As a Warlock you strike a pact with an otherworldly being. You don't have to be particulary strong to do this since it's within the first few levels. But this just begs me to ask the question...
If I wanted to, how would I contact otherworldly beings without casting a high level spell? Say, some kind of God, demon, or spirit for example?
I'd say that's entirely up to you - but I imagine in a similar way to the way clerics commune with their god. Prayer, rituals, sacrificing a badger. Of course, there's no reason to say that the player has to be able to contact them... perhaps the otherworldly being makes their presence known through dreams, visions or hallucinations?
The 'strike a pact' part is the bit I'd focus on; you can have a lot of fun coming up with the details. Did your character dive too deep into that old tome of rituals? Was it a last ditch bargain to save their own life when drowning at sea? Perhaps one too many ales in the tavern led to meddling with ritual circles that they didn't truly understand...
Or of course, the otherworldly being could have made the first move, promising unlimited power in exchange for... something?
Some patrons aren't even aware that their warlock serves them. The warlock may draw on their power without the patron even noticing. Sometimes patrons are without a will or a consciousness and only acts the way that they were made.
Otherworldly patrons might have a will or a consciousness unfathomable to mortals as a whole, where their goals, flaws and intention is beyond the comprehension of their warlocks. They might be able to commune with their patron easily depending on their relationship, but the exact nature of their understanding might be up for interpretation.
With warlocks and patrons it tends to rely on the player and DM together. All these kinks should be figured out before play. Or maybe, the need to commune with the patron might be the hook that sends the warlock out on an adventure.
There's a lot of different ways; some kind of ritual is the old standby, especially for fiends who are generally looking for an in to the Material Plane. One might also find a point where you can cross between Planes, like the classic walking into a mushroom circle and ending up in the Feywild. Some beings will have agents in the Material Plane as well to facilitate communication or act as a go-between.
Now, gameplay-wise; anything like this is something you'd need to talk with your DM about; if you can't find a rule for it in the PHB, then it's typically not an at-will player option.
Calling upon the entity or making an offering to it, or both, would be standard practices, with no guarantee for success (probably also depending on the already established depth of the connection to, and the nature of the entity itself.) Advanced techniques could be more elaborate (and time consuming) rituals and worship, up to secret rites to successfully summon a splinter of the entity's attention (which drifts heavily into the spell casting territory.)
As a Warlock you strike a pact with an otherworldly being. You don't have to be particulary strong to do this since it's within the first few levels. But this just begs me to ask the question...
If I wanted to, how would I contact otherworldly beings without casting a high level spell? Say, some kind of God, demon, or spirit for example?
🤔
I'd say that's entirely up to you - but I imagine in a similar way to the way clerics commune with their god. Prayer, rituals, sacrificing a badger. Of course, there's no reason to say that the player has to be able to contact them... perhaps the otherworldly being makes their presence known through dreams, visions or hallucinations?
The 'strike a pact' part is the bit I'd focus on; you can have a lot of fun coming up with the details. Did your character dive too deep into that old tome of rituals? Was it a last ditch bargain to save their own life when drowning at sea? Perhaps one too many ales in the tavern led to meddling with ritual circles that they didn't truly understand...
Or of course, the otherworldly being could have made the first move, promising unlimited power in exchange for... something?
Some patrons aren't even aware that their warlock serves them. The warlock may draw on their power without the patron even noticing. Sometimes patrons are without a will or a consciousness and only acts the way that they were made.
Otherworldly patrons might have a will or a consciousness unfathomable to mortals as a whole, where their goals, flaws and intention is beyond the comprehension of their warlocks. They might be able to commune with their patron easily depending on their relationship, but the exact nature of their understanding might be up for interpretation.
With warlocks and patrons it tends to rely on the player and DM together. All these kinks should be figured out before play. Or maybe, the need to commune with the patron might be the hook that sends the warlock out on an adventure.
There's a lot of different ways; some kind of ritual is the old standby, especially for fiends who are generally looking for an in to the Material Plane. One might also find a point where you can cross between Planes, like the classic walking into a mushroom circle and ending up in the Feywild. Some beings will have agents in the Material Plane as well to facilitate communication or act as a go-between.
Now, gameplay-wise; anything like this is something you'd need to talk with your DM about; if you can't find a rule for it in the PHB, then it's typically not an at-will player option.
Calling upon the entity or making an offering to it, or both, would be standard practices, with no guarantee for success (probably also depending on the already established depth of the connection to, and the nature of the entity itself.) Advanced techniques could be more elaborate (and time consuming) rituals and worship, up to secret rites to successfully summon a splinter of the entity's attention (which drifts heavily into the spell casting territory.)
Very few ways exist within the rules to contact otherworldy beings, usually with a spell, feature or magic item? Outside that, it's really up to DMs.