Great old one: warlock patron (redesign) PEACH

[Requilac]

I have heard many people, especially on the 5e subforum, complain about the great old warlock patron for warlocks. Most of these are typically over doubts as to how thematically appropriate they are and the general weakness of them. Most seem to like awakend mind, but entropic ward is considered to be extremely weak and not very thematic, thought shield is extremely situational, and create thrall is said to be okay power wise but otherwise lacking in thematic strength. The most common reason given for this is that D&D old ones are not the same as lovecraft old ones and thusly have different powers. I am going to attempt to redesign the great old one patron for warlocks so that is suitable for a more lovecraftian perception of them alongside granting them a long requested power boost. Any suggestions on how to improve this sub-class are much appreciated. All the information you need is in the link below. Thank you to anyone who gives me any sort of aid in this.

http://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/SkbviWJfFf

[Blackbando]

Haha, I think I literally just finished typing up my review of your feats when you posted this. Nice. Anyways, let's get into it.

Intelligent Spellcasting
Yes. I approve of this, greatly. Charisma is only vaguely better than Intelligence, due to almost all campaigns needing some social skills, though not all needing knowledge. Most warlocks that take this aren't sacrificing much power, and they're getting a nice, flavorful thing.

Expanded Spells
I won't comment on these, since I think these are the exact same as the PHB ones.

Visions of the Other Worlds
Kinda weak, but thematically fitting. Depending on the campaign, it can be just as strong, or even stronger, than the previous 1st level telepathy.

Deranged Whispers
I'm not a fan of the "reduction on attack rolls" thing. Maybe make it either disadvantage, or similar to Land Druid's (and i think undying warlock?) thing, where creatures that fail the save must change attack targets or lose their attack.

Enhanced Telepathy
Interesting take on the telepathy. How do you break the bond, once its forged?

Also, small sidenote? Warlocks usually get a defensive feature at 10th level, and a utility feature at 6th. I'd personally swap Deranged Whispers and Enhanced Telepathy's levels.

Psychic Drain
I like this, a lot. It could be interesting to add something like "damage dealt by this feature do not allow a creature charmed by you to repeat the saving throw", but I'm unsure exactly if that'd be balanced or not.

Overall, this is a pretty good fix. I'm personally gonna stick with classic GOOlock for my PCs, sheerly since I enjoy the early telepathy and Create Thrall features, but this definitely has appeal.

[Requilac]

[QUOTE=Blackbando;22761950]Haha, I think I literally just finished typing up my review of your feats when you posted this. Nice. Anyways, let's get into it.

Expanded Spells
I won't comment on these, since I think these are the exact same as the PHB ones.

They are not the exact same, they are pretty close though. I think five spells have been changed since the original.

Deranged Whispers
I'm not a fan of the "reduction on attack rolls" thing. Maybe make it either disadvantage, or similar to Land Druid's (and i think undying warlock?) thing, where creatures that fail the save must change attack targets or lose their attack.

I was never a big fan of the land druid's nature's sanctuary feature really, mainly due to the fact that it is hurting another party member. To keep it up power wise though, I think that the reduction to attack rolls is a little more reasonable though. If it only imposed disadvantage than I would worry about it being underpowered.

Enhanced Telepathy
Interesting take on the telepathy. How do you break the bond, once its forged?

Also, small sidenote? Warlocks usually get a defensive feature at 10th level, and a utility feature at 6th. I'd personally swap Deranged Whispers and Enhanced Telepathy's levels.

The bond breaks whenever you decide to drop it or you use the feature to create another bond. I can't believe I forgot about that, I will add it in. I think I will keep their current arrangement though, because if i swapped them out, than they really would get no combat features until level 10, which is a bad idea to go with.

Psychic Drain
I like this, a lot. It could be interesting to add something like "damage dealt by this feature do not allow a creature charmed by you to repeat the saving throw", but I'm unsure exactly if that'd be balanced or not.

I would be worried about making it so that they can't remake the saving throw, but you have inspired me. Perhaps they instead have disadvantage on the saving throw when damaged by this feature though makes more sense.

Overall, this is a pretty good fix. I'm personally gonna stick with classic GOOlock for my PCs, sheerly since I enjoy the early telepathy and Create Thrall features, but this definitely has appeal.

Thank you. I will admit that the regular GOOlock has its merits too, but I just wanted to make another option. (*jokoingly*) Glad to see its better than the homebrewed feats though, which are apparently apalling.