With the introduction of Tasha's and Van Richten's guide to Ravenloft it seems - at least to me - that the Archfey in particular is lagging behind. As a community I want to formulate an update.
Currently we have the following:
Archfey Expanded Spells:
1st: Faerie fire, Sleep
2nd: Calm Emotions, Phantasmal Force
3rd: Blink, Plant Growth
4th: Dominate Beast, Greater Invisibility
5th: Dominate Person, Seeming
Level 1 - Fey Presence
Starting at 1st level, your patron bestows upon you the ability to project the beguiling and fearsome presence of the fey. As an action, you can cause each creature in a 10-foot cube originating from you to make a Wisdom saving throw against your warlock spell save DC. The creatures that fail their saving throws are all charmed or frightened by you (your choice) until the end of your next turn.
Once you use this feature, you can't use it again until you finish a short or long rest.
Level 6 - Misty Escape
Starting at 6th level, you can vanish in a puff of mist in response to harm. When you take damage, you can use your reaction to turn invisible and teleport up to 60 feet to an unoccupied space you can see. You remain invisible until the start of your next turn or until you attack or cast a spell.
Once you use this feature, you can't use it again until you finish a short or long rest.
Level 10 - Beguiling Defenses
Beginning at 10th level, your patron teaches you how to turn the mind-affecting magic of your enemies against them. You are immune to being charmed, and when another creature attempts to charm you, you can use your reaction to attempt to turn the charm back on that creature. The creature must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw against your warlock spell save DC or be charmed by you for 1 minute or until the creature takes any damage.
Level 14 - Dark Delirium
Starting at 14th level, you can plunge a creature into an illusory realm. As an action, choose a creature that you can see within 60 feet of you. It must make a Wisdom saving throw against your warlock spell save DC. On a failed save, it is charmed or frightened by you (your choice) for 1 minute or until your concentration is broken (as if you are concentrating on a spell). This effect ends early if the creature takes any damage.
Until this illusion ends, the creature thinks it is lost in a misty realm, the appearance of which you choose. The creature can see and hear only itself, you, and the illusion.
You must finish a short or long rest before you can use this feature again.
Lets look at Fey Presence:
-10ft cube is measly. Id argue to either increase the aoe size or turn it into a cone. As it stands in combat you rarely ever get to effect more than 1 or 2 enemies with it and if you are even in a situation with 4+ enemies in a 10ft or less cube around you then you are likely going to be dead very soon.
I have read that some people argue it is more of a social skill but it only last 6 seconds so it cannot really add any value.
The problem with Charm/frighten effects is that they effect so few enemies which further limits it capabilities.
Finally you can use it once per short rest which if your games are anything like the ones i play in we are often limited to 2 short rests per day. So to bring it more in line with Tasha's etc id suggest the following:
You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum of once), and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.
I personally think this might get more mileage as at level 5 you get 3 uses per rest, 4 at 9, 5 at 13, and 6 at 17. But tell me if I'm wrong/what you think.
Order Domain Clerics also have a similar ability: Order's Demand
As an action, you present your holy symbol, and each creature of your choice that can see or hear you within 30 feet of you must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or be charmed by you until the end of your next turn or until the charmed creature takes any damage. You can also cause any of the charmed creatures to drop what they are holding when they fail the saving throw.
Which arguably is better.
Misty Escape:
Using your reaction in response to damage you turn invisible and teleport up to 60ft away. Remain invisible until your next turn or until you attack. Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a short or long rest.
This isn't bad but like as above I would adjust it to be usable a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum of once), and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.
I would probably say as well that you can use your reaction to activate the ability even if you haven't received damage.
Beguiling Defenses
Charm immunity is fine. Basically redirecting any charm effects back at the caster who if they fail their save are charmed for 1 minute or unless they take damage. Obviously wont work if they are also immune.
Fey Wanderer Rangers seem to get a suped up version of this to a degree:
Whenever you or a creature you can see within 120 feet of you succeeds on a saving throw against being charmed or frightened, you can use your reaction to force a different creature you can see within 120 feet of you to make a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC. If the save fails, the target is charmed or frightened by you (your choice) for 1 minute. The target can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a successful save.
So i would argue:
Keep Charm immunity but add the rest of Beguiling twist to the power as well.
Dark Delirium
Basically acts as concentration version of banishment in a sense just with the caveat the creature is either charmed or frightened of you for the duration. At higher levels this can be so redundant as so many creatures become immune to these effects.
I would change the following:
You can plunge a creature into an illusory realm. As an action, choose a creature that you can see within 60 feet of you. It must make a Wisdom/Charisma? saving throw against your warlock spell save DC. On a failed save, it is trapped within the illusion for 1 minute or until your concentration is broken (as if you are concentrating on a spell). This effect ends early if the creature takes any damage.
Until this illusion ends, the creature thinks it is lost in a misty realm, the appearance of which you choose. The creature can see and hear only itself, you, and the illusion.
You must finish a short or long rest before you can use this feature again.
To be honest I want to do more with the subclass especially when comparing to the newer warlock subclasses:
Undead:
Transformation gives 1d10+warlock lvl temp HP, Fear Immunity, fear on hit, additional dmg. Spirit projection alone is amazinng!
Genie:
fast short rest for you and party, additional dmg equal to your prof bonus, damage resistance, flight, temp hp for party, Limited wish!
TLDR: Update to Archfey subclass, feed back and other thoughts requested!
-10ft cube is measly. Id argue to either increase the aoe size or turn it into a cone. As it stands in combat you rarely ever get to effect more than 1 or 2 enemies with it and if you are even in a situation with 4+ enemies in a 10ft or less cube around you then you are likely going to be dead very soon.
I have read that some people argue it is more of a social skill but it only last 6 seconds so it cannot really add any value.
The problem with Charm/frighten effects is that they effect so few enemies which further limits it capabilities.
Finally you can use it once per short rest which if your games are anything like the ones i play in we are often limited to 2 short rests per day. So to bring it more in line with Tasha's etc id suggest the following:
You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum of once), and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.
I personally think this might get more mileage as at level 5 you get 3 uses per rest, 4 at 9, 5 at 13, and 6 at 17. But tell me if I'm wrong/what you think.
Order Domain Clerics also have a similar ability: Order's Demand
As an action, you present your holy symbol, and each creature of your choice that can see or hear you within 30 feet of you must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or be charmed by you until the end of your next turn or until the charmed creature takes any damage. You can also cause any of the charmed creatures to drop what they are holding when they fail the saving throw.
Which arguably is better.
Misty Escape:
Using your reaction in response to damage you turn invisible and teleport up to 60ft away. Remain invisible until your next turn or until you attack. Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a short or long rest.
This isn't bad but like as above I would adjust it to be usable a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum of once), and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.
I would probably say as well that you can use your reaction to activate the ability even if you haven't received damage.
I will adress Fey Presence and Misty Escape, because those are the two I actually played with. So here goes.
1. Fey Presence: is not bad in its current state, but is very, very situational; you can charm/frighten up to 4 normal enemies, which is not bad, but rarely happens; they get a Wisdom Save, which is one of the hardest to target; and as you mentioned, a lot of enemies are straight out immune to being charmed or frightened;
I would suggest the following:
Use Bane mechanics for it, meaning you can pick a number of enemies up to your Proficiency Bonus, that you can see and that are within 30ft of you, and can see and/or hear you;
they have to Wis save against your Spell Save DC or be charmed/frightened for 1 minute;
they can repeat the save at the end of their turns;
it eats your Concentration;
you still regain a use on Short or Long Rest.
This way its a bit weaker early on, but remains useful throughout the campaign, scaling with your Proficiency bonus. The longer duration makes it useful in social encounters as well as combat ones, cause I seriously doubt you can accomplish much RP wise within 6 seconds.
2. Misty Escape: is extremely powerful at any/all levels; for starters, it triggers after you suffer damage, any type; it is a buffed up Misty Step, making you invisible, having longer range and acting out of Reaction;
If I were to suggest changes, then:
Use Eladrin season Misty Step effects with it, making Invisibility be only one of the few you have; so being able to take a friendly with you, or disappear in a blase of fire, or something similar;
limit the range to 30 ft to balance it out;
still one use, regained on Short or Long Rest.
I think this would help create the Feywild wackiness vibe and express the chaotic nature of the Archfeys. But its only if I felt like it needs changing. As it is now, its a free Get Out of Jail card, that you can play whenever you take damage and just straight out escape any consecutive attacks. Enemies would need True Sight, Blind Sight or some form of Tremor Sense and be able to close those 60ft or turn to ranged attacks. It's amazing :D
These are both really good suggestions. Treating Fey Presence like Bane would work very well and definitely increases its usefulness.
I do really like Misty Step and it is really useful. In previous games I have 'Injured' myself or had a party member perform an unarmed strike against my character so i can trigger the ability and teleport 60 ft up a wall for example.
Archfey Warlock is still working. He is not one of the best Warlocks, he never has been, but he fulfills his role competently. And you're still a Warlock, with your eldritch invocations and everything else. I don't think it needs to be improved.
That's more or less my impression of the subclass. It has a lot of tricks up its sleeve to be a very versatile and tricky to play with and against. If you take Pact of the Tome or Talisman, you are an amazing party support and battle field controller. You can easily serve as party face with the charm and fear effects in your toolkit as well.
I think the problem people might seem to have with Archfey, is that its not directly combat oriented like Fiend or Hexblade is.
With the introduction of Tasha's and Van Richten's guide to Ravenloft it seems - at least to me - that the Archfey in particular is lagging behind. As a community I want to formulate an update.
Currently we have the following:
Archfey Expanded Spells:
1st: Faerie fire, Sleep
2nd: Calm Emotions, Phantasmal Force
3rd: Blink, Plant Growth
4th: Dominate Beast, Greater Invisibility
5th: Dominate Person, Seeming
Level 1 - Fey Presence
Starting at 1st level, your patron bestows upon you the ability to project the beguiling and fearsome presence of the fey. As an action, you can cause each creature in a 10-foot cube originating from you to make a Wisdom saving throw against your warlock spell save DC. The creatures that fail their saving throws are all charmed or frightened by you (your choice) until the end of your next turn.
Once you use this feature, you can't use it again until you finish a short or long rest.
Level 6 - Misty Escape
Starting at 6th level, you can vanish in a puff of mist in response to harm. When you take damage, you can use your reaction to turn invisible and teleport up to 60 feet to an unoccupied space you can see. You remain invisible until the start of your next turn or until you attack or cast a spell.
Once you use this feature, you can't use it again until you finish a short or long rest.
Level 10 - Beguiling Defenses
Beginning at 10th level, your patron teaches you how to turn the mind-affecting magic of your enemies against them. You are immune to being charmed, and when another creature attempts to charm you, you can use your reaction to attempt to turn the charm back on that creature. The creature must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw against your warlock spell save DC or be charmed by you for 1 minute or until the creature takes any damage.
Level 14 - Dark Delirium
Starting at 14th level, you can plunge a creature into an illusory realm. As an action, choose a creature that you can see within 60 feet of you. It must make a Wisdom saving throw against your warlock spell save DC. On a failed save, it is charmed or frightened by you (your choice) for 1 minute or until your concentration is broken (as if you are concentrating on a spell). This effect ends early if the creature takes any damage.
Until this illusion ends, the creature thinks it is lost in a misty realm, the appearance of which you choose. The creature can see and hear only itself, you, and the illusion.
You must finish a short or long rest before you can use this feature again.
Lets look at Fey Presence:
-10ft cube is measly. Id argue to either increase the aoe size or turn it into a cone. As it stands in combat you rarely ever get to effect more than 1 or 2 enemies with it and if you are even in a situation with 4+ enemies in a 10ft or less cube around you then you are likely going to be dead very soon.
I have read that some people argue it is more of a social skill but it only last 6 seconds so it cannot really add any value.
The problem with Charm/frighten effects is that they effect so few enemies which further limits it capabilities.
Finally you can use it once per short rest which if your games are anything like the ones i play in we are often limited to 2 short rests per day. So to bring it more in line with Tasha's etc id suggest the following:
You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum of once), and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.
I personally think this might get more mileage as at level 5 you get 3 uses per rest, 4 at 9, 5 at 13, and 6 at 17. But tell me if I'm wrong/what you think.
Order Domain Clerics also have a similar ability: Order's Demand
As an action, you present your holy symbol, and each creature of your choice that can see or hear you within 30 feet of you must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or be charmed by you until the end of your next turn or until the charmed creature takes any damage. You can also cause any of the charmed creatures to drop what they are holding when they fail the saving throw.
Which arguably is better.
Misty Escape:
Using your reaction in response to damage you turn invisible and teleport up to 60ft away. Remain invisible until your next turn or until you attack. Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a short or long rest.
This isn't bad but like as above I would adjust it to be usable a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum of once), and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.
I would probably say as well that you can use your reaction to activate the ability even if you haven't received damage.
Beguiling Defenses
Charm immunity is fine. Basically redirecting any charm effects back at the caster who if they fail their save are charmed for 1 minute or unless they take damage. Obviously wont work if they are also immune.
Fey Wanderer Rangers seem to get a suped up version of this to a degree:
Whenever you or a creature you can see within 120 feet of you succeeds on a saving throw against being charmed or frightened, you can use your reaction to force a different creature you can see within 120 feet of you to make a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC. If the save fails, the target is charmed or frightened by you (your choice) for 1 minute. The target can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a successful save.
So i would argue:
Keep Charm immunity but add the rest of Beguiling twist to the power as well.
Dark Delirium
Basically acts as concentration version of banishment in a sense just with the caveat the creature is either charmed or frightened of you for the duration. At higher levels this can be so redundant as so many creatures become immune to these effects.
I would change the following:
You can plunge a creature into an illusory realm. As an action, choose a creature that you can see within 60 feet of you. It must make a Wisdom/Charisma? saving throw against your warlock spell save DC. On a failed save, it is trapped within the illusion for 1 minute or until your concentration is broken (as if you are concentrating on a spell). This effect ends early if the creature takes any damage.
Until this illusion ends, the creature thinks it is lost in a misty realm, the appearance of which you choose. The creature can see and hear only itself, you, and the illusion.
You must finish a short or long rest before you can use this feature again.
To be honest I want to do more with the subclass especially when comparing to the newer warlock subclasses:
Undead:
Transformation gives 1d10+warlock lvl temp HP, Fear Immunity, fear on hit, additional dmg. Spirit projection alone is amazinng!
Genie:
fast short rest for you and party, additional dmg equal to your prof bonus, damage resistance, flight, temp hp for party, Limited wish!
TLDR: Update to Archfey subclass, feed back and other thoughts requested!
Just a couple of thoughts...
I think giving Warlocks their domain spells automatically would really assist here due to how good this spell list is. Maybe even a feature where 1/long rest you can cast 1 domain spell for free. Faerie Fire is a great spell for several levels and sleep is really good at levels 1-2. The 2nd level spells are circumstantial, but Blink and Greater Invisibility are *great* spells for what an Archfey Warlock wants to do.
Fey Presence I would leave alone...it's not meant to be a battlefield control ability, it's meant to be an escape option. Warlocks don't get access to the shield spell, so being able to Charm or Frighten a foe who approaches you in melee is great as is for a level 1 ability. Maybe make it CHA MOD per day or PB per day, but I think it works as is.
Misty Escape again is a *break in case of emergency* ability. You get hit by a powerful foe with 2 or 3 attacks...maybe even 4? Misty Step out of their range and tun invisible. Maybe as you said give them more usages, but I think this works as intended.
Beguiling Defense, I agree with your take
Dark Delirium I'd leave as is. Illusions tend to be Wisdom saves not Charisma. And yes, there are a good number of creatures that are immune to being Charmed *and* Frightened but those also tend to be the creatures that game designers don't want trapped in an Illusion
Fey presence is an aweful escape ability and much weaker than a lot of similar abilities with similar number of use limitations like conquest channel divinity. If you want to escape as a fey lock you take the disengage action not fey presence.
Fey presence is an aweful escape ability and much weaker than a lot of similar abilities with similar number of use limitations like conquest channel divinity. If you want to escape as a fey lock you take the disengage action not fey presence.
Unless the target is immune to being Charmed/Frightened or has Legendary Resistance, why would you disengage? Charming let's you escape for free just *and* you cannot be targeted on their next turn. If you frighten them instead, then *everyone* benefits from them rolling at disadvantage
Both are objectively better than disengage.
Combine frighten with Misty Escape so if you did get hit with a bad roll and boom...you're gone after the first hit
The problem with the ability is you get one use per short rest. It's far from an OP ability, but it will make targets think twice about surrounding you if they gave more usages
edit: also the ability should be creature of your choice...makes it a bit better, so you can run up, frighten a group and not worry about friendly fire and Misty Escape/Misty Step out
Disengage is certain in it's effects whereas fey presence is save dependent. Certainty is extremely valuable when it comes to escape mechanics. If this ability allowed no save it would be extraordinary but as is you wouldn't want to risk the passed save if you were using it to escape a critical situation.
As someone already mentioned Disengage is guaranteed, no save. Which reliability is very important for escape tools. In addition, I wouldn't worry too much about hitting an ally with with this. 10 foot cube centered on self is not radius nor does it go all around you. It is only hitting 4 squares in front of you and that is it. This is extremely small and extremely easy to aim with a very short duration. The most I have ever gotten with this is 3 people, and that was about the only time it was worth it over disengage and even then the guy within 5 feet of me succeeded so I had to use my Eladrin Misty step effect to make it roll for save again and actually get away without harm, so even then it didn't work.
Let's just compare this to Oath of Conquest paladin. Each creature with 30 feet of you that you choose is frightened for a full minute they can repeat the save at the end of each of their turns... no concentration nothing. We are talking much larger range, much larger duration, much larger area and same number of uses. Even if Fey presence had a 30 foot range that you could affect a 10 foot cube in it would be much better as a "pseudo control" tool. If it was as is and lasted a minute giving them a save at the end of each of their turns it would be fine as well, it would hit fewer targets, but you can charm OR frighten. If you could use it as a bonus action and if they succeed the save you could still disengage or if they fail you can use your action to dash again maybe it would be good. As is, Fey presence is barely useable. I have even created blade pact locks for archfey specifically to put me in melee range to use this more often as a control effect and it still only comes up once in a blue moon.
I am not arguing misty escape at all, it is one of the best escape tools any subclass has access to in my opinion. The short rest recharge, especially when you play an elf with misty step that also recharges on a short rest is super fun and getting all of your abilities back every short rest is super cool and fun in my opinion as well.
With the introduction of Tasha's and Van Richten's guide to Ravenloft it seems - at least to me - that the Archfey in particular is lagging behind. As a community I want to formulate an update.
Currently we have the following:
Archfey Expanded Spells:
1st: Faerie fire, Sleep
2nd: Calm Emotions, Phantasmal Force
3rd: Blink, Plant Growth
4th: Dominate Beast, Greater Invisibility
5th: Dominate Person, Seeming
Starting at 1st level, your patron bestows upon you the ability to project the beguiling and fearsome presence of the fey. As an action, you can cause each creature in a 10-foot cube originating from you to make a Wisdom saving throw against your warlock spell save DC. The creatures that fail their saving throws are all charmed or frightened by you (your choice) until the end of your next turn.
Once you use this feature, you can't use it again until you finish a short or long rest.
Starting at 6th level, you can vanish in a puff of mist in response to harm. When you take damage, you can use your reaction to turn invisible and teleport up to 60 feet to an unoccupied space you can see. You remain invisible until the start of your next turn or until you attack or cast a spell.
Once you use this feature, you can't use it again until you finish a short or long rest.
Beginning at 10th level, your patron teaches you how to turn the mind-affecting magic of your enemies against them. You are immune to being charmed, and when another creature attempts to charm you, you can use your reaction to attempt to turn the charm back on that creature. The creature must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw against your warlock spell save DC or be charmed by you for 1 minute or until the creature takes any damage.
Starting at 14th level, you can plunge a creature into an illusory realm. As an action, choose a creature that you can see within 60 feet of you. It must make a Wisdom saving throw against your warlock spell save DC. On a failed save, it is charmed or frightened by you (your choice) for 1 minute or until your concentration is broken (as if you are concentrating on a spell). This effect ends early if the creature takes any damage.
Until this illusion ends, the creature thinks it is lost in a misty realm, the appearance of which you choose. The creature can see and hear only itself, you, and the illusion.
You must finish a short or long rest before you can use this feature again.
Lets look at Fey Presence:
-10ft cube is measly. Id argue to either increase the aoe size or turn it into a cone. As it stands in combat you rarely ever get to effect more than 1 or 2 enemies with it and if you are even in a situation with 4+ enemies in a 10ft or less cube around you then you are likely going to be dead very soon.
I have read that some people argue it is more of a social skill but it only last 6 seconds so it cannot really add any value.
The problem with Charm/frighten effects is that they effect so few enemies which further limits it capabilities.
Finally you can use it once per short rest which if your games are anything like the ones i play in we are often limited to 2 short rests per day. So to bring it more in line with Tasha's etc id suggest the following:
You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum of once), and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.
I personally think this might get more mileage as at level 5 you get 3 uses per rest, 4 at 9, 5 at 13, and 6 at 17. But tell me if I'm wrong/what you think.
Order Domain Clerics also have a similar ability: Order's Demand
As an action, you present your holy symbol, and each creature of your choice that can see or hear you within 30 feet of you must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or be charmed by you until the end of your next turn or until the charmed creature takes any damage. You can also cause any of the charmed creatures to drop what they are holding when they fail the saving throw.
Which arguably is better.
Misty Escape:
Using your reaction in response to damage you turn invisible and teleport up to 60ft away. Remain invisible until your next turn or until you attack. Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a short or long rest.
This isn't bad but like as above I would adjust it to be usable a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum of once), and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.
I would probably say as well that you can use your reaction to activate the ability even if you haven't received damage.
Beguiling Defenses
Charm immunity is fine. Basically redirecting any charm effects back at the caster who if they fail their save are charmed for 1 minute or unless they take damage. Obviously wont work if they are also immune.
Fey Wanderer Rangers seem to get a suped up version of this to a degree:
Whenever you or a creature you can see within 120 feet of you succeeds on a saving throw against being charmed or frightened, you can use your reaction to force a different creature you can see within 120 feet of you to make a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC. If the save fails, the target is charmed or frightened by you (your choice) for 1 minute. The target can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a successful save.
So i would argue:
Keep Charm immunity but add the rest of Beguiling twist to the power as well.
Dark Delirium
Basically acts as concentration version of banishment in a sense just with the caveat the creature is either charmed or frightened of you for the duration. At higher levels this can be so redundant as so many creatures become immune to these effects.
I would change the following:
You can plunge a creature into an illusory realm. As an action, choose a creature that you can see within 60 feet of you. It must make a Wisdom/Charisma? saving throw against your warlock spell save DC. On a failed save, it is trapped within the illusion for 1 minute or until your concentration is broken (as if you are concentrating on a spell). This effect ends early if the creature takes any damage.
Until this illusion ends, the creature thinks it is lost in a misty realm, the appearance of which you choose. The creature can see and hear only itself, you, and the illusion.
You must finish a short or long rest before you can use this feature again.
To be honest I want to do more with the subclass especially when comparing to the newer warlock subclasses:
Undead:
Transformation gives 1d10+warlock lvl temp HP, Fear Immunity, fear on hit, additional dmg. Spirit projection alone is amazinng!
Genie:
fast short rest for you and party, additional dmg equal to your prof bonus, damage resistance, flight, temp hp for party, Limited wish!
TLDR: Update to Archfey subclass, feed back and other thoughts requested!
bump
I will adress Fey Presence and Misty Escape, because those are the two I actually played with. So here goes.
1. Fey Presence: is not bad in its current state, but is very, very situational; you can charm/frighten up to 4 normal enemies, which is not bad, but rarely happens; they get a Wisdom Save, which is one of the hardest to target; and as you mentioned, a lot of enemies are straight out immune to being charmed or frightened;
I would suggest the following:
This way its a bit weaker early on, but remains useful throughout the campaign, scaling with your Proficiency bonus. The longer duration makes it useful in social encounters as well as combat ones, cause I seriously doubt you can accomplish much RP wise within 6 seconds.
2. Misty Escape: is extremely powerful at any/all levels; for starters, it triggers after you suffer damage, any type; it is a buffed up Misty Step, making you invisible, having longer range and acting out of Reaction;
If I were to suggest changes, then:
I think this would help create the Feywild wackiness vibe and express the chaotic nature of the Archfeys. But its only if I felt like it needs changing. As it is now, its a free Get Out of Jail card, that you can play whenever you take damage and just straight out escape any consecutive attacks. Enemies would need True Sight, Blind Sight or some form of Tremor Sense and be able to close those 60ft or turn to ranged attacks. It's amazing :D
These are both really good suggestions. Treating Fey Presence like Bane would work very well and definitely increases its usefulness.
I do really like Misty Step and it is really useful. In previous games I have 'Injured' myself or had a party member perform an unarmed strike against my character so i can trigger the ability and teleport 60 ft up a wall for example.
Archfey Warlock is still working. He is not one of the best Warlocks, he never has been, but he fulfills his role competently. And you're still a Warlock, with your eldritch invocations and everything else.
I don't think it needs to be improved.
That's more or less my impression of the subclass. It has a lot of tricks up its sleeve to be a very versatile and tricky to play with and against. If you take Pact of the Tome or Talisman, you are an amazing party support and battle field controller. You can easily serve as party face with the charm and fear effects in your toolkit as well.
I think the problem people might seem to have with Archfey, is that its not directly combat oriented like Fiend or Hexblade is.
I didnt see the Archfey additional spells like
1st: Faerie fire, Sleep
2nd: Calm Emotions, Phantasmal Force
3rd: Blink, Plant Growth
4th: Dominate Beast, Greater Invisibility
5th: Dominate Person, Seeming
Just a couple of thoughts...
I think giving Warlocks their domain spells automatically would really assist here due to how good this spell list is. Maybe even a feature where 1/long rest you can cast 1 domain spell for free. Faerie Fire is a great spell for several levels and sleep is really good at levels 1-2. The 2nd level spells are circumstantial, but Blink and Greater Invisibility are *great* spells for what an Archfey Warlock wants to do.
Fey Presence I would leave alone...it's not meant to be a battlefield control ability, it's meant to be an escape option. Warlocks don't get access to the shield spell, so being able to Charm or Frighten a foe who approaches you in melee is great as is for a level 1 ability. Maybe make it CHA MOD per day or PB per day, but I think it works as is.
Misty Escape again is a *break in case of emergency* ability. You get hit by a powerful foe with 2 or 3 attacks...maybe even 4? Misty Step out of their range and tun invisible. Maybe as you said give them more usages, but I think this works as intended.
Beguiling Defense, I agree with your take
Dark Delirium I'd leave as is. Illusions tend to be Wisdom saves not Charisma. And yes, there are a good number of creatures that are immune to being Charmed *and* Frightened but those also tend to be the creatures that game designers don't want trapped in an Illusion
Fey presence is an aweful escape ability and much weaker than a lot of similar abilities with similar number of use limitations like conquest channel divinity. If you want to escape as a fey lock you take the disengage action not fey presence.
Unless the target is immune to being Charmed/Frightened or has Legendary Resistance, why would you disengage? Charming let's you escape for free just *and* you cannot be targeted on their next turn. If you frighten them instead, then *everyone* benefits from them rolling at disadvantage
Both are objectively better than disengage.
Combine frighten with Misty Escape so if you did get hit with a bad roll and boom...you're gone after the first hit
The problem with the ability is you get one use per short rest. It's far from an OP ability, but it will make targets think twice about surrounding you if they gave more usages
edit: also the ability should be creature of your choice...makes it a bit better, so you can run up, frighten a group and not worry about friendly fire and Misty Escape/Misty Step out
Disengage is certain in it's effects whereas fey presence is save dependent. Certainty is extremely valuable when it comes to escape mechanics. If this ability allowed no save it would be extraordinary but as is you wouldn't want to risk the passed save if you were using it to escape a critical situation.
As someone already mentioned Disengage is guaranteed, no save. Which reliability is very important for escape tools. In addition, I wouldn't worry too much about hitting an ally with with this. 10 foot cube centered on self is not radius nor does it go all around you. It is only hitting 4 squares in front of you and that is it. This is extremely small and extremely easy to aim with a very short duration. The most I have ever gotten with this is 3 people, and that was about the only time it was worth it over disengage and even then the guy within 5 feet of me succeeded so I had to use my Eladrin Misty step effect to make it roll for save again and actually get away without harm, so even then it didn't work.
Let's just compare this to Oath of Conquest paladin. Each creature with 30 feet of you that you choose is frightened for a full minute they can repeat the save at the end of each of their turns... no concentration nothing. We are talking much larger range, much larger duration, much larger area and same number of uses. Even if Fey presence had a 30 foot range that you could affect a 10 foot cube in it would be much better as a "pseudo control" tool. If it was as is and lasted a minute giving them a save at the end of each of their turns it would be fine as well, it would hit fewer targets, but you can charm OR frighten. If you could use it as a bonus action and if they succeed the save you could still disengage or if they fail you can use your action to dash again maybe it would be good. As is, Fey presence is barely useable. I have even created blade pact locks for archfey specifically to put me in melee range to use this more often as a control effect and it still only comes up once in a blue moon.
I am not arguing misty escape at all, it is one of the best escape tools any subclass has access to in my opinion. The short rest recharge, especially when you play an elf with misty step that also recharges on a short rest is super fun and getting all of your abilities back every short rest is super cool and fun in my opinion as well.