Hi! A couple of years ago me and my friends finished our first campaign. We all ended the campaign at level 10. We want to revisit it for a one shot set 15 years later and all the characters are now level 20.
My character is a half orc beast master ranger dual wielding. Before I levelled up my character to 10 for the last session of our campaign, it made sense for my character to take a level in either paladin or warlock depending on roleplay. I didn’t mind it not being to mechanically viable as it was our last session, but my character ended up taking a level in warlock.
however I now have to add an additional 10 levels to make them up to 20 for our one shot, so my question is are there recommendations for how many I should take in each, story wise we established she’s still in a pact 15 years later. It’s not a great combo but again I don’t mind not being crazy powerful but I don’t want them useless either. Advice or tips as to how I can utilise it as much as reasonably possible?
If you’re thinking purely in game terms, and not really in character development terms. I’d say work backwards. You already won’t get the level 20 ranger powers. See how many other ones you don’t want. Is level 19 or 18 or 17 appealing? Then fill in however many warlock levels are left.
Well, it depends on what warlock patron you took, and how far off your stats are for that class.
I second Xalthu's idea of working backward through high-level Ranger features you don't care about, to see what you can 'trade' them for with warlock levels.
As it is for a level 20 one shot, mechanically it might be better to look at what to get from Warlock 2 and Ranger 19 and compare, then compare warlock 3 with ranger 18 and so on.
The other thing to consider is your stats, if you have fairly low charisma you wont want to many levels of warlock, with a dip you can avoid most of the things that rely on charisma but a Ranger 9 / Warlock 11 will be very weak with 13 Charisma (you could boost is with your 2 ASIs but would then not be able to get any feats and would still only be +3)
Roleplaywise, who is your patron. Would they expect you to take all the powers they offer you or would they see how improving your ranger skills will serve their purpose as well?
I think you're best off minimizing your levels in Warlock... you're already pretty MAD just by being a Ranger, needing to either bump your CHA or limit yourself to spells that don't call for attacks or saving throws from Warlock will just be a headache. That all said... top level Ranger isn't amazing. You get your 5th level spell slot by level 17, and all the class features you get after that are extremely situational.
So with 3 levels of Archfey warlock that gives you two 2nd level pact slots that come back on a short rest... you can use those slots to cast your Ranger spells, so even just treating them as, say, two free Hunter's Marks you can cast in a day is still a solid boon. Speaking of boons, level 3 is just enough to get you a Pact Boon. You already have a pet thanks to being a Beastmaster... you could double down on that and take Pact of the Chain to get a Familiar to assist in battle. Pact of the Blade is kind of fun, but mostly it's just useful for unlocking melee-focused Eldritch Invocations, which you don't really need since you're already a solid martial fighter thanks to being a ranger. Finally, what I consider the most useful is Pact of the Tome... there is so much utility you can get from just getting 3 extra Cantrips to play with. You don't really need them for combat, since you can just attack, so that opens you up to focus on fun utility cantrips. I'd say that Chain gives you the most roleplay potential, and Tome gives you the most versatility.
For your Warlock spells, the main focus should be on utility spells that don't require an attack roll or saving throw, since you don't have good CHA to back them up. For Eldritch Invocations you'd probably be best off focusing on whichever Invocation feeds into your Pact Boon. Sticking with Pact of the Tome, I'm particularly partial to Book of Ancient Secrets, which allows you to learn ritual spells from any class list... you'll find yourself limited to 1st level spells, but there are more ritual spells in 1st level than anywhere else. Most importantly, you can use this to sill learn Find Familiar, and although you won't get the additional benefits exclusive to Chain Pact familiars, at 20th level those benefits are pretty small potatoes, but a Familiar is still always helpful to have around just for the stuff the Find Familiar spell gives you.
So he’s the king of the winter court. My dm said he isn’t particularly bothered about following the warlock route further as long as my characters ranger levelling helps her be more useful
Were I you, and I am not, I would go Ranger 12/Warlock (Archfey/Talisman) 8. This will give you ASIs at Ranger 12 and Warlock 4 and 8. Ranger 12 will give you most of what Ranger offers, including the best optional features from Tasha's. You will get two fourth level Pact Magic slots and a bunch of good Warlock spells that upcast well and do not rely on your CHR bonus, like Armor of Agathys, Invisibility, Fly and possibly Hex. There are other good spells that can be beneficial at any level, including Spirit Shroud, Mirror Image, Greater Invisibility and even Faerie Fire. Misty Escape at 6th is pretty nice and relieves pressure on your spell slots. Pact of the Talisman and related Evocations do not rely on CHR either. Protection of the Talisman helps make critical saving throws, and Rebuke of the Talisman gives you something to do with you reaction every time you get hit, useful for a melee character. You would have two others as well, I would be tempted by Mask of Many Faces, Eldritch Mind, Devil's Sight or even Beast Speech.
Were I you, and I am not, I would go Ranger 12/Warlock (Archfey/Talisman) 8. This will give you ASIs at Ranger 12 and Warlock 4 and 8. Ranger 12 will give you most of what Ranger offers, including the best optional features from Tasha's. You will get two fourth level Pact Magic slots and a bunch of good Warlock spells that upcast well and do not rely on your CHR bonus, like Armor of Agathys, Invisibility, Fly and possibly Hex. There are other good spells that can be beneficial at any level, including Spirit Shroud, Mirror Image, Greater Invisibility and even Faerie Fire. Misty Escape at 6th is pretty nice and relieves pressure on your spell slots. Pact of the Talisman and related Evocations do not rely on CHR either. Protection of the Talisman helps make critical saving throws, and Rebuke of the Talisman gives you something to do with you reaction every time you get hit, useful for a melee character. You would have two others as well, I would be tempted by Mask of Many Faces, Eldritch Mind, Devil's Sight or even Beast Speech.
My opinion, worth what you paid for it.
I always forget about Talisman. I think I mostly ignore because it's just not as fun as the other boons... it's very mechanically useful, but doesn't give you a lot of stuff that's particularly interesting.
Were I you, and I am not, I would go Ranger 12/Warlock (Archfey/Talisman) 8. This will give you ASIs at Ranger 12 and Warlock 4 and 8. Ranger 12 will give you most of what Ranger offers, including the best optional features from Tasha's. You will get two fourth level Pact Magic slots and a bunch of good Warlock spells that upcast well and do not rely on your CHR bonus, like Armor of Agathys, Invisibility, Fly and possibly Hex. There are other good spells that can be beneficial at any level, including Spirit Shroud, Mirror Image, Greater Invisibility and even Faerie Fire. Misty Escape at 6th is pretty nice and relieves pressure on your spell slots. Pact of the Talisman and related Evocations do not rely on CHR either. Protection of the Talisman helps make critical saving throws, and Rebuke of the Talisman gives you something to do with you reaction every time you get hit, useful for a melee character. You would have two others as well, I would be tempted by Mask of Many Faces, Eldritch Mind, Devil's Sight or even Beast Speech.
Hi! A couple of years ago me and my friends finished our first campaign. We all ended the campaign at level 10. We want to revisit it for a one shot set 15 years later and all the characters are now level 20.
My character is a half orc beast master ranger dual wielding. Before I levelled up my character to 10 for the last session of our campaign, it made sense for my character to take a level in either paladin or warlock depending on roleplay. I didn’t mind it not being to mechanically viable as it was our last session, but my character ended up taking a level in warlock.
however I now have to add an additional 10 levels to make them up to 20 for our one shot, so my question is are there recommendations for how many I should take in each, story wise we established she’s still in a pact 15 years later. It’s not a great combo but again I don’t mind not being crazy powerful but I don’t want them useless either. Advice or tips as to how I can utilise it as much as reasonably possible?
If you’re thinking purely in game terms, and not really in character development terms. I’d say work backwards. You already won’t get the level 20 ranger powers. See how many other ones you don’t want. Is level 19 or 18 or 17 appealing? Then fill in however many warlock levels are left.
Well, it depends on what warlock patron you took, and how far off your stats are for that class.
I second Xalthu's idea of working backward through high-level Ranger features you don't care about, to see what you can 'trade' them for with warlock levels.
As it is for a level 20 one shot, mechanically it might be better to look at what to get from Warlock 2 and Ranger 19 and compare, then compare warlock 3 with ranger 18 and so on.
The other thing to consider is your stats, if you have fairly low charisma you wont want to many levels of warlock, with a dip you can avoid most of the things that rely on charisma but a Ranger 9 / Warlock 11 will be very weak with 13 Charisma (you could boost is with your 2 ASIs but would then not be able to get any feats and would still only be +3)
Roleplaywise, who is your patron. Would they expect you to take all the powers they offer you or would they see how improving your ranger skills will serve their purpose as well?
Yeah I was thinking thinking that would be the best course of action. She took the archfey patron :)
I think you're best off minimizing your levels in Warlock... you're already pretty MAD just by being a Ranger, needing to either bump your CHA or limit yourself to spells that don't call for attacks or saving throws from Warlock will just be a headache. That all said... top level Ranger isn't amazing. You get your 5th level spell slot by level 17, and all the class features you get after that are extremely situational.
So with 3 levels of Archfey warlock that gives you two 2nd level pact slots that come back on a short rest... you can use those slots to cast your Ranger spells, so even just treating them as, say, two free Hunter's Marks you can cast in a day is still a solid boon. Speaking of boons, level 3 is just enough to get you a Pact Boon. You already have a pet thanks to being a Beastmaster... you could double down on that and take Pact of the Chain to get a Familiar to assist in battle. Pact of the Blade is kind of fun, but mostly it's just useful for unlocking melee-focused Eldritch Invocations, which you don't really need since you're already a solid martial fighter thanks to being a ranger. Finally, what I consider the most useful is Pact of the Tome... there is so much utility you can get from just getting 3 extra Cantrips to play with. You don't really need them for combat, since you can just attack, so that opens you up to focus on fun utility cantrips. I'd say that Chain gives you the most roleplay potential, and Tome gives you the most versatility.
For your Warlock spells, the main focus should be on utility spells that don't require an attack roll or saving throw, since you don't have good CHA to back them up. For Eldritch Invocations you'd probably be best off focusing on whichever Invocation feeds into your Pact Boon. Sticking with Pact of the Tome, I'm particularly partial to Book of Ancient Secrets, which allows you to learn ritual spells from any class list... you'll find yourself limited to 1st level spells, but there are more ritual spells in 1st level than anywhere else. Most importantly, you can use this to sill learn Find Familiar, and although you won't get the additional benefits exclusive to Chain Pact familiars, at 20th level those benefits are pretty small potatoes, but a Familiar is still always helpful to have around just for the stuff the Find Familiar spell gives you.
Watch Crits for Breakfast, an adults-only RP-Heavy Roll20 Livestream at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
And now you too can play with the amazing art and assets we use in Roll20 for our campaign at Hazel's Emporium
So he’s the king of the winter court. My dm said he isn’t particularly bothered about following the warlock route further as long as my characters ranger levelling helps her be more useful
Were I you, and I am not, I would go Ranger 12/Warlock (Archfey/Talisman) 8. This will give you ASIs at Ranger 12 and Warlock 4 and 8. Ranger 12 will give you most of what Ranger offers, including the best optional features from Tasha's. You will get two fourth level Pact Magic slots and a bunch of good Warlock spells that upcast well and do not rely on your CHR bonus, like Armor of Agathys, Invisibility, Fly and possibly Hex. There are other good spells that can be beneficial at any level, including Spirit Shroud, Mirror Image, Greater Invisibility and even Faerie Fire. Misty Escape at 6th is pretty nice and relieves pressure on your spell slots. Pact of the Talisman and related Evocations do not rely on CHR either. Protection of the Talisman helps make critical saving throws, and Rebuke of the Talisman gives you something to do with you reaction every time you get hit, useful for a melee character. You would have two others as well, I would be tempted by Mask of Many Faces, Eldritch Mind, Devil's Sight or even Beast Speech.
My opinion, worth what you paid for it.
I always forget about Talisman. I think I mostly ignore because it's just not as fun as the other boons... it's very mechanically useful, but doesn't give you a lot of stuff that's particularly interesting.
Watch Crits for Breakfast, an adults-only RP-Heavy Roll20 Livestream at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
And now you too can play with the amazing art and assets we use in Roll20 for our campaign at Hazel's Emporium
A sample build: https://www.dndbeyond.com/characters/118417774/lEeery
This is incredibly useful! Im very inspired! Thank you!
I would go Ranger 11, Warlock 1, Rogue 8
Easy way to add 4d6 damage per round. Plus Evasion, Uncanny Dodge, and Cunning Action.
Arcane Trickster can give you extra spell slots if you want them and some wizard spells.
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