Hey there, I'm building a new character, first time playing a warlock. I am planning a Djinni pact warlock, Pact of the Chain, and playing a tiefling as well. I was hoping to go a magic only warlock which I know would be harder even with Eldritch Blast thanks to the few spell slots I'd get. Any tips or alterations you'd suggest for a newbie warlock?
Don’t think of yourself as a caster. Think of yourself as an archer (or other ranged combatant) who also has some tricks they can do. Personally I try to favor utility in my spells and invocations, over just damage, but damage can work fine, too. At least combat wise.
And between a high cha, skills and invocations, you can be a really good face.
Don’t think of yourself as a caster. Think of yourself as an archer (or other ranged combatant) who also has some tricks they can do. Personally I try to favor utility in my spells and invocations, over just damage, but damage can work fine, too. At least combat wise.
And between a high cha, skills and invocations, you can be a really good face.
This is the way. Warlock is what arcane archer cries about not being. Your primary damage will come from your eldritch blast. Focus on /useful/ invocations that buff your EB damage, choose more utility focused spells for your spell slots and you'll be mostly good to go. I tend to avoid the utility invocations unless it's very thematically appropriate (I generally do not find them to be of much use in the games I have been in) but your mileage may vary depending on your DM.
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Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Eldritch blast is your BFF. Take two(ish) spells with a solid duration that use Concentration. (I like hex & darkness myself.) Maybe one or two more that don’t require concentration, like maybe spiritual weapon if you can get it somewhere. Otherwise load up on super useful spells for non-combat situations.
Stay away from invocations that burn a spell slot. Devil’s Sight, Eyes of the Runekeeper, and Armor of Shadows, and Mask of Many Faces are all strong picks. Also, any Invocations that buff eldritch blast, like the push/pull/slow Invocations and the extra damage one top of course.
My top pick for Pact Boons is The Chain, it’s amaze balls.
Personally, I feel that a warlock should be played as a caster just as much as any other caster-- you just have to ask for a short rest every so often. Then again, this suits my style of play since I'm more on the conservative side on slot spending with a bigger focus on battle field control. If it's suitable to ask for a short rest every two encounters, those slots will do you fine if you make good choices with your spell usage, about 1 per encounter. Most of the time I won't even use a slot if it's a combat where I can see most of my party's got it and EB spam will suffice just fine.
Sure, at earlier levels you don't the classical control spells like grease, or web, but at third lvl you do get hypnotic pattern; 4th lvl, banishment, sickening radiance (for placement purposes); 5th, synaptic static. And the previous ones work just as well. While you concentrate, you spam EB, as any other caster would be spamming their cantrip at that point.
Invocations are a huge thing too, as others have mentioned. I love mask of many faces, as with high CHA you'll be decent at social skills. Repelling blast is also fantastic, as it buffs your EB and acts as a form of free control. Now, unlike crzyhawk I feel the utility invocations are fantastic. If you take voice of the chain master, that's purely utilitarian. But the ability that it allows you to send your familiar off wherever you want it to and to still percieve through its sense and communicate telepathically no matter how far-- you've got the ULTIMATE infiltrator spy that feeds you intelligence in real time. Now you can scout entire areas without limit or worry. I know a guy who played as a druid warlock, and he would use that invocation to speak through his familiar even when he was in his wild shape.
Let's say you want to infiltrate a castle and steal some documents. You could send your flying imp inside and send it to scout the entire place, and you'd see through its sense and know the layout. Let's say for whatever reason, you need to be there to do the job. You could hop into your genie's vessel and have an invisible imp familiar carry the vessel for you (which turns invisible while on the imp's person), and it easily flies inside. Then once you pop out, you can complete your objective, and then use mask of many faces along with your high CHA to decieve NPCs while you make your way out. Easy dub without having fired a single EB.
In short, warlocks are full of good utility that you should pay attention to. You absolutely could choose to turn your brain off, concentrate on hex and spam EB buffed with all the invocations possible-- it absolutely works and there's nothing wrong with that. But it's totally worth reading into the different features they've got and make an informed decision about the build that interests you the most.
I think my go-to ideal setup is Armor of Agathys (no concentration required, lasts an hour and not only gives hit points, can inflict damage) and Spirit Shroud in close range battles.
If your character has more distance between themselves and their targets, obviously different spells work better. But most of my DM's enemies (save squishier spellcasters who try to avoid close range) tend to get into close range whether my warlock likes it or not, so I just do my best to keep my character alive. (That said, really need to change out my character's silvered spear - my dice absolutely hate it and I think it's only been successful at hitting something once in the hundreds of times I've used it.)
Also, maybe the Crossbow Expert Feat? Which wouldn't give you disadvantage if close-ranging Eldritch Blast.
I am playing a chainpact, and I love it. As others on here have noted, you will use Eldritch Blast as your primary attack. I don't find it boring, I find it makes the limited spell slots tolerable (you don't need them for damage). You will want Agonizing Blast invocation. The added damage to your main attack makes you the "arcane archer" and scales perfectly.
I personally am not a fan of Hex. I like the spell slots for other stuff that you find flavors the character. Along those lines, the advice to grab invocations that don't burn spell slots is spot on. Devil Sight, or Mask of Many Faces are great initial choices (but take Agonizing Blast!).
For cantrips; Mage Hand. That and EB are must have's. I've gotten so much use of them that honestly, the spell slot limits don't come up much.
Lastly, get mileage out of the familiar, especially at early levels. That familiar is essentially free scrying, a way to scoop cheap opportunity attacks, and don't sleep on their Help action. Not as much for attacks, but my imp has helped on Persuasion checks, stealth checks, and others. They have skill proficiency, and getting advantage from your little friend is a lifesaver.
If you want to go „magic only“ you should consider Pact of the Tome instead of Chain. A normal familiar (via ritual with Book of Shadows) can do nearly as much as one of the special versions and getting detect magic, identify, comprehend languages, augury (difficult to acquire), tiny hut, water breathing and others as ritual spells is bonkers and also a constant goal for adventure. Three more cantrips from any list is really useful when you only have 2 spell slots, look at Shape Water and Guidance and a third for flavor. I play a Half-Elf Fiend Tomelock as a wizard wannabe who got shunned by his elven community and it‘s a lot of fun.
The one character that I get to play is also a Pact of the Chain Djinni Warlock (air genasi). I've had a lot of fun playing her and definitely learned a few things.
Maintaining range is crucial. Closed spaces where you can get swarmed easily are pretty dangerous. So Repelling Blast and Grasp of Hadar really help out a lot manipulating where enemies are situated. Just keep in mind that these are considered forced movement and will not trigger an Attack of Opportunity by your team mates
Don't be afraid to ask for at least 2 short rests in a day. And with that, don't be afraid to cast your spells in favour of saving them up 'just in case'
If you pick an imp, quasit, or sprite. You can have them carry your genie vessel while invisible, this can help making sure you get your short or long rest or it can even help you get to difficult to reach places unseen. Just remember that you can't communicate with your familiar when you're inside the vessel but you can still hear what's going on outside
Devil's Sight is an amazing invocation to have but consider that if you already have an imp familiar for example, you can easily use their senses to see through (magical) darkness. Freeing up an invocation slot for something else. And when exploring you could even have it transform into a spider and sit on your head so you're able to see and hear as usual. But better
If you're under the effect of the invisibility spell, there's a neat trick you can do where you ready your attack action for when it's your familiar's turn. You forgo your own attack and have it use their reaction to attack. Which breaks their invisibility but keeps yours since you didn't attack. Then the familiar can use their action to turn invisible again. This gets more effective once you have the Investment of the Chain Master invocation so that they use your DC for the attack. Sure it's not wildly effective but it's a different approach to combat
I took one level of Storm Sorcerer in my build to start with. Even if you're picking this at a later level there's still some neat things you get with this. 2 level 1 spell slots that you can use for hex for example, or shield which the sorcerer can learn. And it also comes with Tempestuous Magic. A neat feature that triggers whenever you cast a spell of 1st level or higher, which includes your at will invocations like False Life (great for early levels, saved my bacon in the Death House), Mask of Many Faces, or Misty Visions. You essentially always have a panic button to get away from enemies or you can use it to clear 10 ft. gaps or jump onto a roof. My Genasi uses it for sideways movement whenever she's levitating making it a poor-man's fly, but still effective (really hoping to get to Ascendant Step soon so she can just hover everywhere, for roleplaying purposes)
Ignore all invocations that allow you to cast a spell once a day using a pact slot. Except for maybe Sculptor of Flesh, which is the only one worth such a penalty. Consider asking your DM to adjust these invocations a bit to just allow you to cast them once a long rest, without using a pact slot
Once you hit level 6 as a Djinni Warlock you get Elemental Gift. Allowing you to fly without it using your concentration and if you get hit you can still hover in place instead of dropping to the floor. This is fantastic combined with Grasp of Hadar. Fly directly above an enemy, hit it with your trusty Eldritch Blast and pull it up 10 ft. If you have Agonizing Blast which is not mandatory but heavily recommended, this would cause the enemy to take 1d10+PB+Char mod+1d6 (falling damage) and land prone. Meaning your melee party members would get advantage on attacks against them and it would cost the enemy half their movement to get back up, which can really limit their potential for moving around the battlefield
You will have the option to pick spells that are highly situational. Which sounds weird and not worth the effort but they can be a lot of fun, because you get to cast maybe 1 to 2 spells of 1st level or higher per combat, so your spells really should be for turning the tide of combat and having more varied options to choose from goes a long way
And remember that DnD isn't just about combat. I had loads of fun outside of battle with my Genasi, whenever we come across an NPC she doesn't like, she will insinuate her into their lives pretending she's a full fledged genie and grant them monkey-paw wishes or use a crystal orb and Minor Illusion to 'read' their futures. "I see you as a rich man standing on a mountain of gold, it's in the basement of the abandoned house just down the street''. Meanwhile we already found a horrible monster living there which we had to run away from.
Warlocks have an AMAZING potential for stories if that’s your jam. Work with your DM to see how much you both want them involved. Do you want them to be a source of information? Someone you can continuously bargain with? A quest giver? A friend or even an enemy? And have fun with it.
As for gameplay I really recommend agonising blast if you want a bit more bang constantly. If you want to be a bit more utility you have Lance of lethargy (slows enemy movement), and the push and pull eldritch blast invocations.
The other invocations depend on what you want. Want to be the infiltrator, mask of many faces. Want to be able to read everything and find all the hidden lore. Eyes of the rune keeper. Want to make sure darkness is your friend, devil sight. You can have the free detect magic. You can give yourself a spell From off your list.
it tends to be better not picking invocations that require spell slots just so you have another thing to use when the spells are done (and they will be done regularly). But even if you do pick them, you get a bunch of invocations so it’s usually fine.
Don't think of your pact magic as normal spellcasting. Think of it as having a flexible 2/short rest class ability. If you try to cast like a normal caster, you're going to blow your big guns right away and need a rest to get them back, which you may not be able to get whenever you want. But with a 2/short rest ability, you're naturally going to be saving it for when it will be most impactful and looking out for those opportunities to present themselves. Eldritch blast isn't your Plan B when you run out of spell slots; eldritch blast is your Plan A, and your slots are best used for exceptional cases.
As far as spell selection goes, pick spells that scale well by level, will have a significant impact on the game when you cast them, and/or have a long duration. Spells that are somewhat situational but highly potent in those situations are excellent choices; just make sure they're not so situational that they'll rarely see play. At high levels, for your 1/long rest mystic arcana, pick spells that you know you'll be casting every day so that you're not wasting the ability on something you'll only cast occasionally.
You are a warlock and you have been handed a system where you get only 2 spell slots a short rest. You should do what all Warlocks do: CHEAT.
1. Grab Fey or Shadow Touched and add two more spells you can cast a day 2. Play a TIefling or Drow or other races that get you spells you can cast 1 per day 3. 1 level dip into another caster to grab more cantrips. I am a huge fan of a level of cleric for medium armor/shield and two bonus spells known 4. Invocations that give you more spells to cast
If EB is your main attack spell (doi) then don't forget to grab a couple AoE spells, to hit many enemies, or make the terrain difficult. It might slow down your front line teammates, so be careful.
You are a warlock and you have been handed a system where you get only 2 spell slots a short rest. You should do what all Warlocks do: CHEAT.
1. Grab Fey or Shadow Touched and add two more spells you can cast a day 2. Play a TIefling or Drow or other races that get you spells you can cast 1 per day 3. 1 level dip into another caster to grab more cantrips. I am a huge fan of a level of cleric for medium armor/shield and two bonus spells known 4. Invocations that give you more spells to cast
Enjoy.
I'd also add if you have any slots left before a short rest and have a long duration spell, cast it right before the rest. Also take the last watch, fold a short rest into the end of your long rest. Cast a long duration spell, short rest then start the day. Hex is the classic for this. And hey if you have to drop it the first round of the first encounter of the day so be it, it cost you nothing.
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Hey there, I'm building a new character, first time playing a warlock. I am planning a Djinni pact warlock, Pact of the Chain, and playing a tiefling as well. I was hoping to go a magic only warlock which I know would be harder even with Eldritch Blast thanks to the few spell slots I'd get. Any tips or alterations you'd suggest for a newbie warlock?
Don’t think of yourself as a caster. Think of yourself as an archer (or other ranged combatant) who also has some tricks they can do. Personally I try to favor utility in my spells and invocations, over just damage, but damage can work fine, too. At least combat wise.
And between a high cha, skills and invocations, you can be a really good face.
This is the way. Warlock is what arcane archer cries about not being. Your primary damage will come from your eldritch blast. Focus on /useful/ invocations that buff your EB damage, choose more utility focused spells for your spell slots and you'll be mostly good to go. I tend to avoid the utility invocations unless it's very thematically appropriate (I generally do not find them to be of much use in the games I have been in) but your mileage may vary depending on your DM.
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Tasha
Eldritch blast is your BFF. Take two(ish) spells with a solid duration that use Concentration. (I like hex & darkness myself.) Maybe one or two more that don’t require concentration, like maybe spiritual weapon if you can get it somewhere. Otherwise load up on super useful spells for non-combat situations.
Stay away from invocations that burn a spell slot. Devil’s Sight, Eyes of the Runekeeper, and Armor of Shadows, and Mask of Many Faces are all strong picks. Also, any Invocations that buff eldritch blast, like the push/pull/slow Invocations and the extra damage one top of course.
My top pick for Pact Boons is The Chain, it’s amaze balls.
Good Luck!!
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Personally, I feel that a warlock should be played as a caster just as much as any other caster-- you just have to ask for a short rest every so often. Then again, this suits my style of play since I'm more on the conservative side on slot spending with a bigger focus on battle field control. If it's suitable to ask for a short rest every two encounters, those slots will do you fine if you make good choices with your spell usage, about 1 per encounter. Most of the time I won't even use a slot if it's a combat where I can see most of my party's got it and EB spam will suffice just fine.
Sure, at earlier levels you don't the classical control spells like grease, or web, but at third lvl you do get hypnotic pattern; 4th lvl, banishment, sickening radiance (for placement purposes); 5th, synaptic static. And the previous ones work just as well. While you concentrate, you spam EB, as any other caster would be spamming their cantrip at that point.
Invocations are a huge thing too, as others have mentioned. I love mask of many faces, as with high CHA you'll be decent at social skills. Repelling blast is also fantastic, as it buffs your EB and acts as a form of free control. Now, unlike crzyhawk I feel the utility invocations are fantastic. If you take voice of the chain master, that's purely utilitarian. But the ability that it allows you to send your familiar off wherever you want it to and to still percieve through its sense and communicate telepathically no matter how far-- you've got the ULTIMATE infiltrator spy that feeds you intelligence in real time. Now you can scout entire areas without limit or worry. I know a guy who played as a druid warlock, and he would use that invocation to speak through his familiar even when he was in his wild shape.
Let's say you want to infiltrate a castle and steal some documents. You could send your flying imp inside and send it to scout the entire place, and you'd see through its sense and know the layout. Let's say for whatever reason, you need to be there to do the job. You could hop into your genie's vessel and have an invisible imp familiar carry the vessel for you (which turns invisible while on the imp's person), and it easily flies inside. Then once you pop out, you can complete your objective, and then use mask of many faces along with your high CHA to decieve NPCs while you make your way out. Easy dub without having fired a single EB.
In short, warlocks are full of good utility that you should pay attention to. You absolutely could choose to turn your brain off, concentrate on hex and spam EB buffed with all the invocations possible-- it absolutely works and there's nothing wrong with that. But it's totally worth reading into the different features they've got and make an informed decision about the build that interests you the most.
I think my go-to ideal setup is Armor of Agathys (no concentration required, lasts an hour and not only gives hit points, can inflict damage) and Spirit Shroud in close range battles.
If your character has more distance between themselves and their targets, obviously different spells work better. But most of my DM's enemies (save squishier spellcasters who try to avoid close range) tend to get into close range whether my warlock likes it or not, so I just do my best to keep my character alive. (That said, really need to change out my character's silvered spear - my dice absolutely hate it and I think it's only been successful at hitting something once in the hundreds of times I've used it.)
Also, maybe the Crossbow Expert Feat? Which wouldn't give you disadvantage if close-ranging Eldritch Blast.
I am playing a chainpact, and I love it. As others on here have noted, you will use Eldritch Blast as your primary attack. I don't find it boring, I find it makes the limited spell slots tolerable (you don't need them for damage). You will want Agonizing Blast invocation. The added damage to your main attack makes you the "arcane archer" and scales perfectly.
I personally am not a fan of Hex. I like the spell slots for other stuff that you find flavors the character. Along those lines, the advice to grab invocations that don't burn spell slots is spot on. Devil Sight, or Mask of Many Faces are great initial choices (but take Agonizing Blast!).
For cantrips; Mage Hand. That and EB are must have's. I've gotten so much use of them that honestly, the spell slot limits don't come up much.
Lastly, get mileage out of the familiar, especially at early levels. That familiar is essentially free scrying, a way to scoop cheap opportunity attacks, and don't sleep on their Help action. Not as much for attacks, but my imp has helped on Persuasion checks, stealth checks, and others. They have skill proficiency, and getting advantage from your little friend is a lifesaver.
If you want to go „magic only“ you should consider Pact of the Tome instead of Chain. A normal familiar (via ritual with Book of Shadows) can do nearly as much as one of the special versions and getting detect magic, identify, comprehend languages, augury (difficult to acquire), tiny hut, water breathing and others as ritual spells is bonkers and also a constant goal for adventure. Three more cantrips from any list is really useful when you only have 2 spell slots, look at Shape Water and Guidance and a third for flavor. I play a Half-Elf Fiend Tomelock as a wizard wannabe who got shunned by his elven community and it‘s a lot of fun.
The one character that I get to play is also a Pact of the Chain Djinni Warlock (air genasi).
I've had a lot of fun playing her and definitely learned a few things.
If you have Agonizing Blast which is not mandatory but heavily recommended, this would cause the enemy to take 1d10+PB+Char mod+1d6 (falling damage) and land prone. Meaning your melee party members would get advantage on attacks against them and it would cost the enemy half their movement to get back up, which can really limit their potential for moving around the battlefield
And remember that DnD isn't just about combat. I had loads of fun outside of battle with my Genasi, whenever we come across an NPC she doesn't like, she will insinuate her into their lives pretending she's a full fledged genie and grant them monkey-paw wishes or use a crystal orb and Minor Illusion to 'read' their futures. "I see you as a rich man standing on a mountain of gold, it's in the basement of the abandoned house just down the street''. Meanwhile we already found a horrible monster living there which we had to run away from.
Warlocks have an AMAZING potential for stories if that’s your jam. Work with your DM to see how much you both want them involved. Do you want them to be a source of information? Someone you can continuously bargain with? A quest giver? A friend or even an enemy? And have fun with it.
As for gameplay I really recommend agonising blast if you want a bit more bang constantly. If you want to be a bit more utility you have Lance of lethargy (slows enemy movement), and the push and pull eldritch blast invocations.
The other invocations depend on what you want. Want to be the infiltrator, mask of many faces. Want to be able to read everything and find all the hidden lore. Eyes of the rune keeper. Want to make sure darkness is your friend, devil sight. You can have the free detect magic. You can give yourself a spell From off your list.
it tends to be better not picking invocations that require spell slots just so you have another thing to use when the spells are done (and they will be done regularly). But even if you do pick them, you get a bunch of invocations so it’s usually fine.
Don't think of your pact magic as normal spellcasting. Think of it as having a flexible 2/short rest class ability. If you try to cast like a normal caster, you're going to blow your big guns right away and need a rest to get them back, which you may not be able to get whenever you want. But with a 2/short rest ability, you're naturally going to be saving it for when it will be most impactful and looking out for those opportunities to present themselves. Eldritch blast isn't your Plan B when you run out of spell slots; eldritch blast is your Plan A, and your slots are best used for exceptional cases.
As far as spell selection goes, pick spells that scale well by level, will have a significant impact on the game when you cast them, and/or have a long duration. Spells that are somewhat situational but highly potent in those situations are excellent choices; just make sure they're not so situational that they'll rarely see play. At high levels, for your 1/long rest mystic arcana, pick spells that you know you'll be casting every day so that you're not wasting the ability on something you'll only cast occasionally.
You are a warlock and you have been handed a system where you get only 2 spell slots a short rest. You should do what all Warlocks do: CHEAT.
1. Grab Fey or Shadow Touched and add two more spells you can cast a day
2. Play a TIefling or Drow or other races that get you spells you can cast 1 per day
3. 1 level dip into another caster to grab more cantrips. I am a huge fan of a level of cleric for medium armor/shield and two bonus spells known
4. Invocations that give you more spells to cast
Enjoy.
If EB is your main attack spell (doi) then don't forget to grab a couple AoE spells, to hit many enemies, or make the terrain difficult. It might slow down your front line teammates, so be careful.
I'd also add if you have any slots left before a short rest and have a long duration spell, cast it right before the rest. Also take the last watch, fold a short rest into the end of your long rest. Cast a long duration spell, short rest then start the day. Hex is the classic for this. And hey if you have to drop it the first round of the first encounter of the day so be it, it cost you nothing.