Your biggest gripes with the warlock?

[Kzach]

I'm looking to compile a list of the most common gripes people have with the warlock. I'd like to focus on each pact and what particular gripes people have with them.

If people could list their gripes under a pact heading, that would be super useful, ie.

Fey Pact
Tieflings make better fey warlocks than the fey races do!

 

[Stalker0]

Star Pact: The ability to utilize both charisma and con powers means there AC is absolutely atrocious. Also the fact that their pact based at will is not con or cha.

 

[Kzach]

Also the fact that their pact based at will is not con or cha.

Err... yes it is.

 

[Starfox]

Err... yes it is.

It is Con "or" Cha, not "Con or Cha" - that ios, they cannot decide which attribute to use for it, thereby avoiding taking Con powers.

I had a Starlock in my game. The player rolled pretty bad on attack rolls and did less damage than the rogue and a LOT less damage that the Sorcerer (but that's a problem with the Sorcerer, not the Warlock). But overall she was still pretty good - almost unlimited endurance, and once she got Chain at Paragon level, her defenses were good at well. She was the closest to a controller my group had.

Issues:

Low Damage
Slow-Maturing build
Had to build away from the class template, getting Chain

 

[Garthanos]

I think there is fictional support for heavy armor wearing warlocks... using demons bound in armor form anyway.

 

[Eric Finley]

I'll echo the forced Con option for Dire Radiance. That is IMO the single worst design decision about the class. Second to that (and of course related) is the build disappointment of not getting to put any decisions into your At-Will powers. At all (unless you're hybrid or human).

I mean, I would personally never come up with a Warlock concept which didn't include, as a core part of the concept, which pact it would be. It's just too intrinsic.

Until they released the "Pact" article recently, nice as it was, I had mostly worked up a similar article which added one element of crunch that theirs didn't: one alternate At-Will power for each pact. The Starlock one of which was of course Cha-based... but the Darklock alternate also benefitted from being, to be frank, interesting in any way.

For now, in my campaign I asked nicely and got an Eyebite analogue instead of Dire Radiance, and my Starlock works fine.

 

[Garthanos]

Mayhaps the fluff of Warlock is that you have lost your choices... or made your bed now you must lie in it.... so no choices for your at-wills <evil grin />

 

[keterys]

V shape failed design
curse damage should apply to multiple targets for a class with lots of area effects
better at-will handling with, frex, choices

 

[Minigiant]

I hate the way they hande abilities.

I would have

• Made Dire Radiance Con vs Fort or Cha vs Fort
• Stucked all the flavor out the encounter attack powers and utility power. Making them more generic "every warlock can do this" powers.
• Made Con based pacts and powers more damage based. Cha based pacts and powers more controllerish.
• Removed Int based pact bonuses from encounter powers and add it to their at-will attack instead.

or and more starting armor prof. A warlock isn't soome dude who never had time to train in armor. A warlock is a guy who saw/dreamt/met someone of something they should not have saw/dreamt/met and now can shoot energy blasts when they remember that horrible image/writing/person.

 

[Garthanos]

I almost want warlocks to be built in crit hunters... and even have critical failures to balance those successes.