• The VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX is LIVE! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!

D&D (2024) They butchered the warlock in the new packet


log in or register to remove this ad




2014:
Invocations: Devil's Sight, Armor of Shadows, Agonizing Blast, Voice of the Chain Master
Cantrips: Eldritch Blast, Mage Hand, Minor Illusion
Spells Known: Arms of Hadar, Hex, Burning Hands, Misty Step, Scorching Ray, Fly, Counterspell, Banishment

Spell slots: 2, level: 4th

2024:
Invocations: Devil's Sight, Armor of Shadows, Agonizing Blast, Mystic Arcanum (Banishment)
Cantrips: Eldritch Blast, Mage Hand, Minor Illusion, Fire Bolt
Spells Prepared: Pact Familiar, Arms of Hadar, Hex, Burning Hands*, Command*, False Life, Misty Step, Scorching Ray*, Suggestion*, Blindness/Deafness, Invisibility, Web, Levitate

Spell Slots:
1st: 4
2nd: 3
Plus one free casting of a pact spell (*) and one use of Banishment per day.
so we loose fly and counter spell and the Voice of the Chain Master
we gain firebolt, burning hands command scorching ray suggestion blind/deaf invisibility web and levitate

I don't know about voice of the chain master I never took it before but fly and counter spell sound way better then anything on the other list
 


Reef

Hero
The other problem I had with Pact Magic was that so few Warlock spells scaled with level. Being able to cast a spell at max level all the time is great for some spells, but feels like an utter waste for others. I don’t need to cast Hex with a 4th level slot (24 hours sounds great until you blow a Concentration check two rounds in), I’d rather save it for something that will give me actual bang for my max level buck.

So, my low level warlock went from using a wider variety of spells (Suggestion, Hold Person), etc, to using just a few when needed.

The new play test system will alleviate that, at least. To my mind, that makes it worth at least trying out.
 
Last edited:


Remathilis

Legend
But the issue is, you rarely got 2 short rests per day.

Sometimes you didn't get any.
I'm not going to disagree there. Actually that serves my point. Warlock power was hard to gauge because it was dependent on short rests and that is impossible to predict. You could get no rests and have two spells per day. You could rest every encounter and have 4, 6, or 8 spells per day.

Imagine if sorcerers rolled a die to determine how many spell slots they got per day of a given level. That's the kind of range of variance we're dealing with.
 

billd91

Not your screen monkey (he/him) 🇺🇦🇵🇸🏳️‍⚧️
The other problem I had with Pact Magic was that so few Warlock spells scaled with level. Being able to cast a spell at max level all the time is great for some spells, but feels like an utter waste for others. I don’t need to cast Hex with a 4th level slot (24 hours sounds great until you blow a Concentration check two rounds in), I’d rather save it for something that will give me actual bang for my max level buck.

So, my low level warlock went from using a wider variety of spells (Suggestion, Hold Person), etc, to using just a few when needed.

The new play test system will alleviate that, at least. To my kind, that makes it worth at least trying out.
This is probably the most persuasive argument I've seen about weaknesses in the warlock's pact magic. And I could see adding a couple of slots to power spells at lower than the warlock's max level to address it. But going half-caster with the warlock would be going too far in erasing a really different alternative to traditional D&D spell casting.
 

Voidrunner's Codex

Remove ads

Top