Thoughts on the New Warlock Hero?

[Fullork345]

. . . So max of regular defense of 5 dice (could be upped by spells and potions) since she could wear the Wizard's Cloak and Cloak of Shadows as well as the Bracers.

Is cloak of shadows new?

Either Kurgan's spellchecker got in the way or he slipped terms because he was likely referring to the new Crown of Shadows from The Crypt of Perpetual Darkness. That artifact gives any hero wearing it one extra Defend die.

The Wizard spell Cloak of Shadows from Wizards of Morcar is a thing, but an old one that doesn't confer a Defend die.

Ah, that makes way more sense.

[Fullork345]

So seeing the druid discussion about shapeshift stacking with itself, would demonform stack? You get it back every kill, so in theory if it does stack every other turn you could increase your attack dice by one if there are a lot of enemies.

[Kurgan]

I would say no. Potions and Artifacts can stack on spells and each other, but a Spell just repeats or extends the effect of the previous instance in my view. Now when it comes to spell scrolls I treat those as spells. So you could have two spell scrolls of courage AND the courage spell, but casting it on the same hero wouldn't do anything. You'd just save it for when the courage wore off to start it back up again.

So it wears off, then gets applied again, if that.

[SirRick]

The Warlock is just a trainwreck of a hero. She starts off strong, but doesn't get any better. The only upgrade she can buy are the Bracers, and then you have hope you are playing a quest book that will give you a Wizard's Cloak at some point, so most of the time the Warlock tops out at:

3 attack (conditional) and 3 defend...with only 4 BP.

Anyone who can equip a crossbow will always have 3 attack with it, and will have more defend dice and BP.

Compared to how the other heroes are designed the Warlock is short 3 "points" of stats/abilities, so you could basically do this to make her technically balanced:
Give her 1 BP (for a total of 5),
Give her another group of 3 spells (since she has 5 MP),
That leaves one point for something else (like being able to equip swords but not normal armor or something).

Honestly, I think just another body point and and extra set of spells would be good enough to make the character viable and in between the Elf and Wizard for what she can do. The WoM spells seem fitting for other spells she could choose from for a second set.

[Kurgan]

All well and good, could be tricky to play, but she can still do okay I think....

She'll have fewer spells than the Wizard, but she gets a 2 die ranged attack (the Wizard can only manage that for a single shot, unless he's going to try stockpiling Hand Axes for throwing). The three attack is conditional as you say, but as long as she's killing monsters, and not taking damage herself, she can keep it up.

Wizard's Cloak (a 2nd one is found in the Mythic quests) + Bracers + (possibly Crown of Shadows) = 4 (or 5) defense

She could also use:

Spell Ring, Rod of Telekinesis, Phantom Blade, Wand of Magic and Magical Throwing daggers, not just the normal daggers, Staff and Spell Scrolls (and Ring of Return, Elixir of Life, Rabbit Boots, Talisman of Lore, Dust of Disappearance, Anti-Poison Quill, Fire Ring, and Armband of Healing of course and any potions she can find).

She can also have spells cast upon her, but then there are probably better candidates (still 5-6 dice close and ranged isn't nothing).

She'd have to fight the Wizard for the Wizard's Staff if they're both in the game of course...

If she can earn the Ring of Fortitude... then there's your extra point.

[Daedalus]

So seeing the druid discussion about shapeshift stacking with itself, would demonform stack? You get it back every kill, so in theory if it does stack every other turn you could increase your attack dice by one if there are a lot of enemies.

For me, the question isn't as much would the Demonform Attack Dice bonus stack, but should the bonus stack. Since there is not cap on stacking as with the Druid spell Shapeshift, it would be very possible to gain more Attack Dice than the six Combat Dice provided in the main game, and for a ranged Attack, no less! So the point of you question is a good one. No, the bonus from the spell shouldn't stack.

[Kurgan]

Having more dice than the game provides isn't a limitation... if the game calls for seven dice, you roll the six, then one more.

That was always true, because the EU base game only came with 4 combat dice... and in the NA edition you could have the Battle Axe + Courage + a potion of strength = 8 dice (for one attack anyway). For defense you could have a shield, helmet, Plate (or Borin's Armor) + Potion of Defense + Rock Skin = 9 dice!

[Daedalus]

Yeah, that's true. I might have preferred Demonform to stack, but it should have had a two-die cap like Shapeshift, or a monster in line-of-sight condition like Courage. Without stacking, the Warlock takes a back seat to another Hero with a crossbow since that weapon can't be broken like Demonform.

[lestodante]

Just seeing last twitter post and noticed few similarities beetween the two.
Could Millandriell have been turned into the Warlock by some dark force?
Maybe later the plot will develop furher?

[HispaZargon]

I always thought the Warlock was a halfling or similar, not an elf like Millandriell, but maybe you would be right, good catch!!