D&D (2024) 2024 Player's Handbook reveal: "New Warlock"

"The character builder's paradise".

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We last saw the Warlock in Playtest 7, with a lot of features from 2014 restored from the previous version. Still, a lot of questions (for me) remain: here's my list from before the video ran:

Spoiler

• Will the three pacts still be invocations, and will it be possible to get all of them by level 2? (I hope not). Yes.
• If they are invocations, will people still believe they are getting more invocations than thry had in 2014? Yes.
• What will the Pact of the Chain special creature options be? (We've seen the Sphinx of Wonder previewed already.) Is there still going to be a (M-sized) skeleton option? YES!
• Will Pact of the Tome still have the lame rewritten Ritual Caster rules, of only two 1st level rituals, and never any more? (I hope not). No answer, but I doubt it's been changed.
• Is it conceivable that anyone would not take Pact of the Blade as one of their Invocations? (Doubt it.) No answer. They did not talk about whether later invocations will give Extra attack, or other concerns here.
• Will anyone be able to take Eldritch Blast? "Warlock Specific"

(Happily, many of these questions were indeed answered in the video!).
I think warlock really benefits from having the subclasses come at level 3: you can "dabble" in the occult without selling your soul until level 3 (though admittedly, the wording of the fluff text does not require you to sell your soul).

OVERVIEW

• Invocations at 1, Magical Cunning at 2 (as in PT7)
• Crawford claims we will get more eldritch invocations. Assuming the table's as in PT7, this is a bit of a fudge: there's one for a pact at level 5 (no gain) and one extra, at level 5, and for most it will go, I feel, to another pact). Yes there's more flexibility.
• Main choices are Pact Boons. "This is a big deal" -- "it is a juicy choice" they say, and Crawford makes it clear you can get them all "over time". "Over time", though, is by level 2. To me this is too much too early.
• NEW: all pact boons at level 1 now.
• NEW: "More Spooky critter options" for Pact of the Chain, speaking to Patron types. Complete list: Slaad tadpole. Skeleton, Imp, Pseudodragon, Quasit, Sprite (Fey), Sphinx of Wonder (Celestial), Venomous Snake. All will be in the PHB.
• Spellcasting has been enhanced: more invocations work with warlock spells. Now they don't just affect Eldritch Blast (which is warlock-specific -- not clear how that's mechanized, though). You can have Ray of Frost with Repelling Blast.
• NEW: Lessons of the First Ones only lets you take an Origin Feat.
• Contact Patron at 9, Mystic Arcanum at 11+, expanded spell list (though not as big as sorcerer).
• All subclasses get an expanded spell list.

SUBCLASSES

ARCHFEY - "a teleportation fantasia"

• Gameplay was not living up to the flavour. Going "all-in" on Teleportation.
• Additional effects occur whenever you cast the spell, not just the free casting from Steps of the Fey. (Refreshing step and Taunting Step confirmed, as in PT7 apparently).
• Beguiling Defenses, causing psychic damage
• Bewitching magic at 14 as in PT7 -- "ridiculous in all the best ways".

CELESTIAL

• NEW: from expanded class spell list. Summon Celestial on spell list.
• NEW: Guiding Bolt, Cure wounds and Aid (Aid was not on PT7 list) on subclass list
• You can be "a hired hitman from the gods"
• NEW: Searing Radiance at 14 now can apply to an ally.

FIEND

• Magical weapons no longer pass your damage resitance (in reference to Fiendish Resilience at 10?)
• "tankiness" seen in BG3 is also here: Dark One's Blessing seems completely rewritten, as it was described in the Design Note of the PT7.

GREAT OLD ONE

• NEW: Summon Aberration might be a version of the Mind Flayer (an option in the Summon Abberation spell)
• when you do damage, you can do psychic.
• Psychic Spells for enchantment/illusion without Verbal/Somatic (but you still need Material); damage may be Psychic. Clairvoyant Combatant can be a battle of wills (focusing damage to one target -- a nod to AD&D psionic battles). Eldritch Hex also as in PT7.

 

[Chaosmancer]

I'm starting to think they're intentionally holding back on some of the most popular subclasses (hexblade, bladesinger, swashbuckler) to intentionally load up the next Everything book.

I'm actually not convinced Hexblade is going to make it into a 2024 book. The main draw of it was that it made the Blade Pact functional. Now, the Blade Pact can stand on its own. I think we would see a heavy revision and re-imaging of the subclass, if it appears later.

 

[Kurotowa]

The desirability of a 1- or 2-level dip does seem to have gone up.

Maybe, maybe not. I've had the thought that a lot of these Bladelock multiclass builds were all built around the problem that Blade Pact sucked and Hexblade was incredibly front loaded with terrible higher level features. So if you wanted to play that character archetype there was a ton of incentive to multiclass out as soon as you'd gotten the key features.

Now, that may not be true. Blade Pact is a lot better. So much so, some people have fears it's too good. Why multiclass out of Warlock when you can stick around and get a third attack at 11th level? You can invest in a combat capable familiar from Chain Pact while you're at it.

I'm not the best prognosticator, and I'll admit to some personal bias against gimmicky multiclass builds, but I kind of suspect that it will be a great deal more attractive to stick with a straight Bladelock than it used to be.

 

[Kobold Stew]

Of those three two are I think dead, with the big things about swashbuckler and Hexblade rolled into the base class.

In the playtest, we saw the same thing with the Cleric: Knowledge Cleric is now kind of rolled into the Thaumaturge choice. (weapons and armor vs a cantrip and one knowledge expertise; not really a choice for most clerics, I'd argue.).

 

[Kobold Stew]

Maybe, maybe not. I've had the thought that a lot of these Bladelock multiclass builds were all built around the problem that Blade Pact sucked and Hexblade was incredibly front loaded with terrible higher level features.

I'm not just thinking about the blade, but yes.

 

[Scribe]

Do they get 3 melee attacks or no? I'm out of data and cannot follow updates live.

 

[Chaosmancer]

In UA7, Agonizing Blast had the option to apply to it other Warlock cantrips. The thing is it was better for EB, because it applied to every hit, and you could only reassign which cantrip it was attached to when you leveled up. So it wasn't a very strong option unless you had another good reason not to use EB, like Celestial getting a bonus to fire and radiant damage spells.

While it's cool they're expanding the design to Repelling Blast, and probably Eldritch Spear too, it's pretty limited unless they loosen the restrictions on when you can reassign what cantrip it applies to. With the UA7 design it's still encouraging you to go all-in on one cantrip. I'd love to see them open it up, so that a Tome Pact Warlock could really leverage having an arsenal of more niche cantrips at their disposal.

I agree, I've been considering allowing the cantrip upgrades to simply apply to all cantrips you cast, which might give a few more niche options the chance to shine.

 

[Veltharis ap Rylix]

I'm actually not convinced Hexblade is going to make it into a 2024 book. The main draw of it was that it made the Blade Pact functional. Now, the Blade Pact can stand on its own. I think we would see a heavy revision and re-imaging of the subclass, if it appears later.

I honestly think it would work quite well as the starting point for a proper "Shadowfell" patron to parallel the Archfey.

 

[Veltharis ap Rylix]

Do they get 3 melee attacks or no? I'm out of data and cannot follow updates live.

They didn't say in the video, and the D&D Beyond article is delayed until later this week. In general, they didn't go into much detail on specific invocations.

 

[Chaosmancer]

Do they get 3 melee attacks or no? I'm out of data and cannot follow updates live.

They did not say.

However, Treantmonk in his video did say he was far happier about the warlock balance in the final book, compared to the /UA 7 version. So I imagine the Blade Pact insanity was toned down, since that was a major balance concern.

 

[Mirrorrorrim]

Think it's still just a warlock cantrip.

It's really not much of an improvement over firebolt unless you get Agonizing blast.

If Agonizing Blast changes to affect only 1 damage roll per casting, nerfing Cha-damage to all Eldritch Blasts, then Firebolt and Eldritch Blast would be comparable, but different. Eldritch Blast attacks will be able to be spread out, and Firebolt has one attack that crits harder due to all the damage dice going to 1 target.

If Agonizing Blast affects every separate damage die, then Eldritch Blast will still be the damage leader.