D&D 5E Warlock Mechanics - The best representation of modern fantasy archetypes in Dnd

[Stalker0]

The warlock has proven to be a very popular class in 5e, and I think I know why. At its core, the warlock is the way that most modern "fantasy archetypes" actually function.

If you look at the plethora of super hero stories or chosen one stories or even most animes...the vast majority of them have a character has some "power" they can harness nigh at will, maybe a few powers, but generally a small suite.

Which is exactly how the warlock invocations work. You get a small smattering of abilities that are at will, with some spells that at least replenish "pretty quickly". Than you combine that with charisma as a primary stat, allowing the character to be a leader or at least highly social character. And voila, you have the main character in most modern fantasy stories.

Now the warlock flavor doesn't always work with people....but the mechanical chassis is very solid. I think this is one of the main reasons that warlocks are so popular, they best represent the archetypes people generally want to play when it comes to "powered" individuals.

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

I've been thinking of moving all casters (at least) to a Warlock model. The pacing of their spell recovery is pretty good when it comes to the regular adventuring day.
Instead of Invocations, each classes gain another resource in addition to their spells:
Bard -> Inspiration
Druid -> Shapeshift
Cleric -> Channel Divinity
Wizard -> Improved Ritual casting
Sorcerer -> Metamagic

Just make sure that each of those class have a good at-will options (looking at you, druids/bards/clerics) and you are pretty much done.

 

[Scribe]

It's a powerful class, that stands on its own for sure. In a time when player choice is an emphasis its pretty much a poster child of that design goal.

 

[CreamCloud0]

It’s worth noting that warlock provides three different avenues of character abilities customisation: their pact, their patron and their invocations, not to mention picking their spells on top of that

 

[GMforPowergamers]

The warlock has proven to be a very popular class in 5e, and I think I know why. At its core, the warlock is the way that most modern "fantasy archetypes" actually function.

If you look at the plethora of super hero stories or chosen one stories or even most animes...the vast majority of them have a character has some "power" they can harness nigh at will, maybe a few powers, but generally a small suite.

Which is exactly how the warlock invocations work. You get a small smattering of abilities that are at will, with some spells that at least replenish "pretty quickly". Than you combine that with charisma as a primary stat, allowing the character to be a leader or at least highly social character. And voila, you have the main character in most modern fantasy stories.

Now the warlock flavor doesn't always work with people....but the mechanical chassis is very solid. I think this is one of the main reasons that warlocks are so popular, they best represent the archetypes people generally want to play when it comes to "powered" individuals.

this is why I hope 6e someday will take a page from 4e and have a more or less uniform class structure based on the warlock chasie

 

[Clint_L]

I think the mechanical chassis for Warlock is incredibly basic, since the correct answer in most situations is "cast eldritch blast." Which effectively makes them more like a martial class than a casting class. And the game needs simple classes, so they are probably fine. If kind of boring, in terms of game play.

Of course, in terms of lore and story, they are great.

 

[Tonguez]

I think the mechanical chassis for Warlock is incredibly basic, since the correct answer in most situations is "cast eldritch blast." Which effectively makes them more like a martial class than a casting class. And the game needs simple classes, so they are probably fine. If kind of boring, in terms of game play.

Of course, in terms of lore and story, they are great.

I think thats part of their appeal tnough, as OP states Warlocks are action heroes with a small suite of potent powers and enough HP to actually get up close.
Look at the Dr Strange movie where the Scorcerers are up front fighting with force lariats and conjured swords, not standing back sniping from a back row. Heck Ironman and Spiderman could be done as Warlocks

 

[GMforPowergamers]

I think the mechanical chassis for Warlock is incredibly basic, since the correct answer in most situations is "cast eldritch blast."

I mean that is cool (if you build that way) but again the whole point of the class is good at wills with some choices to break it up on an encounter/daily resource... but those can be situational

 

[Charlaquin]

The warlock has proven to be a very popular class in 5e, and I think I know why. At its core, the warlock is the way that most modern "fantasy archetypes" actually function.

If you look at the plethora of super hero stories or chosen one stories or even most animes...the vast majority of them have a character has some "power" they can harness nigh at will, maybe a few powers, but generally a small suite.

Which is exactly how the warlock invocations work. You get a small smattering of abilities that are at will, with some spells that at least replenish "pretty quickly". Than you combine that with charisma as a primary stat, allowing the character to be a leader or at least highly social character. And voila, you have the main character in most modern fantasy stories.

Now the warlock flavor doesn't always work with people....but the mechanical chassis is very solid. I think this is one of the main reasons that warlocks are so popular, they best represent the archetypes people generally want to play when it comes to "powered" individuals.

In other words, Warlock is popular because it’s an AEDU class in disguise.

 

[Scribe]

In other words, Warlock is popular because it’s an AEDU class in disguise.

Yeah, its pretty much an outlier in design to me, in regards to 5e.