I have a player interested in pact magic from the Bloodhunter class. I was wondering for most of you how does your choice of Patron influence the daily activities of your Warlock.
How often does the Patron make demands?
Does your Warlock live by certain strictures because of their Patron?
What do they know about the identity of their patron?
I would also welcome any advice you have on running Patrons and just how much influence they have on your campaign.
Current character is a hexblade that got his power from a shard of a sentient weapon that acted as conduit for the power of the weapon itself. Past tense because now that it has established the connection, I technically no longer need it but it is embedded in my arm. In this campaign, there wasn't a lot of time so far to figure exactly how this is effecting me but we have had an orc shaman establish a connection where I saw a black tower and from it, there was a voice that said, "I'm waiting." and that's all we got so far.
This same character was my first character I ever made but originally he was patroned by the Great Old One and the circumstances of that deal was that he had discovered that his mentor had a pact with the great old one to save my life, (My character was dying at the age of 3 when a bandit carved my eye out for funsies. That socket now has a ruby eye in it that functions as my arcane focus.) and the deal with her was that in exchange for my life, every year, he was going to suck a little knowledge from her brain until she was left insane. My pact was that for every bit of knowledge I gain and submit, he would stave off the insanity a little longer. Shortly after, she was kidnapped away in the night and my character is currently searching for her but still staving off the insanity by offering the knowledge. In THIS setting, my DM let me 'Pray' to the great old one (Whom we basically envisioned as Hermaious Mora) and from time to time, he would give me visions but that campaign ended when we had some players decide to join but didn't want to start in the middle of the campaign.
As someone who has played it both ways, I'd say I like the first one better. Ignoring the fact that my latter version was essentially casting, what is it, contact planar being? without knowing it, without having to seek out ways of doing so, my DM was forced to make up a lot of content for my character in a short time span because I did this like every long rest. It's more prone to DM burnout which no one wants.
The journey makes it that much more satisfying, imho.
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You only lose if you die. Any time else, there's opportunity for a come back.
I think that demands from a warlock’s patron are really a tool the DM uses as a plot hook to get the party started on an adventure that the DM has planned.
I’m playing a warlock and when I created my warlock I wrote his patron, including his patron’s name, into his background. When I hit 3rd level I told my DM that my patron handed me my tome outside of regular playing time for example. That was flavor, it didn’t have any in game effect.
In my current warlock I used a concept of the patron being something remote, that she stumbled upon and was bound to pact magic. As she gains levels, the pact connection gets stronger and stronger.
So at first, the Pact and its meaning were wide open. She was essentially borrowing or maybe stealing power from something. As a result in the early levels there were no demands or asks.
When she hit third level and I decided her to be a tome lock, then appears a mysterious gift...and now she's getting dreams. So I expect as the DM and I advance the story, and as she accumulates power, this lost forgotten power's intent will become clearer and have more direct affect in the campaign.
Thanks, I really like that sort of an idea. It makes a lot of sense to me and allows a good deal of flexibility to build it into the fabric of the game as it progresses without tying anyone too tightly to a specific plot thread.
I may very well end up borrowing this idea for a PC in my campaign.
I've never had my Patron in either of my two Warlocks ever be present. The first was an Old One Pact, so I'm not really surprised there wasn't any direct contact.
My second Warlock is a Celestial Pact. He's a wanna-be Paladin. He calls himself a "Gentleman Adventurer!", including the exclamation mark. I loosely use the Paladin of the Ancients as his code, but he's a follower of Waukeen. The Celestial hasn't really had any influence beyond backstory.
I'm currently playing a Warlock who has attempted to resist his patron and defies him when possible. The DM is pitting me against him, sending his minions, other warlocks often, after my character. This is an interesting dynamic, which as required a little rule bending, but it's made for some great roleplay.
I have a player interested in pact magic from the Bloodhunter class. I was wondering for most of you how does your choice of Patron influence the daily activities of your Warlock.
How often does the Patron make demands?
Does your Warlock live by certain strictures because of their Patron?
What do they know about the identity of their patron?
I would also welcome any advice you have on running Patrons and just how much influence they have on your campaign.
Thanks All.
Current character is a hexblade that got his power from a shard of a sentient weapon that acted as conduit for the power of the weapon itself. Past tense because now that it has established the connection, I technically no longer need it but it is embedded in my arm. In this campaign, there wasn't a lot of time so far to figure exactly how this is effecting me but we have had an orc shaman establish a connection where I saw a black tower and from it, there was a voice that said, "I'm waiting." and that's all we got so far.
This same character was my first character I ever made but originally he was patroned by the Great Old One and the circumstances of that deal was that he had discovered that his mentor had a pact with the great old one to save my life, (My character was dying at the age of 3 when a bandit carved my eye out for funsies. That socket now has a ruby eye in it that functions as my arcane focus.) and the deal with her was that in exchange for my life, every year, he was going to suck a little knowledge from her brain until she was left insane. My pact was that for every bit of knowledge I gain and submit, he would stave off the insanity a little longer. Shortly after, she was kidnapped away in the night and my character is currently searching for her but still staving off the insanity by offering the knowledge. In THIS setting, my DM let me 'Pray' to the great old one (Whom we basically envisioned as Hermaious Mora) and from time to time, he would give me visions but that campaign ended when we had some players decide to join but didn't want to start in the middle of the campaign.
As someone who has played it both ways, I'd say I like the first one better. Ignoring the fact that my latter version was essentially casting, what is it, contact planar being? without knowing it, without having to seek out ways of doing so, my DM was forced to make up a lot of content for my character in a short time span because I did this like every long rest. It's more prone to DM burnout which no one wants.
The journey makes it that much more satisfying, imho.
You only lose if you die. Any time else, there's opportunity for a come back.
I think that demands from a warlock’s patron are really a tool the DM uses as a plot hook to get the party started on an adventure that the DM has planned.
I’m playing a warlock and when I created my warlock I wrote his patron, including his patron’s name, into his background. When I hit 3rd level I told my DM that my patron handed me my tome outside of regular playing time for example. That was flavor, it didn’t have any in game effect.
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In my current warlock I used a concept of the patron being something remote, that she stumbled upon and was bound to pact magic. As she gains levels, the pact connection gets stronger and stronger.
So at first, the Pact and its meaning were wide open. She was essentially borrowing or maybe stealing power from something. As a result in the early levels there were no demands or asks.
When she hit third level and I decided her to be a tome lock, then appears a mysterious gift...and now she's getting dreams. So I expect as the DM and I advance the story, and as she accumulates power, this lost forgotten power's intent will become clearer and have more direct affect in the campaign.
Thanks, I really like that sort of an idea. It makes a lot of sense to me and allows a good deal of flexibility to build it into the fabric of the game as it progresses without tying anyone too tightly to a specific plot thread.
I may very well end up borrowing this idea for a PC in my campaign.
Thanks again!
I've never had my Patron in either of my two Warlocks ever be present.
The first was an Old One Pact, so I'm not really surprised there wasn't any direct contact.
My second Warlock is a Celestial Pact. He's a wanna-be Paladin. He calls himself a "Gentleman Adventurer!", including the exclamation mark. I loosely use the Paladin of the Ancients as his code, but he's a follower of Waukeen. The Celestial hasn't really had any influence beyond backstory.
I'm currently playing a Warlock who has attempted to resist his patron and defies him when possible. The DM is pitting me against him, sending his minions, other warlocks often, after my character. This is an interesting dynamic, which as required a little rule bending, but it's made for some great roleplay.
Sounds like a pretty cool concept for a fun character.