D&D 5E (2024) Pact Of Chain Warlock is really powerful now.

[ECMO3]

So, I'm now running a game with a Pact of Chain Warlock and he has one of those sphinxes. Holy, it's destroying everything. 1d4+2d6 radiant damage every round. It does more than the greatsword wielding barbarian. It has 24hp

They are 3rd level now and the character never goes into combat. Also, we are fighting lots of undead so the radiant damage is nerfing the zombie ability....but with how True Strike works now, radiant damage is pretty common place.

At low levels Pact of Chain is extremely powerful and the better familiars are all better melee combatants than most 1st level martials. It gets less powerful as you advance though.

 

[ECMO3]

So if you have armor of shadows and max dex, your AC is 18... but now you aren't maxing out your cha. And your dex won't be max for a while anyway.

It depends what you roll how quick you hit max dex. On point buy you hit 20 the same time you would hit it with any other class except Fighter.

If you are playing a character that is single class and hard melee I think you dump Charisma. You don't need it.

Otherwise... what other melee-focused character has less defensive capacity? A rogue perhaps? the 2024 monk's parry ability has made them far more resilient.

A 16 Con Warlock with Armor of Shadows, max Dex and a pact slot spent on Armor of Agathys and the defensive duelist feat is top flight in terms of defensive capacity. It is right there with defense-oriented Barbarians and Eldrtich Knight Fighters.

Armor of Agathys is effectively 2.5 hit points per level, which is statistically 5 points of Constitution per casting (10 points per short rest) and that is before you factor in the damage you do to enemies with it.

 

[Zardnaar]

So, I'm now running a game with a Pact of Chain Warlock and he has one of those sphinxes. Holy, it's destroying everything. 1d4+2d6 radiant damage every round. It does more than the greatsword wielding barbarian. It has 24hp

They are 3rd level now and the character never goes into combat. Also, we are fighting lots of undead so the radiant damage is nerfing the zombie ability....but with how True Strike works now, radiant damage is pretty common place.

Peaks between 3rd and 5th level.

Warlocks in general are very front loaded.

 

[Averojus]

Armor of Agathys is kinda meh imho unless you're running stoneskin or are fiendpact.

This is a common misunderstanding. AoA Temporary HP does not stack nor refresh when gaining Temporary HP through other sources, like Dark One's Blessing or Fiendish Vigor invocation.

Source: Sage Advice Compendium (2014)

 

[ECMO3]

This is a common misunderstanding. AoA Temporary HP does not stack nor refresh when gaining Temporary HP through other sources, like Dark One's Blessing or Fiendish Vigor invocation.

The hit points don't stack but under the wording of the 2024 rules the spell lasts an hour as long as you have temp hit points. So if I am an 8th level Fiend warlock and I cast a 4th level AOA I get 20 temp hit points, and every time someone hits me they take 20 damage. If I lose 16 of of those I have 4 left. If I kill the bad guy I get 13. Those 13 replace the 4, but Armor of Agathys is still active.

This is new for 2024.

 

[Zardnaar]

The hit points don't stack but under the wording of the 2024 rules the spell lasts an hour as long as you have temp hit points. So if I am an 8th level Fiend warlock and I cast a 4th level AOA I get 20 temp hit points, and every time someone hits me they take 20 damage. If I lose 16 of of those I have 4 left. If I kill the bad guy I get 13. Those 13 replace the 4, but Armor of Agathys is still active.

This is new for 2024.

This.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

So...I know that abbreviations are useful and all...

But wouldn't it be a lot more clear to use "Chain Warlock" rather than "POC"? Because, y'know, there's a MUCH more well-known and widely-used meaning of "POC" that is going to confuse a lot of people.

And by a lot of people I mean I, personally, was deeply confused and kind of worried about the title until I thought through it for a minute.

You mean Prince of Canada?

 

[ECMO3]

In a campaign we are about to start there is going to be an interesting variation on this theme. The Familiar is the PC. Mechanically it is the same, the Warlock's pact is with a Fiend that controls the Warlock and the Warlock summons fiend and allows him to take a form through the Find Familiar spell.

The main difference from a "traditional" Warlock is in role play it is the familiar that is "playing" and he will have his pet Warlock do things like make a perception check or cast spells or whatever. Meanwhile the familiar is the one orchestrating the whole thing.