D&D (2024) 2024 Player's Handbook reveal: "New Warlock"

"The character builder's paradise".

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We last saw the Warlock in Playtest 7, with a lot of features from 2014 restored from the previous version. Still, a lot of questions (for me) remain: here's my list from before the video ran:

Spoiler

• Will the three pacts still be invocations, and will it be possible to get all of them by level 2? (I hope not). Yes.
• If they are invocations, will people still believe they are getting more invocations than thry had in 2014? Yes.
• What will the Pact of the Chain special creature options be? (We've seen the Sphinx of Wonder previewed already.) Is there still going to be a (M-sized) skeleton option? YES!
• Will Pact of the Tome still have the lame rewritten Ritual Caster rules, of only two 1st level rituals, and never any more? (I hope not). No answer, but I doubt it's been changed.
• Is it conceivable that anyone would not take Pact of the Blade as one of their Invocations? (Doubt it.) No answer. They did not talk about whether later invocations will give Extra attack, or other concerns here.
• Will anyone be able to take Eldritch Blast? "Warlock Specific"

(Happily, many of these questions were indeed answered in the video!).
I think warlock really benefits from having the subclasses come at level 3: you can "dabble" in the occult without selling your soul until level 3 (though admittedly, the wording of the fluff text does not require you to sell your soul).

OVERVIEW

• Invocations at 1, Magical Cunning at 2 (as in PT7)
• Crawford claims we will get more eldritch invocations. Assuming the table's as in PT7, this is a bit of a fudge: there's one for a pact at level 5 (no gain) and one extra, at level 5, and for most it will go, I feel, to another pact). Yes there's more flexibility.
• Main choices are Pact Boons. "This is a big deal" -- "it is a juicy choice" they say, and Crawford makes it clear you can get them all "over time". "Over time", though, is by level 2. To me this is too much too early.
• NEW: all pact boons at level 1 now.
• NEW: "More Spooky critter options" for Pact of the Chain, speaking to Patron types. Complete list: Slaad tadpole. Skeleton, Imp, Pseudodragon, Quasit, Sprite (Fey), Sphinx of Wonder (Celestial), Venomous Snake. All will be in the PHB.
• Spellcasting has been enhanced: more invocations work with warlock spells. Now they don't just affect Eldritch Blast (which is warlock-specific -- not clear how that's mechanized, though). You can have Ray of Frost with Repelling Blast.
• NEW: Lessons of the First Ones only lets you take an Origin Feat.
• Contact Patron at 9, Mystic Arcanum at 11+, expanded spell list (though not as big as sorcerer).
• All subclasses get an expanded spell list.

SUBCLASSES

ARCHFEY - "a teleportation fantasia"

• Gameplay was not living up to the flavour. Going "all-in" on Teleportation.
• Additional effects occur whenever you cast the spell, not just the free casting from Steps of the Fey. (Refreshing step and Taunting Step confirmed, as in PT7 apparently).
• Beguiling Defenses, causing psychic damage
• Bewitching magic at 14 as in PT7 -- "ridiculous in all the best ways".

CELESTIAL

• NEW: from expanded class spell list. Summon Celestial on spell list.
• NEW: Guiding Bolt, Cure wounds and Aid (Aid was not on PT7 list) on subclass list
• You can be "a hired hitman from the gods"
• NEW: Searing Radiance at 14 now can apply to an ally.

FIEND

• Magical weapons no longer pass your damage resitance (in reference to Fiendish Resilience at 10?)
• "tankiness" seen in BG3 is also here: Dark One's Blessing seems completely rewritten, as it was described in the Design Note of the PT7.

GREAT OLD ONE

• NEW: Summon Aberration might be a version of the Mind Flayer (an option in the Summon Abberation spell)
• when you do damage, you can do psychic.
• Psychic Spells for enchantment/illusion without Verbal/Somatic (but you still need Material); damage may be Psychic. Clairvoyant Combatant can be a battle of wills (focusing damage to one target -- a nod to AD&D psionic battles). Eldritch Hex also as in PT7.

 

[mellored]

There is no legit reason to be upset the Warlock gets a third attack. Sure, Spirit Shroud adds some decent damage.

It's more than decent.


2 attacks, and scale Lifedrinker will fix this easy enough.

 

[Gladius Legis]

I don't think that's an apples to apples comparison. You're counting invocations, but you're not counting all the class features a Fighter is going to have. Where's the Fighting Style benefit? Where's the subclass features calculation? Warlock subclass features tend to be defensive, while Fighters have more offensive ones included, so you can't ignore those.

I'm not the best at these sort of calculations, but I'm relying on people I'm confident are pretty good. Including Treantmonk, even if I think people treat his ideas as gospel a little too much.

Treantmonk is actually the one who sounded the alarm on the playtest Warlock being overtuned.

 

[Kurotowa]

Treantmonk is actually the one who sounded the alarm on the playtest Warlock being overtuned.

Yes, and he does a good job of an apples to apples comparison with subclasses and Mastery traits and miss chances and all that factored in. I disagree with some of his conclusions (better to target the per-hit damage enhancements, particularly the egregiously overtuned Spirit Shroud) but I don't fault his math.

 

[tglassy]

I feel like Eldritch Knights with a Melee cantrip can outdamage this Warlock. The new one is beast. They can get Spirit Shroud at lvl 13.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Well said. And yet we have conditions that make the player sit out of the game- if a character dies, they can make a new one. That takes longer in some systems than others, 5e characters can take a while to make especially if they're leveled.
But STUNNED ... ugh. I hate that one in particular, so (after almost a decade) I house-ruled it.

I understand this is frustrating for some people, but for me the answer simply cannot be, "your PC can't die unless the Player is cool with it".

 

[EzekielRaiden]

5e seems REALLY customizable though- everything post- 2e has been pretty customizable.

I can assure you, it is not. Not relative to other WotC D&D. It is practically devoid of customizability...unless you're specifically a spellcaster, and generally a full spellcaster at that (Bard, Wizard, Cleric, Druid.)

 

[mellored]

particularly the egregiously overtuned Spirit Shroud

Spirit shroud is right where it should be if you assume 2 attacks.

2*1d8 damage
Vs
1d8+4 spiritual weapon

It's the third attack that makes it 50% better.

It's also well underpowered if you only have 1 attack.

 

[tglassy]

Spirit shroud is right where it should be if you assume 2 attacks.

2*1d8 damage
Vs
1d8+4 spiritual weapon

It's the third attack that makes it 50% better.

It's also well underpowered if you only have 1 attack.

But it's a 3rd lvl spell. The only people with two attacks who will be casting it are Warlocks and Eldritch Knights, and Eldritch Knights get 4 attacks by the end.

 

[Chaosmancer]

I don't think that's an apples to apples comparison. You're counting invocations, but you're not counting all the class features a Fighter is going to have. Where's the Fighting Style benefit? Where's the subclass features calculation? Warlock subclass features tend to be defensive, while Fighters have more offensive ones included, so you can't ignore those.

I'm not the best at these sort of calculations, but I'm relying on people I'm confident are pretty good. Including Treantmonk, even if I think people treat his ideas as gospel a little too much.

Fighting Style for Great Weapons is usually an approximation of +1 to damage per hit (the effect of rerolling 1's), but they also usually go for the +1 AC and don't add anything to damage. I could include that to raise the fighter up to 43/51.5 if we want to include those.

I did mention subclasses, and sure, we can add those. But then we get into problems. Do we use the Champion who gets the improved crit range? The Eldritch Knight and their spells which likely won't add to damage at all? The Battlemaster can add 4d8 to that, but that is their entire amount for a short rest, compared to the warlock's bonus. Psy Warrior might add a single d10 to that. So... which do we use? +0, +crit range which we didn't even calculate, +1d10, or +4d8 once per short rest?

And yes, the Warlock tends to be defensive... but how does the Archfey's ability to teleport in and hit on round 1 play in alongside the ability to deal an extra 2d10 damage on a save? Or what about Clairvoyant combatant giving a single target disadvantage against you while you have advantage to hit them?

Yes, Subclass CAN make a difference. But if I'm comparing the Eldritch Knight who adds nothing to the Archfey popping additional dice into the fight, then I can easily cherry pick the results to look worse, or I can focus on a single turn instead of a long fight, and make the battlemaster look superior. It ends up getting into complications that just feel too in-depth for the type of analysis that we are generally doing.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I can assure you, it is not. Not relative to other WotC D&D. It is practically devoid of customizability...unless you're specifically a spellcaster, and generally a full spellcaster at that (Bard, Wizard, Cleric, Druid.)

Level Up is considerably more customizable than WotC 5e, with the origin system for heritage/culture/background/destiny, its many choices of class features throughout play, and the combat maneuver system.