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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Felon" data-source="post: 2360415" data-attributes="member: 8158">Yes, it's a great idea--but with lousy execution! You'll hear lots of raves for this class as the hands-down successor to the sorcerer. But realize that many people swoon for a superficially cool concept and don't bother to scratch farther beneath the surface.If you've ever played collectable card games, you may be familiar with the term "degenerate deck". If not, a degenerate deck is a deck built around a single strategy to the exclusion of all others. The actual deck may consist of 100 cards, but most of them will likely be dozens of duplicates of the same card. Players who build these inbred monstrosities think they're nigh-unstoppable, but that's arguable since they trade off strength for flexibility. Degenerate decks are widely detested and discouraged not because they're too powerful, but because they make a game less fun due to their repetitiveness--inflexiblity isn't just a weakness, it's a boring weakness.A warlock is the D&D equivalent of a walking degenerate deck. It has such a limited pool of abilities to call upon, but it call upon them at will. If a player gets access to a new level of invocation, and he picks one that can easily be abused, the player almost can't help but abuse it. After all, it's his best trick. Here are a few of the most egregious examples of abusive invocations. If you allow these invocations, remember they're potentially always in use. Consider what you're letting yourself in for:See the Unseen--See invisible creatures. Available at 1st level.Charm--Use charm monster at will, with the restriction that only one creature can be charmed at a time. Available at 6th level. Note that wizards can't even cast charm monster until 7th level (and a sorcerer 8th), so this one's really over-the-top. Think not just about combat abuses, but abuses in dealing with NPC's, performing negotiations, going shopping in town, etc.Fell Flight--Can fly at your land speed. Available at 6th. Not as bad as some of these others, but it can certainly spoil a lot of challenges a DM might set before PC's of that level.Chilling Tentacles--Create Evard's black tentacles that deal 2d6 cold damage in addition to their normal effects. Available at 11th level. Now, EBT is a broken spell in its own right, and a wiz or sorc casting it just once a day can piss most DM"s off (seriously, if you don't know what it does, loook it up). I can't imagine a DM being content to allow every battlefield of every session to transform into a quagmire of tentacles.  Some designers really deserve to have their peepee smacked for this one.Now not all invocations are this bad, but that just creates a proclivity towards picking one of the bad ones. And don't fall into the trap of thinking iit's just the "powergamers" or "munchkins" you have to worry about--most people try to make the most of their available options. That's just natural.Good locks make for good neighbors. Vigilant DM's make for honest players.</blockquote>

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