Warlock in Play

[Lonely Tylenol]

Must be a campaign style question - as GM I regularly have the casting characters IMCs running "dry" and these players are not some "trigger happy" folks, blasting away at every shadow, dustmote or strange noise - even at level 15 (the highest we currently play ). So "endless ammunition" would be pretty high on any caster's wish list, even it meant some limited-choice of effects. It's already an option in the rules - and what makes a sorcerer so attractive in comparison to the wizard.

Ahh... You see, the default assumption we make for balance discussion is that your campaign is a standard rules-as-written campaign. The design assumption is that a party should face 3 or 4 level-appropriate challenges before they must rest. If your campaign differs from the basic design assumptions, you should understand that the game balance will not operate normally in your situation. The designers cannot foresee all campaign circumstances, and so they must balance these classes based on the assumption that most people play a "normal" campaign. Those of us who don't play by normal rules, and I'm one, must make small tweaks to preserve balance, with the understanding that this is a consequence of changing the rules to suit our purposes. But when we come here to discuss balance, we need to default to the "standard" rules.

As for Scorching Ray - you must hit with each missile separately, and the sorcerer has weak BA-progression,while the warlock has a medium one. Scorching Ray is also subject to Fire Resistance - a pretty common occurence. And it has "close" range, which means, the casting sorcerer is smack within charge range until 12th level for most humanoids/monsters.
EB is not subject to resistances (except SR), the warlock hits easier, and it can be delivered at greater range. Overall, the warlock looks pretty much a good candidate for taking Improved Critical rays, too.
Fireball is an AE-spell, has a reflex save for half AND is subject to evasion and Fire Resistance... So it usually does not yield anything close to its potential maximum damage.

The sorcerer uses scorching ray until 12th level without choosing any spells with a larger range? Man, that sorcerer is just asking for it, isn't he?

But back on the subject of fireball. Allow me to submit that fireball always does at least twice the number of dice of damage as Eldritch Blast. And that if a reflex save is made (assuming the enemies don't ALL have the fairly rare Evasion ability), it does no less than the same number of dice of damage as Eldritch Blast. Unlike EB, it does that damage to mulitple targets. Certainly, fire resistance plays a part, but unless the enemy is naturally fire resistant (and the sorcerer would in this case choose to use a different spell against it, or perhaps use Energy Substitution), the sorcerer can choose to use a different spell. Like Lightning Bolt.

So Fireball does at least as much damage, and hits more targets. If the save is failed, it does twice as much damage. So even if you hit only one enemy, and he makes his save, you're doing as much as the warlock can do. But you're unlikely to hit only one enemy with a fireball, or with a lightning bolt, for that matter. And if you're a good sorcerer with a high Cha, some of your enemies will probably fail their saves...especially if you focus on blasting the things with crappy reflex saves.

But, EB has some advantages. It has no energy type and can be used many times each day. It can be augmented to carry special effects. It can, at higher levels, be made to affect several targets at close range.

On the one hand, being a sorcerer is good. On the other hand, being a warlock is good.

And yes, a warlock needs to be played differently from a sorcerer, but so needs every class. And if played correctly/smartly, the warlock becomes a party killer par excellence. Should your GM feels nasty enough.........

...just like almost any class. Wizards are fantastic party killers. So are clerics. A fighter can take down party members in one or two hits if he gets in close, and a rogue can sneak attack party members with poor Spot rolls, eliminating valuable casters and support crew (like the warlock). An let's not forget assassins. If the GM plays them correctly/smartly, they will each be a major problem for a party.

 

[ARandomGod]

So what were the party members that did get attacked? I find it hard to believe that they all failed the will save, were all subject to mind influencing powers, and not one of them had a ranged attack.


The chain does half damage to secondary targets if I'm not mistaken. The DC for that power is around about 14+stat bonus. With ability focus, it's 16+stat bonus.

At best, he could quicken 3 times a day.

He can't blast and then dimension door out. He can blast, and then one round later he can dimension door.

And if THAT killed off those characters, then I hate to think what might happen if you ever met a real spellcaster.

Yea, they all made terrible rolls... one was a paladin with a truely impressive will save. The others only had pretty good will saves, I'd say medium. The ranged attacker rolled to "run away as fast as possible" on his confusion roll... and didn't get back in time to contribute to the rest of the defence.

But perhaps also we were playing it wrong, for instance, it definitely did full damage to all three targets.
Checking... indeed, you are correct. That makes things better. (Well, the DM makes the damage adjustments so that we don't see it, we're not told our HP's, but I don't think he was applying the half damage, or knows about it.)

Although, as to the DC of the spell, he was a 12th level caster. Which means the DC of the blast is equal to 10+ invocation level (4) + stat modifier... OR the DC of 10 +1/2 caster level + stat modifier, whichever is higher. Which in this case is 10+6+ (stat of 24 = 7), which is an 18,plus the ability focus feat, or DC 20. (I double checked this.) A DC of 20 is nothing to sneaze at. Of course, the very fact that he attacked that particular half of the party meant he was more likely to win, you're right. But still, a level 16 paladin, 12 rogue/ranger, and 15 I don't know what that guy was...

He didn't DD right after a blast. ALthough he did quicken inviso after DDing away, and letting the players waste time fighting a decoy that next round.