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Jun 6, 2011 -- 12:00AM, ShakaUVM wrote:

It still wouldn't be as good as a sorcerer. Without feats, 1d6 < 4.

But doesn't Warlock have a lot more curse boosting feats available to it?

It might be more interesting to make curse just give the target vulnerable all 3 / 6 / 9. Warlocks would become very popular then, and it'd fit the theme more (as someone else on here pointed out - curses ought to dehibilitate the target).

In addition to the curse damage, or instead of?

I'd been thinkng a few weeks back that a curse that gave vulnerability would be a great change, though you'd probably need to nerf on things like Rod of Corruption unless you wanted all the monsters to be vulnerable after the first death.

Then I thought that it it makes the Warlock's primary striker feature into much more of a leader one - I tend to think of imposing vulnerability as more of a leader function than striker.

And then I thought "What a great idea - a leader warlock who's curse-equivalent helps the rest of the party kill a designated target, with a pact boon that allows him to hand out healing, temp HP or attack bonuses to other party members. Everyone in the party will benefit by sending souls to your patron. Blood and souls for my Lord Arioch!"

And then I thought "Well, they're not going to do this in an errata document"

Off the wall idea, but what if you kept the 1/round damage restriction, but when you hit one cursed enemy... all cursed enemies took the damage.

That'd make being cursed a real forboding of imminent damage, and would let warlocks have a striker niche as a "splash" striker and minion slayer

I had an idea for a change that seems too intensive to make it into this revision, but I think it would adjust up the Warlock'sdamage, give it a more distinctive feel, and make Eldritch Blast seem awesome (possibly too awesome).

The idea is:
1. Remove the current curse placement mechanic 
2. Give Eldritch Blast the ability to curse the target as an effect
3. Make Eldritch Blast a minor action, and change the damage to a flat 10/15/20 damage

I feel like using the blast to place the curse has a good thematic feel (I am almost certain I stole it from someone else on the boards, I am just too lazy too look up who), having a minor action attack would certainly buff damage, but the flat damage would keep it from becoming a nightmare of stacked item and feat bonuses. In the early stages of a fight a warlock might be inclined to spread damage around to elminate minions or spread the curse. If they give up the bonus of shadow walk they can focus fire for some serious damage on a single target, or toss damage out at weak foes while still pounding the big bad with more interesting encounter and daily powers. They can still fall back on their pact power for higher damage at wills. Are there glaring flaws to this idea, beyond it being too complex a change to likely make it in?

Also, please make the Star Pact powers Cha or Con, in case that message has not yet been made clear.