Plaguescarred
Hero
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D&D 5E Warlocks seem pointless
- Thread starter Erik42
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Hriston
Dungeon Master of Middle-earth (He/him)
Mearls was responding to this question: Confused. "Trance. After resting in this way, you gain the same benefit that human does from 8 hours of sleep"?
It's pretty clear from the context that what he was saying was that an elf gets the benefits of a long rest without sleep, because it uses trance instead.
TrippyHippy
Hero
TrippyHippy
Hero
Anyway, one of my favourite character Classes is the Warlock…….
Neonchameleon
Legend
Bringing it back on topic, why play a Warlock?
To put it simply, At Will magic is qualitatively different from limited use magic rather than just quantitatively different.
My first 5e character was a human warlock called Nuan (pronounced No-One; yes I was stealing from Odysseus there). At second level he had the Actor talent (giving him Advantage on pretending to be someone else) and the ability to use Disguise Self as an At Will ability meaning he was an absurd quick change artist. He could also simultaneously run a 15ft Silent Image, a 5ft Minor Image, and Prestidigitation while pretending to be someone else to set the scene. At third level he picked up Pact of the Book meaning that he also had Druidcraft and Thaumaturgy. Just for the extra versimilitude. You'd be surprised what illusions suddenly seem much more real when you have Thaumaturgy to create minor earthquakes and are a good enough actor to fake voices of just about anything.
He wasn't a terrible combatant but was a con-man and illusionist first and foremost in a way that no specialist wizard could be at that level (and arguably not at any other). And the Warlock is one of the places where 5e gets things right.
To put it simply, At Will magic is qualitatively different from limited use magic rather than just quantitatively different.
My first 5e character was a human warlock called Nuan (pronounced No-One; yes I was stealing from Odysseus there). At second level he had the Actor talent (giving him Advantage on pretending to be someone else) and the ability to use Disguise Self as an At Will ability meaning he was an absurd quick change artist. He could also simultaneously run a 15ft Silent Image, a 5ft Minor Image, and Prestidigitation while pretending to be someone else to set the scene. At third level he picked up Pact of the Book meaning that he also had Druidcraft and Thaumaturgy. Just for the extra versimilitude. You'd be surprised what illusions suddenly seem much more real when you have Thaumaturgy to create minor earthquakes and are a good enough actor to fake voices of just about anything.
He wasn't a terrible combatant but was a con-man and illusionist first and foremost in a way that no specialist wizard could be at that level (and arguably not at any other). And the Warlock is one of the places where 5e gets things right.
Very nice uses of illusions right there!
So we have seen blade warriors, cantrip spammers and masters of deceiving. Are there anything else that we miss? Anything else that could be worthy of attention?
TrippyHippy
Hero
Well, the use of a Familiar especially, could create the type of ‘Shadow-Play’ dynamic that we saw with Wraith: The Oblivion and to a certain degree with Ron Edward’s Sorcerer. That is, you could actually have the Familiar being played by another player, or in turns by other players, or the DM to actually work against the Warlock. This would work by the Familiar (or patron generally) tempting the character to carry out certain actions in exchange for little ‘gifts’. These actions may well, in fact probably will be somewhat detrimental to the Warlocks personal alignment and beliefs - but the temptation would be constantly dragging him/her lower and lower…..
Neonchameleon
Legend
The best ritual casters in the game. Only the pact of the book lets you cast ritual spells from any class. (Pact of the Chain is pretty pointless because you can get a familiar by taking the invocation that grants ritual casting).
Edit: I forgot to mention that my conman was an at will telepath as well so he could tell the party what was going on and not be overheard. Also the Warlock gets decent (although not outstanding) high level spells such as True Polymorph (I'm a red dragon!)
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