The Warlock got a very controversial rework in the last playtest. And as someone who, honestly, hated that rework, I have to say that the version in playtest 7 is far closer to what I want. Even as I've bemoaned WotC's tendency to revert changes and make things closer to the 2014 versions, this was one case in which I think the identity (both on a mechanical and thematic level) of the Warlock was really harmed by the last version.
Now, given how much was thrown out from the Playtest 5 version, I think it might not be all that useful to comb through that one, and we'll mainly compare this with the 2014 version. Even then, Eldritch Invocations are very central to how the Warlock works, and even more so now, so I'll do my best to keep this organized.
Before we get into level features, there is one bit of sad news: We're back to using Light Armor. Granted, my original D&D character was a variant human who took Moderately Armored as his free feat, and in fact I think that that's one of the 1st level feats still. It's honestly not a bad choice - anyone who isn't prioritizing Dexterity really benefits from Medium armor and a Shield a lot.
Now, let's get into it.
Level 1:
Warlocks now get their first Eldritch Invocation at level 1. They ultimately wind up getting 10 total, with their second and third coming at level 2, and then getting two more at level 5 (total of 5 at this level) and then an additional one at level 7, 9, 12, 15, and 18.
Another part of this is that Pact Boons are now considered Eldritch Invocations - which does mean you can have multiple Pact Boons. Pact of the Blade and Pact of the Tome are both available at level 1, while Pact of the Chain requires level 2.
Thankfully, the bonus functionality of playtest 5's Pact Boons has been somewhat preserved.
Pact of the Blade allows you to use Charisma as your attack ability with your Pact Weapon. However, its extra attack feature is once its own invocation, Thirsting Blade, which requires level 5. Lifedrinker is also in this, adding 1d6 Necrotic, Psychic, or Radiant damage (your choice) on a hit, and you can expend a hit die to heal when you hit with the pact weapon (adding Con like it was a short rest). Thirsting Blade has also been buffed, giving you a third attack when you hit level 11, meaning you're keeping pace with Eldritch Blast until tier 4, and also keeping pace with Fighters until level 20.
Pact of the Tome lets you conjure your Book of Shadows. This gives you three cantrips from any class list, and two first level ritual spells. You also get a single 1st level spell slot that recharges on a long rest. And you can use the book as a spellcasting focus.
So, the spell slot is interesting: one thing this does is it allows you to start off with two spell slots, and it gives you a little extra juice for utility spells.
Pact of the Chain once again uses the normal Find Familiar spell (though that has been revised) but the alternative familiars from the 2014 version remain, and expand, giving the list of Imps, Pseudodragons, Quasits, Skeletons (yes, a medium-sized familiar,) a Slaad Tadpole, or a Sprite. As before, you can have your Familiar make an attack with its reaction if you take the attack action.
Many spells have been added to the Warlock spell list, so invocations that gave you access to them have been removed. Specifically: Beast Speech, Eldritch Sight, and Eyes of the Runekeeper (considering it equivalent to Comprehend Languages).
Several invocations from Xanathar's and Tasha's have also been added: Eldritch Mind, Eldritch Smite, and Gift of the Depths.
Agonizing Blast and Eldritch Spear can now be chosen to apply to other cantrips than Eldritch Blast (but, like, why would you?)
Lessons of the First Ones, from playtest 5, returns but can now be taken multiple times (this gives you a 1st level feat that lacks prerequisites.)
And some invocations have had their level prerequisites changed (mostly reduced).
This is so much to take in, but I think the big upshot is that I think many Warlocks will pick Pact of the Blade or Pact of the Tome at level 1. But you don't need either of these, technically. They are prerequisites for some other invocations.
On one hand, I'm a little sad to see Pact Boons relegated to Invocations, but on the other hand, with extra invocations to take (and not having to spend them on Mystic Arcanum) you'll be able to get plenty of these.
Pact Magic is more or less the same as it was in the 2014 PHB - including the single spell slot at 1st level. Bane, Detect Magic, and Speak with Animals have been added to the Warlock spell list.
Level 2:
Magical Cunning is a new feature that lets you, once per long rest, spend one minute to get back half of your Pact Magic spell slots (rounded up).
So, this is kind of like the old Eldritch Master capstone, giving Warlocks another way to get a little more spellcasting out, and at a far, far earlier level. An extra spell slot, or two starting at level 11, is honestly not bad.
Level 9:
Contact Patron works like playtest 5 version, giving you Contact Other Plane for free, letting you cast it once per long rest, and automatically letting you succeed on the saving throw.
The one oddity here is that the text of the feature makes some assumptions about the relationship between you and your patron. But I like this, thematically.
Level 11:
Mystic Arcanum is back as a baseline class feature. The only real change from the 2014 version here is that you can swap out a choice for Mystic Arcanum when you level up. And you get the higher-level versions at 13, 15, and 17.
I'm very happy not to have to spend Eldritch Invocations for this (and to have the spell-slot scaling of a full caster). But I do wish that these gave you a long-rest-recovering spell slot so that you could potentially upcast spells beyond 5th level (letting my Great Old One Warlock, for example, cast Summon Aberration at 6th or 8th level).
Level 20:
Magical Cunning now restores all of your Pact Magic spell slots, which essentially just makes this work the same as it previously did.
I've never loved this as a capstone feature, but oh well.
Now, we move on to subclasses. I was honestly a little surprised to see their choice of the 4th subclass, which is the Celestial patron. The other three 2014 subclasses come back, but all four have gotten revisions.
Notably, subclasses now grant all of their Patron Spells, rather than simply being an expanded spell list, so you'll get all of these in addition to any spells you pick. That's actually a lot of additional spells.
Archfey:
The Archfey has gotten a significant rework, making them the masters of mobility, allowing them to use Misty Step a ton, and getting additional bonus effects with it. Because it's such a big redesign, I'm just going to treat it as a new subclass rather than comparing it to the old one.
Patron Spells:
3: Calm Emotions, Faerie Fire, Misty Step, Phantasmal Force, and Sleep.
5: Blink, Plant Growth
7: Dominate Beast, Greater Invisibility
9: Dominate Person, Seeming
So, this is the same spell list as the 2014 one, except for the addition of Misty Step, which is one more than you'd normally get. But, of course, you now just get all of these in addition to the spells you learn for leveling up.
Level 3:
Steps of the Fey is a new feature. You can cast Misty Step without expending a spell slot a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum of 1) per long rest.
Additionally, when you cast that spell (I think with this feature or not) you can get one of the following benefits:
Refreshing Step: After you teleport, one creature you can see within 10 feet of you gets 1d10 temporary hit points.
Taunting Step: Creatures within 5 feet of the space you left make a Wisdom saving throw, and on a failure they get disadvantage on attacks against creatures other than you until the start of your next turn.
So, Misty Step is one of the best spells in the game, so getting potentially 5 free uses of it (especially for a class that has to be frugal with spell slots) is amazing, and then getting these bonus effects is very cool. Taunting Step against normal-speed enemies could let you bamf away and then run, "range-tanking" some foes.
Level 6:
Misty Escape now explicitly lets you use Misty Step as a reaction in response to taking damage. This does cut the distance of the teleport, but you get far more uses of it (you are casting the spell). It also adds additional effects you can add to your Misty Step:
Disappearing Step: You gain the invisible condition until the start of your next turn or immediately after you make an attack roll or cast a spell.
Dreadful Step: Creatures within 5 feet of the space you left or the space where you appear (your choice) make a Wisdom save or take 2d10 psychic damage.
So, Disappearing Step gives some of the functionality of the old version of this back. The fact that you can use this more often probably beats the lower distance in most cases, but you will have issues if you have fast foes or ones that started their turn in melee with you.
Level 10:
Beguiling Defenses still gives you immunity to the Charmed condition. Rather than being triggered when a creature tries to charm you, you can now use a reaction when a creature you can see hits you with an attack roll, reducing the damage you take half (rounded down) the damage of the attack and then you can force the attacker to make a Wisdom saving throw, and on a failure, they take Psychic damage equal to the damage you just took.
You can use this once per long rest, but you can also expend a spell slot to use it additional times.
This is interesting: damage reduction is great, and the reflective damage is fun. Probably want to save this for when you get crit.
Level 14:
Bewitching Magic replaces Dark Delirium, and gives you a free Misty Step as part of the action you use to cast an Illusion or Enchantment spell (with a spell slot).
So, this'll let you bamf even more, assuming you pick up spells of these schools.
I do think we've got a good identity to the subclass now - Archfey Warlocks will be very hard to pin down, teleporting around the battlefield with ease. I think the old version suffered a lot from very situational features, but Misty Step and the additional effects here are going to be much more easily used. So, thumbs up.
Celestial Patron:
The Celestial was introduced in Xanathar's. While you can definitely have less benevolent Celestials, this is still the most generally good-aligned patron. The Xanathar version had some healing capabilities (Cure Wounds auto-upcast and coming back on a short rest is not bad). Let's see what this one looks like.
Patron Spells:
3: Cure Wounds, Flaming Sphere, Guiding Bolt, Lesser Restoration, Light, Sacred Flame
5: Daylight, Revivify
7: Guardian of Faith, Wall of Fire
9: Flame Strike, Greater Restoration
So, this is unchanged, except of course that you automatically get all of these without counting against your spells known. (So at level 20, you'll have 25 non-cantrip spells and your four Mystic Arcana).
3rd level:
Healing Light works identically to its old version.
6th level:
Radiant Soul... also works identically to its old version.
10th level:
Celestial Radiance now works both when you take a Short Rest as well as when you use Magical Cunning.
Certainly a buff, giving you more short-rest-like benefits when using Magical Cunning.
14th level:
Searing Vengeance is unchanged.
So, this subclass is nearly identical to its Xanathar's version. I think that one did see a fair amount of play. I will say that I'm a little bummed we didn't get the Undead Patron in the PHB, especially because we are also not getting the Necromancer Wizard. But that's not this subclass' fault.
Fiend Patron:
We saw a version of this in playtest 5, but we'll look at this level-by-level.
Patron Spells:
3: Burning Hands, Command, Scorching Ray, Suggestion
5: Fireball, Stinking Cloud
7: Fire Shield, Wall of Fire
9: Geas, Insect Plague
This has both different spells from both 2014 and playtest 5, and also has been readjusted to give these spells at appropriate levels for a full caster. Like all the subclasses, you now get all of these known for free in addition to your chosen Warlock spells. The spells we lose from 2014 are Blindness/Deafness, Flame Strike, and Hallow. These don't seem to be added to the Warlock spell list (there were only a few additions). I think Suggestion is thematically appropriate, as is Insect Plague. Geas, perhaps only because it's an Irish word, feels more Archfey (also, public service announcement: it's pronounced "Gesh").
3rd level:
Dark One's Blessing, like in playtest 5, now also gives you temp hit points if another creature reduces an enemy to 0 hit points if it's within 10 feet of you. So, that's nice if you just happen not to be the one that deals the killing blow, but will be most useful for a Bladelock.
6th level:
Dark One's Own Luck can be used a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier (well, spellcasitng ability modifier, but that's just Charisma for Warlocks now) per Long rest, instead of once per short or long. This got some clarification from playtest 5, where you can't use it more than once per ability check or saving throw.
10th level:
Fiendish Resilience, like in playtest 5, lets you choose a damage type that is not Force, , with no rider about magical weapons or silvered weapons.
14th level:
Hurl Through Hell now lets a creature make a Charisma saving throw to avoid being plane-shifted, and the damage is reduced to 8d10. However, the creature gets the Incapacitated condition while hurtling through hell, and thus cannot use things like Plane Shift to get back early. You can now use this multiple times per Long Rest if you expend a 5th level spell slot to use it subsequent times, but still only once per turn.
I think this is largely a nerf - giving them a save to avoid it means that a lot of bosses can use legendary resistance or might just have big Charisma save bonuses. And the damage is, of course, lower. It's still metal as fuck.
So, the subclass feels more or less like it's working as intended. This was probably the strongest of the 2014 PHB subclasses, and I think the overall shape of it is very familiar.
Great Old One:
This one holds a special place in my heart. While I never got to play him beyond 2nd level, my very first D&D character was a Great Old One Warlock. Looking back, though, I think the 2014 version of the subclass leaves a lot to be desired. So, I've been waiting very eagerly to see how this version looks. And, not to get ahead of myself, I think it's looking much better. The new version has a lot of echoes of the old one, but I think the themes are stronger and the mechanics more powerful.
Patron Spells:
3: Detect Thoughts, Dissonant Whispers, Phantasmal Force, Tasha's Hideous Laughter
5: Clairvoyance, Hunger of Hadar
7: Confusion, Evard's Black Tentacles
9: Modify Memory, Telekinesis
So, we lose Sending, Dominate Beast, and Dominate Person. Interestingly, because Patron spells now give you these spells without counting against your spells known, there's now a reason to put Warlock-exclusive spells like Hunger of Hadar on this (one of the most GOO-themed spells). Given that Archfeys get the two Dominate spells, I think this is probably for the best, and Confusion and Modify Memory really lean into the Eldritch Madness theme of the subclass.
Level 3:
Awakened Mind now lets you establish a two-way telepathic communication line with another creature within 30 feet of you that you can see. The bond lets you speak if you're within a number of miles of each other equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum of 1). You do need to share a language. The connection lasts a number of minutes equal to your Warlock level, but ends early if you get the Incapacitated condition or use the feature on another creature.
So, mostly this is a buff, and kind of makes the thing work more like I thought it did when I first got my PHB. But the language barrier is now erected between you and the target. The distance and time limitations are similar, I think, to the Aberrant Mind's similar feature.
Psychic Spells is a new feature that lets you change the damage of any Warlock spell you cast ot Psychic damage. Additionally, when you cast a Warlock spell of the Enchantment or Illusion schools, you do not require verbal or somatic components.
The first part of this can potentially be useful, as Psychic is one of the less-resisted damage types. Naturally, you're not going to bother doing this with Eldritch Blast unless you happen upon a foe with vulnerability to psychic damage.
The second part of this, though, has some potential. It's a little hint of Psionic power, and lets you, for instance, cast Modify Memory on someone without it being obvious that you're casting a spell at all. That is, actually, really cool (I'd also argue for a ruling that if you're Hidden from a foe and you cast a spell but don't use verbal or somatic components, you might not break stealth.)
Level 6:
The awful Entropic Ward is gone!
Clairvoyant Combatant is a replacement for it that, honestly, has similar functionality but in a way that feels much better and much more on-theme. Here's how it works:
When you form a telepathic bond with a creature using your Awakened Mind, you can force the creature to make a Wisdom saving throw. On a failure, the creature has Disadvantage on attack rolls against you and you have Advantage on attack rolls against it for the duration of the bond.
Once used, you can't use it again until you finish a short or long rest, or if you expend a 2nd level spell slot to do so before then. (By this point, your Warlock spells are 3rd level, but if you're multiclassed, you could use, say, Sorcerer spell slots).
The wisdom save could be a sticking point, but you are getting a more powerful Vow of Enmity. The main thing that I love about this is that, unlike Entropic Ward, this feels like it's actually tapping into the mind-expanding power of the Great Old One, really playing into the psychic/psionic feel of the subclass. Big fan.
Level 10:
Thought Shield is unchanged.
Eldritch Hex is a new feature. You automatically get the Hex spell "prepared," and when you Hex a target, it gets disadvantage on saving throws using the ability you chose for their ability checks for the duration of the spell.
Ok, so while I'm not sure I want to be forced into maintaining Hex at this level, the spell does feel quite a bit better now - Hexing a target one turn and then, oh, say, casting Modify Memory on them? It's a bit more appealing now.
Level 14:
Create Thrall has been totally redesigned. You automatically get Summon Aberration, and when you cast it, you can modify the spell to not require concentration. If you do so, the spell's duration becomes 1 minute for that casting, and the Aberration gets a number of temp HP equal to your Warlock level plus your Charisma modifier.
Additionally, the first time the Aberration hits a creature under the effects of Hex, the Aberration does additional psychic damage equal to the Hex bonus damage.
The only flaw here is that there's no way I don't pick up Summon Aberration the instant I turn 7th level as a Great Old One Warlock, and this is literally twice that level. Granted, that lets me swap the "learned" Summon Aberration spell for something else.
The temp HP is certainly nice, bolstering a creature that will otherwise only have 50 HP when cast at 5th level (giving it, probably, 19 temp HP at this level.
However, given that the Hex spell has been reverted to its old version (dealing 1d6 extra on each attack, rather than scaling up the damage you get on the first attack that hits per turn) that means that the bonus damage here is never going to be more than 1d6 (or 2d6 on a crit).
However, on the other, other hand: While a creature or object can't be under the effect of the same spell multiple times (RIP my "reduce a boulder to launch it with a trebuchet and then drop the spells all at once right before it impacts" plan) I do think that you can have multiple spells active at a time. And I think technically that means that you could have your normal, concentration-based 1-hour Summon Aberration and then summon a second Aberration with this feature, which I think is probably a lot better than using this with Hex. I doubt this is intended and will probably be fixed in a later version.
And so, that gives us the Great Old One Warlock. I think this is looking way better than the old version, and while there are some fiddly aspects to it, I think it's far more thematically unified and just feels overall more powerful, but not unreasonably so. I would happily play this version of the Great Old One over the 2014 version, and happily play it just... as is. I really want to play the rest of that character's story.
And there we come to the end of the Warlock. This version saw some enormous changes from the playtest 5 version, even if some of those were big reversions to the 2014 version. I think we're overall in a better place here.
I will say that, apart from the Mystic Arcanum and Spellcasting changes in playtest 5, there were aspects of that version I liked - I enjoyed the Pact Boon design (I also liked getting Medium Armor, though that shouldn't be too punishing with Lessons of the First Ones and everyone getting level 1 feats). I was intrigued with the idea of choosing a spellcasting ability, but I'm also not at all shocked by the fact that they reverted it to all Charisma.
Interestingly, you can now do a level 1 dip into Warlock on a Paladin regardless of subclass to get Charisma-based attacks.
That leaves us with just the Wizard, and then odds and ends.
No comments:
Post a Comment