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One of my favourite classes of all time was the Warlock.
The flavour of being beholden to a powerful entity in exchange for magical power made for such a fun dynamic to play around with as a DM, and for interesting characteres to play as. As such, I was disappointed to find nothing quite like the Warlock has been created in Pathfinder, even mechanically. The witch has their patrons, but they don't have as much of an impact as a Warlock's patron would, and while a DM might make a witch's patron have a more sigificant involvement in a story, there was never really anything to help this mechanics wise. Also, the Witch's hex wasn't enough like a Warlock's invocations for my liking, and being a full-caster didn't help thing either.
Truly, I wanted to play a class that was as independent from the Vancian spell-casting system as it would allow without necessarily making up new mechanics to accommodate this, in addition to creating something that was neither a caster in their ability to function all day long but still had magic powers, while also keeping pace with martials in that regard as well. This is a niche that I could only really fulfil with Warlocks.
Problem was, warlocks had a lot of issues with their 3.5 version, and those problems would only become worse if you directly port them over to Pathfinder. The lack of any resource would make them quite stagnant to play (something which Paizo's classes almost all share, particularly since even martials have access to a resource, and they even went back and gave the Fighter their own in Unchained), and they simply didn't fulfil the niche they were made for properly enough to be effective back in 3.5, and Pathfinder has plenty of classes already that can do what the old Warlock could do but better despite being resource dependant.
That last point isn't exactly what I aimed to fix. That's just the nature of trying to balance something around functioning at all times at 'full power'. Or, they effectively have the abilities available at any given time when they need them. Instead, I just wanted to make that niche appealing, able to keep up with others, and when it does shine, to shine bright, rather than be completely overshadowed by full-casters, half-caster cousins, and even the martials they are supposed to be on par with (kinda). I also wanted to provide lots of options to help customize and make unique any given warlock. An Archmage-pacted warlock might resemble a half-caster more than the Demon-pact warlock, who might resemble more of a magus or a warpriest. [That being said, I feel like I should really nerf the s!#& out of that Archmage patron...]
However, I have no idea if it's worked because I lack advice from others and I lack playtesting other than what little I have seen from my gaming group. (The class is also only playable to roughly 10th due to not having all the invocations written up as well, so bear that in mind).
So I would really appreciate some help balancing this rather substantial task, and providing feedback. I've done a bit of homebrew in my time (mostly for my own groups to use) but this is honestly my biggest project to date.
Here is the link to the Warlock Class Remastered document. It's in Google Docs so if that annoys anyone, I do apologise. There are links throughout the document to all of the separate pages for the Patrons, Invocations, Blast Shapes and the only archetype that I have drafted [super wip by the way], the Blade-pact, because that seemed to be the easiest to conceptualize.
I will really appreciate any feedback you can provide.
Have you looked into the new Kineticist class? It's basically the Pathfinder Warlock but with elemental focus. You could use it as a spring board if you want a more patron focused thing.
Edit: I don't recall the Warlock from 3.5 ever having a patron at all now that I think on it... They were like Sorcerers in that they received power for some pack or curse of blood but had no requirement in that. I know 4e had different pact types but I'm not sure there were mechanics defined to it like God are to Clerics.
Have you looked into the new Kineticist class? It's basically the Pathfinder Warlock but with elemental focus. You could use it as a spring board if you want a more patron focused thing.
Edit: I don't recall the Warlock from 3.5 ever having a patron at all now that I think on it... They were like Sorcerers in that they received power for some pack or curse of blood but had no requirement in that. I know 4e had different pact types but I'm not sure there were mechanics defined to it like God are to Clerics.
You are right! They don't have patrons in 3.5. But I figured I would add it in and then add more to it as I went along. This is pretty much a first half draft thing and patrons were actually a thing I threw in last. If it doesn't work or is too much I might definitely take that out first.
That said, while I kinda get that kineticist does this as well...I don't particularly like it as a class? It runs into so many problems I had with 3.5 Warlock while having kinda a bad mechanic around Burn? I'll consider bringing this class more in line with kineticist but I still feel it was not a fantastically formulated class to begin.
I like the most of what I've read so far, but haven't gone through all the invocations yet to compare their power to equivalent Wiz/Sorc.
The first suggestion I'll make right now is moving Improved Agonizing Blast to 14th level. Currently 14th is a "dead" level, but that can be easily fixed by shifting one of the powers at 12th level and Imp. Agonizing Blast is the only one that doesn't have a set progression.
One other change I'd make is to how the invocations progress. They don't really have a set pattern (minor and master start with 1-1-2, while major starts 1-1-1) but it can be easily fixed and grant a smoother 20th span of power. I'd set the progression to 1-2-2-3-3-3-4-4-4-4-5... with 5 being the highest amount of minor invocations. Following this pattern give the Warlock 6 lesser, 5 minor, 4 major and 3 master invocations by 20th level.
I like the most of what I've read so far, but haven't gone through all the invocations yet to compare their power to equivalent Wiz/Sorc.
The first suggestion I'll make right now is moving Improved Agonizing Blast to 14th level. Currently 14th is a "dead" level, but that can be easily fixed by shifting one of the powers at 12th level and Imp. Agonizing Blast is the only one that doesn't have a set progression.
One other change I'd make is to how the invocations progress. They don't really have a set pattern (minor and master start with 1-1-2, while major starts 1-1-1) but it can be easily fixed and grant a smoother 20th span of power. I'd set the progression to 1-2-2-3-3-3-4-4-4-4-5... with 5 being the highest amount of minor invocations. Following this pattern give the Warlock 6 lesser, 5 minor, 4 major and 3 master invocations by 20th level.
I was wondering what to do about the dead level but also wondered if 14th was too late to get that kinda power boost. That said, it would certainly clean things up
Also, that seems like a cleaner array, so I might very well take it. Thanks a lot with the advice!
So, I've been working on this a bit more (the whole little projects been an on/off thing for me for a few months but I've only recently picked up in earnest within the last month or so) and so now there are a few changes!
Changelog:
-Complements to Litchfield for the invocation progression, you made it look so much nicer! I have also changed when the class gains Improved Agonizing Blast, but if this is too much of a hit on DPS for it to be a realistic option between those levels then I'll make some alterations to the base mechanics of Eldritch Blast. Namely, allow for feats like Rapid Shot and Manyshot. The main reason I implemented those was because I didn't exactly want the Warlock to be a Magic Gunslinger or to even match/usurp the Gunslinger for damage output (heavens forbid that I make anything as damage heavy as a Gunslinger while giving it magic options on top of that, right?), though the functionality and damage isn't too far off from firearms. I think one important change I need to make is to make Eldritch Blast it's own Weapon Focus category, like they have done for Mystic Bolt in the vigilante archetype...Warlock.
Yeah.
Anyway, I'm not pinching much else from the archetype. Why did they make the damage so low without any means to get around elemental resistance? I mean, even Kineticists have their ways around resistance. Either punching hard enough in a single blast to do SOME damage, having mixed damage types available other than elemental, or the fire kineticist's ability to actually reduce it. Rather poorly thought out...
I like the Vigilante as a whole though! Even if it's a bit weird given the setting, it's still kinda cool.
-Added Major invocations.
So, the weirdest one I need your opinion on is Devour Magic. That's hard to really judge for power. Robbing creatures of their magic items and putting the properties on other items basically makes it 'I wanted a +1 flaming longswords properties but the DM was a bit of an arse and made it a greataxe so it doesn't work with my feats' solution. Also, bags of holding can actually be functional (???) prisons while you have one drained and on hold.
In addition to this, consumed item properties can serve as extremely expensive extra reserves of eldritch reservoir points.
-Did some editing like a good lass.
It's really only things that seemed like glaring oversights. There are bound to be plenty more and frankly that comes after everything has been properly statted up.
-Class playable up to 16th level
I mean, you might not get up there in any reasonable amount of time but have fun if you do get to play a 16th level Warlock?
Things to work on:
-Fix that Bladepact and give it a separate invocation table.
-Finish invocations
-Consider feats. Like Extra Eldritch Reservoir or maybe something for Eldritch Blast.
Good to see the old Warlock seeds of an edition past start to regrow. ;)
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Hello everyone! I am happy to announce that the Warlock remake is now in version 1.0!
The Warlock Pathfinder Rebalance!
Changelog
- All invocations are now up! You can now play the class from 1st to 20th.
- The Blade-pact archetype is complete, with the invocation list properly arranged. You gain all levels of invocations, but less of them overall.
- There are now feats. Most of these feats help with multiclassing and mixing features.
- Finalized patrons.
- FCB for most thematic races.
Though the changelog isn't large, there are a lot of things in the class now. So I hope it is up to snuff. All the documents can be commented on, so feel free to provide feedback here and on the page itself.
Is it really necessary to have so many files to check? I understand not wanting to search through 50 pages for one thing, but six docs is quite a lot.
The Insinuator antipaladin archetype has a patron aspect to it, but it's probably not appropriate for PCs in most cases.
I really like it, may I suggest you take a look at the conversion that Master Arminas made. Might give you some ideas
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Is it really necessary to have so many files to check? I understand not wanting to search through 50 pages for one thing, but six docs is quite a lot.
I'll make a single file version, but loading everything up into one file tends to make Google Docs just...slow right down. It's for the sake of neatness. I hear this all the time around guides and stuff on google docs, and I generally don't understand it?
The Insinuator antipaladin archetype has a patron aspect to it, but it's probably not appropriate for PCs in most cases.
Indeed, but the Insinuator isn't quite the same flavour I am going for with Warlock. Insinuator is also limited to a very specific set of entities, usually from the lower planes.
I really like it, may I suggest you take a look at the conversion that Master Arminas made. Might give you some ideas
It is interesting. I might think about looking over it for more blast shape ideas, as those are quite lacking as of right now. But I think because it relies so heavily on Eldritch Blast, but has kept Eldritch Blast similar to what kineticist's Kinetic Blast is, that somewhat weakens the class overall. I don't feel there is as much wiggle-room in the content for my tastes. Also, spell slots is not really what the warlock was.
But there are some interesting ideas in this. Like, for instance, there isn't really a telekinesis invocation and I should really think about adding that.
This also keeps a lot of the old warlock's weird tankiness. I actually felt I lost that along the way and I'm still wondering if that was a mistake, and if there might be a way to make up for it somewhere, maybe with a constant invocation. But this shifts almost all of those defences into the first 8 levels, and boosts them hard.
You could put the invocations and blasts in one file and everything else in the other, just like you have the wizard and cleric archetypes together with their base class, but their spells listed separately.
That seems like a decent arrangement.
I really like this. I think that they are a little more interesting than the old 3.5 one was. Great work