D&D 5E Companion thread to 5E Survivor - Subclasses (Part XIII: Warlock)

[CreamCloud0]

Oof, genie didn’t last long after hexblade went, i wonder how many of those downvotes were people revenge voting for me kicking it,

 

[Aldarc]

Oof, genie didn’t last long after hexblade went, i wonder how many of those downvotes were people revenge voting for me kicking it,

You shouldn't confuse justice for vengeance.

 

[CreamCloud0]

You shouldn't confuse justice for vengeance.

That’s what they all say to justify their vengeance.

 

[Aldarc]

That’s what they all say to justify their vengeance.

It's also what they all say in fulfilling justice.

 

[fluffybunbunkittens]

Oof, genie didn’t last long after hexblade went

FWIW, Genie was always next on my list of stuff to go after Hexblade... I guess it happened to be that way for others too.

While Hexblade is broken with multiclassing, Genie is just very lame when its defining feature is hiding in a lamp, and at higher levels, you can take others to hide in your lamp with you more efficiently! I just... this is the only thing you could come up with, a weaker Rope Trick?

 

[Ancalagon]

You know, fiend is an old design, but unlike the underwhelming execution of GOO, it does deliver.

 

[Aldarc]

You know, fiend is an old design, but unlike the underwhelming execution of GOO, it does deliver.

So does the Hexblade.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

I had fun revisiting the Warlock thanks to this Survivor thread, so I created a home-brewed patron in the last week, you can find it here:

D&D 5E - Homebrewed Warlock Patron: The Paradox

All the recent Warlock talk made me want to create a new patron, for fun! Check it out and tell me what you think: https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/xrlSShRtph1I EDIT: I started working on some additional invocations. EDIT 2: I now have an Invocation for each pact and a generic one...

www.enworld.org

I have likewise created homebrew content for one of @CleverNickName's threads in the past, if anyone is interested. More or less my premise was that the Hexblade is very specifically offense-focused, without any real attention paid to defense. So I made a "Platinum Dragon" Patron (natch), which still has nuggets of offense, but cleaves defensively, e.g. it doesn't get 2H weapons if you pair it with blade pact, but rather superior armor (essentially getting the UA armor-bond invocation for free if a Platinum Bladelock.)

Totally untested and hardly given more than two passes for balance, but it shouldn't be too bad. I might even make some unique invocations for it if anyone is interested--in particular, I'm thinking stuff that would make Tome or Chain more interesting, since Blade already has a boost. (Don't really feel Talisman for this Patron, tbh, but maybe that's a me thing.) For anyone who questions the theme, consider it intended as an alternative to an ugly (and probably more powerful!) Paladin/Hexblade multiclass dip.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

Oof, genie didn’t last long after hexblade went, i wonder how many of those downvotes were people revenge voting for me kicking it,

I mean, I would have downvoted either of the others preferentially, so...at least I wouldn't have, if I'd had the chance.

Of course, you could've voted down one of the others instead; I find it much more productive to keep a controversial candidate alive (don't boost it, but don't slam it either, just let it ride) for as long as possible. You then focus on taking down the options that are most likely to win: the dull, boring, basic ones. (Unless it's Dragon Sorcerer. Because I like Dragon Sorcerer, and therefore it being generic and unadorned is an unpardonable sin. Everything else, being as generic as possible literally couldn't be more desirable.) By keeping a controversial candidate until the top 3-4, and (hopefully) eliminating at least one of the unflavored-oatmeal options along the way (because there's always at least two), you significantly raise the chance that enough others will dislike the options that aren't your favorite that you can squeak out a victory. Anything which comes down to the 6-7 average on the top 3 is basically down to luck of the draw as to which fans happen to vote first, so keeping that lightning rod around to draw ire right at the end (and thus give you a 50/50 chance of getting the upvote!) is very useful.

Of course, hatters gonna hat though. Exactly as I predicted, nothing but unflavored oatmeal would be allowed to win this. I fully look forward (lied the boy) to seeing Evoker win the Wizard competition and then either it, Tempest Cleric, or Battle Master Fighter winning the final round, because God forbid we actually have something exciting, daring, or remotely creative take center stage.

Edit: To be clear, I know I'm being a salty curmudgeon here. It's just deeply disappointing that there has literally not once, not a single time, been a subclass I actually liked that has won. (Well, okay Lore Bard is alright, but I wanted Eloquence.) It becomes a lot harder to feel positive about it when one's preferences feel so crapped on constantly, every single time, without fail. Even when your preferences actually hew to the overall pattern, somehow the pattern breaks, just to spite you.

It makes me want to start an alternative style. Survivor is kind of punitive and really a lot more focused on destroying the "participants" you want to lose, rather than on supporting the ones you want to win. Feels like there has to be a more positive option. Like...I dunno, a "racetrack" competition, where everyone starts at 0 and you rank the winners based on how many posts it takes for them to cross the finish line. Perhaps have it start at 0 for everyone and every vote is +2/-1? That way it still has the back-and-forth, the possibility of surprise upsets or having a front-runner suddenly lose progress, but always moves something closer to the finish line?

I dunno. Could be fun. And would give us more of a "relative ranking" rather than a winner-takes-all.

 

[DND_Reborn]

Oof, genie didn’t last long after hexblade went, i wonder how many of those downvotes were people revenge voting for me kicking it,

Genie, Fathomless, and Undead were always my top three targets. I really didn't care who won as long as it wasn't those.

FWIW, only Fiend, Hexblade, and Celestial are the ones I've seen played (or played myself).