And your patron quietly increases the monthly price while removing features from lower tiers. But what are you going to do? NOT bingecast Eldritch Blast?
Levels 1-2 are warlock general ed before you start taking classes for your major -- but some warlocks' scholarships require a certain major even if they start out taking Eldritch Blast 101 along with everyone else (and you do _not_ want to hear about the student loan repayment terms if you lose eligibility for your scholarship).
Now I can fully realize my Jedi fantasy. Radiant damage Pact blade = lightsaber and GOO = the force. Uses Suggestion on guards, "These are not the gnomes you're looking for."
New campaign: Employment at Walmart New subclasses Artificer: Automotive Bard: College of Door Greeting Barbarian: Path of Maintenance Cleric: Corporate Domain Druid: Circle of the Deli/Bakery Fighter: Front End Cashier Mage: School of Electronics Monk: Warrior [Way] of Customer Service Paladin: Oath of Asset Protection Ranger: Grocery Stocker Rogue: Cart Pusher Warlock: Human Resources
Agent: Your application to the 'entry level' warlock empowerment agency has been declined. Reason: "insufficient experience in relevant fields" Only those with at least 2 levels of experience will be considered for pacting. Applicant: So how do I get 2 levels worth of experience? Agent: Please see entry level pacting.
If you want a reach weapon with pact of the blade warlock without having to worry about the requirements for heavy weapons, I can think of a very thematic option: an Archfey Warlock that makes a pact with a Dullahan and uses a whip, as, in Irish Mythology, the main weapon of a Dullahan was a whip made from a spine.
Awesome! I always imagine d&d fey as the Sidhe or Tuatha Dé Danann, especially like the ones seen in the Fionn Mac Cumhaill tales from Irish folklore. (I think the group of tales is called the Fennian Cycle)
@@Silverythoughts You're welcome. One thing I should say: although I think that a Dullahan should be classified as a fey, in D&D, the Dullahan is classified as an undead, so definitely talk to your DM about it first if you decide to use this idea.
One underrated change is that "one with shadows" invocation doesn't have any limitations on your invisibility anymore. You can just find an area of dim light or darkness and cast it and then move around wherever you want. Also the buff to the jump spell makes otherworldly leap really good.
That was the one where you couldn’t move a muscle without breaking the invisibility, right? I always ignored that restriction anyway because it was absolutely stupid.
@@waitthatsillegal.7552 There is no limit in direction, you can jump 30 feet in any direction by expending 10 feet of movement. So yeah it offers great mobility. Especially with how they dropped concentration on it and its a bonus action.
i like the idea of getting subclass at level 3 being explained as "well you have your starter pacts that are easier to back out of but once you're fully in you're in"
I play a Genie 'Lock, and I read somewhere (probably in Al-Qadim sourcebooks) that a Genie's bottle has two windows on the inside: one showing the bottle's physical location on the Prime Material Plane, the other showing the Genie's home plane. Using this idea, my 'Lock had a chance to talk to (or at least leave a message for) her Djinn Patron (who was also her great x10 grandfather) whenever she entered the bottle (or iron flask in her case, another thing I read about Genies) He only ever had one Order for her: Don't be boring
I do like the idea of a someone beseeching otherworldly powers for the strength to right a wrong or avenge their loved ones, being given arcane arts to fulfill that request, and only realizing too late the true source of their power when their patron reveals themself. The weight of "consequences delayed" is narratively intriguing to me.
I think my issue with it is the basic fact that we're having to *re*contextualize, justify, and narratively support it in every single discussion we have about it. We are able to do those things and were able to make those calls ten years ago. This now forces us to do that and chopping away "just running it".
@@jettisonantics I suspect it will be common (and more a "DM call" than strictly speaking a house rule, since it's about what mechanics are available rather than how they work) for the patron to be chosen at the first warlock level but only have the subclass-specific abilities come into play at level 3 -- so lack of subclass for levels 1-2 isn't that they're not getting powers from a specific patron, it's just that they're learning how to warlock before they specialize. Of course, a character not knowing what entity granted their powers is another option...the same mechanics can apply in either narrative situation, which is a bit of flexibility I appreciate.
After seeing all the changes, I’m 100% playing an Archfey Warlock for my first 5.24e character. I’m definitely going for that swashbuckling, Nightcrawler archetype.
honestly, first place my mind went was a post someone made about Bugs Bunny being a arch-fey like figure, so now i want to play a Harengon new-Archfey warlock and flavor all the teleports as creating/jumping into/jumping out of rabbit holes all over the battlefield.
So a thought on no subclass until 3rd is that the patron is still "tempting" the player with gifts and boons (especially the fiend patron) until they "seal the deal" at third level. Opening up a world of options for when the patron's "real" face or agenda is revealed and now the player is "trapped" in the deal etc. A lot of roleplaying options and story hooks can be made.
Yes, exactly my thought ! Or the potential candidate still has to prove it´s worth to the patron. Either way, those who fail to make it lose their newfound powers (or their life, dying disqualifies, obviously). Might make for an interesting narrative, especially if he final ritual to seal the pact is properly played out. Maybe even including a dungeon dive or a scary trip to the plane of that patron ? That´d likely be very entertaining !
@@murphieslaw6932 Yes! The narrative hooks are virtually endless. I also have a story in my head of someone taking 2 levels into warlock grabbing agonizing blast + repelling blast and then multiclassing out and during their adventure their prospective patron (or Patron's they could be fighting over them) keeps trying to get them to pick their next level in Warlock and seal the deal and offers some help here and there to lure them in, but the player always dips out at the last moment and takes levels in another class, until the patron gets fed up and gives them a final ultimatum potentially becoming a mid boss, a new BBEG, the BBEG's patron or even the DLC hidden boss after the BBEG. Just so many fun ideas!
One thing that I’m excited about is that all the Invocations that used to buff Eldritch Blast specifically can now apply to any 1 other cantrip that you choose. This just feels like it has SO MANY more flavorful options.
The thought of a warlock with vine whip and the invocation that pushes with eldritch blast, using them together to pull an enemy closer and then push them away, turning them into a spinning top, really makes me laugh. 😄😀
@@queenannsrevenge100 and then stack that on top of spike growth… That specific spell is probably why the prerequisite is “a Warlock cantrip that deals damage”. Since Vinewip isn’t a Warlock cantrip it probably doesn’t qualify. Edit: Just saw the new Pact of the Tome and you can take Vine Whip and it is a Warlock Cantrip for you so yeah, long live the cheese grater! lol
GOO Warlock adding Agonizing Blast to Mind Sliver. Mind Sliver is an Enchantment Cantrip which means no components, so you can just look at someone and deal 1d6+CHA damage and they'll have NO idea where it came from.
Really fun that we can take any combination of Pact of the Tome, Blade and Chains we want. I doubt I'd ever take all 3 but could definitely see myself taking 2 of them. Only complaint there is that Pact of the Blade gets 4 invocations that improve it but Chains and Tome only get 1 each. Wish they had some more love.
I think I'd lean towards allowing whatever additional Tome and Chain invocations got added in books like Tasha's and Xanathar's. The Tome ones in particular are really cool and flavorful but not game breaking per say.
I'm planning a Tome + Chain! Pact of Blade is cool, but it's a whole specific build that you must get a bunch of specific invocations to be tank enough
@@jackhilton4285wizards have been soft nerfed. It's ridiculous that sorcerers get a ton more spells than wizards, and bards get tons more choice. Just bad balance
@@Miggy19779 they already weren't the tip spell casters in 5e despite their varieties and tons of spells but now they really going downfall to be among the least favorite
DM: This is Pact of the Blade Celestial Warlock. He's a holy melee fighter, wielding weapons and magic fueled by his Charisma. He has an expanded spell list based on his subclass, can spend spell slots to imbue his strikes with extra magical damage, and can use his bonus action to heal allies using a pool of health based on his Warlock level. Paladin: Are you having a laugh? He does exactly what I do. Warlock (with a 1 level Paladin dip): But better.
@@lemondruid2783 Celestial Warlocks gain Healing Light when they take the subclass, which grants a number of d6s equal to 1+Warlock level that they can use as a bonus action to heal creatures. It's less healing on average than a Paladin's Lay on Hands, but with one significant change. Paladins have to touch their target to use Lay on Hands, while Celestial Warlocks' Healing Light has a 60 foot range.
With pact of the blade, you can only *summon* a melee weapon but if you're making an existing magic weapon your pact weapon it can be anything, so you could have a pact +1 longbow.
Using pact of the tome, you can pick up Starry Wisp for a radiant attack cantrip. Add agonizing blast for +2x charisma for a big radiant smack from the Celestial
That interpretation of the "pactless" warlck levels is close to my own take. I also think it's good for playing the "mysterious powers" trope where the warlock doesn't have a single clue why they suddenly have powers. It's good for creating warlocks whose origins are based on presworn bloodlines, cursed items, signing half-read contracts, plot convenient amnesia, plot inconvenient amnesia, surprise cthulus, forbidden pyramid schemes, REALLY bad lawyers, and all manner of fey shenanigans.
Kelly was joking but the idea of asking your patron about what guys they like could be part of an interesting character. A Fey Patron Warlock whose Patron is essentially a glorified shipper. Now your purpose is not to fulfill some malevolent grand plan your patron has but just play match maker. It’s really goofy but sounds really fun. You could even have an end goal of finding your patron their one true love. I love that so much
Celestial patron. They're Aphrodite, you're their Cupid.
2 месяца назад+10
A problem with Warlock that they had said at the beginning of all this they were trying to fix is that so many builds were coming to Warlock, especially Hexblade, for a one or two level dip, and there wasn’t much incentive to play it as a straight class, but with the Pact of the Blade I think they’ve made this worse. You still get the ability to use Cha for your attack and damage rolls with a 1 level dip, but if you go straight class you don’t really have many good ways to get a decent AC without multiclassing. You can take Armor of Shadows or Magic Initiate: Wizard (which doesn’t have a background that boosts Cha, so you have to get it another way) to get mage armor, or you can take two separate feats to get shield and medium armor proficiency, neither or which boost your Cha. If you go with Mage Armor and start with a 16 Dex, you can get up to 16 AC, which is pretty mediocre to take into melee, and despite needing to invest multiple invocation picks to get there, you still struggle to just keep up with Eldritch Blast. I actually like that the weapon feats don’t work as well with the Pact of the Blade, you should have to give something up to be an effective gish, and straight class martials should perform better, and I don’t think they are *that* far from something that will really work, they just need a little bit of help defensively, and maybe the ability to do the Bladesinger/Eldritch Knight/Valor Bard thing where they can replace one of their attacks with a Cantrip. A Valor Bard that takes a one or two level Pact of the Blade dip to use Cha for their attacks and boost True Strike with Agonizing Blast does everything the Pact of the Blade wants to but better.
I agree - the trouble is that now, almost every paladin and any bard Gish wants a warlock dip for that charisma weapon usage. It’s a real big ear if mine - almost every downside raised in this video about trying to heavy weapon with charisma? Fixed with paladin!
2 месяца назад+2
@@jeffchong3901I think the Paladin/Pact of the Blade multiclass has actually been nerfed a little bit by the way weapon feats work now. You can still dip Warlock to get Cha to attack and damage rolls, but you don’t really become SAD, because your feats will be increasing your strength instead of your primary attribute. Building a straight class Paladin that uses Strength (or Dex) as the primary attribute has actually been pretty meaningfully boosted. I think the real gish build is the Valor Bard/Pact of the Blade multiclass. At level 7 and on using a 5/2 split you can use True Strike, boosted by Agonizing Blast, to add a d6 + Charisma modifier twice to damage on your first attack, and then make a second attack. As an added bonus you are full caster, and not a half caster like the Paladin.
Or…you can just play as a spellcaster…like it’s supposed to be? Listen man, I’m in it for the teleporting shenanigans and the ability to have a sword and a fairy.
3:40 Yes!!!! Someone gets it! It’s so easy! It applies with all the other previously 1st level subclass classes. You don’t get specific abilities until you’re stronger. Or you can role play is however other way you like.
I always referenced the 2014 Paladin where the PHB outright says "you don't get your oath until level 3....but you should pretty much already know which one you're taking until then"
@@ryanschramm8147Also like... things need to be gamified. There will Always be some semblance of seperation between gameplay and narrative. Which is why Warlocks strike a bargain with an entity that they "choose". In reality, you often really wouldn't have the choice, let alone see all the options layed out before you. But it's made this way to help you build your character and to understand the purpose of the mechanics. It doesn't make narrative sense, but it has a purpose.
Tomb also adds spells to your “warlock spell list” this also allows you to pick those same cantrips from any class list as your Agonazing blast or Eldritch spear options, like acid splash that add you charisma is pretty neat
@@prasiolite besides certain "evil" clerics, and maybe 1 weird druid, no one. Hex, Bestow Curse, and at least *one* more curse-y spell should be Warlock only.
Had they just given warlocks like 1 or 2 more spell slots this change would've been perfect. Also why in the world did they not give divine smite the same wording as they gave eldrich smite??? Such a bizzare change
@@CecilQuetzalcoatl So right now it's a spell slot at 1,2, and 11. I think a better one would be 1,2,5,9, and 11. If you only wanted to add one spell slot I would keep the lvl 5 and move the 11 to the 9.
Warlocks were given gifts from an unknown patron. Clerics, an ability to channel divinity from an unknown diety. Sorcerers, wellspring of your gift from an unknown origin. It gives the players & DM, if any, a mysterious component. From a design point, it tackled both a single level dip builds & roleplay.
I think an Archfey Warlock might have some of the best potential for a Bladelock. You can Misty Step without a Spell Slot, then immediately smite them with an Eldritch Smite.
I kind of want to see someone make a Celestial warlock themed around Joan of Arc. I know there are much better pact of the blade choices but it would be cool to see how best to tackle that Idea. Probably need at least a 1 level dip into fighter for it to work well.
To 06:00 - Well, a Javelin also counts as "Melee Weapon", is one handed and can be thrown up to 120 ft. As a Bonus Action you can summon a new Javelin. It's pretty simple to have a (somewhat) ranged pact weapon.
Now that Pact of Chain says to use Find Familiar as an Action (no need to long ritual), do you think it makes sense to ignore material components? Pact of Tome: should have an upgrade to be able to add higher level rituals! Like a level +5 invocation...why only Pact of the Blade have more upgrades?
Don't count on it. They are in love with Pact of the Blade and are rail roading it. It is now by far the best option. Playing anything else will be forcing something suboptimal.
I think I’ll be adding a couple homebrew invocations. One that grants you medium armor prof with shield prof and one that lets you have two pact weapons. Name them like “gift of the guard’s man” and “hands of the forgotten one”
the flavor of the Great Old One was what got me to try 5e in the first place. Now it has the power to match the fantasy and I will be playing it again. Archfey Bladelock also sounds super fun with the teleportation spam.
Tbh when I was playing a hexblade I talked with the DM about that exact issue @ 6:40 and they were more than happy for me to have an archfey patron (just for flavour & story) who granted me the hexblade. So actually having subclass features as well as that flavour is going to be awesome!
Always felt like the mechanics of the Archfey Warlock didn't quite lean enough into the theme, so I'm pretty excited by the changes here. It's definitely shot up my list of builds I wanna play
3:33 This just feels right as an explanation. I like the approach to patrons that they won't instantly grant you the powers that are similar to theirs but instead - test your commitment to the pact - need you to get acclimated with their form of magic (for patrons that don't know you even exist like great old one) - or want to see at least some faith in their planar beliefs (celestial)
I do love a lot of the changes to the class. Pact of the Blade giving cha usage is so welcome and, as the guys say, makes for so much more versatility. And the subclasses are rocking more than ever. But I do feel like what I absolutely wanted most has been largely ignored. Warlock is my favourite class to play, but it is such a painful class to play and build, too. Every fun flavorful option feels like a mistake, where I should be picking something else. I really want Beast Speech and Otherworldly Leap, but if I don't pick Agonising Blast and Repelling Blast, I'm doing it wrong. I've also literally never played a campaign to level 11 yet, so I've never had more than two spell slots, and it is so suffocating. I guess getting budget arcane recovery so early is nice, but I didn't find it *that* hard to get short rests anyway. Really the only feature that relieves some pain is getting more invocation slots, but since pact boons are invocations it's... only really one extra slot. I can't really complain too much. Nothing's been ruined as pretty much all the changes are strictly beneficial, and it's still my favourite class! Just a tiny bit disappointed that the most frustrating things didn't get addressed enough/at all.
To note, if you're allowing 5.0 books at the table, you can sorts double dip with a pack of the blade, hex blade warlock to duel weild if you want to. The old hex weapon can be used in conjunction with the new blade pact, so a medium armor duel weirder is still viable if 5.0 books are allowed with your 5.24 books.
I think it’s debatable whether fighter or paladin gives you a better first level dip for a blade lock. Fighter gives con saves and a fighting style, but paladin gives 2 spell slots and some very useful spells including smites. Also gift of the ever living ones isn’t in the PHB but could still be picked with backwards compatibility, casting cure wounds on yourself at 5th level with that invocation will heal 85 hp, which is more than the Heal spell!
Paladin is 100% the better dip for Celestial Warlocks. Because Divine Smite was changed into a spell, and deals Radiant Damage, the Celestial Warlock can add their Charisma modifier to the damage.
Fighter for the 1 level dip for sure. Fighting Style and Weapon Mastery are features you want the most and Fighter gives you both. The Paladin probably fares better if you take 3 levels
Yeah and it maxes the healing of your healing pool AND life drinker. Take divine favor and always proc the damage of radiant soul too. Take searing smite to proc it twice. Use summon undead and a quasit for garunteed para conditions and double smite them 😂 Celestial with a pally dip is BUSTED busted. Best blade lock overall.
@@brannenpfister2579 I don't think divine favor would proc radiant soul every time. "when you cast a spell that deals radiant or fire damage, you add your Charisma modifier to one radiant or fire damage roll of that spell against one of its targets." I think it would only work once per casting.
If you use dndbeyond, seems like spells and magic items are changed to 2024 PHB, and 5e removed. Might be faster for those, maybe in the next system maintenance? 😀 This is according to the change log.
If you want reach for your Bladelock: what is preventing you from using the whip? Sure, it's just a d4 compared to a d10, but that's only 3 DMG on average. And you have no headache with the 13 STR. You can still take the fighter dip but with DEX. And you can use the whip with a shield.
That's what I was thinking; there are even plenty of thematic reasons for going with a whip. A whip makes a ton of sense for a fiend warlock, as well as a archfey warlock that has a dullahan as their patron as, in Irish Mythology, the main weapon of a dullahan was a whip made from a spine.
@@IgnavumFortuna Thanks. I'm glad you like the idea. Go ahead; I wouldn't have suggested it if I didn't want people to "steal" it. Just tell your group that you got the idea online.
@@IgnavumFortuna The one thing I would caution is that, although I think a Dullahan should count as a fey since it comes from Irish Mythology, it is listed as an undead in D&D, so definitely talk to the DM about the idea first.
One way to look at it is level 3 is when you confirm your patron's identity. Maybe they really are an archfey like you thought, or maybe they're Cthulhu and all that green stuff was just algae.
First, I love you guys! Second, I think Monty may be a little too focused on heavy armor. Light armor and a good Dex, plus Defensive Duelist and Tough (as an invocation)... You will probably be fine.
You can easily work around levels 1 and 2. In my current game, I'm playing a fighter with a homebrew subclass offered to me by my DM. At 7, it granted me 1 cantrip, 1 1st level spell (PROF mod X per day) and Counterspell once per day. So of course I took Eldritch Blast and Dissonant Whispers! It got me interested in multiclassing into Warlock. After discussing it with my DM, that's how we flavored those new powers at the next session. My patron (a goddess whose temple I had looted an artifact from years prior) had taken an interest in watching me and basically put me on a trial basis, with me agreeing to a pact upon officially taking Warlock levels. It's been fun!
Bad armor class? Shadow of moil. Trouble hitting targets? Shadow of moil Literally anything except social encounters? Shadow of moil. Also with the warlock you never want to take great weapon master because you want to take Elven accuracy with a finesse weapon. Permanent advantage in shadow of moil with effectively triple advantage. Plus if you don't use 2 handed weapons you can use a shield, bridging the gap between a heavy armor warlock and a normal warlock. With light armor and max dexterity that's 19 armor class plus enemies have disadvantage Plus fiend gets hp on kill, so if you take fiend you can basically get hit every now and then and not even feel it. Plus using rapier and shield lets you use defensive duelist, which is a free shield spell, making your armor class upwards of 23
Level 1-2 can also be: 1. Working your way up lesser entities (think of what Supreme Dr. Strange did in What If). 2. Researching/coming across ancient knolwedge/forbidden secrets on your own, which may lead you to your patron. 3. As others have mentioned: those levels are a trial period.
I'm not sure where you're getting the fact that pact of the blade doesn't allow mastery options of the weapon, it doesn't say that in the description (9/8/25 pdf version). In additon, Heavy only states that tiny and small suffer disadvantage, with no requirement for STR 13 or higher.
For the whole heavy weapon stat thing you were trying to figure out (based on standard array: 15 Cha (+2=17 background) 12 Dex (+1=13 background) 14 Con 13 Str 10 Wis 08 Int Then when you get Great Weapon Master, you put the +1 into Strength. Get medium armor VIA the fighter dip and take the +1 Dexterity when you take polearm master and you're good to go. As for Celestial Warlock and Radiant Damage, there are a few, including the New True Strike, which is hilarious because Agonizing True Strike Greatsword/longsword beats out Agonizing EB in terms of damage even without GWM
@@wolfwood770I didn't even realize, oh that's a pain for standard array. For point buy you just dump WIS then, or just take that first level fighter/paladin
Unfortunately, the new Moderately Armored Feat does not include shield proficiency, just medium armor. I have no idea why they removed the shield proficiency.
A possible solution to the armor problem for Swordlocks: take the Magic Initiate (Wizard) feat and choose Mage Armor as your 1st level spell. You get one casting per long rest without expending a spell slot, it lasts 8 hours, doesn’t require concentration, and boosts your base AC to 13. And you get a couple of wizard cantrips in the bargain. If you’re not playing a human and the Sage background doesn’t make sense with your character concept, you can use Lessons of the First Ones to grab it at 2nd level.
One thing to note about Pact of the Blade, if you bond with a magic weapon, you can't shunt it to a pocket dimension anymore. Meaning you can't summon the weapon to you anymore.
As far as dual wielding with charisma, there are two ways you can do. It. Both require pact of the blade for one weapon. The other is to get shillelagh, from either pact of the Tome, or from magic initiate druid.
I was thinking about a double bladed scimitar, the same which could then detach, or the same joined by a chain as a work-around, since the warlock summons it/designs it? If not, your suggestion is great.
Well finally. As someone who likes playing wizards and rangers I was quite disappointed in a lot of the 2024 phb updates to some of my fav classes. However, as a warlock enjoyer I must say I am rather satisfied.
Am currently playing a Warlock (Currently 2nd) with Pact of the Tome and Magic Initiate [Wizard]. This has made me a very versatile caster, which is good as the rest of the party is 3 Tanks (Pal/Pal/Ftr) and a Half Tank (Cleric).
I can't wait to take Pact of the Pokeb... of the Chain... Chain for a drive. Seems really funny to me, how you can dish out Familiars every turn. Especially, I've been thinking about an Archfey Warlock with a Sprite, which is not only super thematic, but at lvl7 you can cast Greater Invisibility and do an Eldritch Blast +2 Shortbow attacks from the position of your tiny flying dude :D
8:38 and all the martial feats you want don't boost CHA so the synergy is off for using CHA attacks. Plus without hex blade there is no dual wielding with CHA blades
A dual wielding build works. Take the dual wielder feat in order to wield a non light weapon as well as your scimitar, make the scimitar your pact weapon, choose magic initiate (druid) as origin feat for shillelagh and pick charisma as stat and take a quarterstaff.
Can we at least not pretend it isn't annoying that we have to wait until 3rd level for our Subclass Features? Yeah I get the concept of "The True Powers don't manifest until you've grown in strength", I didn't like it with the Old Paladin either, so that idea infecting the Warlock, Sorcerer, and Cleric isn't compelling. Was this change even necessary or beneficial? Because all I see is an annoying hurdle that just gets in the way of roleplaying as the Descendant of a Dragon or a Disciple of a Great Old One.
14:00 - I feel like my Dudes are just trying a bit to minmax here and have everything - both melee prowess and full charisma casting power. And that’s just not working out. Nor should it. Let’s face it - If you want to play a melee warlock, you probably want to deal most of your damage in melee. So you really do not need that much charisma. Just treat your warlock as a paladin in terms of stats, and rely on spells that do not require high spell casting characteristics - armour of agathys, mirror image, hex, ant the like plus some eldritch smites for extra damage. Boom, you’re done.
The subclass coming in at level 3 is actually really cool thematically, because it allows for a more gradual discovery of the Warlock's powers and Patron. It gives players time to roleplay the uncertainty and mystery of their character's early connection to the arcane, making the eventual reveal of the Patron a significant milestone.
I'd go Paladin for the multiclass for armor over Fighter. Fighter gets you a lot of good things, but I think Paladin offers more. My breakdown would be 12 Warlock/8 Paladin. I'd forgo plate armor and opt for half-plate. There's only a 1 AC difference and it won't require 15 Strength, freeing up ASI/feats. With half-plate and a standard shield, that's 19 AC. Using a longsword as a Pact Weapon, you can get three attacks. You get the same proficiencies, plus Lay on Hands, Aura of Protection, Divine Smite, Blessed Strikes, 4 first level slots and 3 second level slots. Turn 1: Bonus Action cast Hex and attack three times. 1d8+5+1d6+1d8 on attack 1, then 1d8+5+1d6 on the following two. Turn 2: Three attacks. One using Eldritch Smite for 1d8+5+1d6+6d8+1d8 for an average of 42 damage. Second attack with first level Divine Smite for an average of 1d8+5+1d6+2d8 or 22 damage with advantage from being knocked prone with Eldritch Smite. Third attack would be 1d8+5+1d6 or an average of 13.
If you like story roleplaying, I can imagine a lot of fun with the contact patron. Trying to not be an evil character, but have a fiendish patron? It'll try to subtly (or maybe not so subtly) corrupt you. Great Old One? Got to try to interpret it's alien messages. In general should be a lot you can do with it.
1 lvl dip into pally - dumping dex - works wonderfully as well. No disadvantage for your greatsword, first spell slot level, divine favor, a nice little heal option, heavy armor.
Maybe a homebrew Invocation, or a feature for the Hexblade subclass, would be a form of Unarmed Defense, where you add your Charisma modifier to AC along with Dexterity, similar to the Bard's College of Dance. If you wanted it to be Hexblade, you'd probably not give other armor proficiencies; if for Invocation, def at least a lvl 3+ requirement in Warlock
I don't know how well received this idea is, but I typically have a guideline for my games about Character Levels. As a base template, I usually have characters level up after a number of sessions equal to their level, give or take a session or two based on story beats. For example, at level one, the characters typically level up after one session. Two sessions at level two, so on so forth. Like I said though, its more of a suggested pace, not a hard rule.
My first playthrough of a full campaign was a Fiend lock. LOVED him! THe Darkness/devil's sight/ was great, and I ended up goign with Tome boom that gave me rituals (very useful since I was only caster really other than a bard that didn't get ritual casting). So, I was able to cast tiny hut and stuff like that, water breathing and save my pact slots. Yeah, I wish I couldhave pact slots but being able to recover them is nice too. I also played a Arcfey lock, but covid interrupted that campaign, and we just started over later. and I wanted to play a Old one, and now even more. I think the Blade/Arcfey combo with being able to cast misty step and vamp around the field with something like a warax or hammer, (I find axes & locks are thematic?) I love that idea, and the ability on great old one to do necrotic or psychic, I want to play all these subclasses again. I was never interested in being a Celestial lock, but maybe now. I'd rather play a divine soul sorcerer to do the not comon cleric healer (though I love my druids and bards as healers). Yeah, I am glad that they are making people no just go for the heavily armor heavy weapon / weapon master warlock, felt that that is a paladin or do the paladin lock mix all the time as meta, but instead play afull lock, and concentrate on casting.
I feel like going 1 lvl in fighter then picking up a whip and medium armour with dueling and vex actually makes a pretty solid foundation for a bladelock. Then you get reach and a whip is pretty iconic if your patron is a balor or if your a goolock enslaving the minds of others.
I love the changes of the Warlock! I do agree that the Spell Slots number should scale like Proficiency bonus does. I am sad that there’s no Undead patron but I think the ones they chose are the most fitting
I played a Genie, mark of shadow elf blade warlock in Eberron. The setting has an amazing finesse, non-heavy weapon for Elves in double scimitar - since it was no hexblade, the attack bonus was based on dex, and the character was dex-focused in general. Still, double scimitar essentialy enables the extra attacks, bladebearer of the valenar was a very good half-feat that also helped with AC, and Mark of Shadow with Orphan background made him quite a good rogue equivalent as well. I feel like such a build would be significantly improved now with the new pact of the blade.
Could also play it out that until the third level subclass this is the time where the patron is introducing themselves and their "benefits" to the would be warlock. And third level being the actual "signing of the contract" when they officially become your patron. Whether you play it as a trap being sprung or the consummation of their burgeoning relationship.
Agreed! Making a pact with any powerful Chromatic, Gem and Metallic dragons. All each with the 5 well known varities + whatever lesser known types. Linking that with which dragon you pact with AND combine it with a dragonborn.. well! If you have the new Tales of the Valiant 5e compatible book, it have purple Void dragons. You can fine tune a purple dragonborn with that, also yellow dragons are in that book. They breathe radiant light like the gem crystal dragons! So thats easy to have a yellow dragonborn made for. Brown sand dragons have split dmg with piercing+fire which translates easy to a brown dragonborn. It can be found in Tomes of Beasts 3. Lastly the orangish wasteland dragon with a warping/ desseciating breath again can translate that breath weapon too into the new PHB24 dragonborn breath weapon attack. Regarding say the brown dragonborn, it can have resistance to both fire and piercing dmg. Shouldnt be OP as someone loves to " argue " about
I feel like levels 1&2 are easy to explain away, for example being someone *searching* for magic and power, gaining it in different ways until you actually can get a patron. An acolyte reading and researching forbidden magics A young farmer finding his grandmother's "journals" A princess trying to discover the magic and powers of those who had locked her away, to find an escape. A thief who has become taken with the book he stole. They don't have a patron, but they do learn the magic. For now.
My favorite class! I like that bladelock is a lot more sense now even with some stipulations. But personally for me being a tomelock with an imp familar is perfect and have no limits
Excited for the goolock. However, doing one level of fighter, will make you want another level of fighter for action surge. But what if you go 3 levels sorcerer, draconic - for the dex+cha AC? Too much of a sacrifice?
I really love Bladelock for all of the damage types, and summoning it as a bonus action is pretty cool. But another thing of note is Armor of Agathys is also a bonus action. For Bladelocks this feels a little clunky, especially for a FeyLock, but generally this is great. Im super going Goolock because i love the thematics of all my damage being psychic.
Levels 1-2 are the trial subscription period. When you make it to level 3, the trial period is over and the subscription term is life.
And your patron quietly increases the monthly price while removing features from lower tiers. But what are you going to do? NOT bingecast Eldritch Blast?
Levels 1-2 are warlock general ed before you start taking classes for your major -- but some warlocks' scholarships require a certain major even if they start out taking Eldritch Blast 101 along with everyone else (and you do _not_ want to hear about the student loan repayment terms if you lose eligibility for your scholarship).
You are an intern
Now I want to make a Devil patron where every ability is referred to as a pre-order, paywall, or DLC. 🤣
Now I'm wondering about the flavor of someone stopping at level 2 and then going the rest of their levels into another class.
Now I can fully realize my Jedi fantasy. Radiant damage Pact blade = lightsaber and GOO = the force. Uses Suggestion on guards, "These are not the gnomes you're looking for."
try the Edge / FFG RPG for star wars, its fantastic.
Since you're going there, do consider the revised Witch Bolt. Courtesy of the dark side!
"How do you get your powers?"
Your boss doesn't recognize you until you have a few years of XP
Sorry peon. Until you are more powerful you are not worth my infinitely more important time.
Excuse me, I’m here for fantasy escapism thank you very much
@@AndrewThoesen
And I would like a promotion. It's been 10 years tho and my boss still doesn't know who I am xD
New campaign: Employment at Walmart
New subclasses
Artificer: Automotive
Bard: College of Door Greeting
Barbarian: Path of Maintenance
Cleric: Corporate Domain
Druid: Circle of the Deli/Bakery
Fighter: Front End Cashier
Mage: School of Electronics
Monk: Warrior [Way] of Customer Service
Paladin: Oath of Asset Protection
Ranger: Grocery Stocker
Rogue: Cart Pusher
Warlock: Human Resources
Agent: Your application to the 'entry level' warlock empowerment agency has been declined. Reason: "insufficient experience in relevant fields" Only those with at least 2 levels of experience will be considered for pacting.
Applicant: So how do I get 2 levels worth of experience?
Agent: Please see entry level pacting.
If you want a reach weapon with pact of the blade warlock without having to worry about the requirements for heavy weapons, I can think of a very thematic option: an Archfey Warlock that makes a pact with a Dullahan and uses a whip, as, in Irish Mythology, the main weapon of a Dullahan was a whip made from a spine.
Thank you for this!
Awesome! I always imagine d&d fey as the Sidhe or Tuatha Dé Danann, especially like the ones seen in the Fionn Mac Cumhaill tales from Irish folklore. (I think the group of tales is called the Fennian Cycle)
Fiend warlock using a whip and now your just ghost rider
Go 5 levles paladin as well to have your ghostly steed
@@Silverythoughts You're welcome. One thing I should say: although I think that a Dullahan should be classified as a fey, in D&D, the Dullahan is classified as an undead, so definitely talk to your DM about it first if you decide to use this idea.
One underrated change is that "one with shadows" invocation doesn't have any limitations on your invisibility anymore. You can just find an area of dim light or darkness and cast it and then move around wherever you want.
Also the buff to the jump spell makes otherworldly leap really good.
That was the one where you couldn’t move a muscle without breaking the invisibility, right? I always ignored that restriction anyway because it was absolutely stupid.
Using the new jump spell, can you only long jump up to 30 feet or high jump 30 feet as well? Because high jumps would lead to great mobility.
@@waitthatsillegal.7552 There is no limit in direction, you can jump 30 feet in any direction by expending 10 feet of movement. So yeah it offers great mobility. Especially with how they dropped concentration on it and its a bonus action.
i like the idea of getting subclass at level 3 being explained as "well you have your starter pacts that are easier to back out of but once you're fully in you're in"
10:45 warlock to patron: "Brad is being a total buzzkill yoday-"
Patron: "YOU CALLED ME FOR THIS?!?"
That's if it's a Celestial.
Fiend Patron: how terrible. We should make them suffer
Archfey: omg give me that tea
Great old one: *squid noises*
I play a Genie 'Lock, and I read somewhere (probably in Al-Qadim sourcebooks) that a Genie's bottle has two windows on the inside: one showing the bottle's physical location on the Prime Material Plane, the other showing the Genie's home plane. Using this idea, my 'Lock had a chance to talk to (or at least leave a message for) her Djinn Patron (who was also her great x10 grandfather) whenever she entered the bottle (or iron flask in her case, another thing I read about Genies)
He only ever had one Order for her: Don't be boring
This gives me very Jester & the Traveler vibes. 😂
"You pooping?"
I do like the idea of a someone beseeching otherworldly powers for the strength to right a wrong or avenge their loved ones, being given arcane arts to fulfill that request, and only realizing too late the true source of their power when their patron reveals themself. The weight of "consequences delayed" is narratively intriguing to me.
Right not write
I don't love getting your warlock's subclass at lvl 3 narratively, but I think this is a great way to recontextualize it.
Alternative: you are an “Oath of Revenge” character, and though you know the true nature of your patron, you don’t care.
I think my issue with it is the basic fact that we're having to *re*contextualize, justify, and narratively support it in every single discussion we have about it.
We are able to do those things and were able to make those calls ten years ago. This now forces us to do that and chopping away "just running it".
@@jettisonantics I suspect it will be common (and more a "DM call" than strictly speaking a house rule, since it's about what mechanics are available rather than how they work) for the patron to be chosen at the first warlock level but only have the subclass-specific abilities come into play at level 3 -- so lack of subclass for levels 1-2 isn't that they're not getting powers from a specific patron, it's just that they're learning how to warlock before they specialize. Of course, a character not knowing what entity granted their powers is another option...the same mechanics can apply in either narrative situation, which is a bit of flexibility I appreciate.
Shadar Kai / Arch Fey Warlock: How much would you like to teleport? Yes.
Add pact of the blade and you've got yourself a Nightcrawler
Flavor it like Noctis
World Tree Barbarian too.
Nightcrawler eat your heart out, haha.
Space is just, like, a _concept_ dude...
I currently have a shadar-kai hexblade in a campaign that's on hiatus, and I am very tempted to rebuild them as fey patron if my DM allows it. 😄
After seeing all the changes, I’m 100% playing an Archfey Warlock for my first 5.24e character.
I’m definitely going for that swashbuckling, Nightcrawler archetype.
honestly, first place my mind went was a post someone made about Bugs Bunny being a arch-fey like figure, so now i want to play a Harengon new-Archfey warlock and flavor all the teleports as creating/jumping into/jumping out of rabbit holes all over the battlefield.
Add three levels of Swasbuckler Rogue to get that CHA boost to initiative
Why .24? Why not .5?
@@davea6314 because it's released in 2024 and WotC refers to it as the 2024 update.
@@davea6314 IDK. It’s just what I’ve seen the most people refer to it as, like Treeant Monk and D4: Deep Dive
So a thought on no subclass until 3rd is that the patron is still "tempting" the player with gifts and boons (especially the fiend patron) until they "seal the deal" at third level. Opening up a world of options for when the patron's "real" face or agenda is revealed and now the player is "trapped" in the deal etc. A lot of roleplaying options and story hooks can be made.
Yes, exactly my thought ! Or the potential candidate still has to prove it´s worth to the patron.
Either way, those who fail to make it lose their newfound powers (or their life, dying disqualifies, obviously).
Might make for an interesting narrative, especially if he final ritual to seal the pact is properly played out.
Maybe even including a dungeon dive or a scary trip to the plane of that patron ? That´d likely be very entertaining !
@@murphieslaw6932 Yes! The narrative hooks are virtually endless. I also have a story in my head of someone taking 2 levels into warlock grabbing agonizing blast + repelling blast and then multiclassing out and during their adventure their prospective patron (or Patron's they could be fighting over them) keeps trying to get them to pick their next level in Warlock and seal the deal and offers some help here and there to lure them in, but the player always dips out at the last moment and takes levels in another class, until the patron gets fed up and gives them a final ultimatum potentially becoming a mid boss, a new BBEG, the BBEG's patron or even the DLC hidden boss after the BBEG. Just so many fun ideas!
One thing that I’m excited about is that all the Invocations that used to buff Eldritch Blast specifically can now apply to any 1 other cantrip that you choose. This just feels like it has SO MANY more flavorful options.
The thought of a warlock with vine whip and the invocation that pushes with eldritch blast, using them together to pull an enemy closer and then push them away, turning them into a spinning top, really makes me laugh. 😄😀
@@queenannsrevenge100 and then stack that on top of spike growth…
That specific spell is probably why the prerequisite is “a Warlock cantrip that deals damage”. Since Vinewip isn’t a Warlock cantrip it probably doesn’t qualify.
Edit: Just saw the new Pact of the Tome and you can take Vine Whip and it is a Warlock Cantrip for you so yeah, long live the cheese grater! lol
GOO Warlock adding Agonizing Blast to Mind Sliver. Mind Sliver is an Enchantment Cantrip which means no components, so you can just look at someone and deal 1d6+CHA damage and they'll have NO idea where it came from.
Really fun that we can take any combination of Pact of the Tome, Blade and Chains we want. I doubt I'd ever take all 3 but could definitely see myself taking 2 of them. Only complaint there is that Pact of the Blade gets 4 invocations that improve it but Chains and Tome only get 1 each. Wish they had some more love.
I think I'd lean towards allowing whatever additional Tome and Chain invocations got added in books like Tasha's and Xanathar's. The Tome ones in particular are really cool and flavorful but not game breaking per say.
I'm planning a Tome + Chain! Pact of Blade is cool, but it's a whole specific build that you must get a bunch of specific invocations to be tank enough
Tome has been hard nerf. And the reason is wotc thought nobody should be like wizard except wizards themselves
@@jackhilton4285wizards have been soft nerfed. It's ridiculous that sorcerers get a ton more spells than wizards, and bards get tons more choice. Just bad balance
@@Miggy19779 they already weren't the tip spell casters in 5e despite their varieties and tons of spells but now they really going downfall to be among the least favorite
DM: This is Pact of the Blade Celestial Warlock. He's a holy melee fighter, wielding weapons and magic fueled by his Charisma. He has an expanded spell list based on his subclass, can spend spell slots to imbue his strikes with extra magical damage, and can use his bonus action to heal allies using a pool of health based on his Warlock level.
Paladin: Are you having a laugh? He does exactly what I do.
Warlock (with a 1 level Paladin dip): But better.
Wait what lay on hands is there?
@@lemondruid2783 Celestial Warlocks gain Healing Light when they take the subclass, which grants a number of d6s equal to 1+Warlock level that they can use as a bonus action to heal creatures. It's less healing on average than a Paladin's Lay on Hands, but with one significant change. Paladins have to touch their target to use Lay on Hands, while Celestial Warlocks' Healing Light has a 60 foot range.
I like that there are options though
Play an Aasimar for the cherry on top
@@CivilWarMan Most paladins only use lay on hands on themselves anyways.
That little bit at the end about Warlock/Paladin allowing you to stack Divine/Eldritch Smite
Witch Knight still strong!
With pact of the blade, you can only *summon* a melee weapon but if you're making an existing magic weapon your pact weapon it can be anything, so you could have a pact +1 longbow.
Using pact of the tome, you can pick up Starry Wisp for a radiant attack cantrip. Add agonizing blast for +2x charisma for a big radiant smack from the Celestial
That interpretation of the "pactless" warlck levels is close to my own take. I also think it's good for playing the "mysterious powers" trope where the warlock doesn't have a single clue why they suddenly have powers.
It's good for creating warlocks whose origins are based on presworn bloodlines, cursed items, signing half-read contracts, plot convenient amnesia, plot inconvenient amnesia, surprise cthulus, forbidden pyramid schemes, REALLY bad lawyers, and all manner of fey shenanigans.
Kelly was joking but the idea of asking your patron about what guys they like could be part of an interesting character. A Fey Patron Warlock whose Patron is essentially a glorified shipper. Now your purpose is not to fulfill some malevolent grand plan your patron has but just play match maker. It’s really goofy but sounds really fun. You could even have an end goal of finding your patron their one true love. I love that so much
Celestial patron. They're Aphrodite, you're their Cupid.
A problem with Warlock that they had said at the beginning of all this they were trying to fix is that so many builds were coming to Warlock, especially Hexblade, for a one or two level dip, and there wasn’t much incentive to play it as a straight class, but with the Pact of the Blade I think they’ve made this worse. You still get the ability to use Cha for your attack and damage rolls with a 1 level dip, but if you go straight class you don’t really have many good ways to get a decent AC without multiclassing.
You can take Armor of Shadows or Magic Initiate: Wizard (which doesn’t have a background that boosts Cha, so you have to get it another way) to get mage armor, or you can take two separate feats to get shield and medium armor proficiency, neither or which boost your Cha.
If you go with Mage Armor and start with a 16 Dex, you can get up to 16 AC, which is pretty mediocre to take into melee, and despite needing to invest multiple invocation picks to get there, you still struggle to just keep up with Eldritch Blast.
I actually like that the weapon feats don’t work as well with the Pact of the Blade, you should have to give something up to be an effective gish, and straight class martials should perform better, and I don’t think they are *that* far from something that will really work, they just need a little bit of help defensively, and maybe the ability to do the Bladesinger/Eldritch Knight/Valor Bard thing where they can replace one of their attacks with a Cantrip.
A Valor Bard that takes a one or two level Pact of the Blade dip to use Cha for their attacks and boost True Strike with Agonizing Blast does everything the Pact of the Blade wants to but better.
I agree - the trouble is that now, almost every paladin and any bard Gish wants a warlock dip for that charisma weapon usage. It’s a real big ear if mine - almost every downside raised in this video about trying to heavy weapon with charisma? Fixed with paladin!
@@jeffchong3901I think the Paladin/Pact of the Blade multiclass has actually been nerfed a little bit by the way weapon feats work now. You can still dip Warlock to get Cha to attack and damage rolls, but you don’t really become SAD, because your feats will be increasing your strength instead of your primary attribute. Building a straight class Paladin that uses Strength (or Dex) as the primary attribute has actually been pretty meaningfully boosted.
I think the real gish build is the Valor Bard/Pact of the Blade multiclass. At level 7 and on using a 5/2 split you can use True Strike, boosted by Agonizing Blast, to add a d6 + Charisma modifier twice to damage on your first attack, and then make a second attack. As an added bonus you are full caster, and not a half caster like the Paladin.
Or…you can just play as a spellcaster…like it’s supposed to be? Listen man, I’m in it for the teleporting shenanigans and the ability to have a sword and a fairy.
3:40 Yes!!!! Someone gets it! It’s so easy! It applies with all the other previously 1st level subclass classes. You don’t get specific abilities until you’re stronger. Or you can role play is however other way you like.
I always referenced the 2014 Paladin where the PHB outright says "you don't get your oath until level 3....but you should pretty much already know which one you're taking until then"
@@ryanschramm8147Also like... things need to be gamified. There will Always be some semblance of seperation between gameplay and narrative.
Which is why Warlocks strike a bargain with an entity that they "choose". In reality, you often really wouldn't have the choice, let alone see all the options layed out before you. But it's made this way to help you build your character and to understand the purpose of the mechanics. It doesn't make narrative sense, but it has a purpose.
Exactly, you get the basic Warlock powers when you first make the deal but until you prove yourself in your devotion
Warlock patrons in 2024: The first two hits are free
Tomb also adds spells to your “warlock spell list” this also allows you to pick those same cantrips from any class list as your Agonazing blast or Eldritch spear options, like acid splash that add you charisma is pretty neat
I'm telling you now I'm putting bestow curse on the warlock spell list
It just FEELS like such a Warlock spell, I mean c'mon. What other class would you imagine cursing people?
@@prasiolite besides certain "evil" clerics, and maybe 1 weird druid, no one. Hex, Bestow Curse, and at least *one* more curse-y spell should be Warlock only.
@@prasioliteRanger. "$&#^ YOU! #*%^ YOU! $*%& YOU! WHY IS MY REDESIGN SO AWFUL?!"
@@ahorseofcourse7283 ....that's 100% valid.
Had they just given warlocks like 1 or 2 more spell slots this change would've been perfect.
Also why in the world did they not give divine smite the same wording as they gave eldrich smite??? Such a bizzare change
Divinity doesn't do contracts? Just a guess.
@@justsomeguy9555 If contracts can remove the spell and bonus action requirment maybe the divine should.
@@Top_Knite the divine dont want to be associated with lawyers and that negative connotation
What would a better spell slot progression for warlocks look like
@@CecilQuetzalcoatl So right now it's a spell slot at 1,2, and 11. I think a better one would be 1,2,5,9, and 11. If you only wanted to add one spell slot I would keep the lvl 5 and move the 11 to the 9.
For the level 1 and 2, there's also the thought of "I'll give you a hint of power, but you're not getting *my* power until I acknowledge you."
Warlocks were given gifts from an unknown patron.
Clerics, an ability to channel divinity from an unknown diety.
Sorcerers, wellspring of your gift from an unknown origin.
It gives the players & DM, if any, a mysterious component. From a design point, it tackled both a single level dip builds & roleplay.
I think an Archfey Warlock might have some of the best potential for a Bladelock. You can Misty Step without a Spell Slot, then immediately smite them with an Eldritch Smite.
Add in boon of Dimensional Travel and it gets bonkers. Tp in, swipe a bunch, tp out. Winning
I kind of want to see someone make a Celestial warlock themed around Joan of Arc. I know there are much better pact of the blade choices but it would be cool to see how best to tackle that Idea. Probably need at least a 1 level dip into fighter for it to work well.
To 06:00 - Well, a Javelin also counts as "Melee Weapon", is one handed and can be thrown up to 120 ft. As a Bonus Action you can summon a new Javelin. It's pretty simple to have a (somewhat) ranged pact weapon.
Now that Pact of Chain says to use Find Familiar as an Action (no need to long ritual), do you think it makes sense to ignore material components?
Pact of Tome: should have an upgrade to be able to add higher level rituals! Like a level +5 invocation...why only Pact of the Blade have more upgrades?
Agreed. I’m sure they’ll add them!
Don't count on it. They are in love with Pact of the Blade and are rail roading it. It is now by far the best option. Playing anything else will be forcing something suboptimal.
I think I’ll be adding a couple homebrew invocations. One that grants you medium armor prof with shield prof and one that lets you have two pact weapons. Name them like “gift of the guard’s man” and “hands of the forgotten one”
the flavor of the Great Old One was what got me to try 5e in the first place. Now it has the power to match the fantasy and I will be playing it again.
Archfey Bladelock also sounds super fun with the teleportation spam.
Archfey and Great Old One are definitely the best ones I've seen. They're super fun.
Tbh when I was playing a hexblade I talked with the DM about that exact issue @ 6:40 and they were more than happy for me to have an archfey patron (just for flavour & story) who granted me the hexblade. So actually having subclass features as well as that flavour is going to be awesome!
Always felt like the mechanics of the Archfey Warlock didn't quite lean enough into the theme, so I'm pretty excited by the changes here. It's definitely shot up my list of builds I wanna play
5/5 for videos on my birthday week. Feasting on content, thank you both!
3:33 This just feels right as an explanation.
I like the approach to patrons that they won't instantly grant you the powers that are similar to theirs but instead
- test your commitment to the pact
- need you to get acclimated with their form of magic (for patrons that don't know you even exist like great old one)
- or want to see at least some faith in their planar beliefs (celestial)
I do love a lot of the changes to the class. Pact of the Blade giving cha usage is so welcome and, as the guys say, makes for so much more versatility. And the subclasses are rocking more than ever.
But I do feel like what I absolutely wanted most has been largely ignored. Warlock is my favourite class to play, but it is such a painful class to play and build, too. Every fun flavorful option feels like a mistake, where I should be picking something else. I really want Beast Speech and Otherworldly Leap, but if I don't pick Agonising Blast and Repelling Blast, I'm doing it wrong. I've also literally never played a campaign to level 11 yet, so I've never had more than two spell slots, and it is so suffocating. I guess getting budget arcane recovery so early is nice, but I didn't find it *that* hard to get short rests anyway. Really the only feature that relieves some pain is getting more invocation slots, but since pact boons are invocations it's... only really one extra slot.
I can't really complain too much. Nothing's been ruined as pretty much all the changes are strictly beneficial, and it's still my favourite class! Just a tiny bit disappointed that the most frustrating things didn't get addressed enough/at all.
To note, if you're allowing 5.0 books at the table, you can sorts double dip with a pack of the blade, hex blade warlock to duel weild if you want to. The old hex weapon can be used in conjunction with the new blade pact, so a medium armor duel weirder is still viable if 5.0 books are allowed with your 5.24 books.
Seems like all the tradeoffs for a slightly better heavy weapon isn’t worth it imo. Just use something else and call it a day.
Keep in mind you also need 13 strength for GWM
Remember, you can use an Invocation for Tough, so you don't have to keep your Constitution that high (minus having low Concentration saves).
You can also get eldricth mind for advantage on con save
been waiting for this one 🙏🙏
5:37 Same Kelly! That’s the exact one I’d want to do too!
I think it’s debatable whether fighter or paladin gives you a better first level dip for a blade lock. Fighter gives con saves and a fighting style, but paladin gives 2 spell slots and some very useful spells including smites.
Also gift of the ever living ones isn’t in the PHB but could still be picked with backwards compatibility, casting cure wounds on yourself at 5th level with that invocation will heal 85 hp, which is more than the Heal spell!
Paladin is 100% the better dip for Celestial Warlocks. Because Divine Smite was changed into a spell, and deals Radiant Damage, the Celestial Warlock can add their Charisma modifier to the damage.
@@CivilWarManPact of the Blade celestial warlock was never something I considered xD but with a little bit of paladin it could be fun
Fighter for the 1 level dip for sure. Fighting Style and Weapon Mastery are features you want the most and Fighter gives you both. The Paladin probably fares better if you take 3 levels
Yeah and it maxes the healing of your healing pool AND life drinker.
Take divine favor and always proc the damage of radiant soul too.
Take searing smite to proc it twice.
Use summon undead and a quasit for garunteed para conditions and double smite them 😂
Celestial with a pally dip is BUSTED busted. Best blade lock overall.
@@brannenpfister2579 I don't think divine favor would proc radiant soul every time.
"when you cast a spell that deals radiant or fire damage, you add your Charisma modifier to one radiant or fire damage roll of that spell against one of its targets."
I think it would only work once per casting.
"What boys they have a crush on" XD🤣
Been waiting for this one. Thanks for a great series of videos, guys! Looking forward to more in the future (class guides, especially)
I wonder how quickly the 2024 rule changes will be adopted into common games of D&D?
If you use dndbeyond, seems like spells and magic items are changed to 2024 PHB, and 5e removed. Might be faster for those, maybe in the next system maintenance? 😀
This is according to the change log.
@@BobHammerfist Thanks for letting me know.
Thanks dudes! ❤
If you want reach for your Bladelock: what is preventing you from using the whip? Sure, it's just a d4 compared to a d10, but that's only 3 DMG on average. And you have no headache with the 13 STR. You can still take the fighter dip but with DEX. And you can use the whip with a shield.
That's what I was thinking; there are even plenty of thematic reasons for going with a whip. A whip makes a ton of sense for a fiend warlock, as well as a archfey warlock that has a dullahan as their patron as, in Irish Mythology, the main weapon of a dullahan was a whip made from a spine.
@@matthewmuir8884 I actually love the idea with a Dullahan. I'm going to steal it!
@@IgnavumFortuna Thanks. I'm glad you like the idea. Go ahead; I wouldn't have suggested it if I didn't want people to "steal" it. Just tell your group that you got the idea online.
@@IgnavumFortuna The one thing I would caution is that, although I think a Dullahan should count as a fey since it comes from Irish Mythology, it is listed as an undead in D&D, so definitely talk to the DM about the idea first.
What's preventing me is the 4 sessions it took us to steal the material our Artificer used to create my +2 glaive :D
One way to look at it is level 3 is when you confirm your patron's identity. Maybe they really are an archfey like you thought, or maybe they're Cthulhu and all that green stuff was just algae.
First, I love you guys! Second, I think Monty may be a little too focused on heavy armor. Light armor and a good Dex, plus Defensive Duelist and Tough (as an invocation)... You will probably be fine.
You can easily work around levels 1 and 2. In my current game, I'm playing a fighter with a homebrew subclass offered to me by my DM. At 7, it granted me 1 cantrip, 1 1st level spell (PROF mod X per day) and Counterspell once per day. So of course I took Eldritch Blast and Dissonant Whispers! It got me interested in multiclassing into Warlock. After discussing it with my DM, that's how we flavored those new powers at the next session. My patron (a goddess whose temple I had looted an artifact from years prior) had taken an interest in watching me and basically put me on a trial basis, with me agreeing to a pact upon officially taking Warlock levels. It's been fun!
Bad armor class? Shadow of moil.
Trouble hitting targets? Shadow of moil
Literally anything except social encounters? Shadow of moil.
Also with the warlock you never want to take great weapon master because you want to take Elven accuracy with a finesse weapon. Permanent advantage in shadow of moil with effectively triple advantage. Plus if you don't use 2 handed weapons you can use a shield, bridging the gap between a heavy armor warlock and a normal warlock.
With light armor and max dexterity that's 19 armor class plus enemies have disadvantage
Plus fiend gets hp on kill, so if you take fiend you can basically get hit every now and then and not even feel it.
Plus using rapier and shield lets you use defensive duelist, which is a free shield spell, making your armor class upwards of 23
Where are you getting shield proficiency from?
I just saw you guys on the D&D video about Project Sigil! Congrats!
Level 1-2 can also be:
1. Working your way up lesser entities (think of what Supreme Dr. Strange did in What If).
2. Researching/coming across ancient knolwedge/forbidden secrets on your own, which may lead you to your patron.
3. As others have mentioned: those levels are a trial period.
I miss the idea of picking int, wis, or cha for your spell casting ability
You all did a great job cranking out a ton of content!
I'm not sure where you're getting the fact that pact of the blade doesn't allow mastery options of the weapon, it doesn't say that in the description (9/8/25 pdf version). In additon, Heavy only states that tiny and small suffer disadvantage, with no requirement for STR 13 or higher.
For the whole heavy weapon stat thing you were trying to figure out (based on standard array:
15 Cha (+2=17 background)
12 Dex (+1=13 background)
14 Con
13 Str
10 Wis
08 Int
Then when you get Great Weapon Master, you put the +1 into Strength. Get medium armor VIA the fighter dip and take the +1 Dexterity when you take polearm master and you're good to go.
As for Celestial Warlock and Radiant Damage, there are a few, including the New True Strike, which is hilarious because Agonizing True Strike Greatsword/longsword beats out Agonizing EB in terms of damage even without GWM
I was confused why they only discussed heavy armor when medium armor exists. This should’ve totally fine
You need 13 strength before you can pick up great weapon master
@@wolfwood770I didn't even realize, oh that's a pain for standard array. For point buy you just dump WIS then, or just take that first level fighter/paladin
Archfey teleporting gish with a rapier, take moderately armored rock a shield and rapier and you’re a really good looking gish
Unfortunately, the new Moderately Armored Feat does not include shield proficiency, just medium armor. I have no idea why they removed the shield proficiency.
@@williambillingsley1630 okay maybe 1 level of fighter then
A possible solution to the armor problem for Swordlocks: take the Magic Initiate (Wizard) feat and choose Mage Armor as your 1st level spell. You get one casting per long rest without expending a spell slot, it lasts 8 hours, doesn’t require concentration, and boosts your base AC to 13. And you get a couple of wizard cantrips in the bargain. If you’re not playing a human and the Sage background doesn’t make sense with your character concept, you can use Lessons of the First Ones to grab it at 2nd level.
Id really like a video on the Apothecary for One DnD, like what would you guys add or subtract from it
For the Celestial lv6 feature, you know what good spell deals radiant damage: Divine smite
Divine favor is better. Spirit shroud too. Wall of fire is also great.
One thing to note about Pact of the Blade, if you bond with a magic weapon, you can't shunt it to a pocket dimension anymore.
Meaning you can't summon the weapon to you anymore.
Awesome video. Looking forward to playing the new system with some new toys
If I were a Bladelock focusing on heavy weapons, I'd not bother with a 15 Strength. 1 point of AC isn't worth sacrificing 2 ability points IMO
As far as dual wielding with charisma, there are two ways you can do. It. Both require pact of the blade for one weapon. The other is to get shillelagh, from either pact of the Tome, or from magic initiate druid.
I was thinking about a double bladed scimitar, the same which could then detach, or the same joined by a chain as a work-around, since the warlock summons it/designs it? If not, your suggestion is great.
Well finally.
As someone who likes playing wizards and rangers I was quite disappointed in a lot of the 2024 phb updates to some of my fav classes. However, as a warlock enjoyer I must say I am rather satisfied.
12:55 possible work around play a vengeance paladin with a 2 level dip into warlock, but regardless you’d need a 13 str and some investments
Am currently playing a Warlock (Currently 2nd) with Pact of the Tome and Magic Initiate [Wizard]. This has made me a very versatile caster, which is good as the rest of the party is 3 Tanks (Pal/Pal/Ftr) and a Half Tank (Cleric).
I can't wait to take Pact of the Pokeb... of the Chain... Chain for a drive. Seems really funny to me, how you can dish out Familiars every turn.
Especially, I've been thinking about an Archfey Warlock with a Sprite, which is not only super thematic, but at lvl7 you can cast Greater Invisibility and do an Eldritch Blast +2 Shortbow attacks from the position of your tiny flying dude :D
8:38 and all the martial feats you want don't boost CHA so the synergy is off for using CHA attacks. Plus without hex blade there is no dual wielding with CHA blades
A dual wielding build works. Take the dual wielder feat in order to wield a non light weapon as well as your scimitar, make the scimitar your pact weapon, choose magic initiate (druid) as origin feat for shillelagh and pick charisma as stat and take a quarterstaff.
Can we at least not pretend it isn't annoying that we have to wait until 3rd level for our Subclass Features? Yeah I get the concept of "The True Powers don't manifest until you've grown in strength", I didn't like it with the Old Paladin either, so that idea infecting the Warlock, Sorcerer, and Cleric isn't compelling.
Was this change even necessary or beneficial? Because all I see is an annoying hurdle that just gets in the way of roleplaying as the Descendant of a Dragon or a Disciple of a Great Old One.
14:00 - I feel like my Dudes are just trying a bit to minmax here and have everything - both melee prowess and full charisma casting power. And that’s just not working out. Nor should it. Let’s face it - If you want to play a melee warlock, you probably want to deal most of your damage in melee. So you really do not need that much charisma. Just treat your warlock as a paladin in terms of stats, and rely on spells that do not require high spell casting characteristics - armour of agathys, mirror image, hex, ant the like plus some eldritch smites for extra damage. Boom, you’re done.
Louder for the people in the back
The subclass coming in at level 3 is actually really cool thematically, because it allows for a more gradual discovery of the Warlock's powers and Patron. It gives players time to roleplay the uncertainty and mystery of their character's early connection to the arcane, making the eventual reveal of the Patron a significant milestone.
I'd go Paladin for the multiclass for armor over Fighter. Fighter gets you a lot of good things, but I think Paladin offers more. My breakdown would be 12 Warlock/8 Paladin. I'd forgo plate armor and opt for half-plate. There's only a 1 AC difference and it won't require 15 Strength, freeing up ASI/feats. With half-plate and a standard shield, that's 19 AC. Using a longsword as a Pact Weapon, you can get three attacks. You get the same proficiencies, plus Lay on Hands, Aura of Protection, Divine Smite, Blessed Strikes, 4 first level slots and 3 second level slots.
Turn 1: Bonus Action cast Hex and attack three times. 1d8+5+1d6+1d8 on attack 1, then 1d8+5+1d6 on the following two.
Turn 2: Three attacks. One using Eldritch Smite for 1d8+5+1d6+6d8+1d8 for an average of 42 damage. Second attack with first level Divine Smite for an average of 1d8+5+1d6+2d8 or 22 damage with advantage from being knocked prone with Eldritch Smite.
Third attack would be 1d8+5+1d6 or an average of 13.
FINALLY THANK YOU Dungeon Dudes
If you like story roleplaying, I can imagine a lot of fun with the contact patron. Trying to not be an evil character, but have a fiendish patron? It'll try to subtly (or maybe not so subtly) corrupt you. Great Old One? Got to try to interpret it's alien messages. In general should be a lot you can do with it.
I always loved the Warlock. I played a Pact of the Chain/Great Old One for years and had no gripes about it. Now, its just that much better.
1 lvl dip into pally - dumping dex - works wonderfully as well. No disadvantage for your greatsword, first spell slot level, divine favor, a nice little heal option, heavy armor.
Maybe a homebrew Invocation, or a feature for the Hexblade subclass, would be a form of Unarmed Defense, where you add your Charisma modifier to AC along with Dexterity, similar to the Bard's College of Dance. If you wanted it to be Hexblade, you'd probably not give other armor proficiencies; if for Invocation, def at least a lvl 3+ requirement in Warlock
I don't know how well received this idea is, but I typically have a guideline for my games about Character Levels. As a base template, I usually have characters level up after a number of sessions equal to their level, give or take a session or two based on story beats. For example, at level one, the characters typically level up after one session. Two sessions at level two, so on so forth. Like I said though, its more of a suggested pace, not a hard rule.
A bladelock makes a pretty good mage hunter. Eldritch Smite invocation + Mage Slayer feat = lots of broken concentration for enemy casters.
My first playthrough of a full campaign was a Fiend lock. LOVED him! THe Darkness/devil's sight/ was great, and I ended up goign with Tome boom that gave me rituals (very useful since I was only caster really other than a bard that didn't get ritual casting). So, I was able to cast tiny hut and stuff like that, water breathing and save my pact slots. Yeah, I wish I couldhave pact slots but being able to recover them is nice too.
I also played a Arcfey lock, but covid interrupted that campaign, and we just started over later. and I wanted to play a Old one, and now even more. I think the Blade/Arcfey combo with being able to cast misty step and vamp around the field with something like a warax or hammer, (I find axes & locks are thematic?) I love that idea, and the ability on great old one to do necrotic or psychic, I want to play all these subclasses again. I was never interested in being a Celestial lock, but maybe now. I'd rather play a divine soul sorcerer to do the not comon cleric healer (though I love my druids and bards as healers). Yeah, I am glad that they are making people no just go for the heavily armor heavy weapon / weapon master warlock, felt that that is a paladin or do the paladin lock mix all the time as meta, but instead play afull lock, and concentrate on casting.
I feel like going 1 lvl in fighter then picking up a whip and medium armour with dueling and vex actually makes a pretty solid foundation for a bladelock. Then you get reach and a whip is pretty iconic if your patron is a balor or if your a goolock enslaving the minds of others.
I love the changes of the Warlock! I do agree that the Spell Slots number should scale like Proficiency bonus does. I am sad that there’s no Undead patron but I think the ones they chose are the most fitting
I played a Genie, mark of shadow elf blade warlock in Eberron. The setting has an amazing finesse, non-heavy weapon for Elves in double scimitar - since it was no hexblade, the attack bonus was based on dex, and the character was dex-focused in general. Still, double scimitar essentialy enables the extra attacks, bladebearer of the valenar was a very good half-feat that also helped with AC, and Mark of Shadow with Orphan background made him quite a good rogue equivalent as well. I feel like such a build would be significantly improved now with the new pact of the blade.
LOL! I love the idea of being able to push/knock someone down with Vicious Mockery.
Could also play it out that until the third level subclass this is the time where the patron is introducing themselves and their "benefits" to the would be warlock. And third level being the actual "signing of the contract" when they officially become your patron. Whether you play it as a trap being sprung or the consummation of their burgeoning relationship.
These changes look very good. I am still hoping for the pact of the dragon.
Agreed! Making a pact with any powerful Chromatic, Gem and Metallic dragons. All each with the 5 well known varities + whatever lesser known types. Linking that with which dragon you pact with AND combine it with a dragonborn.. well!
If you have the new Tales of the Valiant 5e compatible book, it have purple Void dragons. You can fine tune a purple dragonborn with that, also yellow dragons are in that book. They breathe radiant light like the gem crystal dragons! So thats easy to have a yellow dragonborn made for. Brown sand dragons have split dmg with piercing+fire which translates easy to a brown dragonborn. It can be found in Tomes of Beasts 3. Lastly the orangish wasteland dragon with a warping/ desseciating breath again can translate that breath weapon too into the new PHB24 dragonborn breath weapon attack. Regarding say the brown dragonborn, it can have resistance to both fire and piercing dmg. Shouldnt be OP as someone loves to " argue " about
I feel like levels 1&2 are easy to explain away, for example being someone *searching* for magic and power, gaining it in different ways until you actually can get a patron.
An acolyte reading and researching forbidden magics
A young farmer finding his grandmother's "journals"
A princess trying to discover the magic and powers of those who had locked her away, to find an escape.
A thief who has become taken with the book he stole.
They don't have a patron, but they do learn the magic.
For now.
My favorite class! I like that bladelock is a lot more sense now even with some stipulations.
But personally for me being a tomelock with an imp familar is perfect and have no limits
Excited for the goolock. However, doing one level of fighter, will make you want another level of fighter for action surge. But what if you go 3 levels sorcerer, draconic - for the dex+cha AC? Too much of a sacrifice?
Start strength 12, take one feat that increases strength. Go medium armor
Valor bard warlock hybrids are gonna be nuts. Eldritch blast. AND weapon attacks every turn is gonna be pretty great.
@16:02 Dogs & Cats living together, mass hysteria!
I really love Bladelock for all of the damage types, and summoning it as a bonus action is pretty cool. But another thing of note is Armor of Agathys is also a bonus action. For Bladelocks this feels a little clunky, especially for a FeyLock, but generally this is great. Im super going Goolock because i love the thematics of all my damage being psychic.
I love what they did to the Archfey, best time to be one!!