Could give Warlocks access to Catnap and/or make a potion that gives the benefit’s of a short rest.
Anything that keeps giving them their pact magic spell slots back is going to be broken by virtue of how pact magic works. Until level 11 their Pact slots were the same full casters best slot. It’s not okay to give them more access to Pact slots. Any desire for them to cast spells more often must come in the form of lower spell levels.
I wonder what new Warlock design an AI like CharGPT 4 would produce after feeding the 2014 5e design, UA 1-7, and forum comments? “Design a Warlock class for D&D that maximizes fun and fairness, provides complementary uniqueness without competitive intrusion on other classes, and minimizes the burden on players and DMs, showing objective proof that is easy to comprehend.”
Could give Warlocks access to Catnap and/or make a potion that gives the benefit’s of a short rest.
Anything that keeps giving them their pact magic spell slots back is going to be broken by virtue of how pact magic works. Until level 11 their Pact slots were the same full casters best slot. It’s not okay to give them more access to Pact slots. Any desire for them to cast spells more often must come in the form of lower spell levels.
You can only benefit from Catnap once per long rest. Plus there’s the revised version of Prayer of Healing which you can only benefit from once per long rest as well. So a Wizard for Catnap and Cleric for Prayer of Healing would give the Warlock 2 10 minute short rest’s per long rest. Suppose you could get Catnap and Prayer of Healing with Spell-Wrought Tattoos. If using Xanathar’s table for buying magic items that could be anywhere between 50-300 gold each. If used the DMG it would be about 50-250 gold each.
Could give Warlocks access to Catnap and/or make a potion that gives the benefit’s of a short rest.
Anything that keeps giving them their pact magic spell slots back is going to be broken by virtue of how pact magic works. Until level 11 their Pact slots were the same full casters best slot. It’s not okay to give them more access to Pact slots. Any desire for them to cast spells more often must come in the form of lower spell levels.
Which I think we can just put into invocations.
I think the biggest issue we are running into here is the second level spells right now not the first. With tome you get a first level slot + lessons of the first one can get magic initiate which can be taken multiple times. These combined can get you 2 casts of any first level spell in the game. Take additional magic initiates for even more first level spells if wanted. The real complaint would be lack of second level spells/ slots. This is why I am an advocate for another 5th level invocation linked to tome that provides 1 second level slot and one ritual of a level the warlock can prepare from any class.
Could give Warlocks access to Catnap and/or make a potion that gives the benefit’s of a short rest.
Anything that keeps giving them their pact magic spell slots back is going to be broken by virtue of how pact magic works. Until level 11 their Pact slots were the same full casters best slot. It’s not okay to give them more access to Pact slots. Any desire for them to cast spells more often must come in the form of lower spell levels.
Which I think we can just put into invocations.
I think the biggest issue we are running into here is the second level spells right now not the first. With tome you get a first level slot + lessons of the first one can get magic initiate which can be taken multiple times. These combined can get you 2 casts of any first level spell in the game. Take additional magic initiates for even more first level spells if wanted. The real complaint would be lack of second level spells/ slots. This is why I am an advocate for another 5th level invocation linked to tome that provides 1 second level slot and one ritual of a level the warlock can prepare from any class.
Bring back Book of Ancient Secrets, roll that in, and give a once per day benefit of reducing any ritual spell to a five minutes. Done.
Again, the best way to fix Warlock Pact Magic slots is for Mystic Arcanum to include a slot for every spell level 1st-9th. MA already limits these slots to 1 per Long Rest. All the mechanics already exist and nobody complains about the availability of 6th-9th level spell slots. by the end Warlocks would be slightly over-represented with 5th level slots by level 20 but would have lower level Mystic Arcanum for one-off non-ritual spells. For compatibility reasons you can even make this a 1DD exclusive feature (renamed to something like Minor Arcanum) with Mystic Arcanum not kicking in until 11th level as per PHB.
This would address several issues including the availability of slots to use per day and also having to use high level slots on low level spells that don't upcast effectively. 7 leveled spell slots on what is esentially a half caster at level 9 is not breaking the game wide open - in fact it's fewer spell slots than what a traditional half caster would receive and only 1 more slot than a 1/3rd caster like an Eldritch Knight Fighter or Arcane Trickster Rogue would have.
Again, the best way to fix Warlock Pact Magic slots is for Mystic Arcanum to include a slot for every spell level 1st-9th. MA already limits these slots to 1 per Long Rest. All the mechanics already exist and nobody complains about the availability of 6th-9th level spell slots. by the end Warlocks would be slightly over-represented with 5th level slots by level 20 but would have lower level Mystic Arcanum for one-off non-ritual spells. For compatibility reasons you can even make this a 1DD exclusive feature (renamed to something like Minor Arcanum) with Mystic Arcanum not kicking in until 11th level as per PHB.
This would address several issues including the availability of slots to use per day and also having to use high level slots on low level spells that don't upcast effectively. 7 leveled spell slots on what is esentially a half caster at level 9 is not breaking the game wide open - in fact it's fewer spell slots than what a traditional half caster would receive and only 1 more slot than a 1/3rd caster like an Eldritch Knight Fighter or Arcane Trickster Rogue would have.
I've never seen anyone complain that Warlocks can't upcast spells above 5th level.
Again, the best way to fix Warlock Pact Magic slots is for Mystic Arcanum to include a slot for every spell level 1st-9th. MA already limits these slots to 1 per Long Rest. All the mechanics already exist and nobody complains about the availability of 6th-9th level spell slots. by the end Warlocks would be slightly over-represented with 5th level slots by level 20 but would have lower level Mystic Arcanum for one-off non-ritual spells. For compatibility reasons you can even make this a 1DD exclusive feature (renamed to something like Minor Arcanum) with Mystic Arcanum not kicking in until 11th level as per PHB.
This would address several issues including the availability of slots to use per day and also having to use high level slots on low level spells that don't upcast effectively. 7 leveled spell slots on what is esentially a half caster at level 9 is not breaking the game wide open - in fact it's fewer spell slots than what a traditional half caster would receive and only 1 more slot than a 1/3rd caster like an Eldritch Knight Fighter or Arcane Trickster Rogue would have.
I've never seen anyone complain that Warlocks can't upcast spells above 5th level.
Not upcasting spells above 5th level, upcasting lower level spells to 5th level which don't receive a benefit. For example, Misty Step and Hypnotic Pattern don't upcast. Major Image can upcast with a 6th level Mystic Arcanum, but not from a 4th or 5th level Pact Magic slot. These are really useful spells on the Warlock list but using half of your 5th level pact magic slots on them is a really bad trade in most cases unless you can be certain to receive a short rest soon after.
Again, the best way to fix Warlock Pact Magic slots is for Mystic Arcanum to include a slot for every spell level 1st-9th. MA already limits these slots to 1 per Long Rest. All the mechanics already exist and nobody complains about the availability of 6th-9th level spell slots. by the end Warlocks would be slightly over-represented with 5th level slots by level 20 but would have lower level Mystic Arcanum for one-off non-ritual spells. For compatibility reasons you can even make this a 1DD exclusive feature (renamed to something like Minor Arcanum) with Mystic Arcanum not kicking in until 11th level as per PHB.
This would address several issues including the availability of slots to use per day and also having to use high level slots on low level spells that don't upcast effectively. 7 leveled spell slots on what is esentially a half caster at level 9 is not breaking the game wide open - in fact it's fewer spell slots than what a traditional half caster would receive and only 1 more slot than a 1/3rd caster like an Eldritch Knight Fighter or Arcane Trickster Rogue would have.
I've never seen anyone complain that Warlocks can't upcast spells above 5th level.
Not upcasting spells above 5th level, upcasting lower level spells to 5th level which don't receive a benefit. For example, Misty Step and Hypnotic Pattern don't upcast. Major Image can upcast with a 6th level Mystic Arcanum, but not from a 4th or 5th level Pact Magic slot. These are really useful spells on the Warlock list but using half of your 5th level pact magic slots on them is a really bad trade in most cases unless you can be certain to receive a short rest soon after.
The solution to Warlocks wasting Pact Magic slots on automatically upcasting utility spells is making those spells into at-will Invocations, or X number of times per long rest Invocations, not giving the Warlock spellslots above the 5th level.
Again, the best way to fix Warlock Pact Magic slots is for Mystic Arcanum to include a slot for every spell level 1st-9th. MA already limits these slots to 1 per Long Rest. All the mechanics already exist and nobody complains about the availability of 6th-9th level spell slots. by the end Warlocks would be slightly over-represented with 5th level slots by level 20 but would have lower level Mystic Arcanum for one-off non-ritual spells. For compatibility reasons you can even make this a 1DD exclusive feature (renamed to something like Minor Arcanum) with Mystic Arcanum not kicking in until 11th level as per PHB.
This would address several issues including the availability of slots to use per day and also having to use high level slots on low level spells that don't upcast effectively. 7 leveled spell slots on what is esentially a half caster at level 9 is not breaking the game wide open - in fact it's fewer spell slots than what a traditional half caster would receive and only 1 more slot than a 1/3rd caster like an Eldritch Knight Fighter or Arcane Trickster Rogue would have.
I've never seen anyone complain that Warlocks can't upcast spells above 5th level.
Not upcasting spells above 5th level, upcasting lower level spells to 5th level which don't receive a benefit. For example, Misty Step and Hypnotic Pattern don't upcast. Major Image can upcast with a 6th level Mystic Arcanum, but not from a 4th or 5th level Pact Magic slot. These are really useful spells on the Warlock list but using half of your 5th level pact magic slots on them is a really bad trade in most cases unless you can be certain to receive a short rest soon after.
The solution to Warlocks wasting Pact Magic slots on automatically upcasting utility spells is making those spells into at-will Invocations, or X number of times per long rest Invocations, not giving the Warlock spellslots above the 5th level.
Where at any point did I suggest giving Warlocks spell slots above 5th level? Did you even read my post?
Warlocks and Monks are not even on the same page. The Monk does melee damage, with a handful of other features.
The Warlock is a caster, and now it is a ritual caster. Unlike before, where you had to expend a spell slot every time you wanted to cast a spell, the Warlock can now take a few ritual utility spells, and cast them without using a spell slot, saving those for when it really needs them.
It also has some invocations that give it on-demand spells.
And then, from levels 2 to 10, it has two spell slots for serious casting, and those can recharge on a short rest.
Of course the Wizard and Sorcerer can both do the same thing with rituals (Wizards even more so) but Warlocks do it while still being able to act as an Eldritch Blast striker, and even a competent melee fighter.
With a couple of short rests per long rest, plus the magical cunning ability (which replaced the UA5 free cast of a Patron spell with a free cast of any spell), allows a pre-11 Warlock to put down seven maximum level spells across the adventuring day. Even if they get no short rests they get three casts.
Certainly, more short rests makes Warlocks better. They also make Monks better. The mechanical problem for Warlocks is that no other classes are as incentivized as Warlock and Monk to take short rests. I think the solution to that is obvious. Create more short rest features for other classes. Sorcerers could get their sorcery points back on a short rest, for example, although that would probably require us to limit their sorcery points to spell slots conversion, perhaps only allowing the "points to spell slots" once per long rest, like Arcane Recovery although not limiting the slots to points conversion.
I doubt that Warlock players that usually get 2+ SR per LR ever complain about having not enough spell slots. (or if they do, then what they want is an overpowered character, not a balanced system)
I'm assuming (so please correct me if I'm wrong) most of the players complaining about too few spellslots are those who play in less combat focused games (0, 1 or maybe 2 combats per day). In those, you might also want to use spells in social and exploration situations. Those however usually don't require anyone else to take a short rest. So Warlocks can't use their spells in those situations because at some point, there will be a combat - and then they will need their spellslots. If those tables would use the "gritty realism" rest rules, this would be ok because then all casters would face this issue. This would also midigate the martial-caster divide. But as long as those are just optional rules in the DMG rather than the standard, most tables will not use them. My suggestion would just change this and keep the "one LR per day" as optional rule in the DMG.
In addition we could change how the warlock regains slots from "all slots at SR" to "half (or maybe just one) slots at SR and one slot at Initiative". This way you could still spend your slots in non combat situiations but if a combat arises, you have at least one left.
The Warlock is a caster, and now it is a ritual caster. Unlike before, where you had to expend a spell slot every time you wanted to cast a spell, the Warlock can now take a few ritual utility spells, and cast them without using a spell slot, saving those for when it really needs them.
The broader expansion of Ritual casting does a little bit for Warlocks certainly. But given that Pact of the Tome was already the best ritual caster feature in the game I can confidently say that it only slightly mitigates the limited casting abilities of the Warlock. The biggest issue is spell selection vs Pact slot availability - Warlock spell options seem to be entirely based around either taking them as at-will Invocations or to use one of those precious Pact slots. This was a big argument for taking Tome in 2014, you could grab Rituals from other classes and add them to your Book of Ancient Secrets for a big catalogue of "free" utility spells.
But unless there's a big push to make more spells Rituals (and I doubt they can in a balanced way since now all spellcasters can use the Ritual tag freely) then the Warlock needs an alternative way to use lower level magic without wasting their extremely limited Pact Magic slots. I think giving a single 1/day Arcanum slot to each spell level fixes this issue because you can use that 1st or 2nd level utility spell which doesn't fit into the Invocations list but it doesn't regenerate like Pact Magic, so you don't risk Warlocks burning all of their spells in a single combat any more. Also it makes keeping thematic spells like Hex more useful because you can now cast Hex with a 1st or 2nd level slot instead of burning a 5th level slot. More importantly, it results in at most only 7 extra casts per Long Rest for roughly 99% of published content (levels 1-14).
This also means that WOTC can tone down the overtuned UA7 Blade Pact because players could voluntarily boost themselves with utility spells instead and there would be a hard cap on those each Long Rest without dipping into Pact slots. And it would be much easier to keep those boosting spells in line because they have to be balanced for use by all of the Martial classes instead of just the Warlock.
But unless there's a big push to make more spells Rituals (and I doubt they can in a balanced way since now all spellcasters can use the Ritual tag freely) then the Warlock needs an alternative way to use lower level magic without wasting their extremely limited Pact Magic slots. I think giving a single 1/day Arcanum slot to each spell level fixes this issue because you can use that 1st or 2nd level utility spell which doesn't fit into the Invocations list but it doesn't regenerate like Pact Magic, so you don't risk Warlocks burning all of their spells in a single combat any more. Also it makes keeping thematic spells like Hex more useful because you can now cast Hex with a 1st or 2nd level slot instead of burning a 5th level slot. More importantly, it results in at most only 7 extra casts per Long Rest for roughly 99% of published content (levels 1-14).
It's simply not going to happen. Pact Magic is already more spell power than other casters if the party takes 2 SRs per day, and equal to other casters with 1 SR per day for most of the game. Warlock can either get low level slots as a half-caster, or can have a small number of high level slots. It cannot have both. The Compromise for "somewhere in between" is 1 pact slot, and 1 normal slot of each level.
It's simply not going to happen. Pact Magic is already more spell power than other casters if the party takes 2 SRs per day, and equal to other casters with 1 SR per day for most of the game. Warlock can either get low level slots as a half-caster, or can have a small number of high level slots. It cannot have both.
Then it's not a spellcaster, it cannot use magic to solve problems, and because people are being stupid and forcing Wizards to get rid of all the useful at-will Invocations the warlock can't use anything else to solve problems, either.
Why play the goddamn thing, if it can't use magic to solve problems and it can't use anything else to solve problems either?
EDIT: The whole "warlocks don't deserve to cast low-level spells!" thing is stupid, because every single white-room math junkie in the history of D&D always always always includes Hex in their DPR calculations. I.e. a first-level spell. That warlocks don't get to cast. because they don't 'deserve' to cast spells below their current slot level.
And don't even start with the dumb stupid "just upcast Hex and maintain concentration on it for the rest of your natural life eight hours! It's efficient!" No it's not. It's dumb and stupid, it breaks immersion like crazy, it invites a bunch of dickering with the DM over what does and doesn't count as "breaking concentration", it invites even more idiotic short-rest jank than Pact Magic already does with the whole "I cast Hex on a cricket, stomp it, then take a short rest to get my spell slot back BOOMI have Hex for the rest of the day for free!" that makes every single DM ever born roll their eyes so hard they get friction burns in their eye sockets, and it means the warlock complains like crazy when their "free" Hex breaks from a failed Concentration check. It's dumb. It's stupid. And it also prevents the warlock from casting any other concentration spell ever again. It is a terrible use of the already terrible Pact Magic system and anyone who's ever painted a room any color other than Insanitarium White knows it.
But unless there's a big push to make more spells Rituals (and I doubt they can in a balanced way since now all spellcasters can use the Ritual tag freely) then the Warlock needs an alternative way to use lower level magic without wasting their extremely limited Pact Magic slots. I think giving a single 1/day Arcanum slot to each spell level fixes this issue because you can use that 1st or 2nd level utility spell which doesn't fit into the Invocations list but it doesn't regenerate like Pact Magic, so you don't risk Warlocks burning all of their spells in a single combat any more. Also it makes keeping thematic spells like Hex more useful because you can now cast Hex with a 1st or 2nd level slot instead of burning a 5th level slot. More importantly, it results in at most only 7 extra casts per Long Rest for roughly 99% of published content (levels 1-14).
It's simply not going to happen. Pact Magic is already more spell power than other casters if the party takes 2 SRs per day, and equal to other casters with 1 SR per day for most of the game. Warlock can either get low level slots as a half-caster, or can have a small number of high level slots. It cannot have both. The Compromise for "somewhere in between" is 1 pact slot, and 1 normal slot of each level.
As Agilemind says. We're getting pact slots, or we're getting spell slots, but we're not getting both.
I suppose we could just ask for a Baldur's Gate 3 approach where we just get two recharges a day. Two recharges, no more, no less. Divorce Warlock recharges from formal "short rests".
At level 11 that's actually pretty strong, giving the Warlock 9 level 5 castings a day, plus their level 6 mystic arcanum.
That's the reason I'm advocating for disappearing lower level spell slots and long rest refresh. At no point should the Warlock be casting more highest level spells than a standard caster when those spells rule the game, and at all levels the price Warlocks pay is loosing the full casters ability to spend lower level spells like water.
In this model Warlocks would have 4 spells per LR from lvls 4-8, 5 per from 9-13 + MA, 6 from =>14. You basically sacrifice the utility and dependability of low level spells for Invocations.
Staggered and reduced spells means you're hovering between 2 and 3 spell levels in mid-tier and using just 4th and 5th at high levels. This Lock will never have more 1st-3rd spells than a full caster, and will not exceed the # of 4th level spells until level 14 (4 vs 3) and 5th level spells at 16 (3 vs 2). This is partly to balance out the full casters ability to swap out their 6-9 level spells according to situation, and partly to allow the Lock some staying power in the long running boss type battles common in these levels.
Since all characters get a short rest recharge mechanic I think something identical to the Wiz's Arc Rec works here. Otoh, maybe something more interesting like the Warlock must spend HD to recover spell slots (max at half lvl round up)? On the other-other hand, I can already hear the party healers grumbling over the spec needs Warlock, so perhaps not, lol. I can also be persuaded that Arc recovery is too powerful here, so would be open to alternative recovery ideas.
Anyway, the list with commentary, not including possible slots regained on SR.
- - -
Char lvl. - Spell Level/spells per LR
1 - Cantrips only
2 - 1st/2
3- 1st/2, 2nd/1
4 - 1st/2, 2nd/2
5 - 2nd/3, 3rd/1 (no 1st lvl spells, and full casters (FC) will have 2 3rd level spells and casting 9 spells/LR conpared to the Locks 4-5 at this level)
6 - 2nd/2, 3rd/2 (this one I'm torn on, FC don't get any more spells this level, but I feel like 2 3rd level spells here is right, what do you think?)
7 - 2nd/1, 3rd/2, 4th/1
8 - 3rd/2, 4th/2 (no 2nd lvl spells)
9 - 3rd/2, 4th/2, 5/1 (for comparison, FC have 1 5th, 3 4th, 3 3rd)
11 - 4th/3, 5th/2 + MA (no 3rd lvl spells, parity with FC excluding spells of 1-3; maybe too powerful?)
12 - no increase, like a full caster
13 - + MA, no increase
14 - 4/4, 5/2 (+1 more 4th than FC, get 6 spells +MA's per LR; FC get no progression here; again maybe too much?)
15 - +MA
16 - 4/3, 5/3 (+1 more 5th than FC, 4th level goes back to parity)
17 - +MA (remove Foresight from Warlock spell list, it's such an obvious, powerful, all encompassing spell that it feels more like a hyper powerful class feature. Either nerf the hell out of it (preferably) or remove it entirely from the list. Anyway)
18 - 4/2, 5/4 (FC also get +1 5th level spell here so it's still just 1 more than FC; plus you're also now at one less 4th level than a FC)
19 - 4/1, 5/5 (honestly these levels (16+) feel like throw aways in review; balance is so bonkers at this tier that I don't think it much matters)
MAGICAL CUNNING should fully recharge the warlock's pact magic, and short rests should only recharge 1 pact point. This along with invocations that give free use of some of the Patron's spells, so that having these prepared when they are low level is not seen as something decorative so as not to waste pact spaces.
A level 2-10 warlock, with 0 short rests would give him 4 pact spaces (Double than in 2014), not all at the same time, with 1 short rest he would only have 5 pact spaces (Like the current UA), and with 2 rests he would have 6 spaces pact (same as 2014). If for some reason more short breaks were made, the benefit with more short ones will undoubtedly decline, like the 14 that Yuriel usually says, he would have 18 vs. 30 in 2014 with 14 short ones, there being less chance of being overexploited, but it increases for the that DO NOT make shorts, making it more stable and predictable to the amount of available resources.
It would not be an ideal arrangement but I doubt they would do anything more radical (And obviously they would NOT return to the UA5 proposal), it would be better to leave it unchanged. I would maintain a smaller recovery with the shorts without depending on them as much.
at this point [UA7] i'd be willing to concede away short rest pact slot recharge for three "Lower Arcanum" slots: 1st- at level 3, 2nd- at level 5, and 3rd- at level 7. however, LA slots can only be cast as a ritual and the spell cannot target the warlock. LA spell does not require the ritual tag to be cast in this way. caster draws a 15ft diameter ritual circle and must remain within, else spell concentration breaks immediately. warlock is charmed by target of the spell until no longer concentrating on the ritual and the spell. LA slot used in this way cannot be used again until after a short or long rest.
NOTES:
cast it on your friends, let them shine. hopefully you have telepathic contact to let them know just before it fails.
one warlock spell locked in per LA slot after long rest, slightly better than Mystic Arcanum [UA7] "when you gain a Warlock level."
Short Rest pact refill is gone, but Magical Cunning exists in it's UA7 form (or whatever UA8/9/10 decides).
ritual duration is typically spell casting time + 10 minutes (unless some invocation comes along to cut that down).
when casting a spell longer than one minute, concentration is the only action available each round for the duration.
if casting harmful or attacking spell, immediately the charmed condition would end the ritual and then end charm.
i want to say "LA slot not expended if ritual not completed" but not sure how to make that air-tight legalese right now.
warlock wasn't getting any class features on level 5 or 7 anyway. too high level? sorry, maybe enjoy one of the many spellcasting feats.
yes, i just tied this to short rests. but warlock shouldn't have zero short rest recharge mechanisms (and this isn't the place to discuss Magical Cunning).
Anything that keeps giving them their pact magic spell slots back is going to be broken by virtue of how pact magic works. Until level 11 their Pact slots were the same full casters best slot. It’s not okay to give them more access to Pact slots. Any desire for them to cast spells more often must come in the form of lower spell levels.
I wonder what new Warlock design an AI like CharGPT 4 would produce after feeding the 2014 5e design, UA 1-7, and forum comments? “Design a Warlock class for D&D that maximizes fun and fairness, provides complementary uniqueness without competitive intrusion on other classes, and minimizes the burden on players and DMs, showing objective proof that is easy to comprehend.”
You can only benefit from Catnap once per long rest. Plus there’s the revised version of Prayer of Healing which you can only benefit from once per long rest as well. So a Wizard for Catnap and Cleric for Prayer of Healing would give the Warlock 2 10 minute short rest’s per long rest. Suppose you could get Catnap and Prayer of Healing with Spell-Wrought Tattoos. If using Xanathar’s table for buying magic items that could be anywhere between 50-300 gold each. If used the DMG it would be about 50-250 gold each.
Which I think we can just put into invocations.
I think the biggest issue we are running into here is the second level spells right now not the first. With tome you get a first level slot + lessons of the first one can get magic initiate which can be taken multiple times. These combined can get you 2 casts of any first level spell in the game. Take additional magic initiates for even more first level spells if wanted. The real complaint would be lack of second level spells/ slots. This is why I am an advocate for another 5th level invocation linked to tome that provides 1 second level slot and one ritual of a level the warlock can prepare from any class.
Bring back Book of Ancient Secrets, roll that in, and give a once per day benefit of reducing any ritual spell to a five minutes. Done.
Again, the best way to fix Warlock Pact Magic slots is for Mystic Arcanum to include a slot for every spell level 1st-9th. MA already limits these slots to 1 per Long Rest. All the mechanics already exist and nobody complains about the availability of 6th-9th level spell slots. by the end Warlocks would be slightly over-represented with 5th level slots by level 20 but would have lower level Mystic Arcanum for one-off non-ritual spells. For compatibility reasons you can even make this a 1DD exclusive feature (renamed to something like Minor Arcanum) with Mystic Arcanum not kicking in until 11th level as per PHB.
This would address several issues including the availability of slots to use per day and also having to use high level slots on low level spells that don't upcast effectively. 7 leveled spell slots on what is esentially a half caster at level 9 is not breaking the game wide open - in fact it's fewer spell slots than what a traditional half caster would receive and only 1 more slot than a 1/3rd caster like an Eldritch Knight Fighter or Arcane Trickster Rogue would have.
I've never seen anyone complain that Warlocks can't upcast spells above 5th level.
Not upcasting spells above 5th level, upcasting lower level spells to 5th level which don't receive a benefit. For example, Misty Step and Hypnotic Pattern don't upcast. Major Image can upcast with a 6th level Mystic Arcanum, but not from a 4th or 5th level Pact Magic slot. These are really useful spells on the Warlock list but using half of your 5th level pact magic slots on them is a really bad trade in most cases unless you can be certain to receive a short rest soon after.
The solution to Warlocks wasting Pact Magic slots on automatically upcasting utility spells is making those spells into at-will Invocations, or X number of times per long rest Invocations, not giving the Warlock spellslots above the 5th level.
Where at any point did I suggest giving Warlocks spell slots above 5th level? Did you even read my post?
Warlocks and Monks are not even on the same page. The Monk does melee damage, with a handful of other features.
The Warlock is a caster, and now it is a ritual caster. Unlike before, where you had to expend a spell slot every time you wanted to cast a spell, the Warlock can now take a few ritual utility spells, and cast them without using a spell slot, saving those for when it really needs them.
It also has some invocations that give it on-demand spells.
And then, from levels 2 to 10, it has two spell slots for serious casting, and those can recharge on a short rest.
Of course the Wizard and Sorcerer can both do the same thing with rituals (Wizards even more so) but Warlocks do it while still being able to act as an Eldritch Blast striker, and even a competent melee fighter.
With a couple of short rests per long rest, plus the magical cunning ability (which replaced the UA5 free cast of a Patron spell with a free cast of any spell), allows a pre-11 Warlock to put down seven maximum level spells across the adventuring day. Even if they get no short rests they get three casts.
Certainly, more short rests makes Warlocks better. They also make Monks better. The mechanical problem for Warlocks is that no other classes are as incentivized as Warlock and Monk to take short rests. I think the solution to that is obvious. Create more short rest features for other classes. Sorcerers could get their sorcery points back on a short rest, for example, although that would probably require us to limit their sorcery points to spell slots conversion, perhaps only allowing the "points to spell slots" once per long rest, like Arcane Recovery although not limiting the slots to points conversion.
I doubt that Warlock players that usually get 2+ SR per LR ever complain about having not enough spell slots. (or if they do, then what they want is an overpowered character, not a balanced system)
I'm assuming (so please correct me if I'm wrong) most of the players complaining about too few spellslots are those who play in less combat focused games (0, 1 or maybe 2 combats per day). In those, you might also want to use spells in social and exploration situations. Those however usually don't require anyone else to take a short rest. So Warlocks can't use their spells in those situations because at some point, there will be a combat - and then they will need their spellslots. If those tables would use the "gritty realism" rest rules, this would be ok because then all casters would face this issue. This would also midigate the martial-caster divide. But as long as those are just optional rules in the DMG rather than the standard, most tables will not use them. My suggestion would just change this and keep the "one LR per day" as optional rule in the DMG.
In addition we could change how the warlock regains slots from "all slots at SR" to "half (or maybe just one) slots at SR and one slot at Initiative". This way you could still spend your slots in non combat situiations but if a combat arises, you have at least one left.
The broader expansion of Ritual casting does a little bit for Warlocks certainly. But given that Pact of the Tome was already the best ritual caster feature in the game I can confidently say that it only slightly mitigates the limited casting abilities of the Warlock. The biggest issue is spell selection vs Pact slot availability - Warlock spell options seem to be entirely based around either taking them as at-will Invocations or to use one of those precious Pact slots. This was a big argument for taking Tome in 2014, you could grab Rituals from other classes and add them to your Book of Ancient Secrets for a big catalogue of "free" utility spells.
But unless there's a big push to make more spells Rituals (and I doubt they can in a balanced way since now all spellcasters can use the Ritual tag freely) then the Warlock needs an alternative way to use lower level magic without wasting their extremely limited Pact Magic slots. I think giving a single 1/day Arcanum slot to each spell level fixes this issue because you can use that 1st or 2nd level utility spell which doesn't fit into the Invocations list but it doesn't regenerate like Pact Magic, so you don't risk Warlocks burning all of their spells in a single combat any more. Also it makes keeping thematic spells like Hex more useful because you can now cast Hex with a 1st or 2nd level slot instead of burning a 5th level slot. More importantly, it results in at most only 7 extra casts per Long Rest for roughly 99% of published content (levels 1-14).
This also means that WOTC can tone down the overtuned UA7 Blade Pact because players could voluntarily boost themselves with utility spells instead and there would be a hard cap on those each Long Rest without dipping into Pact slots. And it would be much easier to keep those boosting spells in line because they have to be balanced for use by all of the Martial classes instead of just the Warlock.
It's simply not going to happen. Pact Magic is already more spell power than other casters if the party takes 2 SRs per day, and equal to other casters with 1 SR per day for most of the game. Warlock can either get low level slots as a half-caster, or can have a small number of high level slots. It cannot have both. The Compromise for "somewhere in between" is 1 pact slot, and 1 normal slot of each level.
Then it's not a spellcaster, it cannot use magic to solve problems, and because people are being stupid and forcing Wizards to get rid of all the useful at-will Invocations the warlock can't use anything else to solve problems, either.
Why play the goddamn thing, if it can't use magic to solve problems and it can't use anything else to solve problems either?
EDIT: The whole "warlocks don't deserve to cast low-level spells!" thing is stupid, because every single white-room math junkie in the history of D&D always always always includes Hex in their DPR calculations. I.e. a first-level spell. That warlocks don't get to cast. because they don't 'deserve' to cast spells below their current slot level.
And don't even start with the dumb stupid "just upcast Hex and maintain concentration on it for
the rest of your natural lifeeight hours! It's efficient!" No it's not. It's dumb and stupid, it breaks immersion like crazy, it invites a bunch of dickering with the DM over what does and doesn't count as "breaking concentration", it invites even more idiotic short-rest jank than Pact Magic already does with the whole "I cast Hex on a cricket, stomp it, then take a short rest to get my spell slot back BOOMI have Hex for the rest of the day for free!" that makes every single DM ever born roll their eyes so hard they get friction burns in their eye sockets, and it means the warlock complains like crazy when their "free" Hex breaks from a failed Concentration check. It's dumb. It's stupid. And it also prevents the warlock from casting any other concentration spell ever again. It is a terrible use of the already terrible Pact Magic system and anyone who's ever painted a room any color other than Insanitarium White knows it.Please do not contact or message me.
IF.
As Agilemind says. We're getting pact slots, or we're getting spell slots, but we're not getting both.
I suppose we could just ask for a Baldur's Gate 3 approach where we just get two recharges a day. Two recharges, no more, no less. Divorce Warlock recharges from formal "short rests".
At level 11 that's actually pretty strong, giving the Warlock 9 level 5 castings a day, plus their level 6 mystic arcanum.
That's the reason I'm advocating for disappearing lower level spell slots and long rest refresh. At no point should the Warlock be casting more highest level spells than a standard caster when those spells rule the game, and at all levels the price Warlocks pay is loosing the full casters ability to spend lower level spells like water.
In this model Warlocks would have 4 spells per LR from lvls 4-8, 5 per from 9-13 + MA, 6 from =>14. You basically sacrifice the utility and dependability of low level spells for Invocations.
Staggered and reduced spells means you're hovering between 2 and 3 spell levels in mid-tier and using just 4th and 5th at high levels. This Lock will never have more 1st-3rd spells than a full caster, and will not exceed the # of 4th level spells until level 14 (4 vs 3) and 5th level spells at 16 (3 vs 2). This is partly to balance out the full casters ability to swap out their 6-9 level spells according to situation, and partly to allow the Lock some staying power in the long running boss type battles common in these levels.
Since all characters get a short rest recharge mechanic I think something identical to the Wiz's Arc Rec works here. Otoh, maybe something more interesting like the Warlock must spend HD to recover spell slots (max at half lvl round up)? On the other-other hand, I can already hear the party healers grumbling over the spec needs Warlock, so perhaps not, lol. I can also be persuaded that Arc recovery is too powerful here, so would be open to alternative recovery ideas.
Anyway, the list with commentary, not including possible slots regained on SR.
- - -
Char lvl. - Spell Level/spells per LR
1 - Cantrips only
2 - 1st/2
3- 1st/2, 2nd/1
4 - 1st/2, 2nd/2
5 - 2nd/3, 3rd/1 (no 1st lvl spells, and full casters (FC) will have 2 3rd level spells and casting 9 spells/LR conpared to the Locks 4-5 at this level)
6 - 2nd/2, 3rd/2 (this one I'm torn on, FC don't get any more spells this level, but I feel like 2 3rd level spells here is right, what do you think?)
7 - 2nd/1, 3rd/2, 4th/1
8 - 3rd/2, 4th/2 (no 2nd lvl spells)
9 - 3rd/2, 4th/2, 5/1 (for comparison, FC have 1 5th, 3 4th, 3 3rd)
10 - 3rd/1, 4th/3, 5th/1 (FC have 2 5th, 3 4th, 3 3rd)
11 - 4th/3, 5th/2 + MA (no 3rd lvl spells, parity with FC excluding spells of 1-3; maybe too powerful?)
12 - no increase, like a full caster
13 - + MA, no increase
14 - 4/4, 5/2 (+1 more 4th than FC, get 6 spells +MA's per LR; FC get no progression here; again maybe too much?)
15 - +MA
16 - 4/3, 5/3 (+1 more 5th than FC, 4th level goes back to parity)
17 - +MA (remove Foresight from Warlock spell list, it's such an obvious, powerful, all encompassing spell that it feels more like a hyper powerful class feature. Either nerf the hell out of it (preferably) or remove it entirely from the list. Anyway)
18 - 4/2, 5/4 (FC also get +1 5th level spell here so it's still just 1 more than FC; plus you're also now at one less 4th level than a FC)
19 - 4/1, 5/5 (honestly these levels (16+) feel like throw aways in review; balance is so bonkers at this tier that I don't think it much matters)
20 - 5/6
- - -
MAGICAL CUNNING should fully recharge the warlock's pact magic, and short rests should only recharge 1 pact point. This along with invocations that give free use of some of the Patron's spells, so that having these prepared when they are low level is not seen as something decorative so as not to waste pact spaces.
A level 2-10 warlock, with 0 short rests would give him 4 pact spaces (Double than in 2014), not all at the same time, with 1 short rest he would only have 5 pact spaces (Like the current UA), and with 2 rests he would have 6 spaces pact (same as 2014). If for some reason more short breaks were made, the benefit with more short ones will undoubtedly decline, like the 14 that Yuriel usually says, he would have 18 vs. 30 in 2014 with 14 short ones, there being less chance of being overexploited, but it increases for the that DO NOT make shorts, making it more stable and predictable to the amount of available resources.
It would not be an ideal arrangement but I doubt they would do anything more radical (And obviously they would NOT return to the UA5 proposal), it would be better to leave it unchanged. I would maintain a smaller recovery with the shorts without depending on them as much.
at this point [UA7] i'd be willing to concede away short rest pact slot recharge for three "Lower Arcanum" slots: 1st- at level 3, 2nd- at level 5, and 3rd- at level 7. however, LA slots can only be cast as a ritual and the spell cannot target the warlock. LA spell does not require the ritual tag to be cast in this way. caster draws a 15ft diameter ritual circle and must remain within, else spell concentration breaks immediately. warlock is charmed by target of the spell until no longer concentrating on the ritual and the spell. LA slot used in this way cannot be used again until after a short or long rest.
NOTES:
cast it on your friends, let them shine. hopefully you have telepathic contact to let them know just before it fails.
one warlock spell locked in per LA slot after long rest, slightly better than Mystic Arcanum [UA7] "when you gain a Warlock level."
Short Rest pact refill is gone, but Magical Cunning exists in it's UA7 form (or whatever UA8/9/10 decides).
ritual duration is typically spell casting time + 10 minutes (unless some invocation comes along to cut that down).
when casting a spell longer than one minute, concentration is the only action available each round for the duration.
if casting harmful or attacking spell, immediately the charmed condition would end the ritual and then end charm.
i want to say "LA slot not expended if ritual not completed" but not sure how to make that air-tight legalese right now.
warlock wasn't getting any class features on level 5 or 7 anyway. too high level? sorry, maybe enjoy one of the many spellcasting feats.
yes, i just tied this to short rests. but warlock shouldn't have zero short rest recharge mechanisms (and this isn't the place to discuss Magical Cunning).
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