D&D (2024) I like the new Warlock

[Jefe Bergenstein]

It's not baked into the class because 1/3 of Warlocks use their Pact weapon for at-will damage, not eldritch blast. One of the worst things about 5e was that before the hexblade was released (which was basically an errata for Pact of the Blade, and caused more than its share of problems), even with the most optimized Pact of the Blade Warlock would still do more damage with Eldritch Blast than their Pact Blade. Pact of the blade was literally a trap, even if in you spend all of your character resources optimize your blade, Eldritch Blast was always the better option.

It's still kind of a trap. You attack up to 4 times for d10+Cha at range, vs attacking twice for d8+Cha in melee.

 

[codo]

It's still kind of a trap. You attack up to 4 times for d10+Cha at range, vs attacking twice for d8+Cha in melee.

I think the two other Pacts are still stronger than the Pact of the Blade, but its not quite a trap. I think a pact blade warlock, with the right feats and magic items can manage to do more damage with their Pact Blade than they could do with Eldritch Blast. Pact Blade warlock may not be great, but they are a hell of a lot better than they used to be.

 

[OldSchoolGamerGirl]

It's still kind of a trap. You attack up to 4 times for d10+Cha at range, vs attacking twice for d8+Cha in melee.

it depends on the game... I just saw someone put playtest builds for 4 characters and one was a blade lock with agonizing blast and people were telling them that wasn't worth it since they would be in melee.

 

[Mephista]

How the hell is agonizing blast still not just baked into the class? One invocation basically doubles your at will damage output. Anyone not taking it is seriously gimping themselves, particularly with the slower spell aquisition. They may as well have made sneak attack an opt-in to noob trap people.

They also baked it into Book for free with the level 5 upgrade. Chain got familiar attacks, which seem to be doing damage too. So, its free for book, and a cost for chain if they want to be even better.

And blades are off in terms of damage at level 11+ compared to E.B.. But this is neither here nor there.

 

[mellored]

It's still kind of a trap. You attack up to 4 times for d10+Cha at range, vs attacking twice for d8+Cha in melee.

Just FYI
You can no longer use crossbow expert to Eldritch Blast in melee.

 

[codo]

Just FYI
You can no longer use crossbow expert to Eldritch Blast in melee.

No, but spell sniper does. It also lets you ignore cover, increase the range of spells by 60 feet, and boosts your casting stat by 1.

 

[mellored]

No, but spell sniper does. It also lets you ignore cover, increase the range of spells by 60 feet, and boosts your casting stat by 1.

Forgot about that one.
Thanks

 

[codo]

Forgot about that one.
Thanks

No problem. It is easy to do. I made a big mistake last night reading the weapon masteries. After nearly a decade with the same rules, getting a large playtest package with new rules can make it pretty confusing. It is going to take all of us a while to fully internalize all of the new rules. Especially if you are still playing in a 5e game. Trying to remember to two similar, but different rule sets is surprisingly had to do, without mixing up the two.

 

[Chaosmancer]

I think the two other Pacts are still stronger than the Pact of the Blade, but its not quite a trap. I think a pact blade warlock, with the right feats and magic items can manage to do more damage with their Pact Blade than they could do with Eldritch Blast. Pact Blade warlock may not be great, but they are a hell of a lot better than they used to be.

Anytime I see one build that is really good, and another build that should be equal, but can only get there with magic items and feats, I see a problem.

Bladelocks should not require feats and magical items to be equal to just using eldritch blast (especially since most weapon feats that increase damage are currently useless for them, since they can't use heavy weapons. Which is about the only fix needed to bring the damages back in line)

 

[codo]

Anytime I see one build that is really good, and another build that should be equal, but can only get there with magic items and feats, I see a problem.

Bladelocks should not require feats and magical items to be equal to just using eldritch blast (especially since most weapon feats that increase damage are currently useless for them, since they can't use heavy weapons. Which is about the only fix needed to bring the damages back in line)

I am not saying Pact Blade warlocks are perfect, but they are a hell of a lot better than they used to be. It's a good start, but they still have more work to do. But, hey, it's a first draft in a playtest. Finding these sorts of problems is what the playtest is for. It's still early we still have plenty of time for further iteration.

Remember at the start of every playtest packet they say that they haven't really bothered to completely balanced everything yet, and they will do a big balance pass after they have locked things down more. Even if Pact Blade Warlocks are still currently weaker, It does show that the developers are aware of the problem and started to make changes to address it. They are working on the problem and I am not going to get concerned or upset about it now. I can wait to see how further iteration on it look.