So I've read over Warlock in the latest UA (UA7) and I note the first big change is that pacts are gone, and instead replaced by invocations of the same names. This part could be very opinionated, personally I believe pacts are part of the Warlock identity, so that you can now have a warlock with no pact, is kind of strange. More so, as invocations, you can switch them out at later levels, so at level 5 you could switch Pact of the Tome for Pact of the Blade and pick up thirsting blade at the same level, which kind of just feels wrong for what pacts are meant to be.
For the Pacts themselves:
Pact of the Blade is mostly okay, not sure why lifedrinker was reduced to level 9, I always saw this as the counter part to IDS for Paladin (now Radiant Strikes), which is level 11. Right now, Pact of the blade is in the best spot of all three pacts, since to some degree it scales with level (via magic weapons and Charisma Modifier) and it has the best follow-up invocations, Eldritch Smite, Thirsting Blade & Lifedrinker. The only change that might improve it is if Eldritch Smite could be changed to a once per encounter ability that recharges when initiative is rolled instead of using a spell slot, it would be stronger early on, less strong at later levels but still a worthwhile investment it frees up more spell slots but also limits it from getting more powerful when the level 11 and 17 spell slots come into play.
Pact of the Tome, needs a tiny bit more work. I like that it gives a 1st level spell slot now, what I'd like too see is a level 5 invocation that also gives a 2nd level slot at warlock 5, a 3rd level slot at warlock 9 and a 4th level slot at warlock 13. Currently no scaling of pact to warlock level, so the additional spell slots from an additional invocation would help a lot there. There are a number of removed invocations that no longer make sense, Beast Speech, Eldritch Sight and Eyes of the Rune Keeper, you can access these via Pact of the Tome, which you can change the rituals at the end of a short rest. So under the current UA, 1st level spells as rituals are kind of redundant when you can get them and more from Pact of the Tome.
Pact of the Chain is honestly still very underpowered. Wondering what version of Find Familiar we have, personally I'd like it if it gave a familiar that gains temporary hit points equal to warlock level+charisma on short rest and gained +1 AC, attack and damage at levels 5, 9, 13 and 17. Potentially a new version of Find Familiar might instead be intended here, but I can't see a good change working here, since Pact of the Chain should get far more than a few extra forms over just getting Find Familiar from Pact of the Tome. Replacing an attack is generally not going to be a good usage, so Pact of the Chain is useless until level 5 (with Investment of the Chain Master), where you can get extra bonus action attacks... else wise not seeing any scaling of the familiar to warlock level. I'd suggest it also gets a level 9 Invocation, one example suggestion, familiar bond, you can replace one ray from your eldritch blast to order your familiar to attack and if your familiar is reduced to 0 HP by an attack it has resistance too, you can sacrifice your own HP to replace any damage that would reduce it below 1HP.
The biggest thing to note, is since pacts are invocations, there is no limitation to a single pact, so you could go Pact of the Blade and Pact of the Tome at the same time.
I think it is amazing change. They need to give the Pact invocations prequisites tho, or get rid of the Eldritch Adept feat. Otherwise you don't even need to dip Warlock for CHA to attacks and damage rolls.
I think it is amazing change. They need to give the Pact invocations prequisites tho, or get rid of the Eldritch Adept feat. Otherwise you don't even need to dip Warlock for CHA to attacks and damage rolls.
I completely missed this, this would be insanely broken on Paladin or Valor/Swords/etc Bard, Only Pact of the Chain has level 2. I assume this is a mistake and all three were meant to be level 2.
You could already trade pacts out every ASI level as of Tasha's. I admit, it's an odd call to transition to Invocations, but with the 1st level Invocation and bump in total number and progression, it's not hurting the class.
The idea of gaining multiple Pact Boons is ok, but they keep promising more Invocation slots, only to turn what used to be class features INTO Invocations. As it is, we've got basically one extra Invocation slot to use unless we want to go without a Pact Boon at all. I still think getting a Pact Boon at level 1 is dumb, since it's been described as a gift from your Patron, who you don't set until Level 3 now.
Yeah, the Eldritch Adept thing needs to be addressed. The fix is simple, change some of the Invocations with no pre-req to have "Level 1+ Warlock" as the pre-req. I'd probably make that change for the new Agonizing Blast as well, since as of right now I believe someone could take Magic Iniitiate(Warlock) to grab Eldritch Blast(since it's now back on the spell list), then Eldritch Adept to gain Agonizing Blast. I suppose requiring two feat slots is better than a 2-level Warlock dip, but grrrrr nonetheless :)
I haven't read everything in the Warlock UA7 in detail yet, but I did notice two changes, each to one of the Pact invocations:
Pact of the Blade no longer allows the warlock to dismiss the weapon, shunting it into an extradimensional space, and having it appear whenever the warlock creates their pact weapon thereafter. For any warlock wanting to use a magic weapon as their bonded pact weapon, this sucks. The literal reading of the new Pact of the Blade has the bond being broken once the weapon is more than 5 feet away from the warlock, with no exceptions. This seems like a weird ability to take away.
Voice of the Chain Master does not appear on the list of invocations, so warlocks no longer have the option of the superior connection to the familiar that exists in the 2014 PHB.
So I've read over Warlock in the latest UA (UA7) and I note the first big change is that pacts are gone, and instead replaced by invocations of the same names. This part could be very opinionated, personally I believe pacts are part of the Warlock identity, so that you can now have a warlock with no pact, is kind of strange. More so, as invocations, you can switch them out at later levels, so at level 5 you could switch Pact of the Tome for Pact of the Blade and pick up thirsting blade at the same level, which kind of just feels wrong for what pacts are meant to be.
For the Pacts themselves:
Pact of the Blade is mostly okay, not sure why lifedrinker was reduced to level 9, I always saw this as the counter part to IDS for Paladin (now Radiant Strikes), which is level 11. Right now, Pact of the blade is in the best spot of all three pacts, since to some degree it scales with level (via magic weapons and Charisma Modifier) and it has the best follow-up invocations, Eldritch Smite, Thirsting Blade & Lifedrinker. The only change that might improve it is if Eldritch Smite could be changed to a once per encounter ability that recharges when initiative is rolled instead of using a spell slot, it would be stronger early on, less strong at later levels but still a worthwhile investment it frees up more spell slots but also limits it from getting more powerful when the level 11 and 17 spell slots come into play.
Pact of the Tome, needs a tiny bit more work. I like that it gives a 1st level spell slot now, what I'd like too see is a level 5 invocation that also gives a 2nd level slot at warlock 5, a 3rd level slot at warlock 9 and a 4th level slot at warlock 13. Currently no scaling of pact to warlock level, so the additional spell slots from an additional invocation would help a lot there. There are a number of removed invocations that no longer make sense, Beast Speech, Eldritch Sight and Eyes of the Rune Keeper, you can access these via Pact of the Tome, which you can change the rituals at the end of a short rest. So under the current UA, 1st level spells as rituals are kind of redundant when you can get them and more from Pact of the Tome.
Pact of the Chain is honestly still very underpowered. Wondering what version of Find Familiar we have, personally I'd like it if it gave a familiar that gains temporary hit points equal to warlock level+charisma on short rest and gained +1 AC, attack and damage at levels 5, 9, 13 and 17. Potentially a new version of Find Familiar might instead be intended here, but I can't see a good change working here, since Pact of the Chain should get far more than a few extra forms over just getting Find Familiar from Pact of the Tome. Replacing an attack is generally not going to be a good usage, so Pact of the Chain is useless until level 5 (with Investment of the Chain Master), where you can get extra bonus action attacks... else wise not seeing any scaling of the familiar to warlock level. I'd suggest it also gets a level 9 Invocation, one example suggestion, familiar bond, you can replace one ray from your eldritch blast to order your familiar to attack and if your familiar is reduced to 0 HP by an attack it has resistance too, you can sacrifice your own HP to replace any damage that would reduce it below 1HP.
The biggest thing to note, is since pacts are invocations, there is no limitation to a single pact, so you could go Pact of the Blade and Pact of the Tome at the same time.
seems to me rather than a pact allowing use of a ritual or cantrip, instead you're invoking the pact as an action or bonus action (or after a rest, apparently). same meddling with planar powers, different day.
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They've changed "heavy weapons" to require 13 strength to avoid striking with disadvantage. That doesn't appear to be overridden by the Pact of the Blade feature, so if you take Pact of the Blade to get striking with Charisma you'll still need 13 strength to avoid disadvantage with heavy weapons. If you're using non-heavy weapons you're in the same place as every other incarnation of the Warlock dip for charisma based attacks.
I haven't read everything in the Warlock UA7 in detail yet, but I did notice two changes, each to one of the Pact invocations:
Pact of the Blade no longer allows the warlock to dismiss the weapon, shunting it into an extradimensional space, and having it appear whenever the warlock creates their pact weapon thereafter. For any warlock wanting to use a magic weapon as their bonded pact weapon, this sucks. The literal reading of the new Pact of the Blade has the bond being broken once the weapon is more than 5 feet away from the warlock, with no exceptions. This seems like a weird ability to take away.
Voice of the Chain Master does not appear on the list of invocations, so warlocks no longer have the option of the superior connection to the familiar that exists in the 2014 PHB.
Pact of the Blade only takes a bonus action to create or bond with a weapon. It has the benefits of Hex warrior built into it. It’s a fair loss to cut the teleportation of the weapon.
Voice of the chain was replaced by the far more useful Investment of the Chain Master. Honestly I liked having both. Voice of the chain creates a scout that is almost game breaking.
The idea of gaining multiple Pact Boons is ok, but they keep promising more Invocation slots, only to turn what used to be class features INTO Invocations. As it is, we've got basically one extra Invocation slot to use unless we want to go without a Pact Boon at all. I still think getting a Pact Boon at level 1 is dumb, since it's been described as a gift from your Patron, who you don't set until Level 3 now.
The thing with Warlock is that they've always gotten a grab-bag full of goodies early on, which (also with Pact Magic mechanics) has been what made multiclassing into them popular. Within three levels, they get two short-rest-recharging spell slots, their Patron, two Invocations, and their Pact Boon.
All of these things have been made stronger and more versatile. That has to be balanced out somehow.
The problem is it is very front loaded. You get all the best goodies with just a couple levels and not enough goodies at higher levels. There isn't a lot of incentive to continue with the class. Now it can be even more egregious. 1 level dip gets EB and AB that scales with character level rather than class level and only delays bard or sorc or paladin by 1 level. A second level dip now has 2 slots that recover on a short and you get magical cunning + 2 more invocations.
It is all very very front loaded. You get no more casts for almost the entire rest of the game.
I honestly think pact of the tome is the best of the three pacts in the playtest. Having three cantrips (probably guidance, resistance, and mold earth/magic stone) 2 rituals (probably find familiar and unseen servant) AND a first level spell slot to cast a first level spell that does not scale well like hex or expeditions retreat is strong on its own. What makes this feature insane is the fact that after a short or long rest you can change ALL of those spells and cantrips out. This is a very strong invocation, significantly stronger than forcing yourself into melee with pact of the blade.
I honestly think pact of the chain is the best of the three pacts in the playtest. Having three cantrips (probably guidance, resistance, and mold earth/magic stone) 2 rituals (probably find familiar and unseen servant) AND a first level spell slot to cast a first level spell that does not scale well like hex or expeditions retreat is strong on its own. What makes this feature insane is the fact that after a short or long rest you can change ALL of your spells and cantrips out. This is a very strong invocation, significantly stronger than forcing yourself into melee with pact of the blade.
Just like before pact of the blade is easily the worst one that requires too much effort on the part of the warlock for it to function. Chain is good still for the utility it always brought, but lost voice of the chain master really hurts.
As an aside if magic stone is allowed in the php, that spell could have your charisma bonus added twice to the damage rolls of each stone if you take agonizing blast and choose magic stone. Give those stones to your unseen servants and do quite silly damage for a bonus action cantrip.
I honestly think pact of the chain isthe best of the three pacts in the playtest. Having three cantrips (probably guidance, resistance, and mold earth/magic stone) 2 rituals (probably find familiar and unseen servant) AND a first level spell slot to cast a first level spell that does not scale well like hex or expeditions retreat is strong on its own. What makes this feature insane is the fact that after a short or long rest you can change ALL of those spells and cantrips out. This is a very strong invocation, significantly stronger than forcing yourself into melee with pact of the blade.
Pact of the Tome, and PotT has always been the best Warlock Pact. Warlock is really a caster, with a decent blasting tool in Eldritch Blast. PotB puts you in melee, where they are perfectly capable of putting out a bunch of damage, but being limited to medium armor, with no damage mitigation, makes them a bit fragile compared to dedicated frontliners like Barbarian or Paladin.
Warlock gaining access to the other pacts is nice at higher levels but then what replaces the "subclasses"? The patrons? It's a shift from it's portrayal in 2014, but makes sense with the special access to certain spells, but those spells should be given and not count to your known spells rather than just given access.
Having those pact boons should also be restricted to warlock and level, as mentioned and being underpowered isn't bad for level one but should scale with warlock levels, pact of chain should for example scale as druid wildshapes do (though not cr level for cr level comparison but could be worked with improved chain pact 1, improved 2, and so on up to 4), pact of the blade should have scaling with new abilities like shadow blade, booming blade, etc. Tome could grant extra cantrips/spells with each level up and the use of an extra invocation.
(Overall, it would be nice to by level 20 have blade pact 2, chain 1 and tome 1 for example...)
It would be a better use of the pacts and incentive to level up rather than toss them into invocations which is yet another resource, though I'm not terribly offended since they get them back after short rest
Warlock gaining access to the other pacts is nice at higher levels but then what replaces the "subclasses"? The patrons? It's a shift from it's portrayal in 2014, but makes sense with the special access to certain spells, but those spells should be given and not count to your known spells rather than just given access.
Having those pact boons should also be restricted to warlock and level, as mentioned and being underpowered isn't bad for level one but should scale with warlock levels, pact of chain should for example scale as druid wildshapes do (though not cr level for cr level comparison but could be worked with improved chain pact 1, improved 2, and so on up to 4), pact of the blade should have scaling with new abilities like shadow blade, booming blade, etc. Tome could grant extra cantrips/spells with each level up and the use of an extra invocation.
(Overall, it would be nice to by level 20 have blade pact 2, chain 1 and tome 1 for example...)
It would be a better use of the pacts and incentive to level up rather than toss them into invocations which is yet another resource, though I'm not terribly offended since they get them back after short rest
The Patron spells are given. In the video they admitted that Chain and Talisman were never meant to be as good as tome and blade and that they don’t want to do what’s necessary to bring the up to par. They want players to pick pick Blade or Tome at level 1. Since Eldritch Adapt is a thing they should put the prerequisite of Level 1 Warlock just to make them not qualify for it. Otherwise it becomes a must pick for Swords and Valor Bards. And a strong pick for Paladin.
Part of me is a bit sad WotC turned away from making the Warlock into an Eldritch Kni- - oh, right, that name is already taken. But, hey, that was just experimentation anyway. Maybe it'll return in the form of an archetype down the line?
Random thoughts on UA7:
- Agnostic Blast now attached to the cantrip of your choice? That'll open up for a looot of interesting concepts! (Double CHA to damage on Shillelagh? And then Pact Weapon it later on? Okay :) )
- Eldritch Spear on any ranged cantrip? Hold my umbrella while I Poison Spray that goblin from 310 feet away! (At level 10 at least...) Do we have any cone cantrips we could utterly break with this?
- Pact of the Blade as a bonus action with Mastery? They'll make the ultimate switch-hitter, being able to change weapon mid-attack once they get Extra Attack! (Also: pact weapon as spellcasting focus? Yesss... Excellent...)
- Repeatable Lessons of the First Ones? I can take Skilled 3 times at level 2 and potentially be proficient in all skills? What was that, friendly neighbourhood Bard? Why are you hugging your Jack of All Trades trait like that?
However! Maybe I'm blind, but I can't see any mention of eldritch invocation being able to be changed on level-up anymore. In UA5, this was explicitly mentioned in the last part of the Eldritch Invocation class trait section. This part is now conspiciously missiong from UA7. Meaning, as it stands, your choices are permanent and no hopscotching pact boons every other level.
Warlock gaining access to the other pacts is nice at higher levels but then what replaces the "subclasses"? The patrons? It's a shift from it's portrayal in 2014, but makes sense with the special access to certain spells, but those spells should be given and not count to your known spells rather than just given access.
Having those pact boons should also be restricted to warlock and level, as mentioned and being underpowered isn't bad for level one but should scale with warlock levels, pact of chain should for example scale as druid wildshapes do (though not cr level for cr level comparison but could be worked with improved chain pact 1, improved 2, and so on up to 4), pact of the blade should have scaling with new abilities like shadow blade, booming blade, etc. Tome could grant extra cantrips/spells with each level up and the use of an extra invocation.
(Overall, it would be nice to by level 20 have blade pact 2, chain 1 and tome 1 for example...)
It would be a better use of the pacts and incentive to level up rather than toss them into invocations which is yet another resource, though I'm not terribly offended since they get them back after short rest
The Patron spells are given. In the video they admitted that Chain and Talisman were never meant to be as good as tome and blade and that they don’t want to do what’s necessary to bring the up to par. They want players to pick pick Blade or Tome at level 1. Since Eldritch Adapt is a thing they should put the prerequisite of Level 1 Warlock just to make them not qualify for it. Otherwise it becomes a must pick for Swords and Valor Bards. And a strong pick for Paladin.
That really sucks, because I don't want to be a melee or blaster caster and would prefer more utility from my familiar.
Will have to check the wording in the new arcana. I know for the sorcerer and the archery warlock I recently made (no ua) they were given as options, which, unfortunately, there's just better options than them, and although I would like the parltron/heritage spells AND my chosen, it feels like a bother and useless addition to the subclass.
- Repeatable Lessons of the First Ones? I can take Skilled 3 times at level 2 and potentially be proficient in all skills? What was that, friendly neighbourhood Bard? Why are you hugging your Jack of All Trades trait like that?
No, because LotFOs specifies you have to take different feats. Even feats that themselves are repeatable are not eligible for repeated use with LotFOs.
Warlock gaining access to the other pacts is nice at higher levels but then what replaces the "subclasses"? The patrons? It's a shift from it's portrayal in 2014, but makes sense with the special access to certain spells, but those spells should be given and not count to your known spells rather than just given access.
Having those pact boons should also be restricted to warlock and level, as mentioned and being underpowered isn't bad for level one but should scale with warlock levels, pact of chain should for example scale as druid wildshapes do (though not cr level for cr level comparison but could be worked with improved chain pact 1, improved 2, and so on up to 4), pact of the blade should have scaling with new abilities like shadow blade, booming blade, etc. Tome could grant extra cantrips/spells with each level up and the use of an extra invocation.
(Overall, it would be nice to by level 20 have blade pact 2, chain 1 and tome 1 for example...)
It would be a better use of the pacts and incentive to level up rather than toss them into invocations which is yet another resource, though I'm not terribly offended since they get them back after short rest
The Patron spells are given. In the video they admitted that Chain and Talisman were never meant to be as good as tome and blade and that they don’t want to do what’s necessary to bring the up to par. They want players to pick pick Blade or Tome at level 1. Since Eldritch Adapt is a thing they should put the prerequisite of Level 1 Warlock just to make them not qualify for it. Otherwise it becomes a must pick for Swords and Valor Bards. And a strong pick for Paladin.
This is one of the things I do not like, when two choices are given and one is clearly inferior; or in this case four choices and two are clearly inferior.
With agonizing blast at level 1, that'd generally be the best choice, pacts would come later, probably level 2.
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So I've read over Warlock in the latest UA (UA7) and I note the first big change is that pacts are gone, and instead replaced by invocations of the same names. This part could be very opinionated, personally I believe pacts are part of the Warlock identity, so that you can now have a warlock with no pact, is kind of strange. More so, as invocations, you can switch them out at later levels, so at level 5 you could switch Pact of the Tome for Pact of the Blade and pick up thirsting blade at the same level, which kind of just feels wrong for what pacts are meant to be.
For the Pacts themselves:
Pact of the Blade is mostly okay, not sure why lifedrinker was reduced to level 9, I always saw this as the counter part to IDS for Paladin (now Radiant Strikes), which is level 11. Right now, Pact of the blade is in the best spot of all three pacts, since to some degree it scales with level (via magic weapons and Charisma Modifier) and it has the best follow-up invocations, Eldritch Smite, Thirsting Blade & Lifedrinker. The only change that might improve it is if Eldritch Smite could be changed to a once per encounter ability that recharges when initiative is rolled instead of using a spell slot, it would be stronger early on, less strong at later levels but still a worthwhile investment it frees up more spell slots but also limits it from getting more powerful when the level 11 and 17 spell slots come into play.
Pact of the Tome, needs a tiny bit more work. I like that it gives a 1st level spell slot now, what I'd like too see is a level 5 invocation that also gives a 2nd level slot at warlock 5, a 3rd level slot at warlock 9 and a 4th level slot at warlock 13. Currently no scaling of pact to warlock level, so the additional spell slots from an additional invocation would help a lot there. There are a number of removed invocations that no longer make sense, Beast Speech, Eldritch Sight and Eyes of the Rune Keeper, you can access these via Pact of the Tome, which you can change the rituals at the end of a short rest. So under the current UA, 1st level spells as rituals are kind of redundant when you can get them and more from Pact of the Tome.
Pact of the Chain is honestly still very underpowered. Wondering what version of Find Familiar we have, personally I'd like it if it gave a familiar that gains temporary hit points equal to warlock level+charisma on short rest and gained +1 AC, attack and damage at levels 5, 9, 13 and 17. Potentially a new version of Find Familiar might instead be intended here, but I can't see a good change working here, since Pact of the Chain should get far more than a few extra forms over just getting Find Familiar from Pact of the Tome. Replacing an attack is generally not going to be a good usage, so Pact of the Chain is useless until level 5 (with Investment of the Chain Master), where you can get extra bonus action attacks... else wise not seeing any scaling of the familiar to warlock level. I'd suggest it also gets a level 9 Invocation, one example suggestion, familiar bond, you can replace one ray from your eldritch blast to order your familiar to attack and if your familiar is reduced to 0 HP by an attack it has resistance too, you can sacrifice your own HP to replace any damage that would reduce it below 1HP.
The biggest thing to note, is since pacts are invocations, there is no limitation to a single pact, so you could go Pact of the Blade and Pact of the Tome at the same time.
I think it is amazing change. They need to give the Pact invocations prequisites tho, or get rid of the Eldritch Adept feat. Otherwise you don't even need to dip Warlock for CHA to attacks and damage rolls.
I completely missed this, this would be insanely broken on Paladin or Valor/Swords/etc Bard, Only Pact of the Chain has level 2. I assume this is a mistake and all three were meant to be level 2.
You could already trade pacts out every ASI level as of Tasha's. I admit, it's an odd call to transition to Invocations, but with the 1st level Invocation and bump in total number and progression, it's not hurting the class.
The idea of gaining multiple Pact Boons is ok, but they keep promising more Invocation slots, only to turn what used to be class features INTO Invocations. As it is, we've got basically one extra Invocation slot to use unless we want to go without a Pact Boon at all. I still think getting a Pact Boon at level 1 is dumb, since it's been described as a gift from your Patron, who you don't set until Level 3 now.
Yeah, the Eldritch Adept thing needs to be addressed. The fix is simple, change some of the Invocations with no pre-req to have "Level 1+ Warlock" as the pre-req. I'd probably make that change for the new Agonizing Blast as well, since as of right now I believe someone could take Magic Iniitiate(Warlock) to grab Eldritch Blast(since it's now back on the spell list), then Eldritch Adept to gain Agonizing Blast. I suppose requiring two feat slots is better than a 2-level Warlock dip, but grrrrr nonetheless :)
I haven't read everything in the Warlock UA7 in detail yet, but I did notice two changes, each to one of the Pact invocations:
Pact of the Blade no longer allows the warlock to dismiss the weapon, shunting it into an extradimensional space, and having it appear whenever the warlock creates their pact weapon thereafter. For any warlock wanting to use a magic weapon as their bonded pact weapon, this sucks. The literal reading of the new Pact of the Blade has the bond being broken once the weapon is more than 5 feet away from the warlock, with no exceptions. This seems like a weird ability to take away.
Voice of the Chain Master does not appear on the list of invocations, so warlocks no longer have the option of the superior connection to the familiar that exists in the 2014 PHB.
seems to me rather than a pact allowing use of a ritual or cantrip, instead you're invoking the pact as an action or bonus action (or after a rest, apparently). same meddling with planar powers, different day.
unhappy at the way in which we lost individual purchases for one-off subclasses, magic items, and monsters?
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They've changed "heavy weapons" to require 13 strength to avoid striking with disadvantage. That doesn't appear to be overridden by the Pact of the Blade feature, so if you take Pact of the Blade to get striking with Charisma you'll still need 13 strength to avoid disadvantage with heavy weapons. If you're using non-heavy weapons you're in the same place as every other incarnation of the Warlock dip for charisma based attacks.
Pact of the Blade only takes a bonus action to create or bond with a weapon. It has the benefits of Hex warrior built into it. It’s a fair loss to cut the teleportation of the weapon.
Voice of the chain was replaced by the far more useful Investment of the Chain Master. Honestly I liked having both. Voice of the chain creates a scout that is almost game breaking.
The problem is it is very front loaded. You get all the best goodies with just a couple levels and not enough goodies at higher levels. There isn't a lot of incentive to continue with the class. Now it can be even more egregious. 1 level dip gets EB and AB that scales with character level rather than class level and only delays bard or sorc or paladin by 1 level. A second level dip now has 2 slots that recover on a short and you get magical cunning + 2 more invocations.
It is all very very front loaded. You get no more casts for almost the entire rest of the game.
I honestly think pact of the tome is the best of the three pacts in the playtest. Having three cantrips (probably guidance, resistance, and mold earth/magic stone) 2 rituals (probably find familiar and unseen servant) AND a first level spell slot to cast a first level spell that does not scale well like hex or expeditions retreat is strong on its own. What makes this feature insane is the fact that after a short or long rest you can change ALL of those spells and cantrips out. This is a very strong invocation, significantly stronger than forcing yourself into melee with pact of the blade.
Just like before pact of the blade is easily the worst one that requires too much effort on the part of the warlock for it to function. Chain is good still for the utility it always brought, but lost voice of the chain master really hurts.
As an aside if magic stone is allowed in the php, that spell could have your charisma bonus added twice to the damage rolls of each stone if you take agonizing blast and choose magic stone. Give those stones to your unseen servants and do quite silly damage for a bonus action cantrip.
Pact of the Tome, and PotT has always been the best Warlock Pact. Warlock is really a caster, with a decent blasting tool in Eldritch Blast. PotB puts you in melee, where they are perfectly capable of putting out a bunch of damage, but being limited to medium armor, with no damage mitigation, makes them a bit fragile compared to dedicated frontliners like Barbarian or Paladin.
Warlock gaining access to the other pacts is nice at higher levels but then what replaces the "subclasses"? The patrons? It's a shift from it's portrayal in 2014, but makes sense with the special access to certain spells, but those spells should be given and not count to your known spells rather than just given access.
Having those pact boons should also be restricted to warlock and level, as mentioned and being underpowered isn't bad for level one but should scale with warlock levels, pact of chain should for example scale as druid wildshapes do (though not cr level for cr level comparison but could be worked with improved chain pact 1, improved 2, and so on up to 4), pact of the blade should have scaling with new abilities like shadow blade, booming blade, etc. Tome could grant extra cantrips/spells with each level up and the use of an extra invocation.
(Overall, it would be nice to by level 20 have blade pact 2, chain 1 and tome 1 for example...)
It would be a better use of the pacts and incentive to level up rather than toss them into invocations which is yet another resource, though I'm not terribly offended since they get them back after short rest
The Patron spells are given.
In the video they admitted that Chain and Talisman were never meant to be as good as tome and blade and that they don’t want to do what’s necessary to bring the up to par. They want players to pick pick Blade or Tome at level 1. Since Eldritch Adapt is a thing they should put the prerequisite of Level 1 Warlock just to make them not qualify for it. Otherwise it becomes a must pick for Swords and Valor Bards. And a strong pick for Paladin.
Part of me is a bit sad WotC turned away from making the Warlock into an Eldritch Kni- - oh, right, that name is already taken. But, hey, that was just experimentation anyway. Maybe it'll return in the form of an archetype down the line?
Random thoughts on UA7:
- Agnostic Blast now attached to the cantrip of your choice? That'll open up for a looot of interesting concepts! (Double CHA to damage on Shillelagh? And then Pact Weapon it later on? Okay :) )
- Eldritch Spear on any ranged cantrip? Hold my umbrella while I Poison Spray that goblin from 310 feet away! (At level 10 at least...) Do we have any cone cantrips we could utterly break with this?
- Pact of the Blade as a bonus action with Mastery? They'll make the ultimate switch-hitter, being able to change weapon mid-attack once they get Extra Attack! (Also: pact weapon as spellcasting focus? Yesss... Excellent...)
- Repeatable Lessons of the First Ones? I can take Skilled 3 times at level 2 and potentially be proficient in all skills? What was that, friendly neighbourhood Bard? Why are you hugging your Jack of All Trades trait like that?
However! Maybe I'm blind, but I can't see any mention of eldritch invocation being able to be changed on level-up anymore. In UA5, this was explicitly mentioned in the last part of the Eldritch Invocation class trait section. This part is now conspiciously missiong from UA7. Meaning, as it stands, your choices are permanent and no hopscotching pact boons every other level.
That really sucks, because I don't want to be a melee or blaster caster and would prefer more utility from my familiar.
Will have to check the wording in the new arcana. I know for the sorcerer and the archery warlock I recently made (no ua) they were given as options, which, unfortunately, there's just better options than them, and although I would like the parltron/heritage spells AND my chosen, it feels like a bother and useless addition to the subclass.
No, because LotFOs specifies you have to take different feats. Even feats that themselves are repeatable are not eligible for repeated use with LotFOs.
This is one of the things I do not like, when two choices are given and one is clearly inferior; or in this case four choices and two are clearly inferior.
With agonizing blast at level 1, that'd generally be the best choice, pacts would come later, probably level 2.