So I have been involved in a couple of threads now on the D&D Beyond forums and on some older D&D forums else where and the question of "Is the Warlock class good" or "How can I fix warlocks as casters?" along with my experience playing a warlock had be thinking the warlock had some issues... Over the course of these discussions though I have begun to realize that all the negative comments I have seen lately (basically since Xanthar's released with the hexblade patron and a few needed Pact of the blade invocations) revolve around the Pact of the tome being build as the spell caster subclass of warlocks but not actually being functional spell casters since the 3 can trips tend to be out of combat or rarely used niche use with eldritch blasts/agonizing blasts dominating damage making other combat cantrips rarely used at best. Book of ancient secrets promises an unlimited ritual caster which is only useful out of combat, if you don't already have a wizard in your party since only a very few rituals that are very useful to the group are not a wizard rituals too, and if you GM actually hands out ritual scrolls so that you can go beyond the 2 you get with the invocation. As a result you a warlock pact that informs the players who have selected it that "your playing a caster" because the features you get come from a magic tome (aka a spell book) and give you cantrips and rituals from other class. The only other Tome prerequisite invocation doesn't change this after all Aspect of the moon lets you stay up all night on watch ...or copying rituals into your spell book without wasting group down time on mission. Which is great... but a bit misleading since you still only have 2 spell slots until level 11 and your mostly expected to spam eldritch blast the same as pact of the chain might. What makes fixing a warlock easier than fixing most other classes (looking at you Beast Master and melee Rangers) is that Eldritch invocations can be made for patrons and pacts independently meaning the class is way more modular then other classes without reinventing the wheel. So as with the pact of the Blade in Xanthar's, I have a few eldritch invocations base ideas started (and tweaked with help from others) to make tome warlocks live up their name sake and preconceived style of play. They are very likely flawed and have not been tested as this is just brain storming at the moment.
Don't Fear the Dead Prerequisite: Pact of the Tome You can cast Protection from Evil and Good at will, without expending a spell slot or material components. (concentration restrictions still apply)
- The intent is to open a spell that you ether wouldn't take because the cost of a higher level pact slot would be too high (on a 1st level spell that does not scale), free up a spell choice that might cost early game flexibility, or release a spell slot on a situational spell which might other wise cause you to hold one of your few spell slots "just in case" because your in a crypt and a random ghost or other undead could wreck the party. This grants the caster a significant option other than eldritch blast in those emergency situations and makes a situational non-scaling emergency spell significantly less costly and more appealing to a caster prioritized warlock.
Hex Mastery
Prerequisite: Pact of the Tome and Warlock level 5 You can cast Hex as a level 1 spell at will, without expending a spell slot or material components. (concentration restrictions still apply)
- The intent is to open Tome warlocks up to use there limited number of Pact Magic Slots by removing the fear of making a "mistake choice" that results in them having nothing effective left to use. Hex could already be used again and again off a single spell cast but this opens up another early spell option and allows Tome warlocks to act more like casters without the fear of becoming "useless" by mistake and encourages them to cast a larger variety of concentration spells. It also has the added bonus of removing the waste of casting a spell that provides no real bonus at higher levels since the extended duration only discourages casting other concentration spells with not increased impact in use.
Empowered Arcanum
Prerequisite: Pact of the Tome and Warlock level 12 Your Mystic Arcanum can be use for lower level spells or lower level Mystic Arcanum you know. When you do so they are cast as if using the equivalent level spell slot of the spell you chose for your Mystic Arcanum.
- This is intended to allow the tome warlock to pick "suboptimal" perhaps more fun choices for Mystic Arcanum while not destroy their usefulness in combat. A tome warlock might want to take true seeing at level 7 and Astral Projection at level 9 but choose Circle of Death at level 7 and Psychic Scream at level 9 because they feel they need higher level attack. Being able to cast Enervation as 6th or 9th level spell might make them feel free enough to choose true seeing and Astral Projection greatly freeing the subclass to be a more diverse caster when the might other wise feel forced to take because they only have one option with the spell. It also makes spells like counter spell that scale and can have a dramatic effect on the game and be worth scaling useable at higher levels when you really need them.
--- Again these are likely not be a final solution and I posting them as mostly the continuation of discussions and for the tweaking of ideas to make Pact of the Tome a bit more flexible a caster than Pact of the Chain or Blade so that those warlocks CAN play more as they likely selected they would when they took the Pact.
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The lack of inflection in text means that a reader of any post adds their own inflection as they "verbalize" it in their head. I write long and repetitive in an effort to be clear and avoid my intent from being skewed or inverted. I am also bad at examples. It is common for people to skim my posts pull out the idea they think I mean or want to argue against or focus on my bad example instead of the point I am actually trying to make. I apologies for the confusion my failure to be clear and concise creates.
I've always liked the idea of idea of the Tomelock but the ritual spells just seem a little too "meh". Other than the extra cantrip and Find Familiar Spell, I don't see much benefit over the Ritual Caster Feat with a BladeLock or ChainLock. Altough the Chronicle of the Raven Queen is a pretty useful invocation.
I like the first 2 invocations you suggested. Altough Empowered Arcanum seems pretty powerful.
I've always liked the idea of idea of the Tomelock but the ritual spells just seem a little too "meh". Other than the extra cantrip and Find Familiar Spell, I don't see much benefit over the Ritual Caster Feat with a BladeLock or ChainLock. Altough the Chronicle of the Raven Queen is a pretty useful invocation.
I like the first 2 invocations you suggested. Altough Empowered Arcanum seems pretty powerful.
True but its not only al level 12 Eldritch invocation (which are generally pretty powerful anyway) but it also is slightly less than bring the class up to a full caster in that it does not allow for multiple known higher spell options or provide the 1 extra 6th and 7th level spell slots which on a glace might night look like a big deal but when you look at what you can do with an additional 6th and 7th spell slot your still talking about a significant lost off power compared to other casters. With that in mind, I personally thinking, it is not even remotely broken for its level.
The lack of inflection in text means that a reader of any post adds their own inflection as they "verbalize" it in their head. I write long and repetitive in an effort to be clear and avoid my intent from being skewed or inverted. I am also bad at examples. It is common for people to skim my posts pull out the idea they think I mean or want to argue against or focus on my bad example instead of the point I am actually trying to make. I apologies for the confusion my failure to be clear and concise creates.
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So I have been involved in a couple of threads now on the D&D Beyond forums and on some older D&D forums else where and the question of "Is the Warlock class good" or "How can I fix warlocks as casters?" along with my experience playing a warlock had be thinking the warlock had some issues... Over the course of these discussions though I have begun to realize that all the negative comments I have seen lately (basically since Xanthar's released with the hexblade patron and a few needed Pact of the blade invocations) revolve around the Pact of the tome being build as the spell caster subclass of warlocks but not actually being functional spell casters since the 3 can trips tend to be out of combat or rarely used niche use with eldritch blasts/agonizing blasts dominating damage making other combat cantrips rarely used at best. Book of ancient secrets promises an unlimited ritual caster which is only useful out of combat, if you don't already have a wizard in your party since only a very few rituals that are very useful to the group are not a wizard rituals too, and if you GM actually hands out ritual scrolls so that you can go beyond the 2 you get with the invocation. As a result you a warlock pact that informs the players who have selected it that "your playing a caster" because the features you get come from a magic tome (aka a spell book) and give you cantrips and rituals from other class. The only other Tome prerequisite invocation doesn't change this after all Aspect of the moon lets you stay up all night on watch ...or copying rituals into your spell book without wasting group down time on mission. Which is great... but a bit misleading since you still only have 2 spell slots until level 11 and your mostly expected to spam eldritch blast the same as pact of the chain might. What makes fixing a warlock easier than fixing most other classes (looking at you Beast Master and melee Rangers) is that Eldritch invocations can be made for patrons and pacts independently meaning the class is way more modular then other classes without reinventing the wheel. So as with the pact of the Blade in Xanthar's, I have a few eldritch invocations base ideas started (and tweaked with help from others) to make tome warlocks live up their name sake and preconceived style of play. They are very likely flawed and have not been tested as this is just brain storming at the moment.
Prerequisite: Pact of the Tome
You can cast Protection from Evil and Good at will, without expending a spell slot or material components.
(concentration restrictions still apply)
You can cast Hex as a level 1 spell at will, without expending a spell slot or material components. (concentration restrictions still apply)
Your Mystic Arcanum can be use for lower level spells or lower level Mystic Arcanum you know. When you do so they are cast as if using the equivalent level spell slot of the spell you chose for your Mystic Arcanum.
The lack of inflection in text means that a reader of any post adds their own inflection as they "verbalize" it in their head. I write long and repetitive in an effort to be clear and avoid my intent from being skewed or inverted. I am also bad at examples. It is common for people to skim my posts pull out the idea they think I mean or want to argue against or focus on my bad example instead of the point I am actually trying to make. I apologies for the confusion my failure to be clear and concise creates.
I've always liked the idea of idea of the Tomelock but the ritual spells just seem a little too "meh". Other than the extra cantrip and Find Familiar Spell, I don't see much benefit over the Ritual Caster Feat with a BladeLock or ChainLock. Altough the Chronicle of the Raven Queen is a pretty useful invocation.
I like the first 2 invocations you suggested. Altough Empowered Arcanum seems pretty powerful.
The lack of inflection in text means that a reader of any post adds their own inflection as they "verbalize" it in their head. I write long and repetitive in an effort to be clear and avoid my intent from being skewed or inverted. I am also bad at examples. It is common for people to skim my posts pull out the idea they think I mean or want to argue against or focus on my bad example instead of the point I am actually trying to make. I apologies for the confusion my failure to be clear and concise creates.