D&D 5E Is Warlock broken?

[AaronOfBarbaria]

A quick aside: What does "broken" mean? The OP makes it sound like the warlocked is underpowered. I always thought broken meant *over*powered....

"Broken" means not working as intended. Both under-powered and over-powered are ways in which something can be broken.

 

[Giant2005]

Although, for the record, we do know that strenuous activity (such as combat) is more strenuous than resting, and you can concentrate on a spell just fine while you're fighting. That would logically mean that resting is less strenuous than concentrating, so you should be able to keep your spell going, by the transitive property.

It isn't whether or not resting is too strenuous to concentrate, but whether or not concentrating is too strenuous to rest.

 

[Mouseferatu]

1) If resting broke concentration, I imagine the rules would say so.

2) This question has come up on Twitter multiple times. Mike Mearls has said repeatedly that you can concentrate while resting as long as you don't sleep. While Jeremy Crawford is the "official" rules guy, he's never contradicted this--and the question was addressed to him and Mike together. As such, I see no reason not to accept his answer as valid.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

It isn't whether or not resting is too strenuous to concentrate, but whether or not concentrating is too strenuous to rest.

So you're trying to argue that concentrating - which requires no action and which you are expected to keep up for hours on end - is more strenuous than tending your wounds?

I mean, I definitely see how someone could think that, but it seems much more likely that someone wants to see that and is grasping at any vagueness they can find in order to rationalize it. Which is perfectly within your right, I mean - as DM, I do that sort of thing all the time! Just make sure to let your players know before the campaign starts.

From a mechanical design standpoint, Hex is all over the place. As far as I can tell, it's the only spell that they intend for you to concentrate on all the way through a short rest. I mean, it lasts eight hours, which is the declared length of an adventuring day, and they expect you to take two short rests during that time. It definitely has the feeling of being designed by a committee, tweaking it back and forth while they were still working on figuring out how short rests and up-ranking spells were supposed to work.

 

[The Grassy Gnoll]

Long rest = sleep. You can't concentrate asleep.
Short rest = tend wounds, regroup, refocus, stretch out, "cup of tea". I'd say you can concentrate on a spell while short resting.

How many Concentration spells last an hour that this would really be an issue for?

 

[S'mon]

I basically agree with the OP criticism; I saw a Warlock, Bjornalf played to level 8 in my first 5e campaign and it was very weak - the player (a) took Poison Spray instead of Eldritch Blast and (b) rarely used Fey Pact abilities.

I also think that 5e multiclassing doesn't work - in general, but certainly with this class, it's much too front loaded - and don't use the option IMCs (1 campaign doesn't use feats, 1 does). (3e style Multiclassing also turns PCs into horrible Frankenstein Monster things devoid of any theme or coherence).

That said, the Tiefling Star Pact Warlock Anastasia in my current game (based off the pregen from the WoTC site) is currently level 4 and has held up well so far. It helps a lot that she makes the most of her non-spell powers of communication & knowledge, and the Eldritch Blast damage is decent. I think about the only time she's cast an actual spell was Hunger of Hadar, for show - to convince some troglodytes she was the emissary of their demon god!
Inherently High-CHA classes definitely have an advantage in games that involve lots of non-combat interaction; my own Barbarian and Fighter PCs have to spend build resources for something that Bard/Warlock/Sorcerer get along with their casting stat.

I house rule that short rests are only 15 mins, max 3 per PC per day. This is intended to help short rest classes (in this campaign the warlock & the monk, the moon druid doesn't need it), by letting them short rest after each encounter, while preventing spamming (more an issue with Fighter powers like second wind & rally). I'm not actually sure Anastasia really needs the help though.

 

[S'mon]

Although, for the record, we do know that strenuous activity (such as combat) is more strenuous than resting, and you can concentrate on a spell just fine while you're fighting. That would logically mean that resting is less strenuous than concentrating, so you should be able to keep your spell going, by the transitive property.

Wow. Just wow.

I certainly wouldn't allow Concentration through a rest. OT - I've never had a player argue this guff and
have never expelled a player from a 5e group, but if talk like this came up repeatedly I'd be very
tempted. There seems to be a really strong rules-lawyerly 3e-style vibe to 5e discussion here on
ENW (worse since the WotC boards closed?) which I have not seen at all IRL. IRL all the 3e-fan rules lawyers I know are still playing Pathfinder. I'm really really glad that this is the case, I would not want to GM 5e if my player base was like this.

 

[Giant2005]

So you're trying to argue that concentrating - which requires no action and which you are expected to keep up for hours on end - is more strenuous than tending your wounds?

I'm not trying to argue anything. I was merely clarifying a point that another poster had made, to someone that obviously misunderstood it.
Personally, I am happy to have Concentration be sustainable while resting - I think the name "Concentration" was misused when they labeled the term. Concentration implies a level of effort that is far more intensive than the mechanic that is actually described. If Concentration required actual concentration, I don't think you should even be able to Concentrate during combat - combat has far too many distractions for that kind of focus.

 

[crashtestdummy]

There are a number of spells that have concentration durations greater than an hour. Scanning through the Player's Handbook...

Animal Shapes (8th level): up to 24 hours
Control Weather (8th level): up to 8 hours
Dominate Beast (when cast with a 7th level slot or higher): up to 8 hours
Dominate Monster (when cast with a 9th level slot): up to 8 hours
Dominate Person (when cast with a 8th level slot or higher): up to 8 hours
Find The Path (6th level): up to 1 day
Hex (when cast with a 3rd level slot or higher): up to 8 hours (up to 24 hours when cast with a 5th level slot or higher)
Hunter's Mark (when cast with a 3rd level slot or higher): up to 8 hours (up to 24 hours when cast with a 5th level slot or higher)
Move Earth (6th level): up to 2 hours
Project Image (7th level): up to 1 day
Suggestion (2nd level): up to 8 hours

So it's definitely not just Hex that this applies to. The other low level spell with a similar behaviour is Hunter's Mark

 

[Flamestrike]

I'd say, "Yes, but not like you want."

"A short rest is a period of downtime, at least 1 hour long, during which a character does nothing more strenuous than eating, drinking, reading, and tending to wounds." -- D&D Basic

Concentrating on a spell is presumably more strenuous than any of those things. So you can maintain concentration over a 1 hour period, but you won't be able to benefit from a short rest while concentrating.

Not seeing it mate:

Igor Ruffinengo ‎@IgorRuffinengo

@mikemearls Howdy, Mike! Just one question: can I start a short rest while keeping concentration on a spell like Hex? Thank you!

​

Follow
Mike Mearls ‎@mikemearls

@IgorRuffinengo as long as you don't sleep
2:02 AM - 20 Sep 2014

• 
  
• 
  Retweets
• 
  likes

​

http://www.sageadvice.eu/2014/09/20/concentration-during-rest/

Please dont let your 'presumptions' get in the way of the rules. As long as you remain conscious and dont take damage (or willfully cast another concentration spell) you can maintain concentration on a spell, and benefit fro a rest just fine.

You can maintain concentration just fine and benefit from a short rest. You're unfairly nerfing Warlocks for no reason at all.