I was building a Fiend Warlock who took 2 levels fighter for heavy armor and action surge. My whole gimmick was casting fire shield and Armor of Agathys on myself and being a front line tank, and replacing my temp HP with the 1st level feature
@@ivan5265 You can only get temp HP from one source at a time. If you already have temp HP and get a kill with a fiend pact warlock, you will need to either keep the temp HP you have or replace it with the new temp HP.
Sup, I’m INCREDIBLY new to dnd, your build sounds very cool, fun, and good But can I ask why you wouldn’t go hexblade warlock? They’re the up close, melee warlock, correct?
iirc patrons can’t take away warlock powers once they’re given, that’s more of a cleric thing. Pissing off your patron will instead likely lead to a ton of hell monsters being sent your way.
@@theuncalledfor it did in previous editions, as past a certain level, clerical powers are boons directly gifted from one’s god. So iirc it was above 3rd level spells, as 1st through 3rd were fueled directly by faith, and the mid-tier spells were channeled through the god’s angels, with the final tiers being literal divine interventions, including the actual divine intervention. Warlock powers, on the other hand, were gifts that were tied to one’s soul and couldn’t be stripped by normal means and usually contracts couldn’t do so since they were a more permanent magic. The main drawback was the inability to level up as your patron was no longer gifting power.
@@jemm113 To be fair, This is all very dependent on setting. Some D&D settings keep the question of if gods exist ambiguous, others simply justify clerical magic as magic built upon faith rather then knowledge.
@@Mister-Thirteen true, plus this is basically now DM fiat since any particular rules about it were stripped between editions, so it’s best to just figure it out on a campaign-by-campaign basis. Clerics could be easy enough, restrict to [X] level you feel is appropriate for penitent clerics looking for favor back, while ones that go full turncoat for another god just get to switch domains, maybe as a temp drawback take away their domain spells until rest or a ritual is performed. For warlocks it’s entirely dependent on the patron and the pact itself. GOOlocks can probably get levels in perpetuity as long as the eldritch abomination doesn’t get funny eyes staring directly at them. Whereas fiend pacts will likely be to the letter of the law for Devils, lots of contractual disputes from Yugoloths looking for a quick buck (err, soul), and demons are not to be trusted, they’ll just eat you! Celestial pacts likely work like clerics but you keep the magic you got, hope you like your invocation choices! Also Paladins likely just lose their spells, maybe their other magic and turn into glorified fighters, assuming they didn’t go full Oathbreaker or Conquest. Also Paladin oaths can likely change. Any protection-based paladin, like the crown, would likely go full Vengeance in a heartbeat if they fail to protect their ward!
Fun little note about Fiend Warlocks. They may just have the potential for one of the most powerful non-multiclass "novas" in the game. What you do is play a Custom Lineage or Variant Human and grab the Metamagic Adept feat (Quickened Spell) and go Pact of the Blade. Grab the Improved Pact Weapon, Lifedrinker, and Eldritch Smite invocations, and grab either Booming Blade or Green-Flame Blade cantrip (we'll go Green-Flame Blade because it's more thematic). Since the combo comes online at 14th level we'll assume point buy and say we put our ASI's into maxing Charisma, and getting Dex to an 18. Finally, we wanna make sure we picked up Mental Prison as our 6th level Mystic Arcanum spell. To start the combo cast Mental Prison as our action, it's an Int save and with our Cha at a 20 there's a really good chance they fail. On a fail, the target takes 5d10 psychic damage and is surrounded by an illusory threat. If they are moved out of the area, they immediately take another 10d10 psychic damage. That wording is key because it means they can be forcibly moved and still take the damage, and that they don't have to be moved through the illusion, just out of it, meaning teleportation still triggers the damage. So, action cast Mental Prison. Assuming they fail, cast Green-Flame Blade as a bonus action using Quickened Spell, thanks to your Metamagic Adept feat. When you hit (we'll assume you're using a rapier) expend a spell slot to use Eldritch Smite, and you'll deal 1d8+5 piercing + 5 necrotic + 2d8 fire + 6d8 force damage. Additionally, when you hit with an attack, you can trigger your Hurl Through Hell ability. When you trigger Hurl Through Hell, the creature is teleported out of it's space and sent hurtling through the hells for one turn, dealing 10d10 psychic damage and subsequently triggering the secondary damage of Mental Prison (10d10 psychic damage). Bringing the full total of this combo to a whopping *25d10+9d8+10 damage* in a single turn. (At 17th level when Green-Flame Blade scales up for the final time, the total comes out to 25d10+10d8+10 damage. And if you REALLY wanna multiclass to get the most out of your nova, and have the stats to do so, go 2 levels into Paladin to get Divine Smite, then pump a max level Divine Smite into the attack as well.)
It would have to be quickened spell mystic arcanum because spellcasting rules (at least in RAW, maybe your table lets you switch them round) but otherwise very cool
@@beantownbanshees Not sure what you mean. Nothing in the casting rules prevents you from casting a levelled spell as an action, then a cantrip as a bonus action. If you're referring to the part where Green-Flame Blade includes a melee weapon attack to work, that melee weapon attack is made as part of the spell, so casting rules still apply just like they would for any other cantrip. Quickened Spell works with Green-Flame Blade and Booming Blade just fine. Yes, you could still Quickened Spell your Mental Prison, but if they do manage to save against it then you've wasted your Sorcery Points. Better to attempt Mental Prison normally as an action first, then if it works you use Quickened Spell to cast Green-Flame Blade.
If you want an interesting backstory for your Fiend Warlock, have their pact be with a Erinyes that they thought was an angel. That can lead to some pretty interesting roleplay moments. Also it could be fun trying to redeem the Erinyes so that it turns back into an angel. If your DM always it, you would turn from a Fiend Warlock into a Celestial Warlock.
despite being such a basic subclass that came with the main rulebook and pretty much the reference for all the subclasses that came after, the Fiend is probably one of the best, both from a mechanic and a narrative point of view, something that not even the Hexblade has achieved. as a warlock enjoyer, i think the Fiend and Celestial are without a doubt the two best subclasses for warlock, with Genie and Archfey being really close to the third place. they just have the perfect balance between combat usefulness and roleplay potential.
The Fiend Pact Warlock - bringing multi level marketing to D&D worlds since 5e. Of course, the up-line gets your soul and the down-line just gets a death ward for signing your book but hey just give it time and if you play your cards right you will get a gold coin… (whispers) or turned into a soul coin.
if you're a warlock you don't lose your powers from going against your patron, you just don't gain more powers. this class isn't a cleric where they do lose their power from going against your god
I actually have a build of a Totem Barbarian Feind Warlock that doesn't care about the fine print. He was given a nasty curse of immortality where every time he died, he is reborn in a painful way of fire and brimstone, similar to the pain of Hurl Through Hell, as well as reliving the pain of every past death he has ever had. And he's been going through this for 1000 years. He is just desperate for a way to break the curse so he can finally die. So he eventually made a deal with a sexy She-Devil to grant him power to find and kill the one that put the curse on him, so that he can be free from his mortal suffering. Sure, he may have sold his soul, but hey, it can't be worse than what he has right now.
Recently dreamed up a character whose parents are a high ranking devil for a father and a powerful archfey as a mother. Most of his backstory is describing divorce court proceedings he witnessed between two extremely detailed-oriented negotiators and how BOTH are his warlock patrons and basically give him powers and boons so that they can be the favorite parent. lol
A concept for a Fiend Warlock that I've often had was not of a pact my character signed into willingly, but was rather forced into by some ancient deal his family made with some ancient demon/devil. He was granted these fiendish powers, but is forever haunted by dark dreams/nightmares and his patrons sinister voice tempting/coercing him to commit dark deeds, and forever scared with a demonic visage (ie, he's a Tiefling). Thus he finds himself in a constant struggle against his patron as he strives to do good in the world. To add to this, I'd multi-class him with Vengeance Paladin whose main goal is to find some way to free himself and his family from the dark pact. Also, yeah, He'd have Pact of the Blade obviously. Though, given that, I often wondered... what would happen if a Paladin/Warlock were to take the Holy Avenger... and make it their Pact Weapon? A holy weapon, granted to you by the gods... and immediately... you infuse it with dark magic. That said though, I am partly tempted for Pact of the Tome. Mainly for a particular cantrip, one that nearly mimics the Hexblades core feature. The cantrip... Shillelagh. Note the spell says you can use your Spellcasting Ability for attack and damage, it doesn't specify Wisdom despite being a Druid only spell. The Tome makes it a Warlock spell however, so can use Charisma instead. ;)
I love these videos you make, they are awesome man. I’ve watched videos before explaining how these things work for hours like studying for a class and have sometimes ended up being confused by the end and either having to do my own research or rewatch the video, lol. But you, you put a great twist on explaining these subclasses that makes it fun and entertaining to watch. You are also quick and concise which is awesome as well. I’ve even sent a few of my newer players these videos before to watch because of what I stated above. Anyways just thought I’d throw this in here to show my appreciation, hope you keep up the great work and can’t wait to watch the next video you release 👍
Yougoloths varies in appearance more than the demons and scheme batter than devils while technically being capable of redemption despite what they say. There is a lot of potential there.
Unrelated to the video, but I have a cool race of six-armed humanoids called silklings in my DnD campaign. Related to the video, I think their green veins and porcelain white carapace, along with six eyes and literal bone buzzsaws in amongst their mandibles would be so cool with a demonic, feindish astetic, and I am considering letting one become a fiend warlock. Usually they just use six shortswords and hyper endurance to have a guard nigh impenetrable by most creatures, but having them spare a couple hands for casting is a really cool idea too.
I absolutely love this class. But maybe I'm a noob but I can't get behind Arcane Abeyance. Only lasts an hour so you need to know the exact spell you want to put in there and give it to the right person at the right time. Yeah you can give everyone a Familiar like this but that's too meta/power gamey for my taste
My character in a Wildemount Campaign is Fairy Fiend Warlock whose Patron is a female Arch-Fiend class Succubus who personality wise is inspired by Morrigan from Darkstalkers aka my character's patron isn't evil she's just mischievous, fun-loving, loves a good fight, and is very very flirty and will pretty much hit on/have sex with anyone regardless of race or gender she's attracted to. And their pact is a "Soul Pact" aka the fine print of their contract states the soul of my character's patron inhabits my character's body alongside my character's soul meaning it's now a case of two souls inhabiting one body with the two of them alternating control of the body and being able to speak via mental communication to each other.
Hey man, you should do the GIANT Barbarian. Recently made a character in that subclass and it is a BADASS character. I think you would really enjoy talking about it and describing it.
I really liked the power of Fiendlock without being able to think of a good way to bring in the Fiend part, so I reflavored it from Fiend Pact to Dragon Pact.
I'd really love to see a video on the Peace Cleric from Tasha's, it's the lesser known cousin of the Twilight Cleric's overpowered domain, and I'd just like to hear more people discuss it. Another fun one could be the Zealot Barbarian from Xanathar's, if for no other reason than their feature where they just stop dying. Love the videos! You're great!
Great video been binge-watching the channel. Slight correction though. Warlocks cannot by RAW have their powers stripped from them. Because Warlocks are not given their powers they are taught them by their patron. Now nothing says a fiendish Patron can't put a clause in the contract that says they can steal this knowledge back. Erasing the memory of how for example. But not all warlocks operate in a traditional Faustian bargain.
I played a Level 20 one shot as a Fiendlock Winged Tiefling with Eldritch Spear, Agonizing Blast, Spell Sniper, and Forewarning. Also grabbed the book that icnreases Charisma past 20 I was flying 500 ft in the air shooting four beams of Eldritch Blast, +16 To Hit, with advantage, each dealing 1d10+6, every turn
Fiendlock, the #1 reason for not taking armor of agathys in BG3. Unless they changed it in a patch so that your piddling temp HP from a kill doesn't override your beefy agathys temp hp.
I was running a high level one shot where my players were fighting Mordekaiser from League of Legends. Had a player use Hurl Through Hell after Mord had gotten his passive aura up and one of the only ways to get rid of it was for him to not hit anything for a turn. It was fucking hilarious.
It's hard to argue with the Fiend being effective. Though it might've been more thematic to go with Pact of the Chain on this one. Pact of the Tome is very appropriate for the Great Old One, in my opinion. No, I'm not just saying that because my first Warlock was a Pact of the Tome GOOlock. That would be silly.
I still have a stupid warlock and barbarian build in my back pocket. Just take non-concentration spells and use pact weapon just constantly getting temp hp on top of taking half damage
The only other TTRPG I know well enough to do a video is pathfinder and it unfortunately doesn't really translate into the kind of content I do. If you have an idea of something you's like to see shout it out and I can look it over!
actually, Warlock powers CANT be "stripped away" the warlock can be punished, killed, torn to pieces, etc etc etc. but the Patron isn't ACTIVELY giving the warlock power. They have allowed the warlock some use of their power, and that power isn't "revocable" in the same way that a cleric's magic might be if they go against their church, or a paladin's powers are if they break their oath. basically, if a warlock goes rogue, the Patron generally can't flick a switch and turn off the power. All they can do is use THEIR power to hunt down the rogue warlock and exact whatever retribution they desire.
My DM is currently punishing me through roleplay for being a fiendlock. Apparently it’s very obvious and people don’t like those that make pacts with Abyssals.
