Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Dear Team WotC: Better Pact Magic Fixes
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Neonchameleon" data-source="post: 9006316" data-attributes="member: 87792"><p>You're absolutely right. That isn't the mechanical identity of warlocks, it's just an accident of the mechanics.</p><p></p><p><strong>Warlocks are solid spellcasters who not an exercise in book keeping to track spells.</strong> <em>That</em> is the key part of their mechanical identity. No warlock has to track more than a single number that changes over time, and most of them can count their slots left on their thumbs. They only ever have a single list of limited use spells at one time (or two lists, one of which is for one shot spells) rather than either three or five different lists at tenth level, some of which can be flexed between lists and that do different things when used as parts of different lists while tracking multiple numbers of slots.</p><p></p><p>What this means in practice is that I can give a fifth level pregenerated warlock to a newbie, spend only a couple of minutes talking through it, and they won't suffer from analysis paralysis over the spells when they would if they were playing even a third level wizard or fifth level ranger. It also means that I can play an eighth level warlock and by the second session literally never have to look at my character sheet for the entire session, keeping the entire thing in my head and not forcing me to take my focus away from the group and the game. These are not hypothetical examples.</p><p></p><p>Being a generic off-the-shelf half-caster means you are not a solid spellcaster. It also means that you do need an exercise in book keeping to track spells, tracking multiple lists of spells and flexing spells between level. It is the literal opposite of the warlock's mechanical identity. This is why the warlock fans are in general more than fine with suggestions that change the warlock's recovery cycles or that push everything off spell slots into either always on or at will invocations; invocations aren't exercises in book keeping. </p><p></p><p>And just to simplify further the key mechanical identity part of pact magic that is a positive is that warlocks do not have more than a single pool of resources that all their spells draw on equally. And that their number of spells known is kept deliberately low because that makes it easier to master.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Neonchameleon, post: 9006316, member: 87792"] You're absolutely right. That isn't the mechanical identity of warlocks, it's just an accident of the mechanics. [B]Warlocks are solid spellcasters who not an exercise in book keeping to track spells.[/B] [I]That[/I] is the key part of their mechanical identity. No warlock has to track more than a single number that changes over time, and most of them can count their slots left on their thumbs. They only ever have a single list of limited use spells at one time (or two lists, one of which is for one shot spells) rather than either three or five different lists at tenth level, some of which can be flexed between lists and that do different things when used as parts of different lists while tracking multiple numbers of slots. What this means in practice is that I can give a fifth level pregenerated warlock to a newbie, spend only a couple of minutes talking through it, and they won't suffer from analysis paralysis over the spells when they would if they were playing even a third level wizard or fifth level ranger. It also means that I can play an eighth level warlock and by the second session literally never have to look at my character sheet for the entire session, keeping the entire thing in my head and not forcing me to take my focus away from the group and the game. These are not hypothetical examples. Being a generic off-the-shelf half-caster means you are not a solid spellcaster. It also means that you do need an exercise in book keeping to track spells, tracking multiple lists of spells and flexing spells between level. It is the literal opposite of the warlock's mechanical identity. This is why the warlock fans are in general more than fine with suggestions that change the warlock's recovery cycles or that push everything off spell slots into either always on or at will invocations; invocations aren't exercises in book keeping. And just to simplify further the key mechanical identity part of pact magic that is a positive is that warlocks do not have more than a single pool of resources that all their spells draw on equally. And that their number of spells known is kept deliberately low because that makes it easier to master. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Dear Team WotC: Better Pact Magic Fixes
Top