If there’s one thing a Warlock knows, it’s how to make a bargain. While Warlocks received some pretty noticeable changes in the 2024 Player’s Handbook, the Warlocks must have made sure their patrons were part of the negotiating committee. Warlocks’ powerful patron magic has been shifted around, allowing you to access certain powers earlier and pack a more pronounced punch when you do. The 2024 Warlock also comes with an impressive and robust amount of customization by treating your Eldritch Invocations as an even larger smorgasbord of options than before.
Below, we cover key changes to the 2024 Warlock you’ll find in the new Player’s Handbook. If there’s a feature we don’t cover, such as Pact Magic, that means it remains unchanged or saw minor changes.
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2024 Warlock Class Features Overview
Eldritch Invocations — Level 1
One of the first noticeable changes to the 2024 Warlock is that you get access to your first Eldritch Invocation at Warlock level 1 now instead of level 2. Overall, Eldritch Invocations have received a major overhaul, with key changes including several quality-of-life updates. Let’s take a look at some of the big shifts.
Pact Boons Are Now Eldritch Invocations
In the 2014 Warlock, your Pact Boon, such as Pact of the Blade, Pact of the Tome, or Pact of the Chain, was a separate feature bestowed at level 3. In the 2024 Warlock, the Pact Boon feature is gone, and these pacts are now options you can choose as part of your Eldritch Invocations. In the 2014 Warlock, further improvements to your Pact Boon were accessible via invocations, such as Gift of the Protectors, Investment of the Chain Master, and Thirsting Blade. So rolling Pact Boons entirely into Eldritch Invocations simplifies the structure while preserving the mechanics.
There are two really important and beneficial aspects to this shift. First, you no longer have to choose between them. All three of the former Pact Boon options can be selected as you level up and gain access to more invocations. So, you could have a pact weapon via Pact of the Blade, a familiar via Pact of the Chain, and a Book of Shadows from Pact of the Tome.
Second, while some Eldritch Invocations do carry prerequisite levels, such as Agonizing Blast, which requires you to be a level 2+ Warlock, the former Pact Boon invocations do not. This means you can select from a familiar, Book of Shadows, or pact weapon as early as level 1. The 2014 Player’s Handbook had these features arrive at level 3, so you’re getting them 2 levels earlier for the 2024 Warlock.
More Eldritch Invocations
Seeing as you get an invocation at level 1, and the progression has been expedited, 2024 Warlocks will have access to more invocations than their 2014 counterpart, maxing out at 10 when they hit level 18.
As with the older version of the Warlock, whenever you gain a Warlock level, you can replace one invocation with another as long as it isn’t a prerequisite for another invocation that you have.
Some Eldritch Invocations Can Be Repeated
Popular Eldritch Invocations for Warlocks like Agonizing Blast and Repelling Blast are still here but with a couple of big changes.
First, they are no longer limited to Eldritch Blast. Instead, you choose one of your known Warlock cantrips that deals damage, and now you can add your Charisma modifier to that damage roll. So now you can boost damage for Toll the Dead or Thunderclap with Agonizing Blast if that suits your Warlock build better than Eldritch Blast. Note, however, that Repelling Blast is restricted to cantrips that deal damage via an attack roll.
Next, you can select these invocations multiple times when adding new Eldritch Invocations. So if you’re trying to build a cantrip powerhouse, you could add Agonizing Blast or Repelling Blast to multiple cantrips. But of course, you still can use it for Eldritch Blast because, let’s face it, if you’re a Warlock, you’re probably going to want to.
Spell Slots? Who Needs ‘em?
With the exception of Eldritch Smite, which deals a significant amount of damage and gives an enemy the Prone condition, none of the 2024 Player’s Handbook Eldritch Invocations carry the "using a Warlock spell slot" description. You still have spell slots for your Pact Magic, but they largely no longer fuel the invocations you get from your patron. Instead, your Eldritch Invocations feel like a wholly separate power branch unique to the Warlock class.
The customization allowed via these changes to invocations makes the 2024 Warlock feel more like someone who has pored over contracts with their patron and selected the powers best suited to them.
Magical Cunning — Level 2
The Warlock's Pact Magic and spell slot progression works the same way for the 2024 Warlock as it did for 2014. You also can still recover expended spell slots at the end of a Short or Long Rest. Magical Cunning gives you another way to recover your Warlock spell slots, however. Now, once per Long Rest, you can use this feature to spend 1 minute on a ritual that restores half of your maximum spell slots, rounded up.
The Eldritch Master feature granted at level 20 still allows you to regain all of your Pact Magic spell slots, but flavor-wise, it is now considered a more powerful version of this level 2 feature.
Warlock Subclass — Level 3
At level 3, your 2024 Warlock gains their subclass. While Warlocks used to get their subclass at level 1, this brings the Warlock in line with the other class options in the 2024 Player’s Handbook, which will make it easier for a party of players to manage their levels and for a DM to keep track of player advancement.
The Archfey, Fiend, and Great Old One Patrons all received substantial overhauls, updates to their always-prepared spell lists, quality-of-life changes, and tweaks that bring them more in line with their flavor concepts. Also, in 2014, a subclass's Expanded Spell List only added the listed spells to your Warlock spell list. In 2024, the listed spells are added to your Warlock spell list and they're always prepared for you. A considerable upgrade!
- Archfey Patron: The Archfey Patron subclass leans more into the Feywild nature of your patron. Misty Step is added to your prepared spell list, and many of the features of this subclass give you extra uses of the spell, along with healing bonuses and damage effects on enemies when you use it. Beguiling Defenses has also been updated to reduce damage you take and inflict damage with a Reaction.
- Celestial Patron: This subclass, which originally appeared in Xanathar's Guide to Everything, has been revised for its inclusion in the 2024 Player's Handbook. Its spell list now includes Aid (which replaces Flaming Sphere) and Summon Celestial (which replaces Flame Strike). Radiant Soul is now limited to just once per turn. Celestial Resilience now also grants Temporary Hit Points when you finish your Magical Cunning ritual or complete a Short or Long Rest. Searing Vengeance can now apply to you or an ally.
- Fiend Patron: Dark One’s Blessing now also grants you Temporary Hit Points if someone else reduces an enemy to 0 Hit Points within 10 feet of you. On the Fiend Spells list, Blindness/Deafness has been replaced by Suggestion, and Flame Strike and Hallow have been replaced by Geas and Insect Plague. Instead of once per Long Rest, you can use Dark One’s Own Luck a number of times per Long Rest equal to your Charisma modifier. Hurl Through Hell now requires a Charisma save and deals 8d10 Psychic damage instead of 10d10, but in addition to once per Long Rest, you can now use this feature again by expending a Pact Magic spell slot.
- Great Old One Patron: The Great One One Patron has received the biggest changes to any of the 2024 Warlock subclasses and now is much more heavily focused on the Lovecraftian, eldritch horror elements of it. The features of this subclass now are heavily centered on using your patron’s powers to curse your enemies with Hex, break their minds with Psychic damage, and even unleash aberrant horrors on the battlefield.
Contact Patron — Level 9
The 2024 Player’s Handbook has a brand new feature for Warlocks that ties directly into your role as the recipient of power from a patron. Starting at level 9, every 2024 Warlock has the ability to reach out and contact their patron directly once per Long Rest. This feature grants you the spell Contact Other Plane as an always-prepared spell. You can use the spell once per day to contact your patron without expending a spell slot, and you automatically succeed on the Intelligence saving throw required to complete the spell. So, go ahead and ask your patron if you can have cake for dinner. You deserve it.
Mystic Arcanum — Level 11
Mystic Arcanum functions and progresses the same as it did for the 2014 Warlock with one extra benefit. Whenever you gain a Warlock level beyond 11, you may replace one of your arcanum spells with another of the same level.
Epic Boon — Level 19
Epic Boons are a new type of feat introduced in the revised core ruleset, that all carry a prerequisite of level 19+ to access. A level 19 Warlock has access to one Epic Boon of their choice or another feat they qualify for. There are twelve Epic Boons found in the 2024 Player’s Handbook.
The following is the recommended Epic Boon for a 2024 Warlock:
- Boon of Fate: Increase one ability score of 1 to a maximum of 30. When you or another creature within 60 feet of you succeeds or fails on a D20 Test, you can roll 2d4 and add or subtract the result from the d20 roll. Once you use this feat, you can’t use it again until you complete a Short Rest, a Long Rest, or roll for Initiative.
What a Deal!
The 2024 Player's Handbook is now available on the D&D Beyond marketplace, which means it's time to set out on new adventures with fresh or familiar characters!
The updates to the 2024 Player’s Handbook for Warlocks pack a lot of changes into the earlier levels and then allow you to settle into a more familiar level progression as you develop. The changes really lean heavily into the chosen flavor of your Warlock and their relationship to their patron. Does your pact mean you’re a cunning swordslinger, slicing your way through your enemies fueled by your Charisma? Do you want to zip across the battlefield hopped up on Feywild magic? Or do you want to use powerful psychic magic to weaken your enemies and bring them to heel? With the 2024 Warlock, the choice is yours.
We’re delighted to share with you the changes to fifth edition D&D that appear in the 2024 Player’s Handbook. Make sure to keep an eye out on D&D Beyond for more useful guides on using the wealth of new options, rules, and mechanics found in the 2024 Player's Handbook!
Riley Silverman (@rileyjsilverman) is a contributing writer to D&D Beyond, Nerdist, and SYFY Wire. She DMs the Theros-set Dice Ex Machina for the Saving Throw Show, and has been a player on the Wizards of the Coast-sponsored The Broken Pact. Riley also played as Braga in the official tabletop adaptation of the Rat Queens comic for HyperRPG, and currently plays as The Doctor on the Doctor Who RPG podcast The Game of Rassilon. She currently lives in Los Angeles.
This article was updated on August 13, 2024, to issue corrections or expand coverage for the following features and subclasses:
- Warlock Subclass: Added that the spells on the Warlock subclass's spell lists are always prepared.
- Warlock Subclass (Celestial Patron): Clarified that the Celestial Patron has been brought from Xanathar's Guide to Everything. Also expanded coverage to detail all the updates to this subclass.
- Warlock Subclass (Fiend Patron): Expanded coverage to detail all the updates to this subclass.
- Mystic Arcanum: Cut text stating that the Eldritch Versatility option in Tasha's Cauldron of Everything has effectively been brought to the base class. This feature only allowed you to update Mystic Arcanum spells at levels 16 and 19.
Agreed, really unfortunate that they didn't keep the option in to use either charisma or intelligence as the casting attribute for warlocks. Hopefully that is something addressed in the DMG as an example of altering classes to nudge DMs toward allowing it.
Being too broke to buy the cool new books. Lol 😆
Looks like they didn't really think the improvement through well enough before hastily and pointlessly criticizing it. Lol
True lol 😆
I completely agree with you.
I don't get why people are so obsessed with the level where you choose your subclass. I mean, it's not like you have to play your character any different than you would if you chose it at level 1. Note that, getting a subclass feature is not necessarily equivalent to making a pact with your patron (or inheriting your magic from your dragon ancestor in case of the sorc).
Noone ever complained that you can't play a Fiend warlock without the "Hurl through hell" feature and it should therefore be given at level 1. Why is "Dark one's blessing" any different? You make your pact at lvl 1 and then as you progress in levels you get more and more powers from your patron. It's not like getting temp hp every now and then influences how you roleplay your character.
On a different note, I also don't get why I read several times now that the warlock is now going to be so much more powerfull - or even "the most powerfull class". I mean, we get 1 more net invocation and 1 additional spellslot per long rest. That's it. The other changes don't add any power. At best, they add some more choices - which is nice, but it's not power.
In particular, everyone is so psyched about the new GOO. I don't really see it. The telepathy was buffed in some ways, nerfed in others. Switching dmg types to psychic is mostly fluff as you will usually deal (rarely resisted) force dmg anyway. Casting enchantments and illusions without V,S is also not that hot imo, since most spells also have an M, hence stay detectable even with this feature. I guess you now have Counterspellproof "Synaptic Static", which is nice. And the 6th level feature is sure better than the original one but it requires a bonus action, 30ft range, the target must fail a save and then, you have adv. against it and it has dis. against you. But nothing prevents it from simply attacking your allies. Together with how easy it is to get adv. on attacks the feature doesn't sound that impressive to me. And then, you can only use it once per SR. I mean it's nice and waaaay better than the 2014 one (not a high bar though), but still just doesn't compare to, e.g, the Geenie's concentration-free flight. The 10th lvl feature is pretty much the same as it used to be + improved hex. But most of the time, you probably still wanna concentrate on a better spell than hex at lvl 10, no? The 14th lvl feature is really cool - summoning 3 Aberrations at once just sounds so badass. However, since most campaigns don't get that far, I suppose this is not why people are so excited aobut this new GOO.
All things considered, the PHB subclasses have been improved, yes. But imo still none of them are as powerfull as Geenie or Undead. The main class only got an additional EI and a spellslot per LR. So how can these minor improvements lead to the warlock now suddenly being the most powerfull class in the game? Of course, if the spell list is now significantly better - that might change my mind but with the data we have, I just don't see it.
He's probably just butt-hurt because his overpowered warlock multi-class build he made only to annoy his Dm, is no longer viable.
They were too determined to pointlessly ridicule the creators that made it easier for new players, to think about how their last 50 campaigns started.
dude, they made warlock so much better and i am SO here fore it! eldritch invocations for all cantrips? YESSIR! more eldritch invocations? YESSIR!! eldritch incocations no longer require spell slots? YAAAAASSSSSS!!! eldritch patron at level 3? ...meh not so much. you cant get magic from something that doesnt exist, so i think that they should keep the subclass at level one or not give the warlock spells until level three. how can you have pact magic without a pact???
I'm sorry but it's a very asinine argument to say that "nobody complained that you don't get higher level features instantly, thus you shouldn't complain about not getting your subclass at level 1 either". D&D is a game where mechanics and roleplay go hand-in-hand. Warlock, by its very design is a class built upon the idea of forming a pact with an otherworldly being and that giving you power and/or knowledge. From the perspective of RP + mechanics, it does not make sense to have that pact manifest later. As was said by someone else in this thread before, people (both those at WOTC and those defending them) can use all the colourful language they like and make whatever excuses they wish to justify pushing Warlock/Sorcerer/Cleric subclass choice to level 3, we still ain't buying it.
But you still do make the pact at level 1. You also get corresponding features at lvl 1 (invocations, pact magic). You just get your first subcalss feature a bit later now.
Btw. this has nothing to do with "defending WotC". I just say that when or even if you get a subcalss feature doesn't need to influence how you play your character. Even if there weren't subclasses in dnd at all, you could still play a Warlock with whatever patron you could think of. Subclass is just a collection of features that may or may not fit with your fantasy of how the character should be. There is e.g. no "dragon patron", but if you want to play a Warlock who mada a pact with a dragon, you just pick the subclass with the best fitting features and the rest is flavour.
And if you absolutely need some mechanics to enable your roleplay, I'd say that this is even better supported now, as you can select invocations at lvl 1 that support your character concept. You could e.g. get a chain familiar at lvl 1. In my opinion, a character with an Imp on their shoulder feel much more fiend-pact than one with temp hp whenever killing something.
Or, and hear me out here. You just don't need to take a pact.
Yup. There's tons of fiction out there for people who just touched the mysterious statue and were imbued with the power of Things Man Was Not Meant to Know. You can absolutely run that as a Warlock.
There really does need to be a Warlock subclass where you are without a patron. You just string together bits of esoteric magic for your own ends. More invocations- maybe your subclass features allow you to buff your invocations in certain ways.
I’m going to be very disappointed if the Psychic Spells feature from the Great Old One doesn’t apply to other spells gained from multi-classing. I want to be able to change the damage type of sorcerer or bard spells. This is the only way I’ll be okay with Aberrant Sorcerers not being able to swap out Psionic Spells anymore.
Well... Warlocks remain a short rest class in a long rest game. Pact Magic remains a double-barrel shotgun which you fire twice and then beg the DM for a short rest. Magical Cunning is a band-aid, not a solution. Yes, Agonizing Blast works with other cantrips, but Eldritch Blast with its multiple rays (thus multiple applications of AB) and least resisted damage type vastly outperforms all other cantrips and thus remains as the only reasonable option.
Subclass and invocation changes are good, but the core problems - the boredom of Eldritch Blast spam and dependency on short rest - are still there, nothing's been done about them really.
Where is the level 20 ability (presumable Eldritch Master)?
I believe you want to see the 2nd paragraph of the article by Riley
I believe WotC would tell you they tried to make major changes to the class during the playtests to add more spells per day and remove the dependence on short rests and the community strongly rejected that idea. Once the half-caster idea was rejected by the community they reverted back to smaller changes.
I got a feeling that the Fiend Warlock subclass benefited the most from this update as pretty much all of their features got buffed