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  1. - Top - End - #61
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    MindFlayer

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    Default Re: The New Warlock Handbook [3.5, WIP]

    Quote Originally Posted by ThiagoMartell View Post
    You seem to have missed this, but this is already mentioned several themes in the handbook as it stands.
    No I saw it. I just think it warrants special mention you could have the lowest statted character in all creation and still be a viable warlock. But I understand if you don't feel compelled to word it like that.

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    Default Re: The New Warlock Handbook [3.5, WIP]

    Nice start, keep it going, please.

    I'm curious, does anyone think a warlock that more or less ignored EB could be viable/good? simply took more invocations instead of blast shapes/esences?


    Quote Originally Posted by lsfreak View Post
    Isn't that kind of the case with every piece of optimization? You have to know what's effective and what's cheese. Shock Trooper is fine, Shock Trooper with Leap Attack probably isn't; Metamagic School Focus is fine, adding Arcane Thesis broken; DMM:Persist is just a solid strategy, until you're grabbing for the nightsticks.
    I could not agree more with this

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    Default Re: The New Warlock Handbook [3.5, WIP]

    Quote Originally Posted by GenghisDon View Post
    Nice start, keep it going, please.

    I'm curious, does anyone think a warlock that more or less ignored EB could be viable/good? simply took more invocations instead of blast shapes/esences?
    I could go on and on about this, but basically it depends on your DM's optimization level and party composition.
    There is a lot more to Warlock than Eldritch Blast - in fact, the strongest features in the class is Imbue Item.
    Just using vanilla eldritch blast without caring much about it is pretty much what I expect from a blastlock. Unless you use prestige classes and early entry tricks, your damage is going to suck no matter what, so you might as well use your resources for other stuff. In fact, I'm pretty sure I said that in the handbook.

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    Default Re: The New Warlock Handbook [3.5, WIP]

    Quote Originally Posted by ThiagoMartell View Post
    So how are you using both this and Vitriolic Blast at the same time? In your post you specifically mentioned using Vitriolic Blast to ignore SR while using this ability.

    You seem to have missed this, but this is already mentioned several times in the handbook as it stands.
    No, you can add Virtrolic Blast to spells through the 5th level Eldritch Spellweave class feature. No SR on any damage dealing spell is nice, though you can't do that and Eldritch Blast in the same round.
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    Default Re: The New Warlock Handbook [3.5, WIP]

    Quote Originally Posted by DMofDarkness View Post
    No, you can add Virtrolic Blast to spells through the 5th level Eldritch Spellweave class feature. No SR on any damage dealing spell is nice, though you can't do that and Eldritch Blast in the same round.
    Ah, OK, now I get it. ^^

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    Default Re: The New Warlock Handbook [3.5, WIP]

    Quote Originally Posted by ThiagoMartell View Post
    I could go on and on about this, but basically it depends on your DM's optimization level and party composition.
    There is a lot more to Warlock than Eldritch Blast - in fact, the strongest features in the class is Imbue Item.
    Just using vanilla eldritch blast without caring much about it is pretty much what I expect from a blastlock. Unless you use prestige classes and early entry tricks, your damage is going to suck no matter what, so you might as well use your resources for other stuff. In fact, I'm pretty sure I said that in the handbook.
    You allude it, perhaps, Thiago, but I still took away from the blastlock section the character would presumably have a blast shape & essence at least. My bad, perhaps.

    I agree, and think it needs be quite clear there IS more to the class than EB...& think many will be sucked into thinking otherwise. Not that I mind folks focusing on EB instead or in addition to, in other cases. I think it's got some versatility, which also makes me think your Tier 3 suggestion is likely.

    On support; yes, the class actually has a fair bit. WOTC clearly liked the class/idea. It's right in the 4e PH, off the hop. And with 3 distinct flavours mapped out already.

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    Default Re: The New Warlock Handbook [3.5, WIP]

    Hellfire Ur-Lock:
    Warlock 4/ Binder 1/ Ur-Priest 2/ Eldritch Disciple 2/ Hellfire Warlock 3/ Eldritch Disciple 8
    Or
    Warlock 4/ Binder 1/ Ur-Priest 2/ Eldritch Disciple 2/ Hellfire Warlock 3/ Eldritch Disciple 2/ Mindbender (with Mindsight feat) 1/ Eldritch Disciple 5

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    Default Re: The New Warlock Handbook [3.5, WIP]

    Quote Originally Posted by Lonely Tylenol View Post
    Yes, but to what extent? When Bobby Sue NPC from MagicMart asks if you want to sign up for the Super Saver discount for BIG $$$ BARGAINS, are you going to look expectantly to the Rogue? What if he's not there?
    Then of course I would use it, but as it is not part of my build it won't be that effective.

    Unless you literally have one person who handles every social interaction in your game, chances are the rest of the party will occasionally do some speaking, some of the time. That includes you. That means that, at least on those times, this invocation is useful. That doesn't mean it is a must-grab (it never is; it is merely a good option), or that you absolutely need to fill an invocation slot with it, but unless you have taken a vow of silence, or you're just that guy who never roleplays (or you have a group that does dice less social interaction or just dungeon crawls), this will come up at least occasionally, and it will be useful when it does. You can decide for yourself if that means it's worth an invocation slot--you've decided that it isn't. That's OK. If you *did* pick it, however, it would not likely go wasted.
    No, not quite we started at level 1 in a small village. As there was some sort of harvest-festival we were partying and our stealth-char got us a quest. We were sort of trapped there till level 4 then ventured on to bring a book somewhere (the reason we were together in the first place) and get some material (no checks needed so far). As we ventured back to our Initial-Backstory-Questgiver our Cleric got a direct order from her church. So far we bought stuff but we knew we couldn't get it for a lower price as they were already selling it at a discount.
    This invocation is also not purple for a face, because while it is perhaps the most useful invocation a face can have at this level, it's also not strictly necessary: after all, all it does is provide a bonus to your social interaction skills. A good-sized bonus for its level, and it is untyped, so it stacks with all other bonuses--both good qualities--but it isn't a catch-all game-breaker*. A face can still be a good face without it (provided they have good CHA), and have an extra invocation for their trouble, but it's still a good option if you want the extra bonuses.
    But the reason I think this is purple for a face is the reason that for a face skillfocus (1 of those 3) is already a good option and as someone said a 1 leveldip is not that important as a feat is... jeah the mileage of 6-times a feat effect for a 1-level dip could be purple.

    *The only time this isn't true is when you can put epic-level skill checks in play well before epic levels. If you can instill Suggestion with your Bluff checks, or turn people into fanatics with Diplomacy, then you basically get the equivalent of Devil's Whispers with a least invocation. Then, it's purple. But this is usually a component of a very specific, narrow build (which dips Warlock and Marshal, then goes Bard, etc. Namely, it's blue, but not purple, for a face, until you get into Epic (PO or TO, depending on level) Diplomancer builds.

    Thus, I rank it as blue because it is good (but not an absolute must-have) for faces, and it is also good (but not an absolute must-have) for non-faces.
    Jeah ok, I now know what you are weighting there exactly. Hope this was at least a bit helpful.
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    Krazzman

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    Barbarian in the Playground
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    Default Re: The New Warlock Handbook [3.5, WIP]

    Im on holliday and away from books. So please forgive me if Im overlooking something simple and fundamental here. I just leafed through CM in a local store. And it looks to me as though the Enlightened Spirits advancement table can be considered an invocation advancement table. Its not hard to qualify for.

    So with one level of Enlightened Spirit, you can then go into Ultimate Magus (several ways of doing that with just one level of a spellcasting class) and advance both Warlock and Enlightened Spirits Blast and invocations? Changing out the invocations you dont want from ES.

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    Default Re: The New Warlock Handbook [3.5, WIP]

    Quote Originally Posted by Grim Reader View Post
    Im on holliday and away from books. So please forgive me if Im overlooking something simple and fundamental here. I just leafed through CM in a local store. And it looks to me as though the Enlightened Spirits advancement table can be considered an invocation advancement table. Its not hard to qualify for.

    So with one level of Enlightened Spirit, you can then go into Ultimate Magus (several ways of doing that with just one level of a spellcasting class) and advance both Warlock and Enlightened Spirits Blast and invocations? Changing out the invocations you dont want from ES.
    The main problem is that UM only advances one prepared and one spontaneous class on seven of its levels, and Warlock (and Enlightened Spirit) are neither.
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    Default Re: The New Warlock Handbook [3.5]

    Quote Originally Posted by ThiagoMartell View Post
    The Various Kinds of Warlock:
    There are many possible builds for Warlocks. In this section, we'll discuss the most common builds.
    Blastlock: The blastlock stays ranged. This is the default for warlocks and the worst option when it comes to damage and debuffing. You practically need Hellfire Warlock for this to remain relevant and even with Legacy Champion/Uncanny Trickster abuse it's not a main damage dealer. You can increase your damage output with common Warlock items (Chasuble of Fell Power, Warlock's Scepter) and (Greater) Psionic Shot if your race allows for that. A blastlock probably fits better on very low OP groups, where you coud use your resources for stuff other than damage.

    Glaivelock: The glaivelock is focused on Eldritch Glaive, a least invocation (blast shape) from Dragon Magic. With Eldritch Glaive, the glaivelock gets the option to do iterative attacks, increasing their damage output considerably. Since the glaivelock can still apply essences, they work as good debuffers. Eldritch Glaive still targets touch AC, so the Glaivelock have good accuracy.
    A glaivelock has better damage output than a ranged warlock, but worse damage output when compared to a clawlock. It's probably the best warlock option for debuffing - it forces multiple saves on the same round.

    Clawlock: The clawlock uses the Eldritch Claw feat from Dragon Magazine. More than any other warlock build, the clawlock is a damage dealer. Their damage potential is very good, since they can stack anything that helps natural weapons, unarmed strikes, manufactured weapons and eldritch blast. Clawlocks depend on Dragon Magazine material, which is frowned upon on some tables, so ask your DM before building one.

    Feats for the Warlock
    Eldritch Claws (Dragon 358):
    Beast Strike:
    Improved Unarmed Strike (PHB):
    Grappling Blast (Dragon 358):
    Superior Unarmed Strike (Tome of Battle):
    Improved Natural Attack (Monster Manual):
    Planar Affinity (online):
    Infernal Adept (online):
    Weapon Finesse (PHB):
    Touch Spell Specialization (Complete Arcane):
    Obtain Familiar (Complete Arcane):
    Improved Familiar (PHB):

    Magical Items for the Warlock
    (Greater) Chasuble of Fell Power (Magic Item Compendium): +1d6 eldritch blast damage, +2d6 on the greater version. Take it.
    Warlock's Scepter (Magic Item Compendium): Bonus to ranged touch attacks, expend charges for bonus damage on eldritch blasts. Take it.
    Beast Claws (Savage Species): Your claws now deal +1d6 damage. They are also +2 weapons. Is it Christmas already? Every Clawlock should take this if allowed.
    Boots of Agile Jumping (Magic Item Compendium): This item allows you to use Dexterity for Jump. Useful for Glaivelock builds that use Sudden Leap to close with the target.
    Chronocharm of the Horizon Walker (Magic Item Compendium): Move half your speed as a free action. The cost is very low. The problem is taking the neck slot. See if you can mix this with your chasuble. Good for melee warlocks in general.
    Anklet of Translocation (Magic Item Compendium): A swift action teleport, good for everyone. Very cheap item as well.
    Quicksilver Boots (Magic Item Compendium): With 3 uses a day and moving as a swift action, this item is pretty good. It's not expensive and I'd get it as soon as possible.
    Cyran Gliding Boots (Magic Item Compendium): Magical roller skates. Fits thematically if you're a Cyran Avenger. Moving 10ft as a 5ft step is very good, even if it is limited in uses per day. Between this and Quicksilver Boots, I'd probably get Quicksilver Boots.
    Codex Advocare (Expedition to Castle Ravenloft): 20.000 GP for a least invocation. Looks like a good deal, specially since it's the only way to get extra invocations
    Gauntlet of Heartfelt Blows (Dragon Magazine): Adds Charisma as a bonus to damage. It specifically works with touch attacks! Good buy for glaivelocks.
    I would add Rod of Eldritch Power(Complete Mage: Page 127). I like it for situational blast shapes like Eldritch Spear and Hammer Blast.
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  12. - Top - End - #72
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    Default Re: The New Warlock Handbook [3.5]

    Quote Originally Posted by thompur View Post
    I would add Rod of Eldritch Power(Complete Mage: Page 127). I like it for situational blast shapes like Eldritch Spear and Hammer Blast.
    That is a great find that I have never seen mentioned before in Warlock threads.

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    Default Re: The New Warlock Handbook [3.5]

    Quote Originally Posted by thompur View Post
    I would add Rod of Eldritch Power(Complete Mage: Page 127). I like it for situational blast shapes like Eldritch Spear and Hammer Blast.
    I don't have Complete Mage here, so could you mind telling me what it does and how much it costs?

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    Default Re: The New Warlock Handbook [3.5, WIP]

    "Rod of Eldritch Power

    Beloved by warlocks, these rods augment the user's eldritch blast.

    {{scrubbed}}

    complete mage pages 127-128

    It definetely ought be mentioned.
    Last edited by LibraryOgre; 2012-08-28 at 08:46 PM.

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    Default Re: The New Warlock Handbook [3.5, WIP]

    I always wondered.

    A Glaive being a two handed weapon, would it still be affected by Steadfast boots regardless of its substance?
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    Default Re: The New Warlock Handbook [3.5, WIP]

    Quote Originally Posted by Re'ozul View Post
    I always wondered.

    A Glaive being a two handed weapon, would it still be affected by Steadfast boots regardless of its substance?
    No, man... Eldritch glaive is not a weapon. I guess I'll cut and paste that section from the melee warlock handbook where they explain this...

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    Default Re: The New Warlock Handbook [3.5, WIP]

    Quote Originally Posted by GenghisDon View Post
    "Rod of Eldritch Power

    -snip-
    Between this and some of the item comparisons that I made with my Least abilities, I'm starting to wonder if perhaps I should include a straight gp comparison for a lot of items; basically, how much, in wealth, you are saving by getting this ability instead of an item that emulates this ability. (For instance, a Wand of Obscuring Mist is 750 gp, and emulates Breath of the Night word-for-word, but a Ring of Entropic Deflection is 8,000 gp and gives you one of the effects conditionally... Or a continuous magic item of Entropic Shield, Pass Without Trace and Remove Scent is 9,000 gp, but is at CL1 for the purpose of being dispelled (whereas Entropic Warding scales with your level), making it an infinitely better choice per wealth investment.

    I'm working on the lessers now. I was going to prepare for my game tonight, but ruined my leg, so now I have nothing better to do than lie down with a computer atop my lap.
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    Default Re: The New Warlock Handbook [3.5, WIP]

    Quote Originally Posted by Lonely Tylenol View Post
    Between this and some of the item comparisons that I made with my Least abilities, I'm starting to wonder if perhaps I should include a straight gp comparison for a lot of items; basically, how much, in wealth, you are saving by getting this ability instead of an item that emulates this ability. (For instance, a Wand of Obscuring Mist is 750 gp, and emulates Breath of the Night word-for-word, but a Ring of Entropic Deflection is 8,000 gp and gives you one of the effects conditionally... Or a continuous magic item of Entropic Shield, Pass Without Trace and Remove Scent is 9,000 gp, but is at CL1 for the purpose of being dispelled (whereas Entropic Warding scales with your level), making it an infinitely better choice per wealth investment.

    I'm working on the lessers now. I was going to prepare for my game tonight, but ruined my leg, so now I have nothing better to do than lie down with a computer atop my lap.
    Btw, added your evaluation of the least invocations to the OP. I only changed a bit about Summon Swarm.

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    Default Re: The New Warlock Handbook [3.5, WIP]

    Quote Originally Posted by Lonely Tylenol View Post
    Between this and some of the item comparisons that I made with my Least abilities, I'm starting to wonder if perhaps I should include a straight gp comparison for a lot of items; basically, how much, in wealth, you are saving by getting this ability instead of an item that emulates this ability. (For instance, a Wand of Obscuring Mist is 750 gp, and emulates Breath of the Night word-for-word, but a Ring of Entropic Deflection is 8,000 gp and gives you one of the effects conditionally... Or a continuous magic item of Entropic Shield, Pass Without Trace and Remove Scent is 9,000 gp, but is at CL1 for the purpose of being dispelled (whereas Entropic Warding scales with your level), making it an infinitely better choice per wealth investment.

    I'm working on the lessers now. I was going to prepare for my game tonight, but ruined my leg, so now I have nothing better to do than lie down with a computer atop my lap.
    Get better soon. What the rod made me think of was this item:

    Quote Originally Posted by ThiagoMartell View Post
    Magical Items for the Warlock
    Codex Advocare (Expedition to Castle Ravenloft): 20.000 GP for a least invocation. Looks like a good deal, specially since it's the only way to get extra invocations
    Given it's cost, a simular book for a lesser invocation would be 80,000 gp and a greater invocation would be 180,000 gp. Beyond that would be epic items.

    what do you all think? fair?

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    Default Re: The New Warlock Handbook [3.5, WIP]

    The Lesser Invocations
    Eldritch Essences
    Baneful Blast (CM, active): Have you ever wanted roughly 1/12th of your 20th-level class resources on something only marginally useful that one time in the whole campaign you fight creatures with the Humanoid (dwarf) type/subtype, and useless everywhere else? Yeah, me neither. But not all is lost! You can spend another 1/12th of your 20th-level class resources to also do +2d6 damage to plants! ...If you are in a campaign where you fight an unusually high number of elementals or something, pick up a rod of that baneful blast... Or just skip it altogether, as damage that minor to a single creature type is probably not worth the gold investment.
    Beshadowed Blast (CArc, active): Blind is actually not that bad of a condition. Unfortunately, it's a Fort save with a duration of 1 round, so it's not that likely to go off against anything you would want to use it on (and not that game-changing when it does). Does not affect constructs or undead (Fortitude save), oozes (already blind), or true dragons (who have blindsense and/or blindsight), or anything else that is blind.
    Brimstone Blast (CArc, active): Your first Reflex-based invocation, and unfortunately it's not very good. Fire damage is the most commonly resisted, and the Reflex save isn't even for half (meaning that the damage can essentially be negated outright with a successful save). Further, damage over time just generally isn't worth your time, because by the time this has done its extra 8d6 of damage (at level 20), the creature has been dead for three rounds. Confers no additional benefit.
    Deteriorating Blast (DrM, active): Reduces the damage reduction of enemies struck by the Eldritch Blast by 5 for 1 minute... Provided they succeed the Fortitude save. The only reason this is okay is because it applies to all forms of damage reduction simultaneously, and because sometimes it's good to let the party Fighter have nice things. Unfortunately, that makes this the MVP of lesser eldritch essences--and it's still mediocre.
    Hellrime Blast (CArc, active): Deals cold damage (but no extra cold damage), meaning your Eldritch Blast is now susceptible to resistances. The target must make a Fort save or suffer a -4 penalty to Dexterity for 10 minutes, which is good (except for the Fort save) except for the fact that it doesn't stack or escalate. If you happen to have Eldritch Chain, this might be good to have on a rod for a one-and-done mass debuff, because the long duration will make any single casting last as long as you need it to, but it's a bad idea for an invocation slot, because it's not worth trying multiple times if you fail (and there's no sense using it again if you succeed).

    Blast Shapes
    Eldritch Chain (CArc, active): Your Eldritch Blast hits an extra target for every 5 levels you have (maximum 5 total targets at level 20). Does not have the same explosive 1 target/level cap of Chain Spell, but also doesn't have the 1/2 damage and weaker save DCs that Chain Spell does. If you have a decent DEX, you aren't going to be missing often even at the time that you get this, and it only gets better as you level. If you are a ranged Warlock (or a BFC/debuff-focused Warlock), this will probably be your go-to blast shape, as it allows you to target several targets for damage and debuffing without even a remote risk of collateral damage (which you get out of Eldritch Cone).

    Other Invocations
    Charm (CArc, active): As the spell Charm Monster, but language-dependent (meaning you can often use it on dragons and most magical beasts, but not plants or oozes). Useful for all the reasons that Charm Monster is; this is your go-to invocation for social tricks even if you aren't a face, and if you are a face, this remains useful at all levels as a proxy for Diplomacy, and is a useful replacement otherwise if you don't want to invest the skill ranks. If you are a diplomancer (and not merely a face), this loses its effectiveness when epic-level checks for Bluff and Diplomacy come into play, as it is superseded by Beguiling Influence. It is still good for combat-heavy Warlocks, provided there is something big and bad that understands you within range.
    Cold Comfort (CM, passive): As the spell Endure Elements. Unfortunately for this invocation, Endure Elements is a first level spell--with the same duration as this invocation. A wand of Endure Elements for you and the whole party is thus only 750gp--and a continuous item is 2,000 gp (although you could pick up four Crystals of Least Adaptation for the same price and have always-on, slotless Endure Elements for most of your party).
    Crawling Eye (CM, active): The Warlock's Arcane Eye. Has no listed duration or range, which means you can use this indefinitely as long as you are fine with having one eye (and 2 less hit points), and see twice. This is a must-have for any scouting Warlock that has made it this far, as you gain remote, (almost) consequence-free scouting using all your vision-based invocations.
    Curse of Despair (CArc, active): As the spell Bestow Curse, with a -1 penalty on attack rolls on a save. The curses are strong, but the range: touch and the action cost hurts this a lot. This is better if you're Greater Invisible (such as a pixie or under the effect of Retributive Invisibility), because you can apply it without blowing your cover if you're smart about it; if you're able to scout effectively (or divine preemptively), you can sneak up, apply the curse of your choosing as a pre-fight debuff, and then begin the combat with a -4 to everyone's everything, or a 50% chance of missed actions, or both(!).
    The Dead Walk (CArc, "active"): As Animate Dead, but you can also forego the material component to create free summons out of your enemies for 1 minute/level. The second half of the ability is situationally useful for those fights where your DM throws a single Unkillable Badass surrounded by legions of tiny minions at you, and you manage to kill the Unkillable Badass first, because now he's yours, and is wreaking havoc on the legions of tiny minions. It is also useful for triggering traps, creating expendable meat shields, and the like.
    The real star of this show, however, is--surprise, surprise--the Animate Dead ability of this invocation. If you grab this invocation at level 6, that means you've foregone flight, which is okay--your first undead is probably going to be a zombie dire bat, for a fly speed of 40 ft (clumsy) and an AC of 22, or a zombie giant eagle, for a fly speed of 80 ft (clumsy) and an AC of 18, plus 55 hp each and the DR5/slashing of zombies. Put barding and reins on either, if you can. By level 12, you can have a 10-headed zombie hydra (which can make a partial charge and attack with all 10 heads as a standard action), a zombie rhinoceros (which retains its powerful charge ability and can thus make powerful partial charges), your original flying zombie mount, and 4 HD to spare (zombie fleshraker raptor?). Pick up big things with Powerful Charge (ex) or Pounce (ex), fly, swim and burrow speeds (per the campaign needs), or simply legions of expendable mooks of your choosing; assuming you spend judiciously, you really can't go wrong. The number of things this invocation can do if you aren't creative is astounding; if you are, warn your DM before taking it.
    "Active" is in quotations because this is not a combat spell; this is something you do during your downtime, either after a combat or between adventures entirely. As a result, this becomes a mediocre to bad choice for Chameleon Warlocks, but only because it becomes an AWESOME choice for an "Extra Invocation" feat using your floating feat; take the corpses of your choosing to town with you, get some rest, wake up the next day, select Extra Invocation (The Dead Walk), animate all the dead you need, and then switch the feat out the next day when you're done; the undead remain, loyal and under your command, and you have an extra invocation slot for something else that you wouldn't have normally!
    Disembodied Hand (CM, active): The Warlock's spectral hand. Allows you to deliver touch attacks remotely, and you can even deliver a consequence-free assault with this and Crawling Eye from a great distance. In spite of how flavorful and fun this may be, however, doing this with any lesser invocation would use all of your lesser invocations, and there are certainly better options.
    Dread Seizure (DrM, active): Target must make a Fort save or have its movement speed halved, and take a -5 penalty on all attacks against creatures more than 5 feet away. A fairly useful single-target debuff at first glance, until you remember that Beshadowed Blast deals your Eldritch Blast damage, grants total concealment to everything it attacks (which can be better or worse than the -5 penalty, but is usually better), denies the DEX bonus of the target and confers an additional -2 penalty to AC for the same Fortitude save and a sure-thing attack roll... And that wasn't a good option to take.
    Fell Flight (CArc, passive): At-will flight with a speed of equal to your land speed (good). Flight is absolutely invaluable, and you would be laughed out of every optimization or even "generally smart play" thread and board if you willingly passed it up, and yet this is not a must-grab. Why? Two reasons: First, The Dead Walk (above) can get you flight for the same invocation cost, at a better speed but worse maneuverability, provided you're not too picky to ride a flying zombie mount (you do lose three degrees of maneuverability, but will not likely be outmaneuvering enemies with your base land speed anyway). Second, flight is very easy to get with magic items, with the two obvious choices probably being the Feathered Wings graft (Fiend Folio, 10,000 gp) if you're evil, or the Winged Mask (Magic of Faerun, 13,000 gp) if you're not. These are a significant expenditure of WBL when you might get this invocation, but quickly become a drop in the bucket, and both grant you at-will or constant flight with a better speed (the latter at the same maneuverability). These are not perfect substitutes for Fell Flight, but they are good enough (and flight items a common enough necessity) that you might be able to get away with skipping this invocation. If you are in a low-magic campaign and your DM protests against riding a zombie eagle for some reason, this of course becomes a must-have, as at-will flight is still good; it's just not exclusive to the Warlock.
    Flee the Scene (CArc, active): At-will short-range Dimension Door that leaves a Major Image behind when you use it. Useful for all the reasons that Freedom of Movement is useful: because you're probably not the best grappler in the game; because "paralysis" is one full-round action away from "coup de grace" (and spell-like abilities can be activated when paralyzed), because one way or another, you can fly (meaning you can escape in all three dimensions); and because by level 20, this gets you 75 feet as a standard action, allowing you to easily outpace most enemies that you couldn't with your normal move/fly speed. This is for that Warlock that just doesn't want to die.
    Hungry Darkness (CArc, active): At-will Darkness as the spell, except every square of darkness you create is also a bat swarm. Lasts for Concentration + 2 rounds. This is everything the least invocations Darkness and Summon Swarm should have been... Except it isn't a least invocation. Bats are, in my opinion, the worst of the three swarms you can produce, and the five levels you've progressed since Summon Swarm first became an option haven't been kind to the already pitiful DC11 Fort save vs. the nauseated condition. If this were a least invocation, it would be one of the best, but at the level you get it, it's just too late.
    Ignore the Pyre (DrM, passive): Gain energy resistance equal to your caster level to one type for 24 hours. Remember that, as with Dark One's Own Luck, you can change it at-will--meaning that, if you think one encounter is going to call for fire resistance and the next acid resistance, you can switch it as a standard action. That means that you can theoretically have up to 20 of any of the five resistances at any time; however, versatile as that is, resistance 20 at level 20 is still only okay. You will get use out of this if you take it; it's just not strictly necessary to.
    Mask of Flesh (CM, active): Disguise Self with a number of strange implications. A friend of mine pointed out that the best use for this is probably to capture somebody (or somebodies, keep them hostage (better take 20 on that Use Rope check), and then siphon off their energy constantly, living their life while they languish in your own little dungeon. Be sure to capture people of power if you do so, and don't even pretend you're not Evil if you do.
    Relentless Dispelling (CM, active): Targeted Dispel Magic at-will. Only it repeats at the start of your next turn. This comes out about even with Voracious Dispelling, in my opinion; you only get one of the three uses of Dispel Magic, but you get possibly the best one, and you are much better at it than you'd be with Voracious Dispelling.
    Spider-Shape (DotU, active): Change into a monstrous spider of various sizes. The tiny spider is a decent scouting form (you get a +8 size bonus to Hide in addition to the +4 racial bonus, and a +4 bonus to Spot, and a +8 to Climb with a climb speed), and the largest form gives you 27 STR, which is... OK, I guess. Truth be told, this isn't a combat form: it's a scouting form, which you use in conjunction with your long-duration scouting buffs. There are better things you can do than this, but you can do this.
    Steal Incarnum (MoI, active): Does not affect people without essentia. STARTING OFF WITH A BANG HERE. You steal one essentia per five caster levels (maximum 4) from your target and gain it... Provided the target fails a... Wait for it... Fortitude save. I'm honestly not sure why the Warlock has so many invocations from Magic of Incarnum; is there some unseen Warlock/Incarnate hybrid floating out there that I haven't seen? In any case, if your character is one of those rare breeds that actually uses essentia and lesser invocations, in an Incarnum-heavy campaign (do those exist?), full of enemies with weak Fortitude saves... Still don't take this, because it's underwhelming.
    Stony Grasp (CArc, active): At-will Stony Grasp as the spell. Stony Grasp doesn't actually have a better grapple check than Earthen Grasp; it's just more durable. Since both are at-will for Warlocks, you don't actually care about the durability, meaning that this actually manages to be no better than the (already bad) least invocation, but for a much steeper cost.
    Sudden Swarm (DotU, passive): The first time you kill an enemy with an invocation (including your Eldritch Blast) after casting this (which lasts 24 hours), a spider swarm bursts from the body. This is everything that the other swarm invocations wants to be: as a pre-buff, it has no action cost in combat; it is mentally under your control, as opposed to roaming on its own; the control is mental and takes only a free action, so there is no action cost in combat after it activates; and you add your warlock level to the swarm's hit points (meh) and save DC of the swarm's poison (!). The swarm lasts for only a round per level, but that's probably enough to end the combat. The Fort save DC for the nauseated condition is still pathetic, but at least you're not wasting actions to attempt it; it happens for free on the kill, and takes free actions after the fact. The only cost of this invocation is the invocation itself, so the biggest problem this invocation has is the stiff competition at this level.
    Thieves' Bane (Ci, active): A hold portal that explodes when somebody tries to bypass it. The damage is unimpressive, but bypasses spell resistance, but more scandalously, this is another lesser invocation that mimics a first-level spell. By this point, you could have 9 ranks in Use Magic Device (which is a class skill for you), and take 10 on the checks; if Hold Portal is something that is going to come up that much in your games, buy a wand for 750gp and skip on the damage. You have better things to do than this.
    Voidsense (CArc, passive): At-will blindsense (30 ft) with a 24-hour duration (so basically always-on). Not bad, but since you already have darkvision and see invisibility always-on as a least invocation, I'm not sure I see this being useful enough independent of those senses to truly stand out. I guess it's good for scouts, who wish to be complete about their senses.
    Voracious Dispelling (CArc, active): At-will Dispel Magic with no-save damage attached. You get all three uses of Dispel Magic, which lends itself to a great deal of versatility, and is the major selling point it has over Relentless Dispelling, since the damage it does isn't that great.
    Walk Unseen (CArc, passive): At-will invisibility as the spell, but with a 24-hour duration. Good for all the reasons invisibility is. The only reason this isn't an absolute must-have is because there are so many other good invocations at this level, from which you must pick three (or spend greater or dark invocations on them), and this very well might not be one of them.
    Wall of Gloom (CArc, active): Allows you to produce a straight wall 40 ft. long, or a ring with a 15 ft. radius. Creatures with 6 HD or less can be effectively walled off or penned up with the "halted" feature of the Wall of Gloom; unfortunately, at the level you'll be getting this, you are not likely to be fighting many creatures with 6 HD or less. Regardless, you can use this to throw up an improvised wall that a creature will not be able to see through, which you can use to interrupt a charge; however, the same can be done with a wand of Wall of Smoke or Obscuring Mist for the same action cost (and both are first-level spells). If you're using the Spell Compendium version, you gain a larger wall, but lose all special abilities of the wall.
    Weighty Utterance (DrM, active): You gain an at-will quasi-Wingbind, forcing your target to make a Will save or fall 5 feet per caster level, with falling damage for those that hit the ground. You know what's better than laboring over forcing them to the ground, though? Taking the fight to them.
    Witchwood Step (CM, passive): You can walk on water, and are unaffected by difficult terrain. The only problem is, both difficult terrain and water are at ground level, and if you didn't pick Fell Flight, it's only because you found another method of flying; besides, if water is of great concern to you, you took Swimming the Styx as a least invocation, so why bother with this?
    Last edited by Lonely Tylenol; 2012-08-19 at 06:13 PM.
    Homebrew!
    5e: Expanded Inspiration Uses

    Spoiler: 3.5/P Stuff. Warning: OLD
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    Default Re: The New Warlock Handbook [3.5, WIP]

    Thiaggo (and Tylenol, but directed at Thiaggo here), just wanted to say after how we got into it in the other thread, I do really like the way this handbook is progressing. I've been meaning to try out an Eldritch Theurge type some time, and I've been pulling some great ideas from the thread.

    Keep up the good work, the both of you.
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    Default Re: The New Warlock Handbook [3.5, WIP]

    LonelyTylenol, I think Beshadowed Blast deserves a black rating for galivelocks. Even being a Fort save, once you're forcing the save twice a round, it becomes quite more likely to trigger. It's still nothing to write home about, tho.
    In fact, there are so many good Lesser invocations that not having to bother with an essence is actually somewhat good.

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    Default Re: The New Warlock Handbook [3.5, WIP]

    Quote Originally Posted by Lonely Tylenol View Post
    [SIZE="4"]
    Crawling Eye (CM, active): The Warlock's Arcane Eye. Has no listed duration or range, which means you can use this indefinitely as long as you are fine with having one eye (and 2 less hit points), and see twice. This is a must-have for any scouting Warlock that has made it this far, as you gain remote, (almost) consequence-free scouting using all your vision-based invocations.
    Question about Crawling Eye; The Eye is a Fine creature with Hide and Move Silently modifiers equal to the Warlock's level. Does this mean the Eye doesn't get a +16 size bonus to Hide?
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    Hath but one page...

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    Default Re: The New Warlock Handbook [3.5, WIP]

    Here's a couple more somewhat usefull magic items, all from Magic Item Compendium.

    *Bracers of the Blast Barrier(pg 80)-3/day turn spell or SLA into 10'x10' wall of magical energy(3200gp)

    *Bracers of the Entangling Blast(pg 80)-3/day damaging spell or SLA deals 1/2 damage and entangles foe for 1d3 rds.(2000gp)

    *Gloves of Eldritch Admixture(pg 105)-add extra energy damage(your choice of type) to eldritch blast. 3 charges/ day.(2500gp)
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    Default Re: The New Warlock Handbook [3.5, WIP]

    Instinctual darkness feat from drow of the underdark allows you to use Darkness SLA's as an immediate action including hungry darkness so you can use it off turn to disrupt chargers and enemy spellcasters. Which might merit a bump to black.
    Last edited by Malroth; 2012-08-19 at 03:40 PM.

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    Default Re: The New Warlock Handbook [3.5, WIP]

    Quote Originally Posted by Malroth View Post
    Instinctual darkness feat from drow of the underdark allows you to use Darkness SLA's as an immediate action including hungry darkness so you can use it off turn to disrupt chargers and enemy spellcasters. Which might merit a bump to black.
    We'll discuss those darkness-related feats soon.

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    Default Re: The New Warlock Handbook [3.5, WIP]

    Quote Originally Posted by ThiagoMartell View Post
    Btw, added your evaluation of the least invocations to the OP. I only changed a bit about Summon Swarm.
    That's fine; I may be making further revisions to the list in time, in which case I will just send you my edits. (The Darkness concerns are going to come up a bit.)

    Quote Originally Posted by GenghisDon View Post
    Given it's cost, a simular book for a lesser invocation would be 80,000 gp and a greater invocation would be 180,000 gp. Beyond that would be epic items.

    what do you all think? fair?
    I honestly wouldn't pay that much for any of those invocations, because so many of them can be permanently gathered (or, rather, their effects) for much cheaper. An extreme example of this would be Cold Comfort, from Complete Mage; as a lesser invocation, it would cost 80,000gp to buy its use, but a Least Crystal of Adaptation (MiC, p. 24) costs 500gp, is slotless, and gives an always-on Endure Elements spell. The same money that could buy a lesser-equivalent tome could buy 160 Least Crystals of Adaptation, which is hopefully enough for you and the rest of your party. Many of the others give use-activated effects of first-level spell-equivalents, which would cost you 750 in wand form, or 2,000 gp in continuous form (if such a thing was necessary). Even the better, more expensive least invocations, such as Entropic Warding, never reach 20,000 gp (for a least), unless you buy them at higher caster levels (but a dispel on them would be suppressed for only 1d4 rounds, as a magic item).

    OK, time for greaters and darks.

    The Greater Invocations
    Eldritch Essences
    Bewitching Blast (CArc, active): Anybody hit with Eldritch Blast damage must make a Will save or be confused for 1 round. Confused is actually a pretty good condition--the target is three times as likely to lose all their actions as they are to act normally, and then there's all the other weird stuff--but between the randomness of the roll, plus the one-round duration of the effect, it's just not that reliable. Does not affect constructs, oozes, plants, undead, vermin, and some swarms, or anything else with immunity to mind-affecting effects.
    Noxious Blast (CArc, active): Anyone affected by the Eldritch Blast must make a Fort save or be nauseated for 1 minute. Nauseated creatures can only make a single move action per turn--essentially, if you can get this off, that enemy is done. You don't have to worry about them anymore. Apply this on an Eldritch Chain for a multi-target debuff. Does not affect constructs or undead.
    Repelling Blast (DrM, active): Throws all targets who fail a Reflex save 1d6x5 feet (1d6 squares) away from you and knocked prone. "Prone" is a decent enough condition to apply, and the Reflex save isn't that problematic, since it's not damage, but the randomness of the throw makes it difficult to predict and prepare, which is problematic. Does not affect creatures of Large size or larger.
    Vitriolic Blast (CArc, active): Your Eldritch Blast ignores spell resistance (score!) and deals extra damage on subsequent rounds, no save. Multiple instances of Vitriolic Blast stack, so if you attack thrice with Eldritch Glaive, you'll do an extra 6d6 damage on the next round, and so on. As such, this is a must-have for Glaivelocks and other purely damage-focused builds (as it pretty much guarantees the damage you do, and often extra damage as well).
    Hindering Blast (CM, active): The targets of your Eldritch Blast must make a Will save or be slowed for 1 round. Will's not a bad save to target, but the one-round duration means you need to apply this constantly or all you're costing them is their move action. It's not bad--just subsumed by Noxious Blast almost completely.
    Incarnum Blast (MoI, active): This is one Magic of Incarnum got right, but not for its incarnum effect: when used against anybody with at least one alignment component opposed to yours, the enemy makes a Fortitude save or is dazed for 1 round. For reference, dazed is almost as good as stunned, but harder to find immunities for, which makes this probably the best condition to apply to an enemy. Be chaotic good (evil probably being the most common among things you need to kill in most campaigns) and Eldritch Chain this. The duration and Fort save make this high-risk, high-reward.
    Penetrating Blast (DrM, active): You gain a +4 bonus on caster checks to overcome spell penetration with your Eldritch Blast, and your Eldritch Blast, in turn, lowers SR by 5 on a failed Will save. I can think of better invocations (even better shapes) to take over this, but if you have a caster-heavy group, I guess this is one way to help everyone out.

    Blast Shapes
    Eldritch Cone (CArc, active): Your Eldritch Blast affects a 30-foot cone. You don't make an attack roll, but enemies make a Reflex save for half damage. Yuck. Evasion now completely invalidates your blast; what's more, at this level, you are basically always hitting with your basic blasts and Eldritch Chain anyway, so the only time this is useful is when you have large quantities of DEX-drained enemies lumped close together.
    Eldritch Line (CM, active): Your Eldritch Blast affects a 60-foot line. Bad for all the reasons Eldritch Cone is bad, save for the following: you still get to make your blasts at range, but now you're less likely to hit multiple people unless you're tossing them down a hallway (and seriously, at that point, just UMD a wand of Lightning Bolt).

    Other Invocations
    Caustic Mire (CM, active): As the spell Caustic Mire. Also as the invocation Chilling Tentacles, below, except without the grapple checks. Pick Chilling Tentacles instead.
    Chilling Tentacles (CArc, active): As Evard's Spiked Black Tentacles of Forced Intrusion, but deals cold damage even on enemies it fails the grapple check against. This is the penultimate crowd control invocation, and an absolute steal for an at-will ability: if you don't grab this at invoker level 11, then you're a Glaivelock who grabbed it at level 13.
    Devil's Whispers (Ci, active): At-will Suggestion, only the victim makes another save at a -5 penalty to remember that they did it, and if they don't, then they blame themselves. Just put the gun in their hand and tell them to pull the trigger. Of course, PO/TO-level Diplomancers (some of whom may have dipped for Beguiling Influence) can do this either now or soon without the invocation with epic Diplomacy/Bluff checks, but for the rest of us (who don't want our DMs to throw entire bookshelves at us), this dominates every social encounter you will find yourself in... For a few levels, at least, at which point Mind Blank starts to come into play.
    Devour Magic (CArc, active): A touch-range Greater Dispel Magic that gives you a few temporary hit points for a short period of time. The range of touch and targeted limitation combined are a deal-breaker to me; however, it is the only Dispel invocation Warlocks get that doesn't cap at 10. Even for dedicated dispellers, however, this is only okay.
    Dragonward (DrM, passive): Grants you immunity to the frightful presence of dragons, DR5/-- against natural weapons of dragons, and energy resistance 20 against breath weapons caused by dragons... And only dragons. This is bad for all the reasons Baneful Blast was bad; situational bonuses that are applied on a very narrow scope tend to go unused for most of the campaign. If you know, for a fact, that 90% of your campaign is going to be the PCs getting caught in a war against dragons, then the invocation is still only decent; you already have DR that dragons can't overcome, and have a number of ways to gather the other benefits and grant them wider applications more easily.
    Enervating Shadow (CArc, passive): You gain total concealment in areas that aren't brightly lit, and adjacent enemies take a -4 STR penalty upon a failed Fort save. Most of the things that would defeat the lesser invocation Walk Unseen (such as True Seeing) would defeat this as well, and that also grants total concealment, but without the light limitation. The Fort or STR penalty is mediocre, and "adjacent" is defined as five feet away from you--which you don't want enemies to be, as a Glaivelock or a size-boosted Clawlock, rendering this useless even to melee builds.
    Hellspawned Grace (CM, active): For up to 10 rounds, you get to polymorph into a creature with an absurd array of good special qualities... Only you don't get its special qualities. Oh well.
    Tenacious Plague (CArc, active): As the spell Insect Plague, but you add your CHA modifier to the save DC of the plague, and it deals its 2d6 damage as a magic weapon. The save DC of a Noxious Blast would be four higher (six with Ability Focus), and deal a number of DC more, and is easier to shape without collateral damage. The Long range and 1 min/level duration are cute, but there are other, much better ways of debuffing by this point.
    Nightmares Made Real (CM, active): As the spell Nightmare Terrain with some mediocre damage slapped onto it to... Make it more "Warlock"-y, I guess. Nightmare Terrain is actually pretty decent, with a Will save to entangle others, and total concealment (and the ability to hide in plain sight) for you. It's when you can combine this with Chilling Tentacles that you have won, however; now, your enemies have to make a Will save, plus a grapple check every round, to be allowed to move at half speed toward/away from an enemy with total concealment!
    Painful Slumber of Ages (CM, active): Target must make a Will save or fall asleep... Permanently! You don't really need a permanent duration sleep effect, however, as six seconds are generally long enough to coup de grace; however, I guess if you're in the business of taking people alive (and you're playing D&D?), I guess the fact that you're guaranteed 24 hours of sleep on a single failed save is good, and once again, you can always coup the ones you don't need.
    Wall of Perilous Flame (CArc, active): As Wall of Fire, but Perilous! The damage from this spell is laughable at more or less all levels; this just happens to get special mention because you can make this wall over 200 feet long. Creating successive Walls of Perilous Flame can easily cause them to stretch out over a mile wide, or simply layer so thick that no enemy will want to go through them.
    Warlock's Call (CArc, "active"): As the spell Sending, but with caveats. (Really? This is the spell you opted to nerf?) This is not worth an invocation slot; however, it is significantly better as a Chameleon invocation, as it is useful to have during down-time. The fact that this is a spell-like ability means you cast this as a standard action as opposed to its normal 10-minute casting time; you can decide for yourself if that makes this significantly better on the field, but to me, this still seems like a downtime invocation.

    The Dark Invocations
    Eldritch Essences
    Utterdark Blast (CArc, active): Targets of your Eldritch Blast must make a Fort save or take 2 negative levels. This confers a -2 penalty on attacks rolls, saves, skill checks and ability checks, -10 hit points, and a -2 to one's effective level (including all level-dependent effects). If that sounds like a lot of what the least invocations does, with some extra minor benefits... Well, that's because it is. The benefit of these levels is that they can add up, and they add up quickly--as each failed save makes the next save easier to fail. A Glaivelock often has little room for CHA in their build, but if one happened to pump it, they could shell out six negative levels in one turn with their Utterdark Glaive. Unfortunately, Utterdark Blast does have a lot of problems: it came at level 16, by which point immunity to negative levels is relatively commonplace; multiple saves need to fail for the negative levels to add up; and, being an 8th-level invocation, it is virtually impossible to apply spell-like metamagic to it, meaning the ceiling is pretty high unless you can shower tons of enemies with tons of attacks. Does not affect constructs or undead.
    Binding Blast (CM, active): Targets of your Eldritch Blast must make a Will save or be stunned for 1 round. If you did your research, you probably picked up Incarnum Blast a few levels ago, which does almost exactly the same thing, but as a greater invocation. Regardless, this ability has no caveats, Will is a decent save to target, and stun is one of the best effects to apply; it's just that, at this point, you probably wanted to be doing more with your dark invocations.

    Blast Shapes
    Eldritch Doom: Your Eldritch Blast becomes a 20-ft radius burst, centered on you. If you're using this, you are where you don't generally want to be (in melee range), unless you're a melee Warlock, in which case you have other, better uses for your blast shapes (some which you picked up in the very early levels).

    Other Invocations
    Caster's Lament (CM, active): OK, it's been pointed out that this isn't actually as bad as I thought it was, as you can use this once per day per enchantment that you are trying to break. That makes this a fairly useful defensive invocation, as you are able to effectively remove curses at-will during downtime. The counterspell application has limited use, but limiting the actions that an enemy can take is probably a better way to counter spells (making a proactive debuffer better in general than a reactive counterspeller).
    Dark Discorporation (CArc, passive): You become a swarm of batlike shadows, gaining the swarm subtype and a number of cool, but not altogether great, traits and abilities. The killer for me is the fact that you cannot cast invocations (and can, in fact, only take a single move action) while in this form, meaning you give up more than fifteen levels of class features just to be in this form and get the swarm attack mode. Again, there's no mention of the Fort DC being higher than 12, so you're not applying mass nauseated condition with this.
    Dark Foresight (CArc, passive): At-will Foresight as the spell, plus telepathic communication if you cast it on somebody else. This is mediocre except for the fact that, unlike other invocations where a second casting replaces the first there is no upper limit to the number of people you can cast this on; since this is an at-will ability, that means that you and your entire party basically always have Dark Foresight active, and not a single one of you can be surprised (but only you get the +2 insight bonus to AC and Reflex saves, not that anyone cares), and you can always communicate telepathically with your entire party. With this active, surprise rounds never exist for the enemy; depending on your (and the enemy's) level of optimization, this can be invaluable.
    Impenetrable Barrier (DrM, active): At-will Wall of Force as the spell, except that it's black and blocks all modes of vision. New walls replace old. It is, perhaps, the best at what it does--that being hard battlefield control through walls--but you are likely already a good battlefield controller by this point (either through shapes/essences, or other invocations picked up earlier), so taking this only makes you slightly better at what you can already do. You can't be faulted for putting your best foot forward, but at this point, you're probably better off picking up something you can't already do.
    Incarnum Shroud: I've talked before about how scandalous a lesser invocation imitating a first-level spell is; well, this is worse. At level 16 and greater, you can select, as a dark invocation, an ability that imitates the second-level spell Blur. A continuous ring of Blur is 24,000gp to buy, and 12,000gp to make. If custom item creation is somehow too much for your DM, the Minor Cloak of Displacement does the same thing at the same cost. Blurring as a magic armor property is a +1 value. There is no excuse for getting this. None.
    Path of Shadow (CArc, active): At-will Shadow Walk, with fast healing attached to it. The healing is mediocre, but at-will fast travel is fast travel (you move roughly 50mph with this spell for hours/level). It's not as good as Teleport, and you're getting it a minimum of seven levels later, but you know what? Fast travel is fast travel.
    Retributive Invisibility (CArc, passive): At-will Greater Invisibility with a 24-hour duration. Greater Invisibility is awesome, so why is this only okay? Because you're getting it thirteen levels after See Invisibility first hit the scene, and five levels after True Seeing. By this point, enemies with either of the above (or blindsense, or blindsight) are commonplace, meaning your Greater Invisibility came too late to the party to be game-breaking. If you are in a high-level game where nothing seems to see invisible things, this is much better.
    Steal Summoning (CM, active): This invocation is literally broken. As in, it doesn't work. The spell Steal Summoning is an immediate action cast that needs to be cast at the time a summoned creature is being brought into the world; however, as an invocation, this is always going to be a spell-like ability for you. Complete Arcane says about a Warlock's invocations: "A warlock's invocations are spell-like abilities; using an invocation is therefore a standard action that provokes attacks of opportunity." This is for the Warlock that has decided an invocation that you can use 1/day (Caster's Lament) is still too overpowered for him, and would like an invocation he can never use. Even if it were cast as an immediate action, the spell it imitates is too situational to ever be useful as an at-will ability.
    Word of Changing (CArc, active): At-will Baleful Polymorph as the spell. This is one of those "love it or hate it" invocations; either you'll love the ability to completely negate a creature at-will for 24 hours, provided they fail the save, or you'll hate how late in the game this comes, and how often it just doesn't work (constructs and undead are immune for it being a Fortitude save; oozes and plants are immune to polymorph effects; and creatures with the shapechanger subtype just don't care. In addition, this targets Fort where Painful Slumber, a greater invocation, targets Will). I, for one, love it--mostly because Word of Changing is exactly the type of thing a high-level CE Warlock might do just for fun.
    Last edited by Lonely Tylenol; 2012-08-19 at 07:37 PM.
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  28. - Top - End - #88
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    Default Re: The New Warlock Handbook [3.5, WIP]

    Quote Originally Posted by ThiagoMartell View Post
    LonelyTylenol, I think Beshadowed Blast deserves a black rating for galivelocks. Even being a Fort save, once you're forcing the save twice a round, it becomes quite more likely to trigger. It's still nothing to write home about, tho.
    In fact, there are so many good Lesser invocations that not having to bother with an essence is actually somewhat good.
    I think even as a Glaivelock, this is maybe the fourth or fifth best essence you can pick up (though certainly one of the better lessers), which makes me wonder when you would use this and not any of the three or four better ones. I guess it can be picked up early and swapped out when you reach level eleven?

    Quote Originally Posted by Menteith View Post
    Question about Crawling Eye; The Eye is a Fine creature with Hide and Move Silently modifiers equal to the Warlock's level. Does this mean the Eye doesn't get a +16 size bonus to Hide?
    Unfortunately not; its modifiers are equal to your Warlock level, which means that it essentially doesn't gain a size bonus based on its size category; that's the only bonus it gets. This means you will probably want to be a little more careful with the eye than you might otherwise be.

    Quote Originally Posted by thompur View Post
    Here's a couple more somewhat usefull magic items, all from Magic Item Compendium.

    *Bracers of the Blast Barrier(pg 80)-3/day turn spell or SLA into 10'x10' wall of magical energy(3200gp)

    *Bracers of the Entangling Blast(pg 80)-3/day damaging spell or SLA deals 1/2 damage and entangles foe for 1d3 rds.(2000gp)

    *Gloves of Eldritch Admixture(pg 105)-add extra energy damage(your choice of type) to eldritch blast. 3 charges/ day.(2500gp)
    This item actually manages to make Nightmares Made Real less useful, as Chilling Tentacles (which does damage, albeit mediocre damage) can have the Entangling Blast applied to them, fulfilling both ends of the combo (minus the concealment for you, which is OK, because you're going to be well above anyway) with the no-save entanglement that you get as a result. Good find.

    Quote Originally Posted by Malroth View Post
    Instinctual darkness feat from drow of the underdark allows you to use Darkness SLA's as an immediate action including hungry darkness so you can use it off turn to disrupt chargers and enemy spellcasters. Which might merit a bump to black.
    I know this works with Darkness, but I don't believe this works with Hungry Darkness, as it is not technically the same thing (it has Darkness in its name, and functions like Darkness, but isn't Darkness). I'm going to ask in the RAW thread to confirm or deny this.
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  29. - Top - End - #89
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    Default Re: The New Warlock Handbook [3.5, WIP]

    Quote Originally Posted by Lonely Tylenol View Post
    I think even as a Glaivelock, this is maybe the fourth or fifth best essence you can pick up (though certainly one of the better lessers), which makes me wonder when you would use this and not any of the three or four better ones. I guess it can be picked up early and swapped out when you reach level eleven?
    Exactly. It sucks overall, but at the level you get it, it's pretty much the only option unless you're somehow stacking fear effects.

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    Default Re: The New Warlock Handbook [3.5, WIP]

    Quote Originally Posted by Lonely Tylenol View Post
    I honestly wouldn't pay that much for any of those invocations, because so many of them can be permanently gathered (or, rather, their effects) for much cheaper. An extreme example of this would be Cold Comfort, from Complete Mage; as a lesser invocation, it would cost 80,000gp to buy its use, but a Least Crystal of Adaptation (MiC, p. 24) costs 500gp, is slotless, and gives an always-on Endure Elements spell. The same money that could buy a lesser-equivalent tome could buy 160 Least Crystals of Adaptation, which is hopefully enough for you and the rest of your party. Many of the others give use-activated effects of first-level spell-equivalents, which would cost you 750 in wand form, or 2,000 gp in continuous form (if such a thing was necessary). Even the better, more expensive least invocations, such as Entropic Warding, never reach 20,000 gp (for a least), unless you buy them at higher caster levels (but a dispel on them would be suppressed for only 1d4 rounds, as a magic item).
    This depends on item availablity and several other assumptions, particularily what a DM will be fooled into allowing for cheap. cold comfort ought be a least invocation, obviously. It's hardly worth mentioning, as it's a red herring.

    One of the big complaints I've heard regarding the class is not enough abilities. the books help with that.

    If your lesser invocations are charm, the dead walk & fell flight, adding flee the scene or eldritch chain hardly sucks.

    Still, it's just an idea. If you are playing a warlock & find such an item, you'd be free to sell it for half $.

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