(animated) 5E D&D Eldritch Blast?
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- čas přidán 2. 08. 2018
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Eldritch blast warlocks 5e d&d animated spellbook dungeons and dragons animation stories. - Krátké a kreslené filmy
I love how Sacrafell has a big doofy fish face
The Ranger33 do not mock the old ones you fool!!! They could be listening.
But you think that that fool can make a warlock, the true Prince of the Depts shall show you what true power is! For Dagon!
Slarkrethel*
Except you can't fire a large crossbow every turn. Or twice a turn with twinned spell.
Isaac Kotlicky yes, and Eldritch blast can be fired multiple times in one casting, gaining more shots as you level, and with agonizing blast invocation you add your charisma mod to each attacks damage
I can see a warlock using a crossbow as their eldritch blast. They made a nefarious deal with the local blacksmith for the power.
Except Warlocks don't have proficiency with martial weapons, so they could only use a light crossbow (1d8). They'd have to take Pact of the Blade with Improved Pact Weapon or have the Hexblade patron to use a Heavy Crossbow. At level 3 the crossbow is actually better than EB if you are pact of the blade, took IPW and a lot of Dex, and at level 5 it's still better if you also take Thirsting Blade. By level 11 the only way it could keep up though is if you somehow found a really powerful magical crossbow.
So yeah, if your campaign never goes high level using a crossbow instead of eldritch blast actually makes some amount of sense if you rolled both high dex and high charisma.
@@hannessteffenhagen61 sounds like fun. sadly my group is much more combatoriented and not so much RP or puzzle solving. I also admit this is my very first DnD Session so what do I know :P
@@hannessteffenhagen61 It doesn't matter. With Pact of the Blade, you can choose a Heavy Crossbow. Technically, that means it counts as a melee weapon now, and can be combined with a Ruby of the War Mage as an Arcane Focus. Now you can shoot Eldritch Blasts from a Heavy Crossbow. Use Bolts at low level and Eldritch Blasts at high level.
@@Ben0_o Nothing about Pact of the Blade turns a Heavy Crossbow into a Melee Weapon. Yes, you can use it as a focus if you get Improved Pact Weapon and summon a Heavy Crossbow with it (although of course if you haven't taken Improved Pact Weapon you couldn't summon a Heavy Crossbow at all).
@@hannessteffenhagen61 Allow me to quote the books.
"You can choose the form that this melee weapon takes each time you create it. You are proficient with it while you wield it." This means that the Pact Weapon counts as a melee weapon.
However, there is also this clause: "You can transform one Magic Weapon into your pact weapon by performing a Special Ritual while you hold the weapon." It does not specify that the Magic Weapon needs to be a melee weapon, meaning that if you can find or craft a magical version, you could use a Magic Crossbow and still have it count as a melee weapon.
If I were the DM, I'd let you simply choose the form of a Crossbow if you could draw out a working mechanism as proof of concept. Crossbows and Swords are both made from metal and wood, so there isn't much in Lore reason for it not to be functional. The arrows it fires would not be magical, however, because I know that the concept is slightly game-breaking.
Your soul is a fair trade for not having to track ammo.
More than one like in spirit here. I did laugh out loud.
@@ourkeving looks at artificer infusion that lets you use force bolts for any crossbow no soul-selling I think it's level 2 you get it but makes heavy xbow s you can fire multi times if you have the attacks per round.
Wait, there are groups that actually track ammo?
Hold up, it's not just a crossbow. It's the ability to shoot a crossbow as much as a fighter without needing to reload(since reloadingtakes a bonus action), carry amo. Or worry about physical resistance or immunity since eldritch blast does magic dmg, so you dont have to worry about finding a "magic weapon crossbow"
@@fluffball6142 Word. And you don't have to draw the crossbow or swap to a melee weapon if the enemy closes on you. My paladin messed up a lot of fools that way.
let's be fair, that ranger had to travel to the isle of crossbows and sacrifice his youngest son to a ten foot tall talking crossbow that walks by wobbling back and forth
Don't you dare speak of Arbalest the True. You have broken your oath of silence. Expect his 1d10 shots to come for you soon. They have already been fired, but there is travel time.
Ah,but can your warlock see "Colours-unlike-any-seen-on-earth"?
I read it on Overly Sarcastic Productions Red voice
@@robertochacon5338 As is right and proper. Good man!
@@robertochacon5338 the only way to read it
Yeah sorry I don't have the constitution for MATH.
"I sold my soul to the devil for a crossbow."
Percy?
at least it was a really good crossbow
It also plays "devil went down to Georgia" every time u shoot it
Firebolt is my preferred crossbow especially getting it with spell sniper on a monk
The only way to fire 4 heavy crossbow bolts in a single turn is to be a 20th Level Fighter with the Crossbow Expert feat to ignore the loading property. You could do the same as a 5th Level Fighter, but that requires Action Surge.
With a low intelligence and high charisma I decided to make a full-orc warlock. Story goes he thought he was signing up to be a "Warlord" thinking they were saying warlord with a funny accent (as humans do). He figured the magical training was something all warlords had to go through... Until meeting up with the party.
Wow. He had a bad day.
Me: Oh Great One. I pledge my service and eternal soul to your ineffable might.
Nyarlathotep: Great. Here's a crossbow, but you can't see it cos, it's like, a _mind_ crossbow. Kthxbai.
Gotta love how if you don't know txt speek, that last line is completely unreadable.
@@LeviathanTamer31 ah, yes, the Eldritch God Kthxbai (pronounced kuh-thox-buy)
Is that like a mind axe?
MIND BULLETS!!!
Really? Ya picked Nyarlathotep? The guy was always stingy like that. You gotta sign on with the King in Yellow. Ya know, Hastuur.
I once played a warlock who didn't have the cantrip but instead just had the words 'eldritch blast' engraved on a crossbow. Every time he fired it he yelled "I cast Eldritch blast!"
It was confusing at best.
HOW IS NOBODY TALKING ABOUT THE REST OF THE VIDEO? Seriously, one of the best backstories I’ve ever heard
IKR
To busy having a hissy fit over eldrich blast being op or not, but yes amazing story
Because ALL of his backstories are amazing! Seriously, have you seen the development he gives to even the minor characters?
Exactly! **Steals entire first part for PCs backstory**
Is nobody going to talk about how cool and well crafted this backstory is????? Well done, man
ELDRICH BLAST! The man yells
Dm: you don’t have that spell.
Player: I know thats just what I yell when I shoot my large crossbow
Listen, it is far more economical to sell your soul for magic lasers than to lug around all that ammunition
In color? You spoil us.
Clearly the pact he made was well worth it. Praise Cthulu.
Sure it’s a crosbow... an invisible, weightless, infinite ammo, auto reload crossbow.
That does Force damage, one of the best damage types in the game.
Pushing a creature 10-40 feet and reducing it's movement speed by 10 feet using invocations can be. . . . . something else.
Oh and it deals more damage as you level up, right? Pretty sure it does that.
@Henry Cooper at level 17 you get to fire as many crossbow bolts as a fighter at 20th level, with the crossbow expert feat (to ignore the loading property)
Level 17 warlock needs no such feat and can fire three hundred feet without disadvantage.
Awesome right?
I wish more people played warlocks
@@sumdud2129 yeah it's really powerful. At level 17 if you hit with all 4 blasts, you do 4d10+20 force damage, averaging at 42. As a cantrip.
@@mrscechy8625 you also have to take invocations to make eldritch blast good. Putting all your eggs into one basket kinda shtick. And aside from the added charisma a firebolt from a 17th level wizard also does 4d10 to one target. But they also have a much wider array of spells and the ability to cast more than 4 leveled spells in a single combat.
If you run a game where short rests are plentiful warlocks are amazing, especially early, but they quickly get out paced by full casters. Eldritch blast needs to be strong to make it able to hold them up after they use their 2 spell slots in a single combat
I really like rewatching this video whenever it pops up in the recommendations. The story captures a style of lovecraftian horror in less than 3 minutes and the comments are always filled to the brim with all sorts of arguments why, no an eldritch blast is in no way comparable and indeed far superior to a mere crossbow.
All while the video clearly states that how a character is built should not overpower the way the character is roleplayed.
👏😂
It is a really shit comparison though. Like no debate factually wrong kinda bad.
Warlock's power level depends entirely on how generous your DM is with short rests as compared to long rests.
"later, when I picked up Repelling Blast, I realised how useful it was to put able to punt enemies into the sea for my master to eat"
Had a buddy who wanted to play a Hexblade, but was adamant he didn't require a patron, thought the patron mechanic was somehow worse than pally restrictions.
It was turning into an argument. Fine. No spooky demons or eldritch entity to commune with.
I start writing up a character sheet, he asks me what that is for, I just grin evilly and say "Your sword, of course, Mr. Hexblade" He is now as paranoid and cautious of his powers as any self-respecting Warlock should be.
I think the best part about eldritch blast is that its multiple attacks at higher levels. So if your spellslots are gone, you get to do more than just one attack roll per round.
Being able to jank the opponent around (move 10 feet away per hit or move 10 feet towards you depending on the Invocation) is pretty powerful as well. Imagine hitting a boss with four attacks moving it 40 feet away from you towards a cliff or something.
@@MissLeafi Don't forget that there's no size limit on that janking around either. I performed the exact scenario you're describing on a FROST GIANT. He fell some 200ft+ off the edge, and though it didn't outright kill him, he couldn't manage the climb back up, so he was still taken from full health to completely out of the fight.
Plus think of Sorcery points for quickened casting, now instead of 40ft, you're looking at 80ft, which you can distribute in 10ft increments to multiple different targets.
With the Eldritch Spear Invocation, you can make it go 300ft, and with the spell sniper feat, it's 600ft, or 125 5ft squares. Combine with the pushing invocation and a cliff, and you can snipe easily.
@@wyrmsapprentice5049 If you want to make it even dumber, take the Distant Spell Metamagic and the damn thing can reach 1200 feet.
One of my friends who was a warlock actually had a lot of fun with this cantrip. He made his character essentially Skeletor, a human warlock but with his face melted off due to a pact with horrors gone wrong.
But, he added his own twist to it. He called the spell "Bitch Blast" and whenever he cast it, he would do a spot on Skeletor impression and scream "BITCH BLAST, GO!"
Later on when he added the 300ft thing to it, he would act basically as the sniper of the group, sitting back with his "Bitch Blast" sniping people from far away. He combined this with Cloud of Daggers and was one of our most damaging party members. He was a lot of fun to play with.
Eldritch Spear Invocation + Spell Sniper + Metamagic Adept (for the "Distant" metamagic feat) = 1200 feet.
Now that's military caliber sniping. :)
I fucking love the build up to the antijoke.
In my opinion, there is a great thematic vein that Wizards of the Coast could tap into in the form of rituals and ritual spells. In this path:
A Warlock, when caught unprepared, is someone that is easy to fight. But given enough time to prepare, a Warlock is on par with many high-level Wizards. However, they don't waste their efforts on digging through libraries to obtain those weird utility spells or flavored 'bolts' of power. Instead, they'll use their time worshipping their patron, gathering components, and casting rituals in order to produce far-reaching effects or long-lasting buffs. Trapping enemies in circles of power and so forth.
A Warlock who pays their dues, and then some, is a person to be greatly feared.
A few clarifications, some of which other people have covered.
Firstly, yes, _eldritch blast_ does the same amount of damage as a heavy crossbow. At early levels, before you get incantations, the heavy crossbow actually does _more_ damage, 1d10+Dex as opposed to a flat 1d10. And a crossbow's range is 100/400, while _eldritch blast_ tops out at 120 unless you take the _eldritch spear_ incantation.
That said, and leaving aside other warlock-specific abilities, _eldritch blast_ has several advantages over a heavy crossbow.
Firstly, _Eldritch Blast_ is a lot easier to use. It's a literal "point and shoot" ability. The heavy crossbow is Heavy (disadvantage for anyone smaller than a Medium creature), Martial (disadvantage unless proficient), Two-Handed (can't hold anything in your hands when using), and Loading (only one shot each round, no matter what, though Crossbow Mastery can fix that). By comparison, _eldritch blast_ can be used by any size creature, requires no special training, is one-handed, and can be fired once per attack action. Get to fifth level, and each casting gets two shots for the price of one. 11th level? Three. And four at 17th level.
Secondly, _eldritch blast_ takes up no slots and requires no equipment or money to possess. The heavy crossbow costs 50 gp, as much as a suit of ring mail, and requires ammunition. The heavy crossbow plus ammo weighs about 20 pounds, as well.
Thirdly, while _eldritch blast_ has a shorter range, it's more effective within that range. A heavy crossbow takes disadvantage past 100 feet, while _eldritch blast_ is good to the full 120 -- 300 feet with _eldritch spear_ .
And fourthly, _eldritch blast_ deals force damage, the same type as _magic missile_ . This means that, unlike the heavy crossbow, it deals full damage to incorporeal creatures.
In short, you've basically got a weightless Ghost Touch gun with infinite ammunition, in a game where most people are rocking bows and arrows. And since it isn't _magic missile_ , _shield_ doesn't counter it.
As for flavor and backstory, the PHB points out that most warlocks don't sell their souls for their power. While some do enter into compacts (Fiend patrons especially), it's just as possible to be tricked into a contract, dragooned into a contract, or even make a contract by accident. Archfey are particularly fond of trickery and dragooning ("I like you. You're mine now."), while Great Old Ones usually don't even know you've made a contract with them -- but you're linked to them now, and their desires are getting channeled straight into your brain. (And Nyarlathotep shakes his head in mocking pity because you're now a junior colleague.)
Also, it’s much harder to pat someone down for eldritch blast, or disarm them. Can’t walk into the throne room with a crossbow.
Warlock: gain mediocre power through soul loss, mental torture, and near death
Paladins: gains godlike power without even using a god
And if one works hard enough and has the misfortune having said God murdered become one
Must hurt that eldritch smite is the best smite
its always gonna be same max cap of 5d8 with divine smite max at 6d8 if undead
Clerics: devoting their life to a god but when called, said god will respond and do pretty much anything
@William Sheridan u mean jod?
You could always cheese it out and use it to push things 60 feet away and laugh while they can never come into melee range, hope they've got ranged weapons. Oh wait, like a heavy crossbow...
Imagine a warlock/sorceror/fighter. Everything is built around that one turn where you quicken EB as a bonus action, then cast EB as an action, then action surge to cast EB once again.
So then I just started blasting.
magic initiate warlock, meta magic adept get 2 sp and choose meta magic. not quite as god as sor levels for sp but can ignore the multi classing. just need 4 levels of fighter and a heritage that gives feat.
I have only just noticed that the tattoo on his head is MOVING
How long did it take?
@@Nioureux I leave this channel on the in the background sometime when I'm doing something. So I've maybe seen the video five or six times?
I've always pictured eldritch blast as a sort of tentacle-like arcing beam, looking similar to the Hypernova trail from rocket league color wise
I thought it was similar to lightning
I picture it differently, depending on the patron. What would a satan style devil like Asmodeus have to do with tentacles?
I imagined it like a ball of black fire
Since the warlock is such an RP heavy class, I like to allow my warlock players to gain powers from story elements that tie into their character. For example: I had a lock who made a pact with Bolothamogg, "Him Who Watches from Beyond the Stars". After a very long story arc in which he was deeply invested in the work of his eldritch horror patron, I gave him a mark that allowed him a chance to cause madness when an enemy was hit with one of his spells (the chance being proportionate to the strength of the spell cast). I also reworked how some of his spells behaved lore wise, making everything more dark and Lovecraftian. It made for some really fun situations for the whole party.
Long story short, if you're a DM, and you feel that a player is lagging behind even though they're trying, simply because their class doesn't fit your story well, get creative and throw them a bone.
I do something similar with all of my players. I had a Tortle barbarian who rolled 3 '1's in a row on health as they leveled up. He missed a session and went missing. The next session when he returned I ran a one-off where he went on a spiritual quest to return lost primals to their swamps, forests and oceans etc. Through this quest he met the all-father: the Aspidochelone who marked his shell with strange runes after saving his life from a collapsing underwater cavern. The next time he used his storm herald abilities the runes sparked and glowed a ominous blue. I'd given him what was basically an amulet of health.
Fun fact: get eldritch blast while you're playing a bladesinger and see how quickly your DM pulls out the rulebooks to see if that's actually how your subclass works.
Lol I make so many builds (only actually played one) that take 2 or 3 levels into warlock just to get that eldritch blast + evocations. So many wonderful things you can do with that spell. Bards also can get any spell so a college of swords bard can just take a evocation feat without the multiclassing
im confused, what exactly do you mean by this
@Captain Lyons you can substitute one of your extra attack (at 6th level) as a bladesinger with a cantrip. This gets you three attacks where you should have only two if you're using it to cast eldritch blast.
@@witchBoi_Connor ah, ok, cool
Lol another fun but kinda broken one is eldritch knight/sorcerer. Cast cantrip/spell followed by one weapon attack (eldritch knight), action surge to more weapon attacks or a spell, then quickened spell for an additional fireball or something. 12 levels into fighter gets you those 3 attacks and maximizes multiclassing ability scores, making it perfect multiclassing material for all sorts of wonders.
I remember our warlock getting both the push and pull invocations shortly before entering a collapsing under-dark temple of some sort and turning the ensuing battles from serious challenges into an episode of loony toons. She pushed and yanked numerous dangerous enemies into the cavernous void circumventing triple digit HP and obscene AC’s with the unyielding cruelty of gravity.
This worked really well for my Paladin/Warlock during an airship battle
man, I love this channel.
AJ Pickett it's interesting to see other content creators watching the same kind of content you like. I guess most people, me included, see you guys on a pedestal when your really just normal people who happened to have success by providing a service. When you think about it being a CZcamsr isn't that different from starting a business. Both find a service they which to provide and hope that an audience discovers them and enjoys what the give enough to stick around. (I know this comment is kinda long winded and not terribly original, but I just wanted to get my thoughts down)
"They're the same"
Ya but you got a cool back story with 1.
As a famous Wiggler head has said...
“Eldritch *BLAST”!!!
What makes Eldritch Blast really strong isn't the damage it does but the freedom it affords you. Since your need for damage output is satisfied right out of the gate you can spend resources on SO MANY OTHER THINGS! Such as spells that suit your RP. You don't have to be worried about their damage or even if they'll ever get used since Eldritch Blast has your back. Heck, all your spells can just be for puzzle solving.
You don't have to worry about buying weapons either since Eldritch Blast covers damage (by doing mast I've found that the maximum damage Eldritch Blast can do without multiclass, magic itesm, etc. is 60 damage per turn. Of which you are allowed to make four separate rolls. 40 damage from the spell and 20 extra from Agonizing Blast). By using Eldritch Blast as your primary damage output you avoid so many notoriously bad situations. Slimes that eat weapons, gold costs to buy material components for damaging spells, etc.
Additionally since Warlocks don't need to buy Material Components to defend themselves all of your Invocations can be used for optimization. Playing a political campaign? Invocations can give you Disguise/Alter Self AT WILL!!! Additionally Invisibility at will lets you spy and gather information.
Plus Warlocks get the ability to cast Find Familiar at will. Meaning your Imp can constantly use the Help Action to let your Paladin maximize their Smites or even your Fighters get the most out of their Great Weapon Fighting.
What Warlocks lack in damage is easily made up by the myriad of options they have at their disposal. You can assist with Familiars, Pelt with Eldritch Blast and be a master of political subterfuge with Invocations.
And that's all in ONE build
If I were your DM, I would hit you with so many Helmed Horrors 😛
@@Zombiewithabowtie I take offense to this!
@@Zombiewithabowtie I feel attacked.
That's some damn fine storytelling and atmosphere for an advertisement.
I like how everyone is getting mad at the fact that Zee compared eldrich blast with a crossbow but are completely fine with the fact he called warlocks a weak class
I mean, I wouldn't call them weak. But I don't think they're overpowered either, except for Hexblades.
Thing is, Warlocks suffer from the fact that their limited spell slots are very badly designed for long fights, and in DnD those fights also usually have the strongest monsrers.
Sure, in the right situation, at the right table, you can squeeze in a short rest between every fight.
But you lose that option if you ever get into a long boss fight, for example. Your cantrips better be as strong as Eldritch blast because you're going to be working off of only 2 or 3 leveled spells PER FIGHT for most of your career.
I actually suspect part of the reason the Hexblade is so strong is that it embraces the Warlock as a kind of alternative half caster. A sort of off-brand Paladin who sacrifices longevity instead of raw power. A melee fighter who uses magical finishing moves.
In this capacity, Warlocks are in their element - giving them viable options that don't revolve around spell casting is what made them shine. What that tells me is that the base class itself is kind of underwhelming.
Compare the Warlock to, say, the Wizard - a class with spellcasting so powerful and varied that even the weakest wizard archetypes are still powerful characters merely by virtue of BEING A WIZARD. Paladins are another class that is almost always strong, just on the basis of its innate features.
So yeah, I can see why someone would call Warlocks underpowered, at least compared to full casters.
@@sumanoskae I agree. They're not overpowered, but Hexblade opens the door to some crazy powerful multiclassing. I'd argue a straight lock is middle of the road in power.
Because crossbow comparison is bad, but warlock is weak overall. lmao. that simple.
Warlock isn't weak. You just need good knowledge of spell choices. Spells that deal a lot of damage in a wide aoe like fireball, or leave a continuing aoe like hunger of Hadar, sickening radiance, wall of fire, or can shut down encounters like hypnotic pattern, hold person, hold monster. Choose spells that either have effects that can swing the flow of combat in your favor or scale really well. Heck, in tier 3 and tier 4, warlocks during the average adventuring day of 2-3 short rests have more spell slots per day than every other class
And don't even get me started on optimal warlock builds like forcelance or ghostlance. Or warlock multiclasses, but those are mostly just 2 levels of hexblade warlock to buff paladins and/or sorcerors
@louiesatterwhite3885 Most adventures have 0-1 short rests per day. Warlocks bad. As the fact you pointed out thst the best warlocks are just a different class with 1-2 warlock levels proves my point lmao.
So one of my favorite things I've done with a warlock is 1200ft eldritch blast doing 1d10+cha+10ft towards me.
Eldritch Spear turns EB to 300ft range
Spell Sniper doubles to hit spells.
Metamagic feat allows you to get Distant spell which doubles the range again.
Any race that can fly can then soar above the battlefield like an ac130 support gunship blasting everything below them and then yanking everything 10ft towards them... into the air. Causing them to fall and go prone every time they're hit.
firebolt is another cantrip that does 1d10 damage and you don't have to sell your soul
True enough, but you ALSO don't add your spellcasting modifier to every d10 of damage and can't attack multiple targets with it. Also, fire damage is one of the most-resisted damage types in the game. Force damage? Not so much.
@@morganpetros9635 plus spells like hex don’t get multiple activations
To be fair, for a cantrip to be equal in power with the Heavy Crossbow is pretty good, also no need to waist time to reload, or deal with ammo shortage. And then there is the higher level bonuses.
Plus Eldritch invocations that can further augment it. Like 600 range with Eldritch Spear and the Spell Sniper feat. Or it can push people back 10 feet and reduce their movement to 10 feet.
Unless your the arcane archer.
This is the kind of situation where actually playing the class gives you a very different experience compared to just reading about it. Eldritch Blast has a lot of small, easy-to-miss advantages that compound to make it really strong.
- Force damage
- Ridiculous range (better than the crossbow)
- No ammo or loading required
- Only needs one hand, and doesn't require carrying anything heavy
- Force damage
- Uses your spellcasting modifier, so you don't have to go half-martial like Bards and Paladins
- Because it's a cantrip, you can still cast levelled spells with your bonus action (and Warlocks have some good ones)
- Invocation synergies
- At high levels you get multiple casts
- Did I mention the force damage?
You forgot to point out the force damage.
Eldritch Knight: "Ah yes... My three round burst mini pinky pistol."
Because Eldritch Blast scales with Character Level as all Cantrips and most Leveled Spells do.
@@absolstoryoffiction6615 eldritch knight might day that... if they got the spell.
@@Ace5004
I don't know if Eldritch Blast can be obtained outside of Multiclass. The Eldritch Initiate Feat doesn't cover Eldritch Blast for non Warlocks.
@@absolstoryoffiction6615 my point was Eldritch Knights don't get Eldritch blast, so they wouldn't say anything about it.
holy shit that backstory is so goshdarn cool so well written and so impactfull with just some minutes of exposure
A crossbow can run out of bolts. Eldritch Blast is eternal.
And pyrotechnic. Never underestimate pyrotechnic (plus it scales better).
Warlocks are a class for roleplayers, you pretty much have to work around rules but they are veeeery good at what they dk
To be fair, large crossbows are the kind of ridiculous that you should have to make an ancient pact to have a repeating variant.
In many of the more relaxed civilizations on the Outer Eastern Territories of Faerun, the Eldritch Blast Cantrip has already supplanted the great Large Crossbow as the standard repository of big damage in lower levels, for though it has many omissions and contains much that is heretical, or at least wildly eldritch, it scores over the older, more pedestrian work in two important respects. First, it is slightly cheaper; and secondly it has the words PANIC inscribed in large friendly letters each time it is cast.
That story was so fucking incredible, I am honestly jealous. As a long time DM I make tons of characters in my free time for when I eventually get to play myself but no backstory comes near to this. Fuck...I really liked that
it was
Warlocks should be able to burn their own health (or risk going insane or something) to increase damage on all cantrips or spells. I always think it's weird that Warlocks are just normal dps casters when their whole shtick is making pacts with elder gods.
It's why I feel some aspects of Blood Hunter are more in line with actual warlock lore stuff, especially stuff like Lycanthropes.
As DM I make the patron test the Warlock by occasionally dealing massive damage via Eldritch Blast but potentially blowing his damn arm off. Because making deals with devils is fun for everyone
Well, insanity is up to the player. Beyond that, warlocks don't usually sell their souls. They make an agreement to SERVE the patron, either now or when the patron calls them.
You could do this by taking the envoker wizard's overchannel and make it a warlock class feature. Then, make warlocks cast with constitution, and have each spell cost say 1 hp per spell level.
To obtain power, one must make sacrifices.
They do the same damage but you left out that you get multiple casts of EB in line with martials leveling up their extra attacks. That's why it's so powerful, along with the pushing/pulling, +cha damage, extended range invocations.
NeflewitzInc on top of that crossbows don’t typically get multiple attacks
And to add to that, you also *need* a crossbow to fire crossbow bolts. You don't need ammo or a weapon to fire eldritch blast, so there's no need to purchase anything, nor can you be disarmed.
but martials get magical weapons.
Ezraen you can *always* be disarmed. Can't do somatic components without arms.
Crossbows get multiple attacks with a feat.
The true value in it comes from repelling blast. Which is a no-save knockback with no set size limit that you can choose to apply to every beam individually. So you can technically break grapples, push people off of cliffs, and knock riders off of their mounts. You could also push gargantuan creatures away from friendly martials so that they can safely disengage or move, if they need to.
And if you pair it with hunger of Hadar you can keep shoving enemies back in the area of effect
With the right evocations and feats, that can be a 600' range 4d10+Cha AoE that can accurately strike a target behind 3/4 cover with a 30' knockback... every. single. turn.
"Ohhhh it's the same, they do the same damage"
I have sacrificed much and performed many horrific deeds in servitude to my eternal master, all power the likes of which this Plane has never before seen.
Praise the eldritch god, L'arj Crohs Bo.
I think I would prefer yog, having a master that exists in all times and dimensions and is omnipresent and omnipotent seems useful.
The real power of Eldritch Blast is not the damage dice or even the invocations but the fact that it deals force damage and can hit multiple targets. Force is the least resisted damage type so it is almost always able to do consistent damage to whatever you are fighting. The ability to split targets lets you pick of low hp creatures more effectively. That is not to say I don't agree with this analysis of Warlock, they have always felt a bit under powered to me partly due to not many people using short rests a lot.
Agreed entirely.
Split*, though.
(Also, is your profile pic from HS?)
@@axeldornelles5292 yes it is
I've made a warlock who would act as a bounty hunter for his patrons other warlocks when they don't live up to their part of the bargain. I flavoured the Eldritch Blast as a pair of strange arcane looking revolvers with the cyclical chamber replaced by settings for the blast based on the invocations (taking all EB invocations) and his name is D'ethan Tak'seis (a play on the only constants being death and taxes). He is an Undead patron warlock, with a talisman boon.
That's a really cool character! Especially with the Eldritch Blast revolvers.
You could get the spell sniper and the eldritch spear invocation for a range of 600 feet for eldritch blast, which you do at level 2 if you play a varient human.
Too bad you rarely see a fight coming from that far away.
Hawk familiar and high wisdom solves that problem and it can be used at short ranges too, it just means that hiding is ineffective
@@ATMOSK1234 neither does the enemy!
I remember in a campaign where I played a warlock, I was not told what my patron was. I knew the type, but not the specific name. My character had also forgotten his history before reading cursed knowledge that made his pact. Several sessions in and the whole party began finding out history about my character, because he turned out to a scholar that had been married to one of the heads of a library we were investigating
That sounds really awesome! Definitely keeps the party guessing and invested in the story
"Oh its the same... it's the same damage."
Jocat: "ALL THAT MATTERS IF YOU CAN SHOOT FROM YOUR HEAVY CROSSBOW ATOP A VOLOSORAPTER."
The real reason it is concidered so powerful is because of how it compares to other cantrips. Cantrips aren't meant to compete with martial weapons in damage, and that's why when one does do that it's significant. The damage type and additional effects you can tack on also help.
Plus the damage type is also important. Force is quite possibly the single best damage type in the game. Without magic items There is only 1 single enemy that is immune to force and not a single creature is resistant to it. Compared to piercing which is a much more commonly resisted or outright immune for some creatures.
D&D: The only game where power granted by a mysterious godly being does as much damage as pointy steel.
Don't knock the power of pointy metal objects. They've killed a lot of people, more verifiable so, even, than any god.
My main warlocks patron ended up being his future self... Many things happend. XD
That sounds like a crazy campaign.
@@suenzhong7891 yeah he ended up as a leonal celestial lion and bought his younger selfs soul. Creating a weird arcane pact loop making it the only sliver of magic left in a world of slowly deteriorating magic. XD was a sped up game.
Thing about eldritch blast is that there’s no ammo, but more importantly that it levels up just like any other cantrip, so you can dip into warlock once and get a cantrip that can fire multiple beams as you continue leveling
Powerdipping. Munchkin's choice for decades.
On the topic of it not using ammo, am I alone in the experience that nobody tracks ammo in D&D? I can understand it for a rulebook which makes it easy, like Mausritter, or in a rulebook more Hollywood than gritty realism like Genesys or the other Fantasy Flight RPG books. Yet, I've never seen anyone track arrows or crossbow bolts in D&D.
@@ThreeCatProductions Yeah, not many do. It is a hassle and eben those who do track it tend to ignore it past 3-5, where a player has enough money to just buy more supplies, so it is assumed they're loaded up.
Can't afford a large crossbow?
Sell your soul.
Obviously...
Jokes aside, Eldritch Blast is still better than heavy crossbow. Eldritch Blast does force damage, which almost no one resists. And the fact that, as you level up, you get access for more rays from Eldritch Blast, which can either target the same creature or multiple creatures. It’s by far one of the most powerful damaging cantrips.
Heavy Crossbows can be magic causing it to bypass most damage resistence, and it to can get multiple shots if you get multiple attacks which can target he same or multiple creatures. Sure it's better for a warlock, but a fighter is gonna get more milage out of the crossbow. Crossbows do needs a couple feats to really shine but Eldrich Blast needs a couple invocations to truly shine. End sum...still about the same
@@baileyface54 Well sure it needs a few invocations to shine, but if you’re playing a warlock you’re gonna take a few invocations for Eldritch Blast anyway. And the fighter comparison is a little weird considering Eldritch Blast is kind of a warlock exclusive. But still, you make some good points.
@@matthewstanley1521 First anyone can get Eldrich Blast. There are multiple feats or class abilties that can get it so it's not exlusive to a warlock by a longshot, literally anyone lv4 or higher can have it if they want it. No one can use it as well as a Warlock though, just like no one is getting all those attacks with a crossbow except a fighter, which the attacks without other abilties equal the rays on EB furthering the comparison even more.
It's honestly a little weird to me that you find that comparison weird, seems pretty straightforward to me.
@@baileyface54 I would argue that feats are more expensive than invocations, because Warlocks get them like Sorcerers get Metamagics and still get feats just like the Fighter. Additionally, sure, let's say a Fighter has the feats and can probably shoot the crossbow as many times as the Warlock can cast Eldritch Blast. Let's even give them a magical crossbow so nonmagical resistances aren't a thing.
Assuming the Fighter wants to invest in more feats, they can do a bit more damage than Eldritch Blast. But they can't push, pull, or slow the enemies they hit like the Warlock can. They also can't fire out to the same range as Eldritch Blast without disadvantage, and the Warlock can't be disarmed like the Fighter can, short of an antimagic field. Said Warlock also still has those same number of feats or ASIs they can still take.
Basically, Warlock is cheaper, has some optional control utility, and can hit further easier if desired. The Fighter gets some extra damage and the ability to fight stealthily if desired because they don't have to use verbal components to cast Crossbow.
@@Halinspark Yes, but it's their class feature and they can get some feats, other classes can get it's usefulness as feats and then get their class features. This is not a hard concept....
To me, the most important difference between EB and a heavy crossbow is that when taken prisoner, the guards can take the crossbow off you, but not your Eldritch Blast.
Make sure the guards dont realize your a spell caster. There are effective ways to disarm a magic user, they are just a bit more literal than with a weapon user.
@@merendell I once played a Tiefling Warlock who cosplayed as a Rogue. Nobody besides the DM knew he wasn’t just an arcane trickster. It was delightful.
@@magnusthereddidnithingwrong character wise yeah probably, outside the roleplay, wouldn't they realise immediately you're not a rogue if you somehow never rolled a sneak attack damages? I mean Sneak Attacks is literally the backbone of Rogues combat mechanics.
@@TheMrBonzz bugbear maybe?
@@FoxHound-ut1hu he meant his party friends didn't know he's a warlock and thought he's an arcane trickster rogue, but I'm confused as in how did nobody from his table ever catch on that he's not a rogue because literally every rogue player will always ask for confirmation wether their attack gain sneak attack benefits (which their whole table would've also hear or notice) .
I made a deal with my bank. They own my soul. The power they granted is… a home. Not a bad deal!
I like to flavor Eldritch Blast as different things depending on the build, rather than just a simple mote of force energy.
Pact of the Blade with a Ranged Weapon: I can flavor EB as spectral ammunition that I fire from my weapon.
Pact of the Blade with a Melee Weapon: EB can take the form of focused ethereal energy wrapping around my blade to be hurled by swinging the weapon.
Ghostly Throwing Knives to be thrown at foes.
Fire flying skulls with a trail of white flame.
pact of the blade with the melee weapon made me think of link's sword in loz 1
About that... It does force damage. As far as I can tell, there are WAY more things resistant to piercing than resistant to force...
I don't think anything is, in fact, though Helmed Horrors are immune to it :P But then, they're kinda generally anti-caster constructs with their other abilities.
Say the line warlock!
“Eldritch blast”
*YAAAAAAAY*
In my party there are two Warlocks, myself and a good friend of mine, the rest of the party typically want us to "say the line" so the other warlock doesn't bother and just says "I cast eldritch blast"...I, on the other hand, have dedicated my time to saying any description I can to avoid saying the spells name just to prove a point haha.
So I finally cracked it. The way to think about the warlock is they are a form of magic fighter, not a full-blown spellcaster. Eldritch blast let's you have magic extra attack giving you the same number of attacks as a fighter at each tier and your spell slots are like your occasional special abilities which is why they refresh on short rest just like fighter abilities
If you wanna be melee, go hexblade or at least take blade pact and thirsting blade. Either way you have similar versatility to a fighter but all your shit is magic
@@BordrKing And, if you want to be even nastier, play as an elf or a half-elf, and take the Elven Accuracy feat. You'll love it when you have advantage.
"Warlock have stories and strings attached that other classes din't have to deal with"
Lawful good paladin: "excuse me?"
I mean
Paladin “I must follow the holy scripts and laws of my God OR ELSE”
Warlock “I have to kill innocent people for my patrons amusement and any time I don't I become so weak I die or worse, my patron finds me”
@@candypg1 meanwhile pact of the archfey: "I must... throw flowers at peoples faces? Idk"
@@yanivrubin4166 I play a pact of the archfey warlock and it isn't roses and daffodils it's more like chaos and bribes
@@candypg1 oh my god that sound awesome
Please tell me more!
@@yanivrubin4166 Ok so my warlock made a deal with wongo a chaotic evil monkey archfey, my warlock is sort of a coward so the deal she made was whenever she’s about to run away or have mental breakdown (which happens a lot) he would take over, wongo is ok with this and so the deal is made.
My warlock gets- magic, bravery, and charm
Wongo gets- Blood, a body to control, and entertainment
I think sorcerers have a pretty interesting backstory... They just ARE. And they may not even want it... And be hated or feared for it. ALL of the other classes work for their ability, but sorcerers... They are the class.
I mean I suppose, but I personally find the warlock to have to face their powers a lot more (especially since they can lose it should they fight the being they are in service to)
Man... the time I played a warlock was in this campaign where apparently the party had gotten launched back in time right before I joined up, to a time when magic was still volatile and rampant. To my DM, this meant that every critical miss with my Eldritch Blast would cause some kind of crazy reaction - I'd roll for a random debuff, get sucked into a portal to my patron's realm, get hit with magical backlash for lots of damage... One of the cantrip's boons (multiple beams, aimed as you like) became a severe handicap to my character. The Paladin's sword didn't teleport him away when he critically missed. The sorcerer's Fire Bolt only had one chance a turn to screw him over. Much sadness ensued.
Luckily, the plot of the game was also bat-shit bonkers and not coherent, so I didn't feel bad taking my first excuse to politely quit.
Always make sure you GM knows, hes being kind of a dick. If you don't tell them then they will keep doing it, depressing as it sounds. A GM should never use in game mechanics to punish a player for playing a way he doesn't like. he should confront the player about it and work it out IRL.
Edit* I neglected punctuation and capital letters.
Your DM is a total dick
You NEED to narrate more backstories, JESUS FUCKING CHRIST THAT WAS AMAZING
Without stacking crossbow expert feats or similar, the multiple beams of eldritch, and it being force damage, starts to one up the heavy crossbow
Plus EB is one-handed. Meaning a warlock can use a shield.
"It's the same, it's the same damage." LOL the delivery was perfect!
Indeed; it was a good joke.
Same damage as a crossbow...UNTIL you are higher level. Then you hit twice, then thrice. Plus Knockback & slow, and that feat that boosts your range further, you can kill an Ancient Red Dragon BY YOURSELF without any danger to you (assuming it doesn't swoop down on your head)
Add in a pact weapon with greater pact weapon on a bow so you can eldrich smite the dragon. 600 ft weapon attack that lets you smite where, if the attack hits, the dragon is knocked prone with no saving throw is so good. Esp when the dragon is 300 ft in the sky and suddenly takes 30d6 fall damage and is prone.
At 5th level, you can fire 2 beams from 1 eldritch blast spell. At 11th level, 3 beams. 17th: 4.
Yeah, but at higher levels you get wrecked by any other spellcaster who actually gets, like, spell slots
If anything, you could dip 2 levels in warlock for EB + 2 invocations, and just play another class all together after that.
Eldrich blast!
Cast it at weddings
*Blast*
Funerals
*Blast*
Beach parties
*Blast*
Or you can cast it randomly because a party takes 5 hours to buy a dagger from the shop keeper and your bored
*Blast*
references
Eldritch Blast's damage increases with level, like all cantrips, and on top of the added damage from Agonizing Blast, you can stack further invocations to reposition your target and reduce their movement speed, and unlike most cantrips, Eldritch Blast's damage increase is through additional beams, which require additional attack rolls, but more importantly carry your full complement of invocations. With Repelling Blast and Lance of Lethargy (from Xanathar's Guide), you can keep enemies from ever coming close to your party.
Also Warlocks always cast their spells at the highest possible spell level and get slots back on a short rest (good GMs make sure players can't get too many long rests in any sort of dungeon or other sustained adventure). Plus you can roll up a Celestial Warlock and suddenly you're healing almost as well as a Cleric. Not to mention the crazy array of utility cantrips you can stack up with Pact of the Tome, seeing as you don't need any damaging cantrip other than Eldritch Blast (though grabbing Toll the Dead is usually worth it since it deals d12s to anything that's taken damage on a Wisdom save, good for dealing with high-AC targets).
Considering the fact that it's still just 1d10 + charisma it's still not powerful enough to warrant the low spell amount... also other casters with more spell slots have cantrip security and other such buffs as well, such as certain clerics making their toll of the dead heal half damage (basically free d6s of damage) also while warlocks do have the highest level spellcasting there are few situations in which their highest spell has significantly or even considerably more slots than other casters, even at max level they have 4 5th lvl spell slots in exchange for other casters 3 of every slot 5 and under and 4 lvl 1 slots... also the spells they have are so limited they make the sorcerer look like the party wizard, not to mention warlocks can't learn their 6th level spells or over the same way... basically having long rest single use spells that means they miss out on extra 6th and 7th level slots as well, and the amount of short rests you would need to catch up to other classes is insane, especially considering a class like the wizard can also regenerate spells on a short rest: and they can get back 6th level spells as well... yes it's only once but in 90% of games that covers it leaving warlocks as one of the weakest casters by a landslide... they got a lot of good utility options but almost everything they have another caster can do way better, even the bard is a better Jack of all trades... and this is coming from a guy who mains warlocks, warlocks are definitely one of the weaker classes and were it not for some amazing style I think they would be as disliked as the ranger
@@thepurehealer1279 This assumes the sort of lax GM that allows constant Long Rests where the other casters can recover their spells easily. Warlocks shine when there's a decent GM at the table making sure that the party takes a few Short Rests between the long ones, so the Warlock's primary strength (recovering their spell slots on Short Rest) comes into play. I'll concede that at higher levels, they start to taper off some, but for at least Tiers 1 and 2 (arguably Tier 3, as well), Warlock holds its own alongside the other casters as long as the other casters aren't being coddled with constant Long Rests. This isn't even getting into the shenanigans one can get into with certain invocations (such as at-will Invisibility).
Also the Warlock spell list has enough high-quality spells that it's hardly difficult to pick out a good setup, especially if you go Celestial (by far the best patron for a Warlock focused on casting rather than gishing).
@@notreallythere477 celestial is possibly the only powerful one: do to short rest healing being an extreme asset to have... but still most dms do not have a massive amount of short rests even the good ones... the amount you would need to get back the 2 spell slots you have enough times would be quite a lot as well... assuming you are: say lvl 7 then other casters have a 4th lvl slot, 3 3rd lvl slots, 3 2nd lvl slots, and 4 1st lvl slots, it would take a while to get a head up on them and a lot of short rests would be needed (enough to where one might as well long rest perhaps) also while the warlock has short rest slots they are not alone in that... outside of the sorcerer every caster has short rest utility: cleric has channel divinity, druid has wild shape, wizard has arcane recovery, and bards have inspiration... I just can't imagine there would be a lot of games where you would be casting nearly as much as your peers
Ps. Another important thing is that while warlocks don't have worthless spells their options are very limited... to the point where most spells don't make excellent use of the short rest ability (except for maybe dream)
notreallythere477 Despite your strong opinion, the numbers have been crunched on several forums.
I’ll relate what’s been shown on each: if you compare warlocks and wizards (assuming roughly optimized builds for each and across several battlefield conditions, and averaged across all levels), wizards are noticeably ahead unless the adventure includes AT LEAST three short rests.
At two short rests (or less) per long rest, the wizard will always top the warlock. At three short rests, the warlock will catch up and even pull ahead.
It is very rare that any DM I’ve played with has made sure we’ve had three short rests per long rest so that those warlock would feel as useful. Not to mention, once you get on in levels, the wizard will just use Leomonds tiny hut to ensure an uninterrupted long rest unless the DM really wants to meddle hard (and some have, but you can’t always without it seeming like you hate the wizard).
Point being, parties don’t have to be “coddled” with long rests for others to pull ahead of the warlock...they almost always will, unless they play suboptimally and the warlock it built for output.
Warlocks aren’t broken, but they could use a small buff to bring them up to par with the utility and battle prowess of wizards at least.
That backstory was epic. I have a warlock, and his backstory isn't even as close as good or edgy as that. I haven't been able to use him yet though...
My spoiled rich kid warlock made a pact with an archfey to help him avoid flunking out of college. Generally the truth is that if you're willing to give your soul in servitude to an unknown dark power, then you're probably not as mindful about consequences as you should be.
Imagine Eldritch Blast with the following: The Eldritch Spear Invocation, multiclass into Sorcerer and take the Distant Spell metamagic, and the Spell Sniper feat. Is this necessary? No. Is it awesome to snipe people with Eldritch Blast from 1200 feet away? YES.
Just one issue...metamagic can only be used on level 1 spells and above... it cant be used on cantrips
@@riverroulette792 Really? I don't see anything in the Player's Handbook that states that. It just says spells as far as metamagic is concerned. And Zee has used Metamagic with cantrips as seen in his Showboating With Metamagic video, as he used Twinned Spell with Firebolt, a cantrip. I might still be wrong, though, so I'll keep looking...
@@Xeranad ah it seems ive been informed wrong
The sniper
@@hoodie548 Well, that's one way to make a warlock. Others may take the Mask of Many Faces and instead become the Spy.
The ability / damage stacking on Eldritch Blast is so fun and gets started early. Spirit Shroud is my favorite, though it requires the caster to be within ten feet. It adds 1d8 per hit, which by level 11 means 3 added damage rolls... To a cantrip. Delightful.
I get, your soul, you get an unflavored super laser you can spice up however you like.
Yes eldritch blast and the heavy crossbow do the same damage, however you can only fire the heavy crossbow once per turn without a feat. Plus as you level eldritch blast gets more blasts. No feats required.
Extra attack would achieve the same effect.
I still agree that eldritch blast is a bit better than a heavy crossbow for numerous reasons, but when it comes to number of attacks between eldritch blast and a fighter with a crossbow the amount would be the same
@@fridtjofjohanolderheim6213 The same at level 5. More at 11 and 17. The only way to use a heavy crossbow like that is with a feat, and 20 levels of fighter
@@X20Adam plus, show me a cross bow that can be used for forcibly pushing or pulling enemies around the battlefield? Or the other things that the invocations can do to it.
don't forget that beautiful hex damage that pops with every successful hit uwu
@@fridtjofjohanolderheim6213 You'd need Crossbow Expert to fire a heavy crossbow more than once a round, thanks to the loading feature.
Ah, yes, everyone's favorite Cantrip, Eldritch [BLAST]
Cast it at Weddings! [MARITAL BLAST]
Funerals! [MOURNFUL BLAST]
Beach Parties! [SUNNY BLAST]
Or you could just cast it randomly
Because the party's taking five hours to buy a single dagger from the shopkeeper and you're BORED. [BOREDOM BLAST]
Sup JoCrap impersonator hows the crap guides? Still fun?
JK, they still are ;)
What’s your point, person within fireball distance?
@@rossfryer3902 @ other than two level tree spell slots ready for counterspells, nothing much. Carry on :)
I appreciate that the main character looks like Lovecraft.
With the right boosts, you can be sniping things from 600 feet away. That 300 foot range can be doubled with the Spell Sniper feat. Got a dragon swooping in toward you? You can start dealing damage to it long before it gets close. And it's FORCE damage, so no resistance, and no range penalty so long as you're in range. Don't let that crossbow thing fool you, force damage beats normal physical damage every time.
you could get functionally the same result with firebolt, and while being able to add your cha mod and doing force damage are certainly better, it's not a very significant difference. I think this is fine, but the point (eldrich blast isn't much more powerful than any other damaging cantrip, or even just other martial weapons) is totally valid. A warlock likely will be doing a very similar amount of ranged damage with eldritch blast in most if not all situations as, say, a fighter with a longbow, or a wizard, sorcerer, druid, or even cleric with their respective bread & butter cantrips. Even at higher levels, where eldritch blast gains additional utility in being able to target multiple enemies at once, it doesn't outstrip other cantrips in terms of raw damage. The warlock can choose to invest invocations into eldritch blast, but they give up other, valuable class features in exchange for those bonuses, which is fair. It's very good, but I don't think it's overpowered, especially considering that martial classes will likely be picking up magic weapons with bonuses as you get to the higher levels.
@@DallinBackstrom You missed the part of the 600 foot range. No way is a Firebolt doing any damage at that range, nor is a longbow going to hit consistently that far out. To Hit spells have no range mod. They are either in range or they aren't, and the roll to hit is the same at 600 feet as it is at 10 feet. Add to that the increased number of bolts as you level up and Eldrich Blast is incredibly powerful. In no way does Firebolt get the same "functional" result. 240 feet with spell sniper, and the damage you get as you level up is stlll ONE bolt, not up ro 4 (Each of which get the charisma damage modifier, by the way, making Eldrich Blast 4D10+4*CHA maximum damage at level 17, with the ability to split each of those 1D10+CHA bolts to a separate target.
@@RedwoodTheElf the range aspect is such an edge case that I took out my response to it in my original comment, because I felt it just didn't merit saying; but how many times have you played in a battlemap 300ft on a side, let alone 600 or more? As a DM I can't remember the last time a party engaged an enemy at such huge ranges. If you're in an area with even a modicum of foliage or hills, you won't even be able to see targets on the ground at that range, limiting the usefulness further. And, once again, YES the warlock gets to add +Cha to eldritch blast, YES they can fire it at 300ft, and YES they can take spell sniper if you're playing with feats, but that's 2 ENTIRE class features spent on eldritch blast, (not to mention 1 entire feat dedicated to what is arguably a gimmick!) So I'd say that the added range, and the added damage, are fair, because they are *SPENDING CLASS FEATURES* to get those. Keep in mind, a wizard, for example, gets way, WAY more spells and spell slots that a warlock. That's what they are giving up: they exchange more spell slots, or metamagic, or wild shape, or other equally powerful class features in order to have those invocations. That's a big ask! So yeah, they do more damage and can attack at greater ranges, but if you don't use your invocations on eldritch blast (and there *are* other good invocations, it's not like a given that you'll be taking only the ones that enhance eldritch blast;) you will be doing exactly the same damage as firebolt, at exactly the same ranges. If you read my comment carefully, you will see that I specifically mentioned that eldritch blast gets additional utility from it's multiple bolts being able to target multiple creatures, when compared to other cantrips. But this, once again, is only fully useful in situations where you need to deal a smaller amount of damage to a larger number of enemies, instead of dealing the full damage to a single target; it's not a gamechanger. It's good, but it's not a gamechanger. Like the Cha+ mod to damage is good, but it's not a gamechanger. and remember; the warlock gets only 4 spell slots and 4 cantrips total; one of those cantrips is all but guaranteed to be EB. Consider a wizard, in a situation where they need to deal damage to several enemies at range; they will likely use one of their 22(!) spell slots to cast something like magic missile, or fireball, according to the situation, and in almost every case, deal more damage than eldritch blast (they are spending a spell slot, after all). The warlock on the other hand, who has at most 4 spell slots, may use a leveled spell, but is much more likely to cast an EB with the Agonizing invocation, for overall lower, but more consistent, damage. However, even when the wizard runs out of spell slots, their cantrips are similar in base power to EB, so they aren't outstripped by much, and in almost every case, the wizard is going to do more damage over the course of a fight; you'd have to be fighting an enemy for a long time before the slightly higher damage of EB caught up to the huge burst damage of the wizard's leveled spells, plus their subsequent, slightly lower cantrip damage.
One more thing. You seem very caught up on this Spell sniper feat, but I'm not convinced it's actually as good as you make it out to be. Consider that you could have taken warcaster, which is great on warlock; or healer, or lucky, or sentinel, or metamagic adept, or even just a skill point increase to your Cha, which would raise your eldritch blast's baseline damage. Also, if we're throwing feats into the mix, think about sharpshooter, a functionally similar feat that removes the disadvantage penalty from ranged weapons, *and* allows the user to take a -5 to hit in exchange for +10 damage, which can be very strong against bulky creatures with low AC. The longbow has a (no disadvantage) range of up to 600ft now; so it would be hitting consistently at those ranges, at least as consistently as EB. Furthermore, this is just one feat, not one feat and a class feature; you could even add a fighting style like "archer" on top, and now you're adding 2 to every attack roll... see what I mean?
What I'm trying to communicate here is that you've failed to convince me that eldritch blast is fundamentally any better than other cantrips, or that the invocations are an overpowered class feature, or that the spell sniper feat is even remotely good. You've listed a single (arguably gimmicky) build, which is in fact both very comparable in damage output to other builds designed around the same gimmick (Sharpshooter fighter), not terribly versatile (spell sniper & eldritch spear give you no added benefit if your enemy is already in range), and very expensive to build into (2/8 total invocations and 1/5 total feats or ability score improvements). So... I'm not convinced that this is unbalanced. Are you? Do you *really* think that [Spell sniper + Agonizing blast + Eldritch spear + Eldritch blast] is a broken, or even substantially above-average build? I'm just not seeing it... But maybe I'm missing something. You seem really convinced, so I'm almost doubting my own interpretation of the mechanics at this point. If you really believe that eldritch blast is overpowered, or substantially more powerful than other options, I'm sure that you simply weigh the options differently from me; for example you might consider the multiple bolts to be a really game-changing feature, whereas I don't see them as much more than a nice bit of added utility. I'm sure you have your reasons. But I certainly hope that you can see that I also have my reasons for remaining unconvinced of your thesis.
--Cheers.
PS: I'd rather not come across as combative. As you seem to have taken some offense to my initial comment, I've tried to more thoroughly argue my point here, so as to make it clear that I have, indeed, read and considered your points; That I have put thought into my response; That I respect your position; And that I find your arguments unconvincing, for unambiguous, mechanical reasons. Ultimately I argue that this is a matter of preference, as no other build will be mechanically identical, even if they provide functionally similar outcomes. That's my thesis; I think that the warlock, with eldritch blast, is an average damage dealer, who will, in my opinion, preform similarly to other casting and martial classes in most situations. I hope you don't find my point to be poorly argued, or interpret it as an attack against your opinion, which, as I understand it, is preferring the warlock over other, similar options for the reasons you've listed. I've tried to structure it in such a way that it will read as a criticism of your proposed build, and a deconstruction of your greater argument for the mechanical supremacy of Eldritch blast. If I've written anything that you feel crosses the line into attacking your opinion, your character, integrity, or otherwise causing you offense, do point it out to me.
@@DallinBackstrom The spell sniper feat DOUBLES the range of your "roll to hit" spells. All of them. Last time I checked, 300 * 2 = 600. So yes, it's exactly as good as I think it is.
And if you're traveling outdoors, or on guard from the top of a tower, 600 foot engagements can come into play regularly. Our party was trudging across icy tundra (Flat as a board, you can basically see out to the horizon) and my Warlock was regularly sniping Carabou (for food) and Polar Bears, wolves, even a white dragon (Instead of having to fight them) at 500-600 foot ranges. To be fair, the dragon managed to get down to 130 feet away before it went down.
Quick addendum to this thread: crossbows don't compare to eldritch blast because of damage type, and here's the BIG killer of ranged weapons in 5e: THE MISSILES NEED TO BE MAGIC TO GET PAST RESISTANCE, NOT JUST THE WEAPON. This can be extremely hard to account for in a setting that isn't highly magical. That's why Arcane Archers get a specific ability around this.
Combine agonizing plus the knock back. You no longer have an Eldritch blast. You have an eldritch shotgun! Now isn't that groovy?
Considering it fires multiple beams at higher levels, I'd say pretty groovy indeed 😎👍
Do you know what is better then a 120ft Eldrich Blast? A 20 meters radius Emerald Splash
*Eldritch
Yes, the same damage as a heavy crossbow. That is to say, a Warlock can point at someone and hurt them as badly as a hit from a crossbow that requires a winch to load.
And do it multiple times in a turn with no feats or spent resources
I agree, Warlocks sacrifice some power and utility for added roleplay flavor and actually a lot of customizability.
This is why I homebrew class and subclass fixes. Although I find, only Ranger, Warlock and Sorcerer have really needed them...
Still, Sorcerers wanna roleplay feeling like their power is truly a gift, and Warlocks want to feel like their pact will give them the power they want, so they shouldn't go wanting.
sorcerers are actually fairly underrated.
Yes, they do not have enough spell versatility, but as an evocer, they vastly outclass wizards.
They also always win wizard duels, becuase they can cast spells silently.
If your sorcerer wants more power, make a pact with a devil (or the hexblade, whatever that is).
With just 2 warlock levels, they get huge damage
Eldritch blast and the large cross bow does do the same amount of damage at first, but eldritch blast continues to get stronger whilst the crossbow does not such as gaining multiple blasts allowing multi target damage and/or stacking blasts on a single target for increased damage
It does if you have crossbow expert and extra attacks, which allows you to hit multiple targets. You may also come across magic ammunition or magic heavy cross bow. Plus there are things like piercer, sharpshooter... Although boosting Eldritch blast can be more affordable and easy since feats are not exactly free.
if your a fighter it does increase exactly at the same rate.
plus you can then take sharpshooter putting it ahead, plus the +2 to hit from archery
Eldritch blast also weighs nothing, doesn't need ammo, doesn't take time to be readied or reloaded, and can't be disarmed, dropped or broken.
@@dathancornwell349 not without crossbow expert it doesn’t. And a warlock can just take spell sniper instead of sharpshooter. Point is, eldritch blast is generally easier/more cost effective to make better than a heavy crossbow
@@dathancornwell349 can Fighter cast spells the way full casters do? No?
Too bad, because Warlocks can, and *then* they start blastin'. Fighter can only start blastin'
Yes, it's the same as a heavy crossbow, but it scales better unless a fighter is holding the crossbow and it deals force damage which almost nothing is resistant to.
even then if it's not magical and the fighter doesn't have crossbow master still probably better to be the warlock
Heavy Crossbow is affected by the Loading property which means at level 5+ it'll be doing less damage than an Eldritch blast with no invocations. To get the damage of Heavy Crossbow up, you'd need to take a Feat, Crossbow Master and be proficient with Heavy Crossbows. A feat is a considerably higher investment than an invocation. Eldritch Blast then has the benefit of three rays at level 11, the only class that can consistently fire a heavy crossbow three times is Fighter and that is level 11 too. Warlock then gets hex which adds significant damage to Eldritch Blast where Fighter gets no such spell. This means another feat, Magic Initiate, for a once per day Hex...
Eldritch Blast then gets another ray at level 17, fighter 20 gets a fourth attack (so no multiclass options), Eldritch Blast as a cantrip is based on character level, not class level and leaves open the possibility to multiclass to get even more castings. Sorcerer with Quicken Spell Meta Magic and Fighter for Action Surge can lead up to a round with 12 Rays being fired off and multiple other rounds with 8 rays. Meanwhile a fighter 20 with heavy crossbow can action surge twice, so two rounds they can do 8 attacks for two rounds.
So while it is possible at a few levels to do more damage with a heavy crossbow, it requires Action Surge to do so, else wise Eldritch Blast will pretty much always do more damage, assuming Agonizing blast is taken at 2nd level and Hex is being used. At level 1 a Heavy Crossbow could do more average damage with a +4 or +5 DEX Modifier as hex is an average 3.5 damage.
It may start as the same damage, however there's a major difference: crossbows do piercing damage, which becomes resisted by many creatures by CR 4 or 5. However, almost /nothing/ in the game resists force damage.
TalonSky my DM *laughs in making fight like 5 helmed horrors*
My warlock is a Kenku named "VWAARP!", and he named himself after the sound his eldritch blast makes lol
NicholasKreuz that is great!
Bonus points if you have a sound board set up for him.
for the longest time my group never took short rests, which left me sucking hind tit....
For anyone new to DnD watching this, and put off to Eldritch blast like I was, allow me to clarify why the community revers this spell. At higher levels the cantrip hits multiple times (much akin to a fighter’s multi attack). So with one spell you’re allowed multiple opportunities to crit that d10 (and miss mind you). But with some invocations, and the Warlock’s second most signature spell Hex; at level five you can be doing 2d10 +6-8, 2d6, and have your target at disadvantage for a chosen roll. Pace this up to 17th level you have 4d10 +20, and 4d6 damage from a cantrip/hex. Not. Too. Shabby.
Best part: It's all force damage, meaning pretty much nothing resists or is immune to it.
And that's the thing people compare warlock to clerics and wizards when they are more of a arcane approach to martial combat, who still get magical powers, both passive and active. People arguing warlocks should be more powerful, don't seem to get the connotation of why would the other classes exist if all it took for you to be a great spell caster or martial warrior is a pact.
At max at lvl17 that is about 84 total damage correct? Definitely a powerful cantrip, my question is, where do warlocks go from there? Like, what is their legitimate power cap? Various different classes have caps at some pretty wild DPR (damage or round) outputs, so I just want to compare and contrast them because Warlocks are essentially damage dealers aren't they? Like, their main intent is to do damage in combat, along with adding some well written and nicely styled roleplay elements to any given campaign. It should also be noted that they are ranged attackers, so this is another thing to consider in the grand scheme of how they interact with the world.
To completely clarify why I'm curious, I simply have not seen many people play Warlocks and the few that have seen are played as ranged combatants with stacking utility spells to maximize combat efficiency. I could definitely be wrong about their actual purposes as casters, but the more I look into them the more interesting they become as a class. Currently, what turns me off of them the most is the spell slot issue as well as limitations to which spells they have access too. Personally, Sorcerers seem like more powerful versions of warlocks, but without Eldritch Blast (although this trade has as many downsides as upsides I think). I just want to know if there is more that I should consider before building one is all.
@@09Dragonite Sorcerers are one of the highest DPR classes in the game, they’re your quintessential blaster caster. To keep them in check their spell section is mostly damage oriented and they can’t have many spells learned. Evocation wizards make amazing blasters as they can prevent their allies from taking damage from their spells, and have a massive array of control spells available to them. Warlocks however, are more along the lines of a utilicaster. Your strengths come from your Eldritch Evocations and your ability to switch around your prepared spells. Short rest spell slot returns isn’t something to be looked over, it’s just convincing a party to take them (which is another important role as many ignore it and carry on ragged with full hit dice). Warlocks are probably the lowest DPR caster but are useful in other ways. They allow for great multi class as well. A Hexblade Warlock on the other hand is a very powerful DPR class, so much so that it outshines the other strengths of the class and many overlook the utility and flavor offered from other kits.
@@09Dragonite I mean at level 17 you have access to 6-9 level Mystic Arcanums. You can cast Foresight(Wish if you're a genielock), Demiplane or Maddening Darkness, FRIGGIN FORCECAGE and Mass Suggestion, not to mention having access to at worst 4 Synaptic Statics in a fight. Eldritch Blast is a super powerful cantrip which allows you to be better in between leveled spells than full casters. Now look, are Wizards, Bards, Druids and Clerics stronger casters.....yeah almost assuredly. Are fully kitted Sharpshooter Crossbow Expert Fighters better at damage....yeah definitely (only if your campaign uses feats because those are an optional rule). But you can cast super powerful magics....and when you don't want to waste the slot investment....or already concentrating on something, than you deal damage equal to a ranged fighter round by round. Eldritch Blast is what you default and fall back on, and it is a GOOD fall back plan.
you could also just pick Wizard / Sorcerer, and get the feat "Spell Sniper", then pick Eldritch Blast as your spell. Easy Eldritch Blast with no consequence (and also added range, and cover-ignorance)
but not 1200ft range 3/war then the sorcerer class after. feat spell sniper, an invocation to make it 300 and widen to double it so 120,300,600,1200. 1200 with no penalty and ignore 3/4 cover or less. to break it more chose divine heritage for sor and make it a heal /blaster.
Well, except you don't get charisma mod as extra damage on every blast + no hex damage on every blast.
@@janelantestaverde2018 you add the charisma modifier to each bolt of the eldritch blast, it's literally part of how the spell works
@@trappyboi8678 No it's not. It deals 1d10 force damage, that's it...
With the Eldritch Invocation Agonizing Blast you can add the charisma modifier to the damage...
@@janelantestaverde2018 That's exactly what we mean, there's no one in the world who just grabs eldritch blast and doesn't take that invocation unless you want to be weaker on purpose