Unearthed Arcana Unearthed Arcana: Wizards & Warlocks -- Hexblades, Raven Queens, and Lore Mastery!

Leatherhead · Feb 13, 2017

This week's Unearthed Arcana from WotC's Mike Mearls and Jeremy Crawford hits both the Warlock and the Wizard! The Warlock gets two new otherworldly patron features -- the Hexblade (a sentient magic weapon), and the Raven Queen (who rules the Shadowfell from an icy palace). The Wizard gets a new arcane tradition called Lore Mastery. There's also some expansion to the Warlock's eldritch invocations feature.

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Raunalyn · Feb 13, 2017

Ah...beat me by a couple of minutes...

lowkey13 · Feb 13, 2017

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Raunalyn · Feb 13, 2017

Anyone else think that the Armor of Hexes ability is a bit overpowered? Basically a 50% chance to be missed by your hexed target? Why not give them disadvantage instead?

Parmandur · Feb 13, 2017

lowkey13 said:
Meh.

Don't care about the Wizard.

I was really looking forward to the Warlock, but I was disappointed. They needed some new pacts boons, not patrons.

I have mixed emotions about the invocations; yes, it's great to see some new ones. Some look really good. Trouble is- the gatekeeping on them. I don't mind gatekeeping by level, or even a prerequisite of another invocation, but almost all of these are done by patron (or patron/pact). Which is ... of limited utility.

If they are going that route, then they might consider making invocations akin to a "spell list" by patron.

Underwhelmed.

Well, it fills a gap from the PHB, where the invocations were more general in nature; an experiment with more narrative specific options is interesting.

Having a powerful magic weapon for a patron is a pretty good idea, I like it; Raven Queen is an interesting choice, I wonder if some of the necrotic options for other classes they have been doing indicate that the Raven Queen will play a big part in the Big Book of Crunch..

Everyone wanted a Generalist Wizard; and this one is pretty amazing, actually: maybe OP, even.

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Tales and Chronicles · Feb 13, 2017

I love the hexblade, but I feel it might step a little on the boon of blade's toes, even with the addition of special invocations for the Blade.
The Raven queen feels ''meh'', I dont think we needed yet another necrotic warlock. Does someone knows if the Raven Queen was something before the 4e?
I absolutely love the school of Lore for the Wizard, it reminds me of the old Scholar of Candlekeep prestige class I played in Neverwinter Nights 2. Still, I think that 1) Alchemical Secret is really a bad name that doesnt make sense with the description of the feature 2) some sorcerer's players will feel cheated by this feature.

MechaTarrasque · Feb 13, 2017

I was not expecting that. So I guess you can be a tomelock with Hexblade patron and get the best of both worlds. New invocations are nice.

Is the lore mastery wizard the generalist wizard or the sorcerer wizard (or both)?

Have to digest this for a bit.....

Mystic next week?

TwoSix · Feb 13, 2017

I have some nits to pick, but otherwise all I can say is "BRAVO". This is the creative, impactful material I've been wanting to see. Cha on attacks without the annoying shillelagh/tome pick. The ability to change damage types on the fly. Polymorphing into a raven at-will. Invocations that build on patron and pact type. Love it!

QuietBrowser · Feb 13, 2017

lowkey13 said:
Meh.

Don't care about the Wizard.

I was really looking forward to the Warlock, but I was disappointed. They needed some new pacts boons, not patrons.

I have mixed emotions about the invocations; yes, it's great to see some new ones. Some look really good. Trouble is- the gatekeeping on them. I don't mind gatekeeping by level, or even a prerequisite of another invocation, but almost all of these are done by patron (or patron/pact). Which is ... of limited utility.

If they are going that route, then they might consider making invocations akin to a "spell list" by patron.

Underwhelmed.

Let's get serious here: who honestly thought that there would be new Pact Boons? Like it or not, Patrons are the defining subclass mechanic for Warlocks and there's really not much, if any, cognitive grounds for new Pact Boons to incorporate. We've got a magical weapon, a spellbook, and a familiar. Like I keep asking, what's left? Much as I adored the Deadlands Hexslinger (don't judge me), really, it's a Pact of the Blade Warlock with a Gun as its Pact Weapon.

As for the gatekeeping on the new Invocations, honestly, I think it looks great; we've plenty of generic invocations in the corebook, but these really go a long way towards helping different warlocks with the same Pact or Patron feel unique. Thumbs up.

Mixed feelings on the new Patrons. The Hexblade is actually pretty awesome, as it expertly compliments the Blade Pact, but the Raven Queen is a little bit too... I don't know, specific.

The Loremaster is actually a lot better than I was anticipating; this actually feels like a pretty solid "generalist" tradition for mages, which we kind of gave up after the corebook release.