Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Libertad" data-source="post: 7982818" data-attributes="member: 6750502"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/8jpGLqB.jpg?1" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />The Baby Monster Dilemma, or more specifically the Baby Orc/Kobold Dilemma, is one of the most poorly-implemented concepts in D&D. Although ostensibly done to query nature vs nurture and to what extent evil races have free will, I rarely see it implemented save by edgy Dungeon Masters. The Baby Bestiary series more or less sought to find a non-edgy answer to this question while also tugging on the <a href="https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/who-are-the-charismatic-megafauna-of-the-world.html" target="_blank">Charismatic Megafauna concept</a> to state that no, killing babies is wrong. Even monster babies, and instead PCs who happen to find said monsters parentless by their own hand or others should help ensure they are brought to safety. Game stats were made for child versions of various iconic monsters, and rules for raising them and having them as companions on the PC side resulted in a very successful series of KickStarters for the publisher.The Caretaker Warlock is a spin-off product, in that it’s a subclass where the patron is not some otherworldly distant entity but an egg or hatchling of a powerful and majestic monster breed. The Caretaker receives their spells and abilities from their patron, and in turn the patron is cared for by the warlock until it grows into its own.In most cases a warlock patron gives alternate class features at 1st, 6th, 10th, and 14th level, but the Caretaker also gets several new and reflavored invocations, an alternate 20th level capstone ability, and specific rules for how to handle the patron in play that the sourcebook effectively reprints the entire class. This feels like a bit of unnecessary padding in my opinion.The patron can be either a phoenix, couatl, dragon, or dragon turtle. There’s a brief description of mechanical differences between an egg and a hatchling, where the egg is hardy (AC 18, 24 HP) and can have its HP restored via healing magic and/or over time in an optimal environment. The book says that when said egg hatches is up to GM Fiat, although several of the class features in this book lean towards having a hatchling eventually. For the hatchling, it’s mentioned that they are noncombatants but are pointed towards the Baby Bestiary 5e Companion if we must have stats. Otherwise we get 2 options of either any damage to the patron suffers being transferred to the warlock (no double damage on AoE attacks) or to treat them separately where the hatchling is Tiny or Small but has the same AC and health as an egg. Albeit in this case, the warlock loses all of their supernatural class features if the patron falls to 0 hit points; said result causes unconsciousness rather than death.Caretaker Warlocks as a subclass replace Deception and Intimidation with Handle Animal and Insight, and their various creepy-sounding invocations and Pacts are renamed to be more generic or lofty-sounding: Minions of Chaos becomes Elemental Ally, Fiendish Vigor becomes Bolster Vitality, etc. Pacts, meanwhile, become Entrusted Boons, and we get two new Pacts/Boons: Entrusted Awareness grants the warlock Darkvision and their Charisma bonus to Perception when within 60 feet of their patron, and Entrusted Shield summons a magical shield to their hand that grants +2 on Constitution saves vs magical effects in addition to the normal AC bonus of a shield. The 20th level capstone ability, Parting Gift, represents the egg hatching into a great entity or the hatchling finally coming into independence. In this case the warlock gains a permanent Enhance Ability to an ability score of their choice with a bonus effect depending on said score: +25 hit points for Bear’s Endurance, Calm Emotions at will for Eagle’s Splendor, etc. Once per month the warlock can also call upon their patron a la a Cleric’s Divine Intervention but is automatically successful, can only be done once per month, and the patron cannot remain with the party for longer than 48 hours.We have 21 new Invocations, 3 of which can be taken by the caretaker warlock without any special pacts/patrons, 4 of which are specific to certain Pacts/Boons, and 14 of which are dependent on your patron’s species. I won’t go over them all, but will list the ones I find rather interesting.Sleepless Guardian allows a free casting of the Alarm spell whenever you take a short/long rest with your patron, and Patron’s Manifestation grants a 1/long casting of Spirit Guardians which take the form of the patron’s species. Aura of Vision, keyed off of the Entrusted Awareness Boon, grants allies Darkvision within 30 feet of the patrion, which is a great means of letting the party go around without light sources when dungeon delving.* Several of the Dragon Turtle-specific Invocations help enhance the bonus Blade Ward cantrip, such as longer duration, reflecting the damage back to the attacker, and casting it as a reaction 1/long rest. The Phoenix-specific ones are a mix of healing and fire damage, such as becoming immune to one’s own Bonfire cantrip and being able to restore a limited amount of hit points when standing in it. The Couatl-specific ones are a bit underwhelming IMO and mostly involve gaining bonus spells as opposed to innovative improvements on existing ones.*In case your group is not all-dwarf, all-drow.Afterwards we have a 1d12 and 1d20 table of sample stories of how the warlock came into contact with their patron and sample mishaps representing the creature’s immaturity as a role-play challenge.Guardians are 4 options detailing each of the patron species types and the patron-specific class features they bestow upon the warlock. They do have some universal features: a supernatural life bond where any damage dealt to the patron is transferred to the warlock, and the patron will die in one month if the warlock dies unless they can find a new warlock to take them on as a patron. At 6th level playtime with the patron during a short or long rest bestows a persistent buff of a defensive nature to the warlock and the participating party members.Guardian of Rebirth is the phoenix, who grants fire and healing-related bonus spells to the warlock, as well as +1 maximum hit point per warlock level and resistance to fire damage. Its playtime buff grants temporary hit points to ½ the warlock’s level + their Charisma bonus. At 10th level the warlock can manifest burning wings which grant short-term 40 foot flight (1 minute per warlock level) 1/long rest. At 14th level the warlock can 1/short rest burst into radiant flames whenever they’d make a death saving throw, regaining hit points and dealing fire/radiant damage in an AoE effect.As you can tell, the Guardian of Rebirth is less flashy in that its features are more done in reaction to something than on their own. Oddly enough Cure Wounds aren’t on the list of bonus spells (that’d be the Guardian of Sunset) but it gets the useful Healing Word, Revivify and both types of Restoration spells. Its weakness is that fire is a rather common resistance or immunity among monster types, and the short-term flight may not be so impressive if the PCs have airborne mounts or the 3rd level Flight spell (which has 60 feet and can last up to 10 minutes per casting). But the patron will ensure that the warlock and the party as a whole to be much less likely to suffer death and other maladies long-term.Guardian of Sunset is the couatl, who grants a mixture of defensive and generic “white magic” bonus spells such as Cure Wounds, Zone of Truth, Calm Emotions, etc. At 1st level the warlock becomes fluent in Celestial, gains resistance to psychic and radiant damage, and for more cosmetic effects white hair and small patches of iridescent scales scattered on their body. Their playtime ability grants a shared telepathic network for the next 4 hours, allowing communication to anyone within 120 feet of each other. At 10th level the warlock and their patron are immune to all scrying attempts and other divination spells related to reading one’s emotions, thoughts, and/or location when said warlock and patron are within 100 of each other. At 14th level the warlock can grant themselves Truesight 60 feet up to 60 feet for 1 hour 1/short rest.The Guardian of Sunset is sort of the jack-of-all-trades in that its abilities don’t have as much of a unifying theme as the other Guardians. A telepathic hivemind and anti-scrying measures are very useful for stealth and scouting-focused parties, and most of its bonus spells are more situational and as a reaction to common threats.<img src="https://i.imgur.com/vs2CNbg.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Deep Scale Guardian is the dragon turtle, who is the more defensively-minded patron, albeit their bonus spells are nature-themed and terrain-shaping options such as Fog Cloud, Spike Growth, Water Breathing, etc. At 1st level the warlock adds their Dexterity and Charisma modifier to their default Armor Class when not wearing any armor, and becomes fluent in their choice of Aquan or Draconic. Their playtime ability grants resistance to the warlock’s choice of bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing damage for the next 2 hours. At 10th level the warlock can breath an AoE attack of scalding steam breath 1/long rest which can work underwater and deals 5d10 fire damage. At 14th level the warlock never suffers the ravages of aging or magical aging, but can still die of old age. But they also become immune to the first five levels of Exhaustion, and given that the sixth level is instant death they basically never have to worry about the condition for any real length of time.The Deep Scale Guardian has a pretty useful spell list for battlefield control purposes, and adding one’s primary casting stat to Armor Class is a great choice as well. Resistance to common forms of physical damage is something the party can appreciate, although the 14th level anti-aging ability is a bit mum given the rarity of such effects. Overall this is the most attractive patron for a general-concept Caretaker Warlock.Guardian of the Dragon’s patron is self-explanatory. The fluff text interestingly notes that in their implied setting true dragons are never born good or evil, that their alignment being an unchangeable facet is but a common myth:The dragon’s bonus spells are mostly elemental-themed with some utility: Chromatic Orb, Protection From Energy, See Invisibility, Legend Lore, etc. At 1st level the warlock gains a pair of claw attacks with which they’re proficient and use their Charisma to determine their attack and damage* along with fluency in Draconic and proficiency in either Intimidation or Persuasion. Their 6th level playtime ability grants advantage on saving throws vs the frightened condition for the next 4 hours. At 10th level the warlock gains blindsight out to 60 feet and smells like that of a dragon to creatures with a strong sense of smell; I imagine that said warlock causes animals to panic whenever they enter a farm or settlement. At 14th level the warlock can 1/long rest utter an AoE authoritative command which can cause a number of targets equal to their warlock level to follow any non-suicidal command for the next 2 hours on a failed Charisma save.*said claws are treated as pact weapons if taking Pact of the Blade/Entrusted Blade.Guardian of the Dragon has some rather situational class features: claw attacks are more useful to bladelock types, and an Eldritch Blast cantrip is still more useful and can make multiple attacks on top of that. 60 foot Blindsight is a pretty nice touch, and the bonus spells are widely useful for both general-purpose and blasty builds. The 14th level AoE may not seem as impressive at the level it’s gained given that it’s replicating a much lower-level spell, but is quite useful when fighting large groups of enemies.Existing Class Comparisons: As a technical subclass, it’d be more pertinent to compare the Caretaker Warlock to other Patron options. The Caretaker Warlock is more of a team player as its 6th level features are meant to be shared among the party, and half of its patrons have bonus spells which make the warlock more of a beneficial caster. The Phoenix has quite a bit of overlap with the Celestial patron, such as granting the party temporary hit points during a long rest, fire and healing-focused bonus spells, and even a very similar 14th level feature in a short burst AoE and self-healing on a death saving throw. The Phoenix is better in regards to self-healing and resilience on the warlock’s part, but the Celestial with its bonus healing dice is better at being a party healer.In regards to the other 3 Guardians, the PHB and Xanather patrons don’t have any closer comparisons. The Archfey is very enchantment-focused, the Fiend with more direct offense. The Great Old One has some similarities to the Couatl with telepathy and anti-divination means, although the Couatl’s abilities are more broadly-focused. The GOO’s 14th level ability to make a charmed thrall is similar to the Dragon’s 14th level authoritative command, save that the GOO is more limited in several ways but of an indefinite duration and telepathic link. Both abilities have their uses but in very different situations.The Dragon’s claw attacks point to a melee-friendly option, which brings to mind the Hexblade. But a pair of fancy claws cannot really compete with the explicitly-martial patron, who gets better weapon and armor proficiencies, a nifty single-target curse which can grant increased damage and critical hit chances, and whose Pact of the Blade can be transferred to touched weapons as part of the Hex Warrior feature. The Dragon is better in that its bonus spells have more ranged offensive options, while the Hexblade’s are more of a self-buffing nature.Final Thoughts: The Caretaker Warlock is an interesting concept, and can make a better choice in a more light-hearted game than the class’ basic “dark mage” feel. The sourcebook is good at turning the Warlock into a better team player in various ways, and the new Guardian patrons have worthy choices for the most part. I feel that the Phoenix borrowed too liberally from the Celestial, and the Couatl’s core features and invocations are a bit too broad yet situational to be appealing in comparison to the others. While the patrons are meant to be noncombatants, I cannot help but feel that shilling for another product is rather unnecessary given that there’s really only 4 choices which shouldn’t take much room page-wise to make stat blocks.Join us next time as we look at another one of Robert Schwalb’s 4th Edition conversions, the Warden!</blockquote>

Verification