Warlocks have limited spells known, but variety is beneficial as it frees up known spells and allows for potential use of some spells not typically taken. Two well-tested homebrew changes to Warlock include adding all patron spells to spells know and moving Hexwarrior to Pact of the Blade. Each patron has a list of spells, and choosing a patron type gives access to an expanded spell list and patron-specific class features.
Warlock Patrons are powerful entities from other planes that Warlocks make a pact with in exchange for magical powers. They can take various spells, including attack spells and utility spells. Warlocks can choose their patron type at 1st, 3rd, 5th, and 7th levels, and at 3rd level, they choose their pact boon. Warlocks should get all their patron spells known for free, but this has not been discussed in class balance discussions.
Warlock patrons grant an expanded spell list, but the list is not dictated by the patron. The patron is merely the teacher of ancient secrets fueling Warlock magic, while the Warlock is the apprentice. At Level 3, the patron rewards players with an extra boon depending on which pact they chose at Level 3. Mystic Arcanum (Level 11) grants one additional boon.
In summary, Warlocks have limited spells known, but having a variety of patron spells can help them make more effective spell choices.
📹 What Is a Patron and/or Matron?
A patron god and a matron goddess are particular deities that you feel a strong personal connection with and with whom you …
Can warlock patrons be gods?
A warlock is an individual who forms a covenant with an otherworldly entity, frequently taking the form of a cleric and a deity, though the patrons are not gods. The text indicates that JavaScript is either disabled or blocked by an extension, and that your browser does not support cookies.
How do patrons work?
Patreon is a platform where patrons, or backers, subscribe to a creator’s content and make recurring payments. Both sides benefit from this model, with rewards and payments communicated to fans before they commit. Patreon manages recurring payment processing, a service offered by many companies at lower fees. To create an account, visit patreon. com and click on the “Start a paid membership” tab.
Do sorcerers need a patron?
Sorcerers, being naturally magical, do not need a spellbook or patron favor, but they have fewer spells and can only gain new ones by swapping them out. They also have metamagic abilities, allowing them to control their spells more precisely. This allows them to modify their spells as needed for the current situation. A Sorcerer’s subclass defines their innate magical talent, and the Player’s Handbook lists several subclasses and their origin material. Unlike wizards and warlocks, Sorcerers can modify their spells as needed for the current situation.
Which patron is best in 5e?
Dungeons and Dragons’ warlocks are mysterious individuals who sell themselves to a greater being to advance their power and knowledge of the arcane. These people reach beyond themselves towards powerful entities willing to grant them power in exchange for service. The powers they bestow range from impressive to astronomical, making them an envy to peers who don’t understand how they carry out such things in the field. The warlock Patrons are often referred to as “otherworldly patrons” and are rarely gods.
The Fiend is a dangerous otherworldly patron, while Undying Patrons teach warlocks to cheat death. The Fathomless Patron offers the air and sea, while The Great Old One is a terrifying and powerful patron. The warlock Patrons serve in their patron’s name, and their powers can range from impressive to astronomical.
How do patrons work in D&D?
Warlock patrons are powerful entities that grant mortals access to their power in exchange for a pact binding them to their will. Warlocks are more likely to interact with their patron regularly, making it essential to step into the eldritch shoes of a patron. To role-play a memorable patron, it is crucial to have a conversation with the warlock player, understanding their goals and the pact they struck. Questions to ask include how the warlock and patron struck the pact, why the patron offered their magic, and if the patron is in complete control of the pact.
How to choose patron dnd?
In 5e, the choice of a Warlock patron, such as the Fiend, significantly impacts the character’s abilities. The choice of patron can be based on character background, roleplaying reasons, or the best options for damage dealing. The Fiend patron is a classic for Warlocks, offering versatility in roleplaying. Players can choose from evil beings like demon lords or archdevils, make deals, and venture forth.
The Fiend patron has solid defensive options and decent fire damage spells. At first level, players can access Burning Hands, a first-level spell with reasonable AOE damage. Hurl Through Hell, at 14th level, banishes a creature to the lower planes and takes 10d10 psychic damage if not a fiend.
What is the purpose of patrons?
A patron is someone who supports someone or something, such as a business or the arts. A patron of a business is a loyal customer who supports the business financially, while a patron of the arts supports starving artists financially. The word patron comes from the Latin word “pater”, meaning “father”. A patron of the arts shows appreciation by donating money to arts organizations, while a patron of the Red Lobster is a frequent customer who frequents the corner booth every Sunday night.
Is Vecna a warlock patron?
Vecna, a member of the “Dawn War Pantheon” and a deity of Greyhawk, is mentioned in various Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) games. In the Exandria setting, he is a Betrayer God, also known as the Whispered One. He was introduced in the Dungeons and Dragons web series Critical Role as the main villain in the last arc of the first campaign. However, the events of Critical Role were not added to the official Dungeons and Dragons canon until Joe Manganiello’s character Arkhan was added to the adventure module Baldur’s Gate: Descent Into Avernus.
Vox Machina’s fight with Vecna was further detailed in the official campaign sourcebook Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount. In June 2022, Wizards of the Coast released the Vecna Dossier as a digital exclusive on D and D Beyond, featuring background information and a 5th Edition statblock for Vecna in the updated style. In May 2024, Vecna is the main villain in the adventure module Vecna: Eve of Ruin, which launches a new storyline that will “play out over a five-year period, with other adventures bringing back more classic D and D villains”.
What is a female wizard called?
It is inaccurate to use the term “wizardess” as a feminine form of “wizard,” as “witch” remains the most prevalent term for female wizards, despite its modern denotation.
Is patron good for beginners?
The tequila craze began with Patron’s original Silver Tequila, released in 1989. This colorless spirit, created by Master Distiller Francisco Alcaraz, is made from half tahona-crushed agave sourced from Los Altos in Jalisco, Mexico. The agave is slow-roasted in an oven and fermented in wooden casks. Patron’s Silver Tequila is un-aged and bottled straight after distillation. It is meant to be drunk neat, over ice, or mixed into cocktails like margaritas or palomas.
The complex nose of Patron Silver tequila is a mix of sweet and bitter elements, with a vegetal aroma reminiscent of cooked agave and earthy elements like eucalyptus and fresh cactus. The nose begins with a powdered sugar sweetness, which gradually transitions to vegetal and earthy elements. Despite not being the best tequila on the market, Patron remains a steadfast entry for beginners.
Why is Patron so much better?
Patron Tequila is a premium tequila made from the finest blue Weber agave grown in Jalisco, Mexico. The agave plant ripens slowly, developing flavors for 7-8 years before plucking the piña, a heart of the agave. These naturally-sourced piñas are meticulously hand-selected and baked in brick ovens. The extracted juice is fermented with natural yeast before double-distillation, resulting in a velvety pure tequila. Patron focuses on perfection, paying close attention to details like corks and bottle design, with each bottle individually inspected, hand-corked, and signed.
📹 3 steps to a killer warlock/patron dynamic in D&D
▻ INDEX 0:00 Intro 0:23 What makes for great warlock roleplay? 1:43 The problem with warlocks 3:46 What does the patron want …
I am going to direct you to a blog post I just posted today (July 2) as I explained my belief in Deity which I think it what you believe as well however I do not consider myself Agnostic. You can find my blog (Songs of a Cricket) on my website. There is a link to my website on the home page of my website.
I know that I’ve been chosen by Thoth to not only worship him, but also follow in his path. one of my main reasons is that my RL last name is even Ibis. other signs are things we have I common. my love for knowledge. the fact I went to college at 15, and am fluent in several languages, and my thirst for constant truths and knowledge. Just to name a few reasons. following The Lord Thoth feels right for me. My matron, I found through research, Hathor. it felt right at the time, but now, our relationship seems off, or odd. like I made a mistake. I do fear that my time with her was either wrong, or deliberately short.
I see. Well, I’m happy to know that the relationship isn’t one of codependency, but rather unity. I’m still not sure as to whether I want to become a Wiccan, but I’m happy to know that if I were to become one, my life would still be my own. 😀 Thank you for answering my questions, LunarWisdom (May I call you CricketSong?), you’ve helped me a lot in our small exchange here. Do expect me to have more questions in the near future. ;3 Blessed be, and may the spirits be with you. 😀 <3
Well, I read your Blog, and I must say that I do see some overlap in our beliefs. 😀 From what I understood, the way you described the relationship between Deity and yourself/those who also hold your beliefs, seems to be one of unison and mutual understanding rather than obedience and worship. So you believe that Deity is a collective intellect/conscious? A “Hive mind” of sorts? Deity sounds more like a form of inner power and self awareness, or am I misinterpreting your words?
Though, keep in mind that I hold no ill towards Christians or any religions belief, or lack of. I just feel that for me, it’s not something I’m willing to do. I suppose I should just ask this: Is the relationship between a God/Goddesses/spirit guide and a Witch, Pagan, Wiccan (what have you) the same as the relationship between a Christian and Jehovah? Sorry this turned out so long. XD
But it just makes me feel unconformable to have to lower myself to give thanks by praying or anything of that sort. Giving thanks via Ritual I’m okay with, however. The main reason for this is well… I was born into a Christian family (Not a heavy one, mind you) and I was taught all the stuff about worshiping and giving thanks to a being that gave you life and could just as easily take it away. Some years later, I just find that notion to be a bit on the… extreme side. Continue—
I also believe that we as humans aren’t very different from the Gods and Goddesses of yore in that just as we feel emotions, create and destroy, and give and take life, they do as well. I suppose what I’m saying is, I don’t want to be in a God/Worshiper relationship with the deity/ies I may choose as my guide/s. I’d much rather be on even ground, than be below someone/something. I’m comfortable with giving thanks to the Gods and Spirits as I would an everyday person… Continue—
Agnostic is the closest word that describes my beliefs. I’ll try not to make this too lengthy: I believe that there are Gods and Goddesses, spirits, and mystical beings in this world. However, I feel that they either don’t left themselves known very often to the “Average” person, or because our modern society has just about turned a blind eye to them, and as a result, they’ve lost most of their… presence in this world. I also believe that we as humans, Continue—
Could you answer a question for me? I’m not (Or at least, I haven’t decided whether I want to be a Wiccan, Witch or Pagan) Wiccan, in fact I’m an Agnostic, so my question is: If I felt the need to connect/speak with a God or Goddess, would my personal beliefs get in the way of that? The reason I’m asking is that I have a Matron Goddess and a Patron God in mind, Nott and Dagr of Norse Mythology, but I’m not sure as to whether I should “Search them out” or wait for them to come to me.
Do you believe that your patron god & matron goddess are connected to your spirit and stay with you throughout all of your lifetimes, or only guide you through this one, and a different god & goddess chooses you in your next life? Me, I feel such a connection with my god & goddess that I honestly feel like they made my soul and have and will always be with my spirit. What about you?
Yes, I believe that since we are all a part of and manifestation of Deity we are equal. It is a relationship based on equality. We hold all the knowledge and power of Deity within ourselves many just don’t realize this. We are obedient to Deity when we are obedient to ourselves. We worship Deity when we recognize the sacredness within ourselves. Deity is The All – yes, you could say a collective conscious or Universal Source Energy. Deity is an inner power but it is also Everything.
Cricket Song, I don’t mean to keep pestering you but I have another question about worship. Even though Zeus and Athena are my patrons is it okay to pray to the other gods? Like if I have an issue with love I ask Aphrodite for guidance or Hecate to strengthen my magickal skills. If you would be able to answer this it would be greatly appreciated. Much love and many blessings 🙂
Cricket Song, I have just started with my magickal path and I’m not really doing much at the moment other than meditating. I was thinking about patrons and matrons and the two that came to mind were Zeus and Athena. I am very knowledgable in Greek mythology and do feel connected with these deities. But I can’t really afford statues at this moment so would it be alright to print out pictures of their depictions off the computer and just put them into nice frames and do it like that?
I think I’ve been chosen by Hecate. I’ve been seeing ravens everywhere, having odd dreams, and every time I hear or see her name I feel a rush of energy go through me. I don’t understand why she would choose me. I’m still a beginner witch and I know you have to be careful when calling upon her. Could you please help me figure this out?
My matron is Sekhmet. She appear to me in a dream and I can see her vividly. When I was a kid, I went to a zoo in St. Paul where I encountered lions. All I ever say to them is “hi” and they all roared in response. But I had a question: there was another goddess appear beside Sekhmet, but she’s all a blur. Do you think is Isis or Bast? I know this is a trick question but I’ve read that Bast is asociated with Sekhmet. is it possible I could have two matrons?
I have a big fascination with anubis and bast would they possibly be mine? I try to think of others being mine bit it doesn’t feel right and I’m always curious about these 2. ive had a fascination with cats and life after death and ancient Egypt since I was 5 and my dad showed me a documentary on egypt pharos
I love Warlocks, truly. But my favorite patron was an Archfey of the Winds who wanted to screw over his rival by screwing up the rival’s marriage to the Triton princess. My character was the Triton princess. She didn’t want to get stuck in the Feywild for all her days. So they made a pact. The terms were: 1. She cannot return to any form of salt water. If she does, she turns into sea foam. 2. She cannot get her heart broken. If she does, she turns into sea foam. 3. If she finds someone who loves her truly and she loves them truly, and they get married, she gets her powers free and clear. She and her patron eventually fell for each other. It was hilarious bc he didn’t see that one coming, especially as he fell in love first. So the patron is trying to get with my Bardlock and for a while she was not having it. The whole table kept giggling at how the tables turned.
I love seeing the sheer variety of ways that warlocks can interact with their patrons. We currently have a celestial warlock at our table, and her story is a hoot and has the whole group involved without overtaking the spotlight. So, in essence, she is a farm girl that wanted to get away to see the world before settling down, and along her travels she had a series of one night stands so that she could ‘try everything’. A few days after one such one-night-stand, she realized that she had weird powers. So, she just kind of went ‘huh, neat’ and kept on traveling. So, several times now, she has met back up with this person, who is a traveling merchant. Their relationship has grown and is super adorable. He is so smitten with her and will randomly show up and gift her and the party things. We all keep trying to tell her that based on the evidence, he surely has to be a god in disguise. And she staunchly disagrees. The exact nature of what he is has yet to be revealed. X)
While I understand people’s fear of “main character syndrome” with patrons, it’s important to remember that throughout a good campaign each player will be the main character at some point. Not everyone can have equal time every session, and part of the reason we are at the table is to enjoy each others stories, not just our own. DM’s being too afraid to let a character take center stage once in a while can end up with them limiting the stories the players want to tell because it might not involve every character in the exact same way all the time.
My favorite warlock/patron relationship was a tiefling who had her demon dad as a patron. It was very much a relationship where they’d just check in on each other. Occasionally she’d reach out with the equivalent of “can I bring some laundry home?” or “Uh, help, I maxed the emergency credit card.” and he’d reach out to say “You know it would be helpful if you and your friends did some errands for me. They can stay over if they want before you head out.” It was wholesome.
My character is a warlock with an Archfey patron, but his party thinks he’s a bard. That’s because my character made the pact to essentially get a ghost writer for his songs. It’s such a stupidly mundane thing to basically sell your soul for that it’s just funny to me, and honestly some Archfey out there definitely thinks it’s also hilarious af too.
Having a warlock was actually the goal of the patron I play in my current setting. They’re basically a destroyed god trying to reincarnate themselves by slowly dripping their power into a mortal shell. I’ve been hinting at it through dreams the warlock gets whenever the player takes a warlock level. I don’t know if the player has figured it out already, but their character definitely hasn’t.
I’ve been working with my DM on a warlock for a while now, and what started as a throwaway joke concept I had while brainstorming has become a hilarious concept that we’re both hyped about seeing in game. It’s a fathomless warlock who was previously a lighthouse keeper before being thrown into the ocean by an angry mob after a crash. It turns out that the lighthouse has become a Kuo-Toa deity and it saves the new warlock from drowning, wanting him to go and protect ships further from shore. Now wherever he sails the same lighthouse is inexplicably present. Deserted Island? Lighthouse. Mountaintop miles from shore? Lighthouse. Coastal city that already has a lighthouse? 2 lighthouses. Anyone living nearby acts as though the lighthouses have always been there and nobody questions it.
My warlock’s actually taking advantage of his patron. He dabbled in the occult during his more angsty teenage years, and while most of his friends moved past that phase, he found he had a talent for it. In modern terms, he and his friends played with ouija boards, and after they got bored and left, he got a response. He tapped into the dreaming subconscious of Azathoth, the blind idiot god of the far realms. Azathoth doesn’t really “know” he exists beyond the extent that you know that a particular ant exists in your yard. Sure, you know ants do exist, but you wouldn’t know one from the next, and really don’t care. Azathoth has a few different descriptions and themes tied to his lore, but my warlock pact focuses on the sort of “simulation” theory of reality, the idea that this all could just be a program, or someone’s dream, and if it’s ever shut off or they wake up, everything we know will cease to exist. Sort of the nihilistic idea of an uncaring universe that might not even be real. My warlock is clever, but he is NOT the wisest of men. He decided to play the dangerous game of trying to whisper suggestions in Azathoth’s ear to influence how his dream is playing out. All of his powers are explained in non-euclidean, reality-bending, almost quantum phenomena. His Armor of Agathys temporary HP is described as his limited ability to retroactively fix any mistakes he’s made. I walk into a room and some bandit was waiting by the door to stab me. He succeeded, as I was surprised, but it didn’t break my temp HP.
Warlocks are a class with epic roleplay opportunities between the DM and the warlock’s player. However, it is essential that both parties understand the characterization and nature of this warlock partnership. The DM shouldn’t spoil everything (duh) but make sure that you establish what the warlock/player understands about the patron at session 0. Pull that off and you can have one of your campaign’s best storylines in the palm of your hand!
I’m remembering my favorite warlock character idea. His patron in a former devil who saw the light and switched sides in the celestial struggle to become “the Horned Angel”. Problem is, while he used to be a Pit Fiend who had had thousands of warlock contracts over the centuries and was almost as powerful as one of the Archdevils (once you included all of his contacts and favors) now he’s kind of a meh celestial. He figured out that a big chunk of his own raw power didn’t transfer over but was still unclaimed. Yet he couldn’t use it as it was fiendish power, not celestial. So, he did what any good devil would, he found a loophole. After scouring the heavenly laws of Mt Celestia and the various Lawful Good gods and whatnot, he found one. Basically, the horned angel set it up so that he gets credit for helping any warlock of his with any good deed that they perform. This (through a series of legal loopholes that would cause even professionals headaches) increases his standing with his new Lawful Good peers and converts large chunks of his power into something he can safely use. However, he also gets credit for their evil acts and while he’s prepared for a certain amount of this, frequent serious evil will bring consequences beginning with warnings and ending with him expending significant amounts of time, favors, and effort to undo every effect of the contract. Also the character is an urchin with a heart of gold who communicates with the angel through his pet mouse and has no idea how magic works but is having way too much fun abusing Mask of Many Faces through the Eldritch Adept feat.
The warlock that I played for the longest was in a high level campaign (12-16) where I was playing an Archfey Warlock. When I first made her, I didn’t even have a specific patron in mind, but through play me and the DM created what I now find to probably be my favourite backstory I’ve written for a PC. It went like this: One upon a time, there was an old woman who had always wanted children. So naturally she did what most old women do, and ate two kids who would later become her hag daughters, forming her coven. As she grew older and more powerful, so too did her daughters, and she found herself in a seat of power within the infinite network of hags. Less fortunate for her, due to sabotage from one of her adversaries, her youngest daughter died. This significantly weakened her coven, as hags are always strongest in groups of three, and needed to have this problem solved immediately. So when a young woman came seeking her magic, it was a natural follow that she would ask for her firstborne child in exchange. Hesitantly, the woman agreed, on the promise that her child would live a long life, which the granny hag was more than happy to agree to, as it would hold true even if she turned this child. As it turns out however, the woman already had a firstborn child, who was seven years old, far too old to be turned. And being bound by her promise to the young woman, the hag had to make use with what she had, and take the long road to convert this child instead, which means the child had to grow stronger before they could complete the magic and turn the child.
This makes me want to revive the Celestial Warlock I played in a one-shot a while back. He was a dwarven woodcutter who accidentally chopped down a tree infected with negative energy, releasing it into the world at large. Horrified at his mistake, he pledged his service to the guardian of the forest, a Unicorn, to hunt down and eradicate all of the demons and undead that he’d unleashed. The Unicorn gave him his powers in return. I played him more like a front-line fighter than a full caster, using Booming Blade instead of Eldritch Blast as my main attack and taking some defensive buff spells and invocations to keep him alive.
My warlock oc’s patron is literally a sugar daddy. She managed to free a marid when working as a courtesan and he rewarded her with cool powers. He occasionally asks for her to find treasures and spread the word of how he’s totally the best genie, but otherwise its “Here’s some powers for being pretty”
I absolutely agree that a warlock/patron relationship doesn’t need to be negative. I’m currently playing an air genasi whose dad is a genie and also their patron! It’s a super fun dynamic, where instead of the patron wanting the warlock to risk their lives to do their bidding, my warlock is often lying to her dad about how much danger she’s in, so that he doesn’t ground her, I’m having so much fun with it
Another interesting reason for pacts that I’ve read about is as follows: The Patron lends it’s warlock a smidgen on their power. Then as the warlock becomes stronger that power grows as well. When the Warlock inevitable dies that power returns to the Patron. No matter what the warlock does during their finite time, the patron will be better off since they’ll end up stronger AND have infinite time to realise their plans. This doesn’t mean that Patrons don’t have other plans and can’t demand things from you. Why sell something for a penny if you can sell it for a pound. But the philosophical idea that Patrons persue some unknowing goal (or for demons political struggle) and warlocks exist as a power charger and function as handy subordinate seems really interesting.
when you said, that warlocks can see their relationship with the patron as just work, i couldn’t help but imagine an average-ass guy, who gets magical powers from 9 to 5 and can’t care less about adventuring and stuff, but puts up with it cause everyone should earn their living somehow and it’s not the worst way to do so. that’s what i call relatable.
A bunch of my players have taken warlock levels BECAUSE we’re so RP heavy, and I try really hard to create interesting patrons. It works for us. We also have a “Pact of the Lovers” homebrew we’ve been working on for one player who accidentally made a powerful being fall in love with him. Warlocks rock.
A Summary of my current patron: “You seem very nice and respectful, how about you go use that pure spirit to vanquish the darkness of the mortal plane, because I can’t leave feywild. Being the gatekeeper and all. Here’s some magic.” Internally: This kid’s life sucks so bad and he’s been gaslighted so hard he doesn’t even know it, let’s try and get him out of the house so he can actually use those skills of his.
Idea for a warlock: A painter who got hired by a deity to make paintings to decorate their manor. The deity grants the warlock the powers to defend himself, and in return the warlock paints (maybe on a magical canvas that gets whisked away to the deity then he’s finished) all the beautifl scenery he comes across.
I once played a character who had an a powerful being indebted to her, because she helped them out of a bind on the material plain. He expected her to ask for wealth or love or some low-level magics to help with her work as a healer; instead, she asked for the ability to cast True Resurrection (because her twin brother was at serious risk of assassination.) A level 0 character simply is not able to hold the power of a 9th level spell, so ALL her other magical powers were just spillover from that one spell, and I had to choose abilities that could be tied to dancing that line between restoring life & true death. We also had the additional wrinkle where the reward she asked for was so beyond the help she had provided, as soon as she actually cast True Resurrection for the first time, the debt would be flipped; the only thing she specified he could not ask in return was anything that would threaten the life of the person she saved, even indirectly. (Ended up spending it on a toddler—the final boss’s daughter. The boss’s guard fumbled an explosive, and the kid was too close. Last I saw of my character, she was kneeling in the shouldering remains of that nursery, clutching that little girl close, crying. Oh, did I mention the kid is the twin brother’s rival for the throne?) Shame that campaign’s never coming back, but at least I got to exit on a high note!
My patron is my character’s begrudging dad, Essentially, I have a slime character, due to backstory reasons (I know at least one party member watches these articles so I don’t wanna spoil it), they believe that their patron is their dad, their patron is a necromancer by the name of Mobius, who gave them pity powers and added them to their undead horde/army. He is like a doofensmirtz, ‘evil’ but genuinely quite pathetic and goofy. I love their dynamic “I’m not your dad!” But also, “don’t be late to dinner!” It’s really charming ^^
I made a genie (dao) warlock pact, where the character made the pact with his ancestor. OG’s family was a well known villain family of Genasi’s. He was treated as garbage as his twin brother gained all the earth traits in the womb, leaving him as essentially a earth flavored human. OG was treated as trash and took up tailoring as a hobby. Ended up looting his Father’s desk and running away, only to find that his father was using his Dao ancestor as a servant. He was given a portion of his “grandads” power in return for freeing him and promising the enslavement of the family who enslaved him. Also he got Granddad’s swanky ring which he turned into his bachelor’s pad/clothing shop. Hence Taylor the Tailor was born.
I think my favorite warlock was my younger brother’s fathomless warlock. He didn’t have a formal pact but instead shared a body with his patron (like a venom symbiote). The patron could force a charisma save to hijack the warlocks body while the warlock could make a spell casting ability check to force the patron to cast a spell against the patron will. The DC was determined by the warlocks used spell slots.
I love that everyone is coming out of the woodwork with their warlock stories, so here’s my favorite from my table so far: My warlock in the Curse of Strahd campaign I’m running wants to romance his vampire patron, an idea I love because it fits well in the tone of the story and would make a great contrast to how Strahd treats his lovers. Due to some scheduling shenanigans we weren’t able to meet for awhile and I was squirelly to play, so I offered to run “prequel” solo sessions for everyone, noting how they learned about Barovia, introduce NPCs that would show up later, stuff like that. For the warlock, I set up the prequel session of him getting his pact, which involved some fun shenanigans of attending a fancy party, stealing a book from the host that detailed how to make a pact, and the two of them running off to a specific location to do a ritual to confirm the pact. And yes, the fact that the words they exchanged sounded VERY close to wedding vows was done on purpose by me, because I live to feed my players, lol. Aaaand currently? The gang is off to rescue the warlock’s patron. Because Strahd kidnapped him. I don’t want to spoil too much, but it’s gonna get wild and I’m glad everyone is trusting me to give them a good storytelling experience.
Probably the best scene in a long time on my most recent D&d table was when the Warlock was forced to switch his pact. He definitely knew his patron was a villain, but he knew he was screwed when she started demanding that he killed the girl he liked. For context, the girl was the BBEG, and the Warlock pretty much knew that (actually, he was the only one to know that), but was on denial and trying to redeem the gal. When they later had to “recruit” a demigodess to a war, she revealed herself as the daughter of the Warlock’s patron, and demanded that the man was either sacrificed or forced to let go of his power and broke the pact, for she wasn’t going to work alongside a servent of such an evil being. He was hesitant about it, since he knew he wouldn’t be strong enough to fight without his magic, until he realised that, if the demigodess had the power to break his pact with her mother, she was probably just as strong as his previous patron, so he switched to her, staying as a Hexblade without the downside of having to send souls to the worst fate possible. Everyone was the happiest they’ve ever been in a while for the Warlock. That was until… He realised the demigodess was the Patron equivalent of a “Lawful Good Paladin”, if you know what i mean, and that… for as good as it was to not be forced to do so much evil, he would now have to face what a real patron looks like, and what is like to have a VERY STRICT code to follow.
I am currently playing a Warlock named Alfie whos Patron is his own Father.✨ Best part about it is that he’s actually super supportive, and loves perusal his son go on adventures. Imagine, that one social anxious teen who’s having an awesome house party, and then suddenly their dad shows up with crustless sandwiches while wearing an apron, and suddenly the teens now super embarrassed and trying to get him out of the room. that’s their Dynamic ☺✨
I’m making a warlock right now so this should be helpful That was actually pretty useful, really helped me define some of my choices. My warlocks patron was once a deity of equipment that gifted her followers with weapons and armor, whether these were natural, wielded, worn, normal or magical depended on one’s devotion and situation. But since many beasts and monsters kept natural weapons and armor through evolution and many creatures learned how to make and enchant them by themselves, my patron stopped getting worshipped in many places, and eventually turned into a celestial spirit. Still powerful, but no god. My character, who came from a family that had always worshipped her for protection, got a dream in which she gave him an offer: she would grant his family natural weapons such as fangs or claws for protection and additionally grant him a tiny % of her power and the ability to summon weapons and armor (hexblade warlock, pact of the blade, armor of the shadows, improved pact weapon). In return my character will travel through all of Faerûn to spread her name and worship once again. They (mostly) have a deity-follower relationship since that’s how it started, although she sometimes gives my character a specific request or task.
I’ve posted this before, but I love the story. My first 5E character was an Archfey warlock that, as a small child, made a deal with a runaway fey princess (also relatively young for fey, and this was her first time in the mortal world). Strictly speaking, they both agreed to the terms of the contract: he find her in a game of hide or seek, she help him heal his ill father. He found her, and she bestowed his left hand with the cantrip Guidance. What NEITHER of them realized at the time was that this counted as a Warlock/Patron contract and he would slowly gain more of her power. It would take a long time for it to be enough for her to notice, but surely someday she would. In short, it can be REALLY fun if NEITHER of them realize the contract is made.
One of my players multiclassed into warlock when the party accidentally summoned Zariel to try and get an NPC revenant out of her contract that was about to expire. Zariel’s expectations are basically for him to kill demons whenever he runs into them and then to fight in the Blood War once he dies. Other than that, she lets him do what he wants. The more powerful he becomes before he dies, the more useful he will be as a soldier in the legions of Avernus.
My first ever character was a human monk and early in the campaign one of the party members sold everybody in the party’s soul to Tiamat (he quickly learned his mistake, and he was still fun to play with). Everybody was given a different color of chromatic wyrmling, mine being a green one because my character used poison often. The campaign ended with us learning who Tiamat was and dying to prevent her from forcing us to set her free. I later created various characters that were reincarnations of this character. A more recent one is a green dragonborn warlock. Basically, he’s a warlock of Tiamat who is good aligned and doesn’t even know that he’s a warlock with a patron. He just knows that he has magic, and probably thinks of himself as something that would line up with a sorcerer. The “pact” was when his soul was sold to Tiamat in a previous life, so because of that, he’s still able to use some of her power.
The one warlock I had in my campaign was groomed to be a sacrifice for his patron to permit the patron (a banished great old one) to come back to a plane near the prime material. As the campaign progressed, the player though he was going to be a mortal avatar for his patron… Especially when the PCs met a cult to the patron. Until the time came for him to be sacrificed. When the other PCs saved him and he betrayed his patron, he lost his powers until he made a new pact with a new entity. My player LOVED having misinterpreted the end-goal of the patron and since that whole arc was incorporated in my main campaign, no-one felt that player was in any way more special or important than the others or that he had more “screen time” than the other players. Also, the character was unaware of his warlock powers. They would manifest subconsciously or when the character had taken 75% damage, then the warlock aspect would emerge and start blasting eldritch bolts.
I adore how creative warlock patron stories can be. My favorite character is a warlock who’s pact was made for him at birth by his parents, his parents werent around at all in his life and he had to live with his patron. Their abilities are also psychic based so the patron is very prevalant in my characters life and talks with him in his mind very often. The Warlock wants to explore the world because of his nature and the patron wants to see the world for all that shes missed in her reclusive lifestyle so she sees the world through his eyes
My Hexblade warlock, a tabaxi, is a collector of things. Sometimes i get to taunt someone with a posession, sometimes it helps out in some way. But the best moment so far was when I got cursed with a nightmare. When asked my character’s worst fears, i said ‘abandonment’. it was expected that my party would leave in the dream, but when the Raven Queen turned her face from me… literal goosebumps.
in one of the games I dm there is a genasi monk/warlock that has their genie parent as their warlock patron. It is very much a relationship based in a parent feeling that the child needs help protecting themselves, thus granting some extra magic. While the patron isn’t always obviously caring in attitude, it’s still a parent that want their child to be safe and happy. and the attitude of the warlock has so far been that they want their parent to be proud of them, and feel like they need to show that they can handle the powers granted. It’s really fun to have small interactions between these two, because it is almost always related to balancing getting tasks done but not just doing so rashly with no regard to safety. There was one session where the patron learned that the warlock had been in a large battle and got quite upset that they hadn’t used a magic item the warlock has that lets the patron get to them in emergencies (re-flavoured ring of Djinni summoning, specifically summons patron and player does not get to control or give commands). I really like that this player wanted to go this route with their character, and it also adds a lot more reasons for me as a dm to actually have the patron interact with them and get the party to feel like the patron of this warlock isn’t an evil being that they have to defeat.
I’m playing my first campaign ever and chose a lore bard who demonstrated stereotypical bard horniness initially, only for the party to find he just wanted to have deep and existential conversation with members of different races and creeds to understand more about the world around him. My lore bard is so excited by knowledge that, upon encountering a trapped, quest-giving aboleth with the party, he had a total fanboy moment and flattered the creature thoroughly. He promised the aboleth to give it constant psychic updates on the goings on in the modern world to receive some of its knowledge.. and thus I dipped my one and only point into warlock. My DM helped me homebrew a Lurker lock variant that views the aboleth as its patron and wellspring of knowledge — without the cost of corruption —with the reward being 120 foot telepathy with creatures with innate swimming speed, 30 ft telepathy in general, and Tentacles of the Deeps. I also have Arms of Hadar personally flavored as “Arms of the Aboleth.” My psionic powers continue to grow!!
A really brilliant fix my DM came up with to make sure the warlock wasn’t taking up too much time is that a couple other characters also have a connection to the patron (not all in a positive way). Because of this, when patron stuff comes up the warlock doesn’t always want to jump right in (sometimes it’s a hook for a different character) and sometimes he wants to outright hide his patronage. She also tends to come to him in dreams, which helps because it’s ideal for in-between-session text RP so it’s not taking up group play time.
Huh. You know what? I’ve never been interested in playing a a warlock. Mostly because I am personally fiercely into my own independence. Also as a newish DM I’ve never encouraged one of my players into playing one. It sounded too complex and intimidating for me to run. But you’ve made me turn around and made it sound fun and exciting. Thanks!
I had a character a lot like that example. The concept was a warlock who wholeheartedly believed that she is a bard. A starving musician from Waterdeep who hears a strange voice, and signs a “contract” with a “tour manager” who is actually a trapped archfey. When she freed her patron at the end of the campaign, and discovered that her powers didn’t actually come from her music… That was rough.
My character, Penchant is using the “DPS Bard” concept character from D&D Deep Dive. It features a 2 level dip into fighter for extra attack and one into warlock for hexblade. His pact…was with the god Mask, patron of thieves and sneaky types (he’s a charlatan). The whole DPS thing is built around a hand crossbow, so I’m thinking he had to ditch his weapon, and happened to be around a small thieves shrine to Mask, tossed a coin in, “I’m not a praying man, but PLEASE don’t let me get caught with this weapon in my hand!” and POOF! it went away. We’re still deciding how much Mask really expects out of Penchant…or if he’s just terribly amused by his shenanigans swindling people out of their money.
my current warlock is archfey warlock Kip Thorne who’s essentially a young archfey god who hasn’t inherited any powers yet. and his patron is his older brother who lends him powers to look after him, who the party sometime sees for a fraction of a second in the corner of their eye in the distance in a forest or if entering a room with just Kip before making a double take, or can sometimes hear whispering if in earshot of just Kip “alone” in a room. he’s this short cute slightly tricksy dude with antlers who acts very weird, unaccustomed to the material planes physics and customs (e.g. fire being a lot more deadly than the faerie fire he’s used to). always with a creepy wondrous smile fascinated on his adventure from his familiar feywild. he uses a lot of fears and charms (fey wanderer multiclass ooop) the charms being power websiteed through him but his fears occurring through his patron older brother appearing behind him, towering over him, in a tall skinny grotesque form similar to modern depictions of wendigos with torn cloth covering his face and antlers poking out either side, that only the victim(s) of the fear can see (bloodborne madness style). but a fork Kip himself sees absolutely nothing scary in. absolutely my favourite character to roleplay. so passionate and fascinated but tricksy maybe a little condescending looking down upon everyone in the material plane >:)
I created a warlock tied to the pre-written campaign (Lost Mines) to help a first time DM. He is an Air Genasi Genie Warlock whose goal is to see the sea for the first time. A royal who had never seen outside their mountain town and was not premitted to leave. They got their pact as a “fairy godmother” moment and took it as their chance to flee. A very Moana style relationship where the patron reached out to them for their kind acts. I wanted the other new players (in a party of 5, only two had played before) to have focus so I purposely let the other new folks have their backstory explored before me as I supported on the sidelines. There were times players coaxed a few bits out of them like when they found out that his name was fake and was taken from his favourite book and little bits and bobs. The biggest reveal was their patron suddenly going silent after a simple chat with them, interrupted by something. He is still one my favourite characters and just love them so much.
Yes! Thank you! I love the warlock/patron dynamic so much that I gave my 1ePathfinder Bard a patron as flavor for a late game ability (Music Beyond the Spheres.) The relationship isn’t complex or close, he sees her as just a pretty thing he likes to help, but as he is so alien he often messes it up, and the brush with the eldritch always hurts her (it grants a warped limited-wish for some stat drain.) It’s resulted in my favorite quote: “You’ve angered The Great Old One’s favorite Barbie. The punishment is death.”
Warlocks are the coolest. I had a Warlock character who started out as a Sorcerer, however, I rolled a Nat one on a spell attack, and BAM no more magical ability. The Raven Queen (who had been interested in my Character all his life, struck up a deal with my character during a nightmare). After making this Pact, my character lost all of his memories. Getting his memories back made a GREAT side quest. That’s a very stripped down explanation. We’d be here a while if I went into depth lol!
I have a player who’s warlock patron is their previous character (a druid, who after defeating a demon that had brought them forward 2000 years into the present as a baby, went back to their own time and took the throne in the desert, married a demi-god, and together became a magical giant tree in an oasis that grants power to those in line to the throne so they can go on a journey of self-discovery.) The other players don’t know who their patron is, but they are about the visit the oasis in the next session and will find out!
No idea if this will even get to you, but I wanted to say this has been mighty helpful with my creative writing. I’m attempting to write an urban fantasy novel about a woman who has inadvertently forged a pact with an eldritch being, and the narrative driven thoughts and ideas you’ve brought up have helped in ways I didn’t even realize were possible. So, I guess I should say thanks.
The warlock I played most recently was a Fathomless Warlock. He saved a Koa Toa in a cave in and the Koa Toa went back to his people and spread word of my good deeds. Koa Toa have the ability to create their own gods if they believe hard enough so me gaining levels in warlock was just more and more of them worshiping me. Every so often my Dm would provide a cutscene to these people and it always felt cool. Not too involved, (my character didnt even know his powers came from this) but it wasnt overbearing at all on the rest of the table
My last group ended up with 2 warlocks, the first one died at lvl9, then about level 12 my swashbuckling rogue was uh, possessed? By the warlock that died. Apparently he battled his Parton to a near draw and the patron cast him back to the realm trapped in a dagger, who was found by my rogue. This allowed the og warlock to keep playing the character, was hilarious!
I started perusal this and as soon as “the demands of their patrons drive warlocks towards adventuring” I came up with a possible Ioun (the knowing mistress) pact, as the article continued it kept checking all the boxes. Ioun makes a pact, her only conditions are that she is allowed to watch the warlock, and if anything too dangerous is found (Like a tome that could unleash Vecna (her rival) she will tell the warlock to turn it into the temple/library). This allows the warlock pact to remain in the background unless the DM wants to throw in a plot hook. Party is hired to retrieve a journal of some long deceased person. Upon acquisition, the warlock is contacted and told to bring it to the temple of Ioun. Party will role play a debate (lose the reward for completing the mission vs potentially handing over a dangerous item to the mission giver). Fun thing is, the temple may only want to make a copy or possibly entrap the mission giver as a follower of Vecna. Either way, the end reward should be as much as the initial reward or greater. However, the reward may also be in favors or take longer/more effort to receive. As for possible boons, the warlock could be given the ability to identify an object if they study it for 10 minutes (basically a ritual cast of identify), and can lose that ability if they go against Ioun’s wishes. In a party without identify from other means, this would be a huge thing. If Identify is plentiful, perhaps Legend Lore once per week (still requiring material components) could be an option, Or detect magic aura that points out things Ioun is interested in seeing.
In the current Curse of Strahd/Domains of Dread campaign I’m in, I took another spin on the Warlock Patron: Knowledge. An Undead Patron Warlock whose patron is actually esoteric necromantic and magical research. As such, the build is an Intlock, and the requirement for progress is further research and analysis. She is bending the laws of magic in an effort to cure her vampiric curse (Dhampir, formerly vampire via backstory), but as a result is being shaped and defined by it, simultaneously becoming more and less human/vampire.
While I’m looking into playing D&D for the first time hopefully soon, I’ve been quite into the idea of a warlock. So far my most inspiring one would be with a Genie (Djinn). I was thinking of being mostly a tool for my patron to have an effect on the material plane and using me to gain back the power and influence he lost after being trapped in a vessel for centuries. Asking me things like stories or art to entertain his guests, defeating mostly fire elementals I find to get back at the Efreeti who helped trap him in the vessel, occasionnally even summoning me to his palace to show off his “pet mortal”. I imagine being around the campfire with my party and everyone hear the booming voice of my patron calling me “Cookie!” C’mere, Cookie! Where’s my pet?!”….moment of silence….and my warlock like “(sigh)…Gotta go guys” before turning to smoke and disapearing. Obviously I’d have to get the DM on board but I was thinking of the patron starting by treating my character as a pet. First not caring much and just wanting me to perform tricks and do things for him but eventually over time learning to respect my character. I recognize this could go into a “main character syndrom” but I’m sure it could also just be flavor for downtime or anything in between depending on the DM.
In our podcast, Roll More, I’m playing a warlock that didn’t actually make the pact himself. Only me and the DM know who DID make the pact, but my poor sweet summer child Luto is woefully ignorant of where his magic juice comes from. I don’t know where he’s gonna take it, whether the Genie will be a good or bad influence, but we shall see
Tbh I wish this article was made some years ago when I first took my dive into DnD blindly with a warlock LMAO. While I still love my celestial warlock, I should have made it easier for my dm to go to them with more information about what kind of relationship she had with her patron before starting the campaign. I still gave them the liberty and I still did enjoy it a lot! My girl adored her patron, which was Cherubim, goddess of love (but later found out she was also one of trickery iirc?) who came to her in a dream when she was just a teen and since she was so naive, she made a pact with her just because “she wanted to spread love throughout the land” once she set off on her adventure when older. But of course, throughout the game her goals changed and yeah she wanted to spread love but that was no longer a focus, which was upsetting for her patron. Little did she know that she was just one of many (she thought her patron loved her just as she did) and found it that the goddess wasn’t really good, she was trying to pull literally her love strings and make her end up becoming a succubus (so basically yeah she was trying to manipulate her to do her bidding). This broke my girl’s heart and eventually she broke off her pact with her, losing her powers for some time. Now sadly the campaign was cut short and I didn’t get to that part BUT my dm and I spoke about a canon ending and she did end up making a pact with the main villain npc who became a god but also became her husband since they fell for each other earlier in game (she and the party had no clue he was the main villain and was going to be the final boss basically).
My warlock is a failed wizard student who happened to discover that she had fey blood in the family. One quick conversation through a crystal later, and she had the backing of a fairy queen who gifted her some powers to help her trick her way through the wizard finals. Now in between roaming the lands, collecting information for the queen, and helping lost fey, she and her patron are essentially prankster buddies, with a whole world to pull tricks on.
My first warlock was a tiefling looking to make a pact with a demon, but on his way to the demonic temple he saved a woman from goblins. That woman was titania, queen of fairies and she enters him into a pact immediately, much to his chagrin. She kindof had a doting puppy love for him and it was so much fun to roleplay the tiefling learning to appreciate the Fairy queen’s kind gestures. She would give him little trinkets and gifts or activate spells to help him in tight spots. When he got a familiar it was a sprite that was Moth, Titania’s handmaiden. So much fun.
Warlock was my favorite class before Artificer came in and stomped it into the dirt. It’s still my favorite charisma class. In my own opinion, a warlock pact makes a great B-story. Not the main, but connected to it in some fashion. Heck, every character should have a connection to the main story as well as their own self-focused B-story.
I’m currently playing a Celestial Warlock, and my patron, a Unicorn, actually exists in the setting. She has never directly appeared in any scene, but she has sent messages through my familiar, and I’ve even sent my familiar off to go get help directly from my patron. In the beginning, seeking my familiar was a big component in our adventure until level 3 when we found her. I’m level 9 now and my DM gave me permission to take Summon Celestial, but I’ve re-flavored it as summoning my patron’s avatar. My party loves the unicorn shooting radiant beams from her horn! In any event, my patron is impactful in the story without being critical to it. She’s influenced events in the background and once provided direct aid, in the form of a magic item, but the story would have occurred even if she’d never existed. I feel that’s a pretty good balance for a patron.
My most recent hexblade Patron was actually a really cool plot twist. While many patrons take a lot from their user, the opposite happened with this new one. It had an incredible amount of wisdom and power, and it’s unique magic characteristic was that it absorbs feelings of negativity and turns it into magical power. The catch instead of it just being a sword that someone swings when their angry, is that it can only absorb those negative emotions have lifted from the user or when they’ve moved past those feelings. My character has a whole ass arc of “what is actually being strong other than being violent?” and literally is what’s making him slowly a better person. Coolest Patron I’ve EVER had fr.
Shiny timing! After the article on hybrid D&D characters, I ran off to get the books in question, and I got so excited that now my whole table – GM included – is making a party of hybrids to exist as a B-party to the ongoing campaign. Condensed plot summary, 400 years ago, all the gods and several other powerful beings (like, say, Warlock patrons), good, evil, and unaligned all alike, banded together to make a vast crystal tower in which to bind some ancient evil that no living being remembers – including those who were alive at the time. Thing is, this newly-sealed evil didn’t like that very much, so the twenty floors up and twenty floors down in the tower began spawning monsters from nothing, which will ultimately work to break the evil out of its prison. Thus began the city of Arcadia, which grew around the tower gates to fight these monsters off, thinning their numbers so they can’t stage a breakout. We, both the current party and the hybrid squad, are dungeoneers, whose full-time job is to enter the tower and beat up anything we find, then sell the monster parts for cash. (Hamund’s Harvesting Guide on DM’s Guild was crucial for us pulling that off.) The main party is generally going up, and the hybrid squad will be more focused on going down. My hybrid is going to be a Grung/Kalashtar Warlock with a Fathomless patron and Pact of the Blade. He was actually raised in the Elemental Plane of Water (abbreviated to the Big Wet for ease of conversation), and it’s his patron, a giant, ancient ocean spirit, who got him to the city – in exchange for giving him the means to live himself an incredibly comfortable life, he will do the spirit some.
So, I’ve got a Kobold Feylock I use in AL and pickup games. Her backstory is that there was a raid on a Kobold den led by an Elf Paladin the day she hatched. When the Paladin saw her, he couldn’t bring himself to kill her or leave her to her fate, so he adopted her right then and there instead. Fast forward a few years, and Kheelah has grown up as a member of a lesser noble family, although a bit of a social outcast among her peers due to being a Kobold. She was always picked by the elven children she grew up amongst, and one day it got too bad and she ran off crying into the woods. She eventually came across a verdant lake, and while sitting beside the lake, sobbing, cursing her own nature and hiding herself from her own reflection, she was approached by an archfey (still haven’t decided or figured out what kind of archfey the patron would be apart from “giant fairy queen”). The archfey cheered her up and decided to give her a gift that would help her – that gift was magical powers persuasion, with a bit of Eldrich Blast on the side for self-defense. Of course, there was a catch – the archfey would be able to call in a favor every now and then. When she returned home, her adoptive father was surprised to find that she now had magic of her own (she was previously kinda magically inept, at least as far as actual casting goes), and a bit concerned about where she got it from, but after a bit more questioning he realized that the newly contracted warlock’s patron was mostly harmless.
This reminds me of a certain warlock i have played a while back (a four-class combo I mentioned in a different comment). Originally the idea was to have a friend and I share a character because he tends to be rather busy with work. So we came up with the idea of the patron (Fiend) essentially posessing the warlock’s body. As it turned out, however, the group was unknowingly dealing more with the patron (me) than the actual warlock (my friend). Which led to a rather fun dynamic where the patron kept subtly manipulating the otherwise good-aligned party to further his own goals of establishing a realm under the direct influence of his overlord. The path to damnation is paved with good intentions and all that. I think you can imagine the reaction of the party’s cleric when the Lv 5 Warlock angrily shouted “Enough!” and used a spell to manifest what for all intents and purposes appeared to be a Gate to the Nine Hells, right? Even more so with the sillhouette of a certain archdevil looming in the shadows beyond…. Gosh, I love Major Image.
Love this article! Two of your points spoke to my own experiences as a player – on switching your pacts, and on the relationship of a warlock and their patron. TL:DR Warlock patrons can be JUST AS IMPORTANT to the rest of the party as their own follower!! In our long running campaign, our warlock (who served the Raven Queen) was possessed by a parasitic, genocidal spirit in his mechanical arm who drove the warlock to be reckless, do a lot of drugs, and generally be sour all the time. In the next act of the campaign, we broke into an archmage’s vault and discovered a smoky black compass. Compelled by the other party members and an incredibly odd feeling, the warlock shattered the glass and released a mysterious spirit. This spirit thanked the warlock for freeing her, introduced herself as Peace, and INSTANTLY KILLED the genodical spirit that inhabited his body. The spirit Peace offered the warlock a Deal: to give him alternative powers in exchange for giving her strength – she was quite weak after being trapped in the compass. The warlock agreed, was able to work out an expensive deal with the Raven Queen, and Peace became like a new party member. There was quite a bit of drama around her mysterious past and certain other player characters not trusting her, but the DM played this well – she never felt intrusive or over bearing as a DM insert. Eventually Peace had the power to return to her dayjob of being a Reaper, but not before she began a romantic relationship with the warlock.
I’ve had two warlocks in two different campaigns. One was an ancient hag (Archfey) that needed her warlock to kill other hags that imprisoned her centuries ago. The other was a soul trapped in a sword (Hexblade) that wanted revenge against a powerful devil. Fortunately, both patrons felt like they had a purpose for their warlocks and they both gave amazing stories for both campaigns.
Here’s my pitch: The warlock character will, through a surprise twist, actually be the god they claim to worship. The truth being they are basically on paid vacation and they want to ‘spice up’ the vacation local this time (they’d be giving off the vibes of the rich assholes that typically go to expensive resorts or cruise ships for weeks on end). They’re not stripped of their power, they haven’t been usurped as a god (at least not yet in the story), and they even have a list of things they want to see and experience during this whole trip. let’s say the crew gets imprisoned, and the god would be like “Ooooo, scratch that off my list! Now to do a prison break, the mortal way!”, with everyone else thinking “What the fuck is wrong with you?!” “I know, it’s SO exciting!” “Would you kindly use your fucking god powers to get us out then?” “That’ll be no fun if I do that.” They’ll be so infuriating, but so fun to play. Edit: Added motivation- They are on such Harcore autopilot that they worry about becoming the role they play to the people that worship them, to not go full Daniel Day-Lewis. It’s a backpacking trip across Europe to rediscover themselves and may discover something new, to grow to something hopefully better. To prevent them from doing whatever they want, I’ll quote one of my comments- “treating their time fake warlocking as a Nuzlocke (pokemon)/Soul Level 1 (From Software)/Asylum Challange (The Sims)/Chuck Noris Challange (Elder Scrolls)/6 Star Wanted Level (GTA), etc.
I played in a campaign where the player’s patron was a unicorn. Her part of the pact was to feed him flowers sing him songs and provide a lap for him to rest his head in at lead once a month. He in turn promised to “to provide Power and Holy Light, Guidance of the Right and True, Inspiration for songs of Happy Gladness.” As a sign of his favor she shall bear his Mark and Shine as a Beacon of Hope in The World” Little did I know that the first time i cast a warlock spell my bard, who was trying to sneak up on the bad guys would develop a tiny glowing golden horn on her forehead. and No, hats did not cover it! My DM took inspiration for his unicorn from Mercedes Lackey description of them Powerful, Beautiful and not as smart as a thick skulled golden retriever!
“The solution is to communicate above the table.” Or, “Why you should play a warlock to improve your game and home life too.” Thank you. Your advice is super helpful to enhance the enjoyment of the player, the DM, and the party. It’s also great advice and practice on how to improve a person’s interpersonal relationships as well (which I assume you know).
The Warlock in the campaign I’m running made a deal with his patron (a lich) and found a loophole to avoid holding up to his end of the bargain. Unfortunately for him, said loophole is only valid while on the Prime Material – and this is going to be a Planescape campaign, set in Sigil. His patron is actually a high-ranking member of one of Sigil’s factions, the Fated, conveniently posing as a posh middle-aged woman, and managed to set in motion events that would pique the power-hungry warlock’s interests and gently drive him towards that very faction. Long story short, his patron is now his supervisor, the one giving him tasks to accomplish in order to “earn his place in the faction”, and the poor sod is more than happy to comply because hey, “beats serving a lich in exchange for power”. >:)
Firstly, comment comment comment, engagement engagement engagement. Secondly, I find that Warlocks can be so hard to play in a fun way (Balance wise I find them a bit underpowered and frustrating to have so few spells), but when you get the patron/warlock relationship right they can be so fun to have in a campaign. There is something very satisfying as a DM to give a player a secret objective to do, and it has really helped some newer players get into RP I think
Thanks for the advice! I just texted one of my players to ask how he felt about the amount of presence The Traveller has had in the campaign! It’s entirely possible to run different levels of presence in the same campaign as well. I have three players with pact magic with very different ideas of how much engagement they want: The blood hunter chose Quajath the Undermaw both in and out of character because a giant imprisoned worm with an int of 4 probably won’t ask for much. The Warlock/Bard was given powers by The Traveller mostly as a joke and enjoys being the butt of the occasional joke. The rogue/warlock knew the Blade of Broken Mirrors was evil when he started usimg it, but sometimes you need the ability to hurt werewolves, or an early level up when imprisoned by hags, and is loving the story of slowly corrupting himself by bargaining for new abilities at suspiciously reasonable prices. . .
The first real Patron-Warlock relationship I really GMd was one, where the pact was unclear and actually happened accidentally for both sides. As a child, the warlock got lost in the woods and the patron took notice, got curious and decided to help via sending a guide (a familiar) to help the child find home. This triggered the warlocks latent magical talent, leading to all sorts of trouble that finally resulted in the warlock being sent/sold to the local hag to be trained (a much clearer bargain). The patron eventually fell in love with the person their warlock came to be and started to occasionally visit in disguise and the occasional bumps in power (leveling up) happened to be gifts send the warlock’s way. The Hag and the Familar were always disagreeing, except on the topic of the fae patron whom they found untrustworthy and stalker-y. The actual terms of the pact were fist discussed 13 Years after it was formed, when the patron was called by the warlock, to aid the party, and actually made an appearance. The second pact I GMd was a Hexblade patron who considered themselves a weapon of heroes. But sadly for them they had been found by a graverobber and thief… in exchange for power, the warlock had to perform good deeds. 😀
I have a player who’s patron is an aboleth named YuTu… he’s basically YouTube. As an aboleth, he has memories from the beginning of time, so he has all this “content” and I allow the warlock to roll a WIS check sometimes and if he rolls poorly so he ends up getting random cat articles or Rick rolled. Other time he gets visions that are actually useful. I love that Ginny basically signed a pact with YouTube in the exact same way 😆
I love an idea that I saw in a short once: The character got into a relationship with a deity without noticing it and had no idea that he/she was in so much danger, so the deity gave the character magic and every time the character leaves home and is asked to be careful the deity just cringes at every situation the character gets into.
Ive played a warlock who adopted father as well the “king” of the entire area the campaign took place as well a lich was her patron as a caring father . Their relationship was very close but i played my character as a child who wanted to do things on her own. But Sametime she also was such a daddys girl. Ive slightly dn’d for a player who a warlock but the relationship their was handed to me to be creative with. Only info was goven was patron was the hexblade sword but pc has no idea what they want or even says cause a language barrier. So the idea to go for is building that relationship & the patron take either end good or bad etc depending the players actions. Took me two years to finally figure out something on the whys & hows of them working together. Was Stressful but very fun.
I have a great old one warlock whose relationship to a nameless inscrutable entity is that she is eyes and ears to allow it to see the material plane and she gets power to help her stay alive and continue seeing stuff and having experiences. Communication is that it seems to be aware of her, and it occasionally puts an obscure and confusing message into her book of shadows. This is her most important relationship and she changed her name to Covenant to honor her pact. OOC the entity is something from the Elemental Chaos that does not understand concepts like form, being, existence, or life.