So, in a new Jeremy Crawford/Todd Kenreck interview, Crawford suggested that the current iteration of the One D&D Warlock is just one of many ideas they've had of how to handle Warlock spell slots.
While we didn't get any specifics, one suggestion was that they could have a unique spell level progression that didn't give them the full spellcaster spell slot number as a Wizard or Sorcerer, but still allowed them to, by default, gain spell levels at the full caster rate.
To clarify: currently, Warlocks get access to spells of certain levels at the same rate as any other full spellcaster. They start with 1st level spells, and get a new level of spell at every two character levels.
Now, the recent One D&D Warlock does get to do this... kind of. Starting at level 5, they can take the Mystic Arcanum Eldritch Invocation in order to learn spells of those levels, getting 3rds at level 5, 4ths at level 7, etc., all the way up to 9th level spells at level 17. (One weird oversight here is that they still have to wait for level 5 to get 2nd level spells, meaning that at levels 3 and 4, they're relegated to true half-casters.)
But in terms of actual spell slots they gain, they instead have the same progression as half-casters like Paladins, Rangers, and Artificers.
Now, to be clear, the reason that they don't want to simply give Warlocks the same full caster spell progression is that so much of the class would need to be nerfed in response - Eldritch Blast and its invocations, as well as the Pact Boons, would be too powerful if you also had just as many big spells to cast.
And that's something I can defend. I know some people sort of wish their Warlocks were more or less just another flavor of Wizard, but I highly recommend just playing a Wizard who was taught magic by some otherworldly instructor if you want that.
As I identified in the last post I wrote about Warlocks, there are two things that I think don't feel very good as someone who likes the current Warlock.
The first is that using the new Mystic Arcanum is awkward. Not only does it prevent you from taking other Invocations, but it also requires a Warlock to frequently swap out what their MA spells are once they can cast them naturally - you might pick up Fireball through MA at level 5, but then need to swap it out at level 9, learning it normally and then using the invocation to get a 5th level spell.
I'd rather have a system where the choices you make as you level up can reasonably be left in place.
The other thing is that you lose something I always found neat and cool about the Warlock: that their spell slots scaled up. Unlike a Wizard, who, once they have their Mage Armor up, is probably doing more damage with cantrips than their 1st level spells once they get into the middle tiers, a Warlock's smaller number of spell slots remain fairly impactful.
And, this also encourages them to consider spells that scale well. You could, of course, just get as many 5th level spells as you possibly can, but if you can find spells that genuinely are effective when upcast, like the Tasha's Summon spells, these will really benefit from having all those 5th level spell slots.
So, the simplest solution here would be to basically change Pact Magic - rather than getting a total of 2 spell slots through tiers 1 and 2, 3 in tier 3, and 4 in tier 4, recharging on a short rest, you can instead get more spell slots that still scale up, at least to 5th level (by level 9).
How many should there be?
Well, if we are trying to basically give you what you would have had if you had a short rest or two during the day, that means that by level 9, you should have either 4 or 6 5th level spell slots (and no other spell slots).
Now, maybe we just clap our hands together and say we're done. 4 is probably going to leave you with the same problem - these are precious resources that the Warlock will be hesitant to spend. 6 might be too many - you can cast Synaptic Static six times in a row in a single fight?
Well... maybe that's not so bad. I mean, the limitation there is more about action economy. How many fights go six rounds?
Let's entertain a different possibility: can we give Warlocks higher-level spell slots at the same rate as full casters, but without giving them as many spell slots?
Let's figure out the math here:
In terms of total number of spell slots for the class, a half-caster gets this progression (the format here is level:total spell slot number)
1:2
2:2
3:3
4:3
5:6
6:6
7:7
8:7
9:9
10:9
11:10
12:10
13:11
14:11
15:12
16:12
17:14
18:14
19:15
20:15
A half-caster gets a new level of spell about every 4 levels - at 1st, 5th, 9th, 13th, and 17th. About every two levels, they usually get a third spell slot of their highest level.
Let's imagine, though, that we never get more than 2 slots of any given level. So, something like this:
1: 2 1st level
2: 2 1st level
3: 2 1st level, 1 2nd level
4: 2 1st level, 1 2nd level
5: 2 1st level, 2 2nd level, 1 3rd level
6: 2 1st level, 2 2nd level, 1 3rd level
7: 2 1st level, 2 2nd level, 2 3rd level, 1 4th level
8: 2 1st level, 2 2nd level, 2 3rd level, 1 4th level
9: 2 1st level, 2 2nd level, 2 3rd level, 2 4th level, 1 5th level
10: 2 1st level, 2 2nd level, 2 3rd level, 2 4th level, 1 5th level
(Here, we need to make a decision - do we stick to the idea that Warlocks only have up to 5th level spell slots, and that higher-level spells are only found via Mystic Arcanum? We could go in two directions with this, but I'm going to go with my preference - that Warlocks actually get those higher-level spell slots, so that they can upcast things).
11: 2 1st level, 2 2nd level, 2 3rd level, 2 4th level, 1 5th level, 1 6th level
12: 2 1st level, 2 2nd level, 2 3rd level, 2 4th level, 1 5th level, 1 6th level
13: 2 1st level, 2 2nd level, 2 3rd level, 2 4th level, 1 5th level, 1 6th level, 1 7th level
14: 2 1st level, 2 2nd level, 2 3rd level, 2 4th level, 1 5th level, 1 6th level, 1 7th level
15: 2 1st level, 2 2nd level, 2 3rd level, 2 4th level, 1 5th level, 1 6th level, 1 7th level, 1 8th level
16: 2 1st level, 2 2nd level, 2 3rd level, 2 4th level, 1 5th level, 1 6th level, 1 7th level, 1 8th level
17: 2 1st level, 2 2nd level, 2 3rd level, 2 4th level, 2 5th level, 1 6th level, 1 7th level, 1 8th level, 1 9th level
18: 2 1st level, 2 2nd level, 2 3rd level, 2 4th level, 2 5th level, 1 6th level, 1 7th level, 1 8th level, 1 9th level
19: 3 1st level, 2 2nd level, 2 3rd level, 2 4th level, 2 5th level, 1 6th level, 1 7th level, 1 8th level, 1 9th level
20: 3 1st level, 2 2nd level, 2 3rd level, 2 4th level, 2 5th level, 1 6th level, 1 7th level, 1 8th level, 1 9th level
So, here we've got a system in which you don't have any more spell slots at any level than a half-caster, but the levels of your spell slots are going up at a full caster rate. But you also, at no point, have more slots of a given level than anyone else.
You'll still need to rely on your cantrips and such compared with a Wizard, but you won't run out instantly. Basically, as you get to higher levels, you won't have as many low level "throw away" spell slots, but that's where your various Warlock powers come in.
Some of this could be shuffled around - potentially, you might only ever get a single 4th or 5th level spell slot in exchange for more 1st and 2nds, though I think this would run counter to their current design goals. Basically, the reason I think this system could work is that you're still incentivized to be a bit more conservative than your fellow full-casters, but you don't feel relegated to some lower power level despite the deal you've made.
Now, this version would also make Mystic Arcanum no longer necessary. As such, we'd also have to reexamine how many Eldritch Invocations you get. The 9th you gain in the recent playtest is currently seriously counterbalanced by the fact that you need to spend so many to get Mystic Arcanum. If that as a feature just disappears in a puff of irrelevance, would we need to reduce the number of invocations you get? Perhaps - while I think that the current playtest version has, if anything, too few invocations given the need to spend them on MA, I also see how the rolling of so many feats into the Pact Boons also means that we perhaps don't need as many as we currently do - a Bladelock no longer needs Thirsting Blade, for example.
Still, I think that a spell progression like this would likely satisfy my issues with the current playtest while still holding the Warlock back in the ways it needs to be.
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