Warlock is one of those classes that people really hated on release because it wasn't as good as sorcerer and wizard, because this was the days before we realized that 3.5 sorcerer and wizard are just kinda broken. (Bard was in much the same boat.) It's a very experimental class, which is a lot of its charm, but also a lot of what makes it flawed. The main issue I've always had with it is that it's very limited in terms of what it can do; you just don't get a lot of invocations, especially given that there's very few sourcebooks that boost them up, and its damage is not as high as it feels like it should be. This can cause it to feel like kind of a one-trick pony, especially at lower levels. Buffing its Eldritch Blast damage and number of invocations are both things I tend to do in my home games. That said, what warlock does have is still pretty good. They're easy to build and play, and they do have some very nasty tricks up their sleeve. Eldritch Glaive lets you do a very unconventional melee build, being able to spam stuff like Dimension Door and Shatter is really versatile, buff spells like Fell Flight are effectively permanent, Utterdark Blast is genuinely amazing, and The Dead Walk opens up all the versatility that necromancy provides. And given Use Magic Device, there's a lot of tricks you can do to help out out-of-combat, especially once Imbue Item kicks in and you become one of the game's better crafting classes. You end up as a class that can do the usual arcane caster role as a back-row blaster and problem-solver, but with the powerscale toned down well enough that it doesn't risk outshining anybody. Also, one thing about warlocks that's interesting is that they're a great class to play if you rolled like shit or have bad point buy, because very few of their class features actively depend on stats. Charisma helps the saving throws of your invocations, but you can easily pick invocations that don't provide those, and since your main attacking method is a Touch attack, you don't need Dexterity to be super-high, either. That's not to say a warlock doesn't appreciate good starting rolls, but a warlock with all their stats at 10 is a hell of a lot better than a fighter with all their stats at 10.
That's a good point. Warlock is a really cool class. The fact that they have "infinite spell slots" is pretty nice too, and their eldritch blast scales with damage as fast as a rogue's sneak attack as well. It's a really cool and versatile class.
The best item creation base class is out of the Eberron Campaign Setting - Artificer. But Warlock is good for that at level 12, especially if they take two levels of Chameleon so they can use an Item Creation Feat when it's convenient and get rid of it when they're not crafting.
Thank you for that. I've heard talk about the artificer but haven't looked into Eberron just yet. I will be getting to it eventually though. But that is a good point about Chameleon.
While I believe the Warlock is not in the upper tiers of classes, I do really like it. I think it can be a good class for beginning players because they have a lot less to analyze and can just do everything they selected without having to worry out limited uses per day. That same ease of play makes it a class I can see giving to a player to run a second character at the same time if the group is sort a player, without being too much for the single player to handle even if their primary character is a complex handful.
I have to admit that I had a lot of fun with my warlocks Yaryap, Hyowl, and Hiiyowl---all from a homebrew race of anthro coyotes. They weren;t as dark and brooding as the class description suggested as their powers were hereditary (my DM gave me a lot of slack). What I had more fun with than the Eldritch Blast stuff was things like Fell Flight, Walk Unseen, and Flee The Scene. Which was how Yaryap scared the living daylights out of a corrupt mayor by reading him a bedtime story (Those three invocations came into use; I'll let you imagine what he got up to). Also, Hyowl was also part rogue, and he put HIS invocations to good use whenever the party needed, say, a bit more pocket change.
I’m just about to start a warlock! So happy for this video! I still have no idea about the race though. Thinking about halfling, cause everyone else in the group is an elf. (They are playing together in a while, I’m the new girl). Can you give me some advice? Thanks in advance 😊
Halfling wouldn't be bad. The size bonus to AC could be handy, and the penalty to damage won't affect your eldritch blast. Ideally you would want something that gives a bonus to Charisma, but there aren't a whole lot of races that do that. Really the race choice isn't that important. Just don't pick anything that hurts your Charisma like Dwarf or Half Orc or anything and you should be fine. Human is also always a great choice. That extra feat and extra skill points are very nice.
The subject you didnt touch on the video and i think is kinda important is the combination of the warlock and multiclass of a arcane caster like how does it work with normal spell slots and invocations if someone can help me with this question i would very much appreciate it thanks.
It's generally a weak option since the two don't stack at all. The two are completely different and other than the fact that Warlocks are considered to be arcane casters, they are functionally completely different.
@@MitchBurns i don't think it's a weak point because is not very much specified in the book it's kinda ambiguous and i can't get a clear answer for this I searched on Google but like i said there is not a definitive answer to this, from what I understood is that i can use warlock spells from the sorcerer's spell slots but that's about it.
@@GeniusSoftxDThey're completely independent of each other, but there is a prestige class for that: Eldritch Theurge. It progresses both arcane spellcasting and invocation levels.
Books containing extra invocations: Cityscape, Complete Mage, Dragon Magic, and Drow of the Underdark
Warlock is one of those classes that people really hated on release because it wasn't as good as sorcerer and wizard, because this was the days before we realized that 3.5 sorcerer and wizard are just kinda broken. (Bard was in much the same boat.) It's a very experimental class, which is a lot of its charm, but also a lot of what makes it flawed. The main issue I've always had with it is that it's very limited in terms of what it can do; you just don't get a lot of invocations, especially given that there's very few sourcebooks that boost them up, and its damage is not as high as it feels like it should be. This can cause it to feel like kind of a one-trick pony, especially at lower levels. Buffing its Eldritch Blast damage and number of invocations are both things I tend to do in my home games.
That said, what warlock does have is still pretty good. They're easy to build and play, and they do have some very nasty tricks up their sleeve. Eldritch Glaive lets you do a very unconventional melee build, being able to spam stuff like Dimension Door and Shatter is really versatile, buff spells like Fell Flight are effectively permanent, Utterdark Blast is genuinely amazing, and The Dead Walk opens up all the versatility that necromancy provides. And given Use Magic Device, there's a lot of tricks you can do to help out out-of-combat, especially once Imbue Item kicks in and you become one of the game's better crafting classes. You end up as a class that can do the usual arcane caster role as a back-row blaster and problem-solver, but with the powerscale toned down well enough that it doesn't risk outshining anybody.
Also, one thing about warlocks that's interesting is that they're a great class to play if you rolled like shit or have bad point buy, because very few of their class features actively depend on stats. Charisma helps the saving throws of your invocations, but you can easily pick invocations that don't provide those, and since your main attacking method is a Touch attack, you don't need Dexterity to be super-high, either. That's not to say a warlock doesn't appreciate good starting rolls, but a warlock with all their stats at 10 is a hell of a lot better than a fighter with all their stats at 10.
That's a good point. Warlock is a really cool class. The fact that they have "infinite spell slots" is pretty nice too, and their eldritch blast scales with damage as fast as a rogue's sneak attack as well. It's a really cool and versatile class.
The best item creation base class is out of the Eberron Campaign Setting - Artificer. But Warlock is good for that at level 12, especially if they take two levels of Chameleon so they can use an Item Creation Feat when it's convenient and get rid of it when they're not crafting.
Thank you for that. I've heard talk about the artificer but haven't looked into Eberron just yet. I will be getting to it eventually though. But that is a good point about Chameleon.
While I believe the Warlock is not in the upper tiers of classes, I do really like it. I think it can be a good class for beginning players because they have a lot less to analyze and can just do everything they selected without having to worry out limited uses per day. That same ease of play makes it a class I can see giving to a player to run a second character at the same time if the group is sort a player, without being too much for the single player to handle even if their primary character is a complex handful.
That's fair. It's a somewhat powerful class that is relatively easy to use. I rather like it. I do find it hard to fit into builds though.
I have to admit that I had a lot of fun with my warlocks Yaryap, Hyowl, and Hiiyowl---all from a homebrew race of anthro coyotes. They weren;t as dark and brooding as the class description suggested as their powers were hereditary (my DM gave me a lot of slack).
What I had more fun with than the Eldritch Blast stuff was things like Fell Flight, Walk Unseen, and Flee The Scene. Which was how Yaryap scared the living daylights out of a corrupt mayor by reading him a bedtime story (Those three invocations came into use; I'll let you imagine what he got up to).
Also, Hyowl was also part rogue, and he put HIS invocations to good use whenever the party needed, say, a bit more pocket change.
That sounds like a lot of fun. That mayor probably wet himself that night. lol
To improve them, I would allow, as a DM, to add the charisma bonus to the EB damage, otherwise the damage is too low
I’m just about to start a warlock! So happy for this video! I still have no idea about the race though. Thinking about halfling, cause everyone else in the group is an elf. (They are playing together in a while, I’m the new girl). Can you give me some advice? Thanks in advance 😊
Halfling wouldn't be bad. The size bonus to AC could be handy, and the penalty to damage won't affect your eldritch blast. Ideally you would want something that gives a bonus to Charisma, but there aren't a whole lot of races that do that. Really the race choice isn't that important. Just don't pick anything that hurts your Charisma like Dwarf or Half Orc or anything and you should be fine. Human is also always a great choice. That extra feat and extra skill points are very nice.
@@MitchBurns thanks so much for your reply 😊✌️
Of course. Thank you for your comment.
The subject you didnt touch on the video and i think is kinda important is the combination of the warlock and multiclass of a arcane caster like how does it work with normal spell slots and invocations if someone can help me with this question i would very much appreciate it thanks.
It's generally a weak option since the two don't stack at all. The two are completely different and other than the fact that Warlocks are considered to be arcane casters, they are functionally completely different.
@@MitchBurns i don't think it's a weak point because is not very much specified in the book it's kinda ambiguous and i can't get a clear answer for this I searched on Google but like i said there is not a definitive answer to this, from what I understood is that i can use warlock spells from the sorcerer's spell slots but that's about it.
@@GeniusSoftxDThey're completely independent of each other, but there is a prestige class for that: Eldritch Theurge. It progresses both arcane spellcasting and invocation levels.
The fluff in Complete Mage expanded the sources of warlock pew-pew powers.
That's good to know. I plan on picking up Complete Mage in the near future.