I am playing a somewhat iconic tiefling Pact of the Tome warlock with the Fiend for a patron. I found a cool Ed Greenwood article in a very old Dragon magazine about all of the various exiled archdevils and the like in the Nine Hells, many of whom now dwell on Avernus. Armaros, the Resolver of Enchantments and Dweomercrafter Supreme was once a courtier, artificer, and arcane "consigliere" to the Lord of Nessus himself. Apparently, Asmodeus was a bit apprehensive of Armaros' growing magical power (assumedly rivaling or even surpassing that of Mephistopheles), and because of this and the fact that apparently Armaros couldn't get along with other members of Asmodeus' court, banished him to Avernus, where he is seemingly mostly content to study and perfect his magics. Since Armaros is always looking for new arcane lore and magical secrets (and can't leave Avernus), I play my warlock, Seere the Harrower, as a self-described "Journeyman Arcanist, Hexbinder and Eldritch Privateer", and my Pact with the archdevil-in-exile Armaros as a sort of "Letter of Marque" to acquire said lore and secrets for him wherever they are found.
Okay, so I need someone to tell me if this is feasible. I have an Archfey warlock character concept that I'll probably never play, but she's been bouncing around in my head for a long time and I want to know if my idea is crazy/against the rules/otherwise impossible or not.
For context, I truly admire the works of Shakespeare, and A Midsummer Night's Dream, in particular, holds a special place in my heart. Ever since I heard that Titania existed in D&D lore, I've been mildly obsessed with the idea of having a warlock whose patron is a collective, rather than a single entity: her Shakespearean servants Peaseblossom, Cobweb, Moth, and Mustardseed.
I've been picturing this as sort of a less despicable version of a hag coven: just like the coven variant of a hag is several orders of magnitude nastier than a single hag, each of Titania's fairy servants on her own would be nowhere near powerful enough to function as a warlock patron, but all four of them together would be more than the sum of their parts.
Because so much of the trouble in A Midsummer Night's Dream stems from fairies being mischievous, fickle, jealous creatures, I thought maybe Peaseblossom, Cobweb, Moth and Mustardseed could also be jealous of one another, get into stupid catfights, and sometimes confuse the living daylights out of my poor warlock with contradictory requests.
The reason why I wanted multiple fairies to be the patron instead of one is that the character's backstory would be a variation of the Irish folktale of Lusmore the hunchback, in which the fairies remove the protagonist's crippling disability in exchange for a favor as small as completing a song that they didn't know all the lyrics to, but when another man tries to do the same, he gets too arrogant and gets Lusmore's hump added on top of his own. I have personal reasons why it would be extremely liberating for me to play a character whose disability has been magically moved out of the way and who now has a bucket list of places to see and experiences to catch up on that goes from here to infinity.
Is this at all doable, or will my dreams collapse like a house of cards?
Okay, so I need someone to tell me if this is feasible. I have an Archfey warlock character concept that I'll probably never play, but she's been bouncing around in my head for a long time and I want to know if my idea is crazy/against the rules/otherwise impossible or not.
<snip>
Is this at all doable, or will my dreams collapse like a house of cards?
I don't see why you couldn't do it. The patron isn't actually part of the game's mechanics; it's mainly flavor that you and your DM agree upon. Together, you both decide how your patron interactions work, what your character's obligations are, the backstory between the patron and PC, etc.
A group of fey acting as a singular patron sounds like a great idea.
Yay, bring on the shenanigans. I honestly don't know if I'll end up playing this character with a friend or just using this idea as a writing prompt, but now that I've got confirmation that it isn't complete madness, you can bet I'm going to do something with it.
I have had an idea to do a hexblade patron who actually takes over the body of a being when a certain sword is touched, often a dead paladin seeking revenge.
This gives me excuses to be any race I want and/or multiclass into paladin. My favorite build of this is a Yuan-ti conquest paladin with a two(or maybe four) level dip in Hexlock
I did that with my Hexblade too, the charcter was the Patron themselves.
I'm fan of the Idea of the trickster god of thievery Mask being a Hexblade patron since he has two named weapons already.
Also Eilistraee the chaotic good drow goddess of beauty, song, dance, freedom, moonlight, swordwork, and hunting as a Hexblade Patron too. but IDK if it strictly has to be a Shadowfell denzian to qualify as an HB patron.
No, whatever your DM allows to qualify, qualifies! The shadowfell denizen thing is to help provide a source of inspiration...it's not set in stone.
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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.
I've not thought this through the whole way, but here's an idea: Warforged Fiend Warlock.
The backstory is your standard amnesiac bit, waking up with no memory and wandering around with no purpose. The Warf eventually gets (forced into) a job cataloging books in an arcane library and thinks "this is fine" for a while. Long story short: they wind up making a deal with a pit fiend and becoming Planck the Possessed.
Why the name? Because the idea for this character is that, as part of the contract, once every level-up (or every night, still not sure which is better), the devil possesses Planck and uses them to make other deals and secure the souls of select mortals to further their own position in the Nine Hells. In return for the "nights of fun", the pit fiend restores bits and pieces of Planck's memory (probably going to be some false memories because, well, devil). Hopefully, this idea will allow for some interesting twists and role play in the campaign it ends up being used.
The thing to remember about Devils is that they are lawful... If the contract read that he would restore Planck's memories, then that's what he'll do. The memories will absolutely be his, and no one else's... of course, context is important, and so is order... nobody said anything about that. If Planck were to make assumptions about what those memories actually mean, or what really happened, well... that's on him.
Since I have a Warlock in every subclass lemme tell you my patrons:
Fiend: An ultroloth that give their power to an aasimar through a cursed book. Archfey: The queen of the seelie court that dumped her daughter on the warlock (chain warlock with sprite familiar). Great old one: Eldritch unknowable sentience of the forest that enters the heads of lost children and pretends to be their mother. Undying: A daughter of a death god that becomes possessive and protective of a single mortal that caught her attention. Hexblade: A golden warhammer containing the soul of a legendary elven paladin who convinces a goblin to wield her into battle as a chosen hero. Fathomless: A tribe of Kuo-toa who believe the warlock a semi-divine being after she saved the archpriest. Undead: A powerful Banshee queen that accidentally resurrected a petrified warrior who she now uses to collect treasure for her. Celestial: An angel of the Raven Queen who forces a sociopathic bandit queen to walk the path of good so she can collect the unique memories for her goddess. Genie: An efreeti who finds a water genasi that is desperate to become a pyromancer. She grants her fire powers to this mortal, secretly enjoying the genasi's immense gratitute and admiration.
Archfey Patron... A lover's Tryst The Seventh daughter of a noble family has lived her life privilege and no responsibilities, and little expectations. Which she has parlayed into a hedonistic lifestyle of parties and and lovers. Some don't last as they get clingy and possessive. Those who accept the less romantic nature of her relationship stay around. One day at a party in the woods much wine and ale are consumed and she locks eyes with a beautiful older woman across the way. Our young hedonist and the older woman retreat into the woods for some privacy. when they awaken the next morning, they discuss the relationship. the older woman is very good with this being casual... as she is in fact Titania, queen of the Seelie Court. In return for the hedonist's discresion, and openness to future fun, Titania grants her favor.
Just about to start a heavily Nordic/Viking-themed campaign where my patron is Grendel's mother:
Grettir is a half-elf orphan raised by a halfling fisherman in a small village on the shores of a lake. Broki always said he knew Grettir's parents, but he never spoke of them, and sometimes Grettir wondered if Broki had just taken him in to have an extra hand on the boat. Life in the village was hard, as raids from orcs and other fell creatures was fairly common, but they got by.
Every child in the village grew up knowing never to go near the nameless island at the center of the lake. Depending on who you talked to, it was haunted, or cursed, or crawling with all sorts of dangerous monsters, or maybe all three. It was an easy enough warning to heed, as most of the time the island was shrouded by mists and couldn't even be seen.
One day, a teenage Grettir was out fishing, when he noticed the mists had parted and he could actually see the island for the first time in his life. "Doesn't look so scary", he thought. Just then he heard what sounded like a cry for help coming from the isle. He hesitated, but then rowed over to try and see who it was. He couldn't make out anything from the shore, but the voice seemed a little louder, and he thought perhaps it was a woman. He landed and began to explore in the direction the voice was coming from. The voice remained always at the edge of his hearing, until finally it faded away entirely.
Getting nervous, Grettir turned around to make his way back. He nearly stumbled into a hole, not too wide but seemingly without bottom. Faintly, he could hear what sounded like sobbing coming up from the hole.
"Hello?", he called down. "Is anyone there?"
"You may call me Lady Oglac," a woman's voice replied.
"Are you all right down there?", Grettir asked.
"Dead," Lady Oglac wailed. "They're all dead."
"Who is dead?"
The mysterious woman's voice cried out once again, louder this time. "My children. All slain. All gone."
"That's terrible," Grettir replied. "Is there anything I can do to help you?"
A tendril of mist, or perhaps something more solid than mist, rose up before him from the hole. "Yes. Be my champion. AVENGE THEM!" Lady Oglac's voice seemed nearly deafening now, and as she spoke, the tendril drifted forward and touched him on the forehead. Everything went black.
When Grettir awoke, it was still daylight, but everything felt... off. He scrambled back to the boat, and rowed his way out of the mist that once again clung to the island. As he approached the village, he saw that it was under attack by orcs. Purely by instinct, he put out his hand and a bolt of ochre-colored energy lashed out and blasted one of the orcs as it raised its axe to chop someone down. He quickly got to the quay and joined in driving back the attackers.
Once the village was saved, however, he did not receive a hero's welcome. Grettir has been gone for three days, and people in the village had seen him rowing toward the island. He had no explanation for his new powers, and some accused him of now being in league with monsters. Some even suggested the attack on the village had been punishment for Grettir daring to set foot on the island. Realizing that the only home he'd ever known was now no longer safe for him, he left to find his way in the world... and maybe figure out what, exactly, he was supposed to be avenging, and against who.
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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)
A hexblade patron could be a hag, because hags like to curse people and stuff. Another idea for a hag patron is “genie”, because the hag could have just found a cursed item in their house and gave it to you for “free” (it only cost you your sanity!) and you could just fly on a broom for your elemental gift ability.
Whenever a weird picture crosses my Twitter feed, I always make the joke "Found my next warlock patron". The last couple examples:
- from the cover of a 70s book on gambling, some sort of demon harlequin with a slot machine for a face, playing cards for a neck and a demon monkey on its back (Fiend/Pact of the Chain, presumably)
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)
I am playing a somewhat iconic tiefling Pact of the Tome warlock with the Fiend for a patron. I found a cool Ed Greenwood article in a very old Dragon magazine about all of the various exiled archdevils and the like in the Nine Hells, many of whom now dwell on Avernus. Armaros, the Resolver of Enchantments and Dweomercrafter Supreme was once a courtier, artificer, and arcane "consigliere" to the Lord of Nessus himself. Apparently, Asmodeus was a bit apprehensive of Armaros' growing magical power (assumedly rivaling or even surpassing that of Mephistopheles), and because of this and the fact that apparently Armaros couldn't get along with other members of Asmodeus' court, banished him to Avernus, where he is seemingly mostly content to study and perfect his magics. Since Armaros is always looking for new arcane lore and magical secrets (and can't leave Avernus), I play my warlock, Seere the Harrower, as a self-described "Journeyman Arcanist, Hexbinder and Eldritch Privateer", and my Pact with the archdevil-in-exile Armaros as a sort of "Letter of Marque" to acquire said lore and secrets for him wherever they are found.
Okay, so I need someone to tell me if this is feasible. I have an Archfey warlock character concept that I'll probably never play, but she's been bouncing around in my head for a long time and I want to know if my idea is crazy/against the rules/otherwise impossible or not.
For context, I truly admire the works of Shakespeare, and A Midsummer Night's Dream, in particular, holds a special place in my heart. Ever since I heard that Titania existed in D&D lore, I've been mildly obsessed with the idea of having a warlock whose patron is a collective, rather than a single entity: her Shakespearean servants Peaseblossom, Cobweb, Moth, and Mustardseed.
I've been picturing this as sort of a less despicable version of a hag coven: just like the coven variant of a hag is several orders of magnitude nastier than a single hag, each of Titania's fairy servants on her own would be nowhere near powerful enough to function as a warlock patron, but all four of them together would be more than the sum of their parts.
Because so much of the trouble in A Midsummer Night's Dream stems from fairies being mischievous, fickle, jealous creatures, I thought maybe Peaseblossom, Cobweb, Moth and Mustardseed could also be jealous of one another, get into stupid catfights, and sometimes confuse the living daylights out of my poor warlock with contradictory requests.
The reason why I wanted multiple fairies to be the patron instead of one is that the character's backstory would be a variation of the Irish folktale of Lusmore the hunchback, in which the fairies remove the protagonist's crippling disability in exchange for a favor as small as completing a song that they didn't know all the lyrics to, but when another man tries to do the same, he gets too arrogant and gets Lusmore's hump added on top of his own. I have personal reasons why it would be extremely liberating for me to play a character whose disability has been magically moved out of the way and who now has a bucket list of places to see and experiences to catch up on that goes from here to infinity.
Is this at all doable, or will my dreams collapse like a house of cards?
That sounds like a great pact idea. I am going to have to porous my old Dragon magazines now.
I don't see why you couldn't do it. The patron isn't actually part of the game's mechanics; it's mainly flavor that you and your DM agree upon. Together, you both decide how your patron interactions work, what your character's obligations are, the backstory between the patron and PC, etc.
A group of fey acting as a singular patron sounds like a great idea.
Sterling - V. Human Bard 3 (College of Art) - [Pic] - [Traits] - in Bards: Dragon Heist (w/ Mansion) - Jasper's [Pic] - Sterling's [Sigil]
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Yay, bring on the shenanigans. I honestly don't know if I'll end up playing this character with a friend or just using this idea as a writing prompt, but now that I've got confirmation that it isn't complete madness, you can bet I'm going to do something with it.
I think that sounds like a fabulous idea... and there's nothing at all to stop it rules-wise. Patron: Archfey and you're good to go.
As a DM, I would love it if a player brought that to the table. It's RP and story gold...
I did that with my Hexblade too, the charcter was the Patron themselves.
I'm fan of the Idea of the trickster god of thievery Mask being a Hexblade patron since he has two named weapons already.
Also Eilistraee the chaotic good drow goddess of beauty, song, dance, freedom, moonlight, swordwork, and hunting as a Hexblade Patron too. but IDK if it strictly has to be a Shadowfell denzian to qualify as an HB patron.
No, whatever your DM allows to qualify, qualifies! The shadowfell denizen thing is to help provide a source of inspiration...it's not set in stone.
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
that's what I figured, but you never know.
I've not thought this through the whole way, but here's an idea: Warforged Fiend Warlock.
The backstory is your standard amnesiac bit, waking up with no memory and wandering around with no purpose. The Warf eventually gets (forced into) a job cataloging books in an arcane library and thinks "this is fine" for a while. Long story short: they wind up making a deal with a pit fiend and becoming Planck the Possessed.
Why the name? Because the idea for this character is that, as part of the contract, once every level-up (or every night, still not sure which is better), the devil possesses Planck and uses them to make other deals and secure the souls of select mortals to further their own position in the Nine Hells. In return for the "nights of fun", the pit fiend restores bits and pieces of Planck's memory (probably going to be some false memories because, well, devil). Hopefully, this idea will allow for some interesting twists and role play in the campaign it ends up being used.
Any thoughts or criticisms are appreciated.
Could it be? I'm...a mOroN?!?
Yes. 100% ignoramus, no additives.
The thing to remember about Devils is that they are lawful... If the contract read that he would restore Planck's memories, then that's what he'll do. The memories will absolutely be his, and no one else's... of course, context is important, and so is order... nobody said anything about that. If Planck were to make assumptions about what those memories actually mean, or what really happened, well... that's on him.
Forgot about the "lawful" part. I appreciate the reminder.
Could it be? I'm...a mOroN?!?
Yes. 100% ignoramus, no additives.
Since I have a Warlock in every subclass lemme tell you my patrons:
Fiend: An ultroloth that give their power to an aasimar through a cursed book.
Archfey: The queen of the seelie court that dumped her daughter on the warlock (chain warlock with sprite familiar).
Great old one: Eldritch unknowable sentience of the forest that enters the heads of lost children and pretends to be their mother.
Undying: A daughter of a death god that becomes possessive and protective of a single mortal that caught her attention.
Hexblade: A golden warhammer containing the soul of a legendary elven paladin who convinces a goblin to wield her into battle as a chosen hero.
Fathomless: A tribe of Kuo-toa who believe the warlock a semi-divine being after she saved the archpriest.
Undead: A powerful Banshee queen that accidentally resurrected a petrified warrior who she now uses to collect treasure for her.
Celestial: An angel of the Raven Queen who forces a sociopathic bandit queen to walk the path of good so she can collect the unique memories for her goddess.
Genie: An efreeti who finds a water genasi that is desperate to become a pyromancer. She grants her fire powers to this mortal, secretly enjoying the genasi's immense gratitute and admiration.
I am also here.
Am snek.
Archfey Patron... A lover's Tryst
The Seventh daughter of a noble family has lived her life privilege and no responsibilities, and little expectations. Which she has parlayed into a hedonistic lifestyle of parties and and lovers. Some don't last as they get clingy and possessive. Those who accept the less romantic nature of her relationship stay around. One day at a party in the woods much wine and ale are consumed and she locks eyes with a beautiful older woman across the way. Our young hedonist and the older woman retreat into the woods for some privacy. when they awaken the next morning, they discuss the relationship. the older woman is very good with this being casual... as she is in fact Titania, queen of the Seelie Court. In return for the hedonist's discresion, and openness to future fun, Titania grants her favor.
Just about to start a heavily Nordic/Viking-themed campaign where my patron is Grendel's mother:
Grettir is a half-elf orphan raised by a halfling fisherman in a small village on the shores of a lake. Broki always said he knew Grettir's parents, but he never spoke of them, and sometimes Grettir wondered if Broki had just taken him in to have an extra hand on the boat. Life in the village was hard, as raids from orcs and other fell creatures was fairly common, but they got by.
Every child in the village grew up knowing never to go near the nameless island at the center of the lake. Depending on who you talked to, it was haunted, or cursed, or crawling with all sorts of dangerous monsters, or maybe all three. It was an easy enough warning to heed, as most of the time the island was shrouded by mists and couldn't even be seen.
One day, a teenage Grettir was out fishing, when he noticed the mists had parted and he could actually see the island for the first time in his life. "Doesn't look so scary", he thought. Just then he heard what sounded like a cry for help coming from the isle. He hesitated, but then rowed over to try and see who it was. He couldn't make out anything from the shore, but the voice seemed a little louder, and he thought perhaps it was a woman. He landed and began to explore in the direction the voice was coming from. The voice remained always at the edge of his hearing, until finally it faded away entirely.
Getting nervous, Grettir turned around to make his way back. He nearly stumbled into a hole, not too wide but seemingly without bottom. Faintly, he could hear what sounded like sobbing coming up from the hole.
"Hello?", he called down. "Is anyone there?"
"You may call me Lady Oglac," a woman's voice replied.
"Are you all right down there?", Grettir asked.
"Dead," Lady Oglac wailed. "They're all dead."
"Who is dead?"
The mysterious woman's voice cried out once again, louder this time. "My children. All slain. All gone."
"That's terrible," Grettir replied. "Is there anything I can do to help you?"
A tendril of mist, or perhaps something more solid than mist, rose up before him from the hole. "Yes. Be my champion. AVENGE THEM!" Lady Oglac's voice seemed nearly deafening now, and as she spoke, the tendril drifted forward and touched him on the forehead. Everything went black.
When Grettir awoke, it was still daylight, but everything felt... off. He scrambled back to the boat, and rowed his way out of the mist that once again clung to the island. As he approached the village, he saw that it was under attack by orcs. Purely by instinct, he put out his hand and a bolt of ochre-colored energy lashed out and blasted one of the orcs as it raised its axe to chop someone down. He quickly got to the quay and joined in driving back the attackers.
Once the village was saved, however, he did not receive a hero's welcome. Grettir has been gone for three days, and people in the village had seen him rowing toward the island. He had no explanation for his new powers, and some accused him of now being in league with monsters. Some even suggested the attack on the village had been punishment for Grettir daring to set foot on the island. Realizing that the only home he'd ever known was now no longer safe for him, he left to find his way in the world... and maybe figure out what, exactly, he was supposed to be avenging, and against who.
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)
A hexblade patron could be a hag, because hags like to curse people and stuff. Another idea for a hag patron is “genie”, because the hag could have just found a cursed item in their house and gave it to you for “free” (it only cost you your sanity!) and you could just fly on a broom for your elemental gift ability.
Here are some of my patron ideas.
Whenever a weird picture crosses my Twitter feed, I always make the joke "Found my next warlock patron". The last couple examples:
- from the cover of a 70s book on gambling, some sort of demon harlequin with a slot machine for a face, playing cards for a neck and a demon monkey on its back (Fiend/Pact of the Chain, presumably)
- this one just screams Archfey
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)
The Genie patron actually works quite well for dragons, especially the Efreeti. Elemental damage, a vessel to hold a hoard, and magical flight.
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