The Tome of Secrets, now available for preorder, will be released on August 13th, 2009. In anticipation of the the release, we'll be posting previews every week until August 13th, giving a glimpse of what lies within the pages of the Tome. This preview gives us a look at Orsini, the human warlock.
Orsini
Male human warlock 8
CN Medium humanoid (human)
Init +5; Senses Perception +7
DEFENSE
AC 16, 12 touch , 15 flat-footed (+4 armor, +1 Dex, +1 bracers of armor)
hp 54 (8d8 + 8)
Fort +3, Ref +6, Will +8
OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft.
Melee +1 Keen Longsword +6/+1 (1d8+1, crit 17-20 x2)
Special Attacks Arcane Bolt (5d6, electric), Arcane Burst (5d6, electric, 20ft burst), Turn Undead (5/day, DC 17)
Warlock Abilities (CL 8th)
Cantrips: Detect Magic, Light.
Gained at 1st Level: Arcane Bolt, Power over Undead
Gained at 2nd Level: Hand of the Apprentice
Gained at 4th Level: Levitate
Gained at 8th Level: Dimensional Steps
STATISTICS
Str 10, Dex 12, Con 13, Int 15, Wis 14, Cha 16
Base Atk +6/+1; CMB +6; CMD 17
Feats Improved Initiative, Lightning Reflexes, Light Armor Proficiency, Magical Aptitude, Martial Weapons Proficiency, Turn Undead
Skills Bluff +8, Knowledge (arcana) +12, Knowledge (the planes) +10, Linguistics +7, Perception +7, Sense Motive +6, Spellcraft +14, Use Magical Device +13
Languages Common, Elven, Draconic
SQ Arcane Armor Mastery (medium), DR/3 (except cold iron, silver and fire)
Combat Gear: +1 Keen Longsword
Other Gear: Bracers of Armor +1
I'm very glad that the Paizo blog gave us a look at the Wizard this week, because it makes explaining Orsini here much easier!
We wrestled a bit on how to handle warlocks in the Tome of Secrets. The warlock was designed to be a non-book keeping player’s dream; he has a small list of spells that he can cast all day long. He does not need to prepare a list, nor must he check off slots. This presented something of a challenge, as Pathfinder, like its spiritual predecessors, is built around the concept that spellcasters burn through a limited repertoire each day. We didn't want to go the 4e route with Paths, because we felt that was a bit too much like the Sorcerer's bloodlines.
Pathfinder offered a solution. As you've seen in the Paizo blog entry on Ezren the Wizard, the arcane schools grant powers --magical abilities usable by wizards of that school. For the warlock, we simply expanded those lists and confined the warlock to those abilities -- they do not cast spells, but instead are creatures infused with magic who display these abilities as a result.
At 1st Level, Orsini got to pick a number of cantrips equal to his intelligence modifier, and two abilities taken from either the arcane school granted powers, or the warlock's abilities lists. He received another at 2nd, 4th, 6th and 8th level. He could choose any ability, as long as he was of sufficient level, regardless of whether or not he had taken the lower-level abilities from that school.
Orsini's abilities are a mix of combat (Arcane Bolt and the Arcane Burst improvement from evocation, the Hand of the Apprentice -- the same power described in the wizard preview -- from universalist) and movement (Levitate -- taken from trasmutation -- and Dimensional Steps, from conjuration), with Power over Undead (taken from Necromancy -- which gives him the Turn Undead feat and the limited ability to channel energy for this purpose alone).
This gives our warlock less overall available magic than the dedicated spellcasting classes, but makes him more versatile in its availability and application.
Aside from their natural magic abilities, warlocks also gain Arcane Armor Mastery (which increases by type and effectiveness as they gain in level), and Damage Reduction (starting at 2, with three exceptions chosen from a list -- and with the ability at 7th, 11th, 15th and 19th level to either increase the DR by 1, or remove one of the exceptions).
Orsini wears a chain shirt (despite being able to wear medium armor by now --he just likes the look, I suppose), and wields a +1 Keen Longsword in combat (often pairing it with his Hand of the Apprentice power to use it at range).
Like all Warlocks, Orsini is chaotic in nature -- in his particular case, Chaotic Neutral -- manifesting as a largely selfish outlook. Orsini looks after himself.
So that's a brief look at one of the eight new classes that will be presented in the Tome of Secrets. For our final preview before the release, we'll meet Anir, the dwarven artificer!
Yeah I am looking forward to my copy and/or PDF arriving as well. BTW (and remember I ma now on 4E mode, so my 3E brain has atrophied!) 'electric'? I thought it was electricity. And I still prefer lightening, electricity sounds too modern ;-)
Yeah I am looking forward to my copy and/or PDF arriving as well. BTW (and remember I ma now on 4E mode, so my 3E brain has atrophied!) 'electric'? I thought it was electricity. And I still prefer lightening, electricity sounds too modern ;-)
Yeah, "electric' was my shorthand when I was writing this up, and I forgot to go back and change it.
The warlock gets to decide if their Arcane Blast is acid, cold, electricity, or fire.
whoops, quote instead of reply!
Anyway sounds like a clever run on a spellcasting class, maybe even the ideal newbie class... or a class for the guy who is so busy at work (runs his own IT business) and so damned disorganised that he is always 'hanging on to the tail of the aircraft' when it comes to his powers and levelling his PC. This is even 4E with the char builder (an awesome resource), so I was worried about how he will go when we swap to PFRPG at the end of the campaign!
The warlock gets to decide if their Arcane Blast is acid, cold, electricity, or fire.
So a surreptitious look through the new Bestiary and the resistances of creatures therein maybe on the cards........
I would guess as sonic bypass to much stuff
Hmm... This is interesting. It definitely has some things in common with the Complete Arcane Warlock, which I suspect is partially intentional - I mean, what's the point in releasing a new Warlock if you're not at least aware of and sort of Pathfinderizing without breaking the rules?
I would have to see the abilities they can get - I love the invocations that the CAWarlock gets at later levels, such as Fell Flight, Flee the Scene, etc. If this Warlock gets handy character abilities like Leaps and Bounds or Beguiling Influence at low levels, allowing for some slight multiclassing for a lot of flavor and fun, then all the better. I'm intrigued, but I wonder how it looks in a side-by-side comparison.
And I still prefer lightening, electricity sounds too modern
Lightening (gerund): growing less dark.
Lightning (noun): natural electrical discharge.
RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32
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Interesting... so instead of the 3.5 Warlock's Eldritch Blast, the ToS version can select Arcane Blast as one of his abilities.
Dose this mean that you can have a Warlock with no Blast abilitiy at all and instead have a host of other abilites?
I like it. I am getting happier and happier that I pre-ordered this book (Swashbuckler and Warlock have been 2 of my favourite classes and I am very happy with their new versions).
Very interesting preview, but I have a question. Doesn't energy automatically bypass damage reduction anyway? One of the exceptions to the example Warlock's DR is fire, but fire should do full damage, at least the way we normally view DR.
Very interesting preview, but I have a question. Doesn't energy automatically bypass damage reduction anyway? One of the exceptions to the example Warlock's DR is fire, but fire should do full damage, at least the way we normally view DR.
Ooh, good catch. Energy damage is supposed to bypass DR. It's only magic, alignment, damage type, and material that are things that DR references, at least, traditionally. I wonder if the PFRPG changed this, or if it's specific to this product (aka, a slight mistake).
Inquiring minds want to know.
RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
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Very interesting preview, but I have a question. Doesn't energy automatically bypass damage reduction anyway? One of the exceptions to the example Warlock's DR is fire, but fire should do full damage, at least the way we normally view DR.
With DR being mentioned in the spells in Qadria, I'm wondering if we're seeing DR revisited.
I think I am liking the way this is done. I can see me heavily modifying this class for use as clerics (bear with me!) I like the idea of divine spellcasters being able to use their prayers whenever they want , soooo this would be a good way to run with it... Mmmmmm ... lots of house rule work though!
Hey are you gonna sell this at Hometown Games or anywhere local? I would love to pick it up and support a local company.
The book will be available through distribution to local game stores in November (damn that 3-4 month lead time for solicitations....).
Advance pre-orders (who get the PDF on 8/13 and the book shipped to them the week of 8/17) will be taken until 11:59 PM on Sunday the 9th of August (so, less than a week of pre-order time left).
After that, the only options will be:
1) Purchase the PDF (from RPGNow, DriveThruRPG, and here at Paizo).
2) Purchase the book at GenCon (where it will be available at the Paizo booth and at the Cubicle 7 booth).
or
3) Wait until November.
So I shouldn't stand outside your house in a trench coat with a boombox above my head blasting Peter Gabriel?
Your an evil, evil man
Hm, what power did Orsini gain at 6th level? That doesn't seem to be laid out with the others in his stat block.
Good catch.
At 6th level he gained the burst function on his Arcane Blast, so I just listed it with the Blast in his attacks -- but I should have also listed it as gained at 6th.
Yeah I am looking forward to my copy and/or PDF arriving as well. BTW (and remember I ma now on 4E mode, so my 3E brain has atrophied!) 'electric'? I thought it was electricity. And I still prefer lightening, electricity sounds too modern ;-)Yeah, "electric' was my shorthand when I was writing this up, and I forgot to go back and change it.
The warlock gets to decide if their Arcane Blast is acid, cold, electricity, or fire.
Quick question, dose this mean Arcane Blast can be selected multiple times, each time you get to chose a different element? Or is it static, with feat options?