I'm guessing this was previously the Lurker or something like that but I'm trying to brainstorm and see what I can do with the finalized version from Tasha's...
I would possibly use a Drow(PHB), Yuanti-purebloood, (variant) Tiefling, or Verdan as my race. I would not use triton since you already get to breath underwater and have a swim speed of 40 ft. The pact boon is up to you, they all can work. For spell selection, it is honestly dependent on your pact boon and your end goal for this character. Hex is good all around, plus it can be used with the tentacles at first level. If you choose to be good at cursing, there are invocations based around it.
Here's mine. I will note that water genasi isn't mechanically the optimal race, but it's part of her backstory so I stuck with it. Tiefling or Half-Elf would be stronger, IMHO.
Your tentacle of the deeps adds +2 to the damage, did I miss something?
Well, besides that, I'm planning to play a Fathomless warlock Winter Eladrin for Rime of the Frostmaiden on Saturday. My stats are 8, 14, 12, 11, 14, 16 I think and he's a sort of hermit-y ranger guy who comes from a long line of people who have formed pacts with this tentacle-y being to protect the town near the Sea of Moving Ice. I was planning on going talisman, but blade or tome might be cool too. Using rolled gold he starts with studded armour, which is like his heavy winter clothes reinforced with whalebone and wears big scarves and clothes that only reveal some of his face and I've hyped up that he's a human to my friends, so I'm hoping its a surprise that he's an elf when it's revealed.
I had also planned to, when I take it, make up mage hand a tentacle that shoots out of my hand to pick things up, my other cantrips being frostbite and mind sliver to be a debuffer sort of caster. When he uses his Eladrin fey step, maybe he reveals his face to the people around him and then sinks straight into the snow or a puddle and appears in another sopt.
I would definitely take lance of lethargy to jack up melee attackers from getting to you ( tentacle plus EB lethargy = minus 20 ft of movement ). Spinkle in repelling blast and it would be really tough for a melee attacker to get close to you.
So I think we are doing an Island hopping theme somewhere near the bronze age. I chose a Ghostwise Halfling: Pact of the Tome
Backstory: I chose a young ghostwise halfling from the mainland whose family was mostly druid's but his older sister is a wizard. She gives him an artifact from his druidic tribe (a rod that sprouts mushrooms when it taps fertile soil) that she was supposed to have when she took over leadership. Their tribe is attacked by farmer halflings and elves who want this artifact for "commercial use" (I see it as similar to pagan cleansing) and he escapes and stows away on a boat. The Fathomless takes pity on this new stowaway child and gives him warlock abilities
Somewhere along the line before he meets the party, he escapes from a boat that is rounding up warlocks for imprisonment. He is afraid to show people that he is a warlock, so he pretends he is a great wizard (many cantrips, multiple wizard-ish invocations).
meta-gaming: I chose Ghostwise Halfling because I wanted to make intimidation checks with silent speech, but other halflings might have made a better choice (too late now!) There is another Hex-blade warlock in the group (the only other arcane caster), and a ranger and rogue for DPS so I went with mostly utility and debuffs. I am very excited as to how this is going to turn out!
I play in a campaign that allows basically any published content and some UA in a homebrew setting with a few setting specific considerations so I had a few constraints I considered, mostly that most people don't like halflings and that conjuration magic has a 1 in 20 chance of a TPK.
Obviously, I wanted to lean into the actual usefulness of the Fathomless mainly the reduction of speed and the ability to help absorb damage from enemies, as well as at higher levels using black tentacles to be a serious AOE threat. I worked with some party members and discussed with them how best to do this, which has led to them taking good synergizing spells like Sickening Radiance, Spike Growth, and Plant Growth. These are some seriously dangerous spells when I can stack Lance of Lethargy with the tentacle to drop movement speed by 20, and repelling blast makes each hit another 10 feet back. Combine this control of enemy movement with the difficult terrain or possibly double difficult terrain of plant growth and they basically can't escape even if they dash. Conjuration magic being a crap shoot for anyone wanting to use it means we have less to worry about for casters using things like Misty Step to escape.
After I decided on this sort of controlling support blaster I began to think on how else I could leverage this role and came up with a few ideas. Mark of Hospitality Halfling gives access to some spells that actually end up amazing on Warlock that otherwise would be far less useful on their proper lists. Specifically the spells Goodberry, Aid, Tiny Hut, and Private Sanctum. The reason each of these is so good is because they last longer than an hour, meaning you can cast them then rest to get back the slot. Aid specifically also scales with your slots nicely and at the level the party is (7) I can give everyone in it an extra 15 health. I also took inspiring leader to give people 12 extra temp health on top of the Aid to really boost it for everyone.
TLDR built support and worked with party to abuse continuous damage area spells and difficult terrain, then took spells/feat to give everyone extra health.
Agonizing, lance of leth, repelling for invocation. Hunger of Hadar for your go to aoe when not using hex. With the tentacle
That is 10-40ft of knock back -20ft movement and half movement from rough terrain, and everything in the Hunger is blind which means anything that has darkvision can see in and has advantage. There is not save for any of that, if it hits is just happens, not even legendary resistance can stop it.
After level 5 I'd probably just go sorcerer for extra spell slots, and quickened eldritch blasts
Hey people! I was searching what could be an interesting spell selection by level for the Pathomless!
let’s say that we go with pact of the Tome, with the idea to be blaster/battlefield control.
one of the first question is, which ones of the pathomless specific spell are any good to take? There are options that are appealing: gust of wind + tentacle + repelling blast + Lance or lethargy looks like a good idea on paper for example.
I made a tortle fathomless that's pretty decent in melee. I was gonna go blades cuz i picked up a +1 flail that's a book on a chain. But now that talisman idea sounds interesting.
I'd be tempted to double down on armor of agathys and dip barbarian for a melee tank. Temp hit points will last twice as long in a rage, and the tentacle helps in tanking with enemy control and damage mitigation. The technically-not-a-spell spell attack of the tentacle as a bonus action means you could dash, disengage, or whatever you want with an action without dropping out of rage. With pact of the blade and 1 level barbarian you can still get extra attack by level 6, scaling temp hp that lasts longer with rage, medium armor, and all of the out of combat utility of a warlock. (I'm thinking misty visions and mask of many faces.) So I say smash, dont blast.
Hey fellow lock enthusiasts, I have been playing a Princes of the Apocalypse campaign for about a year and half. Our DM is cool, super lenient and is down with us adding as much flavor as we want that isn't game breaking to our PCs. I created a Lurker from the Deep lock (updated to fathomless now) called Cowl (Malazan reference). He was tricked into lockdom by an Ancient Aboleth Monarch called A'Drax'l (do some research there's plenty of lore around). I wasn't feeling the water aspect of this subclass, so I took a more Lovecraftian approach to the Char. Aboleths are powerful creatures that are completely alien with hell knows what desires or motives, plenty to play with. I flavor all of his spells as either tentacles or tendrils of darkness generally emanating from Cowl. Mage Hand - Warlock Tentacle. Hold Monster - held by giant tentacles, Psychic Blast - hundreds of small tendrils extend from his body into the mob, Banish - a bunch of tentacles appear and drag the mob out through a portal to the Aboleths realm. Probably the coolest Char I have created.
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I'm guessing this was previously the Lurker or something like that but I'm trying to brainstorm and see what I can do with the finalized version from Tasha's...
I would possibly use a Drow(PHB), Yuanti-purebloood, (variant) Tiefling, or Verdan as my race. I would not use triton since you already get to breath underwater and have a swim speed of 40 ft. The pact boon is up to you, they all can work. For spell selection, it is honestly dependent on your pact boon and your end goal for this character. Hex is good all around, plus it can be used with the tentacles at first level. If you choose to be good at cursing, there are invocations based around it.
Here's mine. I will note that water genasi isn't mechanically the optimal race, but it's part of her backstory so I stuck with it. Tiefling or Half-Elf would be stronger, IMHO.
Your tentacle of the deeps adds +2 to the damage, did I miss something?
Well, besides that, I'm planning to play a Fathomless warlock Winter Eladrin for Rime of the Frostmaiden on Saturday. My stats are 8, 14, 12, 11, 14, 16 I think and he's a sort of hermit-y ranger guy who comes from a long line of people who have formed pacts with this tentacle-y being to protect the town near the Sea of Moving Ice. I was planning on going talisman, but blade or tome might be cool too. Using rolled gold he starts with studded armour, which is like his heavy winter clothes reinforced with whalebone and wears big scarves and clothes that only reveal some of his face and I've hyped up that he's a human to my friends, so I'm hoping its a surprise that he's an elf when it's revealed.
I had also planned to, when I take it, make up mage hand a tentacle that shoots out of my hand to pick things up, my other cantrips being frostbite and mind sliver to be a debuffer sort of caster. When he uses his Eladrin fey step, maybe he reveals his face to the people around him and then sinks straight into the snow or a puddle and appears in another sopt.
I would definitely take lance of lethargy to jack up melee attackers from getting to you ( tentacle plus EB lethargy = minus 20 ft of movement ). Spinkle in repelling blast and it would be really tough for a melee attacker to get close to you.
I ended up doing a sea half elf varient. Not that it really adds to it, other than perhaps story and background.
So I think we are doing an Island hopping theme somewhere near the bronze age. I chose a Ghostwise Halfling: Pact of the Tome
Backstory: I chose a young ghostwise halfling from the mainland whose family was mostly druid's but his older sister is a wizard. She gives him an artifact from his druidic tribe (a rod that sprouts mushrooms when it taps fertile soil) that she was supposed to have when she took over leadership. Their tribe is attacked by farmer halflings and elves who want this artifact for "commercial use" (I see it as similar to pagan cleansing) and he escapes and stows away on a boat. The Fathomless takes pity on this new stowaway child and gives him warlock abilities
Somewhere along the line before he meets the party, he escapes from a boat that is rounding up warlocks for imprisonment. He is afraid to show people that he is a warlock, so he pretends he is a great wizard (many cantrips, multiple wizard-ish invocations).
meta-gaming: I chose Ghostwise Halfling because I wanted to make intimidation checks with silent speech, but other halflings might have made a better choice (too late now!) There is another Hex-blade warlock in the group (the only other arcane caster), and a ranger and rogue for DPS so I went with mostly utility and debuffs. I am very excited as to how this is going to turn out!
I play in a campaign that allows basically any published content and some UA in a homebrew setting with a few setting specific considerations so I had a few constraints I considered, mostly that most people don't like halflings and that conjuration magic has a 1 in 20 chance of a TPK.
Obviously, I wanted to lean into the actual usefulness of the Fathomless mainly the reduction of speed and the ability to help absorb damage from enemies, as well as at higher levels using black tentacles to be a serious AOE threat. I worked with some party members and discussed with them how best to do this, which has led to them taking good synergizing spells like Sickening Radiance, Spike Growth, and Plant Growth. These are some seriously dangerous spells when I can stack Lance of Lethargy with the tentacle to drop movement speed by 20, and repelling blast makes each hit another 10 feet back. Combine this control of enemy movement with the difficult terrain or possibly double difficult terrain of plant growth and they basically can't escape even if they dash. Conjuration magic being a crap shoot for anyone wanting to use it means we have less to worry about for casters using things like Misty Step to escape.
After I decided on this sort of controlling support blaster I began to think on how else I could leverage this role and came up with a few ideas. Mark of Hospitality Halfling gives access to some spells that actually end up amazing on Warlock that otherwise would be far less useful on their proper lists. Specifically the spells Goodberry, Aid, Tiny Hut, and Private Sanctum. The reason each of these is so good is because they last longer than an hour, meaning you can cast them then rest to get back the slot. Aid specifically also scales with your slots nicely and at the level the party is (7) I can give everyone in it an extra 15 health. I also took inspiring leader to give people 12 extra temp health on top of the Aid to really boost it for everyone.
TLDR built support and worked with party to abuse continuous damage area spells and difficult terrain, then took spells/feat to give everyone extra health.
For optimal action economy I went Talisman for my Pact Boon.
Tentacles - bonus action, later on reaction
Talisman - reaction to rebuke
That ensures that I’ll be doing something every round to reduce damage or protect my allies.
Agonizing, lance of leth, repelling for invocation.
Hunger of Hadar for your go to aoe when not using hex.
With the tentacle
That is 10-40ft of knock back -20ft movement and half movement from rough terrain, and everything in the Hunger is blind which means anything that has darkvision can see in and has advantage. There is not save for any of that, if it hits is just happens, not even legendary resistance can stop it.
After level 5 I'd probably just go sorcerer for extra spell slots, and quickened eldritch blasts
Hey people! I was searching what could be an interesting spell selection by level for the Pathomless!
let’s say that we go with pact of the Tome, with the idea to be blaster/battlefield control.
one of the first question is, which ones of the pathomless specific spell are any good to take? There are options that are appealing: gust of wind + tentacle + repelling blast + Lance or lethargy looks like a good idea on paper for example.
this is the current build (3rd level) https://ddb.ac/characters/46327642/VscYmZ
One of the first challenge is to decide if Mirror Image is better then armor of agathys. Or we want both to stack in case of though combat.
if we don’t want both which could be a good alternatives? Gust of Wind to control the battlefield ?
I made a tortle fathomless that's pretty decent in melee. I was gonna go blades cuz i picked up a +1 flail that's a book on a chain. But now that talisman idea sounds interesting.
I'd be tempted to double down on armor of agathys and dip barbarian for a melee tank. Temp hit points will last twice as long in a rage, and the tentacle helps in tanking with enemy control and damage mitigation. The technically-not-a-spell spell attack of the tentacle as a bonus action means you could dash, disengage, or whatever you want with an action without dropping out of rage. With pact of the blade and 1 level barbarian you can still get extra attack by level 6, scaling temp hp that lasts longer with rage, medium armor, and all of the out of combat utility of a warlock. (I'm thinking misty visions and mask of many faces.) So I say smash, dont blast.
Hey fellow lock enthusiasts, I have been playing a Princes of the Apocalypse campaign for about a year and half. Our DM is cool, super lenient and is down with us adding as much flavor as we want that isn't game breaking to our PCs. I created a Lurker from the Deep lock (updated to fathomless now) called Cowl (Malazan reference). He was tricked into lockdom by an Ancient Aboleth Monarch called A'Drax'l (do some research there's plenty of lore around). I wasn't feeling the water aspect of this subclass, so I took a more Lovecraftian approach to the Char. Aboleths are powerful creatures that are completely alien with hell knows what desires or motives, plenty to play with. I flavor all of his spells as either tentacles or tendrils of darkness generally emanating from Cowl. Mage Hand - Warlock Tentacle. Hold Monster - held by giant tentacles, Psychic Blast - hundreds of small tendrils extend from his body into the mob, Banish - a bunch of tentacles appear and drag the mob out through a portal to the Aboleths realm. Probably the coolest Char I have created.