(Putting this note up top - I've made some additional tweaks to try to juice the power a bit more. Some of this likely still needs more work, though)
I know there are plenty of threads (and a lot of opinions) on this already, but I wanted to toss a relatively minimal set of changes to the current UA writeup that I think addresses a lot of the concerns in a way that doesn't add a pile of rules or "Warlock-only" exceptions to the OneDnD PHB. (Yes, I too have problems with the UA Warlock, but after thinking about it for a few days, I think there are ways to address this without a total rewrite.)
For purposes of rules clarity and not crowding out the Warlock table, I'd remove any instances of "Eldritch Invocation" from the chart after level 2 - like Rages, Weapon Masteries, and everything else, these should not need a specific call-out on the table besides the "Invocations" column. That's not a rules change, but I think it will help show how "empty" the class feels without the rest of these changes.
I write this with the assumption that Pact Magic in it's 5E form is gone and never coming back (because of multiclassing incompatibilities and the short rest recharge). I don't want to turn this into an argument about whether or not that should be the case - I'm just working off of that assumption.
Now, for the mechanical changes themselves. These lean into the Invocations as they are currently written, and assumes the base of 9 on the current UA chart.
Level 5: Mystic Arcanum You gain the Mystic Arcanum Eldritch Invocation. This Eldritch Invocation does not count against the total number of of Eldritch Invocations shown on the Warlock table.
Level 7: Additional Mystic Arcanum You gain an additional iteration of the Mystic Arcanum Eldritch Invocation. This Eldritch Invocation does not count against the total number of of Eldritch Invocations shown on the Warlock table.
Level 9: Pact Boon Augmentation You gain a bonus Eldritch Invocation that you qualify for and that has your Pact Boon selection as a prerequisite. This Eldritch Invocation does not count against the total number of of Eldritch Invocations shown on the Warlock table.
Level 13: Eldritch Recovery You regain an expended Spell Slot at the end of Short Rest. The level of this Spell Slot cannot exceed those you have spell slots for, as shown on the Warlock table.
Level 15: Additional Mystic Arcanum You gain an additional iteration of the Mystic Arcanum Eldritch Invocation. This Eldritch Invocation does not count against the total number of of Eldritch Invocations shown on the Warlock table.
Level 18: Hex Master (revised with additional text, indicated in bold) You have mastered the dread application of hexes, allowing you to cast the Hex spell without expending a Spell Slot. When cast in this way, treat Hex as if it was cast with a 4th level spell slot. Moreover, you don’t have to concentrate on the Spell once you cast it; it lasts for its full duration, until you end it as a Bonus Action, or until you are Incapacitated.
Change to Hex Spell's "At Higher Levels" UA writeup (altering the level breaks for up-casting): When you cast this spell using a Spell Slot of 2nd or 3rd level, you can maintain your concentration on the spell for up to 8 hours, and the extra damage increases to 2d6. When you use a Spell Slot of 4th level or higher, you can maintain your concentration on the spell for up to 24 hours, and the extra damage increases to 3d6.
Addition to Mystic Arcanum invocation: At the end of a Long Rest, you may change the spell chosen for your Mystic Arcanum. If you take this invocation more than once, you may only swap one spell at the end of each Long Rest.
The net impact of all of these changes is an additional 4 "free" invocations that specifically lean into features of the class (Mystic Arcanum x3 plus one tied to your Pact Boon), a little bit of extra juice from your Patron Spells, and making Hex Master an actually viable ability. (I will note that the Ranger analogue of this ability, Hunter's Mark, doesn't rely on the up-cast to get full damage, and Rangers are able to maintain the spell without concentration from level 1 per their UA writeup. The second sentence added is a direct copy/paste from that UA).
ETA: Yeah, the spelling in the poll isn't great, and the punctuation is inconsistent. I was in a rush. ;)
ETA(2): I swapped the Level 7 and 9 benefits to account for the fact that there's only 1 for each pact in the UA, and they're all at level 9.
I think it would be better if Mystic Arcanum wasn’t an Invocation. It should be a separate feature that you get at levels 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, and 17. And the spells can be chosen from the Arcane, Primal, or Divine spell lists. And that free casting of a patron spell should be once per short rest.
I think it would be better if Mystic Arcanum wasn’t an Invocation. It should be a separate feature that you get at levels 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, and 17. And the spells can be chosen from the Arcane, Primal, or Divine spell lists. And that free casting of a patron spell should be once per short rest.
As much as I'd like to agree with both of those, I can almost feel the D&D team chomping at the bit to carve away power from the rest of class in response to it.
I don't personally care if Mystic Arcanum is an Invocation or a separate class feature per se. I do like the flexibility to lean into it a bit harder than "base" if one wants to really be a full caster, but WotC/Hasbro seems to be making it clear that doing that with the Warlock is going to come with some sort of price tag, so I'm just hoping they soften the blow.
Not sure I’d agree that its helpful to discuss only solutions which well over half the player base are against. It makes it seem like a foregone conclusion, which it isn’t.
"Well over half" of the D&D Beyond Unearthed Arcana forum userbase is a different thing than "well over half the playerbase".
And I'd argue that myopically rejecting every attempt to discuss options within the context of halfcaster warlock is as "useless" as anything else, on top of being explicitly against the intent of the thread. There's already, like... five threads screaming about how warlocks are perfectly fine and don't need fixing, post in those.
On topic: I can vibe on the idea of Invocations-as-class-features, kinda like the Sorcerer thing. I'm one of those who feels like Mystic Arcanum isn't nearly as essential as it's being made out to be, but I do understand that it stings to lose. Making it a class feature would be a good compromise step, though they'd likely have to rewrite the Invocation and I honestly think I'd rather just have two or three more Invocation selections and a bunch more Invocations to select from, but I can see the logic in this schema.
Not sure I’d agree that its helpful to discuss only solutions which well over half the player base are against. It makes it seem like a foregone conclusion, which it isn’t.
I don't fully understand what you mean by "solutions which well over half the player base are against". This is a new proposed solution, and the way you worded it makes it sounds like its already been soundly rejected.
Don't get me wrong - I know a lot of people are wound up about the UA rewrite. And I don't blame them. Some people don't want any change at all, others think they have their own solutions, most people think the new Warlock is way too underpowered, etc.
I'm just trying to throw out one proposed path forward based on the assumption that WotC is going to dig in their heels on the "no Pact Magic - it will be Spellcasting" front. That assumption may prove to be wrong, but in the event that it's not, I was curious what people think. Apologies if that didn't come across in my original post, but that's been intent here.
I'd put forward a proposed solution to the problem based on an assumption that the UA Warlock was much closer to WotC's desired
On topic: I can vibe on the idea of Invocations-as-class-features, kinda like the Sorcerer thing. I'm one of those who feels like Mystic Arcanum isn't nearly as essential as it's being made out to be, but I do understand that it stings to lose. Making it a class feature would be a good compromise step, though they'd likely have to rewrite the Invocation and I honestly think I'd rather just have two or three more Invocation selections and a bunch more Invocations to select from, but I can see the logic in this schema.
To my mind, Eldritch Invocations are to Warlocks what Metamagic is to Sorcerers. It's a big piece of their class identity. It shouldn't be their only source of power, or the only thing to make them unique, but they absolutely should matter. It's been a huge part of the class going back to the original 3.5 version (although that class was all Eldritch Blast when you really look at it).
Mystic Arcanum isn't as important to my personal Warlock head-canon as it is to some folks - I don't necessarily think it needs to be a "core" class feature in that sense. But to make the class feel more like a "Mage", I figured I'd lean into the conceit a bit. Replacing all 4 of the Invocation abilities I listed originally with "+1 Invocation" wouldn't bother me in the slightest, but having watched TSR/WotC/Hasbro not implement such simple class fixes over the years makes me doubtful they'd take such an easily solution. ;)
The real issue is that the more times a warlock gets to select an Invocation the more Invocations they need to make, to ensure there's still meaningful Invocation selections to make even the twelfth time you get to take one. I imagine that's one of the reasons UA Mystic Arcanum works the way it does, to soak up a bunch of selection options. But yeah. I could see having Mystic Arcanum hard baked into level progression again, though it feels like a step backwards in some ways. I like the idea of being able to play a warlock as a Constantine-style collector and user of smaller magics, play to arcane utility with at-will spells and powers rather than constantly groping for Bigger Badder Boom, but I seem to be alone in that preference sooooooooo...........
The real issue is that the more times a warlock gets to select an Invocation the more Invocations they need to make, to ensure there's still meaningful Invocation selections to make even the twelfth time you get to take one. I imagine that's one of the reasons UA Mystic Arcanum works the way it does, to soak up a bunch of selection options. But yeah. I could see having Mystic Arcanum hard baked into level progression again, though it feels like a step backwards in some ways. I like the idea of being able to play a warlock as a Constantine-style collector and user of smaller magics, play to arcane utility with at-will spells and powers rather than constantly groping for Bigger Badder Boom, but I seem to be alone in that preference sooooooooo...........
You're not - I could see a campaign that restricts full casters, and where the Warlocks use their invocations to pick up lower-level MAs and SLAs, could be a lot of fun.
The real issue is that the more times a warlock gets to select an Invocation the more Invocations they need to make, to ensure there's still meaningful Invocation selections to make even the twelfth time you get to take one. I imagine that's one of the reasons UA Mystic Arcanum works the way it does, to soak up a bunch of selection options. But yeah. I could see having Mystic Arcanum hard baked into level progression again, though it feels like a step backwards in some ways. I like the idea of being able to play a warlock as a Constantine-style collector and user of smaller magics, play to arcane utility with at-will spells and powers rather than constantly groping for Bigger Badder Boom, but I seem to be alone in that preference sooooooooo...........
You're not alone there at all, actually. I actually dig that idea quite a bit. A Constantine-esque character would have a lot of minor tricks up his sleeve (representable with half-casting and some lower level 1/day stuff that could currently be covered by the existing Mystic Arcanum mechanics), plus some high level "whaaaat?" that he seems pull out of nowhere that could be his higher-level trump cards. A Forcecage or Maze (possibly represented through an item use for flavor) rather than throwing Delayed Blast Fireball and Meteor Swarm around.
As far as the selections go, there are a total of 25 options in the UA (including Mystic Arcanum, which can be taken up to 7 times) - and that doesn't count the options from Xanathar's or other potential sources, so there's some flexibility (I'd still argue not quite enough that aren't directly tied to spells, though). Honestly, I think the core book needs another 6-10 selections - most of which could come from existing books - to flesh out the option set and we'd be in pretty decent shape. 11 of the 25 are "cast a spell without expending a spell slot" style, and I think we could still use a few more of those, too.
I did realize a problem with the original proposed writeup, which is that the Pact-specific Invocations in the UA all require 9th level. All the lower level ones I'd been thinking of were from other sources (besides the ones rolled into the core Pact Boons). I'll adjust the original accordingly to compensate when I get a chance to think on how to adjust it, but that's an aside.
The real issue is that the more times a warlock gets to select an Invocation the more Invocations they need to make, to ensure there's still meaningful Invocation selections to make even the twelfth time you get to take one. I imagine that's one of the reasons UA Mystic Arcanum works the way it does, to soak up a bunch of selection options. But yeah. I could see having Mystic Arcanum hard baked into level progression again, though it feels like a step backwards in some ways. I like the idea of being able to play a warlock as a Constantine-style collector and user of smaller magics, play to arcane utility with at-will spells and powers rather than constantly groping for Bigger Badder Boom, but I seem to be alone in that preference sooooooooo...........
I always thought of the Warlock as a caster first. An occult caster and collector of relics and trinkets.
My biggest gripe with the UA Warlock is the slower spell progression rather than the loss of higher level spells. The loss of 4th level spells at 7 and 5th level spells at 9 is a big loss and I don’t really think they get anything of equal value in return. Mystic Arcanum doesn’t really make up for it because it’s one spell per long rest. No flexibility. No choice between spells.
I don’t think any of the Pacts make up for it. If you go melee with Blade you’re just a weaker Paladin/Ranger. If you go Chains you get some out of combat utility but not much beyond that. Tome is a joke? You get two cantrips and two 1st level ritual spells. Maybe I’m missing something?
The real issue is that the more times a warlock gets to select an Invocation the more Invocations they need to make, to ensure there's still meaningful Invocation selections to make even the twelfth time you get to take one. I imagine that's one of the reasons UA Mystic Arcanum works the way it does, to soak up a bunch of selection options. But yeah. I could see having Mystic Arcanum hard baked into level progression again, though it feels like a step backwards in some ways. I like the idea of being able to play a warlock as a Constantine-style collector and user of smaller magics, play to arcane utility with at-will spells and powers rather than constantly groping for Bigger Badder Boom, but I seem to be alone in that preference sooooooooo...........
I always thought of the Warlock as a caster first. An occult caster and collector of relics and trinkets.
My biggest gripe with the UA Warlock is the slower spell progression rather than the loss of higher level spells. The loss of 4th level spells at 7 and 5th level spells at 9 is a big loss and I don’t really think they get anything of equal value in return. Mystic Arcanum doesn’t really make up for it because it’s one spell per long rest. No flexibility. No choice between spells.
I don’t think any of the Pacts make up for it. If you go melee with Blade you’re just a weaker Paladin/Ranger. If you go Chains you get some out of combat utility but not much beyond that. Tome is a joke? You get two cantrips and two 1st level ritual spells. Maybe I’m missing something?
With tome you are missing that you can change out the cantrip and ritual spells with a short rest and dont need to take the agonizing blast invocation to keep up with ranged martial damage.
Warlocks should be patron casters, with Invocations starting earlier, and they should be tied to the patron
as a patron caster, they get a free solo cast of all spells their patron has granted them, upcast to the spell slot level they know, they then get two free slots, which they can use to cast any spell they know, and the invocations should be either more numerous but should also come the patron pact, they should also be passive (IMO) Mystic Arcanum, should also star at level 5 but be tied to proficient bonus
this UA warlock is garbage, like dumpster fire level, Pinkerton raid level garbage
My biggest gripe with the UA Warlock is the slower spell progression rather than the loss of higher level spells. The loss of 4th level spells at 7 and 5th level spells at 9 is a big loss and I don’t really think they get anything of equal value in return. Mystic Arcanum doesn’t really make up for it because it’s one spell per long rest. No flexibility. No choice between spells.
I'd like to touch on this for a moment, because I think the lack of flexibility is a key point here. It's a problem that was present in the PHB version, but it feels much worse with the move from Pact Magic to half-casting.
My intent with the "patch" of free Mystic Arcanums was to bring the Warlock closer to full progression casting without having to introduce all sorts of sleight of hand with the math. (I'm not averse to math, but some players would have a stroke trying to figure out 2/3 progression casting...) I don't think I quite went far enough though, because it locks the player in pretty hard to a selection that can only be changed once per level.
I'm thinking of adjusting to text to be as follows (addition in italics):
You gain (an additional iteration of) the Mystic Arcanum Eldritch Invocation. This Eldritch Invocation does not count against the total number of of Eldritch Invocations shown on the Warlock table. In addition, you may change the spell selected for this feature at the end of a Long Rest.
I'm not sure if that goes too far - maybe Mystic Arcanum needs to have a blanket, single swap at the end of a Long Rest, rather than shuffling that many spells at once. But I definitely agree that there needs to be more flexibility than is currently written into the ability.
My biggest gripe with the UA Warlock is the slower spell progression rather than the loss of higher level spells. The loss of 4th level spells at 7 and 5th level spells at 9 is a big loss and I don’t really think they get anything of equal value in return. Mystic Arcanum doesn’t really make up for it because it’s one spell per long rest. No flexibility. No choice between spells.
I don’t think any of the Pacts make up for it. If you go melee with Blade you’re just a weaker Paladin/Ranger. If you go Chains you get some out of combat utility but not much beyond that. Tome is a joke? You get two cantrips and two 1st level ritual spells. Maybe I’m missing something?
At 7th you get one 4th level spell per long rest... and one 3rd-level spell, three 2nd-level spells, and four 1st-level spells.
At 9th you get one 5th-level spell per long rest.... and one 4th-level spell, two 3rd-level spells, three 2nd-level spells, and four 1st-level spells.
Not only is that more casting than any Paladin or Ranger at those levels gets, you get all that without needing to beg your party for a single short rest.
Mystic Arcanum can be taken for level 1 and 2 spells as well, so you can take up to 9. Probably why there are 9 invocations.
Or you can take none.
Pact castings short rest recharging was the main reason for Warlock's severely abbreviated spell list in 2014. Now they have access to the full Arcane list so Pact magic had to go.
Eldritch Blast as a class feature is WotC's tactic to prevent true full casters gaining access to it. Eldritch Blast, and its supporting invocations, are another reason why Warlocks can't be full casters. WotC regard it as that powerful.
Mystic Arcanum can be taken for level 1 and 2 spells as well, so you can take up to 9. Probably why there are 9 invocations.
Or you can take none.
Pact castings short rest recharging was the main reason for Warlock's severely abbreviated spell list in 2014. Now they have access to the full Arcane list so Pact magic had to go.
Eldritch Blast as a class feature is WotC's tactic to prevent true full casters gaining access to it. Eldritch Blast, and its supporting invocations, are another reason why Warlocks can't be full casters. WotC regard it as that powerful.
To clarify my point. I feel like it was misunderstood. I do not think that discussing the warlocks being a half caster and ignoring the key critique people have with the new warlock gets us closer to the solution. I’ve said my piece on the new warlock multiple times so I am not going to beat that drum again here.
I just know being a half caster makes it very difficult to address any issues I have with the new warlock. Don’t get me wrong. The old one needed change and I am here for change, and I am here for discussing the solution. I just think we are ignoring key problems here
and Yurei yes I am aware of the difference. We can’t poll the views of the whole player base. We can poll those who like the warlock or not here. It’s not the perfect metric but it’s all we have. Let’s not get pedantic unless you have a way we can get a better view from all players.
My biggest gripe with the UA Warlock is the slower spell progression rather than the loss of higher level spells. The loss of 4th level spells at 7 and 5th level spells at 9 is a big loss and I don’t really think they get anything of equal value in return. Mystic Arcanum doesn’t really make up for it because it’s one spell per long rest. No flexibility. No choice between spells.
I don’t think any of the Pacts make up for it. If you go melee with Blade you’re just a weaker Paladin/Ranger. If you go Chains you get some out of combat utility but not much beyond that. Tome is a joke? You get two cantrips and two 1st level ritual spells. Maybe I’m missing something?
At 7th you get one 4th level spell per long rest... and one 3rd-level spell, three 2nd-level spells, and four 1st-level spells.
At 9th you get one 5th-level spell per long rest.... and one 4th-level spell, two 3rd-level spells, three 2nd-level spells, and four 1st-level spells.
Not only is that more casting than any Paladin or Ranger at those levels gets, you get all that without needing to beg your party for a single short rest.
That's not the full picture though.
First off, you're going all in to be a full caster like that, but gaining nothing beyond that unlike Bards, Sorcerers and Wizards. You're still behind in spellslots and on top of that those 4th and 5th level spellslots can't be used for anything but that one spell once per long rest. You can't use it for up-casting. You can't use it to cast another 4th or 5th level spell later when you get access to those levels at 13 and 17 respectively.
You're going all in but you're worse in every way. Why? Because you have a choice? But you make that choice once and it's locked in until you level. It's not like you're a master swordsman one day and a full caster the other. So, why?
(Putting this note up top - I've made some additional tweaks to try to juice the power a bit more. Some of this likely still needs more work, though)
I know there are plenty of threads (and a lot of opinions) on this already, but I wanted to toss a relatively minimal set of changes to the current UA writeup that I think addresses a lot of the concerns in a way that doesn't add a pile of rules or "Warlock-only" exceptions to the OneDnD PHB. (Yes, I too have problems with the UA Warlock, but after thinking about it for a few days, I think there are ways to address this without a total rewrite.)
For purposes of rules clarity and not crowding out the Warlock table, I'd remove any instances of "Eldritch Invocation" from the chart after level 2 - like Rages, Weapon Masteries, and everything else, these should not need a specific call-out on the table besides the "Invocations" column. That's not a rules change, but I think it will help show how "empty" the class feels without the rest of these changes.
I write this with the assumption that Pact Magic in it's 5E form is gone and never coming back (because of multiclassing incompatibilities and the short rest recharge). I don't want to turn this into an argument about whether or not that should be the case - I'm just working off of that assumption.
Now, for the mechanical changes themselves. These lean into the Invocations as they are currently written, and assumes the base of 9 on the current UA chart.
Level 5: Mystic Arcanum
You gain the Mystic Arcanum Eldritch Invocation. This Eldritch Invocation does not count against the total number of of Eldritch Invocations shown on the Warlock table.
Level 7: Additional Mystic Arcanum
You gain an additional iteration of the Mystic Arcanum Eldritch Invocation. This Eldritch Invocation does not count against the total number of of Eldritch Invocations shown on the Warlock table.
Level 9: Pact Boon Augmentation
You gain a bonus Eldritch Invocation that you qualify for and that has your Pact Boon selection as a prerequisite. This Eldritch Invocation does not count against the total number of of Eldritch Invocations shown on the Warlock table.
Level 13: Eldritch Recovery
You regain an expended Spell Slot at the end of Short Rest. The level of this Spell Slot cannot exceed those you have spell slots for, as shown on the Warlock table.
Level 15: Additional Mystic Arcanum
You gain an additional iteration of the Mystic Arcanum Eldritch Invocation. This Eldritch Invocation does not count against the total number of of Eldritch Invocations shown on the Warlock table.
Level 18: Hex Master (revised with additional text, indicated in bold)
You have mastered the dread application of hexes, allowing you to cast the Hex spell without expending a Spell Slot. When cast in this way, treat Hex as if it was cast with a 4th level spell slot. Moreover, you don’t have to concentrate on the Spell once you cast it; it lasts for its full duration, until you end it as a Bonus Action, or until you are Incapacitated.
Change to Hex Spell's "At Higher Levels" UA writeup (altering the level breaks for up-casting):
When you cast this spell using a Spell Slot of 2nd or 3rd level, you can maintain your concentration on the spell for up to 8 hours, and the extra damage increases to 2d6. When you use a Spell Slot of 4th level or higher, you can maintain your concentration on the spell for up to 24 hours, and the extra damage increases to 3d6.
Addition to Mystic Arcanum invocation:
At the end of a Long Rest, you may change the spell chosen for your Mystic Arcanum. If you take this invocation more than once, you may only swap one spell at the end of each Long Rest.
The net impact of all of these changes is an additional 4 "free" invocations that specifically lean into features of the class (Mystic Arcanum x3 plus one tied to your Pact Boon), a little bit of extra juice from your Patron Spells, and making Hex Master an actually viable ability. (I will note that the Ranger analogue of this ability, Hunter's Mark, doesn't rely on the up-cast to get full damage, and Rangers are able to maintain the spell without concentration from level 1 per their UA writeup. The second sentence added is a direct copy/paste from that UA).
ETA: Yeah, the spelling in the poll isn't great, and the punctuation is inconsistent. I was in a rush. ;)
ETA(2): I swapped the Level 7 and 9 benefits to account for the fact that there's only 1 for each pact in the UA, and they're all at level 9.
I think it would be better if Mystic Arcanum wasn’t an Invocation. It should be a separate feature that you get at levels 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, and 17. And the spells can be chosen from the Arcane, Primal, or Divine spell lists. And that free casting of a patron spell should be once per short rest.
As much as I'd like to agree with both of those, I can almost feel the D&D team chomping at the bit to carve away power from the rest of class in response to it.
I don't personally care if Mystic Arcanum is an Invocation or a separate class feature per se. I do like the flexibility to lean into it a bit harder than "base" if one wants to really be a full caster, but WotC/Hasbro seems to be making it clear that doing that with the Warlock is going to come with some sort of price tag, so I'm just hoping they soften the blow.
Not sure I’d agree that its helpful to discuss only solutions which well over half the player base are against. It makes it seem like a foregone conclusion, which it isn’t.
"Well over half" of the D&D Beyond Unearthed Arcana forum userbase is a different thing than "well over half the playerbase".
And I'd argue that myopically rejecting every attempt to discuss options within the context of halfcaster warlock is as "useless" as anything else, on top of being explicitly against the intent of the thread. There's already, like... five threads screaming about how warlocks are perfectly fine and don't need fixing, post in those.
On topic: I can vibe on the idea of Invocations-as-class-features, kinda like the Sorcerer thing. I'm one of those who feels like Mystic Arcanum isn't nearly as essential as it's being made out to be, but I do understand that it stings to lose. Making it a class feature would be a good compromise step, though they'd likely have to rewrite the Invocation and I honestly think I'd rather just have two or three more Invocation selections and a bunch more Invocations to select from, but I can see the logic in this schema.
Please do not contact or message me.
I don't fully understand what you mean by "solutions which well over half the player base are against". This is a new proposed solution, and the way you worded it makes it sounds like its already been soundly rejected.
Don't get me wrong - I know a lot of people are wound up about the UA rewrite. And I don't blame them. Some people don't want any change at all, others think they have their own solutions, most people think the new Warlock is way too underpowered, etc.
I'm just trying to throw out one proposed path forward based on the assumption that WotC is going to dig in their heels on the "no Pact Magic - it will be Spellcasting" front. That assumption may prove to be wrong, but in the event that it's not, I was curious what people think. Apologies if that didn't come across in my original post, but that's been intent here.
I'd put forward a proposed solution to the problem based on an assumption that the UA Warlock was much closer to WotC's desired
To my mind, Eldritch Invocations are to Warlocks what Metamagic is to Sorcerers. It's a big piece of their class identity. It shouldn't be their only source of power, or the only thing to make them unique, but they absolutely should matter. It's been a huge part of the class going back to the original 3.5 version (although that class was all Eldritch Blast when you really look at it).
Mystic Arcanum isn't as important to my personal Warlock head-canon as it is to some folks - I don't necessarily think it needs to be a "core" class feature in that sense. But to make the class feel more like a "Mage", I figured I'd lean into the conceit a bit. Replacing all 4 of the Invocation abilities I listed originally with "+1 Invocation" wouldn't bother me in the slightest, but having watched TSR/WotC/Hasbro not implement such simple class fixes over the years makes me doubtful they'd take such an easily solution. ;)
The real issue is that the more times a warlock gets to select an Invocation the more Invocations they need to make, to ensure there's still meaningful Invocation selections to make even the twelfth time you get to take one. I imagine that's one of the reasons UA Mystic Arcanum works the way it does, to soak up a bunch of selection options. But yeah. I could see having Mystic Arcanum hard baked into level progression again, though it feels like a step backwards in some ways. I like the idea of being able to play a warlock as a Constantine-style collector and user of smaller magics, play to arcane utility with at-will spells and powers rather than constantly groping for Bigger Badder Boom, but I seem to be alone in that preference sooooooooo...........
Please do not contact or message me.
You're not - I could see a campaign that restricts full casters, and where the Warlocks use their invocations to pick up lower-level MAs and SLAs, could be a lot of fun.
You're not alone there at all, actually. I actually dig that idea quite a bit. A Constantine-esque character would have a lot of minor tricks up his sleeve (representable with half-casting and some lower level 1/day stuff that could currently be covered by the existing Mystic Arcanum mechanics), plus some high level "whaaaat?" that he seems pull out of nowhere that could be his higher-level trump cards. A Forcecage or Maze (possibly represented through an item use for flavor) rather than throwing Delayed Blast Fireball and Meteor Swarm around.
As far as the selections go, there are a total of 25 options in the UA (including Mystic Arcanum, which can be taken up to 7 times) - and that doesn't count the options from Xanathar's or other potential sources, so there's some flexibility (I'd still argue not quite enough that aren't directly tied to spells, though). Honestly, I think the core book needs another 6-10 selections - most of which could come from existing books - to flesh out the option set and we'd be in pretty decent shape. 11 of the 25 are "cast a spell without expending a spell slot" style, and I think we could still use a few more of those, too.
I did realize a problem with the original proposed writeup, which is that the Pact-specific Invocations in the UA all require 9th level. All the lower level ones I'd been thinking of were from other sources (besides the ones rolled into the core Pact Boons). I'll adjust the original accordingly to compensate when I get a chance to think on how to adjust it, but that's an aside.
I always thought of the Warlock as a caster first. An occult caster and collector of relics and trinkets.
My biggest gripe with the UA Warlock is the slower spell progression rather than the loss of higher level spells. The loss of 4th level spells at 7 and 5th level spells at 9 is a big loss and I don’t really think they get anything of equal value in return. Mystic Arcanum doesn’t really make up for it because it’s one spell per long rest. No flexibility. No choice between spells.
I don’t think any of the Pacts make up for it. If you go melee with Blade you’re just a weaker Paladin/Ranger. If you go Chains you get some out of combat utility but not much beyond that. Tome is a joke? You get two cantrips and two 1st level ritual spells. Maybe I’m missing something?
With tome you are missing that you can change out the cantrip and ritual spells with a short rest and dont need to take the agonizing blast invocation to keep up with ranged martial damage.
Warlocks should be patron casters, with Invocations starting earlier, and they should be tied to the patron
as a patron caster, they get a free solo cast of all spells their patron has granted them, upcast to the spell slot level they know, they then get two free slots, which they can use to cast any spell they know, and the invocations should be either more numerous but should also come the patron pact, they should also be passive (IMO) Mystic Arcanum, should also star at level 5 but be tied to proficient bonus
this UA warlock is garbage, like dumpster fire level, Pinkerton raid level garbage
They made the warlock a worse wizard
I'd like to touch on this for a moment, because I think the lack of flexibility is a key point here. It's a problem that was present in the PHB version, but it feels much worse with the move from Pact Magic to half-casting.
My intent with the "patch" of free Mystic Arcanums was to bring the Warlock closer to full progression casting without having to introduce all sorts of sleight of hand with the math. (I'm not averse to math, but some players would have a stroke trying to figure out 2/3 progression casting...) I don't think I quite went far enough though, because it locks the player in pretty hard to a selection that can only be changed once per level.
I'm thinking of adjusting to text to be as follows (addition in italics):
You gain (an additional iteration of) the Mystic Arcanum Eldritch Invocation. This Eldritch Invocation does not count against the total number of of Eldritch Invocations shown on the Warlock table. In addition, you may change the spell selected for this feature at the end of a Long Rest.
I'm not sure if that goes too far - maybe Mystic Arcanum needs to have a blanket, single swap at the end of a Long Rest, rather than shuffling that many spells at once. But I definitely agree that there needs to be more flexibility than is currently written into the ability.
At 7th you get one 4th level spell per long rest... and one 3rd-level spell, three 2nd-level spells, and four 1st-level spells.
At 9th you get one 5th-level spell per long rest.... and one 4th-level spell, two 3rd-level spells, three 2nd-level spells, and four 1st-level spells.
Not only is that more casting than any Paladin or Ranger at those levels gets, you get all that without needing to beg your party for a single short rest.
Mystic Arcanum can be taken for level 1 and 2 spells as well, so you can take up to 9. Probably why there are 9 invocations.
Or you can take none.
Pact castings short rest recharging was the main reason for Warlock's severely abbreviated spell list in 2014. Now they have access to the full Arcane list so Pact magic had to go.
Eldritch Blast as a class feature is WotC's tactic to prevent true full casters gaining access to it. Eldritch Blast, and its supporting invocations, are another reason why Warlocks can't be full casters. WotC regard it as that powerful.
Mystic Arcanum can’t taken until 5th level.
To clarify my point. I feel like it was misunderstood. I do not think that discussing the warlocks being a half caster and ignoring the key critique people have with the new warlock gets us closer to the solution. I’ve said my piece on the new warlock multiple times so I am not going to beat that drum again here.
I just know being a half caster makes it very difficult to address any issues I have with the new warlock. Don’t get me wrong. The old one needed change and I am here for change, and I am here for discussing the solution. I just think we are ignoring key problems here
and Yurei yes I am aware of the difference. We can’t poll the views of the whole player base. We can poll those who like the warlock or not here. It’s not the perfect metric but it’s all we have. Let’s not get pedantic unless you have a way we can get a better view from all players.
That's not the full picture though.
First off, you're going all in to be a full caster like that, but gaining nothing beyond that unlike Bards, Sorcerers and Wizards. You're still behind in spellslots and on top of that those 4th and 5th level spellslots can't be used for anything but that one spell once per long rest. You can't use it for up-casting. You can't use it to cast another 4th or 5th level spell later when you get access to those levels at 13 and 17 respectively.
You're going all in but you're worse in every way. Why? Because you have a choice? But you make that choice once and it's locked in until you level. It's not like you're a master swordsman one day and a full caster the other. So, why?