Warlocks are granted their magical abilities from their Patron, and hearing that Warlocks will not pick their Patron until 3rd level, surprised me, but i wanted to wait for the new 2024 PHB to come out, so I could see how the Authors described the class and how they would work not having magic until 3rd level.

To my surprise, the new Warlock description does not address how a Warlock has Magic before their Patron gives it to them.

The description states that Warlocks start reading some Tomes, or dabbling in some invocations, or visiting places of great power to the Patrons, then just states "in no time", as in 2 levels, they are in a pact with a Patron.

But... how does a standard character with no magical abilities, is suddenly able to cast magic at level 1?

Do any of you know how this is supposed to work, flavor-wise?

Before when you created a warlock, part of creating the character was determining what drove this character into a binding pact with a Patron.
Now, I guess they don't need the Patron, they are like sorcerers that just 'have magic', and then later they can choose a Patron to "Bolster" their power.

I'm really confused of how to create a Warlock now, and Warlocks used to be one of my Favorite classes.

The main question is... If a Warlock has Magic before they are in a Pact with a Patron, then where does this Magic come from?

Thoughts?

I don't know if this is how it's intended, but it's how I'll do it. They always have that Patron, but at L3 it's revealed to them who that mysterious Patron is. In meta terms, the player picks at L3, but in-game, the character gets the Patron straightaway (along with some of its magic), and finds out exactly who it is at L3 (assuming they want to roleplay it that way - I'm flexible that if a player wants to have the character find out earlier or later, then that's a possibility).

Quote from Laird_Denton >>

Warlocks are granted their magical abilities from their Patron, and hearing that Warlocks will not pick their Patron until 3rd level, surprised me, but i wanted to wait for the new 2024 PHB to come out, so I could see how the Authors described the class and how they would work not having magic until 3rd level.

To my surprise, the new Warlock description does not address how a Warlock has Magic before their Patron gives it to them.

The description states that Warlocks start reading some Tomes, or dabbling in some invocations, or visiting places of great power to the Patrons, then just states "in no time", as in 2 levels, they are in a pact with a Patron.

But... how does a standard character with no magical abilities, is suddenly able to cast magic at level 1?

Do any of you know how this is supposed to work, flavor-wise?

Before when you created a warlock, part of creating the character was determining what drove this character into a binding pact with a Patron.
Now, I guess they don't need the Patron, they are like sorcerers that just 'have magic', and then later they can choose a Patron to "Bolster" their power.

I'm really confused of how to create a Warlock now, and Warlocks used to be one of my Favorite classes.

The main question is... If a Warlock has Magic before they are in a Pact with a Patron, then where does this Magic come from?

Thoughts?

 Easy... That edgy teen over in the corner playing with pentacles & candles and reading a book on dark magics and realized that they too can shoot an eldritch blast from their fingers. While using a rapier with their personality.  So kind of like a paladin but with a bit more edge. 

I'm just going to play it the way I play every other class that doesn't get their subclass until level 3: choose the subclass when I create the character and say that's where they always got their power. To me it's no different then a fighter who suddenly realises what type of fighter they are despite being a warrior for years or a druid suddenly realising which bit of nature they get their powers from, it's purely a mechanical thing and I don't understand why people get so hung up on this particular class needing it's subclass at the start

I think this is only limited by the DM's and Player's creativity. There are many different options.

 A player can choose the Patron they want for their warlock before the game starts, and then simply select that Patron mechanically at Level 3. In this way it would be no different than 2014e because you're still choosing your Patron at Level 1, there just aren't specific mechanics tied to it yet.

The Character could have had some live-changing event where in a moment of fear or rage or whatever they subconsciously give themselves to a Patron, and then at Level 3 they are told explicitly who their Patron is and what the "pact" is. Think of Ford from Critical Role. Or, like Linklite stated, maybe they did make a conscious pact with an otherworldly being didn't know what it was specifically until Level 3, knowing what the Pact was at Level 1 but not the Patron.

Then there can be what you say is described in the book. Maybe the Character is looking to make a pact with a specific Patron so they travel to their temples or places of importance to that Patron, they read tomes and perform magic rituals to try to reach out to that entity, they dabble in what invocations they find in books dedicated to that entity, etc, and finally at Level 3 they have gotten the attention of that entity enough that the Patron approaches the Character for a Pact.

Another could be that a certain entity is trying to attract the Character because of something that has to do with the story, or the entity needs help with something (to gather followers, to be freed from something, to further their plans, etc) and so they start giving a desperate Character a taste of the magic and power they could hold, and then at Level 3 approaches them and says "I can give you more, but you must pledge yourself to me", etc.

Those are just a few ideas off the top of my head.

As I see it, you enter into the pact at first level - but you need to prove your loyalty to unlock anything special for that pact. Whatever great overlord you are serving is willing to give you some provisional, generic powers, but has not decided if you are a good enough servant to warrant it granting you the unique abilities associated with its domain.

In gameplay, this is not that hard to enact.  For a person who knows what subclass they will be, you just have the patron for that subclass string them along, promising them greater and unique power if they can prove themselves.  For someone who does not know what subclass they will be, you do as Linklite suggests and reveal the patron when they subclass - and justify the generic abilities as the patron trying to hide the nature of their power until they wish to reveal themselves fully.

During the playtest process, one way suggested was that the Warlock might have made pacts with lesser entities before committing to their main pact. 

The other suggestions above also work.

Don’t let yourself feel constrained by the mechanics; there’s lots of ways to make them fit with your character’s story. 

One of my characters was a Swarmkeeper Orc, whose Ranger magic came from his swarm even before obtaining his subclass. 

This isn't a problem specific to the Warlock, either.  Sorcerers also have to deal with this now in a big way, and clerics and maybe paladins to a slightly lesser extent.

I think the biggest thing is thinking of it in terms of you, the player, choosing the subclass at level 3, not the character.  And, as said above, there's nothing stopping you from making that choice earlier.  Once that's done, it's not particularly hard to come up with a lore reason why your subclass powers don't "come online" until level 3.  Many are posted above.

Well, the class description says “They often begin their search for magical power by delving into tomes of forbidden lore, dabbling in invocations meant to attract the power of extraplanar beings, or seeking places of power where the influence of these beings can be felt.”

So those first 2 levels, they aren’t getting things from their patron, they’re finding bits of forbidden lore and figuring out how to use them on their own. Then after they prove themselves as a promising intern, some otherworldly being decides it’s worth hiring them on full time.

It could actually make it a bit more interesting to play out. A little session between he DM and warlock player where they discuss terms of the deal. It might actually force the patron to have more of a personali, and help better establish the relationship as both DM and player will be involved in making it. 

Thank you all for the different options and thoughts around this!

Believe me, I totally understand how to work around the limited description of how Warlocks get to become an actual Warlock, and many of the options suggested above are great, but in D&D's eyes, they don't state how a Warlock get's their powers other than the mention of possible "Tomes", "Dabbling in Invocations" or "seeking places of power", so are we to assume that all Warlocks are more of a Wizard for the first two levels, and they are getting their magic from their studies?

Depending on the Character I am creating I'll most likely go the route of;
The character wants to become a powerful warlock, and they taught themselves some magical abilities, and something during their first two levels draws the attention of a Patron.

I dislike the thought of 'patrons are just randomly handing out magic to people in the world, hoping one of them gets addicted to the power enough, like a drug, that they need a bigger fix and make the Pact with a Patron'.
What would a Patron's Success rate be... Handing magic out to hundreds of people hoping one of them is willing to sell their soul, but there are still hundreds of people now with access to the Patron's Magic... seems odd.

Anyway... I want to see how creative people get in order to explain this gap in class content and development.

Cheers :)

Quote from Laird_Denton >>

Before when you created a warlock, part of creating the character was determining what drove this character into a binding pact with a Patron.
Now, I guess they don't need the Patron, they are like sorcerers that just 'have magic', and then later they can choose a Patron to "Bolster" their power.

I'm really confused of how to create a Warlock now, and Warlocks used to be one of my Favorite classes.

The main question is... If a Warlock has Magic before they are in a Pact with a Patron, then where does this Magic come from?

Thoughts?

 It's pretty clear to me. Level 1:

Pact Magic

Through occult ceremony, you have formed a pact with a mysterious entity to gain magical powers. The entity is a voice in the shadows—its identity unclear—but its boon to you is concrete: the ability to cast spells.

That "mysterious entity" could be initial contact with your Patron, or it might be a servant of your Patron, or it could even be something else entirely - that's between you and your DM to determine - but either way, you need that first pact to get access to spells.

They should have just given everyone their subclass at 1st level. It's not like we pick subraces (sorry, subspecies) at 3rd level.

The choice to standardise subclasses at level 3 was deliberate, to allow new players (or players trying a class for the first time) to get used to core clsss features before having to deal with the subclass features. (Species variants are generally much less impactful than subclasses.)

For players who already know which patron they want, there are other ways to represent that prior to 3rd level, including spell choice and backgrounds, as well as backstory and role playing. For example, I have an idea for a Celestial Patron warlock with the Acolyte background. 

There's also the fact that JC said their intention was for experienced players to just start at level 3 anyway.  Levels 1 and 2 seem to be geared more towards newer players, so the decision was made to not throw too much, mechanics-wise, at them at once.

That's fine for homebrew campaigns, but kinda sucks for published ones - they either skip the levels and cut out newbies/completionists, include the levels and go against that philosophy, or they make them throwaway levels which waste space that can't be dedicated to advancing the plot.

Anyways, I'm going off-topic since it's meant to be about Warlocks lol

Quote from Laird_Denton >>

 

 

I'm really confused of how to create a Warlock now, and Warlocks used to be one of my Favorite classes.

 

 You don't need a book to dictate whether you can play a class you enjoy or not. I mean.. follow the rules but if there are none, make them up. Tabletop roleplaying is cooperative storytelling, making $hit up, and being imaginative. What happened to the imaginative part (the single most important thing of a TTRPG) of the game? Are we truly at a time where if the book and rules don't say how, I'm not allowed to use my imagination?

So an Acolyte gets magic initiate (cleric) because they hang out at a church. A Sage gets Magic Initiate (wizard) because they read books. So they can cast spells. Presumably before level one due to their background. Why would a prospective warlock be different?

Why does a character become a warlock? They seek power (typically but other reasons can be there as well). So they dabble in the occult etc and, like horror movie teenagers using an ouija board, tap into “something”. It could be your patron or other mystical or magical powers (levels 1 & 2). It’s a fantasy game after all. And your growing power attracts a patron’s attention and they, or whatever mystical or magical power you tapped into (GOO Warlock) starts to grant you greater power than the little that you have already manifested (level 3+)

Edit: for me, the powers you have at levels 1 & 2 could be with no patron at all, seeing how easy magic is to come by in D&D. And if you MC out of Warlock before then it really doesn’t matter. 

Quote from sabin76 >>

This isn't a problem specific to the Warlock, either.  Sorcerers also have to deal with this now in a big way, and clerics and maybe paladins to a slightly lesser extent.

I think the biggest thing is thinking of it in terms of you, the player, choosing the subclass at level 3, not the character.  And, as said above, there's nothing stopping you from making that choice earlier.  Once that's done, it's not particularly hard to come up with a lore reason why your subclass powers don't "come online" until level 3.  Many are posted above.

 Sorcerer is easy. Their magic is innate they can cast spells because of this. It’s only when they get to level three that the exact origin of their subclass becomes evident.

If you know you want to go Draconic from level 1, great go ahead, you just don’t sprout scales until level 3

Quote from ThriKreenWarrior >>

Quote from sabin76 >>

This isn't a problem specific to the Warlock, either.  Sorcerers also have to deal with this now in a big way, and clerics and maybe paladins to a slightly lesser extent.

I think the biggest thing is thinking of it in terms of you, the player, choosing the subclass at level 3, not the character.  And, as said above, there's nothing stopping you from making that choice earlier.  Once that's done, it's not particularly hard to come up with a lore reason why your subclass powers don't "come online" until level 3.  Many are posted above.

 Sorcerer is easy. Their magic is innate they can cast spells because of this. It’s only when they get to level three that the exact origin of their subclass becomes evident.

If you know you want to go Draconic from level 1, great go ahead, you just don’t sprout scales until level 3

 I agree.  My point was that if it's doable for sorcerers, then it's doable for warlocks.