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D&D 5E Volo's Warlock NPCs
- Thread starter CapnZapp
- Start date
Arial Black
Adventurer
The point seems to be that warlocks would never choose the Armour of Shadows invocation because they are proficient with light armour, therefore these NPCs are badly made.
But is it the case that Armour of Shadows is a wasted invocation? The way to test this is to see if PC warlocks have this enchantment, and it would be helpful if the example warlocks were designed using some system mastery.
Me! I have a degree of system mastery (although min/maxing is not my design goal), and I have played three warlocks in 5E so far, and they all happen to be multiclass and all designed (mainly) as melee characters:-
* Pal 2/War 3, fiendish chainlock. Wears full plate
* Bar 3/War 8, frenzied barbarian, fiendish bladelock. Relies on Unarmoured Defence.
* Ftr 1/War 7, undying bladelock. Dex-based, two-weapon wielder. Despite proficiency in all armour and shields, does not use a shield because she is focussed on TWF with hex, and with Dex 16 and Armour of Shadows has AC 16, which will increase as her Dex increases (and Dex is her favoured stat). The base 13 AC from the invocation is better than any light armour, better than any heavy armour she has the Str to wear, and better than any combination of medium armour and Dex that she has access to. Even if she found some half plate it would only give her AC 17, while with 18 Dex she would have AC 17 anyway
It's no different for warlocks as it is for any other class: if you are not a Str-based, heavy armour wearing PC, then Armour of Shadows/mage armour/Unarmoured Defence/Draconic Resilience gives you a better AC than any light or medium armour if you are Dex-based.
But is it the case that Armour of Shadows is a wasted invocation? The way to test this is to see if PC warlocks have this enchantment, and it would be helpful if the example warlocks were designed using some system mastery.
Me! I have a degree of system mastery (although min/maxing is not my design goal), and I have played three warlocks in 5E so far, and they all happen to be multiclass and all designed (mainly) as melee characters:-
* Pal 2/War 3, fiendish chainlock. Wears full plate
* Bar 3/War 8, frenzied barbarian, fiendish bladelock. Relies on Unarmoured Defence.
* Ftr 1/War 7, undying bladelock. Dex-based, two-weapon wielder. Despite proficiency in all armour and shields, does not use a shield because she is focussed on TWF with hex, and with Dex 16 and Armour of Shadows has AC 16, which will increase as her Dex increases (and Dex is her favoured stat). The base 13 AC from the invocation is better than any light armour, better than any heavy armour she has the Str to wear, and better than any combination of medium armour and Dex that she has access to. Even if she found some half plate it would only give her AC 17, while with 18 Dex she would have AC 17 anyway
It's no different for warlocks as it is for any other class: if you are not a Str-based, heavy armour wearing PC, then Armour of Shadows/mage armour/Unarmoured Defence/Draconic Resilience gives you a better AC than any light or medium armour if you are Dex-based.
CapnZapp
Legend
Okay, so apparently what I thought was obvious wasn't.
Apologies for that.
My point is not the above. My point is that when you design a Warlock NPC you can give it armor in place of mage armor, an option you simply don't have when designing Wizard/Mage NPCs.
Doing so isn't better, from a build perspective. Not doing so isn't a mistake.
But not doing so misses the opportunity to make the Warlock NPC different from a Mage NPC. And more diversity in your NPC stat blocks is good.
There is technically nothing wrong with the Warlock NPCs as given. It's just that I think it would have been more fun if Warlock NPCs had light armor (and the Dexterity to back that up), and instead of Mage Armor used, say, Armor of Agathys right in the main stat block:
Instead of the Warlock of the Great Old One saying
Armor Class 12 (15 with mage armor)
Hit Points 91
it could say
Armor Class 15 (studded leather; armor of agathys: each melee attack that hits the warlock causes 25 cold damage while its temporary hit points last)
Hit Points 91 (armor of agathys: 25 temporary hit points)
It would have made fighting a warlock more distinct, more memorable, more different from fighting a mage.
Jester David
Hero
Giving them mage armour increases their AC by one over studded leather and makes the character simpler to run, reducing the choices the DM has to pick from on a round-by-round basis. And they don't need to reprint the full text of a different invocation that might be more complicated.
Plus, they're warlock NPCs, not PCs. They only cosmetically follow the rules for the warlock class.
Plus, they're warlock NPCs, not PCs. They only cosmetically follow the rules for the warlock class.
Helldritch
Hero
Okay, so apparently what I thought was obvious wasn't.
Apologies for that.
My point is not the above. My point is that when you design a Warlock NPC you can give it armor in place of mage armor, an option you simply don't have when designing Wizard/Mage NPCs.
Doing so isn't better, from a build perspective. Not doing so isn't a mistake.
But not doing so misses the opportunity to make the Warlock NPC different from a Mage NPC. And more diversity in your NPC stat blocks is good.
There is technically nothing wrong with the Warlock NPCs as given. It's just that I think it would have been more fun if Warlock NPCs had light armor (and the Dexterity to back that up), and instead of Mage Armor used, say, Armor of Agathys right in the main stat block:
Instead of the Warlock of the Great Old One saying
Armor Class 12 (15 with mage armor)
Hit Points 91
it could say
Armor Class 15 (studded leather; armor of agathys: each melee attack that hits the warlock causes 25 cold damage while its temporary hit points last)
Hit Points 91 (armor of agathys: 25 temporary hit points)
It would have made fighting a warlock more distinct, more memorable, more different from fighting a mage.
That is exactly what I would've done. Punish the striker and more if the warlock is tiefling or has hellish rebuke as a spell. That makes fighting warlock a bit more disctinct than simply putting them as wizards with patrons. It becomes a whole new ball game.
CapnZapp
Legend
Sure, but giving them mage armor makes them use an identical defense layout as a mage.
To me, that's a missed opportunity.
CapnZapp
Legend
You're the first one that has both 1) seen the point I've been trying to make and 2) agreed to it. Thank you!
Helldritch
Hero
[MENTION=25643]ca[/MENTION]pnZap
Thank to you too. You expressed my own ideas on warlocks. In better ways that I could've done myself.
My players hated it when they encountered 4 11th level warlocks of the blades with armor of agathys and 1 level in the rogue class. Hellish rebuke with hex, potion of speed, dual wielding and sneak attack was a blast to play and the players are still talking about these. Two of my older players are thinking of doing such a duo. (The warlocks were highly paid assassins that were hired by an enemy of the players. They had foiled her plans once too many. )
Thank to you too. You expressed my own ideas on warlocks. In better ways that I could've done myself.
My players hated it when they encountered 4 11th level warlocks of the blades with armor of agathys and 1 level in the rogue class. Hellish rebuke with hex, potion of speed, dual wielding and sneak attack was a blast to play and the players are still talking about these. Two of my older players are thinking of doing such a duo. (The warlocks were highly paid assassins that were hired by an enemy of the players. They had foiled her plans once too many.
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