New Warlock Invocation: Greater Pact Weapon

[Caliban]

But the new item won't have the enhancement of the other. There's a reason why some abilities come with pluses and some not.

Yes, that's why it's something the Pact of the Blade Warlock would spend an invocation on. You have to get some benefit out of the invocation, or why have it at all?

The question is whether or not the benefit is ridiculously overpowered, or something in line with what you would expect from a class feature that revolves around summoning a magical weapon granted by your Patron.

 

[CapnZapp]

I might not have myself clear, so let me say that for an actual warlock I don't see this as overpowered at all.

I'm thinking of a Fighter getting to use a +3 Flaming Glaive of Vorpal to make five attacks a round.

Easiest fix is to hold it off until 8th level or what your original proposal said. You can't "dip" eight levels.

Besides, in many campaigns the warlock won't even have a magical weapon before that level, let alone so many so the feature actually does something.

 

[Caliban]

I might not have myself clear, so let me say that for an actual warlock I don't see this as overpowered at all.

I'm thinking of a Fighter getting to use a +3 Flaming Glaive of Vorpal to make five attacks a round.

Easiest fix is to hold it off until 8th level or what your original proposal said. You can't "dip" eight levels.

Besides, in many campaigns the warlock won't even have a magical weapon before that level, let alone so many so the feature actually does something.

True enough. This is supposed to be something special for the Pact Blade Warlock, not something for a Fighter to cherry pick.

This is actually one of the main reasons I post my new ideas for magic items/spells/invocations and house rules here when I think of them.

While I have a high opinion of my own sense of game balance, I'm aware that I'm inherently biased in favor of my own ideas and may overlook problems with them because I know how it's "supposed" to work.

Posting them here gives me other viewpoints that may spot a flaw or balance issue that just never occurred to me.

 

[Mad_Jack]

Since you're going to be the one controlling which weapon properties the warlock can choose from by which magic weapons you choose to hand him, this shouldn't be a problem. The one issue I'm seeing is from the other side of the equation: since this class feature revolves around the warlock getting magic weapons, you need to be careful about what kind of items you hand out to the party in general - for example, how is the party going to feel about the you dropping him enough magical weapons to give him some options, and what will you do about the trickle-down factor, i.e., what happens when the party fighter upgrades his weapon out of the party's new loot and (because nobody else in the group uses the same type of weapon) he feeds his old one to the 'lock?

 

[Caliban]

Since you're going to be the one controlling which weapon properties the warlock can choose from by which magic weapons you choose to hand him, this shouldn't be a problem. The one issue I'm seeing is from the other side of the equation: since this class feature revolves around the warlock getting magic weapons, you need to be careful about what kind of items you hand out to the party in general - for example, how is the party going to feel about the you dropping him enough magical weapons to give him some options, and what will you do about the trickle-down factor, i.e., what happens when the party fighter upgrades his weapon out of the party's new loot and (because nobody else in the group uses the same type of weapon) he feeds his old one to the 'lock?

In this particular group, the fighter and the warlock are the same character - Fighter 2/Warlock 3 at the moment. The other party members are a wizard with a cat familiar that hates him, a bard that tries to be a swashbuckler despite not being built for it, and there used to be a druid but their player had to drop out due to work issues.

The warlock player wants to make a deal for more power, but it's going to require him to take a lot more warlock levels or there won't be a deal. (In this setting the warlock serves as a conduit for the Patron to siphon power from the material plane to the Patron, and the higher level the warlock the more power the Patron gains from the pact. That's why Patrons are always trying to get new warlocks, even if they have to trick them into taking the deal.)

But in general, I kind of count on the Bladelock with this invocation hoovering up all the extra magic weapons that result from other party member upgrading their weapons. I like having ways of removing magic items and gold from the campaign that make sense in universe, and this provides one more method.

 

[Mad_Jack]

Well, if the 'lock is the only "real" melee character, I guess it's not an issue, then... (And he's gonna need all the help he can get.)

 

[Caliban]

Well, if the 'lock is the only "real" melee character, I guess it's not an issue, then... (And he's gonna need all the help he can get.)

I may have to recalibrate soon. Campaign is currently on hiatus until the new year (too many scheduling conflicts), and when we restart the Warlock player will be the only one of the original crew left. I don't know what the three new players will be bringing yet.