Making Eldritch Blasts non-lethal...

[Drowbane]

Nope. Read the class. A DM is entitled to change it if they so desire, but the wclass right up is pretty solidly entrench in that the power comes from a very wicked sourse.

I have read the class...

Nope. After all the Chaotic and Evil focused print you refer to, you can read the following:

"A good-aligned warlock is a grim and fearsome enemy of evil. All too familiar with the darkness lurking in his heart, he gazes unflinchingly on the evil in others and battles the foulest of foes without fear." (...snip...)

... doh!

This guy beat me to it...

Another poster already beat me to the fact that the CArc references wild sources or fey. It also mentions on the same page that the source of the warlocks power ultimately is decided by the player. Certainly, however, in games that you DM you can read the text to imply a much more fiendish source. I'll not deprive you of that right on yur behalf (...snip...)

...and this guy too!

 

[Question]

Torture is regularly accompanied by healing magic in D&D anyway.

 

[Nonlethal Force]

Torture is regularly accompanied by healing magic in D&D anyway.

Yeah - I wonder why, too....

I mean, I know the rationale - keep the tortured guy alive so we can get more out of him. That part is easy. But why do so many "torture" methods use healing? Wouldn't it be simpler to get a henchman that specializes in torture via nonlethal means so you can eliminate the need for the healing part?

Oh - and I do realize that there are some methods of torture that by their very nature are lethal. Dangling a person off a 200 foot cliff, for example, could get very lethal pretty quickly. I guess I am thinking about torture than is done via spells or attacks - which could be made nonlethal by a feat selection here and there.

 

[Vorput]

Yeah - I wonder why, too....

I mean, I know the rationale - keep the tortured guy alive so we can get more out of him. That part is easy. But why do so many "torture" methods use healing? Wouldn't it be simpler to get a henchman that specializes in torture via nonlethal means so you can eliminate the need for the healing part?

Oh - and I do realize that there are some methods of torture that by their very nature are lethal. Dangling a person off a 200 foot cliff, for example, could get very lethal pretty quickly. I guess I am thinking about torture than is done via spells or attacks - which could be made nonlethal by a feat selection here and there.

How about locking them under a permanent symbol of pain for a few days...

 

[HeavyG]

Im curious, why is that non-lethal substituion feat +1 to spell level?

I don't know if this is true, but I know one guy who said that non-lethal substitution will bypass energy resistance. So a fireball goes from fire damage to non-lethal damage, and not to non-lethal fire damage.

In that sense, it allowed all your spells to go right through outsider energy resistance and the 3.0 version (at +0 level) was very common in his games.

And versus most opponents, non-lethal is as good as lethal damage.

So, yeah, if true, it's easily worth +1 level. However, IIRC, warlock blasts already do, by default, burn right through energy resistance, right ? So making them non-lethal would not have that particular added advantage and it should not carry a penalty like the metamagic version.

As to non-lethal damage being inherently non-evil, that's a pretty limited view. Evil has plenty of reasons to knock their foes out.

“If you have to look along the shaft of an arrow from the wrong end, if a man has you entirely at his mercy, then hope like hell that man is an evil man. Because the evil like power... they will talk, they will gloat. So hope like hell your captor is an evil man. A good man will kill you with hardly a word.”

- Terry Pratchett, Men At Arms

 

[Question]

Yeah - I wonder why, too....

I mean, I know the rationale - keep the tortured guy alive so we can get more out of him. That part is easy. But why do so many "torture" methods use healing? Wouldn't it be simpler to get a henchman that specializes in torture via nonlethal means so you can eliminate the need for the healing part?

Oh - and I do realize that there are some methods of torture that by their very nature are lethal. Dangling a person off a 200 foot cliff, for example, could get very lethal pretty quickly. I guess I am thinking about torture than is done via spells or attacks - which could be made nonlethal by a feat selection here and there.

Because more methods of torture involve doing lethal damage, and most torturers like it that way.

 

[Tetsubo]

Nope. Read the class. A DM is entitled to change it if they so desire, but the wclass right up is pretty solidly entrench in that the power comes from a very wicked sourse.

Even if that were true, which it isn't, why would a character be forced to behave as its ancestor did? If someone's parent was an SOB it doesn't mean they need to behave in the same manner. The key to Warlocks power may be infernal but it doesn't mean the characters has to be...

But as someone else pointed out, the source of power doesn't need to be infernal...

 

[Sidekick]

Well we're having it so that her powers manifested at the same time as the Mourning occured (Eberron Campaign).

So it could be that, it could be coincidence.

Dunno yet, we'll see what happens.

Thanks again all.

 

[frankthedm]

Even if that were true, which it isn't, why would a character be forced to behave as its ancestor did? If someone's parent was an SOB it doesn't mean they need to behave in the same manner. The key to Warlocks power may be infernal but it doesn't mean the characters has to be...

But as someone else pointed out, the source of power doesn't need to be infernal...

While the power source does not need to be Infernal, Abyssals or Wild fey and can be picked by the player, the class itself indicated the “Patron” must be accepting of Chaos and Evil and any warlock in that alignment arc. It stretches credulity a Celestial source would be accepting of lawful evil and reject Lawful Good.


For the weight that the FAQ carries, here is wotc’s suggestion on alignment violating warlocks.
What happens to a warlock who changes his alignment to LG, LN, NG, or N?
A warlock who isn’t evil or chaotic can’t gain any further levels as a warlock, but doesn’t lose any class features or suffer any other penalty.

 

[Deset Gled]

Im curious, why is that non-lethal substituion feat +1 to spell level? I cant see anyone taking it unless they were like, elite SWAT members of a kingdom and regularly deals with hostage scenarios and their main tatic revolves around mass spamming of non-lethal fireballs.

I recommend looking at this in comparison to a melee character. Here's a quick rundown:

A warrior can normally deal non-lethal damage be taking a -4 penalty to attack.
A caster cannot normally deal non-lethal damage with a spell.

A warrior can take a feat (I forget the source), take special class levels (Bloodhound, monk), or buy a special weapon (requires money and prep time) to get around the penalty.
A caster can take a feat and pay a +1 slot penalty to deal non-lethal damage, or can just use a spell that already does non-lethal damage or stops the target in another method (stunning, charm, etc).

Considering this, I consider the +1 to be fair. The +1 slot and feat is a high cost compared to the warrior's options, but the caster already has enough of a versatility advantage over the warrior that to make them even more versatile should come at a bit steeper cost.