and then when you get to lvl 4 get the poalarm master feat and a glave plus make it you pact weapon you will be able to attack 2 plus when you use you bonus you can do a spell or the glave also make sure you have devil sight then try to get the darkness spell. If you are in a jam you the darkness spell on yourself then no ones can see you even with dark vision. you will have adv on attack and they will have disadv on attack on you. Plus your DM may not like you very much after you do this LOL
Single class? I'd probably go with a celestial archer lock, with pact of the blade. instead of spamming eldritch blast, I am going to spam arrows, and eldritch smite on them. oh, your dragon is flying around? how cute. eldritch smite, and now he's proned...from 50 ft in the air. That's fall damage too.
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.
My current character (I almost always DM), is a GOO warlock, who found a book, and became a "Priest" of the Great Old One he serves, and even makes little copies of the "Gospel" or "Word" and evangelizes his "faith" of the Great Good/more rarely will slip and say Greater Good in the same style, and focuses on control/seeing/mind magic. So a typical move will be to cast suggestion and command a combatant to go spread the word off Morgrant.
Fire Genasi Genie pact Warlock with Charlatan background. Pretends to be a full efreeti and sells fake wishes for exorbitant prices. Specialises in illusions and anything else that can help sell the scam.
Fire Genasi Genie pact Warlock with Charlatan background. Pretends to be a full efreeti and sells fake wishes for exorbitant prices. Specialises in illusions and anything else that can help sell the scam.
Currently working on a Variant Human Hexblade Warlock. He's technically a half dragon as his mother is an ancient shadow dragon (potentially a Silver or White variant for the cold theme) but I'm using the Shadow-Touched and Aberrant Dragonmark feats to showcase his draconic heritage. His mother is his patron.
The Aberrant Dragonmark will give him a cantrip as well as a first, second, and third level sorcerer spell (changing the feat from giving an possible epic boon to instead work more like the normal Dragonmarks) that act as shadowy draconic features he can activate once a day each (minus the cantrip of course). Chilling Touch for the cantrip for the necrotic and cold theming, Mage Armor to summon shadowy scale-like armor to protect himself, Shadow Blade to imitate his mother's ability to create weapons from shadows, and Fly because dragon. For Shadow-Touched, he has Invisibility and is taking Disguise Self as his mother was a master of Illusions.
He will be wielding a shadowy curved longsword that is shaped like a large dragon's claw(Pact of the Blade) and a shield. His eldritch blast summons shadowy dragon head that shoot black/purple bolts of energy from their mouths. He will also use the Summon Shadowspawn spell to summon a shadowy dragon. These two are manifestations of his draconic heritage amplified by his pact. Armor of Agathys, Darkness, Spirit Shroud, Vampiric Touch, Shadow of Moil, and Enervation are other spells he may take to continue the shadowy/cold theme while spells like Mirror Image, Fear, Hypnotic Pattern, Major Image, and Mislead fit the son of an illusion master theme.
The specters that the Hexblade conjures are going to be in the shape of shadowy dragon shades. For Invocations flavor, the Tomb of Levistus which will be his mother's shadowy ice powers protecting him (Still deciding if she will be a Shadow Silver or White dragon, love my cold dragons). Cloak of the Flies which will be reflavored as a shadowfell aura. One with Shadows is pretty self explanatory, as is Devil's Sight.
I had an idea for a fey warlock that was the first born child that was taken by their parent's patron when they became a warlock or when he was taken away and became a changling or whatever and they grew up as a fey child in the home of a lower powered fey and when the character decides to start adventuring the fey 'parent' shows up at really annoying times to give the chores or jobs or gifts and the character is just so frustrated when they show up all like 'Hiiiiii!' I dunno, I probably won't get around to playing it.
I had a concept once about a family based warlock as well.
The gist of it is a Feypact Chainlock who was born into a family who served said fey creature (we never got around to figuring out which one) but the entire concept was that the people had to train the first born child to take the place of the last one who held the position. The entire family is aware of this but tell the children nothing about it. A secret kept out of necessity. It's the How they get their familiar and seal their pact however that made the build and character disposition depressing. The warlock as a child selected a pet, years later when they're older they're told to do some task with vague wording and timing, this is setup so that they are completely unprepared when it is told to them that to secure their families safety for the next generation they are forced to ritually kill their beloved pet.
"Sometimes it isn't anything tangible they want. They don't care for such trivial matters of objects in space. They care more for the things that one can savor over a long lifetime and a thing hearkened back to long after relevance has faded. It's not blood, steel, gold, land or even souls. Sometimes what they truly desire is innocence."
The concept was met pretty well with the group as most people we know tend to downplay just how messed up fey creatures can be but ultimately I'm already gloomy enough as is. Maybe someone else can get some inspiration from it.
[Edit:] Felt I should clarify this, the Familiar was a custom built Displacer Beast, and this was also a level 6 character start. The full run of the concept at high level should have logically gone as far as the campaign would allow because bestowed gifts were how we were going to do the mystic arcanum.
Background was Spy I believe and the spells leaned heavily on abjuration and illusion.
"I once knew this fella, Aasimar raised in the Underdark. Was like a brother to me. When he escaped we couldn't take much with us. Poor, emaciated husks of the living we were. 'ts okay though. We survived and made our ways. I'll never forget the way the people from my home looked at us when we walked in the archway. Though, I'm frighteningly certain the feelings they would have, had they but the opportunity ta see us leave." --Manolovo the Traitor, Memoirs of a Scoundrel
Fire Genasi Genie pact Warlock with Charlatan background. Pretends to be a full efreeti and sells fake wishes for exorbitant prices. Specialises in illusions and anything else that can help sell the scam.
You get another quote. This is such a great concept. The best snake oil salesman. This idea ratcheted up my excitement for the Genie Patron to the next level.
Supernatural fanboy incoming. I love the Celestial Patron and thinking about them like the angels in the show Supernatural. Sure, they may be lawful good, but they have no humanity and are cold AF. They regularly give a good warlock assignment's that really call their morals into question, expecting obedience for the "greater good". Alternatively, the celestial could have sought out a morally ambiguous warlock to do the tasks that they keep secret from their zealous followers.
I also love the kit that the Celestial gives a warlock, especially in conjunction with pact of the tome. A celestial tome pact warlock turns into a really interesting and impressive spellcaster.
Fire Genasi Genie pact Warlock with Charlatan background. Pretends to be a full efreeti and sells fake wishes for exorbitant prices. Specialises in illusions and anything else that can help sell the scam.
You get another quote. This is such a great concept. The best snake oil salesman. This idea ratcheted up my excitement for the Genie Patron to the next level.
I'm so glad people like the idea! I don't think I could do it justice myself -- I'm not good at RPing smooth talkers -- so I'm delighted to hear that others might give it a shot.
Supernatural fanboy incoming. I love the Celestial Patron and thinking about them like the angels in the show Supernatural. Sure, they may be lawful good, but they have no humanity and are cold AF. They regularly give a good warlock assignment's that really call their morals into question, expecting obedience for the "greater good". Alternatively, the celestial could have sought out a morally ambiguous warlock to do the tasks that they keep secret from their zealous followers.
I really like the idea of a Celestial taking on a Warlock to do their dirty work because "the ends justify the means". That's a great idea. My first Warlock character was somewhat opposite of this -- she'd made a Fiend pact in order to escape the clutches of her controlling boyfriend and the evil cult of Baphomet he was part of, but all she wanted was to do good in the world (she's a literal social justice warrior). She just did it with lots of fire and brimstone. She started out as chaotic neutral but started shifting toward neutral good pretty quickly.
Oh I don't think I could RP that well either haha. I might have to roll it up though anyways because I've actually never played a warlock (I just love thinking about them) and the Genie has rocketed to my favorite patron alongside Celestial.
And that sounds like an awesome character to RP. The tension with the patron must have been great. I don't think enough characters start from a place of vulnerability. Everyone wants to be badass right out of the gate.
And that sounds like an awesome character to RP. The tension with the patron must have been great. I don't think enough characters start from a place of vulnerability. Everyone wants to be badass right out of the gate.
I'm so with you there. I want my characters to start out weak and ineffectual. I want them to experience the hero's journey from beginning to end! That's the most interesting story -- how they're transformed by their experiences, how they turn weaknesses into strengths, and how they overcome obstacles to reach their full potential.
If you start out as a badass, you're not leaving yourself anywhere to go from there but "more badass," which isn't really very interesting.
You should absolutely try playing a Warlock soon. They're huge fun.
My next character will be a wizard with 13 int who MCs into warlock. He's going to start off as a pretty weak wizard.
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.
NICE hawk. An unskilled wizard who turns to dark forces for power perhaps? Excellent story potential for a character that doesn't have the stats to support the vocation they're chasing.
Where are all of the DnD characters full of self-doubt and loathing? Too many confident heros lol
gglibertine yes! A character is nothing without their arc. That first feeling of "I got this" is so euphoric. And the sitting at the edge of your seat every time trouble comes around? I need that.
No, he accidentally becomes a warlock lol. It's a tragic tale of fail, all the way around. You see he's a pretty poor wizard, and when his master dies (former red wizard, hunted down by her old compadres) he's left on his own. So he ends up as a wand for hire, and joins an adventuring party who can use his skills at ritual casting for detecting and identifying magic. He's got no attack cantrips, so he uses a mightly sling at level 1.
Meanwhile the party is exploring some ruins and the party splits up, as level 1 adventurers don't know any better. My "hero" finds his way into a chamber, and here he finds a succubus. Now this succubus is down on her luck as well. You see, she served Shami-Amourae (http://www.succubus.net/wiki/Shami-Amourae) and ended up cursed by Malcanthet and bound to the cultist chamber that the party was exploring. The curse was such that her form was bound to the chamber until she was judged worthy to enter the afterlife. So, the succubus planned to evade the curse by pacting a warlock and binding her lifeforce to some warlock's soul so when judged, she'd get to enter the afterlife. She figured that sucking some evil wizard into making a pact would be pretty easy.
Instead, after several hundred years of being trapped...she gets bumbling Haelan, although she doesn't know what his skills look like. She jumps at her chance, and pacts him up. He's not too bright, and even less wise and agrees. Then she realizes, he's a pretty crappy wizard and he worships the goddess of magic, so to get into the afterlife, she's got to help him look good to Mystra. She can grant him low levels of power, but she's only a CR4 succubus. She's not got a lot of power to /give/, and this isn't going to be the easy ride she thought. So, she ends up having to pray to Mystra herself to be granted power, to grant to Mystra's loyal wizard.
Mechanically, he'll be a wizard | warlock. After wizard 1, he'll go warlock for 5 straight levels, then pick up another level or two of wizard (illusion). I really want diviner, but I don't see him as smart enough for portent, so illusionist is. https://ddb.ac/characters/33829669/52GRaP
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.
My (fathomless) warlock grew up as a heir (along with his siblings) to a trade house. The house's patron is an entity from the depth of the ocean to grant their ships save passage and such (at least that is the official story). So he basically grew up as a warlock without realizing what that means/entails. He is ambitious to advance trade profits and house influence. However, he now slowly (throughout our campagn) uncovers that there is more to their patron and in order to prove his worth and alliance to his house, the patron asked more and more. It started by being the eyes and ears of the patron to sacrificing a magic items to the depth and ended with murdering an innocent teenager...
I hope this helps
Dragonborn Hexblade
18/14/12/10/10/18
Now at lvl 1 use Eldritch Blast to save you butt
and then when you get to lvl 4 get the poalarm master feat and a glave plus make it you pact weapon you will be able to attack 2 plus when you use you bonus you can do a spell or the glave also make sure you have devil sight then try to get the darkness spell. If you are in a jam you the darkness spell on yourself then no ones can see you even with dark vision. you will have adv on attack and they will have disadv on attack on you. Plus your DM may not like you very much after you do this LOL
Single class? I'd probably go with a celestial archer lock, with pact of the blade. instead of spamming eldritch blast, I am going to spam arrows, and eldritch smite on them. oh, your dragon is flying around? how cute. eldritch smite, and now he's proned...from 50 ft in the air. That's fall damage too.
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
My current character (I almost always DM), is a GOO warlock, who found a book, and became a "Priest" of the Great Old One he serves, and even makes little copies of the "Gospel" or "Word" and evangelizes his "faith" of the Great Good/more rarely will slip and say Greater Good in the same style, and focuses on control/seeing/mind magic. So a typical move will be to cast suggestion and command a combatant to go spread the word off Morgrant.
Fire Genasi Genie pact Warlock with Charlatan background. Pretends to be a full efreeti and sells fake wishes for exorbitant prices. Specialises in illusions and anything else that can help sell the scam.
This is such a cool idea!
Currently working on a Variant Human Hexblade Warlock. He's technically a half dragon as his mother is an ancient shadow dragon (potentially a Silver or White variant for the cold theme) but I'm using the Shadow-Touched and Aberrant Dragonmark feats to showcase his draconic heritage. His mother is his patron.
The Aberrant Dragonmark will give him a cantrip as well as a first, second, and third level sorcerer spell (changing the feat from giving an possible epic boon to instead work more like the normal Dragonmarks) that act as shadowy draconic features he can activate once a day each (minus the cantrip of course). Chilling Touch for the cantrip for the necrotic and cold theming, Mage Armor to summon shadowy scale-like armor to protect himself, Shadow Blade to imitate his mother's ability to create weapons from shadows, and Fly because dragon. For Shadow-Touched, he has Invisibility and is taking Disguise Self as his mother was a master of Illusions.
He will be wielding a shadowy curved longsword that is shaped like a large dragon's claw(Pact of the Blade) and a shield. His eldritch blast summons shadowy dragon head that shoot black/purple bolts of energy from their mouths. He will also use the Summon Shadowspawn spell to summon a shadowy dragon. These two are manifestations of his draconic heritage amplified by his pact. Armor of Agathys, Darkness, Spirit Shroud, Vampiric Touch, Shadow of Moil, and Enervation are other spells he may take to continue the shadowy/cold theme while spells like Mirror Image, Fear, Hypnotic Pattern, Major Image, and Mislead fit the son of an illusion master theme.
The specters that the Hexblade conjures are going to be in the shape of shadowy dragon shades. For Invocations flavor, the Tomb of Levistus which will be his mother's shadowy ice powers protecting him (Still deciding if she will be a Shadow Silver or White dragon, love my cold dragons). Cloak of the Flies which will be reflavored as a shadowfell aura. One with Shadows is pretty self explanatory, as is Devil's Sight.
"Meddle not in the affairs of dragons, for thou art crunchy and taste good with ketchup."
Characters for Tenebris Sine Fine
RoughCoronet's Greater Wills
I had an idea for a fey warlock that was the first born child that was taken by their parent's patron when they became a warlock or when he was taken away and became a changling or whatever and they grew up as a fey child in the home of a lower powered fey and when the character decides to start adventuring the fey 'parent' shows up at really annoying times to give the chores or jobs or gifts and the character is just so frustrated when they show up all like 'Hiiiiii!' I dunno, I probably won't get around to playing it.
I had a concept once about a family based warlock as well.
The gist of it is a Feypact Chainlock who was born into a family who served said fey creature (we never got around to figuring out which one) but the entire concept was that the people had to train the first born child to take the place of the last one who held the position. The entire family is aware of this but tell the children nothing about it. A secret kept out of necessity. It's the How they get their familiar and seal their pact however that made the build and character disposition depressing. The warlock as a child selected a pet, years later when they're older they're told to do some task with vague wording and timing, this is setup so that they are completely unprepared when it is told to them that to secure their families safety for the next generation they are forced to ritually kill their beloved pet.
"Sometimes it isn't anything tangible they want. They don't care for such trivial matters of objects in space. They care more for the things that one can savor over a long lifetime and a thing hearkened back to long after relevance has faded. It's not blood, steel, gold, land or even souls. Sometimes what they truly desire is innocence."
The concept was met pretty well with the group as most people we know tend to downplay just how messed up fey creatures can be but ultimately I'm already gloomy enough as is. Maybe someone else can get some inspiration from it.
[Edit:] Felt I should clarify this, the Familiar was a custom built Displacer Beast, and this was also a level 6 character start. The full run of the concept at high level should have logically gone as far as the campaign would allow because bestowed gifts were how we were going to do the mystic arcanum.
Background was Spy I believe and the spells leaned heavily on abjuration and illusion.
"I once knew this fella, Aasimar raised in the Underdark. Was like a brother to me. When he escaped we couldn't take much with us. Poor, emaciated husks of the living we were. 'ts okay though. We survived and made our ways. I'll never forget the way the people from my home looked at us when we walked in the archway. Though, I'm frighteningly certain the feelings they would have, had they but the opportunity ta see us leave." --Manolovo the Traitor, Memoirs of a Scoundrel
I had vague ideas for a tabaxi trickster who doesn't yet realise his Cat Lord patron is actually a rakshasa poser
Tabaxi feylock with the faceless background who patterns themselves after a displacer beast.
You get another quote. This is such a great concept. The best snake oil salesman. This idea ratcheted up my excitement for the Genie Patron to the next level.
Supernatural fanboy incoming. I love the Celestial Patron and thinking about them like the angels in the show Supernatural. Sure, they may be lawful good, but they have no humanity and are cold AF. They regularly give a good warlock assignment's that really call their morals into question, expecting obedience for the "greater good". Alternatively, the celestial could have sought out a morally ambiguous warlock to do the tasks that they keep secret from their zealous followers.
I also love the kit that the Celestial gives a warlock, especially in conjunction with pact of the tome. A celestial tome pact warlock turns into a really interesting and impressive spellcaster.
I'm so glad people like the idea! I don't think I could do it justice myself -- I'm not good at RPing smooth talkers -- so I'm delighted to hear that others might give it a shot.
I really like the idea of a Celestial taking on a Warlock to do their dirty work because "the ends justify the means". That's a great idea. My first Warlock character was somewhat opposite of this -- she'd made a Fiend pact in order to escape the clutches of her controlling boyfriend and the evil cult of Baphomet he was part of, but all she wanted was to do good in the world (she's a literal social justice warrior). She just did it with lots of fire and brimstone. She started out as chaotic neutral but started shifting toward neutral good pretty quickly.
Oh I don't think I could RP that well either haha. I might have to roll it up though anyways because I've actually never played a warlock (I just love thinking about them) and the Genie has rocketed to my favorite patron alongside Celestial.
And that sounds like an awesome character to RP. The tension with the patron must have been great. I don't think enough characters start from a place of vulnerability. Everyone wants to be badass right out of the gate.
I'm so with you there. I want my characters to start out weak and ineffectual. I want them to experience the hero's journey from beginning to end! That's the most interesting story -- how they're transformed by their experiences, how they turn weaknesses into strengths, and how they overcome obstacles to reach their full potential.
If you start out as a badass, you're not leaving yourself anywhere to go from there but "more badass," which isn't really very interesting.
You should absolutely try playing a Warlock soon. They're huge fun.
My next character will be a wizard with 13 int who MCs into warlock. He's going to start off as a pretty weak wizard.
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
NICE hawk. An unskilled wizard who turns to dark forces for power perhaps? Excellent story potential for a character that doesn't have the stats to support the vocation they're chasing.
Where are all of the DnD characters full of self-doubt and loathing? Too many confident heros lol
gglibertine yes! A character is nothing without their arc. That first feeling of "I got this" is so euphoric. And the sitting at the edge of your seat every time trouble comes around? I need that.
No, he accidentally becomes a warlock lol. It's a tragic tale of fail, all the way around. You see he's a pretty poor wizard, and when his master dies (former red wizard, hunted down by her old compadres) he's left on his own. So he ends up as a wand for hire, and joins an adventuring party who can use his skills at ritual casting for detecting and identifying magic. He's got no attack cantrips, so he uses a mightly sling at level 1.
Meanwhile the party is exploring some ruins and the party splits up, as level 1 adventurers don't know any better. My "hero" finds his way into a chamber, and here he finds a succubus. Now this succubus is down on her luck as well. You see, she served Shami-Amourae (http://www.succubus.net/wiki/Shami-Amourae) and ended up cursed by Malcanthet and bound to the cultist chamber that the party was exploring. The curse was such that her form was bound to the chamber until she was judged worthy to enter the afterlife. So, the succubus planned to evade the curse by pacting a warlock and binding her lifeforce to some warlock's soul so when judged, she'd get to enter the afterlife. She figured that sucking some evil wizard into making a pact would be pretty easy.
Instead, after several hundred years of being trapped...she gets bumbling Haelan, although she doesn't know what his skills look like. She jumps at her chance, and pacts him up. He's not too bright, and even less wise and agrees. Then she realizes, he's a pretty crappy wizard and he worships the goddess of magic, so to get into the afterlife, she's got to help him look good to Mystra. She can grant him low levels of power, but she's only a CR4 succubus. She's not got a lot of power to /give/, and this isn't going to be the easy ride she thought. So, she ends up having to pray to Mystra herself to be granted power, to grant to Mystra's loyal wizard.
Mechanically, he'll be a wizard | warlock. After wizard 1, he'll go warlock for 5 straight levels, then pick up another level or two of wizard (illusion). I really want diviner, but I don't see him as smart enough for portent, so illusionist is. https://ddb.ac/characters/33829669/52GRaP
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
haha that's brilliant crzyhawk. I love the idea of weakish patron. Never thought about that before. Some great stuff.
This is my all time favorite book AND movie!! I absolutely love this idea!
My (fathomless) warlock grew up as a heir (along with his siblings) to a trade house. The house's patron is an entity from the depth of the ocean to grant their ships save passage and such (at least that is the official story). So he basically grew up as a warlock without realizing what that means/entails. He is ambitious to advance trade profits and house influence. However, he now slowly (throughout our campagn) uncovers that there is more to their patron and in order to prove his worth and alliance to his house, the patron asked more and more. It started by being the eyes and ears of the patron to sacrificing a magic items to the depth and ended with murdering an innocent teenager...