D&D 5E Companion thread to 5E Survivor - Subclasses (Part XIII: Warlock)

[Aldarc]

@CleverNickName hoping for your help here. I LOVE Hexblade mechanically, but feel like it's the least interesting of all the patrons story wise, which is what makes Warlocks so fun to play (for me). It feels like the lore wants the sword to really just be an extension of it's creator's will (as the subclass suggests and as seen in CritRole S2) but then there is this odd disconnect between what is supposed to be the actual source of your power and the entity that you are interacting with. I don't know, I want to upvote this subclass, but when I can choose to be tormented by a powerful archfey or devil or archlich, being tormented by a sword just doesn't quite rise to that level.

The Sword is implied to come from the Shadowfell, possibly from the Raven Queen. So you are a effectively a harvester of souls for the Raven Queen's dominion.

 

[Tonguez]

Cant believe that Undead beat Raven Queen, but at least Undead has now been staked through its putrid heart

 

[CreamCloud0]

While hexblade might be a good subclass it is not what I want for the iconic warlock, parts of it really should of been the basis of an errata for the pact of the blade.

Also @Aldarc i’d prefer if I didn’t continue to get a sad react on my every downvote of said hexblade.

 

[CleverNickName]

Honestly, I thought Pact of the Undead was a pretty good subclass for Warlock...

Flavor:
It reminds me a lot of the necromancers of "Gideon the Ninth," by Tamsin Muir. The part about thanaturgy being a type of magic in the world, the mysterious Emperor and his dread powers, the whole bit about binding one's soul to The Tomb, etc. I think it could be very interesting in a gothic campaign setting as well, for a cabal of necromancers who are trying to restore a powerful lich (or mummy lord, if your campaign setting is inspired by Egyptian lore).

Mechanics:

• Expanded Spell List: Good mix of debuffs and utility spells.
• Form of Dread: especially good for Pact of the Blade, but also good for Tome (when combined with Grave Touched, below). Gain temporary HP, and thin out mobs of low-level creatures with fear? Excellent.
• Grave Touched: Any attack you make can now do necrotic damage if you want. Meshes with Form of Dread, above, to deal extra damage as well. Your Eldritch Blasts are now Necro-blasts that deal more damage.
• Mortal Husk: resistance or immunity to necrotic damage, and instead of falling unconscious when you reach 0 hp, you instead do a burst of necrotic damage then revive with 1 HP. My only issue with this ability is that you can't use it again until you finish multiple long rests, which is a weird mechanic. Since you're already getting a point of exhaustion, I'd let it recharge on a Long or Short Rest....but minor quibble.
• Spirit Projection: your spirit leaves your body. Then it kicks ass for an hour: it's resistant to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage, spells don't require components, it can fly through creatures and solid objects, and it heals itself when it deals necrotic damage.

I mean, it's no Hexblade or Fathomless, but I think it's pretty cool. I'd put it on the same shelf as Genie and Fiend at any rate.

 

[Undrave]

Aside from the UA ones who failed to make it to books, I don't think there's any BAD Warlock subclass, it's all down to which one you find fun or not. Some just have better flavour integration (GOO is functional but boring in practice, for exemple, Fiend is a little basic but a classic concept)

Speaking of UA... Anybody else think the Seeker Patron was actually supposed to be a Planeswalker Patron for a MTG book? Like how the Invention Wizard was meant for Ravnica but they didn’t want to spoil its actual theme?

Honestly, I thought Pact of the Undead was a pretty good subclass for Warlock...

I think people didn't feel it felt like it was on the same 'level' of power as a patron?

 

[Tonguez]

Aside from the UA ones who failed to make it to books, I don't think there's any BAD Warlock subclass, it's all down to which one you find fun or not. Some just have better flavour integration (GOO is functional but boring in practice, for exemple, Fiend is a little basic but a classic concept)

Speaking of UA... Anybody else think the Seeker Patron was actually supposed to be a Planeswalker Patron for a MTG book? Like how the Invention Wizard was meant for Ravnica but they didn’t want to spoil its actual theme?

I think people didn't feel it felt like it was on the same 'level' of power as a patron?

seeing that Celestian is directly called out as a diety reverred by Planewalkers, thats probably a good guess. Maybe they werent willing to explicitly link MTG to DnD cosmology yet

as to Undead I dont think its a power level thing, afterall Acerak et al is comparible to Vecna and the Raven Queen.

 

[Maxperson]

What Ezekiel said. The timescale you are proposing just doesn't work for a player character.

And even if it existed, time is meaningless in D&D and you get into the hacker/infiltration solo adventure problem where a player gets to play a completely different game 1 on 1 with the DM while everybody watches as their central concept?

That timescale can work for certain campaign types, though. If you're playing a campaign that is centered on a town or village as where the party adventures from(for a length of time anyway), then the witch character could give the evil eye to the farmer than insulted him/her causing his crops to be diseased and die over a span of weeks.

The game doesn't stop or center on the witch character after the evil eye is given, rather it continues on with the party doing what they were, and as they come back and head out over a period of weeks, they see and hear about the effects of the hex. The farmer complaining to some fellows about the unnatural disease hitting his corn crop that he can't fix. He's tried cutting out the infected sections, but it keeps reappearing.

Maybe the farmer connects the dots and maybe not. If the witch keeps causing issues and enough people talk about things, it becomes more likely to find out who the culprit is. A lot of good roleplaying could be done by the entire group over what is happening, including an unscrupulous party being hired to "find out" who did it and making coin off of it.

It's an ability that can work for some types of games, and for the ones that it doesn't work for you don't pick a witch to play.

 

[Undrave]

That timescale can work for certain campaign types, though. If you're playing a campaign that is centered on a town or village as where the party adventures from(for a length of time anyway), then the witch character could give the evil eye to the farmer than insulted him/her causing his crops to be diseased and die over a span of weeks.

The game doesn't stop or center on the witch character after the evil eye is given, rather it continues on with the party doing what they were, and as they come back and head out over a period of weeks, they see and hear about the effects of the hex. The farmer complaining to some fellows about the unnatural disease hitting his corn crop that he can't fix. He's tried cutting out the infected sections, but it keeps reappearing.

Maybe the farmer connects the dots and maybe not. If the witch keeps causing issues and enough people talk about things, it becomes more likely to find out who the culprit is. A lot of good roleplaying could be done by the entire group over what is happening, including an unscrupulous party being hired to "find out" who did it and making coin off of it.

It's an ability that can work for some types of games, and for the ones that it doesn't work for you don't pick a witch to play.

There's also the issue that long winded curses and hexes like that feel a little too evil for a PC option to me.

And even if you use it on a VILLAIN, waiting around a couple weeks for the bad guy to keel over from an evil eye feels really inefficient compared to a good ol’ stabbin’

 

[Aldarc]

Aside from the UA ones who failed to make it to books, I don't think there's any BAD Warlock subclass, it's all down to which one you find fun or not. Some just have better flavour integration (GOO is functional but boring in practice, for exemple, Fiend is a little basic but a classic concept)

Undying.

 

[Undrave]

Undying.

Eh, if they were in the Sword Coast Adventurer Guide and were never reprinted, I count them as a failed UA