D&D 5E Proposed Houserule: Warlock Spell Slots

[DammitVictor]

Are we talking about granting them an extra spell slot, or just moving up the level they already get their third slot a few levels?

 

[J-H]

Rod of the Pact Keeper +1 is a nice drop that adds a 1/day 1-slot recharge without having to change the rules.

 

[Charlaquin]

My proposal is to give the Warlock an additional spell slot at level 5. That's pretty much it.

I don’t think it would be needed in my games, but potentially a useful rule for tables where warlocks struggle. I had a warlock in a Thule game with an extra spell slot once, can’t remember if it was from a magic item or a special background. Either way, it felt strong to me because I basically never ran out of spell slots, but it was far from overpowered as I was still generally only casting one non-cantrip spell per encounter, or sometimes two.

I'd also consider the possibility to making some of the spell invocations draw from a pool of daily castings, give them a fancy name like Sigils of Power, and say you have Sigils equal to your proficiency bonus and they recharge on a long rest, which would weaken some Invocations and strengthen others (those that spend a warlock spell slot to cast 1/day).

I’d sooner just change the Invocations that take a warlock spell slot to cast 1/day and make them 1/day and not cost the spell slot. Accomplishes pretty much the same goal with less fuss.

Oh! Also, Variant Optional rule, make warlocks int based and give them prepared casting from known spells and they can learn more like wizards, but from the warlock spell list.

I think that would be a cool Invocation for Pact of the Tome.

 

[rgoodbb]

I agree.

Most of the games I have been involved in have often seen just one big battle at the end of the day and maybe a minor skirmish beforehand. If you know that's your DM's preferred playstyle of fewer encounters, then that extra slot feels very important to keep up.

 

[Iry]

Compromise
Gained at Level 5 - A warlock may cast a single 1st level spell they know without expending a spell slot. You cannot use this ability again until you have finished a short or long rest.

 

[tetrasodium]

I agree.

Most of the games I have been involved in have often seen just one big battle at the end of the day and maybe a minor skirmish beforehand. If you know that's your DM's preferred playstyle of fewer encounters, then that extra slot feels very important to keep up.

Is that not why warlocks have a broken cantrip in the form of agonizing (repelling) eldritch blast & unlike natural/arcane recovery of druid & wizard can recover spell slots on an unlimited number of short rests per day? If people want to nullify the downsides under the worst possible situation, are the upsides that are excessively good in other situations deserve to remain?

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I don’t think it would be needed in my games, but potentially a useful rule for tables where warlocks struggle. I had a warlock in a Thule game with an extra spell slot once, can’t remember if it was from a magic item or a special background. Either way, it felt strong to me because I basically never ran out of spell slots, but it was far from overpowered as I was still generally only casting one non-cantrip spell per encounter, or sometimes two.

Yeah, that’s the thing about stuff like this. It’s very group dependent.

I’d sooner just change the Invocations that take a warlock spell slot to cast 1/day and make them 1/day and not cost the spell slot. Accomplishes pretty much the same goal with less fuss.

That works too, I just like giving them more widgets with spooky occult names.

I think that would be a cool Invocation for Pact of the Tome.

I’d go for that if it were possible to have that at level 1. As it is, 5e point buy isn’t generous enough to have a character with caster level stats in two stats.

Compromise
Gained at Level 5 - A warlock may cast a single 1st level spell they know without expending a spell slot. You cannot use this ability again until you have finished a short or long rest.

A good comp for games where an extra slot might be too much, I suppose.

Is that not why warlocks have a broken cantrip in the form of agonizing (repelling) eldritch blast & unlike natural/arcane recovery of druid & wizard can recover spell slots on an unlimited number of short rests per day? If people want to nullify the downsides under the worst possible situation, are the upsides that are excessively good in other situations deserve to remain?

The warlock has nothing that is overpowered. Even if you have a 6 encounter day with 2 short rests, where the warlock shines, they aren’t outshining anyone else. They are keeping pace.

In any other game, they often struggle to keep pace, and are frustrating to play. It also makes it more difficult to choose non-combat spells in a lot of games.

 

[tetrasodium]

The warlock has nothing that is overpowered. Even if you have a 6 encounter day with 2 short rests, where the warlock shines, they aren’t outshining anyone else. They are keeping pace.

In any other game, they often struggle to keep pace, and are frustrating to play. It also makes it more difficult to choose non-combat spells in a lot of games.

You just confirmed my point. If the dm needs to strictly shackle the entire campaign's pacing to one very specific formula for one of thirteen classes and never allow it to deviate to allow more rests within the plot & pacing it indicates that something is very wrong. This is a thread where people are talking about removing or reducing the downside of moving that shackle slightly towards being more restrictive, raising the question of pairing it with addressing the massive problems caused by moving the shackle slightly towards less restrictive is extremely reasonable.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

You just confirmed my point. If the dm needs to strictly shackle the entire campaign's pacing to one very specific formula for one of thirteen classes and never allow it to deviate to allow more rests within the plot & pacing it indicates that something is very wrong. This is a thread where people are talking about removing or reducing the downside of moving that shackle slightly towards being more restrictive, raising the question of pairing it with addressing the massive problems caused by moving the shackle slightly towards less restrictive is extremely reasonable.

You’re off on a tangent that has frack-all to do with the thread or anything I’ve talked about, and I don’t care at all about it. Please stop.

None of the hyperbolic nonsense you’re spouting is true, or relevant to the thread.

 

[Laurefindel]

If your games, like mine, tend to have fewer, deadlier encounters per day; I’d be fine.

i like the idea of a « mystic arcanum, 1st level ».

i also gave the spell invocation the same wording as the artificer; « you can cast this spell once with this trait. Once you use it, you must complete a long rest or spend a spell slot to cast it again » to the PHB incantations