Pact of the Tome Warlock 5E Guide | Open the Book of Shadows

There are currently four pact boon options for your level 3 Warlock Pact in Dungeons & Dragons 5E. You may not have picked Warlock to get a spellbook, but the Tome will give you that option! By unlocking the Book of Shadows, you add plenty of power to your character. The Book is not only an effective utility tool, but a good defensive option too! So, if you want to maximize Pact of the Tome 5e in D&D 5E, we can help you out!

What is the Pact of the Tome?

The Pact of the Tome is a warlock pact boon that grants the grimoire ‘Book of Shadows.’ This book contains 3 cantrips from any class, which don’t have to be from your warlock spell list. You can cast those cantrips at will as Warlock Cantrips. Replacing your Book of Shadows takes 1 hour. Your patron provides everything, including the pages of the book and the three cantrips. The book is destroyed when you perform the ritual to replace it or when you die.

How Useful is Pact of the Tome?

This is actually the best Pact if you don’t want to invest any Invocations into your pact. Warlocks are reliant on their cantrips. Eldritch Blast is ridiculous, and most Warlocks only get to learn 4 options over the course of their entire career! That means that most Warlocks only get to choose between a mere 3 cantrips. While you have some good options, they aren’t myriad. And many of the good ones are offensive, damage dealing options like Green-Flame Blade and Toll the Dead.

This Grimoire doesn’t only grant you 3 additional cantrips. They let you choose from any list! You can get spells like Spare the Dying for emergencies, Guidance for out-of-combat aid, or Druidcraft for utility.

The cantrips you choose should change to help your party the best they can, or help yourself if your party has all angles covered. The Warlock tends to suffer a bit out-of-combat, so things like Druidcraft, Guidance, Minor Image, or Message can make you a better asset to social scenarios.

The reason why this is the best pact is because 3 cantrips actually scale rather well into the endgame. Cantrips are very handy to have around, and Warlocks don’t get access to many. This book gives you a wider variety of options while allowing you to focus on swapping your actual Warlock spells.

However, if you have free Invocation slots, the Book suffers from not having the best options in the world. It has one legitimately great one, and the rest are okay? It’s not the best pact for an Invocation-Light build. That honor goes to Pact of the Chain or Pact of the Talisman.

Can You Change Your Cantrips With Pact of the Tome?

Pact of the Tome does not allow you to change your cantrips. When you select this pact boon, you will also pick your three cantrips at that time. At no point will you choose additional spells as you level, and the rules as written do not allow for you to swap those cantrips out either.

What Makes Pact of the Tome Fun?

I enjoy going with this pact book because it really leans into what makes the Warlock strong. You have limited spell slots, so it is crucial that you are able to maximize the effectiveness of your cantrips. That’s hard since you have fewer than most other casters, so adding more options really opens a lot of doors.

I also like the thematic feel. Picture your character, wind swirling around them, as they read dark incantations from the Book of Shadows. There is a cool factor that can bring a Warlock to life.

The Best Subclasses for Pact of the Tome Warlocks

The Tome is a solid choice for any non-Hexblade Warlock. The Tome’s best cantrip choices add utility and out-of-combat help to the Warlock’s toolkit, which is sorely missed from almost all of the Warlock’s subclasses. Given that all Warlocks can maximize their damage with Eldritch Blast, I prefer focusing on utility cantrips here.

There are a few that benefit a touch more than other Subclasses. Subclasses with low utility end up benefiting from the Tome a bit more. They have less to do out-of-combat, so they can spend more time with Guidance or Prestidigitation. The only subclass that hates the Tome is Hexblade Warlock. Hexblade is far too reliant on Pact of the Blade to dip their toes into reading a book.

Fathomless. The Fathomless Warlock has some strong, water-themed spells available that double as damage dealers and utility options. However, the pact spells might be fun, but they are also situational. Adding three cantrips dramatically improves a Fathomless warlock’s usefulness outside of combat.

Fiend. The Fiend warlock is a pure blaster, dealing excellent damage while also offering surprisingly strong options for defense. It lacks utility, which is where your additional cantrips come in! I especially like the Book of Ancient Secrets invocation here.

Genie. The Genie warlock is a top choice if you love customizing your spell options. Not only do you pick up a useful list of spells for your subclass, you also get four more when you select the type of genie that acts as your patron. I like expanding on what works, so offering even more choices with three new cantrips and some good spellcasting invocations is a lot of fun.

Invocations for Pact of the Tome

The pact of the Tome currently has four unique invocations. We only recommend using one of them, but they all have a bit of use.

Aspect of the Moon allows the Tome user to be immune to sleep, both natural and otherwise. This allows you to keep watch all night. Alternatively, your Wizard can cast Alarm. Or you can keep a shift. Anything to give you another Invocation slot. This is an alright choice if you have no other choices but… C’mon.

Book of Ancient Secrets is a must, and it arguably makes this the strongest pact available. It gives you two 1st-level rituals from any class list. You can cast them as rituals. You can also put other rituals into your book, dramatically improving your ability as a ritual caster. This is interesting. There are a few strong ritual spells, like Alarm, that you can cast with these slots. Other options include Find Familiar or Identify. As you explore, you can add summoning rituals, Augury, Contact Other Plane, and other random options to your list. This can grant you a lot of utility, and is not as bad as it may seem! Not a bad pick for a Warlock who is bored outside of a fight.

Far Scribe allows you to write someone’s name on a page, up to your proficiency bonus. You get to cast the Sending spell to that target. Considering you normally use Sending on your party members, this isn’t abysmal. Good information and combat preparation. If your party is planning a big split soon that might overcome the range limit of the Message cantrip, this should be on your mind.

Gift of the Protectors is weird. Extremely strong, and a must-have for Tome wielders, but still weird. It’s a strictly defensive buff, allowing you to keep someone from dying by having their name on a page. If they get K.O.’d but not killed, they drop to 1 health instead. This happens once per day, and you can have another of names equal to your proficiency modifier on the page. Keeping your Cleric off the ground is critical to winning fights, and this adds another layer of safety to battle that you can’t ignore. This is a strong contender for taking Tome in the first place. But, it is kind of random that it’s here. Talisman probably deserves something like this.

Non-Tome Invocations to Consider

The basic invocations aid Tome a lot. We recommend stacking Eldritch Blast invocations and then taking Gift of the Protectors. Far Scribe is optional.

Otherwise, you can grab things like Beguiling Influence or Bewitching Whispers to help you outside of fights. If you’re worried about your in-fight durability, then Armor of Shadows or Fiendish Vigor might be wanted.

Pact of the Tome Cantrip Tier List

Not sure what cantrips you should get with Pact of the Tome? I can help with that. Keep in mind that warlocks are versatile and you have a lot of options, so you can go in many different directions. Here are my suggestions for punching up your cantrip options. Please note we’re only selecting cantrips not already found on the warlock spell list.

S-Tier Pact of the Tome Cantrips

Guidance. A top-tier cantrip that can dramatically improve most of your out-of-combat skill checks, guidance adds a D4 when you or a friend attempts to use a skill. The ability to use this without limit is hard to beat.

Message. I will never get tired of using magic as a walkie-talkie with your fellow adventurers.

A-Tier Pact of the Tome Cantrips

Dancing Lights. There are countless uses for this cantrip, especially when adventuring through below ground.

Gust. You can really get a lot out of this spell with some creativity. I love pushing stuff around with little blasts of air.

Mending. This has a ton of practical uses, especially when it comes to interacting with NPCs.

Mold Earth. This cantrip is so versatile! You can use mold earth in so many creative ways, from leaving a message to setting traps. Mold Earth was right on the edge of the S-Tier for me.

Spare the Dying. I hate losing party members, so this is a nice option for virtually any build.

B-Tier Pact of the Tome Cantrips

Control Flames. Control flames is one of those spells where its usefulness hinges on your creativity. You can expand flames or extinguish them, which give you plenty of useful options. This cantrip is situational, however.

Light. The light cantrip is a perfectly useful spell that will come in handy pretty often, but it pales in comparison to Dancing Lights.

Produce Flame. Produce Flame is a fun source of both light and fire damage.

Thorn Whip. I like thorn whip for the control it offers more than the damage it deals.

Vicious Mockery. Eldritch Blast should be your go-to for damage dealing cantrips, but Vicious Mockery offers a nice damage type and forcing disadvantage on the enemy.

C-Tier Pact of the Tome Cantrips

Acid Splash. This isn’t a bad spell to have in your back pocket depending on the circumstances, and hitting two targets is nice. That said, the low damage means there are usually better options. I don’t take this often.

Druidcraft. The druid-coded version of prestidigitation, Druidcraft is a fine spell but is probably less interesting than cantrips on warlock list.

Poison Spray. You get decent damage here, but it comes with the unfortunate combination of dealing Poison, having poor range, and generally underperforming the Eldritch Blast cantrip.

Ray of Frost. As far as attack cantrips goes, this one is good. Most builds will generally benefit from focusing on Eldritch Blast, though.

Sacred Flame. Ignoring cover and dealing radiant damage are decent reasons to take this cantrip.

Shape Water. Shape Water certainly has it uses, but it is a step below Mold Earth. If you are playing in a water-based campaign, this option is much stronger.

Shillelagh. I don’t recommend this option, as you are better off staying out of melee range with this pact boon.

Shocking Grasp. Having this on standby is nice – not so much for the damage, but the ability to nuke a target’s reaction.

Thaumaturgy. This gets the same rating as Druidcraft, as it offers room for creativity but is usually outshined by Prestidigitation.

D-Tier Pact of the Tome Cantrips

Fire Bolt. It hurts to put this one at the bottom of the list as fire bolt is a staple of many of my spellcaster builds. That said, there is little reason to waste a precious cantrip spot when you should be relying on Eldritch Blast.

Encode Thoughts. I’m generally never using a precious cantrip slot for something so situational.

Primary Savagery. You are generally going to want to stay out of the the fray when playing a Pact of the Tome warlock, which makes this pretty pointless.

Resistance. Boosting a saving throw is great, except when it costs you your action.

Sapping Sting. The ability to knock a target prone is overwhelmed by the poor damage.

Word of Radiance. If you have multiple enemies within 5 feet of you, there are probably better uses of your action to get away from them.

Wrapping up the Pact of the Tome

The Tome might be the best scaling pact that doesn’t require a ton of Invocation dedication. Cantrips are legitimately solid tools! However, that shouldn’t keep you from trying out the Far Scribe and Gift of the Protectors options. Those are great tools that Warlocks need! Try this out the next time you think Warlocks are too combat-focused, and you’ll see how good they can be outside of combat! Don’t forget to check out our Warlock 5E Handbook!