The best thing about One with the Shadows is that it gets broken by taking the hide, so if you want to actually be unnoticed you have to hide before using it -- and if you have the ability to hide before using it, you probably don't need it in the first place.
My point is: the best use of invocations was to pretend to be a full caster by taking invocations that let you cast high level spells.
But, what if a player doesn't want more spells?
Then there should have been better invocations for other purposes.
IN UA6 they over fixed one invocation and all the others duds were kept as duds or just removed because mystic arcanum was there. How they missed that jump as a spell you can cast at will as a 9th level invocation is kind of hot garbage. Self only levitate at 12th is the same. Alter self at will is worse than change self at will and yet a much higher level etc.
Whether they go with a all invocation model, roll back to 2014, change their mind and go UA6 the invocations need a full overall. There are like 4-6 outside their pact that people take and the rest are hot garbage. Build some scaling into the invocations maybe even if the start with a nerf. Like maybe armor of shadows starts with once per day at level 5 its now at will, at level 10 it now is AC 15, at level 15 it gives you advantage on concentration saves. Though personally i think they should remove armor proficiency from the class and make armor of shadows a default feature with maybe invocations to improve it. As some kind of magical protection granted by your pact seems to fit a warlock better than just wearing armor to me. That being said improve all the damn invocations.
We know they aren't going to keep the Playtest 5 version and we know they aren't fully returning to the 2014 version with the Warlock. They have identified that warlock players want to cast their spells more often so what ever change they will make the Warlock will have more spell slots without having to rest. That is all we truly know.
We know they aren't going to keep the Playtest 5 version and we know they aren't fully returning to the 2014 version with the Warlock. They have identified that warlock players want to cast their spells more often so what ever change they will make the Warlock will have more spell slots without having to rest. That is all we truly know.
We know where playtest 8 is heading to some degree, not fully 2014, more spells somehow. We have no idea where it will be in 2024 release. I'm not expecting a full fix in playtest 8. Though they may need to start speeding things up a bit if they want to keep their 2024 release.
My point is: the best use of invocations was to pretend to be a full caster by taking invocations that let you cast high level spells.
But, what if a player doesn't want more spells?
Then there should have been better invocations for other purposes.
They over fixed one invocation and all the others duds were kept as duds. How they missed that jump as a spell you can cast at will as a 9th level invocation is kind of hot garbage. Self only levitate at 12th is the same. Alter self at will is worse than change self at will and yet a much higher level etc.
Whether they go with a all invocation model, roll back to 2014, change their mind and go UA6 the invocations need a full overall. There are like 4-6 outside their pact that people take and the rest are hot garbage. Build some scaling into the invocations maybe even if the start with a nerf. Like maybe armor of shadows starts with once per day at level 5 its now at will, at level 10 it now is AC 15, at level 15 it gives you advantage on concentration saves. Though personally i think they should remove armor proficiency from the class and make armor of shadows a default feature with maybe invocations to improve it. As some kind of magical protection granted by your pact seems to fit a warlock better than just wearing armor to me. That being said improve all the damn invocations.
Scaling is multiple different features in one invocation is close to a subclass, and trees of invocations to progress features is too complex. And TBH with the level requirements it really isn't necessary. Mask of Many Faces and Misty Visions are great, all the buffs to EB are good as well. If Hex remains a class feature then I can easily imagine tons of invocations that could be built on top of Hex like there are for EB: - as a BA teleport within 5ft of the target of your hex - you are invisible to the target of your hex - use a BA to attempt to restrain the target of your hex with eldritch tentacles. - when your hex ends, deal 1d6+your level damage to the last target of your hex - regain hp equal to damage deal by your hex
There should also be more that build on your pact boons e.g. Chain - whenever your familiar takes damage while you can see it, you can take the damage instead of them. - your familiar gains expertise in 2 skills. - your familiar gains evasion, while your familiar is within 5ft of you, you gain the benefits of evasion as well. - your familiar can use an action to become Large or return to its normal size. - you can cast spells as if you were in your familiar's location
Blade - when you cast a spell, you can make one attack with your pact weapon as a bonus action. - eldritch smite - your pact weapon gains the thrown property and magically returns to your hand after being thrown - you gain a flying speed while holding your pact weapon. - your pact weapon acts like an Immovable Rod that only you can activate. - the old Mobile-feat style maneuverability
Tome - change damage types of your spells / cantrips. - send written messages to any creature who's blood has touched the books pages. - Use Charisma for Intelligence checks while holding the tome. - animated tome that gains a 10 ft fly speed and can writes a perfect record of what is spoken aloud within 30 ft of it within its pages. - can learn spells from the wizard spell list in addition to from the warlock spell list.
Scaling is multiple different features in one invocation is close to a subclass, and trees of invocations to progress features is too complex. And TBH with the level requirements it really isn't necessary.
There's a lot of invocations it would be simple to fix. For example
Armor of Shadows: you learn the pact armor spell. This spell is a clone of the pact weapon spell, except replace 'weapon' with 'armor' and 'simple or martial' with 'light or medium', and some other small bonus such as +1 AC.
Ascendant Step: replace Levitate with Fly
Beast Speech: you may cast Animal Friendship, Speak with Animals, and Animal Messenger without expending a spell slot (not as strong as it sounds...two of those are rituals)
Eldritch Sight: you can cast Detect Magic or Detect Evil and Good without spending a spell slot (at least the second isn't a ritual...still not amazing).
Eyes of the Rune Keeper: you can read all writing, as if you were affected by comprehend languages. If text is magically obscured, you see through it as if you had truesight. You may use all spell scrolls as if the spell were on your spell list.
Fiendish Vigor: as an action, you gain 1d4+your warlock level temporary hit points.
Mask of Many Faces: You can cast disguise self without expending a spell slot. You gain proficiency with deception, or expertise if you are already proficient. At level 15, you may also cast alter self without expending a spell slot; if you do so, it does not require concentration.
Misty Visions: You can cast silent image without expending a spell slot or using material components. At level 9 this becomes [Tooltip Not Found].
One with Shadows: while in dim light or darkness, you may cast invisibility on yourself without expending a spell slot. In addition to normal ways of ending the spell, it ends if you are ever in bright light.
Scaling is multiple different features in one invocation is close to a subclass, and trees of invocations to progress features is too complex. And TBH with the level requirements it really isn't necessary.
There's a lot of invocations it would be simple to fix. For example
Armor of Shadows: you learn the pact armor spell. This spell is a clone of the pact weapon spell, except replace 'weapon' with 'armor' and 'simple or martial' with 'light or medium', and some other small bonus such as +1 AC.
Ascendant Step: replace Levitate with Fly
Beast Speech: you may cast Animal Friendship, Speak with Animals, and Animal Messenger without expending a spell slot (not as strong as it sounds...two of those are rituals)
Eldritch Sight: you can cast Detect Magic or Detect Evil and Good without spending a spell slot (at least the second isn't a ritual...still not amazing).
Eyes of the Rune Keeper: you can read all writing, as if you were affected by comprehend languages. If text is magically obscured, you see through it as if you had truesight. You may use all spell scrolls as if the spell were on your spell list.
Fiendish Vigor: as an action, you gain 1d4+your warlock level temporary hit points.
Mask of Many Faces: You can cast disguise self without expending a spell slot. You gain proficiency with deception, or expertise if you are already proficient. At level 15, you may also cast alter self without expending a spell slot; if you do so, it does not require concentration.
Misty Visions: You can cast silent image without expending a spell slot or using material components. At level 9 this becomes [Tooltip Not Found].
One with Shadows: while in dim light or darkness, you may cast invisibility on yourself without expending a spell slot. In addition to normal ways of ending the spell, it ends if you are ever in bright light.
Otherworldly Leap: replace Jump with Misty Step.
So you want one invocation to give instant and unlimited access to up to three different spells, be able to ignore a mechanic that applies to every spellcasting class, give unlimited access to 60-feet flight speed, be able to limitlessly give significant amounts of temporary HP, cast spells that ignore concentration, or give unlimited bonus-action teleportation.
As always, "fixing" things amounts to making them wildly overpowered because utility is treated as useless.
Those are some good points but are also easily fixed.
Ascendant step, you gain a flight speed of 20 foot but can only fly up to a maximum of 30 foot above the ground, if you end up over 30 foot above the ground, such as going over a cliff, then you descend as if under the effects of the levitate spell when it ends, you descend until you are back to within 30 foot above the ground.
Beast Speech, you can speak with animals as if under the effects of the speak with animals spell, additionally you gain access to the animal friendship and animal messenger spells, you additionally learn animal messenger as a ritual.
-This one is really already limited use/situational, the place where it isn't is avoiding fights so animal friendship should at least still cost a spell slot.
Fiendish Vigor: As an action you roll a number of d4s equal to your proficiency bonus and gain the result as temporary HP, you can do this a number of times equal to your charisma modifier (minimum of 1), you regain all charges on a long rest. You additionally gain the Armor of Agathys spell.
- Alternatively start at 1d4 and gain a die every 4th warlock level, starting at warlock level 4.
Overall, Innovations need some semblance of balance where some are clearly better than others and some are almost useless after the few levels where they come available. There are so many better ways of getting temporary HP for example than Fiendish Vigor, Armor of Agathys is literally a warlock spell, gives more temp HP and also inflicts damage on melee attackers. It's only use is that it does not cost spell slots but as the temp HP never increases, it quickly becomes redundant, why waste an action to get 5~9 temp HP when you can use 3 rays of eldritch blast at level 11?
Overall, Innovations need some semblance of balance where some are clearly better than others and some are almost useless after the few levels where they come available. There are so many better ways of getting temporary HP for example than Fiendish Vigor, Armor of Agathys is literally a warlock spell, gives more temp HP and also inflicts damage on melee attackers. It's only use is that it does not cost spell slots but as the temp HP never increases, it quickly becomes redundant, why waste an action to get 5~9 temp HP when you can use 3 rays of eldritch blast at level 11?
Why would you ever use Fiendist Vigor in combat? It is an out-of-combat spell giving you 8 thp at the start of every fight, which if you're doing 6 encounters per day is 48 extra HP throughout the day. Your "fix" is actually a massive nerf.
Overall, Innovations need some semblance of balance where some are clearly better than others and some are almost useless after the few levels where they come available. There are so many better ways of getting temporary HP for example than Fiendish Vigor, Armor of Agathys is literally a warlock spell, gives more temp HP and also inflicts damage on melee attackers. It's only use is that it does not cost spell slots but as the temp HP never increases, it quickly becomes redundant, why waste an action to get 5~9 temp HP when you can use 3 rays of eldritch blast at level 11?
Why would you ever use Fiendist Vigor in combat? It is an out-of-combat spell giving you 8 thp at the start of every fight, which if you're doing 6 encounters per day is 48 extra HP throughout the day.
It's only 48 extra HP if you have to recast it, how often do you have to recast it? Most the time Warlock is in the back, meanwhile a warlock can cast Armor of Agathys out of battle too, at level 11, that'd be 25 temp HP, if you have 2 short rests, casting once for each short rest, that is 75 extra HP throughout the day, and you get the luxury that any melee attacks against you inflicted damage back.
Additionally there are feats like Inspiring Leader, which is level+CHA temp HP, if you wanted to be giving the strong support, pick that up so now your entire party gets 15 temp HP, with 2 short rests you give everybody 45 extra HP through the day, not just yourself. Tho if you're a variant human you could also have the full +5 mod, so 16 temp HP and 48 temp HP throughout the entire day, for every member of the party. There are multiple other sources of temp HP and you're only allowed to use one at a time, Fiendish Vigor is one of the very weakest, more so given that warlock gets Armor of Agathys.
Also I'd point out the changes I suggested actually fixes the issue you talk about, since it limits to Charisma Modifier times per day. It gets more powerful with level but can't be spammed to ensure you always have the 8 temp HP.
Armor of Shadows : as an action you can wrap yourself in shadows creating dim light in a 5ft radius around yourself which lasts for 10 minutes, while in dim light or darkness you gain a +1 bonus to your AC.
Ascendant Step : as a bonus action you can give yourself a 20 ft fly speed for 10 minutes, once you use this feature you can't use it again until you finish a short or long rest.
Beast Speech: you can cast speak with animals at will, you learn the Find Familiar spell if you don't know it already.
Bewitching Whispers : when you cast a spell from the Enchantment school, it no longer requires verbal components.
Dreadful Word : When you cast a spell of 1st level or higher, you can choose one target of that spell who must make a Wis save vs your spell DC or be frightened of you for 1 minute, the target can repeat save when they end their turn out of your line of sight.
Gaze of Two Minds : can also be used on unwilling creatures if they fail a Wis save (a creature is immune to this for 24 hours on a successful save).
One with Shadow : remove 5th level prerequisite, add gaining proficiency in Stealth.
Minions of Chaos: you learn Conjure Elemental, and Summon Lesser Demon, you can cast each of these spells once without expending a spell slot per long rest.
Other Worldly Leap: you can use a bonus action to jump up to 30 ft in any direction without provoking attacks of opportunity. You can use this ability a number of times equal to your charisma modifier, and regain all uses when you finish a long rest.
Sign of Ill Omen: when a target cursed by your hex spell makes an attack, you can use your reaction to impose disadvantage on the attack roll.
Tomb of Levistus : make it usable on any creature (hostile creatures get a STR save to resist) not just yourself.
Trickster's Escape : cast freedom of movement on yourself at will.
Pact magic was far from game breaking. I think the complaints about coffeelocks was overblown as well.
Generally speaking, I think pact magic was rather weak, but then again, it was supposed to be. Warlock, with EB spam was a fully functional martial character. If you can accept that as fact, then it's easy to see how it would be easy to let spellcasting features turn warlock into something massively overpowered. Pact magic was an interesting concept, that I think left a bit to be desired as a spellcaster. The new warlock as a half caster fixed that problems, but now we're being nerfed back into pact casters. If you remove the 'but muh unique system' complaints, the half caster variant that was presented was flat out mechanically superior in nearly every way to what we had with pact magic.
Pact magic can't be game breaking, if it's inferior.
Half caster didn’t fix anything; it traded quality for quantity and ended up with the worst of both worlds; any casting you could do, someone else could do better, and there are better classes for martial augmented by spells.
Yep- Half Casters normally have a strong second half to their identity. Paladin is half cleric and half frontline melee and support magic (Auras, Lay on Hands). Ranger is half druid/pet master and half fighter with all of it's optional roles. 1D&D UA Warlock was half-wizard with no coherent other half a role it could perform well. You could be a Half-Wizard and like 1/4 Fighter but Bladesinger would do it far better. You could be Half-wizard and like 1/4 wizard but you would have less spells per day and less upcasting versatility. Lastly you could be Half-Wizard and 1/4 pet master with far weaker summons/pets than either Druid or Ranger.
Fundamentally they tried to make Warlock half caster and half nothing.
Half caster, half Pact Boon? They could have leaned in on the boons a bit more to flesh out that side if the warlock.
That said I was in favor of keeping Pact Magic but making it long rest recharge, upping the number slightly. With an Arcane Recovery-like feature to regain slots back. Slots would be for the big spells (not always damage spells). And invocations being more support, control, etc as well as building up boons.
But if they stuck with the half caster I would have lived with it.
Pact magic was far from game breaking. I think the complaints about coffeelocks was overblown as well.
Generally speaking, I think pact magic was rather weak, but then again, it was supposed to be. Warlock, with EB spam was a fully functional martial character. If you can accept that as fact, then it's easy to see how it would be easy to let spellcasting features turn warlock into something massively overpowered. Pact magic was an interesting concept, that I think left a bit to be desired as a spellcaster. The new warlock as a half caster fixed that problems, but now we're being nerfed back into pact casters. If you remove the 'but muh unique system' complaints, the half caster variant that was presented was flat out mechanically superior in nearly every way to what we had with pact magic.
Pact magic can't be game breaking, if it's inferior.
Half caster didn’t fix anything; it traded quality for quantity and ended up with the worst of both worlds; any casting you could do, someone else could do better, and there are better classes for martial augmented by spells.
half Caster absolutely fixed the things I did not like about the 2014 warlock. I wanted low level spell slots I could use, without having to blow higher level slots on things like shield, hex, and misty step. The invocation selection is overrated. I'd much rather blow one on fireball than on something like disguise self.
As far as martials, the warlock was, and till would have been a better archer than the ranger, and arguably better than the fighter.
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Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Pact magic was far from game breaking. I think the complaints about coffeelocks was overblown as well.
Generally speaking, I think pact magic was rather weak, but then again, it was supposed to be. Warlock, with EB spam was a fully functional martial character. If you can accept that as fact, then it's easy to see how it would be easy to let spellcasting features turn warlock into something massively overpowered. Pact magic was an interesting concept, that I think left a bit to be desired as a spellcaster. The new warlock as a half caster fixed that problems, but now we're being nerfed back into pact casters. If you remove the 'but muh unique system' complaints, the half caster variant that was presented was flat out mechanically superior in nearly every way to what we had with pact magic.
Pact magic can't be game breaking, if it's inferior.
Half caster didn’t fix anything; it traded quality for quantity and ended up with the worst of both worlds; any casting you could do, someone else could do better, and there are better classes for martial augmented by spells.
half Caster absolutely fixed the things I did not like about the 2014 warlock. I wanted low level spell slots I could use, without having to blow higher level slots on things like shield, hex, and misty step. The invocation selection is overrated. I'd much rather blow one on fireball than on something like disguise self.
As far as martials, the warlock was, and till would have been a better archer than the ranger, and arguably better than the fighter.
If you want that, you can play an Artificer, Sorcerer, or Wizard. The entire mechanical point of the Warlock was an alternative system whose spell power kept pace with full casters. Making them half casters completely destroyed that point and meant anything you could do as a caster, another class could do better.
Pact magic was far from game breaking. I think the complaints about coffeelocks was overblown as well.
Generally speaking, I think pact magic was rather weak, but then again, it was supposed to be. Warlock, with EB spam was a fully functional martial character. If you can accept that as fact, then it's easy to see how it would be easy to let spellcasting features turn warlock into something massively overpowered. Pact magic was an interesting concept, that I think left a bit to be desired as a spellcaster. The new warlock as a half caster fixed that problems, but now we're being nerfed back into pact casters. If you remove the 'but muh unique system' complaints, the half caster variant that was presented was flat out mechanically superior in nearly every way to what we had with pact magic.
Pact magic can't be game breaking, if it's inferior.
Half caster didn’t fix anything; it traded quality for quantity and ended up with the worst of both worlds; any casting you could do, someone else could do better, and there are better classes for martial augmented by spells.
half Caster absolutely fixed the things I did not like about the 2014 warlock. I wanted low level spell slots I could use, without having to blow higher level slots on things like shield, hex, and misty step. The invocation selection is overrated. I'd much rather blow one on fireball than on something like disguise self.
As far as martials, the warlock was, and till would have been a better archer than the ranger, and arguably better than the fighter.
If you want that, you can play an Artificer, Sorcerer, or Wizard. The entire mechanical point of the Warlock was an alternative system whose spell power kept pace with full casters. Making them half casters completely destroyed that point and meant anything you could do as a caster, another class could do better.
I still think the solution is in the middle, it's pretty simple, give Warlock 1 pact slot of every level below their current highest.
So at level 3 you'd have 1st level slot and 2, 2nd level slots. at level 9 warlock, you'd have a 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 2 5th level slots.
Then just make it so that pact magic can only restore 1 slot a short rest, increasing to 2 at level 6, 3 at level 11 and 4 at level 16. Overall warlock would still have less slots but keep the comparative power of Pact Magic from 5E.
So you want one invocation to give instant and unlimited access to up to three different spells, be able to ignore a mechanic that applies to every spellcasting class, give unlimited access to 60-feet flight speed, be able to limitlessly give significant amounts of temporary HP, cast spells that ignore concentration, or give unlimited bonus-action teleportation.
Yeah, it's instant and unlimited access to three different spells, two of which are rituals and none of which are exactly notable powerhouses of spells. If invocations are supposed to make up for being a half caster, guess what -- they have to be legitimately powerful.
Pact magic was far from game breaking. I think the complaints about coffeelocks was overblown as well.
Generally speaking, I think pact magic was rather weak, but then again, it was supposed to be. Warlock, with EB spam was a fully functional martial character. If you can accept that as fact, then it's easy to see how it would be easy to let spellcasting features turn warlock into something massively overpowered. Pact magic was an interesting concept, that I think left a bit to be desired as a spellcaster. The new warlock as a half caster fixed that problems, but now we're being nerfed back into pact casters. If you remove the 'but muh unique system' complaints, the half caster variant that was presented was flat out mechanically superior in nearly every way to what we had with pact magic.
Pact magic can't be game breaking, if it's inferior.
Half caster didn’t fix anything; it traded quality for quantity and ended up with the worst of both worlds; any casting you could do, someone else could do better, and there are better classes for martial augmented by spells.
half Caster absolutely fixed the things I did not like about the 2014 warlock. I wanted low level spell slots I could use, without having to blow higher level slots on things like shield, hex, and misty step. The invocation selection is overrated. I'd much rather blow one on fireball than on something like disguise self.
As far as martials, the warlock was, and till would have been a better archer than the ranger, and arguably better than the fighter.
If you want that, you can play an Artificer, Sorcerer, or Wizard. The entire mechanical point of the Warlock was an alternative system whose spell power kept pace with full casters. Making them half casters completely destroyed that point and meant anything you could do as a caster, another class could do better.
I still think the solution is in the middle, it's pretty simple, give Warlock 1 pact slot of every level below their current highest.
So at level 3 you'd have 1st level slot and 2, 2nd level slots. at level 9 warlock, you'd have a 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 2 5th level slots.
Then just make it so that pact magic can only restore 1 slot a short rest, increasing to 2 at level 6, 3 at level 11 and 4 at level 16. Overall warlock would still have less slots but keep the comparative power of Pact Magic from 5E.
how is having "1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 2 5th level [pact] slots" not exactly the same as having spell slots by a different name?
how about an invocation that turns a trinket into a 1st-level spell points container. while you have the trinket in your possession you may cast 1st-level (cost: 2sp) and 2nd-level (cost: 3sp) wizard spells from a pool of warlock PB^2 spell points (roughly half-caster progression). pick two known spells to start, include also any rituals you learn later. pact of tome can copy 1st/2nd level wizard spells into their book for this purpose (not for pact slots).
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So you want one invocation to give instant and unlimited access to up to three different spells, be able to ignore a mechanic that applies to every spellcasting class, give unlimited access to 60-feet flight speed, be able to limitlessly give significant amounts of temporary HP, cast spells that ignore concentration, or give unlimited bonus-action teleportation.
Yeah, it's instant and unlimited access to three different spells, two of which are rituals and none of which are exactly notable powerhouses of spells. If invocations are supposed to make up for being a half caster, guess what -- they have to be legitimately powerful.
r3sistance was right that the beast stuff isn't so bad, but animal friendship should still be a once-per day or cost a spell slot.
and lilith's not wrong. levitate has it's uses and additional "mother may i" creative uses. fly isn't a tool, it's a convenience. fly is a shortcut for powerful characters above all the normal puzzle nonsense that rebuffed them in the early levels.
also, maybe remove the "truesight vs magically obscured text" just from a perspective of short-cut power vs creative solutions.
r3sistance was right that the beast stuff isn't so bad, but animal friendship should still be a once-per day or cost a spell slot.
and lilith's not wrong. levitate has it's uses and additional "mother may i" creative uses. fly isn't a tool, it's a convenience. fly is a shortcut for powerful characters above all the normal puzzle nonsense that rebuffed them in the early levels.
also, maybe remove the "truesight vs magically obscured text" just from a perspective of short-cut power vs creative solutions.
And this is all why half caster was a problem -- people are simply unwilling to accept powerful features that aren't spells. If warlocks are supposed to be half casters, invocations should not be "mildly cool tricks", they should be "powerful enough to make up for being a half caster".
Fly is good for puzzle solving only when the puzzle involves an unobstructed path from Point A to to Point B, and there’s already flying PC races, so it’s not like this isn’t already a consideration a DM can be expected to account for.
By 9th level, when the invocation becomes available, fly is a routinely available option. Self only flight (requires concentration) is not even close to game breaking at level 9.
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The best thing about One with the Shadows is that it gets broken by taking the hide, so if you want to actually be unnoticed you have to hide before using it -- and if you have the ability to hide before using it, you probably don't need it in the first place.
IN UA6 they over fixed one invocation and all the others duds were kept as duds or just removed because mystic arcanum was there. How they missed that jump as a spell you can cast at will as a 9th level invocation is kind of hot garbage. Self only levitate at 12th is the same. Alter self at will is worse than change self at will and yet a much higher level etc.
Whether they go with a all invocation model, roll back to 2014, change their mind and go UA6 the invocations need a full overall. There are like 4-6 outside their pact that people take and the rest are hot garbage. Build some scaling into the invocations maybe even if the start with a nerf. Like maybe armor of shadows starts with once per day at level 5 its now at will, at level 10 it now is AC 15, at level 15 it gives you advantage on concentration saves. Though personally i think they should remove armor proficiency from the class and make armor of shadows a default feature with maybe invocations to improve it. As some kind of magical protection granted by your pact seems to fit a warlock better than just wearing armor to me. That being said improve all the damn invocations.
We know they aren't going to keep the Playtest 5 version and we know they aren't fully returning to the 2014 version with the Warlock. They have identified that warlock players want to cast their spells more often so what ever change they will make the Warlock will have more spell slots without having to rest. That is all we truly know.
We know where playtest 8 is heading to some degree, not fully 2014, more spells somehow. We have no idea where it will be in 2024 release. I'm not expecting a full fix in playtest 8. Though they may need to start speeding things up a bit if they want to keep their 2024 release.
Scaling is multiple different features in one invocation is close to a subclass, and trees of invocations to progress features is too complex. And TBH with the level requirements it really isn't necessary. Mask of Many Faces and Misty Visions are great, all the buffs to EB are good as well. If Hex remains a class feature then I can easily imagine tons of invocations that could be built on top of Hex like there are for EB:
- as a BA teleport within 5ft of the target of your hex
- you are invisible to the target of your hex
- use a BA to attempt to restrain the target of your hex with eldritch tentacles.
- when your hex ends, deal 1d6+your level damage to the last target of your hex
- regain hp equal to damage deal by your hex
There should also be more that build on your pact boons e.g.
Chain
- whenever your familiar takes damage while you can see it, you can take the damage instead of them.
- your familiar gains expertise in 2 skills.
- your familiar gains evasion, while your familiar is within 5ft of you, you gain the benefits of evasion as well.
- your familiar can use an action to become Large or return to its normal size.
- you can cast spells as if you were in your familiar's location
Blade
- when you cast a spell, you can make one attack with your pact weapon as a bonus action.
- eldritch smite
- your pact weapon gains the thrown property and magically returns to your hand after being thrown
- you gain a flying speed while holding your pact weapon.
- your pact weapon acts like an Immovable Rod that only you can activate.
- the old Mobile-feat style maneuverability
Tome
- change damage types of your spells / cantrips.
- send written messages to any creature who's blood has touched the books pages.
- Use Charisma for Intelligence checks while holding the tome.
- animated tome that gains a 10 ft fly speed and can writes a perfect record of what is spoken aloud within 30 ft of it within its pages.
- can learn spells from the wizard spell list in addition to from the warlock spell list.
There's a lot of invocations it would be simple to fix. For example
Those are some good points but are also easily fixed.
Ascendant step, you gain a flight speed of 20 foot but can only fly up to a maximum of 30 foot above the ground, if you end up over 30 foot above the ground, such as going over a cliff, then you descend as if under the effects of the levitate spell when it ends, you descend until you are back to within 30 foot above the ground.
Beast Speech, you can speak with animals as if under the effects of the speak with animals spell, additionally you gain access to the animal friendship and animal messenger spells, you additionally learn animal messenger as a ritual.
-This one is really already limited use/situational, the place where it isn't is avoiding fights so animal friendship should at least still cost a spell slot.
Fiendish Vigor: As an action you roll a number of d4s equal to your proficiency bonus and gain the result as temporary HP, you can do this a number of times equal to your charisma modifier (minimum of 1), you regain all charges on a long rest. You additionally gain the Armor of Agathys spell.
- Alternatively start at 1d4 and gain a die every 4th warlock level, starting at warlock level 4.
Overall, Innovations need some semblance of balance where some are clearly better than others and some are almost useless after the few levels where they come available. There are so many better ways of getting temporary HP for example than Fiendish Vigor, Armor of Agathys is literally a warlock spell, gives more temp HP and also inflicts damage on melee attackers. It's only use is that it does not cost spell slots but as the temp HP never increases, it quickly becomes redundant, why waste an action to get 5~9 temp HP when you can use 3 rays of eldritch blast at level 11?
Why would you ever use Fiendist Vigor in combat? It is an out-of-combat spell giving you 8 thp at the start of every fight, which if you're doing 6 encounters per day is 48 extra HP throughout the day. Your "fix" is actually a massive nerf.
It's only 48 extra HP if you have to recast it, how often do you have to recast it? Most the time Warlock is in the back, meanwhile a warlock can cast Armor of Agathys out of battle too, at level 11, that'd be 25 temp HP, if you have 2 short rests, casting once for each short rest, that is 75 extra HP throughout the day, and you get the luxury that any melee attacks against you inflicted damage back.
Additionally there are feats like Inspiring Leader, which is level+CHA temp HP, if you wanted to be giving the strong support, pick that up so now your entire party gets 15 temp HP, with 2 short rests you give everybody 45 extra HP through the day, not just yourself. Tho if you're a variant human you could also have the full +5 mod, so 16 temp HP and 48 temp HP throughout the entire day, for every member of the party. There are multiple other sources of temp HP and you're only allowed to use one at a time, Fiendish Vigor is one of the very weakest, more so given that warlock gets Armor of Agathys.
Also I'd point out the changes I suggested actually fixes the issue you talk about, since it limits to Charisma Modifier times per day. It gets more powerful with level but can't be spammed to ensure you always have the 8 temp HP.
Fixes:
Armor of Shadows : as an action you can wrap yourself in shadows creating dim light in a 5ft radius around yourself which lasts for 10 minutes, while in dim light or darkness you gain a +1 bonus to your AC.
Ascendant Step : as a bonus action you can give yourself a 20 ft fly speed for 10 minutes, once you use this feature you can't use it again until you finish a short or long rest.
Beast Speech: you can cast speak with animals at will, you learn the Find Familiar spell if you don't know it already.
Bewitching Whispers : when you cast a spell from the Enchantment school, it no longer requires verbal components.
Dreadful Word : When you cast a spell of 1st level or higher, you can choose one target of that spell who must make a Wis save vs your spell DC or be frightened of you for 1 minute, the target can repeat save when they end their turn out of your line of sight.
Gaze of Two Minds : can also be used on unwilling creatures if they fail a Wis save (a creature is immune to this for 24 hours on a successful save).
One with Shadow : remove 5th level prerequisite, add gaining proficiency in Stealth.
Minions of Chaos: you learn Conjure Elemental, and Summon Lesser Demon, you can cast each of these spells once without expending a spell slot per long rest.
Other Worldly Leap: you can use a bonus action to jump up to 30 ft in any direction without provoking attacks of opportunity. You can use this ability a number of times equal to your charisma modifier, and regain all uses when you finish a long rest.
Sign of Ill Omen: when a target cursed by your hex spell makes an attack, you can use your reaction to impose disadvantage on the attack roll.
Tomb of Levistus : make it usable on any creature (hostile creatures get a STR save to resist) not just yourself.
Trickster's Escape : cast freedom of movement on yourself at will.
Half caster, half Pact Boon? They could have leaned in on the boons a bit more to flesh out that side if the warlock.
That said I was in favor of keeping Pact Magic but making it long rest recharge, upping the number slightly. With an Arcane Recovery-like feature to regain slots back. Slots would be for the big spells (not always damage spells). And invocations being more support, control, etc as well as building up boons.
But if they stuck with the half caster I would have lived with it.
EZD6 by DM Scotty
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/397599/EZD6-Core-Rulebook?
half Caster absolutely fixed the things I did not like about the 2014 warlock. I wanted low level spell slots I could use, without having to blow higher level slots on things like shield, hex, and misty step. The invocation selection is overrated. I'd much rather blow one on fireball than on something like disguise self.
As far as martials, the warlock was, and till would have been a better archer than the ranger, and arguably better than the fighter.
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Tasha
If you want that, you can play an Artificer, Sorcerer, or Wizard. The entire mechanical point of the Warlock was an alternative system whose spell power kept pace with full casters. Making them half casters completely destroyed that point and meant anything you could do as a caster, another class could do better.
I still think the solution is in the middle, it's pretty simple, give Warlock 1 pact slot of every level below their current highest.
So at level 3 you'd have 1st level slot and 2, 2nd level slots. at level 9 warlock, you'd have a 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 2 5th level slots.
Then just make it so that pact magic can only restore 1 slot a short rest, increasing to 2 at level 6, 3 at level 11 and 4 at level 16. Overall warlock would still have less slots but keep the comparative power of Pact Magic from 5E.
Yeah, it's instant and unlimited access to three different spells, two of which are rituals and none of which are exactly notable powerhouses of spells. If invocations are supposed to make up for being a half caster, guess what -- they have to be legitimately powerful.
how is having "1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 2 5th level [pact] slots" not exactly the same as having spell slots by a different name?
how about an invocation that turns a trinket into a 1st-level spell points container. while you have the trinket in your possession you may cast 1st-level (cost: 2sp) and 2nd-level (cost: 3sp) wizard spells from a pool of warlock PB^2 spell points (roughly half-caster progression). pick two known spells to start, include also any rituals you learn later. pact of tome can copy 1st/2nd level wizard spells into their book for this purpose (not for pact slots).
unhappy at the way in which we lost individual purchases for one-off subclasses, magic items, and monsters?
tell them you don't like features disappeared quietly in the night: provide feedback!
r3sistance was right that the beast stuff isn't so bad, but animal friendship should still be a once-per day or cost a spell slot.
and lilith's not wrong. levitate has it's uses and additional "mother may i" creative uses. fly isn't a tool, it's a convenience. fly is a shortcut for powerful characters above all the normal puzzle nonsense that rebuffed them in the early levels.
also, maybe remove the "truesight vs magically obscured text" just from a perspective of short-cut power vs creative solutions.
unhappy at the way in which we lost individual purchases for one-off subclasses, magic items, and monsters?
tell them you don't like features disappeared quietly in the night: provide feedback!
And this is all why half caster was a problem -- people are simply unwilling to accept powerful features that aren't spells. If warlocks are supposed to be half casters, invocations should not be "mildly cool tricks", they should be "powerful enough to make up for being a half caster".
Fly is good for puzzle solving only when the puzzle involves an unobstructed path from Point A to to Point B, and there’s already flying PC races, so it’s not like this isn’t already a consideration a DM can be expected to account for.
By 9th level, when the invocation becomes available, fly is a routinely available option. Self only flight (requires concentration) is not even close to game breaking at level 9.