D&D (2024) Is Magical Cunning enough? (Warlock P7)

[TwoSix]

I'd just do Pact Magic with the half caster spell slots from the last warlock.

The more I think about it, I think the ideal is to do both. Have a base half-caster progression, plus a once per short rest max level slot (scaling to 2 at 11th).

 

[Stalker0]

I think people are getting too greedy here. I mean of course a warlock player wants to cast "as many spells as possible", but we can't let warlocks get lots of slots AND have all of those slots be a top tier spell level, that's going to be OP.

If we go with the old 2 SR per day, then a warlock has gone from 4 spell slots to 5, that's a 25% increase in how many spells they cast a day. At 11th we have gone from 6 spell slots to 8, a 33% increase in slots.

To me the only thing I would change is allowing the ritual if you are not out of slots, to make it more user friendly. Otherwise its already a pretty big increase in your overall power per day.

 

[Remathilis]

I think people are getting too greedy here. I mean of course a warlock player wants to cast "as many spells as possible", but we can't let warlocks get lots of slots AND have all of those slots be a top tier spell level, that's going to be OP.

If we go with the old 2 SR per day, then a warlock has gone from 4 spell slots to 5, that's a 25% increase in how many spells they cast a day. At 11th we have gone from 6 spell slots to 8, a 33% increase in slots.

To me the only thing I would change is allowing the ritual if you are not out of slots, to make it more user friendly. Otherwise its already a pretty big increase in your overall power per day.

That has been a trend though through this playtest: more more more. Attempts to clamp down on abuses score poorly and either revert or remain only by Jeremy's Force of Will.

Of course players want their guaranteed 6 high level spells per day. They want counterspell to stop Venca with a 3rd level slot. They want barbarians to be immune to everything and druids with buckets of temp HP. They want twin spells to break the concentration economy. Paladin smite to have all the advantages of spellcasting without any drawbacks of being a spell. Wizards to cast shield at will.

We'll see what happens in feedback, but I've lost faith that the community writ large will tolerate any check on their power.

 

[CleverNickName]

Don't worry though, apparently everyone will want to take short rests now. Problem solved!

My Warlock players already do this. From what I can tell, Warlock players only want two things in D&D: a rod of the pact keeper and a short rest after every battle.

 

[the Jester]

Actually: yes. If everyone benefits f4om short rests, players will use them.

The only really important thing is having the different rest options very present. Best in the PHB or very early in the DMG and a note in the PHB that the mentioned 1 hour, 6 hour breaks are just the default value.

I think the elegant solution is to tie race/ancestry/lineage based abilities to short rests. Then everyone has at least some incentive to take them.

 

[Cap'n Kobold]

More classes are getting abilities partially replenishing on a short rest. With most parties, a short rest every few combats probably isn't that unlikely.

 

[ChameleonX]

Another solutions would be equal to the Fighter Short Rest. Give them more Spellslots up Front, but ony 1 back per Short Rest. That would retain the Warlock Feeling, but make it less dependend.

This is an intriguing solution. Probably easier to balance as well.

My main point, though, was that Eldritch Master is too weak as a capstone to begin with, so giving them a weaker version of that and calling it a day seems lackluster.

Would the Warlock really be broken if they got all their slots back in 1 minute 1/day at level 2, and then (as a suggestion) at level 20 they got one slot back every time they rolled initiative and didn't have any slots?

 

[Mistwell]

Another solutions would be equal to the Fighter Short Rest. Give them more Spellslots up Front, but ony 1 back per Short Rest. That would retain the Warlock Feeling, but make it less dependend.

You know, I think that idea has a lot of merit. I like that. They should test that.

 

[TwoSix]

I think people are getting too greedy here. I mean of course a warlock player wants to cast "as many spells as possible", but we can't let warlocks get lots of slots AND have all of those slots be a top tier spell level, that's going to be OP.

If we go with the old 2 SR per day, then a warlock has gone from 4 spell slots to 5, that's a 25% increase in how many spells they cast a day. At 11th we have gone from 6 spell slots to 8, a 33% increase in slots.

To me the only thing I would change is allowing the ritual if you are not out of slots, to make it more user friendly. Otherwise its already a pretty big increase in your overall power per day.

Assuming 2 SR per day, a warlock will go from 6 slots a day to 7, which is a 17% increase. At 11th, they'll go from 9 to 11, a 22% increase.

 

[Charlaquin]

So, Warlocks at level 2 can now restore HALF (round up) of their Pact Magic slots using a 1 minute ritual 1/day. So, this means, effectively, they get two extra spell slots a day until level 20, where it jumps to four.

Quick correction: half rounded up means that starting at 11th level, when warlocks get their 3rd pack magic slot, Magical Cunning will start recovering two slots (because 3/2 = 1.5, which rounds up to 2).

As to the question in the title though, I can’t imagine this being satisfying to anyone who wanted the warlock to be able to cast more spells. From all the conversations I had when they first released the half-caster warlock, I have come to understand that the folks who liked that don’t just want to be able to cast a couple more spells at maximum power each day. They want a pool of lower-level spell slots they can use for little things as the need arises throughout the day. Magical Cunning isn’t just “not enough,” it completely fails to address the reason people who want the warlock to have more spells even want that.

I think they need to look more into Invocations like the new Pact of the Tome. In this UA, pact of the tome gives you one 1st level spell slot once per day (in addition to its other benefits, of course). On its own, that’s not much. But it does give them one more use of a little utility spell they can use, without relying on a short rest, and that doesn’t add to the number of maxed-out spells the warlock can cast per day. Three or four more features like that, and the folks who want more spells will have their pool of lower-level spells they can use throughout the day.

Another feature I expect the “more warlock spells” crowd probably does like is the Archfey’s pool of CHA Misty Step castings per day. Another example of a way to let the warlock do some minor magic from time to time, that doesn’t push their power level by giving them more Pact Magic slots.