D&D 3.x Are 3.5 Warlocks unbalancing?

[Kurotowa]

I played a Warlock from 10th to 15th level. IME from that:

The Warlock is not the best damage dealer. The group's archer did more in an average round and the paladin could spike much higher when she pulled out Smite Evil + Power Attack. However the damage was very reliable, the attacks never missed, and Maximize SLA meant he could still spike for a boss fight. And against anything with a high SR he was useless. Did nothing against the Abyssal Basilisk and ran like heck from the golem.

Where the Warlock can be troublesome if the DM isn't prepared is with utility powers. I used Baleful Utterance to Shatter locks, traps, doors, ropes, and just about anything I could think of. Flee the Scene may be short range, but it's still Dim Door and can carry others. I used it to get around obstacles, walls, guards, and mazes. People often overlook Warlock's Call, but as an Invocation it only takes a standard action to use instead of 10 minutes. I drove my DM mad calling up every friend and contact, and after one session I agreed to switch it out again for Chilling Tentacles. Which I then happily used to punish any mob or army that got in our way.

The point is that Warlocks play very differently. They take a lot of adjustment in planning to handle well, and can run roughshod over modules. As much as I like them, in a lot of ways I think they're cruder than what came later in MoI and ToM. The powers are very uneven and can be hard to mix well with a group. They're great for BBEGs or a solo campaign. But I can understand a reluctance to use them.

 

[Artoomis]

Personally, I don't like evil characters. I think a warlock is fine if you do away with his "dark" nature or play it very carefully.

 

[Victim]

Personally, I don't like evil characters. I think a warlock is fine if you do away with his "dark" nature or play it very carefully.

Or you could just be Chaotic, instead of evil.

 

[Artoomis]

Or you could just be Chaotic, instead of evil.

Well, treu, warlocks do NOT have to be evil, but the class design leans towards dealing with a "dark nature." If a DM does not like evil characters, he might very well prohibit warlocks even though they do not HAVE to be evil at all.

This CAN be a really good thing for a campaign with many adventure hooks.

 

[Baramay]

I think it would be good to look at the advantages and disadvantages in full. With so many different choices it can be very difficult to see these. So I would like anyone who sees something I missed to please chime in.

To start with the basic warlock class advantages and disadvantages. d6 hps. Better than a wizard or sorcerer and on compare with a warmage. Use of light armor, an advantage over a mage and not as good as the warmage who gets light shields and med armor at 8th level. Base attack- this is important because it give a big advantage over a mage or warmage when using ranged touch attacks. Saves and skills are the same as mages and warmages.

The sole limiting ability to do one thing has been discussed but as with the vow of poverty, I feel the ability be very good at one thing outweighs (at least slightly) the inability to be versatile. Invocations help diversify the class. Other characters can pick up the rest of the slack.

Comparing the class' ability to rays that can be cast by mages or warmages-scorching ray does 4d6 at 3rd thru 6th level. An warlock does 2d6 at 3rd, 3d6 at 5th, and 4d6 at 7th. Advantage-mage. But when you incorporate eldritch chain(available at 6th level) it changes dramatically. Now at 7th level you have a mage doing 8d6. A warlock does the same. At 9th level the warlock has the advantage 10d6 to 8d6. The scorching ray can be used one the same opponent while the chain must affect a 2nd opponent. At 10th the warlock can jump his 5d6 damage to affect 3 enemies.

At 11th level the warlock gains access to a greater invocations and the vitriolic blast. The vitriolic blast allows for no save or SR and does 2d6 damage in future rounds. At 11th it is 2 more rounds. There is not a ray that deals that much damage output. Now you can add the chain or cone ability and affect at least 3 opponents.

The essence invocations cause another quandry. These abilities allow casting at the highest spell level and DC. For example the beshadowed blast save to avoid blindness is always equal to a spell of 1/2 the warlock's level rounded down as are all invocations. In fact it could be higher than possible for any other character. Comsider the example with the frightful blast by the 1st level warlock. It has a DC of 10+2+ relevant ability, higher than possible for any other character. The ability focus feat give the benefit of spell focus and greater spell focus for one feat and can be used on all blasts. So the eldritch blast has the equivilent of a heighted spell at all times. The utterdark blast at 16th level does 16d6 damage and has a DC of 18+abiltiy mod (an a +2 for the ability focus feat, lets be honest it will be taken by 16th level.) or gain two negative levels not good odds for enemies.

In conclusion I would say the warlock is the best choice to dealing damage. In this respect it is superior to the warmage and a mage or sorcerer who would want to specialize in rays.
Therefore I would understand a DMs decision to not allow the class, just as with vow of poverty it depends on the campaign. There are many prestige classes that have come out since 3.5 that are far superior in ability to the eldritch knight in the DMG. Does that make them "broken"? I would not say that, but classify them in the perhaps not appropriate for the campaign pile.

 

[pawsplay]

Or you could just be Chaotic, instead of evil.

With fiendish class features.

 

[Mouseferatu]

IF the eldritch blast was a ranged attack and not a ranged touch attack, that would be a step in the right direction. QUOTE]

Then why don't you just house rule that the EB is a ranged attack instead of totally disallowing the class?

IME, warlocks are barely viable in combat as-is, once you get past very low levels. Changing the EB to a regular attack roll essentially makes the class useless in combat situations.

This is one of those classes that looks far more powerful on paper than it plays in game.

 

[Hammerhead]

Seriously. I mean, at 20th level with a Greater Chasuble of Fell Power, you'll be blasting people for what, like 11d6? Even when Maximized, that's like 66 points of damage. The rest of the party is going to laugh at you.

 

[Baramay]

To edit my previous post. I just saw that the eldritch blast was changed in the errata to be at caster level 1 or the level of the invocation. This allows for metamagic but at the same time, the mazimized eldritch chain can be cast at 14th level and would do 84 points of damage to 3 opponents. Four at 15th level. Yikes!

Now there is a chance of missing and ending the spell. Assuming dex cancels, then the best one has is deflection for a AC of 15 against the base attack of 10, sans feats.

 

[Hammerhead]

To edit my previous post. I just saw that the eldritch blast was changed in the errata to be at caster level 1 or the level of the invocation. This allows for metamagic but at the same time, the mazimized eldritch chain can be cast at 14th level and would do 84 points of damage to 3 opponents. Four at 15th level. Yikes!

Is this supposed to impressive? I mean, other than Warlocks, are your games full of Bards and multiclassed spellcasters?

Furthermore, where does the 84 damage come from? Vitriolic Blast? Please. Damage now >>> damage a few rounds later. Or are you counting that 5% chance of a crit?