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Warlocks are fonts of supernatural power and veritable batteries of dark magic. Most warlocks develop their powers along a theme that relates to their supernatural heritages. A warlock in a family of elder demonologists that made a pact with Pazuzu might exhibit a range of powers related to insects. Another descended from a shadow demon is more likely to have a series of powers related to shadows and darkness. A fey-descended warlock might develop elemental powers due to a yearning to embrace the wild.
Epic warlock feats represent the culmination of years spent developing these dark gifts. To gain one of these feats, a warlock must already know all the standard invocations of a given path, must be at least 21st level, and must have the appropriate skill ranks. If all of these conditions are met, the epic warlock can gain one of the feats below. A warlock loses access to an epic feat if he no longer has a prerequisite invocation or skill requirement.
 Epic warlock feats include a number of powerful abilities that relate to a given theme. Individual abilities gained from the feat function in the same way as invocations. It takes a standard action to employ an ability unless otherwise indicated. The equivalent spell level of the spell-like abilities granted by epic warlock feats is equal to 1/2 the warlock's caster level. The DC is equal to 10 + equivalent spell level + the warlock's Charisma modifier. This applies only to the spell-like abilities granted by these feats. It does not retroactively increase the DC of previous acquired invocations nor does it affect the DCs of invocations acquired through the Epic Extra Invocation feat. Many abilities granted by these feats are spell-like abilities that can be dispelled. In essence, an epic warlock feat grants the equivalent of a bundle of separate invocations. Each ability must be activated individually and dispel effects target each ability separately.
Some abilities granted by these feats modify the activation of an existing non-epic invocation, without increasing its casting time. Other abilities grant bonuses that function in the same way as any feat that grants a bonus. These are not spell-like abilities and do not need to be activated. The bonuses granted by the feat are extraordinary or supernatural abilities that cannot be dispelled.
All abilities are spell-like, supernatural, or extraordinary. The supernatural and extraordinary abilities are labeled as such, except in the case of bonuses to caster level or skill bonuses that are not labeled because they function in the same way as a normal feat. All abilities that mention a spell by name in italics, or duplicate the effects of a spell, are spell-like abilities.
Before reaching epic levels, warlocks have no way of gaining dark invocations beyond those achieved by reaching 16th, 18th, and 20th level. An epic warlock can select the Epic Extra Invocation feat to gain an additional invocation of any grade including dark. This feat makes it possible for epic warlocks to gain the non-epic invocations required to qualify for epic warlock feats. This allows epic warlocks to progress in their magical abilities, just like other types of magic users.
The following is an update to the epic warlock entry on page 189 of Complete Arcane:
Epic Warlock
A being of fell magic, an epic warlock is a supernatural force incarnate, losing all but the smallest fragment of his humanity.
Hit Die: d6
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 2 + Int modifier
Invocations: The epic warlock's caster level is equal to his class level. He does not learn additional invocations.
Eldritch Blast: An epic warlock's eldritch blast damage increases by 1d6 at every even-numbered level higher than 20th (10d6 at 22nd, 11d6 at 24th, and so on).
Damage Reduction: The epic warlock's damage reduction increases by 1 point (to 6/cold iron) at 23rd level and by 1 additional point for every four levels thereafter (7/cold iron at 27th, 8/cold iron at 31st, and so on).
Bonus Feats: The epic warlock gains a bonus feat every three levels higher than 20th (23rd, 26th, 29th, and so on). Bonus feats must be chosen from the following list, and can be selected even if the warlock does not meet the prerequisites.
Epic Warlock Bonus Feats: Additional Magic Item Space, Augmented Alchemy, Craft Epic Magic Arms and Armor, Craft Epic Rod, Craft Epic Staff, Craft Epic Wondrous Item, Damage Reduction, Dark Transient*, Efficient Item Creation, Eldritch Sculptor*, Energy Resistance, Epic Eldritch Blast*, Epic Extra Invocation*, Epic Fiendish Resilience*, Epic Spell Penetration, Extended Lifespan, Extra Epic Invocation*, Fast Healing, Improved Combat Casting, Lord of All Essences*, Master of the Elements*, Morpheme Savant*, Paragon Visionary*, Scribe Epic Scroll, Shadowmaster*, Souleater Incarnate*, Spellcasting Harrier, Superior Initiative, Verminlord*.
*An epic warlock must meet this feat's prerequisites to select it as an epic bonus feat.
Epic Warlock Feats
The feats listed below are available only to characters of at least 21st level.
Dark Transient [Epic]
Your powers of mobility are so potent that you can travel between dimensions with a thought.
Prerequisites: Knowledge (the planes) 24 ranks, fell flight, flee the scene, path of shadow.
Benefit: Your flight speed (from the fell flight invocation) increases by 30 feet and its maneuverability increases to perfect. Using this ability is part of the casting of the fell flight invocation.
You have achieved mastery over the powers of transdimensional travel. You can transport great distances with a single thought (as greater teleport, self and personal equipment only). You can also transport other creatures, but if you do, there is a chance of error (as teleport).Activating this ability requires a standard action.
You can use plane shift with perfect accuracy (self and personal equipment only). You can also transport other creatures, but you then suffer the inaccuracies normally incurred when using this spell. Activating this ability requires a standard action.
Eldritch Sculptor [Epic]
You control and shape your eldritch blasts like a master sculptor.
Prerequisites: One invocation from the least, lesser, greater, and dark blast shape invocation categories, Spellcraft 24 ranks.
Benefit: You can use two eldritch blasts per round as a full attack action, rather than the normal limit of one. You can apply eldritch essences to both blasts. If you possess the Lord of All Essences feat, you can imbue each blast with two eldritch essences. Activating this ability is part of the action to use an eldritch blast.
The area and range of all your eldritch blasts is doubled. Activating this ability is part of the action to use an eldritch blast. If you imbue your eldritch blast with the eldritch spear blast shape, the range increases to 500 feet. If you are using the hideous blow invocation, you no longer suffer attacks of opportunity for invoking this power in melee and all attacks of opportunity you make can include hideous blow. If you imbue your eldritch blast with the eldritch chain blast shape, you may start the chain up to 120 feet away from you and the maximum distance between each target increases to 60 feet. The area of the eldritch doom blast shape increases to 40 feet from you. The range of your eldritch cone increases to 120 feet.
You gain +2 bonus on attack rolls to hit an opponent with your eldritch blast. This is an extraordinary ability.
Normal: A warlock can use only one eldritch blast per round. Using the hideous blow blast shape provokes attacks of opportunity and cannot be used as part of an attack of opportunity.
Epic Eldritch Blast [Epic]
Your eldritch blasts are unstoppably powerful.
Prerequisites: Eldritch blast 9d6.
Benefit: When you take this invocation, the damage dealt by your eldritch blast increases by 1d6.
Special: You can gain this feat multiple times. Its effects stack.
Epic Extra Invocation [Epic]
You learn an additional invocation.
Prerequisites: Ability to use dark invocations, Spellcraft 24 ranks
Benefit: You can learn one additional invocation from the list available to you, including dark invocations.
Special: You can gain this feat multiple times. Each time, you gain an extra invocation of any grade (least, lesser, greater, or dark).
Epic Fiendish Resilience [Epic]
You can make your blood boil with the strength of the Nine Hells.
Prerequisites: Fiendish resilience that grants fast healing 5.
Benefit: When you use your fiendish resilience ability, you gain fast healing 25 for 5 minutes. Activating this ability is a free action. This is a supernatural ability.
Special: You can gain feat multiple times. Each time you take the feat, you gain an additional use of the fiendish resilience ability, and the fast healing granted by the feat increases by 5..
Lord of All Essences [Epic]
You have mastered the art of enhancing your eldritch blast with multiple essences.
Prerequisites: One least, lesser, greater, and dark eldritch essence invocation, Spellcraft 24 ranks.
Benefit: When you use the eldritch blast ability, you can apply two eldritch essence invocations simultaneously. You could choose to fire an eldritch blast with both the repelling blast and noxious blast eldritch essences. This also allows you to apply the same effect twice, though this is not beneficial in the case of all eldritch essences. The effects of each essence are resolved separately. If you imbue your eldritch blast with two different types of damage, half of the damage (rounded down) is dealt by each source. You must choose which essences you will use in conjunction with your eldritch blast before you start your action. If you possess the Eldritch Sculptor feat, you can apply two eldritch essence invocations to both your eldritch blasts in a single round. Activating this ability is part of the action to use an eldritch blast.
For example, if Morthos is fighting an outsider he has never encountered, he can choose to imbue his eldritch blast with both hellrime blast and brimstone blast. He rolls 10d6 damage, dealing half fire and half cold damage. If the outsider happened to be immune to cold, but not fire, it would still take damage from the half that dealt fire damage.
In addition, the DC of all eldritch essence invocations you use increases by 2. This is an extraordinary ability.
Normal: A warlock can apply only one eldritch essence to an eldritch blast.
Master of the Elements [Epic]
You have achieved mastery of the four elements -- air, earth, fire, and water.
Prerequisites: Spellcraft 24 ranks, breath of the night, chilling tentacles, stony grasp, wall of perilous flame.
Benefit: As a full-round action, you can summon a single creature from the summon monster I-IX list that is an elemental or has the air, earth, fire, or water subtype. The monster serves you for a number of rounds equal to your caster level. Activating this ability requires a standard action.
You can use dominate monster on elementals and creatures with the air, earth, fire, or water subtype. This effect lasts for a number of days equal to your caster level. Activating this ability requires a standard action.
You gain energy resistance 10 to acid, cold, electricity, fire, and sonic. If you have energy resistance from the warlock class, your resistance to those two elements increases by 10. This is an extraordinary ability.
Elementals and creatures with the earth, air, fire, or water subtype view you as one of their kind. These creatures react to you as if their attitude is two steps better than the situation otherwise warrants. This is an extraordinary ability.
Morpheme Savant [Epic]
Your words are charged with supernatural power.
Prerequisites: Baleful utterance, beguiling influence, warlock's call, word of changing.
Benefit: You can use power word blind, power word kill, or power word stun. Activating this ability requires a standard action.
When you use your warlock's call ability, you no longer suffer the chance of taking 1d10 points of damage from the recipient. In addition, you can imbue your sending with a suggestion (as demand). The casting time of warlock's call is 1 minute. Using this ability is part of the casting of the warlock's call invocation.
You can communicate as if under the effects of a constant tongues spell. This is a supernatural ability.
When you use your beguiling influence invocation, the bonus granted on your Bluff, Diplomacy, and Intimidate checks is equal to double your Charisma bonus or +6, whichever is greater. Using this ability is part of the casting of the beguiling influence invocation. It is an extraordinary ability.
Normal: The warlock's call invocationhas a casting time of 10 minutes and does not allow suggestions to be imbued. The warlock's call invocation allows the recipient to deal 10 points of damage to you. The beguiling influence invocation grants you a bonus on Bluff, Diplomacy, and Intimidate checks equal to your Charisma modifier.
Paragon Visionary [Epic]
Your powers of perception are beyond mortal ken.
Prerequisites: Spellcraft 24 ranks, dark foresight, devil's sight, see the unseen, voidsense.
Benefit: You can see through illusions, magical darkness, shapechangers, and other effects (as true seeing). This is a supernatural ability.
You are automatically aware of all spells or magical effects you see. Simply by looking at a creature, you can determine if it is a divine or arcane caster, whether it has any spell-like abilities, and the highest spell or spell-like abilities it knows. This is a supernatural ability.
When you use the voidsense invocation, you gain blindsight 60 feet.
You receive a bonus on all Listen, Sense Motive, and Spot checks equal to double your Wisdom modifier or +6, whichever is greater. This is an extraordinary ability.
Normal: The voidsense invocation grants blindsense 30 feet.
Shadowmaster [Epic]
You have walked the path of shadows, and now you have mastered its secrets.
Prerequisites: Spellcraft 24 ranks, beshadowed blast, dark discorporation, darkness, enervating shadow.
Benefit: You can create streaking masses of shadow around your form, providing you with a 50% miss chance against all attacks (as displacement). Activating this ability requires a standard action.
You can use material from the Plane of Shadows to create quasireal illusions, mimicking sorcerer and wizard conjuration spells of 8th level or lower (as shades). The illusions deal 80% damage to nonbelievers, and nondamaging effects are 80% likely to work against nonbelievers. Activating this ability requires a standard action.
You are immune to all spells with the shadow subtype and to effects that involve the use of shadows (such as the breath weapon of a shadow dragon). This is an extraordinary ability.
Souleater Incarnate [Epic]
You have mastered the fusion of invocation and incarnum.
Prerequisites: Knowledge (the planes) 24 ranks, drain incarnum, incarnum blast, incarnum shroud, steal incarnum.
Benefit: By studying the unique qualities of the mysterious souleater, you have learned a variety of secret powers. When using this feat, you consume the soul of any creature that dies within 30 feet of you. For 10 minutes following the death, you gain +10 temporary hit points and a +1 bonus on attack rolls and saving throws. Bonuses from multiple deaths stack. At the end of the 10 minutes, the soul is permanently consumed. The creature that was consumed can be raised only via a miracle, true resurrection, or wish. If the creature was slain by your incarnum blast invocation, the bonus and duration of the hit points, attack, and save bonuses are doubled. You can choose not to consume the soul of a creature. This is a supernatural ability.
You radiate an aura that makes it difficult for anyone within 30 feet to manipulate incarnum. Any creature within 30 feet must succeed on a Concentration check (DC 10 + your caster level + your Charisma bonus) or be unable to shape a soulmeld, bind a soul meld or magic item to a chakra, or invest or reallocate essentia. You can choose to exempt allied creatures from the effects of this aura. This is a supernatural ability.
You are immune to the soulless aura and consume soul abilities of soul eaters. This is an extraordinary ability.
When you use the drain incarnum or steal incarnum invocations, the amount of incarnum damage or drain is doubled. Using this ability is part of the casting of the casting of thoseinvocations.
The DCs of all saving throws for your incarnum-related invocations increase by 2. Every point of essentia invested in this invocation increases the DC of your incarnum-related invocations by 1. Once the amount of essentia invested is chosen, it cannot be altered and remains invested for 24 hours. If the invocation is dispelled during this time, the essentia investment remains in place, taking effect once again when you activate the invocation. Activating this ability requires a standard action.
You can communicate telepathically with any creature within 100 feet that has a language. This is a supernatural ability.
You gain 3 points of essentia when you take this feat.
Verminlord
 You have unparalleled insight into the ways of vermin.
Prerequisites: Spellcraft 24 ranks, spiderwalk, summon swarm, tenacious plague.
Benefit: You can summon ten swarms of centipedes (as creeping doom). You add your Charisma modifier to the poison save DC of the swarm. The attacks of any centipede swarms summoned are treated as magic weapons for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction. They also bypass damage reduction based on your alignment. If you are a chaotic good warlock, your swarms bypass chaotic, good, and magic damage reduction. Activating this ability requires a standard action.
When you use the summon swarm and tenacious plague invocations, the summoned creatures bypass damage reduction in the way listed above. Using this ability is part of the casting of thoseinvocations.
You can also control the actions of vermin creatures. This functions as dominate monster, but it affects vermin only. This lasts for a number of days equal to your caster level. Activating this ability requires a standard action.
Vermin view you as one of their kind. A vermin will never attack you willingly, unless you provoke it or its kin. This is an extraordinary ability.
About the Author
Eytan Bernstein hails from exotic Long Island and spends his days writing and editing projects for numerous game companies. In addition to his work on Dragons of Faerûn, the Magic Item Compendium, and numerous other projects, Eytan serves as a partner and PR & Marketing Manager for Silven Publishing (www.silven.com). Eytan enjoys hunting for gems and minerals in rock quarries, studying religion and theology, composing music, and playing with his many pets. For more information about Eytan, check out www.eytanbernstein.com. If you have any questions or comments, send them to eytan@eytanbernstein.com.
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