We all know blaster sorlocks are stupid and ruin your encounters, but I bet you don’t know the full extent of the bs the can be. I’m going to be assuming that every Eldritch Blast this scumbag pumps out hits, and that the players are all at least 17th level. So this sorlock is 3/worlock, tome boon, 14/sorcerer. The cantrips from the tome are all going to be Eldritch Blast with agonizing blast and Eldritch spear. As you probably know already Eldritch goes up to 4d10 force damage (only 2 monsters in the game are immune to force and none are resistant), so with the tome that’s 12d10 force damage. It only gets worse from here. Next they use quicken spell for only 2 sorcery points to make this a bonus action, leaving them free to it again, essentially doubling the damage to 24d10 force damage, the equivalent of a meteor swarm every turn but it does force damage and can push an enemy back up to 240 ft every damn round for 7 rounds straight. And that’s not even considered agonizing blasts which adds a maximum 120 to the total damage. Thank god they have to wait until a long rest for their sorcery points back. Long story short ban the hell out of this.
There are several ways that a DM can foil that within the rules, starting with Greater Invisibility which is only a 4th level spell. And if that isn’t good enough, an improved, 2nd level Shield that affects all force damage instead of only Magic Missile will completely ruin that spellcaster’s day. Not to mention there are a few magic items that grant resistance to force damage and I think there are a couple of spells that do too. Not to mention what a plain, simple, boring simple 20th level Moon Druid can do as a Fire Elemental who regenerates all of his HP as a bonus action every single round.
Yeah, that combo is powerful, but DM’s have a LOT of tools available to them. And if they get creative instead of sticking with the options that are available to PC’s they can play with a Sorlock while rolling nothing higher than a 10 on a d20 the way cats play with mice!
...Why are you tripling the Eldritch Blast damage due to 'the tome'? Tomelock only expands the list of cantrips you can take (and enables access to ritual spells with an invocation); it does literally nothing to your damage per round. Are you assuming that you can cast every cantrip in your list using a single action? If so, you're wrong.
Also, you can't take a single cantrip multiple times.
Pact of the tome lets you pick 3 cantrips from any list and cast them simultaneously, thus tripling damage. This feature is has a “casting time” of 1 action and and can be made a bonus action with quicken spell from sorcerer, effectively being able to cast 6 cantrips in one turn.
The confusion is some cantrips can be cast up to three times at once (Thaumaturgy comes to mind) but what the poster is missing is that this obviously can't be done in combat.
Thaumaturgy can't be cast three times at once. It still takes 1 action per cast. You can have three effects from 3 different cast going at one time if you cast them over the course of 3 rounds until 1 min(when the first effect would end).
back to the OP: At most with a sorclock spending 2 sorc points, you could cast Eldritch blast as a bonus action, and then cast it again as an action. That would require 8 attack rolls, with no guarantee of 8 hits. You also can't twin spell eldritch blast.
Eldritch blast is good, but its not amazing. An equivalent level fighter using a longbow can put out much the same damage (though it will be piercing, not force) at three times the range.
It relies on attack rolls, so the counter to it is the same as countering any attack: cover, range, darkness, movement.
No, the Player is suffering from fallacies as to how the rules work. I hate Warlocks for personal reasons, but they are not broken in the way described.
I think the misunderstanding comes from the phrasing "While the book is on your person, you can cast those cantrips at will." Which the OP is interpreting that you can cast them all at once, at will. Where what it means is you can cast any one of them using the casting time it has listed.
Lol this post made me, for a split second, think I have been using sorlock wrong. Nope, I was not. I am glad other people have pointed out what the rules are but I would love to hear what OP is thinking about all these responses.
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We all know blaster sorlocks are stupid and ruin your encounters, but I bet you don’t know the full extent of the bs the can be. I’m going to be assuming that every Eldritch Blast this scumbag pumps out hits, and that the players are all at least 17th level. So this sorlock is 3/worlock, tome boon, 14/sorcerer. The cantrips from the tome are all going to be Eldritch Blast with agonizing blast and Eldritch spear. As you probably know already Eldritch goes up to 4d10 force damage (only 2 monsters in the game are immune to force and none are resistant), so with the tome that’s 12d10 force damage. It only gets worse from here. Next they use quicken spell for only 2 sorcery points to make this a bonus action, leaving them free to it again, essentially doubling the damage to 24d10 force damage, the equivalent of a meteor swarm every turn but it does force damage and can push an enemy back up to 240 ft every damn round for 7 rounds straight. And that’s not even considered agonizing blasts which adds a maximum 120 to the total damage. Thank god they have to wait until a long rest for their sorcery points back. Long story short ban the hell out of this.
Tome boon?
"Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation."
― Oscar Wilde.
Pact, boon, what ever it’s called, not the subclass, like chain and blade
Yes, but how is that allowing you to cast Eldritch Blast three times a turn?
"Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation."
― Oscar Wilde.
There are several ways that a DM can foil that within the rules, starting with Greater Invisibility which is only a 4th level spell. And if that isn’t good enough, an improved, 2nd level Shield that affects all force damage instead of only Magic Missile will completely ruin that spellcaster’s day. Not to mention there are a few magic items that grant resistance to force damage and I think there are a couple of spells that do too. Not to mention what a plain, simple, boring simple 20th level Moon Druid can do as a Fire Elemental who regenerates all of his HP as a bonus action every single round.
Yeah, that combo is powerful, but DM’s have a LOT of tools available to them. And if they get creative instead of sticking with the options that are available to PC’s they can play with a Sorlock while rolling nothing higher than a 10 on a d20 the way cats play with mice!
Professional computer geek
...Why are you tripling the Eldritch Blast damage due to 'the tome'? Tomelock only expands the list of cantrips you can take (and enables access to ritual spells with an invocation); it does literally nothing to your damage per round. Are you assuming that you can cast every cantrip in your list using a single action? If so, you're wrong.
Also, you can't take a single cantrip multiple times.
How is pact of the tome tripling the damage?
Pact of the tome lets you pick 3 cantrips from any list and cast them simultaneously, thus tripling damage. This feature is has a “casting time” of 1 action and and can be made a bonus action with quicken spell from sorcerer, effectively being able to cast 6 cantrips in one turn.
Ah, no it doesn't.
"Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation."
― Oscar Wilde.
Yeah, there's nothing in the rules anywhere about casting 3 cantrips simultaneously.
Professional computer geek
The confusion is some cantrips can be cast up to three times at once (Thaumaturgy comes to mind) but what the poster is missing is that this obviously can't be done in combat.
Those cantrips can’t be cast 3 times at once. They can be cast multiple times in a row and maintained without needing concentration.
Professional computer geek
Thaumaturgy can't be cast three times at once. It still takes 1 action per cast. You can have three effects from 3 different cast going at one time if you cast them over the course of 3 rounds until 1 min(when the first effect would end).
back to the OP: At most with a sorclock spending 2 sorc points, you could cast Eldritch blast as a bonus action, and then cast it again as an action. That would require 8 attack rolls, with no guarantee of 8 hits. You also can't twin spell eldritch blast.
You can't Twin a spell that can target more than one creature.
"Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation."
― Oscar Wilde.
I fixed it.. right after I hit enter.
Eldritch blast is good, but its not amazing. An equivalent level fighter using a longbow can put out much the same damage (though it will be piercing, not force) at three times the range.
It relies on attack rolls, so the counter to it is the same as countering any attack: cover, range, darkness, movement.
This kind of thing always sounds like "Player built good character, how do I punish them for it."
No, the Player is suffering from fallacies as to how the rules work. I hate Warlocks for personal reasons, but they are not broken in the way described.
I think the misunderstanding comes from the phrasing "While the book is on your person, you can cast those cantrips at will." Which the OP is interpreting that you can cast them all at once, at will. Where what it means is you can cast any one of them using the casting time it has listed.
Lol this post made me, for a split second, think I have been using sorlock wrong. Nope, I was not. I am glad other people have pointed out what the rules are but I would love to hear what OP is thinking about all these responses.