Hi all! I’m relatively new to the forums and DnD overall and I was hoping to get your help on something.
I want to make a hexblade warlock and I have an idea for the patron based off a dream I had, but I’m not sure how to go about creating it and fleshing out the details so that it makes sense. I’m the type that will come up with elaborate ideas but won’t be able to make the mechanics work (still very new to the game overall) I’ve been reading some threads on here for ideas and it’s helped but I’m still having issues/just feeling uncertain overall.
I don’t know when I’d even get to play this warlock, but I’m really feeling the idea and want to expand on it for myself.
Sure, what can we help with? Patrons, for the most part, can be pretty much anything you set your mind to. The only restriction is what your DM allows. Was there something about your idea you wanted to help refine?
Just to be clear, the Hexblade is the patron, meaning there is a force on the Shadowfell with the name Hexblade (which may or may not be the Raven Queen) which gives you your powers. That being said due to how poorly written the Hexblade is and how there is little information on it, most people end up creating their own Hexblade patron. If you want to make your own, unless you are playing with a DM you know well, I wouldn't go in depth on any mechanics. When people make up their own Hexblade patron it tends to be a sentient weapon of sort. Usually weapons don't have the most complex of goals, since they are made to kill stuff, so usually it can be as simple as defining what it wants to slay. Perhaps it's purpose is to slay evil, undead, abberations and the like. Maybe it hungers for souls and it wants you to slay living creatures. Maybe it's purpose is just to fight for all eternity.
Simplest would be to start with a name, alignment and a sort of favored enemy, then flesh it out from there, for example who created, who wielded the weapon, etc.
So, I guess it would make more sense to talk about the idea i have and then tweak it to suit. As stated above, the wording for hexblade has left me a bit unsure but i think the idea i had could work, with some help.
Essentially, this is all based on a dream I had featuring a character of mine. In the dream I fell into a large, dark cave where the only sources of light were a dim light from above and a set of glowing pink-red eyes in the dark. As I focused my eyes I could see a female figure perched on a rock, unmoving, just staring at me intently. Her hair was long and flowing, curling around her like whirls of smoke and what shocked me most was she had no arms, only pale white shoulders visible. As I got closer I could see a large sword jutting out from her stomach, keeping her pinned to the rock. Whether under this entity’s influence or not, I was drawn to her, to set her free. So I did, sword in the stone style.
This form I saw, I don’t think it was real. It disappeared after I freed the sword. But when I woke up I thought, that would be such a cool idea.
I wondered if it’s possible for my patron - this entity - to be either an agent of the raven queen or something else entirely. After the dream I got so hype to try and figure out a way for it to work, but with the uncertainty of the hexblade wording, I wasn’t sure.
For instance, one idea i had was that this entity - known as Bán - was once a Paladin of the Raven Queen. At some point in her life she had forsaken her path and became an Oathbreaker. In some climatic battle she was slain and as retribution in her dying moments, the Raven Queen appeared to her, damning her and taking her arms, leaving her soul bound to her sword until the day she could be of use to the Raven Queen.
GreyZ - your last comment helped a lot, it’s given me something to work off for this idea so thank you!
hanerza, that sounds very cool and interesting. I too play a Hexblade, though the blade itself is a demonic blade do to it being used to slay a demon and said demon's soul being bonded to the blade and has it's own sentience and is slowly trying to corrupt my character and he has to constantly fight its temptation or fall from the only recently gained grace he had achieved, but yours is very interesting. If you have a DM who would allow it, I suggest that you and your DM come up with a way for you and your sentient blade to communicate and to probably name the sword because "Longsword" won't cut it for reasons of lore (Just an idea but does the name Raven's Sorrow sound good?) and because it's an enchanted/cursed weapon with the possibility of sentience.
If you're curious about my sword's name I have yet to come up with one but I'm leaning towards Soulbearer, Soulrend, or Corrupter of Divinity
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
That moment when you jokingly say "Rocks fall; everyone dies" only to have the DM, mere seconds after saying that, drop rocks on the party and you're the only one who fails the Dex. Saving throw... Murphy's Law is in affect.
Seems like a great idea. From the sounds of it, other than coming up with the identity of this Promethean-esk being is, I think you could actually play it exactly as is. Don't even need to seal the ex-paladin into the sword if you don't want to.
As you have no arms you will be cursed to be wielded as an armament for eternity, never quite controlling how you are to be used. Let it be known that those that refuse to obey my commands have their will taken away, to then be used for eternity.
I don't see it as necessary for it to be a paladin as there are many other types that would fit into the shadowfell mold a little better, but this is your game and your character. Do you want the intellect in the sword to be some crusader who fell from grace? I feel it would take a great feat to piss the raven queen off enough that she would take vengeance on a single mortal. Maybe it is all just a ruse and she was sealed in the sword because she had done exactly as she needed to (perhaps without knowledge of that fact) to create a suitable vessel to form a potent weapon. Did this paladin even work with/worship the Raven Queen? Was the breaking of her oath caused by the Raven Queen? Maybe the weapon is resentful of the Raven Queen (or whatever higher power you want to attach to your Hexblade) for having put her through hell and breaking her resolve, and forcing her to break her oaths.
Great beings don't always work in straight lines, so their intentions will almost never be straightforward. Give that a thought for what you are planning.
Side note: I wish I remembered any of my dreams, yours sound cool. Everyone tells me that playing video games and reading books tends to make for more vivid dreams. I unfortunately did not get that feature in my character package. It's not fair.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."
Side note: I wish I remembered any of my dreams, yours sound cool. Everyone tells me that playing video games and reading books tends to make for more vivid dreams. I unfortunately did not get that feature in my character package. It's not fair.
Fun thing I recently learned about dreams. Not sure how true it is, but one of the latest theories going on about dreams is that its your brain reshuffling information around, and deleting unused stuff. Nornally, when you sleep, that's when your body does most if its healing and recharging, fighting off diseases and building muscles. Dreams are what happens when your brain is "healing" all the information you stuff into it.
So, lots of video games in your brain being removed or reshuffled can be a thing?
I must just have a storage area where it just shoves everything in. To the untrained eye it is chaos but my perfect memory lets me know that underneath that second pile of rubbish is thing I need right now. Now if only I could get to it...
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."
I would say that the hexblade actually gives you a greater option thematically for patron choices. Maybe the Yklwa/ spear you have has a blade tipped with the talon from the Spirit of the Forest, or that sword you use now has a pomel jewel that was harvested from the shed scale of a chrystal dragon. Maybe your greataxe haft is the result of a fiend ripping the back bone out of a minion in his service. All are "gifts" that you can use to flavor your weapons, spells, and Hexblade's curse, while also giving you broader options for alignment and play style. You don't just have to go with demonic patron and I don't know of a space in the books RAW that says it has to be a sentient weapon...
Personnaly i got the 4th Ed Hexblade route, where the Pact weapon is a gift of my Patron, who's either an Infernale, An Abysal or an Old One, or Archfey.
4Th Ed Hexblade Patrons made more sense in that regarde.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Normality is but an Illusion, Whats normal to the Spider, is only madness for the Fly"
Hi all! I’m relatively new to the forums and DnD overall and I was hoping to get your help on something.
I want to make a hexblade warlock and I have an idea for the patron based off a dream I had, but I’m not sure how to go about creating it and fleshing out the details so that it makes sense. I’m the type that will come up with elaborate ideas but won’t be able to make the mechanics work (still very new to the game overall) I’ve been reading some threads on here for ideas and it’s helped but I’m still having issues/just feeling uncertain overall.
I don’t know when I’d even get to play this warlock, but I’m really feeling the idea and want to expand on it for myself.
Sure, what can we help with? Patrons, for the most part, can be pretty much anything you set your mind to. The only restriction is what your DM allows. Was there something about your idea you wanted to help refine?
Just to be clear, the Hexblade is the patron, meaning there is a force on the Shadowfell with the name Hexblade (which may or may not be the Raven Queen) which gives you your powers. That being said due to how poorly written the Hexblade is and how there is little information on it, most people end up creating their own Hexblade patron. If you want to make your own, unless you are playing with a DM you know well, I wouldn't go in depth on any mechanics. When people make up their own Hexblade patron it tends to be a sentient weapon of sort. Usually weapons don't have the most complex of goals, since they are made to kill stuff, so usually it can be as simple as defining what it wants to slay. Perhaps it's purpose is to slay evil, undead, abberations and the like. Maybe it hungers for souls and it wants you to slay living creatures. Maybe it's purpose is just to fight for all eternity.
Simplest would be to start with a name, alignment and a sort of favored enemy, then flesh it out from there, for example who created, who wielded the weapon, etc.
Thank you both for the response!
So, I guess it would make more sense to talk about the idea i have and then tweak it to suit. As stated above, the wording for hexblade has left me a bit unsure but i think the idea i had could work, with some help.
Essentially, this is all based on a dream I had featuring a character of mine. In the dream I fell into a large, dark cave where the only sources of light were a dim light from above and a set of glowing pink-red eyes in the dark. As I focused my eyes I could see a female figure perched on a rock, unmoving, just staring at me intently. Her hair was long and flowing, curling around her like whirls of smoke and what shocked me most was she had no arms, only pale white shoulders visible. As I got closer I could see a large sword jutting out from her stomach, keeping her pinned to the rock. Whether under this entity’s influence or not, I was drawn to her, to set her free. So I did, sword in the stone style.
This form I saw, I don’t think it was real. It disappeared after I freed the sword. But when I woke up I thought, that would be such a cool idea.
I wondered if it’s possible for my patron - this entity - to be either an agent of the raven queen or something else entirely. After the dream I got so hype to try and figure out a way for it to work, but with the uncertainty of the hexblade wording, I wasn’t sure.
For instance, one idea i had was that this entity - known as Bán - was once a Paladin of the Raven Queen. At some point in her life she had forsaken her path and became an Oathbreaker. In some climatic battle she was slain and as retribution in her dying moments, the Raven Queen appeared to her, damning her and taking her arms, leaving her soul bound to her sword until the day she could be of use to the Raven Queen.
GreyZ - your last comment helped a lot, it’s given me something to work off for this idea so thank you!
hanerza, that sounds very cool and interesting. I too play a Hexblade, though the blade itself is a demonic blade do to it being used to slay a demon and said demon's soul being bonded to the blade and has it's own sentience and is slowly trying to corrupt my character and he has to constantly fight its temptation or fall from the only recently gained grace he had achieved, but yours is very interesting. If you have a DM who would allow it, I suggest that you and your DM come up with a way for you and your sentient blade to communicate and to probably name the sword because "Longsword" won't cut it for reasons of lore (Just an idea but does the name Raven's Sorrow sound good?) and because it's an enchanted/cursed weapon with the possibility of sentience.
If you're curious about my sword's name I have yet to come up with one but I'm leaning towards Soulbearer, Soulrend, or Corrupter of Divinity
That moment when you jokingly say "Rocks fall; everyone dies" only to have the DM, mere seconds after saying that, drop rocks on the party and you're the only one who fails the Dex. Saving throw... Murphy's Law is in affect.
Seems like a great idea. From the sounds of it, other than coming up with the identity of this Promethean-esk being is, I think you could actually play it exactly as is. Don't even need to seal the ex-paladin into the sword if you don't want to.
As you have no arms you will be cursed to be wielded as an armament for eternity, never quite controlling how you are to be used. Let it be known that those that refuse to obey my commands have their will taken away, to then be used for eternity.
I don't see it as necessary for it to be a paladin as there are many other types that would fit into the shadowfell mold a little better, but this is your game and your character. Do you want the intellect in the sword to be some crusader who fell from grace? I feel it would take a great feat to piss the raven queen off enough that she would take vengeance on a single mortal. Maybe it is all just a ruse and she was sealed in the sword because she had done exactly as she needed to (perhaps without knowledge of that fact) to create a suitable vessel to form a potent weapon. Did this paladin even work with/worship the Raven Queen? Was the breaking of her oath caused by the Raven Queen? Maybe the weapon is resentful of the Raven Queen (or whatever higher power you want to attach to your Hexblade) for having put her through hell and breaking her resolve, and forcing her to break her oaths.
Great beings don't always work in straight lines, so their intentions will almost never be straightforward. Give that a thought for what you are planning.
Side note: I wish I remembered any of my dreams, yours sound cool. Everyone tells me that playing video games and reading books tends to make for more vivid dreams. I unfortunately did not get that feature in my character package. It's not fair.
"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."
thanks everyone! all the input has definitely given me food for thought.
Fun thing I recently learned about dreams. Not sure how true it is, but one of the latest theories going on about dreams is that its your brain reshuffling information around, and deleting unused stuff. Nornally, when you sleep, that's when your body does most if its healing and recharging, fighting off diseases and building muscles. Dreams are what happens when your brain is "healing" all the information you stuff into it.
So, lots of video games in your brain being removed or reshuffled can be a thing?
I must just have a storage area where it just shoves everything in. To the untrained eye it is chaos but my perfect memory lets me know that underneath that second pile of rubbish is thing I need right now. Now if only I could get to it...
"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."
Personnaly i got the 4th Ed Hexblade route, where the Pact weapon is a gift of my Patron, who's either an Infernale, An Abysal or an Old One, or Archfey.
4Th Ed Hexblade Patrons made more sense in that regarde.
"Normality is but an Illusion, Whats normal to the Spider, is only madness for the Fly"
Kain de Frostberg- Dark Knight - (Vengeance Pal3/ Hexblade 9), Port Mourn
Kain de Draakberg-Dark Knight lvl8-Avergreen(DitA)