In Dungeons & Dragons fifth edition, warlocks don't get a lot of spell slots from whatever patron they cut a deal with to get their magic powers. It's not as bad as it seems though, both because those spell slots refresh even if you take just a short rest, and because warlocks have access to one of the best cantrips in D&D.
Cantrips are spells you don't need to spend a slot to cast, endlessly repeatable little powerhouses that warlocks in particular rely on. None more so than eldritch blast, a straightforward damage-dealer that can be improved as you level. Agonizing blast is an upgrade invocation that increases its damage, while repelling blast adds a knockback effect, pushing away enemies you hit.
The latter is what makes it so useful in Baldur's Gate 3, where you're constantly fighting on the edges of cliffs and chasms. Doesn't matter how big that bag of hit points you're facing is, nobody survives being pushed off a floating platform in the Astral Plane.
- Baldur's Gate 3 Patch 8 testers are whispering that a previously mediocre subclass is now an S-tier war god of infinite thunder smites, but there's no way it can last
- Baldur's Gate 3's stress test update has, mercifully, made one of its new OP cantrips halfway balanced again—but it's really still quite good
Know what other RPG has a lot of fighting on cliffs? Good old Skyrim, and now its players can get in on the eldritch action. Thanks to a mod for Skyrim Special Edition by Shepiao, the Dragonborn can hurl green bolts of energy too, and they come with repelling blast built in. Using the same effect as the unrelenting force dragonshout, Skyrim's eldritch blast spell lets you hurl bandits off ledges to their death, after which you can climb down and loot them.
You can download the Eldritch Blast mod from Nexus Mods, which is also home to Baldur's Gate 3 mods like the one that lets you increase your party size to eight. I'll definitely be downloading that for my second playthrough.
