warlock seems cool, eldrich invocations are awesome and it’s great for role playing but the lack of spell slots just makes warlock kind of bad. Does any body have any home brew improvements to help even the playing field for warlocks.
Warlock’s are great for role playing and they’re also pretty powerful because their spell slots regenerate on short rests and their spell slots are automatically at the highest level spell slot that they can cast. Plus Eldritch Blast is the most powerful cantrip in the game.
There are many different ways to build a playable warlock: not underpowered in combat, tons of utilities, and naturally built-in story arcs for role playing.
If you like being above average power level in combat, but don't mind the combat being a little boring, take eldritch blast cantrip, hex spell and agonizing blast invocation. The rest of the build is completely open.
If you like casting non-cantrip spells in combat, try to pick spells that can last for a whole combat. There are a few spells like that on your list for every level up to spell level 5, mostly control spells. I think when they designed the warlock spell list and each subclass, they purposely avoided low level (1-3) damage spells that both last for at least 1 minute and scales up with spell slot level. There is only one exception: celestial's flaming sphere (an excellent pick).
If you prefer out-of-combat utilities, and just need your combat to be not completely useless, warlock is probably the best class. I played a utility-focused warlock who had an archaeologist background: he is the expert of dungeon exploration.
He can read all writings (Eyes of the Rune Keeper), can see magic arua, (Eldritch Sight) can see through magic darkness (Devil’s Sight), can even see through solid objects temporarily (Ghostly Gaze), and he use mage hand cantrip to avoid (or trigger) traps, use prestidigitation cantrip to clear the dirt on treasures and archaeology findings.
Super fun to play.
In combat, I dipped 1 level fighter to get medium armor, shield and martial weapons, and use booming blade in combat. Besides, I have 1 or 2 AoE spells. I didn't feel completely useless.
Some simple combos that can give your build some extra boosts:
- Celestial, Healing Light class feature, Pact of the Chain, Gift of the Ever-Living Ones invocation (you can get this combo as early as level 3). This is arguably the second best self-healing build (still can't beat paladin's lay on hands).
- Blade ward cantrip and armor of agathys spell. It needs a little role playing: you need to (sometimes creatively) taunt those weak goons to attack you, but you get high charisma.
Warlocks are relatively underpowered if your DM tends to have only a couple encounters per adventuring day, allowing long rest classes to use spells from their top 2-3 levels every turn. On the other hand, if you have multiple short rests per day, the warlock gains significant ground and can overtake them in more extreme cases.
Hexblades are capable of extremely high damage output. So are other subclasses. Also, there are various magic items that increase their spell slots if that is a major concern.
The key thing to remember about warlocks is that wizard and sorcerer are not the logical comparison point. They are not controllers, they are strikers, closer to Rangers or Arcane Archers. Eldritch Blast with Agonizing Blast and Hex gives you consistently good damage with up to 4 attacks a turn. It helps if you think of EB as a longbow that you then augment with your spells. Unless you have a lot of short rests you won't have as many spells per day as a wizard, but they are cast at high level and invocations and pacts give you unique options. You can even wade into melee if you go hexblade.
Tricky question. Yes and No. Technically Warlock is a full caster as they get access to 9th level spells however if you play them like a typical full caster, they can appear under powered especially if your table games tend to lack short rests on a regular basis. As much as some of us might like them to be true "Weird Wizards", they really are more like "Weird Rangers" with Eldritch Blast in place of a longbow. Also keep in mind that the invocations add ALOT of out of combat utility which true wizards would need to depend on spells to take care of. Unlimited Disguise Self is a HUGE utility in and out of combat. Tome Warlock can get any ritual spell from any class which is lots of utility as well. At will mage armor, levitation, detect magic- all quite useful.
That all being said, I fully understand your struggle. I am currently playing an Eladrin Feylock and have worked with my DM on a few homebrew rules to make it more fun to play a warlock who doesn't just spam eldritch blast. We have homebrewed that any of the invocations that grant you once per day usage of a spell, DO NOT also cost a spell slot to use. No spell is worth having to spend both and invocation and a spell slot to have. So currently I have the Minions of Chaos invocation and can cast it once per day at it's lowest level without using a spell slot. I have also made the following homebrewed invocations
1- Agonizing Charm-Requires Level 5- The mental fatigue of resisting the charm of the Fey hurts even those who do not fall under it's power completely. When a creature saves against a charm effect or spell targeting wisdom or charisma, the creature takes psychic damage equal to warlock level + spell/effect level. So for instance, I am level 11 right now so if a creature resists my Fey Presence ability, it takes 12 psychic damage. The rationale for this was due to the fact that Feylock spells and abilities are predominantly charm based and lots of creatures start to be immune or have advantage against charms, this would mean those abilities have some staying power compared to some of the other patrons.
2- Blood of the Fey-Requires Level 10- You have advantage on saving throws against magic. This was more a reflection of the fact that my character is both an Eladrin and Feylock so I am becoming more and more Fey as I level.
3- Path of the Fey- Requires level 15- You have mastered the paths between planes as other Fey. You can cast Misty Step at will. This will be a replacement for the Invocation that grants Invisibility at will. I wasn't super interested in that but love bamfing around battles. Also Mike Mearls in Sage Advice said that substituting any spell for another of same level does not break the balance of any class or subclass feature. Since Invisibility and misty step are both level 2 spells, this was an easy sell to my DM.
Also make sure to politely nudge your DM to reward you with a Rod of the Oath Keeper at some point for your Warlock. It is essential for making the Warlock more viable.
The strength of the Warlock class isn't necessarily rooted in their spell casting per say. Wizards and Sorcerers have many more spell slots and far more expansive spell lists than the warlock class. The warlock class offers a lot of options to play around the lower number of spell slots but when you're playing a warlock what you should always be thinking is UTILITY.
Warlocks work well as beefier utility spellcasters who excel in combat as well as in social interactions. Here's how I've found to get the most out of the Warlock class and gain an edge over sorcerers and wizards.
1) At level 1, an optimal combat strategy is to take the Eldritch blast cantrip and the Armor of Agathys + Hex spells. Since a warlock intrinsically has more HP than other casters and can use light armor, getting Armor of Agathys further increases this disparity. It also increases its Temp HP + cold damage with each level and warlocks always cast at max spell level so this spell will be useful at high and low levels. It also increases your damage output by allowing inflict free cold damage on enemies that hit you, no spell check or damage roll needed. It also lasts a full hour so you can easily short rest between uses to get the most use out of the spell. Hex is great because you can add a D6 to every Eldritch blast hit and you can add this to each Eldritch blast beam when you reach higher levels, giving you extra D6 damage on each beam hit. Hex also lasts a long time (1hr, then 8 and finally 24), is cast as a bonus action, doesn't require an attack roll, allows you to cast other spells more effectively with a free ability save disadvantage and can be moved from a dead target to a new one without expending a spell slot.
2) Once you hit level 2, get the agonizing blast invocation. Lets say you have a CHR of 18 and are attacking a hexxed target with Eldritch blast. Every successful hit is dealing 1D10 + 4 +1D6 damage which averages out to 13 damage per hit. So at level 2, in one round of combat, you can deal an average of 13 damage with your action and deal an additional 5 cold damage if someone hits you. That's extremely impressive for one round of combat at such a low level.
Like I said though, the strength of the Warlock is in its utility. The reason I love Warlocks is because of their out of combat usefulness, because let's face it, Hex + Eldritch blast + Agonizing blast + Armor of Agathys can sometimes feel boring. Using the Celestial as a patron gives you healing for 60 feet as a bonus action with no spell slot usage, so basically a free empowered healing word to add some more flavor to combat. You can also run maddening Hex to pop off even more damage during your bonus action, though this invocation feels much weaker at higher levels. The true strength of warlocks that sets them apart from other spellcasters, besides higher HP and light armor proficiency, is your pact boon + Eldritch invocations.
Pact Boon: I always recommend getting pact of the tome. You can choose 3 non-warlock cantrips to maximize your utility. My personal favorites are guidance, spare the dying, and message which always wind up being useful. Another choice is to take friends and combine this with the Mask of Many Faces invocation to get the most out of NPC interactions without suffering the drawback of the Friends cantrip. The other OP thing about pact of the Tome is that you can get the Book of Ancient Secrets for ritual casting ability that outshines anything a wizard or sorcerer can do. Plus you save spell slots by ritual casting! The best rituals to start out with are Find Familiar (an extra turn in combat, why thank you) and Unseen servant (2 extra turns in combat? Why thank you very much). Then add as many ritual spells to the book as you can by purchasing them from shops.
Eldritch invocations:
Agonizing Blast, Lance of Lethargy, Repelling Blast all allow you to turn a meager cantrip into a powerful combat spell by granting Eldritch blast extra damage and crowd control effects. Maddening Hex may be worth looking at early on, but I recommend dropping this by level 6 or 7 for a more powerful invocation.
Mask of Many Faces/Master of Myriad Forms and Beguiling influence combined with the Actor background or feat will easily make you the most dominating member of your party in NPC interaction. Why take things by force when you can use honeyed words to obtain what you desire.
Whispers of the Grave, Visions of Distant Realms, Tomb of Levistus, Trickster's Escape, Shroud of Shadow, Otherworldly Leap, Misty Visions, Gift of the Depths, Fiendish Vigor, Armor of Shadows, Ascendant Step, and Beast Speech all grant free, and in most cases, limitless spells that can be cast without fear of losing spell slots.
Finally, if lack of Spell slots is still getting you down, try and ask your DM about locations where you may purchase/find a Wand of the Pact Keeper which grants warlocks an additional spell slot as well bonuses to your Spell Attack modifier and Spell Save DC.
The responses are on point. If you never have opportunities to rest then Warlock / Fighter / Monk / moondruid / will all miss opportunities to use their abilities as they were intended to every shortrest. Consider investing in a Carriage with a bed as transport for a warlock - rest on the move and at least between overland travel encounters you will be fresh each time.
Even if you never ever have the opportunity to rest a warlock of first levels attack is 1d10 + 1d6 (hex - for an hour) at third add the charisma bonus to that damage, at 5th take two shots. It isnt underpowered when comparing that to other classes damage potential per round. If however your games are one big fight where full casters unload everything and the kitchen sink then everyone gets to go home for Martini's and repeat the next day? Yes then nothing will compare to the damage spike of a full caster on a warpath given no incentive to hold anything in reserve.
Talk about it with your DM, so that there's more short rests; this will help.
Or if your DM is okay with it there a few ways to Homebrew this without been out of touch with how the class was designed.
-1- Gain an extra Spellslots eact time your character gets a spellslot, the 4 first spells slots you get goes up to lvl4 and the 4 after that up to lvl5, with 8 spellslots you'll get a much easier time, but without been outperforming or overpowering the other casters, maybe the other half casters though, but you Sold you Soul to a Dark entity for a reason, unlike those plebs that just picked up a random spellbook and decided to learn whats in it( and getting 11 spellslots...)
-2- Change/Modify one of the class features around lvl6 or 9, like this "Soul Siphon- You've learned to sacrifice the Souls of worthy opponents to your Patron, pleasing him and gaining power from it- When you bring a creature that has a CR equal or superior to your level to 0HP with an attack or spell and kill it, you can decide to offer its Soul to your patron, effectively giving you back ONE spell slots, you have previously expanded, a soul offered this way cannot be used for any other purpose (like Soul cage, or other abilities that use the creature Soul), only a Wish spell can restore the creatures Soul, you can use this feature once per round.
One of the simpliest and non-homebrew way to do it is to take a few levels in another spellcaster class, since your Warlock and other spellcaster slots and spells can be interchanged.
Best thing would be paladin, Bards and Sorcerors, since they all use CHA as a spellcasting ability, even 2-3 lvl dip would give you 3-4 extra spell slots to cast low level spells or 1st spells that doesn't scale up anyway.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Normality is but an Illusion, Whats normal to the Spider, is only madness for the Fly"
Have your wizard cast Tenser's Floating Disk and take a short rest while you float along behind him. It's a ritual spell so doesn't cost him a spell slot. Or if you are a warforged or air genasi you can rest in the Bag of Holding.
Warlock has really strong damage due to the way we scale with a single spell slot and cantrip alone, along with probably the deepest amount of personal customization. If you're finding you're lacking spells, I suspect you've not picked the right cantrips or are not using them correctly. Same with your invocations.
As a Celestial you have amazing support capabilities, melee fighting under Hexblade and RP with Archfey and Old Ones plus Fiends have amazing self sustain.
Dipping into Sorcerer for around 4 levels will give your more spell slots to play with (Take Catnap when you get a chance or have someone else pick it up, with Sorcerer levels you will NOT regret it.) Or even Bard or Pally, we have probably the most options outside of splashing out of a Fighter
I have a Hexblade PotB that I love playing. She's melee heavy, and uses spells somewhat rarely. EB is only for out of melee range attacks, and she usually saves a slot for an Eldritch Smite. So much so, that my DM home brewed a Ring of Smiting that grants a "free" Eldritch Smite per long rest.
And, as a special, un-requested bonus, my DM gifted my Pact weapon with the ability to regain a spell slot when she kills with it. So, extra incentive to be melee focused.
I have a Hexblade PotB that I love playing. She's melee heavy, and uses spells somewhat rarely. EB is only for out of melee range attacks, and she usually saves a slot for an Eldritch Smite. So much so, that my DM home brewed a Ring of Smiting that grants a "free" Eldritch Smite per long rest.
And, as a special, un-requested bonus, my DM gifted my Pact weapon with the ability to regain a spell slot when she kills with it. So, extra incentive to be melee focused.
This.
I mean if you look at the Blood Hunter's Profane Soul order the class feat you get later on lets you regain spellslots when you kill creatures that have a CR of 15 or higher.
Why is this not a thing for the Warlock is beyond me honestly, its thematic and fit perfectly.
A good way also is to use the Ancestral Weapon rules for your Pact Weapon, it gives a "Dark Blade" (Magus Archetype in Pathfinder) vibe that works pretty well.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Normality is but an Illusion, Whats normal to the Spider, is only madness for the Fly"
I bought "Lost Laboratory of Kwalish" because in the spell list for warlock "galder's tower" was a thing ... now it's gone and I'm anoyed because I have to make a halfling with a dragon mark to have a magic home
like what the hell warlock don't get a lot so at least let me make comfy space for myself
well either that or I completely missreaded the thing in the first place but my point still stand you make deals to get power but you wouldn't make a deal to have a home that you can just bamf in existence whenever you want even though the deals that you make often ask you to go walk around the world a lot
Warlocks are decent characters, up to a certain level. There is a reason you see a lot of dipping into it for only a handful of levels. I think the class on it's own can hold itself together for tier 2, but since the campaign I'm in has reached tier 3, I've noticed it has fallen off for a fellow player. Keep in mind that this is even after augmenting himself with some magic items to help with his limited spell slots. This isn't to say it is a bad class or something, basically anything is viable, but it certainly drops off when the rest of the spellcasters can be tossing around spells much more liberally with all their spell slots, and weapon users are able to use their various feats and features to also pump out some good damage. Just spamming Eldritch blast doesn't actually scale much with the class itself since nearly all the invocations and spells you want to make it good are obtained in the first handful of levels.
Yeah, its an issue, specially if you're in a group that rarely take short rests.
Having either up to 8 slots at your max lvl ( 18-19) would'nt throw off the balance of the game by that much, ( divide it in 4 lvl4 slots and 4 lvl 5 slots) and it would tremendously help the Warlock.
Or at least another mecanic that lets them recover a spell slot at least once or twice per long rest, like the new UA channel divinity Harness Divine power, that lets you regain a lv1 slot.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Normality is but an Illusion, Whats normal to the Spider, is only madness for the Fly"
Frankly, I like the Warlock as is. Yes, the limitations can be frustrating when you want unlimited magical power at your finger tips, but remember you are not actually a full caster. as has been said many times before, don't think of yourself that way. Think of yourself as a Ranger, with some nifty magical abilities. and if you just find yourself wanting to use more magic, then I recommend making sure you are proficient in arcana. Why would that matter? Well, any character proficient in arcana can scribe spell scrolls. It costs down time and gold, but in exchange you get free spell slots. The DC's and to hits aren't as good as yours, but if you pick the right ones that won't matter. I like to scribe Hex.
I'm currently playing a 14th level Archfey BladeLock. Our campaign often has only one encounter per long rest, which heavily favors the other members of my group.
And they're still convinced my Warlock is overpowered. LOL
It really depends on how the game is run. Combat / non combat balance, allowance for short rests, and how you enjoy role-playing.
Think of it like a sports team: everyone has a role. My Warlock has probably done the least amount of damage. After all, we have 2 barbarians, a monk, a bard, a paladin and a Rogue. Instead, I collect info, cast a whole bunch of identify, serve as face at least part of the time, collect every magic item and I use motion and board control spells. If this were basketball, I'd be the point guard. I'm never going to score the most points, *but* I can dish out the most assists. There's more than one way to be valuable.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
May the gentle moonlinght guide you to greater wisdom
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
warlock seems cool, eldrich invocations are awesome and it’s great for role playing but the lack of spell slots just makes warlock kind of bad. Does any body have any home brew improvements to help even the playing field for warlocks.
Warlock’s are great for role playing and they’re also pretty powerful because their spell slots regenerate on short rests and their spell slots are automatically at the highest level spell slot that they can cast. Plus Eldritch Blast is the most powerful cantrip in the game.
Professional computer geek
There are many different ways to build a playable warlock: not underpowered in combat, tons of utilities, and naturally built-in story arcs for role playing.
If you like being above average power level in combat, but don't mind the combat being a little boring, take eldritch blast cantrip, hex spell and agonizing blast invocation. The rest of the build is completely open.
If you like casting non-cantrip spells in combat, try to pick spells that can last for a whole combat. There are a few spells like that on your list for every level up to spell level 5, mostly control spells. I think when they designed the warlock spell list and each subclass, they purposely avoided low level (1-3) damage spells that both last for at least 1 minute and scales up with spell slot level. There is only one exception: celestial's flaming sphere (an excellent pick).
If you prefer out-of-combat utilities, and just need your combat to be not completely useless, warlock is probably the best class. I played a utility-focused warlock who had an archaeologist background: he is the expert of dungeon exploration.
Some simple combos that can give your build some extra boosts:
- Celestial, Healing Light class feature, Pact of the Chain, Gift of the Ever-Living Ones invocation (you can get this combo as early as level 3). This is arguably the second best self-healing build (still can't beat paladin's lay on hands).
- Blade ward cantrip and armor of agathys spell. It needs a little role playing: you need to (sometimes creatively) taunt those weak goons to attack you, but you get high charisma.
Warlocks are relatively underpowered if your DM tends to have only a couple encounters per adventuring day, allowing long rest classes to use spells from their top 2-3 levels every turn. On the other hand, if you have multiple short rests per day, the warlock gains significant ground and can overtake them in more extreme cases.
Hexblades are capable of extremely high damage output. So are other subclasses. Also, there are various magic items that increase their spell slots if that is a major concern.
The key thing to remember about warlocks is that wizard and sorcerer are not the logical comparison point. They are not controllers, they are strikers, closer to Rangers or Arcane Archers. Eldritch Blast with Agonizing Blast and Hex gives you consistently good damage with up to 4 attacks a turn. It helps if you think of EB as a longbow that you then augment with your spells. Unless you have a lot of short rests you won't have as many spells per day as a wizard, but they are cast at high level and invocations and pacts give you unique options. You can even wade into melee if you go hexblade.
Tricky question. Yes and No. Technically Warlock is a full caster as they get access to 9th level spells however if you play them like a typical full caster, they can appear under powered especially if your table games tend to lack short rests on a regular basis. As much as some of us might like them to be true "Weird Wizards", they really are more like "Weird Rangers" with Eldritch Blast in place of a longbow. Also keep in mind that the invocations add ALOT of out of combat utility which true wizards would need to depend on spells to take care of. Unlimited Disguise Self is a HUGE utility in and out of combat. Tome Warlock can get any ritual spell from any class which is lots of utility as well. At will mage armor, levitation, detect magic- all quite useful.
That all being said, I fully understand your struggle. I am currently playing an Eladrin Feylock and have worked with my DM on a few homebrew rules to make it more fun to play a warlock who doesn't just spam eldritch blast. We have homebrewed that any of the invocations that grant you once per day usage of a spell, DO NOT also cost a spell slot to use. No spell is worth having to spend both and invocation and a spell slot to have. So currently I have the Minions of Chaos invocation and can cast it once per day at it's lowest level without using a spell slot. I have also made the following homebrewed invocations
1- Agonizing Charm-Requires Level 5- The mental fatigue of resisting the charm of the Fey hurts even those who do not fall under it's power completely. When a creature saves against a charm effect or spell targeting wisdom or charisma, the creature takes psychic damage equal to warlock level + spell/effect level. So for instance, I am level 11 right now so if a creature resists my Fey Presence ability, it takes 12 psychic damage. The rationale for this was due to the fact that Feylock spells and abilities are predominantly charm based and lots of creatures start to be immune or have advantage against charms, this would mean those abilities have some staying power compared to some of the other patrons.
2- Blood of the Fey-Requires Level 10- You have advantage on saving throws against magic. This was more a reflection of the fact that my character is both an Eladrin and Feylock so I am becoming more and more Fey as I level.
3- Path of the Fey- Requires level 15- You have mastered the paths between planes as other Fey. You can cast Misty Step at will. This will be a replacement for the Invocation that grants Invisibility at will. I wasn't super interested in that but love bamfing around battles. Also Mike Mearls in Sage Advice said that substituting any spell for another of same level does not break the balance of any class or subclass feature. Since Invisibility and misty step are both level 2 spells, this was an easy sell to my DM.
Also make sure to politely nudge your DM to reward you with a Rod of the Oath Keeper at some point for your Warlock. It is essential for making the Warlock more viable.
The strength of the Warlock class isn't necessarily rooted in their spell casting per say. Wizards and Sorcerers have many more spell slots and far more expansive spell lists than the warlock class. The warlock class offers a lot of options to play around the lower number of spell slots but when you're playing a warlock what you should always be thinking is UTILITY.
Warlocks work well as beefier utility spellcasters who excel in combat as well as in social interactions. Here's how I've found to get the most out of the Warlock class and gain an edge over sorcerers and wizards.
1) At level 1, an optimal combat strategy is to take the Eldritch blast cantrip and the Armor of Agathys + Hex spells. Since a warlock intrinsically has more HP than other casters and can use light armor, getting Armor of Agathys further increases this disparity. It also increases its Temp HP + cold damage with each level and warlocks always cast at max spell level so this spell will be useful at high and low levels. It also increases your damage output by allowing inflict free cold damage on enemies that hit you, no spell check or damage roll needed. It also lasts a full hour so you can easily short rest between uses to get the most use out of the spell. Hex is great because you can add a D6 to every Eldritch blast hit and you can add this to each Eldritch blast beam when you reach higher levels, giving you extra D6 damage on each beam hit. Hex also lasts a long time (1hr, then 8 and finally 24), is cast as a bonus action, doesn't require an attack roll, allows you to cast other spells more effectively with a free ability save disadvantage and can be moved from a dead target to a new one without expending a spell slot.
2) Once you hit level 2, get the agonizing blast invocation. Lets say you have a CHR of 18 and are attacking a hexxed target with Eldritch blast. Every successful hit is dealing 1D10 + 4 +1D6 damage which averages out to 13 damage per hit. So at level 2, in one round of combat, you can deal an average of 13 damage with your action and deal an additional 5 cold damage if someone hits you. That's extremely impressive for one round of combat at such a low level.
Like I said though, the strength of the Warlock is in its utility. The reason I love Warlocks is because of their out of combat usefulness, because let's face it, Hex + Eldritch blast + Agonizing blast + Armor of Agathys can sometimes feel boring. Using the Celestial as a patron gives you healing for 60 feet as a bonus action with no spell slot usage, so basically a free empowered healing word to add some more flavor to combat. You can also run maddening Hex to pop off even more damage during your bonus action, though this invocation feels much weaker at higher levels. The true strength of warlocks that sets them apart from other spellcasters, besides higher HP and light armor proficiency, is your pact boon + Eldritch invocations.
Pact Boon: I always recommend getting pact of the tome. You can choose 3 non-warlock cantrips to maximize your utility. My personal favorites are guidance, spare the dying, and message which always wind up being useful. Another choice is to take friends and combine this with the Mask of Many Faces invocation to get the most out of NPC interactions without suffering the drawback of the Friends cantrip. The other OP thing about pact of the Tome is that you can get the Book of Ancient Secrets for ritual casting ability that outshines anything a wizard or sorcerer can do. Plus you save spell slots by ritual casting! The best rituals to start out with are Find Familiar (an extra turn in combat, why thank you) and Unseen servant (2 extra turns in combat? Why thank you very much). Then add as many ritual spells to the book as you can by purchasing them from shops.
Eldritch invocations:
Agonizing Blast, Lance of Lethargy, Repelling Blast all allow you to turn a meager cantrip into a powerful combat spell by granting Eldritch blast extra damage and crowd control effects. Maddening Hex may be worth looking at early on, but I recommend dropping this by level 6 or 7 for a more powerful invocation.
Mask of Many Faces/Master of Myriad Forms and Beguiling influence combined with the Actor background or feat will easily make you the most dominating member of your party in NPC interaction. Why take things by force when you can use honeyed words to obtain what you desire.
Whispers of the Grave, Visions of Distant Realms, Tomb of Levistus, Trickster's Escape, Shroud of Shadow, Otherworldly Leap, Misty Visions, Gift of the Depths, Fiendish Vigor, Armor of Shadows, Ascendant Step, and Beast Speech all grant free, and in most cases, limitless spells that can be cast without fear of losing spell slots.
Finally, if lack of Spell slots is still getting you down, try and ask your DM about locations where you may purchase/find a Wand of the Pact Keeper which grants warlocks an additional spell slot as well bonuses to your Spell Attack modifier and Spell Save DC.
The responses are on point. If you never have opportunities to rest then Warlock / Fighter / Monk / moondruid / will all miss opportunities to use their abilities as they were intended to every shortrest. Consider investing in a Carriage with a bed as transport for a warlock - rest on the move and at least between overland travel encounters you will be fresh each time.
Even if you never ever have the opportunity to rest a warlock of first levels attack is 1d10 + 1d6 (hex - for an hour) at third add the charisma bonus to that damage, at 5th take two shots. It isnt underpowered when comparing that to other classes damage potential per round. If however your games are one big fight where full casters unload everything and the kitchen sink then everyone gets to go home for Martini's and repeat the next day? Yes then nothing will compare to the damage spike of a full caster on a warpath given no incentive to hold anything in reserve.
Talk about it with your DM, so that there's more short rests; this will help.
Or if your DM is okay with it there a few ways to Homebrew this without been out of touch with how the class was designed.
-1- Gain an extra Spellslots eact time your character gets a spellslot, the 4 first spells slots you get goes up to lvl4 and the 4 after that up to lvl5, with 8 spellslots you'll get a much easier time, but without been outperforming or overpowering the other casters, maybe the other half casters though, but you Sold you Soul to a Dark entity for a reason, unlike those plebs that just picked up a random spellbook and decided to learn whats in it( and getting 11 spellslots...)
-2- Change/Modify one of the class features around lvl6 or 9, like this "Soul Siphon- You've learned to sacrifice the Souls of worthy opponents to your Patron, pleasing him and gaining power from it- When you bring a creature that has a CR equal or superior to your level to 0HP with an attack or spell and kill it, you can decide to offer its Soul to your patron, effectively giving you back ONE spell slots, you have previously expanded, a soul offered this way cannot be used for any other purpose (like Soul cage, or other abilities that use the creature Soul), only a Wish spell can restore the creatures Soul, you can use this feature once per round.
One of the simpliest and non-homebrew way to do it is to take a few levels in another spellcaster class, since your Warlock and other spellcaster slots and spells can be interchanged.
Best thing would be paladin, Bards and Sorcerors, since they all use CHA as a spellcasting ability, even 2-3 lvl dip would give you 3-4 extra spell slots to cast low level spells or 1st spells that doesn't scale up anyway.
"Normality is but an Illusion, Whats normal to the Spider, is only madness for the Fly"
Kain de Frostberg- Dark Knight - (Vengeance Pal3/ Hexblade 9), Port Mourn
Kain de Draakberg-Dark Knight lvl8-Avergreen(DitA)
Have your wizard cast Tenser's Floating Disk and take a short rest while you float along behind him. It's a ritual spell so doesn't cost him a spell slot. Or if you are a warforged or air genasi you can rest in the Bag of Holding.
Warlock has really strong damage due to the way we scale with a single spell slot and cantrip alone, along with probably the deepest amount of personal customization. If you're finding you're lacking spells, I suspect you've not picked the right cantrips or are not using them correctly. Same with your invocations.
As a Celestial you have amazing support capabilities, melee fighting under Hexblade and RP with Archfey and Old Ones plus Fiends have amazing self sustain.
Dipping into Sorcerer for around 4 levels will give your more spell slots to play with (Take Catnap when you get a chance or have someone else pick it up, with Sorcerer levels you will NOT regret it.) Or even Bard or Pally, we have probably the most options outside of splashing out of a Fighter
I have a Hexblade PotB that I love playing. She's melee heavy, and uses spells somewhat rarely. EB is only for out of melee range attacks, and she usually saves a slot for an Eldritch Smite. So much so, that my DM home brewed a Ring of Smiting that grants a "free" Eldritch Smite per long rest.
And, as a special, un-requested bonus, my DM gifted my Pact weapon with the ability to regain a spell slot when she kills with it. So, extra incentive to be melee focused.
This.
I mean if you look at the Blood Hunter's Profane Soul order the class feat you get later on lets you regain spellslots when you kill creatures that have a CR of 15 or higher.
Why is this not a thing for the Warlock is beyond me honestly, its thematic and fit perfectly.
A good way also is to use the Ancestral Weapon rules for your Pact Weapon, it gives a "Dark Blade" (Magus Archetype in Pathfinder) vibe that works pretty well.
"Normality is but an Illusion, Whats normal to the Spider, is only madness for the Fly"
Kain de Frostberg- Dark Knight - (Vengeance Pal3/ Hexblade 9), Port Mourn
Kain de Draakberg-Dark Knight lvl8-Avergreen(DitA)
I bought "Lost Laboratory of Kwalish" because in the spell list for warlock "galder's tower" was a thing ... now it's gone and I'm anoyed because I have to make a halfling with a dragon mark to have a magic home
like what the hell warlock don't get a lot so at least let me make comfy space for myself
well either that or I completely missreaded the thing in the first place but my point still stand you make deals to get power but you wouldn't make a deal to have a home that you can just bamf in existence whenever you want even though the deals that you make often ask you to go walk around the world a lot
Warlocks are decent characters, up to a certain level. There is a reason you see a lot of dipping into it for only a handful of levels. I think the class on it's own can hold itself together for tier 2, but since the campaign I'm in has reached tier 3, I've noticed it has fallen off for a fellow player. Keep in mind that this is even after augmenting himself with some magic items to help with his limited spell slots. This isn't to say it is a bad class or something, basically anything is viable, but it certainly drops off when the rest of the spellcasters can be tossing around spells much more liberally with all their spell slots, and weapon users are able to use their various feats and features to also pump out some good damage. Just spamming Eldritch blast doesn't actually scale much with the class itself since nearly all the invocations and spells you want to make it good are obtained in the first handful of levels.
Yeah, its an issue, specially if you're in a group that rarely take short rests.
Having either up to 8 slots at your max lvl ( 18-19) would'nt throw off the balance of the game by that much, ( divide it in 4 lvl4 slots and 4 lvl 5 slots) and it would tremendously help the Warlock.
Or at least another mecanic that lets them recover a spell slot at least once or twice per long rest, like the new UA channel divinity Harness Divine power, that lets you regain a lv1 slot.
"Normality is but an Illusion, Whats normal to the Spider, is only madness for the Fly"
Kain de Frostberg- Dark Knight - (Vengeance Pal3/ Hexblade 9), Port Mourn
Kain de Draakberg-Dark Knight lvl8-Avergreen(DitA)
Frankly, I like the Warlock as is. Yes, the limitations can be frustrating when you want unlimited magical power at your finger tips, but remember you are not actually a full caster. as has been said many times before, don't think of yourself that way. Think of yourself as a Ranger, with some nifty magical abilities. and if you just find yourself wanting to use more magic, then I recommend making sure you are proficient in arcana. Why would that matter? Well, any character proficient in arcana can scribe spell scrolls. It costs down time and gold, but in exchange you get free spell slots. The DC's and to hits aren't as good as yours, but if you pick the right ones that won't matter. I like to scribe Hex.
I'm currently playing a 14th level Archfey BladeLock. Our campaign often has only one encounter per long rest, which heavily favors the other members of my group.
And they're still convinced my Warlock is overpowered. LOL
DICE FALL, EVERYONE ROCKS!
It really depends on how the game is run. Combat / non combat balance, allowance for short rests, and how you enjoy role-playing.
Think of it like a sports team: everyone has a role. My Warlock has probably done the least amount of damage. After all, we have 2 barbarians, a monk, a bard, a paladin and a Rogue. Instead, I collect info, cast a whole bunch of identify, serve as face at least part of the time, collect every magic item and I use motion and board control spells. If this were basketball, I'd be the point guard. I'm never going to score the most points, *but* I can dish out the most assists. There's more than one way to be valuable.
May the gentle moonlinght guide you to greater wisdom