Design & Development: The Warlock

[mhacdebhandia]

Discuss.

 

[Sir Brennen]

Rather than relying only on eldritch blast, you'll also have an arsenal of curses (send enemy directly to hell for a round, then bring them back in more pieces)[...]

I think I just had an evilgasm...

 

[MerricB]

Uh... cool?



Favourite bit: " an arsenal of curses (send enemy directly to hell for a round, then bring them back in more pieces)".

That sounds fun.

I'm really getting the vibe that the existing spell-system will look very, very different once we see "powers" in full flow for 4e.

Cheers,
Merric

 

[FireLance]

Sigh. It looks like the warlock will still be primarily dark-flavored in 4e, while the paladin gets counterparts of other alignments.

Still, nothing stopping me from creating light-flavored patrons, pacts and abilities.

 

[Scholar & Brutalman]

After some initial shock, everyone admitted that the warlock's eldritch blast didn't break the game.

Not quite everyone - I still see arguments about it...

The 4e warlock sounds like a fun but very dark class, and nicely contrasted with the wizard. I'm still not sure whether it's arcane or divine, but leaning towards arcane.

 

[Rechan]

A class that acquired scary powers by negotiating , pacts with shadowy, infenral, or feral patrons?

Curious. Now, Infernal is obvious.

Shadowy? Does this imply moral ambiguity, or straight up shadow-realm stuff?

Feral? Are we talkin' Demons and their angry natures? Or perhaps more Fae-like? Given they're otherworldly, I don't know. Maybe this class might be connected to the Far Realm? The Raw power of Nature?

I like.

Though it does concern me that the class might be the one-trick pony people are saying it is. "Evil evil evil".

 

[Gloombunny]

Jab jab forward short fierce!

I like that the class is intrinsically dark-flavored. It's really not analogous to pre-4e paladins, because dark flavor doesn't mean evil character.

 

[Frostmarrow]

Teleport and turn invisible.

I guess teleport is confirmed. Not that this is a big surprise but still.

Warlock is one of those classes I will never play but I like it more than the ones I used to not play; monk, druid, and bard.

 

[TwinBahamut]

Pretty official now that the warlock killed the binder and took his stuff, at least in the flavor department.

If anything, it looks more Divine than Arcane now, with the talk of making pacts with supernatural patrons and receiving "Boons of Souls" from them.

Argh, Boon of Soul... Don't like that name too much... Oh well.

It sounds pretty cool.

 

[Gloombunny]

Curious. Now, Infernal is obvious.

Shadowy? Does this imply moral ambiguity, or straight up shadow-realm stuff?

Feral? Are we talkin' Demons and their angry natures? Or perhaps more Fae-like? Given they're otherworldly, I don't know. Maybe this class might be connected to the Far Realm? The Raw power of Nature?

Now that you mention it, that does make it really sound like warlocks can choose from the Abyss, the Shadowfell, and the Feywild for their pacts. I'm curious as to how that'll turn out, if so. Giving a class too many fluff options has the drawback of making things that should be mechanically distinct too similar. (Like how 3e clerics all have almost exactly the same powers regardless of which god they're getting them from.)