So in the current UA, Warlock is now a half-caster and the 5E Pact Magic slots are gone. People have had a lot of suggestions on how to restore the old pact magic, but what if it were simply an invocation option.
Instead of Mystic Arcanum at level 5, add Pact Magic as an Invocation in it's place at level 3, it adds a single slot that scales as Pact Magic did in 5E and you can take 1 additional spell of any level at or beneath the level of your pact magic slot. The invocation would be repeatable at warlock levels 7, 11 & 15. Mystic Arcanum then would come online starting at level 11 as a feature, as it did back in 5E.
I think this gives the best of both worlds without being overly broken or OP'ed, since you need to use invocations to get access to it, there is a cost but it means Warlock can still benefit from also being a half-caster.
The main problem of old Pact Magic was to be short rest recovery based. Short rest magic is something they, fortunately, are decided to ban from the game. Wherever you place it (half-caster progression, invocations, or else) must be long rest based. Then having so few slots would not be good.
So any thought about it should be related to fit it into a long rest time period.
The main problem of old Pact Magic was to be short rest recovery based. Short rest magic is something they, fortunately, are decided to ban from the game. Wherever you place it (half-caster progression, invocations, or else) must be long rest based. Then having so few slots would not be good.
So any thought about it should be related to fit it into a long rest time period.
That should be pretty simple to get around, make it so that it has a 10 minute ritual to restore all your pact magic slots, this ritual can be done once per long rest.
The fluff text could say it requires performing a service or sacrifice to your patron, to get them to refill the slots; While during a long rest you restore the pact magic slots with your own inner reserves.
So... how is it different from Mystic Arcanum? The real dael is that taking Mystic Arcanum is not really a choice, it's mandatory. This has to become a class feature starting at level 3.
So... how is it different from Mystic Arcanum? The real dael is that taking Mystic Arcanum is not really a choice, it's mandatory. This has to become a class feature starting at level 3.
The main difference is that it can be used for upcasting spells like Hex, the 2nd is that it returns level 6-9 Mystic arcanum to being a feature, not invocations which reduces the actual tax significantly, more so later in the game. The third is that it can be recharged once per long rest, not exactly as pact magic was but you get to use the slot up to twice a day and the last one, is you actually get a 2nd level spell when the full casters do, which the current form of Mystic Arcanum doesn't allow.
What this would for example allow, is you cast Hex at the start of the day on a chicken at 3rd level to get 8 hours of hex, you then sacrifice the chicken to your patron to recharge the slot and you can then cast fireball if you get into a combat while also having 3rd level hex.
I'll admit it's not removing the tax that Mystic Arcanum is taking right now, at low levels, but it does reduce it at higher levels and it also allows for upcasting, unlike Mystic Arcanum.
I feel 1 or 2 free mystic arcanums would be appropriate. Probably just 1 would be good enough, around level 9 or so. Basically you can get them earlier but you WILL always get at least one..
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"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."
The main difference is that it can be used for upcasting spells like Hex, the 2nd is that it returns level 6-9 Mystic arcanum to being a feature, not invocations which reduces the actual tax significantly, more so later in the game. The third is that it can be recharged once per long rest, not exactly as pact magic was but you get to use the slot up to twice a day and the last one, is you actually get a 2nd level spell when the full casters do, which the current form of Mystic Arcanum doesn't allow.
What this would for example allow, is you cast Hex at the start of the day on a chicken at 3rd level to get 8 hours of hex, you then sacrifice the chicken to your patron to recharge the slot and you can then cast fireball if you get into a combat while also having 3rd level hex.
I'll admit it's not removing the tax that Mystic Arcanum is taking right now, at low levels, but it does reduce it at higher levels and it also allows for upcasting, unlike Mystic Arcanum.
Kind of what I suggested earlier in another thread) I think it's safe to say that community, at least here on DDB forums, is drifting towards a consensus about Mystic Arcanum and how warlock's other half should function. It boils down to basically half-caster + Pact Magic/long rest kind of thing.
So... how is it different from Mystic Arcanum? The real dael is that taking Mystic Arcanum is not really a choice, it's mandatory. This has to become a class feature starting at level 3.
I'd say better that is "mandatory" (with quotes). It is an excellent invocation being so versatile. I.e. if you are a Pact Blade Warlock that wants to focus more on combat, you could want to get ASAP Haste at level 5 with MA, if want more daily uses repeat but with another level (even if it get nothing from upcasting), then bypass many others, and maybe get Anti-magic Field when available to your level, using all the other invocations in other things. The good is that you choose how many you get, and when you get them.
The main problem of old Pact Magic was to be short rest recovery based. Short rest magic is something they, fortunately, are decided to ban from the game. Wherever you place it (half-caster progression, invocations, or else) must be long rest based. Then having so few slots would not be good.
So any thought about it should be related to fit it into a long rest time period.
Nothing is final about the Warlock's spellcasting yet, if the immediate response after the last UA went up is any indication, the survey responses about it are going to be VERY divided, and the comments pretty spicy(but hopefully civil).
I have no problem with Mystic Arcanum being made optional via Invocation. My problem with it is that it would take four Invocation slots to get back to the same amount of Mystic Arcana we get now, and they only gave Warlocks one additional slot throughout their level progression. Even if you account for the new Pact Boons now including the rough equivalent of one pact-specific Invocation from the current rules, that still leaves us down by two Invocation slots. All I want is an even trade. And no, I don't consider making Warlocks Half-Casters to make up the difference.
I have no problem with Mystic Arcanum being made optional via Invocation. My problem with it is that it would take four Invocation slots to get back to the same amount of Mystic Arcana we get now, and they only gave Warlocks one additional slot throughout their level progression. Even if you account for the new Pact Boons now including the rough equivalent of one pact-specific Invocation from the current rules, that still leaves us down by two Invocation slots. All I want is an even trade. And no, I don't consider making Warlocks Half-Casters to make up the difference.
I think this is a lot of the issue, the changes to pact magic and MA are basically a nerf. Warlock being half-casters means spell casting progression is now effectively slower while you only get half-caster progression. You get more spell casts, sure but it takes that invocation tax to get anything up to level and those spells are literally one a day, it additionally can't be used for up-casting.
If I were to amend my idea here now, I'd make it so the first pact magic slot is free then additional ones cost invocations, with MA being revert to not cost any invocations, cheap the tax and what not. I do think a Pact Magic + Half Caster progression together is more in-line with what Warlock needs, over MA being made invocations and available sooner.
I have no problem with Mystic Arcanum being made optional via Invocation. My problem with it is that it would take four Invocation slots to get back to the same amount of Mystic Arcana we get now, and they only gave Warlocks one additional slot throughout their level progression. Even if you account for the new Pact Boons now including the rough equivalent of one pact-specific Invocation from the current rules, that still leaves us down by two Invocation slots. All I want is an even trade. And no, I don't consider making Warlocks Half-Casters to make up the difference.
You are still ahead through b/c you can use ritual casting to replace many of the invocations Ritual casting Comprehend Languages replaces Eyes of the Rune Keeper Ritual casting Detect Magic replaces Eldritch Sight Medium Armour proficiency replaces Armour of Shadows
Many others were always bad : Beast Speech, that Jump one,
Which invocations do you still want?
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So in the current UA, Warlock is now a half-caster and the 5E Pact Magic slots are gone. People have had a lot of suggestions on how to restore the old pact magic, but what if it were simply an invocation option.
Instead of Mystic Arcanum at level 5, add Pact Magic as an Invocation in it's place at level 3, it adds a single slot that scales as Pact Magic did in 5E and you can take 1 additional spell of any level at or beneath the level of your pact magic slot. The invocation would be repeatable at warlock levels 7, 11 & 15. Mystic Arcanum then would come online starting at level 11 as a feature, as it did back in 5E.
I think this gives the best of both worlds without being overly broken or OP'ed, since you need to use invocations to get access to it, there is a cost but it means Warlock can still benefit from also being a half-caster.
The main problem of old Pact Magic was to be short rest recovery based. Short rest magic is something they, fortunately, are decided to ban from the game. Wherever you place it (half-caster progression, invocations, or else) must be long rest based. Then having so few slots would not be good.
So any thought about it should be related to fit it into a long rest time period.
That should be pretty simple to get around, make it so that it has a 10 minute ritual to restore all your pact magic slots, this ritual can be done once per long rest.
The fluff text could say it requires performing a service or sacrifice to your patron, to get them to refill the slots; While during a long rest you restore the pact magic slots with your own inner reserves.
So... how is it different from Mystic Arcanum? The real dael is that taking Mystic Arcanum is not really a choice, it's mandatory. This has to become a class feature starting at level 3.
The main difference is that it can be used for upcasting spells like Hex, the 2nd is that it returns level 6-9 Mystic arcanum to being a feature, not invocations which reduces the actual tax significantly, more so later in the game. The third is that it can be recharged once per long rest, not exactly as pact magic was but you get to use the slot up to twice a day and the last one, is you actually get a 2nd level spell when the full casters do, which the current form of Mystic Arcanum doesn't allow.
What this would for example allow, is you cast Hex at the start of the day on a chicken at 3rd level to get 8 hours of hex, you then sacrifice the chicken to your patron to recharge the slot and you can then cast fireball if you get into a combat while also having 3rd level hex.
I'll admit it's not removing the tax that Mystic Arcanum is taking right now, at low levels, but it does reduce it at higher levels and it also allows for upcasting, unlike Mystic Arcanum.
I feel 1 or 2 free mystic arcanums would be appropriate. Probably just 1 would be good enough, around level 9 or so. Basically you can get them earlier but you WILL always get at least one..
"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."
Kind of what I suggested earlier in another thread) I think it's safe to say that community, at least here on DDB forums, is drifting towards a consensus about Mystic Arcanum and how warlock's other half should function. It boils down to basically half-caster + Pact Magic/long rest kind of thing.
I'd say better that is "mandatory" (with quotes). It is an excellent invocation being so versatile. I.e. if you are a Pact Blade Warlock that wants to focus more on combat, you could want to get ASAP Haste at level 5 with MA, if want more daily uses repeat but with another level (even if it get nothing from upcasting), then bypass many others, and maybe get Anti-magic Field when available to your level, using all the other invocations in other things. The good is that you choose how many you get, and when you get them.
Nothing is final about the Warlock's spellcasting yet, if the immediate response after the last UA went up is any indication, the survey responses about it are going to be VERY divided, and the comments pretty spicy(but hopefully civil).
I have no problem with Mystic Arcanum being made optional via Invocation. My problem with it is that it would take four Invocation slots to get back to the same amount of Mystic Arcana we get now, and they only gave Warlocks one additional slot throughout their level progression. Even if you account for the new Pact Boons now including the rough equivalent of one pact-specific Invocation from the current rules, that still leaves us down by two Invocation slots. All I want is an even trade. And no, I don't consider making Warlocks Half-Casters to make up the difference.
I think this is a lot of the issue, the changes to pact magic and MA are basically a nerf. Warlock being half-casters means spell casting progression is now effectively slower while you only get half-caster progression. You get more spell casts, sure but it takes that invocation tax to get anything up to level and those spells are literally one a day, it additionally can't be used for up-casting.
If I were to amend my idea here now, I'd make it so the first pact magic slot is free then additional ones cost invocations, with MA being revert to not cost any invocations, cheap the tax and what not. I do think a Pact Magic + Half Caster progression together is more in-line with what Warlock needs, over MA being made invocations and available sooner.
You are still ahead through b/c you can use ritual casting to replace many of the invocations
Ritual casting Comprehend Languages replaces Eyes of the Rune Keeper
Ritual casting Detect Magic replaces Eldritch Sight
Medium Armour proficiency replaces Armour of Shadows
Many others were always bad : Beast Speech, that Jump one,
Which invocations do you still want?