Much like sorcerers, a warlock draws their magic from an ancestral bloodline of great power. However, a warlock seldom has the discipline to dedicate the time and effort to channel this power into spells. By releasing burst of raw magical power, warlocks tax their bodies to bring great harm to their enemies. Some warlocks even sacrifice their very health and overdraw on their soul to empower their attacks.
Though they don’t learn spells, once a warlock manages to force arcane energies into a specific shape, the energy flow burns a permanent path into their body, creating an invocation. By invoking their bloodline through this path, a warlock can consistently create a powerful esoteric effect.
Role
Warlocks are best known for focusing entirely on offense. Though they have numerous defensive options, few warlocks are willing to focus on defenses when they could be improving their damage output. A warlock almost always takes the role of a ranged attacker with a small number of supporting magics, though they have the ability to fill other roles when specialized.
Alignment
A warlock’s alignment is usually chaotic and often evil, but a warlock can be of any alignment. Warlocks are rarely ever lawful, as their disdain for order and structured magic is often what leads them to becoming warlocks in the first place.
| Base Attack Bonus | Fort Save | Ref Save | Will Save | Special | Invocations | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Known | Max Level | ||||||
| 1st | +0 | +0 | +0 | +2 | Eldritch blast (1d10), knacks | — | — |
| 2nd | +1 | +0 | +0 | +3 | Invocations | 1 | 1st |
| 3rd | +2 | +1 | +1 | +3 | Eldritch grace | 2 | 1st |
| 4th | +3 | +1 | +1 | +4 | Mystic arcanum | 2 | 1st |
| 5th | +3 | +1 | +1 | +4 | Eldritch resistance | 3 | 2nd |
| 6th | +4 | +2 | +2 | +5 | Eldritch blast ×2 (1d10) | 4 | 2nd |
| 7th | +5 | +2 | +2 | +5 | Mystic arcanum | 4 | 2nd |
| 8th | +6/+1 | +2 | +2 | +6 | — | 5 | 3rd |
| 9th | +6/+1 | +3 | +3 | +6 | Soulburn (1d4) | 6 | 3rd |
| 10th | +7/+2 | +3 | +3 | +7 | Mystic arcanum | 6 | 3rd |
| 11th | +8/+3 | +3 | +3 | +7 | Eldritch blast ×3 (1d10) | 7 | 4th |
| 12th | +9/+4 | +4 | +4 | +8 | Soulburn (1d6) | 8 | 4th |
| 13th | +9/+4 | +4 | +4 | +8 | Mystic arcanum | 8 | 4th |
| 14th | +10/+5 | +4 | +4 | +9 | — | 9 | 5th |
| 15th | +11/+6/+1 | +5 | +5 | +9 | Soulburn (1d8) | 10 | 5th |
| 16th | +12/+7/+2 | +5 | +5 | +10 | Eldritch blast ×4 (1d10), mystic arcanum | 10 | 5th |
| 17th | +12/+7/+2 | +5 | +5 | +10 | — | 11 | 6th |
| 18th | +13/+8/+3 | +6 | +6 | +11 | Soulburn (1d10) | 12 | 6th |
| 19th | +14/+9/+4 | +6 | +6 | +11 | Mystic arcanum | 12 | 6th |
| 20th | +15/+10/+5 | +6 | +6 | +12 | Eldritch master | 13 | 6th |
Class Skills (2 + Int modifier per level): Arcane Lore, Deception, Insight, Intimidate, Profession, and Theology.
Starting Wealth: Average (2d6 × 10 gp, Average 70 gp)
Class Features
Weapon and Armor Proficiency
A Warlock is proficient with Basic weapons plus any one other weapon group of your choice. They are proficient with light armor but not with shields.
If not using weapon groups, a Warlock is proficient with simple weapons.
Invocations
A warlock casts invocations which are drawn from the warlock invocation list. You learn the eldritch blast invocation at 1st level as a bonus invocation known.
At 2nd level, you gain one 1st-level warlock invocation of your choice. When you gain certain warlock levels, you gain additional invocations of your choice and can select higher level invocations, as shown on Table: The Warlock.
To learn or cast an invocation, you must have a Charisma score equal to at least 10 + the invocation level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against your warlock invocations is 10 + the invocation level + your Charisma modifier.
Upon reaching 5th level, and at every odd-numbered warlock level after that (7th, 9th, and so on), you can choose to learn a new invocation in place of one you already know. In effect, you “lose” the old invocation in exchange for the new one. The new invocation’s level must be no more than one level higher than that of the invocation being exchanged, and it must be at least one level lower than the highest-level warlock invocation you can cast. You may swap only a single invocation at any given level, and must choose whether or not to swap the invocation at the same time that you gain new invocations known for the level.
Knacks
At 1st level, you learn a number of simple spell-like abilities called knacks. You know a number of knacks equal to your Charisma bonus (minimum 1). If your Charisma bonus increases, you learn additional knacks. If it decreases, you lose access to knacks that you know.
Knacks mimic 0-level spells and may be used at will. You may select your knacks known from the following list.
Acid Splash, Arcane Mark, Bleed, Dancing Lights, Daze, Detect Magic, Detect Poison, Disrupt Undead, Flare, Ghost Sound, Light, Mage Hand, Mending, Message, Open/Close, Prestidigitation, Ray of Frost, Read Magic, Resistance, Spark, Touch of Fatigue, ZapEldritch Grace
At 3rd level, select Fortitude, Reflex, or Will saves. You gain a bonus equal to your Charisma bonus (if any) on saving throws of the selected type.
Mystic Arcanum
At 4th level and every 3 levels thereafter, you unlock an esoteric ability called a mystic arcanum. These abilities may be used at will, unless specified otherwise.
List of Warlock Mystic Arcanum
Eldritch Resistance
Starting at 5th level, you gain spell resistance equal to your class level + your Charisma modifier.
Soulburn
When you reach 9th level, you learn to overdraw on your magical reserves to empower your eldritch blast. When you cast eldritch blast, you can take 1 point of Constitution burn as a free action to deal an additional 1d4 damage to each target struck by your attack. If multiple beams strike the same target, that creature only takes this additional damage once. You can only use this ability once each time you cast eldritch blast.
This extra damage increases to 1d6 at 12th level, to 1d8 at 15th level, and to 1d10 at 18th level.
Eldritch Master
By 20th level, your magic has been tested time and again only to prove unwavering. Once per day, you can spend 1 minute focusing your magic to increase its potency. At the end of this minute, you gain a surge of arcane energy, gaining eldritch points equal to your Charisma score. The eldritch points you gain from this ability last until the next time you rest.
Each time you use soulburn, it consumes a number of these eldritch points equal to the Constitution burn you would normally take and prevents that damage. In addition, your soulburn deals in additional die of damage (2d10 rather than 1d10).