What's an unconventional way for a warlock to become a warlock?
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Born under the watch of something from the furthest corners of the far realms.... It knows all.... it sees all... and it asks: "What is it that you want to see?"... and my answer is... ALL"
One of the things that I like about playing a Warlock is almost any path to becoming a Warlock that you can imagine fits into the class. It's fun creating creative back stories where the only limit is your imagination!
One of the things that I like about playing a Warlock is almost any path to becoming a Warlock that you can imagine fits into the class. It's fun creating creative back stories where the only limit is your imagination!
I am looking for ideas tbh, the craziest one i've seen so far is a tiefling who slept with an archfey and because she enjoyed it she gave taught him how to become a warlock.
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Born under the watch of something from the furthest corners of the far realms.... It knows all.... it sees all... and it asks: "What is it that you want to see?"... and my answer is... ALL"
Someone in a library opens a book that was put there by the patron. Either intentionally by a Fiend or randomly by a Great Old One. If it was a Great Old One, the book might be a part of the patron that slipped off into the Prime Material Plane. The Warlock candidate opens the book and the patron "speaks" to the candidate by writing on the pages in the book and the Warlock makes a pact with the patron at which point the book disappears.
It's trite and over used, but a Hexblade could pull a sword out of a stone the way King Arthur did.
A youth is recruited by a Celestial patron to protect a remote shrine from an evil creature that's threatening it. I can see a Unicorn recruiting someone and carrying them to the site this way.
Puck, or another mischievous fey, recruits the budding Warlock as a practical joke. Maybe the budding Warlock is the scion of a noble house and by recruiting him or her as a Warlock the house's succession is thrown into turmoil when the new Warlock leaves to adventure?
A good and righteous man becomes a Demon hunter, but after someone he loves becomes mortally wounded he calls on a Demon to intervene. The Demon spares the loved one in exchange for the man's soul. He takes the power, and becomes obsessed with the idea of "beating the Demon at its own game". His mission is now to find a way out of the contract, dead or alive.
Just concocted a "changeling" Warlock who doesn't really have a Patron, at least not conventionally...
He was created when a bunch of wizards tried to steal power from a Great Old One from the Far Realm, known as the Black Star. Instead, they screwed up, got themselves blown up, teleported, or driven insane...so they only managed to summon a fraction of the Black Star's power.
But this small bit of power couldn't sustain itself in its raw form, so it took a physical, living shape...and became a changeling (since it has no concept of identity or personality, at least not yet).
So this changeling wandered around, alone, changing it's appearance to survive, learning what it means to be alive.
He finds the world both fascinating and beautiful, as well as cruel.
He still has this dark connection back to the Black Star, however, and can feel it watching him. It seeks to enter into the Material Plane out of hunger, hatred and domination...so basically, "The Haunted One" background.
The changeling uses it's own power against it, however, as he seeks to foil the Black Star and protect his new home.
The changeling worries also that, if he dies, if he will return back to the Far Realm and be absorbed back into the Black Star, since he is still technically a part of it. What little memory he has of that place is both grim and terrifying, often giving him nightmares.
He is quirky, a bit naive, and unintentionally hilarious, and sometimes forgets to speak using his own mouth (he will mistakenly speak directly into a person's mind).
Was my GOO warlock really pulled into the Far Realm to be anointed as an unwilling herald for the end-times? Or did he just have a psychotic episode? I don't know, but he sure was different after the incident.
Here's the backstory for my current warlock (using my homebrewed Feytouched Tiefling race).
The promise of an ages old pact, made by a long-dead ancestor, was repaid when you were born. Your hooves, pointed ears, and antler nubs said you were something different. Something unnatural. From that day forward, your family was viewed with suspicion and veiled hostility. When the monster came, it’s reaction to you didn’t help. Having killed dozens of innocent townsfolk, it saw you trying to get other children to safely, ran over to you, examined you, let loose an unholy roar, and stalked out of the village and disappeared into the countryside. That moment changed the veiled hostility of the villagers to open hate and violence. As the sun set, the mob arrived outside your home. Your father and brothers fought bravely to protect you and your mother, but only managed to buy enough time for the two of you to escape.
Days later, hungry, disheveled, and exhausted, the two of you were discovered, hiding in a rough, abandoned cabin, deep in the woods. Fortunately, the couple who found you bore you no ill will, and took both of you in. They became your new family. As you grew, you learned that your new family were members of The Silver Circle, a secret society of druids and shape shifters. They knew of the creature that had visited your town, but not where it came from, or who sent it.
Weeks before your 7th birthday, you started having strange dreams. Visited by all manner of fey creatures, you learned of the pact, and of the ‘blessing’ handed down to your family. The visit by the Damh (pronounced ‘Dav') himself went about as well as can be expected. The ancient, and unbelievably haughty archfey, under the impression that his gift had been taken as the blessing it was intended to be, arrived ready for a birthday celebration, and was instead confronted by a confused, hurt, and raging little girl who had no interest in hearing what the fey had to say. By the end of the encounter, your mother, and the rest of their new family witnessed the powerful, near god-like, son of Titania and Oberon apologizing to, and promising to make things right for, an exhausted, and screamed-out child.
You have not seen Damh since, but 4 years later, your teachers began arriving.
A good and righteous man becomes a Demon hunter, but after someone he loves becomes mortally wounded he calls on a Demon to intervene. The Demon spares the loved one in exchange for the man's soul. He takes the power, and becomes obsessed with the idea of "beating the Demon at its own game". His mission is now to find a way out of the contract, dead or alive.
While hiding out as a Dragonborn child, Zappo the Kobold witnessed an epic battle of heroes defending the town he was in. He became infatuated with the Pegasus that one of the heroes used as a mount. He gathered up a basket full of food he thought it would like to eat in order to get close enough to see him better.
After eating the basket full of mostly food, the Pegasus focused on Zappo a moment. Pretty sure his disguise was found out, and general excitement, Zappo passed out when he was licked across his small face. After waking up, he inadvertently set fire to his clothes with his new abilities while brushing the dust off himself. He is currently exploring all the (accidental)blessings bestowed on him by Skyhorse. He still thinks he's a cleric of the Skyhorse, Intelligence was an extremely low dump stat.
While hiding out as a Dragonborn child, Zappo the Kobold witnessed an epic battle of heroes defending the town he was in. He became infatuated with the Pegasus that one of the heroes used as a mount. He gathered up a basket full of food he thought it would like to eat in order to get close enough to see him better.
After eating the basket full of mostly food, the Pegasus focused on Zappo a moment. Pretty sure his disguise was found out, and general excitement, Zappo passed out when he was licked across his small face. After waking up, he inadvertently set fire to his clothes with his new abilities while brushing the dust off himself. He is currently exploring all the (accidental)blessings bestowed on him by Skyhorse. He still thinks he's a cleric of the Skyhorse, Intelligence was an extremely low dump stat.
This is immensely beautiful and cute to the point of hurting.
Bravo sir, bravo.
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Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
GOOD NEWS, your Great Aunt Edna has passed away and has left your as the sole inheritor of her will, the only condition being that your must take her of her geriatric Pomeranian "Mr.Crackles".
Mr. Crackles is actually a Warlock Familiar that been re skinned as a Tiny Hell Hound. Inorder to take care of Mr. Crackles, you are unknowingly made into a Warlock with a contractual obligation to take the Chain Pact.
I personally recommend taking the Fiend Patron with a Cackler from Guild Master Guide to Ravinca as the familiar.
A goddess, depressed with low turn outs in her churches congregations decides to set up secret societies- rich idiots flock to them 'to be in the in crowd' all performing rites to honour her fake identity. Some, the more useful ones she grants some power - this in turn makes everyone redouble the efforts of donating to the 'not a cult'. The churches coffers are filling nicely thank you very much. Other dieties figure something is going on and crack down in the wrong places. Actual cults get hit and target the 'not a cult' for bringing them all trouble. You now can begin your adventure of gangs of new york / westside story / the warriors, except all the gangs are warlocks and cultists.. just remember your the good cultists :)
My warlock killed his teacher in the arcane arts. Unfortunately for him, it was before he fully learned to translate an ancient text he found. In his botched translation he mistook the name of his patron as The Life Eater, when in fact it is The Life Giver.
In his haste to gain power, he managed to somehow correctly cast the ritual to bind himself the The Life Giver, a Unicorn named Celeste. Unbeknownst to my warlock, he made a pact with a celestial... to give life to stuff.
After completing said pact, he decided he should move on quickly before it was discovered he killed his teacher and while on the road he was ambushed. It was in this encounter that he realized his error in translation, when a rainbow colored eldritch blast was shot forward in defense...
Yea....... I need to just scrap my Warlock's whole deal after reading this thread. Some great ideas here.
Play whatever background you find cool. Take inspiration but not outright copy so you can have fun. But yea, these guys are blowing my mind.
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Born under the watch of something from the furthest corners of the far realms.... It knows all.... it sees all... and it asks: "What is it that you want to see?"... and my answer is... ALL"
I was a fighter handy with shield, blade and pretty much any weapon I could hold with one hand, at range with a bow or crossbow my enemies could run, but they would only die tired. Whilst adventuring one year, I came home to find my wife (the treacherous *****) had only married me and lay with me in the hopes of having a son who she could sacrifice to Orcus along with her fellow cult members thus gaining great power.
I am not sure what happened during the ceremony, but a huge explosion of flame killed everyone just leaving their skeletons frozen where they stood. However there was no sign of a childs skeleton! I have been travelling the lands wiping out cult groups where ever I found them. On my way to Waterdeep to meet up with some old friends and gain some more information I came across a group from the Cult of Orcus, I underestimated how big the group actually was and in my zeal was nearly killed.
If it hadn't been for the intervention of Graz`zt who had ascended to the material plane to destroy this massive gathering (think Glastonbury but less Bard's and entertainment more ritual sacrifice) of his enemies disciples, then I would surely have ended up as one of their sacrifices! As Graz`zt himself laid waste to vast swathes of the cultists, I was taking them out one by one with my crossbow and my daggers and when they were exhausted I started taking weapons of the corpses. One of the cultists was about to plunge his sword into Graz`zt's back (not realising who he was and that he would shrug it off) I acted and with the short sword I had just picked up threw it at the cultist (nat 20) the blade span end over end until it buried itself in the chest of the cultist. Graz`zt turned around and noticed me for the first time (I mean seriously noticed me) smiling he approached me and that was the night I was changed, Graz`zt introduced himself and revealed his true nature he granted me the power of magics in return for 2 promises: 1. Wherever I find them destroy the followers of his enemies! and 2. When my time comes, I will descend to the abyss and serve in his army! Considering my personal mission to destroy cults wherever I found them, and faced with an arch-demon of such imense power it would have been foolish to say no! Plus Graz`zt was the most efficient killing machine I have ever seen, and yet at the same time one charming mother ****er! I awoke the next day with my muscles sore from the battle the night before, a tattoo of a 6 fingered hand on my shoulder and no memory of my previous fighting ability, I picked up a short sword and whereas before it felt natural and balanced now it just felt wrong. I heard a voice in my head telling me to relax, "I have given you something better than any sword". I felt the power welling up inside me and fired a blast of arcane energy into a pile of bodies. "See, what did I tell you? Power!"
During the rest of my journey to Waterdeep I have practiced with my new powers as well as re-learning the skills I had with my crossbow and daggers as you never know when they may come in handy.
My Dragonborn warlock gained his abilities and race from being possessed by his patron. THe guild that he was apprenticing is a shipwright organization started by Nyarlothotep (so a Great Old One) and he occasionally steps in to check on things. Vadhi, my warlock, was unfortunately close to the guild head when Nyarlothotep wanted to talk to him.
So now Vadhi’s got some powers and a new look, being originally human.
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What's an unconventional way for a warlock to become a warlock?
Born under the watch of something from the furthest corners of the far realms.... It knows all.... it sees all... and it asks: "What is it that you want to see?"... and my answer is... ALL"
One of the things that I like about playing a Warlock is almost any path to becoming a Warlock that you can imagine fits into the class. It's fun creating creative back stories where the only limit is your imagination!
Professional computer geek
I am looking for ideas tbh, the craziest one i've seen so far is a tiefling who slept with an archfey and because she enjoyed it she gave taught him how to become a warlock.
Born under the watch of something from the furthest corners of the far realms.... It knows all.... it sees all... and it asks: "What is it that you want to see?"... and my answer is... ALL"
Someone in a library opens a book that was put there by the patron. Either intentionally by a Fiend or randomly by a Great Old One. If it was a Great Old One, the book might be a part of the patron that slipped off into the Prime Material Plane. The Warlock candidate opens the book and the patron "speaks" to the candidate by writing on the pages in the book and the Warlock makes a pact with the patron at which point the book disappears.
It's trite and over used, but a Hexblade could pull a sword out of a stone the way King Arthur did.
A youth is recruited by a Celestial patron to protect a remote shrine from an evil creature that's threatening it. I can see a Unicorn recruiting someone and carrying them to the site this way.
Puck, or another mischievous fey, recruits the budding Warlock as a practical joke. Maybe the budding Warlock is the scion of a noble house and by recruiting him or her as a Warlock the house's succession is thrown into turmoil when the new Warlock leaves to adventure?
Professional computer geek
A good and righteous man becomes a Demon hunter, but after someone he loves becomes mortally wounded he calls on a Demon to intervene. The Demon spares the loved one in exchange for the man's soul. He takes the power, and becomes obsessed with the idea of "beating the Demon at its own game". His mission is now to find a way out of the contract, dead or alive.
Just concocted a "changeling" Warlock who doesn't really have a Patron, at least not conventionally...
He was created when a bunch of wizards tried to steal power from a Great Old One from the Far Realm, known as the Black Star. Instead, they screwed up, got themselves blown up, teleported, or driven insane...so they only managed to summon a fraction of the Black Star's power.
But this small bit of power couldn't sustain itself in its raw form, so it took a physical, living shape...and became a changeling (since it has no concept of identity or personality, at least not yet).
So this changeling wandered around, alone, changing it's appearance to survive, learning what it means to be alive.
He finds the world both fascinating and beautiful, as well as cruel.
He still has this dark connection back to the Black Star, however, and can feel it watching him. It seeks to enter into the Material Plane out of hunger, hatred and domination...so basically, "The Haunted One" background.
The changeling uses it's own power against it, however, as he seeks to foil the Black Star and protect his new home.
The changeling worries also that, if he dies, if he will return back to the Far Realm and be absorbed back into the Black Star, since he is still technically a part of it. What little memory he has of that place is both grim and terrifying, often giving him nightmares.
He is quirky, a bit naive, and unintentionally hilarious, and sometimes forgets to speak using his own mouth (he will mistakenly speak directly into a person's mind).
Was my GOO warlock really pulled into the Far Realm to be anointed as an unwilling herald for the end-times? Or did he just have a psychotic episode? I don't know, but he sure was different after the incident.
Vote here for an interim solution for homebrew classes:
https://dndbeyond.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/360036951934-Homebrew-class-interim-solution
Here's the backstory for my current warlock (using my homebrewed Feytouched Tiefling race).
approved!
Jesus Saves!... Everyone else takes damage.
While hiding out as a Dragonborn child, Zappo the Kobold witnessed an epic battle of heroes defending the town he was in. He became infatuated with the Pegasus that one of the heroes used as a mount. He gathered up a basket full of food he thought it would like to eat in order to get close enough to see him better.
After eating the basket full of mostly food, the Pegasus focused on Zappo a moment. Pretty sure his disguise was found out, and general excitement, Zappo passed out when he was licked across his small face. After waking up, he inadvertently set fire to his clothes with his new abilities while brushing the dust off himself. He is currently exploring all the (accidental)blessings bestowed on him by Skyhorse. He still thinks he's a cleric of the Skyhorse, Intelligence was an extremely low dump stat.
This is immensely beautiful and cute to the point of hurting.
Bravo sir, bravo.
Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
GOOD NEWS, your Great Aunt Edna has passed away and has left your as the sole inheritor of her will, the only condition being that your must take her of her geriatric Pomeranian "Mr.Crackles".
Mr. Crackles is actually a Warlock Familiar that been re skinned as a Tiny Hell Hound. Inorder to take care of Mr. Crackles, you are unknowingly made into a Warlock with a contractual obligation to take the Chain Pact.
I personally recommend taking the Fiend Patron with a Cackler from Guild Master Guide to Ravinca as the familiar.
A goddess, depressed with low turn outs in her churches congregations decides to set up secret societies- rich idiots flock to them 'to be in the in crowd' all performing rites to honour her fake identity. Some, the more useful ones she grants some power - this in turn makes everyone redouble the efforts of donating to the 'not a cult'. The churches coffers are filling nicely thank you very much. Other dieties figure something is going on and crack down in the wrong places. Actual cults get hit and target the 'not a cult' for bringing them all trouble. You now can begin your adventure of gangs of new york / westside story / the warriors, except all the gangs are warlocks and cultists.. just remember your the good cultists :)
I'll add a few simple ones to the pile:
My warlock killed his teacher in the arcane arts. Unfortunately for him, it was before he fully learned to translate an ancient text he found. In his botched translation he mistook the name of his patron as The Life Eater, when in fact it is The Life Giver.
In his haste to gain power, he managed to somehow correctly cast the ritual to bind himself the The Life Giver, a Unicorn named Celeste. Unbeknownst to my warlock, he made a pact with a celestial... to give life to stuff.
After completing said pact, he decided he should move on quickly before it was discovered he killed his teacher and while on the road he was ambushed. It was in this encounter that he realized his error in translation, when a rainbow colored eldritch blast was shot forward in defense...
Yea....... I need to just scrap my Warlock's whole deal after reading this thread. Some great ideas here.
Mega Yahtzee Thread:
Highest 41: brocker2001 (#11,285).
Yahtzee of 2's: Emmber (#36,161).
Lowest 9: JoeltheWalrus (#312), Emmber (#12,505) and Dertinus (#20,953).
Play whatever background you find cool. Take inspiration but not outright copy so you can have fun. But yea, these guys are blowing my mind.
Born under the watch of something from the furthest corners of the far realms.... It knows all.... it sees all... and it asks: "What is it that you want to see?"... and my answer is... ALL"
I was a fighter handy with shield, blade and pretty much any weapon I could hold with one hand, at range with a bow or crossbow my enemies could run, but they would only die tired. Whilst adventuring one year, I came home to find my wife (the treacherous *****) had only married me and lay with me in the hopes of having a son who she could sacrifice to Orcus along with her fellow cult members thus gaining great power.
I am not sure what happened during the ceremony, but a huge explosion of flame killed everyone just leaving their skeletons frozen where they stood. However there was no sign of a childs skeleton! I have been travelling the lands wiping out cult groups where ever I found them. On my way to Waterdeep to meet up with some old friends and gain some more information I came across a group from the Cult of Orcus, I underestimated how big the group actually was and in my zeal was nearly killed.
If it hadn't been for the intervention of Graz`zt who had ascended to the material plane to destroy this massive gathering (think Glastonbury but less Bard's and entertainment more ritual sacrifice) of his enemies disciples, then I would surely have ended up as one of their sacrifices!
As Graz`zt himself laid waste to vast swathes of the cultists, I was taking them out one by one with my crossbow and my daggers and when they were exhausted I started taking weapons of the corpses. One of the cultists was about to plunge his sword into Graz`zt's back (not realising who he was and that he would shrug it off) I acted and with the short sword I had just picked up threw it at the cultist (nat 20) the blade span end over end until it buried itself in the chest of the cultist. Graz`zt turned around and noticed me for the first time (I mean seriously noticed me) smiling he approached me and that was the night I was changed, Graz`zt introduced himself and revealed his true nature he granted me the power of magics in return for 2 promises:
1. Wherever I find them destroy the followers of his enemies!
and
2. When my time comes, I will descend to the abyss and serve in his army!
Considering my personal mission to destroy cults wherever I found them, and faced with an arch-demon of such imense power it would have been foolish to say no! Plus Graz`zt was the most efficient killing machine I have ever seen, and yet at the same time one charming mother ****er!
I awoke the next day with my muscles sore from the battle the night before, a tattoo of a 6 fingered hand on my shoulder and no memory of my previous fighting ability, I picked up a short sword and whereas before it felt natural and balanced now it just felt wrong. I heard a voice in my head telling me to relax, "I have given you something better than any sword". I felt the power welling up inside me and fired a blast of arcane energy into a pile of bodies. "See, what did I tell you? Power!"
During the rest of my journey to Waterdeep I have practiced with my new powers as well as re-learning the skills I had with my crossbow and daggers as you never know when they may come in handy.
From Within Chaos Comes Order!
My Dragonborn warlock gained his abilities and race from being possessed by his patron. THe guild that he was apprenticing is a shipwright organization started by Nyarlothotep (so a Great Old One) and he occasionally steps in to check on things. Vadhi, my warlock, was unfortunately close to the guild head when Nyarlothotep wanted to talk to him.
So now Vadhi’s got some powers and a new look, being originally human.