D&D (2024) I like the new Warlock

[WanderingMystic]

3rd level
Pact Magic: Upon gaining a patron they give you a taste of their true power. You gain a spell slot of one level higher than you can usually cast. You may only cast spells that our on your patron's spell list. You may recharge this ability by completing a 10 minute long ritual.

 

[Deekin]

I don't think people understand how much being a 1/2 caster is actually a ribbon feature, not a core class feature like Pact Magic is supposed to be.

Look at the 3 other half-caster in the game right now.

Paladin: You can fight nearly as well as a fighter, and have lots of cool other abilities to bring to bear, allowing you to use your spells for fun utility or to fuel your smites.

Ranger: While not all that well designed at the moment, the OD&D ranger is looking ok, bringing Expertise to have some of the best skills in the game, and decent fighting abilties as well, letting you use your magic to buff those when you really need to succeed.

Artificer: 1/2 caster that's supposed to be a primary spellcaster. And it sucks, you don't get enough to make up for getting spells so late. I Played at Artillerist Artificer from 3-12, and it was such a terrible experience that it soured me on 5e. Your spells are pretty much just utility, because any other spells you get are too far behind the curve to be really useful in combat, unless you spam them, but you don't get enough slots to do that. So you spend every combat sitting around plinking with cantrips. The only real time I was useful was Flash of Genius to help on saving throws, and that didn't happen all that often.

 

[Parmandur]

Paladin: You can fight nearly as well as a fighter, and have lots of cool other abilities to bring to bear, allowing you to use your spells for fun utility or to fuel your smites.

No, a Paladin is literally half as good at fighting as a Fighter, but they make up for that with Spell slots.

 

[Vael]

I'll agree that the Artificer is severely hampered as a half-caster and that's one reason I'm looking at the new Warlock and not convinced this is the way to go, but I do not think the same of the Paladin and Ranger, or that half-caster is a "ribbon" ability.

 

[Neonchameleon]

I don't think people understand how much being a 1/2 caster is actually a ribbon feature, not a core class feature like Pact Magic is supposed to be.

Look at the 3 other half-caster in the game right now.

Paladin: You can fight nearly as well as a fighter, and have lots of cool other abilities to bring to bear, allowing you to use your spells for fun utility or to fuel your smites.

And part of the point of Smites is that you don't sacrifice Action Economy. You can spend a spell slot and make a fighter-type attack as part of the same action. Having spell slots makes you a better fighter-type and they are primarily a fighter-type.

This does not apply to the new Warlock (or the Artificer) where it's attack-or-cast not attack-and-cast.

Ranger: While not all that well designed at the moment, the OD&D ranger is looking ok, bringing Expertise to have some of the best skills in the game, and decent fighting abilties as well, letting you use your magic to buff those when you really need to succeed.

And spells make a ranger better at what they do. Hunter's Mark, for example, makes the Ranger a better archer-type while not sacrificing much action economy, and Hex has nowhere been buffed the same ways Hunter's Mark was while you don't get the same bonuses to Eldritch Blast as Archery. And Pass Without Trace, for example, makes the ranger much better at stealth than just the skill alone would. The ranger is a better expert than they would be without magic.

Artificer: 1/2 caster that's supposed to be a primary spellcaster. And it sucks, you don't get enough to make up for getting spells so late.

And this is the core problem with Artificer and New Warlock alike. The Paladin's a fighter-type and uses half-casting to supplement their fighting abilities without competing with them. The Ranger's an expert-type and uses half-casting to supplement their skills without competing with them. And the Artificer and NuWarlock are supposed to be caster types who use half-casting to ... try to pretend to be caster types?

Half Casting is pure utility. And Eldritch Blast pre level 17 is little more than Extra Attack without a fighting style and on a squishy chassis (a long standing warlock problem because False Life at will doesn't scale and Mage Armour at will is pointless)

 

[Deekin]

No, a Paladin is literally half as good at fighting as a Fighter, but they make up for that with Spell slots.

From 1-19, the range 99.9% of games take place at, they are pretty much identical, with the paladin dropping by something like half a point from 11-19.

 

[Parmandur]

From 1-19, the range 99.9% of games take place at, they are pretty much identical, with the paladin dropping by something like half a point from 11-19.

If all you look at is Extra Attack. But there is more to the Fighter than that, and it adds up to being martially more proficient than a Paladin, especially in a full Adventure Day. Paladins are amazing if they can Smite nova all the time, but that's a limited resource, unlike Fighter toys.

 

[mellored]

I don't think people understand how much being a 1/2 caster is actually a ribbon feature, not a core class feature like Pact Magic is supposed to be.

Look at the 3 other half-caster in the game right now.

Paladin: You can fight nearly as well as a fighter, and have lots of cool other abilities to bring to bear, allowing you to use your spells for fun utility or to fuel your smites.

Eldrich Blast is nearly as good as an fighter.

This allows you to use your spells for fun utility or to fuel advantage.

 

[Neonchameleon]

Eldrich Blast is nearly as good as an fighter.

This allows you to use your spells for fun utility or to fuel advantage.

Eldritch Blast is only "nearly as good as a fighter" unless the fighter has no combat feats and no magic weapons and has gone for a fighting style that's not helping them. And even then it's on an exceptionally squishy chassis.

Eldritch Blast is competitive with the fighter's backup weapon - for example the javelins thrown by a greatsword fighter when they can't actually make it into melee or the rapier carried by an archery ranger. This means that the Warlock doesn't really go higher than the fighter's backup weapon at any time.

And the warlock is already good at fun utility and fueling advantage. Invocations are good at that. This locks the warlock into the role of inflexible utility, unable to hold their own in combat.

 

[Shardstone]

Eldritch Blast is only "nearly as good as a fighter" unless the fighter has no combat feats and no magic weapons and has gone for a fighting style that's not helping them. And even then it's on an exceptionally squishy chassis.

Eldritch Blast is competitive with the fighter's backup weapon - for example the javelins thrown by a greatsword fighter when they can't actually make it into melee or the rapier carried by an archery ranger. This means that the Warlock doesn't really go higher than the fighter's backup weapon at any time.

And the warlock is already good at fun utility and fueling advantage. Invocations are good at that. This locks the warlock into the role of inflexible utility, unable to hold their own in combat.

My man, they are not meant to be equal, because the Warlock has way more utility with half-casting than the Fighter does. Way to get lost in the trees.