So, yeah, basically what it says on the tin: I'm looking for some good spells to use for a Warlock with The Undead as her patron and the Pact of the Tome. My character is a former charlatan posing as a medium, turned genuine spiritualist after she had inexplicably started to channel actual ghosts following the death of her husband, a Paladin who had been slain a few months prior to her first real channelling.
Her patrons are the spirits of the restless dead who come to her for help finding peace. And, of course, the most significant source of her power is going to come from the ghost of said husband. Her Form of Dread is going to take the form of her eyes glowing with greenish flame, and her body lifting an inch off the ground as the spirit of her departed husband takes form in front of her like a guardian protecting his wife from harm, looking much as he did when he died -- which is grisly, to say the least. As for the character's Book of Shadows and Eldritch Invocations, they are going to take the form of knowledge given to her by her ghostly benefactors, many of which I imagine were once powerful spellcasters in life.
That's the basic gist of the character. Anyway, back to what I'm looking for: I'm basically looking for spells and Invocations that are best suited for an Undead Tomelock with a ghostly/spiritualist theme. I already have my eye on a few spells, such as Summon Undead and rituals like Commune and Divination, reflavoured as seance-like rituals used to commune with the spirits of the dead. I'm also keeping an eye on a few Invocations like Ghostly Gaze for example, but I'd like to hear what you guys think. What would you pick if you were running this character?
Cantrips: Start with cantrips - For one of your free cantrips I really like shocking grasp on this build because of its interplay with the frightened effect. Find yourself in melee and use shocking grqasp, if you hit the bad guy has to save against frightened and if he becomes frightened he can't approach you, so you can back away withot a reaction attack and he can't follow. For the other two cantrips I like Guidance and Mending.
Assuming you get book of ancient secrets, I would take find familiar and Detect Magic as the two freebies
I would get a new Warlock ritual spell every level and copy it into my book as well, trading it for a different one every level. I would get these spells: 3rd level - unseen servant, 4th level - alarm, 5th level - phantom steed, 6th comprehend languages
As far as your regular Warlock spells here is what I would use:
1st: hex, cause fear
2nd: Protection from evil and good
3rd: replace PEG with unseen servant, Misty Step
4th: replace US with alarm, blindness/deafness
5th: replace alarm with Phantom Steed, Fear
6th: replace PS with comprehend languages, Summon Undead
Apologies for the late reply! And thank you for the suggestions, they're really appreciated. :D
And I've been doing a lot of thinking about my character's spells, too. I'm not so sure about Shocking Grasp though, if I'm being totally honest with you. I intend the character to be more ranged and/or support than an up close and personal warrior. I would have thought spells like Chill Touch or Toll the Dead would at least be more thematic as attack cantrips for an Undead Warlock, assuming I didn't go for the classic Eldritch Blast.
Hex is a Warlock classic and probably one of the more likely picks for me, and Cause Fear is an awesome choice, but it might be a tad redundant because of Form of Dread. Then again, there's nothing wrong with frightening as many enemies as you can, lol. Another choice that I've been having my eye on is Arms of Hadar. I know that's more Lovecraftian-themed, but I can always flavour the spell as ghosts attacking the target instead of the target being welcomed to [word that rhymes with zentai].
Protection from Evil and Good, a fantastic choice, and one I can flavour as the ghosts offering their protection to the intended person. I'll definitely keep my eye on Unseen Servant and Misty Step as well for my 2nd level spells. I would have thought that Phantasmal Force would be more thematic compared to Blindness/Deafness since, y'know, Phantasms, but Blindness/Deafness is solid enough to consider. Summon Undead I shall definitely pick up, though.
All in all, those are some fairly solid picks for this character and I thank you again for the suggestions! ^_^
Remember - Form of Dread doesn't work with everything - it requires an attack roll -
You gain temporary hit points equal to 1d10 + your warlock level.
Once during each of your turns, when you hit a creature with an attack roll, you can force it to make a Wisdom saving throw, and if the saving throw fails, the target is frightened of you until the end of your next turn.
Eldritch Blast is the best ranged cantrip. The reason I like shocking grasp is it is an attack roll, and therefore works with form of dread. Chill touch is good too, especially against undead that are not resistant and anything that regenerates. It is ranged though, so you have disadvantage on it of caught in melee. SG also causes enemies to lose their reaction, letting you disengage without an AOO. That is why I like EB and SG as cantrips, EB most of the time and SG if you are in melee and need to get away.
Cause Fear is really good because it upcasts well. It frightens for a whole minute (save each turn), so it lasts longer than form of dread and you will get to use it against more people when you use a warlock spell slot. The Fear spell is a lot better, but it is a cone so sometimes you might have enemies mixed up in melee and want to target specific enemies instead of an area and in that case cause fear is better even though it is weaker.
Greetings!
So, yeah, basically what it says on the tin: I'm looking for some good spells to use for a Warlock with The Undead as her patron and the Pact of the Tome. My character is a former charlatan posing as a medium, turned genuine spiritualist after she had inexplicably started to channel actual ghosts following the death of her husband, a Paladin who had been slain a few months prior to her first real channelling.
Her patrons are the spirits of the restless dead who come to her for help finding peace. And, of course, the most significant source of her power is going to come from the ghost of said husband. Her Form of Dread is going to take the form of her eyes glowing with greenish flame, and her body lifting an inch off the ground as the spirit of her departed husband takes form in front of her like a guardian protecting his wife from harm, looking much as he did when he died -- which is grisly, to say the least. As for the character's Book of Shadows and Eldritch Invocations, they are going to take the form of knowledge given to her by her ghostly benefactors, many of which I imagine were once powerful spellcasters in life.
That's the basic gist of the character. Anyway, back to what I'm looking for: I'm basically looking for spells and Invocations that are best suited for an Undead Tomelock with a ghostly/spiritualist theme. I already have my eye on a few spells, such as Summon Undead and rituals like Commune and Divination, reflavoured as seance-like rituals used to commune with the spirits of the dead. I'm also keeping an eye on a few Invocations like Ghostly Gaze for example, but I'd like to hear what you guys think. What would you pick if you were running this character?
Depends on level.
Cantrips: Start with cantrips - For one of your free cantrips I really like shocking grasp on this build because of its interplay with the frightened effect. Find yourself in melee and use shocking grqasp, if you hit the bad guy has to save against frightened and if he becomes frightened he can't approach you, so you can back away withot a reaction attack and he can't follow. For the other two cantrips I like Guidance and Mending.
Assuming you get book of ancient secrets, I would take find familiar and Detect Magic as the two freebies
I would get a new Warlock ritual spell every level and copy it into my book as well, trading it for a different one every level. I would get these spells: 3rd level - unseen servant, 4th level - alarm, 5th level - phantom steed, 6th comprehend languages
As far as your regular Warlock spells here is what I would use:
1st: hex, cause fear
2nd: Protection from evil and good
3rd: replace PEG with unseen servant, Misty Step
4th: replace US with alarm, blindness/deafness
5th: replace alarm with Phantom Steed, Fear
6th: replace PS with comprehend languages, Summon Undead
7th: Replace CL with Death Ward, hunger of hadar
8th: psychic lance,
9th: Synaptic Static
10th: Dense Macabre
Apologies for the late reply! And thank you for the suggestions, they're really appreciated. :D
And I've been doing a lot of thinking about my character's spells, too. I'm not so sure about Shocking Grasp though, if I'm being totally honest with you. I intend the character to be more ranged and/or support than an up close and personal warrior. I would have thought spells like Chill Touch or Toll the Dead would at least be more thematic as attack cantrips for an Undead Warlock, assuming I didn't go for the classic Eldritch Blast.
Hex is a Warlock classic and probably one of the more likely picks for me, and Cause Fear is an awesome choice, but it might be a tad redundant because of Form of Dread. Then again, there's nothing wrong with frightening as many enemies as you can, lol. Another choice that I've been having my eye on is Arms of Hadar. I know that's more Lovecraftian-themed, but I can always flavour the spell as ghosts attacking the target instead of the target being welcomed to [word that rhymes with zentai].
Protection from Evil and Good, a fantastic choice, and one I can flavour as the ghosts offering their protection to the intended person. I'll definitely keep my eye on Unseen Servant and Misty Step as well for my 2nd level spells. I would have thought that Phantasmal Force would be more thematic compared to Blindness/Deafness since, y'know, Phantasms, but Blindness/Deafness is solid enough to consider. Summon Undead I shall definitely pick up, though.
All in all, those are some fairly solid picks for this character and I thank you again for the suggestions! ^_^
Remember - Form of Dread doesn't work with everything - it requires an attack roll -
So a spell that requires a save won't work, but Eldritch Blast would...
Eldritch Blast is the best ranged cantrip. The reason I like shocking grasp is it is an attack roll, and therefore works with form of dread. Chill touch is good too, especially against undead that are not resistant and anything that regenerates. It is ranged though, so you have disadvantage on it of caught in melee. SG also causes enemies to lose their reaction, letting you disengage without an AOO. That is why I like EB and SG as cantrips, EB most of the time and SG if you are in melee and need to get away.
Cause Fear is really good because it upcasts well. It frightens for a whole minute (save each turn), so it lasts longer than form of dread and you will get to use it against more people when you use a warlock spell slot. The Fear spell is a lot better, but it is a cone so sometimes you might have enemies mixed up in melee and want to target specific enemies instead of an area and in that case cause fear is better even though it is weaker.