5 Warlock DnD Character Ideas

[@pigsnsnails]

fantastic content. playing multilevel warlock so will use some of these ideas. thanks

[@danielstellmon5330]

You are a forgotten lesser god. As you run out of worshippers you take desperate action. You find a boy, born weak, bed ridden, and wishing to die. You feel that self murder is wrong and offer the boy a choice, his soul will enter you heaven and you will take his body. Investing most of your waining power into your vessel and rise to walk. You credit this miracle to yourself trying to deepen the faith of your few believers and to attract new ones. You want to be a benevolent god, your very survival is at stake.

[@12oshinko]

I created a group of five Undying Warlocks whose research into immortality was so intense that it became a pact. Now, four of them find ways to survive the millennia in a multiverse that they've been a part of for thirty-two thousand slow years.

[@christofheimhilcher1619]

I play a warlock currently. And a "good" warlock with a "good" patron. Her story is: Vorena was born to a Barbarian tribe but always had more interest in the one book in her home than hunting and brawling. So she was sent to the nearby monastery of a knowledge deity. The monastery and the village had some arrangements like protection for healing and buying food from the tribals. Vorena became an acolyte but was not seen fit for becoming a Cleric so she got more menial tasks like kitchen and library duty. One day in the library she found a book (or it found her) that told her the real story of her deity. How everyone could learn to cast magic, though her church told different and had a policy of keeping some knowledge from the public. For weeks she studied this book in secret but eventually she was caught. Vorena was put into detention to prepare for a ritual of cleansing that would burn the knowledge of this book form her. She is told that she should write down everything she wants to remember, as sometimes during the ritual other pieces of memory get lost as well. Vorena writes more and more on the parchments she is given and realizes: she doesn't want to loose any memory of her life. So she decides to flee. Hoping that in a temple of her deity in the big city she will find support for the true revelations of her deity. The clerics form her monastery try to track her down. So her former order becomes her enemy but not in a black and white way. They absolutely try to avoid killing her, instead they want to bring her back to the monastery to finish the ritual. They don't hide their deities instructions from everyone else not because they have some sinister plan, but because they are afraid of the mayhem that would occur when everyone could cast magic. In the end Vorena will have to decide, wether she makes her knowledge public or keep it secret. Mechanically, Vorena is a Celestial Patron Warlock with a Pact of Tomb. I also took the Magic Initiate Cleric feat to give her some Cleric spells and cantrips (and since there is no Cleric or Druid in the party, the Guidance cantrip for her is highly welcome). The hardest part is implementing the bookworm part of her. INT would otherwise be a dump stat, but I want her to be somehow skilled in all Knowledge Skills and Investigation so I had to hold back on DEX and CON and therefore I try my best to stay out of melee range. Her role in the party is that of a healer, face and ranged "damage dealer". With her knowledge skills she can often tell her party members about weaknesses and strengths (read: resistances and vulnerabilities) Certainly not a power build but one that I really enjoy and since most of my fellow players don't have min/maxed chars themselves, she fits well into this group.

[@morrigankasa570]

In the proper 2014 5e system I created a: Chaotic Neutral Acolyte background Female Shadar-Kai Undying Warlock whose patron is Larloch aka The Shadow King. Here reasons aren't devious or evil as to why she chose to accept the Pact, nor is Larloch's reasons. She was appalled at the Corruption & hypocrisy of the Temple. Various high-ranking members of it have frequent secret meetings with Town Council members, many high ranking Temple members are dressed in suspiciously expensive finery, and countless other suspicious activities. So my character & her brother who is also studying at the Temple would frequently go down into the most Ancient forgotten section of Crypts below the Temple & Town to discuss these things in private. Larloch was observing them over the years whenever they went down there curious about them. Eventually he managed to manifest his presence & spoke to my character and her brother offering them a Pact. My character chose to accept it & all Larloch wants is anytime my character achieves some great deed she acknowledges Larloch's name and his aid to her (via him granting her power in the first place).

[@TxSonofLiberty]

Why four fiends? There are 9 official subclasses in 2014 and 4 in 2024... and all five of these seem sinister? Fine, a fiend is sinister, but Archfey can be mischievous and mercurial granting power on a whim and just to see what mortals do with such power; Celestials can choose a Warlock to be the Sharp Blade of Justice that a purer Cleric can't be (essentially replacing the older editions Paladin as the Charisma Based extension of their power now that Paladins are no longer bound to a deity at all); Fathomless Patron could have a deeper need like someone to protect the seas from the corruption of other entities but whose reach usually can not go onto land or the air above the waters and a Warlock can be that representative in those settings; Death/Undying can be reapers of befouled souls that need cleansing from the world and the Patron chose someone whose moment on the cusp of death was tenuous but not assured and by granting the Mortal assured longer life the Patron gets a Bounty Hunter to eliminate Corrupt Souls that escaped Death and more Corrupt individuals who literally cheated death and were meant to die; Genie Warlock could literally be a Dao/Djinni/Marid/Efeeti who is molding a replacement, someone who sought power, who by them granting power and growing the power of the Mortal, they in turn free themselves to return to their own home plane and the twist is the Warlock will become the bound Genie when they reach the point of being able to cast Wish themself, nothing nefarious, just the selfish desire of their own freedom and the need to have someone take their place to achieve it, the PC being granted all the power their body can handle to progress at no sinister cost, merely a primal one of mutual long term benefit, and the Genie therefore has a vested interest in the PC surviving... they may not even need THAT PC to succeed, just that they are granting such power to many and once one ascends, the others are empowered with no future requirement, the power they borrow returned to the new Genie when they each die of whatever fate they have; The Hexblade may just be the soul of a powerful mystic warrior bound to a blade and it gives the power because it found someone who will use it, it has no ulterior motive except combat, it has no bias, it simply seeks to be used as much as the Warlock will use it, killing those the Warlock wants killed, emboldened and strengthened with more battle... the only motive it has is to be of use itself, to not sit as some decoration on a mantle or as a piece of history in some museum or worse hidden away in some crypt or box... Yes, sinister can be interesting, but not every pact should be a, "Your soul will unleash hell on Earth", not every Patron has some deep, dark, devious motive... and not every pact is bad thing. A pact can be a loan, magic granted with the concept that the more it is used, the more magical power is grown, and the more the patron gets back with interest.

[@TxSonofLiberty]

Alternatives FIEND PATRON: Perhaps every soul a fiend warlock kills is converted into energy that grants that Fiend more power, not in the material plane with an intent to take it over, but among demons and devils, raising their rank and prestige among other fiends, elevating their influence and authority among their own kind, and making them more powerful there, the twist being that the best souls to take aren't good ones, as a pure soul has no corruption to feed on and such soul energy actually goes to the higher planes, so is next to valueless, so what the Fiend needs is for the Warlock to kill the most vile and corrupt beings, collecting on that corruption before those souls can repent and purify themselves, potentially escaping damnation... like plucking a fruit at its ripest and most juicy moment, the Warlock is tasked with occasionally veering off their main quests to directly themself (or with the aid of their allies) snuff the life of these most heinous of beings while they are at the prime moments of their evil. The irony of it all being the Warlock gains no benefit spiritually toward a good afterlife, while actually gaining no dark marks either toward eternal damnation, as long as they use the Warlock Magic to kill (assist in a kill), only through completely magicless melee combat can the Warlock move their own soul's fate toward the positive or negative. ARCHFEY: Magic festers when unused, and Archfey are limited when not in the Feywilds, but their magic can be lent out to Mortals, and in doing so grow in power. The Patron chooses the Mortal because the Mortal is awkward, or funny, or unlucky in love, and grants them magic to use, not because the Archfey has an ulterior motive, but because it amuses them to see what the Mortal does with it, often giving the Mortal Advice in the form of cryptic poems and confusing riddles, granting them more and more power to do whatever, because the more they loan the mortal, the more they get back when the mortal dies, but the longer the mortal lives, the more that magical energy grows, and since Archfey are nigh immortal, there is no rush, and in fact it benefits the Archfey for the mortal to live longer, perhaps even unnaturally long, as the long term loan pays off exponentially greater power... the Twist is that the Archfey doesn't actually care, when the mortal stops amusing them, they just stop actively observing the mortal and stop actively adding their advice and guidance and allow the mortal to do whatever, only communicating with the Mortal when they Mortal actively reaches out for more power, or advice, or even to question if they are in trouble, meanwhile the Archfey has found other Mortals to amuse them with the exact same kind of no real strings attached bargains... The mortals expect far more nefarious motives, but the real twist is there really isn't one, the Patron gets everything they wanted simply by the Warlock using the power more and more, and the Archfey just collects that power back up when the natural order of Fate steps in and completes the contract. FATHOMLESS: The Warlock is saved from a demise at sea or even in a deep river, the Patron is a powerful being of the Deeps, a Naiad Queen or a Siren Goddess or an Ancient Sea Deity, one whose influence is bound primarily to only the Waters in which they rule, the Patron often sees beings fall into their domain and shows mercy, and all they seek is knowledge and souvenirs of the world beyond their domain, and so they grant power to those they rescue in their domain in exchange for occasionally returning with tales of the Skies and the Land beyond their watery depths. Occasionally though, because people expect Warlock deals or beings that grant power to Warlocks to have dark motives and nefarious twists, others rescued (not even Warlocks, just people who were saved from drowning, healed up, and sent on their way who promised to return but never did) have deceived the Patron, and so the deal with this Warlock isn't for the tales and trinkets, but for the bounty of those that have abandoned their word or own pact with the Patron. The twist is that the Warlock need only bring the bounties to a body of water and submerge them for a moment, forcing the other person to enter a place where the Patron can speak directly and get answers, and satisfactory answers, apologies, or completing the agreements (ie. Telling a tale or two, or handing over the mementos/trinkets/knick-knacks/whatevers) would be sufficient to fulfill the pledge, and no one needs be hurt nor die, the Warlock need only convince the person to come speak with the Patron to fulfill their obligation and are in no constraint required to do any harm nor do more than relay the message from the Patron... and, the Warlock themself bringing tales and gifts of their own (hey, this low level magic weapon we could sell for a bit of gold but no the fighter longer needs because we have better stuff was crafted in the mountains by dwarves... sure, might be worth 75 gp, but it is an object from the land high above sea level... what a great gift for the Patron. Oh, look, a Tinderbox, it can make fire on dry lands, sort of useless underwater, but what an interesting object used in the air above the waters, and so expensive to come by... "Let me tell you about climbing a tree and watching a baby bird be born.") for a bit of more power when no bounty is near the Warlock's travels (because the Patron can only sense them when the Warlock is a few miles from them or they are within half a mile from a large body of water... which they have obviously been avoiding the latter... and therefore the Patron has no way to know where the Warlock should go, so all they want is the Warlock to travel around as much as possible to potentially get close to someone the Patron has touched before). GENIE: Unable to grant enough wishes directly to meet the amount needed to regain their freedom from their own vessel, the Genie find someone who wished for power while near their vessel, and granted it... the obligation is that the Warlock must attempt to grant any wish within their own means and power (including the powers and augmented abilities granted by the Genie themself to the Warlock) that they hear made in their presence, no matter who makes it (be it an ally, a random passerby, or even a foe in combat... "I wish you would spare my life!") as long as they understand the words "I wish" were a part of the statement, exclamation, or query... ironically and conversely, "You Wish" can also be exploited, as someone foolish enough to use that phrasing in the Warlock's presence is also making an inverted wish in a sense... The twist, is that Warlock will eventually die, but instead of going to the afterlife, they will be bound to their own Genie Vessel and rise as a new Genie of the type that their Patron was, continuing the creation of new Genies, and having to fulfill their own requirement of granting a number of wishes or serving a number of years as a bound Genie before they themselves are free of their debt of power. Yes, my versions are less deep, but I'm just covering the motivation of the Patron and the Twist, plus a little of the inciting factor of the pact/bargain/contract, not the Warlock's own identity and goals, as any of these could be combined with a menagerie of races and origins...

[@TxSonofLiberty]

Even in the video, the Orc Tribe could have been committed to a Great Old One, an ancient deity forgotten to time, whose name was lost, and so uses the name of the last patron as an alias, its goal not to corrupt, but to have the Warlock find its true name, reveal it, and restore its glory of being worshipped once more... The Archfey needn't have seen the Warlock as a pawn, but in fact seen the Warlock's connection to their rival's pawn as a means to both aid the Warlock and undermine their rival, the relationship could have been a positive one, and the truth could simply be that Fey Court Rules forbid the Patron from revealing the full truth... The Rogue could have died on the alter, being pursued into the temple in the first place, but Death spared them, granting them power to steal the lives of others, a sneaky reaper Death could send to claim the souls of countless Rogues and Monks who'd escaped death by somehow evading all harm in blasts of magic and dragon breaths and other stuff that should have engulfed them in deadly levels of injury, yet somehow they were completely unscathed (Seriously, watch Final Destination, Death hates people avoiding all harm... that is a story, not another "Demon wants out of Hell, and it just needs one more seal"). I guess the fiend clone is a little unique and original, but still always with the Fiend... but if that is the Fiend, then we need a replacement for the Fiend for the Dwarf... How about the Dwarf found a long buried weapon, a Great Axe or a even Pick, a ancient Dwarven Soul that had grown in power bound to a weapon, one that had conquered nations and rules all dwarves and a multitude of other species (Orcs, Goblinoids, Trolls, Gnomes, Halflings, Ogres, Minotaurs, Centaurs... only Humans, High Elves, Eladrin, Wood Elves, Flying Species, and Aquatic Species being disjointed opposition), but long ago a covert alliance of spellcasters formed from members of the Species that did oppose the Dwarf bound the soul of that Conqueror to this Weapon and hid it deep below in a warded cave reliquary that was recently reopened by accidental nearby excavation and seismic activity, allowing the curious Dwarf to find it, and the weapon granting power and knowledge to the curious dwarf in trade for vengeance on the descendants of the Alliance of Spellcasters specifically and the blood of the species that opposed the Patron Spirit long ago, the weapon's spirit not having any ulterior motive besides the bloodshed of the masses it has brooded on slaying for tens of centuries and ending the lineages of those that had imprisoned it, and so it will give the Curious Dwarf Warlock all the power needed and more to fulfill those goals and any of her own in the quest to complete their journeys. NOT EVERYTHING NEEDS TO BE A FIEND.

[@adamguy1984]

AI is too good because even though I know this is not legit I still subscribed

[@WolfHreda]

Brunna Deepdelve would've been a great basis for a Fathomless Warlock. Pact of the Tome, probably. Maybe she delved into a deep cavern holding a titanic underground lake where she began to hear the voice of something vast and ancient. Perhaps an Aboleth. Or a Kraken.

[@tommasomichetti9499]

what's the prompt for those images?

[@lauradeneault3525]

Why some people assume that patrons or even warlocks are evil? Nice ideas, but way too dark for no reason

[@G-Blockster]

The reason is fantasy tropes. Good fiction (and role-playing games) is based on conflict. The entire point of warlocks is they beg, steal, or are cursed with power, and it's always a double-edged sword. "There's no such thing as a free lunch" means there's always a cost, and if it seems like there isn't one, then it's guaranteed that there's a hidden one -- even with celestials. The inhuman patron is the one with the power, so any relationship is going to be unequal. The warlock will always be the weaker party. Demons and Old Ones may coerce obedience, and devils may entice obedience, whereas archfey and celestials may resort to manipulation to have their will done. Whoever is running the show will always exact a price for the power bestowed. The ensuing conflict will result in richer storytelling.

[@KB-qk1ic]

Traditionally, being a warlock meant that you bargained your soul for power. Good people trade their soul all the time in stories for the greater good. Usually for others, we really don't hear about trading their soul for personal gain from a "good" character.

[@morrigankasa570]

In the proper 2014 5e system there is: Celestial Warlock who is always good. Great Old One Warlock who can be either a curse or just neutral since the patron is in the vast majority of the time unaware of the person. There is also for Undying Warlock a patron that could be considered neutral or lawful evil at least, Larloch.

[@G-Blockster]

Bravo! Well done. The "clone" is reminiscent of the Irish myth of the "fetch" or dark twin. Subscribed.

[@BulkBeard]

That's so fetch

[@Ironbreeze53]

A bargain for immortality & the fool that didn’t read the fine print. On death your patron shoves spirit into the nearest body/corpse or one they find the most entertaining.