Warlock

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Grek
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Warlock

Post by Grek »

Warlock

A Warlock is someone who has made pacts with one or more fiends, gaining evil eldritch powers for themselves in life and a very special place in Hell for themselves in death.
Starting Gold: 4d4*10 gp (100 gold)
Starting Age: As Rogue.
Hit Die: d6
Class Skills: Bluff (Cha), Concentration (Con), Disguise (Cha), Hide (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (all, taken individually) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Sense Motive (Wis), Sleight of Hand (Dex), Spellcraft (Int), Spot (Wis), Use Magic Device (Cha).
Skills/Level: 4+ Int modifier, x4 at first level.
BAB: Medium, as Rogue.
Saves: Fort: Poor, Reflex: Poor, Will: Good.
Alignment: Any. Most Warlocks are evil, committing atrocities in life in exchange for dominion in death, but good Warlocks exist who sacrifice eternal bliss for the chance to set the powers of darkness against one another.

Abilities:
Eldritch Ritual (Sp): Rather than learning magic the hard way through years of study or by having a natural talent for the arcane arts, Warlocks perform eldritch rituals to contact the Lower Planes and produce results irreproducible by wizards or sorcerers of equal strength. While limited in scope, these rituals start a Warlock on the path of unholy power. By spending four hours drawing on the ground and chanting incantations, the Warlock can create a 10' magic pentagram in front of them which has the following properties:
  • The pentagram emanates an overwhelming aura of evil from its center along with an effect similar to that of a Antilife Shell, except that it does not allow for spell resistance and effects all creatures with less than 10 HD and does not effect creatures with 10 or more HD.
  • By reciting a magical incantation in front of their pentagram, the Warlock can reproduce the effects of a Contact Other Plane spell which always contacts a fiendish planar entity on the targeted plane. If the fiend is asked to enter into a pact with the Warlock and agrees to do so, the Warlock may make a new pact, replacing old pacts if necessary.
  • By standing outside of the pentagram and monologuing about the powers of darkness for a full minute, the Warlock can produce effects similar to that of a Gate spell without the usual spell knowledge and without paying any material or XP costs. The calling version of this gate allows only the calling of creatures given over to your service as part of the pact in question, while the travel version of this gate can only be opened between the location of their most recently performed eldritch ritual and the Personal Hell created when the Warlock enters into their first pact. In either case, the gate appears in the center of the pentagram and your effective caster level is one third your class level, rounded to the nearest whole number.
Pacts (Ex): A Warlock gains most of their power by entering into pacts with fiends. To do so, they must contact a demon, devil or other evil denizen of the Lower Planes and convince them to agree to the pact. Most Warlocks use their Eldritch ritual to contact the other planes, but some will bind fiends with magic or travel to the outer planes to find suitable partners. A Warlock seeking to enter into a new Pact must find a fiend of at least their level-2 for Lesser pacts, their level for Standard pacts and their level+2 for greater pacts. A Warlock's pact only ends if the fiend granting the pact is killed. A Warlock begins play with a single Lesser Pact already entered into and gains the ability to forge additional Lesser Pacts at levels 3 and 5. They can enter into Standard Pacts at levels 7, 9 and 11 and Greater Pacts at levels 13, 15 and 17. All pacts consist of the following:
  • Three pact powers, each of which is an extraordinary ability obtained when entering into the Lesser, Standard and Greater version of the pact respectively.
  • Seven Invocations; three available to be selected at any level, two at level 5+, one at level 10+ and one at level 15+.
  • A list of creatures that can be called through the Warlock's pentagram gate using this pact, subject to level restrictions.
  • A description of what effects entering into this Pact will have on the Personal Hell the Warlock is destined to spend their afterlife in.
Personal Hell: Being a Warlock earns you a special place in Hell (or some other Lower Plane) when you die. If you're Evil, this is a reward for long years of service to the cause. If you're good, this is some sort of Faustian punishment for calling upon the powers of darkness. If you're Neutral, it's some combination of the two. Either way, treat this as a demiplane of 100 square feet per character level with Normal Gravity, Normal Time, Normal Magic, Finite Shape, Alterable Morphic, and Strong Evil-Alignment features except if specified otherwise by a pact or altered with magic on the order of a Genesis spell. The Warlock shows up here when they die as a petitioner suitable to the plane they would have gone to otherwise.

Eldritch Blast (Su): After entering into a pact, a Warlock can make orbs of eldritch power manifest in their hands as a free action. Treat these as splash weapons that have a range increment of 15 feet and do 1d6 damage per two levels in direct damage and one damage per level in splash damage. By default, this damage is untyped. At the warlock's option, they can glow as brightly as a candle, torch, bullseye lantern or not at all.

Invocations (Su): Starting at the second level, Warlocks gain the ability to invoke the powers of evil in a more general and less formal way than they do through their pacts. On every even numbered level, the Warlock selects one Invocation off the list of available Invocations for their Pact(s). Invocations add additional effects to an Eldritch Blast at the cost of changing the damage to be typed and the action from an attack action to a standard action. The save for an Invocation, if one is allowed, has a DC of 10+1/2 Warlock level + Cha Modifier. A Warlock is not effected by their own Invocations unless specified otherwise.

Grant Pact (Ex): At Level 19, the Warlock gains the ability to grant pacts to weaker Warlocks and has a cult worshiping them as a godly figure. I will write rules for this later.

Grand Pact (Ex): At level 20, the Warlock's cult succeeds in raising the Warlock as a God. They win D&D.
Last edited by Grek on Tue Feb 19, 2013 2:09 am, edited 5 times in total.
Chamomile wrote:Grek is a national treasure.
Grek
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Post by Grek »

List of Pacts: (write these up soon)
Burning Darkness Pact
Hungry Ghost Pact
Frozen Sorrow Pact
Steel Tomb Pact
Plague Wind Pact
Rotting Soul Pact
Blood Thirst Pact
Vile Secret Pact
Profane Angel Pact
Burning Darkness Pact
Lesser Pact: The Warlock gains Fire Resistance 15. They can also see through fire, smoke and darkness (magical or otherwise) as if it were air.
Standard Pact: The Warlock is constantly surrounded by a Fire Shield (warm version), can assume Gaseous Form at will and needs not breathe.
Greater Pact: The Warlock may Shadow Walk as per the spell at will and always comes out exactly where he wants. He also gets 3 wishes per day for free, due to favors owed to him by efreet, demons, devils and the like.
Invocations: All Invocations from this Pact inflict fire damage.
  • Vile Smoke: The area hit with the splash damage of this Invocation is filled with vile smoke for 1 round. All creatures that breathe in the smoke are exposed to the vile smoke disease — Fortitude DC 14, incubation period 1d4 rounds, damage nauseated for 1 round while additional vile smoke escapes from all orifices, filling all squares within 5'.
  • Shadow Flame: The area hit with the splash damage of this Invocation is set on fire, burning with unnatural flame. This fire burns for 1 hour and radiates magical darkness, as per the spell, in place of light. Creatures within the area must make a Reflex save or catch ablaze themselves.
  • Ashes of Hope: Your Eldritch Blast no longer does splash damage, but instead inflicts one point of Wisdom damage per die of damage on a failed Will save.
  • Prison of Burning Darkness: Minimum level 5. For a duration of concentration, a circular Wall of Fire 10 feet in radius forms centered on your Invocation, with the waves of heat facing inward. Additionally, the interior of this circle is filled with Black Tentacles which attack all creatures within.
  • Sphere of Mind Eating Fire: Minimum level 5. Your Invocation creates a Flaming Sphere which happens leave a trail of insanity mist (Inhaled poison, DC 15, 1d4 Wis intital, 2d6 Wis secondary) everywhere it rolls.
  • Dark Dismissal: Minimum level 10. Your Invocation deals twice the normal damage and functions as a Dismissal spell on all extraplanar creatures it damages. If the 20% chance to send the creature to the wrong plane is triggered, the creature is sent to the Elemetal Plane of Fire, or to your Personal Hell at your discretion.
  • Soul Stealing Flame: Minimum level 15. Your Invocation creates an Incendiary Cloud which, rather than moving away from the caster, follows the target of your most recent Eldritch Blast or Invocation. Any creature which dies while within this cloud has their soul trapped, as per a Soul Bind spell. The soul gem required coalesces out of the flame and needs not be provided by the Warlock.
Fiendish Allies: Fire Elementals; Small, Medium, Large, Huge, Greater & Elder at levels 2, 5, 8, 11, 14 & 17 respectively. Efreet at 14. Fire and Magma Mephits at 5. Shadows at 5, Shadow Mastiffs and Nightmares at 8.
Personal Hell:By taking this Pact, your Personal Hell gains the Enhanced Magic trait. Spells and spell-like abilities with the fire descriptor are both maximized and enlarged. It also becomes Highly Morphic with regards to [Fire] and [Darkness] spells. For every Invocation selected from this pact, 50 square feet of your Personal Hell is filled with dense, ever-burning jungle, 50 with medium jungle, 25 with sparse jungle and 25 with a river, lake or other aquatic feature which, rather than being filled with water, consists boiling oil, volcanic lava, burning pitch or liquid darkness. Fire elementals formed into the shapes of jungle predators roam this area freely, while various Mephits stalk the skies above. The entire region is constantly subject to a forest fire. A further 50 square feet per Invocation from this Pact consists of obsidian walls, obelisks, floors, roofing and similar constructed areas protected from the ever-burning fires outside.
Last edited by Grek on Tue Feb 19, 2013 2:53 am, edited 2 times in total.
Chamomile wrote:Grek is a national treasure.
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RobbyPants
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Post by RobbyPants »

Do you run the risks of having your Int/Cha drop to 8 if you fail the save on CoP?

I'll admit that I have reservations about Gate at level 1, but with a CL = 1/3 your level, I suppose you're only summoning and controlling outsiders with about 2/3 your level in HD (except at 1st, where you still get double your level in HD). I'd have to look through the MM to see if this is particularly abusable or not.

The splash damage on EB is nice, although it makes it suck for firing into melee.

I'm looking forward to seeing the pacts written up.
Grek
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Post by Grek »

RobbyPants wrote:Do you run the risks of having your Int/Cha drop to 8 if you fail the save on CoP?
Yes.
I'll admit that I have reservations about Gate at level 1, but with a CL = 1/3 your level, I suppose you're only summoning and controlling outsiders with about 2/3 your level in HD (except at 1st, where you still get double your level in HD). I'd have to look through the MM to see if this is particularly abusable or not.
At first level, you don't get anything out of gates. One divided by three rounded to the nearest whole number is 0. Additionally, you only get to gate things in off a list determined by your pacts. As long as I don't put anything with a particularly bad HD to power ratio on the lists, it should be fine.
The splash damage on EB is nice, although it makes it suck for firing into melee.
Some of the Invocations will let you trade out the splash damage for other area of effect powers which do not suck to fire into melee.
I'm looking forward to seeing the pacts written up.
Thanks.
Chamomile wrote:Grek is a national treasure.
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RobbyPants
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Post by RobbyPants »

Grek wrote:
I'll admit that I have reservations about Gate at level 1, but with a CL = 1/3 your level, I suppose you're only summoning and controlling outsiders with about 2/3 your level in HD (except at 1st, where you still get double your level in HD). I'd have to look through the MM to see if this is particularly abusable or not.
At first level, you don't get anything out of gates. One divided by three rounded to the nearest whole number is 0. Additionally, you only get to gate things in off a list determined by your pacts. As long as I don't put anything with a particularly bad HD to power ratio on the lists, it should be fine.
I misread "rounded to th nearest whole number" as "rounded up" for some stupid reason. Also, I missed that there is also a list determined by pact, which is much nicer, since you're not just leaving it up to HD and hoping it all works out in the end.
Grek
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Post by Grek »

Burning Darkness Pact is up for review!
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Avoraciopoctules
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Post by Avoraciopoctules »

Looking pretty cool.
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Post by Nachtigallerator »

Since I've seen you posting on this subforum recently - how are the chances of other pacts being written up for this class? I'm too curious what those are going to do.
Grek
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Post by Grek »

If there's one or two in particular you wanted me to write, I suppose I'm up for it. This is mostly abandoned, though.
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