Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General What warlock pacts are confirmed in the game? Will

What warlock pacts are confirmed in the game? Will your patron matters? And in Early Access?

On PHB there are only 3 pacts. Fiend, Archfey and Great Old One. BUT the most interesting pacts IMO are completely different pacts. For eg, Lurker of the deep, Celestial and so on. I particularly love frost based magic on most games. Sadly many games only include fire options, Baldur's Gate 2 allows you to summon Efreets and djinnis but no Marids... When BG:EE got a Enhanced Edition, you can be a sorcerer of fire draconic bloodline, but not cold. Arcane archers on NWN1 can only imbue fire, not cold and so on. Cold based magic is rarely adapted into games.

Recently DDO which doesn't follow much the D&D rules got new warlock pacts, including Carceri Storm warlock which allow you to do amazing things like freeze enemies on failed save(absolute zero). And despite i hating cooldowns with passion, prefer to play DDO than other games which ruined that class by nerfs like nwn2 because lets be honest, when you have a might eldritch blast, you don't need to spend much time managing cooldowns. I always cast my black tentacles maximized and empowered and only when i need it.



Other thing is that if your pact will affect a little in the game. Even if is just a dream with your patron, not necessarily a complete subquest and maybe a origin character warlock with a detailed story.

Other thing to make clear, is that warlocks doesn't draw their power from their patron. Quoting D&D e beyond



Nor is the case of warlock on 3.5e, nor 2e. Since is half off topic, the reason on spoilers

I really can't wait to play as Wyll, the origin warlock. Human and Pact of the Fiend? My favourite combination, and since BG3 takes place right after the events of Descent into Avernus, no doubt the forces of Hell will play some part in the events of Baldur's Gate.

As for subclass/Patrons, I think they will stick to the PHB for now and introduce others in patches/gift bags. We get loads of variety as a Warlock. A Fiend, Old One, or an Archfey. Add to the type of pact boon, a Tome, powerful familiar or magical bound weapon, loads of room for customisation and role play. Not to mention that the role the Patron will play in-game.

"Will warlock patrons have a large narrative weight in the story?

David: Just like cleric gods and paladin gods, the warlock patron is a variable we know of and can react to. Currently they introduce dialog options and voice-barks. More is possible, but not planned for the EA act".
Source- Baldur's Gate 3 AMA 2020-03-13 Reddit

Yep, TheAscendent, between Archfey, GOO and Fiend, i think that i will pick archfey BUT i wanna something more cold based.

Making a deal with devils doesn't seem a good idea for me. GOO and archfey are a bit trick but i would rather not exist than be under the strict hierarchy of nine hells...

If you want cold-based and don't want a Fiend, Archfey is the way to go, and if Clerics can pick a god, Warlocks should be able to pick a specific patron. For you, I recommend the Prince of Frost, an Archfey heavily associated with cold. Prince of Frost - Forgotten Realms wiki

Thanks but i was wanting something more like Lurker of the deep


source of the print > http://dnd5e.wikidot.com/warlock:lurker-in-the-deep-ua

Did they mentioned UA on the AMA?

I looked over the AMA and all the recent interviews, nothing confirming nor denying. We know for certain that all PHB classes and subclasses will be in it. Considering they are allowing races such as Drow and Githyanki though means they won't limit themselves to it and include what they want so long as it makes sense in the story. If you really want to build a hydromancer/cyromancer focus on frost/water spells and pick a class that allows you access to the most number of those spells.
Thinking about it logically, variety is important to combat, in DOS games I built up my party on 1 magic type and 1 combat style per character to ensure combat optimization. In BG classes are much more important so focussing your damage type to one could leave you at a disadvantage. D&D has a degree of chaos and randomness to it that makes it great. But it might leave you stuck if you encounter an enemy that neutralises all your damage spells. Hypothetically what would your Warlock with the Lurker in the Deep do if it was attacked by a water elemental, and what would my Fiend Warlock do if they encountered a hostile fire elemental?
The thought just occurred to me thing of the subclasses.

Is not exactly "hydromancer", Lurker of the Deep has a lot of cool abilities not seem in other classes, also we don't even know if Larian will for eg, pick sorcerer of draconic bloodline and restrict it to only "fire/red" like many other games did.

Pathfinder Kingmaker was the first CRPG which allowed me to be a sorcerer of silver draconic bloodline.I can't judge DOS2, honestly i din't liked much dos2. But IMO the best game to be a water magician is Gothic 3. Gothic 2 and 1 are better games but limits far more your choices. As i've said, a lot of games limits cold based stuff.



I know and that is exactly why i love Warlocks on 5e. They are very strong in some situations and very weak in others.

Picking DDO for eg, i had a lot of trouble against undeads. Helmed Horror which heals from force and cold are by far the worst enemy to my char. The unique skill which i have against then is black tentacles which the devs putted 20 sec cooldown, ddo is a decent game but could be great if it had spell slots instead of cooldowns and din't hate stat inflation...




Water Elementals aren't immune to cold. On 5e, immunities are far more rare than on 3.5e, and imunity against cold is not common and even if is, i have eldritch blast, a pure force damage. I don't even think that force dragons exists on 5e...

Also, we are talking about a party game, having 1/4 of your party useless in a encounter is a disadvantage, but is not game breaking.

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edit : checked and Marids are only resistant to cold on 5e, not immune http://dnd-5e.herokuapp.com/monsters/marid

Well said. Well here's hoping that Larian allows you to build the character you wish. Myself? Play the origins characters Gale or Wyll. Or my own character of a Tiefling Warlock with the Fiend Patron or a High Elf/Drow Wizard specialising in the enchantment school of magic.
What would your preferred character look like?

I am personally hoping for, wishing for, Hexblade patron. While frowned upon as a powerful one level dip, I've been quite enjoying playing just straight Hexblade, and I would love to recreate the warlock I've been playing in tabletop recently.

Would be lovely if we could get the melee cantrips as well (Booming and Green-Flame Blade) but I won't hold my breath.

I honestly din't played much 5e to have a honest opinion. TBH most origins characters doesn't take much attention from me.



Pact of the blade seems interesting BUT i really miss the Eldritch Glaive. Best melee ability ever from 3.5e.

i certainly hope that they give the pacts some flavor.
Especialy if you actaulyl interact iwth your patron in some waay

I haven't experienced any of the editions before 5e ^^;

But from the description, sounds a lot like Bladelock who chose to summon a glaive as their weapon. And if you have a Hexblade patron, you can add your Charisma instead of Strength to your attack/damage rolls!
Hexblade also gives you Medium Armour proficiency which is nice, and a curse that lets you add proficiency to damage, with 19-20 crit against a single target once per short rest.

Honestly, if they don't make Hexblade a thing, they could at least make Charisma attacks an invocation for Pact of the Blade and I would be happy.

Other non-PHB invocations for warlocks that would be great if Larian considered (I'm looking at this from the point of view of someone who loves gish archetypes) are
- Eldritch Smite! - Divine Smite, but warlocky (Force damage, and prone)
- Cloak of Flies - Persistent, 5 foot range Charisma modifier damage aura that can be turned on and off at will. Also imposes advantage in Intimidation checks and disadvantage on other Charisma checks.
- Grasp of Hadar - Your Eldritch Blast can now pull the target 10 feet towards you.
- Improved Pact Weapon - +1 to your summoned weapon, you can use it as a focus, and you can now summon bows and crossbows as well.

And a whole bunch of other things honestly, Xanathar's has been a great book for warlocks.

On 3.5e, Eldritch Blast was not a cantrip, was a spell like ability or invocation, And there was far more invocations which changes how Eldritch Blast "works", you can apply the cone form, allowing a reflex save for half damage, can apply a chain form making it arc like an force chain lightning and warlocks had no spell slots BUT had a lot of powerful invocations. Allowing him to fly, teleport, cast chilling tentacles which had the same BAB of a fighter grapple enemies and required no concentration, could cast animate dead at will, transform permanently enemies into chickens/toads and so on.

Eldritch Glaive was a modification to eldritch blast which is only at melee range, but deals multiple attacks per round. Pretty deadly but high risky too since warlocks aren't that resistant on 3.5e.

5e melee warlock kinda summon a weapon and honestly, can a pact of blade warlock summon larger weapons like for eg, a ballista? Or a cannon?

Unfortunately many DMs banned 3.5e warlock because it was too powerful. Many games which adapted 3.5e nerfed it to the point that doesn't worth picking like nwn2, but if you wanna experience 3.5e warlock in a video game, nwn2 WITH warlock reworked mod or nwn1 with PRC(wlk doesn't exist on vanilla nwn1) are the most faithful ways to play the class.

note that warlock isnt TERRIBLE in nwn2.
the biggest nerf they gave the NWN2 warlock is making the default outfit look less slutty after the expansions

You make it sound like female armour sets for Warlock in NWN2 was an exception than the rule.
NWN2 is the game that really made me fall in love with the class. And one of the few times I could play it well. That's probably due to the extreme lack of good d&d games than anything else. Using the magic of dark entities rather than the vanilla Weave really drew my attention. Also the fact that the Goddess of Magic keeps dying. I'll happily serve Asmodeus than whomever takes up the next mantle of magical goddess.

No? No Eldritch Glaive as on P&P, a single summon with the dead walk, no teleport, no invocation to transform enemy into toads, and the most iconic greater invocation, chilling tentacles is trash. Even the DC of Eldritch Blast is bugged making more likely that enemies will not fail the save. Is clearly the most nerfed class ever.

Chilling tentacles on P&P = Caster Level + 8 BAB, grapple enemies and deals bludgeoning + cold damage ignoring spell reistance.
Chilling tentacles on nwn2 = A fix +5 to hit and after hit allows a save

Anything with more than 25 AC(which is not rare on 3.5e) is immune to the most iconic warlock invocation.

Epic warlocks also lacks a lot of feats like Eldritch Sculptor and master of elements.

NWN1 - PRC did a good job with warlock. You can for eg







You are extremely wrong. You are not drawning the power from Asmodeus. WARLOCKS AREN'T CLERICS. Is not the case in any edition. They are more akin to master and apprentices than to someone who draws the power from their master.

Since the class conception as a wizard kit on 2e. The Complete Wizard's Handbook - page 65

"The Witch kit cannot be abandoned. If a Witch manages to sever all ties with the entities responsible for her instruction (usually requiring the power of a wish or its equivalent), she loses two experience levels. (...)"

And in any edition, anti magical fields also works against warlocks. So they use the weave like any caster. I don't know why so many people sees warlocks as arcane clerics when they are more like a wizard with a outsider patron.

Oh yeah, His Infernal Majesty is God now. Sorry I was thinking in 3.5 edition.

Yeah, I forgot Arcane=Weave, Divine=God. Warlock uses Arcane, ergo Warlock uses Weave.

I wonder if we get to choose who/what specifically our patron is for each subclass. After all a Warlock whose patron is a Devil is quite different to a demon infused Warlock, not to mention Seelie versus Unseelie Fey patrons.