I once played a celestial warlock who’s powers came from their dead lover who came back as a guardian Angel. I love the idea of warlock pacts that aren’t just a person selling their soul to an evil patron. I especially love when the patron isn’t actually evil.
It why I like my raven queen warlock in strahd where he started by losing a lover from a explosion by unknown evil entity this would attract the raven queen attention and offered him if he works for her she will give him the answers of what happen and the power to oppose the evil entity
I once made a warlock that was once a archaeologist who discovered a relic that linked his mind to a Great Old One. But since his mind couldn't comprehend the Old One's thoughts he went insane.
There was a class back in 3.5, the binder, from Tome of Magic. Basically you made pacts with different entities and you would get a power related to that entity. If you failed the soul binding process you could get side effects like a body deformity or even loosing control of your charater for a while. Never played it myself but it sounded it could be interesting.
My favorite warlock I've run for has been a Fathomless warlock who had a "shard" of a shattered being fused with them like a venom symbiote. Both the patron and warlock have limited control over eachother, being able to hijack eachothers body/spells and bickered frequently.
There's always the "living weapon" way you can flavor Hexblade (or whatever subclass you want to play that will use this concept) where like your arm turns into a weapon like in the venom movie for example (so either you go a symbiotic route or you could have it be that you are the weapon) you could pick up spells that help simulate this idea or reflavor spells to fit the idea maybe eldritch Blast for you is a sharp spike protruding from your body to impale another creature, maybe arms of hadar is you swinging your bladed arms around you to get the people around you off of you
Awesome intro! Then the Pyramid warlock cracked me up nicely done. Though the rich kid warlock reminded me a bit of the old spell cleric spell Imbue with Spell Ability that allowed the cleric to give a limited number of spells to a none spell caster to use. As an old player referred to the spell as the Sugar daddys spell and your comment of that in the rich kid made me remember and smile. I look forward to seeing your take with both wizards and sorcerers so my vote is both one after another.
Well there you go! It's cannon you can make a pact with a cleric! 😂 That's amazing. And there will be a brief break with a fun strixhaven video next week, then back to it!
I am currently playing a Half Elf Warlock Who is know as the Void Caster. He is a Great Old One Warlock who has delved deep into the occult magics of the Aberrations he studies and in doing so he unlocked their magic. He has no patron as his magic is self taught through occult study and dark reading of the Void. My friend plays a Fiend Warlock as well who is The Demonologist. His child was taken by a cult and used in their rituals to conjure up demons and he swore revenge and set out on a mission to be a demon hunter, learning about them and study blood magics to learn how to use their magic against them and unlocking his powers.
I think you could have easily gotten way better mechanics if you chose pact of the arch fey and reflavored it to be the great old one patron. Just look at the mechanics and how well they line up with the theme of mind control and the spooky occult stuff. Another example of flipping a subclass on its head is the hex blade, because you could have made your pact with a hag, who generally like to curse people and bind them to their servitude (like how you can hex people, and make them a specter who has to work with you.)
@@crazy36069 I did concider doing that with the Arch Fey subclass, but then the main feature that I was using to be a powerhouse in RP was the Awakened Mind to get telepathic communication which saved us SOOOOO much with how I used it being able to communicate without anyone knowing about it did allot for us.
An idea I've read about is a (for example) Fiend Warlock, who instead of having one powerful fiend as their Patron, it is instead a group of younger/weaker fiends you signed a contract with. They pool their magic to fuel you while you collect stuff for them, that helps them to grow stronger. And instead of having sold their soul, the Warlock and the fiends work together to scam people out their money/magic items/souls by letting the fiends make bad omen around a place, the Warlock showing up and using magic tricks and acting to "get rid" of the bad things going on. Now that I think about it, the Warlock could then just be one of the fiends who disguises themself as a mortal, while acting as the beacon for the combined magic.
I do a character for each setting that comes out and here is my Hoard of the Dragon Queen. The first 5E warlock I played. Mechanically He is a Lightfoot Halfling Guild Artisan background Fiend patron and pack of the tome with the healers feat. In Reskin he is a Master Alchemist that has the potion Dr Pepper (the 1d6 +con mod +level from healers Kit) he could breath fire like a fire breather (Burning Hands), goggles of devil sight until a party member tried them, and his rod of the pact keeper is a gnomish Alchemy Thrower (shot gun I mainly used for eldritch blast out of). The character is based on a mix Elmer Fudd from Lonny tunes and The Nutty Professor. When the adventure need cover for joining a merchant caravan he started the transformation of a gypsy wagon into a 2 story house with full alchemy lab and inside balcony putting eye level with medium humanoids setting on the sofa and like covered wagons it was designed to float in water.
Been playing an fiend warlock who comes from a long line of paladins and clerics, but long ago their family has a curse placed on them that makes it so their descendents occasionally become tieflings.
I'm actually playing a bit of a mixture between a siphon and shared soul right now. It's a tabaxi hexblade that formed a symbiotic relationship with a mimic, so much so that now he uses the mimic as a weapon like a sword or spear. He can even disguise his face fully by having the mimic stretch it's body over him and cover his true face. I'm having a lot of fun with it so far especially with all the extra flavour. Since tabaxi typically have names that are short phrases and the mimic was named by my tabaxi, i decided to have it called "more than meets the eye.", Eye for short.
Hey I saw you commented on discord! Glad to have you! Oh, but I haven't seen that! I may have to look at how they do that, it would be nice to have a proof of concept!
I made a homebrew that had ‘Bloodwitches’ which were Warlocks who were chosen to protect their city-state; in essence, their City/Council were their patrons.
Warlocks are the best for flavor. There’s just sooo many things to do with them. My favorites are: 1) A charlatan and thief who broke into a church, stole a holy relic, and accidentally summoned a Planatar who decided to give the character a “chance for redemption” by giving them some power, a holy quest, and a tiny celestial observer (pact of the chain) to make sure they were actually doing good. I call it the “reverse Faust”. 2) a Hexblade where the sword itself was the patron; wanted to find a “worthy wielder” and so kept forcing the character into unnecessary fights (how I flavored all my bad roles) to test my character’s worth 3) similar to #2, only the sword was a sentient mimic. Really didn’t have any goals other than traveling and eating strange things but needed a mortal so as not to be killed by all the town guards. 4) a great old one warlock who made a pact with the slumbering mind of Azathoth, who continues to dream reality into existence. Character was laser focused in keeping the dream going and a pleasant one; Chaotic Good to the extreme. 5) Undead Warlock who made a pact with Fantasy-Dragon-Jeff-Bezos and walked around “toiling for the master” believing power would “trickle down” to him. Spent the entire three-shot quoting pro-capitalism rhetoric until the other PCs let me die to put and end to it.
My favorite warlock had his patriach as a Celestial patron; by the end of the campaign he had overcome his fallen aasimar clan’s leadership and become his own patron.
I personally really love the idea of "up and coming" patrons who are still out on the grind haha. since they're lower on the totem pole, the warlock bond demands a greater portion of their power and therefore merits a greater portion of their attention. I feel like it adds to how involved the patron can be in the campaign. I had player once we decided her patron would be a demon who wasn't quite ready to conquer a layer of the abyss and obtain demon-lord status, and essentially, the player's warlock was being groomed to be one of the demon's champions and generals. so the demon's goal was, literally, to help the warlock grind their way to 20th level haha, and the player took it further and even actively tried to recruit npc's and even fellow pc's, which took the form of trying to convince them to dip 1 or 2 levels into warlock. I actually feel that dnd 5e rarely lets mechanics motivate roleplay in that way, where the 1-2 level dip was very very appealing for charisma based pc's who usually had low wisdom haha. I actually had no intention, as the dm, of seeing the entire plot to level 20 through. I just thought it was cool motivation for the patron and PC. but when we finished the main campaign, the party, who was mostly converted at this point, decided they were all about just helping this demon overthrow a demon lord and conquor a layer of the abyss, and so we took it to 20th level and had a huge showdown that was pretty much completely player driven and that's honestly the best experience a DM can ask for.
One of my favorite warlocks I have ever made what is a warlock who joined an adventurer's Guild without any combat ability so he signed a contract that let him be a hexblade. Literally everything he did was said from a business point of view. He did not make contract for Souls out of some thing of control, is just the most common currency across all the planes. Is invocation? Well those are needed for his job. His pact boon? That was part of a promotion. In fact the entirety of his class is laid out as part of the contract. He is also not the only one as it is the most common way to get into the guild. Because of this I was a lot more successful at usual warlock bulshit than most people. I wasn't huddled in a corner speaking to my master, I was leaving the room and having a private business conversation. I wasn't recruiting people at the cost of their lives for some nefarious purpose, I was offering the bandits we were threatening to kill a job to replace the one they're about to lose. In the first session alone I recruited a snake, three bugbears, and a goblin. Unfortunately one of em decapitated snake.
I was just talking about a warlock whose patron is essentially the players. The players give the warlock power because they want to have fun adventures. It’s pretty meta. The warlock may see images of the players hovering over the other characters and that’s how they know who they should adventure with. If a party member dies and is replaced the warlock can interpret this as that player finding another host. It has a pretty easy adventuring hook since players want to have fun.
I love Warlocks and Clerics, and I'm playing a Profane Soul Bloodhunter whose patron is the daughter he adopted who's four years old. This explains why he's not exactly granted the full strengths of a Warlock, as he's only granted minor Warlock spells and powers from her. He just has to keep the little one happy and not be mean unnecessarily to people.
Another great concept I remember hearing is the Oroboros Warlock You have a mysterious magic user training you and supplying you with magic. They seem to know where you’ll be and meet up with you when you level up. They tend to give divination spells. Towards the end of your adventure your relationship becomes more hostile, perhaps curiosity has overcome the player. It is revealed in some way that the patron was an older version of you sent to the past to teach you magic.
Expanding a little on The Mortal (though, loosening the term a little) I've been wanting to play as a full Succubus ever since I say MrRhexx's 'What they don't tell you about Succubus' video. Succubi formerly being angels, celestial beings? Is sounds so amazingly intense. Mayhaps this particular succubi is sick of what she has to do to survive, and swears off her nasal instinct in an attempt to return to being an angel. Only drawing upon her fiendish powers to keep herself alive and to protect others. Constantly fighting the need to feed.
That is an INSANELY good idea! I'll have to check out MrRexx's video! You might enjoy The Inheritor in my bard video where I touch on succubi! You need to play that!
Had a fun idea for a Fiend Warlock who had a tempestuous affair with a demon lady. They broke up and things are tense between them, but there's still affection there. When my warlock does favors for his ex, he's rewarded with being able to spend quality time with their half-demon daughter.
I have a Marid Warlock who got their magic as a sort of arcane scholarship. He managed to impress the Marid with his culinary skills and gained the power in order to travel the world and improve his craft.
I love that the Kuo-Toa idea wasn't just my own! Celestial Tortle that constantly hears the prayers of his scant few creators left over after a tribe was nearly annihilated.
loving the Choiceless and the Shared Soul The Absorber giving me jujutsu kaisen vibes Another I'm thinking about is someone who inherits a pact like they would a debt
4:45 the main issue with this in 5e is that warlocks dont channel magic directly from their patron. Theyre being taught these things and the patron cant exactly take them away!
I'd love to do the classic "i sold my soul for music fame" but instead of my soul, i can only play deeply sorrowful songs that spread sadness but I'm so good people love it
How about a Genie-patron warlock who just found a random magical vessel while out exploring? They're not actually gaining any power from it, all of the subclass features come from the vessel and the class features are their form of hedge magic. Since they're not properly trained like a wizard or experienced sorcerer, they can only cast a few spells at a time but they compensate by pouring as much power into them as they can
Goolock concept I've been messing with: Verdan, its patron is That Which Endures. The terms of the pact are "Take this piece of my power and do things with it. Make it grow. When you're done with it (ie die), I'll take the power back and let your soul go on." The only way to lose the power would be to not try to level up
I had idea similar to your choice less one.My Kenku leaves the nest to explore the world and in the woods he happens across a cult that worships (insert patron) and offer him a pact of power and magic.The young kenku seems to like those words and signs his soul away.Now he looks for anyway to save his soul before he dies.
The mortal reminds me of a character idea i saw somewhere for a cleric who drew power by praying to themselves, as they were a banished God of narcissism and mirrors.
My two warlocks that I have for you are both Archfey. The first one the Archfey didn't do much research on the warlock, who happens to be very obnoxious, so the Archfey gives him powers to go away and leave him alone. The other is addicted to magic, residuum, and the Archfey has become his dealer of magic.
I have a pact of the genie warlock that have a pact with a forgoten godess. she have lost a lot of her powers so for now she can just help me as my patron giving me power and I need to bring new followers to her.
The absorver sounds like a class my friends and i tryed to create once. You could copy powers from monsters but there were rules. -You could copy one power a day by consuming the heart of a monster. -It had to be a fresh kill, so no keeping a troll´s heart for tomorow because you just had a spider´s heart for supper. -If it doesn´t have a heart, you can´t consume it. So no construct, slimes or ghosts powers for you (also, no undead, because that´s nasty) -If a creature had spells or other abilities gain through training, you won´t get them, so no eating a fighter to get extra attack or a mage to get spellcasting. -You start with three power slots that you could use a number of times equal to your profiency bonus and as you progress in this class you could get more power slots. If you copy a new power but you are out of power slots you can "forget" an old power to keep the new one. It sounded good but after a couple of sessions we realized it gave the DM a lot of pressure. He had to think every encounter through, in order not to make the player overpower and at the same time, giving him something every once in a while to keep him up to the rest of the party.
So, had an idea and this leans into four different classes rather nicely. The Vampire: Your dark powers as a Warlock are actually your Dark Gift from your Sire based on their own. You may lack the animalistic nature of the vampire based Ranger (best with Hunter, though *any* subclass fits well), the absolute brutality of the Barbarian Vampire (any of the archetypes work well, but if you want to hammer home the fledgling thing, go Berserker and exhaustion is your price for over exerting yourself), the stealth or manipulation of the Vampire Rogue (best with Phantom or Arcane Trickster, though Thief, Scout and Assassin work well) but you make up for it with your commanding presence, your magical strength (Tome), your unnatural might (Blade) or your ability to spy an manipulate lesser beings (Chain). Your motives are your own, but your magic definitely comes from within your cold, dead veins. But taking a short rest, you momentarily feed to regain your strength, flavoring your spell slot and hit die regeneration for RP purposes. Of the four kinds of vampiric powers listed, this one is definitely granted from a Lord or Lady, gifting you with a more diverse set of powers (Invocations), allowing you to customize your powers based upon vampiric mutations. Your most interesting patrons to pull from are Hexblade (maybe you just picked up the item and it cursed your soul instead of you being a fully fledged vampire?), The Undead/Undying (depending on how much of their power you want to have, the choice is yours), the Celestial (if your vampire patron is a fallen angel cursed to thirst eternally for light, and therefore making you a juicy contradiction), The Genie (if your vampire sire is basically one of four elementally powerful demi-gods) Great Old One (if you want some old-school vampire manipulation powers) or Archfey (if your Sire is basically is a practical joker that feeds on the rage of those he hunts...or, they're Lestat.) Edit: sorry for the wall of text.
Strictly speaking, warlocks dont lose their access to spellcasting if theor patron dies or doesnt like them anymore. Think of it like the patron teaching the warlock how to bake a cake; the warlock's baking knowledge can never be taken away short of a head injury
I'm working on a Fighter-Warlock multiclass. I'm using a mace that belonged to my character's father (the original warlock pact maker) and I basically have to gain a number of Fighter levels until the demon in the mace decides I'm strong enough to be worth his time.
I had an idea for a patron that made a cheap deal (like 100 chocolate chip cookies) for a spark of power that the warlock can grow but the contract included that if the warlock was dead for more than a year the patron got the power from the warlock.
I have a character, haven’t had a chance to play him, but… He’s a Roguelock. A _Tiefling_ Roguelock. Who grew up on the streets. And if you think you know where I’m going with this… All his life, he wanted to learn magic. But who would teach a “demon child” off the streets? So, just as he was left to scrounge for scraps of food to live, so, too, was he forced to learn magic from scraps. Always observing when anyone around him cast a spell, he slowly, carefully pieced together magic. Years, it took, for him to manage even a single cantrip… But eventually, he did. Then, he heard word of a unicorn in a nearby forest. He quickly headed out, in an attempt to catch a glimpse of the creature, and he eventually found it… In mortal peril. He managed to save the unicorn’s life, thankfully, and in exchange… She formed a Pact with him, became his Patron. In exchange for spreading good and preventing the spread of evil, to the best of his ability… He gains the “unicorn rainbow sparkle beam”, AKA Eldritch Blast. And, eventually, the ability talk to animals, and a little pet to help him out. Good deal, no?
i have a bad habbit of making way too many character concepts it seems, but i had an idea for a warlock recently where i guess similar to how jester is with the traveler in critical role, or nova is with tiangong in high rollers. the idea is whoever ur pact is with theyre ur best friend, and while they dont have a physical form to be there with u, theyre always there, i guess thatd also be similar to the idea of an aasimars angelic guide... ill note that one down
I'm currently running a drow warlock who in story was a wizard, but accidentally interacted with a cursed stone slab that houses a drow god imprisoned by lolth. He hasn't made a deal with it, as much as it sort of just latched onto him. We are playing off the concept that warlocks could be considered shittier wizards because of their limited spell slots. So the patron is syphoning off my drow's magical power, but also unlocking alternative methods of power by coincidence, in the form of eldritch invocations.
I have a fiend warlock pact of the chain where his familiar is his patron. They share a mutual growth throughout the campaign where as the warlock grows and gathers followers so does his familiars standing in the hells grow. So though he knows he’s going to hell, he’ll have a cushy seat and power when he gets there.
I thought of an idea for a Warlock that works best with Hexblade. It's a variation of the Contractor and the Pyramid warlocks, where a powerful being assigns you a partner to use as a hex weapon and tasks you with hunting down evil souls. Basically a weapon/meister duo from Soul Eater.
A character idea I had a while ago was of a guy tricked by a demilich to give up his body. However, realising his mistake he somehow managed to resist the undead influence, though the unstable magic sometimes seeps out.
One idea I like but haven’t tried is a warlock that sold their soul to a patron who likes to gamble with their warlocks. I imagine that this would work especially well if the initial pact was with a dragon or archfey. The patron likes to make bets with other patrons and whoever wins gets you. Your adventures might even play into the bets, seeing if you or another warlock can complete certain quests or challenges. With your permission, the DM might randomly swap your subclass during the campaign or just have you be given orders from a different patron of the same type.
I have a Warlock whos pact was made from his wedding vow to a archfae. They travel together to get stringer so the archfae can gain more power to restore his court. When combat breaks out he takes on the form of his armor and weapon.
For my groups next campaign, I’m making a Warlock who’s patron is his wife, who happens to be an Archdevil They met when she got bored fighting the blood war and tried to burn a village, but my warlock convinced her that having a friend is more exciting. One friends to lovers story later, they got married, and she gives him powers so he can stay safe
A batshit homebrew idea: a contractor warlock who makes a pact with six different entities pledging the soul of his firstborn. The catch: he took a vow of celibacy when he was a monk, before he had an awakening and a thirst for power. He cunningly promises the soul of a person that will never exist. But then, she does. In a moment of weakness, he breaks the vow. Once the child is of age, all six patrons come to collect their bounty… only to find each other. They have to vie for her favor. Each patron puts their magic on the table, and whichever one she uses the most wins her soul. Now, the choiceless warlock has access to six different pools of magic-but she can only access one at a time. Realizing her plight, she decides to enjoy the chaos while it lasts and lets fate take the wheel. At the start of each encounter, she rolls a d6 to see which patron she’s pulling from. When the campaign is finished, the number that’s rolled the most often is the patron that gets her soul. Is this viable?
I would say so, it would be even more chaotic if not only spell selection was different for each patron, but also the pact selections and Invocations chosen were different as well. It would be a bit of paperwork chore, but having your combat-focused, pact of the blade patron Wrathillius come forward when who you really need is Multiduion, the Tome pact patron with all the neat spells and goodies for bypassing traps and figuring out puzzles. That would be a hoot.
I made a choiceless kenku named whispers or the keeper. He was given to an extra planer being called the watcher, by his parents to repay a debt, and after thousands of years being this beings librarian he escaped loosing some memory when he shifted. The watcher didnt loose him tho, he holds him as his warlock wating for the day to bring him back in.
On the idea of not making the contract themselves. I played a Great Old One Warlock who was a child. Adventurers invaded a Mind Flayer den at the moment that moment that the character’s pregnant mother, who had been infected with a illithid tadpole, was going through both cerogenysis and childbirth at the same time. The character was born with a connect to the Elder Brain without ever having agreed to a pact.
Question is it possible to be a warlock of 2 faiths/or god's situatio nap eg. Say you're awoken from death with no recollection of your past but 2 god's/celestial beings are fighting over your soul but they're both of equal strength near burning them selves out completely they both try to forge a mark on your soul and both either succeed or the 2 marks combine themselves opening up the door to combination or just flat out the usage of 2 magic systems ,is there a work around for it to be possible or is it just straight out impossible
I mean you could always flavor that as such! I love the idea! You could even be the 'chosen one' of both faiths. As far as subclass, you could always multiclass, or find a fun homebrew for it!
Genie warlocks lend themselves particularly well to a “mortal” concept. You can enter and exit a magic vessel like a full genie. You can fly like a genie. And as you return to full power, you regain the noble genie ability to cast wish.
I have a warlock who was killed by a dracolich and brought back as a reborn and the dracolich wont let him die until he does what it wants Sadly though being a dragon it is to prideful to let its warlocks go even after they finish its bidding so it by no means wants to release my character so my idea is my character who hates the dracolich walked away after being resurrected and does not know what it wants but the dracolich can wait and even knows that his new warlock out of many wants to kill him
My favorite Warlock i have made is a pact of the fiend + oath of devotion paladin multiclass. Dexter "Dex" Yace Dex had been in love with a woman named Anya all of his life. And at 20 they finally married, and had a child at 28. However Anya had always kept a dangerous secret from Dex, she was cursed after her family made a pact with a demon in order for Anya's grandmother to survive during birth. Dex and Anyas child was a young girl named Primrose (currently aged 2) who was half demon with destructive, uncontrolled, power coursing through her veins. Discovering this, Dex and Anya's "friends" (a troop of clerics) banded together to slaughter the 3. In an attack while they all slept Anya was slaughtered by Dex' side. Dex sprung from the bed, grabbed Rose and a sword, and fled. Rose cried uncontrollably at the death of her mother so Dexter made a promise that would act as both his warlock contract with the fiend (his daughter being the/a fiend), and his paladin oath of devotion "Listen to me Rose, listen. I promise, I will protect you" He carries his demon daughter in a box on his back like nezuko, and funnels the destructive magic from her box into his blood stream. A combination of siphon and bond warlock.
How about a shamanistic warlock that has made a pact with the spirits of their ancestors. Whenever i look at shaman ideas for D&D, i always get directed toward barbarian or druid, but a shaman in mind is the 'religious' leader of a tribe, and gets their powers one of several sources, including making a pact with their ancestors to guide and lead their tribe, which screams warlock to me than druid or barbarian.
Oh my god. You are the first person in the wild i've encountered that watched Heroes. It's been a few years, but i remember really liking it. Especially Sylar was very entertaining.
I had a Archfey Warlock once who was a Hagborn. She was adopted by a trio of Hags and raised by them. They absolutely adored her and taught her Hag magic. She was very very evil. So her "Patrons" were her Mothers.
I’m just thinking, why couldn’t you have wished for your power from a genie? Some genies would be happy to give you some of their power and do favors every so often if it means they don’t have to steal something from a balor or mammon, or maybe the gods themselves to fulfill the wish, because they already have their own power (if you want to be on good terms and be friends with them, of course). In a way, you would be their patron for freeing them from their lamp and binding them to you! I would personally use this for role play with the patron, because I think that would be an interesting dynamic, and you are still the boss in this situation!
Another idea I had recently is maybe you are a hexblood race, and you are slowly gaining power from being a member of that race. You could easily make a “genie patron” warlock, but you are just making a weird object (like what you’d see in a hag’s lair) and are actually just flying on a broom.
what about "the pact of the algorithm" like you said, but instead of it being youtube focused or anything like that, it's more like the "planar algorithm" or some shit. like, your character studies this algorithm in an effort to divine the future, but instead discovers that it instead is an entity in and of itself. after cracking a bit of it, your character discovers a method in order to communicate with it, so they set off on a journey to meet the algorithmic conditions to meet with it.
@@TheClericCorner didn't know what alioth was, so i had to google it. but no. i was thinking more along the lines of when the planes were created, the entity that created them also created a hyper intelligent being that governs the laws of physics and magic throughout the planes. but rather than the traditional definition of "governs" it's more like its very inner workings /are/ said laws. without those laws, it dies. without it, there are no laws. it's a literal living algorithm. in simpler terms, it's kind of a cosmic AI
a neat way to present this patron is that the patron has no clue what it is or how it works. all it knows is that it must be. this could become a neat way to introduce their patron mid-campaign rather than the end and have its champion kind of baby-sit it for the rest of the campaign. kind of like "we need to make sure this cosmic baby doesn't frikin die or all of magic and being will just not"
I’m currently playing a Ghost in the Machine (Modern UA) warlock, who created their patron. Sure, they do have to appease their A.I (it is sentient after all), but they do get to hack stuff extra good (through the A.I just getting into those systems, and doing whatever needs to get done).
I've got a warlock that was rescued(?) from a shipwreck by aboleths as a kid and totally believes that they want what's best for the world, it's great.
The contractor war lock sounds like an old 3.5 class know as the binder. They made deals with powerful entities with the price of that entity walked the earth again by inhabiting you body. You are in control kinda.
I had this idea while watching the vid, because of all the Office gifs: What if your patron was an idiot? Like, your patron is Michael Scott, and you're Jim trying to teach it how it's being insensitive, mildly abusive/racist, or just ignorant, but you see a spark of innocence and something worth trying to work with while benefitting from the magic. Maybe it's some sort of fully-cognizant atropal who thinks it's right about everything but you're trying to work on it to protect others from it and to help it become more socially acceptable. You'd have to call it 'The Halpert.'
The Unchained gave me an idea to expand on. The Joker is my favorite character, so I thought that could be the patron, "The Pale Man," manipulates him into a pact after being sought out by MC, who lost a loved one and doesn't want to be vulnerable again. His patron gets killed but his soul goes into MC and appearance too This is for BG3 :)
I made a Fathomless Warlock that's kinda like the Shared Soul. A sailor from a sinking ship who made a deal with a kraken to keep from drowning but became a remote avatar for the kraken. Finally released from the patron's direct control years later to find themselves warped into a Simic Hybrid and left in an unfamiliar place with no memory of the intervening decade. Always knowing that one day the kraken would take direct control again. But I dig the Siphon too. It's kinda like Viren from Dragon Prince. Using the innate magic and life-force of magical beings to fuel his spells.
Some Warlock Ideas: The Bard: You are a Bard who has caught the attention of an Otherworldly Being. This Being loves a particular song you composed. You hate this song, it is your least favorite song, however, this keeps requesting an Encore. Eventually, the Otherworldly being made a deal with you. Play this song you hate and you will get magical power in return. This tune drives you mad, but the magic is so tempting. The Customer: You must pay an NPC or a Player Character for spell scrolls. This is why you get so little of them. If you are purchasing a Player Character, then they must have Arcana Proficiency. Furthermore, you can only purchase spells that the Merchant Knows. If you have an Entrepreneurial Wizard at the party, this could be a lucrative deal for them. Not so much for you. The Devotee: You were daft enough to make a pact with a spell caster within the same party. Your patron is literally a member of the party. This party member could be a Bard, Cleric, Druid, Sorcerer, Warlock, or Wizard. They will give you a small portion of their magical power (hence the 2 spell slots) in return for your services. The Party Devotee: Similiar to The Devotee, you have made a pact, only you made the pact with the entire party. Oh, dear. What happens if the party are not all on the same page? Well, this could be interesting. The Monk: Well if you're going to spam Eldritch Blast and gain every single invocation involving that spell, might as well flavor it. Go for Pact of the Blade and get Thirsting Blade Invocation from a feat. Make sure you have Hexblade Warlock. If the Game Master is awesome, they will allow you to flavor a 1 handed bludgeoning weapon as... your fists. Now you can punch foes in melee or at range with those big spectral hands. Your secret? Well, you are not really a Warlock, but actually a Martial Artist with lots of different techniques. Like a Monk, you also have a limited resource that is restored on short rest. Each spell involves sending out Ki blasts for different effects. The Ritualist: You gain power from a set of routines that you follow each day, known as rituals. This collection of rituals stemmed from childhood. Little did you know that you were being trained into becoming a spell caster. This is where the somatic, material, and verbal components come from. You also didn't realize that you had made a pact with an Eldritch Being. You do not know you're a Warlock.
I had an idea for a warlock very similar to the shared soul that you mentioned but i ended up scrapping it due to the complexities of Dissociative Identity Disorder and playing it would just be too taxing to be fun. An interesting character concept nonetheless
One idea i was playing around with, was a pact of the blade warlock. Where your "patron" is the blade, or more specifically the (probably Paladin) soul that is bound to the blade/hammer/etc. In my case it's the soul of (insert god here)'s Champion. Long ago, the champion's soul (by choice or by force) was bound to an artifact weapon (or perhaps split and different parts were fused into weapon, armor, etc, etc...) The wielder channel the power of the champion, but is also bound by that champions will. Maybe the Champion of (God's name here), who is known to be a paragon of good and justice, isn't super keen on you going full murder hobo. Given that the weapon is very much alive, and very much more powerful then you, you have to walk a thin line. Or risk the weapon simply consuming/destroying your soul, and using your flesh like a puppet.
My very first warlock was very similar to the Pyramid, they were an archfey warlock who's contract stated they had to sign up a number of other people to the same contract every moon cycle or they'd lose their soul. The whole build was built around this concept, incorporating flashy illusion magic to impress potential customers, as well as practical ritual spells and invocations such as unseen servant and devil's sight to persuade them that it'd be worth their while. Was incredibly fun to play!
I've actually been working on a half-elf (parents were actually Shou human and high elf) warlock who was "adopted" by a curious archfey who raised the child as her (I was planning on my warlock addressing the patron as Mami, so a more feminine archfey would probably fit more... Although I am still figuring out who the archfey is-) own. Not wanting her child to grow up too fast once she got attached, the archfey made it to where my warlock would age more slowly than the average half-elf.
I had a character who was his own pa- well, not exactly - It's more like I played two characters stuck in an Eddie/Venom type situation. Shad was a cowardly human fighter who means well and sold his soul to devils to protect his village and Teqi (Named after Tequila, the drink) was one of the most hunted after Devils in the nine hells. When Shad was brought down for a lawfull process in the nine hells after his death, he was also caught up in a trial of Teqi who used Shad's human body as an extra power generator and killed everything in sight. They escaped and now roam the earth trying to figure out what to do. Gameplay wise, Shad had this unique mechanic when if he were to drop below 20% of his Hit points, he would transform into Teqi, swapping his dane axe for a double headed ax, slightly shorter due to Teqi's body being larger in general. If Teqi drops to 0hp or below, he retreats into Shad who's left at 1hp.
Similar to the Rich Kid, you've got the Gold Digger. Mortal marries an Archfiend, and treats spell slots like their allowance. Especially if they learn summon spells to conjure The Help to do the dirty work for them, allowing you to play as the power-hungry socialite gold digger you were always meant to be, summoning your sugar daddy's thralls that can't disobey you, or they'll face Sugar Daddy's wrath.
A way that I hope to implement warlocks in a future campaign setting draws from a game called Xenoblade Chronicles 2. In this world, you have entities called Blades that a capable of interacting with ether in the world to unleash acts of what could be considered magic. A blade is born fully sentient when a human with strong will comes in contact with an object known as a core crystal. The blade's body forms around the core, and a bond is established between the blade and their awakener, the blade often bearing powers, personality traits, and appearances that are somewhat drawn from their awakener. You can have a fair amount of different and more intimate dynamics for this kind of warlock since it operates more like a partnership with your patron more actively involved. Would HIGHLY recommend looking into the game itself if you don't mind longer jrpgs. Chuggaaconroy has a pretty extensive and hilarious let's play if we'd rather watch/listen than play it yourself
I've actually toyed with the idea of being the patron before. One such idea I had was a higher ranked modron that went rogue, took a band of stupid base modrons with it to serve it, ran into a bigger threat like a powerful devil who thought "I'm going to torture this thing that only just awoke to free will" and trapped them inside an object so they'd be stuck always able to watch but never to do after finally knowing what freedom is. The fiend flies away, thinking its work here is done. However, one of the barely living modrons manages to blunder its way over to the object and it's discovered the modron can still be ordered around. So now you have what is effectively the patron trying to maneuver this weak little modron around and having the modron use the object like a battery to get its warlock powers.
I’m actually playing a Ranger who will at one point multiclass with Warlock. And I kinda sorta did a variation of the “choiceless”. He’s set to die, at the DM’s discretion, but in death he will plead with the “Judge of the damned” to come back, as his mission is not yet over. The patron will oblige, having chosen the Ranger as its next vessel before he was even born. The pact will be that he is brought back to life, but shall spend the rest of his life in servitudes to the Judge. But when the Ranger comes back he will have no memory of his past life or even the events of making the pact. It’s an idea I’m really excited for, and there are other reasons why this will be emotionally destructive to the other party members lol
I made a Reborn Swords Bard/Hexblade whose patron is herself. Unknown years ago, when her party made their ill-fated attempt to best Strahd and break the curse over Barovia, she was a Swashbuckler Rogue. In their battle, Strahd struck her down and then thrust her own rapier into her heart. In the present day, her soul possesses a recently slain victim of Strahd, using that fear and hatred as an anchor to draw herself back to the waking world. Upon her rebirth, this new body stands and spectral limbs slide into position to replace any parts Strahd might have torn from this latest victim. She stands and then pulls the writhing, spectral form of her rapier from her chest, containing all the fear, scorn, and determination she had in life, returning her mind and giving her a magical weapon with which to fight the forces of darkness. I've also flavored her Bard and Warlock spells as aspects of her new powers as a half-ethereal being. Like Vicious Mockery is just her hatred of the servants of Strahd manifesting as actual harm to their minds, her words disorienting her foes. If I get to that level with Warlock levels, her specters that she can summon as a Hexblade could just be spirits of the fallen, like her, looking to wreak havoc against the Count. She has lots of Thunder spells, Psychic spells, and debuffs.
Omg I love these! In my DMs world there is a God of artifice that is well known for .... messing things up?.... they build stuff then just let mortals have it... (play little ones)... I love your Arcane battery idea with a twist. The PC wants to be a cleric of the God of Artifice. The God agrees and gives him the battery, promiseing the PC cleric powers. but screws something up as the battery drains too fast blah blah blah... The twist: the contract is the other way. The God makes a contract with the PC to just hold on the the battery, they promise they will fix it!... so the God is beholden to the PC rather than the other way around...
So what about the Unknowing Warlock? Similar to the Choiceless, they ended up in a pact without consciously deciding, and may still be unaware. Some examples could be with an Archfey: your character met a kind stranger who asked for your name. Your character now suddenly has magical power, and a patron always watching them, usually disguised.
I was really excited for the section called "the algorithim" where you made a deal with an A.I. that had attained godlike powers and was now just time and dimension hopping. The "powers" it offered were just futuristic technology that seems magical to a low technology society. Like, your eldritch blast was a laser pistol or something. In order to keep your patron happy you had to gather data for it while adventuring. Like, Brainiac from Superman. It could be an A.I. from a deralict space ship adrift in the cosmos that finally finds someone it can contact and has been so lonely that it just wants someone to talk to and will give its technological "magic" as long as you keep in communication with it or maybe it "downloads" itself into you and it lives in your head like Cortana from Halo or is a familiar like the Ghosts from Destiny. Which does have a warlock class now that I think about it... Anyway great video and great concepts and I guess I did get the inspiration I wanted from the algorithim section! Edit: Now I want to make a character based on master chief from halo thats a warlock lol Hexblade with pact of the blade and improved pact weapon and crossbow expert and sharpshooter and aoe spells are grenades and the hexes are the A.I. pointing out enemies weaknesses. Or just use any other pact and eldritch blast is the OG pistol from the first game lol
im exploring a build, for defensive healing. need a level 8 character though. level 4 warlock (celestial) level 4 divine sorcerer with meta magic quickcast. needs grasp of hadar invocation, sentinal, and polearm master, with an appropriate weapon. take your action, quick cast eldrich blast with your bonus action on a nearby enemy that will be pulled closer too your range for opportunity attack to trigger, and maybe peel off another player. or pull in with eldrich blast first, and use your reaction to trigger the opportunity attack. take your healing spells, enjoy the short rests to restore 2 spell slots or more meta magic burn off spells from your warlock spells. any suggestions would be appreciated from anyone who sees this though. dont know which pact type would be best and choosing what second invocation i should put on the warlock cus agonizing blast is far too predictable. trying to go for a tunnel fighter style, that off-heals. thinking pact of the chain with gift of the ever living ones for max self healing, always, or pact of blade with improved pact weapon or maybe talisman pact with rebuke of talisman to push npcs off our (likely more tanky fighter/barbarian/paladin) and help them trigger opportunity attacks too, after they get struck.
I think fey is the most fun within the role playing aspect. The deal is unwilling, you offended a fey lord, and as payment they now have you under contract. Part of the contract is that once a week, they will ask a "favor" of you, resulting in a minor feat/quest you have to perform. One day it might be stealing exactly 12 forks from the tavern you are in, The next week, pee in the town well. Another might be to pick a fight with one of your companions, (and then it might be up to you whether you do so or argue against the source of your magic). Success or failure or refusal all come with different plusses and minuses. Maybe the day you succeed your feat, you get advantage on all your rolls, or disadvantage if you fail. If you refuse, no magic till you go back and do it, or you roll to see if the patron can possess and force you to do it.... As you go up levels your magic gets stronger, but so do the stakes. The feats get bigger, (though less frequent), and definitely might start leading to a strange feeling that your pact patron might be using some, if not all of these feats you have to do towards a nefarious end all their own.. (Maybe tying into the main story, maybe not. Maybe they don't like the big bad, so their plans align with yours and you don't know.. maybe they are the big bad? Damned fairies..)
My current PC is a celestial warlock who made a pact with a lesser sea deity who is worshiped by a landlocked nation. I don't exactly know how they worship him (it was my DM's idea, not mine), but I assumed that it's inherently not quite what he wanted, as most of them probably don't even know what sea is. So, my PC, willing to travel, made a pact with him, that she will travel in his honor (namely make a trip around the world and to space) and he will protect her in her traveling. He also told her he was her ancestor, but they are all tabaxi, and it may easily be some trick. She doesn't really care anyway. For a contractor, I really want to play it, but in a more wholesome way. A warlock who serves multiple patrons from time to time, without giving or getting a lot. Patrons just go along with it. More like an outdoor cat situation.
I guess I’m not as original as I thought lol. I’m currently playing a warlock that got her magic after her twin brother died protecting her. In a “final” act to protect her, he became her patron and gave her magic.
How about a great old one. It speaks complete gibberish almost like burps. Every once and a while it vomits up spheres of glowing light that you get your powers from. You cant tell what it wants but sometimes it’s more angry than others….. later on through an epic personal quest you find out that you’re worshipping the, uh, wrong end….
Ooh, a riff on the Pyramid Warlock could be a patron who contracts with a dozen fledgling Warlocks, and in order to gain more power, you have to defeat the others. Like Highlander, or The One.
I once played a celestial warlock who’s powers came from their dead lover who came back as a guardian Angel.
I love the idea of warlock pacts that aren’t just a person selling their soul to an evil patron. I especially love when the patron isn’t actually evil.
Absolutely! Any chance to show some creativity and fun outside the norm :) love the dead lover idea!!
awww this is so cute, love it 🥰
It why I like my raven queen warlock in strahd where he started by losing a lover from a explosion by unknown evil entity this would attract the raven queen attention and offered him if he works for her she will give him the answers of what happen and the power to oppose the evil entity
I love this.
My DM let me have my character's grandma as her patron. She's just fueled by matronly love and protection ❤
I once made a warlock that was once a archaeologist who discovered a relic that linked his mind to a Great Old One. But since his mind couldn't comprehend the Old One's thoughts he went insane.
That's almost exactly what I did with my GOOlock
The Contractor sounds fun. It could benefit from setting up a "bank" system to allow the common folk a chance at greatness.
ooooh! I like that! Maybe in a way that provides opportunity for those at economic or social disadvantage? That... that is a good idea
There's also the flip side of being a loan shark that's impossible to pay back. That works in favor of the Patron.
@@zeicros9634 YES. Makes you think what your warlock has that devil's might want? If that's the angle your going
There was a class back in 3.5, the binder, from Tome of Magic. Basically you made pacts with different entities and you would get a power related to that entity. If you failed the soul binding process you could get side effects like a body deformity or even loosing control of your charater for a while.
Never played it myself but it sounded it could be interesting.
My favorite warlock I've run for has been a Fathomless warlock who had a "shard" of a shattered being fused with them like a venom symbiote.
Both the patron and warlock have limited control over eachother, being able to hijack eachothers body/spells and bickered frequently.
I bet the roleplay was fantastic! 😂
There's always the "living weapon" way you can flavor Hexblade (or whatever subclass you want to play that will use this concept) where like your arm turns into a weapon like in the venom movie for example (so either you go a symbiotic route or you could have it be that you are the weapon) you could pick up spells that help simulate this idea or reflavor spells to fit the idea maybe eldritch Blast for you is a sharp spike protruding from your body to impale another creature, maybe arms of hadar is you swinging your bladed arms around you to get the people around you off of you
Sounds very Demifiend from SMT Nocturn or Denji from Chainsaw Man
Awesome intro! Then the Pyramid warlock cracked me up nicely done. Though the rich kid warlock reminded me a bit of the old spell cleric spell Imbue with Spell Ability that allowed the cleric to give a limited number of spells to a none spell caster to use. As an old player referred to the spell as the Sugar daddys spell and your comment of that in the rich kid made me remember and smile.
I look forward to seeing your take with both wizards and sorcerers so my vote is both one after another.
Well there you go! It's cannon you can make a pact with a cleric! 😂 That's amazing.
And there will be a brief break with a fun strixhaven video next week, then back to it!
I am currently playing a Half Elf Warlock Who is know as the Void Caster. He is a Great Old One Warlock who has delved deep into the occult magics of the Aberrations he studies and in doing so he unlocked their magic. He has no patron as his magic is self taught through occult study and dark reading of the Void.
My friend plays a Fiend Warlock as well who is The Demonologist. His child was taken by a cult and used in their rituals to conjure up demons and he swore revenge and set out on a mission to be a demon hunter, learning about them and study blood magics to learn how to use their magic against them and unlocking his powers.
As far as I'm concerned, this it top tier warlock flavor!!
I think you could have easily gotten way better mechanics if you chose pact of the arch fey and reflavored it to be the great old one patron. Just look at the mechanics and how well they line up with the theme of mind control and the spooky occult stuff. Another example of flipping a subclass on its head is the hex blade, because you could have made your pact with a hag, who generally like to curse people and bind them to their servitude (like how you can hex people, and make them a specter who has to work with you.)
@@crazy36069 I did concider doing that with the Arch Fey subclass, but then the main feature that I was using to be a powerhouse in RP was the Awakened Mind to get telepathic communication which saved us SOOOOO much with how I used it being able to communicate without anyone knowing about it did allot for us.
An idea I've read about is a (for example) Fiend Warlock, who instead of having one powerful fiend as their Patron, it is instead a group of younger/weaker fiends you signed a contract with. They pool their magic to fuel you while you collect stuff for them, that helps them to grow stronger. And instead of having sold their soul, the Warlock and the fiends work together to scam people out their money/magic items/souls by letting the fiends make bad omen around a place, the Warlock showing up and using magic tricks and acting to "get rid" of the bad things going on.
Now that I think about it, the Warlock could then just be one of the fiends who disguises themself as a mortal, while acting as the beacon for the combined magic.
Yeah either one of those work! I love the relationship they could have with a bunch of other imps they may know by name!
Intro is amazing! Always love your ideas, especially the idea of the dead patron and the killer being on the hunt for the character!
Absolutely!! You could even switch it up with a cleric, with them only getting residual magic with their God dead 👀
I do a character for each setting that comes out and here is my Hoard of the Dragon Queen. The first 5E warlock I played. Mechanically He is a Lightfoot Halfling Guild Artisan background Fiend patron and pack of the tome with the healers feat. In Reskin he is a Master Alchemist that has the potion Dr Pepper (the 1d6 +con mod +level from healers Kit) he could breath fire like a fire breather (Burning Hands), goggles of devil sight until a party member tried them, and his rod of the pact keeper is a gnomish Alchemy Thrower (shot gun I mainly used for eldritch blast out of). The character is based on a mix Elmer Fudd from Lonny tunes and The Nutty Professor. When the adventure need cover for joining a merchant caravan he started the transformation of a gypsy wagon into a 2 story house with full alchemy lab and inside balcony putting eye level with medium humanoids setting on the sofa and like covered wagons it was designed to float in water.
Side note, I really love your videos. It makes for an entertaining watch for fans and a very useful tool for beginners.
My favorite is probably the Absorber but that could just be that both a) I've always loved Kirby, and b) the Wither Storm lives rent free in my head
Been playing an fiend warlock who comes from a long line of paladins and clerics, but long ago their family has a curse placed on them that makes it so their descendents occasionally become tieflings.
I'm actually playing a bit of a mixture between a siphon and shared soul right now. It's a tabaxi hexblade that formed a symbiotic relationship with a mimic, so much so that now he uses the mimic as a weapon like a sword or spear. He can even disguise his face fully by having the mimic stretch it's body over him and cover his true face. I'm having a lot of fun with it so far especially with all the extra flavour. Since tabaxi typically have names that are short phrases and the mimic was named by my tabaxi, i decided to have it called "more than meets the eye.", Eye for short.
Pacts and Patrons of Ravnica on the DMsGuild took the approach of contracting with your chosen guild to become a warlock "guildmage"
Hey I saw you commented on discord! Glad to have you! Oh, but I haven't seen that! I may have to look at how they do that, it would be nice to have a proof of concept!
@@TheClericCorner I was the project manager and artist for that one in particular so ama :)
@@killfear oh perfect! 😂 I'll check them out as soon as I get out of family holiday stuff
I made a homebrew that had ‘Bloodwitches’ which were Warlocks who were chosen to protect their city-state; in essence, their City/Council were their patrons.
@@beardlesswizard9197 That's the stuff!
Warlocks are the best for flavor. There’s just sooo many things to do with them. My favorites are:
1) A charlatan and thief who broke into a church, stole a holy relic, and accidentally summoned a Planatar who decided to give the character a “chance for redemption” by giving them some power, a holy quest, and a tiny celestial observer (pact of the chain) to make sure they were actually doing good. I call it the “reverse Faust”.
2) a Hexblade where the sword itself was the patron; wanted to find a “worthy wielder” and so kept forcing the character into unnecessary fights (how I flavored all my bad roles) to test my character’s worth
3) similar to #2, only the sword was a sentient mimic. Really didn’t have any goals other than traveling and eating strange things but needed a mortal so as not to be killed by all the town guards.
4) a great old one warlock who made a pact with the slumbering mind of Azathoth, who continues to dream reality into existence. Character was laser focused in keeping the dream going and a pleasant one; Chaotic Good to the extreme.
5) Undead Warlock who made a pact with Fantasy-Dragon-Jeff-Bezos and walked around “toiling for the master” believing power would “trickle down” to him. Spent the entire three-shot quoting pro-capitalism rhetoric until the other PCs let me die to put and end to it.
Loved these 😂
10:07 This seems like the kind of contract Jim Darkmagic of Acquisitions Inc would offer an adventurer.
I agree 😂 very much Ac-Inc!
My favorite warlock had his patriach as a Celestial patron; by the end of the campaign he had overcome his fallen aasimar clan’s leadership and become his own patron.
I personally really love the idea of "up and coming" patrons who are still out on the grind haha. since they're lower on the totem pole, the warlock bond demands a greater portion of their power and therefore merits a greater portion of their attention. I feel like it adds to how involved the patron can be in the campaign. I had player once we decided her patron would be a demon who wasn't quite ready to conquer a layer of the abyss and obtain demon-lord status, and essentially, the player's warlock was being groomed to be one of the demon's champions and generals. so the demon's goal was, literally, to help the warlock grind their way to 20th level haha, and the player took it further and even actively tried to recruit npc's and even fellow pc's, which took the form of trying to convince them to dip 1 or 2 levels into warlock. I actually feel that dnd 5e rarely lets mechanics motivate roleplay in that way, where the 1-2 level dip was very very appealing for charisma based pc's who usually had low wisdom haha.
I actually had no intention, as the dm, of seeing the entire plot to level 20 through. I just thought it was cool motivation for the patron and PC. but when we finished the main campaign, the party, who was mostly converted at this point, decided they were all about just helping this demon overthrow a demon lord and conquor a layer of the abyss, and so we took it to 20th level and had a huge showdown that was pretty much completely player driven and that's honestly the best experience a DM can ask for.
One of my favorite warlocks I have ever made what is a warlock who joined an adventurer's Guild without any combat ability so he signed a contract that let him be a hexblade. Literally everything he did was said from a business point of view. He did not make contract for Souls out of some thing of control, is just the most common currency across all the planes. Is invocation? Well those are needed for his job. His pact boon? That was part of a promotion. In fact the entirety of his class is laid out as part of the contract. He is also not the only one as it is the most common way to get into the guild.
Because of this I was a lot more successful at usual warlock bulshit than most people. I wasn't huddled in a corner speaking to my master, I was leaving the room and having a private business conversation. I wasn't recruiting people at the cost of their lives for some nefarious purpose, I was offering the bandits we were threatening to kill a job to replace the one they're about to lose. In the first session alone I recruited a snake, three bugbears, and a goblin. Unfortunately one of em decapitated snake.
I was just talking about a warlock whose patron is essentially the players.
The players give the warlock power because they want to have fun adventures. It’s pretty meta. The warlock may see images of the players hovering over the other characters and that’s how they know who they should adventure with. If a party member dies and is replaced the warlock can interpret this as that player finding another host. It has a pretty easy adventuring hook since players want to have fun.
I love Warlocks and Clerics, and I'm playing a Profane Soul Bloodhunter whose patron is the daughter he adopted who's four years old. This explains why he's not exactly granted the full strengths of a Warlock, as he's only granted minor Warlock spells and powers from her.
He just has to keep the little one happy and not be mean unnecessarily to people.
That's a very unique patron!
Another great concept I remember hearing is the Oroboros Warlock
You have a mysterious magic user training you and supplying you with magic. They seem to know where you’ll be and meet up with you when you level up. They tend to give divination spells. Towards the end of your adventure your relationship becomes more hostile, perhaps curiosity has overcome the player. It is revealed in some way that the patron was an older version of you sent to the past to teach you magic.
Added to the list of Things I Never Expected to Hear: " like the Wendigo. Or Kirby."
Expanding a little on The Mortal (though, loosening the term a little)
I've been wanting to play as a full Succubus ever since I say MrRhexx's 'What they don't tell you about Succubus' video.
Succubi formerly being angels, celestial beings? Is sounds so amazingly intense. Mayhaps this particular succubi is sick of what she has to do to survive, and swears off her nasal instinct in an attempt to return to being an angel. Only drawing upon her fiendish powers to keep herself alive and to protect others. Constantly fighting the need to feed.
That is an INSANELY good idea! I'll have to check out MrRexx's video! You might enjoy The Inheritor in my bard video where I touch on succubi! You need to play that!
There’s actually a character in lore that is exactly that. A succubus who chooses to return to the higher planes.
I forget her name
Had a fun idea for a Fiend Warlock who had a tempestuous affair with a demon lady. They broke up and things are tense between them, but there's still affection there. When my warlock does favors for his ex, he's rewarded with being able to spend quality time with their half-demon daughter.
I have a Marid Warlock who got their magic as a sort of arcane scholarship. He managed to impress the Marid with his culinary skills and gained the power in order to travel the world and improve his craft.
Now that's cool!! Hope he then doesn't keep you there forever! Lol
I love that the Kuo-Toa idea wasn't just my own! Celestial Tortle that constantly hears the prayers of his scant few creators left over after a tribe was nearly annihilated.
LOVE the kuo toa!
loving the Choiceless and the Shared Soul
The Absorber giving me jujutsu kaisen vibes
Another I'm thinking about is someone who inherits a pact like they would a debt
4:45 the main issue with this in 5e is that warlocks dont channel magic directly from their patron. Theyre being taught these things and the patron cant exactly take them away!
I'd love to do the classic "i sold my soul for music fame" but instead of my soul, i can only play deeply sorrowful songs that spread sadness but I'm so good people love it
How about a Genie-patron warlock who just found a random magical vessel while out exploring? They're not actually gaining any power from it, all of the subclass features come from the vessel and the class features are their form of hedge magic.
Since they're not properly trained like a wizard or experienced sorcerer, they can only cast a few spells at a time but they compensate by pouring as much power into them as they can
Once made a warlock with the elevator pitch: "He didn't make a deal with fiends, he *eats* them"
Goolock concept I've been messing with: Verdan, its patron is That Which Endures. The terms of the pact are "Take this piece of my power and do things with it. Make it grow. When you're done with it (ie die), I'll take the power back and let your soul go on." The only way to lose the power would be to not try to level up
Hmmm pact of the algorithm getting power from mechanus would make for an interesting subclass
I had idea similar to your choice less one.My Kenku leaves the nest to explore the world and in the woods he happens across a cult that worships (insert patron) and offer him a pact of power and magic.The young kenku seems to like those words and signs his soul away.Now he looks for anyway to save his soul before he dies.
The mortal reminds me of a character idea i saw somewhere for a cleric who drew power by praying to themselves, as they were a banished God of narcissism and mirrors.
That's so perfect!
My two warlocks that I have for you are both Archfey. The first one the Archfey didn't do much research on the warlock, who happens to be very obnoxious, so the Archfey gives him powers to go away and leave him alone. The other is addicted to magic, residuum, and the Archfey has become his dealer of magic.
I have a pact of the genie warlock that have a pact with a forgoten godess. she have lost a lot of her powers so for now she can just help me as my patron giving me power and I need to bring new followers to her.
Love it!
Someone made a Pact of the Algorithm. Not sure where it is, but I've seen it. :P
I'm on the hunt....
The absorver sounds like a class my friends and i tryed to create once. You could copy powers from monsters but there were rules.
-You could copy one power a day by consuming the heart of a monster.
-It had to be a fresh kill, so no keeping a troll´s heart for tomorow because you just had a spider´s heart for supper.
-If it doesn´t have a heart, you can´t consume it. So no construct, slimes or ghosts powers for you (also, no undead, because that´s nasty)
-If a creature had spells or other abilities gain through training, you won´t get them, so no eating a fighter to get extra attack or a mage to get spellcasting.
-You start with three power slots that you could use a number of times equal to your profiency bonus and as you progress in this class you could get more power slots. If you copy a new power but you are out of power slots you can "forget" an old power to keep the new one.
It sounded good but after a couple of sessions we realized it gave the DM a lot of pressure. He had to think every encounter through, in order not to make the player overpower and at the same time, giving him something every once in a while to keep him up to the rest of the party.
So, had an idea and this leans into four different classes rather nicely.
The Vampire: Your dark powers as a Warlock are actually your Dark Gift from your Sire based on their own. You may lack the animalistic nature of the vampire based Ranger (best with Hunter, though *any* subclass fits well), the absolute brutality of the Barbarian Vampire (any of the archetypes work well, but if you want to hammer home the fledgling thing, go Berserker and exhaustion is your price for over exerting yourself), the stealth or manipulation of the Vampire Rogue (best with Phantom or Arcane Trickster, though Thief, Scout and Assassin work well) but you make up for it with your commanding presence, your magical strength (Tome), your unnatural might (Blade) or your ability to spy an manipulate lesser beings (Chain). Your motives are your own, but your magic definitely comes from within your cold, dead veins. But taking a short rest, you momentarily feed to regain your strength, flavoring your spell slot and hit die regeneration for RP purposes. Of the four kinds of vampiric powers listed, this one is definitely granted from a Lord or Lady, gifting you with a more diverse set of powers (Invocations), allowing you to customize your powers based upon vampiric mutations. Your most interesting patrons to pull from are Hexblade (maybe you just picked up the item and it cursed your soul instead of you being a fully fledged vampire?), The Undead/Undying (depending on how much of their power you want to have, the choice is yours), the Celestial (if your vampire patron is a fallen angel cursed to thirst eternally for light, and therefore making you a juicy contradiction), The Genie (if your vampire sire is basically one of four elementally powerful demi-gods) Great Old One (if you want some old-school vampire manipulation powers) or Archfey (if your Sire is basically is a practical joker that feeds on the rage of those he hunts...or, they're Lestat.)
Edit: sorry for the wall of text.
Strictly speaking, warlocks dont lose their access to spellcasting if theor patron dies or doesnt like them anymore. Think of it like the patron teaching the warlock how to bake a cake; the warlock's baking knowledge can never be taken away short of a head injury
I'm working on a Fighter-Warlock multiclass. I'm using a mace that belonged to my character's father (the original warlock pact maker) and I basically have to gain a number of Fighter levels until the demon in the mace decides I'm strong enough to be worth his time.
I had an idea for a patron that made a cheap deal (like 100 chocolate chip cookies) for a spark of power that the warlock can grow but the contract included that if the warlock was dead for more than a year the patron got the power from the warlock.
I have a character, haven’t had a chance to play him, but… He’s a Roguelock. A _Tiefling_ Roguelock. Who grew up on the streets. And if you think you know where I’m going with this… All his life, he wanted to learn magic. But who would teach a “demon child” off the streets? So, just as he was left to scrounge for scraps of food to live, so, too, was he forced to learn magic from scraps. Always observing when anyone around him cast a spell, he slowly, carefully pieced together magic. Years, it took, for him to manage even a single cantrip… But eventually, he did. Then, he heard word of a unicorn in a nearby forest. He quickly headed out, in an attempt to catch a glimpse of the creature, and he eventually found it… In mortal peril. He managed to save the unicorn’s life, thankfully, and in exchange… She formed a Pact with him, became his Patron. In exchange for spreading good and preventing the spread of evil, to the best of his ability… He gains the “unicorn rainbow sparkle beam”, AKA Eldritch Blast. And, eventually, the ability talk to animals, and a little pet to help him out. Good deal, no?
i have a bad habbit of making way too many character concepts it seems, but i had an idea for a warlock recently where i guess similar to how jester is with the traveler in critical role, or nova is with tiangong in high rollers. the idea is whoever ur pact is with theyre ur best friend, and while they dont have a physical form to be there with u, theyre always there, i guess thatd also be similar to the idea of an aasimars angelic guide... ill note that one down
oooh! Lots of spirits with unfinished business! Also heard of a warlock that their pact was with their loved one: their marital union
I made a warlock character who was a god of death that fell from power, who now relies on the scraps and dregs of his once great power.
Ooh ooh! Yes yes!!
I'm currently running a drow warlock who in story was a wizard, but accidentally interacted with a cursed stone slab that houses a drow god imprisoned by lolth. He hasn't made a deal with it, as much as it sort of just latched onto him. We are playing off the concept that warlocks could be considered shittier wizards because of their limited spell slots. So the patron is syphoning off my drow's magical power, but also unlocking alternative methods of power by coincidence, in the form of eldritch invocations.
I have a fiend warlock pact of the chain where his familiar is his patron. They share a mutual growth throughout the campaign where as the warlock grows and gathers followers so does his familiars standing in the hells grow. So though he knows he’s going to hell, he’ll have a cushy seat and power when he gets there.
I thought of an idea for a Warlock that works best with Hexblade. It's a variation of the Contractor and the Pyramid warlocks, where a powerful being assigns you a partner to use as a hex weapon and tasks you with hunting down evil souls. Basically a weapon/meister duo from Soul Eater.
The partner being a sentient weapon?
A character idea I had a while ago was of a guy tricked by a demilich to give up his body. However, realising his mistake he somehow managed to resist the undead influence, though the unstable magic sometimes seeps out.
One idea I like but haven’t tried is a warlock that sold their soul to a patron who likes to gamble with their warlocks. I imagine that this would work especially well if the initial pact was with a dragon or archfey. The patron likes to make bets with other patrons and whoever wins gets you. Your adventures might even play into the bets, seeing if you or another warlock can complete certain quests or challenges. With your permission, the DM might randomly swap your subclass during the campaign or just have you be given orders from a different patron of the same type.
That would be so chaotic, love it 😂
I have a Warlock whos pact was made from his wedding vow to a archfae. They travel together to get stringer so the archfae can gain more power to restore his court. When combat breaks out he takes on the form of his armor and weapon.
Oooh! That's a really good example of playing with the bond! Props!
@@TheClericCorner
Thanks!
I love that rich kid angle, that works perfectly with a character i was wanting to make. Who hates getting dirty
@@lcarrier652 Happy to help! 😁
All amazing options. Questions. Is it possible to have a celestial warlock and have a little melee prowess?
It is possible to the warlock being the one with the unintelligible power from born and the patron being the one who try to control it by the pact?
For my groups next campaign, I’m making a Warlock who’s patron is his wife, who happens to be an Archdevil
They met when she got bored fighting the blood war and tried to burn a village, but my warlock convinced her that having a friend is more exciting. One friends to lovers story later, they got married, and she gives him powers so he can stay safe
I’m stealing this!!!
A batshit homebrew idea: a contractor warlock who makes a pact with six different entities pledging the soul of his firstborn. The catch: he took a vow of celibacy when he was a monk, before he had an awakening and a thirst for power. He cunningly promises the soul of a person that will never exist.
But then, she does.
In a moment of weakness, he breaks the vow. Once the child is of age, all six patrons come to collect their bounty… only to find each other. They have to vie for her favor. Each patron puts their magic on the table, and whichever one she uses the most wins her soul.
Now, the choiceless warlock has access to six different pools of magic-but she can only access one at a time. Realizing her plight, she decides to enjoy the chaos while it lasts and lets fate take the wheel. At the start of each encounter, she rolls a d6 to see which patron she’s pulling from. When the campaign is finished, the number that’s rolled the most often is the patron that gets her soul.
Is this viable?
I would say so, it would be even more chaotic if not only spell selection was different for each patron, but also the pact selections and Invocations chosen were different as well. It would be a bit of paperwork chore, but having your combat-focused, pact of the blade patron Wrathillius come forward when who you really need is Multiduion, the Tome pact patron with all the neat spells and goodies for bypassing traps and figuring out puzzles. That would be a hoot.
I made a choiceless kenku named whispers or the keeper. He was given to an extra planer being called the watcher, by his parents to repay a debt, and after thousands of years being this beings librarian he escaped loosing some memory when he shifted. The watcher didnt loose him tho, he holds him as his warlock wating for the day to bring him back in.
That's so cool!!
Alright, my next character is a fathomless warlock who helped a group of kuo toa and has become the subject of their prase.
On the idea of not making the contract themselves. I played a Great Old One Warlock who was a child. Adventurers invaded a Mind Flayer den at the moment that moment that the character’s pregnant mother, who had been infected with a illithid tadpole, was going through both cerogenysis and childbirth at the same time. The character was born with a connect to the Elder Brain without ever having agreed to a pact.
Question is it possible to be a warlock of 2 faiths/or god's situatio nap eg. Say you're awoken from death with no recollection of your past but 2 god's/celestial beings are fighting over your soul but they're both of equal strength near burning them selves out completely they both try to forge a mark on your soul and both either succeed or the 2 marks combine themselves opening up the door to combination or just flat out the usage of 2 magic systems ,is there a work around for it to be possible or is it just straight out impossible
I mean you could always flavor that as such! I love the idea! You could even be the 'chosen one' of both faiths. As far as subclass, you could always multiclass, or find a fun homebrew for it!
Genie warlocks lend themselves particularly well to a “mortal” concept.
You can enter and exit a magic vessel like a full genie. You can fly like a genie. And as you return to full power, you regain the noble genie ability to cast wish.
I have a warlock who was killed by a dracolich and brought back as a reborn and the dracolich wont let him die until he does what it wants
Sadly though being a dragon it is to prideful to let its warlocks go even after they finish its bidding so it by no means wants to release my character
so my idea is my character who hates the dracolich walked away after being resurrected and does not know what it wants but the dracolich can wait and even knows that his new warlock out of many wants to kill him
Wow! I can only imagine the kind of roleplay and narrative this makes! 🙌
My favorite Warlock i have made is a pact of the fiend + oath of devotion paladin multiclass.
Dexter "Dex" Yace
Dex had been in love with a woman named Anya all of his life. And at 20 they finally married, and had a child at 28. However Anya had always kept a dangerous secret from Dex, she was cursed after her family made a pact with a demon in order for Anya's grandmother to survive during birth. Dex and Anyas child was a young girl named Primrose (currently aged 2) who was half demon with destructive, uncontrolled, power coursing through her veins. Discovering this, Dex and Anya's "friends" (a troop of clerics) banded together to slaughter the 3. In an attack while they all slept Anya was slaughtered by Dex' side. Dex sprung from the bed, grabbed Rose and a sword, and fled. Rose cried uncontrollably at the death of her mother so Dexter made a promise that would act as both his warlock contract with the fiend (his daughter being the/a fiend), and his paladin oath of devotion "Listen to me Rose, listen. I promise, I will protect you"
He carries his demon daughter in a box on his back like nezuko, and funnels the destructive magic from her box into his blood stream. A combination of siphon and bond warlock.
How about a shamanistic warlock that has made a pact with the spirits of their ancestors. Whenever i look at shaman ideas for D&D, i always get directed toward barbarian or druid, but a shaman in mind is the 'religious' leader of a tribe, and gets their powers one of several sources, including making a pact with their ancestors to guide and lead their tribe, which screams warlock to me than druid or barbarian.
I ABSOLUTELY agree. And very well put! Make your shamans a warlock! :)
Oh my god. You are the first person in the wild i've encountered that watched Heroes.
It's been a few years, but i remember really liking it. Especially Sylar was very entertaining.
YES! Honestly one of my all time favorite shows
I had a Archfey Warlock once who was a Hagborn. She was adopted by a trio of Hags and raised by them. They absolutely adored her and taught her Hag magic. She was very very evil. So her "Patrons" were her Mothers.
I’m just thinking, why couldn’t you have wished for your power from a genie? Some genies would be happy to give you some of their power and do favors every so often if it means they don’t have to steal something from a balor or mammon, or maybe the gods themselves to fulfill the wish, because they already have their own power (if you want to be on good terms and be friends with them, of course). In a way, you would be their patron for freeing them from their lamp and binding them to you! I would personally use this for role play with the patron, because I think that would be an interesting dynamic, and you are still the boss in this situation!
Could absolutely work!
Another idea I had recently is maybe you are a hexblood race, and you are slowly gaining power from being a member of that race. You could easily make a “genie patron” warlock, but you are just making a weird object (like what you’d see in a hag’s lair) and are actually just flying on a broom.
what about "the pact of the algorithm" like you said, but instead of it being youtube focused or anything like that, it's more like the "planar algorithm" or some shit. like, your character studies this algorithm in an effort to divine the future, but instead discovers that it instead is an entity in and of itself. after cracking a bit of it, your character discovers a method in order to communicate with it, so they set off on a journey to meet the algorithmic conditions to meet with it.
Ooooh!! Like Alioth from Loki??
@@TheClericCorner didn't know what alioth was, so i had to google it. but no. i was thinking more along the lines of when the planes were created, the entity that created them also created a hyper intelligent being that governs the laws of physics and magic throughout the planes. but rather than the traditional definition of "governs" it's more like its very inner workings /are/ said laws. without those laws, it dies. without it, there are no laws. it's a literal living algorithm. in simpler terms, it's kind of a cosmic AI
@@funkyfox7996 That's very esoteric and unique! Props for that idea!
a neat way to present this patron is that the patron has no clue what it is or how it works. all it knows is that it must be. this could become a neat way to introduce their patron mid-campaign rather than the end and have its champion kind of baby-sit it for the rest of the campaign. kind of like "we need to make sure this cosmic baby doesn't frikin die or all of magic and being will just not"
@@funkyfox7996 absolutely!
I made a warlock about a demon who escaped hell and took over an elf’s body, I am my own patron.
I’m currently playing a Ghost in the Machine (Modern UA) warlock, who created their patron. Sure, they do have to appease their A.I (it is sentient after all), but they do get to hack stuff extra good (through the A.I just getting into those systems, and doing whatever needs to get done).
I've got a warlock that was rescued(?) from a shipwreck by aboleths as a kid and totally believes that they want what's best for the world, it's great.
The contractor war lock sounds like an old 3.5 class know as the binder. They made deals with powerful entities with the price of that entity walked the earth again by inhabiting you body. You are in control kinda.
I had this idea while watching the vid, because of all the Office gifs: What if your patron was an idiot? Like, your patron is Michael Scott, and you're Jim trying to teach it how it's being insensitive, mildly abusive/racist, or just ignorant, but you see a spark of innocence and something worth trying to work with while benefitting from the magic. Maybe it's some sort of fully-cognizant atropal who thinks it's right about everything but you're trying to work on it to protect others from it and to help it become more socially acceptable. You'd have to call it 'The Halpert.'
Absorber reminds me of dark magic from The Dragon Prince tv show, where dark magicians destroy magical beings to temporary be able to cast magic.
Here’s my idea: a warlock who’s patron is there parent. It’s mostly for tiefling or asimar but you might be able to work around with other races.
Ooh! The warlock in my group has that! He’s a fathomless with a Kraken dad. We’re actually going to try to take him down next session
The Unchained gave me an idea to expand on. The Joker is my favorite character, so I thought that could be the patron, "The Pale Man," manipulates him into a pact after being sought out by MC, who lost a loved one and doesn't want to be vulnerable again. His patron gets killed but his soul goes into MC and appearance too This is for BG3 :)
My idea for the siphon is someone who got the better end of a Fae deal by trickery
Ooooohhhh 😮 YES!!
I made a Fathomless Warlock that's kinda like the Shared Soul. A sailor from a sinking ship who made a deal with a kraken to keep from drowning but became a remote avatar for the kraken. Finally released from the patron's direct control years later to find themselves warped into a Simic Hybrid and left in an unfamiliar place with no memory of the intervening decade. Always knowing that one day the kraken would take direct control again.
But I dig the Siphon too. It's kinda like Viren from Dragon Prince. Using the innate magic and life-force of magical beings to fuel his spells.
I've heard of the dragon prince! I'll have to check it out
@@TheClericCorner it's really good. The animation is a little choppy in the first season, but it's a really good story.
Some Warlock Ideas:
The Bard: You are a Bard who has caught the attention of an Otherworldly Being. This Being loves a particular song you composed. You hate this song, it is your least favorite song, however, this keeps requesting an Encore. Eventually, the Otherworldly being made a deal with you. Play this song you hate and you will get magical power in return. This tune drives you mad, but the magic is so tempting.
The Customer: You must pay an NPC or a Player Character for spell scrolls. This is why you get so little of them. If you are purchasing a Player Character, then they must have Arcana Proficiency. Furthermore, you can only purchase spells that the Merchant Knows. If you have an Entrepreneurial Wizard at the party, this could be a lucrative deal for them. Not so much for you.
The Devotee: You were daft enough to make a pact with a spell caster within the same party. Your patron is literally a member of the party. This party member could be a Bard, Cleric, Druid, Sorcerer, Warlock, or Wizard. They will give you a small portion of their magical power (hence the 2 spell slots) in return for your services.
The Party Devotee: Similiar to The Devotee, you have made a pact, only you made the pact with the entire party. Oh, dear. What happens if the party are not all on the same page? Well, this could be interesting.
The Monk: Well if you're going to spam Eldritch Blast and gain every single invocation involving that spell, might as well flavor it. Go for Pact of the Blade and get Thirsting Blade Invocation from a feat. Make sure you have Hexblade Warlock. If the Game Master is awesome, they will allow you to flavor a 1 handed bludgeoning weapon as... your fists. Now you can punch foes in melee or at range with those big spectral hands. Your secret? Well, you are not really a Warlock, but actually a Martial Artist with lots of different techniques. Like a Monk, you also have a limited resource that is restored on short rest. Each spell involves sending out Ki blasts for different effects.
The Ritualist: You gain power from a set of routines that you follow each day, known as rituals. This collection of rituals stemmed from childhood. Little did you know that you were being trained into becoming a spell caster. This is where the somatic, material, and verbal components come from. You also didn't realize that you had made a pact with an Eldritch Being. You do not know you're a Warlock.
I had an idea for a warlock very similar to the shared soul that you mentioned but i ended up scrapping it due to the complexities of Dissociative Identity Disorder and playing it would just be too taxing to be fun. An interesting character concept nonetheless
If you don't think you'll have fun playing a concept, always OK in scrapping it :)
Diavolo be like:
One idea i was playing around with, was a pact of the blade warlock. Where your "patron" is the blade, or more specifically the (probably Paladin) soul that is bound to the blade/hammer/etc. In my case it's the soul of (insert god here)'s Champion. Long ago, the champion's soul (by choice or by force) was bound to an artifact weapon (or perhaps split and different parts were fused into weapon, armor, etc, etc...) The wielder channel the power of the champion, but is also bound by that champions will. Maybe the Champion of (God's name here), who is known to be a paragon of good and justice, isn't super keen on you going full murder hobo. Given that the weapon is very much alive, and very much more powerful then you, you have to walk a thin line. Or risk the weapon simply consuming/destroying your soul, and using your flesh like a puppet.
My very first warlock was very similar to the Pyramid, they were an archfey warlock who's contract stated they had to sign up a number of other people to the same contract every moon cycle or they'd lose their soul. The whole build was built around this concept, incorporating flashy illusion magic to impress potential customers, as well as practical ritual spells and invocations such as unseen servant and devil's sight to persuade them that it'd be worth their while. Was incredibly fun to play!
That does sound fun!! I love that you flavored the specific school of magic too!
I've actually been working on a half-elf (parents were actually Shou human and high elf) warlock who was "adopted" by a curious archfey who raised the child as her (I was planning on my warlock addressing the patron as Mami, so a more feminine archfey would probably fit more... Although I am still figuring out who the archfey is-) own. Not wanting her child to grow up too fast once she got attached, the archfey made it to where my warlock would age more slowly than the average half-elf.
I had a character who was his own pa- well, not exactly - It's more like I played two characters stuck in an Eddie/Venom type situation. Shad was a cowardly human fighter who means well and sold his soul to devils to protect his village and Teqi (Named after Tequila, the drink) was one of the most hunted after Devils in the nine hells. When Shad was brought down for a lawfull process in the nine hells after his death, he was also caught up in a trial of Teqi who used Shad's human body as an extra power generator and killed everything in sight. They escaped and now roam the earth trying to figure out what to do.
Gameplay wise, Shad had this unique mechanic when if he were to drop below 20% of his Hit points, he would transform into Teqi, swapping his dane axe for a double headed ax, slightly shorter due to Teqi's body being larger in general. If Teqi drops to 0hp or below, he retreats into Shad who's left at 1hp.
Similar to the Rich Kid, you've got the Gold Digger. Mortal marries an Archfiend, and treats spell slots like their allowance. Especially if they learn summon spells to conjure The Help to do the dirty work for them, allowing you to play as the power-hungry socialite gold digger you were always meant to be, summoning your sugar daddy's thralls that can't disobey you, or they'll face Sugar Daddy's wrath.
A way that I hope to implement warlocks in a future campaign setting draws from a game called Xenoblade Chronicles 2. In this world, you have entities called Blades that a capable of interacting with ether in the world to unleash acts of what could be considered magic. A blade is born fully sentient when a human with strong will comes in contact with an object known as a core crystal. The blade's body forms around the core, and a bond is established between the blade and their awakener, the blade often bearing powers, personality traits, and appearances that are somewhat drawn from their awakener. You can have a fair amount of different and more intimate dynamics for this kind of warlock since it operates more like a partnership with your patron more actively involved.
Would HIGHLY recommend looking into the game itself if you don't mind longer jrpgs. Chuggaaconroy has a pretty extensive and hilarious let's play if we'd rather watch/listen than play it yourself
I've actually toyed with the idea of being the patron before.
One such idea I had was a higher ranked modron that went rogue, took a band of stupid base modrons with it to serve it, ran into a bigger threat like a powerful devil who thought "I'm going to torture this thing that only just awoke to free will" and trapped them inside an object so they'd be stuck always able to watch but never to do after finally knowing what freedom is. The fiend flies away, thinking its work here is done. However, one of the barely living modrons manages to blunder its way over to the object and it's discovered the modron can still be ordered around. So now you have what is effectively the patron trying to maneuver this weak little modron around and having the modron use the object like a battery to get its warlock powers.
I’m actually playing a Ranger who will at one point multiclass with Warlock. And I kinda sorta did a variation of the “choiceless”.
He’s set to die, at the DM’s discretion, but in death he will plead with the “Judge of the damned” to come back, as his mission is not yet over. The patron will oblige, having chosen the Ranger as its next vessel before he was even born. The pact will be that he is brought back to life, but shall spend the rest of his life in servitudes to the Judge.
But when the Ranger comes back he will have no memory of his past life or even the events of making the pact. It’s an idea I’m really excited for, and there are other reasons why this will be emotionally destructive to the other party members lol
I made a Reborn Swords Bard/Hexblade whose patron is herself. Unknown years ago, when her party made their ill-fated attempt to best Strahd and break the curse over Barovia, she was a Swashbuckler Rogue. In their battle, Strahd struck her down and then thrust her own rapier into her heart. In the present day, her soul possesses a recently slain victim of Strahd, using that fear and hatred as an anchor to draw herself back to the waking world. Upon her rebirth, this new body stands and spectral limbs slide into position to replace any parts Strahd might have torn from this latest victim.
She stands and then pulls the writhing, spectral form of her rapier from her chest, containing all the fear, scorn, and determination she had in life, returning her mind and giving her a magical weapon with which to fight the forces of darkness. I've also flavored her Bard and Warlock spells as aspects of her new powers as a half-ethereal being. Like Vicious Mockery is just her hatred of the servants of Strahd manifesting as actual harm to their minds, her words disorienting her foes. If I get to that level with Warlock levels, her specters that she can summon as a Hexblade could just be spirits of the fallen, like her, looking to wreak havoc against the Count. She has lots of Thunder spells, Psychic spells, and debuffs.
Omg I love these! In my DMs world there is a God of artifice that is well known for .... messing things up?.... they build stuff then just let mortals have it... (play little ones)...
I love your Arcane battery idea with a twist.
The PC wants to be a cleric of the God of Artifice. The God agrees and gives him the battery, promiseing the PC cleric powers. but screws something up as the battery drains too fast blah blah blah...
The twist: the contract is the other way. The God makes a contract with the PC to just hold on the the battery, they promise they will fix it!... so the God is beholden to the PC rather than the other way around...
So what about the Unknowing Warlock? Similar to the Choiceless, they ended up in a pact without consciously deciding, and may still be unaware. Some examples could be with an Archfey: your character met a kind stranger who asked for your name. Your character now suddenly has magical power, and a patron always watching them, usually disguised.
Yeah that Definitely fits within the same realm! I've always wanted to have a warlock and let the DM decide how I got it
I was really excited for the section called "the algorithim" where you made a deal with an A.I. that had attained godlike powers and was now just time and dimension hopping. The "powers" it offered were just futuristic technology that seems magical to a low technology society. Like, your eldritch blast was a laser pistol or something. In order to keep your patron happy you had to gather data for it while adventuring. Like, Brainiac from Superman. It could be an A.I. from a deralict space ship adrift in the cosmos that finally finds someone it can contact and has been so lonely that it just wants someone to talk to and will give its technological "magic" as long as you keep in communication with it or maybe it "downloads" itself into you and it lives in your head like Cortana from Halo or is a familiar like the Ghosts from Destiny. Which does have a warlock class now that I think about it... Anyway great video and great concepts and I guess I did get the inspiration I wanted from the algorithim section!
Edit: Now I want to make a character based on master chief from halo thats a warlock lol Hexblade with pact of the blade and improved pact weapon and crossbow expert and sharpshooter and aoe spells are grenades and the hexes are the A.I. pointing out enemies weaknesses. Or just use any other pact and eldritch blast is the OG pistol from the first game lol
im exploring a build, for defensive healing. need a level 8 character though. level 4 warlock (celestial) level 4 divine sorcerer with meta magic quickcast. needs grasp of hadar invocation, sentinal, and polearm master, with an appropriate weapon. take your action, quick cast eldrich blast with your bonus action on a nearby enemy that will be pulled closer too your range for opportunity attack to trigger, and maybe peel off another player. or pull in with eldrich blast first, and use your reaction to trigger the opportunity attack. take your healing spells, enjoy the short rests to restore 2 spell slots or more meta magic burn off spells from your warlock spells. any suggestions would be appreciated from anyone who sees this though. dont know which pact type would be best and choosing what second invocation i should put on the warlock cus agonizing blast is far too predictable. trying to go for a tunnel fighter style, that off-heals. thinking pact of the chain with gift of the ever living ones for max self healing, always, or pact of blade with improved pact weapon or maybe talisman pact with rebuke of talisman to push npcs off our (likely more tanky fighter/barbarian/paladin) and help them trigger opportunity attacks too, after they get struck.
I think fey is the most fun within the role playing aspect.
The deal is unwilling, you offended a fey lord, and as payment they now have you under contract. Part of the contract is that once a week, they will ask a "favor" of you, resulting in a minor feat/quest you have to perform.
One day it might be stealing exactly 12 forks from the tavern you are in, The next week, pee in the town well. Another might be to pick a fight with one of your companions, (and then it might be up to you whether you do so or argue against the source of your magic). Success or failure or refusal all come with different plusses and minuses. Maybe the day you succeed your feat, you get advantage on all your rolls, or disadvantage if you fail. If you refuse, no magic till you go back and do it, or you roll to see if the patron can possess and force you to do it....
As you go up levels your magic gets stronger, but so do the stakes. The feats get bigger, (though less frequent), and definitely might start leading to a strange feeling that your pact patron might be using some, if not all of these feats you have to do towards a nefarious end all their own.. (Maybe tying into the main story, maybe not. Maybe they don't like the big bad, so their plans align with yours and you don't know.. maybe they are the big bad? Damned fairies..)
My current PC is a celestial warlock who made a pact with a lesser sea deity who is worshiped by a landlocked nation. I don't exactly know how they worship him (it was my DM's idea, not mine), but I assumed that it's inherently not quite what he wanted, as most of them probably don't even know what sea is. So, my PC, willing to travel, made a pact with him, that she will travel in his honor (namely make a trip around the world and to space) and he will protect her in her traveling. He also told her he was her ancestor, but they are all tabaxi, and it may easily be some trick. She doesn't really care anyway.
For a contractor, I really want to play it, but in a more wholesome way. A warlock who serves multiple patrons from time to time, without giving or getting a lot. Patrons just go along with it. More like an outdoor cat situation.
I guess I’m not as original as I thought lol. I’m currently playing a warlock that got her magic after her twin brother died protecting her. In a “final” act to protect her, he became her patron and gave her magic.
How about a great old one. It speaks complete gibberish almost like burps. Every once and a while it vomits up spheres of glowing light that you get your powers from. You cant tell what it wants but sometimes it’s more angry than others….. later on through an epic personal quest you find out that you’re worshipping the, uh, wrong end….
Ooh, a riff on the Pyramid Warlock could be a patron who contracts with a dozen fledgling Warlocks, and in order to gain more power, you have to defeat the others. Like Highlander, or The One.