An idea that I am fond of is using a vestige of a dead god as your patron.
I like that, which is kind of what my patron is, Karsus.
I want to do a celestial warlock of Mystryl, Forgotten Realms original goddess of magic, but I am saving it for when I think I will get some DM buy-in to make it cool. Right now, my warlock's patron is pretty much ignored by my DM.
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Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Currently a wizard. I have been thinking of taking a level in warlock with my familiar (a fiend named Ember) as my patron to unlock some infernal powers.
I'm working on an idea for a fiend pact warlock who's pacted to a succubus who has a very serious problem. She's been cursed, and the terms of the curse require her to be accepted into the afterlife by a god. Since she has no mortal soul, that's problematic. So, she tries to rules lawyer up by using a pact to bind her fate to a mortal's soul. She finds a foolish mage who accepts the pact, and she finds...he's good, so she has to help him to make sure that HE meets the needs of HIS goddess (Mystra) so they are /both/ accepted into Mystra's domain when he dies, or she ends up in the wall of the damned.
So she basically needs to corrupt /herself/ from evil to good and help him to meet Mystra's requirements to enter her realm when he dies...and impressing Mystra via magic and his 13 int isn't going to be easy....especially when she's a lowly CR4 succubus who doesn't have a ton of power to give in the first place. She's going to be doing a lot of praying to Mystra: "Oh Lady of Mysteries, please grant me the power to grant to your loyal servant..."
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Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
For Archfey I’ve used the Prince of Frost. He is a bitter and capricious patron who wants secrets and broken hearts in exchange for the cold power he offers. He usually finds those desperate or with out a choice and offers them his patronage in exchange for a bill that can be paid over time by pettiness, ingenuity or adventure. A good character can still maintain it and choose how much they want to pay off by being a jerk as opposed to how hard they want to hustle to get him the other things he will accept as payment; information, gold and magic items.
so first off, Archfey: Psilofyr/The Carrion King. currently writing a Drow Warlock who, after being attacked by a horde of Myconids(because of reasons involving the usual slavery of their kind), The Drow called out for some kind of help, and was answered by Psilofyr, now acting as his servant and Agent against his rogue personalities. Gave a little bonus that Psilofyr did let the Drow know of one way they could get out of the deal, by killing Lolth.
secondly, I thought of an interesting Idea, since greed, and wealth are both driving forces for some powerful creatures (Beholders and dragons for example), as well as political figure, I was considering a sort of 'Living Hoard', where the more coin/magical items you put into your patron, the more powerful it allows you to become(over time)
I have a pretty interesting Hex Warlock in my campaign though it requires some background info.
Running a mostly homebrew world based on the Anime One Piece and the main source of "powers" in this setting is weird fruits called Devil Fruits that you eat and get a random power.
The one the player's Hex Blade/ Samurai Fighter ate let him transform into a young red dragon for 1 minute per day, but this one had the soul of the former user tied to it via means to be explained later in the campaign. Now the samurai has to constantly deal with the dragon's voice in his head and it pushing him to be more like a red dragon, eventually either consuming him and taking over or warping him until the distinction is to small to matter. Or he could spin this another way this player has a pension for being creative and lucky.
Krabbo The Stabbo is a long dead god from the Far Realm whose forme was shattered into one million pieces. When those one million pieces landed on the material plane they sprouted ten legs each and two claws. Krabbo The Stabbo's warlocks all seek to rebuild Krabbo's forme by collecting every single one of the pieces, now called Crabs, and reuniting them.
With the Pact of the Archfey, and utilizing the new "Talisman" Pact Boon from Tasha's Cauldron of Everything, your Patron can be a Leprechaun from whom you've stolen a lucky charm.
My headcannon has them sounding like Groundskeeper Willie from "The Simpsons"...even though I know that'd be somewhat inaccurate. : )
Archfey Patron (could be Celestial) Ihk-Rehk is a Kobold who has spent his entire life learning to truly speak and commune with spirits beyond the material plane. He's very novice at it, but he wants to become a cleric or Paladin of Tiamat (or if he was really skilled the Kobold diety)
However, one day he gets captured by a Gnoll raiding party. And is thrown in a pile of their victims with a pair of deep-gnomes. Ihk-Rehk pleads to the spiritual plane for aid. and a voice answers. "I can help. I can give you the power to escape. but on one condition."
Ihk-Rehk knows better than to say "anything" so he asks. "What's the condition?"
"Do you see your compatriots? your fellow captives?" Ihk-Rehk acknowledges the gnomes with him. "You must save the Gnomes. Do we have a deal?"
Ihk-Rehk agrees, despite having to help two filthy, untrustworthy gnomes in the process. he is granted his power and they make their escape. as soon as they are clear of the gnolls, he snarles at the gnomes to have them run off. that is when he turns around to see another Deep gnome, casually leaning against the cavern wall.
"Good start," The gnome says, with wry smile. Ihk_rehk recognizes the voice of this gnome as the one who spoke to him. "Start?" he snaps. "What do you mean, start. I did what you asked. I saved those gnomes." "Was our agreement to save those gnomes?" the strange gnome grins, he charcoal skin glittering with obsidian, and flecks of something brighter.
"You said..." Ihk-Rehk stops as he realizes what was actually asked of him. Save THE gnomes. "Yes, you have a long road ahead of you don't you," the figure grins. "But don't worry, Garl Glittergold takes care of his servants"
Archfey Patron (could be Celestial) Ihk-Rehk is a Kobold who has spent his entire life learning to truly speak and commune with spirits beyond the material plane. He's very novice at it, but he wants to become a cleric or Paladin of Tiamat (or if he was really skilled the Kobold diety)
However, one day he gets captured by a Gnoll raiding party. And is thrown in a pile of their victims with a pair of deep-gnomes. Ihk-Rehk pleads to the spiritual plane for aid. and a voice answers. "I can help. I can give you the power to escape. but on one condition."
Ihk-Rehk knows better than to say "anything" so he asks. "What's the condition?"
"Do you see your compatriots? your fellow captives?" Ihk-Rehk acknowledges the gnomes with him. "You must save the Gnomes. Do we have a deal?"
Ihk-Rehk agrees, despite having to help two filthy, untrustworthy gnomes in the process. he is granted his power and they make their escape. as soon as they are clear of the gnolls, he snarles at the gnomes to have them run off. that is when he turns around to see another Deep gnome, casually leaning against the cavern wall.
"Good start," The gnome says, with wry smile. Ihk_rehk recognizes the voice of this gnome as the one who spoke to him. "Start?" he snaps. "What do you mean, start. I did what you asked. I saved those gnomes." "Was our agreement to save those gnomes?" the strange gnome grins, he charcoal skin glittering with obsidian, and flecks of something brighter.
"You said..." Ihk-Rehk stops as he realizes what was actually asked of him. Save THE gnomes. "Yes, you have a long road ahead of you don't you," the figure grins. "But don't worry, Garl Glittergold takes care of his servants"
A+ This is great. A kobold bound to protect ALL gnomes by Carl Glittergold. You created a very believable Patron-Warlock relationship. I love reading warlock backstories but many of them are VERY cliched and ignore the motivation of the patron altogether. Great story!
"Baelnorn liches, sometimes simply called baelnorns, were elves who chose a path of Prime-bound duty beyond death. These undead defenders unswervingly protected their clan and its holdings for centuries. The majority of baelnorn were spellcasters, and they maintained their mental and magical abilities in this state, though exceptions occurred."
I don't know if this is legal, but had an idea of Bahamut (or any other dragon god) as a patron for a Hexblade, and the weapon is that one of your arms takes the form of a the chosen dragon patrons claw, so in Bahamut's case, your arm has a platinum shimmer and your hand becomes a dragon claw, rather than having a sword or other conventional weapon.
And maybe at every 5 levels, it's form changes slightly, so at first it just looks like your normal arm but with clawed fingers and the arm has a subtle shimmer of your patron colour, and every 5 levels your arm takes on a more dragon like appearance, (grows scales, bulks up, claws elongate, hand and arm get spiny ridges, etc).
I've read mentions in passing of patrons being 'Ascended Heroes' and the 'Prisoner in Iron' (some one evil whose soul is bound in Hell) and it made me think that potentially there could be warlocks on Krynn with Raistlin Majere or heroes (in the 'Age of Mortals' books I loved the bits with Flint and Tasslehoff looking down on the world) like Flint or Tasslehoff as their patrons.
I don't have the dm chops to write these up but the idea amuses me.
Currently running a Celestial whose patron is a member of the Court of Stars. The patron was most recently elevate to paragon status after the death of one of the queen's consorts. He is obsessed with knowledge of the dark places and believes that danger to the court all too often comes from the prime material worlds.
His warlocks are tasked with finding new things or old things that are reawakened.
"Brothers and sisters are natural enemies. Like dragons and archfey. Or giants and archfey. Or fiends and archfey. Or archfey and other archfey. Damn archfey! They ruined the Feywild!"
I like that, which is kind of what my patron is, Karsus.
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Spells, Monsters, Subclasses, Races, Arcknight Class, Occultist Class, World, Enigmatic Esoterica forms
I want to do a celestial warlock of Mystryl, Forgotten Realms original goddess of magic, but I am saving it for when I think I will get some DM buy-in to make it cool. Right now, my warlock's patron is pretty much ignored by my DM.
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Tasha
Currently a wizard. I have been thinking of taking a level in warlock with my familiar (a fiend named Ember) as my patron to unlock some infernal powers.
I'm working on an idea for a fiend pact warlock who's pacted to a succubus who has a very serious problem. She's been cursed, and the terms of the curse require her to be accepted into the afterlife by a god. Since she has no mortal soul, that's problematic. So, she tries to rules lawyer up by using a pact to bind her fate to a mortal's soul. She finds a foolish mage who accepts the pact, and she finds...he's good, so she has to help him to make sure that HE meets the needs of HIS goddess (Mystra) so they are /both/ accepted into Mystra's domain when he dies, or she ends up in the wall of the damned.
So she basically needs to corrupt /herself/ from evil to good and help him to meet Mystra's requirements to enter her realm when he dies...and impressing Mystra via magic and his 13 int isn't going to be easy....especially when she's a lowly CR4 succubus who doesn't have a ton of power to give in the first place. She's going to be doing a lot of praying to Mystra: "Oh Lady of Mysteries, please grant me the power to grant to your loyal servant..."
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Tasha
For Archfey I’ve used the Prince of Frost. He is a bitter and capricious patron who wants secrets and broken hearts in exchange for the cold power he offers. He usually finds those desperate or with out a choice and offers them his patronage in exchange for a bill that can be paid over time by pettiness, ingenuity or adventure. A good character can still maintain it and choose how much they want to pay off by being a jerk as opposed to how hard they want to hustle to get him the other things he will accept as payment; information, gold and magic items.
ngl, I'm kind of worried if a warlock of Taz ever met one of my concept characters: a Black Jaguar Tabaxi druid
so first off, Archfey: Psilofyr/The Carrion King. currently writing a Drow Warlock who, after being attacked by a horde of Myconids(because of reasons involving the usual slavery of their kind), The Drow called out for some kind of help, and was answered by Psilofyr, now acting as his servant and Agent against his rogue personalities. Gave a little bonus that Psilofyr did let the Drow know of one way they could get out of the deal, by killing Lolth.
secondly, I thought of an interesting Idea, since greed, and wealth are both driving forces for some powerful creatures (Beholders and dragons for example), as well as political figure, I was considering a sort of 'Living Hoard', where the more coin/magical items you put into your patron, the more powerful it allows you to become(over time)
I have a pretty interesting Hex Warlock in my campaign though it requires some background info.
Running a mostly homebrew world based on the Anime One Piece and the main source of "powers" in this setting is weird fruits called Devil Fruits that you eat and get a random power.
The one the player's Hex Blade/ Samurai Fighter ate let him transform into a young red dragon for 1 minute per day, but this one had the soul of the former user tied to it via means to be explained later in the campaign. Now the samurai has to constantly deal with the dragon's voice in his head and it pushing him to be more like a red dragon, eventually either consuming him and taking over or warping him until the distinction is to small to matter. Or he could spin this another way this player has a pension for being creative and lucky.
Krabbo The Stabbo is a long dead god from the Far Realm whose forme was shattered into one million pieces. When those one million pieces landed on the material plane they sprouted ten legs each and two claws. Krabbo The Stabbo's warlocks all seek to rebuild Krabbo's forme by collecting every single one of the pieces, now called Crabs, and reuniting them.
With the Pact of the Archfey, and utilizing the new "Talisman" Pact Boon from Tasha's Cauldron of Everything, your Patron can be a Leprechaun from whom you've stolen a lucky charm.
My headcannon has them sounding like Groundskeeper Willie from "The Simpsons"...even though I know that'd be somewhat inaccurate. : )
Archfey Patron (could be Celestial)
Ihk-Rehk is a Kobold who has spent his entire life learning to truly speak and commune with spirits beyond the material plane. He's very novice at it, but he wants to become a cleric or Paladin of Tiamat (or if he was really skilled the Kobold diety)
However, one day he gets captured by a Gnoll raiding party. And is thrown in a pile of their victims with a pair of deep-gnomes. Ihk-Rehk pleads to the spiritual plane for aid. and a voice answers. "I can help. I can give you the power to escape. but on one condition."
Ihk-Rehk knows better than to say "anything" so he asks. "What's the condition?"
"Do you see your compatriots? your fellow captives?" Ihk-Rehk acknowledges the gnomes with him.
"You must save the Gnomes. Do we have a deal?"
Ihk-Rehk agrees, despite having to help two filthy, untrustworthy gnomes in the process. he is granted his power and they make their escape. as soon as they are clear of the gnolls, he snarles at the gnomes to have them run off. that is when he turns around to see another Deep gnome, casually leaning against the cavern wall.
"Good start," The gnome says, with wry smile. Ihk_rehk recognizes the voice of this gnome as the one who spoke to him.
"Start?" he snaps. "What do you mean, start. I did what you asked. I saved those gnomes."
"Was our agreement to save those gnomes?" the strange gnome grins, he charcoal skin glittering with obsidian, and flecks of something brighter.
"You said..." Ihk-Rehk stops as he realizes what was actually asked of him. Save THE gnomes.
"Yes, you have a long road ahead of you don't you," the figure grins. "But don't worry, Garl Glittergold takes care of his servants"
A+ This is great. A kobold bound to protect ALL gnomes by Carl Glittergold. You created a very believable Patron-Warlock relationship. I love reading warlock backstories but many of them are VERY cliched and ignore the motivation of the patron altogether. Great story!
So basically he got an actually decent fiend patron?
So for those looking for a good aligned Undead patron. May I recommend the Baelnorn Lich:
https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Baelnorn_lich
"Baelnorn liches, sometimes simply called baelnorns, were elves who chose a path of Prime-bound duty beyond death. These undead defenders unswervingly protected their clan and its holdings for centuries. The majority of baelnorn were spellcasters, and they maintained their mental and magical abilities in this state, though exceptions occurred."
I don't know if this is legal, but had an idea of Bahamut (or any other dragon god) as a patron for a Hexblade, and the weapon is that one of your arms takes the form of a the chosen dragon patrons claw, so in Bahamut's case, your arm has a platinum shimmer and your hand becomes a dragon claw, rather than having a sword or other conventional weapon.
And maybe at every 5 levels, it's form changes slightly, so at first it just looks like your normal arm but with clawed fingers and the arm has a subtle shimmer of your patron colour, and every 5 levels your arm takes on a more dragon like appearance, (grows scales, bulks up, claws elongate, hand and arm get spiny ridges, etc).
My GOO warlock Patron is a sentient mathematical equation which my DM has chosen to interpret as a/the Nam Shub.
The Jeffrey Combs version of Hubert West from ReAnimator...
I've read mentions in passing of patrons being 'Ascended Heroes' and the 'Prisoner in Iron' (some one evil whose soul is bound in Hell) and it made me think that potentially there could be warlocks on Krynn with Raistlin Majere or heroes (in the 'Age of Mortals' books I loved the bits with Flint and Tasslehoff looking down on the world) like Flint or Tasslehoff as their patrons.
I don't have the dm chops to write these up but the idea amuses me.
Currently running a Celestial whose patron is a member of the Court of Stars. The patron was most recently elevate to paragon status after the death of one of the queen's consorts. He is obsessed with knowledge of the dark places and believes that danger to the court all too often comes from the prime material worlds.
His warlocks are tasked with finding new things or old things that are reawakened.
"Brothers and sisters are natural enemies. Like dragons and archfey. Or giants and archfey. Or fiends and archfey. Or archfey and other archfey. Damn archfey! They ruined the Feywild!"
Anzio Faro. Protector Aasimar light cleric. Lvl 18.
Viktor Gavriil. White dragonborn grave cleric. Lvl 20.
Ikram Sahir ibn-Malik al-Sayyid Ra'ad. Brass dragonborn draconic sorcerer Lvl 9. Fire elemental devil.
Tayn of Darkwood. Human Life Cleric. Lvl 10.