Homebrew Warlock Feat

[Ratpick]

One of the things I miss about the 3.5 Warlock is my favourite build, the Glaivelock, built around the eldritch glaive power. 4e already has its own melee Warlock in the form of the Hexhammer (which I think is a terrific example of practical optimization and a cool concept to boot), but since the concept can get a bit tired I've decided to take a crack
at providing an alternative for those who don't like playing dwarves and wiedling warhammers all the time.

Eldritch Glaive [Warlock]
Prerequisites: Warlock, Eldritch Blast class feature
Benefit: You can channel the eldritch energies you master into a knife of pure arcane energy to use eldritch glaive.

Eldritch Glaive:Feat Power
You slash your foe with a blade of dark, crackling eldritch energy.
[b]At-Will * Arcane, Implement
Standard Action Melee touch
Target: One creature
Attack: Charisma or Constitution vs. Reflex
Hit: 1d10 + Charisma or Constitution modifier damage.
Increase damage to 2d10 + Charisma or Constitution modifier at 21st level.
Special: This power uses the same ability for the attack as your eldritch blast power.
This power counts as a melee basic attack. When a power allows you to make a melee basic attack, you can use this power. You can also make opportunity attacks with it.

Now, a bit of analysis:

Before Paragon tier a character with this feat is much better for melee damage than a Hexhammer for damage output, since his attack targets Reflex and doesn't require Strength for damage or hitting. This is somewhat reduced by the fact that the character can't enjoy the benefits of proficiency bonuses or Dwarven Weapon Training. On the other hand, the character is also much less dependent on magical weapons and can use a shield in his other hand whereas the Hexhammer is pretty much tied to the hammer+rod combo (which is, again, corrected by Adventurer's Vault which features the Pact Hammer). The character's basic melee attacks can also enjoy the benefits of rods and wands the character finds. The Hexhammer does become a more reliable damage-dealer at Paragon Tier once he picks up Hammer Rhythm.

For reference, the Hexhammer can be found here.

Comments?

[Jeremy Mac Donald]

Looks pretty interesting though I've not really tried a Warlock so I'm not certian how balanced it is.

Also if your going to get to this level of detail - well it may be that some one will really appreciate it but be warned that the 4E Paizo community is not really that large. I kind of doubt there is much more then 30 pro 4E regulars here and even that may be on the high side. Thus you may have trouble getting much in the way of commentary for this kind of detailed feat - i.e. a feat thats meant to make a very specific style of build more functional.

[Ratpick]

Jeremy Mac Donald wrote:

Looks pretty interesting though I've not really tried a Warlock so I'm not certian how balanced it is.

Effectively all it does is give you a melee range eldritch blast. I'm not personally sure how unbalanced it would be, but it'd let some warlocks deviate a bit from the assumed ranged combat mode.

[Matthew Koelbl]

It is an interesting approach - hard to really critique it, since as you say, it is simply Eldritch Blast converted into a melee attack. The downside of not being able to attack at range is balanced by the benefit of being able to take powerful Opportunity Attacks - on the whole, I don't see a problem. The real balancing act would come out of expanding this into a more full-fledged build, but as a simple extra option, I think it looks great.

I definitely like that there is a variety of ways to build these hybrid types. The Hexhammer build is the standard one, but there are quite a few other ways to go about it.

I've been playing a Warlock who intends to move into melee, and the route I'm looking at going is through Spellscars (from the FR Player's Guide), which give melee attack powers that can be based on any physical stats... thus, Con-based weapon attacks will definitely complement my Warlock's Con-based ranged spells.

Similar things can be done with taking Paladin powers for Charisma-based Warlocks... or grabbing some Swordmage powers (and Intelligent Blademaster) for those with good Int.

Anyway, I think this is a very solid way to go about the Eldrith Glaive! It adds a small extra option to the Warlock, but not one that should shift the power balance by any truly measurable amount. You've largely analyzed all the real differences between this build and the Hexhammer, but I think the real comparison is between this power and the standard Eldritch Blast, and that is where it seems clear this power should work fine.

On its own, it won't make a character into a melee monster - but it will give Warlocks with it a solid melee option for when they need it, which I think is a perfectly good role to fill.