The roll20 character that I have been working on going to be a Warlock; however, he has no magic already, he is not particularly heroic, and there have not been any Warlocks in his family before.
He becomes a Warlock specifically because he wants the power to make his family name immortal, by becoming a hero and doing great deeds and living forever in song and story.
So how would somebody who has no real talent for anything, go about becoming a Warlock? He doesn't have the power to summon an entity to make a pact with and his family, although wealthy in the past, has not done anything that would attract the attention of powerful beings like Archfiends or an Archfey.
He is the last of his bloodline; there won't be another, so it's up to him.
I am having trouble coming up with how he becomes a Warlock in the first place.
Any thoughts
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A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
A Fiend/Old God/Archfey saw that my soul was up for sell and poof, now I am a warlock.
Since the process is completely made up, you can literally come up with anything you want.
I had thought about going down the route of "I don't know where these powers come from, I just woke up one morning and had them; but since I have them, I am going to use them to fulfil my dream."
seems a bit lazy though. Like I hadn't thought about my character at all.
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A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
A Fiend/Old God/Archfey saw that my soul was up for sell and poof, now I am a warlock.
Since the process is completely made up, you can literally come up with anything you want.
I had thought about going down the route of "I don't know where these powers come from, I just woke up one morning and had them; but since I have them, I am going to use them to fulfil my dream."
seems a bit lazy though. Like I hadn't thought about my character at all.
The important aspect of being a warlock is the pact. The pact that your character forges with a being that is capable of channeling power through your warlock.
It might help to focus further down the warlock list, and then work backwards. Which pact feels right? One related to a weapon? One in which they found a tome of secrets? One where they have a little buddy to assist them?
Maybe they found a medallion or amulet which was connected to the being. Maybe there is an inner spark not recognized by the character that the being can see and wishes to exploit. Maybe the character was promised to the being further down their bloodline and the being is now here to collect. Maybe the being was going to kill the character, but the character pleaded and the being decided to make use of them.
Waking up one day with powers would be more like a sorcerer.
Randomly waking up with powers feels more GoO than the others to me. Us mere mortals aren’t privy to the machinations of a GoO. All you know is that you must let this cat follow you around, this book to be filled with spells, or this blade to soak in blood.
There was a story in one of the books I enjoyed. A struggling tiefling trying to become a wizard, but she just didn't have the aptitude to do it. She then heard a voice, "Would you like the strength to compete with your peers?" She agreed, and suddenly could cast her spells.
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Formerly Devan Avalon.
Trying to get your physical content on Beyond is like going to Microsoft and saying "I have a physical Playstation disk, give me a digital Xbox version!"
Yeah, I like the idea of "I want to have magic, but I wasn't born with it, I am terrible at singing, I'm lazy and don't want to become a wizard because it's hard, I don't worship anyone, and I wasn't raised by wolves or bound to nature".
So, basically, you don't have magic any other way, you want magic, and you cheat to get it. You look up a ritual, or journey to a place that you can summon/communicate with an otherworldly power that can give you some magic, with a bit of a price for you.
Essentially, Wizards study, Sorcerers are born/changed with magic, Clerical/Paladin Deities award them with magic, Druids/Rangers are connected to nature, Bards get their magic from who knows where, and Artificers make their magic with inventions.
Warlocks cheat.
They don't have to put years of work into studying, don't have to worship anyone, don't have to go to another plane of existence, they don't have to follow any specific rules, but they do have to give a little something in return for magic.
It can be anything up to the DM, they give their soul, the pledge Fealty, they have to give the patron other people's souls, they have to kill a newt every weekend for some reason, or they have to recover an item for the patron.
Anything your DM decides is the price of magic is the right answer, but power isn't free. You have to give something.
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Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Yeah, I like the idea of "I want to have magic, but I wasn't born with it, I am terrible at singing, I'm lazy and don't want to become a wizard because it's hard, I don't worship anyone, and I wasn't raised by wolves or bound to nature".
So, basically, you don't have magic any other way, you want magic, and you cheat to get it. You look up a ritual, or journey to a place that you can summon/communicate with an otherworldly power that can give you some magic, with a bit of a price for you.
Essentially, Wizards study, Sorcerers are born/changed with magic, Clerical/Paladin Deities award them with magic, Druids/Rangers are connected to nature, Bards get their magic from who knows where, and Artificers make their magic with inventions.
Warlocks cheat.
They don't have to put years of work into studying, don't have to worship anyone, don't have to go to another plane of existence, they don't have to follow any specific rules, but they do have to give a little something in return for magic.
It can be anything up to the DM, they give their soul, the pledge Fealty, they have to give the patron other people's souls, they have to kill a newt every weekend for some reason, or they have to recover an item for the patron.
Anything your DM decides is the price of magic is the right answer, but power isn't free. You have to give something.
This is awesome.
The character discovers a manuscript that fell out of someone's pocket in the local tavern. The manuscript tells of a great and mighty being from the Shadowfell. It also tells how to get to the Shadowfell. Which arch or whatever to walk through at which specific time on which day.
(Details yet to be worked out)
Kind of like a puzzle.
The character doesn't expect anything to come of it but they like puzzles and so they take the manuscript and to their suprise, it works and they end up in the Shadowfell, where they meet an aspect of the Raven Queen, who demands payment for passing through her portal. What does she want? She wants memories. Fortunately the character is full of them because that's all he has left of his family and so as payment for passing through her portal, the Raven Queen takes some of his memories, but in return gives him the power to make new ones and returns him through the portal.
He wakes up the next day, in the ruins or something, missing some memories and with strange new powers. He doesn't know it at first, but he has just become a Warlock of the Raven Queen and he has been tasked with travelling the world and gathering memories for her. Every so often, she calls him back to her (at level up time) and take some of the memories that he has gathered on his journey to that point.
In return for the memories she grants him more power, enabling him to continue his journey and go on ever more grander adventures. To collect memories for his mistress of course, but along the way, he gets his wish as well as he eventually becomes a legendary hero, worthy of song and story.
Not sure if that is a good idea or not, but it's something I thought of when I read your comment and I kinda liked the idea.
That's a great idea, as long as your DM allows the Raven Queen patron. With this amount of thought going into it, I'd allow it, but it is up to the DM. If you want to be a Raven Queen Warlock and you're not allowed to have the UA subclass, I'd be a Hexblade or Undying Warlock.
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Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
It can be very easy to work in if it's the Fiend patron. Devils love to corrupt souls to fuel their never ending war against the abyssal demons. They have eyes and ears everywhere, waiting for humans to sign contracts.
Being immortalized in glory and by celebrating honor and valor of virtuous deeds might not signal yugoloths to come to you though. I have a feeling that when the stewards of the dead like Kelemvor or the ol' Seneshal of Death sentence your final resting place, you could end up in Celestia as an archon instead of the Nine Hells.
If his character was to glorify self for the sake of earthly and selfish deeds, to build up an image of pride to be worshipped like an idol. He could take favor to Zariel, who tasks her soldiers to forever hone their martial abilities.
I don't believe warlocks need to do great things to attract attention of their Patrons. In the Fiend scenario, the lore says even the weakest souls were valuable because they could be processed into obedient Lemures.... and I have feeling that a lot of the cursed +1 weapons are cursed heirlooms that players use as props to introduce their level 1 Hexblade warlock.
I have a question for you though, some people play Warlock to justify the Chaotic Evil playstyle. Is your character trying to do so?
I have a question for you though, some people play Warlock to justify the Chaotic Evil playstyle. Is your character trying to do so?
No actually, he isn't evil at all I don't think.
He wants to become a hero, not for himself specifically but for the honour and glory and valour of his bloodline and his family name. He wants to raise them up by doing great deeds, and becoming a hero, so they are remembered after he (the last of his bloodline) is gone, and there is no-one left to remember them except the bards who tell the tales of his deeds and his noble line.
So I would say that he is good perhaps?
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A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
I have a question for you though, some people play Warlock to justify the Chaotic Evil playstyle. Is your character trying to do so?
No actually, he isn't evil at all I don't think.
He wants to become a hero, not for himself specifically but for the honour and glory and valour of his bloodline and his family name. He wants to raise them up by doing great deeds, and becoming a hero, so they are remembered after he (the last of his bloodline) is gone, and there is no-one left to remember them except the bards who tell the tales of his deeds and his noble line.
So I would say that he is good perhaps?
In that case, I personally would suggest even going the other way... become a Celestial Warlock. You enter a Pact with an Angel, or maybe a Couatl to have the power and strength required to truly become a hero, and that way there isn't an edgy afterlife in Hell or the Abyss for you.
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Formerly Devan Avalon.
Trying to get your physical content on Beyond is like going to Microsoft and saying "I have a physical Playstation disk, give me a digital Xbox version!"
I had thought about going down the route of "I don't know where these powers come from, I just woke up one morning and had them; but since I have them, I am going to use them to fulfil my dream."
seems a bit lazy though. Like I hadn't thought about my character at all.
you could do that. But also come up with a reason why or how you gained these powers but your character is unaware and figuring out how you acquired them is part of your characters journey.
typically warlocks are just “ordinary” folks that have powers bestowed upon them via a patron. “I’d do anything to save my village from the rule of **insert evil person here**” then poof a little devil pops up on your shoulder “I can help you with that...” That is a pretty typical example.
But you could think of a way you unknowingly entered a pact with a patron.
The route to becoming a warlock depends entirely on your relationship with your patron. The core underlying principle is that the patron offers the would-be warlock power in exchange for something, usually a form of servitude. It's very rarely a case of "oops, I now have powers" (that's more the sorcerers's shtick)
Because each patron is quite unique, the process of forging a pact can vary greatly:
The Archfey - A powerful fey approaches you in the forest and offers you your wildest dreams in exchange for a moment of your time. It turns out that 'moment' is a the moment of a fey creature, which is basically eternity. They now own your entire future and you are their servant
The Celestial - In a moment of dire need, you reach out to a god, any god, and say "if you give me the power I need to make this right, I'll become your loyal agent". A god answers and you forge a deal.
The Fiend - See above, but with more fine print
The Great Old One - You discover an ancient tome that claims to offer the secrets of immense power. You complete the rituals and begin growing in arcane skill. Little do you know that your power comes from a bond forged with a creature beyond time and space. Also the creature doesn't know either, or more accurately, doesn't care; you're like a mite feeding off its scraps of dead skin
The Hexblade - A family relic is entrusted to you, along with a legend that it grants might power. The relic is a sword that acts as a conduit to a powerful being. The being makes you an offer; wield this blade and you will have power, but that power comes with a price. The being has goals of its own and you must help it as it helps you. Maybe your goals will align, maybe they won't
The Lurker in the Deep - Cast overboard in a shipwreck, you are discovered by a slumbering leviathan who will spare your life and grant you power of the waves in exchange for you becoming their emissary above the waters
The Noble Genie - A genie decides to give you more than just a wish, they decide to invest some of their power in you for some higher purpose.
The Undying - A creature that exists beyond the trivialities of life and death; a lich perhaps, sees potential in you and offers you some of their power of unlife in exchange for your service.
The point is that there's no one way a warlock gets their power, but it's almost always a choice. The choice may be coerced, or made without full knowledge of the consequences, but there's a choice. To have my power, you must do something for me.
If you want to play a "I woke up with magic" character, I'd recommend sorcerer.
- an archeologist who discovered a lost artifact that caught the attention of a Great Old One
-a young runaway who agreed to shelter a celestial being in her soul while it hides from deadly pursuers and recovers from its wounds
-a druid apprentice who wandered into the feywild and won the favor of a Fey Lord
And my current character and personal favorite- a vigilante who's part of an order of warlock warriors that actually imprisoned their fiend "patron" aeons ago and draw power from it against its will, using the powers of evil to work good in the world.
While not all those are especially relatable to the idea of a completely average person coming into power, what I mean to convey is that nearly any backstory you can think of can work and be really cool. One of the things I like most about sorcerers and warlocks is their backstories lend themselves to more of a "superhero origin story" style. You didn't just train really hard to get really good at fighting, or study hard to get really good at magic. Something happened to you that made you this way, and you get to determine what that was.
I always recommend people think of some of their favorite superheroes and how they got their powers for inspiration.
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Hi, guys
The roll20 character that I have been working on going to be a Warlock; however, he has no magic already, he is not particularly heroic, and there have not been any Warlocks in his family before.
He becomes a Warlock specifically because he wants the power to make his family name immortal, by becoming a hero and doing great deeds and living forever in song and story.
So how would somebody who has no real talent for anything, go about becoming a Warlock? He doesn't have the power to summon an entity to make a pact with and his family, although wealthy in the past, has not done anything that would attract the attention of powerful beings like Archfiends or an Archfey.
He is the last of his bloodline; there won't be another, so it's up to him.
I am having trouble coming up with how he becomes a Warlock in the first place.
Any thoughts
A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
A Fiend/Old God/Archfey saw that my soul was up for sell and poof, now I am a warlock.
Since the process is completely made up, you can literally come up with anything you want.
She/Her Player and Dungeon Master
I had thought about going down the route of "I don't know where these powers come from, I just woke up one morning and had them; but since I have them, I am going to use them to fulfil my dream."
seems a bit lazy though. Like I hadn't thought about my character at all.
A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
The important aspect of being a warlock is the pact. The pact that your character forges with a being that is capable of channeling power through your warlock.
It might help to focus further down the warlock list, and then work backwards. Which pact feels right? One related to a weapon? One in which they found a tome of secrets? One where they have a little buddy to assist them?
Maybe they found a medallion or amulet which was connected to the being. Maybe there is an inner spark not recognized by the character that the being can see and wishes to exploit. Maybe the character was promised to the being further down their bloodline and the being is now here to collect. Maybe the being was going to kill the character, but the character pleaded and the being decided to make use of them.
Waking up one day with powers would be more like a sorcerer.
Ghost Rider, Spawn, and The Crow could be conceptualists as Warlocks (among other things). Take inspiration from pop culture.
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Randomly waking up with powers feels more GoO than the others to me. Us mere mortals aren’t privy to the machinations of a GoO. All you know is that you must let this cat follow you around, this book to be filled with spells, or this blade to soak in blood.
There was a story in one of the books I enjoyed. A struggling tiefling trying to become a wizard, but she just didn't have the aptitude to do it. She then heard a voice, "Would you like the strength to compete with your peers?" She agreed, and suddenly could cast her spells.
Formerly Devan Avalon.
Trying to get your physical content on Beyond is like going to Microsoft and saying "I have a physical Playstation disk, give me a digital Xbox version!"
Yeah, I like the idea of "I want to have magic, but I wasn't born with it, I am terrible at singing, I'm lazy and don't want to become a wizard because it's hard, I don't worship anyone, and I wasn't raised by wolves or bound to nature".
So, basically, you don't have magic any other way, you want magic, and you cheat to get it. You look up a ritual, or journey to a place that you can summon/communicate with an otherworldly power that can give you some magic, with a bit of a price for you.
Essentially, Wizards study, Sorcerers are born/changed with magic, Clerical/Paladin Deities award them with magic, Druids/Rangers are connected to nature, Bards get their magic from who knows where, and Artificers make their magic with inventions.
Warlocks cheat.
They don't have to put years of work into studying, don't have to worship anyone, don't have to go to another plane of existence, they don't have to follow any specific rules, but they do have to give a little something in return for magic.
It can be anything up to the DM, they give their soul, the pledge Fealty, they have to give the patron other people's souls, they have to kill a newt every weekend for some reason, or they have to recover an item for the patron.
Anything your DM decides is the price of magic is the right answer, but power isn't free. You have to give something.
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Spells, Monsters, Subclasses, Races, Arcknight Class, Occultist Class, World, Enigmatic Esoterica forms
This is awesome.
The character discovers a manuscript that fell out of someone's pocket in the local tavern. The manuscript tells of a great and mighty being from the Shadowfell. It also tells how to get to the Shadowfell. Which arch or whatever to walk through at which specific time on which day.
(Details yet to be worked out)
Kind of like a puzzle.
The character doesn't expect anything to come of it but they like puzzles and so they take the manuscript and to their suprise, it works and they end up in the Shadowfell, where they meet an aspect of the Raven Queen, who demands payment for passing through her portal. What does she want? She wants memories. Fortunately the character is full of them because that's all he has left of his family and so as payment for passing through her portal, the Raven Queen takes some of his memories, but in return gives him the power to make new ones and returns him through the portal.
He wakes up the next day, in the ruins or something, missing some memories and with strange new powers. He doesn't know it at first, but he has just become a Warlock of the Raven Queen and he has been tasked with travelling the world and gathering memories for her. Every so often, she calls him back to her (at level up time) and take some of the memories that he has gathered on his journey to that point.
In return for the memories she grants him more power, enabling him to continue his journey and go on ever more grander adventures. To collect memories for his mistress of course, but along the way, he gets his wish as well as he eventually becomes a legendary hero, worthy of song and story.
Not sure if that is a good idea or not, but it's something I thought of when I read your comment and I kinda liked the idea.
A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
That's a great idea, as long as your DM allows the Raven Queen patron. With this amount of thought going into it, I'd allow it, but it is up to the DM. If you want to be a Raven Queen Warlock and you're not allowed to have the UA subclass, I'd be a Hexblade or Undying Warlock.
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Spells, Monsters, Subclasses, Races, Arcknight Class, Occultist Class, World, Enigmatic Esoterica forms
It can be very easy to work in if it's the Fiend patron. Devils love to corrupt souls to fuel their never ending war against the abyssal demons. They have eyes and ears everywhere, waiting for humans to sign contracts.
Being immortalized in glory and by celebrating honor and valor of virtuous deeds might not signal yugoloths to come to you though. I have a feeling that when the stewards of the dead like Kelemvor or the ol' Seneshal of Death sentence your final resting place, you could end up in Celestia as an archon instead of the Nine Hells.
If his character was to glorify self for the sake of earthly and selfish deeds, to build up an image of pride to be worshipped like an idol. He could take favor to Zariel, who tasks her soldiers to forever hone their martial abilities.
I don't believe warlocks need to do great things to attract attention of their Patrons. In the Fiend scenario, the lore says even the weakest souls were valuable because they could be processed into obedient Lemures.... and I have feeling that a lot of the cursed +1 weapons are cursed heirlooms that players use as props to introduce their level 1 Hexblade warlock.
I have a question for you though, some people play Warlock to justify the Chaotic Evil playstyle. Is your character trying to do so?
No actually, he isn't evil at all I don't think.
He wants to become a hero, not for himself specifically but for the honour and glory and valour of his bloodline and his family name. He wants to raise them up by doing great deeds, and becoming a hero, so they are remembered after he (the last of his bloodline) is gone, and there is no-one left to remember them except the bards who tell the tales of his deeds and his noble line.
So I would say that he is good perhaps?
A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
That sounds like an excellent backstory and reason for someone to become a Warlock!
In that case, I personally would suggest even going the other way... become a Celestial Warlock. You enter a Pact with an Angel, or maybe a Couatl to have the power and strength required to truly become a hero, and that way there isn't an edgy afterlife in Hell or the Abyss for you.
Formerly Devan Avalon.
Trying to get your physical content on Beyond is like going to Microsoft and saying "I have a physical Playstation disk, give me a digital Xbox version!"
you could do that. But also come up with a reason why or how you gained these powers but your character is unaware and figuring out how you acquired them is part of your characters journey.
typically warlocks are just “ordinary” folks that have powers bestowed upon them via a patron. “I’d do anything to save my village from the rule of **insert evil person here**” then poof a little devil pops up on your shoulder “I can help you with that...” That is a pretty typical example.
But you could think of a way you unknowingly entered a pact with a patron.
The route to becoming a warlock depends entirely on your relationship with your patron. The core underlying principle is that the patron offers the would-be warlock power in exchange for something, usually a form of servitude. It's very rarely a case of "oops, I now have powers" (that's more the sorcerers's shtick)
Because each patron is quite unique, the process of forging a pact can vary greatly:
The point is that there's no one way a warlock gets their power, but it's almost always a choice. The choice may be coerced, or made without full knowledge of the consequences, but there's a choice. To have my power, you must do something for me.
If you want to play a "I woke up with magic" character, I'd recommend sorcerer.
Find my D&D Beyond articles here
Warlocks I've played/played with have included
- an archeologist who discovered a lost artifact that caught the attention of a Great Old One
-a young runaway who agreed to shelter a celestial being in her soul while it hides from deadly pursuers and recovers from its wounds
-a druid apprentice who wandered into the feywild and won the favor of a Fey Lord
And my current character and personal favorite- a vigilante who's part of an order of warlock warriors that actually imprisoned their fiend "patron" aeons ago and draw power from it against its will, using the powers of evil to work good in the world.
While not all those are especially relatable to the idea of a completely average person coming into power, what I mean to convey is that nearly any backstory you can think of can work and be really cool. One of the things I like most about sorcerers and warlocks is their backstories lend themselves to more of a "superhero origin story" style. You didn't just train really hard to get really good at fighting, or study hard to get really good at magic. Something happened to you that made you this way, and you get to determine what that was.
I always recommend people think of some of their favorite superheroes and how they got their powers for inspiration.