What are community views on the creation of warlock pacts other than the blade, the chain, and the tome? Is that something which is acceptable to a good number of players and DMs, or is it seen as conducive to overpowering?
And if it is viewed as being acceptable on any level, are there common parameters most homebrew campaigns would hold to? Like, agreed upon popular boundaries and restrictions?
I’m asking as a near total noob who’s still trying to figure the fandom out. Any response, even if I’m directed toward asking a different or re-worded question, would be appreciated.
Ignore the fandom and do your thing. It's your game and you get to do whatever you want. Sure you should still try to balance any homebrew stuff you make, but even without advice it just becomes trial and error. The rulebooks are guidelines, they have their own flaws in terms of balance issues, but they very much intend for you to change whatever you want to fit your needs.
As Korbin said, it is not the community’s role to dictate what you do in your home game. What we’re here to do is support you.
Unfortunately, D&D Beyond doesn’t support homebrew warlock pacts and the only other pact option created by D&D was Pact of the Star Chain, presented in the Unearthed Arcana article, The Faithful. It never saw the light of an official product.
"The relevant equation is: Knowledge = power = energy = matter = mass; a good bookshop is just a genteel Black Hole that knows how to read." - Terry Pratchett
These answers are quite surprising to me, but in a rather pleasant way. I’m coming to D&D from fandoms wherein adjustment to canon are frowned on.
The idea I have now is one which is dependent on heavy RP. Instead of a beefed up tiny-size familiar, like through the Pact of the Chain, I was considering a small-size minion or two. Like a familiar, the creature (whether fey, fiend, great old one etc. depending on the patron) wouldn’t attack and would open up opportunities for RP, but unlike a familiar, it would lack telepathy or casting touch spells but could carry a little more equipment/loot for its warlock master.
Also, I find the idea of a few incompetent minions who screw up basic tasks and need my warlock to berate them to be hilarious. If I’m not able to make people laugh sometimes, then what am I even doing?
Sounds a bit like having multiple Unseen Servants constantly around you, except they're uh... not Unseen. But it would focus on RP and has the ability to perform common tasks, but is just physically incapable of attacking. "Pact of the Servant?"
Sounds a bit like having multiple Unseen Servants constantly around you, except they're uh... not Unseen. But it would focus on RP and has the ability to perform common tasks, but is just physically incapable of attacking. "Pact of the Servant?"
I’m a little disappointed in my post because you just described my own idea in even more concise terms than I could.
Alright, this is what I’ve come up with. There are a few points I’ll noted up front:
I’m strongly averse to anything overpowered; I have no desire to break the game, just to be creative.
I’m a noob, so I may not realize when something is overpowered.
The invocations are designed to fit with the ethos of the pact, not necessarily to serve as the mechanically ideal components. I wouldn’t necessarily choose all of these, but I do feel they fit the spirit of the pact.
The goal here is to seek feedback, so there’s no need to hold back out of politeness to a noob. If something is broke, then let’s fix it.
Without further adieu, I present the Pact of the Servant, as Transmorpher so aptly named it.
Pact boon
Your patron binds a pair of servants to do your bidding. Both servants are small-sized outsiders matching the nature of your patron (celestial, fey, fiend, or great old one). Your servants can not attack and will grovel when threatened, but are unwaveringly loyal and will not disobey you under any circumstances. The servants can perform mundane tasks in a manner similar to the unseen servant spell, but their statistics match those of a small outsider. When killed, your servants can be replaced by your patron.
Eldritch invocations
Cheeky bastard: the first time you harm a friendly or allied person, you may make a saving throw against your charisma. If successful, the person forgives you in this first instance. The person will not do so a second time in less than ten days. (See below for reason it was phased out)
Cult leader: followers of your patron are drawn to you, providing daily services at a reduced rate. You can maintain a number of untrained hirelings equal to your half charisma modifier (rounded up) free of charge. You can also maintain a number of skilled hirelings equal to half your charisma modifier (rounded up) at half the normal cost. Such hirelings must be medium-sized humanoids or similar creatures. Your hirelings are still subject to normal morale checks.
Domineering: you may cast dominate person once per day without using spell components or a spell slot. You must complete a long rest before you can use this ability again. (See below for updated version)
Planar servant (6th level): your patron teaches you the true name of and a word of power to call a single specific outsider with a challenge rating of seven or lower for eight hours. The outsider must obey feasible commands and can not break free of your control; however, it will dematerialize into its native plane if you act in contradiction to its alignment or intentionally harm it. This does not require concentration. The outsider’s challenge rating does not increase with your level. You must complete a long rest before using this ability again. (See below for updated version)
Strong impressions: targets of your friends, charm, and dominate spells no longer realize that you used magic to influence them when such spell effects end. (See below for updated version)
5e has done away with the outsider creature type. You will want to specify the creature types and avoid using the word "outsider" at all, except possibly for story purposes, since it has no mechanical function within the rules anymore.
You definitely want celestial, fey and fiend as options, although the expanded options presented for the Paladin's Divine Sense, the Ranger's Primeval Awareness or the Detect Evil and Good spell would likely work.
A big problem with Planar Servant is that it effectively duplicates the spell Planar Ally, a sixth-level spell that only appears on the Cleric spell list and not until level 11. You just gave your Warlock the equivalent of a 6th level spell slot at level 6, and your Planar Servant is objectively better. The Planar Servant cannot disobey and you don't have to pay it for its services, the Planar Ally can choose not to aid you and costs a whole bunch of cash even for one hour of service. Being CR 7 or lower (the DM chooses the creature in any case) and only available for 8 hours are moot points that do not outweigh the massive benefits of this once daily ability compared to Planar Ally.
I would first recommend the CR of the creature being equal to half of your Warlock level or lower, to a maximum of CR 6 and with a level requirement of 7. This is to match the pattern of stronger invocations being available at levels 5, 7, 9, and 15, as well as the potential CR of the creature equivalent to various summoning spells available through normal spellcasting progression, such as Conjure Woodland Beings, Infernal Calling, and Conjure Fey.
This is only a starting point for the ability in terms of what you can summon and the reasoning behind it. It still does not consider whether or not the creature obeys you completely or for how long. If you want it to be completely subservient, you may need to lower the CR, the duration, or both. You may have to require concentration, though I agree it's ok if it doesn't require concentration considering it is an invocation instead of a spell. If you want a higher CR, you may have to include more restrictions. But mostly just compare the ability you want with the spells above, and also look at Conjure Celestial, Conjure Elemental, Summon Greater Demon and other spells with the summoning tag.
Wow, thank you so much! This seems like a good start, both for the possibility of this idea as well as me learning a little more about the game. I had no idea what Planar Ally is, and because I haven’t played in two decades (returning noob), I didn’t know that the “outsider tag” was no longer used. Actually, come to think of it, are morale checks and the like still used?
Now, reading over the spells you’ve mentioned, I really do feel that the invocation in question is too overpowered. I feel kind of bad writing that because you put a lot of effort into your response, but I suppose that the real benefit is that you’ve educated someone trying to learn. With that being said, I think that my suggested “planar servant” is too broken to be fixed given the amount of changes which would be needed...a player hoping to boss a creature around may be better off (and better balanced) using existing game mechanics. Does that seem like a reasonable conclusion?
Morale checks were removed in 3rd edition (although reintroduced in the supplemental Heroes of Battle). Players could receive a Morale Bonus granted by an "inspiring" source, but that was only implemented as one of the 17 various bonuses one could receive to their AC. Here is a house rule I found for 5e that I did not go over to see if it was any good, but someplace you could start if you want to implement it.
In general, you can find all of the most relevant checks used in 5e in chapters 7, 8, and 9 of the Player's Handbook (or basic rules). The Dungeon Master's Guide has a lot of the less common rules one would be subject to, such as disease, as well as variant rules such as Honor and Sanity. Xanathar's Guide to Everything has more variant rules as well as advice on various types of situations in which the core rules can be implemented, as well as what players can do in their downtime.
I think there are ways to accomplish what you want and it won't take too much fixing. The main goal here from a design perspective is simplicity. I also look to other features, primarily within its own class but also referencing other classes, to determine general functions.
The Warlock has already set a number of precedents as to what invocations can do. Many of them add more effects to the Eldritch Blast cantrip or alter your hex or curse effects. You can choose to alter a spell which already summons a creature, let's take Infernal Calling for example since it is unique to the Warlock spell list and I think fits with your original idea.
The spell already has many conditions as to how much control you have over the creature, but there are two ways to make this easier for you. One is by knowing the true name of the creature, an idea you had already considered, granting advantage on checks to control the creature. The other is by possessing the creatures personal talisman, which has the added effect of potentially summoning a CR 7 creature, and the creature obeys all commands without a check.
Knowing all this, first set up requirements. Some invocations are restricted to a specific pact. The power of this ability, as well as the entire point of making a new boon, warrants this being restricted only to the Warlocks who have the Pact of the Servant. Infernal Calling is a 5th-level spell, so the invocation should also have a level requirement of 9 when Warlocks can cast 5th level spells.
From here you can just say the Warlock learns the true name of a devil for use in casting Infernal Calling and/or possesses its personal talisman then they follow the RAW for the Infernal Calling spell. The DM should probably decide the CR and type of devil summoned through this ability, though it would naturally be the same every time. There is little consideration for balance in this approach except for the DM's discretion in which name is learned and whether or not a talisman is granted. I believe this is a fine minimalist approach to this feature because it doesn't actually add anything new mechanically to the game that has to be considered. It is entirely reasonable that by level 9 the DM, depending on their campaign, would include opportunities to learn the name of a minor devil.
There is a lot more to say on options with this approach, such as different ways to balance and whether or not to include non-devil options for summoning. There are even ways to include similar features before level 9 with more restrictions, or more powerful variants after level 9. This is just one approach to accomplish an effect similar to your original Planar Servant ability.
tl;dr: Here is a simple fix for a version of your ability as I believe you intended.
Infernal Servant
Prerequisite: 9th level, infernal calling spell, Pact of the Servant feature
You know the true name of a devil from the Nine Hells. You are also now in possession of that creature's individual talisman, granted by your patron. When you cast infernal calling you can always summon that particular devil as well as gain the benefits of speaking its true name and possessing its talisman for the duration of the spell. The DM decides the type and CR of this devil when you gain this feature, but it does not affect other attempts to cast this spell when summoning a different devil. You lose the benefits of the talisman if it is not in your possession.
The main goal here from a design perspective is simplicity.
I may not be able to comment too extensively on game mechanics, but in the general sense, I can say that I’m with you 100% on this point. Complications are never good.
I’m also thoroughly impressed by the way you took the idea I had, maintained the spirit of it, and vastly improved the letter. You guessed my intention perfectly and encapsulated that, and now I can see the general mechanics of your suggestion in the existing invocations. I can see three separate invocations boosting Eldritch Blast, two more boosting the pact blade, and one assisting with the Darkness spell. In that sense, since Infernal Calling seems to be a staple of the class as you explain, buffing it in the way you suggest is way better than my original idea. Thank you for your willingness to consider the proposition so carefully.
Without delving into the other suggestions I’d made, there is something which still vexes me about the invocation. The implementation for warlocks pledged to a fiend seems clear, but what about those pledged to a fey or celestial? Are there the equivalent of talismans available for them? I didn’t consider that previously, but now I’m wondering about the viability of this for players of all pact persuasions.
Conjure Fey is on the Warlock spell list, regardless of whether or not their patron is The Archfey. Conjure Celestial is only available on the Cleric Spell List. It is not even included on The Celestial expanded spell list. These spells act very similar in function to Infernal Calling but with a few thematic differences. Most notably, the devil will start off hostile towards you and will attempt to disobey your commands, the fey will start friendly but can become hostile if you lose concentration and the celestial will remain friendly to you regardless of concentration, though it will simply disappear instead. In the case of the fey and celestial, the creature will not act against its alignment.
I assume you want this as a sort of all-in-one feature, the benefit being variable depending on your patron. Here are the changes I would make to reflect that. Note the increased level requirement compared to the first iteration.
Planar Servant
Prerequisite: 12th level, infernal calling (The Fiend) OR conjure fey (The Archfey), Pact of the Servant feature
Your patron grants you the services of a being from outside the material plane. The nature of this being is the same as that of your Otherworldly Patron.
Infernal Servant: If your Otherworldly Patron is The Fiend, you now know the true name of a devil from the Nine Hells. You are also now in possession of that creature's individual talisman, granted by your patron. When you cast infernal calling you can always summon that particular devil as well as gain the benefits of speaking its true name and possessing its talisman for the duration of the spell. The DM decides the type and CR of this devil when you gain this feature, but it does not affect other attempts to cast this spell when summoning a different devil. You lose the benefits of the talisman if it is not in your possession.
Fey Servant: If your Otherworldly Patron is The Archfey, you know the true name of a creature from the Feywild. When you cast conjure fey you can always summon that particular fey, you no longer require concentration to maintain the spell and the creature does not become hostile towards you. The DM decides the type and CR of this fey when you gain this feature, but it does not affect other attempts to cast this spell when summoning a different fey.
Celestial Servant: If your Otherworldly Patron is The Celestial, you may add conjure celestial to the Warlock spell list for the purposes of using your Mystic Arcanum feature. You have advantage on Charisma (Persuasion) checks made to interact with celestials.
The differences here are to reflect the spell level and themes of the various spells.
Infernal Calling is the lowest level of the three and can be cast by a level 9 Warlock. You may be gaining full control, even with the chance of losing the talisman, but that is not until level 12 and using an Invocation to do so. The spell still requires concentration but can be cast as many times as you have spell slots. They are the only ones that need a talisman, which can be lost. The lower level reflects the nature of their hierarchical society, being easily cowed by stronger forces, while still needing a way to maintain that control through concentration and the name/talisman. They will still be hostile towards you, just unable to disobey if the conditions are right.
Conjure Fey can only be taken as part of your Mystic Arcanum feature at level 11 that you get to cast only once between long rests. Removing the concentration and hostility is somewhat of a significant boost, but Mystic Arcanum is the only natural way for Warlocks to gain spells higher than 5th. Since the spells cannot be replaced at higher levels nor upcast, I feel this is a suitable way to improve a spell normally gained at level 11 with a level 12 class feature as valuable as an invocation. They are a bit more free-spirited and "friendly" and as such don't mind working with other creatures, especially when assigned such a task by a greater power and if they still get to maintain a modicum of that freedom. You still don't have full control over the creature but don't have to work as hard to keep it around.
Conjure Celestial is only naturally available to Clerics. I looked at the Bard class feature Magical Secrets in addition to other invocations for how to implement this one, and similar to Conjure Fey you must use your Mystic Arcanum feature but this time at level 13. Bard's can only add the spell to their list, but it does not give them more spells per day with the exception of a Lore Bard, and even that is only for the lower level Additional Magical Secrets. In this way, you still only get one 7th level spell per day as a Warlock.
A problem occurred in that you can gain this invocation at level 12, but the spell is not available until level 13. Rather than giving the Warlock a 7th level spell one level early, I opted to grant a passive effect applicable to all celestials by way of advantage on Charisma (Persuasion) available immediately at level 12, and the next level you gain the full effect of the invocation. I also feel this fits more thematically with The Celestial over other patrons and seeing as you only gain access to the spell rather than an additional effect it makes it feel like you're still getting something just as good as the other two options.
Man, you’re really good at this. I suppose that it’s a good review of and exercise in game mechanics for a more experienced player as much as it’s a good intro for me. A lot of good planning went into this one invocation.
Regarding the other suggested features, is there anything else that sticks out as being broken, off-balance, or otherwise unworkable within the proposed pact?
Man, you’re really good at this. I suppose that it’s a good review of and exercise in game mechanics for a more experienced player as much as it’s a good intro for me. A lot of good planning went into this one invocation.
Regarding the other suggested features, is there anything else that sticks out as being broken, off-balance, or otherwise unworkable within the proposed pact?
Hope it doesn't lower your opinion of me that I chose the easy one. I had a pretty solid idea of what needed to be done to Planar Servant the moment I read it, whereas the other features my ideas are still pretty vague and I would have to do more research to figure out changes I would make and whether or not there is anything wrong with them. It will be a little while before I come up with anything but the other features have been in the back of my mind.
General advice, just look for spells, feats and class features that produce similar effects, whether thematically or mechanically, and adjust from there.
Using your words, I am of the opinion that the spirit of anything you want to try to do in any TTRPG is workable, and it is the process through which you attempt to balance the feature to avoid it being broken that makes it work.
Always been more of a 'throw ideas at a thing and then tinker with it afterwards' sort of person when it comes to designing anything.
Domineering: you may cast dominate person once per day without using spell components or a spell slot. You must complete a long rest before you can use this ability again.
Strong impressions: targets of your friends, charm, and dominate spells no longer realize that you used magic to influence them when such spell effects end.
These seem like things that want to be used together, but don't feel like they're collectively worth two invocations.
Domineering Presence Pre-requisites: Level 9, Pact of the Servant
You can cast dominate person once using a warlock spell slot. You can’t do so again until you finish a long rest. Your commanding presence creates an element of doubt in those around you when the effects of a spell or ability that charms or dominates are resisted or otherwise end. The target must succeed on an Intelligence saving throw against your spell save DC or attribute the effects of the spell to your commanding nature.
Trial and error, right? It seems to be working so far because, like Korbin, you’ve refined my original idea into something incomparably better. It seems more balanced, more mechanically appropriate, and more streamlined.
The purpose of the cult leader ability seems to be to make better deals and convince those who follow the same patron as you... which depending on the situation won't necessarily mean they follow you without question. Its like Thieves Cant or a secret handshake only instead of being for 'all the world's thieves, somehow' it only applies to follower of your specific fiend, celestial or otherworldly boogie monster... so it could stand to be a potent ability without being quite so close to mind control....
Favored Leader Prerequisite: Pact of the Servant
You carry a mark or token of your Patron that is recognized by others who also follow, it is a mark of authority, command, and rank. You are considered to have both expertise in Persuasion, Intimidation and Insight when talking to others who follow your patron.
Personally not keen on Cheeky Bastard, its one of those abilities that seems fun and flavorful until someone is a jerk with it. Separating out what you know and what your character's know is one thing, but this ability takes agency away from your allies in a way that seems like it could frustrate quickly.
Instead lets have an obligatory eldritch blast invocation!
Service of Power Prerequisites: Eldritch Blast Cantrip, Pact of the Servant
When you use your action to cast eldritch blast, you may instead have the blast or blasts originate from one or both of your servants who are visible and within 60 feet of you. Your servant or servants make a ranged spell attack using their Dexterity to aim the blasts at a target they can see within range of them.
Personally not keen on Cheeky Bastard, its one of those abilities that seems fun and flavorful until someone is a jerk with it. Separating out what you know and what your character's know is one thing, but this ability takes agency away from your allies in a way that seems like it could frustrate quickly.
Instead lets have an obligatory eldritch blast invocation!
Service of Power Prerequisites: Eldritch Blast Cantrip, Pact of the Servant
When you use your action to cast eldritch blast, you may instead have the blast or blasts originate from one or both of your servants who are visible and within 60 feet of you. Your servant or servants make a ranged spell attack using their Dexterity to aim the blasts at a target they can see within range of them.
Ouch, you’re absolutely right there. One thing that every fandom repeats about role playing is to never take away someone else’s agency (i.e. no god moding). What you’ve come up with is far better and more useful; I really am impressed by the community here.
Service of Power Prerequisites: Eldritch Blast Cantrip, Pact of the Servant
When you use your action to cast eldritch blast, you may instead have the blast or blasts originate from one or both of your servants who are visible and within 60 feet of you. Your servant or servants make a ranged spell attack using their Dexterity to aim the blasts at a target they can see within range of them.
Ok, so this sort of inspired another feature which I think would be fun. First, I want to simplify your original Pact Boon and try to bring it more in line with the current design standards.
Pact of the Servant
Your patron binds a pair of servants to do your bidding. You may cast the spell Unseen Servant as a ritual. The spell doesn’t count against your number of spells known.
When you cast this spell as a ritual, choose one of the following creature types; aberration, celestial, elemental, fey, fiend, or undead. The spell functions normally except that it has a duration of instantaneous and you instead create two visible, small-sized creatures of the type chosen when you cast this spell (otherwise their stats are the same as an Unseen Servant). When you use a bonus action to issue a mental command to your servants, you may issue separate commands to each servant with the same bonus action.
When not being commanded to perform a task, the servants attempt to remain within 60 feet of you. They will not disappear for moving more than 60 feet away from you, but they will disappear if they end their turn more than 60 feet away from you. Casting this spell again will never allow you to have more than two active servants at one time.
And then the fun part:
For the Master
Prerequisite: 7th level, eldritch blast cantrip, Pact of the Servant feature
As an action, you may cause one or both of your servants to explode with eldritch energy, sacrificing them in the process. Each creature within 5 feet of one of your exploding servants takes 1d10 force damage.
What are community views on the creation of warlock pacts other than the blade, the chain, and the tome? Is that something which is acceptable to a good number of players and DMs, or is it seen as conducive to overpowering?
And if it is viewed as being acceptable on any level, are there common parameters most homebrew campaigns would hold to? Like, agreed upon popular boundaries and restrictions?
I’m asking as a near total noob who’s still trying to figure the fandom out. Any response, even if I’m directed toward asking a different or re-worded question, would be appreciated.
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Ignore the fandom and do your thing. It's your game and you get to do whatever you want. Sure you should still try to balance any homebrew stuff you make, but even without advice it just becomes trial and error. The rulebooks are guidelines, they have their own flaws in terms of balance issues, but they very much intend for you to change whatever you want to fit your needs.
Hi Ihsan!
As Korbin said, it is not the community’s role to dictate what you do in your home game. What we’re here to do is support you.
Unfortunately, D&D Beyond doesn’t support homebrew warlock pacts and the only other pact option created by D&D was Pact of the Star Chain, presented in the Unearthed Arcana article, The Faithful. It never saw the light of an official product.
With that said, what is your idea for a pact?
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These answers are quite surprising to me, but in a rather pleasant way. I’m coming to D&D from fandoms wherein adjustment to canon are frowned on.
The idea I have now is one which is dependent on heavy RP. Instead of a beefed up tiny-size familiar, like through the Pact of the Chain, I was considering a small-size minion or two. Like a familiar, the creature (whether fey, fiend, great old one etc. depending on the patron) wouldn’t attack and would open up opportunities for RP, but unlike a familiar, it would lack telepathy or casting touch spells but could carry a little more equipment/loot for its warlock master.
Also, I find the idea of a few incompetent minions who screw up basic tasks and need my warlock to berate them to be hilarious. If I’m not able to make people laugh sometimes, then what am I even doing?
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Sounds a bit like having multiple Unseen Servants constantly around you, except they're uh... not Unseen. But it would focus on RP and has the ability to perform common tasks, but is just physically incapable of attacking. "Pact of the Servant?"
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I’m a little disappointed in my post because you just described my own idea in even more concise terms than I could.
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Sounds like a cool idea. can you show us what you've got so far? Don't forget to write a couple Invocations for it eventually too.
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Alright, this is what I’ve come up with. There are a few points I’ll noted up front:
Without further adieu, I present the Pact of the Servant, as Transmorpher so aptly named it.
Pact boon
Your patron binds a pair of servants to do your bidding. Both servants are small-sized outsiders matching the nature of your patron (celestial, fey, fiend, or great old one). Your servants can not attack and will grovel when threatened, but are unwaveringly loyal and will not disobey you under any circumstances. The servants can perform mundane tasks in a manner similar to the unseen servant spell, but their statistics match those of a small outsider. When killed, your servants can be replaced by your patron.
Eldritch invocations
Cheeky bastard: the first time you harm a friendly or allied person, you may make a saving throw against your charisma. If successful, the person forgives you in this first instance. The person will not do so a second time in less than ten days. (See below for reason it was phased out)Cult leader: followers of your patron are drawn to you, providing daily services at a reduced rate. You can maintain a number of untrained hirelings equal to your half charisma modifier (rounded up) free of charge. You can also maintain a number of skilled hirelings equal to half your charisma modifier (rounded up) at half the normal cost. Such hirelings must be medium-sized humanoids or similar creatures. Your hirelings are still subject to normal morale checks.
Domineering: you may cast dominate person once per day without using spell components or a spell slot. You must complete a long rest before you can use this ability again. (See below for updated version)Planar servant (6th level):
your patron teaches you the true name of and a word of power to call a single specific outsider with a challenge rating of seven or lower for eight hours. The outsider must obey feasible commands and can not break free of your control; however, it will dematerialize into its native plane if you act in contradiction to its alignment or intentionally harm it. This does not require concentration. The outsider’s challenge rating does not increase with your level. You must complete a long rest before using this ability again. (See below for updated version)Strong impressions: targets of your friends, charm, and dominate spells no longer realize that you used magic to influence them when such spell effects end. (See below for updated version)Darbakh - Duergar warden [Pic] [Model]
Quorian - half-elf watcher [Model]
Ruffler - human wizard [Model]
PM me the word ‘tomato’
5e has done away with the outsider creature type. You will want to specify the creature types and avoid using the word "outsider" at all, except possibly for story purposes, since it has no mechanical function within the rules anymore.
You definitely want celestial, fey and fiend as options, although the expanded options presented for the Paladin's Divine Sense, the Ranger's Primeval Awareness or the Detect Evil and Good spell would likely work.
A big problem with Planar Servant is that it effectively duplicates the spell Planar Ally, a sixth-level spell that only appears on the Cleric spell list and not until level 11. You just gave your Warlock the equivalent of a 6th level spell slot at level 6, and your Planar Servant is objectively better. The Planar Servant cannot disobey and you don't have to pay it for its services, the Planar Ally can choose not to aid you and costs a whole bunch of cash even for one hour of service. Being CR 7 or lower (the DM chooses the creature in any case) and only available for 8 hours are moot points that do not outweigh the massive benefits of this once daily ability compared to Planar Ally.
I would first recommend the CR of the creature being equal to half of your Warlock level or lower, to a maximum of CR 6 and with a level requirement of 7. This is to match the pattern of stronger invocations being available at levels 5, 7, 9, and 15, as well as the potential CR of the creature equivalent to various summoning spells available through normal spellcasting progression, such as Conjure Woodland Beings, Infernal Calling, and Conjure Fey.
This is only a starting point for the ability in terms of what you can summon and the reasoning behind it. It still does not consider whether or not the creature obeys you completely or for how long. If you want it to be completely subservient, you may need to lower the CR, the duration, or both. You may have to require concentration, though I agree it's ok if it doesn't require concentration considering it is an invocation instead of a spell. If you want a higher CR, you may have to include more restrictions. But mostly just compare the ability you want with the spells above, and also look at Conjure Celestial, Conjure Elemental, Summon Greater Demon and other spells with the summoning tag.
Wow, thank you so much! This seems like a good start, both for the possibility of this idea as well as me learning a little more about the game. I had no idea what Planar Ally is, and because I haven’t played in two decades (returning noob), I didn’t know that the “outsider tag” was no longer used. Actually, come to think of it, are morale checks and the like still used?
Now, reading over the spells you’ve mentioned, I really do feel that the invocation in question is too overpowered. I feel kind of bad writing that because you put a lot of effort into your response, but I suppose that the real benefit is that you’ve educated someone trying to learn. With that being said, I think that my suggested “planar servant” is too broken to be fixed given the amount of changes which would be needed...a player hoping to boss a creature around may be better off (and better balanced) using existing game mechanics. Does that seem like a reasonable conclusion?
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Morale checks were removed in 3rd edition (although reintroduced in the supplemental Heroes of Battle). Players could receive a Morale Bonus granted by an "inspiring" source, but that was only implemented as one of the 17 various bonuses one could receive to their AC. Here is a house rule I found for 5e that I did not go over to see if it was any good, but someplace you could start if you want to implement it.
In general, you can find all of the most relevant checks used in 5e in chapters 7, 8, and 9 of the Player's Handbook (or basic rules). The Dungeon Master's Guide has a lot of the less common rules one would be subject to, such as disease, as well as variant rules such as Honor and Sanity. Xanathar's Guide to Everything has more variant rules as well as advice on various types of situations in which the core rules can be implemented, as well as what players can do in their downtime.
I think there are ways to accomplish what you want and it won't take too much fixing. The main goal here from a design perspective is simplicity. I also look to other features, primarily within its own class but also referencing other classes, to determine general functions.
The Warlock has already set a number of precedents as to what invocations can do. Many of them add more effects to the Eldritch Blast cantrip or alter your hex or curse effects. You can choose to alter a spell which already summons a creature, let's take Infernal Calling for example since it is unique to the Warlock spell list and I think fits with your original idea.
The spell already has many conditions as to how much control you have over the creature, but there are two ways to make this easier for you. One is by knowing the true name of the creature, an idea you had already considered, granting advantage on checks to control the creature. The other is by possessing the creatures personal talisman, which has the added effect of potentially summoning a CR 7 creature, and the creature obeys all commands without a check.
Knowing all this, first set up requirements. Some invocations are restricted to a specific pact. The power of this ability, as well as the entire point of making a new boon, warrants this being restricted only to the Warlocks who have the Pact of the Servant. Infernal Calling is a 5th-level spell, so the invocation should also have a level requirement of 9 when Warlocks can cast 5th level spells.
From here you can just say the Warlock learns the true name of a devil for use in casting Infernal Calling and/or possesses its personal talisman then they follow the RAW for the Infernal Calling spell. The DM should probably decide the CR and type of devil summoned through this ability, though it would naturally be the same every time. There is little consideration for balance in this approach except for the DM's discretion in which name is learned and whether or not a talisman is granted. I believe this is a fine minimalist approach to this feature because it doesn't actually add anything new mechanically to the game that has to be considered. It is entirely reasonable that by level 9 the DM, depending on their campaign, would include opportunities to learn the name of a minor devil.
There is a lot more to say on options with this approach, such as different ways to balance and whether or not to include non-devil options for summoning. There are even ways to include similar features before level 9 with more restrictions, or more powerful variants after level 9. This is just one approach to accomplish an effect similar to your original Planar Servant ability.
tl;dr: Here is a simple fix for a version of your ability as I believe you intended.
Infernal Servant
Prerequisite: 9th level, infernal calling spell, Pact of the Servant feature
You know the true name of a devil from the Nine Hells. You are also now in possession of that creature's individual talisman, granted by your patron. When you cast infernal calling you can always summon that particular devil as well as gain the benefits of speaking its true name and possessing its talisman for the duration of the spell. The DM decides the type and CR of this devil when you gain this feature, but it does not affect other attempts to cast this spell when summoning a different devil. You lose the benefits of the talisman if it is not in your possession.
I may not be able to comment too extensively on game mechanics, but in the general sense, I can say that I’m with you 100% on this point. Complications are never good.
I’m also thoroughly impressed by the way you took the idea I had, maintained the spirit of it, and vastly improved the letter. You guessed my intention perfectly and encapsulated that, and now I can see the general mechanics of your suggestion in the existing invocations. I can see three separate invocations boosting Eldritch Blast, two more boosting the pact blade, and one assisting with the Darkness spell. In that sense, since Infernal Calling seems to be a staple of the class as you explain, buffing it in the way you suggest is way better than my original idea. Thank you for your willingness to consider the proposition so carefully.
Without delving into the other suggestions I’d made, there is something which still vexes me about the invocation. The implementation for warlocks pledged to a fiend seems clear, but what about those pledged to a fey or celestial? Are there the equivalent of talismans available for them? I didn’t consider that previously, but now I’m wondering about the viability of this for players of all pact persuasions.
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Conjure Fey is on the Warlock spell list, regardless of whether or not their patron is The Archfey. Conjure Celestial is only available on the Cleric Spell List. It is not even included on The Celestial expanded spell list. These spells act very similar in function to Infernal Calling but with a few thematic differences. Most notably, the devil will start off hostile towards you and will attempt to disobey your commands, the fey will start friendly but can become hostile if you lose concentration and the celestial will remain friendly to you regardless of concentration, though it will simply disappear instead. In the case of the fey and celestial, the creature will not act against its alignment.
I assume you want this as a sort of all-in-one feature, the benefit being variable depending on your patron. Here are the changes I would make to reflect that. Note the increased level requirement compared to the first iteration.
Planar Servant
Prerequisite: 12th level, infernal calling (The Fiend) OR conjure fey (The Archfey), Pact of the Servant feature
Your patron grants you the services of a being from outside the material plane. The nature of this being is the same as that of your Otherworldly Patron.
Infernal Servant: If your Otherworldly Patron is The Fiend, you now know the true name of a devil from the Nine Hells. You are also now in possession of that creature's individual talisman, granted by your patron. When you cast infernal calling you can always summon that particular devil as well as gain the benefits of speaking its true name and possessing its talisman for the duration of the spell. The DM decides the type and CR of this devil when you gain this feature, but it does not affect other attempts to cast this spell when summoning a different devil. You lose the benefits of the talisman if it is not in your possession.
Fey Servant: If your Otherworldly Patron is The Archfey, you know the true name of a creature from the Feywild. When you cast conjure fey you can always summon that particular fey, you no longer require concentration to maintain the spell and the creature does not become hostile towards you. The DM decides the type and CR of this fey when you gain this feature, but it does not affect other attempts to cast this spell when summoning a different fey.
Celestial Servant: If your Otherworldly Patron is The Celestial, you may add conjure celestial to the Warlock spell list for the purposes of using your Mystic Arcanum feature. You have advantage on Charisma (Persuasion) checks made to interact with celestials.
The differences here are to reflect the spell level and themes of the various spells.
Infernal Calling is the lowest level of the three and can be cast by a level 9 Warlock. You may be gaining full control, even with the chance of losing the talisman, but that is not until level 12 and using an Invocation to do so. The spell still requires concentration but can be cast as many times as you have spell slots. They are the only ones that need a talisman, which can be lost. The lower level reflects the nature of their hierarchical society, being easily cowed by stronger forces, while still needing a way to maintain that control through concentration and the name/talisman. They will still be hostile towards you, just unable to disobey if the conditions are right.
Conjure Fey can only be taken as part of your Mystic Arcanum feature at level 11 that you get to cast only once between long rests. Removing the concentration and hostility is somewhat of a significant boost, but Mystic Arcanum is the only natural way for Warlocks to gain spells higher than 5th. Since the spells cannot be replaced at higher levels nor upcast, I feel this is a suitable way to improve a spell normally gained at level 11 with a level 12 class feature as valuable as an invocation. They are a bit more free-spirited and "friendly" and as such don't mind working with other creatures, especially when assigned such a task by a greater power and if they still get to maintain a modicum of that freedom. You still don't have full control over the creature but don't have to work as hard to keep it around.
Conjure Celestial is only naturally available to Clerics. I looked at the Bard class feature Magical Secrets in addition to other invocations for how to implement this one, and similar to Conjure Fey you must use your Mystic Arcanum feature but this time at level 13. Bard's can only add the spell to their list, but it does not give them more spells per day with the exception of a Lore Bard, and even that is only for the lower level Additional Magical Secrets. In this way, you still only get one 7th level spell per day as a Warlock.
A problem occurred in that you can gain this invocation at level 12, but the spell is not available until level 13. Rather than giving the Warlock a 7th level spell one level early, I opted to grant a passive effect applicable to all celestials by way of advantage on Charisma (Persuasion) available immediately at level 12, and the next level you gain the full effect of the invocation. I also feel this fits more thematically with The Celestial over other patrons and seeing as you only gain access to the spell rather than an additional effect it makes it feel like you're still getting something just as good as the other two options.
Man, you’re really good at this. I suppose that it’s a good review of and exercise in game mechanics for a more experienced player as much as it’s a good intro for me. A lot of good planning went into this one invocation.
Regarding the other suggested features, is there anything else that sticks out as being broken, off-balance, or otherwise unworkable within the proposed pact?
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Hope it doesn't lower your opinion of me that I chose the easy one. I had a pretty solid idea of what needed to be done to Planar Servant the moment I read it, whereas the other features my ideas are still pretty vague and I would have to do more research to figure out changes I would make and whether or not there is anything wrong with them. It will be a little while before I come up with anything but the other features have been in the back of my mind.
General advice, just look for spells, feats and class features that produce similar effects, whether thematically or mechanically, and adjust from there.
Using your words, I am of the opinion that the spirit of anything you want to try to do in any TTRPG is workable, and it is the process through which you attempt to balance the feature to avoid it being broken that makes it work.
Always been more of a 'throw ideas at a thing and then tinker with it afterwards' sort of person when it comes to designing anything.
Domineering: you may cast dominate person once per day without using spell components or a spell slot. You must complete a long rest before you can use this ability again.
Strong impressions: targets of your friends, charm, and dominate spells no longer realize that you used magic to influence them when such spell effects end.
These seem like things that want to be used together, but don't feel like they're collectively worth two invocations.
Domineering Presence
Pre-requisites: Level 9, Pact of the Servant
You can cast dominate person once using a warlock spell slot. You can’t do so again until you finish a long rest. Your commanding presence creates an element of doubt in those around you when the effects of a spell or ability that charms or dominates are resisted or otherwise end. The target must succeed on an Intelligence saving throw against your spell save DC or attribute the effects of the spell to your commanding nature.
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Trial and error, right? It seems to be working so far because, like Korbin, you’ve refined my original idea into something incomparably better. It seems more balanced, more mechanically appropriate, and more streamlined.
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The purpose of the cult leader ability seems to be to make better deals and convince those who follow the same patron as you... which depending on the situation won't necessarily mean they follow you without question. Its like Thieves Cant or a secret handshake only instead of being for 'all the world's thieves, somehow' it only applies to follower of your specific fiend, celestial or otherworldly boogie monster... so it could stand to be a potent ability without being quite so close to mind control....
Favored Leader
Prerequisite: Pact of the Servant
You carry a mark or token of your Patron that is recognized by others who also follow, it is a mark of authority, command, and rank. You are considered to have both expertise in Persuasion, Intimidation and Insight when talking to others who follow your patron.
Personally not keen on Cheeky Bastard, its one of those abilities that seems fun and flavorful until someone is a jerk with it. Separating out what you know and what your character's know is one thing, but this ability takes agency away from your allies in a way that seems like it could frustrate quickly.
Instead lets have an obligatory eldritch blast invocation!
Service of Power
Prerequisites: Eldritch Blast Cantrip, Pact of the Servant
When you use your action to cast eldritch blast, you may instead have the blast or blasts originate from one or both of your servants who are visible and within 60 feet of you. Your servant or servants make a ranged spell attack using their Dexterity to aim the blasts at a target they can see within range of them.
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Ouch, you’re absolutely right there. One thing that every fandom repeats about role playing is to never take away someone else’s agency (i.e. no god moding). What you’ve come up with is far better and more useful; I really am impressed by the community here.
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Ok, so this sort of inspired another feature which I think would be fun. First, I want to simplify your original Pact Boon and try to bring it more in line with the current design standards.
Pact of the Servant
Your patron binds a pair of servants to do your bidding. You may cast the spell Unseen Servant as a ritual. The spell doesn’t count against your number of spells known.
When you cast this spell as a ritual, choose one of the following creature types; aberration, celestial, elemental, fey, fiend, or undead. The spell functions normally except that it has a duration of instantaneous and you instead create two visible, small-sized creatures of the type chosen when you cast this spell (otherwise their stats are the same as an Unseen Servant). When you use a bonus action to issue a mental command to your servants, you may issue separate commands to each servant with the same bonus action.
When not being commanded to perform a task, the servants attempt to remain within 60 feet of you. They will not disappear for moving more than 60 feet away from you, but they will disappear if they end their turn more than 60 feet away from you. Casting this spell again will never allow you to have more than two active servants at one time.
And then the fun part:
For the Master
Prerequisite: 7th level, eldritch blast cantrip, Pact of the Servant feature
As an action, you may cause one or both of your servants to explode with eldritch energy, sacrificing them in the process. Each creature within 5 feet of one of your exploding servants takes 1d10 force damage.