresh air, man. I kind of hate that the warlock's basic attack bypasses the resistances of approximately 99% of the monster manual right out of the gate.

 

[The Grassy Gnoll]

I may be missing something, so please can someone tell me where to look:

There are a few comments I've seen that say your Chain familiar bestows its special abilities on you - I can't see that anywhere. Or am I getting confused?

 

[MechaTarrasque]

I may be missing something, so please can someone tell me where to look:

There are a few comments I've seen that say your Chain familiar bestows its special abilities on you - I can't see that anywhere. Or am I getting confused?

The chainlock doesn't automatically get the variant familiars. You have to bribe your DM. I tend to give them myself (and give the sprite a similar variant familiar ability) without bribery, as advantage against magic isn't an autowin for the warlock, it isn't a big deal at lower levels (most goblins and orcs aren't trying to zap you), and at higher levels, the familiar's attack hasn't scaled, so you are still getting something special (besides being a prereq for some nice invocations) that the tomelock with find familiar doesn't get (much like the bladelock can find a magic weapon and make it his/her pact weapon), but that is a DM being a nice guy, not a strict reading of the rules.

To be fair, if the party encounters a "free range" imp or quasit, the tomelock (or anyone else with the find familiar spell) can make a deal with it, but that requires a real deal, as in paying something "in game" (not after the PC is dead or "the memory of the first love"), usually a daily payment in gp's equal to the highest level spell the PC could cast (9 gp max). I also give warlocks planar ally as a mystic arcanum spell, with the proviso that they always have to pay full price (if you want free labor, you have to be a cleric on a god's mission).

 

[The Grassy Gnoll]

Yes but where does it say the warlock gets the benefit of a special ability (eg magic resistance)?

 

[Sword of Spirit]

Yes but where does it say the warlock gets the benefit of a special ability (eg magic resistance)?

It doesn't. The Monster Manual entry on the imp and pseudodragon talk about abilities they grant as familiars.

Technically, the warlock's familiar isn't an imp, pseudodragon, or any other statted creature. It is a spirit that can assume the form of certain animals, or that of an imp, pseudodragon, or sprite.

From that perspective it makes sense that it wouldn't grant you the abilities that the real creatures do...but that's kind of a nerf for the warlock's class feature (unless your DM rules that the real creatures don't become actual familiars, and therefore just die to the first area effect spell you come across, despite that fact that it is strongly implied that the find familiar spell is necessary to form the bond with them, which implies that they should become actual familiars*).

So I'd say that you gain the abilities of the real creatures, including the special features they grant you as your familiar.

*In the warlock's case, there is even conceptual precedent with the Blade Pact. You can conjure a weapon of mystic energy, or you can bond to an actual magic weapon. If you bond to a magic weapon, you can then send it off to never never land and summon it back at will. That's how I would interpret the improved familiars in the MM, whether acquired via the Pact of the Chain, or by non-warlocks who cast find familiar.

 

[THEMNGMNT]

This thread makes me want to play a warlock. At first I was thinking about a dragonborn fiendlock pact of the blade, starting with a level of fighter. Perhaps Tiamat as his patron. But now I'm thinking elf feylock pact of the chain with sprite familiar, eldritch blast reflavored as a magic bow, and spy background because he's a secret agent of the Elf Queen.

 

[The Grassy Gnoll]

Mike Mearls opinion was that warlock fams don't provide magic resistance according to sageadvice.eu but Jezza is the man so I asked his thought. No response yet.

 

[S'mon]

I think giving PCs Magic Resistance from a familiar is surely OP, I don't recommend it.

 

[Eric V]

It doesn't. The Monster Manual entry on the imp and pseudodragon talk about abilities they grant as familiars.

So, how does one get an imp as a familar then? I don't see any rules in the books for how that's possible...is it only the result of a house rule?

 

[Azurewraith]

I think giving PCs Magic Resistance from a familiar is surely OP, I don't recommend it.

Just kill the imp and its gone shouldn't be to hard a fireball here a stiff breeze there.