War(locks), what is it good for?

[pallandrome]

Hey guys! Having never played a 'lock before, I thought I'd ask everyone what there opinions on the class was. The do's, the don'ts, and what have you. Do those incantations have a spell/day limit? How do they match up, survivability-wise? If set on fire, do they smell nice? I crave your opinions!

 

[DungeonMaester]

Hey guys! Having never played a 'lock before, I thought I'd ask everyone what there opinions on the class was. The do's, the don'ts, and what have you. Do those incantations have a spell/day limit? How do they match up, survivability-wise? If set on fire, do they smell nice? I crave your opinions!

Warlocks are tough to play unless you totally power game feats and invocations (Such as Mortalae feat and Hellfire blast invocation)

If you play them straight from Complete Arcane, then its not a whole lot of fun. Invocation growth rate is slow as all heck, which can make them borning as well, doing only a few spells over and over again.

6th level is when you get all the fun invocations..and you break loose all hell.

Warlocks get a small amount of DR and fast healing, but can die easily in a fight having little AC and HP. Take Elderic Spear and stay far back!

I have a Warlock in a campaign right now, and am really enjoying playing him because its more high end role play any way.

---Rusty

 

[JiffyPopTart]

All of the invocations can be used all day or until you fall asleep, whichever happens first.

While this may seem overpowered sometimes, it really isn't. Instead it changes some preconceptions of how the game works.

For example...having unlimited Dispel Magic attempts in your back pocket clearly changes how magical traps would work in a campaign, but doesn't necessarily make it any less of a hazard than a rogue with a high Disable Device skill.

I would say they best replace the rogue, since they can be good scouts (flying, invisibility, etc) .

Their best hidden ability is having Use Magic Device as a tag skill and being able to always Take 10 when using it. This will allow you to fill in as a cleric or wizard with the appropriate wands or scrolls at a pretty early level.

DS

 

[Stalker0]

To make a warlock fun, you need to be really creative in your descriptions and your tactics. Eldritch Blast every round is boring until you start making it interesting:

"I summon the stinging sand of Elmadagra"
"I call forth the ruby beam of Rormanda!!"
"I rip the skies open, and let loose the rains of Ragamand!!"

Further you need to very careful in your invocation picks, and make full use of them. Invis at will can make you the ultimate scout, and you can always start every fight invisible, etc. Also, as mentioned above, use magic device if the key to flexibility for you. Work on getting high level scrolls and wands and such. Heck, you can start casting higher level spells than the accompaning wizard if you focus on UMD and get some high level scrolls.

Further, I don't recommend warlocks at high levels (15+). There at will abilities don't look so hot when the wizard can cast 20+ spells per day, and does twice as much damage per shot.

 

[pallandrome]

Hmmm, good advice. Note to self, gather collection of bizarre mystiky sounding names for power use.

I hadn't really considered the UMD angle, so thanks for pointing that out. I'll be grabbing a few of them CLW wands.

 

[pawsplay]

At low levels, they are basically weird archers. Then they turn into invisible flying scouts, akin to monster PCs. At high levels, they are masters of the eclectic collection of magic items, and play kind of like a bard or rogue, with Scrolls of Damned Near Everything. If you plan on playing them base class only, I'd strongly suggest becoming an item crafter starting around level 12 or so. If your party members can contribute a crafting Feat or two as well, you will be able to make essentially anything.

 

[pallandrome]

Wait, what do you mean "have your party members contribute crafting feats"? I thought you had to take crafting feats yourself to make magic items... (I was looking at taking the fey touched feats, for a few other nifty abilities, and the improved DR).

 

[pawsplay]

Wait, what do you mean "have your party members contribute crafting feats"? I thought you had to take crafting feats yourself to make magic items... (I was looking at taking the fey touched feats, for a few other nifty abilities, and the improved DR).

Characters can collaborate on making magic items.

Note that all items have prerequisites in their descriptions. These prerequisites must be met for the item to be created. Most of the time, they take the form of spells that must be known by the item’s creator (although access through another magic item or spellcaster is allowed).

While item creation costs are handled in detail below, note that normally the two primary factors are the caster level of the creator and the level of the spell or spells put into the item. A creator can create an item at a lower caster level than her own, but never lower than the minimum level needed to cast the needed spell. Using metamagic feats, a caster can place spells in items at a higher level than normal.

So if your wizard has Craft Staff, he can craft a staff, for which you provide the necessary spells.

 

[javcs]

I believe he means that you provide specific pre-reqs beyond the feat through your class abilities.

 

[Drowbane]

Warlocks are tough to play unless you totally power game feats and invocations (Such as Mortalae feat and Hellfire blast invocation)

If you play them straight from Complete Arcane, then its not a whole lot of fun. Invocation growth rate is slow as all heck, which can make them borning as well, doing only a few spells over and over again.

6th level is when you get all the fun invocations..and you break loose all hell.

Warlocks get a small amount of DR and fast healing, but can die easily in a fight having little AC and HP. Take Elderic Spear and stay far back!

I have a Warlock in a campaign right now, and am really enjoying playing him because its more high end role play any way.

---Rusty

you forgot Greater Psionic Shot