Yes, I actually got to play today. Solo, unfortunately, but at least I got to try out the Warlock like I wanted to.
Set up: My DM wasn't as used to DMing as I am, so it took her quite a bit longer than I did when I DMed 4E (an hour or two rather than 5 minutes).
I started out in a small village having been hired to check out their lighthouse. The lamp had been dark for a few days now and the village was becoming concerned for the safety of the keepers but the local constable was too old for the journey, so I was hired to make the trek and check things out. Before I left I received a spare key to the lighthouse and I left the next morning.
With my frankly pathetic stealth score, I didn't even bother to try and hide, I walked right up the trail next to a cliff down the peninsula toward the lighthouse. When I was finally approaching the lighthouse, a crossbow bolt whizzed past my head, when I noticed the sniper firing from a window near the top. Standing in the middle of an open field didn't seem like the most healthy position and I was out of range to return fire, so I ran toward the tower and took cover by the door.
Using the key, I remained in cover and kicked the door in. The room beyond was empty but for some smashed casks and crates as well as some stairs. Listening, I heard some snores from the level above. Attempting to sneak up the stairs, I made a good roll and managed to get the drop on the sleeping human bandit in the bed nearby. However, I failed my next stealth roll to approach her, so she woke up and grabbed her mace. I returned fire with an Eyebite and managed to hit, becoming invisible to her for a turn, then took cover behind the railing of the stairs. She charged, swinging wildly with the mace and missed, receiving another Eyebite from me for her troubles. She failed to connect a third time and I put her down with a final Eyebite.
I decided that Eyebite is hella useful spell but remembering Prime Shot is a pain. In fact, having to cope with invisibility, cover, Prime Shot and Warlock's curse all at once is interesting. I forgot a few times, though I'm hoping that I'll get used to it. And I didn't use Misty Step, though I didn't need it, it is yet another thing to remember.
Listening at the next landing, I heard nothing. Attempting to Stealth up the stairs, I rolled pathetically. So It was that I got a crossbow bolt to the shoulder attempting to creep up the stairs. A second bolt pushed me down to bloodied and I knew I was in trouble. Burning an action point, I took cover at the foot of the stairs, hurled up an Eyebite that managed to miss and triggered a second wind to get a measly (yet necessary) 7hp back and the bonus to my defenses I felt I was going to need.
I was vindicated when the next bolt missed and I hit back with the Eyebite. My joy was short lived when my assailant threw away the crossbow, drew his sword and charged down the stairs after me. Fortunately he missed and I was through pussyfooting around, so I did the Warlock's Curse and whipped out the Witchfire. I hit, dealing some serious damage though I didn't crit, unfortunately and my assailant was still going strong. Fortunately he missed with the next attack thanks to the fire, so I hit him with Eyebite again and bloodied him. This must've made him mad because he replied by dropping me down to bloodied again.
Shifting backward I thankfully put him down with an Eldrich Blast and decided to take a breather. I also hit a milestone and got a new action point.
I thought I was dead. AoOs were at the forefront of my mind, I didn't want this guy getting more attacks on me than I absolutely had to provoke but fortunately I got away with a minimum once he was in my face. Eldrich Blast isn't this Warlock's staple attack, it's Eyebite. Without it your proverbial cheese is hanging out in the wind. Witchfire was nice as well, though.
Going up, I skipped the next landing and did the whole Perception/Sneak thing and utterly failed. Only this time, a Magic Missile bloodied me with one shot. Already in trouble, I burned my action point, took cover behing a nearby table, triggered my Second Wind and used Curse of the Dark Dream to pull the enemy wizard out of cover. Unfortunately, I missed, but I still pulled him out of cover. Checking out the room, the DM informed me that the room was full of alchemical equipment as well as oil for the lamp, so any fire attack would have a chance of blowing us both sky high.
Great.
Another magic missile blasted away some of my precious remaining hp and I was back to bloodied yet again. My return fire with the Eldrich Blast hit, so in his next turn he moved into cover but only managed to blast some alchemical equipment to fragments with his next volley. I unleashed an Eyebite and missed, coming to the conclusion that this guy was tough and probably out of my league.
"Parlay?" I yelled.
"Yield!" he ordered.
"Uh, yeah. You'll have to forgive me for being a bit suspicious of your motives, thanks!"
"Then die."
"Gee, you're a sparkling coversationalist. I'll tell ya what, rather than that, why don't I just run down and barrocade the door to this place, see how you feel about things when you're starving to death?"
After a long pause, he finally replied. "All right, I guess there's no reason we can't be civil. Are my compatriots dead?"
"One of them's still sleeping, I had to char the other one in self defense though."
"Well, then, it seems I'm short staffed. Why don't you take his place? We'll give you his share and you don't have to die. Everyone wins."
"What about the villagers?"
"What about them? We only need the light to remain dark for one more night."
I quickly put two and two together. "Oh, you're going to crash a ship and rob the wreck. What about the sailors that're going to find their deaths tonight?"
"What about them? They're nothing to you."
"Yeah, true enough. Tell you what, give me a few minutes to think about it."
"Why not. I have all the time in the world."
I took another short rest.
God bless the +9 Bluff check. I didn't have enough Diplomacy to make him drop his guard but I could've sold his own magic missiles back to him. That let me keep him talking and bought me the short rest, which I really needed. I was still bloodied afterwards.
Making my decision, I said, "Ok, I've got your answer for you."
"What is it then?"
I jumped over the railing down the stairs and blasted the oil barrels with Witchfire, escaping with only minor burns and a thimble full of hp.
Returning to the village, the villagers put out the fire at the lighthouse and re-lit the lamp, rescuing the captured lighthouse keepers that had been locked in the basement and all was well.
The wizard would've killed me without the explosive barrels. Though I'd made the DM well aware that 150% of my exp value was pushing it as an encounter, she figured that 175 was close enough. Lesson learned: IT ISN'T. With bells on. Maybe if I'd gotten lucky and hit with my Daily, but even then that requires real luck. And even if I'd had, even with Warlock's Curse, the best I could've done was bloody him and there was no guarentee of that. His defenses were just too high for me and his damage output was phenomenal. Even with two short rests and a second wind to recover, I was so far outclassed it wasn't funny. That being said, we had yet another 'gunfight at the OK coral', which seems to be a theme with out solo games.
The Wizard pregen is a much better built character than the pregen Warlock. Ray of Frost probably has a use in a larger party but it seems to me that in this build it's self defeating. The monsters you're going to want to slow are high hp, high speed melee types which are probably going to have a high fort defense. The measly +2 this Warlock has on a fort attack makes it a little useless. Also, despite the way it looks, Eldrich Blast isn't your default attack. Eyebite is. That one round of invisibility is what's going to keep you alive, particularly since you'll want to get close to the action.
The pathetic Perception score is going to hurt. Particularly since your Bluff and Thievery skill might make you think you're a rogue stand-in. You're not. Add to that the bad stealth score... you won't miss that until you see the Wizard pregen played. In many ways, I think the Wizard has alot of benefits over the Warlock. For one, the Wizard isn't dealing that much less damage than the Warlock with Magic Missile. And Magic Missile has a range of 20 vs. a range of 10 for all these Warlock powers. And yet the Warlock remains a glass cannon just like the Wizard.
I can't wait to get the full rules, however, just so I can build a better Warlock than this. I love the class but the implimentation here is a little wierd where the Wizard is very cool.
Set up: My DM wasn't as used to DMing as I am, so it took her quite a bit longer than I did when I DMed 4E (an hour or two rather than 5 minutes).
I started out in a small village having been hired to check out their lighthouse. The lamp had been dark for a few days now and the village was becoming concerned for the safety of the keepers but the local constable was too old for the journey, so I was hired to make the trek and check things out. Before I left I received a spare key to the lighthouse and I left the next morning.
With my frankly pathetic stealth score, I didn't even bother to try and hide, I walked right up the trail next to a cliff down the peninsula toward the lighthouse. When I was finally approaching the lighthouse, a crossbow bolt whizzed past my head, when I noticed the sniper firing from a window near the top. Standing in the middle of an open field didn't seem like the most healthy position and I was out of range to return fire, so I ran toward the tower and took cover by the door.
Using the key, I remained in cover and kicked the door in. The room beyond was empty but for some smashed casks and crates as well as some stairs. Listening, I heard some snores from the level above. Attempting to sneak up the stairs, I made a good roll and managed to get the drop on the sleeping human bandit in the bed nearby. However, I failed my next stealth roll to approach her, so she woke up and grabbed her mace. I returned fire with an Eyebite and managed to hit, becoming invisible to her for a turn, then took cover behind the railing of the stairs. She charged, swinging wildly with the mace and missed, receiving another Eyebite from me for her troubles. She failed to connect a third time and I put her down with a final Eyebite.
I decided that Eyebite is hella useful spell but remembering Prime Shot is a pain. In fact, having to cope with invisibility, cover, Prime Shot and Warlock's curse all at once is interesting. I forgot a few times, though I'm hoping that I'll get used to it. And I didn't use Misty Step, though I didn't need it, it is yet another thing to remember.
Listening at the next landing, I heard nothing. Attempting to Stealth up the stairs, I rolled pathetically. So It was that I got a crossbow bolt to the shoulder attempting to creep up the stairs. A second bolt pushed me down to bloodied and I knew I was in trouble. Burning an action point, I took cover at the foot of the stairs, hurled up an Eyebite that managed to miss and triggered a second wind to get a measly (yet necessary) 7hp back and the bonus to my defenses I felt I was going to need.
I was vindicated when the next bolt missed and I hit back with the Eyebite. My joy was short lived when my assailant threw away the crossbow, drew his sword and charged down the stairs after me. Fortunately he missed and I was through pussyfooting around, so I did the Warlock's Curse and whipped out the Witchfire. I hit, dealing some serious damage though I didn't crit, unfortunately and my assailant was still going strong. Fortunately he missed with the next attack thanks to the fire, so I hit him with Eyebite again and bloodied him. This must've made him mad because he replied by dropping me down to bloodied again.
Shifting backward I thankfully put him down with an Eldrich Blast and decided to take a breather. I also hit a milestone and got a new action point.
I thought I was dead. AoOs were at the forefront of my mind, I didn't want this guy getting more attacks on me than I absolutely had to provoke but fortunately I got away with a minimum once he was in my face. Eldrich Blast isn't this Warlock's staple attack, it's Eyebite. Without it your proverbial cheese is hanging out in the wind. Witchfire was nice as well, though.
Going up, I skipped the next landing and did the whole Perception/Sneak thing and utterly failed. Only this time, a Magic Missile bloodied me with one shot. Already in trouble, I burned my action point, took cover behing a nearby table, triggered my Second Wind and used Curse of the Dark Dream to pull the enemy wizard out of cover. Unfortunately, I missed, but I still pulled him out of cover. Checking out the room, the DM informed me that the room was full of alchemical equipment as well as oil for the lamp, so any fire attack would have a chance of blowing us both sky high.
Great.
Another magic missile blasted away some of my precious remaining hp and I was back to bloodied yet again. My return fire with the Eldrich Blast hit, so in his next turn he moved into cover but only managed to blast some alchemical equipment to fragments with his next volley. I unleashed an Eyebite and missed, coming to the conclusion that this guy was tough and probably out of my league.
"Parlay?" I yelled.
"Yield!" he ordered.
"Uh, yeah. You'll have to forgive me for being a bit suspicious of your motives, thanks!"
"Then die."
"Gee, you're a sparkling coversationalist. I'll tell ya what, rather than that, why don't I just run down and barrocade the door to this place, see how you feel about things when you're starving to death?"
After a long pause, he finally replied. "All right, I guess there's no reason we can't be civil. Are my compatriots dead?"
"One of them's still sleeping, I had to char the other one in self defense though."
"Well, then, it seems I'm short staffed. Why don't you take his place? We'll give you his share and you don't have to die. Everyone wins."
"What about the villagers?"
"What about them? We only need the light to remain dark for one more night."
I quickly put two and two together. "Oh, you're going to crash a ship and rob the wreck. What about the sailors that're going to find their deaths tonight?"
"What about them? They're nothing to you."
"Yeah, true enough. Tell you what, give me a few minutes to think about it."
"Why not. I have all the time in the world."
I took another short rest.
God bless the +9 Bluff check. I didn't have enough Diplomacy to make him drop his guard but I could've sold his own magic missiles back to him. That let me keep him talking and bought me the short rest, which I really needed. I was still bloodied afterwards.
Making my decision, I said, "Ok, I've got your answer for you."
"What is it then?"
I jumped over the railing down the stairs and blasted the oil barrels with Witchfire, escaping with only minor burns and a thimble full of hp.
Returning to the village, the villagers put out the fire at the lighthouse and re-lit the lamp, rescuing the captured lighthouse keepers that had been locked in the basement and all was well.
The wizard would've killed me without the explosive barrels. Though I'd made the DM well aware that 150% of my exp value was pushing it as an encounter, she figured that 175 was close enough. Lesson learned: IT ISN'T. With bells on. Maybe if I'd gotten lucky and hit with my Daily, but even then that requires real luck. And even if I'd had, even with Warlock's Curse, the best I could've done was bloody him and there was no guarentee of that. His defenses were just too high for me and his damage output was phenomenal. Even with two short rests and a second wind to recover, I was so far outclassed it wasn't funny. That being said, we had yet another 'gunfight at the OK coral', which seems to be a theme with out solo games.
The Wizard pregen is a much better built character than the pregen Warlock. Ray of Frost probably has a use in a larger party but it seems to me that in this build it's self defeating. The monsters you're going to want to slow are high hp, high speed melee types which are probably going to have a high fort defense. The measly +2 this Warlock has on a fort attack makes it a little useless. Also, despite the way it looks, Eldrich Blast isn't your default attack. Eyebite is. That one round of invisibility is what's going to keep you alive, particularly since you'll want to get close to the action.
The pathetic Perception score is going to hurt. Particularly since your Bluff and Thievery skill might make you think you're a rogue stand-in. You're not. Add to that the bad stealth score... you won't miss that until you see the Wizard pregen played. In many ways, I think the Wizard has alot of benefits over the Warlock. For one, the Wizard isn't dealing that much less damage than the Warlock with Magic Missile. And Magic Missile has a range of 20 vs. a range of 10 for all these Warlock powers. And yet the Warlock remains a glass cannon just like the Wizard.
I can't wait to get the full rules, however, just so I can build a better Warlock than this. I love the class but the implimentation here is a little wierd where the Wizard is very cool.
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