Warlocks...how do they play?

[Nightfall]

Yeah see I don't think it mattered what class that way, in general it's a bad idea.

 

[Prince of Happiness]

Yeah see I don't think it mattered what class that way, in general it's a bad idea.

So to sum, nah, I don't think warlocks are overpowered at all, they die like the rest.

 

[irdeggman]

So to sum, nah, I don't think warlocks are overpowered at all, they die like the rest.

I agree.

They aren't overpowered nor underpowered.

If not done smartly they tend to be boring after a while.

They can be done as an interesting character, as airwalkrr pointed out - but they are more focused when they do that then are other characters.

Their effective range is normally not very far and their invocations tend to be self only in application.

 

[Jolly Giant]

One guy in my group tried playing a warlock once, shortly after it was released. It got dull real quick! I even gave the warlock's player 2 extra skill points per level; so he could at least do something other than blast stuff, but it didn't help much. We all found the warlock to be such an utter one-trick-pony that I can't imagine any of us wanting to play one again. The poor guy was bored stiff and was probably happy the day his character died. :\

 

[cignus_pfaccari]

Mechanically, the big thing about the psion is that they're at the OTHER end of the endurance spectrum from the Warlock. It's really easy to blow your total power load in a few encounters and be left kind of limping along for the rest of the day, if your party likes a lot of daily encounters. Of course, if you're just doing one or two a day, you're likely to seem more powerful than your wizards or sorcerer allies, because when they've run out of their most potent juice and only have lower-level bits and pieces left, you're still blowin' stuff up.

Oh, yes.

I play a nomad in a friend's Eberron game, and this last session I actually ran out of power points. Granted, this was after teleporting across half the continent looking for the frikkin' gnome illusionist, and we had several big fights in a row, so it is a bit unusual. Typically, i move the other PCs around in combat and/or toss dispels or Mass Baleful Teleports (custom power, works just like how you think it would). The wizard still does far more damage than I do, though.

Brad

 

[cignus_pfaccari]

Is there a Mystic Theurge for Psionic characters with divine powers?

Nope. There's the Cerebremancer, which is a wizard/psion theurge class. But that's it. There's actually a shortage of decent published PrCs for psions.

Warlock gets lots of theurgic love in Complete Mage, with a divine and arcane theurge PrC in there.

Brad

 

[Nightfall]

Prince is right, Warlocks can and often do die just as horribly as 1st level commoners!

 

[airwalkrr]

Now, I would state that infiltration also applies to sneakiness.

I concede to your point, but warlocks can do both kinds (walk unseen), so my argument that they are better suited to infiltration stands.

 

[Nightfall]

Cig,

I'm familiar with the divine/arcane MT for Warlock. But I keep wondering (as you pointed out) at the lack of decent Pr-classes for psionic characters.

 

[Arc]

I wonder how some "mystic theurge" version of a Psion/Warlock would fare. You would have the "blow your wad" ability of the Psion to start with, and then the endurance factor of the warlock for the rest of the day. Mind you, you would be behind the power curve in both respects...

Going for a full casting Psionic class might not work the best with Warlock (well, maybe Ardent for the way it gains powers off of ML), but taking Psionic feats certainly works well. Greater Psionic Shot, along with Psionic Meditation, can boost your damage output by 4d6 per round, and nifty feats like Empower/Quicken Spell Like Ability and Mortalbane also help out. Also, don't forget the Warlock's Scepter and Chasuble of Fell Power when looking for damage boosters. A well built blaster warlock can actually hold his own with a traditional caster as far as damage goes, and works well as a sniper to pick off weaker targets / finish off main enemies in the first round.

Also: I was flipping through Fiendish Codex II yesterday, and saw a nifty 3 level PrC that adds +6d6 damage to an eldritch blast, in exchange for 1 point of con damage. Seems like a very nice mechanic to me (trading bits of your soul in exchange for infernal power), and definitely brings a bit more power to any potential warlock build.