You could also go all in with Grasp of Hadar invocation to pull 10ft with Eldritch Blast to keep them centered in the area, and also take the Telekinetic feat to attempt to move them 5ft as a bonus action.
I'm just starting a Bard / Dao Genie warlock and I'm seeing this and like it a lot ;) We are low level now and I opted to multi-class so anything I get from Warlock comes slowly and when the DM says I can progress further in that side of the story, but I realized that with Repelling Blast I could move the target multiple times and for each hit push a character further and further away from me, but it didn't occur to me to add the spiked growth to add difficult terrain so it takes them longer to close until I read this. :)
Been playing a Djinn Genie Warlock and took Pact of the Chain. I took Agonizing Blast and Voice of the Chain Master for my invocations. While you can technically only use your telepathy/speak through your familiar/see through your familiar if they are on the the same Plane of Existence, my DM is fine with me doing those things if I am in the Vessel with the familiar carrying it since you can sense the space aroudn the Vessel. So I can kind of be this spy for the group using a steam mephit familiar carrying my bottle around or I can use it to fly to areas I normally couldn't reach yet (we're 4th level currently). Agonizing Blast adds with the extra elemental damage quite nicely and I am basically building a blaster with utility. It's been a LOT of fun and the subclass is so flavorful. Of course I have a MAJOR weakness for Arabian Nights type stuff anyway so there's that.
Yes i like the idea of VotC as well for a Genie Warlock. There is also the new invocation (Investment of the Chain Master) which allows amongst other things to (1) use a BA to allow the familiar to attack (2) if familiar forces a creature to use a saving throw, to use your own spell save DC. So people are also eyeing the Sprite with its arrow attack...
Went more for flavor on this one, but I'm enjoying the build so far. Went Djinni blaster for my kenku, setting up for long range eldritch blasts from the air. Gonna be a fighter plane.
I think I might have taken Fighter Initiate for the Blind Fighting style. It would be great with both Fog Cloud and Darkness, without having to take Devil’s Sight. This frees up an Eldritch Invocation.
With TCoE's printing, I've been interested in building a Noble Genie Warlock (Efreeti) using a Fire Genasi. The Elemental Adept feat seems made for it, but maybe there's something better out there for max damage output... ...Then again, flying into the heat of battle and using yourself as ground zero for a fireball spell (while you have fire resistance) sounds appealing and mildly funny... Even moreso with a Ring of Fire Elemental Command (after killing a fire elemental, obviously).
This is very interesting! Though honestly not much of this can really be credited to being a genie warlock. In fact i'd ADORE to see this kind of build done on an Undead warlock. It basically comes down to Mountain Dwarf, some solid spells, and great weapon master. I never touch bladelocks because I find the pact boon rather lacking, but this has certainly inspired me!
I'm building a Genie Warlock at Level 3 rn and stumbled across this video looking for character art :D my character is a Grung, in the middle of his Genie's Vessel is a little pond through which he can communicate with his patron and also immerse himself in water - using the Vessel for the Grung's need for water was what initially prompted me to make a Genie Warlock. What I did is: pick Eldritch Blast and Green-Flame Blade; go Pact of the Tome, pick Shillelagh (enables to use CHA for attacks, 1d8+4 damage), Mage Hand and Shape Water; carry a Club and Dagger. The Dagger gets used for a Bonus Attack to possibly apply Grung poison after Shillelagh is up. Spells are Blur, Armor of Agathys, Fog Cloud and Misty Step. Invocation is Fiendish Vigor (False Life at-will). For now he has 16 AC (Studded Leather + 4 DEX) and I could go for the Mage Armor at-will Invocation which would leave him at 17 AC, but I prefer the added versatility from Ritual Casting (Pact of the Tome exclusive). His background is Charlatan, the two Rituals spells are Unseen Servant and Comprehend Languages (which he desperately needs for now since he only speaks Grung lol). I plan to pick Fey-Touched for my level 4 feat, again for moar versatility. At level 5 he'll be doing 2d8+4+3 and 1d8+4 to a second target with Green-Flame Blade, and 1d4 + poooossibly 2d4 with the Dagger. I'm just hoping my GM will allow a reflavor of Green-Flame Blade to frost damage to fit my theme. Maybe I can roleplay it out by asking my Genie patron for that :D edit: considering whether I drop Dex to 16 and go Medium Armor proficiency feat at 4 and Medium Armor Master feat at 8, which would leave me at 20 AC with Half Plate and Shield and only the loss of the unreliable poison damage .
Chain pact genie 'lock with imp and voice of the chain master. You can see/hear trough your familiar, speak trough it's mouth and telepathically command it. So get inside your vessel, a ring would work best, have the imp pick it up and turn invisible. Now you can invisbly fly around. Great for stealth missions or getting out of trouble.
I am not sure that would work since you have to be on the same plane of existence to use the imp's sense, and being inside the ring is being in an "extradimensional" space. I figured I would check that out for a build as well lol. Probably a table preference, but extradimensional makes me think you are not on the same plane.
@@FyrusN Yeah I was wondering the same thing. But I figured that pocket dimension is on the same plane -since you can still hear what's happening outside your vessel. I guess this is one where it's up to the DM. It does make for some nice philosophical discussions about the nature of the universe. ;-)
An imp isn't stupid. You can give it complex commands, or have it follow the commands of another party member while inside the compartment. What I found better than voice was investment of the chain master. Your imp now has a magical attack that does 1D4 + 3 plus a save for 3D6 poison. Even if it's resistant you are doing more damage per round at low level than a paladin using smite with a great sword without using a spell. And with devils site and a darkness spell you both have advantage against most things.
For those of you not understanding how potent this build is because of how powerful Blur is, if they are fighting goblins, a goblin or intellect devourer with a standard attack has a 40% to hit AC 17, but with Blur in effect, based on probability, they only have a 16% chance to hit him, a Mind Flayer would have a 30% chance to hit him instead of a 55% chance (unless he is stunned of course). Definitely a very creative build that makes a great tank or blaster (if you wanted to make it such), it probably isn't in the top ten most powerful builds and there are tanking builds that are just as tough if not tougher, but this is definitely one of the more powerful Warlock melee builds.
Really cool build. Love the Genie Warlock. Can be great paired with 3 levels of almost any bard if you think Sorlock is cheesy. Personally I built this Dhampir Sorlock Aberrant Mind (Level X) paired with Undead Warlock (Level 2). Love this character both thematically and in game/combat.
I believe Blur is effectively replaced by Shadow of Moil eventually. The6 use the same spell slots for warlocks. I like a 3 level Maridlock dip for Swashbuckler rogues. You can cast a large fog cloud, walk in to hit people twice with thirsting blade, dealing sneak attack on one hit, and then walk off and hide in the cloud without proviking opportunity attacks. Oh, and you add your Cha modifier to initiative checks too.
@@RollingWithAdvantage Yeah pick up eldritch smite and improved pack weapon by level 6 then take into the air you'll only need to worry about ranged enemies and you'll have methods to deal with them. You'll also have lots of damage with 5th level eldritch smites dealing 5d8 damage a pop on top of your bow damage.
tell him to pick up grasp of hadar next lev by swapping out an invocation or waiting to 7. With flight, he can pull enemies up & drop em prone with no size limitations :)
It's a good thought, but it doesn't fit the build. Lorex isn't a warlock gunship, spamming eldritch blast from the air. He's front-line DPS. By design, Lorex does much more damage with his greatsword. Also, if you pull an enemy into the air, there's nothing to say they can't land on their feet -- especially if you're trying to ignore size limitations. Why would pulling a storm giant 10 feet into the air and dropping her make her fall prone?
@@laszlospencer6092 the prone part occurs automatically actually per raw. Somehow landing on its feet would be homebrew, which is fine depending on your table.
I stand corrected. Falling - A fall from a great height is one of the most common hazards facing an adventurer. At the end of a fall, a creature takes 1d6 bludgeoning damage for every 10 feet it fell, to a maximum of 20d6. The creature lands prone, unless it avoids taking damage from the fall.
@@laszlospencer6092 in the same pull & drop theme combined with flight, another suggestion is swap out one of your cantrips at 8th for lightning lure if you don’t already have it. Less effective than grasp of hadar involving a str save, but still an option. The other suggestion I have is a little more complicated but if you take fey touched at 8th for a free hex it helps: forgo your first attack from thirsting blade to grapple attempt. It’s an ability check contest so with the hex spell you can target the creatures strongest ability and give it disadvantage. If you won the contest you can use up to half your movement to then lift (large or smaller size target if your medium) & drop him 10ft. Simply fly back down and swing hard on the now prone poor bastard :)
8:05 Another note on the skill choice: the proficiency bonus helps balance out the negative stat. I feel like this helps me make a more well-rounded character when you have multiple stats below 10. My philosophy is very anti-min/max.
@@RollingWithAdvantage awsome, ty. You know there is a script, so you can import characters from dndbeyond to roll20, so roll20 can do their math too... Right?
This has to be one of the more disjointed but creative builds I’ve seen presented on RUclips. He’s a mountain dwarf water genie warlock and his vessel is a lantern? I guess being a fisher ties it all together. You definitely need a lantern for that deep sea cave fishing, until you have devil’s sight that is. Armor of Agathys would help this build quite a bit and it goes with the water theme.
I'm playing a 3rd level Marid Genie warlock with a pact chain myself. I picked the genie type for role playing purposes, but I won't actually grab any Marid spells until I take sleet storm with 3rd level spell slots. Anyway I could have gone with any other of the genie types and gotten a similar build so far (particularly since my party has no need of another tank), so it's interesting to see someone effectively use the Marid spell list at low levels.
I have a brass dragonborn efreeti genie chainlock who is a far-traveler from a desert (of course)country. He's not optimised by any means, but he is fun. :)
I play a multi-class Spring Eladrin, (Dao) Genie Warlock / Eloquence Bard. I went for a Support role and it's been lots of fun. I just got my Pact of the Chain Familiar and I can't wait to meet them :) I have a 16 AC just from Studded Leather and a good Dex score, I have very little in the way of attack variety, but I have several tricks for running up to get peoples attention and not get hit. First is the wrestler move, run up, hit them, then as a bonus action beg them not to hit me back (Cast Sanctuary), another is to run in see what's there and if there's a bunch of NOPE!, Fey step back out and close the door! As a Spring Eladrin I've found myself using it more to position the other members of my party, Cleric of Kord gets to go have a chat with the fellow on the balcony shooting at him with a crossbow, the Artificer Gunslinger gets tossed up the mast to the yardarm to cover us, but my favorite combo for being an Elandrin, is simply that Elves can Trance and I can take my long rest in my Stone Urn. I'm less about the fight then the helping get the answers, even without the Bard stuff though, I love the flavor of the dao tree and my DM is allowing my familiar to be a Doalini :) So much awesome to come I think :)
What an interesting build! I made a Tiefling merchant who is more battlefield control using the Marid. Warlock can have SO many different builds and flavors, it's awesome
I'll be playing an Earth Genasi Dao Warlock starting today, I'm taking 1 level of paladin so i can use heavy armor and heavy weapons, and then I'll go 5 levels of warlock before picking up the second level of paladin, which is the last dip. I plan on abusing the ever loving hell out of spirit shroud in my later levels, and having eldritch and paladin smite for those Nat 20s. I know it won't be busted or anything but it will be effective and fun and fits my character story perfectly. Good video, needed inspiration like this!
I'm using this concept with a Thri-Kreen. Simply calling itself "One", it comes from an ocean town, so it was quite thematic to make One a genie warlock (Marid). I won't be as powerful because I'm planning to go Pact of the Tome, and One isn't nearly as strong as the mountain dwarf, but it's a limited campaign anyway.
So, I actually have a similar build except my build was a variant human rogue with a first level fighter multiclass. Basically, once I reached level 5 and got the medium armor master feat I had a 21 armor class, and every round I'd use my bonus action to dodge giving my enemies disadvantage making me very hard to hit plus at 5th level I had 50+ HP so I was a very hard guy to kill.
Where does the bonus action dodge come from? Rogues only get dash disengage and hide, you’d need to be a monk for a bonus action dodge and even then you’d have to spend a Ki point every time you did it.
I'm planning a similar build for my marid genie. I went pact of the blade as well. I use a halberd, and plan to take sentinel and polearm master. Mixing Blur with the invocation Cloak of Flies, as well as being a Tortle with AC 17 should be really fun to play. Im only level 3, so we'll see.
Great vid. This gives me so many ideas for my next Warlock, which has always been my favorite class. Unfortunately, I'm like the forever DM now. Was in a 3rd group with a great DM, but he didn't like using online tools (Roll20) so COVID killed that group.
Interesting. I was trying to build a Fathomless Warlock because I wanted a water-themed backup character in case my Sea Elf Coastal Druid died, but this could be fun. I'd probably play a Tortle and dump DEX since they get a constant AC of 17. It'd be a nice change since my elf druid dumped strength and never used weapons :)
I really want to make a lockdown Djinni warlock that combines Repelling Blast with Gust of Wind but it’s timing is weird and 5E is super generous with movement
This seems to be a very unique character with lots of RP directions it could take. However, it seems like the awesomeness of the build (and it is awesome) is only good for Tier 1. As he starts Tier 2, blur and darkness seem to be wasted since he can cast level 3 spells now. Resistances and Immunities aside, a blur-enhanced melee character is not going to match the damage output of a fireball, right? And as his character levels up and he gets access to higher level spells, he's not going to be using blur and darkness anymore. I wonder how that will impact his front-line melee tactics.
I am very curious to see where he goes into Tier 2. I think flight will change how he plays it. He may be more of a hit and run style character. I applaud my player for coming up with a very unique and different take. It's a solid "character" that will be fun to see play.
Tier 1 it's solid but damage will drop heavily in tier 2 due to only having a +2 or +3 to hit with GWM, you could conserve it for when you have advantage but creatures in tier 2 will start reaching AC's where the player has a 50% or less chance without GWM. Unless he can consistently gain advantage it may make more sense to double down and switch to something else. There are of course options to consider that can give advantage but you really need to be careful you do not hinder the party, waste turns setting up that you could be dealing damage, or even adding in a bonus that although seemingly effective only brings you to average for the level.
Old video but I'll add my idea. Aasimar for their 1 minute racial ability, either adding proficiency or level to spell and weapon damage once per turn, plus flight depending on subrace. Djinni warlock one level dip for proficiency in thunder damage to attack rolls. Two levels of paladin for fighting style dueling, another +2 melee only. So third level you're getting +2 thunder, +2 weap damage, +2 or 3 radiant or necro if you use Aasimar racial. That's an extra 7 without str or dex mod or adding a smite. With a second level of warlock you can pickup agonizing blast for cha to eldritch blast on top of the +5/6. If more of this worked for multiple hits I'd be tempted to add a war cleric dip despite how MAD it would start to get. I'm starting to think minimum damage plus is king.
I got a concept I'm working on that is similar but instead of pact of the blade taking pact of the tomb. Then tomb using shillelagh for sword and board then multi classing with paladin. BTW, where is the discord?
While you can't upcast blur it's still very strong in the later stages of the game. I am very curious to see where Laz takes this tanky build now that he hit level 6. So far he has pulled off his front line caster idea extremely well. I love the versatility of the character. He balances melee vs ranged attacks depending on the situation and lately he has been controlling the battle field with sleet storm. He uses sleet storm to sort of section off certain sides of the map to protect against ranged attacks. I just love to see a warlock that is played so differently.
I imagine it will eventually be replaced with Armor of Agathys unless the AC gets boosted significantly. At higher levels most creatures that have a +10 or more , even with disadvantage will still hit this Dwarf, makes far more sense to make sure you do not get dropped from a single hit IMO.
AC 17 is not that high, it is the minimum required to be in the front line. And it won't really grow from here. He has nothing to protect his concentration, he only has a +2 concentration save, no warcaster for advantage, or lucky for reroll. If he gets hit by a spell or two, he might lose his blur, and then he suddenly isn't all that tanky. In fact, 17 AC, d8 hit dice, and constitution as your 3rd most important stat is squishy for a frontliner. He needs to split abilitiy score improvements between strength and charisma, at low levels that works fine, but at higher levels, the warlock gets a lot of its' power from spells. I think you will see this becoming a problem at level 10+ Also, blur is a short duration, action to cast. Meaning a lot of combats you have to spend your first turn setting up. And you might also get hit before you have set up. It looks good and cool at low levels, but this build looks to become weaker over time, not more powerful.
Lol my battlesmith artifice kobold loves blur. Sitting ac is 23 at lvl 6. Start of fight cast blur. If in odd chance I get hit by a non double crit cast shield. Blur is hands down a amazing spell. Edit: just wish I had made my kobald after Tasha and not before lol
Blasting genie warlock is my shit. 1d10+ char from eldritch blast, 1d6 hex, + bomus thunder damage from a djinn. And you get to do it multiple times on higher levels. Also, in most adventures, a pretty nicee turning point is when the wizard gets magnificent mansion. Well, the genie gets their own magnificent mansion with the vessel! I love this character, so much more than hex blade.
@@RollingWithAdvantage yea Im getting that now ... I have been looking everything you talk about and now listening to your podcast .... How can I watch you on Mon evenings
just wait until he can cast 4th level spells for Shadow of Moil. My tomelock became our tank. We are in a primarily monster hunting campaign so I have the horn of a young black dragon we killed as a +1 club with Shillelagh
Cool build! How does a dwarf warlock get proficiency in Greatswords/martial weapons? Dwarves get proficiency in the Battleaxe, Handaxe, Warhammer and Throwing Hammer. Warlocks only get proficiency in Simple Weapons. Have I missed something from the build or is this DM caveat?
Pact of the Blade. He is proficient with his chosen pact weapon. You can also use the new origin feature from Tasha's to swap out the race proficiencies to pick up a specific weapon proficiency. Pact of the Blade You can use your action to create a pact weapon in your empty hand. You can choose the form that this melee weapon takes each time you create it (see the Weapons section for weapon options). You are proficient with it while you wield it. This weapon counts as magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance and immunity to nonmagical attacks and damage. Your pact weapon disappears if it is more than 5 feet away from you for 1 minute or more. It also disappears if you use this feature again, if you dismiss the weapon (no action required), or if you die. You can transform one magic weapon into your pact weapon by performing a special ritual while you hold the weapon. You perform the ritual over the course of 1 hour, which can be done during a short rest. You can then dismiss the weapon, shunting it into an extradimensional space, and it appears whenever you create your pact weapon thereafter. You can’t affect an artifact or a sentient weapon in this way. The weapon ceases being your pact weapon if you die, if you perform the 1-hour ritual on a different weapon, or if you use a 1-hour ritual to break your bond to it. The weapon appears at your feet if it is in the extradimensional space when the bond breaks.
It’s hard to find. You have to turn on the option when you make a character. It’s on the page of your character creation where you select what books are allowed. (Magic the gathering, play test, etc.) you have to toggle on the option for origin manager.
I think if you have to have a lot of short rests so characters that are designed to recharge in a short rest get to use their abilities. If you only have one fight before each long rest then classes like monk and warlock don't get to show off their recharge abilities which is a strength for them.
@@RollingWithAdvantage But the wizard in the party will say hold on, spellcasting is all I do and I am out of slots. The short rest mechanic is not intended to be done between every fight, it's there to give a battered party a little relief. Adventurers league modules are designed to run 4 hours and you will typically find 1 or 2 small fights and a boss round with one short rest opportunity in there if you're lucky.
Its cool. But I'd say origin manager for mountain Dwarf is kinda ... eh, it makes the race choice I'm making builds too easy. I know the community is pretty split on origin manager. Personally, I think it takes some challenge and creativity out of character creation. But that's just my love of character creation in itself. In actual game play, I can see why people like it. It takes from one area of the game to add to another.
I hear what you're saying but I like the fact that we can now have race/class combinations that we normally would never see. Entire races that were stated weird are now open for play. I also like seeing someone play against type. Dwarf wizard or Goliath bard would have been almost unheard of prior to Tasha's.
@@RollingWithAdvantage Yeah! It's one of the things that I really like about it! But it also takes out some of the unique style of play a certain class offers. While I would allow tasha asi at my home games. I would like to see the players not only use the advantages of a different asi layout. But I want them to play more to the disadvantages. What how does a mountain dwarf that didn't grow up nearly as strong or couldn't hold his drink like the rest of his kin act like? How does he interact with his kin? Behave? I feel like the Tasha rules have just been about optimizing races to any class, but really that's just the faux to the real gold. The story implications. Sure, let a goliath be a slightly better bard. But did he not compete as well in his tribe. Art is one of the few things goliaths view as subjective and can't be competitive, so how does that effect a goliath bard that has competition ingrained in their psyche. TLDR: I want to see more story elements associated with the new optional asi rules than straight optimization.
I absolutely love this. You hit the nail on the head with this. At the end of the day this hobby is about story telling and the numbers/stats are great opportunities to tell a story. Virtual high five for this awesome comment.
As a dm I would of allowed him to attack with charisma like a hexblade. I don't really see anything special with your players build besides smartly choosing mountain dwarf to be a melee warlock. Another good race is tortle. I struggle to see the point of blurr when he has darkness/devil sight.
@@RollingWithAdvantage darkness shouldn't hamper his allies most of the time. If the monster and the other players all can't see through the darkness then the advantage and disadvantage both cancel eachother out. Your player can also just attack and move away without triggering an opportunity attack so no one else is in the darkness if it's more of a problem. Blurr seems situation to me since darkness will cause both disadvantage on attacks toward the warlock and your player's warlock to have advantage on their attacks.
To get prof dmg bonus you need a free hand to holg the lanter or other tiny item.also the ring optipn is not a finger ring, its more like a circlet sized item. A finger ring is not tiny but diminiutative size. So no two handed weapos , no power attack of you want the furry bonus
The second feature of great weapon master only works with heavy weapons, which small races get disadvantage with. So how exactly is he doing this effectively, unless you use homebrew rules?
That is a very big commitment to get to that spell. I like that spell a lot but it's hard for wizards to make it work well. I wish it could be cast on another target other than yourself.
He’s 5 and has specific rare items built for his class ? Luck or DM generosity to fuel a build ? Because pretty sure that’s some serious favour to have those specific items :-/
Im running a blade dancer and right now my AC with nothing on is 14 with mage armor 17 with magic items its 20 with blade dancing i have 23 with shield i have 28 and i have mirrior images and the lucky feat at lvl 10 i have never been crit
Super tanky in tier one play. A little less in tier two mainly due to saving throws. He became a strong Gish that could deal damage and still tank some. The rune Knight in our party became such a strong tank that the genie lock could focus on other things. I still feel this build is crazy tanky for a spell caster.
It won't last. His AC progression is basically nonexistent, and he still has a d8 HP. Beside that, Disintegrate and Finger of Death would be bad news at the level they start to appear.
Disintegrate and Finger of Death are bad for everyone when they start to appear. He is level six and still doing fine. He started using spirit shroud in the last game it worked out well. The difficulty is rising as they move into the next tier of play but so far so good.
@@RollingWithAdvantage Yeah but a fighter can tank it (let alone a barbarian); I've seen our fighter tank a Disintegrate to the face at level 13, it wasn't pretty, and left her bleeding, but still kicking. A warlock has the same problem of the monk: too few HP.
@@WexMajor82 not everything has to be optimized. a 3rd level barbarian could tank a 9th level fireball if built right and rolled well. the majority of games dont even deal with spells like finger of death and disintegrate for most their run. in addition theres plenty of ways to gain more hp or ac. this is a solid and very versatile tank compared to the standard fighter
@@Boundless-Boredom Of course, if they stop playing at level 8, there's no point to this conversation. From level 13 to 17 is where the big guns gets used. I like this character, but I fear for its durability.
Flight with Blur, both concentration. Flight and Darkness, both concentration. Unless you want to expend your only 2 spell slots (until level 10) in one move
The sub class ability from Genie pact warlock gives you flight. It isn't a concentration spell so you can have flight and something else up at the same time.
I like the dao warlock myself, spike growth around the enemy, then repelling blast and the crusher feat, shreds if they move, shreds if I move them.
Also a great build!
If your DM allows it, you can pop someone in the air 5' because of Crusher, then diagonally and back because of Repelling Blast.
You could also go all in with Grasp of Hadar invocation to pull 10ft with Eldritch Blast to keep them centered in the area, and also take the Telekinetic feat to attempt to move them 5ft as a bonus action.
I'm just starting a Bard / Dao Genie warlock and I'm seeing this and like it a lot ;) We are low level now and I opted to multi-class so anything I get from Warlock comes slowly and when the DM says I can progress further in that side of the story, but I realized that with Repelling Blast I could move the target multiple times and for each hit push a character further and further away from me, but it didn't occur to me to add the spiked growth to add difficult terrain so it takes them longer to close until I read this. :)
@@jonathanmartin8716 It's a very fun build! Let me know how it goes for you.
I dig it! I like the fact that there really is a use for Marid. It seemed lackluster but the way it's used make it a competitive subclass. Thanks!
Blur is really solid for the build.
Very nice! I seen blaster warlocks, but those never interested me, but this build would be fun to play with the versatility it has.
My player is loving it in action!
I bet he is, I need to watch your live stream to see it in action
Been playing a Djinn Genie Warlock and took Pact of the Chain. I took Agonizing Blast and Voice of the Chain Master for my invocations. While you can technically only use your telepathy/speak through your familiar/see through your familiar if they are on the the same Plane of Existence, my DM is fine with me doing those things if I am in the Vessel with the familiar carrying it since you can sense the space aroudn the Vessel. So I can kind of be this spy for the group using a steam mephit familiar carrying my bottle around or I can use it to fly to areas I normally couldn't reach yet (we're 4th level currently). Agonizing Blast adds with the extra elemental damage quite nicely and I am basically building a blaster with utility. It's been a LOT of fun and the subclass is so flavorful. Of course I have a MAJOR weakness for Arabian Nights type stuff anyway so there's that.
I love how versatile it is. So many play styles in one sub class.
Yes i like the idea of VotC as well for a Genie Warlock.
There is also the new invocation (Investment of the Chain Master) which allows amongst other things to (1) use a BA to allow the familiar to attack (2) if familiar forces a creature to use a saving throw, to use your own spell save DC. So people are also eyeing the Sprite with its arrow attack...
Went more for flavor on this one, but I'm enjoying the build so far. Went Djinni blaster for my kenku, setting up for long range eldritch blasts from the air. Gonna be a fighter plane.
It’s a solid way to go!
I think I might have taken Fighter Initiate for the Blind Fighting style. It would be great with both Fog Cloud and Darkness, without having to take Devil’s Sight. This frees up an Eldritch Invocation.
First! 👆🏻
Woot!
This is debatable depending if you want to use up a feat or an evocation. It is a good option depending on what you are looking to do.
Not sure the cost is worth foregoing GWM for this particular build.
With TCoE's printing, I've been interested in building a Noble Genie Warlock (Efreeti) using a Fire Genasi. The Elemental Adept feat seems made for it, but maybe there's something better out there for max damage output...
...Then again, flying into the heat of battle and using yourself as ground zero for a fireball spell (while you have fire resistance) sounds appealing and mildly funny... Even moreso with a Ring of Fire Elemental Command (after killing a fire elemental, obviously).
This is very interesting! Though honestly not much of this can really be credited to being a genie warlock. In fact i'd ADORE to see this kind of build done on an Undead warlock. It basically comes down to Mountain Dwarf, some solid spells, and great weapon master. I never touch bladelocks because I find the pact boon rather lacking, but this has certainly inspired me!
There is a lot you can do with Warlocks!
I'm building a Genie Warlock at Level 3 rn and stumbled across this video looking for character art :D my character is a Grung, in the middle of his Genie's Vessel is a little pond through which he can communicate with his patron and also immerse himself in water - using the Vessel for the Grung's need for water was what initially prompted me to make a Genie Warlock.
What I did is: pick Eldritch Blast and Green-Flame Blade; go Pact of the Tome, pick Shillelagh (enables to use CHA for attacks, 1d8+4 damage), Mage Hand and Shape Water; carry a Club and Dagger. The Dagger gets used for a Bonus Attack to possibly apply Grung poison after Shillelagh is up. Spells are Blur, Armor of Agathys, Fog Cloud and Misty Step. Invocation is Fiendish Vigor (False Life at-will).
For now he has 16 AC (Studded Leather + 4 DEX) and I could go for the Mage Armor at-will Invocation which would leave him at 17 AC, but I prefer the added versatility from Ritual Casting (Pact of the Tome exclusive).
His background is Charlatan, the two Rituals spells are Unseen Servant and Comprehend Languages (which he desperately needs for now since he only speaks Grung lol). I plan to pick Fey-Touched for my level 4 feat, again for moar versatility.
At level 5 he'll be doing 2d8+4+3 and 1d8+4 to a second target with Green-Flame Blade, and 1d4 + poooossibly 2d4 with the Dagger. I'm just hoping my GM will allow a reflavor of Green-Flame Blade to frost damage to fit my theme. Maybe I can roleplay it out by asking my Genie patron for that :D
edit: considering whether I drop Dex to 16 and go Medium Armor proficiency feat at 4 and Medium Armor Master feat at 8, which would leave me at 20 AC with Half Plate and Shield and only the loss of the unreliable poison damage .
Chain pact genie 'lock with imp and voice of the chain master. You can see/hear trough your familiar, speak trough it's mouth and telepathically command it. So get inside your vessel, a ring would work best, have the imp pick it up and turn invisible. Now you can invisbly fly around. Great for stealth missions or getting out of trouble.
Definitely a cool combo to play around with.
I am not sure that would work since you have to be on the same plane of existence to use the imp's sense, and being inside the ring is being in an "extradimensional" space. I figured I would check that out for a build as well lol. Probably a table preference, but extradimensional makes me think you are not on the same plane.
@@FyrusN Yeah I was wondering the same thing. But I figured that pocket dimension is on the same plane -since you can still hear what's happening outside your vessel. I guess this is one where it's up to the DM. It does make for some nice philosophical discussions about the nature of the universe. ;-)
@@godofzombi I'd let you do it because its cool lol. Enjoy.
An imp isn't stupid. You can give it complex commands, or have it follow the commands of another party member while inside the compartment. What I found better than voice was investment of the chain master. Your imp now has a magical attack that does 1D4 + 3 plus a save for 3D6 poison. Even if it's resistant you are doing more damage per round at low level than a paladin using smite with a great sword without using a spell.
And with devils site and a darkness spell you both have advantage against most things.
For those of you not understanding how potent this build is because of how powerful Blur is, if they are fighting goblins, a goblin or intellect devourer with a standard attack has a 40% to hit AC 17, but with Blur in effect, based on probability, they only have a 16% chance to hit him, a Mind Flayer would have a 30% chance to hit him instead of a 55% chance (unless he is stunned of course).
Definitely a very creative build that makes a great tank or blaster (if you wanted to make it such), it probably isn't in the top ten most powerful builds and there are tanking builds that are just as tough if not tougher, but this is definitely one of the more powerful Warlock melee builds.
Thank you breaking down the math of this build. Yes there are better tanks but this one is very unique and just shockingly tanky for a Warlock.
I just recently discovered this channel, and I love it. Your down-home tone and respect for warlocks sits really well with me
I’m hella southern. :) Thanks for watching!
Really cool build. Love the Genie Warlock. Can be great paired with 3 levels of almost any bard if you think Sorlock is cheesy.
Personally I built this Dhampir Sorlock Aberrant Mind (Level X) paired with Undead Warlock (Level 2). Love this character both thematically and in game/combat.
Genie lock is so fun and flexible.
I believe Blur is effectively replaced by Shadow of Moil eventually. The6 use the same spell slots for warlocks.
I like a 3 level Maridlock dip for Swashbuckler rogues. You can cast a large fog cloud, walk in to hit people twice with thirsting blade, dealing sneak attack on one hit, and then walk off and hide in the cloud without proviking opportunity attacks. Oh, and you add your Cha modifier to initiative checks too.
I could see making this a bowlock would also be very powerful.
May need to build that too....
@@RollingWithAdvantage Yeah pick up eldritch smite and improved pack weapon by level 6 then take into the air you'll only need to worry about ranged enemies and you'll have methods to deal with them. You'll also have lots of damage with 5th level eldritch smites dealing 5d8 damage a pop on top of your bow damage.
I would suggest a half elf and picking up the elven accuracy feat along with ways to get advantage to get a high crit rate
tell him to pick up grasp of hadar next lev by swapping out an invocation or waiting to 7. With flight, he can pull enemies up & drop em prone with no size limitations :)
OMG That's nuts. Good call!!
It's a good thought, but it doesn't fit the build. Lorex isn't a warlock gunship, spamming eldritch blast from the air. He's front-line DPS. By design, Lorex does much more damage with his greatsword.
Also, if you pull an enemy into the air, there's nothing to say they can't land on their feet -- especially if you're trying to ignore size limitations. Why would pulling a storm giant 10 feet into the air and dropping her make her fall prone?
@@laszlospencer6092 the prone part occurs automatically actually per raw. Somehow landing on its feet would be homebrew, which is fine depending on your table.
I stand corrected.
Falling
- A fall from a great height is one of the most common hazards facing an adventurer. At the end of a fall, a creature takes 1d6 bludgeoning damage for every 10 feet it fell, to a maximum of 20d6. The creature lands prone, unless it avoids taking damage from the fall.
@@laszlospencer6092 in the same pull & drop theme combined with flight, another suggestion is swap out one of your cantrips at 8th for lightning lure if you don’t already have it. Less effective than grasp of hadar involving a str save, but still an option. The other suggestion I have is a little more complicated but if you take fey touched at 8th for a free hex it helps: forgo your first attack from thirsting blade to grapple attempt. It’s an ability check contest so with the hex spell you can target the creatures strongest ability and give it disadvantage. If you won the contest you can use up to half your movement to then lift (large or smaller size target if your medium) & drop him 10ft. Simply fly back down and swing hard on the now prone poor bastard :)
8:05 Another note on the skill choice: the proficiency bonus helps balance out the negative stat. I feel like this helps me make a more well-rounded character when you have multiple stats below 10. My philosophy is very anti-min/max.
And I love it! The RP is great for this character. Keep it up!
Just curious... Would you mind sharing the dndbeyond sheet, just so we could follow the evolvement of the character in detail as it progresses.
@@Tanthalasa83 ddb.ac/characters/38979208/zVlWrg
It's also now in the description.
@@RollingWithAdvantage awsome, ty. You know there is a script, so you can import characters from dndbeyond to roll20, so roll20 can do their math too... Right?
@@Tanthalasa83 I do now! Thanks!
This has to be one of the more disjointed but creative builds I’ve seen presented on RUclips. He’s a mountain dwarf water genie warlock and his vessel is a lantern? I guess being a fisher ties it all together. You definitely need a lantern for that deep sea cave fishing, until you have devil’s sight that is. Armor of Agathys would help this build quite a bit and it goes with the water theme.
It was built around a story. He didn’t have the lantern another player did. He did a fantastic job RPing him and it was a very creative build.
Any other videos showcasing this build and it's progression ?
I'm playing a 3rd level Marid Genie warlock with a pact chain myself. I picked the genie type for role playing purposes, but I won't actually grab any Marid spells until I take sleet storm with 3rd level spell slots. Anyway I could have gone with any other of the genie types and gotten a similar build so far (particularly since my party has no need of another tank), so it's interesting to see someone effectively use the Marid spell list at low levels.
Marid has been a ton of fun at the table. It’s been great bringing in ocean elements into the story as well.
I have a brass dragonborn efreeti genie chainlock who is a far-traveler from a desert (of course)country. He's not optimised by any means, but he is fun. :)
I love that idea! Great character concept.
I play a multi-class Spring Eladrin, (Dao) Genie Warlock / Eloquence Bard. I went for a Support role and it's been lots of fun. I just got my Pact of the Chain Familiar and I can't wait to meet them :) I have a 16 AC just from Studded Leather and a good Dex score, I have very little in the way of attack variety, but I have several tricks for running up to get peoples attention and not get hit. First is the wrestler move, run up, hit them, then as a bonus action beg them not to hit me back (Cast Sanctuary), another is to run in see what's there and if there's a bunch of NOPE!, Fey step back out and close the door! As a Spring Eladrin I've found myself using it more to position the other members of my party, Cleric of Kord gets to go have a chat with the fellow on the balcony shooting at him with a crossbow, the Artificer Gunslinger gets tossed up the mast to the yardarm to cover us, but my favorite combo for being an Elandrin, is simply that Elves can Trance and I can take my long rest in my Stone Urn. I'm less about the fight then the helping get the answers, even without the Bard stuff though, I love the flavor of the dao tree and my DM is allowing my familiar to be a Doalini :) So much awesome to come I think :)
What an interesting build! I made a Tiefling merchant who is more battlefield control using the Marid. Warlock can have SO many different builds and flavors, it's awesome
I'll be playing an Earth Genasi Dao Warlock starting today, I'm taking 1 level of paladin so i can use heavy armor and heavy weapons, and then I'll go 5 levels of warlock before picking up the second level of paladin, which is the last dip.
I plan on abusing the ever loving hell out of spirit shroud in my later levels, and having eldritch and paladin smite for those Nat 20s.
I know it won't be busted or anything but it will be effective and fun and fits my character story perfectly.
Good video, needed inspiration like this!
I'm using this concept with a Thri-Kreen. Simply calling itself "One", it comes from an ocean town, so it was quite thematic to make One a genie warlock (Marid). I won't be as powerful because I'm planning to go Pact of the Tome, and One isn't nearly as strong as the mountain dwarf, but it's a limited campaign anyway.
So, I actually have a similar build except my build was a variant human rogue with a first level fighter multiclass. Basically, once I reached level 5 and got the medium armor master feat I had a 21 armor class, and every round I'd use my bonus action to dodge giving my enemies disadvantage making me very hard to hit plus at 5th level I had 50+ HP so I was a very hard guy to kill.
Bonus action dodge?
@@RollingWithAdvantage Yep
@@RollingWithAdvantage I also went swashbuckler because I rolled well on my charisma.
Where does the bonus action dodge come from? Rogues only get dash disengage and hide, you’d need to be a monk for a bonus action dodge and even then you’d have to spend a Ki point every time you did it.
Yea I think his build is off. I would love it if a rogue could bonus action dodge!
I'm planning a similar build for my marid genie. I went pact of the blade as well. I use a halberd, and plan to take sentinel and polearm master. Mixing Blur with the invocation Cloak of Flies, as well as being a Tortle with AC 17 should be really fun to play. Im only level 3, so we'll see.
Sounds great!
This is really cool, though wouldnt a tempest domain cleric get you a similar outcome?
Extra attack with pact of the blade and genie flight is what the player was after.
Great vid. This gives me so many ideas for my next Warlock, which has always been my favorite class. Unfortunately, I'm like the forever DM now. Was in a 3rd group with a great DM, but he didn't like using online tools (Roll20) so COVID killed that group.
Online play takes getting used to. Covid forced me to get into it.
Interesting. I was trying to build a Fathomless Warlock because I wanted a water-themed backup character in case my Sea Elf Coastal Druid died, but this could be fun. I'd probably play a Tortle and dump DEX since they get a constant AC of 17. It'd be a nice change since my elf druid dumped strength and never used weapons :)
Tortle casters are very good.
Cool video, and agreed, Tortle is a good alternative to what this character is trying to do.
Have player who has a Tiefling Genie Warlock. Follows the Djinn, Is a Glasya Tiefling, and is going Blaster.
Nice!
I really want to make a lockdown Djinni warlock that combines Repelling Blast with Gust of Wind but it’s timing is weird and 5E is super generous with movement
I will ask my DM for Storm Sphere since I don’t like the flavor of warlock control spells at all
This seems to be a very unique character with lots of RP directions it could take. However, it seems like the awesomeness of the build (and it is awesome) is only good for Tier 1. As he starts Tier 2, blur and darkness seem to be wasted since he can cast level 3 spells now. Resistances and Immunities aside, a blur-enhanced melee character is not going to match the damage output of a fireball, right? And as his character levels up and he gets access to higher level spells, he's not going to be using blur and darkness anymore. I wonder how that will impact his front-line melee tactics.
I am very curious to see where he goes into Tier 2. I think flight will change how he plays it. He may be more of a hit and run style character. I applaud my player for coming up with a very unique and different take. It's a solid "character" that will be fun to see play.
Tier 1 it's solid but damage will drop heavily in tier 2 due to only having a +2 or +3 to hit with GWM, you could conserve it for when you have advantage but creatures in tier 2 will start reaching AC's where the player has a 50% or less chance without GWM. Unless he can consistently gain advantage it may make more sense to double down and switch to something else. There are of course options to consider that can give advantage but you really need to be careful you do not hinder the party, waste turns setting up that you could be dealing damage, or even adding in a bonus that although seemingly effective only brings you to average for the level.
Old video but I'll add my idea. Aasimar for their 1 minute racial ability, either adding proficiency or level to spell and weapon damage once per turn, plus flight depending on subrace.
Djinni warlock one level dip for proficiency in thunder damage to attack rolls. Two levels of paladin for fighting style dueling, another +2 melee only.
So third level you're getting +2 thunder, +2 weap damage, +2 or 3 radiant or necro if you use Aasimar racial. That's an extra 7 without str or dex mod or adding a smite. With a second level of warlock you can pickup agonizing blast for cha to eldritch blast on top of the +5/6.
If more of this worked for multiple hits I'd be tempted to add a war cleric dip despite how MAD it would start to get. I'm starting to think minimum damage plus is king.
I want to make a Mountain Dwarf Dao Bladelock. Lots of shenannigans at level 6 with floating flight and spike growth and the Crusher feat.
Mountain Dwarves make the best casters now. The crusher feat is a ton fun too. That character should be a blast to play.
@@RollingWithAdvantage especially if he can get his hands on a Dwarven Thrower!
I saw Genie and it really perked my interest.
It’s a great subclass. It’s been fun to see at the table.
Couldn't get on the discord but I'm looking for something like this how would he do this as a lvl15
Try this
discord.gg/GE9QVPXuvP
I got a concept I'm working on that is similar but instead of pact of the blade taking pact of the tomb. Then tomb using shillelagh for sword and board then multi classing with paladin.
BTW, where is the discord?
discord.gg/8DtHeAuG
Blur is cool and all, but with warlock spell progression?
While you can't upcast blur it's still very strong in the later stages of the game. I am very curious to see where Laz takes this tanky build now that he hit level 6. So far he has pulled off his front line caster idea extremely well. I love the versatility of the character. He balances melee vs ranged attacks depending on the situation and lately he has been controlling the battle field with sleet storm. He uses sleet storm to sort of section off certain sides of the map to protect against ranged attacks. I just love to see a warlock that is played so differently.
I imagine it will eventually be replaced with Armor of Agathys unless the AC gets boosted significantly. At higher levels most creatures that have a +10 or more , even with disadvantage will still hit this Dwarf, makes far more sense to make sure you do not get dropped from a single hit IMO.
Is great weapon master really worth it though?
Totally up to the player.
@@RollingWithAdvantage one more thing how did he get proficiency with two handed weapons?
@@taterturner47 dwarf racial I think
AC 17 is not that high, it is the minimum required to be in the front line. And it won't really grow from here.
He has nothing to protect his concentration, he only has a +2 concentration save, no warcaster for advantage, or lucky for reroll. If he gets hit by a spell or two, he might lose his blur, and then he suddenly isn't all that tanky.
In fact, 17 AC, d8 hit dice, and constitution as your 3rd most important stat is squishy for a frontliner.
He needs to split abilitiy score improvements between strength and charisma, at low levels that works fine, but at higher levels, the warlock gets a lot of its' power from spells. I think you will see this becoming a problem at level 10+
Also, blur is a short duration, action to cast. Meaning a lot of combats you have to spend your first turn setting up. And you might also get hit before you have set up.
It looks good and cool at low levels, but this build looks to become weaker over time, not more powerful.
Isn't flying only good with blasting? Because if you're in melee and fly away, opportunity attacks. . .
I was playing around with this idea adding a dip in barbarian. Liberal use of eldricht smite during rage, cantrips after your rages are gone.
Dragonmark of the Storm Djiin Genie. Great story, stats, resistances & so on
Nice!
Like the build. I haven't looked much at the genie warlock yet
It’s the sleeper of Tasha’s in my opinion.
Thanks, I improved this build a lot and gonna give it a shot 😀
Start as fighter, for heavy armor and GWF style. Warlock to 6 for thirsting blade & flight, then come back to fighter 3 and take echo knight.
Lol my battlesmith artifice kobold loves blur. Sitting ac is 23 at lvl 6. Start of fight cast blur. If in odd chance I get hit by a non double crit cast shield. Blur is hands down a amazing spell.
Edit: just wish I had made my kobald after Tasha and not before lol
It is really nuts. I love that you play a Kobold. I have a very unhealthy love for those little guys lol.
@@RollingWithAdvantage yeah plus I'm og kobold pre Tasha
@@jonathanmorphew6786 Kobold for life!
Blasting genie warlock is my shit. 1d10+ char from eldritch blast, 1d6 hex, + bomus thunder damage from a djinn. And you get to do it multiple times on higher levels. Also, in most adventures, a pretty nicee turning point is when the wizard gets magnificent mansion. Well, the genie gets their own magnificent mansion with the vessel! I love this character, so much more than hex blade.
I love this ... I have watched this I dont know how many times .... But would this work with a Halfelf Drow/Human
The armor proficiency from being a dwarf is key
@@RollingWithAdvantage yea Im getting that now ... I have been looking everything you talk about and now listening to your podcast .... How can I watch you on Mon evenings
We are on our new twitch channel. Follow the link and hit Follow! We play 830pm EST every Monday.
www.twitch.tv/rollingwithadvantage20
@@RollingWithAdvantage thank you ...
I want to watch this toon played .... Does he have a mini for the toon
@@RollingWithAdvantage also ... Please give me a Discord invite
Fly and Blur are both concentration so he will not be doing that combo?
Flight for him is not a spell. It’s a class ability.
I Made a Genie warlock summoner build
Nice!
just wait until he can cast 4th level spells for Shadow of Moil. My tomelock became our tank. We are in a primarily monster hunting campaign so I have the horn of a young black dragon we killed as a +1 club with Shillelagh
He just hit level 6 so he can fly now. Mobile tank!
@@RollingWithAdvantage Useful for avoiding attacks of opportunity.
Moil is going to be an upgrade, for sure. Retrain Blur for Moil and profit.
I've been wanting to play a Tabaxi Swashbuckler/Maridlock for my next choice. Now I really want to.
Cool build! How does a dwarf warlock get proficiency in Greatswords/martial weapons?
Dwarves get proficiency in the Battleaxe, Handaxe, Warhammer and Throwing Hammer. Warlocks only get proficiency in Simple Weapons.
Have I missed something from the build or is this DM caveat?
Pact of the Blade. He is proficient with his chosen pact weapon.
You can also use the new origin feature from Tasha's to swap out the race proficiencies to pick up a specific weapon proficiency.
Pact of the Blade
You can use your action to create a pact weapon in your empty hand. You can choose the form that this melee weapon takes each time you create it (see the Weapons section for weapon options). You are proficient with it while you wield it. This weapon counts as magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance and immunity to nonmagical attacks and damage.
Your pact weapon disappears if it is more than 5 feet away from you for 1 minute or more. It also disappears if you use this feature again, if you dismiss the weapon (no action required), or if you die.
You can transform one magic weapon into your pact weapon by performing a special ritual while you hold the weapon. You perform the ritual over the course of 1 hour, which can be done during a short rest. You can then dismiss the weapon, shunting it into an extradimensional space, and it appears whenever you create your pact weapon thereafter. You can’t affect an artifact or a sentient weapon in this way. The weapon ceases being your pact weapon if you die, if you perform the 1-hour ritual on a different weapon, or if you use a 1-hour ritual to break your bond to it. The weapon appears at your feet if it is in the extradimensional space when the bond breaks.
Omg thank you so much! Can't believe I forgot about a CORE Warlock mechanic 😂 Really liking your Tasha's build series!
Thanks!
@@RollingWithAdvantage but when he uses heavy weapons does he have disadvantage in attacks because he is small?
I got Tashas on Beyond but aint got the Origin Manager Option when i creating new chars. Can some1 help me?
It’s hard to find. You have to turn on the option when you make a character. It’s on the page of your character creation where you select what books are allowed. (Magic the gathering, play test, etc.) you have to toggle on the option for origin manager.
@@RollingWithAdvantage Got it. Thanks!
where can I watch the Campaign ? actually building this for my guy he is a Scottish ghostiwse halfling ( playing him like a leprechaun kinda haha)
It's a very cool build but in no way a great tank. Tanky for a caster maybe and cool for dishing out damage, so I like it.
Fair enough!
He must be getting a lot of short rests handed out, at lvl 5 casting blur is a waste when you only get to cast two things between rests.
I think if you have to have a lot of short rests so characters that are designed to recharge in a short rest get to use their abilities. If you only have one fight before each long rest then classes like monk and warlock don't get to show off their recharge abilities which is a strength for them.
@@RollingWithAdvantage But the wizard in the party will say hold on, spellcasting is all I do and I am out of slots. The short rest mechanic is not intended to be done between every fight, it's there to give a battered party a little relief. Adventurers league modules are designed to run 4 hours and you will typically find 1 or 2 small fights and a boss round with one short rest opportunity in there if you're lucky.
Its cool. But I'd say origin manager for mountain Dwarf is kinda ... eh, it makes the race choice I'm making builds too easy. I know the community is pretty split on origin manager. Personally, I think it takes some challenge and creativity out of character creation. But that's just my love of character creation in itself. In actual game play, I can see why people like it. It takes from one area of the game to add to another.
I hear what you're saying but I like the fact that we can now have race/class combinations that we normally would never see. Entire races that were stated weird are now open for play. I also like seeing someone play against type. Dwarf wizard or Goliath bard would have been almost unheard of prior to Tasha's.
@@RollingWithAdvantage Yeah! It's one of the things that I really like about it! But it also takes out some of the unique style of play a certain class offers. While I would allow tasha asi at my home games. I would like to see the players not only use the advantages of a different asi layout. But I want them to play more to the disadvantages. What how does a mountain dwarf that didn't grow up nearly as strong or couldn't hold his drink like the rest of his kin act like? How does he interact with his kin? Behave? I feel like the Tasha rules have just been about optimizing races to any class, but really that's just the faux to the real gold. The story implications. Sure, let a goliath be a slightly better bard. But did he not compete as well in his tribe. Art is one of the few things goliaths view as subjective and can't be competitive, so how does that effect a goliath bard that has competition ingrained in their psyche.
TLDR: I want to see more story elements associated with the new optional asi rules than straight optimization.
I absolutely love this. You hit the nail on the head with this. At the end of the day this hobby is about story telling and the numbers/stats are great opportunities to tell a story. Virtual high five for this awesome comment.
The Air Genie warlock is Djinn
Correct
How many spell slots does this guy have?
None. The runes are just abilities.
How does a dwarf warlock have proficiency with a greatsword?
Check the mountain dwarf racial feature.
Use the Tasha optional background to pick up the proficiency
As a dm I would of allowed him to attack with charisma like a hexblade. I don't really see anything special with your players build besides smartly choosing mountain dwarf to be a melee warlock. Another good race is tortle. I struggle to see the point of blurr when he has darkness/devil sight.
Blur doesn’t hamper his allies like darkness can.
@@RollingWithAdvantage darkness shouldn't hamper his allies most of the time. If the monster and the other players all can't see through the darkness then the advantage and disadvantage both cancel eachother out. Your player can also just attack and move away without triggering an opportunity attack so no one else is in the darkness if it's more of a problem. Blurr seems situation to me since darkness will cause both disadvantage on attacks toward the warlock and your player's warlock to have advantage on their attacks.
i have only watched a couple seconds and im already gonna sub... i was needing help in this topic and bam, your name is the same as mine...
Thanks for watching!
"He used hellish rebuke a lot".
Hmm no, he only gets 2 slots until level 11.
With blur on, that's only 1 hellish rebuke.
I’m pretty liberal with short rests between combat encounters. He just seemed to obliterate with hellish rebuke pretty regularly.
@@RollingWithAdvantage Oh ok, cool.
2 levels of bladesinger would do wonders for this build.
how? With such low dex and int? Two levels of paladin or fighter for defense fighting style and smites/action surge tho...
I feel like you’d be a good DM. Need to find a group that wants to play seriously and has a solid DM
To get prof dmg bonus you need a free hand to holg the lanter or other tiny item.also the ring optipn is not a finger ring, its more like a circlet sized item. A finger ring is not tiny but diminiutative size. So no two handed weapos , no power attack of you want the furry bonus
The second feature of great weapon master only works with heavy weapons, which small races get disadvantage with. So how exactly is he doing this effectively, unless you use homebrew rules?
Also, just in case anyone is confused, small races getting disadvantage with heavy weapons happens regardless of proficiency.
Dwarves count as Medium and not Small.
Size
Dwarves stand between 4 and 5 feet tall and average about 150 pounds. Your size is Medium.
You scared me there for a second lol.
@@RollingWithAdvantage I haven't seen anyone play one in my groups, so honestly thought they were small. That's my bad haha
@@sqoo5 You seriously made me jump out of my seat. I was like "how did I miss that??" Thanks for the scare lol.
I've been cooking up an idea like this recently so I come here and find out that the build is really good? Score
How has he got proficiency in martial weapons to use a two handed sword?
At least 11 levels of wizard so he can cast Tenser's Transformation on himself?
That is a very big commitment to get to that spell. I like that spell a lot but it's hard for wizards to make it work well. I wish it could be cast on another target other than yourself.
Or just a cast it with limited wish at lvl 14 haha. You already have access to it
@@RollingWithAdvantage Yeah make tensers a touch spell, and turn the tank into an unkillable god.
He’s 5 and has specific rare items built for his class ? Luck or DM generosity to fuel a build ? Because pretty sure that’s some serious favour to have those specific items :-/
Very interesting build! :)
Glad you think so! My player loves this character and it is crazy how tanky he is.
Yeah, give a character tier 3 armor in tier 1 and they will tank very well.
Yes, but even with starter equipment this character is extremely tanky.
Im running a blade dancer and right now my AC with nothing on is 14 with mage armor 17 with magic items its 20 with blade dancing i have 23 with shield i have 28 and i have mirrior images and the lucky feat at lvl 10 i have never been crit
Nice!!
jeez some serious magic items at level 5-6 but I mean hey I can't say anything my first campaign is spoiled
Also he is going to be charmbait later on.
Any updates on this guy???
Super tanky in tier one play. A little less in tier two mainly due to saving throws. He became a strong Gish that could deal damage and still tank some. The rune Knight in our party became such a strong tank that the genie lock could focus on other things. I still feel this build is crazy tanky for a spell caster.
Nothing looks broken here or super tanky here. It's just a good average build.
It won't last.
His AC progression is basically nonexistent, and he still has a d8 HP.
Beside that, Disintegrate and Finger of Death would be bad news at the level they start to appear.
Disintegrate and Finger of Death are bad for everyone when they start to appear. He is level six and still doing fine. He started using spirit shroud in the last game it worked out well. The difficulty is rising as they move into the next tier of play but so far so good.
@@RollingWithAdvantage Yeah but a fighter can tank it (let alone a barbarian); I've seen our fighter tank a Disintegrate to the face at level 13, it wasn't pretty, and left her bleeding, but still kicking.
A warlock has the same problem of the monk: too few HP.
@@WexMajor82 not everything has to be optimized. a 3rd level barbarian could tank a 9th level fireball if built right and rolled well. the majority of games dont even deal with spells like finger of death and disintegrate for most their run. in addition theres plenty of ways to gain more hp or ac. this is a solid and very versatile tank compared to the standard fighter
@@Boundless-Boredom Of course, if they stop playing at level 8, there's no point to this conversation. From level 13 to 17 is where the big guns gets used. I like this character, but I fear for its durability.
The strongest is Dao by far
Flight with Blur, both concentration.
Flight and Darkness, both concentration. Unless you want to expend your only 2 spell slots (until level 10) in one move
The sub class ability from Genie pact warlock gives you flight. It isn't a concentration spell so you can have flight and something else up at the same time.
17 is not high AC. My Genie tank has 25 AC and cloak og displacement. And, anyone said shield? 😁
This character is super cool and thematic! 👍🏻
Did he connect his fisher background with discovering a genie vessel and his Marid Genie Pact?
💦 🧞♂️
🪔
Oh yes he did!