D&D 5E L&L November 4th Warlock Design

[Gundark]

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/Article.aspx?x=dnd/4ll/20131104
I was hoping for some actual mechanics rather than conceptual ideas about the class. But it does sound cool.

 

[Stormonu]

Is this in addition to or replacing Fiendish Pact, Star Pact, Fey Pact? If it's the latter, meh. If it's the former, nice addition.

 

[JamesonCourage]

That all sounds pretty cool to me, actually. However, I really want to see some mechanical implications of this bit:

A warlock chooses a patron—a powerful being from the outer planes or beyond—that supplies the character with arcane secrets. In return, the warlock grants something in trade or acts as the patron's agent in the world.

I really hope that "the Warlock grants something in trade" means something.

 

[jrowland]

Is this in addition to or replacing Fiendish Pact, Star Pact, Fey Pact? If it's the latter, meh. If it's the former, nice addition.

My read is that its the latter. Although Pact of the Chain may very well be a pact with a fey, fiend, or aberration(?), for example.

I think all warlocks will share the same "spell" set...

 

[Jester David]

As always, L&L stops short of actually giving us enough information to actually talk or discuss the matter at any detail. Let the wild speculation begin.


I find the design a little odd. I imagine the names are so you can have subclasses regardless of whom you make your pact with. So you can pick the mechanical class and then flavour with your pact however you wish. It works but leaves the warlock with little built in flavour.
Like the ranger, the walock is really a class with two very different subclasses that do not overlap well. They should be able to pick a patron, and this choice should have a mechanical effect, but this should likely be seperate from their subclass.


It's a little annoying we're not able to see this class and very likely won't be able to give feedback on it or the sorcerer (or the bard).

 

[MarkB]

I hope there's scope for a wide variety of patrons, and not just traditionally evil ones.

My favourite Warlock character, a 3.5e one, was actually linked to a god rather than a demon - he was part of a devout sect who worshipped a good-aligned god of war and fertility, and who sacrificed themselves to channel the energies of the dark side of the god's warlike nature, serving to leech off that corruption and keep their patron deity pure, whilst becoming more unstable and warlike themselves.

 

[lutecius]

meh. wizard with a pact... variant casting mechanic... hexblade... it seems like they're trying to cover too many things and making the warlock too specific at the same time. There's room for all of these aspects but I don't think they should be tied to one another.

I'd rather have a good hexblade class, a solid alternative casting system that isn't tied to a single theme or class and if there is an infernal or a fey specialty I hope it's going to be available to "regular" mage specialists (if that makes sense) and not co-opted by an hexblade type class.

 

[steeldragons]

It is really nice to hear that they will be incorporating the "trade/agent" element of the, ya know, a pact. I'm sure it will be ignored/handwaved/not used by many players/dms. But its nice to hear them saying warlocks are intended to have that as part of the class. Just not sure how they'd go about mechanically representing/enforcing that.

 

[TerraDave]

As always, sounds cool, but the devil is in the details.

 

[gyor]

Sounds very cool and if you read closely you can see that the type of Patron effects the how the type of pact manifests. Here's what I mean, a say Demonic (Patron type) Book (Pact Type), Pact would grant more spells and ways to shape spells, but the the Demonic Patron would effect the choicies you have for spells, the way you can shape them, and the flavour of course.

Another example a Fey (Patron Type) Chain (Pact Type), that allows you to summon Fey beings and bind them to your will, maybe even cast spells via them. So the list of Patrons would each include Book, Blade, and Chain benifits depending on the pact type you choose.

Or at least that's what Mike seemed to be saying.

In the Future I doubt you'll see any more Pact types aa you'd have to update all past patrons so most future additions to the class will be probably be Patrons.