Warlock?

[Piratecat]

In 3e a warlock is a blaster; they can fire arcane energy (usually a bolt of damage-doing power) each round, every round, all day. They also get cool and spooky themed powers, such as becoming a cloud of bats or being able to summon greasy darkness.

They're almost completely artillery, and lack a sorcerer's flexibility -- but they're a great class for new players. As the saying goes, they're mostly a one-trick pony, but it's a pretty good trick.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

I still think the warlock in that playtest was like the psion in the previous playtest: That psion was a wizard with a new paint job, and that warlock could have been a sorcerer with a different name.

Interesting. Thanks for sharing. I think you might be close to right. With 4 base class types (Warrior, Divine Caster, Arcane Caster, and Skill guy) and 4 roles (Defender, Leader, Striker, and Controller) that would amount to 16 base classes or there abouts, which is a few to many, I am thinking, to fit them all in the PHB though.

Actually, the three class types in the PHB are Martial, Arcane and Divine. The Rogue is martial. Martial apparently means making the mundane powerful with superior training. The rogue will be the master of all things Skill, but that is considered martial.

So we would have 12 base classes. But it was said that there would be only 8 of them. I don't think the warlock will join the sorcerer and wizard, mainly because the big mechanical difference is now part of the standard rules.

They could make it a path for sorcerers to walk. Get your arcane power from a pact rather than from your heritage.

 

[Felon]

It looks like in 4e, there will be no niche for the sorcerer (as all spellcasters will have once-per-round spells), but we will have the warlock.

Are you saying the warlock is going to be in the PHB? Do you have a source?

My understanding is the reverse. Spellcasters will, in effect, "kill the warlock and take his stuff" (a term used to describe how the 4e ranger is supposed to co-opt the 3e scout's abilities).

Can anyone give me a quick run-down of the class as it stands in 3e? Themes, game niche, etc.?

The warlock was designed primarily around a game mechanic concept, namely giving a mage spell-like abilities that function at will instead of actual spells that burn slots. The at-will abilities aren't as good as spells of an equivalent character level, so other abilities are tacked on.

 

[(contact)]

Are you saying the warlock is going to be in the PHB? Do you have a source?

Who you rollin' with? Of course I do.

In the little flash drives that Wizards was handing out, one of the 4e concept drawings was labled "Dwarf Warlock." And it's a nice illustration, too:

http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=204241

My understanding is the reverse. Spellcasters will, in effect, "kill the warlock and take his stuff" (a term used to describe how the 4e ranger is supposed to co-opt the 3e scout's abilities).

Yeah, it certainly looks like 4e spellcasters took the warlock's stuff, but apparently the warlock stabalized at -9. I'm very interested to learn about how the class will differentiate from the wizard, and it implies the existance of other arcane classes.

Could the Warlock be a divine class? Technically, if you were getting your powers from the demons in your head, you would be, wouldn't you? It might be a bridge between divine and arcane power-sets.

Another possibility is that there will likely be villain classes (per Iron Heroes-- a fantastic concept: enough complexity to run a villain, but not enough to make a PC. Speeds up prep time quite a bit). Perhaps the Warlock is a villain class, in keeping with the feindish legacy.

 

[Kesh]

It's been mentioned they want to "differentiate the wizard and the sorcerer" in 4e, so I'd say sorcerer is in (though not necessarily core). It'll be interesting to see what the sorcerer and warlock look like, especially if the wizard is getting at-will/per-encounter/per-day abilities already.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

It could simply be a path for sorcerers to take, like barbarian could very well be a path for fighters to take.

What I do think is that they won't cover one role/power source combination twice: We have wizards as arcane controllers, so I doubt that sorcerers (who have been hinted at a couple of times) will be arcane controllers, too. They will probably be arcane strikers. So what will the warlock be?

Plus, the warlock's schtick was casting stuff all day long. He was awesome because of that. Now that everyone can do that, he isn't so unique any more. So I guess the sorcerer will be chosen amongst the two, because he was there first. Much like the scout is assimilated by the ranger.

 

[Jhaelen]

Plus, the warlock's schtick was casting stuff all day long. He was awesome because of that. Now that everyone can do that, he isn't so unique any more. So I guess the sorcerer will be chosen amongst the two, because he was there first. Much like the scout is assimilated by the ranger.

Exactly: The sorcerer kills the warlock and takes his stuff

A positive side-effect will be that it will reduce confusion about the German translation of the class names, which can be used interchangeably: 'Hexer' and 'Hexenmeister'.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

Exactly: The sorcerer kills the warlock and takes his stuff

A positive side-effect will be that it will reduce confusion about the German translation of the class names, which can be used interchangeably: 'Hexer' and 'Hexenmeister'.

Your fault if you bother with the German translation of D&D.

This was brought up in our gaming group actually: Now that there's a spanking new edition, and Amigo has finally been fired as translators, they might redo the translation from scratch and not do a hack job at it for a change.

 

[(contact)]

If the sorcerer is an arcane class, it'll be included in the PHB 1 -- FWIU, they are dividing the PHB releases by power source.

I'm still thinking Warlock might be a divine power source class.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

If the sorcerer is an arcane class, it'll be included in the PHB 1 -- FWIU, they are dividing the PHB releases by power source.

I'm still thinking Warlock might be a divine power source class.

Could be divine. I think it's more likely that he draws from a different power source: Pacts. I guess Pacts as a power source will come, with the warlock, binder and something else.