Warlock: Word of changing build

[RagingPeace]

I've been trying to make a shapeshifting warlock, though it's giving me a bit of trouble.

Anyone got any tips/ideas?

[Steve]

Warlock 20 / Dragonslayer 10 is a hands-down-awesome split. You could also go Warlock 26 / Fighter 4. I've also seen some posts on nwnw2b with Fighter 8, but I'm unsure if that makes sense considering some Shapes have weapons and some unarmed (you'd have to specialize in one or other Shape I'd imagine).

There are also a bunch of quirky Warlock splits with a lower CL (22-24) that you can do but then you'd risk getting dispelled from Shape, and then have to re cast...but really isn't THAT much of a problem, considering unlimited castings for the Warlock.

[Infra]

I tried the warlock 20 / Dragon slayer 10, it was doing great and was a lot of fun.

[RagingPeace]

Does hideous blow work with spells such as polymorph?

[Steve]

Does hideous blow work with spells such as polymorph?

If you cast Hideous Blow before Word of Changing, yes, it works.

[RagingPeace]

Does hideous blow work with spells such as polymorph?

If you cast Hideous Blow before Word of Changing, yes, it works.

I mean, will hideous blow work if i shapeshift through scrolls, like the wizards polymorph spell

[Steve]

Good question! I can try it out if I can find a scroll on one of my PCs.

[Deathgrowl]

That shouldn't work at least.

But hideous blow with word of changing does. If you build a charisma lock with noxious blast and hideous blow, this is stupidly good. I tested it with a QC char recently.

[Theodore01]

If you build a charisma lock with noxious blast and hideous blow, this is stupidly good. I tested it with a QC char recently.

How is this good ? As you cannot cast shapechanged ? Are any of the warlosck shapes good enough to survive in the epic areas ?

[RagingPeace]

If you build a charisma lock with noxious blast and hideous blow, this is stupidly good. I tested it with a QC char recently.

How is this good ? As you cannot cast shapechanged ? Are any of the warlosck shapes good enough to survive in the epic areas ?

You use hideous blow - nox. Blast. Then the effect is applied to your first attack. Warlocks to not lose their charisma while shape shifte

[Steve]

That shouldn't work at least.

But hideous blow with word of changing does. If you build a charisma lock with noxious blast and hideous blow, this is stupidly good. I tested it with a QC char recently.

Yeah, it would be best if Hideous Blow DOESN'T work with Shapechange spell...and if it does work now, I'd expect that to be fixed asap by Valefort the Bug Killer.

Regarding blasts like Noxious and Utterdark, etc., one needs to consider that for these Blasts to work in conjunction with Hideous Blow or just Eldritch Spear, you need to beat Spell Resistance, then beat a Save. This means getting your CL as close to 36 as you can, often utilizing with Epic Spell Penetration. Then of course the DC, which if you're not using a CHA-focused Warlock, will suffer pretty badly. This unfortunately makes quirky Warlock builds with too much Multiclassing not very optimal, to say the least.

The other day I just build out a CHA Warlock 20 / Dragonslayer 7 / Blackguard 3 with CL 28, 31 DC Noxious Blast, Spell Resistance penetration of 34, and 18d6 Blast dice. Saves are great, has even Epic Fiendish Resilience, 47 ac with just gear. It has some weaknesses as you can see, but generally, and specifically once utilizing UMD, elixirs and top gear, it should be able to rofflestomp 90% of the Server, and in most cased, in PvP (especially against unprepared Players). Which is how PvP goes, unfortunately.

[Nemni]

Hideous blow does work when shapechanged but I'm not sure how that is a problem really. Why would one combo that rather than go pure warlock or wizard?
Might be a bigger deal with polymorph scroll/item when leveling up... but I doubt its better than many other combos and it won't last into higher levels since the shapes are too weak.

Overall I think the wordofchanging warlock is pretty similar in strength to the shapechanged wizard. The warlock get better offense with hideous blow and the wizard get better defense with their buffs. Both are very powerful when you first get them but fall off in epic areas, since the shapes are static and do not improve unlike those of the druid.

[Deathgrowl]

I had 58 AC in one of the shapes on the warlock I tested. I think it was the cornugon, which also has 5 regen. And that was purely with gear and warlock buffs.

So it has huge defensive capability. They're a little bit too powerful in my opinion, especially since the warlock never ever runs out of spells.

[RagingPeace]

I had 58 AC in one of the shapes on the warlock I tested. I think it was the cornugon, which also has 5 regen. And that was purely with gear and warlock buffs.

So it has huge defensive capability. They're a little bit too powerful in my opinion, especially since the warlock never ever runs out of spells.

Hm. Are you certain about that AC? I couldn't even get close to that with +4 items and tumble. Regen is 3.

[Deathgrowl]

56, not 58, sorry. Still great, though!