New Player — Question About Fiend (Succubus) Patron Relationship: Does This Make Sense / Work Well?

Hi! I’m a newer D&D player and I wanted to run a character concept by you and get your thoughts — specifically on whether the patron relationship makes sense for a Fiend warlock, and especially for a succubus.

I’ll keep the lore short and focus on the actual question.

Context

My character, Elowen, was originally a Divine Soul Sorcerer raised in a mountain sanctuary called Sanctum Aurelion. The settlement was founded around five “holy knights” who claimed to have destroyed a great evil sealed within the mountain. It became a refuge for people seeking redemption — criminals, addicts, people escaping corrupt cities.

Later, Elowen discovered the truth:

The “evil” wasn’t destroyed — it was a fiendish rift. The knights were secretly using rituals to siphon power from bound fiends to fuel miracles, relics, and divine blessings.

Important rule for this setting:

Normally, fiends that die on the Material Plane return to the Lower Planes. However, the ritual used by the sanctuary does not banish or kill fiends normally — it destroys them completely, consuming soul, essence, and identity. There is no reforming. No return. Just nothing.

When Elowen tried to expose this, she was taken underground and subjected to the same ritual. Because her magic was innate, the process nearly killed her.

Imprisoned alongside her was a succubus named Merithra, who had also been drained and left to be erased.

The Pact (Key Part)

On the brink of death, Elowen and Merithra performed a broken, incomplete version of the siphoning ritual — not to steal power, but to bind what remained of their life forces togetherso neither would be fully destroyed.

They escaped, but the result is a symbiotic bond:

• Elowen becomes a Fiend Warlock

• Merithra becomes her patron

• Neither can fully survive without the other

Mechanically, my DM runs a system where every PC has a weakness like for ex on player at the table is fighter who has lycanthropy . Elowen’s is that she must periodically feed on life force (especially in combat) to keep herself — and by extension her patron — stable.

The Relationship (Main Question)

This is what I want to check if it works.

I don’t want a hostile or toxic patron relationship, but I also don’t want the succubus to be “nice” or morally good.

The dynamic I’m aiming for:

• Mutual survival, not devotion

• Interdependence, not ownership

• Care that exists, but is alien and fiendish

Elowen cares for Merithra because she was raised on mercy and healing — even knowing Merithra is a fiend, she sees her as another being who was exploited and nearly erased.

Merithra cares for Elowen in a very succubus-appropriate way:

• Elowen is the one who saved her from true annihilation

• She protects what sustains her

• Her attachment is possessive, pragmatic, and intense

• She does not want Elowen wasted, broken, or dead

They don’t love each other like mortals do.

They don’t hate each other either.

They’re bound together by survival and necessity.

The Actual Questions

1. Does this kind of relationship make sense for a Fiend patron — specifically a succubus?

2. Does the care/attachment feel believable for a fiend, without softening them too much?

4. Overall — does this work well, or does anything feel off or contradictory?

So basically Elowen, who was raised in a mountain sanctuary likely under very convent like conditions now has to become a bit of a ... fallen woman ... to feed her patron.  Stealing a little life force every ... encounter.  

So, how does she know this?  How does she steal the life force?  Does she gain the Succubus Draining Kiss?  What happens if she doesn't fee the patron often enough?

I like the concept.  Lots of room for growth/fleshing out.

Condensed Mechanic Summary

Feeding the Bond:

Once per short rest, when Elowen lands a killing blow on a meaningful hostile creature, she may drain its remaining life force.

She chooses one:

Recover 1 expended spell slot

Max: ½ proficiency bonus per long rest

Gain temporary hit points

Equal to Warlock level + CHA modifier

Limits:

Only on meaningful enemies (no summons, animals, or civilians)

Only on a killing blow

Cannot exceed normal spell slot progression

This stabilizes the bond and “feeds” the patron.

Hunger & Backlash

Hunger is DM-controlled, not on a fixed timer (usually appears around planned combat).

If Elowen hasn’t fed:

She becomes pale and weakened

Spells deal reduced damage / may have disadvantage

Effects resemble light exhaustion

Feeding removes the penalties

1. It works pretty well, while most fiends would probably be more antagonistic, succubi are not the types to just threaten people to get what they want. Being by far one of the most social fiends, having people willing to help you is a powerful tool that could satisfies mutiple desires at once.

2. Having a fiend take particular care over you could be pretty terrifying if they perceive any of your friends as threats to your loyalty. The care is pretty believable since both your character and the patron need each another, so making sure your warlock is happy to work with you is very important.

3. Not really, the type of fiend works well and the scenario both have been through allows them to be more honest and willing than most other fiend pacts.

If the life force is fed on a killing blow then why go with a succubus?  You are losing the flavor of the succubus by going with such a general feeding method.  Could be that it simply works easier in game mechanics than sex and that's not a bad answer.

Sex isn’t actually necessary for a succubus to drain someone's soul in D&D, they could just inhale their soul via contact and physical touch. The seduction is for corrupting someone’s soul into going to the lower planes.

Quote from Sweetenvy666>>

The Actual Questions

1. Does this kind of relationship make sense for a Fiend patron — specifically a succubus?

It's an interesting twist on the usual patron/warlock relationship. From a lore perspective though, how does the warlock gain power (level up)? The succubus doesn't seem to be in a position to offer anything more than they already did when the ritual bonding was first performed

Is it possible the succubus isn't the 'true' patron at all? 

2. Does the care/attachment feel believable for a fiend, without softening them too much?

It makes sense from your character's perspective, sure. The succubus would likely play into the sympathy too. Now that they've survived and escaped though, the succubus should have bigger goals...

4. Overall — does this work well, or does anything feel off or contradictory?

I would approach this from the perspective of "your character has one idea of what's going on in this relationship, but that idea is, at best, incomplete".

• Maybe the succubus thinks the binding can't be undone without killing you both, so they want to fully possess you instead, and will subtly encourage your character toward more succubus-like behavior
• Maybe the ritual that bound you together also contacted an even more powerful fiend that's your true patron, and it's just using you both for its own ends
• Maybe that spark of Divine Soul you carried (carry?) created more complications with the ritual than you realize, and a celestial entity is the one really pulling the strings on both you and the succubus