I'm listening to the latest Dragoncast podcast and the Lore You Should Know segment discussed unique warlock patrons. It got me thinking about patrons and their machinations that a warlock at my table, who hasn't really defined his patron yet, might have mad a pact with. What pacts have you, or one of your PCs made?
Personally, I like the archfey patron for the warlock. Kind of mysterious. I have never thought about a precise personality for the patron, but i'd like to think it as an arch-satyr. He likes jokes, adventures, collector of musical instruments.
The first thing to say is the selection of the patron doesn't define your alignment necessarily. You can have a pact with a powerful fiend but sill you can be a good person (check the Erin Evan's novels).
Then you can ask the player this question: Who his your patron and what does he/she/it want? (the player might lie about this, according to his/her agenda)
The player's roleplaying should go around the patron and his influence on the character.
The most detailed I got with a warlock patron, which isn't saying much, is an NPC I made. He was supposed to be a helper, but the stereotypical creepy warlock. He had a Great Old One patron who was out for human blood in particular. In my setting, human souls were used to forge the angels, so human blood was the only thing that would satiate it. When this NPC failed to get sacrifices for a while, the patron attacked the party through this guy. What I didn't plan on was one of the PCs taking up the pact to stop the patron.
Now I had a good PC with an old god patron who wanted human blood. So a noble sacrifice warlock? I never put a name to it before.
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A professional engineer and amateur writer who has played D&D since 2015 (started with 5e) and has been a DM more than a player. When I'm not playing god I'm usually your friendly neighborhood rogue.
I'm working on making a fmale warlock and one of the many patrons im trying to choose from is a ancient dragon, yes it is homebrew but oh my the fun possibilities.
I have a fighter who is just about to make a pact with a sentient weapon he is wielding. I don't have much info what kind of pact it will be, as I have not yet in our latest game had the chance to forge the pact actually. But to say something about it, it collected a "soul" of an ancient evil earlier, and in our latest game, unleashed and consumed the soul and fired a gargantuan laser at a godlike creature, think of Chrono Trigger and Frog and the Masamune. The weapon is growing stronger everytime we fight a major boss fight, and just recently started to speak.
So in game sense, Hexblade Patron of some sort, remains to be seen in the future :)
Edit: Oh and previously I was a Bronze Dragonborn, and the weapon turned me into Void Dragonborn, psychic resistance and breath weapon.
My Warlock Erizel was the daughter of a Hathran (Witch) who failed to manifest any magical talents to the displeasure of her mother, who had received portents and prophecies that her daughter would become a powerful witch. Her mother enrolled her into the New Rashemi Secret Service and gifted her with a mask. It was during Erizel's training that she met a mysterious Archfey, who requested that Erizel refer to her as Patron (for names have power and true names should only be revealed when the recipient is ready).
Erizel was sent away on a mission in the guise of a travelling Librarian, she had not revealed her magic to her mother at this time. After meeting up with an adventuring party, she helped them before returning home to reveal that she was now a woman of power, worthy of the mask she had been given. Her mother was overjoyed that Erizel was to become initiated into the mysteries and gave her a family heirloom the Rod of Ancient Days ( Rod of the Pact Keeper+2), which to her mothers amazement manifested power as soon as it was handed to Erizel.
The mysterious Archfey patron was allied with Fate and later revealed herself to be Lezire the Lady of Time and Shadow, the future/past ultimate self of Erizel. It had been necessary for Lezire to conceal her true identity as she has many other warlocks called Erizel, in different planes and times and at least one has to survive to perform the rituals of apotheosis and ascension to become Fey and Archfey. The remaining warlocks perform a vital function, anchoring essential points in time and shadow, working for Fate and other Archfey, all towards the multifaceted plans of Lezire.
In my games there's been a few Warlock pacts, and each have taken different forms when it comes to specific patrons.
My main character was a demonic pact that he rallied against (since it was the family business). He doesn't know the specific patron, but the DM had his brother (who embraced the power) show up as one of our (many character-driven) antagonists that dropped hints so I could solve it. Of course, then one of our other characters did something so world-changingly magnificent that, it has been imparted to me, there's been a reshuffling, so who once owned that pact is now unknown (and the brother? Not quite so in favor any more...).
This character also ended up with the Undying Light. After he got his soul back (via soul stone), there was no way to fully protect it from demons/his family getting it back using the same ritual he did. Along comes a dragon, with a way to shield his soul using the Undying Light...in exchange for 10 years of service. I know the name of this golden dragon, and (coinciding with our group shrinking) our missions becoming more political and social in nature. Obviously the Undying Light isn't the dragon, but that access was good enough to re-introduce an interesting (infuriating) NPC as my patron.
There was a brief game where another player in a seafaring campaign had a guild merchant background, so they decided their female warlock got the Archfey pact because she was married into the Archfey's family (to secure the trade alliance). She had, being so clever, won her dominance in the marriage and kept his power as a reminder that this fey lord? Can't remarry AND has lost status among the court to a mortal. The player knew the husband's name but kept it a secret (except to the DM), but there was a low level tension as her husband was stewing and obviously plotting against her (and the party). Sadly, we never got to see that one resolve (I think it would've been rather fun).
Then there's a small monsters game we've got running. A friend is playing a goblin using a homebrew Fungal Lord pact, serving the Fungus Queen Zuggtmoy. She loves it and the unique flavors she gets to give Warlock spells (Hunger of Hadar involves a lot of writhing mushroom caps), and though she has no direct communication with Zuggtmoy, the "signs of the fungus" inspire her character on what to do and how to live her life (which may or may not have led to us all running from hordes of undead and a beholder--okay, it was may. And it was hilarious).
Basically for us our patrons boil down to what we want to play, some backstory, and how the DM wants to interpret it. If your character knows what kind of Warlock they want to play (fiend, great old one, etc), and you know their backstory, you can fiddle with different patron appearances--and interactions--until you get what feels right for you, your story, and the player. Patrons can be as interactive (or not) as you want, just as long as you both have fun with it.
My Warlock Erizel was the daughter of a Hathran (Witch) who failed to manifest any magical talents to the displeasure of her mother, who had received portents and prophecies that her daughter would become a powerful witch. Her mother enrolled her into the New Rashemi Secret Service and gifted her with a mask. It was during Erizel's training that she met a mysterious Archfey, who requested that Erizel refer to her as Patron (for names have power and true names should only be revealed when the recipient is ready).
Erizel was sent away on a mission in the guise of a travelling Librarian, she had not revealed her magic to her mother at this time. After meeting up with an adventuring party, she helped them before returning home to reveal that she was now a woman of power, worthy of the mask she had been given. Her mother was overjoyed that Erizel was to become initiated into the mysteries and gave her a family heirloom the Rod of Ancient Days ( Rod of the Pact Keeper+2), which to her mothers amazement manifested power as soon as it was handed to Erizel.
The mysterious Archfey patron was allied with Fate and later revealed herself to be Lezire the Lady of Time and Shadow, the future/past ultimate self of Erizel. It had been necessary for Lezire to conceal her true identity as she has many other warlocks called Erizel, in different planes and times and at least one has to survive to perform the rituals of apotheosis and ascension to become Fey and Archfey. The remaining warlocks perform a vital function, anchoring essential points in time and shadow, working for Fate and other Archfey, all towards the multifaceted plans of Lezire.
You are your own patron?!
boom *mindblown* That's a great and amazing twist! did you work that out with your DM or did he spring it on you? That's totally the sort of thing I'd love to be able to spring on a player, or have sprung on me as a player.
For my recent homebrew campaign, I used The Fiend patron but renamed it to be a secret society known as The Magitek Coalition - I reflavored all my warlock's spells to be technological manifestations of magic, declaring him to be a "Technomancer." No mechanical changes, but it certainly makes for an interesting character. He doesn't have any real magical ability himself, but his magitech tricks allow him to appear that he does. But, his technology comes directly from the Coalition, so he's on something of a technological leash.
Basically, my guy, Quentin Dancer, is a special agent of the coalition, called one of the "Magitek Bloodhounds." The Coalition was hired by the kingdom to investigate the disappearance of something potentially embarrassing to the royal family, but to be discreet about it, and so they sent Dancer in as one of their agents.
I made a Rogue/Monk with an assassin background. I actually had him stumble into the pact ceremony and the arch fey patron was more interested in the R/M rather than the wizard. I'm playing it off as the patron will want the R/M to assassinate the her rivals and in so doing will give him power/longer life.
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PbP Character: Stribog Northson(Zendikar/Eberron) "Why chase them when a bolt of lightening goes so much faster"
PbP Character: Vilk Dusza (The Peak's of Winter's Hold)
My Forgotten realms halfling warlock (gloom Pact hexblade, 4e) had Drasek Riven, minor God of Shadow, as a patron for a while. That was interesting.
A player in a campaign I run has basically the lady of the lake as his patron, and carries Caledfwlch (Excalibur). The Lady is a Tuatha de Danann, possibly one of The Morrigan's sisters.
I've been wanting to play a warlock that has someone from the far realm as a patron, but who is trying to stop the far realm from spilling over. I might make him an NPC for the group I dm tho.
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I don't like quotations, tell me what you know. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
I'm working with a warlock who homebrewed his own patron using Moradin. He has a backstory where the character was a child and being used in a ceremony to access Moradin so the god's enemies could harm him in some way, and the child was hit with the spark from Moradin's forge and accidentally became a warlock. He is dual-classing as a cleric so he can play it off, but he renamed a bunch of the existing Warlock features and uses them together. Right now, he's having a change in his pact from pact of the blade to pact of the tome due to Moradin's desire that he teach/learn more than fight.
It was my own idea and my DM liked the concept. It was pretty organic, as at first my Patron was just a generic Archfey, then an idea that I had and another in the old Wizards forums about the Patron being their future self. Then I spoke with Laura my DM got some great mileage with my Patron, she had my party do some work for the Fate Sisters and we have been to some scary places in the multiverse.
I've got an NPC the party is dealing with that has the Great Old One patron. That Great Old One however is an Illithid Elder Brain. This is the biggest and oldest elder brain in the ruins of what was once a huge metropolis. PCs and the world doesn't even know it exists yet. Going to be a lot of fun revealing that to them all through this NPC and others.
I'm working on a new character who wanted to be a wizard but was excluded from formal magic study (illegitimate half-elf of a noble house, etc). He was apprenticed in a great library instead, where he skulked and pried in search of any knowledge of the arcane he could get his hands on. Eventually he discovers a hidden book... of family history, which looks very ordinary. He almost puts it back but notices a family tree with his great-grandfather's name crossed out, and a mysterious note mentioning how he was outcast for dabbling in "dark secrets" he uncovered in distant lands. Curious, he turns to the entry for his great-grandfather, and when he looks into the eyes of his portrait he feels a strange jolt of energy and an awareness that he is being watched. Unnerved, he puts the book down and leaves, only to discover it waiting by his bedside the next morning after a series of disturbing dreams.
When he opens the book this time, the contents have changed, revealing an incomplete diary of his great-grandfather with a message addressed to "one of my worthy descendents" whom he hopes will continue his work. At the end are a few instructions for simple spells...
In short, my character makes a pact with a Great Old One through his family history, perhaps inheriting the curse of continuing to serve its ambitions... but he believes he is learning Elven magic through his family bloodline. I plan to go Pact of the Tome and get the Book of Secrets invocation, so I'm using the book as his connection to his powers. I had originally planned to go with the Archfey as a family bloodline thing but sort of included that thematically while going for the G.O.O. abilities. I'm also thinking of Tom Riddle's diary in Harry Potter, where the book reveals new writing as he progresses.
I created a Great Old One Warlock. My original idea for it was just to be a kind of skill monkey character, but as I read the GOO abilities and Pact abilities I formed a completely different character. I don't have a name for my patron, but the idea is that it feeds on knowledge, especially hidden knowledge. So, of course, my character now wishes to trade in knowledge. The more secrets I can get out of an NPC (or PC for that matter), or the more I can discover about forgotten histories, the more power I can feed to my Patron and in turn gain more power to reveal more secrets to feed it and gain more power to.... The halfling explodes in a shower of raw amorphous knowledge.
My Book of Shadows has the words "How to Cast Friends and Influence People" embossed on the cover.
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Welcome to the Grand Illusion, come on in and see what's happening, pay the price, get your ticket for the show....
I played a drow warlock, Great Old One patron before. She was a drow exiled from her noble house for forsaking Lolth, and was thrown out and expected to be eaten by illithids. However, something happened in which the power of her future patron awoke and then guided her out of the Underdark alive. It was because certain circumstances in her life and the life of her patron were in parallel, so it was as if their destinies were entwined. Her patron turns out to be an entity from the Far Realm hiding from certain beings out there but is like a quasi-benevolent world serpent/ouroboros creature who learns about the outer world through her warlock.
I might play an Undying patron warlock someday. I happened to come across some Forgotten Realms lore about good-aligned liches and thought it might be an interesting idea for a patron to be one of them. In one of the 5e published adventures, one makes an appearance, I won't say who because spoilers but it's a memorable encounter that confuses the lights out of many adventurers.
It might make for some dramatic campaign ideas. For example, your warlock's patron is Rhaugilath the Ageless, the lawful good brother and unwilling servant of Larloch (both of whom are liches). Perhaps Rhaugilath managed to secretly make a pact with your warlock, and after some time your warlock is now tasked with breaking him out of Larloch's clutches!
Perhaps your warlock made a pact with a baelnorn lich who was found in the ruins of Myth Drannor still clutching a very powerful elven artifact that becomes central to the plot.
The Undying patron warlock seems like someone slowly slipping into some state of quasi-undeath, which I like to interpret as your warlock's patron actually infusing your warlock's soul with some of their own "deathlessness" that is meant to grow within you. This likely would raise the ire of a staunch hater of the undead. As well as if you reveal your power comes from a powerful undead being. It may take awhile to convince your cleric, druid, or paladin friend that your lich buddy is not evil or does not eat souls.
Of course, the undying patron is not limited to a powerful undead being.
Fiend: Generally the pacts have to do with corrupting the warlock or spreading corruption
The Archfey: While individually unique most of these pacts I build around either the fey gaining power or manipulation over another. (One of my fave ones forced a player to find hags and not stop them but just check up on them and find out what they are up too if possible. But..she got tossed in a pot by a Night Hag and boiled so....ya)
Great Old Ones: These are the weird ones, I've had things like eating a coin a day, or the elder gods using the warlock to come closer to the material realm to even just living vicariously through the warlock.
The Undying: Depending on the power level of the Undying I usually recommend this one if I want a Sith/Apprentice feal for my players.
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I'm listening to the latest Dragoncast podcast and the Lore You Should Know segment discussed unique warlock patrons. It got me thinking about patrons and their machinations that a warlock at my table, who hasn't really defined his patron yet, might have mad a pact with. What pacts have you, or one of your PCs made?
Personally, I like the archfey patron for the warlock. Kind of mysterious. I have never thought about a precise personality for the patron, but i'd like to think it as an arch-satyr. He likes jokes, adventures, collector of musical instruments.
The first thing to say is the selection of the patron doesn't define your alignment necessarily. You can have a pact with a powerful fiend but sill you can be a good person (check the Erin Evan's novels).
Then you can ask the player this question: Who his your patron and what does he/she/it want? (the player might lie about this, according to his/her agenda)
The player's roleplaying should go around the patron and his influence on the character.
Definitely agree with filcat.
The most detailed I got with a warlock patron, which isn't saying much, is an NPC I made. He was supposed to be a helper, but the stereotypical creepy warlock. He had a Great Old One patron who was out for human blood in particular. In my setting, human souls were used to forge the angels, so human blood was the only thing that would satiate it. When this NPC failed to get sacrifices for a while, the patron attacked the party through this guy. What I didn't plan on was one of the PCs taking up the pact to stop the patron.
Now I had a good PC with an old god patron who wanted human blood. So a noble sacrifice warlock? I never put a name to it before.
A professional engineer and amateur writer who has played D&D since 2015 (started with 5e) and has been a DM more than a player. When I'm not playing god I'm usually your friendly neighborhood rogue.
I'm working on making a fmale warlock and one of the many patrons im trying to choose from is a ancient dragon, yes it is homebrew but oh my the fun possibilities.
I have a fighter who is just about to make a pact with a sentient weapon he is wielding. I don't have much info what kind of pact it will be, as I have not yet in our latest game had the chance to forge the pact actually. But to say something about it, it collected a "soul" of an ancient evil earlier, and in our latest game, unleashed and consumed the soul and fired a gargantuan laser at a godlike creature, think of Chrono Trigger and Frog and the Masamune. The weapon is growing stronger everytime we fight a major boss fight, and just recently started to speak.
So in game sense, Hexblade Patron of some sort, remains to be seen in the future :)
Edit: Oh and previously I was a Bronze Dragonborn, and the weapon turned me into Void Dragonborn, psychic resistance and breath weapon.
Hexblade looks pretty fun going to be making a lawful evil character!
My Warlock Erizel was the daughter of a Hathran (Witch) who failed to manifest any magical talents to the displeasure of her mother, who had received portents and prophecies that her daughter would become a powerful witch. Her mother enrolled her into the New Rashemi Secret Service and gifted her with a mask. It was during Erizel's training that she met a mysterious Archfey, who requested that Erizel refer to her as Patron (for names have power and true names should only be revealed when the recipient is ready).
Erizel was sent away on a mission in the guise of a travelling Librarian, she had not revealed her magic to her mother at this time. After meeting up with an adventuring party, she helped them before returning home to reveal that she was now a woman of power, worthy of the mask she had been given. Her mother was overjoyed that Erizel was to become initiated into the mysteries and gave her a family heirloom the Rod of Ancient Days ( Rod of the Pact Keeper+2), which to her mothers amazement manifested power as soon as it was handed to Erizel.
The mysterious Archfey patron was allied with Fate and later revealed herself to be Lezire the Lady of Time and Shadow, the future/past ultimate self of Erizel. It had been necessary for Lezire to conceal her true identity as she has many other warlocks called Erizel, in different planes and times and at least one has to survive to perform the rituals of apotheosis and ascension to become Fey and Archfey. The remaining warlocks perform a vital function, anchoring essential points in time and shadow, working for Fate and other Archfey, all towards the multifaceted plans of Lezire.
In my games there's been a few Warlock pacts, and each have taken different forms when it comes to specific patrons.
My main character was a demonic pact that he rallied against (since it was the family business). He doesn't know the specific patron, but the DM had his brother (who embraced the power) show up as one of our (many character-driven) antagonists that dropped hints so I could solve it. Of course, then one of our other characters did something so world-changingly magnificent that, it has been imparted to me, there's been a reshuffling, so who once owned that pact is now unknown (and the brother? Not quite so in favor any more...).
This character also ended up with the Undying Light. After he got his soul back (via soul stone), there was no way to fully protect it from demons/his family getting it back using the same ritual he did. Along comes a dragon, with a way to shield his soul using the Undying Light...in exchange for 10 years of service. I know the name of this golden dragon, and (coinciding with our group shrinking) our missions becoming more political and social in nature. Obviously the Undying Light isn't the dragon, but that access was good enough to re-introduce an interesting (infuriating) NPC as my patron.
There was a brief game where another player in a seafaring campaign had a guild merchant background, so they decided their female warlock got the Archfey pact because she was married into the Archfey's family (to secure the trade alliance). She had, being so clever, won her dominance in the marriage and kept his power as a reminder that this fey lord? Can't remarry AND has lost status among the court to a mortal. The player knew the husband's name but kept it a secret (except to the DM), but there was a low level tension as her husband was stewing and obviously plotting against her (and the party). Sadly, we never got to see that one resolve (I think it would've been rather fun).
Then there's a small monsters game we've got running. A friend is playing a goblin using a homebrew Fungal Lord pact, serving the Fungus Queen Zuggtmoy. She loves it and the unique flavors she gets to give Warlock spells (Hunger of Hadar involves a lot of writhing mushroom caps), and though she has no direct communication with Zuggtmoy, the "signs of the fungus" inspire her character on what to do and how to live her life (which may or may not have led to us all running from hordes of undead and a beholder--okay, it was may. And it was hilarious).
Basically for us our patrons boil down to what we want to play, some backstory, and how the DM wants to interpret it. If your character knows what kind of Warlock they want to play (fiend, great old one, etc), and you know their backstory, you can fiddle with different patron appearances--and interactions--until you get what feels right for you, your story, and the player. Patrons can be as interactive (or not) as you want, just as long as you both have fun with it.
Quote from Spanglemaker371 >>
You are your own patron?!
boom *mindblown* That's a great and amazing twist! did you work that out with your DM or did he spring it on you? That's totally the sort of thing I'd love to be able to spring on a player, or have sprung on me as a player.
For my recent homebrew campaign, I used The Fiend patron but renamed it to be a secret society known as The Magitek Coalition - I reflavored all my warlock's spells to be technological manifestations of magic, declaring him to be a "Technomancer." No mechanical changes, but it certainly makes for an interesting character. He doesn't have any real magical ability himself, but his magitech tricks allow him to appear that he does. But, his technology comes directly from the Coalition, so he's on something of a technological leash.
Basically, my guy, Quentin Dancer, is a special agent of the coalition, called one of the "Magitek Bloodhounds." The Coalition was hired by the kingdom to investigate the disappearance of something potentially embarrassing to the royal family, but to be discreet about it, and so they sent Dancer in as one of their agents.
I made a Rogue/Monk with an assassin background. I actually had him stumble into the pact ceremony and the arch fey patron was more interested in the R/M rather than the wizard. I'm playing it off as the patron will want the R/M to assassinate the her rivals and in so doing will give him power/longer life.
My Forgotten realms halfling warlock (gloom Pact hexblade, 4e) had Drasek Riven, minor God of Shadow, as a patron for a while. That was interesting.
A player in a campaign I run has basically the lady of the lake as his patron, and carries Caledfwlch (Excalibur). The Lady is a Tuatha de Danann, possibly one of The Morrigan's sisters.
We do bones, motherf***ker!
I've been wanting to play a warlock that has someone from the far realm as a patron, but who is trying to stop the far realm from spilling over. I might make him an NPC for the group I dm tho.
I don't like quotations, tell me what you know. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
I'm working with a warlock who homebrewed his own patron using Moradin. He has a backstory where the character was a child and being used in a ceremony to access Moradin so the god's enemies could harm him in some way, and the child was hit with the spark from Moradin's forge and accidentally became a warlock. He is dual-classing as a cleric so he can play it off, but he renamed a bunch of the existing Warlock features and uses them together. Right now, he's having a change in his pact from pact of the blade to pact of the tome due to Moradin's desire that he teach/learn more than fight.
You are your own Patron
It was my own idea and my DM liked the concept. It was pretty organic, as at first my Patron was just a generic Archfey, then an idea that I had and another in the old Wizards forums about the Patron being their future self. Then I spoke with Laura my DM got some great mileage with my Patron, she had my party do some work for the Fate Sisters and we have been to some scary places in the multiverse.
I've got an NPC the party is dealing with that has the Great Old One patron. That Great Old One however is an Illithid Elder Brain. This is the biggest and oldest elder brain in the ruins of what was once a huge metropolis. PCs and the world doesn't even know it exists yet. Going to be a lot of fun revealing that to them all through this NPC and others.
I'm working on a new character who wanted to be a wizard but was excluded from formal magic study (illegitimate half-elf of a noble house, etc). He was apprenticed in a great library instead, where he skulked and pried in search of any knowledge of the arcane he could get his hands on. Eventually he discovers a hidden book... of family history, which looks very ordinary. He almost puts it back but notices a family tree with his great-grandfather's name crossed out, and a mysterious note mentioning how he was outcast for dabbling in "dark secrets" he uncovered in distant lands. Curious, he turns to the entry for his great-grandfather, and when he looks into the eyes of his portrait he feels a strange jolt of energy and an awareness that he is being watched. Unnerved, he puts the book down and leaves, only to discover it waiting by his bedside the next morning after a series of disturbing dreams.
When he opens the book this time, the contents have changed, revealing an incomplete diary of his great-grandfather with a message addressed to "one of my worthy descendents" whom he hopes will continue his work. At the end are a few instructions for simple spells...
In short, my character makes a pact with a Great Old One through his family history, perhaps inheriting the curse of continuing to serve its ambitions... but he believes he is learning Elven magic through his family bloodline. I plan to go Pact of the Tome and get the Book of Secrets invocation, so I'm using the book as his connection to his powers. I had originally planned to go with the Archfey as a family bloodline thing but sort of included that thematically while going for the G.O.O. abilities. I'm also thinking of Tom Riddle's diary in Harry Potter, where the book reveals new writing as he progresses.
I created a Great Old One Warlock. My original idea for it was just to be a kind of skill monkey character, but as I read the GOO abilities and Pact abilities I formed a completely different character. I don't have a name for my patron, but the idea is that it feeds on knowledge, especially hidden knowledge. So, of course, my character now wishes to trade in knowledge. The more secrets I can get out of an NPC (or PC for that matter), or the more I can discover about forgotten histories, the more power I can feed to my Patron and in turn gain more power to reveal more secrets to feed it and gain more power to.... The halfling explodes in a shower of raw amorphous knowledge.
My Book of Shadows has the words "How to Cast Friends and Influence People" embossed on the cover.
Welcome to the Grand Illusion, come on in and see what's happening, pay the price, get your ticket for the show....
I played a drow warlock, Great Old One patron before. She was a drow exiled from her noble house for forsaking Lolth, and was thrown out and expected to be eaten by illithids. However, something happened in which the power of her future patron awoke and then guided her out of the Underdark alive. It was because certain circumstances in her life and the life of her patron were in parallel, so it was as if their destinies were entwined. Her patron turns out to be an entity from the Far Realm hiding from certain beings out there but is like a quasi-benevolent world serpent/ouroboros creature who learns about the outer world through her warlock.
I might play an Undying patron warlock someday. I happened to come across some Forgotten Realms lore about good-aligned liches and thought it might be an interesting idea for a patron to be one of them. In one of the 5e published adventures, one makes an appearance, I won't say who because spoilers but it's a memorable encounter that confuses the lights out of many adventurers.
It might make for some dramatic campaign ideas. For example, your warlock's patron is Rhaugilath the Ageless, the lawful good brother and unwilling servant of Larloch (both of whom are liches). Perhaps Rhaugilath managed to secretly make a pact with your warlock, and after some time your warlock is now tasked with breaking him out of Larloch's clutches!
Perhaps your warlock made a pact with a baelnorn lich who was found in the ruins of Myth Drannor still clutching a very powerful elven artifact that becomes central to the plot.
The Undying patron warlock seems like someone slowly slipping into some state of quasi-undeath, which I like to interpret as your warlock's patron actually infusing your warlock's soul with some of their own "deathlessness" that is meant to grow within you. This likely would raise the ire of a staunch hater of the undead. As well as if you reveal your power comes from a powerful undead being. It may take awhile to convince your cleric, druid, or paladin friend that your lich buddy is not evil or does not eat souls.
Of course, the undying patron is not limited to a powerful undead being.
Fiend: Generally the pacts have to do with corrupting the warlock or spreading corruption
The Archfey: While individually unique most of these pacts I build around either the fey gaining power or manipulation over another. (One of my fave ones forced a player to find hags and not stop them but just check up on them and find out what they are up too if possible. But..she got tossed in a pot by a Night Hag and boiled so....ya)
Great Old Ones: These are the weird ones, I've had things like eating a coin a day, or the elder gods using the warlock to come closer to the material realm to even just living vicariously through the warlock.
The Undying: Depending on the power level of the Undying I usually recommend this one if I want a Sith/Apprentice feal for my players.
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