I opted to play one of my lesser choices for the EA. Super cliche Asmodeas Teifling Warlock of the Fiend. I did it to try the evil route, and specifically to have a character that might jump at the chance to make a deal with the devil. I haven't gotten that far yet, though.
So to start, I'm really enjoying it. Eldritch Blast is nicely beefy and feels like it's making an impact. I moved points from INT to DEX and I think it's made a difference in fights. I've run into two issues so far. I'm far more interested in taking flavor features that might cause interesting RP scenarios. For Eldritch Invocations I took Mask of Faces and Devil's Sight. I was hoping to use Disguise Self to impersonate people and break into certain locations, like the crypt being guarded by the Halfling merc. Unfortunately, I don't have Disguise Self in my spell list, nor do I seem to have anywhere in my character sheet acknowledging that I have Invocations at all.
Additionally, during the fight outside with the mercs I opted to use Charm Person, and pulled it off on the Halfling Rogue. That was great cause he stopped attacking my main, but it was bad because he continued to attack my friends, which I'm pretty sure is not how it's supposed to work. I didn't seem to have any way to tell him to stop, making the spell mostly pointless.
Finally had the opportunity to test Devil's Sight by casting darkness on top of myself and as expected I am gaining no benefit from it either. So neither Eldritch Invocation actually does anything in the game right now.
Additionally, duhttp://forums.larian.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=activetopics&range=30&type=tring the fight outside with the mercs I opted to use Charm Person, and pulled it off on the Halfling Rogue. That was great cause he stopped attacking my main, but it was bad because he continued to attack my friends, which I'm pretty sure is not how it's supposed to work. I didn't seem to have any way to tell him to stop, making the spell mostly pointless.
Charm Person in 5e isn't mind control. As written it makes the target charmed which makes them consider the caster to be a friend but only the caster.
So it makes sense that the halfling stopped attacking you but kept attacking your other party members. It doesn't change how they feel about them. So as the spell exists in 5e it actually looks like it was working perfectly. In the tabletop you could then make some sort of persuasion check that you'd have advantage on to try and convince them to stop attacking but I imagine that might be complicated to program in.
I'm fairly disappointed by the warlock for now: He plays like a mage that casts a few spells and then is out of spell charges, so he has to start fighting with a normal weapon or spam some basic repeatable spell.
So it feels like being able to do something enjoable for a short time (when he casts his strong spells) and then he becomes boring to play. I also have the impression that he has less spell charges than the mage despite refreshing his during short rest. I haven't counted it, but it feels like it.
I expected to see more spells that are related to my chosen patron, but I don't see many of them so far and the game does seem to grant me some skills that could be related to the other patron.
And most important: Were is the relationship with my patron? Only once I could use a power from him which was a reaction to a sense of being observed. I would like to meet him, talk with him and develop an actual relationship. I mean of course we have a devil appearing later in the story and thats nice, but I hope it's not a replacement for having actual relationships with the patrons. No devil can replace the relationship with my archfey.
He plays like a mage that casts a few spells and then is out of spell charges, so he has to start fighting with a normal weapon or spam some basic repeatable spell.
That is basically warlocks. Apart from your invocations you are generally reliant on the cantrip eldritch blast for combat. They do get less spells than wizards in return you get your spells back on a short rest and get eldritch blast the best cantrip in the game. It scales well enough that it is useful regardless of the level of your character. The warlock isn't a great choice if you want to be casting a lot of different spells.
Need to be able to short rest twice a day.
Need to be able to short rest twice a day.
Yeah
Need to short rest as much as wanted, It wastes the time in a day, should be up to us
[quote=BROttorney]Need to be able to short rest twice a day. [/quote]
Agreed. Without at least two short rests a day, and possibly more at higher levels, the warlock falls far behind the other spellcasting classes. It's noticable even at 3rd level - it will be a nightmare by level 10, when they still only have two spell slots that can be used twice per day. For comparison, a cleric has 15 spell slots at 10th level, and probably a better AC.
Long rests aren't limited at this time, so you could always do that as backup until things get further along and balanced properly.
The story implies that long rests are bad, as you're presumably under a time limit until the tadpole turns you into a mind flayer. Whether they ever give this teeth in the game mechanics is unclear.
For reference, the 5E DMG says the game is balanced around two short rests per day. That should be the minimum for the computer game.
He plays like a mage that casts a few spells and then is out of spell charges, so he has to start fighting with a normal weapon or spam some basic repeatable spell.
That is basically warlocks. Apart from your invocations you are generally reliant on the cantrip eldritch blast for combat. They do get less spells than wizards in return you get your spells back on a short rest and get eldritch blast the best cantrip in the game. It scales well enough that it is useful regardless of the level of your character. The warlock isn't a great choice if you want to be casting a lot of different spells.
Yeah, welcome to Warlock. Cast Hex as your bonus action, spam Eldritch Blast until the target is dead, repeat until combat is over. The good thing about Hex is that you can recast it without expending a spell slot so long as you keep concentration. If you're good/lucky, one spell slot can get you through the entirety of a day. It's not great for variety, but it's amazing for single target damage output.
I hope they also increase the range of devil sight. Right now its only 10 meters, which is about as far as you can walk in one round. While in the PHB it had a range of 120ft/36m. Devil Sight should not be considered as a normal form of sight since it is an class feature. Restricting it to 10m makes spawning darkness on enemies impractical.
I'm fairly disappointed by the warlock for now: He plays like a mage that casts a few spells and then is out of spell charges, so he has to start fighting with a normal weapon or spam some basic repeatable spell.
So it feels like being able to do something enjoable for a short time (when he casts his strong spells) and then he becomes boring to play. I also have the impression that he has less spell charges than the mage despite refreshing his during short rest. I haven't counted it, but it feels like it.
I expected to see more spells that are related to my chosen patron, but I don't see many of them so far and the game does seem to grant me some skills that could be related to the other patron.
And most important: Were is the relationship with my patron? Only once I could use a power from him which was a reaction to a sense of being observed. I would like to meet him, talk with him and develop an actual relationship. I mean of course we have a devil appearing later in the story and thats nice, but I hope it's not a replacement for having actual relationships with the patrons. No devil can replace the relationship with my archfey.
Hex + Eldrich Blast + Agonising Blast. This is what Warlock is all about. Warlocks are not really spellcasters like wizards.
They say like warlocks at least don't get a few other casts of other spells when not stupidly limited by a rest limitation
I personally find the "best" warlocks, as in the ones most fun to play are the ones that are not designed to min max damage. Why? because The warlock at first level has huge 1st level damage potential with 1d10+1d6 damage per attack. Take eldritch blast as one of your cantrips and take hex as one of your 1st level spells and you use just these two spells for ALL of your damage output for the 1st few levels. And you will be at the top or near the top of the party in damage. So when you try to max out your damage you sacrifice your versatility for little actual gain. This seems to have been true for all editions of the warlock as well.
The versatility of a warlock is found in their invocations vs their spells. I ran into a Warlock that was a member of a Druid circle in a campaign. Fey pack warlock that was their master animal liaison. The warlock has the ability to be superior at speaking with animals than a druid. They can speak with animals at will. And with the warlocks superior charisma they could persuade animals without the use of spells far easier than a druid. Is a druid more versatile in the wilderness? By far but a specialized warlock could obviously be of use to a druid circle, Imagine them like a lay person in a church not a priest but still a valued member of the religion.
I played a master assassin Warlock, I could get into near any location, use darkness to isolate my victims blinding them and with a few choice invocations was able to completely change the "feel" of the warlock from caster to infiltration assassin expert.
We will have to see if the game gives warlocks the ability to use many of their invocations in creative ways. The wizard's power and diversity all comes from their spells, a warlock's power and diversity comes from their spells, invocations and pack boons. So if you focus on only a singular aspect of the class it will always look weak, but warlocks have multiple different features that other classes don't have. and the whole has to be used to judge the class.
I am in full support of the above comments gaining a second short rest in an adventuring day, I also noticed that as of now, the lock is unable to respec their invocations, which in 5e you can swap out as you lv up.
I personally find the "best" warlocks, as in the ones most fun to play are the ones that are not designed to min max damage. Why? because The warlock at first level has huge 1st level damage potential with 1d10+1d6 damage per attack. Take eldritch blast as one of your cantrips and take hex as one of your 1st level spells and you use just these two spells for ALL of your damage output for the 1st few levels. And you will be at the top or near the top of the party in damage. So when you try to max out your damage you sacrifice your versatility for little actual gain. This seems to have been true for all editions of the warlock as well.
The versatility of a warlock is found in their invocations vs their spells. I ran into a Warlock that was a member of a Druid circle in a campaign. Fey pack warlock that was their master animal liaison. The warlock has the ability to be superior at speaking with animals than a druid. They can speak with animals at will. And with the warlocks superior charisma they could persuade animals without the use of spells far easier than a druid. Is a druid more versatile in the wilderness? By far but a specialized warlock could obviously be of use to a druid circle, Imagine them like a lay person in a church not a priest but still a valued member of the religion.
I played a master assassin Warlock, I could get into near any location, use darkness to isolate my victims blinding them and with a few choice invocations was able to completely change the "feel" of the warlock from caster to infiltration assassin expert.
We will have to see if the game gives warlocks the ability to use many of their invocations in creative ways. The wizard's power and diversity all comes from their spells, a warlock's power and diversity comes from their spells, invocations and pack boons. So if you focus on only a singular aspect of the class it will always look weak, but warlocks have multiple different features that other classes don't have. and the whole has to be used to judge the class.
Which begs the question, which Invocations actually work. Neither of the ones I took do currently. Does the speak with animals invocation work, because that would be incredibly useful in this game right now.
I personally find the "best" warlocks, as in the ones most fun to play are the ones that are not designed to min max damage. Why? because The warlock at first level has huge 1st level damage potential with 1d10+1d6 damage per attack. Take eldritch blast as one of your cantrips and take hex as one of your 1st level spells and you use just these two spells for ALL of your damage output for the 1st few levels. And you will be at the top or near the top of the party in damage. So when you try to max out your damage you sacrifice your versatility for little actual gain. This seems to have been true for all editions of the warlock as well.
The versatility of a warlock is found in their invocations vs their spells. I ran into a Warlock that was a member of a Druid circle in a campaign. Fey pack warlock that was their master animal liaison. The warlock has the ability to be superior at speaking with animals than a druid. They can speak with animals at will. And with the warlocks superior charisma they could persuade animals without the use of spells far easier than a druid. Is a druid more versatile in the wilderness? By far but a specialized warlock could obviously be of use to a druid circle, Imagine them like a lay person in a church not a priest but still a valued member of the religion.
I played a master assassin Warlock, I could get into near any location, use darkness to isolate my victims blinding them and with a few choice invocations was able to completely change the "feel" of the warlock from caster to infiltration assassin expert.
We will have to see if the game gives warlocks the ability to use many of their invocations in creative ways. The wizard's power and diversity all comes from their spells, a warlock's power and diversity comes from their spells, invocations and pack boons. So if you focus on only a singular aspect of the class it will always look weak, but warlocks have multiple different features that other classes don't have. and the whole has to be used to judge the class.
Which begs the question, which Invocations actually work. Neither of the ones I took do currently. Does the speak with animals invocation work, because that would be incredibly useful in this game right now.
yes it does as does beguiling influence. I took these invocations on the assumption that i could get by with hex + eldritch blast alone for damage. I may regret this for higher level battles but so far I have mowed down so many enemies. The intro combat to the druid circle was a cake walk with only 1 NPC casualty. With very little damage overall to the party.
I don't know about other invocations because I never tried them.
Which begs the question, which Invocations actually work. Neither of the ones I took do currently. Does the speak with animals invocation work, because that would be incredibly useful in this game right now.
yes it does as does beguiling influence. I took these invocations on the assumption that i could get by with hex + eldritch blast alone for damage. I may regret this for higher level battles but so far I have mowed down so many enemies. The intro combat to the druid circle was a cake walk with only 1 NPC casualty. With very little damage overall to the party.
I don't know about other invocations because I never tried them.
Yeah, I figure damage and whatever will work itself out. I want to see interesting ways to RP and maybe break the game, and I feel like Warlock in general and Invocations specifically are more about that than being a combat powerhouse, even if they can also manage that with the right build.