Playing with DnD5 Characters – Sample 6th Level Warlock

A Warlock is a spellcasting class that derives its power from a pact with an otherworldly creature. Most of these builds scream “lawful evil at best” to me, but a few are possible without going full-on Belkar.

I mean, seriously: the patron choices are a Fiend, freakin’ Cthulhu, and an Archfae. 

Of the three, at least the archfae isn’t looking at a automatic “head straight to hell, or an alternate hell dimension” card. But all three could potentially be played with a great amount of roleplaying depth. 

In fact, since my games would tend to be “no PvP” style, the best that I’d allow would likely be something like the relationship Harry Dresden has with Leanansidhe, Mab, or even Lasciel – both are very powerful, but Harry (mostly) always struggles against the pull to selfishness and evil. 

Mostly.

In any case, the fiend seems to have the most overtly offensive bent to it, so we’ll go with that one.

Race, Class, and Background


Charisma is the power stat for the Warlock, and CON is the backup. The Warloc gets d8 HP, so punching high levels of CON isn’t super-critical, but it will be nonetheless useful. HP are always useful.

There’s no fighting style, and at least Pact of the Blade requires some melee ability, so STR perhaps shouldn’t be entirely neglected. But I could really use high AC, and if my pact weapon is a finesse weapon, I can focus on DEX with no penalty. I will choose to do so. Since I want CHA, CON, and DEX at my own choice, the obvious way to go here is half-elf.

Given the bonuses and stat advance at 4th level, I put the 16 in CHA (boosting it to 18 due to half-elf), the 15 to CON. The potential need for DEX is driven by the pact weapon and AC. WIS and INT are important for the many useful skills they drive, so my fourth level extra score is INT, simply due to the skills I want (more INT than WIS, for now).

In any case:

STR 11 (+0); DEX 16 (+3); CON 16 (+3); INT 14 (+2); WIS 13 (+1); CHA 18 (+4)

Saving throws are boosted for WIS (+4) and CHA (+7).

Skills


I went with an interesting background, perhaps. An outlander/outcast, “literally” raised by wolves, respectful and tied to nature, with premonitions of a looming disaster. That is likely what led him to make a pact with the fiend. Frankly, Archfey would be a better fit for this RPG background. I chose fiend simply because of the access to more destructive spells as a part of this exercise. The Fey would be more fun to play.

Skill boosts went to Arcana (+5), Athletics (+3), Deception (+7), Intimidation (+7), Nature (+5), and Survival (+4). The CHA-based skills not specifically selected are also at +4, and the remainder of INT and WIS driven are of course at +1 or +2, WIS-bases scores can easily rise to +2 by allocating the next stat boost there as +1, with STR to 12 to make all other stats even numbers. From there on out, either a Feat or +2 to a single score are the way to go.

Invocations


Spells and powers are at the central core of the Warlock, of course, but this one is different, as all of the somewhat limited spell slots for a Warlock recover every short rest, and those slots are always of the highest level. In this case, as a 6th level Warlock, there are but two spell slots, at 3rd level. You know seven spells of up to 3rd level, plus 3 invocations and another 3 cantrips.

Eldritch Invocations seem to be tricky beasts, but mostly they’re abilities rather than spells, as such.

Armor of Shadows allows Mage Armor at will, without expending a spell slot. Theoretically, then, one can have it on basically all the time. This makes the base AC 16, equal to many Rangers.

For the invocations, then, Agonzing Blast seems a given – +4 CHA to every eldritch blast is pretty cool. Armor of Shadows for the boost it gives to AC, and Thirsting Blade because two attacks are better than one, and with the Rapier as the pact weapon, that’s not awful.

Combat


We’ll get to spells proper in a moment. 

• AC 16 due to Armor of Shadows and DEX 16. DEX 18 would make this AC 17 more or less all the time, which is respectable
• HP 51 – equal to any other non front-line fighter that hits up d8 for hit dice and CON 16, which seems to be a thing with me in this exercise. Even a d10 fighter with CON 16 really gets only 7 HP more (+2 at 1st level for the d10 vs d8, and 5 more for the average +1 for the d10 hit die each level after the first). 
• Attacks: two attacks given Thirsting Blade, with the Pact weapon. Each is 1d20+6 and will do 1d8+4 damage. That ranges from 10-24 per turn with a rapier. You can also create a Pact longbow, which will roll also at 1d20+6 and 1d8+4 damage, twice per turn, to reasonable distance. Not bad. You are proficient with whatever weapon you create with your pact, so I don’t think you are restricted to simple weapons here.

That’s the mundane version. If you find a magical weapon and wish to turn it into your pact weapon, you can do so – but I strongly suspect that the “you can make whatever weapon you like” feature goes away if you bind your pact to the magical weapon. At that point, your ability to use a longbow goes away, and if you want to do any ranged mundane work, you’re looking at shortbows, darts, etc.

Spells


You get seven spells and three cantrips. All spells are cast at 3rd level, and you get two per short rest.

Cantrips

• Eldritch Blast – because of course. Two 1d10+4 beams, same target or different ones. Range 120′. With a spell this potent, you might even consider forgoing the Pact of the Blade and picking something more interesting. You don’t need to swing a sword twice when you can do 2d10+8 each turn to 120′ with a cantrip.
• Blade Ward – Half damage vs. mundane types. Longevity is good, if you’re pressed. This burns your action, though – it’s strictly a delaying move and precludes an active offense. It might let you fend off an attack of opportunity as you run the heck away from a potent melee fighter.
• Chill Touch – 2d8 necrotic to 120′; target can’t regenerate HP until next turn, which is useful vs. some monsters and fighters with Second Wind.

Spells

Remember that you get two per short rest, both at 3rd level. Seven spells may be known.

• Fireball (3rd) – standard fiery boom. 8d6 in a 20′ radius.
• Vampiric Touch (3rd) – take 3d6 HP from a target you can touch and give them to yourself.
• Magic Circle (3rd) – Not offensive, but a key defense against the very beings you made your pact with. Might be handy.
• Scorching Ray (2nd) – cast as a 3rd level spell, 4 beams of 2d6 each. A bit more precise than fireball if friendly fire (so to speak) is an issue.
• Invisibility (2nd) – always good to pass unseen
• Hellish Rebuke (1st) – 4d10 fire if a creature that hits you fails a DEX save, on a reaction. Half damage on a successful save, which is nice in either case.
• Witch Bolt (1st) – 3d12 instant lightning damage if you hit with a ranged spell attack. You can continue to do 1d12 per turn without additional rolls to hit afterwards.

The Warlock is a very, very interesting class. Not a huge spell list, but enough spells can be known to provide for versatility, especially if pure combat is not your goal. Good enough AC and HP that you’re not a pushover, though again, a front-line fighter like a champion or ranger you are not.

Further Reading


Check out this analysis and description of the 5e Warlock over on Tribality.