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]

How does this translate into a playable archetype? Examples?

Immunity to fear?

 

[Yaarel]

He's saying anytime someone sees an angel in the bible their initial response is to freak out. Angels are spooky.

I got that. And it was a good answer for "off". But these are figures who are vast power over life and death. So awe and submission are understandable responses. The reallife fairies were viewed similarly, as Shakespeare relates.

How does a low level Warlock who isnt powerful yet tap into this?

 

[Yaarel]

Immunity to fear?

I mean, what is the "spooky version of Good"? Or, the Good version of spooky ... for a low tier character?

 

[tglassy]

...Charisma?

 

[EzekielRaiden]

How does this translate into a playable archetype? Examples?

Well, at least three things come to mind.

"God works in mysterious ways." Read: you are asked to do things by your BAAP (Biblically-Accurate Angel Patron) that...seem really goddamn bizarre. "Dump a bag of sugar into the main well of this town before you leave." "Feed every stray cat you see today." "Go to the farmer's son and tell him, 'Your prayer will be answered.'" "There is a new flask of oil in your pack. Without being seen, replace your barbarian's flask of lamp oil with this oil." Etc., etc. The angel is coordinating the geometry of the multiverse. It sees what you cannot. It knows what you cannot. And the Warlock is its mortal agent, nudging, adjusting, tweaking, preparing the world for its mysterious but benevolent designs.

"FEAR NOT." A Celestial Warlock who summons aid...gets things that are just really freaky. Hundreds of eyes. Wings and mouths in places that make no sense. Limbs sticking out at odd angles. Booming, deafening, terrifying voices. Etc. The celestial plane is benevolent and provides aid and comfort. Nobody promised it would be pretty. Such characteristics may flow over into the Warlock. Maybe they don't "sleep" so much as sit, upright, staring with glowing eyes for six hours--in transcendental communion with all that is good and holy. Maybe, when they cast a healing spell, for a moment, they seem covered in eyes, or have wings jutting at literally impossible angles. Maybe the surface of their pact weapon reflects not what others see, but what the Warlock sees. Etc.

"Judgement time." You are the executor of divine justice, lawbinder, oathkeeper. You know every oath every woman has sworn, every promise every man has broken, every lie every child has told. You can see them, crawling across faces and swimming behind eyes. Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Angel knows. And it does not like what it sees. You are here to correct those...imperfections. By aid and comfort, if possible; by violence, if necessary.

 

[Vaalingrade]

I like the emphasis of Warlock spooky. How does this fit into the Good Celestial Warlock? In what ways are the goodie-goodie Warlocks "off"?

I feel like this isn't so hard to imagine considering the celestials are green-skinned wierdos and giant horse muscle mommies.

 

[Yaarel]

Well, at least three things come to mind.

"God works in mysterious ways." Read: you are asked to do things by your BAAP (Biblically-Accurate Angel Patron) that...seem really goddamn bizarre. "Dump a bag of sugar into the main well of this town before you leave." "Feed every stray cat you see today." "Go to the farmer's son and tell him, 'Your prayer will be answered.'" "There is a new flask of oil in your pack. Without being seen, replace your barbarian's flask of lamp oil with this oil." Etc., etc. The angel is coordinating the geometry of the multiverse. It sees what you cannot. It knows what you cannot. And the Warlock is its mortal agent, nudging, adjusting, tweaking, preparing the world for its mysterious but benevolent designs.

"FEAR NOT." A Celestial Warlock who summons aid...gets things that are just really freaky. Hundreds of eyes. Wings and mouths in places that make no sense. Limbs sticking out at odd angles. Booming, deafening, terrifying voices. Etc. The celestial plane is benevolent and provides aid and comfort. Nobody promised it would be pretty. Such characteristics may flow over into the Warlock. Maybe they don't "sleep" so much as sit, upright, staring with glowing eyes for six hours--in transcendental communion with all that is good and holy.

"Judgement time." You are the executor of divine justice, lawbinder, oathkeeper. You know every oath every woman has sworn, every promise every man has broken, every lie every child has told. You can see them, crawling across faces and swimming behind eyes. Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Angel knows. And it does not like what it sees. You are here to correct those...imperfections. By aid and comfort, if possible; by violence, if necessary.

This idea helps me. Good works in mysterious ways − so the Good Warlock comes across as insane, yet somehow effective.

Superficially looking weird doesnt impress me much. Looks are what they are.

I agree with traditions that view judgmentalism and evil to be the same thing. So associating Good with cruely and mercilessness is a self-contradiction.


But insane yet successful at achieving Good things − that is the kind of spooky and "off" that I am trying to get a sense of.

 

[tglassy]

John the Baptist had crazy wild hair, lived in the wilderness, ate locusts and honey, dunked people in a river after screaming at them to "Repent", and brazenly spoke against the ruler of the city for sleeping with his brother's wife. Most people tended to give him a wide birth until they actually heard what he had to say.

He could be a pretty good example of a Celestial Warlock.

 

[Weiley31]

I don't have the original discussion, you'd have to go digging into it from playtest 7. I do still have the playtest 7 packet though, so I'll run a fresh set of numbers.

Pact of the Blade allowed you to summon any melee weapon, gain proficieny in it, and use the mastery property. Let us go with a Greatsword for 2d6+cha mod damage, and the graze property. They could also cause the weapon to deal necrotic, radiant or psychic damage, bypassing resistance.

Thirsting Blade allowed for two, then three attacks at levels 5 and 11 respectively.

Lifedrinker added +1d6 per hit, and allowed you to roll HD whenever you hit.

Hex allowed for +1d6 damage per hit.

At this point, the Warlock at level 11 is swinging for 4d6+4d6+4d6+15 or an average of 57 damage per round, with hex lasting 8 hours or more.

The Fighter with PAM is going to deal 1d10+1d10+1d10+1d4+20 or 39, add in the charger feat for another 4.5 and GWM for an additional +4 and you can get to 47.5 damage on average, with three feats. And even if you took out the Hex spell from the Warlock, they are only dropping down to 46.5. And they can also take GWM, Charger and other damage boosting feats. Also, the fighter is potentially not ignoring or bypassing damage resistance, like the warlock is.

A fighter might eke out ahead if you count various subclass abilities, but that could potentially bring in subclass abilities in from the warlock, who could regain the lead.

Edit: fixing fighter damage a third time. sigh. I need to stop rushing.

Busted.

 

[Yaarel]

They mentioned that they hadn't changed the CR of any monsters, but they did change some of them to better match their CR. That sounds like an admission that 2014 monsters were, in many cases, underpowered and will be getting a boost.

Hopefully this Challenge Rating standardization comes with TRANSPARENCY about exactly what CR is quantifying and measuring, so it is obvious how monster features relate to character levels, and when building a monster, which features are important to consider and which features arent.

So far, CR is a blackbox of wildly inconsistent guesstimations.