D&D 5E Pact Boon: of the Glove. Does this work?

[PossumPrince]

My DM is hoping online opinion will make this not a broken heap.

Pact of the Glove
Your patron gives you a glove or pair of gloves or similar hand covering. The glove is treated as a spellcasting focus for your warlock spells.
You learn the Chill Touch and Mage Hand cantrips. These don't count against your number of cantrips known. Both spells appear as spectral versions of the glove granted by your patron.
When you cast Mage Hand, you can perform the following additional tasks with it:
• You can push or pull one willing creature, Medium size or smaller, 5 feet in any direction.

• You can use the Help action, but only to aid in skill checks using the targets hands (Sleight of Hand, Tools et al, GMs discretion), and in combat only if the enemy is within 5 feet of the target, and you can see both of them.

Additionally, when you hit a target with Chill Touch, their movement is reduced by 10 feet until the start of your next turn.
(Destructions/loss of glove rules should probably be the same as Book of Shadows for PotTome?)


There’s that then. Now, invocations so this is worth something

These Hands
Prerequisite: Mage Hand cantrip

• When you cast Mage Hand, a number of hands equal to your Charisma modifier, minimum 2, appear. The hands can carry up to 15lbs * your Charisma modifier.

Spectre Boxing
Prerequisite: Pact of the Glove

• When you take the Attack action, you can make one of your attacks with Mage Hand. This is a spell attack that deals 1d4+half your Warlock level (rounded up) bludgeoning damage.
• This damage die increases at 5th(1d6), 11th(1d8) and 17th(1d10) level

Grave Grip
Prerequisite: Pact of the Glove

• When you hit with Chill Touch, you may choose to reduce the damage by 1d10 to reduce the targets’ speed by half instead of 10 feet, if the creature is Large or smaller.
• At 5th level, you can reduce the damage by 2d10, and the targets’ speed is reduced to 0 instead.

Swarm of Palms
Prerequisites: 5th Level, Pact of the Glove, These Hands invocation

• When you cast Mage Hand, you may choose to concentrate on the spell; the duration is unchanged. While concentrating, the spells’ range becomes self. Your space becomes lightly obscured, giving you half cover, and spaces within your reach become difficult terrain for the duration. Creatures bigger than Large ignore the difficult terrain. The spell ends as normal if your concentration is interrupted.
• You may also cast Mage Hand in this way as a reaction if a hostile creature enters your reach. You must concentrate on the spell when casting using your reaction.

Master’s’ Hands
Prerequisites: 7th Level, Pact of the Glove, Spectre Boxing invocation

• When you use the Attack action, you may cast Chill Touch as a second attack. It’s range becomes 60 feet if you cast it this way.
• You add your Charisma modifier to damage rolls for Chill Touch, and Mage Hand when using the Spectre Boxing invocation.

I don’t see much point in building past here if this is DOA. If this seems potentially workable, maybe later on you carry more with Mage Hand, or even get a climb speed while using Swarm of Palms? I started with Bigby’s Hand as an answer to making Mage Hand as playable as Eldritch Blast as your default cantrip. Help me out, will this suck?

 

[Todd Roybark]

It conjures images of a sparkly, be-gloved, Michael Jackson, with multiple Mage Hands touching things, with chilling effect.

I’m sure, that is not the fantasy archetype, I would be striving for.

That said, a Mage Hand master, is a cool idea. The Master’s Hand Invo needs to be reworked, to when you cast Chilling Touch, you can make one melee attack...similar to the Eldritch Knight, Fighter subclass.

Why not re-skin E. Blast into spectral fists? This way you could use the E.Blast Invos to push/pull people around.....just an idea.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I'm keen on the idea of adding new pact boons to the warlock, but this one doesn't really seem thematically appropriate.

The talisman in the recent UA was a good idea in terms of item, but the powers it granted where horrible.

 

[NotAYakk]

The action budget of some of the stuff above is missing (push/pull willing?)

The boxing line, how does it compare to a bog standard agonizing blast EB hex combo?

Concentration is a high cost.

 

[fearsomepirate]

Does your patron make you smell the glove just once, or over and over?

 

[DEFCON 1]

Does your patron make you smell the glove just once, or over and over?

Of course. Because the patron is just a black square-- like a square of annihilation. This is the compromise you made. It is not going to say anything here, or here along the spine. It's going to be like this, all black... it's going to be that simple, beautiful, classic! It does look a little bit like, you know, black leather. You can see yourself in... both sides. And you look at it and you think there is something about this, that's so black, it's like; "How much more black could this be?" And the answer is: "None, none... more black."

 

[PossumPrince]

Why not re-skin E. Blast into spectral fists? This way you could use the E.Blast Invos to push/pull people around.....just an idea.

The Master’s Hand Invo needs to be reworked, to when you cast Chilling Touch, you can make one melee attack...similar to the Eldritch Knight, Fighter subclass

If I was only concerned with what my cantrip looked like, I would just describe it that way in-game.
What I think is missing with RAW right now is that EB is so easy to use as a player. With a well conceived arcane focus and using its long range, you can flavor yourself as all the fictional spell-slingers of the rainbow.

But it’s not very USEFUL. Minor Illusion is almost brokenly useful at the right table. Mage Hand isn’t as useful as that, but it’s clearly distinct enough to merit an entire subclass, for an otherwise noncasting class. I want a piece of that for warlocks.

I added Chill Touch to spread out all the different moves you have with Bigby’s Hand so the one cantrip wasn’t the focus of the whole mechanics of the character, plus versatility in damage makes up for some of the lower damage overall, also reinforcing the usefulness of gloves, and warlocks.

I think a bonus action like the E Knight sounds right

When you use your action to Attack with Mage Hand, you can cast Chill Touch with a range of 60 ft as a bonus action, like that

 

[Todd Roybark]

I wish you well, on your endeavor.
Personally, I don’t think weaponizing Mage Hand is the best route to take. Mage Hand, Earthen Grasp, Bigby’s Hand, Telekinesis, all of these spells exist, so why not create a custom spell list for your Patron?

Your theme is, admittedly, already Bigby’s Hand flavored. So, (in my view), trying to rewrite Mage Hand, and create from whole cloth several new Invocations, is more likely to result in unintended consequences, than trying to use already proven, modular features.

EB + Multiple Invocations can mean sliding people around like chess pieces, which it seems you are somewhat trying to emulate.

 

[PossumPrince]

I wish you well, on your endeavor.
Personally, I don’t think weaponizing Mage Hand is the best route to take. Mage Hand, Earthen Grasp, Bigby’s Hand, Telekinesis, all of these spells exist, so why not create a custom spell list for your Patron?

Mmm, this is good, saves all the headache too, thanks dude

 

[merwins]

What happens when you facepalm while wearing the glove?

Can you remove a glove and strike someone in the face to instigate a formal duel? Or even maybe cast Compelled Duel?

Heck, even better, maybe your gloves are always ready, but not, Like Pact of the Blade. So you could send them away when you're not using them. Then you could even make a pair of magical gloves your pact gloves, to dismiss at will or summon as an action (or bonus action depending on how to consider gloves in the action economy).