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.
IMHO these complaints come from 2 types of people:
1. Players with little to no RP skills.
2. Players who are angry that they can't take a one level dip in a class anymore and gain its subclass features who then pretend they're really mad because it makes no "RP Sense".
I suspect type 2 is the most common...
Literally all of those abilities still exist...you just get them at level 3 now instead of Level 1. Do people honestly think those features just don't exist any more???
I agree with the VAST majority of your frustration but I do have to defend WOTC on one point. They stated in the Warlock video that all invocations that grant you a learned spell, also now grant you a once per long rest free casting of the spell. That's a significant buff to invocations like Bewitching Whispers, Dreadful Word, Conjure Elemental (Presumably this will become Summon Elemental), Mire the Mind, Sculptor of Flesh, Sign of Ill Omen, Thief of Five Fates and any others they add like these.
I'm not saying it fixes core warlock issues, especially since your pact boon now costs an invocation so we aren't really getting much extra, but it is an undeniable buff.
3. Celestial Warlock, in XGTE, with Cure Wounds and Healing Light at 1st level.
With the 2024 rules, that same 1st celestial patron warlock would have to wait until 3rd level to heal or learn the sacred flame cantrip.
So from a player perspective, I'm trading healing and radiant spells (plus all that utility/RP potential that those abilities provide) for a single invocation (which can't heal). That sounds like a downgrade in every way to me, and I'm supposed to be excited about it?
Those abilities aren't documented on this article, so I wasn't sure if were completely gone. If they do return as level 3 abilities, it's still a downgrade to get them two levels later than the 5e versions.
These abilities should just be Eldritch Invocation choices and Warlock should get even more total Invocation and become the truly customizable class.
You're completely missing the point THIS is why they did it. Because getting your subclass and class features at level 1 is TOO POWERFUL. Especially when you multiclass into the class. Why do you think Hexblade is so popular? IMHO it's the least interesting option for RP but it was mechanically strong for a one level dip.
Also you can get Sacred Flame and Cure Wounds at level one by choosing a background that gives you Magic Initiate - Cleric if you really want it that bad and swap them out when you hit level 3 for another spell and cantrip. You can also get the cantrip from Pact of the Tome and change it on a short rest (if this hasn't changed since UA).
Watch any of the videos of those that already have the PHB and most put the new Warlock in the top 3 for power. Yes it's weaker at level 1 and 2 but this was their intent they literally told us this during the playtest...
That may very well be their intent, but that doesn't make it good.
Slightly relieved that I can make up for some these changes by taking a feat, and I agree that multiclass dips have been a problem, but since when was a regular level 2 warlock too powerful?
So this is about RP problem, or the power of the first two levels? Make up your mind.
Removing "Warlock is best as 2 level dip" problem by moving the subclass to the 3rd level is a simple and elegant solution. Not to mention that it makes the progress of all classes easier to balance, by making all of them get the subclass at the 3rd level.
Seriously nobody else (apart from the sorcerer players maybe) is whining about "subclass at 3rd level", apart from warlock (who is more front-loaded than any other class; and even in 2024 rules a Warlock dip is very powerful) players.
As others have said, this is in my opinion strictly about balancing multiclass dips. Warlock will still be a popular 1 level dip for Paladins since you can still grab the charisma based attacks through pact of the blade (this is assuming they have not put a Warlock Level 3 Pre-Requisite for the Pact Boons), but because it no longer front loads with armor & shield proficiencies as well as a solid single target debuff, Bards and Sorcerers will find Hexblade a much less valuable multiclass. And if they have truly level locked Eldritch Blast behind warlock levels as they have hinted, then it is much less attractive for the infamous Sorlock build as well.
If it yields an overall much stronger mono-class, then I am here for it. Many of us have been begging for Warlock to not just be the premier multi-class dip but completely viable all on it's own. I am not fully convinced they addressed all issues, but I have hope that stronger subclasses and stronger invocations overall will make the class feel complete unto itself as a whole.
Lol what? I've seen Cleric players being just as disappointed with the level 3 subclass, and Paladin players have literally been asking for level 1 oaths since day 1. This is an issue of WOTC dumbing down game mechanics because "level 1 subclass choice too hard for new player (literal skill issue btw), and shareholders want us to sell game to more new people", and because they hate multiclassing and would rather fix things with a sledgehammer than with a scalpel.
Yeah, spell Invocations being free castings now is a huge thing, and is how I've been homebrewing Warlock anyway. I forgot to mention it previously, but it's one of the few good changes they made (not that there were many changes in the first place lmao).
Having to take a completely separate feature to gain the same abilities you should have already gotten from your Pact is an incredibly stupid bandaid fix. Even if the new book's flavour text makes it seem like you still make your pact at 1st level (I kind of doubt it, considering the language used in the playtest which made it seem like Warlock really does only make their pact at 3rd level lmao), it still doesn't make sense that a Fiend and a Celestial Warlock are the exact same for two levels. If WOTC wanted to nerf the multiclass potential of classes that receive their subclasses right from the start, there were a million ways to do it in a more refined manner than this, but I guess that's too much work and would have made the already incredibly simple 5E system too complicated /shrug
Also, completely personal opinion as a DM, but who really cares if players multiclass and make powerful characters? It's literally a PvE game. Some people enjoy when big number, and want to make wacky character builds to reach it.
1. This same thing can be said about ALL 12 (or 13 if you include the Artificer) Classes! It isn't unique to the Warlock. When I was in college for Software Development the first year of my program was Identical to the Accounting and Marketing programs. It made sense in real life and it makes sense here. Before your patron teaches you their specific tricks they want to make sure you can handle the basics first.
2. In one of the videos they recommended that experienced groups start off at level 3. They even include rules for starting at every level now.... It sounds to me that your groups are advanced enough to handle this so don't start at level one...
This is the same for all classes, and nobody else has a problem with this. And this is logical because at level one all characters are total noobs. Fighters finally learn which end of the sword is sharp, wizards finally learn how to cast a Magic Missile, the first spark of power appears in warlocks/sorcerers etc. None of them knows anything apart from the absolute basics.
Hint, two different warlocks can take different spells or invocations even at level one.
It makes perfect sense in-universe and prevents overpowered dips.
This is a stupid complaint something like "Why the first code in all programming books is Hello World? After all every coder learns a different programming language!"
Seriously, if this is such a huge issue for you, just start the game at level three
As a DM I have no problem with powerful characters. I have a problem when there is a big imbalance in the party. It makes it much less fun for everybody and gives me additional overhead because I need to tailor the encounters so weaker characters do not feel like a useless load.
That's the best solution, without a doubt. Thanks for all the hints and RP advice, you're the best!
The problem is that Warlocks (as well as Clerics, Sorcerers and Paladins) are defined by their subclass to a much greater degree than the other classes. The only real Warlock feature that doesn't have anything to do with their pact is Invocations, which come from the Warlock's own research into the occult, everything else comes from their patron. Also that "handle the basics" argument is something that might work for some pacts and some patrons depending on the circumstances, but not as a sweeping generalization of all Warlocks. The features and mechanics shouldn't just shoehorn your character into a particular flavour of RP that clashes with the established fantasy of what being a part of that class entails.
I am all for starting adventures at level 3, or even higher levels, but I also do like the initial two levels, and there can be a lot of fun to be found there. This argument is literally just WOTC saying "figure it out yourselves lmao" instead of fixing the problems they've caused.
It's not exactly the same, as some classes (Warlock, Cleric, Sorcerer and Paladin) are defined by their subclass far more than other classes. A fighter is still a master-at-arms and skilled with weapons of all kinds regardless of whether they're training to be mounted combatants or learning to be spellswords, but a sorcerer's particular kind of magic is literally infused into their blood, and a Warlock without their patron or a Cleric without their god would be nothing.
Unless there's some massive changes to the Warlock spell list and Invocations available, just picking different ones isn't going to cut it. Looking at the 2014 spell list, not a single cantrip or level 1 spell feels appropriate for a Celestial Warlock, which is exactly why that subclass gives you two appropriate cantrips, and why every single warlock subclass has an expanded spell list. By default, even if the new books say you make your Pact with a specific type of being at 1st level, there's nothing in the mechanics that supports that idea and the fantasy of being pacted to a particular kind of planar being.
If they just wanted to nerf multiclassing, they could have done the BG3 Paladin route and split the initial features between 1st and 3rd level, but again, WOTC seems to favour the sledgehammer over the scalpel (possibly because the designers were pushed to get these rules out as quick as possible and make them as simple as possible to capitalize on the anniversary and appeal to the lowest common denominator). Or they could have made multiclassing have more requirements, or added more specific rules to it, or just nerfed the specific broken multiclass dips instead of shitting on everything equally.
Warlock has been given scraps of the knowledge from the parton to prove his worth; cleric and paladin have minor blessings from deity, but have to show their piety; sorcerer is able to control only a minuscule amount of power innate in his blood. Everything checks out
I suppose you have the other definition of "nothing" than the rest of the world.
If you can't find an appropriate cantrip for a celestial warlock it is actually your problem. I may play one, and GFB looks good (both rules and fluff from Radiant Soul mesh nicely unless they change something in 2024), I do not see any reason why it should be less fitting to a Celestial Warlock than SF. Not to mention that you can simply reflavour any existing cantrip/spell (e.g. Eldritch Blast as "LIght of justice" or anything).
It is really not so difficult
Do warlocks in your game need to parade with the label "Lookin' for da Patron" during levels 1-2, because they do not have a level with subclass yet?
I totally agree with you, but you're not going to find much good faith or productive discussion here.
Hopefully the game designers are reading these comments and taking people's opinions to heart.
IMHO Cleric is a bad example. The Domain doesn't relate 1:1 with a god. You could have 3 Clerics of Moradin: 1 Forge Domain, 1 War Domain and another who's Life Domain. At level 1 you pick your God and level 3 you decide which aspect of your god to focus on.
But with any of the examples you given a tiny amount of RP skill is all you need to explain it.
I would say that The Warrior of Elements Monk is just a hard to explain coming on board at level 3 then any of these and monks always got their subclass at level 3. Clearly it requires special training. Training that would stop when you left the monastery. Same could be said for Arcane Trickster Rogue or Eldritch Knight Fighter, Rune Knight Fighter and many others.
If it bothers you that much then you can always start your characters at level 3. Or let me guess... you just want to take a one level dip in Celestial Warlock?
One more thing. In most groups it takes 2-3 sessions on average to get to level 3. It is for this reason I suspect the vast majority of people complaining about this change are those that want the broken 1 level dips and not those truly concern with the RP narrative.