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3.5 DND Warlock

JennieJennie Registered User regular
edited November 2006 in Critical Failures
So I've got a guy who wants to RP a warlock in my campaign. (straight human, LN blacksmith, great-granma hooked up with a devil, now his body's goin nuts and he's freakin out, thus begins his story arc and probable descent into madness.)

At any rate looking for info on how to run him properly. The rest of the party is pretty standard so I don't want to screw them to bad by having this uber powered cheese head with em.

So a couple of questions, his warlock blast, is that like once per round? X times per day? I couldn't see in his book where it gave a listing. I know it said how many invocations he gets, but for just straight shooting standard rays, how often/how many times can he do that.

Also what works well for loot for them. I mean a fighter you toss him a new armor suit now and then and he's happy. Give the rogue cash, and the mage a new spell. But what do you hand out to warlocks?

Secondly any good ideas on how to develop his character without screwing over the rest of the party. I mean if this guy starts messing around investigating dark cabals and trying to commune with demons to find out whats going on and how to manage it etc. it gets weird pretty quick. meanwhile the halfling rogue and the human fighter are kinda sitting there saying "But we don't wanna summon greater demons!"

So any comments on that would be sweet too.

Jennie on

Posts

  • INeedNoSaltINeedNoSalt with blood on my teeth Registered User regular
    edited November 2006
    Jennie wrote:
    At any rate looking for info on how to run him properly. The rest of the party is pretty standard so I don't want to screw them to bad by having this uber powered cheese head with em.
    The Warlock class is more like underpowered.
    So a couple of questions, his warlock blast, is that like once per round? X times per day? I couldn't see in his book where it gave a listing. I know it said how many invocations he gets, but for just straight shooting standard rays, how often/how many times can he do that.
    There's no limit to use of invocations, including Eldritch Blast. They're At Will, and as Spell-like abilities, are Standard Actions that provoke Attacks of Opportunity.

    INeedNoSalt on
  • PiptheFairPiptheFair Frequently not in boats. Registered User regular
    edited November 2006
    The Warlock class is more like underpowered.

    What?
    In what sense are they underpowered?

    PiptheFair on
  • JennieJennie Registered User regular
    edited November 2006
    Good stuff (and of course by no means stop all advice is welcome. I'm the new girl on the block for dming so by all means).

    The LN will possibly change from what the guy said. Basically he is LN because he's just this blacksmith guy whose always played by societies rules etc. and suddenly he has these wacky powers. And his Grandma is like, "yeah, umm about that well see, ya know how when you were a kid you walked in on your mum and dad. Well it was like that for me and you great-granma but with a, well it was sorta a demon there Billy."

    I'm pretty sure if he gets deep into the character than it woudl start sliding other places. Or not which could work for the whole redemption of the bloodline angle. That or he accepts it and ends up hooking up with some Succubus chick (now where did I put my batwings from last halloween, I'ld like to do a solo for that session.)



    Nice to know about the blasts too. Now you said the standard stuff is at will but does that include adding the invocations onto his blasts? I'm at work and don't have the books on me but I know they can up the power fo their blasts but is that unlimited as well?

    Jennie on
  • PiptheFairPiptheFair Frequently not in boats. Registered User regular
    edited November 2006
    jdarksun wrote:
    PipTheFair wrote:
    The Warlock class is more like underpowered.

    What?
    In what sense are they underpowered?
    From a raw DPS / round perspective, traditional arcane types can out-damage them.
    In terms of burst. Until they run out of spells and warlocks keep going. Not to mention the problems for arcanes of energy resistance.

    PiptheFair on
  • PiptheFairPiptheFair Frequently not in boats. Registered User regular
    edited November 2006
    Jennie wrote:

    Nice to know about the blasts too. Now you said the standard stuff is at will but does that include adding the invocations onto his blasts? I'm at work and don't have the books on me but I know they can up the power fo their blasts but is that unlimited as well?
    Generally the invocations are for next round or next blast. Keep in mind that you only get a single standard action a turn as well

    PiptheFair on
  • INeedNoSaltINeedNoSalt with blood on my teeth Registered User regular
    edited November 2006
    PipTheFair wrote:
    jdarksun wrote:
    PipTheFair wrote:
    The Warlock class is more like underpowered.

    What?
    In what sense are they underpowered?
    From a raw DPS / round perspective, traditional arcane types can out-damage them.
    In terms of burst. Until they run out of spells and warlocks keep going. Not to mention the problems for arcanes of energy resistance.
    Warlocks have a nice trick in the form of Eldritch Blast, but... that's about all they're really good for. Other casters have much more versatility overall. And at higher levels, when entire encounters are often determined in the first round of combat, sustained damage has less appeal over burst.

    INeedNoSalt on
  • ArkadyArkady Registered User regular
    edited November 2006
    PipTheFair wrote:
    What?
    In what sense are they underpowered?

    By the time you hit about 10th level that whole "runs out of spells" thing isn't happening anymore. Nevermind the assload of utility wizards get in comparisson to warlocks. 14d6 a round (20th level warlock using vitriolic blast and a chausible of fel power) is pretty shitty damage. 2d6 more than a second level spell. The average damage on that 14d6? 49. I've made fighter 20's who hit just as hard as that per attack without any power attack tomfoolery.

    For what your warlock will probably end up doing, least if he's smart about it is...

    1. No object is safe. Eldritch blast ignores hardness, and while it only deals half damage to objects, there isn't anything he won't get through eventually. Don't expect physical obstacles to hold the party back with the warlock around.

    2. Crowd control. Evard's black tentacles, solid fog and wall of force are all available in invocation form (at least if you have complete mage and dragon magic, fancy new invocations) as well as a couple new spells presented in the above books.

    3. He's going to fly. All the time. Additionally, odds are good he will see invisibility all the time as well.

    Arkady on
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  • INeedNoSaltINeedNoSalt with blood on my teeth Registered User regular
    edited November 2006
    Warlocks do get some nifty tricks. Mine was a kobold with the wallclimbing ability and the teleporting ability. Good luck getting your hands on him!

    INeedNoSalt on
  • Eela6Eela6 Registered User regular
    edited November 2006
    Warlocks are on the weak side.

    Let's take a look at a 1st-level Warlock, Wizard and Cleric [War/Luck Domain].

    Warlock - "I can do 1d6 damage every round and something useful, like Shatter."

    Cleric - "I have a Greataxe and do 1d12+(1.5)xStr every round. I also have heavy armor, a higher hit dice, and the ability to grab almost every spell in the game."

    Wizard - "I have Color Spray and 18 INT. Make a DC 15 Will Save or die.

    5th-level

    Warlock - "I can do 3d6 damage every round, and I have a couple cooler tricks now. Too bad that I don't have the versatility *or* the damage of a Sorcerer.

    Cleric - "Remember what I had last time? Now I have all that, can raise 10 HD of Undead Hordes, can cast crazy-good things like Magic Vestment, and much, much more - like casting Summon Monster III to make a Huge Fiendish Monstrous Centipede with ten-foot reach and +15 grapple."

    Wizard - "Invisibility, then approach battle, than Deep Slumber. Save or Die."[/url]

    Eela6 on
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  • Der Waffle MousDer Waffle Mous Blame this on the misfortune of your birth. New Yark, New Yark.Registered User regular
    edited November 2006
    I have a friend who is still completely convinced that this class is horribly overpowered.



    I pointed out to him that I have a level 9 arcane caster who can outdamage a 20th level warlock for roughly 7-8 rounds before he gets the upper hand, even taking into consideration energy resistance.

    Der Waffle Mous on
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  • INeedNoSaltINeedNoSalt with blood on my teeth Registered User regular
    edited November 2006
    Jennie wrote:
    Nice to know about the blasts too. Now you said the standard stuff is at will but does that include adding the invocations onto his blasts? I'm at work and don't have the books on me but I know they can up the power fo their blasts but is that unlimited as well?
    Everything a warlock can do is at will with no limit. A warlock uses his Blast with anything he decides to slap on as a standard action - he doesn't have to 'power up' in advance a la megaman or anything.

    Keep in mind that 'at will' != 'as a free action'

    Also remember that most 'passive' warlock abilities have a 24 hour duration (ie, invocate the flying power once and you have it all day), so they're pretty much always on.

    INeedNoSalt on
  • InxInx Registered User regular
    edited November 2006
    I don't know whether or not the Warlock is under or over powered, but I do know one thing: I don't care. It's just an overall FUN class to play.

    Especially in a Drow-based game. I dont know why, but it just made things all the better.

    Inx on
  • Legoman05Legoman05 Registered User regular
    edited November 2006
    Arkady wrote:
    1. No object is safe. Eldritch blast ignores hardness, and while it only deals half damage to objects, there isn't anything he won't get through eventually. Don't expect physical obstacles to hold the party back with the warlock around.

    This is an awesome little tid-bit. Chain Dispel Magic + Eldrich blast, and you can basically knock out all of an enemy's goodies, given enough time and cover.

    Of course, the mage could one-shot the BBEG, but still...

    Legoman05 on
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