Martial Warlock (Variant)

tl;dr full-BAB warlock who gives up Eldritch Blast for the ability to apply Eldritch Essences to normal attacks.

Martial Warlock (Warlock Variant)

Some of those who make pacts with otherworldly beings (or who are subject to the effects of pacts made by long-dead ancestors) choose to focus their magic in ways that augments their combat abilities rather than their raw magical prowess.

Level	BAB	Fort	Ref	Will	Invocations	Special
1	+1	+2	+0	+2	2	Invocations (Least), Eldritch Strike
2	+2	+3	+0	+3	2	Detect Magic
3	+3	+3	+1	+3	3	Damage reduction 1/cold iron
4	+4	+4	+1	+4	3	Deceive item
5	+5	+4	+1	+4	4	Eldritch Mastery (Reflex Saves)
6	+6	+5	+2	+5	5	Invocations (Least or lesser)
7	+7	+5	+2	+5	6	Damage reduction 2/cold iron
8	+8	+6	+2	+6	7
9	+9	+6	+3	+6	7	Eldritch Mastery (Attacks of Opportunity per round)
10	+10	+7	+3	+7	8	Energy Resistance 5
11	+11	+7	+3	+7	9	Invocations (Least, lesser, or greater), Damage reduction 3/cold iron
12	+12	+8	+4	+8	10	Surge of Power
13	+13	+8	+4	+8	11	Eldritch Mastery (Initiative)
14	+14	+9	+4	+9	11
15	+15	+9	+5	+9	12	Damage reduction 4/cold iron
16	+16	+10	+5	+10	13	Invocations (Least, lesser, greater, or dark)
17	+17	+10	+5	+10	14	Eldritch Mastery (normal attacks)
18	+18	+11	+6	+11	15
19	+19	+11	+6	+11	15	Damage reduction 5/cold iron
20	+20	+12	+6	+12	16	Energy Resistance 10

HD: d10
Skill points per level: 4+Int
Class Skills: same as normal Warlock class skills, plus Climb, Diplomacy, Hide, Move Silently, Swim, Tumble (or appropriate analogues if Pathfinder)
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: In addition to the normal Warlock proficiencies, a Martial Warlock is proficient with medium armor and may use invocations in medium armor with no failure chance. They are also proficient with all martial weapons.

Class Features:

All class features without given descriptions are identical to the abilities possessed by the Warlock.

Eldritch Strike (Sp): A Martial Warlock does not gain the Eldritch Blast ability (and thus may not use Blast Shape invocations). However, they may apply Eldritch Essence invocations to their weapon attacks (whether melee or ranged). A Martial Warlock may use multiple Eldritch Essences in the same turn, but may only apply one Eldritch Essence to each attack. If a Martial Warlock fails to overcome the spell resistance of a target, the target is immune to the effect of the Eldritch Essence but still takes damage from the attack. If an Eldritch Essence would change the energy type of an Eldritch Blast, any attacks made with that Eldritch Essence may (at the Martial Warlock's option) deal damage of the type specified in the Eldritch Essence instead of the normal damage type of the attack. The saving throw DC of any effects from an Eldritch Strike that allow saving throws is equal to 10 + 1/2 warlock level + the warlock's Charisma modifier. The Ability Focus feat increases the DC of all saving throws associated with Eldritch Strike by 2. Eldritch Strike does not take an action to use; its activation is a part of the attack(s) to which an Eldritch Essence is applied.

Eldritch Mastery (Su): Starting at 5th level, a Martial Warlock adds their Charisma modifier to Reflex saves.
At 9th level, they add their Charisma modifier to the number of attacks of opportunity they may make per round. This does not stack with any bonus attacks of opportunity provided by Combat Reflexes.
At 13th level, they add their Charisma modifier to Initiative checks.
At 17th level, they add their Charisma modifier to attack and damage when they make an attack that is not an Eldritch Strike.

Surge of Power (Su): Once per minute, a Martial Warlock of 12th level or higher may use an invocation as an immediate action. If a Martial Warlock does so during their turn, they may not use any other invocations that turn; if they use Surge of Power during another creature's turn, the Martial Warlock may not use invocations during their next turn. In either case, they may continue to benefit from already-active invocations and may still use the Eldritch Strike ability.

New Invocations:
Aggravating Blast (Least, 2nd; Eldritch Essence): This eldritch essence invocation allows you to change your Eldritch Blast into an Aggravating Blast. Any creature struck by an Aggravating Blast must make a Will save; if they fail, they may not attack or use other single-target abilities on enemies other than the user of this invocation for one minute. If they use an effect that can target multiple enemies, the user of this invocation must be one of the targets. A character who is affected by the Aggravating Blast of a particular invocation user cannot be affected by further instances of that character's Aggravating Blast until 24 hours after first Aggravating Blast's effect expires, regardless of whether their save is successful.

Forceful Blast (Lesser, 4th; Eldritch Essence): This eldritch essence invocation allows you to change your Eldritch Blast into a Forceful Blast. Any creature struck by a Forceful Blast must make a Reflex save; if they fail, they are moved up to 10 feet in any direction chosen by the user of this invocation. On a successful save they are only moved 5 feet.

Crippling Blast (Greater, 6th; Eldritch Essence): This eldritch essence invocation allows you to change your Eldritch Blast into a Crippling Blast. Any creature struck by a Crippling Blast must make a Fortitude save; if they fail, they are unable to move for a number of rounds equal to one-half the ability modifier used to determine the save DC of this effect. If they succeed, all of their movement speeds are reduced to one-half normal for that duration. They may take other actions normally.

Bumping because I really want feedback on this. It's supposed to be an improvement over the vanilla warlock, but I'm not sure if I've taken them up or down in power.

ETA: Also, if anyone has some artwork that they think would be fitting, that would be appreciated; I like for my homebrew to have accompanying images.

I think I'd prefer to play a regular warlock with eldritch glaive. The damage and hit chance are probably better and you can apply essences with no complicated restrictions. The most attractive things from this are things that would look better on a straight warlock redux like skill points, bonus invocations, etc.

I assume you made this because you think there's something missing from the warlock's melee capabilities. What is it you think the warlock needs that can't be supplied by playing a glaivelock?

Thanks for all the feedback.

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Originally Posted by Just to Browse

I think I'd prefer to play a regular warlock with eldritch glaive. The damage and hit chance are probably better and you can apply essences with no complicated restrictions.

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This variant is actually better at applying essences than a Glaivelock in most cases; they never gain the ability to spam Utterdark Blast everywhere, but they can change up which essence they use with each attack. For example, an 8th-level Warlock under the effects of haste could apply Beshadowed Blast, Frightful Blast, and Sickening Blast, one on each attack, to leave an opponent blinded, shaken, and sickened, which is quite a debuff combination.

You're right about complex restrictions; I think I'll remove the restrictions on how often the use each ability, and stomach the fact that high-level Martial Warlocks will just be spamming negative levels everywhere.

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Originally Posted by Just to Browse

The most attractive things from this are things that would look better on a straight warlock redux like skill points, bonus invocations, etc.

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I think I will add one bonus invocation of each type, with the restriction that they be Essences (to encourage liberal use of Eldritch Strike).

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Originally Posted by Just to Browse

I assume you made this because you think there's something missing from the warlock's melee capabilities. What is it you think the warlock needs that can't be supplied by playing a glaivelock?

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I just don't think the Glaivelock should be the only melee option for a Warlock (Hideous Blow is awful, and Eldritch Claws, being DragMag, is not allowed at many tables, including the ones I play at). It's meant to play a bit like an Initiator, but without the complexity of expending and recovering maneuvers.

Anyways, what do you think this class lacks? It seems like you want bonuses to attack and damage, but I'm not sure. I was considering adding an ability that allows MWs to add extra dice to their attacks, probably with a scaling per-unit-time dice cap (maybe two dice per level per minute, divided among their attacks with a maximum extra dice per attack of (level/2)+1).

I think the ability to choose your essences is a pretty small benefit, while the ability to use one essence all the time is a big one. If you let the martial warlock use his highest-level essences all the time, I could see the flexibility being useful for debuffs like hellrime blast and hindering blast, especially with higher BAB. It's not beneficial useful for people who want to use utterdark blast or frightening blast, but free essences make those less mandatory pickups.

I see this class (as outlined in your previous post) as a melee debuffer with less damage / lower hit, but a bit more tankiness and the possibility of mixing up your debuffs. That's pretty much replicated by a glaivelock dip into some melee debuff classes, and the redundancy is what I don't find very interesting. Having more than 1 variety of melee warlock is what multiclassing and feats are all about.

The important thing about a class variant is that it should be sufficiently different from the original class. Focusing on damage or hit chance isn't helpful, because a player can play a glaivelock and get those things. You should look for something unique that isn't offered normally -- applying a variety of essences is cool, and emphasizing that or picking something else strong is also good. That's why I asked you what you thought was missing from the glaivelock, because if you had some specific qualm you could fix it with the martial warlock.

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Originally Posted by Just to Browse

I think the ability to choose your essences is a pretty small benefit, while the ability to use one essence all the time is a big one. If you let the martial warlock use his highest-level essences all the time, I could see the flexibility being useful for debuffs like hellrime blast and hindering blast, especially with higher BAB. It's not beneficial useful for people who want to use utterdark blast or frightening blast, but free essences make those less mandatory pickups.

I see this class (as outlined in your previous post) as a melee debuffer with less damage / lower hit, but a bit more tankiness and the possibility of mixing up your debuffs. That's pretty much replicated by a glaivelock dip into some melee debuff classes, and the redundancy is what I don't find very interesting. Having more than 1 variety of melee warlock is what multiclassing and feats are all about.

The important thing about a class variant is that it should be sufficiently different from the original class. Focusing on damage or hit chance isn't helpful, because a player can play a glaivelock and get those things. You should look for something unique that isn't offered normally -- applying a variety of essences is cool, and emphasizing that or picking something else strong is also good. That's why I asked you what you thought was missing from the glaivelock, because if you had some specific qualm you could fix it with the martial warlock.

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You raise some good points here. I've added four extra eldritch essence invocations, one of each level, and removed the use restrictions so they can toss around whichever essences the want, whenever they want. I've also keyed the save DCs off 10+(1/2 level)+Cha to keep them relevant.

I do indeed want to focus on the multi-debuff aspect of the variant; what abilities do you think would complement that well?

Also, more things this class can do that a glaivelock can't: trip, disarm, TWF, and get Strength to damage.

IIRC the glaivelock can still combine other attack actions like trip and disarm with their attacks. Not that the martial warlock shouldn't (I think everybody should be allowed to do that), but it's not unique. Str-to-damage is meh compared to bonus damage, and TWF is kind of lackluster since it requires full attacks.

A couple things off the top of my head:

• Marlocks will probably want more AoOs, so they'll probably focus on Combat Reflexes and Dexterity. That makes them pretty MAD (Str, Dex, Con, Cha). You could reduce MAD by increasing the influence of some stat (maybe Cha?)
• This class will be great for BFC, but only does so with attack rolls. You could add more BFC to the class, like terrain creation or moving enemies.
• Either as a controller or a debuffer, extra mobility will do well on a guy that likes to full attack (which also encourages TWF). It's one of the few things glaivelocks need to spend a lot of resources on. Plus "Eldritch Speed" is a cool name.

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Originally Posted by Just to Browse

IIRC the glaivelock can still combine other attack actions like trip and disarm with their attacks. Not that the martial warlock shouldn't (I think everybody should be allowed to do that), but it's not unique. Str-to-damage is meh compared to bonus damage, and TWF is kind of lackluster since it requires full attacks.

A couple things off the top of my head:

• Marlocks will probably want more AoOs, so they'll probably focus on Combat Reflexes and Dexterity. That makes them pretty MAD (Str, Dex, Con, Cha). You could reduce MAD by increasing the influence of some stat (maybe Cha?)
• This class will be great for BFC, but only does so with attack rolls. You could add more BFC to the class, like terrain creation or moving enemies.
• Either as a controller or a debuffer, extra mobility will do well on a guy that likes to full attack (which also encourages TWF). It's one of the few things glaivelocks need to spend a lot of resources on. Plus "Eldritch Speed" is a cool name.

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Actually, this class already has some great BFC options from its invocations. Impenetrable Barrier, Wall of Perilous Flame, Tenacious Plague, Chilling Tentacles, Wall of Gloom, Darkness, Sudden Swarm, Hungry Darkness, and Nightmares Made Real are all at least decent BFC effects, and some of them (Chilling Tentacles, for example) are excellent.

Good point about wanting four stats; I'm not sure how to encourage pumping Charisma, though. Can you think of anything? The main issue I'm running into is I either give them Cha-to-something early on and make this a dipping class, or give it to them later and make them suck until higher levels. Possibly something along the lines of the Warblade's Int-to-most-things (spread out over the whole progression), but with Charisma?

Regarding mobility, maybe give them something that lets them move while making a full attack? Being able to spread out attacks over a number of targets makes sense for a debuffer.

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Originally Posted by Extra Anchovies

Invocations (Sp): A Martial Warlock does not learn Blast Shape Invocations. The first invocation of each type that a Martial Warlock learns must be an Eldritch Essence. Martial Warlocks learn invocations at all levels except levels 4, 9, and every fifth level thereafter. They gain access to each level of invocation at the same levels as normal Warlocks.

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Completely lost by the wording here. I would spell out the numbers, rather than a complex list of exceptions.

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Eldritch Blast (Sp): A Martial Warlock does not gain this ability.

Eldritch Strike (Sp): A Martial Warlock may not learn Blast Shape invocations. They may learn Eldritch Essence invocations; however, instead of applying essences to their Eldritch Blast, they apply essences to their attacks (whether melee or ranged).

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Reword these two for compactness. "A Martial Warlock cannot use Eldritch Blast, and so cannot use Blast Shape invocations. However, they specialize in Eldritch essence evocations, and can apply them to their attacks with both melee and ranged weapons)."

If you're going to include bonus combat feats, you need to take somewhat away from the core warlock... eldritch blast isn't enough... for all that it forms the core of a warlock's offensive power, they get a fair amount of their versatility from their invocations, and their ability to use magic items easily.

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Originally Posted by Mark Hall

Completely lost by the wording here. I would spell out the numbers, rather than a complex list of exceptions.



Reword these two for compactness. "A Martial Warlock cannot use Eldritch Blast, and so cannot use Blast Shape invocations. However, they specialize in Eldritch essence evocations, and can apply them to their attacks with both melee and ranged weapons)."

If you're going to include bonus combat feats, you need to take somewhat away from the core warlock... eldritch blast isn't enough... for all that it forms the core of a warlock's offensive power, they get a fair amount of their versatility from their invocations, and their ability to use magic items easily.

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I've implemented your wording suggestions, thanks for helping me clarify stuff. Also, I think I'll be avoiding handing out combat feats in favor of something more unique (I'm leaning more and more towards something similar but not identical to the Warblade's Battle Clarity/Ardor/Cunning/Skill/Mastery abilities). The loss of Eldritch Blast is quite big, since it's how they deal damage normally. Without that, they become more of a debuff-focused martial, which is my primary goal (too many martial classes are all about damage, IMO).

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Originally Posted by Extra Anchovies

Actually, this class already has some great BFC options from its invocations. Impenetrable Barrier, Wall of Perilous Flame, Tenacious Plague, Chilling Tentacles, Wall of Gloom, Darkness, Sudden Swarm, Hungry Darkness, and Nightmares Made Real are all at least decent BFC effects, and some of them (Chilling Tentacles, for example) are excellent.

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The problem is that those invocations don't work with the martial warlock's main schtick. You could be BFC guy using chilling tentacles as the regular warlock, but the martial warlock needs his own brand of martial-based BFC. But if you don't think the martial warlock should have baked-in BFC that's fine.

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Good point about wanting four stats; I'm not sure how to encourage pumping Charisma, though. Can you think of anything? The main issue I'm running into is I either give them Cha-to-something early on and make this a dipping class, or give it to them later and make them suck until higher levels. Possibly something along the lines of the Warblade's Int-to-most-things (spread out over the whole progression), but with Charisma?

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I'm not sure about that either. You could just saw that the warlock is decent at low levels (it kind of is) and delay Cha-to-X benefits till later.

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Regarding mobility, maybe give them something that lets them move while making a full attack? Being able to spread out attacks over a number of targets makes sense for a debuffer.

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Swift action movement, a bonus 5' step (when attacking?), perhaps extra range if you spend an action for it?

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Originally Posted by Just to Browse

The problem is that those invocations don't work with the martial warlock's main schtick. You could be BFC guy using chilling tentacles as the regular warlock, but the martial warlock needs his own brand of martial-based BFC. But if you don't think the martial warlock should have baked-in BFC that's fine.

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Hm. A bit of class-specific BFC would be cool; maybe I could make a pair of new Martial Warlock-only Eldritch Essences, one of which creates difficult terrain around a target and the other of which moves an enemy around? The first one would be Least, and would create difficult terrain in the enemy's space and in all adjacent spaces; the second would be Lesser, and would move an opponent up to 10 feet in any direction on a failed Reflex save (15 feet if they fail by 10 or more). I'm not sure if the movement should provoke AoOs, though.

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Originally Posted by Just to Browse

I'm not sure about that either. You could just saw that the warlock is decent at low levels (it kind of is) and delay Cha-to-X benefits till later.

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Indeed. What do you think they should get Cha to? Maybe Reflex saves, number of AoOs per turn, Initiative, and attack rolls on AoOs? Reduces the Dex dependence by a lot. I'm thinking it might be good to hand those four out at 4/9/14/19 in order (cuz those are the four levels they don't get invocations). What do you think?

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Originally Posted by Just to Browse

Swift action movement, a bonus 5' step (when attacking?), perhaps extra range if you spend an action for it?

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The thing that I was thinking of was as follows:

Eldritch Speed (Su): Beginning at (somewhere around 10th level), a Martial Warlock can use their otherworldly powers to create great bursts of agility. Whenever they make a full attack action, they may also move up to their speed as a part of the full attack. They may make any amount of their allowed attacks before and after they begin their move, but during their movement they must move 5 feet between attacks (if at any point they make two or more attacks without moving at least 5 feet between attacks, their movement ends but they may continue attacking). They may use Tumble to avoid attacks of opportunity; if they choose to tumble at full speed while using Eldritch Speed, they only take a -5 penalty on the

Note: the third sentence is there to encourage spreading out attacks through the movement while still letting them get in their full set of attacks.

Also, this ability seems pretty strong (after all, it's almost-pounce); I think I should either put a uses-per-unit-time on it or have it replace Imbue Item. The former would be preferable, because I like the idea of a martial class that can craft its own magic weapons and armor.

For the essences, I think you could do well by offering the martlock-only essences at level 1/6/11/16 or letting the player choose another essence. That avoids overloading and prevents new players from accidentally screwing themselves over.

Cha-to-Reflex seems weird. The only Cha-to-Stat abilities seem to be on knightly classes (crusader, paladin, arcane knight, ebon initiate) and this class doesn't feel knightly. But I could be wrong; this has the opportunity for cool knight flavor.

For Eldritch Speed, I'm personally completely opposed to putting daily uses on a universal combat ability because it encourages the 5-min workday. Daily abilities are better reserved for utility effects. If you want, you could possibly make it one of their eldritch essences? (Ex: When you hit an enemy, move up to half your move speed) But then that removes my initial point of the essences. Damn thinking is hard on my brain.

Also! Your initial suggestion of bonus feats might not be a bad idea. Warlocks tend to be feat-starved, so bonus feats are pretty solid for a martial warlock since they probably plan on taking things like Power Attack, TWF, etc.

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Originally Posted by Just to Browse

For the essences, I think you could do well by offering the martlock-only essences at level 1/6/11/16 or letting the player choose another essence. That avoids overloading and prevents new players from accidentally screwing themselves over.

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Hm. So it would be worded something like "The first invocation a Martial Warlock learns of each grade must be either a normal Eldritch Essence invocation of one of the Martial Warlock-only Eldritch Essences detailed below", yes? I like.

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Originally Posted by Just to Browse

Cha-to-Reflex seems weird. The only Cha-to-Stat abilities seem to be on knightly classes (crusader, paladin, arcane knight, ebon initiate) and this class doesn't feel knightly. But I could be wrong; this has the opportunity for cool knight flavor.

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The Martial Warlock's Cha-to-stuff would be fluffed more along the lines of being exceedingly lucky and/or having the universe bend a little bit in their favor. Something similar to the Hexblade's Cha-to-saves-vs.-spells, or the Blackguard's Dark Blessing (a Divine Grace clone). Making a pact with the Great Old Ones has its benefits.

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Originally Posted by Just to Browse

For Eldritch Speed, I'm personally completely opposed to putting daily uses on a universal combat ability because it encourages the 5-min workday. Daily abilities are better reserved for utility effects. If you want, you could possibly make it one of their eldritch essences? (Ex: When you hit an enemy, move up to half your move speed) But then that removes my initial point of the essences. Damn thinking is hard on my brain.

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Actually, I was thinking more like a 1/minute or 1/5 rounds thing (hence my saying "uses-per-unit-time" instead of "uses-per-day"). Per-day abilities aren't really a Warlock thing (Fiendish Resilience aside). I do like the idea of "hit an enemy, move X distance", though.

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Originally Posted by Just to Browse

Also! Your initial suggestion of bonus feats might not be a bad idea. Warlocks tend to be feat-starved, so bonus feats are pretty solid for a martial warlock since they probably plan on taking things like Power Attack, TWF, etc.

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Good point; martials always need more feats.. My initial idea of five might be a bit too many, though. Maybe two or three feats (either at 5th and 15th or at 6th, 12th, and 18th)?

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Originally Posted by Extra Anchovies

Hm. So it would be worded something like "The first invocation a Martial Warlock learns of each grade must be either a normal Eldritch Essence invocation of one of the Martial Warlock-only Eldritch Essences detailed below", yes? I like.

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That's pretty good. You could also do something like:

At level 1, the MarLock learns this invocation (2nd, least): You can hit thing real gud.

At level 6, the MarLock learns this invocation (4th, lesser): You can hit thing real gud.

At level 11, the MarLock learns this invocation (6th, greater): You can hit thing real gud.

At level 16, the MarLock learns this invocation (9th, dark): You can hit thing real gud.

Instead of learning one of these invocations, you can learn an eldritch essence instead.

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The Martial Warlock's Cha-to-stuff would be fluffed more along the lines of being exceedingly lucky and/or having the universe bend a little bit in their favor. Something similar to the Hexblade's Cha-to-saves-vs.-spells, or the Blackguard's Dark Blessing (a Divine Grace clone). Making a pact with the Great Old Ones has its benefits.

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Yeah, that sounds good. Since the warlock is in light armor as-is, Cha to all saves isn't too bad around 2nd-4th level. Cha to hit isn't a bad idea if you gate it somehow.

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Good point; martials always need more feats.. My initial idea of five might be a bit too many, though. Maybe two or three feats (either at 5th and 15th or at 6th, 12th, and 18th)?

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Five is probably the upper limit in order to prevent people from freaking out, but I wouldn't be uncomfortable if you had 5 bonus feats.

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Originally Posted by Just to Browse

That's pretty good. You could also do something like:

At level 1, the MarLock learns this invocation (2nd, least): You can hit thing real gud.

At level 6, the MarLock learns this invocation (4th, lesser): You can hit thing real gud.

At level 11, the MarLock learns this invocation (6th, greater): You can hit thing real gud.

At level 16, the MarLock learns this invocation (9th, dark): You can hit thing real gud.

Instead of learning one of these invocations, you can learn an eldritch essence instead.

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That's a better phrasing of it. Encourages learning the unique Essences.

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Originally Posted by Just to Browse

Yeah, that sounds good. Since the warlock is in light armor as-is, Cha to all saves isn't too bad around 2nd-4th level. Cha to hit isn't a bad idea if you gate it somehow.

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Well, I did give them medium armor (it's under Proficiencies). I'm also somewhat opposed to Cha to all saves, because the main goal of... let's call it Eldritch Mastery or something, is to reduce dependence on Dexterity. Hence Reflex saves, AoOs per round, and Initiative. The to-hit on AoOs is just an extra benefit for sticking with the class until level 19.

I also may be hammering together an actual class table soon, since this variant has expanded quite a bit.

Updated to include a class table. Added Eldritch Mastery and the new Invocations. Looking for something to do with the dead levels, and for general feedback/thoughts.