Hi I tried my hand at a Warlock Class, I liked the already made one but thought I would put my own twist on it.

neat. tons of cool ideas here!

wow so this is alot of text. lol. i talked alot about the problems i see and i didnt say much about the positive (there is lots of positive): no hard feelings these are just my first impressions and i like the core of what you got here alot (i love your spells):

1) it feels a bit thematically off for a warlock somehow. reading it i would have called this a cultist, or a demon preist or evil cleric. (maybe i have a different idea of what a warlock is) that is all fine, one man’s warlock is another man’s cultist i guess. I will touch on what feels off for me in the following points more.

2) feels alot like a wizard/cleric re-skin, just becuase of the spell list, the “forgetting spells”, the rituals, lore buffs and following the rules of a “diety”. that is ok but if slapping an evil alignment on a wizard almost achives the same result why need a warlock class. there is something which fundamentaly makes warlocks not wizards and not evil clerics and that should be the focus of the class. wizards- bunch of spells and lore, clerics- a god and holy power, warlock-?

3) the language needs work, some move descriptions are very long, are a little confusing or have triggers that aren’t clear and direct enough. on another note you have some moves- like ritual offering, that you need to prep for heavily, then you roll to see if it does anything at all. on a hit it gives you +1 forward and some Hold and a bunch of things to spend hold on and has a ton of conditions and some flavor … it just has too many effects and is too longwinded. the wizard ritual move is like 3 sentences long and is A more-useful B-easyer to use/reference in play and C-leaves blanks for story to happen. the language is how people interface with your playbook so this is a big point, if the player is spending 2 minutes studying and re-reading their moves like a scholar they will feel like a scholar instead of a warlock. (also if you tried to paste this onto a blank DW playbook it would never fit, your base starting moves alone would probably take up at least a page and a half maybe two)

4) your spells are very cool. your advanced moves are very cool. both together give the warlock strong social brute force and decent front line combat and effective ranged support and very strong summons. i think the balnce may be an issue. i havent played this class but i am thinking he is a little to good at everything. that summoned minion/hireling that acts as a cantrip would be fine as a core move but combined with all the other options/moves/buffs/spells it seems very strong to me. there are summoners and other warlock playbooks so again what is imortant about this warlock playbook? the summons? the spells?the moves?

Suggestion: i see a few options

1) put the bulk of the warlock’s awesome stuff in the spells list and make the warlock’s moves more about the warlock himself. eg. make the advanced moves about the guy and make the spells about his power- ex. move: force of personality: when you honestly reveal your nature to a crowd or individual roll +CHA on a hit they accept you for what you are on a 7-9 you are accepted but kept under close watch. Spell: enchant robes +2 armour.

2) get rid of the spells and focus the best effects into moves. makeing the warlock a Master of a few very adaptable spells/moves rather then the spell book carryng swiss army knife that is a wizard.

3)reduce and refine the hell outa what you got. get to the heart of what this class is and stress the fun bits. (play test a bunch)

Conclusion: needs some work. cool ideas. simplification and focus needed. their are playbooks for summoners and warlocks and wizards and mages and necromancers and hexblades: what makes this playbook diffrent? refine around that.

anyway my 2 cents. i am putting this in my playbook’s to try sometime file.

2 thoughts on “Hi I tried my hand at a Warlock Class, I liked the already made one but thought I would put my own twist on it.”

Zachary Groombridge says:

September 13, 2014 at 7:01 am

neat. tons of cool ideas here!

wow so this is alot of text. lol. i talked alot about the problems i see and i didnt say much about the positive (there is lots of positive): no hard feelings these are just my first impressions and i like the core of what you got here alot (i love your spells):

1) it feels a bit thematically off for a warlock somehow. reading it i would have called this a cultist, or a demon preist or evil cleric. (maybe i have a different idea of what a warlock is) that is all fine, one man’s warlock is another man’s cultist i guess. I will touch on what feels off for me in the following points more.

2) feels alot like a wizard/cleric re-skin, just becuase of the spell list, the “forgetting spells”, the rituals, lore buffs and following the rules of a “diety”. that is ok but if slapping an evil alignment on a wizard almost achives the same result why need a warlock class. there is something which fundamentaly makes warlocks not wizards and not evil clerics and that should be the focus of the class. wizards- bunch of spells and lore, clerics- a god and holy power, warlock-?

3) the language needs work, some move descriptions are very long, are a little confusing or have triggers that aren’t clear and direct enough. on another note you have some moves- like ritual offering, that you need to prep for heavily, then you roll to see if it does anything at all. on a hit it gives you +1 forward and some Hold and a bunch of things to spend hold on and has a ton of conditions and some flavor … it just has too many effects and is too longwinded. the wizard ritual move is like 3 sentences long and is A more-useful B-easyer to use/reference in play and C-leaves blanks for story to happen. the language is how people interface with your playbook so this is a big point, if the player is spending 2 minutes studying and re-reading their moves like a scholar they will feel like a scholar instead of a warlock. (also if you tried to paste this onto a blank DW playbook it would never fit, your base starting moves alone would probably take up at least a page and a half maybe two)

4) your spells are very cool. your advanced moves are very cool. both together give the warlock strong social brute force and decent front line combat and effective ranged support and very strong summons. i think the balnce may be an issue. i havent played this class but i am thinking he is a little to good at everything. that summoned minion/hireling that acts as a cantrip would be fine as a core move but combined with all the other options/moves/buffs/spells it seems very strong to me. there are summoners and other warlock playbooks so again what is imortant about this warlock playbook? the summons? the spells?the moves?

Suggestion: i see a few options

1) put the bulk of the warlock’s awesome stuff in the spells list and make the warlock’s moves more about the warlock himself. eg. make the advanced moves about the guy and make the spells about his power- ex. move: force of personality: when you honestly reveal your nature to a crowd or individual roll +CHA on a hit they accept you for what you are on a 7-9 you are accepted but kept under close watch. Spell: enchant robes +2 armour.

2) get rid of the spells and focus the best effects into moves. makeing the warlock a Master of a few very adaptable spells/moves rather then the spell book carryng swiss army knife that is a wizard.

3)reduce and refine the hell outa what you got. get to the heart of what this class is and stress the fun bits. (play test a bunch)

Conclusion: needs some work. cool ideas. simplification and focus needed. their are playbooks for summoners and warlocks and wizards and mages and necromancers and hexblades: what makes this playbook diffrent? refine around that.

anyway my 2 cents. i am putting this in my playbook’s to try sometime file.
Spike Gowers says:

September 13, 2014 at 3:48 pm

Okay man, thanks for the feedback. I think you touched upon the point that yeah he can jack of all trades a bit too well at the moment. I might get rid of the Invocations and just do as you suggested some moves that give him a particular flavor. I think all I have really done now is combine serveral existing varieties of Warlock. What did you think about the Pacts?

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