I enjoy a good warlock background. It's interesting to know why a warlock has made a contract with their patron and to know what each party hopes to get out of the arrangement. I encourage others to share their own warlock backgrounds here as well.
This is one I've been toying around with the idea lately of a human warlock noble. When she was born a contract was made, to secure an alliance, promising her in marriage at her coming of age. Her entire life she has desired to impress her family and make them proud. So upon learning of the contract she did not throw a tantrum but accepted her duty to her family. This though did not mean she wasn't shocked or curious. In secret, she tried to learn as much as she could about to whom she was to wed but such details were not entirely clear to her.
On the night entering her coming of age birthday, she dreamed of her grand fancy wedding with a mysterious individual. Unlike most dreams where you can not tell you are dreaming, in this one, she was fully aware. Standing next to someone she could not properly see, the officiant of the wedding spoke about how in accordance with the contract this couple was to be wed. When asked if she agreed to abide by the contract she said, "I do."
Upon awakening in the morning, she at first thought it was all just a dream but then noticed she was still wearing the wedding ring put on her finger during the dream. The ring is her warlock's focus and while it is confusing to her she knows her spouse to be a Great Old One that lives within dreams. When she sleeps she often (but not always) spends time with her spouse who takes on a vaguely humanoid shape for her benefit. Every now and then within these dreams, her spouse asks her for a favor to attend to when she has an opportunity. It does not demand or force her to act, though her sense of duty does tend to mean she will attempt her best to fulfill the request.
The Great Old One is not native to this realm but is actually from the Far Realms. Its true form is so alien that it can not properly manifest within the Physical Realm and can only appear within dreams, though it is able to subtly alter reality (such as the creation of the wedding ring). Any ancient texts that might speak of it would describe it as a parasite that feeds off of dreams, though it would be inclined to disagree with such categorization. A parasite after-all only takes from its host and does not offer benefit in return. Further, while it can manifest in any dream it can only sustain its self on one individual at a time and only if permission has been granted. Many generations back it had been communicating with its host at the time and the host likened the relationship to marriage, and since then that is how it has chosen for the binding to be manifested.
Of note in (all) previous marriages this Great Old One has been in have resulted in a number of its children coming into existence in the physical realm. Sometimes as normal children with a proclivity to sorcery, and other times as strange abominations.
I haven't made the character, but when looking at the new UA Patron (Lurker in the Deep), I had the idea for a sort of heretical Triton.
"I know the truth... and I will use it. Those who blindly follow the ancient ways must be swept aside, and those unjustly punished set free!"
Something had always bothered him about the way the histories catalog some of the nasty things the Triton fought off into the darkest depths of the Plane of Water. While some monstrous entities, like Krakens, were obviously evil and were correctly banished or destroyed, other entities were more questionably hunted. In trying to quiet that unceasing, gnawing suspicion in his mind, he uncovered something. A black stain on the honor of the Tritons and their so-called glorious history as the guardians of the Planes. Not all the powerful beings they hunted, destroyed, and banished to the depths were so evil. And in uncovering this truth, he made contact. So now the 'heretical' Triton seeks to end the imprisonment of the being he now serves, and to prove how his people have now, for many generations, been living under a lie. A lie that corrupts all the so-called glories of their past, and reveals the truth hidden behind their stubborn and undeserved pride.
The warlock is clueless. The warlock thinks the power is from a CG holy deity, and the warlock obeys the "god" when requests are made, no matter how odd the request might seem for a CG alignment. The pact was made with the assumption that the warlock-to-be was being tricked by the patron. Instead, the patron is stuck assisting a ninny according to its own contract.
"A common mistake that people make when designing something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools." -Douglas Adams, Mostly Harmless
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Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider. My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong. I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲 “It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
basically this is an idea I had for a NE character who fits into a good group. He is a fiend warlock who pretends to be a normal wizard. He wants to be known as a great hero, like one of his ancestors, and will do any evil thing he needs to to create and preserve that legacy. Here is the rough draft of a narrative for his backstory.
Ozymandias Flameheart was born in a remote village in the foothills of a remote mountain range. A cobbler, son of a cobbler, son of a cobbler, bastard son of the Archmage Soren Flameheart, Ozzie believed that is was his destiny to follow in the footsteps of his great ancestor.
He saved up every penny he earned, and whenever traveling merchants came to town, he would spend everything on any book on the arcane he could get his hands on. These books described the principles of the complex art of magic. Some even has step by step instructions for simple spells. But he just never got it. None of it made sense, and none of the spells worked for him. He toiled for years on end studying his books, but to no avail.
Magical study was not the only source of failure in Ozzie’s life. He had his eyes set on Belle, the beautiful daughter of the village mayor. But she spurned the advances of the eccentric and aging cobbler. His obsession for her only grew, and so did his resentment of her for rejecting him.
In the 42nd spring of Ozzie’s life, he found the book that would change his life forever. Inside this tattered tome, he found a spell titled “Rite of the Pact.” This spell looked simpler than any he had yet seem, just one phrase in an ancient looking language he did not understand, and a single symbol clearly sketched the it for him to copy on the ground, in his own blood.
There was no description of what the spell did, but Ozzie was so eager to try such a simple looking spell he completed it on the spot. He drew the symbol, then uttered the words, and instantaneously felt himself falling. Falling straight through the floor. Down through darkness. Then through fire.
He came to a sudden but surprisingly gentle stop on a cold obsidian floor. He was on his hands and knees, and as he raised his eyes he saw that he was at the feet of a monstrous creature, seated in an obsidian throne. Its beautiful, honeyed voice filled the room, his ears, and his mind. The voice promised him the power he had always dreamed of, and painted a picture of the great deeds he could accomplish. It asked for only one small thing in return: an oath to fulfill his destiny to be the greatest hero who ever lived.
Ozzie swore it, and as soon as the words left his lips, he was back in his study. He picked up one of his old books, flipped to a spell, and performed it. A mote of flame sprung from his hand, and crashed into his fireplace, setting the logs ablaze. At last, magical power was his for the using.
Now to begin making a name for himself. Decimating the orc village of Razhaa would be a good place to start. It was only a day’s journey away, and they were well known in these parts to be fearsome warriors. A peace had existed between the orcs and the humans for almost a century now, but old fears and hatred still loomed strong in the minds of both communities. It wouldn’t take much turn them against each other once again.
A wicked plan started to form in his mind. He scoured his books until he found the spells he would need, and they too worked when he tested them this time.
He turned invisible and went straight to the mayor’s house. It was night, and everyone was home and in bed. He went to Belle’s room, and saw the window was latched tight. He spoke a few words and a magical hand appeared on the other side of the glass. At his mental direct the hand lifted the window latch, and then disappeared with a faint pop.
Still invisible, Ozzie climbed through the window. He looked down at Belle’s beautiful face as she slept. He felt no regret for what he was about to do, his life was so much bigger than her now, and he had to be free. He strangled her, and and the sound of her struggles woke the house.
He slunk into a corner, and conjured an image of a huge brutish orc warrior. As the mayor burst into the room, the orc image roared and leapt out the window, disappearing into the night.
The whole town was roused within the hour, and when they had been gathered in the town square and learned of the violent death of their beloved Belle, Ozzie swore to lead whoever was brave enough to follow him to wreck revenge on the whole orc village.
And revenge they wrecked. Every male, female, and child was slaughtered. With his new magical powers, Ozzie slaughtered more orcs than the rest of the party put together. Those who had laughed at him for his obsession with his books, now sang his praises. He was hailed as the hero of the day, the first chapter in the heroic life of Ozymandias Flameheart.
Deep down in hell, the great monstrosity sat on his throne and smiled.
I had another idea for a warlock today. Imagine if you will someone that's considered part of societies riffraff. You know the homeless street rat sort of person. Some might even consider them a scoundrel. But you know you gotta eat to live and they gotta steal to eat. Really though this character isn't evil. Likely neutral good.
Anyways one thing leads to another and one day they got caught and employed by a wizard that works for the local ruler. This wizard needed someone like them to enter some wonderful cave and extract a certain treasure from within. Unfortunately, our hero gets trapped in the cave and has to use the treasure to escape. Turns out that it's an artifact that contains a powerful cosmic being that is bound in servitude to the owner of the artifact. Well bound for three wishes. So our hero uses two of his wishes for himself in some way... the second of them likely being to save his life after something happens to basically negate his first wish. Anyways this hero after this uses his third wish to free the trapped cosmic power.
It turns out, that through this whole adventure the hero made friends with the being and now they are friends. While the being isn't bound specifically to him anymore it's more than glad to occasionally provide some magical assistance. I think this hero would likely opt to have a familiar. Perhaps a monkey of some sort.
I had another idea for a warlock today. Imagine if you will someone that's considered part of societies riffraff. You know the homeless street rat sort of person. Some might even consider them a scoundrel. But you know you gotta eat to live and they gotta steal to eat. Really though this character isn't evil. Likely neutral good.
Anyways one thing leads to another and one day they got caught and employed by a wizard that works for the local ruler. This wizard needed someone like them to enter some wonderful cave and extract a certain treasure from within. Unfortunately, our hero gets trapped in the cave and has to use the treasure to escape. Turns out that it's an artifact that contains a powerful cosmic being that is bound in servitude to the owner of the artifact. Well bound for three wishes. So our hero uses two of his wishes for himself in some way... the second of them likely being to save his life after something happens to basically negate his first wish. Anyways this hero after this uses his third wish to free the trapped cosmic power.
It turns out, that through this whole adventure the hero made friends with the being and now they are friends. While the being isn't bound specifically to him anymore it's more than glad to occasionally provide some magical assistance. I think this hero would likely opt to have a familiar. Perhaps a monkey of some sort.
So, Aladdin lol
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I enjoy a good warlock background. It's interesting to know why a warlock has made a contract with their patron and to know what each party hopes to get out of the arrangement. I encourage others to share their own warlock backgrounds here as well.
This is one I've been toying around with the idea lately of a human warlock noble. When she was born a contract was made, to secure an alliance, promising her in marriage at her coming of age. Her entire life she has desired to impress her family and make them proud. So upon learning of the contract she did not throw a tantrum but accepted her duty to her family. This though did not mean she wasn't shocked or curious. In secret, she tried to learn as much as she could about to whom she was to wed but such details were not entirely clear to her.
On the night entering her coming of age birthday, she dreamed of her grand fancy wedding with a mysterious individual. Unlike most dreams where you can not tell you are dreaming, in this one, she was fully aware. Standing next to someone she could not properly see, the officiant of the wedding spoke about how in accordance with the contract this couple was to be wed. When asked if she agreed to abide by the contract she said, "I do."
Upon awakening in the morning, she at first thought it was all just a dream but then noticed she was still wearing the wedding ring put on her finger during the dream. The ring is her warlock's focus and while it is confusing to her she knows her spouse to be a Great Old One that lives within dreams. When she sleeps she often (but not always) spends time with her spouse who takes on a vaguely humanoid shape for her benefit. Every now and then within these dreams, her spouse asks her for a favor to attend to when she has an opportunity. It does not demand or force her to act, though her sense of duty does tend to mean she will attempt her best to fulfill the request.
The Great Old One is not native to this realm but is actually from the Far Realms. Its true form is so alien that it can not properly manifest within the Physical Realm and can only appear within dreams, though it is able to subtly alter reality (such as the creation of the wedding ring). Any ancient texts that might speak of it would describe it as a parasite that feeds off of dreams, though it would be inclined to disagree with such categorization. A parasite after-all only takes from its host and does not offer benefit in return. Further, while it can manifest in any dream it can only sustain its self on one individual at a time and only if permission has been granted. Many generations back it had been communicating with its host at the time and the host likened the relationship to marriage, and since then that is how it has chosen for the binding to be manifested.
Of note in (all) previous marriages this Great Old One has been in have resulted in a number of its children coming into existence in the physical realm. Sometimes as normal children with a proclivity to sorcery, and other times as strange abominations.
I haven't made the character, but when looking at the new UA Patron (Lurker in the Deep), I had the idea for a sort of heretical Triton.
Something had always bothered him about the way the histories catalog some of the nasty things the Triton fought off into the darkest depths of the Plane of Water. While some monstrous entities, like Krakens, were obviously evil and were correctly banished or destroyed, other entities were more questionably hunted. In trying to quiet that unceasing, gnawing suspicion in his mind, he uncovered something. A black stain on the honor of the Tritons and their so-called glorious history as the guardians of the Planes. Not all the powerful beings they hunted, destroyed, and banished to the depths were so evil. And in uncovering this truth, he made contact. So now the 'heretical' Triton seeks to end the imprisonment of the being he now serves, and to prove how his people have now, for many generations, been living under a lie. A lie that corrupts all the so-called glories of their past, and reveals the truth hidden behind their stubborn and undeserved pride.
(Low WIS)
The warlock is clueless. The warlock thinks the power is from a CG holy deity, and the warlock obeys the "god" when requests are made, no matter how odd the request might seem for a CG alignment. The pact was made with the assumption that the warlock-to-be was being tricked by the patron. Instead, the patron is stuck assisting a ninny according to its own contract.
"A common mistake that people make when designing something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools." -Douglas Adams, Mostly Harmless
Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider.
My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong.
I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲
“It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
basically this is an idea I had for a NE character who fits into a good group. He is a fiend warlock who pretends to be a normal wizard. He wants to be known as a great hero, like one of his ancestors, and will do any evil thing he needs to to create and preserve that legacy. Here is the rough draft of a narrative for his backstory.
Ozymandias Flameheart was born in a remote village in the foothills of a remote mountain range. A cobbler, son of a cobbler, son of a cobbler, bastard son of the Archmage Soren Flameheart, Ozzie believed that is was his destiny to follow in the footsteps of his great ancestor.
He saved up every penny he earned, and whenever traveling merchants came to town, he would spend everything on any book on the arcane he could get his hands on. These books described the principles of the complex art of magic. Some even has step by step instructions for simple spells. But he just never got it. None of it made sense, and none of the spells worked for him. He toiled for years on end studying his books, but to no avail.
Magical study was not the only source of failure in Ozzie’s life. He had his eyes set on Belle, the beautiful daughter of the village mayor. But she spurned the advances of the eccentric and aging cobbler. His obsession for her only grew, and so did his resentment of her for rejecting him.
In the 42nd spring of Ozzie’s life, he found the book that would change his life forever. Inside this tattered tome, he found a spell titled “Rite of the Pact.” This spell looked simpler than any he had yet seem, just one phrase in an ancient looking language he did not understand, and a single symbol clearly sketched the it for him to copy on the ground, in his own blood.
There was no description of what the spell did, but Ozzie was so eager to try such a simple looking spell he completed it on the spot. He drew the symbol, then uttered the words, and instantaneously felt himself falling. Falling straight through the floor. Down through darkness. Then through fire.
He came to a sudden but surprisingly gentle stop on a cold obsidian floor. He was on his hands and knees, and as he raised his eyes he saw that he was at the feet of a monstrous creature, seated in an obsidian throne. Its beautiful, honeyed voice filled the room, his ears, and his mind. The voice promised him the power he had always dreamed of, and painted a picture of the great deeds he could accomplish. It asked for only one small thing in return: an oath to fulfill his destiny to be the greatest hero who ever lived.
Ozzie swore it, and as soon as the words left his lips, he was back in his study. He picked up one of his old books, flipped to a spell, and performed it. A mote of flame sprung from his hand, and crashed into his fireplace, setting the logs ablaze. At last, magical power was his for the using.
Now to begin making a name for himself. Decimating the orc village of Razhaa would be a good place to start. It was only a day’s journey away, and they were well known in these parts to be fearsome warriors. A peace had existed between the orcs and the humans for almost a century now, but old fears and hatred still loomed strong in the minds of both communities. It wouldn’t take much turn them against each other once again.
A wicked plan started to form in his mind. He scoured his books until he found the spells he would need, and they too worked when he tested them this time.
He turned invisible and went straight to the mayor’s house. It was night, and everyone was home and in bed. He went to Belle’s room, and saw the window was latched tight. He spoke a few words and a magical hand appeared on the other side of the glass. At his mental direct the hand lifted the window latch, and then disappeared with a faint pop.
Still invisible, Ozzie climbed through the window. He looked down at Belle’s beautiful face as she slept. He felt no regret for what he was about to do, his life was so much bigger than her now, and he had to be free. He strangled her, and and the sound of her struggles woke the house.
He slunk into a corner, and conjured an image of a huge brutish orc warrior. As the mayor burst into the room, the orc image roared and leapt out the window, disappearing into the night.
The whole town was roused within the hour, and when they had been gathered in the town square and learned of the violent death of their beloved Belle, Ozzie swore to lead whoever was brave enough to follow him to wreck revenge on the whole orc village.
And revenge they wrecked. Every male, female, and child was slaughtered. With his new magical powers, Ozzie slaughtered more orcs than the rest of the party put together. Those who had laughed at him for his obsession with his books, now sang his praises. He was hailed as the hero of the day, the first chapter in the heroic life of Ozymandias Flameheart.
Deep down in hell, the great monstrosity sat on his throne and smiled.
I had another idea for a warlock today. Imagine if you will someone that's considered part of societies riffraff. You know the homeless street rat sort of person. Some might even consider them a scoundrel. But you know you gotta eat to live and they gotta steal to eat. Really though this character isn't evil. Likely neutral good.
Anyways one thing leads to another and one day they got caught and employed by a wizard that works for the local ruler. This wizard needed someone like them to enter some wonderful cave and extract a certain treasure from within. Unfortunately, our hero gets trapped in the cave and has to use the treasure to escape. Turns out that it's an artifact that contains a powerful cosmic being that is bound in servitude to the owner of the artifact. Well bound for three wishes. So our hero uses two of his wishes for himself in some way... the second of them likely being to save his life after something happens to basically negate his first wish. Anyways this hero after this uses his third wish to free the trapped cosmic power.
It turns out, that through this whole adventure the hero made friends with the being and now they are friends. While the being isn't bound specifically to him anymore it's more than glad to occasionally provide some magical assistance. I think this hero would likely opt to have a familiar. Perhaps a monkey of some sort.
So, Aladdin lol