How does Eldritch blast looks like?

[Barastur]

I plan to play as an Warlock in my future first game and I was wondering. How does this key aspect of the class looks like?

Is it a projectile or a ray of energy? What's the color of the energy? Does it make any sound?

How do you guys picture it when your Warlocks cast it?

[Atypical_Necro]

Had a warlock once who was actually bound in service to a queen of the fey. His eldritch blast was a kaleidoscope of natural colors, different each time.

[Cikomyr]

I plan to play as an Warlock in my future first game and I was wondering. How does this key aspect of the class looks like?

Is it a projectile or a ray of energy? What's the color of the energy? Does it make any sound?

How do you guys picture it when your Warlocks cast it?

It's depending on the Pact and flavor of the game.

One of my player has Magic Initiate and links for magical AI. His Eldritch Blast seem to come out of a gun, as yellow beams.

I have Lauzoriel, my Aasimar Celestial Warlock. His Eldritch Blast look like light beams coming out of his eyes.

You can have pulse greens, pastel rainbows.. Etc..

[Particle_Man]

I believe the iconic 3.5 warlock has purple blasts. But that is not coded into the rules, just the art.

[Ravens_cry]

I know this is a bit od a non-answer but I am sure you and, if needed, DM can work out something. I imagine it would be a very personal thing, fitting for both the warlock and the pact in question. It's definitely not something I see needing to be written in stone.

[Pleh]

I believe the iconic 3.5 warlock has purple blasts. But that is not coded into the rules, just the art.

This is my favorite interpretation, but I like to think of Eldritch Blast as being like Iron Man's beam weapons.

[Cikomyr]

On Saturday, we were fighting a mage/fire priest with escort. I counterspelled his best offensive spell, on my turn I readied an action to Eldritch blast his ass if he moved, attacked or cast a spell.

I described it as me pointing finger guns at him that were starting to glow. Funny.

[Mordaedil]

It can look however you'd like it to, within frames of the rules. You'd probably mesh better with your other players expectations if you imagined it similar to attacks you see in anime (magical girl animes, dragon ball z ki blasts etc.) rather than "a skull drifts slowly through the air and takes a big bite out of the enemy, making a satisfying crunching sound as he does", since suddenly you've attached something other characters have to kind of react to, like it was a frightful blast or something.

[Kaptin Keen]

Well ... one might argue that it's all but self-explanatory. It is .. Eldritch ... and ... it is a Blast. So Eldritch can be many things, but I feel it's just not done right if it doesn't include tentacles. In other words, an Eldritch Blast is basically a pinpoint hole in reality, through which ghostly tentacles reach into our fragile realm, and flail madly at our weak, perishable forms, then retract, possibly drawing unfortunate victims along into the nothingness of the beyond.

Make them purple ghostly tentacles if you must =)

Quite possibly, it is all accompanied by the mad laughter of ancient, uncaring gods. Iä, Shub-niggurath. Cthulhu fhtagn.

[J-H]

My GOOlock who is eyes in the world for "The Dweller Between the Stars" has all of his stuff fluffed like starlight and void. EB is little bright glowing balls of energy.

[Yora]

I think the eldritch blast of a warlock of a great old one should look like the Augur of Erebritas spell from Bloodborn, opening a portal in your hand that projects a bunch of spectral tentacles.

[Tanarii]

What edition?

In 3.5, it's a "ray" of "baleful magical energy".

In 4e, it's a "bolt of dark, crackling eldritch energy" but the rules were explicit that anything in italics is "flavor text", and you can change it as you like*.

In 5e, it's a "beam of crackling energy".


---------
(*design note: the 4e separation into explicit "flavor text" vs "rules text" is the designer Heinsoo's schtick. He did it in 13th Age as well.)

[RedMage125]

As others have said, it's up to you to decide. Just make sure your DM is okay with it. Don't see why he wouldn't be.

I once had a player make a dragonborn Fey-Pact Warlock when I ran PotA. The theme being that he made his pact with a powerul Elder Faerie Dragon. His breath weapon was Poison, but we flavored it as being the mildly hallucenogenic breath of a faerie dragon, and his scales progressed through the ROYGBIV rainbow of color as he levelled, like pre-3e faerie dragons.

His Eldritch Blast was a rainbow of color, and he sometimes would say "Friendship Is Magic!" when he fired it off. Fun times.

[solidork]

I've played three warlocks so far, and this is what their eldritch blasts looked like:

Celestial Patron (Couatl) - the first attack shoots out of his hand like a crackling green energy beam and strikes the target, but then the beam persists and is weilded like a somewhat animate whip-like weapon for subsequent attacks. Its movements are similar to a striking snake.

Archfey Patron (Seelie) - repeated silver blasts of energy that shoot from his hand and leave behind "glitter". It started out as a joke, since he was a very camp character, but upon obtaining Agonizing Blast, the "glitter" ignites after a split second, burning into the flesh of the target.

Fiend Patron (Devil) - the warlock points his finger which causes a sort of red/orange targeting beam like effect to appear in the space between him and his target. After a moment there are several flashes of red-white lighting that follow the targeting beam and strike the target. The beams travel too fast for the eye to follow, similar to lightning and after each beam forms it dissolves and falls as sparks of energy to the ground.

[Tanarii]

As others have said, it's up to you to decide.

This isn't actually a rule in 5e. If spells describe what it looks and sounds like to some degree, then that's the rule for it. As far as I know that's the case for 3.5 as well, although it's been some time.

What you're describing is a very common house rule.

[RedMage125]

This isn't actually a rule in 5e. If spells describe what it looks and sounds like to some degree, then that's the rule for it. As far as I know that's the case for 3.5 as well, although it's been some time.

What you're describing is a very common house rule.

I understand that, but since it only says "a beam of crackling energy", anything on top of that is not forced to be generic.

Warlock 1 fires a purple beam of crackling energy

Warlock 2 fires a rainbow-colored beam of crackling energy

Warlock 3 fires a white beam of crackling energy

Which one of those is against RAW, exactly?

[Tanarii]

Which one of those is against RAW, exactly?

None. Your post wasn't specific, and implied they might choose fire breathing skulls. Or a leprechaun in the warlocks hand throwing gold coins. Both of which would be highly entertaining of course.

[Hypersmith]

These discussions always seem to devolve into irritating pedanticism. Most people flavor it how they like, as long as it makes sense with the damage type and the fact it's multiple hits at higher levels. Different colors, beams vs projectiles, whatever seems to make sense with the character and is fun. I'm sure everyone pictures it a little differently when they do it.

[Tanarii]

These discussions always seem to devolve into irritating pedanticism. Most people flavor it how they like, as long as it makes sense with the damage type and the fact it's multiple hits at higher levels.

Not dividing the rules into fluff/mechanics isn't pedanticism. It's about the philosophy of what rules are.

Edit: okay, maybe a discussion about what rules are is a form of pedanticism, but on both sides.

[lightningcat]

Personally, I see it as a blast of energy that looks like the ones used by Raven in the Teen Titan cartoon where anything seen on the other side of the energy blast is a visual negative.
Not appropriate for all warlocks, but it works as a default.

[Barebarian]

Frankenstein lightning is always fun :P