As the title says! Post your funny,sweet wholesome,etc back story for your warlock and their pact, bonus points of the deal is already done so the patron does not bother the warlock anymore... or just remains a buddy with him
Example: a satyr traded his abillity to play the harp for magical powers of the fey,now bitter he garners power to get back at his patron
Warlock sold his soul to a devil and now has powers, etc
My Half-Elves are from the Half-Elven city of Neros. That was one of the last cities of the Moon Elves who, when they witnessed the decline of their race during the war with the Drow, chose to swallow their pride and blend their blood with that of the newly arisen tribes of men, sacrificing some of their long life for the young race's vitality and strength.
Unlike regular Half-Elves they are an actual distinct people, and because the Elvish bloodline runs purer they tend to live longer, typically two or three centuries. Some longer.
As you'd expect they have a natural affinity for magic. Their soldiers are all Eldritch Knights (typically equal to a level 5 adventurer) their scouts/infiltrators Arcane Tricksters.
They have the usual range of magical classes, both arcane and divine. Druids, Totem Barbarians, and Rangers tend to be a little less common, since Neros is more urban, but there are still some drawn to the wild (note that they don't have non-magical archetypes). Paladins and Clerics meanwhile are very common, though obviously less so than regular troops. Bards keep the records of their great victories, and defeats, in sagas. Some of their bloodlines lead to Sorcerers and Wizards study for decades to master the powers arcane. Monks are rather uncommon, but not unheard of.
And Warlocks, of course. It's a common joke that Patrons pick out those too lazy to study, but that's a little unfair. As you'd expect with a people with fey-touched ancestry, and to whom magic comes so easily, fey like Titania and the Raven Queen do find themselves with a ready supply of would-be servants. Those tend to become almost an extended family to the fey, where multiple generations may become Warlocks of the same power. Celestials have also been known to choose servants from among them, though that is usually a more formal arrangement. Pacts with more malign powers, Great Beasts, and Demonic Powers, do take place, and there are scribes who will write up contracts for would-be Warlocks who'd seek those powers. Said contracts having no loopholes that the Patron can exploit to harm the Warlock. Devils do like contracts though, so there are a ready supply of Fiendish Patrons willing to lend their power to a mortal vessel, often for nothing more than the fun of watching said Warlock wreck face.
As for Adelberto, his father, Nazario, is a hexblade warlock in the service of the Raven Queen (his mother, Talia, is an arcane trickster), so one night, while Adelberto was playing at a local tavern (entertainer background) she came in, listened to his music for a while, then invited herself to have a meal with him. Afterwards she gave him a kiss on the cheek and told him he was now one of her agents.
This is actually really good insight, and play on the evil patron i didnt think of, i thank you for sharing i feel i should ask for permission to steal this type of story (only changing it to an efreet or fiend as it fits)
Currently working up a Noble Genie warlock whose Pact came as a result of a childhood Wish. She and her brother found an item in a forgotten cave, and upon fiddling with it they released a trapped Djinn. He offered them a single shared Wish as a reward for freeing him, and my gal wished to grow up to be an awesome adventurer. Djinn smirked, spoke 'GRANTED', and disappeared.
Ten-odd years of growing up later, absolutely nothing was different - until ol' Dhuzzi shows up out of the blue, gives Nytra magical abilities, and says "so about that Wish to become a strong Adventurer...!" Off to campaign land she goes.
Heh, in a way it inverts the usual relationship, in that the patron owes the warlock a debt, and the warlock's powers are the payment for that debt. I am informed by the DM that when this game finally gets off the ground, Dhuzzi will in no way be a remote backstory element that Nytra never sees again - he's not letting the chance to be Robin Williams slip by him. So Nytra's patron is likely to be a gleeful co-conspirator in her frequent bouts of shenanery. That will be a fun riff on the usual Doom and Gloom warlock stories.
Omg this story is beautiful!, i wanted to do the same with an efreet, where a satyr found an efreet bottle in a house of a hag, and rubbed it out of curiosity, the hag realised that the satyr stole her lamp, ran after him, he first wished out of fear that the hag will be gone, the efreet does so by burning her alive, he then thanks the efreet and gets to know him,mid conversation and absolutely having a blast with his reluctant efreet, he wished if they could be and i quote"god! You are so cool! I wish we were friends! No wait! I wish for us to be best friends!" And then the final wish, after realising that not only a coven of hags wants him dead for stealing their efreet AND killing one of their coven members our satyr friend wished he had the means to fight back and be strong enough to best them all, now our efreet that slowly learns to enjoy this train wreck of a situation agrees, and gives him powers in the form of a pact,and like that their friendship starts to bloom as they get into hijinxs and tomfoolery a plenty!
I've never liked the idea of playing a warlock who, for some reason, jumped into an obviously lopsided deal. So my last two have been ones who actually entered into fair contracts with their patrons.
The first was a young man who came to the defense of someone he thought was just a frail old man. He was outmatched, of course, as it was a high elf mage who was trying to destroy a hexblade, but the kid's intervention caused her to leave, not wanting to hurt an innocent. In repayment, the hexblade actually gave the man a fair contract, where he'd teach him magic and give him power, with very little obligation on the warlock's part (and nothing that would slide him toward an evil alignment.)
The second is an archeologist who found a djinn's vessel, and wound up making a fair deal with a noble genie patron, who was looking to groom mages for an eventual stand against an evil force. The warlock knows this, but signed the contract willingly, as he also wanted to stop the evil force.
Lutris of the air Genasi was just a boy when his settlement north of Ten Towns was attacked by ice trolls. With the village burned and all supplies either taken or gone the survivors, so far from help and with a blizzard bearing down on them, prepared for the worst. Lutris, in his frozen, fevered dreams screamed for help....and the Prince of Frost answered. He wove a shard of Winter to the soul of young Lutris, tying him to the unseelie court and then a bargain was made. 137 souls saved from perishing in the cold in exchange for 137 favors. Lutris thought his agreement was a nightmare and that fate saved his people but as he grew into adulthood he found the the cold answered to his commands in small ways. He could direct forceful blasts of frigid air and when in great need a blade of ice would appear in his hands. With these gifts came remembrance of his pact and the Prince came calling. A bargain made, a bargain to be kept. Lutris balked and refused to be of service until a young woman showed up frozen solid in her bed. He had no choice but to accept the terms he agreed to. 136 favors for 136 lives. The Prince of Frost was capricious and bitter about lost loves, so for each broken heart he would forgive a favor. Also, objects of arcane power and secrets not known to the court would be counted towards the total based on the scope of their power and gravitas. Vexing the Summer Court and tributes of wealth would also be considered. Lutris had his work cut out for him. 136 favors and the deal is done and he is left to do what he wills with his shard of Winter and the rest of his life. So, he wanders now. A traveling performer. Wooing the innocent and gullible. Breaking hearts as he goes. Adventuring when he can to get gold and magic items to offer as tribute and trying to do as little harm as possible while he pays his cold debt. Once paid, and it’s going quickly, he can make it up to the world by doing good and maybe mending a few of the bridges he had to burn to get free and clear.
Have you seen how bad most warlock/patron relationships go? Considering that he has a decent chance to get through it without getting killed, without doing great harm, without working against the party too much, still ending up with powers granted and having the possibility to make additional bargains I’d say that’s friendlier than how the majority of pacts play out. Hell, just the dynamic of being considered an employee and not a slave seems pretty amicable to me! Happy Robin Williams genies and loving light being Celestials aside, for some of the uglier patrons; deep circle demon and devil lords, unseelie Fey, Liches, Cthulhueseqe horrors, etc a stable neutrality IS them being friendly.
“The relationship is basically the same as a knight that serves his queen or similar. It's an honor for the character and she demands absolute obedience and loyalty, but isn't out to ruin the characters life or whatever. Not until it's time that is, since of course her longterm plan is to have the character completely under her control by the time he returns, she is an evil lich with big plans (which are even more longterm) after all.”
How friendly does that sound?
But hey, we’re all adults here and can decide for ourselves if it’s appropriate to share our content in any given thread.
Yeah, I guess it could make sense for evil characters to consider service to an evil patron to be friendly, Maybe. It initially sounded like more of a business arrangement that both sides are getting something out of but I guess if that’s what you’re defining friendly as, then sure. I don’t see her doing favor for him, or taking his needs or opinions into consideration any further than they coincide with her own but whatever works for you. Good characters might have a harder time doing the bidding of liches or demons but I guess if that’s your gig anyway then you might as well get power for it. It might be a cool switcheroo to have an evil character with a good patron that forces them to do nice things to keep their power. That could lead to a wary friendship maybe.
Dhuzzi is a good example though. A patron paying back a favor done previously makes for a perfectly friendly relationship. It takes the servitude aspect out of the characters role play experience but I guess it’s a matter of perspective if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. It could be used as a mechanism to skirt integral parts of the story and allow it to be all reward with none of the baggage that’s supposed to come with the class but if done correctly, like adding a manic genie mentor to the mix, it could be fun and still stick to the flavor of the class. Another example with a different character that just had the powers and never interacted with the patron because the debt was paid pre character generation would come off kind of lame and cheaty though.
To be fair to Greg, it's a perfectly serviceable pact. One the warlock is more or less in control of - the Prince of Frost set Lutris a target number and a subset of goals/activities that would decrement that number. From the given description, Lutris is generally in control of when and where he pays back one of his favors, and the Prince doesn't otherwise screw with him. As stated, that's a pretty sweet deal by most warlock standards. Especially Unseelie fey.
Not really friendly, though. Heh, an actual fair deal is different than a friendly relationship.
I'm working on a character concept with the patron (a demonic succubus) starting off as cursed. To evade her curse, she tricks a foolish young wizard into making a pact with her, that ties her fate to the judgement of his soul. It's a gamble on her part, but she's low on options. The young wizard she ends up tricking though...isn't the greatest pick for her. He's not a very talented wizard (13 int) and follows Mystra, the goddess of magic...and he is good. So, she needs to bust her tail to make sure this guy is able to meet Mystra's standards to get into her realm...or she gets stuck to the wall of souls for all eternity herself, or gets reaped by the devils who's /love/ to have an abyssal succubus to torture.
This is made more challenging by the fact that she's a CR4 succubus, and really doesn't have any business being a warlock patron. She certainly does not have the power to make this guy stand out magically. So, she ends up pretty much begging Mystra for power to funnel into her warlock, to help him please Mystra herself and guarantee both of their entrances into the afterlife. So, the succubus becomes the GOOD ANGEL riding on the guy's shoulder trying to convince him to do good things with his power. The plan is that part will end up quite literal. I'm going pact of the chain, so I can get an imp...which the succubus' spirit will take over (her body is destroyed when the pact kicks in and binds them together).
The succubus will have a vested interest in having a friendly relationship, and I expect that over time, given her goals and the fact that she's separated from the abyss and spliced onto a good wizard, will have an impact on her alignment.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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.
That’s a cool concept. Not only is she friendly but she is down right beholden. It’s funny that the PC is kind of a dope and the real character is actually the succubus in the imps body. Should be an interesting duo to RP.
I will be saving it for the right campaign to make sure that I can play it out the way I want. I don't think it's the right fit for all games. My current bardlock...my patron is just kindof...there. It doesn't do anything, and I think for /this/ character, the patron kind of needs to do something.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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
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As the title says! Post your funny,sweet wholesome,etc back story for your warlock and their pact, bonus points of the deal is already done so the patron does not bother the warlock anymore... or just remains a buddy with him
Example: a satyr traded his abillity to play the harp for magical powers of the fey,now bitter he garners power to get back at his patron
Warlock sold his soul to a devil and now has powers, etc
My Half-Elves are from the Half-Elven city of Neros. That was one of the last cities of the Moon Elves who, when they witnessed the decline of their race during the war with the Drow, chose to swallow their pride and blend their blood with that of the newly arisen tribes of men, sacrificing some of their long life for the young race's vitality and strength.
Unlike regular Half-Elves they are an actual distinct people, and because the Elvish bloodline runs purer they tend to live longer, typically two or three centuries. Some longer.
As you'd expect they have a natural affinity for magic. Their soldiers are all Eldritch Knights (typically equal to a level 5 adventurer) their scouts/infiltrators Arcane Tricksters.
They have the usual range of magical classes, both arcane and divine. Druids, Totem Barbarians, and Rangers tend to be a little less common, since Neros is more urban, but there are still some drawn to the wild (note that they don't have non-magical archetypes). Paladins and Clerics meanwhile are very common, though obviously less so than regular troops. Bards keep the records of their great victories, and defeats, in sagas. Some of their bloodlines lead to Sorcerers and Wizards study for decades to master the powers arcane. Monks are rather uncommon, but not unheard of.
And Warlocks, of course. It's a common joke that Patrons pick out those too lazy to study, but that's a little unfair. As you'd expect with a people with fey-touched ancestry, and to whom magic comes so easily, fey like Titania and the Raven Queen do find themselves with a ready supply of would-be servants. Those tend to become almost an extended family to the fey, where multiple generations may become Warlocks of the same power. Celestials have also been known to choose servants from among them, though that is usually a more formal arrangement. Pacts with more malign powers, Great Beasts, and Demonic Powers, do take place, and there are scribes who will write up contracts for would-be Warlocks who'd seek those powers. Said contracts having no loopholes that the Patron can exploit to harm the Warlock. Devils do like contracts though, so there are a ready supply of Fiendish Patrons willing to lend their power to a mortal vessel, often for nothing more than the fun of watching said Warlock wreck face.
As for Adelberto, his father, Nazario, is a hexblade warlock in the service of the Raven Queen (his mother, Talia, is an arcane trickster), so one night, while Adelberto was playing at a local tavern (entertainer background) she came in, listened to his music for a while, then invited herself to have a meal with him. Afterwards she gave him a kiss on the cheek and told him he was now one of her agents.
This is actually really good insight, and play on the evil patron i didnt think of, i thank you for sharing i feel i should ask for permission to steal this type of story (only changing it to an efreet or fiend as it fits)
Currently working up a Noble Genie warlock whose Pact came as a result of a childhood Wish. She and her brother found an item in a forgotten cave, and upon fiddling with it they released a trapped Djinn. He offered them a single shared Wish as a reward for freeing him, and my gal wished to grow up to be an awesome adventurer. Djinn smirked, spoke 'GRANTED', and disappeared.
Ten-odd years of growing up later, absolutely nothing was different - until ol' Dhuzzi shows up out of the blue, gives Nytra magical abilities, and says "so about that Wish to become a strong Adventurer...!" Off to campaign land she goes.
Heh, in a way it inverts the usual relationship, in that the patron owes the warlock a debt, and the warlock's powers are the payment for that debt. I am informed by the DM that when this game finally gets off the ground, Dhuzzi will in no way be a remote backstory element that Nytra never sees again - he's not letting the chance to be Robin Williams slip by him. So Nytra's patron is likely to be a gleeful co-conspirator in her frequent bouts of shenanery. That will be a fun riff on the usual Doom and Gloom warlock stories.
Please do not contact or message me.
Omg this story is beautiful!, i wanted to do the same with an efreet, where a satyr found an efreet bottle in a house of a hag, and rubbed it out of curiosity, the hag realised that the satyr stole her lamp, ran after him, he first wished out of fear that the hag will be gone, the efreet does so by burning her alive, he then thanks the efreet and gets to know him,mid conversation and absolutely having a blast with his reluctant efreet, he wished if they could be and i quote"god! You are so cool! I wish we were friends! No wait! I wish for us to be best friends!" And then the final wish, after realising that not only a coven of hags wants him dead for stealing their efreet AND killing one of their coven members our satyr friend wished he had the means to fight back and be strong enough to best them all, now our efreet that slowly learns to enjoy this train wreck of a situation agrees, and gives him powers in the form of a pact,and like that their friendship starts to bloom as they get into hijinxs and tomfoolery a plenty!
I've never liked the idea of playing a warlock who, for some reason, jumped into an obviously lopsided deal. So my last two have been ones who actually entered into fair contracts with their patrons.
The first was a young man who came to the defense of someone he thought was just a frail old man. He was outmatched, of course, as it was a high elf mage who was trying to destroy a hexblade, but the kid's intervention caused her to leave, not wanting to hurt an innocent. In repayment, the hexblade actually gave the man a fair contract, where he'd teach him magic and give him power, with very little obligation on the warlock's part (and nothing that would slide him toward an evil alignment.)
The second is an archeologist who found a djinn's vessel, and wound up making a fair deal with a noble genie patron, who was looking to groom mages for an eventual stand against an evil force. The warlock knows this, but signed the contract willingly, as he also wanted to stop the evil force.
So far I've been enjoying playing both of them.
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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Lutris of the air Genasi was just a boy when his settlement north of Ten Towns was attacked by ice trolls. With the village burned and all supplies either taken or gone the survivors, so far from help and with a blizzard bearing down on them, prepared for the worst. Lutris, in his frozen, fevered dreams screamed for help....and the Prince of Frost answered. He wove a shard of Winter to the soul of young Lutris, tying him to the unseelie court and then a bargain was made. 137 souls saved from perishing in the cold in exchange for 137 favors. Lutris thought his agreement was a nightmare and that fate saved his people but as he grew into adulthood he found the the cold answered to his commands in small ways. He could direct forceful blasts of frigid air and when in great need a blade of ice would appear in his hands. With these gifts came remembrance of his pact and the Prince came calling. A bargain made, a bargain to be kept. Lutris balked and refused to be of service until a young woman showed up frozen solid in her bed.
He had no choice but to accept the terms he agreed to. 136 favors for 136 lives. The Prince of Frost was capricious and bitter about lost loves, so for each broken heart he would forgive a favor. Also, objects of arcane power and secrets not known to the court would be counted towards the total based on the scope of their power and gravitas. Vexing the Summer Court and tributes of wealth would also be considered. Lutris had his work cut out for him.
136 favors and the deal is done and he is left to do what he wills with his shard of Winter and the rest of his life.
So, he wanders now. A traveling performer. Wooing the innocent and gullible. Breaking hearts as he goes. Adventuring when he can to get gold and magic items to offer as tribute and trying to do as little harm as possible while he pays his cold debt. Once paid, and it’s going quickly, he can make it up to the world by doing good and maybe mending a few of the bridges he had to burn to get free and clear.
Have you seen how bad most warlock/patron relationships go?
Considering that he has a decent chance to get through it without getting killed, without doing great harm, without working against the party too much, still ending up with powers granted and having the possibility to make additional bargains I’d say that’s friendlier than how the majority of pacts play out.
Hell, just the dynamic of being considered an employee and not a slave seems pretty amicable to me!
Happy Robin Williams genies and loving light being Celestials aside, for some of the uglier patrons; deep circle demon and devil lords, unseelie Fey, Liches, Cthulhueseqe horrors, etc a stable neutrality IS them being friendly.
Lol...yet being the slave of an evil lich is?
You said it yourself
“The relationship is basically the same as a knight that serves his queen or similar. It's an honor for the character and she demands absolute obedience and loyalty, but isn't out to ruin the characters life or whatever. Not until it's time that is, since of course her longterm plan is to have the character completely under her control by the time he returns, she is an evil lich with big plans (which are even more longterm) after all.”
How friendly does that sound?
But hey, we’re all adults here and can decide for ourselves if it’s appropriate to share our content in any given thread.
Cheers!
Yeah, I guess it could make sense for evil characters to consider service to an evil patron to be friendly, Maybe. It initially sounded like more of a business arrangement that both sides are getting something out of but I guess if that’s what you’re defining friendly as, then sure. I don’t see her doing favor for him, or taking his needs or opinions into consideration any further than they coincide with her own but whatever works for you. Good characters might have a harder time doing the bidding of liches or demons but I guess if that’s your gig anyway then you might as well get power for it. It might be a cool switcheroo to have an evil character with a good patron that forces them to do nice things to keep their power. That could lead to a wary friendship maybe.
Dhuzzi is a good example though. A patron paying back a favor done previously makes for a perfectly friendly relationship. It takes the servitude aspect out of the characters role play experience but I guess it’s a matter of perspective if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. It could be used as a mechanism to skirt integral parts of the story and allow it to be all reward with none of the baggage that’s supposed to come with the class but if done correctly, like adding a manic genie mentor to the mix, it could be fun and still stick to the flavor of the class. Another example with a different character that just had the powers and never interacted with the patron because the debt was paid pre character generation would come off kind of lame and cheaty though.
To be fair to Greg, it's a perfectly serviceable pact. One the warlock is more or less in control of - the Prince of Frost set Lutris a target number and a subset of goals/activities that would decrement that number. From the given description, Lutris is generally in control of when and where he pays back one of his favors, and the Prince doesn't otherwise screw with him. As stated, that's a pretty sweet deal by most warlock standards. Especially Unseelie fey.
Not really friendly, though. Heh, an actual fair deal is different than a friendly relationship.
Please do not contact or message me.
I'm working on a character concept with the patron (a demonic succubus) starting off as cursed. To evade her curse, she tricks a foolish young wizard into making a pact with her, that ties her fate to the judgement of his soul. It's a gamble on her part, but she's low on options. The young wizard she ends up tricking though...isn't the greatest pick for her. He's not a very talented wizard (13 int) and follows Mystra, the goddess of magic...and he is good. So, she needs to bust her tail to make sure this guy is able to meet Mystra's standards to get into her realm...or she gets stuck to the wall of souls for all eternity herself, or gets reaped by the devils who's /love/ to have an abyssal succubus to torture.
This is made more challenging by the fact that she's a CR4 succubus, and really doesn't have any business being a warlock patron. She certainly does not have the power to make this guy stand out magically. So, she ends up pretty much begging Mystra for power to funnel into her warlock, to help him please Mystra herself and guarantee both of their entrances into the afterlife. So, the succubus becomes the GOOD ANGEL riding on the guy's shoulder trying to convince him to do good things with his power. The plan is that part will end up quite literal. I'm going pact of the chain, so I can get an imp...which the succubus' spirit will take over (her body is destroyed when the pact kicks in and binds them together).
The succubus will have a vested interest in having a friendly relationship, and I expect that over time, given her goals and the fact that she's separated from the abyss and spliced onto a good wizard, will have an impact on her alignment.
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 a cool concept. Not only is she friendly but she is down right beholden. It’s funny that the PC is kind of a dope and the real character is actually the succubus in the imps body. Should be an interesting duo to RP.
I will be saving it for the right campaign to make sure that I can play it out the way I want. I don't think it's the right fit for all games. My current bardlock...my patron is just kindof...there. It doesn't do anything, and I think for /this/ character, the patron kind of needs to do something.
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