This simply lets the bladelock switch from a more offensive to a more defensive stance more readily, without actually increasing raw power. This invocation doesn't affect a magic weapon you transformed into your pact weapon. When you are reduced to 0 hit points, a bed of magical tendrils within a cage of chains is summoned around your body, instantly stabilizing you and bringing you up to 1 hit point. 22.38 GMT, 22/07/17; Clarified wording on Twin Minds and Seeking Blade. Needs work. The melee actually outdamages the blaster in T2! Unfortunately, not all of it's archetypes are created equal. I like the proficiency addition to familiars, is something that does not shift balance enormously but can be indeed useful and a welcome addition. In T1, the 'relevant' armors are likely to be Mage Armor, studded leather, and scale mail. Maybe only allow stacking 2 arcanums, and not more? Not only are they not proficient, but it would deny them the benefits of their spellcasting abilities. I know this is an old thread, but I like the idea from Pathfinder of casting touch spells through weapon attacks. Even with specialized builds, in many cases simply firing Eldritch Blast remains more effective and damaging than the resource a Bladelock has attempted to specialize in. This invocation doesn’t affect a magic weapon you transformed into your pact weapon. Any DM in their right mind should not find this to be an acceptable use of Polearm Master and War Caster. A heavy armor fighter caps out with full plate at 18 AC, matching the best a warlock can do, and of course both strength and dex fighters have the option of using a shield, pushing themselves outside a warlock's reach. Name could use work. This replaces the warlock's invocation class feature. I'd really like to see something else step in here. You may not use this invocation again until you complete a long rest. At the end of the day, I want something like this that allows a bladelock to trade-off their high level spellcasting for better melee combat. I drew my inspiration from 4e material, some homebrew I have seen in the past few months. That honestly sounds good enough, thanks! Mace of Dispater [edit source] Prerequisite: The Fiend patron, Pact of the Blade feature The Pact of the Blade spell contains a variety of weapon options that include the following: Glaive, Greatsword, Rapier, Warhammer, Battleaxe, and Trident. Other than that, I love everything about this. Whereas the other two just gain more utility without having to change anything. The first line shoud be worded "During a short rest or at the end of a long rest, you can spend 1 hour to inscribe a non-warlock spell that is known and prepared by creature within 60 feet of you into your book of shadows.". A dex based warlock is still going to want dexterity for defense, unless they spend a feat (or multiclass) to gain access to medium armor. Warlock is an awesome class, full of flavor and utility. A dex warlock can get up to an AC of 17, 18 with mage armor, while a fighter can get similar numbers. I don't want to remove the pact requirement, because this is too good for a Chain or Tome pact warlock. Specifically, improved pact weapon and thirsting blade? See a variant below which may work better, which would cap out at +7 for all the arcanums. I'd love to allow users to stack giving up multiple arcanums for benefits, but that would go to a very dark place very quickly as users stacked, say, a 9th level and 8th level arcanum for +7 damage instead of the +4, which would be a little too potent. Warlocks also find themselves struggling because so much of their combat potential come from the spells that they're supposed to be trading off for, via Hex and mage armor. Charisma at levels 4 and 8. You need to compare their damage and durability to understand the issues at hand, as if you look only at damage numbers the issues may not be cast into the proper light. You may not use this invocation again until you complete a long rest. At 2nd level, you may choose a pact boon from among those available to warlocks: Pact of the Blade, Pact of the Chain, Pact of the Tome, or Pact of the Star Chain. Any weapon you create using your Pact of the Blade feature is a +3 weapon. The Wild Hunt. You may use your charisma modifier for attack and damage when wielding your pact weapon. Most Hex Blades and Pact of the Blade Warlocks get a huge power spike once they get access to this Invocation. Prerequisite: Pact of the Blade, Warlock Level 17. If you want your Blade Pact Warlock to be the best it can be, that’s non-negotiable. But also note the degree of difference. Also, tying it to a magic item seems like a bad idea, much less an item that boosts spellcasting. You may also spend additional arcanum when using this invocation, gaining an additional one point of damage for each arcanum so spent. It plays to the warlocks existing strengths, and does so in ways that can effectively negate the other pacts. I think I struck a decent compromise on full plate vs splint, since full plate is too strong while splint will eventually 'age out' of relevance for heavy armor wearers. Warlock Pact Boons and Invocations by the_singular_anyone. Ascendant Step. I can definitely help close up the at-will damage gap between a figher and a warlock at level 20, I'm just not sure if that's a good thing since the extra attack is a fighter capstone. See the variant below. The following invocations do not require a specific prerequisite, other than your warlock level.Prerequisite: 7th levelYou can cast web at will, without expending a spell slot.Prerequisite: 5th levelYou are able to cast the entangle spell at will without expending a spell slot. Your pact weapon is connected to your body. And really this is too strong as is. Mace of Dispater [edit source] Prerequisite: The Fiend patron, Pact of the Blade feature That feels like a good balance. Now, these charts seem almost straight-forward. Source SPCM. The invocations that meet these prerequisites are listed below. You also may spend an action to conjure up a shield, which will act as a shield in all respects but also acts as an arcane focus for warlock spells. This is normal and desired. Question regarding the Patron's Blade Invocation. So the conclusion is that, if the warlock specializes completely in physical combat, he can almost keep up with the fighter in terms of damage output, at the cost of being significantly squishier, and trading off a decent spellcasting ability. Although if you take the Book of Ancient Secrets invocation, the Tome does actually get better over time, although it is somewhat DM dependant and it costs a fair amount, but still, you have the potential to become the best ritual caster cause you can use rituals from any class. Prerequisites: Great Old One Patron. Prerequisite: Pact of the Blade You can use your Charisma modifier instead of your Strength or Dexterity modifiers for attack and damage rolls made with your pact weapon. Would you let players use some of the Blade Pact invocations with the Pact of the Arc? Pact of the Blade is very similar, in that Lifedrinker allows you to add your Charisma bonus in damage with attacks made with this pact weapon, and Thirsting Blade allows you to make an additional attack with your pact weapon. Prerequisite: 15th level. Pact of the Chain is an acceptible pact; it's basic ability is useful, and can work at most levels. Some definitely need work, and I'd love to hear more feedback. Author's Note, Part 2: Based on some online discussions, this one could use some small improvements. A strength based warlock is still going to need a high dex to maintain a reasonable AC, leading them to become impossibly MAD and nigh-unplayable. Blastlocks are better than bladelocks at range, and vice versa in melee. Of course, a fighter can also grab a shield for +2 to AC, an option not available to Warlocks. Pact of the Chain. You create a black, cold iron weapon with the reach property using your Pact of the Blade … You may dismiss the shield with a bonus action. Bladelocks in T1 are distinctly weaker than fighters. Any weapon you create using your Pact of the Blade feature is a +3 weapon. Author's Notes: Treads a little too closely on warcaster, especially combined with Patron's shield above. If you are playing Pact of the Blade, you are absolutely going to pick up these eldritch invocations, without question. Blastlock - 'Default' build: key invocation is Agonizing Blast. The dex based fighter has access to light armor, like warlocks, but can also upgrade to medium armor. Also note the charts do not follow identical level progressions; when there's no reason to show a given level, it's skipped. The issue is it also leaves warlocks stuck with a two level gap in which their low dexterity is a drag, since they can't take this until level 3 when they gain their pact boon. I also just had this crazy idea for Tomelocks... Borrowed KnowledgePrerequisite: 7th level, Book of Ancient Secrets. There are three characters on the charts. You gain proficiency in shields. This is an effort to try and normalize across the different characters for ease of use; just remember the level differences involved, and that some characters have to wait an extra level or two to see their power boost. Prerequisite: 15th level, Pact of the Blade feature . The fighter, of course, has higher HP to survive this and still has the option to use a shield. It adds damage as a bonus action, which is excellent if you are relying on Hex already. Key invocations are Armor of Shadows, Thirsting Blade, and Lifedrinker. There’s too much good stuff in the early levels of Hexblade to pass up. Level 7 Invocations Once you use this invocation, you can’t use it again until you finish a short or long rest. The Wild Hunt. You can use your action to create a pact weapon in your empty hand. Additionally, you gain your chosen patron's first-level benefits. Prerequisite: Pact of the Blade You can use your Charisma modifier instead of your Strength or Dexterity modifiers for attack and damage rolls made with your pact weapon. The next time you hit with your pact weapon, it deals an extra eldritch blast damage and obscure the creature with a violet color, giving the next attack roll advantage over the creature. note: I do not know why they did not make this invocation before. The flail’s head is sculpted to resemble a pair of grasping tentacles. Str Bladelock - Needs a first level fighter for heavy armor, so note he's always one level behind; Strength at 5 and 9, and charisma at 13 and 17. This also ignores the potential for magical armor to push a fighter's AC further than a warlock can even dream of keeping up, though both sides can benefit from boosts to their offensive power via magical items. Generic Fighter -- stated out with the assumption of keeping the attack stat maximized, for reference purposes only. Hosted a battle between the Cult of Sedge and the Forum Counters here(Done now). Prerequisite: 15th level. GWM will be better once you can get the pact weapon invocations to help you with the attack penalties, IMO, whereas the alchemist is a bit more flavorful, and, combined with herbalist kit, allows you to make very useful self healing, and decent healing to the party. Would you let players use some of the Blade Pact invocations with the Pact of the Arc? I've chosen the levels below to try and capture distinct breakpoints, notably tier jumps, ASIs, and major invocations (Lifedrinker). Saved by Jed Dailey. At level 3, warlocks gain the Pact Boon feature, and one of the options is Pact of the Blade. The Undying. Ultimate Pact Weapon [edit | edit source] Prerequisite: 15th level, Pact of the Blade feature. If you serve The Fiend, your weapon could be an axe made of black metal and adorned with decorative flames. Although it did make sense that Bladelocks have to try harder to use their boon well, cause they're basically just changing their combat role to melee, so they have to be better at melee than they are at just spamming Eldritch Blast, which takes a lot of effort. Spoiler: Grand Grimoire. In T2, the pattern continues, with fighters beign slightly better with at-will damage, but Warlocks catching up via Hex and their other spellcasting options. When you attack with your pact weapon in this way, you use your Charisma modifier for the attack and damage rolls. When you use your action to conjure a pact weapon, you may also conjure a shield, which will act as a shield in all respects but also acts as an arcane focus for warlock spells. While wielding your pact weapon, gain advantage on concentration checks. Prerequisite: Pact of the Blade, Warlock Level 9, Prerequisite: Pact of the Blade, Warlock Level 15. If your pact weapon has the throwing property and you use an attack action to throw it at an enemy, you can will the weapon to return to your hand at the end of the attack, no action required by you. Prerequisites: Pact of the Blade feature, Dancing Blade invocation, 12th level. Variant: You may spend one use of your mystic arcanum to gain one point of damage to any melee attack that hits until you complete a long rest. 1.7k. Your pact mark may be a finger that has been replaced with a small blade, a tattoo of you or your patron's favored weapon, or the magical remains of a curse placed upon you. While taking a short or long rest, you can spend 1 hour to inscribe in your Tome from the Pact of the Tome feature a spell not present in the Warlock spell list that another creature within 60 feet of you is able to cast.You will be able to cast this spell once without expending a Warlock spell slot at the current level of your Warlock spell slots. Invocations: When the shadowbound warlock gains access to a new grade of invocations, they must select an invocation that is related to darkness thematically as their first. At 3rd level, a warlock can choose the Pact of the Chain from their Pact Boon feature. Pact of the Blade. To maintain overall powerlevels, characters must embrace specific builds and multiclassing in order to even try and keep up with the Blastlock. Its default form can be a reflection of your patron, with imps and quasits tied to The Fiend. In my opinion Book of Ancient Secrets is way underrated. Whenever you take the Attack action on your turn, it allows you to attack twice with your pact weapon instead of once. Vile Touch of Hadar, the Dying Ember. Whenever a Warlock with Life Drinker hits a creature using their pact weapon, they deal … Specifically, improved pact weapon and thirsting blade? Unfortunately, not all of it's archetypes are created equal. You also meet pact of the blade prerequisite. If the arcanum used was above level 6, gain one point of damage for each level above 6. ©2021 Wizards. A bladelock, under best possible situations, can manage 42 damage a round in melee (assuming everything hits); a blastlock gets 56. Saved from ... DnD 5e Homebrew. If the arcanum used was above level 6, gain one point of damage for each level above 6. Sep 21, 2016 - Warlock cantrip and Pact of the Blade Invocations by 20d12HD .. I toyed with the idea of a con or strength based AC, and they kinda work, but they also leave you with the level gap issue and still might be too tempting to chain or tome warlocks. I hope this Isn't considered too far off the original thread topic, but as for buffing Chain locks, my thought is just, the Familiar's minimum hit dice are equally to your proficiency bonus, and when they roll for hit points they take the max number. But of more relevance to this document, is the disparity between bladelocks and fighters on the one hand, and bladelocks and blastlocks on the other. This overlooks the natural survival advantages of being at a distance. This feels like a way to let a character trade-off defensive capability for extra damage, and I like that. Your patron is a collection of supernatural entities that forms an eldritch phenomenon known as the Wild Hunt. Any weapon you create using your Pact of the Blade feature is a +3 weapon. The scaling would be hard to tweak, since cantrips scale pretty well with level so it would be a huge boost to your damage with thirsting blade. A blastlock in melee is outclassed by a bladelock in melee, yes, but at level 20 bladelock in melee is just as outclassed by a blastlock at distance. I'll wait). When you store a critical hit, pick yourself or an ally you can see within 30 feet of you. Dungeons And Dragons Classes Dungeons And Dragons Characters Dungeons And Dragons Homebrew Dnd Characters Warlock 5e Warlock Class Gerardo Gonzalez 5e Dnd Dnd Classes As you level up, it becomes less effective, but it still plays, somewhat, to the core caster-oriented nature of the class. As reference, I'll add the charisma-based 'Confident Strikes' invocation in as well. These weapons are untradeable, cannot be dropped, and can only be removed by either long resting, re-summoning another Pact weapon or casting Pact of the Blade: Dismiss. This invocation doesn’t affect a magic weapon you transformed into your pact weapon. If they went full-hog and turned all the arcanums into damage, they could get +10 to damage, which could definitely overshadow other classes. Eldritch Transendence is my favorite, I like the idea of a warlock slowly become less human and eventually becoming an otherworldly creature themself. You gain an additional invocation when you reach 9th level, and again at 17th level. Human (Variant) * War Caster Feat Levels 1-4 in Warlock (Hexblade) Weapon: Glaive Pact of the Blade Invocations: Repelling Blast, Improved Pact Weapon In Reality . Important Note. And it still allows a gish to do their spellcasting. The spell disappears from your Tome if you do not cast it within 8 hours or at the beginning of your next short or long rest. A level prerequisite in an invocation refers to warlock level, not character level. When you hit a creature with it, you can expend a spell slot to Their AC boost works for dex based warlocks, but still leaves them distinctly behind fighters, and doesn't work at all for strength based warlocks. Although you could give an invocation like the Eldritch Knights that lets you make an attack when you cast spells as a bonus action Nimble Blade. And on the other side, a range-based warlock just needs one invocation and stat to max himself out. I think there is definitely room for a strength-based bladelock in lore, I'm just not sure how to make it work effectively. It can also help for a blade-pact warlock who just can't find anything appropriately flavorful at a given spell level, by letting them use this in place of the arcanum they don't want. The relevant armors are studded leather, mage armor, breastplate, and half plate. As an example, lets compare a Bladelock and a Blastlock over the course of their careers, with additional characters for reference purposes. Oh, I wasn't expecting anyone to make something for me, I was just voicing my frustration that there are so few invocations for the other pacts. You can cast Levitate on yourself at will, without expending … Lifedrinker is a great invocation on its own but coupled with Thirsting Blade its on a … For invocations that have a certain warlock level as a prerequisite, you can use one-third your rogue level rounded up plus your warlock level (if any) for the purposes of meeting the invocation's prerequisite. Dex Bladelock - Dexterity at levels 4 and 8 (to 20), then charisma at 12 and 16 (to 20). The Pact of the Blade is the odd child out. Does the bonus to hit and damage scale with total (Character) level or Warlock level? Variant: You gain proficiency in shields. I'm mildly concerned with balance, but not so much as to be seriously concerned. Prerequisite: The Great Old One patron, Pact of the Blade feature You can create a black, lead flail using your Pact of the Blade feature. 1.7k. I wrote it in the spur of the moment, and I actually intended for the spell to be at most of a level the Warlock knows spells of, I just forgot in the rush ^^", But yeah, the idea was similar to a ring of spell storing. Revised Pact of the Blade Warlock Feature (+ invocations). In addition to the above toys, the following invocations are copied from (and in one case, modified) from UA documents. My own (growing) set of Homebrew subclasses, Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games. Author's Note: Obviously enough, I need a better name for this one. Leomund's Tiny Hut, Commune With Nature, Find Familiar, Purify Food and Drink, Speak With Animals, and dozens of other spells which you have to potentially of being able to cast. It's still strong enough to tempt tome or chain warlocks into switching pacts to get it, but not so good as to be a no-brainer, especially compared to some of their competing features. Also note that to keep competitive it requires the Warlock to accept a lower spellcasting stat simply to compete in at-will damage until late T4, when he's maxed both relevant stats. Warlock is an awesome class, full of flavor and utility. While attuned to a Rod of the Pact Keeper and holding it in your hand, you gain an AC boost equal to the bonus level of the rod (+1 for uncommon, +2 for rare, +3 for very rare). Chronomancer class by Zst0rm. The weapon has the reach property. With luck, his dexterity and constitution scores will only rarely come up, since he can stay out of melee. I_Love_Tarrasques has won the fight, scoring a victory for the fiendish Moderators. This homebrew Pact of the Talisman was written before the release of Tasha's Cauldron of Everything, and is distinct from the mechanics of the version published by Wizards of the Coast contained within the book.. Eldritch Invocations. Author's Note: I don't like this invocation. Prerequisite(s): Pact of the Blade feature. Pact of the Tome sits in pride of place as the most powerful of the three. Saved by cliff dyes. Sep 21, 2016 - Warlock cantrip and Pact of the Blade Invocations by 20d12HD .. Additional charts to show what happens when a warlock takes his focus away from maximal damage to concentration -- the ability to actually maintain their damage output instead of dropping hex. My first, second, and third reaction was 'too strong', but I don't think reality bears it out. I'm also tempted to drop the invocation down to level 12. You more or less have to cast Hex to keep up, pushing your damage higher but still leaving yourself squishy and vulnerable to breaking concentration. Chronomancer class by Zst0rm. Thirsting Blade. Saved by cliff dyes. Please enable JavaScript to get the best experience from this site. The end result is that a melee warlock has to devote significant resources in terms of feats and starting stats to keep up with the ranged warlock. You play the Hexblade from Xanathar’s Guide to Everything. If you wanted to be a pure melee combatant, you'd go fighter. Any weapon you create using your Pact of the Blade feature is a +1 weapon. Prerequisite: 9th level. In fact, the fighter in light armor caps out at 17, while medium armor wearers only get up to 16 without either a feat or accepting disadvantage to stealth. For example, level 8 and 9 are identical on the ranged charts, and ergo only 8 is shown. Now, at lower levels, this distinction looks less drastic; at level 5 26 damage at range vs 29 in melee. While the 'primary' archetypes at first level are all flavorful and valid across a variety of playstyles, the secondary archetypes feel distinctly unequal. At 3rd level, your otherworldly patron bestows a gift upon you for your loyal service. At the cost of the usual melee disadvantages of being at shorter range, more subject to attacks, and similar issues. Any aspiring melee warlock would be remiss to not select this invocation, as extra attack is a key feature that all other melee classes receive. You may not use this invocation again until you complete a long rest. In my opinion, something needs to step into this gap, and preferably do so without stepping on the toes of feats like Warcaster. Prerequisite: 5th level, Pact of the Blade feature. Fighter's will still have more power, this just lets the bladelock have the flexibility that is supposed to be his offset for weaker power. Where the other pacts can be enhanced by invocations, Pact of the Blade requires the use of invocations to maintain pace. Also they use your proficiency bonus instead of theirs. Saved from ... DnD 5e Homebrew. Warlocks have invocations that help boost their AC (Armor of Shadows) and their damage in melee (Thirsting Blade, Lifedrinker). Intended as a cross-reference for previous charts. By itself it's acceptible in T1, and falls behind later on. Note that the 'confident' builds now have an extra ASI to play with, while the combat builds never reach their full, maximum potentials. The fighter therefore can have an AC of 15 or 16 at level 3 or 4, or upgrade to medium for an AC of 16. Prerequisite: Pact of the Blade, Strength Score of 15. A strength based warlock is still completely screwed, absent gaining access to heavy armor via multiclassing (or way, way too many feats). Prerequisite: 5th level, Pact of the Blade feature. And of course, the survivability is still based around the assumption that Warlocks keep their physical stats maxed instead of their spellcasting stats, meaning that they are both inferior to the fighter's they strive to fight alongside and aren't keeping up with the spellcasting options. This invocation doesn’t affect a magic weapon you transformed into your pact weapon. As such, I'm creating the following Warlock Invocations with the aim towards helping adjust the situation. Added Invocations, including the much-loved dragon chest, small buffs to the Pact of the Chain pseudodragon, a Pact of the Blade weapon, and more! You may spend one use of your mystic arcanum to gain one point of damage to any melee attack that hits until you complete a long rest. Indeed, sorry, my meaning was more on the "going off of what Yharim said" meaning rather than doing it after a request from you. The strength based fighter can easily get a 16 or 17 AC via chain mail or splint, but warlocks don't have this option. The following is a way to expand those options even further: Expanded Familiars CONCERNS: I'm not sure of the damage ramp on Breath of the Ancients, could use another look. Show. This invocation doesn’t affect a magic weapon you transformed into your pact weapon. note: I do not know why they did not make this invocation before. I could actually see blastlocks going blade pact just to grab this for the extra couple of points of AC, which is pushing things. This site works best with JavaScript enabled. The Life Drinker invocation requires a Pact of the Blade Warlock. Blade-Pact Warlock Invocations. Additinonally, the Blastlock's primary stat - Charisma -- is more tightly tied to the underlying spellcasting mechanics of the class, giving him more power not apparent on these charts.