A warock using a bow can do one thing that the cantrip cannot; shoot someone in silence.
I'm playing a hexblade at the moment, planning to use Improved Pact Weapon to summon a bow. I did take eldritch blast but it was a close decision between that and chill touch. Slightly less damage for the latter but it has the same range and also stops regeneration and healing.
(unfortunately improved pact weapon doesn't allow for hand crossbows)
If it's a magic hand crossbow, it apparently does...
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You don't know what fear is until you've witnessed a drunk bird divebombing you while carrying a screaming Kobold throwing fire anywhere and everywhere.
A warock using a bow can do one thing that the cantrip cannot; shoot someone in silence.
I'm playing a hexblade at the moment, planning to use Improved Pact Weapon to summon a bow. I did take eldritch blast but it was a close decision between that and chill touch. Slightly less damage for the latter but it has the same range and also stops regeneration and healing.
If that bow is his Pact Weapon (which Improved Pact Weapon specifically says he can conjure) he can also Eldritch Smite from 150 feet away.
With Sharpshooter, make that 600 feet.
Against a Huge or smaller flying creature, the no-save auto-prone feature of Eldritch Smite means this will knock them out of the air.
Is it time to bring up the related question of whether the lock is allowed to reshape their +1 sword into a +1 bow?
They are not. That was explicit in the SA I posted back on page 1.
You can also use Pact of the Blade to bond with a magic weapon, turning it into your pact weapon. This magic weapon doesn’t have to be a melee weapon, so you could use the feature on a +1 longbow, for instance. Once the bond is formed, the magic weapon appears whenever you call your pact weapon to you, and you can’t change the magic weapon’s form when it appears. For example, if you bond with a flame tongue (longsword) and send the weapon to an extradimensional space, the weapon comes back as a longsword when you summon it. You don’t get to turn it into a club. Similarly, if you bond with a dagger of venom, you can’t summon it as a maul; it’s always a dagger.
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You don't know what fear is until you've witnessed a drunk bird divebombing you while carrying a screaming Kobold throwing fire anywhere and everywhere.
Look, live by the SAC die by the SAC, I get it... but I feel like a lot of us were on board with recognizing that that his ruling was coming out of left field and not really based on the RAW language of the feature back on page 1. I don't think that "you can't change the magic weapon's form when it appears" is really established in the feature language, though I understand that that's the RAI along with binding with a +1 longbow without Improved Pact Weapon. Just because I agree with JC's opinion on part of his ruling (you can bind with a +1 longbow), doesn't mean I have to come along for the ride with all of the interpretations he tacks on (you can summon the +1 longbow without Improved Pact Weapon; you can't change the +1 longbow's form).
Look, live by the SAC die by the SAC, I get it... but I feel like a lot of us were on board with recognizing that that his ruling was coming out of left field and not really based on the RAW language of the feature back on page 1. I don't think that "you can't change the magic weapon's form when it appears" is really established in the feature language, though I understand that that's the RAI along with binding with a +1 longbow without Improved Pact Weapon. Just because I agree with JC's opinion on part of his ruling (you can bind with a +1 longbow), doesn't mean I have to come along for the ride with all of the interpretations he tacks on (you can summon the +1 longbow without Improved Pact Weapon; you can't change the +1 longbow's form).
Dude, I'm right there with everyone in thinking that this whole SAC ruling came completely out of left-field, and I think it's a total crock of shit that is not even loosely supported by what the published feature actually says.
What I do agree with is that you cannot alter the form of a bound magic weapon. That seems clear to me from the actual published Pact of the Blade feature, both before and after becoming aware of the SAC. When you perform the ritual to bind a magic weapon as your pact weapon, you are binding that specific weapon, and that specific weapon appears when you manifest it.
There's also the obvious sniff-test regarding breaking the bond. If you break the bond, no matter the method, the weapon appears at your feet. If you could alter the form of a bound magic item, it would remain in the altered form after breaking the bond. It would be rather absurd to run a "Warlock Weapon Transmogrification Service". Found a +1 dagger that nobody wants? Give me 2 hours, and I'll just make that into a +1 maul for my buddy the Fighter. Nah.
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You don't know what fear is until you've witnessed a drunk bird divebombing you while carrying a screaming Kobold throwing fire anywhere and everywhere.
(unfortunately improved pact weapon doesn't allow for hand crossbows)
If it's a magic hand crossbow, it apparently does...
You don't need improved pact weapon to turn a magic hand crossbow into your pact weapon :) ... the basic pact of the blade feature allows you to turn any magical weapon into your pact weapon after a ceremony.
Improved pact weapon does let your pact weapon act as a spell casting focus and it does give your weapon a +1 to hit/damage if it doesn't have one so it can still be a worthwhile invocation even for a magical hand crossbow but you can't use improved pact weapon to CREATE a hand crossbow or sling as your pact weapon.
(unfortunately improved pact weapon doesn't allow for hand crossbows)
If it's a magic hand crossbow, it apparently does...
You don't need improved pact weapon to turn a magic hand crossbow into your pact weapon :) ... the basic pact of the blade feature allows you to turn any magical weapon into your pact weapon after a ceremony.
Improved pact weapon does let your pact weapon act as a spell casting focus and it does give your weapon a +1 to hit/damage if it doesn't have one so it can still be a worthwhile invocation even for a magical hand crossbow but you can't use improved pact weapon to CREATE a hand crossbow or sling as your pact weapon.
I'm not sure why you'd want either of those, but yes you can ritually bond with a magic version of either of them as your Pact Weapon. But then you're stuck with that.
For my purposes, it's useful to the choice of using an action (usually out of combat) to conjure a rapier or a longbow for a Pact Weapon, as needed.
I apologize for the necro, but one more reason to go for a Bowlock over a Blastlock;
Limited Magic Immunity
A select few monsters have this feature. Blastlocks' EB can never penetrate this. Their spell slots are also ineffective, as most cases block out level 6 and lower spells. How does a warlock handle something like this? In many cases, they just can't.
Almost all monsters with resistance or immunity to slashing, piercing or bludgeoning damage have this defense bypassed by magic weapons. No monsters RAW are immune to damage caused by magic weapons, yet there is 1 that blocks out Force, the Helmed Horror.
When taking the Pact of the Blade, especially the Bowlock, the warlock is likely looking to overcome as many potential challenges as possible. The setup isn't perfect (standing at the frontlines or limited ammunition via arrows/bolts/bullets), but it doesn't need to be.
A warock using a bow can do one thing that the cantrip cannot; shoot someone in silence.
I'm playing a hexblade at the moment, planning to use Improved Pact Weapon to summon a bow. I did take eldritch blast but it was a close decision between that and chill touch. Slightly less damage for the latter but it has the same range and also stops regeneration and healing.
If it's a magic hand crossbow, it apparently does...
You don't know what fear is until you've witnessed a drunk bird divebombing you while carrying a screaming Kobold throwing fire anywhere and everywhere.
A bow can only shoot someone in silence if you have the Skulker feat. For everyone else, they're noisy AF.
dndbeyond.com forum tags
I'm going to make this way harder than it needs to be.
If that bow is his Pact Weapon (which Improved Pact Weapon specifically says he can conjure) he can also Eldritch Smite from 150 feet away.
With Sharpshooter, make that 600 feet.
Against a Huge or smaller flying creature, the no-save auto-prone feature of Eldritch Smite means this will knock them out of the air.
DICE FALL, EVERYONE ROCKS!
Is it time to bring up the related question of whether the lock is allowed to reshape their +1 sword into a +1 bow?
dndbeyond.com forum tags
I'm going to make this way harder than it needs to be.
They are not. That was explicit in the SA I posted back on page 1.
You don't know what fear is until you've witnessed a drunk bird divebombing you while carrying a screaming Kobold throwing fire anywhere and everywhere.
Look, live by the SAC die by the SAC, I get it... but I feel like a lot of us were on board with recognizing that that his ruling was coming out of left field and not really based on the RAW language of the feature back on page 1. I don't think that "you can't change the magic weapon's form when it appears" is really established in the feature language, though I understand that that's the RAI along with binding with a +1 longbow without Improved Pact Weapon. Just because I agree with JC's opinion on part of his ruling (you can bind with a +1 longbow), doesn't mean I have to come along for the ride with all of the interpretations he tacks on (you can summon the +1 longbow without Improved Pact Weapon; you can't change the +1 longbow's form).
dndbeyond.com forum tags
I'm going to make this way harder than it needs to be.
Dude, I'm right there with everyone in thinking that this whole SAC ruling came completely out of left-field, and I think it's a total crock of shit that is not even loosely supported by what the published feature actually says.
What I do agree with is that you cannot alter the form of a bound magic weapon. That seems clear to me from the actual published Pact of the Blade feature, both before and after becoming aware of the SAC. When you perform the ritual to bind a magic weapon as your pact weapon, you are binding that specific weapon, and that specific weapon appears when you manifest it.
There's also the obvious sniff-test regarding breaking the bond. If you break the bond, no matter the method, the weapon appears at your feet. If you could alter the form of a bound magic item, it would remain in the altered form after breaking the bond. It would be rather absurd to run a "Warlock Weapon Transmogrification Service". Found a +1 dagger that nobody wants? Give me 2 hours, and I'll just make that into a +1 maul for my buddy the Fighter. Nah.
You don't know what fear is until you've witnessed a drunk bird divebombing you while carrying a screaming Kobold throwing fire anywhere and everywhere.
You don't need improved pact weapon to turn a magic hand crossbow into your pact weapon :) ... the basic pact of the blade feature allows you to turn any magical weapon into your pact weapon after a ceremony.
Improved pact weapon does let your pact weapon act as a spell casting focus and it does give your weapon a +1 to hit/damage if it doesn't have one so it can still be a worthwhile invocation even for a magical hand crossbow but you can't use improved pact weapon to CREATE a hand crossbow or sling as your pact weapon.
I'm not sure why you'd want either of those, but yes you can ritually bond with a magic version of either of them as your Pact Weapon. But then you're stuck with that.
For my purposes, it's useful to the choice of using an action (usually out of combat) to conjure a rapier or a longbow for a Pact Weapon, as needed.
DICE FALL, EVERYONE ROCKS!
I apologize for the necro, but one more reason to go for a Bowlock over a Blastlock;
Limited Magic Immunity
A select few monsters have this feature. Blastlocks' EB can never penetrate this. Their spell slots are also ineffective, as most cases block out level 6 and lower spells. How does a warlock handle something like this? In many cases, they just can't.
Almost all monsters with resistance or immunity to slashing, piercing or bludgeoning damage have this defense bypassed by magic weapons. No monsters RAW are immune to damage caused by magic weapons, yet there is 1 that blocks out Force, the Helmed Horror.
When taking the Pact of the Blade, especially the Bowlock, the warlock is likely looking to overcome as many potential challenges as possible. The setup isn't perfect (standing at the frontlines or limited ammunition via arrows/bolts/bullets), but it doesn't need to be.