D&D 5E Warlock Spells - PHB page 106 - slot level maxes at 5th; pg 210 lists spells to 9th level

[Falling Icicle]

Generally? Inappropriate spells for concepts, inability to scale said spells making things like Conjure Fey less useful, Invocations start to drop off in appeal, and so on. Yes, True Polymorph and Foresight are good, but those are both level 9 spells. You don't hear as much excitement for the level 6-8 magic, which is a long time to go with magic that doesn't fit into a Chain or Blade'lock theme. You also can't take both level 9 spells, unlike every other caster in existance - you only get one choice, ever. If you like two level 6 spells and no level 7 spells, too bad. Past level 14, there's nothing directly thematic for your Patron, which is another issue. Fiend warlocks like being blasty/stabby, and there's no fiendish theme to the high level magic, which can be highly disappointing. You don't even really get more spell slots for the lower level spells unitl level 17! That's a long way to be rather static in terms of abilities that you find desirable.

This is a very real problem for a lot of people who want to like the warlock.

I disagree that the warlock's 6th-8th level spells aren't very good. Mass suggestion, forcecage, plane shift, demiplane, dominate monster, feeblemind, etc. are some pretty amazing spells. I'd take the warlock's high level spell list over the cleric's any day!

 

[Mephista]

They're very narrow with a high repeat of WIS saves, and very narrow in concept and execution. If that's your thing, go for it. If its not? Then you're FUBAR. Warlock works well at high levels with very narrow and specific builds. Which is a problem, considering all the directions its supposed to be able to take.

 

[Gadget]

They're very narrow with a high repeat of WIS saves, and very narrow in concept and execution. If that's your thing, go for it. If its not? Then you're FUBAR. Warlock works well at high levels with very narrow and specific builds. Which is a problem, considering all the directions its supposed to be able to take.

All the directions it's supposed to take? I'm curious what spells you think should be in the list that are not. Looking at the 6-9th level spells, there are plenty of non-WIS saves: Arcane Gate, Conjure Fey, Circle of Death, True Seeing and the Investiture line of spells. That's just 6th level. Etherealness, Finger of Death, Force Cage, and Plane Shift do not appear to have a WIS save either. Power Word Stun/Kill also are no save. Granted, there are a lot of Necrotic type spells, but that seems to coincide with the 'dark and spooky' theme that Warlocks tend to have, and even these can be avoided.

 

[JackOfAllTirades]

Just saw another thread (on a different 5E forum) discussing which spells scale the best. Mass Suggestion came up, and yes it scales very well: it starts out with 1 day duration, goes to 10 days if cast with a 7th level slot, 30 days at 8th level, and a year and a day at 9th level.

Unless you're a Warlock.

If you're a Warlock, Mass Suggestion is a 6th level spell, and only a 6th level spell, no matter what. You don't get higher level slots to scale it up, ever. So yeah, let's add this to all the other reasons the Mystic Arcanum class feature comes up short.