Oc is my oc's name

Ok ok ok--

So Vani grows up... relatively normally - they are still a Bhaalspawn and a titan and not really created for some things and they needs-wants to Hunt Things which would eventually be an issue, but! They would be from a big loving community bc their family are halflings with a big extended family who keeps helping out the community around them (and who have some wild ideas about how dragonborn function at this point). They would have help and a lot of encouragement, and they would be so, so community-oriented. No cannibalism, but they would be able to cook, and they would still adore trying different foods.

To get to Hunt Things within the framework of morality they mimic of their parents and brothers, they would become a vengeance paladin still - and no oathbreaking this time, they would know a whole lot of knights and get to hunt down people and monsters and get to kill and get the challenges they crave - but that is not Vani's main occupation, it's more to scratch the itch.

Vani would be a doctor.

They have always been, uh, interested in how people work and while they wouldn't go so far as unethical stuff in this AU (well, not without encouragement), they would run a little clinic that they also use to hear of big scary monsters to Hunt. But while their little clinic is entirely legit, they would also do treatment under the table for free for anyone who can't afford it - and even get to the point of being a respected doctor for criminal types bc they take confidentiality and secrecy seriously.

And then they go home to their parents to lie in their living room and read poetry and knit and listen to legends told by their da while their ma cooks their favorite food.

Genuinely a level 1 warlock outclasses a level 1 wizard in nearly every regard so i am really struggling to find a case where "long lost magical secrets are less potent than a bog standard wizard 101 textbook"

Like. the core concept of the wizard class is that it starts off incredibly weak and conservative and ends up the most powerful spellcasting class in the game. Thats the concept! You have a d6 hitdie, and no armor proficiencies, meaning you go down to a stiff wind. You get two spell slots to start off with, and they recharge on a long rest, and a choice of two cantrips. Your cantrip options are to choose between a variety of elemental damages, so you are trying to find good coverage, because most of your rounds at this level are cantrip blasting and hoping no one makes eye contact with you. The initial set up of a Wizard teaches the player that spell slots are conservative, that you need to hoard them for situations where theyre REALLY crucial, and that every spell has to count. This complements the cautious, utility focused playstyle the wizard leans into. You are encouraged to pick up coverage for a variety of situations, which is bolstered by the feature of spell inscryption, which allows you to copy compatible spells into your spellbook for a GP cost. Wizards, thus, are a class that encourages thoroughness and preparedness, and as such, need time to build up to proper strength. You need to prepare your spells at the start of the day, you need to seek out spellbooks to ensure you have a proper variety of tools, and then you need to be reasonably certain *now* is the proper time to USE those tools, because if you fuck it up, recovering those slots is hard. Arcane Recovery at level 2 gives you some restoration, but its limited by your spell slot level, so your recovery is limited, meaning you want a sizable amount of recoverable 1st and 2nd level spells. You want a party to shield you, because you need to be safeguarded to survive long enough to start outpacing them

Lets look at early warlock now. And lets also remember 5e's dnd recommendation that an average adventuring day should have 2 short rests and 1 long rest.

How many spells can the warlock fire off at level 1?

Six.

You have two slots, which recover *every* short rest, meaning your average spells per day starts at SIX. In addition, you also start with a d8 hit die, and light armor. This can be modified by patron, as warlock is one of the few classes that gets subclass feats at level 1. Hexblade bumps this up to medium armor. You can cast 6 spells a day in breastplate at level 1. But lets be real, the biggest drawback to warlock is the limited spell pool, comparatively.

Right?

Well you see, Warlock is a dirty grubby little thief that LOVES to get its hands into other classes spell lists. Paladins get command? YOINK. Fiendlocks now. Smites? Shield? YOINK! Hexblades. Pick a class and rob them. Warlock also has a fair amount of exclusive spells, including the eponymous Eldritch Blast. Exclusive here means spells or cantrips accessible only to one class without subclass features or level up feats (since Lore Bard can also yoink spells off other lists).

Lets fucking talk about Eldritch Blast. Its a 1d10 ray of force damage whos range is 120 ft. You roll to hit, applying your spell attack bonus. This is, without question, the best attacking cantrip in the game. Bar none. The reasons are thus:

One of the longest ranges in the game

Spell Attack means you are more likely to connect at lower levels when your spell save DC is low and enemy saving throws are comparatively higher to yours

Force damage is resisted by so few enemies I can count them on one hand and one of them is the gimmick of the fucking Tarrasque

Cantrips dont cost slots

Its scaling on character levels adds more beams which can be aimed individually and each have a seperate roll to hit. This means if your first blast misses, you can try to hit the target again until it does, up to 5 times by level 20

Invocations make it the most CUSTOMIZABLE cantrip in the game

Which brings me to my other point about early warlocks. Invocations. See the eldritch power and long lost secrets of the warlock isnt in your spell list, GOD no. Its the level 1 class feature and these INVOCATIONS baybeeeee!! Great Old One Warlocks get FREE TELEPATHY at level 1!! Hexblades get their level 3 boon feat EARLY with hexblades curse!! Fiendlocks get a host of goodies for killing people, and Wizards need to get a whole second level and specialize into Necromancer for that, and they cant even risk being in melee!

At level 2, you get an invocation to add your Charisma Bonus to your eldritch blasts damage, a boon which normally doesnt hit a class until level SIX. Clerics can't add wisdom to their cantrips until level six!!! You are doing that shit out the GATE. You can swap a spell out every level up, and then you can also swap your invocations out, meaning at level 3 you can get the most BUSTED early game combo possible: The ritual casting Tome Boon Warlock

Pact of the Tome lets you steal 3 additional cantrips from any class you choose, and unlike cantrip boosting feats, these can be from three seperate classes. Steal Guidance off the Cleric. Take Vicious Mockery off the Bard. Why not yoink another attacking cantrip off the Sorcerer? Or, even better, steal a second Cleric cantrip in Sacred Flame for when an enemy is behind cover? Each Pact Boon gets its own specialized chain of invocations, and Tome pacts is fucking ridiculous. At level 3, by swapping out an Invocation that isnt buffing your Eldritch Blast, you can pick up ritual caster, for free, complete with TWO rituals of your choice. You want a familiar? Take it. You want Speak with Animals? Its yours! Pick up detect thoughts when you get 2nd level spells and never use a slot on it ever again, for the low cost of adding ten minutes to the casting time! Who casts detect thoughts mid combat anyways? Need it in the middle of a fight because of circumstances? Fuckin cast it, then post battle go take a nap and cast it again after an hour, while everyone else is rolling hit die to recover HP.

As a warlock, you are not here to do Everything. But you CAN do ANYTHING, and you can do it fast. The wizard has to wait to get good. Warlock is good from the start. Stuck in an anti magic zone your DM inflicted on you despite being level 1? The warlock comes with two daggers and two choices of weaponry, meaning you start off strapped with four weapons just in case someone banned eldritch blast at your table.

I didnt even get to cover the OTHER invocations, most of which are unique to warlock! Fuckin! Go invisible in darkness, have a get out of jail free card and entomb yourself in ice that has to be broken through if something really wants to kill you, get a shitton of spells as once a day FREEBIES, add even more spells to your spell list, spells known be damned! Disguse Self at will, at level 15 bump it to Alter Self, for FREE, change your entire appearance and become immune to illusion detection because thats just what you look like now, give yourself gills, add fins to up your swim speed, the ENTIRETY of Alter Self is FREE through invocations! Wizards fuckin WISH they could have this shit! Do you know how long it takes to get telepathy? SO MANY LEVELS. GOO warlocks get it at level 1!

You are CONSTANTLY blasting shit at the highest level possible so spell slots that increase in power with the slots become nukes in your hands. Enemy resistant or immune to your spells damage? Fuck you eldritch blast. You can force 15 ft of movement and they cant say SHIT about it. Enemy says nooo i dont want to be in your AoE control spell. Fuck you CMERE. Pull em 15 ft into melee range. Repel them 15 ft backwards into your Hunger of Hadar. You leave when i say you can. Forced movement doesnt trigger oppurtunity attacks. If a party member can eat your eldritch blast, you can move them around hazards without getting them pulped by a monsters OP reaction. FOR FREE.

Dont play warlocks like a wizard! You can hit an average of SIX SPELLS a day at LEVEL 1. Start blasting!! Upcast EVERYTHING!! Stack invocations for your build!! Have a budget healing hands as celestial warlock! Be gods GIFT to multiclassing as a Hexblade and reduce all your melee stat needs to Charisma. Coordinate tactics with your party over telepathy without worry of some rogue in the shadows rolling perception on your convo! We have just replaced the need for thieves cant and ciphers for interparty communication. Who hss time for wizard college? That shits expensive! Every spell I write down out of level up costs 50 gp MINIMUM unless I can halve it through my wizard school, but I wanted to be something other than an evocation wizard so I hope the party has deep fuckin pockets cuz this job offer is listed in coppers.

None of this is covered in a wizard 101 textbook! Not even your starting cantrip eldritch blast! If that wizard wants armor proficiency, theyll need months of downtime to work up the skill, or they need to pick it up through level up to be marginally less murderable. Fire is resisted by a ton of common monsters, and shocking grasp is melee range. Toll the Dead is a d12 but only if an enemys taken damage before, meaning you shouldnt open combat with it, and it deals necrotic damage, which is less than helpful against dnds favorite mook type, undead. Wizards scamble in situations a warlock breezes through.

Been thinking abour Krii and their cult so, hm. Let me yap for a bit, because as much as Krii is a monster and serial killer and assassin, they are also a cult leader... And I don't wanna focus on one thing at the exclusion of the other.

So for valentines I drew... a few drawings for my favorite couples-

They’ll have to:

Rate on a scale of 1-10 how much they don’t want to answer that question.