New Class: Wu-Jen Warlock (that's right, Warlock)

Thoughts, critique, comments, and suggestions are all welcome.

(also yes, we have three other pacts for the other seasons)

At first glance it seems OP, but I am not overly familiar with design classes. If I understand it correctly you can cast some spells at lower levels, but it didn't describe a reduction in power for those spells at the lower level, so I assumed they remained at the damage of the higher level. This only seems over powered, or it needs clarified.

Also, I could be wrong, but immunity at lvl 10 seems over powered as well. Why wouldn't this at least start with resistance. Also, should you fire resistance / immunity if your a Summer pact? It seems off the my ray of frost would do nothing, but my fireball would tear you apart.

What is mystic arcanum and how does it work. It is not really defined.

Nonetheless, it looks like a fun and interesting concept.

dave2008
At first glance it seems OP, but I am not overly familiar with design classes. If I understand it correctly you can cast some spells at lower levels, but it didn't describe a reduction in power for those spells at the lower level, so I assumed they remained at the damage of the higher level. This only seems over powered, or it needs clarified.

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Thank you for your feedback anyway, Dave2008!
I think what you are driving at is cantrips in general. Unlike earlier versions of D&D they now scale up with level (acid splash is no longer just 1d3 acid damage). The regular eldritch blast does force damage, which very few things have resistance or immunity to--changing it to fire (and all the other season's energy types) makes it more likely players will run into resistance or immunity against the spell.

It's also worth noting that there's an extremely similar cantrip (fire bolt -- 120 foot range, 1d12 fire damage), but modifying eldritch blast lets the warlock make use of the eldritch invocation class abilities that specifically alter EB.

Also, I could be wrong, but immunity at lvl 10 seems over powered as well. Why wouldn't this at least start with resistance. Also, should you fire resistance / immunity if your a Summer pact? It seems off the my ray of frost would do nothing, but my fireball would tear you apart.

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I'm comfortable with the level of power that immunity to an energy type grants, but there is good logic to having it just be resistance to cold (since they get resistance to fire at 6th). I'll give it a think!

What is mystic arcanum and how does it work. It is not really defined.

Click to expand...

Mystic arcanum is part of the core warlock class. Being wu-jen just restricts the choices available for the ability.

Nonetheless, it looks like a fun and interesting concept.

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I'm glad you like it! ^_^

My understanding is Mystic Arcanum is a Warlock base-class feature (of relatively high level) that permits the warlock access to their highest level (7-9th) spells.

So it's just a normal part of every warlock class.

I really like this. A few thoughts.

1) The mystic arcanum...locked in, but some of the spells are not normally on the warlock spell list, correct? Pretty cool, I like it. (Not that level 11+ is a place where you need to get super concerned with balance. )
2) Heat of the sun...obviously, Warlock is already pretty locked in with eldritch blast, so this doesn't really change it. Adds +1 damage per ray, but more easily resisted since it's fire damage. (Of course, a summer wu-jen is almost certainly looking at elemental adept in a game with feats, as much as a dragon sorcerer.) Not to mention that a summer wu-jen 2/dragon(fire) sorcerer has even stronger EB spam than your normal sorlock!
Honestly, I would've liked something to also buff a wu-jen using greenflame blade, since it seems thematically appropriate. Maybe something like dragon sorc or undying light warlock ability to add Cha mod to fire damage.
3) The ability of an elemental mage to ignore either A) his own element or B) the opposing element is one of those conceptual things people never agree on. I'm fine with how you have it right now, but you're always going to get pushback on it. Sorry.
4) The dice modification does just enough to differentiate Summer Jaunt from Hurl through Hell, and I always appreciate more abilities that use the forgotten d12. Different dice for different damage types is a nice touch I wish more abilities used, as it feels fun at the table.

I read "Summer Residence" at first glance.

Does the Patron change with the seasons, or are they 4 different Patrons that you pick at 1st level? The former would require the DM to keep track of seasons, but could be really interesting/fun. Your EB damage changes with the season: Fire, Necrotic, Frost, Radiant.

I'd leave the EB damage at 1d10, though, regardless of type, and find some other mechanical benefit for 1st level.

Changing the damage to fire is actually a nerf in a weird way, depending on what level the campaign ends up at. At early levels it's good, but a lot of mid to late game monsters have immunity/resistance to fire. There is a feat that will allow you to bypass that. That is honestly my only critique 1st level feels a little low, but finding another ability to give them that sucks at low levels and gets good at higher ones is always tough rules weirdness to find.

Overall it's pretty good, I like strongly themed Warlock paths, and you hit the mark really well.

TwoSix said:

I really like this. A few thoughts.

1) The mystic arcanum...locked in, but some of the spells are not normally on the warlock spell list, correct? Pretty cool, I like it. (Not that level 11+ is a place where you need to get super concerned with balance. )
2) Heat of the sun...obviously, Warlock is already pretty locked in with eldritch blast, so this doesn't really change it. Adds +1 damage per ray, but more easily resisted since it's fire damage. (Of course, a summer wu-jen is almost certainly looking at elemental adept in a game with feats, as much as a dragon sorcerer.) Not to mention that a summer wu-jen 2/dragon(fire) sorcerer has even stronger EB spam than your normal sorlock!
Honestly, I would've liked something to also buff a wu-jen using greenflame blade, since it seems thematically appropriate. Maybe something like dragon sorc or undying light warlock ability to add Cha mod to fire damage.
3) The ability of an elemental mage to ignore either A) his own element or B) the opposing element is one of those conceptual things people never agree on. I'm fine with how you have it right now, but you're always going to get pushback on it. Sorry.
4) The dice modification does just enough to differentiate Summer Jaunt from Hurl through Hell, and I always appreciate more abilities that use the forgotten d12. Different dice for different damage types is a nice touch I wish more abilities used, as it feels fun at the table.

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1) Correct! I wanted to make the players feel like yes, you are the badass elementalist, so getting them the badass elementalist spells was essential.
2) True dat. As mentioned, the modified EB is pretty much fire bolt with the ability to use eldritch invocations. You could use the eldritch invocation that adds Charisma to damage for your modified EB but that won't do you for the greenflame blade -- that might be worth addressing for all the patrons with an eldritch invocation (changing the damage type to the patron's) and I've added a note to the Primer PDF to that effect.
3) I've already tweaked it to mirror the earlier ability, but for cold. I might yet add that it improves the fire resistance ability to grant the 5 point threshold thingy (or increase it if you already had it).
4) Woot! Thanks! I didn't want to change it too much but I'm glad to hear I managed to keep the right theme without compromising the core class ability.

Elfcrusher said:

I read "Summer Residence" at first glance.

Does the Patron change with the seasons, or are they 4 different Patrons that you pick at 1st level? The former would require the DM to keep track of seasons, but could be really interesting/fun. Your EB damage changes with the season: Fire, Necrotic, Frost, Radiant.

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That sounds awesome and I'll be adding an eldritch invocation for it! Killer idea!!!

Elfcrusher said:

I'd leave the EB damage at 1d10, though, regardless of type, and find some other mechanical benefit for 1st level.

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As mentioned above it makes EB equivalent to existing cantrips but I'll tag "oomph up 1st-level wu-jen a bit" as something to do with my brain space (maybe make it 2d6 so your minimum damage goes up?).

GrissTheGnome said:

Changing the damage to fire is actually a nerf in a weird way, depending on what level the campaign ends up at. At early levels it's good, but a lot of mid to late game monsters have immunity/resistance to fire. There is a feat that will allow you to bypass that. That is honestly my only critique 1st level feels a little low, but finding another ability to give them that sucks at low levels and gets good at higher ones is always tough rules weirdness to find.

Overall it's pretty good, I like strongly themed Warlock paths, and you hit the mark really well.

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That is correct, but it's the nature of elementalists to suffer against elemental resistances (which are always more common regardless of the game). Another tally has been added for slight oomphing of the first level wu-jen!

Thank you for the kind words!

Elfcrusher said:

I read "Summer Residence" at first glance.

Does the Patron change with the seasons, or are they 4 different Patrons that you pick at 1st level? The former would require the DM to keep track of seasons, but could be really interesting/fun. Your EB damage changes with the season: Fire, Necrotic, Frost, Radiant.

I'd leave the EB damage at 1d10, though, regardless of type, and find some other mechanical benefit for 1st level.

Click to expand...

Honestly, the idea of wu-jen being the whole pact, with benefits that change based on the in-game season, is pretty awesome. Fire elementalist in the summer, ice elementalist in the winter...I'd be all over that.

Kinda like the house rule I have that land druid spells aren't permanent, but change based on the area they took their long rest in.