D&D 5E Warlocks and high level play

[Eric V]

Apparently, she is immune to spells of 6th or lower (or something like that). So, no eldritch blast. :/
[MENTION=6790063]JackOfAllTirades[/MENTION], are you running a bladelock? It's the only version I can see doing something to her in the fight. I am running a Tomelock myself, and thinking I might get one chance to use Power Word, Stun and that's it.

Not really clear to me how I can buff my allies either...

 

[EroGaki]

Apparently, she is immune to spells of 6th or lower (or something like that). So, no eldritch blast. :/
[MENTION=6790063]JackOfAllTirades[/MENTION], are you running a bladelock? It's the only version I can see doing something to her in the fight. I am running a Tomelock myself, and thinking I might get one chance to use Power Word, Stun and that's it.

Not really clear to me how I can buff my allies either...

Wow... that sucks. Invest in a sturdy crossbow?

Do they design these adventures to make the casters useless?

 

[S'mon]

Well that's disappointing.

The Warlock PC actually works excellently in my low-fantasy swords & sorcery campaign alongside the Barbarian & Rogue, but the Barb clearly dominates combat. I would never recommend a 5e Warlock for a meatgrindery Adventure Path with CR-balanced enounters, assumption of lots of PC magic,
etc. 5e Warlock seems a great class for a low-magic setting where full casters (eg Bard!) are prohibited.

 

[Mephista]

Apparently, she is immune to spells of 6th or lower (or something like that). So, no eldritch blast. :/

You can remove that immunity by wrecking the summoning ritual. Actually, I don't know if its completely removed, but I know it severely lowers the immunity.

Though, yes, bladelock is actually the only kind of warlock that can deal with Tiamat reliably, though the low HP and little way of regaining THP is rather sad; I don't have high hopes of survivability without having some powerful magic items. Which it sounds like you do.

Wow... that sucks. Invest in a sturdy crossbow?

Do they design these adventures to make the casters useless?

I wouldn't blame the adventures. The Tarrasque is core Monster Manual, and his carapice not only negates Eldritch Blast, but -reflects- it, potentially hitting teammates. The Warlock just has terrible issues when dealing with any high level Legendary. That's the problem when you use rules that are inconsistant with everyone else. Things just don't look right.

 

[JackOfAllTirades]

Apparently, she is immune to spells of 6th or lower (or something like that). So, no eldritch blast. :/
[MENTION=6790063]JackOfAllTirades[/MENTION], are you running a bladelock? It's the only version I can see doing something to her in the fight. I am running a Tomelock myself, and thinking I might get one chance to use Power Word, Stun and that's it.

Not really clear to me how I can buff my allies either...

Yes, I chose Pact of the Blade because I wanted the option of fighting in melee in addition to casting spells. I didn't know it at the time, but it turned out to be a good choice for this adventure path.

After this, I plan to run something a little easier to play. Probably a Favored Soul, cuz I love full casters who can fight.

 

[EroGaki]

Yes, I chose Pact of the Blade because I wanted the option of fighting in melee in addition to casting spells. I didn't know it at the time, but it turned out to be a good choice for this adventure path.

After this, I plan to run something a little easier to play. Probably a Favored Soul, cuz I love full casters who can fight.

But wouldn't that same logic hold true for any high level adventure? If all of the Big Bads have defenses like Tiamut or the Big T, aren't warlocks in particular going to be boned unless they happen to be bladelocks? As someone who has no interest in Path of the Blade, that's a little discouraging.

BTW, I love the favored soul. What sort of build would you play with one?

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

But wouldn't that same logic hold true for any high level adventure? If all of the Big Bads have defenses like Tiamut or the Big T, aren't warlocks in particular going to be boned unless they happen to be bladelocks? As someone who has no interest in Path of the Blade, that's a little discouraging.

Tiamat and the Tarrasque do not have equivalent defenses. I'm AFB, but a warlock should be fine against the Tarrasque, because unlike Tiamat it doesn't have blanket immunity to spells below 7th level. I don't remember offhand what its immunities are, but if nothing else you could Vampiric Touch V it effectively for 5d6 points of damage per round, whereas Tiamat is immune to that. I think it is immune to ranged spell attacks like Eldritch Blast but you could still Chill Touch it to death while running Expeditious Retreat (because Chill Touch is a melee spell attack even though it has 120' range), and Tiamat is likewise immune to that too. Or you could check Lightning Bolts and Fireballs at it, or cast Hold Monster to paralyze it while your allies beat it to death, Finger of Death it, True Polymorph it into a statue, etc. Again I am AFB so don't shoot me if I get details wrong (e.g. if it's immune to fire)--my point is that Tiamat's defenses are the highest of the high end, and even then you're actually not supposed to fight her at full strength: if you do everything right, or most things right, you'll have weakened the ritual enough that she won't have spell immunity at all.

Don't forget that you don't have to fight using only the PHB combat rules. If a low-level PC somehow winds up needing to prevent the Tarrasque from eating his town, he's not going to give up and die just because he has no high-level spells. You still have options like luring it into a peat bog where it can drown, or flooding the river so it doesn't want to cross, or getting everybody out of town and just filling the town with cows for it to eat. 5E works really well with level-inappropriate challenges; that's a large part of why Bounded Accuracy exists.

 

[Eric V]

Good to know!!

 

[JackOfAllTirades]

But wouldn't that same logic hold true for any high level adventure? If all of the Big Bads have defenses like Tiamut or the Big T, aren't warlocks in particular going to be boned unless they happen to be bladelocks? As someone who has no interest in Path of the Blade, that's a little discouraging.

BTW, I love the favored soul. What sort of build would you play with one?

Actually, I think even a BladeLock will have a very difficult time contributing to a battle vs. Tiamat. Remember that BladeLocks rely heavily on the Hex spell to pump up their damage, but Tiamat is immune to Hex. That's why I'm making an early effort to acquire the most effect magic weapon (against dragons) I can get; dragonbane swords do an extra 3d6 damage against dragons, which will help a great deal.

Regarding Favored Souls: I was looking at the War domain, but it's hard to make a Favored Soul into a front line fighter with simple weapons and d6 hit dice. (I'd rather not multi-class.) So I might use the Trickery domain and take full advantage of the high Charisma score: he'd be the ultimate con artist with the Charlatan background.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

... but it's hard to make a Favored Soul into a front line fighter with simple weapons and d6 hit dice.

Therein lies what I see as the essential oddity of the Favored Soul. Better armor, but no hit points to go with it. That being said, even though it is displeasingly messy, I think it helps balance against the PHB subclasses. (Well, assuming you ignore the Elemental Affinity errata and let them use it on all damage rolls related to a spell.)