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S1 Ep.8 - Class Review: Warlock · Bards and Barrels

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: Action.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_03: Welcome to Bars and Barrels, the podcast for Dungeons and Dragons players, new and old.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_03: We're just a few 30-something dads who play DD on the regular.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_03: I'm Ross Gruz, and I'm joined by my friends and co-hosts Brett Miller and Phil Boone.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_03: We'll be exploring the worlds of Dungeons and Dragons in each episode, sharing our experiences, offering tips and advice for those who play and run this classic game.
• 0:24
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• 0:30
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• 0:45
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• 0:53
  SPEAKER_02: Alright, alright.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_02: It's time for another episode.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_02: Boys, how are we feeling tonight?
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_03: Good.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, this is gonna be a fun one.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_03: I'm very excited for this.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_03: So it's actually interesting.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_03: Tonight we're we're gonna do another uh uh breakdown of uh a class from the uh core rule book, and the warlock is what we're jumping into.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_03: And it's kind of interesting.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_03: Phil and I were talking a little bit before we got started tonight about how in the the cleric episode, if you listen to that one, how Brett had mentioned like um you could play a cleric that was claimed by a deity, and then Phil and I were talking about like as we read through all the warlock stuff and like freshened up, like that's exactly what a warlock is.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: If you're trying to try to go hand oh yeah, if you're trying to go hand in hand with uh we were what we were talking about in the cleric episode, this is your alternative.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: If you were trying to get into more of a spellcaster that is uh claimed by a deity, or you're made a pact even though you didn't really want to, this is where you want to go.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I definitely learned a lot like prepping for this episode.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not sure what you guys thought.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I kinda I've played a I've played a warlock before, and now I'm pretty sure I played it wrong.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know what you guys thought, but oh yeah.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: I've been playing a warlock for like a year and a half in our main campaign, and my way is one very small version of a warlock.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: There's so many other things you can do.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_03: Well, let's talk about your character for a second, because I think that'd be a good way, because you've both played warlocks, I have not, but you're you're talking about Ari.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, Ari, what who was his deity again?
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, we don't know.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: So I am a genie warlock, which is an expansion out of Tasha's culture and of everything.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: That book adds um a genie as one of the um other worldry patrons that you can pick.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I don't necessarily know who my patron is.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_01: I do.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_01: As the dungeon master at the table.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_01: And it it has been given a name.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_01: You may not have written it down, but it has a name.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah, I don't remember that.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_01: It's fine.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: Uh but Ari is a is he is an efferidi genie, so it's like a fire genie.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um and that's very different than any other type of other worldry patron you can pick.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it's an expansion um outside of the core rule book, uh, because a lot of the core rulebook ones are very dark, I would say.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_01: I think you bring up an interesting point there, Brad.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_01: As I was kind of reading through it, if you if you're you know, if you're looking at the free version, right, you just got the basic rules, your only choice in a patron is a fiend.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_01: Truly an evil aligned character that you have made this pact with.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_01: So maybe not willingly initially or something like that, but even when you branch into the player's handbook, you're still primarily on things that border on the edge of you know chaotic neutral to evil.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_01: You're looking at like an arche, um, or uh like the great old one, almost a Cthulhu-like character.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_01: And those are still leaning but not towards good.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_03: I think I think it it lends itself to to coming up with a really cool backstory to how you became a warlock, or if you were even like another class.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, so so I I think one thing we need to chat about fairly quickly here is is within DD, your spell casting classes, some that we haven't talked about, but but let's let's group these really quick.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_03: So, like wizards, for instance.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_03: Wizards are are like your your bookworm type spellcasters, like they have to learn their magic, and then you have warlocks, you have monks, um who who else am I forgetting that's in there?
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_03: Sorcerer, sorcerers and druids, and theirs is gonna be more like an innate magic, not necessarily a learned magic, and then you have clerics and paladins who get divine magic.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_03: And so so it's you have these basically these three structures, if you will, of of how these spellcasting classes are able to get their magic and use their magic.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, and then warlocks are one that they made a deal to get this.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_03: So whether that was like Phil was saying, by uh, you know, a fiend or or an alien, which is actually interesting how I think that was how the core rule book described it, or however, like that.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_03: It's just it's a really cool way to build characters.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but like you were talking, like out of the core rule book, your one option being like making a deal with a fiend coming off of the descent into a vernace campaign.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_03: It's like that was like the one thing you didn't do in that campaign was don't make a deal with anybody.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_01: I think you guys know from being in that campaign, right?
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_01: A fiend's ultimate goal is to corrupt your soul.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_01: So if you've made a pact with them, it's interesting to see how that would potentially play out.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_01: I feel like one of the things that I that I didn't do well as a DM in our descent into a Vernus campaign was probably talk to Brett early on in the campaign to figure out what that connection was or like what what truly drove the pact.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_01: And if you gave those details, I just don't happen to remember them, but I feel like we should have I should have met with you to kind of iron that out a little more.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's a a pretty strong part of the character that I didn't realize at the time.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um and yeah, we probably should have gone through that a little bit more at the time.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_03: So so let's talk a little bit about pros and cons of a warlock then.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_03: Because to me, one of the cons right off the bat, if we're if we're not gonna be super structured in how we talk about this, or I'm gonna break how we're doing this, one of the two.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, to me, the con is you may get yourself in a situation that you don't want to be in.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_03: Even if you fully intended to building this character, the DM could put you in a position where it's like, I I may have to fight against this.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_03: Now, that's like the complete opposite of how we were talking about a cleric where a paladin and a cleric look to their deity for guidance.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_03: You may not do that with a work.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_03: Matter of fact, more than likely, you probably don't unless you're trying to appease them to become more powerful, thing like that.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: So I would say one of the big pros for me that uh has been a lot of fun in our campaign is you are pretty easily going to be the face of your party.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: You're gonna be the one speaking and talking and making deals and working deals, persuading, even intimidating people, um, just based on a lot of your ability scores.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: You're probably gonna take the high charisma score and you're gonna be using that heavily.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_01: That's one of the things I'd written down as one of my top pros too, Brett, is you know, since charisma is your most important skill, it's what your spellcasting is based on, it opens you up for a lot of role-playing opportunities.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_03: If that's the kind of player you that you want to be, that's great.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_03: Um true.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_03: But looking at another con, I hate to stay on that side right now, is you're gonna lead with charisma, you're probably gonna follow up with constitution, so you're not you know just one hit and done.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_03: Which means now things like wisdom are taking a back seat.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_03: So it's like, yeah, you can be the face of the party, but you may not be doing the deep critical thinking, if you will, necessarily, which again is great if that's the kind of character you want to role play.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_03: If you're a min-max type player and you're hoping you get good roles so that you're not one-dimensional in a way, almost.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_00: So uh, I have one pro-con that's kind of a little bit of both.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: It's both pro and con, is you have a lot of decisions to make all along the path.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I remember going through that and it was like every level, it was like, oh man, I need to take a little bit of time outside of our session and dedicate to looking up what in the world I'm gonna do next.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, it's not a one and done decision for your whole character.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: You're gonna be making big decisions almost every level.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_01: I'm with Brett on that one.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_01: I've got it in both columns.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_01: So on the pro side, I call it like versatility, right?
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_01: You can build the character that you want, honestly.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_01: A warlock is a lot more complex and um multi-channel than I realized, but at the same time, it is a lot to keep track of.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_01: And some of those decisions, like your spells, um, your invocation, some of those things can be switched out throughout your path as a warlock as well.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_01: So if you're changing things out, it's just a lot to kind of stay on top of.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, one of the pros that I that I noticed, which which for a spellcaster is quite interesting, is you do have some proficiency in both armor and some weapons.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_03: Wizards, other spell casters do not have that proficiency.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_03: So that that is kind of nice that you're able to do some free casting, if you will, uh, with a wide range of spells, but still able to use and get in there and do some fighting, maybe not with your spell list.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_00: And outside of spells, you can pick and adapt your warlock to be your style of play.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: If you want to be a major spellcaster, you can do that.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: But if you want to go more melee combat, you can have a warlock that does that type of that type of damage, just depending on some of the choices you make even early on.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_03: True.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_03: And I and I think that's a a a route that most people don't take is like a melee-based player that supports themselves with spells.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_03: That would be a very interesting character build to not be fire off Eldric Blast first thing, but rather, you know, throw a punch, hit with a crossbow, and then Eldric Blast to finish something off.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_03: So I think it would be more of a shock trooper, if you will.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_01: I think that some of these options that we're gonna talk about here in a little bit will really open that up because I didn't realize that either, that you could really build a warlock as a melee fighter, but even if you're taking the spellcaster approach, it's still not as glass cannon-y as some of the other like a wizard is or a sorcery.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you're a little more beefy.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I we've touched on this kind of already, but quick build-wise, uh, we've hit it right.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_01: Charisma, number one, spell casting, number two, constitution.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_01: You gotta be a little bit beefy.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_01: Do you guys see anything else in the quick build that kind of caught your attention?
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_03: Not particularly.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_03: I I I mean, so it's interesting in the quick build that you know they they do tell you take this first, take this second, which which is the whole point of the quick build, of course.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_03: You would not necessarily have to be if you would rather play like a ranged spell caster, you could choose to take wisdom or intelligence as your second one instead of constitution and be that standard.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_03: I I mean, you how how often do we use Eldric Blast from 60, 80 feet out because it has a range of 120 feet, or I'm until you pick up the Eldritch invocation that lets you hit 300.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_01: Right, exactly.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_03: So so you can be that ranged spellcaster without having to be sitting in the middle of the battle and taking constitution.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_03: If you want to be up there where the fight's happening, sure, you need to take constitution.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_03: But I I think we've we've touched on this too, is like that's the great thing so far about this class is that it's it's really whatever you want it to make it be.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_03: And it's very adaptable to those situations.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_00: I would I would push back on that a little bit though.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_00: I would say constitution needs to be your number two uh because a lot of your spells, especially the ones that have um a concentration associated with it, you have to concentrate on it, and those a lot of times will require a constitution saving throw um as associated with that spell.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_00: And so you need to have a beefy constitution in order to keep those concentration spells rolling.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_01: I also think that it's good to have a high concentration, even if you are going to be a spellcaster, maybe you're not gonna take the role of a ranged spellcaster.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of spells have touch requirements, and you have to be in the fray.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and that kind of leads us into there are so many different um ways you can build your character.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and especially with some of the early on decisions that you have to make with a warlock, um, especially choosing your patron.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Phil, I know you've been diving into um at least some of the early the player's handbook and the uh basic rules.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: What options are there for patrons?
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_01: So if you're just looking at your basic rule options, uh so the free stuff, right?
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_01: You get one.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_01: And we hit on this briefly earlier.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_01: It's a fiend.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um, in essence, a a devil or a demon, a high-powered one that you've entered into this contract with.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_01: You expand out to the player's handbook and then you open up the paths of the Arch Fey.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_01: So Fey, um, fairies, pixies, the these types of creatures.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_01: Arch Fey, a pretty high level.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um, Queen of the Summer Court, something along those lines.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um, the Great Old One.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_01: This is the one that Ross had mentioned that is like an alien, or um, you can think of Lovecraftian things like Cthulhu.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_01: That's typically what people picture with the great old one.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_01: And then as you kind of expand out from there, you get a couple other options too.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_01: You would get some that are not necessarily evil-aligned, like we actually have a celestial, which is a good aligned creature.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um, the one warlock that I have played was bound to a celestial.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_01: It was Sleep Near, which is Odin's horse.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you get that right.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, yeah.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_01: That was what the pact was with.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um, then we've got a couple other options uh in Xanthers as well.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_01: So the Hexblade, um, if you go into Tasha's Cauldron of Everything, we've got the Fathomless and the Genie, which is what Ari was that Brett's been playing.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um, Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft has one that is the undead.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_01: And then in the Sword Coast Adventurers Guide, we have the undying as well.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_01: And that's it for patron.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_01: So not necessarily quite as many different choices there as you have, like, with your cleric, but basically the same numbers you would have with your bar path.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_03: I I think it's interesting though, that it's like we you need to make a distinction between patron and deity.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_03: Deities typically almost always refer to gods.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_03: And when you're talking clerics paladins, your deity is gonna be a god.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_03: But when it comes to warlocks, a patron may not be a god.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_03: Most fiends are not gods in their own right, but they can certainly do things to make a claim on you, slip near.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, any of those options.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_03: Like they they obviously made a bargain with you to share power with you in return for something, right?
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_03: So it what it boils down to is a deal.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_03: Um let's talk a little bit about pack magic, um, which is effectively it's different.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_00: It is.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's not your normal spellcaster.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you're using your your patron has given you these gifts, and it's so it's not necessarily inside of you.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: It's they have equipped you to be able to do this.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_00: It's not innately in your character.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_01: One of the things that I found most interesting about it too, and it actually came up as one of my cons that I didn't mention earlier, is because that power is kind of channeled through you, your number of spell slots is a lot lower than some of the other classes.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my god, this is but it's two-sided, right?
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_01: Because you recover all of them during a short rest or a long rest, and that is not true for all magical classes.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_00: No, so if you're a DM and you have a warlock in your party, expect your your warlock to want to short rest all the time.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_00: After every uh hint of battle or hint of anything remotely exciting, the warlock's gonna want to take a quick nap.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_03: So so I have an interesting situation for you because of that whole setup, that magic being channeled through you through this patron, could the D at the DM's discretion say that your patron refuses to channel that magic through you?
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, I feel like you could if you're an asshole, but yeah.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_03: I think that would be like a cool situation where like if you you want to do something that your patron does not want you to do and he just says, No, I do sorry.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_00: I would say I would say no.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_00: I would go against that because I think the the patron has equipped this with you, and after that point, you maybe have a little bit of um requirements to meet the the the uh contract that you maybe signed with that patron.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_00: They've given it to you.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_00: Their their hold over you is different than maybe a paladin where you have to abide by their rulings.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_03: I would say it depends on how you're playing the character.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_03: Oh yeah.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_03: Because if you're fighting against your patron, I think that option becomes more viable.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_01: It is interesting though, because Brett's right, like divine magic is a gift, like completely channeled through you.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_01: You have to have that connection with the deity.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_01: But uh I don't know.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_01: I honestly when you're inter interview, a pact, a contract, right?
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_01: For what?
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_01: Sure, they might have you do some tasks, but if you don't do the task, have you nullified your contract?
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_00: That's something maybe you need to speak to your DM about.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, oh yeah, for sure.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_03: I think there could be some fun ways to play.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_03: It wouldn't be something you'd use all the time, where it's like every time the DM didn't want you to do something, you say no.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_03: But I think there could be some situations you get in where that would be a fun hook.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_00: I think it would have to be pretty blatant against your relationship with your patron.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_03: Correct.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_03: And I think if you're playing a warlock, you're probably not doing it to fight against what you're picking either.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I think so on the DM side, right?
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_01: If you if Ari decided to blatantly start going against his deity, what I would do is have your deity throw distractions at you.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_01: They would start sending enemies towards you, either other warlocks that are following the correct path or elementals, since you're like the genie version, like elementals or something like that, to put in your path to get you back on track.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_01: That's probably the route I would go.
• 18:03
  unknown: Right.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_03: And the and the interesting thing is in in other classes, they've thought of things like that, because that would be where if the paladin's going against his deity, he becomes an oathbreaker.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_03: So so there's there's Wizards of the Coast has thought of some of these things already as well.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so if we jump back to the packs a little bit, um, there's three big packs that you have to pick from.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Pact of the Blade, which is like you get this magic weapon that you can summon, pull out anytime you need.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Pact of the Chain, which is a really fun one because you get a familiar.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_01: What's a familiar for people that aren't familiar?
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_00: Ah, I see what you did then.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_01: That's right.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, you're that's not rhetorical.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_03: No, no, that was a lot of things.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_03: It's like a creature that that you can talk to and have and be with you.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's a pet, yeah.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_03: It's your buddy.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so like you get a pick a lot of like your types of familiars, and there's a lot of different things that you can play through them, you can see through them.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_00: Uh lots of fun there.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then also pact of the tome, uh, which primarily gives you extra um cantrips?
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, extra cantrips to be able to use at any time, which is very powerful.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, agreed.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_01: And they don't count against what your original spell, like your cantrip total is as well.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_01: So I think that's a huge boon as well.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_01: There is what a fourth one that's not in the player's handbook.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_01: So if you're looking at supplemental material, um Tasha's Cauldron of Everything has one more.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_01: It's a pack of the Talisman.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_01: It's more about adding um like a bonus.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_01: You get like to add a D4 to a role, potentially.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah, and that one is also very powerful.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_00: Based on, especially later on, you could do upgrade that pact and add features to it, and then it gets really strong.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_01: So the only other thing I think that's kind of in the wizard realm, or excuse me, the warlock realm that we haven't hit on yet are the eldritch invocations.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_01: And they're a lot, right?
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_00: We cannot cover them all here.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_00: No chance.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_00: No.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but I would say a huge chunk of them start and end with boosting eldritch blast, which is one of your cantrips that you should take.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_00: So you can use it as much as you want, and it just beats down enemies.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_01: But I think it's a cantrip, right?
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_01: So you can cast it at level one, and it already does one d10 damage at level one.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_01: And then the stronger you get, the more damage it does.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_01: You can take eldritch invocations to expand your range.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_01: Um what else is even in there?
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_00: You can push people, pull people, uh hit them from further range.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you can um boost it boost it straight up so you get extra damage to every blast of it.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_00: Further on into higher levels, you get additional rays that you blast out or additional blasts from the elders blast.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_00: It does a lot.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_03: And as a cantrip, doesn't use a spell slot.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_00: Even though you get them back on a short rest, it doesn't use a spell slot.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_03: Correct.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_00: So why use a weapon when you can elders blast?
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_00: You can do both.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_03: Because you still occasionally want to punch somebody in the face.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_03: Axe to face still counts.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_00: I would say one of the most important uh eldritch invocations, though, is agonizing blast.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and that's when you cast eldritch blast, add five damage on a hit.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_00: Over a campaign, that is gonna add up to a lot of damage.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_01: It adds your charisma modifier according to the player's handbook.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, okay.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_01: But you were that high enough level that yours was plus five.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_00: Uh yeah, yeah.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I boosted up.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_00: But also, charisma's gonna be your highest score anyway.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_00: So it's gonna do uh heavy additional damage over the entire campaign.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_02: Alright, boys, final thoughts on the warlock.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_01: Honestly, looking into it, I still think it's a good option for a new player.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_01: And that's kind of what I go back to, right?
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_01: Like, could you get into this character as a new player?
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_01: And my answer is yes.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_01: It comes with a caveat of, you know, there's a lot to keep track of here.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_01: But what I like about this class for a new player is that they can make a warlock the way they want them to be.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_00: Even if you have two warlocks at the table that are following the same patron, they can be completely different from each other.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_00: There's so many decisions all throughout the the levels that you your paths can diverge greatly.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I would say it's good for an entry-level player, but I think you need to um know that when you're picking this, you're gonna have to make some decisions.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, one tip I would also give try, I would not suggest filling one of these, building a character on paper for a warlock.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_00: There's just too many choices.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_00: Go to D and Dndbeyond.com, use that to build your character.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_00: There's just so many choices, even just within the core core rules, that it's gonna make it a lot easier for you, especially if you add in additional rule books and stuff.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_00: There's just a lot to pick from, and it's far easier um on the computer.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, the only thing I I would really add to what both of you guys said is that this is the first, and and Brett, you hit it a little bit.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_03: This is the first class we've talked about where you have a myriad of options.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_03: So if you're looking for something where you have lots of choices to make and you want to read through three, four pages of stuff just to pick from, this is the character.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_03: And like Brett said, I think he's absolutely right.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_03: Don't do this one on paper.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_03: You're gonna do a lot of writing, a lot of adding, and figuring out what dice and making notes on notes, picking out spells, and just DD Beyond is your place to be for that one.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_03: So uh anyway, that's gonna do it for this episode of Bards and Barrels.
• 23:35
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• 23:38
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, we're gonna be dropping bonus content on our Facebook page here soon.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_03: I know we've been plugging that for a couple episodes, but it is coming, I promise.
• 23:45
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• 23:53
  SPEAKER_03: We'll see you soon.