What in your opinions are the best and worst patrons purely from a roleplay/story perspective? I know some patrons are better mechanically, but this is purely about roleplay and nothing else. I feel like Archfey and Fiend would be best, with possibly Genie in there as well for the clashing personalities between patron and warlock, and feel personally that Great Old One might be the most lacking considering they, at least to me, seem to be harder to have a detailed partnership with a mortal.
Every patron except the Hexblade is great from a role playing perspective. The Hexblade seems to be the only patron that isn't easy to Role Play.
I think the Hexblade needs more initial work from the DM to develop than the others. The rest of the patrons, everyone has some idea what they are, and what they might want. The Hexblade writeup is vague and fuzzy, and also more dependent on the default setting than the others.
What in your opinions are the best and worst patrons purely from a roleplay/story perspective? I know some patrons are better mechanically, but this is purely about roleplay and nothing else. I feel like Archfey and Fiend would be best, with possibly Genie in there as well for the clashing personalities between patron and warlock, and feel personally that Great Old One might be the most lacking considering they, at least to me, seem to be harder to have a detailed partnership with a mortal.
What are your thoughts though?
Patrons don't need a "detailed partnership" with their warlock
Roleplaying a warlock doesn't have to involve lengthy convos with your patron, or any contact at all beyond cryptic dreams or omens. In fact, less contact often makes for better roleplay, as it doesn't become routine
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Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock) Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric) Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue) Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
What in your opinions are the best and worst patrons purely from a roleplay/story perspective? I know some patrons are better mechanically, but this is purely about roleplay and nothing else. I feel like Archfey and Fiend would be best, with possibly Genie in there as well for the clashing personalities between patron and warlock, and feel personally that Great Old One might be the most lacking considering they, at least to me, seem to be harder to have a detailed partnership with a mortal.
What are your thoughts though?
Patrons don't need a "detailed partnership" with their warlock
Roleplaying a warlock doesn't have to involve lengthy convos with your patron, or any contact at all beyond cryptic dreams or omens. In fact, less contact often makes for better roleplay, as it doesn't become routine
Detailed partnership doesn't mean having lots of contact with them. It just means OP had an easier time to spin a story around the nature of the pact with those patrons involved.
In my experience, no particular type of patron is easier or harder to do that with
If someone is having difficulty coming up with a story for a specific type of patron, I'd suggest to them they view the mechanics of the subclass as a separate thing. Figure out your story first, then pick the patron type that gives you the features that best fits your concept
For example: I recently played a warlock whose patron was based on the Baltic myth of the laume, sort of a forest spirit/protector of children and orphans/hag-like entity if you piss her off. Archfey would have been the more "obvious" choice, but laumes have associations with lakes and rivers so I ended up going with Fathomless for the watery power set, which fit better with my idea for the character and how he wound up in the pact
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Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock) Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric) Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue) Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
Every patron except the Hexblade is great from a role playing perspective. The Hexblade seems to be the only patron that isn't easy to Role Play.
Not sure I agree that Hexblade is any worse for roleplaying; it's really only described as "a shadowy force" so you're pretty much free to have a patron with whatever motivations you like. The only example they give is the Raven Queen, who is a neutral deity, so that leaves you pretty free in what her goals for your character might be.
In terms of building a character a lot of people take the patron for the mechanics, or because it fits the theme of a character idea they already had (usually someone who rather enjoys putting swords into other people) so all you need is a patron who supports whatever you wanted to do in the first place, for whatever reason.
For the actual roleplay you can commune with your actual patron just like any other, or you can do it through the weapon which can have as much or as little personality as you like (sentient doesn't need to mean chatty, it could just mean it observes what you do, or corrects your aim or such to influence outcomes, or maybe it's just a conduit for the kills to your patron?).
Basically there's plenty of room for roleplaying whatever you like; I've used Hexblade to build characters for other patrons, for example, you could build a character who works for an archfey, but was gifted a sword by them in order to do it (so Hexblade rather than Archfey for the patron).
Former D&D Beyond Customer of six years: With the axing of piecemeal purchasing, lack of meaningful development, and toxic moderation the site isn't worth paying for anymore. I remain a free user only until my groups are done migrating from DDB, and if necessary D&D, after which I'm done. There are better systems owned by better companies out there.
I have unsubscribed from all topics and will not reply to messages. My homebrew is now 100% unsupported.
I love the Great Old One for RP, you don't need to limit yourself to Cthulhu, you can have mad whispers in your head, you can be siphoning from some ancient force that hides in the shadows, you can even have a good relationship with an alien force of all kinds. Cthulhu is so limiting, be an envoy of the King in Yellow, be something reborn in the aftermath of a Far Realm incursion. Be the willing puppet of a purely abstract concept. Share your body with a multi-dimensional being that got mixed with your essence.
I think every Patron has interesting roleplay potential, but in regards to the Hexblade specifically, which is my favorite Warlock, the lack of definition does mean a little more work.
However I think the simplest explanation for a Hexblade is that they're a "Warlock Paladin". They are the martial representative of a Patron, and as such it could be anything from a celestial power, through to a demonic power, through to a fey, to a eldritch abomination. Anything is possible, you just have to write it yourself.
The Patron for my Drow Hexblade is the White Lady, the Saint of Swords. Her physical representation is of a tall Elvish woman, always a little taller than the person seeing her, with white hair, white skin, and white robes, blue eyes, though sometimes she wears a blindfold, though she sees perfectly with or without it.
She is an Avatar of Justice, and she chooses her servants to balance the scales when injustice occurs. As such her alignment is Lawful Good, although that isn't mandatory for her servants, my Drow tending more towards Lawful Evil. As long as her commands are carried out she's not that concerned for their lives outside her service.
Not quite on topic but... thanks for all the hexblade ideas.
Honestly I like the options each patron has. It all comes down to setting and story. Great Old One? Something from outside the bounds of reality or our understanding? Some unknowable entitty whose goals and intentions are unknown and possibly unfathomable?
Hell I have my Fiend blade apct tiefling warlock that just did it because "If everyone is gonna treat me like a devil anyway, why not lean on it?"
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What in your opinions are the best and worst patrons purely from a roleplay/story perspective? I know some patrons are better mechanically, but this is purely about roleplay and nothing else. I feel like Archfey and Fiend would be best, with possibly Genie in there as well for the clashing personalities between patron and warlock, and feel personally that Great Old One might be the most lacking considering they, at least to me, seem to be harder to have a detailed partnership with a mortal.
What are your thoughts though?
Every patron except the Hexblade is great from a role playing perspective. The Hexblade seems to be the only patron that isn't easy to Role Play.
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Fair points. I suppose Great Old One just doesn't catch my attention, but if you're a Cthulhu fan I totally do understand it in that case.
I think the Hexblade needs more initial work from the DM to develop than the others. The rest of the patrons, everyone has some idea what they are, and what they might want. The Hexblade writeup is vague and fuzzy, and also more dependent on the default setting than the others.
Patrons don't need a "detailed partnership" with their warlock
Roleplaying a warlock doesn't have to involve lengthy convos with your patron, or any contact at all beyond cryptic dreams or omens. In fact, less contact often makes for better roleplay, as it doesn't become routine
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
In my experience, no particular type of patron is easier or harder to do that with
If someone is having difficulty coming up with a story for a specific type of patron, I'd suggest to them they view the mechanics of the subclass as a separate thing. Figure out your story first, then pick the patron type that gives you the features that best fits your concept
For example: I recently played a warlock whose patron was based on the Baltic myth of the laume, sort of a forest spirit/protector of children and orphans/hag-like entity if you piss her off. Archfey would have been the more "obvious" choice, but laumes have associations with lakes and rivers so I ended up going with Fathomless for the watery power set, which fit better with my idea for the character and how he wound up in the pact
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
Not sure I agree that Hexblade is any worse for roleplaying; it's really only described as "a shadowy force" so you're pretty much free to have a patron with whatever motivations you like. The only example they give is the Raven Queen, who is a neutral deity, so that leaves you pretty free in what her goals for your character might be.
In terms of building a character a lot of people take the patron for the mechanics, or because it fits the theme of a character idea they already had (usually someone who rather enjoys putting swords into other people) so all you need is a patron who supports whatever you wanted to do in the first place, for whatever reason.
For the actual roleplay you can commune with your actual patron just like any other, or you can do it through the weapon which can have as much or as little personality as you like (sentient doesn't need to mean chatty, it could just mean it observes what you do, or corrects your aim or such to influence outcomes, or maybe it's just a conduit for the kills to your patron?).
Basically there's plenty of room for roleplaying whatever you like; I've used Hexblade to build characters for other patrons, for example, you could build a character who works for an archfey, but was gifted a sword by them in order to do it (so Hexblade rather than Archfey for the patron).
Former D&D Beyond Customer of six years: With the axing of piecemeal purchasing, lack of meaningful development, and toxic moderation the site isn't worth paying for anymore. I remain a free user only until my groups are done migrating from DDB, and if necessary D&D, after which I'm done. There are better systems owned by better companies out there.
I have unsubscribed from all topics and will not reply to messages. My homebrew is now 100% unsupported.
I love the Great Old One for RP, you don't need to limit yourself to Cthulhu, you can have mad whispers in your head, you can be siphoning from some ancient force that hides in the shadows, you can even have a good relationship with an alien force of all kinds. Cthulhu is so limiting, be an envoy of the King in Yellow, be something reborn in the aftermath of a Far Realm incursion. Be the willing puppet of a purely abstract concept. Share your body with a multi-dimensional being that got mixed with your essence.
I am also here.
Am snek.
I think every Patron has interesting roleplay potential, but in regards to the Hexblade specifically, which is my favorite Warlock, the lack of definition does mean a little more work.
However I think the simplest explanation for a Hexblade is that they're a "Warlock Paladin". They are the martial representative of a Patron, and as such it could be anything from a celestial power, through to a demonic power, through to a fey, to a eldritch abomination. Anything is possible, you just have to write it yourself.
The Patron for my Drow Hexblade is the White Lady, the Saint of Swords. Her physical representation is of a tall Elvish woman, always a little taller than the person seeing her, with white hair, white skin, and white robes, blue eyes, though sometimes she wears a blindfold, though she sees perfectly with or without it.
She is an Avatar of Justice, and she chooses her servants to balance the scales when injustice occurs. As such her alignment is Lawful Good, although that isn't mandatory for her servants, my Drow tending more towards Lawful Evil. As long as her commands are carried out she's not that concerned for their lives outside her service.
Not quite on topic but... thanks for all the hexblade ideas.
Honestly I like the options each patron has. It all comes down to setting and story.
Great Old One? Something from outside the bounds of reality or our understanding? Some unknowable entitty whose goals and intentions are unknown and possibly unfathomable?
Hell I have my Fiend blade apct tiefling warlock that just did it because "If everyone is gonna treat me like a devil anyway, why not lean on it?"