The Fiend allows players to choose from an expanded list of spells when learning a warlock spell. Warlocks have limited spells known, but having variety is beneficial as it frees up spells known. A patron expands the spell list that a warlock chooses from, and the warlock must choose one of those spells to know it.
Warlocks can choose one of the normal forms for their familiar or one of the special forms: imp, pseudodragon, quasit, or sprite. When casting the spell, players can choose one of the normal forms for their familiar or one of the following special forms: imp, pseudodragon, quasit, or sprite.
The Fiend Patron Evoker Backgrounds chevronDown, Acolyte Criminal Sage Soldier, and more are all included in the expanded spell list. Warlocks do not prepare spells, but they do add them to the list of spells from which players can choose when learning a new spell. At level 17, a 5e Warlock has 4 5th level spell slots that recharge every short rest, which they can use with a choice of 14 known spells.
At 1st level, players know two 1st-level spells of their choice from the warlock spell list. The spell doesn’t count against the player’s number of spells known. A patron expands the spell list that a warlock chooses from, and the warlock must choose one of those spells to know it.
In summary, the Fiend allows players to choose from an expanded list of spells when learning a warlock spell, allowing them to use magic granted by their patron instead of just generic Greatest Hits from their general spell.
📹 The Ultimate Guide to Warlocks in D&D 5e
Please check them out and if you like what they do and want more stuff from them, use the coupon code PACK for 40% off any …
What does known spells mean?
“Known spells” refer to spells you know how to perform, but they don’t automatically mean you can cast them. Some classes, like druids and clerics, need to choose which spells they can use daily from a list of all the spells they have knowledge of. Preparing spells can involve various methods, such as praying to God, marking pages in a spell book, or sorting through material components.
Do Cantrips count against spells known?
Cantrips are not associated with recognized or prepared spells and are analogous to the cantrips of other classes. These spells are not leveled and do not consume spell slots.
Are spell slots equal to spells known?
A spell is a discrete magical effect that shapes the energies that suffuse the multiverse into a specific, limited expression. It is a single shaping of the magical energies that suffuse the world into a specific, limited expression. A caster can only cast a limited number of spells before resting, regardless of how many spells they know or prepare. Different character classes have distinctive ways of learning and preparing their spells, and monsters use spells in unique ways. A spell is released to unleash the desired effect in most cases within seconds.
Do cantrips count as spells known?
Cantrips are not associated with recognized or prepared spells and are analogous to the cantrips of other classes. These spells are not leveled and do not consume spell slots.
Do domain spells count towards known spells?
Domain spells are prepared at cleric levels and do not count against daily preparations. If a spell does not appear on the cleric spell list, it is still a cleric spell. At the 2nd level, you can channel divine energy from your deity to fuel magical effects. Starting with two effects: Turn Undead and an effect determined by your domain, some domains grant additional effects as you advance. When using your Channel Divinity, you choose which effect to create and must finish a short or long rest to use it again.
Do ritual spells count as spells known?
It is incumbent upon bards and wizards to be conversant with the spells enumerated in their respective spellbooks, which serve as the definitive compendia of magical knowledge for those who have attained the rank of wizard. The specific rule governing the casting of rituals does not necessitate preparation; however, it does require that the caster be knowledgeable about the spell in question. It should be noted that JavaScript may be disabled or blocked by an extension, and that your browser does not support cookies.
Do Eldritch invocations count as spells known?
Invocations allow you to cast a spell once per long rest, expanding your spell list beyond your existing ones. These spells count as warlock spells. If you have the spell Hex, are a hexblade warlock, or can cast Bestow Curse, you can use special invocations on hexed creatures. One such invocation is the Maddening Hex, which deals psychic damage to the hexed creature and surrounding creatures equal to your charisma modifier.
Do warlock pact spells count against spells known?
The Book of Shadows is a grimoire given by your patron that allows you to cast three cantrips from any class’s spell list, regardless of their list. If you lose the Book of Shadows, you can perform a 1-hour ceremony to receive a replacement from your patron, which destroys the previous book. The book turns to ash when you die. Additionally, you can increase one ability score by 2 or two by 1 at different levels, but cannot increase an ability score above 20. This feature is only available at the 4th, 8th, 12th, 16th, and 19th level.
Do oath spells count against spells known?
Each oath has a list of associated spells, which can be accessed at specific levels. These spells are always prepared and don’t count against daily preparations. If an oath spell doesn’t appear on the paladin spell list, it’s still a paladin spell. Your oath also allows you to channel divine energy for magical effects. Each option explains how to use it, and you must finish a short or long rest before using it again.
Does Eldritch Blast count as a spell?
Eldritch Blast is a 9th-level spell that transforms a basic attack into a ranged magical attack that hits a single enemy. It does not cost spell points or hit points but only time, similar to swinging a weapon. The Blast does not benefit from the attack speed boost of a Haste spell. Standard Warlock’s Eldritch Blast deals 1d8 Force damage at level 1, increasing by +1d8 at Warlock levels 4, 8, 12, 16, and 20.
Acolyte of the Skin deals 2d8 Force damage at level 1 and an additional +2d8 at levels 6, 12, and 18. Eldritch Blast damage scales with a percentage of Spell Power, and criticals are based on magical stats.
📹 Warlock Spell Analysis: D&D
My list of spell recommendations for a Warlock, for both Pact magic and Mystic Arcanum. Cantrips through level 9 spells. If you like …
That Pinkerton bit at the end LOL Glad to see warlock’s getting some love. My first character was a GOOlock (the worstlock), so they hold a special place in my heart. People hate on them not realizing how much roleplay and versatility they can bring to the table. Forge Cleric is also a subclass that does not get talked about enough.
Can’t wait to hear your opinion on the current iteration of the Warlock in the One D&D UA, Kobold. I think it’s really interesting, and it makes a one level dip into Warlock make sense with more than just a Hexblade style build. Edit: 🤣🤣🤣 Yes! WotC deserves every bit of scorn and mockery it can get for that dumb shit it pulled. Hiring the Pinkertons. Jesus, what a rat move.
Thank you for making a warlock vid, kobold! The cleric inspiration is strong for my own I have made and would pair well with my Celestial pact! Although I think gator is a bit hung up on his short rests, it’s fun seeing how to spread out your pact slots to try and get an encounter to be as easily handled as possible! (For reference, my warlock is this party’s only healer and maximizing that is fun for me)
One Buff I give Warlocks is they are able to alter the Damage Type of their spells to a type associated with their Patron. For example… Zuggtmoy turns into Poison spores, Juiblex turns into Acid slime, Cthulhu turns into Psychic energy, Levistus becomes Cold, and most Celestials become Radiant light.
Great article as always. Another good feat for warlocks is the Aberrant dragon mark from Eberron (you mentioned Warforged so….). +1 Con =good, Another cantrip = good. A spell that is regained on a short rest and stuck at a level 1 spell slot = Also good. Plus, the casting through the mark and using the hit dice feature can be similar to False life OR a single Magic Missile hit. (never mind the optional rules for the feat…It is a feat that can grant feats!!)
Nearly everything in this article I’ve been saying on r/onednd for the past day. We need to return to short rests actually being short. In 4e it was 5 minutes! I think 10 fits better in 5e. The numpties over there seem to think warlocks would be OP. But the result is just groups actually getting to take short rests. If they don’t, that’s on them for intentionally nerfing themselves.
I wouldn’t say their problem is short rests, but rather that they get treated as a full caster. I’d say warlocks are halfcasters with unique utility, they can be an alternate skill monkey with just a few invocations, but without the baggage of expectations that they’ll be carrying the team magically like a sorcerer or wizard.
Now THAT is a spicy build. I love the chain of “take eldritch mind which frees up a feat which frees up starting race which lets you take warforged and go wild on armor”. Instead of investing in 15 strength one option could be to just dump it, get high dex and go for half plate, which loses 1 AC but gets nice initiative and dex saves. Or just wear the full plate and eat the -10 speed, take the long range EB invocation and become armored artillery. Sounds painful yet fun to play. EDIT: also worth noting that Eldritch Mind works slightly better than War Caster for concentration saves! WC specifies “when you take damage”, EM does not, so it applies to things like sleet storm.
From a roleplay perspective Warlock is one of my favs, there is so much you can do with it, but I despise it from a mechanical perspective, it’s just not a good class, parties tend to have 0-1 short rests a day, leaning more on 0 from my personal experience and the games I’ve seen online, so anytime one has been played, they’re always casting far less spells, and the spells won’t be as impactful considering how bad their spell selection is, how few spells they know, and the slots that they’re tied to, it feels just so damn bad, it’s not a coincidence that the best warlock subclass makes you focus more on melee instead of casting, because it’s just a bad caster. Before someone says something like “WHAT ABOUT SORCERER WARLOCK MULTICLASSING???” or something along those lines, here’s the thing, if you need to multiclass to make your class any good then it’s a bad class, a good class doesn’t need to crutch on another to be worth playing. IMO outside of for the roleplay or a specific build/character idea in mind, there is no point to play Warlock
Honestly the short rest variation is why I’m pro the OneDnD changes to warlock. Only edits I’d do would be 12 invocations instead of 9, and add a short rest invocation that can be taken, that’s like a wizards arcane recovery and leave it there if you want to have short rest impact your game. Or make it equal to your proficeny bounus.
I swear, the entire class of Warlock, from the beginning, has felt like a lost mish-mash of stuff that was tossed together for a vaguely understood feel. They only have two spell slots that scale up in spell level and come back on a short rest… until 11th level. Then they get more spell slots but not higher levels. Except these certain special spells that they can only use once per LONG rest but don’t take a spell slot. Oh, and their invocations are a COMPLETE mishmash. Some effect Eldritch Blast, cool. Some give them spells to cast at-will. Awesome. Some give them one use of a special spell per long rest. Odd. Some do that, but it also costs a spell slot to cast. WTF? I think it was originally designed for an idea of 10-level classes that never really manifested in the rules. Which is too bad, because it’s an interesting idea.
The more I look at warlock in the light of edition changes, the more I find I prefer the 3.5 version of the class over 5e. Eldritch blast was a class feature instead of a spell. Its damage scaled with level similar to sneak attack. Instead of spells warlocks just got their eldritch invocations, but each eldritch invocation buffed eldritch blast or was a spell from the sorcerer/wizard spell list they could use as many times a day as they wanted. So the 3.5 warlock was not a caster, but they got 5 to 12 utility spells they could cast all day long and a magic gun for all their attacks.
Interesting, but the bit about only having access to one level of spells for Pact Magic is flat out wrong. Yes, the sentence under “Spell Slots” says ‘the table shows what the level of those slots is’ and ‘all your spell slots are the same level.’ However Pact Tactics is ignoring the language under “Spells Known of 1st Level and Higher,” which says you choose spells that must be of a level “_no higher_ than what’s shown in the table,” and “When you reach 6th level…you learn a new warlock spell, _which can be 1st, 2nd, or 3rd level_.’
My DM and I set up short rests that were much more engaging. Everyone got their standard short rest action, plus you could pick one roll to have advantage on justified with a “I practice this by doing x” Ie. The Barbarian takes a few practice swings to get advantage on their first attack roll. Meanwhile the rouge is practicing pickpocketing by playing the clip game with the bard giving both an advantage on sleight of hand. Etc. It gave everyone an advantage for taking the short rest. Especially since they don’t have to be exceptionally long.
Ritual caster helps both warlocks and other magic users with resource management. Smart invocation choices can help a warlock specialize with at- will powers such as Eldritch Sight (detect magic) or Eyes Of The Rune Keeper (read all writing) Finally, optimizing pact of the chain fulfills the critical ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance) role in the party.
Great article as usual! Though if I was playing as a ranged type of warlock, I wouldn’t worry too much about cranking up my AC. I’d stay back and take cover whenever possible. If I’m getting focus-fired to the point my AC feels that low, I’m probably doing something wrong. It’s also important to take defensive subclass features into account, like Fiendish Resilience to give you resistance to a common damage type, Misty Escape, or Elemental Gift to straight up fly and be an annoying bomber behind treetops and buildings. Worst comes to worst, your can always have rest-casted Armor of Agathys, or use Shadow of Moil if you feel really threatened and don’t need to shut enemies down yourself at that moment.
People really need to look at the warlock for what it is. A half caster with a small number of class features that make it look like a full caster, but really only bring it a quarter of the way towards being a full caster. Each half caster gets something different. Paladins get smite. Rangers get skill buffs for exploration. Artificers get magic items. Warlocks get full caster spell level progression for their 2 spell slots, and their once a day spell like abilities.
I’ve homebrewed the warlock because it need a buff: spells slot equal to bonus proficency all spell from subclass do not count for the number of spell you require In this way you are still limited but you can do more buffed pact of the blade giving the capability to attack with the weapon using Charisma nerfed hexblade warrior removing the capability to attack with the weapon using Charisma
Personally i wish they would have left warlock in the same niche as the 3.5 class. in 3.5 Warlocks are arcane non-casters, instead they get a number of invocations that give them spell-like abilities, and they did have Eldritch blast it wasn’t a spell but a spell-like feature of the class. They held a great space, because many of the conventional anti-magic stuff didn’t affect them because they didn’t use spells. and the invocations were actually powerful, like “See the unseen” a least (lvl 1) invocation that granted at-will see invisible or “Fell Flight” a lesser (lvl 6) invocation that gave you at-will flight speed. They got a bunch of class defenses as well, gaining damage reduction x/cold iron and energy resistance against 2 of the players choice energies. as well as a fast healing meditation daily feature letting them take a decent size hit for the parties back line caster. Personally one of my favorite things was that they gained an ability at lvl 4 called “Deceive item”, it’s most basic use was the ability to take 10 on UMD checks in combat, so they could use magic items that were restricted by race, class, or alignment, but with some creative use you were able to do fun things, like cause an enemies wizard’s wand of fireball to go off in their own pocket. 5e is really lacking in a lot of the power fantasies of earlier editions, the crafter, the psions, the gun slinger, and the spell-likes and while they have tried to wiggle a few of those out through subclasses, and artificer it just really sucks that the magicians by the bay have told players that if you don’t want to play dnd the way they want you to play it, you are less of a gamer.
Problem of warlocks is that they, like most of 5e (idk if that’s still how it is in recent books) is designed around “5-8 encounters per long rest” and short rests are pretty much for getting back on your feet after almost every encounter. It works semi-well in dungeon crawling or with in-game time restraint, but most games? No. Warlocks are supposed to effectively have like 6 or 8 highest level (till level 11) spell slots per long rest, making them great at strong effects, but worse on the side of utility and such. So, warlock is supposed to be the ultimate fireball spammer while fireball is still one of the stronger spells. So, the problem of warlocks is the problem of martial classes – you are supposed to have LOTS of short rests, but absolute majority of groups go for long rests usually. So, what can be used to fix this? There is a variant rule which does that – Gritty Realism. Short rests take 8 hours of sleep and long rests take a week. That forces the players’ style of play align with system’s balance more. Tbh, would’ve been more interesting if dnd embraced different types of spellcasting systems: People with magic from other entity (clerics and warlocks) – warlock style Normal mages – spell points Alchemists or scroll writers? Old vancian.
Help push for DND one to have a packed center piece. So warlock in the hands in this Realm Can be a fulfillment extenuation. Surrounding A packed sort of like you get some 12 level stuff. Now that you won’t get completely finished? Until 12 level. Maybe all about the pact if you are in effect of true caster yadiyada Yada. That way it can be in Back Story and in foreground events. In a way that isn’t weird. Maybe treat it more like the spell wish. When approaching the concept of the platter display of each pact. And that evil genius sort of way. And in that cell, your kids, so you can save the world kind away.
What I don’t get about warlock in 5e is the missing faustian bargain. Sure, making a deal with an eldritch being is a quick lane to power. But leaving all the payment for the powers to the GM (well, it’s mostly an OP cantrip plus invocations), seems like a missed opportunity to me. Basically every warlock player I know enjoys the granted powers, without investing a single RP moment into the pact concept of his/her patron. Why is that, and do you see a need to change the mechanics to remedy that?
First and one of my favorite characters is a Hal-elf Archfey warlock. Picked up Pact of the Tome and tha let me pick up Gudance and Resistance (cantrips) along with Blade Ward to negate mele damage. Taumaturgy, Predigitation and Mage Hand for utility, flavor and RP (e.i., mage hand to grab things and trigger traps or lever, or a mis of predigitiation an taumaturgy to gain advantage on intimidation, light fires…) Had Agonizing Nlast, Eldriych Mind, Repelling Blast, Relentless Hex and Maddening Hex (and Devil Sight. My partysurvived a fight with a white dragon using only a 7th level (Finger of Death) and a single use of Hex thinking we-d have to fight a badder boss right after (luckly our Bard and I talked our way out of it, but I still had 2 Pact slots, a 6th, an 8th and the abilities of ab Archfey Pact intouch, no one died, a u rhouggt we’d go and fight but our our party didn’t feel ready. Stacking Eldritch Blast damage and Hex I was doing mid 30 to mid 40s and a couple of 60s (crits) using Resistance to decrease damage and keeping as far as possible to avoid damage. Always get HEX! otherwise you can reliably do damage and tank a bit with cantrips
The thing about Warlock is not that he has lower number of spell slots its that its specialized and you need to know how to do it. A warlock will have lv5 4 slots at maximum, if you are a genie you can do a rest in 10 minutes so that is lw5 slots per day. A wizard has 3lv5 3lv4 and 3lv3 slots the 8 slots if you take into consideration the upcast are the same in power. For lv1 slots a wizard has 4 slots but the warlock has invocation(Mask of many faces and misty visions make you a good spy and illusionist), that cancels the lv1 slots For the other lv2 slots you have other invocations that make up for that and if you want the single ability to fly with a genie without concentration is like having a better fly
Just throwing my character into the void for inspiration. I’m a lizardfold celestial warlock. Priests were wandering into my hunting grounds. Ate too many priests and their god sent a Unicorn down to deal with me. It saw potential so it decided to bargain. Never eat a priest or religious figure again, and find an adventuring group to guide your morals and who is appropriate to consume. Next clause: produce a steady stream of new recipes involving various demonic creatures.
Would a paladin dip be also sensible for shoring up defenses? They both use charisma, you get shields, heavy armor and fighting style. There’s no forge blessing and no con saving throw but hey. Is it just not optimal or entirely nonsense in a way im not seeing? I’ve allways wondered why the whole hexadin idea ever only goes one way.
I dip 4 levels of sorc for my warlock builds for the ASI and the extra throw away slots for shield, barbs and absorb elements. Then will pick a RACE with good RACIAL spells and have never felt like im low on slots especially since I can burn those high warlocks slots for for sorc points and such. Also play smart. Nothing wrong with Eldritch blasting every turn after you have your lvl 5 AoA cast.
I did a lot of homebrew to Warlocks, and sometimes forget how the base rules work 😝 The biggest change was Spell Points! Even though the DMG says warlocks can’t use this variant, if you just say the Warlock gets 2 SP per level up to level 10, and one SP per level after ten, the amount of top level spells stays constant, but it smoothes out their power progression. They still have the “less spells more frequently” mechanic of Pact Casting, but can still cast Shield and Absorb Elements normally. I also allow upcasting to their daily 6, 7, 8, and 9th level slots…. Because why not?
Hi! I’ve recently have been playing an Archfey Warlock (currently lvl. 4), and had an interesting interaction with one of the party’s tanks (Homebrew Paladin) to carry me while I take a short rest. I literally look at her and say “I’m sleepy”, and she carries me. In another campaign, the Warlock takes some time to meditate or “have a moment to recharge”. I’m not sure if other DMs would allow it, but it really has helped me to give more to the table. Hope this could help! 🙂
My #1 race for Warlock is actually the Mark of Hospitality Halfling, due to their expanded spell list. The Warlock’s list is balanced around spells that won’t break the game if cast infinitely in downtime, but the Mark lists aren’t. During morning preperations you can cast Goodberry and Aid over and over again, then rest until you’re back in fighting condition. That means you’ll have a max level Aid buffing your entire party without losing out on high level spells, plus a bunch of goodberries. Another good spell for this trick is Death Ward, due to its long duration. There’s no need to stack it on yourself and risk DM retaliation — simply cast it once on each member of entire party. A warlock with the right spells makes your entire party tankier, and they’ll be more than willing to take short rests just to get those buffs back up. (Even if they don’t — it’s still a bunch of free high level buffs at the beginning of the day.)
I blend my short rests into combat ends. So you finish combat and your party takes a short breather… they can get their slots back, use hit dice to patch wounds, refocus to get action surge back etc. The only time this doesnt happen is in a situation where the party is receiving pressure from enemies.
When I played warlock I took spell sniper feat at level 4 so I could cast an AoE (many of the warlock ones have decent range anyway), run away and spam eldritch blast from where my enemies couldn’t hit my character. That made up for not having great AC because a lot of the time things weren’t close enough to attempt to do damage in the first place
I honestly can’t say I buy the argument that short rests are too infrequent to accommodate classes that rely on them. 9 of the 12 classes in the game have core classes features built around the assumption of regular short rests, and every class has subclass features built around regular short rests. It suggests to me that tables who don’t partake in short rests must be seeing the impacts on all of these classes, or else those other short rest features are not that impactful.
New ideas for warlocks My idea: make their pact slots linked to their in game interaction with their patron like bargaining and being an avatar for their patron that they’re meant to be. Let’s say they run out of spell slots they can make a deal with their patron to kill or convert anyone of the patrons choosing and in exchange their patron will refill their magic up to ten times without a short rest. (Brings roleplay into the core mechanic of the game and feels like a real class that needs to talk to their patron in order to keep up. If they don’t talk to their patron then they get magic back on a short rest but if they make a deal with the patron then they get more. It SHOULD be the class whose power relies on talking to the DM (patron) the most. Made a deal with the patron to only cast enchantment spells for the whole day but is allowed ten refills of magic as long as they only cast enchantment? It could be a very plot based and even crippling limitation but also gives them more magic and abilities. It also builds into the roleplay aspect a lot. Idea 2 (idea I’ve read on here): give them more pact slots based on proficiency level.
Home brew fixes I allow for my warlocks are: 1) Starting a 9th level warlocks have 3 spell slots. 2) Replaced Eldritch Master with Pact Ascension which reads as: Be it conditions met, loop holes exploited, or becoming to powerful to be kept bound to the contract created, the warlock is now free and no longer needs to accept the whims or taboos their patron subjected them to. Additionally, as a bonus action, the warlock can enter into an ascended state for 1 minute. Upon entering this state, the warlock regains all expended spell slots, the spell slots are considered to be 7th level for the duration of this feature, the warlock gains the creature typing of their pact (Archfey gain fey, Fiend gain fiend, Hex Blade gain construct, etc.), and gains two immunities/resistances that match their pact. Use of this feature is regained after finishing a long rest.
Players and DMs, make sure to talk with the table about rests if you have short rest-heavy classes at the table like fighters and warlocks! Also, a GREAT fix to warlock can be just one or two good magic staves away. Something like a Staff of Defense and a Rod of the Pact Keeper can turn a struggling Warlock from “eh” into “ooh!”
A lot of people forget how many eldritch adept features turn low level spells into cantrips or free casts. I tend to run warlocks as “cantrip masters” with free casting low level spells a lot. I never knew about most problems in this article until I joined the online community, where it began to click.
They should give Warlocks the ability to convert Hit Dice to spell slots. One hit dice for each level of the spell slot. To use it again before long rest would be an extra hit die added to that amount. this would allow a warlock to recover 1-3 spell slots as they level up and put the useless Hit Dice to use.
Solution. The DM homebrews a Magic Item (preferably a sleeping Mask) that allows the wearer to cast Catnap on themselves once per Long Rest. I introduced this item to a game where I’m DMing for 3 different Warlocks and they have been very well received, as they still can’t be used in combat or frivolously. But if anyone needs to cast a Ritual Spell, the Warlocks can get their spell slots back.
I’ve recently just created a warlock starting at level one, and took a different approach to how I’m building the character. Instead of optimizing AC, I’ve opted for mobility and a little social engineering. With VHuman and Custom Lineage, the warlock can take a feat, so I went for Inspiring Leader. Now, whenever we take a short rest, the party gets a boost as well, so they have a vested reason to choose it. For now, I have expeditious retreat. I intend to craft some scrolls of that one and eventually swap it out over time, as it doesn’t scale with my slots, but it will allow me to BA dash. If I can maintain range and use cover opportunities, AC won’t matter as much.
Warlocks have a special place in my heart because I get to make people angry by saying they have two sets subclasses. Here’s my reasoning. At level 1 you choose a subclass like hex blade, great old one, or whatever. That’s subclass group 1. At level 3 you choose either Blade, Tome, Chain, or Talisman. That is what I call subclass group 2. Because like subclasses, this choice unlocks abilities (invocations) later that the others can’s get.
Personally I think a good buff to Warlocks should either start with an extra 2 spell slots or have the few spell slots they do have be of a higher level, so if a warlock would have level 3 slots under this new ruling they instead have 4th level slots but still only get 3rd level spells. so every spell they cast is always upcast.
Warlocks do not “lose access” to lower level spell slots. Yes, their spell slots are all the same level, but they aren’t losing lower level spells; they are up-casting everything to maximum power. Even the example in the text is about a L5 warlock casting thunderwave (a L1 spell) — using a L3 spell slot, up-casting thunderwave. Warlock can still use shield, well after progressing past L1 spell slots. Sure, up-casting shield isn’t the most efficient use of a powerful spell slot, but it could be done. There are plenty of good reasons to use low-level spells with higher level spell slots!
Level 1: Point buy half elf at 16/8/14/10/10/17 starting at level 1 fighter then 19 levels Undead Bladelock Level 5 get Elven Accuracy, level 9 bump Charisma to 20, level 13 & 17 bump Constitution to 16 & 18, respectively then top it off with Tough at 20 225 hit points & effectively 345 to 399 with Form of Dread Run heavy armor sword/board with 20+ AC dealing 4D8+11 (potentially another 3D8+5 Fire) Necrotic damage with Green Flame Blade & healing for half the damage.
I think githzerai and picking up feytouched for silvery barbs is likely to be better than dipping into a non caster. You get 2 defensive spells that can each be used once without using a pact slot instead of the naturally higher ac and you don’t slow down you’re Progression. With a hexblade that already can have medium armour it’s definitely better.
At 10:24, you show your point buy. Before racial modifiers, you put 15 into Strength and 12 into Con, and you made Con your racial +2 for a total of 14. If you had instead put the racial +2 into Strength, then to get the same scores, you’d have to put 3 more points into Con, but 4 fewer points into Strength. So you’d have an extra point lying around you could toss into Dex or Int for 9 in one them. A miniscule difference, but this is optimization baby!
Hex can be used out of combat since it does no damage without damage being done first, and there is no saving throw. So sneak to an area, cast Hex at almost max range and put disadvantage on the target and hex their charisma, then pretty much all their social skill checks afterwards are at disadvantage, so you can get the beaurocrat or lord to cooperate, get the best deals from merchants, etc.
I still think sleep is useful later in your warlock life, especially as you mentioned keeping warlock spells on the list for niche uses. Sleep is really, really good against enemy spellcasters, escaping foes, roleplay/infiltration situations, and high hp/save enemies that are still dangerous at lowered hp levels.
29:00 Unfortunately, a Pact of the Blade Warlock can’t attack twice with a shadow blade. The Thirsting Blade invocation (which allows you to attack twice instead of once when you take the attack action) applies ONLY to your pact weapon. I don’t believe this has been Errate’d either, but if it has please let me know. This is one of the things I hate the most about Warlocks. Every other class that gets extra attack has no restrictions (the new Blade Singer even has a better version of the normal extra attack), but Warlocks are limited to 1 weapon at a time. Additionally, if you have a sentient weapon or artefact, then you can never attack twice with them since you can never make them your pact weapon.
Armor Agathys being something you can precast is a big reason why I like it. The one hour duration means you can apply it as you are walking into the dungeon and you almost certainly are going to get value out of it. The fathomless warlock can get more mileage out of the temp hp by blocking damage with the tentacle also. My fathomless lock uses this as well as the talisman pushback reaction invocation. By using pushbacks and slows I generally keep things out of melee and precombat casting armor means I can absorb any ranged damage and survive ambushes more easily. Precombat casting is huge value with a lock since your baseline turn of using a cantrip is so strong
I really love the warlock spells when casted by a wizard that dipped for the spells. Hellish Rebuke is particularly efficient to me. Someone attacks you, so you use your reaction for shield (if you know it will work or you need to improve your chances) or if you know you’re going to be hit you can cast Hellish Rebuke! Aside from that, the combo of arcane ward for abjurers and armor of agathys is too tempting for me not to try some day.
Scorching ray has amazing scaling and since it rolls to hit you can apply hex damage. With a 5th level slot on a hexed creature you are doing 18d6 damage, which is more then just about any other spell option. Each of the six beams can also potentially crit so the damage is very significant. There are good arguments against it, but for fiendlocks it seems like a very good option for them at the middle levels between getting level 5 slots but before they get 4 beams of EB.
Shield does scale in a way as you level up. It should always be used to avoid an attck and the damage of the attacks you receive scale with level. If you’re level 9 and the spell lets you avoid a roc’s talon attack (+ grapple) or a giant’s hit while you’re low on health, I feel like shield remains a good but circumstancial spell even as you level up.
I’ve been looking at playing a Barbarian/Warlock in a game a friend of mine is running centered around Armor of Agathys and Totem Bear resistances. He is designing the game to run from 1-20, and I’ve been flip flopping between going B3/W17 so I can make it up the arcanum tree and stopping before them and going B11/W9. I was wondering if you guys had any thoughts on the matter. Edit: I suppose it would make more sense to wait for the multiclassing article now that I think about it. Ah well, any opinions are still welcome.
> Faerie Fire can deal with invisible enemies. If only the 4th Doctor* had this spell on his spell-list during Season 15, eh? *(yes, there are numbered Doctors, in sequence. Yes William Hartnel’s Doctor was the 1st Doctor) (if the current showrunners can tell you we should rubbish previously established lore then the first thing I can do is reciprocate and bin theirs).
Hey Chris! Great article as always. Something I thought might be worth considering for the 8th level Arcanum is Glibness. The obvious benefit for a social based character like a Warlock is good, but what I think is really neat about it is how it works with Counterspell. Since counterspelling with a Warlock is a charisma check, assuming you’ve maxed out your charisma stat, you’ll automatically roll a 20. This means you could theocratically counter up 10th level spells which is insane. This can make a Warlock (as well as a Bard) a huge problem for other spellcasters to deal with. Still a bit of a niche spell, but a you said, 8th level spells for Warlock are kind of lacking to begin with so I think it’s a decent option. What do you think?
I know you don’t typically bring up magic items because those are DM dependant, but it’s really worth mentioning that the rod of the pact keeper exists. This makes your game changing hypnotic patterns and dominate monsters way more likely to stick. And for multiclassing, you get the benefits of your rod of the pact keeper even when casting with another classes slots.
I’m sad Hunger of Hadar doesn’t even get a mention it’s such a cool spell. I wouldn’t keep it at higher levels but for level 5 and 6 I think it’s good. Aside from that, great breakdown of the spells, glad to see the Warlock getting some love. I would love to see a article specifically discussing the pact boons, there really aren’t any articles that go in depth comparing pact of the chain, blade and tome.
I really think Glibness gets slept on. For a Warlock, Counterspell and Dispel Magic are Charisma ability checks. That means, if you have Glibness cast on yourself, you can automatically Counter and Dispel any magic in the game, as (assuming you have +5 by this stage) you can’t roll below 20, which would mean the spell would have to be level 11 to withstand you. Oh and with a little Expertise, +30 Persuasion is fun as hell.
I’d argue that if you’re taking force cage, you’ll want to take sickening Radiance at some point so you can wait out the 10 minutes to basically insta-kill something (Unless it’s bloody lucky with a teleportation spell or Legendary resistances although you’d clearly want to counterspell the former) 10 minutes=600 seconds=100 rounds. Law of averages says it’s statistically nearly impossible to succeed at least 95 saving throws, especially as you’ll have disadvantage on those saves after the third failure. Presumably as a warlock you’ll focus on maxing that charisma first, so by the time you get 7th level spells you’re looking at a DC 18 (8+5+5). so you need a straight roll of 18 or really good modifiers and still roll high. At baseline, the formula is 3/20(the odds of success on a straight roll)to the 100th power. The odds are 4.0656117754×10 to the negative 83 to 1 of making that check. That number looks like this. .0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000040656117754 Once you get the Save DC to 19, it’s 1/googl to one, or .000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001 Even with a +5 to con saves, 8/20^100, it’s 1.6069380443* 10^-40 which is .00000000000000000000000000000000000000016069380443
hex isnt a bad high level spell choice if you know a targets spell casting ability and suspect they might try a lot of consecutive counterspells or dispel magics either. A wizard tanked up on mage armor, foresight, flame shield, and potentially even invulnerability might have quite the incentive to knock down every dispel magic coming their way
What are your thoughts on Glibness for 8th level Mystic Arcanum? It lasts an hour and has decent out of combat uses since being a charisma class you’re likely to be the face of the party. In combat it makes your counterspell/dispel magic basically guaranteed. Quite circumstantial but there really isn’t much choice for 8th level spells.
I just want to put this out there that booming blade works well with the mobile feat. You hit them with a spell and just walk away. They can either stay relatively safe or they can take extra damage to chase after you. Other than that, if you’re a ranged character normally, you may be better off disengaging and running behind someone who can AoO the creature if it gives chase. Honestly I wish warlocks got access to Shocking Grasp. That would be a much better melee “oh shit” spell than the blade spells for a master blaster, and might be worth taking Magic Initiate (Sorcerer) to get. Especially as you’re more likely to have a crossbow in your hands than a sword. But that said, you could just play the celestial. You automatically get Sacred Flame, which uses a saving throw so there’s no disadvantage.
Shadow of Moil is easily the best warlock only spell and is very overturned for fourth lvl. It’s the spirit guardian for locks. It’s enormously better than greater invisibility. It works against true sight and devil sight so is appropriate for high lvls. Only tremorsense sees through it. It will be your bread and butter spell for most of your career.
Another great use for Hex at high levels has nothing to do with damage. Instead it’s a terrific combo with another party member, for example a Wizard. Warlock pops their Hex onto a nasty monster, choosing Intelligence for the effect. Wizard sends the monster into a Maze. To escape, the monster must make a DC 20 ability check for Intelligence, at disadvantage. Just one combo but there are plenty others to go with.
Eyebite has special use on a particular kind of warlock. If you have a party member who can cast Invisibility, you can concentrate on it and use it over the course of that minute without breaking invisibility, as long as invisibility is cast on you after you cast the spell. That should usually allow the warlock to get the full duration out of eyebite without too much fear of losing concentration. This would be ideal on a scout warlock, perhaps with two levels in rogue for BA stealth.
FYI Shadow Blade is not that great for Pact of the Blade warlocks, due to the fact that you can only use your Extra Attack with your Pact Weapon and Shadow Blade can’t become it. So unless you are multiclassing whole 5 levels into some martial Shadow Blade are going to be a waste as it would be probably worse than attack with your Pact weapon (with 2 attacks, +1 to attack and damage probably some feat support) Also why whould you ever take Greater Invisibility instead of Shadow of Moil if you have an option. Greater invisibility is a combat only spell as it lasts only for a minute, if you need out of combat utility the 2nd level invisibility is a much better option (and warlocks have it on their list). And as a pure combat spell Shadow of Moil giving you objectively more for the same spell slot. I guess you can cast greater invis on somebody else but Warlocks are usually the damage dealers themselves, so they will cast such buffs on themselves 95% of times anyway
For hex at higher levels one thing that may be possible but not allowed by a GM. When you wake up cast it on a bird and kill the bird, take a short rest over breakfast. You have your spells back and the spell potentially up all day. If something comes up that motivates you to cast a bigger spell, drop it, no real cost to you.
No offence to my dm, but he doesn’t really have enough intelligence to emulate how people would react. For example, I was being chased in an alleyway and decided to create an illusory wall to stall the chasers. He had them simply run through it instantly. He did the same thing with my darkness spell. I cast darkness in combat, and instead of the enemies being confused or lost, they just walked out of it and attacked my nearest ally. Like imagine if you’re in combat and all of a sudden you can’t see, anything. It’s like he thinks the characters know everything, the dm knows which is not how lackeys should work.
Shadow blade is terrible if you are Pact of the Blade! The eldritch invocation “thirsting blade” only works on your Pact Weapon, so you don’t benefit by the extra attack from that. You could do better taking it if you are a non-pact of the blade Warlock, in case you are fighting in dimlight/darkness or you end up in melee; you can do pretty well combining this spell with Booming Blade or greenflame blade. Edit: the only way I can see this works is if you have as a Pact Weapon a “light weapon”, this way you can two weapon fight and attack with the Shadow blade as a bonus action dealing a really decent amount of damage and still gaining benefits from your Pact Weapon’s invocations… Seeing it on this light (or dim light 😜😁) makes it look a powerful choice.
Regarding Hex and it’s often overlooked secondary effect, it is great for defbuffing an enemy specllcaster as hex’s disadvantage applies to counterspells and dispels. It’s also useful if you have a grappler in the party as you can also apply that disadvantage against strength and dexterity checks when contesting a grapple
I really disagree about True Polymorph, vs Foresight. I’ll totally agree with your assessment, as far as it goes. But I think that misses a HUGE potential set of uses. I’m looking hard at the “object to creature” portion of the spell, and noting that the type of creature isn’t limited except to CR 9 and comparable size. Looking through my monsters app, I’m noticing how many really strong casters are on this list, as well as things like Cloud Giant and Clay Golem. Conjure Fey is the next highest comparable, at CR6. But TP has far more potential, by becoming permanent. Not all creatures would be an advantage to keep permanently, but there’s a long list of them that would. Now, think about downtime. Think about that week or month of downtime, where the wizard wants to research a new spell and the cleric is asking his god for a boon. The rogue is off stealing things, and the bard is being a prostitute. What did you do? You wandered around in the woods each day… oh yeah, and I’d like to introduce you to my army of golems. Y’know that action economy thing? What does 5x CR9 allies do to that? Utility, rather than combat, you say? How about walking into a Fire Giant fortress with a Cloud Giant escort? In the longterm, I just see a nearly infinite number of uses for TP. As a Mystic Arcanum, that seems to be the most significant feature.
I do have a question. (My English might not be perfect.) Currently I am playing a hexblade, pact of the blade warlock (level 3) and choose shadow blade as one of my spells. I planned to change it out at fifth level, because I thaught, that it could only be used as my hex warrior weapon, and not my pact weapon, which would mean, that I could not use the invocation for an extra attack, since it is only for attacks made with the pact weapon. (I can make the shadow blade my hex warrior weapon per touch, but can not do the one hour ritual with it to make it my pact weapon) My question is wheather I am understanding this correctly. Is there a way around it? What ways are there besides devil sight/darkness or a familiar to gain advantage on attacks reliably? (I have the invocation improved pact weapon (ranged weapons and +1 akt. & dmg.) and planned to take elven accuracy at fourth level, because it would benefit the imcreased critrange from hexblades curse, but for that to work I would need advantage in the first place. I have been playing D&D for about two and a half years and really enjoy this website. Greetings to all the viewers, optimancers and Treantmonk from Westgermany.
Step 1: Become Head Executioner of Kingdom. Gain access to an unlimited supply of humanoids that you can kill lawfully with Finger of Death. Step 2: Store zombie army in your Demiplane until the Kingdom is under attack from an overwhelming antagonistic force. Step 3: Destroy the enemy force with 100K worth of zombies and prevent a single casualty on the King’s side. Step 4: Ask for and be given the right to marry the Princess despite the King’s misgivings.
Curious, that the spell Feeblemind didn’t make the list for 8th-level spells. It pretty much hobbles a creature reducing Int and Cha abilities, neutralizes a spell caster, and for all intents and purposes is permanent (1/30day Int save at extreme disadvantage). Mixed with Mask of Many Faces, Illusion magic, or the like it has fantastic applications against any foe. Fantastic article, very much enjoyed this and your others!
A few spells I’d add: 6th Level Mystic Arcanum: Mental Prison. Some things are immune to it but the consolation prize damage is solid and it totally screws a target that fails. 3rd Level: Hunger of Hadar. This is a bit ambiguously worded but it turns out to be essentially a really horrifying Fog Cloud insofar as it’s not able to be seen through. With forced movement, it can really shut down a group of foes. The damage isn’t all that impressive but the debuff really hurts foes. I do wish the Warlock list was a bit better, though. Some of the spells are really not thematic for, say, a Celestial pact. In a home game, it’s not too hard to fix, but it’s irritating that that’s necessary because WotC decided to cheap out on the Warlock list.
31:30 Phantasmal Force creates an illusion ‘in the mind of a creature.’ It’s literally in the 1st sentence of the spell description. The illusion is not there for anyone else to see, so a phantasmal bucket over a creature’s head is going to move with that creature if it fails the save, because it thinks it has a bucket over its head.
I got called “problem player” for debating the 5e handbook rules for the warlock spell Mystic Arcanum (page 108). At 17th level, the spell’s text describes one gets four total spells: one at each 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th level per long rest. The dungeon master was debating that I get only one total spell up to 9th level. It’s frustrating when I know I’m reading the players’ handbook one as written.
I have to ask, what about Plane Shift as a 7th level Mystic Arcanum? We’re talking about a spell that can affect an entire group, plus extras, easily, teleport them across realities, get you out of serious trouble (or into serious trouble)… maybe it’s more circumstantial than the others on the list, but it’s a spell that, when the circumstance does come up, you WILL need it. Plus there is its utility in instantly getting rid of any enemy, as an emergency measure? It is especially good, in my opinion, in conjunction with Astral Projection as a 9th level spell: Astral Projection is already great for letting you and your group adventure with much reduced risk, and combine it with Plane Shift, and you can shift to the astral plane in fake bodies, then return via plane shift to the material plane, doing some nearly risk-free adventuring while your bodies are safe in your demiplane!
hmmmmmm. I’m not so sure about forcecage being an everyday kind of spell. It is if you can somehow avoid the material costs. But blowing 1500gp every casting means you need to sit on it till it is worth casting. Being high level means you can have a decent pile of cash to work with, but 1500gp still gets expensive pretty quick. I don’t think there are any daily cast 7th level warlock spells with the closest being finger of death, or just maybe etherealness and I really have to squint. Planeshift might be an almost daily caster as well – it is affordable for most characters able to cast it plus it has the utility of being able to take you and your friends places or dump an unwilling target somewhere very inconvenient pseudo-permanently (melee attack plus save to resist isn’t great though).
One thing i like to say for hex (and the shield spell) is that you may want to keep it for making spell scrolls, i not seen anyone talk about in any of the articles i watch about using spell scrolls to make for the limited spells a warlock can cast, like hex is great at it lasts for 2 hours and has no save, so it great for the low dc spell scrolls shield like this could be good for a hex blade, maybe a bit hard to read a scroll as you pull one out, (my warlock is a gem crafter so he uses gems as his spell scroll and that a lot less harder to pull out, i mean if you can have a bag of rocks for a spell book, why not spell scrolls?) but yeah, Spell scroll making or even buying is how i make up for a few of my spell casting and gets me a lot of things i can do or let me use spells like mirror image without needing to get it, i save my spell slots for when i need put on a big show Any spells you like to point out for making as spell scrolls or buying them if you can?
If you’re mostly EB focused, I don’t see why you’d even need bladesinger cantrips as your melee option. You want to get out of melee so you can continue using eldritch blast. You wanna keep using your best weapon. You wanna either disengage or rely on repelling blast until you hit. You could also use spells like toll the dead or poison spray to take advantage of your charisma rather than having to make a melee weapon attack that relies on your dexterity. This is imo better than bladesinger cantrips, but it still keeps you in melee so the best option is to disengage (either as an action or, occasionally, through teleportation features you may have access to) or, quite simply, repelling them away with your repelling blast.
I have been pouring over the Warlock Hexblade build for a while, & I had pegged most of the arcanums to recommend & nearly all the spells you listed. Although, you helped with the Finger of Death zombie hoard (sadly I am not that evil), & you helped me realized Hex is not a must-keep. Also, with arcane proficiency, making scrolls of lower level spells keeps Mirror Image & Shield very helpful.
The eldritch blas invokations allows you awesome combos when combined with aoe spells. You push your enemies back into hunger of hadar, making them blind and take dis on attacks, take extra damage each turn, and it is difficult terrain, so especially with speed reduced, they will have hard time getting out of it. Wall of fire is also good option for pure damage of those you through back to it. Takes your concentration though, so no hex with this combo.
Being honest, I hadn’t thought of the summon greater demon as a good spell, but now that I think about it, and seeing what it can achieve, I’m thinking of using it in conjunction with wall of light. Like, even if the demon gets loose, it won’t see the party through the wall of light, so it won’t target it, and if the enemy wants to run away from that demon, it would have to risk 4d8 and a con save that could leave them blind for 1 minute, in which case, that enemy will probably be dead by our attacks in the next turn. It’s quite a deadly combo, worse of all, is that I know once I do it, people will do that as well when I’m the DM, and thinking of a potential Tanarukk that could be summoned to prepare the encounters to be balanced is going to be a pain, but it will be fun.
Used your abdjurer build on a 4th and 5th level character and boy is it strong. However I decided to retire it as I found it was limiting my enjoyment. I was way more optimised than my party and the build made me feel way too untouchable and therefore not as invested in the combat. We decided to let my character go out in a blaze of glory and its ludicrous what sort of heat I could solo. Now I’m trying a glass canon build where I can be effective and have fun knowing I’m close to going down or losing concentration at any moment. I still think it’s important to optimise your choices for effectiveness in attack as no one likes feeling like they are not contributing.
When you brought up Greater Resto but said you should take it if you don’t have a cleric– if you’re a celestial warlock in a campaign without a cleric, chances are good that you are the cleric, even if you’re Cleric Lite. I guess you could contract it out to an NPC, but the Celestial is one of the few reliable cleric replacements with the patron spells it grants.
An interesting wrinkle for the 8th level Mystic Arcanum: Banishment/Banishing Smite and Demiplane. With Demiplane you have given yourself access to the harmless demiplane. Having access to them while incapacitated might be much more valuable than just banishing them for one minute. A big caveat to this is that it would only apply to creatures native to the plane you’re on.
I have an idea for an effective monk build. It requires starting off with 3 levels of gloomstalker ranger. And would probably be most effective if you went 5 levels of ghoststalker before multiclassing into monk. Dueling fighting style deals an extra 2 damage on shorts words. Which means it is more effective than everything but the d10 and even then it is more consistent. If you could use any weapon you had proficiency in it would be fine but monks don’t even let you use racial proficiencies. I think a is most effective at level 9 when they have enough ki points to do 4 attacks every turn assuming 3 combats per short rest. So if you build around this you could maybe actually have an effective monk.