I play a warlock that doesn't have EB, focuses as gish with a longsword. Currently running Dragon Heist with him. Our other warlock is also a non EB warlock, they are using Magic Stone + Sling pretty effectively.
I understand why hexblades wouldn't pick it up, but when you think about it, having both close and long range offensive capabilities just makes it worth picking up agonizing blast anyway
Love Mask of Many faces! Infamous moment in our Rise of Tiamat campaign where our Tiefling Bard-Warlock disguised self as the half-dragon commander at the floating citadel just as a troupe of Kobolds approached. She was able to persuade all but a single kobold with good rolls that she was the Dragonlord and that the kobolds needed to search somewhere else for the adventurers. The hilarious part came when that single kobold that saw through the disguise called her out on it, and she commanded the rest of the kobolds to throw him off the edge of the citadel. We called him 'steve' as my DM is not creative with random NPC names, and now we have the phrase of "get steve'd" whenever you're the only one not taking crazy pills in a situation but nobody believes you.
One thing people always forget about the Darkness spell: It also makes you basically immune against the majority of spells. Most spells that are not Area of Effect need the caster to SEE the enemy, and that means in Darkness, they cant target you at all.
Even most AoE spells require targeting a point you can see. They can cast it just on the outside of the darkness, but then you stand at the back (which they wouldn't know) and are out of range of the AoE.
@@ClasticOne There are comparably very few spells that can be cast on something you can't *see*. It is literally written into the spells that they cannot be cast on something or somewhere you can't *see*. The area of a fireball can spread into an area you can't see, but the point at which the fireball is cast *must* be a point you can *see*. So yes, being hidden from vision does offer protection from spells.
@@asherandai1000 Fireball's text specifies "a point you choose within range". Unless something physically interferes with the path to the point of origin, you can cast it regardless of vision. Yes there are spells that need you to see the target, but there are also many that don't actually require you to see at all in order to merely cast them.
I would enjoy an episode where Monty and Kelly talk about characters they've created (or maybe want to create!). They could even use Heroforge to show off what they generally looked like.
I made a Verdan who was terrified of death and went to incredible lengths to avoid death, such as Lichdom, Vampirism, and the shadowfell. Eventually, he came to a breakthrough and discovered how to create a pact between himself and a being known as “The Undying”. He is still level one, but at level two or three, probably 3, I’m going to become a Shadow Magic sorcerer.
honestly same. the warlock is one of the most customizable classes. even if two characters have the same subclass and spells you can still make them totally different
Yeah, I absolutely love that they can have an "always on" spell. So much rp value in being a shapechanger with unlimited Disguise self or an undead with constant False Life.
Arrakokra warlock with Devil sight = birdman with flight and super vision. Toss on Grasp of Hadar while your flying you get free fall damage on enemies cause they fall 10 feet on the ground
@@davidpellecchia4360 always wanted to play an arrakokra. This is a sick combo, I'll have to push this the next game I'm going. I almost got a Raven loft campaign with an arrakokran monk way of the sun sole.
For Relentless Hex: You can Hex your familiar and use it as a teleport beacon. It's a budget version of Far Step. For Maddening Hex: You can Hex an animal, sacrifice it you your patron, then transfer it later at will. Then somebody you want dead just starts dying, with no sign that you're doing anything untoward.
You can't transfer it later at will. Hex can only be transferred in the SUBSEQUENT round your original target died in. So you would need to bring that cursed animal with you and have it die on the spot.
@@faselfasel2864 "If the target drops to 0 hit points before this spell ends, you can use a bonus action on a subsequent turn of yours to curse a new creature" "a subsequent turn" is not "the subsequent turn". It's the entire point of an upcast hex lasting 24 hours.
I think Misty Visions is a woefully underappreciated invocation. Breaking into a building? Misty Visions a fake building front 3 feet wider and sit inside the illusion while you pick the lock. Want to distract an enemy? Misty Visions a distraction. Want more substantial cover to hide behind? Misty visions trees or bushes. Essentially turning a first level spell into a cantrip makes it infinitely useful. Again dependent on how your DM treats illusions, but by RAW Silent Image still requires a full action check. And you can do this at will, over and over and over again with your action.
One day I want to play a totally illusion-based warlock with Mask of Many Faces, Misty Vision, and later, Shroud of Shadow. With Minor Illusion cantrip to provide the necessary sound effects when needed, I think there will be tons of fun to be had.
Use Tasha's Eldritch Adept feat to pick this up on an illusion wizard and BAM illusory reality+misty visions=almost CREATION for free, whenever you want, even after burning every other slot on fireball. haha (kinda sucks that it's a level 14 ability, cause the rest of the abilities don't really affect your spells much)
Agreed. I picked up Misty Visions and used it to create cover on a spot, works incredibly well. Make an illusion of a box and crouch inside it and you're basically undetectable.
I was playing a video game and this was in the background, right after he said that one of the NPC's said, "You've got to be joking!" I thought it was hilarious.
I mean, he's technically correct. But I see EB + agonizing blast as a cantrip/invocation tax that allows me to focus on utility or role play with my spells and other invocations. I mean, you can go all in on EB invocations, but I see that as a bit of a trap. The power of EB should be used to free you from worrying about damage, not eat up 1/3rd or more of your invocations.
@@relzyn5545 always felt like hex was a trap for warlocks above 5th level or so. not that its terrible, but unless you are purely EB based, it isnt worth using a 3rd level or higher slot for. and warlocks have many great concentration spells anyway
Agonizing Blast is taken by every warlock player I have had, except for one who left the group after two sessions. I house rule that all warlocks who do not multiclass get the Agonizing Blast invocation for free. It should have been a class feature from the beginning.
well, eldritch blast isn't granted automatically as a class feature, so having a class feature dedicated entirely to eldritch blast would make it a non-ability for anyone looking to not exclusively rely on it
@@timob1681 still, you don't get enough invocations to take the good combat ones and the fun ones. I don't think you should have to completely choose. Just a little help would go a long way
@@AllThingsFascinate that's fair, but i think taking just agonizing blast on its own is enough for most warlocks and you can take whatever else you want. i think having it the way it currently is encourages experienced players to try something new with warlock instead of only relying on EB. OP's suggestion would make sense if EB was a granted class feature, but if it were not, having a class feature that applies exclusively to EB instead of all spells/cantrips would discourage playing other types of warlocks from the get-go.
@@magistermercury I think another possible option would be to allow the Agonizing Blast to affect any cantrip the Warlock casts, rather than limiting it to just Eldritch Blast.
@@magistermercury actually two-weapon fighters need to get a fighting style to get ability modifier on their offhand attack damage. And spellcasters don't get modifiers to their damage to balance their versatility which is also why it is a specific boost to warlock they can get to compensate for their lack of versatility (though it is a poor compensation better than none)
Forget flexing on Paladins, Eldritch Smite is one of the reasons Warlock is a great multiclass for Paladin. Particularly with Oath of Conquest, thanks to the infamous Oath of Conquest prone trap. For those unfamiliar, Conquest's aura reduces the speed of any creature frightened of the Paladin to zero while they are in the aura. If you are then able to knock them prone, they cannot get out of the prone state until they are no longer frightened, during which time all melee attacks against them are made at advantage. It's a great way for Conquest Paladins to go crit fishing for smites, or to give easy advantage so a Rogue can sneak attack.
I went with a oath of vengeance + undead warlock for the fear save on every hit when in your shadow form. That + wrathful smite to force wisdom CHECKS which they will have disadvantage on because of the frightened condition. Knock them prone and they WILL NEVER get back up!
This is a cornerstone of my favorite crit smite build. 3 level of hexblade, 7 levels of conquest, everything else into whisper bard. You get easy peasy access to fear effects almost on tap, which means it's really easy for you to become a massive zone of fear induced shutdown on the battlefield. And because eldritch smite stacks with divine smite, and both of those can be stacked with whisper bard's psychic blades, you can deal absolutely ridiculous damage just with base smites. Throw hexblades curse into the mix (and if you want some cheese on top, play a half elf and pick up elven accuracy), and you tranform into a walking murder machine.
@@asherandai1000 It's super SAD, since you rely entirely on Charisma for nearly everything, so ASI's aren't nearly as important for this build. And feats are really open ended here anyways since the core of this build isn't dependent on them in the first place. I personally run this with GWM and Elven Accuracy, and it performs wonderfully, regularly hitting nova to the tune of 150+ damage.
The offensive use of Relentless Hex with a blaster actually IS obvious. Bonus Action teleport to the enemy, grab ahold of your ally, then cast Thunderstep to get away, dealing damage in the process while pulling an ally back for healing, or forwards for another purpose.
@@oddfreaks6452 RAW, power word kill doesn’t drop a creature to 0 hit points, it instantly kills them. It has been confirmed in a sage advice that PWK on a polymorphed target will instakill it without it reverting to its normal form
@@apocalypsemvp "The transformation lasts for the Duration, or until the target drops to 0 Hit Points OR dies." - Directly from polymorph description. So no - it won't work - PWK will kill the polymorphed target and THEN it will transform back to the original form unharmed. " When it reverts to its normal form, the creature returns to the number of Hit Points it had before it transformed." .
I've been DMing the past year and a half for a Pact of the Tome Fiend Warlock named Nara, and she has been one of the most effective characters in general I've ever seen. She has Agonizing Blast, Hex, Wall of Fire and Fireball, Elemental Adept for Fire, and all of that plus Fiend Pact bonuses makes her probably the group's best damage dealer. Granted, she has some spells that warlocks don't normally get and an op magic item, but the rest of the group also has their own extra spells and op magic items so it doesn't put her that much farther ahead. But the rest of the group is a paladin, ranger, and druid, and the druid pretty much only prepares damage spells so it is down to her to be the utility of the group. And she is probably the best utility character I've seen in a long time. She has Book of Ancient Secrets and can be the group's ritual wizard with Leomund's Tiny Hut, Identify, Detect Magic, Commune, Contact other Plane, Water Breathing, Rary's Telepathic Bond, Skywrite, etc. She has Find Familiar and can scout out places with her cat. She has the actor feat and disguise kit proficiency (I think she should have picked up Mask of Many Faces at some point but she's made it work) and pretended to be an enemy commander in order to interface with someone who would normally want to kill them. It hasn't come up often, but it has been clutch when it has. She has Far Scribe and that has been a blessing to be able to cast sending infinitely to a few people without having to dump a bunch of money into buying sending stones. Whispers of the Grave for endless Speak with Dead. Eldritch Mind for advantage on concentration checks, though she very rarely casts concentration spells at all. Aspect of the Moon has allowed her to stay up at night in order to do research and create spells way faster than anybody else could, and she often uses her d10 from Dark One's Own Luck on research rolls and does really well because of it, occasionally getting 26+ and she gets a ton of information that way. All that combined with her getting a number of utility spells too: Teleportation Circle (Tasha's Expanded Spell List) where they formerly relied on their allies to do it, Scrying is great for downtime when you get spell slots back on a short rest, and since she doesn't have to sleep she has used Dream just to have conversations with people. You can cast Dream on "a creature known to you", which is much more broad than Sending's "A creature that is familiar to you", and has allowed her to talk to people that she shouldn't have been able to talk to otherwise, such as captured allies and antagonists meant for months down the line. So yeah, I think this is one of the best played character's I've come across in a very long time and she has doubled down my belief that Tomelock is the best Pact choice, and I also honestly think that Pact of the Fiend is an S tier subclass.
@@professionalsleeper6281 I'm not sure if she knows that is something that exists, but personally I think it was left in Unearthed Arcana for that exact reason. However, now she has Hurl Through Hell, Forcecage, and Witch Sight, so there really isn't a whole lot of stopping her other than just dropping an anti-magic field in her face, which seems unfun to me. She is wreaking plenty of havoc.
@@trikkinikki6843 wait I thought it was made Official. I mean a practically free quickened spell is op as hell but let me check nonetheless. Edit: i guess not, apperantly it just got revised in UA and not actually punlished
I’m kind of sad that Gift of the Ever-Living Ones wasn’t even an honorable mention. It’s particularly useful for Celestial Warlocks but can useful for any warlock. RAW state that any dice rolled to heal you are maxed out, so, including healing spells, healing potions, hit dice expended on a short rest, even abilities like Second Wind, are maxed out. Who says you need to be a Hexblade to be a tanky Warlock?
You don’t get magic resistance unless your DM gifts it to you. There are variant rules in the MM that say your DM call allow you to have other more powerful familiars and that the Pseudodragon, Quasit, etc. share their magic resistance if their master is within 10 feet. But this was not implemented for standard Pact of the Chain Warlocks and is not included in the stat blocks of the familiars in the appendix of the player’s handbook. Basically, if you want this your DM needs to approve and said DM can also approve it for the Wizard or anyone else with access to ritual caster or the find familiar spell.
@@mattf5935 the Pact of the Chain itself grants you access to those familiars. It's part of the ability, you get to summon a Quasit, Imp, Psuedodragon, or a Sprite. The quasit and imp grant you Magic resistance as long as they are within 10 feet of you. It's their familiar ability wich many of the advanced familiars have. It's not a variant rule its baked into Pact of the Chain, and only Pact of the Chain.
Bit sad that Eldritch Sight didn't make the list. Can't tell you how many Glyphs of Warding I've caught or how many magic items I've found, or how many spells i've ID'd. It's my GM foiler for sure.
@@schwann145 Casting it at will is very different than ritual casting it. Spending 10 minutes each time you might want it is not something that will always be possible, and even if it is, your party is going to stop you at some point when you are spending half the day just waiting for "that stupid ritual" that doesn't even do anything 99% of the time.
@@norandomnumbers - That's all true, but it's still something that can be done, and frequently is. That's why the invocation just doesn't stack up next to, say, Agonizing Blast (or even next to Eldritch Mind, IMO.)
I consider it a top tier invocation, being able to spam it every ten minutes and spot potential traps or enemies with magical items or spell buffs has come in handy so much.
These combos slay me. I will never not adore them. Misty Visions + Minor Illusion = the illusion cantrip you actually wanted this whole time Mask of Many Faces + Actor Feat = Faceless Men Darkness + Devil's Sight = YOU'RE IN MY HOUSE NOW
I do play a non-blast warlock and trust me, it's fun It's more about the customisation imo, but yeah, for the first two or three levels you could feel a bit useless, depending on the campaign you're playing
@@torinsmith9867 smack the enemy with an hallberd he doesn't have proficiency with... Or a sleep spell if he has slots. He's more a control/utility buffoon, pact of the tome with eye of the rune keeper and book of ancient secrets, hunting for knowledge and with a thing for fairy raves
@@morganpetros9635 yeah exactly ahahah, he picked up a random weapon in a moment of need and used it like... Only four or five times ahah If it was for him, he wouldn't fight at all, but sometimes a man has to put his beliefs aside to help a brother in need
Personally I really like the Eyes Of The Runekeeper invocation. I just love the moments when my DM asks "What languages do you guys know?" and I counter with "Is it something that is written down?" The sheer look of desperation and frustration he gets is priceless! XD
And if you happen to be a GOOlock, you can basically communicate with every lifeform capable of writing because you can telepathically talk to him and tell him to write what he wants to say
For Relentless Hex remember that you can Hex an ally and teleport to them if you need to. A good use of this is to Hex your own familiar and now you can teleport basically where ever you want as a bonus action and use your familiar to position yourself on its turn. As melee you can use this to attack and retreat or skip from one enemy to the other. As ranged with cover you can pop up shoot, move behind total cover, and then teleport to a different location with cover when the enemies start to get close. It is Echo Knight levels of mobility.
Eldritch invocations have such great options. Many people look for combat ones only, but there are many roleplay and utility options that absolutely make all the difference
Chain pact Warlock with voice of the chain master, mask of many faces, the actor feat and subtle spell. Be the ultimate spy... Unless you happen to be a changeling.
How can you not love an imp familiar that you can see and communicate through at any range? We use the imp as an invisible scout and explore the whole place before we set foot in the place.
Yeah, if you push Warlock to 15th level, you can pretty much trade in both "mask of many faces" and "gift of the depths" for Master of Myriad forms. It's not strictly better than either of them, since it requires concentration. But it can accomplish the same things while freeing up a slot for another invocation.
Ascendant step , is the most underated invocation ever. Floating around like Dr. Strange while melee bad guys just sit helplessly by is very effective . Not to mention its uses for mobility , exploration , fall prevention etc.
@@Hazel-xl8in That takes a very lax, or religiously RAW, DM for that to work anymore. The moment I know someone is going Sorlock with aspect of the moon in my groups, I'll flat out tell them I'm not allowing coffeelock shenanigans before they lock it in.
Our warlock took the one that lets you cast detect magic at will. Now literally every time he walks into a room he will cast detect magic so it’s become a drinking game for the rest of the party.
Or you can just spend 10 minutes every other 10 minutes ritual casting it. ...Though, that's probably better for a non-Warlock to do, since you'll probably want to save your concentration for one of your limited spell slot spells. Though, in a pinch, needed to re-up it after a battle you broke concentration for another spell that won't be useful in a future battle, it's still pretty economical to go for the ritual casting as a Tomelock to not need another Invocation for at-will Detect Magic.
I've got a Lockpick (Warlock/Rogue multiclass) with a mix of Eldritch Sight and Ghostly Gaze. An Inquisitive Kenku who can see magic items, see through walls, floors and lockboxes, and is a dab hand with thieves tools is a lot of fun when you're in a city environment.
I am actually surprised that Gift of the Ever-Living Ones was omitted. Please give Pact of the Chain some love when you do the warlock subclass guide. I know you guys are big fans of Find Familiar, so I’m sure that’s not too much to ask. Max healing whenever your familiar is within 100 ft of you is amazing. I’ve created entire builds off of this invocation. My favorite was making a redemption paladin 8/celestial warlock 12 multiclass. You can choose to take damage for your teammates and then top off your hit points with a bonus action using your healing pool. This way you can effectively spread out the damage across your team and keep everyone fighting longer.
I'm in a low level, combat-heavy game with a warlock that just hit level 2. I absolutely plan on swapping it out later, but for where I'm at right now I am so thrilled to have Fiendish Vigor and the ability to give myself 5-8 temporary HP whenever I need it.
My party was researching about a mysterious curse on a town and found the 'Mad Doctor's' notes. They where so chaotically written and jumbled that we would've had to make several ability checks to decipher them. Then my brother mentioned that his warlock character had Eyes of the Rune Keeper! The ability to read all writing!
My warlock started with a level of Rogue where I took expertise in deception. Then I took the Mask of Many Faces invocation and the Actor feat. It's so much fun to basically impersonate anyone at will.
I also had an oddball start req for a campaign where I did the same thing. Actor's perfect voice mimicking is incredible if you can get that minute of hearing your target.
You could just use all of those on one guy and they take a lot of damage Only instead of hex I’d use the recent spirit shroud spell because it does more damage
@@thisstatementisfalsenothin5312 That’d define be great for one big target, but if you had multiple smaller target using all three on one would be over kill and wouldn’t let you maximize relentless Hex the same having 3 places to teleport to would.
@@Swelephant_ I agree I think that sounds like a badass way to fight enemies I just have a dm who has a bad habit of throwing one big guy with 700+ health and this makes those fights less of a pain
My friend is playing a pact of the tome warlock with the book of ancient secrets, he took shillelagh as one of his cantrips to make his quarter staff use his charisma mod for attacks and took find familiar as one of his rituals. He basically used pact of the tome to simulate the other two pact boons
I've come to realize the Artificer is the smarty warlock. Therefore multi-classing any of the subclasses together offers an interesting mix of Infusion/Evocation. Also having a homunculus and a familiar is fantastic. My Artillerist met his patron after receiving his Arcane Firearm.
We have a tempest cleric in our party. For those that don't know, the tempest domain has a feature that lets you push enemies back 10 feet when you deal lightning damage to them. One of the spellcasters will lay down some sort of static AOE spell, the cleric will cast call lightning, and he and my warlock with repelling blast just take turns knocking enemies back into the spell area 😂
Shout out to the sponsor cause those painted ones rock! I don't have enough time in life to get into miniatures and painting, so it is really nice to be able to nerd out and create a mini and get it a quality colorising.
Do not buy the 3D color printed minis. The technology isn't good enough yet. They lose some detail, and the plastic used for this is different from the plastic used on the other plastic minis they can print. The color plastic they use is very brittle and they will break easily. I've heard great things about the two other types of plastic minis they do and also the metal ones can be good. The tools for digitally building a mini are AMAZING though. And, right now with all the games being digital it's a great way to make a custom portrait for your character and you can also pay a few bucks to get a digital 3D model of your character to be used in some virtual tabletop games. The level of detail and customization is insane. The things you can do with the custom posing is phenomenal.
@@zero11010 Our minis are great. Def not as detailed, but a much better job than we could do with a combination of a blank model and my idiot self painting. We treat them right so have had no accidents. I can post some screens somewhere if anyone wants a close-up to judge for themselves. For comparison, though, the detail level of the custom color ones is 30 mm whereas the high-quality plastic resin is like .05 mm. Miniatures are smaller than I had expected so the loss of fine detail on the small areas doesn't even end up mattering that much anyway to me.
@@BeCurieUs I'm definitely glad you're happy with them! I've seen several video reviews online where people are opening the box and taking a look at them and dropping them from a table height onto a hardwood or tiled floor to simulate a fall at a table and the minis break (on camera, within a few minutes of opening the box). That exact thing is found in more than one video, and the different plastic used in their other minis does not do that. One of the player's at my table recently got a color plastic mini also and .... it looks like the detail is not as good as the detail I've seen in some of their other plastic minis. I could be wrong. I could also be judging them too harshly. I would be furious if I paid $50 for a single mini that does not represent all of the color I placed onto the mini in the character creator, lacked detail I expected to see from the 3D print, and also broke after a session or two. Still, nothing remotely like this was possible 15 years ago, and I'm sure in another 15 years it will be WAY better than it is today. I love what hero forge offers. I just don't think the color 3D print tech is ready yet.
I cant believe that the "investment of the chain master" wasn't mentioned before honorable mention, if you are going chain it is easily one of the most amazing things in the game, being able to force sleep using the pseudodragon or pixy is absolutely insane and possibly turns the game on its head very hard.
About niche-invocations: Never forget, that with a level up you can switch invocations. So if they are only handy for a short time, take them in one level and replace them on the other. What I also like to do, is instantly when reaching level 3 and take the blade pact as a Hwxblade, is to swap one of the invocations against thirsting blade. Attacking twice on level three is extremly powerful.
Playing a 10th level Celestial Pact of the Tome warlock. Agonizing Blast, Armor of Shadows, Book of Ancient Secrets, Devil's Sight, and Mire The Mind. He's been fun to play!
Voice of the Chain Master, being able to send your invisible familiar anywhere in the world and still communicate and see through its eyes? So good. The level of exploration and infiltration this allows is amazing.
I'm kinda sad that they didn't mention gift of the everliving ones which is an incredibly powerful invocation because who doesn't want to automatically heal for max hp?
I'm a level 4 celestial chainlock with it in one campaign, and it's just so silly. In one turn, Cure Wounds+ Healing Light will restore 26-44 HP depending on how many healing light charges spent (16+4 for cure wounds, +6 through +24 for Healing Light) with a +4 CHA mod. And since it triggers on all healing, combined with a short rest heal ability like the Chef's feat or song of rest makes it so my first hit die each rest restores 16+CON, it's absolutely bonkers and has saved me so many times.
My halfing Arcane Trickster is multiclassing a few levels of Warlock just to get Devils Sight. I'm deciding on whether to go 2, 3, 4, or 5 levels into warlock, but I think 3 is going to be the sweet spot. All those enemies who mocked my lack of darkvision will get their comeuppance!
Warlocks can make for amazing tanks when paired with Fighter and/or Barbarian. Take Pact of the Chain with Gift of the Ever-living ones. Your healer will laugh with delight when all the heals used on you are always Max Dice.
For Tomelocks, Aspect of the Moon and Book of Ancient Secrets just break everything. You've pretty much achieved Wizard with better Hit Die and fewer limits.
In Curse of Strahd, I was playing an insane Old Ones Warlock (he'd seen a bit too much). Aspect of the Moon's never needing to sleep, totally augmented his madness.
Eldritch Sight is insanely powerful. I’m currently running a Celestial Warlock who is focused on utility and support and being able to just detect magic out of combat at any time during exploration and in social scenarios is at worst helpful for information gathering and at best downright game breaking
@@roonbare2769 bruh Matt wasn’t dming that campaign, it was Brendon mulligan from dimension 20. And I don’t watch critical role but Matt is a really good dm. He may not play dnd in the same style that you do but there’s no need to be a salty loser about it
One thing I wish to mention about Improved Pact Weapon is that it WILL work on weapons that don't have a +1, meaning you now have a +1 flametounge. Also Devil Sight lets you see normally which means you see like you would in bright light while in both darkness and magical darkness
4 levels in warlock to get agonizing blast, eldritch spear, and spell sniper. 2 level in sorcerer for distant spell and suddenly you have and an agonizing spear that can hit up to 1200 a limited number of times because everything within my warlocks sight should be questioning the definition of "a safe distance."
@@Zombiewithabowtie Thank you for the suggestion that does work a lot better, I had to look that feat up because I haven't gotten Tasha's yet and didn't know that was an option.
@@DanteFahr Eldritch Adept can really throw your DM a curveball though. You can take any Eldritch Invocation that lacks a Pact or Warlock level prerequisite, meaning you could take Armour of Shadows, Beast Speech, Beguiling Influence, Devil's Sight, Eldritch Sight, Gaze of Two Minds, Misty Visions or Mask of Many Faces on *any* character. But for Warlocks, it also means that you get 9 Invocations instead of 8, so being able to suddenly double dip at an ASI level can see a big surge in power for your character
Improved pact weapon + Warcaster also allows you to perform any spell with a weapon and shield (or 2 weapons if you wanted to for some reason) since you can do semantic and material components with your pact weapon this way.
I had a warlock (at low levels) in a Sword Coast setting who grew up in Candlekeep. He had been sent out by his patron to find knowledge. He was Pact of the tome and so for story reasons he had Aspect of the Moon and Book of Ancient Secrets - he did pick up repelling blast at 5th. His big trick was to hit low wisdom enemies with Hold Person and slowly chip away at them with eldrich Blast. (Hold person was styled to have them held in place by a pair of massive book ends and his EB was styled as them getting smacked by a massive Tome.) When he did get repelling blast there was a fun encounter with some enemy archers where would knock them back so they would have to keep moving back into their firing positions.
Lance of Lethargy helped save my party as we were fleeing a city by ship. My Bard/Warlock stood at the back of the ship and fired Eldritch Blast at the ships chasing after us, slowing them just enough to give us the distance needed to get away. Slowing movement by 10 feet isn't tons, but if you're combining with other spells or difficult terrain that impede movement you could theoretically stop someone in their tracks
The real magic of relentless hex is when you cast hex on a party member. One spell slot becomes an invisible uncutable lifeline. Floor gave way and you are plummeting to your death? No you are safe next to your buddy. Prison cell. nope! Force cage? Nope! Locked door? Nope? Cast hex on your mount and be in the saddle in the blink of an eye. Cast hex on a familiar and you will never walk another step in your life.
Hmm ... wasting all the damage hex can cause to your enemies. You can't simply transfer the hex at will; the hexed target has to die first. I can appreciate the sideways thinking, but it seriously detracts from your damage potential when fights are imminent.
@@gabrielrockman Yeah ... warlocks only have 2 spell slots until past 10th level, and you just burned them both on hex, and you might fail concentration the first time someone pings you with a pebble. Bad call unless you're sure you'll get to rest after this fight.
My Sorlock Romeo had the Repelling Blast Invocation. While fighting the final boss of our campaign,which was a Lich, Romeo kept blasting him around the walls of his own lair that when the Lich finally died after blasting him with three eldritch blasts that sent him crashing into a wall so hard that it took out his remaining HP.
Through the course of your adventure, you can swap in and out at each level, so long as you meet the requirements, so you could swap out some lower level ones for more higher level ones.
one time I was playing in a gladiator style tournament, there were 30ft tall pillars that if you flew above it was a ring-out elimination. The Warlock had repelling blast and got directly underneath a flying enemy wizard that was being a pain in the ass and knocked him out of the arena.
To add to the Tome Warlock, the other three Tome specific invocations, in lowest to highest value, Aspect of the Moon (cannot sleep or be put to sleep), Far Scribe (use the Sending spell for free, targeting anyone whose name is written in your Book [can keep an address diary of up to your CHA modifier in length]), and Gift of the Protectors (cast Death Ward on up to 6 people permanently) are well worth getting. My Tome Warlock is a dedicated backline support and debuffer, so having him as a watchdog who can keep key NPC'S informed and help safeguard the party against death is a good setup for him.
I love Aspect of the Moon for allowing you to stand watch without ever needing to sleep. Just saves time figuring out shifts and whether everyone gets enough sleep for a long rest.
There is a invocation I feel I should add. I'm currently in a campaign playing a celestial warlock with the pact of the chain. The great benefit is the invocation 'Gift of the ever living ones' With these things together, I can heal myself as a bonus action at level 3 and do a flat 18 points of healing for myself. The max healing you can do to yourself at future levels being 30, but that's as a bonus action. Add an action cure wounds in and I can max that healing as well. What I'm say is, as a pact of the chain celestial warlock with the right race and feat choices, you can be a crazy damage sponge.
One Warlock I made that I haven't seen a lot is the 'arcane support Warlock' build. He picked up Pact of Tome and Great Old Ones as his patron. The party had a Sorcerer as a blaster with almost no out of combat utility, so I brought that. Also picked up the feat Inspiring Leader for Temp Hit Points for the whole party that were refreshed on a short rest. Basically free preemptive healing. In addition, with Rituals like Detect Magic, Identify, and of course everybody's favorite, Leoumond's Secure Shelter, he brought a lot of out of combat utility. In combat, of course, he had Agonizing Blast, Repelling Blast, and Grasp of Hador for at-will battlefield control and consistent damage output, plus some battlefield control options on tap. The backstory was: He *wanted* to be a wizard. He even managed to get accepted as an apprentice to a wizard, but he just... couldn't do it. The Weave was juuuust out of reach. He could feel it, but he just couldn't read it. Eventually, his master saw that he simply wasn't going to master magic and directed him to a friend who was a scribe and historian at the local Wizard's Guild library. Here he excelled, but was always certain that with the right technique, he could use magic. Then he found a book he probably shouldn't... he got what he asked for, but at what price?
One good thing I've seen with Mask of Many Faces is to make yourself look like another party member or otherwise radically change your class. If you are a wizardy caster-type, make yourself look like the fighter in the party, if you are a hill dwarf hexblade, make yourself look like the wizard. I DM'd a fellow who did this and it was annoying as DM to figure how NPCs would react and half the time they'd be wrong. Orcs rush the wrong wizard, only to end up taking AoE from polearm mastery. Or... archers aren't sure which 'fighter' to target or use a hold person spell against you (good save) vs. the fighter.
Casting silent image for free with no limit on ammount of times is absolutely crazy and comes up a lot. Definately do recommend playing with it. It is extremely useful for creating things. You create an image of an object, a creature, or some other visible phenomenon that is no larger than a 15-foot cube. You can move it and the movement seems natural. It's great. A 15foot cube could be a massive dragon head at your feet or a fake wall. A huge rock blocking a path. A bush or tree in front of you. You can mend/cover whatever you broke. You could do thousands of different things with this. You can show what the culprit you saw looked like. You can show what a creature looked like. You can draw a map with it. Great for describing or showing things for others. You can scout a castle and literally show the others what the wall structure looks like or a specifik room. Amazing for the strategy room.
Eldritch Blast with Eldritch Spear is definitely a top 10. This when paired with the darkness spell grants you advantage because you are in an area of darkness out of which the blasts just erupt. They can't see you but you can see them (assumes Devil's Sight). Pair this with Elvin accuracy and maybe some of other features extending the distance (Spell Sniper feat & Distance metamagic) and you are the best sniper in the game.
I’m currently playing an Scourge Aasimar Fiend warlock with Pact of the Blade. I love the combination of the Fire Shield spell, Radiant Consumption, the Grasp of Hadar invocation. Jump into a group of enemies with sword swinging with the option to use Eldritch Blast to pull more enemies towards me. I think repelling blast is a better invocation for a blaster warlock, but grasp of hadar is really good for blade warlocks.
One of my favorite characters was a Warlok/Bard that had the Mask of Many Faces, the Actor Feat and the Charlatan background that grants you the False Identity Feature. It was extremely fun, useful and powerful.
Hexblade OOV Paladin makes great use of eldritch mind. Making sure your concentration checks rarely fail stops it feeling like a waste to cast things like bless or protection from evil and good.
My friend is doing a 5e D&D where we serve a king and are going from town to town trying to find his lost heirs to find out which one is best fit to rule since the king may not last much longer. I'm playing a Hexblade Warlock Warforged. A suit of armor brought to life by the god of the forge with the ability to have weapons pop out from its wrists that it uses. Has devil's sight and eldritch sight so he is basically a sentry since he also doesn't sleep.
One of my favorite character was a tomelock evocationist, ultimate blaster. With a sage background and arcana skill I took the eldritch mind and eldritch sight. Being able to read any note, scroll, or rune that the DM through out at us was pretty cool. I once negotiated with a lizard folk tribe by writing messages back and forth and turned enemy's into hiringlings. And it was just fun, and a challenge to my DM, to always have detect magic on so he saw the world in all its prismatic glory. Neither had many combat uses but gave me great roleplaying capabilities
To the credit of Darkness, I once popped it on my Tiefling Wizard to get her away from some enemies that were going to shoot her if they saw her, and she was stuck in melee with others. Since neither of them could see me (even if I couldn't see THEM), I got away safely. It's was basically free Fog Cloud that can't be defeated with a Cantrip!
@@manossteele1335 I guess that's what they're talking about. I wouldn't allow a cantrip that doesn't have anything in its description about the speed of the wind or its ability to disperse gas-based effects to invalidate Fog Cloud.
While it’s not particularly powerful and requires a little work with your DM I really love the invocation that removes your need to sleep for longform campaigns. The definition of “light work” is up to your DM so mileage may vary but I’ve had some DMs ok driving a cart as light work so mobile resting was possible with that DM. Makes travel and watch a very different experience
I had a pc play at my table who was an illusionist wizard who took the eldritch adept feat from tashas to take misty visions, so he could cast silent image at will. When he got to 14th level shortly after, having illusory reality, he could keep his silent image real for 1 minute as a bonus action. Meaning he could conjure up to 10 10x10 walls in a minute. Or do other things to adjust the battlefield in amazing ways.
Just now making a warlock, and while I see investment of the chain master on the honorable mentions, I don't think it gets the love it deserves - changing the save DC for your familiar (10) to the warlock's DC (14-19) gives a pretty reliable way to apply the poisoned condition (sprite) or fear (quaist) as a bonus action in a way that is MUCH more likely to work than the old DC10 effects. Really a game changer for applying staus affects and debuffs as a warlock, not to mention the benefits of the invisible flying quasit scout
Spear and Lethargy being honorable mentions was interesting for me. I love those two in combination with repelling as a crowd control and safety feature. Blasting a creature within 300 feet away while knocking it back 10 and decreasing its speed by 10 so they are just out of the fight completely is amazing. Also glad that you mentioned darkness and devil’s sight as a combo cause I was looking at how my character would look at higher levels and decided against darkness but am now going to snag it to get that easy sneak attack bonus for my rogue warlock
I've been stuck in forever DM mode for the last few years. Last night I got the opportunity at literally the last second to be a player in someone else's campaign so I threw together a hexblade warlock without planning the build out. This really helped me decide what invocations to pick when I level up.
Eldritch Mind is the perfect invocation for the current Warlock build I'm working on so I was happy to see it at the end under honorable mentions. I'm making a Summoner Warlock who's going to be built around using all the Summoning Spells from Tasha's. Having advantage on saving throws to maintain concentration is invaluable for this Warlock because it means he can actually fight alongside his summons using his Eldritch Blast without worrying as much about placing himself into the danger zone and losing the summon.
Crazy combo idea: Give of the Deep + Devil's Sight + Darkness Spell during a nautical campaign. Just dive off a ship and set yourself up to be underwater in total darkness slinging eldritch blasts at the people on the ship.
I love mask of many faces so much. For similar reasons I love pact of the chain with the imp just as much. Both allow for such amazing RP and subterfuge options. On that note, it’s not top tier, but Investiture of the Chain Master is so awesome at low levels, especially if you have inflict wounds from the Shadow Touched feat. Imp can move or swim 40ft, deliver inflict wounds from invisibility (3d10 at advantage), and then attack with sting for 1d4+3 piercing with 3d6 poison if they fail a Con save based on YOUR spell DC. It also makes the imp surprisingly robust at low levels since you can spend your reaction to give him resistance to any damage. Lots of fun!
I had a Hexblade Warlock with Improved Pact Weapon and Eldritch Smite once. He used a longbow and because Eldritch Smite just requires you to hit something with your pact weapon, he was able to knock dragons out of the sky. It was glorious
Got a cheeky suprise option if you have Gaze of two minds and relentless hex that would work after Lvl 2. Get a 1hp creature to hex. And have the party take it with them you sit back at base camp and watch through another Party member. When the Fight starts you teleport in and attack. You could also use your Fimiliar but unless your 1HP creature costs more than 10 GP it will be more expensive.
I really like grasp of Hadar, I think pulling the target closer to you is almost always more effective that pushing them away, UNLESS they are in your face. I've used this to pull targets closer the the parties tank who I'm standing behind, it also help when your target is trying to escape, expecially since undead patron has so many fear effects. Also targets trying to snipe on roofs, pulling them off the roof is usually better then pushing.
Also I've been waiting for an invocation that allows warlocks to cast animate dead once a day and im so happy warlocks can finally animate dead, its clearly one of the darkest classes and it's lack of proper necromancy was silly.
Have a level 2 warlock in a phandelvers campaign and I just had to make these decisions. I ended up taking armor of shadows to increase my AC by 2 to 15 and eldritch mind to keep my hex going. You’ve given me a lot more to think about though! Great video.
Depending on your party composition, Beguiling Influence is rather handy. As a Charisma based character you might be the party's face and gaining access to half of the charisma skills will go a long way. Not ideal if you're min-maxing or if there is a bard in your party, but definitely worth considering your party is bad at the talky bits
Not even an Honourable Mention for Ghostly Gaze? That invocation is so fun, and there are almost no other ways (save for a magic item) to get x-ray vision in the game. And the fact that it regens on a short rest is just icing on the cake.
Warlock main here, I feel like once you get into the higher levels, Mask of Many Faces does get overshadowed by "Master of Myriad Forms", which allows you to cast Alter Self at will. This spell allows you to condense Mask of Many Faces, Gift of the Depths, and also Sculptor of Flesh with a little bit of creativity. Personally I find it to be a must-have because of its absurd amount of flexibility and also to open up slots for say Ascendant Step (basically a pseudo Fly at will) or Witch Sight. That's just me however
"Its possible to make a warlock that doesn't take eldritch blast." I'm not sure I've heard those words in that order before...
I play a warlock that doesn't have EB, focuses as gish with a longsword. Currently running Dragon Heist with him. Our other warlock is also a non EB warlock, they are using Magic Stone + Sling pretty effectively.
I play a Ranger/Warlock that doesn’t use EB, he already has sharpshooter with a longbow, I don’t need the cantrip.
It’s possible for a blind person to drive a car, too.
I understand why hexblades wouldn't pick it up, but when you think about it, having both close and long range offensive capabilities just makes it worth picking up agonizing blast anyway
Blasphemy! Patroooon they said bad words!
Love Mask of Many faces! Infamous moment in our Rise of Tiamat campaign where our Tiefling Bard-Warlock disguised self as the half-dragon commander at the floating citadel just as a troupe of Kobolds approached. She was able to persuade all but a single kobold with good rolls that she was the Dragonlord and that the kobolds needed to search somewhere else for the adventurers. The hilarious part came when that single kobold that saw through the disguise called her out on it, and she commanded the rest of the kobolds to throw him off the edge of the citadel. We called him 'steve' as my DM is not creative with random NPC names, and now we have the phrase of "get steve'd" whenever you're the only one not taking crazy pills in a situation but nobody believes you.
i love that; what a great way to use the invocation and hilarious memory too xD
Get steve’d
Yeah, we've all been 'Steve'd' at one point or another in game, and out, lol. Thanks for sharing, great story
Poor "Steve" is like a profound metaphor on how society really works.
One thing people always forget about the Darkness spell:
It also makes you basically immune against the majority of spells. Most spells that are not Area of Effect need the caster to SEE the enemy, and that means in Darkness, they cant target you at all.
Great point.
Even most AoE spells require targeting a point you can see. They can cast it just on the outside of the darkness, but then you stand at the back (which they wouldn't know) and are out of range of the AoE.
@@asherandai1000 I think spells can only be blocked by full cover, not just obscured vision.
@@ClasticOne There are comparably very few spells that can be cast on something you can't *see*. It is literally written into the spells that they cannot be cast on something or somewhere you can't *see*. The area of a fireball can spread into an area you can't see, but the point at which the fireball is cast *must* be a point you can *see*. So yes, being hidden from vision does offer protection from spells.
@@asherandai1000 Fireball's text specifies "a point you choose within range". Unless something physically interferes with the path to the point of origin, you can cast it regardless of vision. Yes there are spells that need you to see the target, but there are also many that don't actually require you to see at all in order to merely cast them.
I would enjoy an episode where Monty and Kelly talk about characters they've created (or maybe want to create!). They could even use Heroforge to show off what they generally looked like.
YES
Upvoting this. Probably been done on their stream, I bet
I second this: Dungeon Dudes, here us now... we would love to see and hear about all or even some of your favorite characters :D
I made a Verdan who was terrified of death and went to incredible lengths to avoid death, such as Lichdom, Vampirism, and the shadowfell. Eventually, he came to a breakthrough and discovered how to create a pact between himself and a being known as “The Undying”. He is still level one, but at level two or three, probably 3, I’m going to become a Shadow Magic sorcerer.
I didn’t know until after deciding on Shadow Magic that it was so OP
Warlock Invocations are one of the main reasons why Warlock is my favorite Class. Glad to see you guys covering it.
Nice pfp
honestly same. the warlock is one of the most customizable classes. even if two characters have the same subclass and spells you can still make them totally different
Yeah, I absolutely love that they can have an "always on" spell. So much rp value in being a shapechanger with unlimited Disguise self or an undead with constant False Life.
Arrakokra warlock with Devil sight = birdman with flight and super vision. Toss on Grasp of Hadar while your flying you get free fall damage on enemies cause they fall 10 feet on the ground
@@davidpellecchia4360 always wanted to play an arrakokra. This is a sick combo, I'll have to push this the next game I'm going. I almost got a Raven loft campaign with an arrakokran monk way of the sun sole.
For Relentless Hex: You can Hex your familiar and use it as a teleport beacon. It's a budget version of Far Step.
For Maddening Hex: You can Hex an animal, sacrifice it you your patron, then transfer it later at will. Then somebody you want dead just starts dying, with no sign that you're doing anything untoward.
Came here to shout about the big brain uses putting a relentless hex on allies and summons. It's spectacular and always throws your DM for a loop.
Nice combos!
You can't transfer it later at will. Hex can only be transferred in the SUBSEQUENT round your original target died in. So you would need to bring that cursed animal with you and have it die on the spot.
@@faselfasel2864 "If the target drops to 0 hit points before this spell ends, you can use a bonus action on a subsequent turn of yours to curse a new creature"
"a subsequent turn" is not "the subsequent turn". It's the entire point of an upcast hex lasting 24 hours.
I think Misty Visions is a woefully underappreciated invocation. Breaking into a building? Misty Visions a fake building front 3 feet wider and sit inside the illusion while you pick the lock. Want to distract an enemy? Misty Visions a distraction. Want more substantial cover to hide behind? Misty visions trees or bushes. Essentially turning a first level spell into a cantrip makes it infinitely useful. Again dependent on how your DM treats illusions, but by RAW Silent Image still requires a full action check. And you can do this at will, over and over and over again with your action.
One day I want to play a totally illusion-based warlock with Mask of Many Faces, Misty Vision, and later, Shroud of Shadow. With Minor Illusion cantrip to provide the necessary sound effects when needed, I think there will be tons of fun to be had.
@@TonyCrenshawsLatte Search for Tulok's Dr.Facilier Build, it might help you on that.
Use Tasha's Eldritch Adept feat to pick this up on an illusion wizard and BAM illusory reality+misty visions=almost CREATION for free, whenever you want, even after burning every other slot on fireball. haha (kinda sucks that it's a level 14 ability, cause the rest of the abilities don't really affect your spells much)
One of the most consistent uses for it is just to create cover or concealment; it's about as effective as a fog cloud at will.
Agreed. I picked up Misty Visions and used it to create cover on a spot, works incredibly well. Make an illusion of a box and crouch inside it and you're basically undetectable.
Devil's Sight + Magical Darkness
Bandit, "Who are you!"
Character whispering into Bandit's ear, "I'm Batman."
Any player who quotes that gets a Cloak Of The Bat next session, without question
Magical darkness + dip of martial class for blindsight = "I'm Daredevil"
Does anyone else do a sweet guitar riff in their heads when they say: "And we are...the Dungeon Dudes!"
I kinda miss it
Bruh, I miss that intro
You can still hear it at the end of the video :D
It plays for a second or two :3
And a sword *shing* too
Party time, excellent! Dooo da da dooo da da dooooooooo!
Kelly's reaction to Monty saying "you don't actually need eldritch blast to play a warlock" killed me. Best comedy duo on UA-cam.
hahaha yeah, funny and cute.
I was playing a video game and this was in the background, right after he said that one of the NPC's said, "You've got to be joking!"
I thought it was hilarious.
I mean, he's technically correct. But I see EB + agonizing blast as a cantrip/invocation tax that allows me to focus on utility or role play with my spells and other invocations. I mean, you can go all in on EB invocations, but I see that as a bit of a trap. The power of EB should be used to free you from worrying about damage, not eat up 1/3rd or more of your invocations.
More importantly: you don't need to take hex
@@relzyn5545 always felt like hex was a trap for warlocks above 5th level or so. not that its terrible, but unless you are purely EB based, it isnt worth using a 3rd level or higher slot for. and warlocks have many great concentration spells anyway
Agonizing Blast is taken by every warlock player I have had, except for one who left the group after two sessions. I house rule that all warlocks who do not multiclass get the Agonizing Blast invocation for free. It should have been a class feature from the beginning.
well, eldritch blast isn't granted automatically as a class feature, so having a class feature dedicated entirely to eldritch blast would make it a non-ability for anyone looking to not exclusively rely on it
@@timob1681 still, you don't get enough invocations to take the good combat ones and the fun ones. I don't think you should have to completely choose. Just a little help would go a long way
@@AllThingsFascinate that's fair, but i think taking just agonizing blast on its own is enough for most warlocks and you can take whatever else you want. i think having it the way it currently is encourages experienced players to try something new with warlock instead of only relying on EB. OP's suggestion would make sense if EB was a granted class feature, but if it were not, having a class feature that applies exclusively to EB instead of all spells/cantrips would discourage playing other types of warlocks from the get-go.
@@magistermercury I think another possible option would be to allow the Agonizing Blast to affect any cantrip the Warlock casts, rather than limiting it to just Eldritch Blast.
@@magistermercury actually two-weapon fighters need to get a fighting style to get ability modifier on their offhand attack damage. And spellcasters don't get modifiers to their damage to balance their versatility which is also why it is a specific boost to warlock they can get to compensate for their lack of versatility (though it is a poor compensation better than none)
Forget flexing on Paladins, Eldritch Smite is one of the reasons Warlock is a great multiclass for Paladin. Particularly with Oath of Conquest, thanks to the infamous Oath of Conquest prone trap. For those unfamiliar, Conquest's aura reduces the speed of any creature frightened of the Paladin to zero while they are in the aura. If you are then able to knock them prone, they cannot get out of the prone state until they are no longer frightened, during which time all melee attacks against them are made at advantage. It's a great way for Conquest Paladins to go crit fishing for smites, or to give easy advantage so a Rogue can sneak attack.
I went with a oath of vengeance + undead warlock for the fear save on every hit when in your shadow form. That + wrathful smite to force wisdom CHECKS which they will have disadvantage on because of the frightened condition. Knock them prone and they WILL NEVER get back up!
Double up by making the warlock a hexblade and curse the target for crits on a 19-20.
Would you call that a HexQuest?
This is a cornerstone of my favorite crit smite build. 3 level of hexblade, 7 levels of conquest, everything else into whisper bard. You get easy peasy access to fear effects almost on tap, which means it's really easy for you to become a massive zone of fear induced shutdown on the battlefield. And because eldritch smite stacks with divine smite, and both of those can be stacked with whisper bard's psychic blades, you can deal absolutely ridiculous damage just with base smites.
Throw hexblades curse into the mix (and if you want some cheese on top, play a half elf and pick up elven accuracy), and you tranform into a walking murder machine.
@@Stupacalypse82 Too much multiclassing for me... and doing that loses two ASI's or feats. Not worth it in my opinion. But each to their own.
@@asherandai1000 It's super SAD, since you rely entirely on Charisma for nearly everything, so ASI's aren't nearly as important for this build. And feats are really open ended here anyways since the core of this build isn't dependent on them in the first place. I personally run this with GWM and Elven Accuracy, and it performs wonderfully, regularly hitting nova to the tune of 150+ damage.
The offensive use of Relentless Hex with a blaster actually IS obvious. Bonus Action teleport to the enemy, grab ahold of your ally, then cast Thunderstep to get away, dealing damage in the process while pulling an ally back for healing, or forwards for another purpose.
Sculptor of flesh is the best emergency in close combat. Low hit points? Panic mammoth.
or Polymorph the dragon into a rabbit, followed up by Power word kill, Dragon ista-death
@@RoidTravis legendary resistance.
@@RoidTravis polymorph won’t make an instakill, it’ll just turn it back into a dragon
@@oddfreaks6452 RAW, power word kill doesn’t drop a creature to 0 hit points, it instantly kills them. It has been confirmed in a sage advice that PWK on a polymorphed target will instakill it without it reverting to its normal form
@@apocalypsemvp "The transformation lasts for the Duration, or until the target drops to 0 Hit Points OR dies." - Directly from polymorph description. So no - it won't work - PWK will kill the polymorphed target and THEN it will transform back to the original form unharmed. " When it reverts to its normal form, the creature returns to the number of Hit Points it had before it transformed." .
Shout out to Misty Visions and Fiendish Vigor, my two favorite invocations!
If we are patrons, then you think about it, you dudes are kind of warlocks. How cool is that
Also thanks for giving my favorite class some love!!
Pact of Engagement Warlocks :D They certainly have high CHA.
"Its possible to make a warlock that doesn't take eldritch blast." Yes and I can stir my coffee with my Member but both would hurt!
Hexblade
@Herald of dissonance I’m pretty sure that’s like super illegal
@@thisstatementisfalsenothin5312 what laws?
@@PUNishment777 the laws of most countries?
@@thisstatementisfalsenothin5312 ?
I've been DMing the past year and a half for a Pact of the Tome Fiend Warlock named Nara, and she has been one of the most effective characters in general I've ever seen. She has Agonizing Blast, Hex, Wall of Fire and Fireball, Elemental Adept for Fire, and all of that plus Fiend Pact bonuses makes her probably the group's best damage dealer. Granted, she has some spells that warlocks don't normally get and an op magic item, but the rest of the group also has their own extra spells and op magic items so it doesn't put her that much farther ahead.
But the rest of the group is a paladin, ranger, and druid, and the druid pretty much only prepares damage spells so it is down to her to be the utility of the group. And she is probably the best utility character I've seen in a long time. She has Book of Ancient Secrets and can be the group's ritual wizard with Leomund's Tiny Hut, Identify, Detect Magic, Commune, Contact other Plane, Water Breathing, Rary's Telepathic Bond, Skywrite, etc. She has Find Familiar and can scout out places with her cat. She has the actor feat and disguise kit proficiency (I think she should have picked up Mask of Many Faces at some point but she's made it work) and pretended to be an enemy commander in order to interface with someone who would normally want to kill them. It hasn't come up often, but it has been clutch when it has.
She has Far Scribe and that has been a blessing to be able to cast sending infinitely to a few people without having to dump a bunch of money into buying sending stones. Whispers of the Grave for endless Speak with Dead. Eldritch Mind for advantage on concentration checks, though she very rarely casts concentration spells at all. Aspect of the Moon has allowed her to stay up at night in order to do research and create spells way faster than anybody else could, and she often uses her d10 from Dark One's Own Luck on research rolls and does really well because of it, occasionally getting 26+ and she gets a ton of information that way.
All that combined with her getting a number of utility spells too: Teleportation Circle (Tasha's Expanded Spell List) where they formerly relied on their allies to do it, Scrying is great for downtime when you get spell slots back on a short rest, and since she doesn't have to sleep she has used Dream just to have conversations with people. You can cast Dream on "a creature known to you", which is much more broad than Sending's "A creature that is familiar to you", and has allowed her to talk to people that she shouldn't have been able to talk to otherwise, such as captured allies and antagonists meant for months down the line.
So yeah, I think this is one of the best played character's I've come across in a very long time and she has doubled down my belief that Tomelock is the best Pact choice, and I also honestly think that Pact of the Fiend is an S tier subclass.
Your conclusions dont seem to be particularly controversial. Thank you for telling us the story of your campaign.
I am going to say though, not taking kiss of mephistocantspellhisname is a mistake as it's really powerful because action economy go brrrr
@@professionalsleeper6281 I'm not sure if she knows that is something that exists, but personally I think it was left in Unearthed Arcana for that exact reason. However, now she has Hurl Through Hell, Forcecage, and Witch Sight, so there really isn't a whole lot of stopping her other than just dropping an anti-magic field in her face, which seems unfun to me. She is wreaking plenty of havoc.
@@trikkinikki6843 wait I thought it was made Official. I mean a practically free quickened spell is op as hell but let me check nonetheless.
Edit: i guess not, apperantly it just got revised in UA and not actually punlished
I’m kind of sad that Gift of the Ever-Living Ones wasn’t even an honorable mention. It’s particularly useful for Celestial Warlocks but can useful for any warlock. RAW state that any dice rolled to heal you are maxed out, so, including healing spells, healing potions, hit dice expended on a short rest, even abilities like Second Wind, are maxed out. Who says you need to be a Hexblade to be a tanky Warlock?
People like to rag on my boi the Pact of the Chain, but let's see them get magic resistance at lvl 3.
@@matthewdykeman8149 How does pact of the chain warlock gain magic resistance at lvl 3?
@@matthewdykeman8149 yes please tell
You don’t get magic resistance unless your DM gifts it to you. There are variant rules in the MM that say your DM call allow you to have other more powerful familiars and that the Pseudodragon, Quasit, etc. share their magic resistance if their master is within 10 feet. But this was not implemented for standard Pact of the Chain Warlocks and is not included in the stat blocks of the familiars in the appendix of the player’s handbook. Basically, if you want this your DM needs to approve and said DM can also approve it for the Wizard or anyone else with access to ritual caster or the find familiar spell.
@@mattf5935 the Pact of the Chain itself grants you access to those familiars. It's part of the ability, you get to summon a Quasit, Imp, Psuedodragon, or a Sprite. The quasit and imp grant you Magic resistance as long as they are within 10 feet of you. It's their familiar ability wich many of the advanced familiars have. It's not a variant rule its baked into Pact of the Chain, and only Pact of the Chain.
Bit sad that Eldritch Sight didn't make the list. Can't tell you how many Glyphs of Warding I've caught or how many magic items I've found, or how many spells i've ID'd. It's my GM foiler for sure.
Prob because it's one of those spells that *every* caster takes, and if you go Tome you can get it as a ritual anyway.
@@schwann145 Casting it at will is very different than ritual casting it. Spending 10 minutes each time you might want it is not something that will always be possible, and even if it is, your party is going to stop you at some point when you are spending half the day just waiting for "that stupid ritual" that doesn't even do anything 99% of the time.
@@norandomnumbers - That's all true, but it's still something that can be done, and frequently is. That's why the invocation just doesn't stack up next to, say, Agonizing Blast (or even next to Eldritch Mind, IMO.)
I consider it a top tier invocation, being able to spam it every ten minutes and spot potential traps or enemies with magical items or spell buffs has come in handy so much.
Yeah, having detect magic permanently up is infinitely better than having it up for ten minutes after spending ten minutes to get it up
These combos slay me. I will never not adore them.
Misty Visions + Minor Illusion = the illusion cantrip you actually wanted this whole time
Mask of Many Faces + Actor Feat = Faceless Men
Darkness + Devil's Sight = YOU'RE IN MY HOUSE NOW
I do play a non-blast warlock and trust me, it's fun
It's more about the customisation imo, but yeah, for the first two or three levels you could feel a bit useless, depending on the campaign you're playing
My Celestial Warlock is a Dark Elf, so I have ‘Blast, but I probably won’t take invocations for it just because of Sunlight Sensitivity.
What's your primary attack? Toll the dead?
@@torinsmith9867 smack the enemy with an hallberd he doesn't have proficiency with... Or a sleep spell if he has slots. He's more a control/utility buffoon, pact of the tome with eye of the rune keeper and book of ancient secrets, hunting for knowledge and with a thing for fairy raves
@@morganpetros9635 yeah exactly ahahah, he picked up a random weapon in a moment of need and used it like... Only four or five times ahah
If it was for him, he wouldn't fight at all, but sometimes a man has to put his beliefs aside to help a brother in need
Personally I really like the Eyes Of The Runekeeper invocation. I just love the moments when my DM asks "What languages do you guys know?" and I counter with "Is it something that is written down?" The sheer look of desperation and frustration he gets is priceless! XD
And if you happen to be a GOOlock, you can basically communicate with every lifeform capable of writing because you can telepathically talk to him and tell him to write what he wants to say
For Relentless Hex remember that you can Hex an ally and teleport to them if you need to. A good use of this is to Hex your own familiar and now you can teleport basically where ever you want as a bonus action and use your familiar to position yourself on its turn. As melee you can use this to attack and retreat or skip from one enemy to the other. As ranged with cover you can pop up shoot, move behind total cover, and then teleport to a different location with cover when the enemies start to get close. It is Echo Knight levels of mobility.
Eldritch invocations have such great options. Many people look for combat ones only, but there are many roleplay and utility options that absolutely make all the difference
Chain pact Warlock with voice of the chain master, mask of many faces, the actor feat and subtle spell.
Be the ultimate spy... Unless you happen to be a changeling.
I absolutely loved using voice of the chain master for long range information gathering during the hoard of the dragon queen adventure.
How can you not love an imp familiar that you can see and communicate through at any range? We use the imp as an invisible scout and explore the whole place before we set foot in the place.
The thing about invocations like Gift of the Depths, you can switch it out later when you level.
Yeah, if you push Warlock to 15th level, you can pretty much trade in both "mask of many faces" and "gift of the depths" for Master of Myriad forms. It's not strictly better than either of them, since it requires concentration. But it can accomplish the same things while freeing up a slot for another invocation.
I was just looking into this right now for a Sorlock of mine.. wtf.. Amazing timing for this video
Same here!
I just made a coffee lock rogue so this is great timing.
@@melissawardjohns220 Is that a rogue who never sleeps?
@@harperthegoblin yes. Yes it is. She has blindsight and devil's sight too.
@@melissawardjohns220 sounds like you should just drop a darkness and sneak attack everyone
My warlock patron liked this video and I commented. We're a team like that!
Ascendant step , is the most underated invocation ever. Floating around like Dr. Strange while melee bad guys just sit helplessly by is very effective .
Not to mention its uses for mobility , exploration , fall prevention etc.
Your greatest enemy is... Low ceilings.
I agree, I also believe "Aspect of the Moon" is underrated too. No need to sleep, and become Immune to sleep effects.
@@terrancepape324 coffeelock time
@@Hazel-xl8in That takes a very lax, or religiously RAW, DM for that to work anymore. The moment I know someone is going Sorlock with aspect of the moon in my groups, I'll flat out tell them I'm not allowing coffeelock shenanigans before they lock it in.
Our warlock took the one that lets you cast detect magic at will. Now literally every time he walks into a room he will cast detect magic so it’s become a drinking game for the rest of the party.
I took that one for my warlock and devil sight. Devil sight messed with my dm when we used or back for a one shot.
At that point the DM should just tell him whenever something is magic
@@baileymorton4116 yeah. Its what my dm did
Or you can just spend 10 minutes every other 10 minutes ritual casting it. ...Though, that's probably better for a non-Warlock to do, since you'll probably want to save your concentration for one of your limited spell slot spells. Though, in a pinch, needed to re-up it after a battle you broke concentration for another spell that won't be useful in a future battle, it's still pretty economical to go for the ritual casting as a Tomelock to not need another Invocation for at-will Detect Magic.
I've got a Lockpick (Warlock/Rogue multiclass) with a mix of Eldritch Sight and Ghostly Gaze. An Inquisitive Kenku who can see magic items, see through walls, floors and lockboxes, and is a dab hand with thieves tools is a lot of fun when you're in a city environment.
I am actually surprised that Gift of the Ever-Living Ones was omitted. Please give Pact of the Chain some love when you do the warlock subclass guide. I know you guys are big fans of Find Familiar, so I’m sure that’s not too much to ask.
Max healing whenever your familiar is within 100 ft of you is amazing. I’ve created entire builds off of this invocation.
My favorite was making a redemption paladin 8/celestial warlock 12 multiclass. You can choose to take damage for your teammates and then top off your hit points with a bonus action using your healing pool. This way you can effectively spread out the damage across your team and keep everyone fighting longer.
even undying warlock gets better with this invocation
not good, but better
I know warlock teifling is generic are heck but the amount of customization when using both together its insane.
I'm in a low level, combat-heavy game with a warlock that just hit level 2. I absolutely plan on swapping it out later, but for where I'm at right now I am so thrilled to have Fiendish Vigor and the ability to give myself 5-8 temporary HP whenever I need it.
PERFECT TIMING... Just about to run a Genie Warlock. Now we need you guys to knock out those pesky subclasses ;-)
My party was researching about a mysterious curse on a town and found the 'Mad Doctor's' notes. They where so chaotically written and jumbled that we would've had to make several ability checks to decipher them.
Then my brother mentioned that his warlock character had Eyes of the Rune Keeper! The ability to read all writing!
Polymorph is my favorite heal spell.
My warlock started with a level of Rogue where I took expertise in deception. Then I took the Mask of Many Faces invocation and the Actor feat. It's so much fun to basically impersonate anyone at will.
I also had an oddball start req for a campaign where I did the same thing. Actor's perfect voice mimicking is incredible if you can get that minute of hearing your target.
You could lvl 5 Bestow Curse (no concentration), Hexbalde Curse, and Hex different targets and have 3 places to teleport to.
You could just use all of those on one guy and they take a lot of damage
Only instead of hex I’d use the recent spirit shroud spell because it does more damage
@@thisstatementisfalsenothin5312 That’d define be great for one big target, but if you had multiple smaller target using all three on one would be over kill and wouldn’t let you maximize relentless Hex the same having 3 places to teleport to would.
@@Swelephant_ I agree I think that sounds like a badass way to fight enemies I just have a dm who has a bad habit of throwing one big guy with 700+ health and this makes those fights less of a pain
My friend is playing a pact of the tome warlock with the book of ancient secrets, he took shillelagh as one of his cantrips to make his quarter staff use his charisma mod for attacks and took find familiar as one of his rituals. He basically used pact of the tome to simulate the other two pact boons
I've come to realize the Artificer is the smarty warlock. Therefore multi-classing any of the subclasses together offers an interesting mix of Infusion/Evocation. Also having a homunculus and a familiar is fantastic.
My Artillerist met his patron after receiving his Arcane Firearm.
We have a tempest cleric in our party. For those that don't know, the tempest domain has a feature that lets you push enemies back 10 feet when you deal lightning damage to them. One of the spellcasters will lay down some sort of static AOE spell, the cleric will cast call lightning, and he and my warlock with repelling blast just take turns knocking enemies back into the spell area 😂
Shout out to the sponsor cause those painted ones rock! I don't have enough time in life to get into miniatures and painting, so it is really nice to be able to nerd out and create a mini and get it a quality colorising.
Do not buy the 3D color printed minis. The technology isn't good enough yet. They lose some detail, and the plastic used for this is different from the plastic used on the other plastic minis they can print. The color plastic they use is very brittle and they will break easily. I've heard great things about the two other types of plastic minis they do and also the metal ones can be good.
The tools for digitally building a mini are AMAZING though. And, right now with all the games being digital it's a great way to make a custom portrait for your character and you can also pay a few bucks to get a digital 3D model of your character to be used in some virtual tabletop games.
The level of detail and customization is insane. The things you can do with the custom posing is phenomenal.
@@zero11010 Our minis are great. Def not as detailed, but a much better job than we could do with a combination of a blank model and my idiot self painting.
We treat them right so have had no accidents. I can post some screens somewhere if anyone wants a close-up to judge for themselves.
For comparison, though, the detail level of the custom color ones is 30 mm whereas the high-quality plastic resin is like .05 mm.
Miniatures are smaller than I had expected so the loss of fine detail on the small areas doesn't even end up mattering that much anyway to me.
@@BeCurieUs I'm definitely glad you're happy with them! I've seen several video reviews online where people are opening the box and taking a look at them and dropping them from a table height onto a hardwood or tiled floor to simulate a fall at a table and the minis break (on camera, within a few minutes of opening the box). That exact thing is found in more than one video, and the different plastic used in their other minis does not do that. One of the player's at my table recently got a color plastic mini also and .... it looks like the detail is not as good as the detail I've seen in some of their other plastic minis.
I could be wrong. I could also be judging them too harshly.
I would be furious if I paid $50 for a single mini that does not represent all of the color I placed onto the mini in the character creator, lacked detail I expected to see from the 3D print, and also broke after a session or two.
Still, nothing remotely like this was possible 15 years ago, and I'm sure in another 15 years it will be WAY better than it is today.
I love what hero forge offers. I just don't think the color 3D print tech is ready yet.
I cant believe that the "investment of the chain master" wasn't mentioned before honorable mention, if you are going chain it is easily one of the most amazing things in the game, being able to force sleep using the pseudodragon or pixy is absolutely insane and possibly turns the game on its head very hard.
About niche-invocations: Never forget, that with a level up you can switch invocations. So if they are only handy for a short time, take them in one level and replace them on the other.
What I also like to do, is instantly when reaching level 3 and take the blade pact as a Hwxblade, is to swap one of the invocations against thirsting blade. Attacking twice on level three is extremly powerful.
Thirsting Blade is not available until 5th level as a warlock. It's the warlock equivalent of Extra Attack. Errata has been issued to make this clear.
Playing a 10th level Celestial Pact of the Tome warlock. Agonizing Blast, Armor of Shadows, Book of Ancient Secrets, Devil's Sight, and Mire The Mind. He's been fun to play!
Voice of the Chain Master, being able to send your invisible familiar anywhere in the world and still communicate and see through its eyes? So good. The level of exploration and infiltration this allows is amazing.
I'm kinda sad that they didn't mention gift of the everliving ones which is an incredibly powerful invocation because who doesn't want to automatically heal for max hp?
I'm a level 4 celestial chainlock with it in one campaign, and it's just so silly. In one turn, Cure Wounds+ Healing Light will restore 26-44 HP depending on how many healing light charges spent (16+4 for cure wounds, +6 through +24 for Healing Light) with a +4 CHA mod. And since it triggers on all healing, combined with a short rest heal ability like the Chef's feat or song of rest makes it so my first hit die each rest restores 16+CON, it's absolutely bonkers and has saved me so many times.
At level 3 I last for 3 rounds vs venomfang with my spells, healing light and a health potion. It was epic!
My halfing Arcane Trickster is multiclassing a few levels of Warlock just to get Devils Sight. I'm deciding on whether to go 2, 3, 4, or 5 levels into warlock, but I think 3 is going to be the sweet spot. All those enemies who mocked my lack of darkvision will get their comeuppance!
I'd love to hear your guys' thoughts on the pact of the talisman warlock and what you'd change about it
Warlocks can make for amazing tanks when paired with Fighter and/or Barbarian. Take Pact of the Chain with Gift of the Ever-living ones. Your healer will laugh with delight when all the heals used on you are always Max Dice.
For Tomelocks, Aspect of the Moon and Book of Ancient Secrets just break everything. You've pretty much achieved Wizard with better Hit Die and fewer limits.
In Curse of Strahd, I was playing an insane Old Ones Warlock (he'd seen a bit too much). Aspect of the Moon's never needing to sleep, totally augmented his madness.
Eldritch Sight is insanely powerful. I’m currently running a Celestial Warlock who is focused on utility and support and being able to just detect magic out of combat at any time during exploration and in social scenarios is at worst helpful for information gathering and at best downright game breaking
There will never be a time when relentless hex was more useful than it was to Matt Mercer in D20 Escape from the Bloodkeep.
Such a hilariously awesome and creative campaign.
That campaign was fantastic
Matt mercer fangoons eeeeeeeeeee omg matt is so so so awesome eeeeeeee
Guy is overrated trash of a DM.
@@roonbare2769 bruh Matt wasn’t dming that campaign, it was Brendon mulligan from dimension 20. And I don’t watch critical role but Matt is a really good dm. He may not play dnd in the same style that you do but there’s no need to be a salty loser about it
@@roonbare2769 Thank you for making it very clear that you have no idea what I'm referencing. How would a DM use a PC ability?
One thing I wish to mention about Improved Pact Weapon is that it WILL work on weapons that don't have a +1, meaning you now have a +1 flametounge. Also Devil Sight lets you see normally which means you see like you would in bright light while in both darkness and magical darkness
4 levels in warlock to get agonizing blast, eldritch spear, and spell sniper. 2 level in sorcerer for distant spell and suddenly you have and an agonizing spear that can hit up to 1200 a limited number of times because everything within my warlocks sight should be questioning the definition of "a safe distance."
Take a Variant Human with Metamagic Adept, and you don't even need the dip.
@@Zombiewithabowtie Thank you for the suggestion that does work a lot better, I had to look that feat up because I haven't gotten Tasha's yet and didn't know that was an option.
@@DanteFahr Eldritch Adept can really throw your DM a curveball though. You can take any Eldritch Invocation that lacks a Pact or Warlock level prerequisite, meaning you could take Armour of Shadows, Beast Speech, Beguiling Influence, Devil's Sight, Eldritch Sight, Gaze of Two Minds, Misty Visions or Mask of Many Faces on *any* character.
But for Warlocks, it also means that you get 9 Invocations instead of 8, so being able to suddenly double dip at an ASI level can see a big surge in power for your character
Improved pact weapon + Warcaster also allows you to perform any spell with a weapon and shield (or 2 weapons if you wanted to for some reason) since you can do semantic and material components with your pact weapon this way.
I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS VIDEO
I had a warlock (at low levels) in a Sword Coast setting who grew up in Candlekeep. He had been sent out by his patron to find knowledge. He was Pact of the tome and so for story reasons he had Aspect of the Moon and Book of Ancient Secrets - he did pick up repelling blast at 5th. His big trick was to hit low wisdom enemies with Hold Person and slowly chip away at them with eldrich Blast. (Hold person was styled to have them held in place by a pair of massive book ends and his EB was styled as them getting smacked by a massive Tome.)
When he did get repelling blast there was a fun encounter with some enemy archers where would knock them back so they would have to keep moving back into their firing positions.
Please make a video "How to play a Warlock without Eldritch Blast" 🤔
Lance of Lethargy helped save my party as we were fleeing a city by ship. My Bard/Warlock stood at the back of the ship and fired Eldritch Blast at the ships chasing after us, slowing them just enough to give us the distance needed to get away. Slowing movement by 10 feet isn't tons, but if you're combining with other spells or difficult terrain that impede movement you could theoretically stop someone in their tracks
The real magic of relentless hex is when you cast hex on a party member. One spell slot becomes an invisible uncutable lifeline.
Floor gave way and you are plummeting to your death? No you are safe next to your buddy.
Prison cell. nope!
Force cage? Nope!
Locked door? Nope?
Cast hex on your mount and be in the saddle in the blink of an eye.
Cast hex on a familiar and you will never walk another step in your life.
I was thinking the same, but I did not think about hexing your familiar :p that is so meta
Oh boy, that is a neat idea.
Hmm ... wasting all the damage hex can cause to your enemies. You can't simply transfer the hex at will; the hexed target has to die first. I can appreciate the sideways thinking, but it seriously detracts from your damage potential when fights are imminent.
@@Nurk0m0rath You can just drop concentration on Hex and then recast it.
@@gabrielrockman Yeah ... warlocks only have 2 spell slots until past 10th level, and you just burned them both on hex, and you might fail concentration the first time someone pings you with a pebble. Bad call unless you're sure you'll get to rest after this fight.
My Sorlock Romeo had the Repelling Blast Invocation. While fighting the final boss of our campaign,which was a Lich, Romeo kept blasting him around the walls of his own lair that when the Lich finally died after blasting him with three eldritch blasts that sent him crashing into a wall so hard that it took out his remaining HP.
Through the course of your adventure, you can swap in and out at each level, so long as you meet the requirements, so you could swap out some lower level ones for more higher level ones.
one time I was playing in a gladiator style tournament, there were 30ft tall pillars that if you flew above it was a ring-out elimination. The Warlock had repelling blast and got directly underneath a flying enemy wizard that was being a pain in the ass and knocked him out of the arena.
To add to the Tome Warlock, the other three Tome specific invocations, in lowest to highest value, Aspect of the Moon (cannot sleep or be put to sleep), Far Scribe (use the Sending spell for free, targeting anyone whose name is written in your Book [can keep an address diary of up to your CHA modifier in length]), and Gift of the Protectors (cast Death Ward on up to 6 people permanently) are well worth getting. My Tome Warlock is a dedicated backline support and debuffer, so having him as a watchdog who can keep key NPC'S informed and help safeguard the party against death is a good setup for him.
I love Aspect of the Moon for allowing you to stand watch without ever needing to sleep. Just saves time figuring out shifts and whether everyone gets enough sleep for a long rest.
There is a invocation I feel I should add. I'm currently in a campaign playing a celestial warlock with the pact of the chain. The great benefit is the invocation 'Gift of the ever living ones'
With these things together, I can heal myself as a bonus action at level 3 and do a flat 18 points of healing for myself. The max healing you can do to yourself at future levels being 30, but that's as a bonus action. Add an action cure wounds in and I can max that healing as well.
What I'm say is, as a pact of the chain celestial warlock with the right race and feat choices, you can be a crazy damage sponge.
Can't believe they didn't mention Fiendish Vigor. 1d4+4 temporary HP at will. Love it, you become almost unkillable at low levels
One Warlock I made that I haven't seen a lot is the 'arcane support Warlock' build. He picked up Pact of Tome and Great Old Ones as his patron. The party had a Sorcerer as a blaster with almost no out of combat utility, so I brought that. Also picked up the feat Inspiring Leader for Temp Hit Points for the whole party that were refreshed on a short rest. Basically free preemptive healing. In addition, with Rituals like Detect Magic, Identify, and of course everybody's favorite, Leoumond's Secure Shelter, he brought a lot of out of combat utility. In combat, of course, he had Agonizing Blast, Repelling Blast, and Grasp of Hador for at-will battlefield control and consistent damage output, plus some battlefield control options on tap.
The backstory was: He *wanted* to be a wizard. He even managed to get accepted as an apprentice to a wizard, but he just... couldn't do it. The Weave was juuuust out of reach. He could feel it, but he just couldn't read it. Eventually, his master saw that he simply wasn't going to master magic and directed him to a friend who was a scribe and historian at the local Wizard's Guild library. Here he excelled, but was always certain that with the right technique, he could use magic. Then he found a book he probably shouldn't... he got what he asked for, but at what price?
One good thing I've seen with Mask of Many Faces is to make yourself look like another party member or otherwise radically change your class. If you are a wizardy caster-type, make yourself look like the fighter in the party, if you are a hill dwarf hexblade, make yourself look like the wizard. I DM'd a fellow who did this and it was annoying as DM to figure how NPCs would react and half the time they'd be wrong. Orcs rush the wrong wizard, only to end up taking AoE from polearm mastery. Or... archers aren't sure which 'fighter' to target or use a hold person spell against you (good save) vs. the fighter.
Casting silent image for free with no limit on ammount of times is absolutely crazy and comes up a lot. Definately do recommend playing with it. It is extremely useful for creating things.
You create an image of an object, a creature, or some other visible phenomenon that is no larger than a 15-foot cube. You can move it and the movement seems natural. It's great.
A 15foot cube could be a massive dragon head at your feet or a fake wall. A huge rock blocking a path. A bush or tree in front of you. You can mend/cover whatever you broke. You could do thousands of different things with this.
You can show what the culprit you saw looked like. You can show what a creature looked like. You can draw a map with it. Great for describing or showing things for others. You can scout a castle and literally show the others what the wall structure looks like or a specifik room. Amazing for the strategy room.
I also like how Improved Pact Weapon can give a +1 to any magic weapon that doesn't have a natural +1, like Flame Tongue.
Eldritch Blast with Eldritch Spear is definitely a top 10. This when paired with the darkness spell grants you advantage because you are in an area of darkness out of which the blasts just erupt. They can't see you but you can see them (assumes Devil's Sight). Pair this with Elvin accuracy and maybe some of other features extending the distance (Spell Sniper feat & Distance metamagic) and you are the best sniper in the game.
I just realized that Relentless Hex can be used on your own familiar if you curse them. Now I have a concept for a Pact of the Chain Hexblade.
I’m currently playing an Scourge Aasimar Fiend warlock with Pact of the Blade. I love the combination of the Fire Shield spell, Radiant Consumption, the Grasp of Hadar invocation. Jump into a group of enemies with sword swinging with the option to use Eldritch Blast to pull more enemies towards me. I think repelling blast is a better invocation for a blaster warlock, but grasp of hadar is really good for blade warlocks.
One of my favorite characters was a Warlok/Bard that had the Mask of Many Faces, the Actor Feat and the Charlatan background that grants you the False Identity Feature. It was extremely fun, useful and powerful.
Hexblade OOV Paladin makes great use of eldritch mind. Making sure your concentration checks rarely fail stops it feeling like a waste to cast things like bless or protection from evil and good.
My friend is doing a 5e D&D where we serve a king and are going from town to town trying to find his lost heirs to find out which one is best fit to rule since the king may not last much longer.
I'm playing a Hexblade Warlock Warforged. A suit of armor brought to life by the god of the forge with the ability to have weapons pop out from its wrists that it uses. Has devil's sight and eldritch sight so he is basically a sentry since he also doesn't sleep.
One of my favorite character was a tomelock evocationist, ultimate blaster. With a sage background and arcana skill I took the eldritch mind and eldritch sight. Being able to read any note, scroll, or rune that the DM through out at us was pretty cool. I once negotiated with a lizard folk tribe by writing messages back and forth and turned enemy's into hiringlings. And it was just fun, and a challenge to my DM, to always have detect magic on so he saw the world in all its prismatic glory. Neither had many combat uses but gave me great roleplaying capabilities
To the credit of Darkness, I once popped it on my Tiefling Wizard to get her away from some enemies that were going to shoot her if they saw her, and she was stuck in melee with others.
Since neither of them could see me (even if I couldn't see THEM), I got away safely.
It's was basically free Fog Cloud that can't be defeated with a Cantrip!
Wait, what cantrip defeats Fog Cloud?
@@nathankurtz8045 gust?
@@manossteele1335 I guess that's what they're talking about. I wouldn't allow a cantrip that doesn't have anything in its description about the speed of the wind or its ability to disperse gas-based effects to invalidate Fog Cloud.
While it’s not particularly powerful and requires a little work with your DM I really love the invocation that removes your need to sleep for longform campaigns.
The definition of “light work” is up to your DM so mileage may vary but I’ve had some DMs ok driving a cart as light work so mobile resting was possible with that DM.
Makes travel and watch a very different experience
I had a pc play at my table who was an illusionist wizard who took the eldritch adept feat from tashas to take misty visions, so he could cast silent image at will. When he got to 14th level shortly after, having illusory reality, he could keep his silent image real for 1 minute as a bonus action. Meaning he could conjure up to 10 10x10 walls in a minute. Or do other things to adjust the battlefield in amazing ways.
Just now making a warlock, and while I see investment of the chain master on the honorable mentions, I don't think it gets the love it deserves - changing the save DC for your familiar (10) to the warlock's DC (14-19) gives a pretty reliable way to apply the poisoned condition (sprite) or fear (quaist) as a bonus action in a way that is MUCH more likely to work than the old DC10 effects. Really a game changer for applying staus affects and debuffs as a warlock, not to mention the benefits of the invisible flying quasit scout
Spear and Lethargy being honorable mentions was interesting for me. I love those two in combination with repelling as a crowd control and safety feature. Blasting a creature within 300 feet away while knocking it back 10 and decreasing its speed by 10 so they are just out of the fight completely is amazing. Also glad that you mentioned darkness and devil’s sight as a combo cause I was looking at how my character would look at higher levels and decided against darkness but am now going to snag it to get that easy sneak attack bonus for my rogue warlock
I've been stuck in forever DM mode for the last few years. Last night I got the opportunity at literally the last second to be a player in someone else's campaign so I threw together a hexblade warlock without planning the build out. This really helped me decide what invocations to pick when I level up.
cloak of flies for hexblades seem really good just having a passive damage aura on whenever you're in combat!
Eldritch Mind is the perfect invocation for the current Warlock build I'm working on so I was happy to see it at the end under honorable mentions. I'm making a Summoner Warlock who's going to be built around using all the Summoning Spells from Tasha's. Having advantage on saving throws to maintain concentration is invaluable for this Warlock because it means he can actually fight alongside his summons using his Eldritch Blast without worrying as much about placing himself into the danger zone and losing the summon.
Crazy combo idea:
Give of the Deep + Devil's Sight + Darkness Spell during a nautical campaign.
Just dive off a ship and set yourself up to be underwater in total darkness slinging eldritch blasts at the people on the ship.
I love mask of many faces so much. For similar reasons I love pact of the chain with the imp just as much. Both allow for such amazing RP and subterfuge options. On that note, it’s not top tier, but Investiture of the Chain Master is so awesome at low levels, especially if you have inflict wounds from the Shadow Touched feat. Imp can move or swim 40ft, deliver inflict wounds from invisibility (3d10 at advantage), and then attack with sting for 1d4+3 piercing with 3d6 poison if they fail a Con save based on YOUR spell DC. It also makes the imp surprisingly robust at low levels since you can spend your reaction to give him resistance to any damage. Lots of fun!
I had a Hexblade Warlock with Improved Pact Weapon and Eldritch Smite once. He used a longbow and because Eldritch Smite just requires you to hit something with your pact weapon, he was able to knock dragons out of the sky. It was glorious
I am excited to see your takes on the Pact of Talisman in Tasha's and its invocations connected to it when you do the Warlock Subclasses video
Got a cheeky suprise option if you have Gaze of two minds and relentless hex that would work after Lvl 2. Get a 1hp creature to hex. And have the party take it with them you sit back at base camp and watch through another Party member. When the Fight starts you teleport in and attack. You could also use your Fimiliar but unless your 1HP creature costs more than 10 GP it will be more expensive.
I really like grasp of Hadar, I think pulling the target closer to you is almost always more effective that pushing them away, UNLESS they are in your face.
I've used this to pull targets closer the the parties tank who I'm standing behind, it also help when your target is trying to escape, expecially since undead patron has so many fear effects. Also targets trying to snipe on roofs, pulling them off the roof is usually better then pushing.
Also I've been waiting for an invocation that allows warlocks to cast animate dead once a day and im so happy warlocks can finally animate dead, its clearly one of the darkest classes and it's lack of proper necromancy was silly.
Have a level 2 warlock in a phandelvers campaign and I just had to make these decisions. I ended up taking armor of shadows to increase my AC by 2 to 15 and eldritch mind to keep my hex going. You’ve given me a lot more to think about though! Great video.
Depending on your party composition, Beguiling Influence is rather handy. As a Charisma based character you might be the party's face and gaining access to half of the charisma skills will go a long way.
Not ideal if you're min-maxing or if there is a bard in your party, but definitely worth considering your party is bad at the talky bits
mask of many fast is probably is my favorite invocation. just disguise self for infiltration and messing around is always fun
Not even an Honourable Mention for Ghostly Gaze? That invocation is so fun, and there are almost no other ways (save for a magic item) to get x-ray vision in the game. And the fact that it regens on a short rest is just icing on the cake.
Warlock main here, I feel like once you get into the higher levels, Mask of Many Faces does get overshadowed by "Master of Myriad Forms", which allows you to cast Alter Self at will. This spell allows you to condense Mask of Many Faces, Gift of the Depths, and also Sculptor of Flesh with a little bit of creativity. Personally I find it to be a must-have because of its absurd amount of flexibility and also to open up slots for say Ascendant Step (basically a pseudo Fly at will) or Witch Sight. That's just me however
The only difference is Alter Self takes concentration, which can take your 24hr hex down.