D&D 5E Warlock's Revealed in Livestream

[Mistwell]

Here's what I spotted at the end of the livestream (will check details when it hits YouTube):

Warlocks have spellcasting, and invocations.

Spells: At higher levels, the highest level spell they have is level 5, and they don't get many spells. At 2nd level he has two spells. BUT, he has spells per Short Rest rather than spells per day. So each time they take a short rest, they get all their spells back. The spells they get don't scale much, though a few do like burning hands. He used burning hands. He also had, hellish rubuke, command, and charm person (so he seems to know four spells at 2nd level). He has cantrips too. In this example, his character had: eldritch blast, thaumaturgy, and minor illusion. In sum, he can use spells more frequently than other casters, but less potent.

Invocations: Unclear if they start with them or get them at 2nd level, but at 2nd level the sample character has two invocations: One lets him cast disguise self at-will, and the other helps him improve his eldritch blast. Invocations are always based on abilities or traits.

He is a diabolic (or infernal) warlock, which means he gets temporary hit points when he drops someone to 0 hp with an attack.

At level 3 the class chooses one of: blade (warrior-like), chain (pet), or tome (caster-like).

It's a little bit of a fusion of the 3e and 4e Warlock, with some elements of the 3e Binder class and the Pacts from 4e.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

Very interesting. I just hope they give the ability names another pass. I like the idea of the whole deal-with-the-devil fire-and-brimstone caster, but I just hope that doesn't require me to drop He** bombs left and right in every combat.

 

[Mistwell]

Very interesting. I just hope they give the ability names another pass. I like the idea of the whole deal-with-the-devil fire-and-brimstone caster, but I just hope that doesn't require me to drop He** bombs left and right in every combat.

Mearls is playing an infernal warlock who does not bond to a specific entity, but to "the concept of the iron law; Hell with less evil and more that everything should be orderly".

 

[MarkB]

With a "pets" subclass option in there, it sounds like the class may take some cues from the WoW warlock, as well.

 

[MortalPlague]

I'm playing a warlock in our internal playtest game right now, and I'm really enjoying it. Wish I could say more.

 

[GX.Sigma]

I asked Mike how this bodes for alternate casting systems, and this is how that conversation went:

GX: I thought the feedback was that people don't want alternate casting systems to be tied to specific classes?
MM: It still uses spell slots. That was in specific slots vs. points systems.
GX: What are the goals for modularity there? Are slots and points the only two choices for spellcasting systems?
MM: Spell points was by far the most requested alternate to D&D's slot/prep system.


So apparently they were never trying to have an option for AEDU-style spellcasting at the system level; just spell points as an alternative to slots.

 

[1of3]

So apparently they were never trying to have an option for AEDU-style spellcasting at the system level; just spell points as an alternative to slots.

That doesn't surprise me. Unless I'm mistaken, no one in the fan base has proposed a way to convert spell slots into power uses. And the people at WotC use the same ingredients for their cooking.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Interesting stuff. Sounds like Invocations are where the "at-will all the time" magic from 3e is going to live, which works OK.

Unless I'm mistaken, no one in the fan base has proposed a way to convert spell slots into power uses. And the people at WotC use the same ingredients for their cooking.

Hold up, isn't 1 spell slot basically 1 Daily power? And cantrips are pretty blatantly At-wills. All we're missing is the Encounter, and it sounds like this warlock's recharge mechanics are pretty much exactly that.

I don't see a class yet with all three (At-will, Encounter, and Daily), but it would seem actually trivially easy to do, since we'll see all three in motion. Take cantrips, warlock recharge, and Vancian spell slots, and you've got AED. (The U is just a non-attack, so that can be A, E, or D).

I don't take that convo to mean that there's no AED system, but rather that the first bit of space dedicated to alternate spellcasting mechanics are going to focus on a "points" system, which makes a lot of sense. AED seems alive and well with cantrips, recharge, and spell slots.

 

[Falling Icicle]

Spells: At higher levels, the highest level spell they have is level 5, and they don't get many spells.

By higher levels, do you mean level 20?

At 2nd level he has two spells. BUT, he has spells per Short Rest rather than spells per day. So each time they take a short rest, they get all their spells back.

Interesting. I wonder how this will work with multi-classing. If they get their spells per day as encounter spells instead, they couldn't really add their spell slots together with those of other classes.

Invocations are always based on abilities or traits.

What do you mean?

It's a little bit of a fusion of the 3e and 4e Warlock, with some elements of the 3e Binder class and the Pacts from 4e.

Cool. Thanks for the info! "Must spread xp" etc.

 

[Mistwell]

I am just reporting, almost word for word, what was said during the livestream broadcast. I've personally never seen the class, and I am not in the private playtest. If you'd like me to ask Mearls in Twitter, I can do that.