I'm taking a hard critical look at the available invocations, and many of them seem underwhelming, restrictive, or at least don't scale well. I've done Google searches. but haven't seen any new ideas for home brew invocations in quite a while.
My DM said that he's open to considering home brew invocation ideas, so I thought of a couple, and I would love to hear your ideas, as well as your thoughts on the current legal ones.
My ideas. (No clever names yet) 1. Sacrifice an invocation slot to gain two additional spell slots. 2. Pact of the chain Invocation: Familiar can concentrate on a spell for you, allowing you to take other actions.
As a DM and a player with a warlock, hard no on (1). That's part of the Warlock's class nature. Invocations are meant to modify a limited spell selection.
(2) I really like. Damage to the familiar is also a way to break concentration.
I'm currently working on a homebrew invocation called Feywild step where a warlock can shift into the Feywild alone or can share said shift with a known Feywild denizen. It's a 9th level Invocation only for Feylocks.
So I've been running an Eladrin Feylock in a game for the last 2 years. We have come up with a few that so far have been balanced and work well.
1- Agonizing Charm:The mental fatigue required to successfully resist your control effects takes a toll on the target. When a target successfully saves against your spell or magical effect requiring a wisdom or charisma saving throw, they take psychic damage equal to your charisma modifier + character level.
2- Wrath of the FeyWild: (Requires Level 9)- You can cast Insect Plague once per long rest at 5th level without expending a spell slot.
3- Blood of the Fey: Archfey Patron (Requires Level 10)- Your link to the Fey Wild grows stronger and like the Fey, magic is a very part of you. You now have magic resistance which grants you advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
Lastly I don't have this one equipped yet but I'll get it at level 15
4- Step of the Archfey: (Requires Level 15)- You can cast Misty Step at will, without spending a spell slot.
It helps if you don't think of the Warlock as a "Full Caster" as much as an Arcane Ranger who can get 9th level spells. Instead of a bow you have Eldritch Blast. Your aren't going to be firing off a leveled spell every round. Smaller skirmishes you may only use cantrips and in big battles you will use 1-2 spells to large effect and cantrips to round out your damage.
Eldritch empowerment: The spell slot level of your pact magic increases by 1. You cannot use your pact magic to cast spells of higher level than 5.
--- not sure if that is too powerful. Here is an alternative version: Empowered pact magic: As an action, you give up the use of one of your mystic arcanums until your next long rest. Until then, the level of your pact magic spell slots are increased to match the level of the mystic arcanum spell you gave up. You can still use your pact magic to cast only your pact magic spells. --- not sure if that is too powerful as well. I just wish warlocks had some way of upcasting their lower level spells beyond level 5.
Another things I wish warlocks had was better use of counterspell. Currently counterspell is a bit of a trap option because you have so few spell slots to cast it. So here are some ideas:
Arcane thirst: when you successfully counter a spell with counterspell, you regain a pact magic spell slot. Level requirement 9. (There are other invocations that let you cast 3rd level spells at will, so I think it should not be too OP)
Twisted counterspell: when you successfully counter a spell that targets with counterspell, instead of countering it, you can choose a new target for the spell. You cannot combine this with Arcane thirst.
Thematically, undying warlock would make great necromancers, but their features and spell list don't really support it. To remedy this:
Undead minions: Requires Undying patron and level 9. You can cast animate dead using your pact magic spell slots. Whenever you create an undead using a necromancy spell, it has additional benefits: The creature adds your proficiency bonus to its weapon damage rolls and rolls to hit.
Master of undeath: requires Undying patron and level 15. you can use magic to bring undead under your control, even those created by other casters. As an action, you can choose one undead that you can see within 60 feet of you. That creature must make a Charisma saving throw against your wizard spell save DC. If it succeeds, you can't use this feature on it again. If it fails, it becomes friendly to you and obeys your commands until you use this feature again. Intelligent undead are harder to control in this way. If the target has an Intelligence of 8 or higher, it has advantage on the saving throw. If it fails the saving throw and has an Intelligence of 12 or higher, it can repeat the saving throw at the end of every hour until it succeeds and breaks free. (this is just a copy of the level 14 necromancer ability).
Infernal summoner: Requires pact of chain, fiend patron and level 9.
You can speak and understand infernal and abyssal languages. Summon lesser demon, summon greater demon and infernal calling spells have following benefits: you can upcast them using your mystic Arcanum slots and the cr of creatures you can summon is increased by your charisma bonus. However, if you summon demons of higher level than spell normally allows, the summoned creature does not follow your commands.
I would love an Eldritch Invocation that let me cast any spell through my familiar using it’s reaction instead of only touch spells. It would require Pact of the Chain and either 7th or 9th level for balance because that would let my familiar concentrate on a spell, letting me maintain 2 concentration spells.
Infernal summoner: Requires pact of chain, fiend patron and level 9.
You can speak and understand infernal and abyssal languages. Summon lesser demon, summon greater demon and infernal calling spells have following benefits: you can upcast them using your mystic Arcanum slots and the cr of creatures you can summon is increased by your charisma bonus. However, if you summon demons of higher level than spell normally allows, the summoned creature does not follow your commands.
I like it, but I might make it for all Chainlocks, and let the pact choose the creature: summon demon, Fey, Emperyan, Shadowfell creature... Or whatever the hell a GOO would send. Probably some weird ass mutant platypus. But cool idea, I like it a lot.
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Infernal summoner: Requires pact of chain, fiend patron and level 9.
You can speak and understand infernal and abyssal languages. Summon lesser demon, summon greater demon and infernal calling spells have following benefits: you can upcast them using your mystic Arcanum slots and the cr of creatures you can summon is increased by your charisma bonus. However, if you summon demons of higher level than spell normally allows, the summoned creature does not follow your commands.
I like it, but I might make it for all Chainlocks, and let the pact choose the creature: summon demon, Fey, Emperyan, Shadowfell creature... Or whatever the hell a GOO would send. Probably some weird ass mutant platypus. But cool idea, I like it a lot.
Probably makes sense for a GOOlock to summon either Star-Spawn or Aberrations in general. Love the idea of leaning into the summoner aspect. Perhaps add a level 15 invocation that makes creatures you summon make their saves with disadvantage.
I would love an Eldritch Invocation that let me cast any spell through my familiar using it’s reaction instead of only touch spells. It would require Pact of the Chain and either 7th or 9th level for balance because that would let my familiar concentrate on a spell, letting me maintain 2 concentration spells.
Getting the benefit of double concentration I would say needs a level 11 or 15 requirement for balance.
Thematically, undying warlock would make great necromancers, but their features and spell list don't really support it. To remedy this:
Undead minions: Requires Undying patron and level 9. You can cast animate dead using your pact magic spell slots. Whenever you create an undead using a necromancy spell, it has additional benefits: The creature adds your proficiency bonus to its weapon damage rolls and rolls to hit.
Master of undeath: requires Undying patron and level 15. you can use magic to bring undead under your control, even those created by other casters. As an action, you can choose one undead that you can see within 60 feet of you. That creature must make a Charisma saving throw against your wizard spell save DC. If it succeeds, you can't use this feature on it again. If it fails, it becomes friendly to you and obeys your commands until you use this feature again. Intelligent undead are harder to control in this way. If the target has an Intelligence of 8 or higher, it has advantage on the saving throw. If it fails the saving throw and has an Intelligence of 12 or higher, it can repeat the saving throw at the end of every hour until it succeeds and breaks free. (this is just a copy of the level 14 necromancer ability).
I love the idea of making Undying better but honestly this just feels like Wizard Necro reskinned. I would honestly prefer something that leans into more the Life Stealing aspect of necromancy in order to actually make yourself undying rather than just being a warlock minion master. Just my 2 cents.
I love the idea of making Undying better but honestly this just feels like Wizard Necro reskinned. I would honestly prefer something that leans into more the Life Stealing aspect of necromancy in order to actually make yourself undying rather than just being a warlock minion master. Just my 2 cents.
That is an unfortunate side effect of it being reskinned necromancer. =) The necromancy aspects of warlock have unfortunately been spread across multiple patrons. Fiend has the life steal feature, hexblade gets the specter though cool curse of undeath. Undying got a bit shafted because all the cool necromancy features were already taken. And warlock in general lacks the core spell animate dead. Luckily UA added it, I hope it gets official at some point.
I just realized, warlock doesn't get planar binding either. That would be really good and thematically appropriate for a summoner warlock.
Chains of obedience:
Requires path of Chain, level 10. You can cast planar binding using your pact magic spell slots. Additionally, you can forego the use of your mystic Arcanum to cast planar binding. If you do, the planar binding is cast using the same spell level as the mystic Arcanum you used to activate this feature.
So I've been running an Eladrin Feylock in a game for the last 2 years. We have come up with a few that so far have been balanced and work well.
1- Agonizing Charm:The mental fatigue required to successfully resist your control effects takes a toll on the target. When a target successfully saves against your spell or magical effect requiring a wisdom or charisma saving throw, they take psychic damage equal to your charisma modifier + character level.
2- Wrath of the FeyWild: (Requires Level 9)- You can cast Insect Plague once per long rest at 5th level without expending a spell slot.
3- Blood of the Fey: Archfey Patron (Requires Level 10)- Your link to the Fey Wild grows stronger and like the Fey, magic is a very part of you. You now have magic resistance which grants you advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
Lastly I don't have this one equipped yet but I'll get it at level 15
4- Step of the Archfey: (Requires Level 15)- You can cast Misty Step at will, without spending a spell slot.
I love agonizing charm and wrath of the Feywild.
Blood of the Fey should give you Advantage saves against Sleep and Charm, or if you're already an Elf or Half-Elf, then it should give you an additional appropriate Sleep or Charm spell that you can cast without using a spell slot, assuming you have the appropriate level to do so.
Step of the Archfey seems a little underpowered - I think Misty Escape (60') at will would be better at that high a level. Just my $.02.
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May the gentle moonlinght guide you to greater wisdom
Upgrading cantrips besides eldritch blast could also be interesting. Infestation seems something that could be worked on. Currently it has very short range, low damage, widely resisted damage type, does nothing on successful save and targets save that many monsters are many good with.
Lord of the flies:
Infestation cantrip has duration of number of rounds equal to your charisma bonus. The effect is applied every turn at the beginning of the targets turn for the duration of the spell. Targets affected by the spell take half damage on a failed save and are not forced to take 5' random movement at the beginning of their turn. Any area effect damage in the square of the affected creature immediately ends the effect.
Flesh devouring swarm:
Your infestation cantrip summons wasps, fire ants and other larger bugs that bite and devour the targets flesh. In addition to its other effects, infestation cantrip deals amount of magical piercing damage equal to your charisma bonus. Additionally, you can choose additional targets for the spell equal to your charisma modifier -1.
Distracting infestation:
Targets that fail their save against your infestation cantrip cannot make attacks of opportunity and attacks targeting them have advantage. If the duration is longer than 1 round, this effect applies only to the first round of the duration.
Your infestation cantrip summons wasps, fire ants and other larger bugs that bite and devour the targets flesh. In addition to its other effects, infestation cantrip deals amount of magical piercing damage equal to your charisma bonus. Additionally, you can choose additional targets for the spell equal to your charisma modifier -1.
So... Murder hornets? ;)
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May the gentle moonlinght guide you to greater wisdom
Your infestation cantrip summons wasps, fire ants and other larger bugs that bite and devour the targets flesh. In addition to its other effects, infestation cantrip deals amount of magical piercing damage equal to your charisma bonus. Additionally, you can choose additional targets for the spell equal to your charisma modifier -1.
So... Murder hornets? ;)
Praying Mantis>Murder Hornets lol. There is an awesome video on youtube of that if you haven't seen it.
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I'm taking a hard critical look at the available invocations, and many of them seem underwhelming, restrictive, or at least don't scale well. I've done Google searches. but haven't seen any new ideas for home brew invocations in quite a while.
My DM said that he's open to considering home brew invocation ideas, so I thought of a couple, and I would love to hear your ideas, as well as your thoughts on the current legal ones.
My ideas. (No clever names yet) 1. Sacrifice an invocation slot to gain two additional spell slots. 2. Pact of the chain Invocation: Familiar can concentrate on a spell for you, allowing you to take other actions.
As a DM and a player with a warlock, hard no on (1). That's part of the Warlock's class nature. Invocations are meant to modify a limited spell selection.
(2) I really like. Damage to the familiar is also a way to break concentration.
I'm currently working on a homebrew invocation called Feywild step where a warlock can shift into the Feywild alone or can share said shift with a known Feywild denizen. It's a 9th level Invocation only for Feylocks.
May the gentle moonlinght guide you to greater wisdom
So I've been running an Eladrin Feylock in a game for the last 2 years. We have come up with a few that so far have been balanced and work well.
1- Agonizing Charm: The mental fatigue required to successfully resist your control effects takes a toll on the target. When a target successfully saves against your spell or magical effect requiring a wisdom or charisma saving throw, they take psychic damage equal to your charisma modifier + character level.
2- Wrath of the FeyWild: (Requires Level 9)- You can cast Insect Plague once per long rest at 5th level without expending a spell slot.
3- Blood of the Fey: Archfey Patron (Requires Level 10)- Your link to the Fey Wild grows stronger and like the Fey, magic is a very part of you. You now have magic resistance which grants you advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
Lastly I don't have this one equipped yet but I'll get it at level 15
4- Step of the Archfey: (Requires Level 15)- You can cast Misty Step at will, without spending a spell slot.
Thanks Guys, I love your idea!
I just wish all Warlock innovations only required a short rest.
A long rest means I'm only casting 2 spell effects per day. (4th level)
It helps if you don't think of the Warlock as a "Full Caster" as much as an Arcane Ranger who can get 9th level spells. Instead of a bow you have Eldritch Blast. Your aren't going to be firing off a leveled spell every round. Smaller skirmishes you may only use cantrips and in big battles you will use 1-2 spells to large effect and cantrips to round out your damage.
Some ideas for invocations:
Eldritch empowerment: The spell slot level of your pact magic increases by 1. You cannot use your pact magic to cast spells of higher level than 5.
--- not sure if that is too powerful. Here is an alternative version:
Empowered pact magic: As an action, you give up the use of one of your mystic arcanums until your next long rest. Until then, the level of your pact magic spell slots are increased to match the level of the mystic arcanum spell you gave up. You can still use your pact magic to cast only your pact magic spells.
--- not sure if that is too powerful as well. I just wish warlocks had some way of upcasting their lower level spells beyond level 5.
Another things I wish warlocks had was better use of counterspell. Currently counterspell is a bit of a trap option because you have so few spell slots to cast it. So here are some ideas:
Arcane thirst: when you successfully counter a spell with counterspell, you regain a pact magic spell slot. Level requirement 9. (There are other invocations that let you cast 3rd level spells at will, so I think it should not be too OP)
Twisted counterspell: when you successfully counter a spell that targets with counterspell, instead of countering it, you can choose a new target for the spell. You cannot combine this with Arcane thirst.
Thematically, undying warlock would make great necromancers, but their features and spell list don't really support it. To remedy this:
Undead minions: Requires Undying patron and level 9. You can cast animate dead using your pact magic spell slots. Whenever you create an undead using a necromancy spell, it has additional benefits: The creature adds your proficiency bonus to its weapon damage rolls and rolls to hit.
Master of undeath: requires Undying patron and level 15. you can use magic to bring undead under your control, even those created by other casters. As an action, you can choose one undead that you can see within 60 feet of you. That creature must make a Charisma saving throw against your wizard spell save DC. If it succeeds, you can't use this feature on it again. If it fails, it becomes friendly to you and obeys your commands until you use this feature again. Intelligent undead are harder to control in this way. If the target has an Intelligence of 8 or higher, it has advantage on the saving throw. If it fails the saving throw and has an Intelligence of 12 or higher, it can repeat the saving throw at the end of every hour until it succeeds and breaks free. (this is just a copy of the level 14 necromancer ability).
I also wish warlocks had more summoning options.
Infernal summoner: Requires pact of chain, fiend patron and level 9.
You can speak and understand infernal and abyssal languages. Summon lesser demon, summon greater demon and infernal calling spells have following benefits: you can upcast them using your mystic Arcanum slots and the cr of creatures you can summon is increased by your charisma bonus. However, if you summon demons of higher level than spell normally allows, the summoned creature does not follow your commands.
I would love an Eldritch Invocation that let me cast any spell through my familiar using it’s reaction instead of only touch spells. It would require Pact of the Chain and either 7th or 9th level for balance because that would let my familiar concentrate on a spell, letting me maintain 2 concentration spells.
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I like it, but I might make it for all Chainlocks, and let the pact choose the creature: summon demon, Fey, Emperyan, Shadowfell creature... Or whatever the hell a GOO would send. Probably some weird ass mutant platypus. But cool idea, I like it a lot.
May the gentle moonlinght guide you to greater wisdom
Probably makes sense for a GOOlock to summon either Star-Spawn or Aberrations in general. Love the idea of leaning into the summoner aspect. Perhaps add a level 15 invocation that makes creatures you summon make their saves with disadvantage.
Getting the benefit of double concentration I would say needs a level 11 or 15 requirement for balance.
I love the idea of making Undying better but honestly this just feels like Wizard Necro reskinned. I would honestly prefer something that leans into more the Life Stealing aspect of necromancy in order to actually make yourself undying rather than just being a warlock minion master. Just my 2 cents.
That is an unfortunate side effect of it being reskinned necromancer. =) The necromancy aspects of warlock have unfortunately been spread across multiple patrons. Fiend has the life steal feature, hexblade gets the specter though cool curse of undeath. Undying got a bit shafted because all the cool necromancy features were already taken. And warlock in general lacks the core spell animate dead. Luckily UA added it, I hope it gets official at some point.
I just realized, warlock doesn't get planar binding either. That would be really good and thematically appropriate for a summoner warlock.
Chains of obedience:
Requires path of Chain, level 10. You can cast planar binding using your pact magic spell slots. Additionally, you can forego the use of your mystic Arcanum to cast planar binding. If you do, the planar binding is cast using the same spell level as the mystic Arcanum you used to activate this feature.
I love agonizing charm and wrath of the Feywild.
Blood of the Fey should give you Advantage saves against Sleep and Charm, or if you're already an Elf or Half-Elf, then it should give you an additional appropriate Sleep or Charm spell that you can cast without using a spell slot, assuming you have the appropriate level to do so.
Step of the Archfey seems a little underpowered - I think Misty Escape (60') at will would be better at that high a level. Just my $.02.
May the gentle moonlinght guide you to greater wisdom
Upgrading cantrips besides eldritch blast could also be interesting. Infestation seems something that could be worked on. Currently it has very short range, low damage, widely resisted damage type, does nothing on successful save and targets save that many monsters are many good with.
Lord of the flies:
Infestation cantrip has duration of number of rounds equal to your charisma bonus. The effect is applied every turn at the beginning of the targets turn for the duration of the spell. Targets affected by the spell take half damage on a failed save and are not forced to take 5' random movement at the beginning of their turn. Any area effect damage in the square of the affected creature immediately ends the effect.
Flesh devouring swarm:
Your infestation cantrip summons wasps, fire ants and other larger bugs that bite and devour the targets flesh. In addition to its other effects, infestation cantrip deals amount of magical piercing damage equal to your charisma bonus. Additionally, you can choose additional targets for the spell equal to your charisma modifier -1.
Distracting infestation:
Targets that fail their save against your infestation cantrip cannot make attacks of opportunity and attacks targeting them have advantage. If the duration is longer than 1 round, this effect applies only to the first round of the duration.
So... Murder hornets? ;)
May the gentle moonlinght guide you to greater wisdom
Praying Mantis>Murder Hornets lol. There is an awesome video on youtube of that if you haven't seen it.