Over on Reddit I made a post detailing a couple of warlock backstories. It got no feedback. The first backstory I posted here a couple of years ago. But the second has been kicking around in my head a while and I wanted to share it and see what some people think.
A young wizard's apprentice, in the midst of his training, loses his master. The young boy is is heartbroken, as the wizard took him in after his family had been killed and had been a father to him. The old wizard had been communicating with an archfairy at the time.
The archfairy as it turns out, was new to her current position and not as powerful as other stronger fae. She had contacted the old wizard out of curiosity for mortal magic: she had been fascinated by mortals - and especially mortal magic - for some time, and now that she had the power to talk to them, she found a kindly old man who would be receptive to her curiosity. She had little help from her fellow fae, as her devotion to learning put her decidedly out of sync with most fae, but the prospect of learning knew things excited and fascinated her.
She had had several long talks with the old wizard before. And the old wizard loved to teach. It's not very often that you get a powerful fairy as a student, after all. One of the things she heard about were those spellcasters who formed pacts with beings for magic; something she knew about from her end but wasn't quite so sure about it from the mortal end. but one day, while she she demonstrated some of her abilities to him, he suddenly collapsed and died. It was purely a coincidence; the old man had been in poor health before the fairy first talked to him. He simply died of a heart attack, but the moment both shocked and saddened the archfairy, and she felt immense guilt for appearing to have killed him. So she approached his apprentice, who was still a budding magic-user, and offered to help him by forming a pact: she would give him some degree of fae magic and be a friend and helper for life, and in return he would help her learn more about the mortal realm. She does so humbly and earnestly, and the young apprentice accepts.
The idea is for the warlock to have much less a "patron" and much more a close friend and partner. She can't directly interfere - yet - but she is the biggest person in his corner and tries to aid him however she can. He in turn studies magic almost like a wizard does and she studies with him frequently, sharing notes. In terms of power, while I called her an "archfairy" it's more appropriate to call her a high fairy or great fairy; she is not on the level of Titania or Oberon but she is much more powerful than your standard pixies, sprites, or other faefolk. Like, say, a lesser noble of the Summer Court, recently raised to the position. She has very little knowledge of the mortal realm, but has extensive knowledge about fae and would prove valuable going up against evil or more dangerous fae such as hags, nymphs or sirens. And if the warlock and his friends just so happen to cross into the Feywild, she will be there to protect them from the whimsy and caprice of the natives there.
This kind of character almost BEGS for a Pact of the Chain, so she could send an aspect of herself as a sprite for a familiar. But at the same time, for utility, I might want Pact of the Tome. As an example of the kind of relationship they might have, I wrote a little bit of dialogue.
"I...I can't complete your training," she said, looking down, her feet doing an uncomfortable shuffle. "I can only help in my own way. I know even less about mortal magic than you do. Will...will you let me guide you with what I know? The only thing I ask of you is to help me learn more about mortals and their magic. And if possible, forgive me for taking your master away."
The young man smiled sadly. "What is there to forgive? I'm going to miss him...but he was an old man. And...before you first came, he was sick."
Feeling even more guilty for not noticing, the fairy looked down. "I could've helped him..."
"But you did. He was really happy when you were here." The young apprentice said. "In fact, he looked like a new man after a while. But he still wasn't young."
Amazed, the fairy looked at him straight in the eye and put an ethereal hand on his shoulder. "Then please, form a pact with me. I want to honor him. I want to be your guide and your friend. Will you have me?"
The issue is this would be a "patron" I would prefer to be under my control, and I don't think many DMs would be comfortable with that.
I think as long as her contributions don’t change the mechanics, you can flavor his magic however you want. Familiars can use the help action too, so there’s no reason a Patron-familiar couldn’t.
Or... fairy-folk are UA now. If your DM is down with it, you could just be the patron for another warlock in the party.
I think as long as her contributions don’t change the mechanics, you can flavor his magic however you want. Familiars can use the help action too, so there’s no reason a Patron-familiar couldn’t.
Or... fairy-folk are UA now. If your DM is down with it, you could just be the patron for another warlock in the party.
In this case if she manifests as herself rather than as a familiar, she's a Medium creature. But she's powerful enough she can't do so unless the warlock is like...level 15-ish. I base her appearance very heavily on this.
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Over on Reddit I made a post detailing a couple of warlock backstories. It got no feedback. The first backstory I posted here a couple of years ago. But the second has been kicking around in my head a while and I wanted to share it and see what some people think.
A young wizard's apprentice, in the midst of his training, loses his master. The young boy is is heartbroken, as the wizard took him in after his family had been killed and had been a father to him. The old wizard had been communicating with an archfairy at the time.
The archfairy as it turns out, was new to her current position and not as powerful as other stronger fae. She had contacted the old wizard out of curiosity for mortal magic: she had been fascinated by mortals - and especially mortal magic - for some time, and now that she had the power to talk to them, she found a kindly old man who would be receptive to her curiosity. She had little help from her fellow fae, as her devotion to learning put her decidedly out of sync with most fae, but the prospect of learning knew things excited and fascinated her.
She had had several long talks with the old wizard before. And the old wizard loved to teach. It's not very often that you get a powerful fairy as a student, after all. One of the things she heard about were those spellcasters who formed pacts with beings for magic; something she knew about from her end but wasn't quite so sure about it from the mortal end. but one day, while she she demonstrated some of her abilities to him, he suddenly collapsed and died. It was purely a coincidence; the old man had been in poor health before the fairy first talked to him. He simply died of a heart attack, but the moment both shocked and saddened the archfairy, and she felt immense guilt for appearing to have killed him. So she approached his apprentice, who was still a budding magic-user, and offered to help him by forming a pact: she would give him some degree of fae magic and be a friend and helper for life, and in return he would help her learn more about the mortal realm. She does so humbly and earnestly, and the young apprentice accepts.
The idea is for the warlock to have much less a "patron" and much more a close friend and partner. She can't directly interfere - yet - but she is the biggest person in his corner and tries to aid him however she can. He in turn studies magic almost like a wizard does and she studies with him frequently, sharing notes. In terms of power, while I called her an "archfairy" it's more appropriate to call her a high fairy or great fairy; she is not on the level of Titania or Oberon but she is much more powerful than your standard pixies, sprites, or other faefolk. Like, say, a lesser noble of the Summer Court, recently raised to the position. She has very little knowledge of the mortal realm, but has extensive knowledge about fae and would prove valuable going up against evil or more dangerous fae such as hags, nymphs or sirens. And if the warlock and his friends just so happen to cross into the Feywild, she will be there to protect them from the whimsy and caprice of the natives there.
This kind of character almost BEGS for a Pact of the Chain, so she could send an aspect of herself as a sprite for a familiar. But at the same time, for utility, I might want Pact of the Tome. As an example of the kind of relationship they might have, I wrote a little bit of dialogue.
The issue is this would be a "patron" I would prefer to be under my control, and I don't think many DMs would be comfortable with that.
I think as long as her contributions don’t change the mechanics, you can flavor his magic however you want. Familiars can use the help action too, so there’s no reason a Patron-familiar couldn’t.
Or... fairy-folk are UA now. If your DM is down with it, you could just be the patron for another warlock in the party.
In this case if she manifests as herself rather than as a familiar, she's a Medium creature. But she's powerful enough she can't do so unless the warlock is like...level 15-ish. I base her appearance very heavily on this.