Half-caster + Pact Magic/Long Rest. Mystic Arcanum is fueled by Pact Magic slots to cast level 6-9 spells, each once/long rest. Just two resources. Your own spellcasting ability as an aspiring occultist, and your patron's power in form of Pact Magic.
How about 1/2 caster for slots, ditch pact magic, add in a mystic arcanum choice at each level a full caster would get a new level of spells so in total the warlock would have a list of 1/2 caster spells and slots to use as they wish, plus 9 spells they can use once per day but not up cast them.
Half-caster + Pact Magic/Long Rest. Mystic Arcanum is fueled by Pact Magic slots to cast level 6-9 spells, each once/long rest. Just two resources. Your own spellcasting ability as an aspiring occultist, and your patron's power in form of Pact Magic.
How about 1/2 caster for slots, ditch pact magic, add in a mystic arcanum choice at each level a full caster would get a new level of spells so in total the warlock would have a list of 1/2 caster spells and slots to use as they wish, plus 9 spells they can use once per day but not up cast them.
Half-caster + Pact Magic/Long Rest. Mystic Arcanum is fueled by Pact Magic slots to cast level 6-9 spells, each once/long rest. Just two resources. Your own spellcasting ability as an aspiring occultist, and your patron's power in form of Pact Magic.
How about 1/2 caster for slots, ditch pact magic, add in a mystic arcanum choice at each level a full caster would get a new level of spells so in total the warlock would have a list of 1/2 caster spells and slots to use as they wish, plus 9 spells they can use once per day but not up cast them.
So a wizard/sorcerer clone?
Worst than a clone because you can’t upcast with Mystic Arcanum. Kaynadin is literally suggesting pretty much exactly what got shot down in the UA5 playtest except that the Mystic Arcanum would be separate from the invocations. It’s a no go for many Warlock players.
It would be the previous but without the tax on invocations if you actually wanted any higher level spells at the same time a full caster would get them. Not sure what the percentage of players who disliked the play test because of the spell slot type change vs the players who disliked the invocation tax to keep up on your max level spells was.
Okay here is the 1/3 spellcaster I did for UA5, but updated to attempt to work with UA 7 design goals. Pact Gift is a new feature that gives you either Pact of the Blade or Pact of the Tome invocation. Pact Gift is a prerequisite to take any Pact of invocations. This is to stop people from using a feat to grab one of the former Pact Boons. Pact slots are gained at 2nd level with the Pact Magic feature. Pact Slots are no longer Spell slots per se. It is literally magical energy granted to you from your patron. They can be used to cast spells and for features that specifically name them. Thus they can’t be used by Sorcerers font of magic to become sorcerers points or any feature that only names spell slots. They could be used by a Sorcerer/Warlock to cast either their Sorcerer spells or their Warlock spells. Invocations would be reworded to mention both spell slots and pact slots. Pact of the Tome would no longer grant an additional spell slot and Book of Ancient Secrets would be an invocation again. Eldritch smite would continue to work only on Pact slots. Even with them already having low level ritual spells I would bring back Eldritch Sight and Beast Speech invocations. It should be up to the player if they would rather prepare the spell or have it as an invocation. There would be no benefit to do both, but having the option between the two is awesome imo. Additionally I would limit the amount short rest recharge of Pact Slots to either proficiency bonus times or half proficiency bonus times per long rest.
Warlock
Level
Class Features
Invocations
Cantrips
Spells Prepared
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
Pact Slots
Pact Slot Level
1st
Spellcasting, Pact Gift
1
2
2
2
-
-
-
-
-
2nd
Pact Magic
2
2
3
2
-
-
-
1
1st
3rd
Warlock Subclass
2
2
4
2
-
-
-
2
2nd
4th
ASI
2
3
5
3
-
-
-
2
2nd
5th
-
3
3
6
3
-
-
-
2
3rd
6th
Subclass Feature
3
3
7
3
-
-
-
2
3rd
7th
-
4
3
8
4
2
-
-
2
4th
8th
ASI
4
3
9
4
2
-
-
2
4th
9th
Contact Patron
5
3
10
4
2
-
-
2
5th
10th
Subclass Feature
5
4
10
4
3
-
-
2
5th
11th
Mystic Arcanum 6th level Spell
5
4
11
4
3
-
-
2
5th
12th
ASI
6
4
11
4
3
-
-
2
5th
13th
MA 7th level Spell
6
4
12
4
3
2
-
2
5th
14th
Subclass Feature
6
4
12
4
3
2
-
2
5th
15th
MA 8th level Spell
7
4
13
4
3
2
-
2
5th
16th
ASI
7
4
13
4
3
3
-
2
5th
17th
MA 9th level Spell
7
4
14
4
3
3
-
3
5th
18th
-
8
4
14
4
3
3
-
3
5th
19th
ASI
8
4
15
4
3
3
1
3
5th
20th
Eldritch Master
8
4
15
4
3
3
1
3
5th
If you wanted another option would be to give pact magic at level 1 like normal and start the 1/3 casting by giving spell casting at 3rd level as it is done for other subclasses that have 1/3 casting progression. I prefer the way I did it because it doesn’t feel like it came out of nowhere, but there is a story to tell with either path. My path tells the story of someone who already had magic but made a deal to gain more power than they naturally would have had. The other way tell the story of someone which no magic gaining power from another being and awakening their own magical power. Honestly with either you could also say the spell slots are power being granted from the patron as well. You are free to flavor the slots however you desire.
Half-caster + Pact Magic/Long Rest. Mystic Arcanum is fueled by Pact Magic slots to cast level 6-9 spells, each once/long rest. Just two resources. Your own spellcasting ability as an aspiring occultist, and your patron's power in form of Pact Magic.
How about 1/2 caster for slots, ditch pact magic, add in a mystic arcanum choice at each level a full caster would get a new level of spells so in total the warlock would have a list of 1/2 caster spells and slots to use as they wish, plus 9 spells they can use once per day but not up cast them.
Inflexible slots that can't be upcast aren't fun. This is essentially 9 different features/resources to track. And a choice, due to no upcasting limitation, will be artifically diminished to utility spells mostly.
I think that the 3rd pact slot should be at 7th level and the 4th at 11th or 13th. 1 free casting of a patron spell at base level. Magical Cunning adds a bonus to intelligence skills your proficient in equal to your charisma modifier. And a new repeatable Invocation called Eldritch Magic? That l lets you select one spell equal to or lower than you can currently cast with pact slots and you can cast that spell once per long rest and it doesn’t use a pact slot.
And all subclasses get that change damage type that the GOO has. Fiend gets Fire, Celestial gets Radiant, Archfey gets force?(don’t know which damage type feels more Fey). And a bonus language Fiend gets Infernal or Abyssal, Celestial gets celestial, Fey get Sylvian?, GOO gets Deep Speech.
Warlock with recharging top level spells + Mystic Arcanum + powerful at will damage from EB or PotB is already one of the most powerful classes in the game. If you want to add anything, you have to be willing to sacrifice something. So what is it?
Adding 1/2 or 1/3 casting on top of Pact Magic is a no-go IMO, too complicated for MCing and too close to full-caster spell progression at low levels. The best you have a chance at getting is more invocations that give either at will or limited use casting of specific spells. Warlock doesn't get Shield on their spell list, in the UA they instead get medium armour proficiency so you'd still have to MC if you want to Shield-spam. (Though honestly I hope Shield gets a severe nerf b/c it is way too powerful).
Warlock with recharging top level spells + Mystic Arcanum + powerful at will damage from EB or PotB is already one of the most powerful classes in the game. If you want to add anything, you have to be willing to sacrifice something. So what is it?
Adding 1/2 or 1/3 casting on top of Pact Magic is a no-go IMO, too complicated for MCing and too close to full-caster spell progression at low levels. The best you have a chance at getting is more invocations that give either at will or limited use casting of specific spells. Warlock doesn't get Shield on their spell list, in the UA they instead get medium armour proficiency so you'd still have to MC if you want to Shield-spam. (Though honestly I hope Shield gets a severe nerf b/c it is way too powerful).
The UA7 version doesn’t have medium armor anymore.
Warlock with recharging top level spells + Mystic Arcanum + powerful at will damage from EB or PotB is already one of the most powerful classes in the game. If you want to add anything, you have to be willing to sacrifice something. So what is it?
Adding 1/2 or 1/3 casting on top of Pact Magic is a no-go IMO, too complicated for MCing and too close to full-caster spell progression at low levels. The best you have a chance at getting is more invocations that give either at will or limited use casting of specific spells. Warlock doesn't get Shield on their spell list, in the UA they instead get medium armour proficiency so you'd still have to MC if you want to Shield-spam. (Though honestly I hope Shield gets a severe nerf b/c it is way too powerful).
as pointed out, warlocks no longer get medium armor. And you assume that recharging those top level spells actually happens. In my experience, it happens not much at all. I think you strongly overrate the power of warlocks in actual play. They look great on paper, but the reality is much different.
EDIT: They have already said that they want warlocks to cast spells more. giving us part of a magic item as a class feature to recharge a whole 1 spell slot per day...is not that. So, what's your recommendation on how to cast more spells. As far as MCing, you could strip that progression away from pact magic and MC locks only get pact magic, much like other classes lose their top armor. I think it would be easy to add 1/3 casting to their level progression in stages. They don't get anything until 3rd level as it is, and you can slow roll it if you needed to, but really, I don't think that 2 first level slots/day at level 3 would be a game breaking addition to the warlock, and no extra second level spells until level 7, when 4th level spells are starting to come online from traditional pact progression.
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.
Warlock with recharging top level spells + Mystic Arcanum + powerful at will damage from EB or PotB is already one of the most powerful classes in the game. If you want to add anything, you have to be willing to sacrifice something. So what is it?
Adding 1/2 or 1/3 casting on top of Pact Magic is a no-go IMO, too complicated for MCing and too close to full-caster spell progression at low levels. The best you have a chance at getting is more invocations that give either at will or limited use casting of specific spells. Warlock doesn't get Shield on their spell list, in the UA they instead get medium armour proficiency so you'd still have to MC if you want to Shield-spam. (Though honestly I hope Shield gets a severe nerf b/c it is way too powerful).
as pointed out, warlocks no longer get medium armor. And you assume that recharging those top level spells actually happens. In my experience, it happens not much at all. I think you strongly overrate the power of warlocks in actual play. They look great on paper, but the reality is much different.
I've played 3 warlocks all in games with only 0 or 1 SR per day, and they were plenty powerful. So I can only imagine how powerful they are in games where people do SR regularly.
Warlock with recharging top level spells + Mystic Arcanum + powerful at will damage from EB or PotB is already one of the most powerful classes in the game. If you want to add anything, you have to be willing to sacrifice something. So what is it?
Adding 1/2 or 1/3 casting on top of Pact Magic is a no-go IMO, too complicated for MCing and too close to full-caster spell progression at low levels. The best you have a chance at getting is more invocations that give either at will or limited use casting of specific spells. Warlock doesn't get Shield on their spell list, in the UA they instead get medium armour proficiency so you'd still have to MC if you want to Shield-spam. (Though honestly I hope Shield gets a severe nerf b/c it is way too powerful).
as pointed out, warlocks no longer get medium armor. And you assume that recharging those top level spells actually happens. In my experience, it happens not much at all. I think you strongly overrate the power of warlocks in actual play. They look great on paper, but the reality is much different.
EDIT: They have already said that they want warlocks to cast spells more. giving us part of a magic item as a class feature to recharge a whole 1 spell slot per day...is not that. So, what's your recommendation on how to cast more spells. As far as MCing, you could strip that progression away from pact magic and MC locks only get pact magic, much like other classes lose their top armor. I think it would be easy to add 1/3 casting to their level progression in stages. They don't get anything until 3rd level as it is, and you can slow roll it if you needed to, but really, I don't think that 2 first level slots/day at level 3 would be a game breaking addition to the warlock, and no extra second level spells until level 7, when 4th level spells are starting to come online from traditional pact progression.
Warlock with recharging top level spells + Mystic Arcanum + powerful at will damage from EB or PotB is already one of the most powerful classes in the game. If you want to add anything, you have to be willing to sacrifice something. So what is it?
Adding 1/2 or 1/3 casting on top of Pact Magic is a no-go IMO, too complicated for MCing and too close to full-caster spell progression at low levels. The best you have a chance at getting is more invocations that give either at will or limited use casting of specific spells. Warlock doesn't get Shield on their spell list, in the UA they instead get medium armour proficiency so you'd still have to MC if you want to Shield-spam. (Though honestly I hope Shield gets a severe nerf b/c it is way too powerful).
as pointed out, warlocks no longer get medium armor. And you assume that recharging those top level spells actually happens. In my experience, it happens not much at all. I think you strongly overrate the power of warlocks in actual play. They look great on paper, but the reality is much different.
I've played 3 warlocks all in games with only 0 or 1 SR per day, and they were plenty powerful. So I can only imagine how powerful they are in games where people do SR regularly.
I guess it depends on how many encounters groups are doing between long rests.
Warlock with recharging top level spells + Mystic Arcanum + powerful at will damage from EB or PotB is already one of the most powerful classes in the game. If you want to add anything, you have to be willing to sacrifice something. So what is it?
Adding 1/2 or 1/3 casting on top of Pact Magic is a no-go IMO, too complicated for MCing and too close to full-caster spell progression at low levels. The best you have a chance at getting is more invocations that give either at will or limited use casting of specific spells. Warlock doesn't get Shield on their spell list, in the UA they instead get medium armour proficiency so you'd still have to MC if you want to Shield-spam. (Though honestly I hope Shield gets a severe nerf b/c it is way too powerful).
as pointed out, warlocks no longer get medium armor. And you assume that recharging those top level spells actually happens. In my experience, it happens not much at all. I think you strongly overrate the power of warlocks in actual play. They look great on paper, but the reality is much different.
I've played 3 warlocks all in games with only 0 or 1 SR per day, and they were plenty powerful. So I can only imagine how powerful they are in games where people do SR regularly.
I guess it depends on how many encounters groups are doing between long rests.
Except no, it doesn't. One of those games we did 4 or 5 encounters between long rests and in another we did 1 encounter between long rests. In the many-encounter game each of those encounters was relatively easy so I could get by with just Hex which upcast to 3rd level meant it lasted through multiple encounters. Each encounter we took relatively little damage hence maintaining concentration wasn't an issue and we didn't need to SR. In the 1 encounter game the encounter was always Deadly so Hex and other concentration spells weren't as useful, instead I used Thunderstep to get myself and/or an ally out of trouble, Fireball if I could hit 4+ creatures with it, or used my slots for Eldritch Smite, but that still gave me 2 of those in a 4-5 round combat while the rest of the time I had a solid ranged attacks with my Improved Pact Weapon which was plenty.
Sorry haven’t read the whole thread, but I don’t think 1/3 caster works. 1/3 casters are a subclass feature, not a base class feature. Full and Half casting is for base classes. Unless you meant that all warlock subclasses would be where the spellcasting would come in.
Sorry haven’t read the whole thread, but I don’t think 1/3 caster works. 1/3 casters are a subclass feature, not a base class feature. Full and Half casting is for base classes. Unless you meant that all warlock subclasses would be where the spellcasting would come in.
Sorry just skimming the thread while at work
actually, I don't think it's been suggested yet to add spellcasting as a subclass feature. I know that's not actually your recommendation, but it's novel to think for a moment which patrons might be more deserving of 1/3-caster slots while others make due with base class pact casting...
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Warlock with recharging top level spells + Mystic Arcanum + powerful at will damage from EB or PotB is already one of the most powerful classes in the game. If you want to add anything, you have to be willing to sacrifice something. So what is it?
Adding 1/2 or 1/3 casting on top of Pact Magic is a no-go IMO, too complicated for MCing and too close to full-caster spell progression at low levels. The best you have a chance at getting is more invocations that give either at will or limited use casting of specific spells. Warlock doesn't get Shield on their spell list, in the UA they instead get medium armour proficiency so you'd still have to MC if you want to Shield-spam. (Though honestly I hope Shield gets a severe nerf b/c it is way too powerful).
as pointed out, warlocks no longer get medium armor. And you assume that recharging those top level spells actually happens. In my experience, it happens not much at all. I think you strongly overrate the power of warlocks in actual play. They look great on paper, but the reality is much different.
I've played 3 warlocks all in games with only 0 or 1 SR per day, and they were plenty powerful. So I can only imagine how powerful they are in games where people do SR regularly.
I guess it depends on how many encounters groups are doing between long rests.
Except no, it doesn't. One of those games we did 4 or 5 encounters between long rests and in another we did 1 encounter between long rests. In the many-encounter game each of those encounters was relatively easy so I could get by with just Hex which upcast to 3rd level meant it lasted through multiple encounters. Each encounter we took relatively little damage hence maintaining concentration wasn't an issue and we didn't need to SR. In the 1 encounter game the encounter was always Deadly so Hex and other concentration spells weren't as useful, instead I used Thunderstep to get myself and/or an ally out of trouble, Fireball if I could hit 4+ creatures with it, or used my slots for Eldritch Smite, but that still gave me 2 of those in a 4-5 round combat while the rest of the time I had a solid ranged attacks with my Improved Pact Weapon which was plenty.
It sounds like the more generous way of reading his point is that its power depends on DM pacing, and that the Warlock is alone in the boat of needing short rests to do the things they expect their character to be able to do.
Like you've clearly had a great experience, and I've personally had no problem with short rests and keeping spells available so far in the Descent into Avernus game I've been playing (we just hit 5th level las session though, so maybe that drops off in later levels). Anyway, it is conceivable that other people have had a lot of problems pacing encounter difficulty around too many or too few short rests.
Sorry haven’t read the whole thread, but I don’t think 1/3 caster works. 1/3 casters are a subclass feature, not a base class feature. Full and Half casting is for base classes. Unless you meant that all warlock subclasses would be where the spellcasting would come in.
Sorry just skimming the thread while at work
actually, I don't think it's been suggested yet to add spellcasting as a subclass feature. I know that's not actually your recommendation, but it's novel to think for a moment which patrons might be more deserving of 1/3-caster slots while others make due with base class pact casting...
I think that the 3rd pact slot should be at 7th level and the 4th at 11th or 13th. 1 free casting of a patron spell at base level. Magical Cunning adds a bonus to intelligence skills your proficient in equal to your charisma modifier. And a new repeatable Invocation called Eldritch Magic? That l lets you select one spell equal to or lower than you can currently cast with pact slots and you can cast that spell once per long rest and it doesn’t use a pact slot.
And all subclasses get that change damage type that the GOO has. Fiend gets Fire, Celestial gets Radiant, Archfey gets force?(don’t know which damage type feels more Fey). And a bonus language Fiend gets Infernal or Abyssal, Celestial gets celestial, Fey get Sylvian?, GOO gets Deep Speech.
Are these additional spell shots recharged on short rest? If yes, then the initial problem here isn't fixed, it's just tilted far more in the Warlocks favor
If the spells are refreshed on long rest I guess this is... fine. It's about what we' have now if you presume 1 built in short rest per long rest. It's not interesting or exciting but I suppose fine. I don't think the Warlock needs Magical Cunning to exist in this way if Pact slots are increased, and anyway the Warlock should get the short shrift in skills, but can already add +3 additional proficiencies through an Arcana. The subclass damage type changes feels a little disingenuous to GOO, but again, separate from the question at hand.
I think that the 3rd pact slot should be at 7th level and the 4th at 11th or 13th. 1 free casting of a patron spell at base level. Magical Cunning adds a bonus to intelligence skills your proficient in equal to your charisma modifier. And a new repeatable Invocation called Eldritch Magic? That l lets you select one spell equal to or lower than you can currently cast with pact slots and you can cast that spell once per long rest and it doesn’t use a pact slot.
And all subclasses get that change damage type that the GOO has. Fiend gets Fire, Celestial gets Radiant, Archfey gets force?(don’t know which damage type feels more Fey). And a bonus language Fiend gets Infernal or Abyssal, Celestial gets celestial, Fey get Sylvian?, GOO gets Deep Speech.
Are these additional spell shots recharged on short rest? If yes, then the initial problem here isn't fixed, it's just tilted far more in the Warlocks favor
If the spells are refreshed on long rest I guess this is... fine. It's about what we' have now if you presume 1 built in short rest per long rest. It's not interesting or exciting but I suppose fine. I don't think the Warlock needs Magical Cunning to exist in this way if Pact slots are increased, and anyway the Warlock should get the short shrift in skills, but can already add +3 additional proficiencies through an Arcana. The subclass damage type changes feels a little disingenuous to GOO, but again, separate from the question at hand.
Warlock with recharging top level spells + Mystic Arcanum + powerful at will damage from EB or PotB is already one of the most powerful classes in the game. If you want to add anything, you have to be willing to sacrifice something. So what is it?
Adding 1/2 or 1/3 casting on top of Pact Magic is a no-go IMO, too complicated for MCing and too close to full-caster spell progression at low levels. The best you have a chance at getting is more invocations that give either at will or limited use casting of specific spells. Warlock doesn't get Shield on their spell list, in the UA they instead get medium armour proficiency so you'd still have to MC if you want to Shield-spam. (Though honestly I hope Shield gets a severe nerf b/c it is way too powerful).
as pointed out, warlocks no longer get medium armor. And you assume that recharging those top level spells actually happens. In my experience, it happens not much at all. I think you strongly overrate the power of warlocks in actual play. They look great on paper, but the reality is much different.
I've played 3 warlocks all in games with only 0 or 1 SR per day, and they were plenty powerful. So I can only imagine how powerful they are in games where people do SR regularly.
Did you only have martials in there? because in a game where the casters can dump their spell slots every encounter, and know that we're getting a long rest soon, the warlock falls behind. Yeah, EB spam makes you competitive with the martials, but the casters will crush you. I've played 3 warlocks in 2 groups with 4 different DMs. One short rest per day, for 4 leveled spells cast total is the norm for all of those.
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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.
Tasha
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How about 1/2 caster for slots, ditch pact magic, add in a mystic arcanum choice at each level a full caster would get a new level of spells so in total the warlock would have a list of 1/2 caster spells and slots to use as they wish, plus 9 spells they can use once per day but not up cast them.
So a wizard/sorcerer clone?
Worst than a clone because you can’t upcast with Mystic Arcanum. Kaynadin is literally suggesting pretty much exactly what got shot down in the UA5 playtest except that the Mystic Arcanum would be separate from the invocations. It’s a no go for many Warlock players.
It would be the previous but without the tax on invocations if you actually wanted any higher level spells at the same time a full caster would get them. Not sure what the percentage of players who disliked the play test because of the spell slot type change vs the players who disliked the invocation tax to keep up on your max level spells was.
Okay here is the 1/3 spellcaster I did for UA5, but updated to attempt to work with UA 7 design goals. Pact Gift is a new feature that gives you either Pact of the Blade or Pact of the Tome invocation. Pact Gift is a prerequisite to take any Pact of invocations. This is to stop people from using a feat to grab one of the former Pact Boons. Pact slots are gained at 2nd level with the Pact Magic feature. Pact Slots are no longer Spell slots per se. It is literally magical energy granted to you from your patron. They can be used to cast spells and for features that specifically name them. Thus they can’t be used by Sorcerers font of magic to become sorcerers points or any feature that only names spell slots. They could be used by a Sorcerer/Warlock to cast either their Sorcerer spells or their Warlock spells. Invocations would be reworded to mention both spell slots and pact slots. Pact of the Tome would no longer grant an additional spell slot and Book of Ancient Secrets would be an invocation again. Eldritch smite would continue to work only on Pact slots. Even with them already having low level ritual spells I would bring back Eldritch Sight and Beast Speech invocations. It should be up to the player if they would rather prepare the spell or have it as an invocation. There would be no benefit to do both, but having the option between the two is awesome imo. Additionally I would limit the amount short rest recharge of Pact Slots to either proficiency bonus times or half proficiency bonus times per long rest.
If you wanted another option would be to give pact magic at level 1 like normal and start the 1/3 casting by giving spell casting at 3rd level as it is done for other subclasses that have 1/3 casting progression. I prefer the way I did it because it doesn’t feel like it came out of nowhere, but there is a story to tell with either path. My path tells the story of someone who already had magic but made a deal to gain more power than they naturally would have had. The other way tell the story of someone which no magic gaining power from another being and awakening their own magical power. Honestly with either you could also say the spell slots are power being granted from the patron as well. You are free to flavor the slots however you desire.
Inflexible slots that can't be upcast aren't fun. This is essentially 9 different features/resources to track. And a choice, due to no upcasting limitation, will be artifically diminished to utility spells mostly.
I think that the 3rd pact slot should be at 7th level and the 4th at 11th or 13th. 1 free casting of a patron spell at base level. Magical Cunning adds a bonus to intelligence skills your proficient in equal to your charisma modifier. And a new repeatable Invocation called Eldritch Magic? That l lets you select one spell equal to or lower than you can currently cast with pact slots and you can cast that spell once per long rest and it doesn’t use a pact slot.
And all subclasses get that change damage type that the GOO has. Fiend gets Fire, Celestial gets Radiant, Archfey gets force?(don’t know which damage type feels more Fey). And a bonus language Fiend gets Infernal or Abyssal, Celestial gets celestial, Fey get Sylvian?, GOO gets Deep Speech.
Warlock with recharging top level spells + Mystic Arcanum + powerful at will damage from EB or PotB is already one of the most powerful classes in the game. If you want to add anything, you have to be willing to sacrifice something. So what is it?
Adding 1/2 or 1/3 casting on top of Pact Magic is a no-go IMO, too complicated for MCing and too close to full-caster spell progression at low levels. The best you have a chance at getting is more invocations that give either at will or limited use casting of specific spells. Warlock doesn't get Shield on their spell list, in the UA they instead get medium armour proficiency so you'd still have to MC if you want to Shield-spam. (Though honestly I hope Shield gets a severe nerf b/c it is way too powerful).
The UA7 version doesn’t have medium armor anymore.
as pointed out, warlocks no longer get medium armor. And you assume that recharging those top level spells actually happens. In my experience, it happens not much at all. I think you strongly overrate the power of warlocks in actual play. They look great on paper, but the reality is much different.
EDIT: They have already said that they want warlocks to cast spells more. giving us part of a magic item as a class feature to recharge a whole 1 spell slot per day...is not that. So, what's your recommendation on how to cast more spells. As far as MCing, you could strip that progression away from pact magic and MC locks only get pact magic, much like other classes lose their top armor. I think it would be easy to add 1/3 casting to their level progression in stages. They don't get anything until 3rd level as it is, and you can slow roll it if you needed to, but really, I don't think that 2 first level slots/day at level 3 would be a game breaking addition to the warlock, and no extra second level spells until level 7, when 4th level spells are starting to come online from traditional pact progression.
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
I've played 3 warlocks all in games with only 0 or 1 SR per day, and they were plenty powerful. So I can only imagine how powerful they are in games where people do SR regularly.
I guess it depends on how many encounters groups are doing between long rests.
Except no, it doesn't. One of those games we did 4 or 5 encounters between long rests and in another we did 1 encounter between long rests. In the many-encounter game each of those encounters was relatively easy so I could get by with just Hex which upcast to 3rd level meant it lasted through multiple encounters. Each encounter we took relatively little damage hence maintaining concentration wasn't an issue and we didn't need to SR. In the 1 encounter game the encounter was always Deadly so Hex and other concentration spells weren't as useful, instead I used Thunderstep to get myself and/or an ally out of trouble, Fireball if I could hit 4+ creatures with it, or used my slots for Eldritch Smite, but that still gave me 2 of those in a 4-5 round combat while the rest of the time I had a solid ranged attacks with my Improved Pact Weapon which was plenty.
Sorry haven’t read the whole thread, but I don’t think 1/3 caster works. 1/3 casters are a subclass feature, not a base class feature. Full and Half casting is for base classes. Unless you meant that all warlock subclasses would be where the spellcasting would come in.
Sorry just skimming the thread while at work
EZD6 by DM Scotty
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/397599/EZD6-Core-Rulebook?
actually, I don't think it's been suggested yet to add spellcasting as a subclass feature. I know that's not actually your recommendation, but it's novel to think for a moment which patrons might be more deserving of 1/3-caster slots while others make due with base class pact casting...
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!
It sounds like the more generous way of reading his point is that its power depends on DM pacing, and that the Warlock is alone in the boat of needing short rests to do the things they expect their character to be able to do.
Like you've clearly had a great experience, and I've personally had no problem with short rests and keeping spells available so far in the Descent into Avernus game I've been playing (we just hit 5th level las session though, so maybe that drops off in later levels). Anyway, it is conceivable that other people have had a lot of problems pacing encounter difficulty around too many or too few short rests.
That's what pact of the time should be....
Are these additional spell shots recharged on short rest? If yes, then the initial problem here isn't fixed, it's just tilted far more in the Warlocks favor
If the spells are refreshed on long rest I guess this is... fine. It's about what we' have now if you presume 1 built in short rest per long rest. It's not interesting or exciting but I suppose fine. I don't think the Warlock needs Magical Cunning to exist in this way if Pact slots are increased, and anyway the Warlock should get the short shrift in skills, but can already add +3 additional proficiencies through an Arcana. The subclass damage type changes feels a little disingenuous to GOO, but again, separate from the question at hand.
There is no additional pact slots.
Did you only have martials in there? because in a game where the casters can dump their spell slots every encounter, and know that we're getting a long rest soon, the warlock falls behind. Yeah, EB spam makes you competitive with the martials, but the casters will crush you. I've played 3 warlocks in 2 groups with 4 different DMs. One short rest per day, for 4 leveled spells cast total is the norm for all of those.
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