Warlocks

In the face of demonic power, most heroes see death. **Warlocks** see only opportunity. Dominance is their aim, and they have found a path to it in the dark arts. They train only in solidarity and find themselves brought together under one name: The Coven.

## Otherworldly Patron

### **Archfey**

Your patron is a lord or lady of the fey, a creature of legend who holds secrets that were forgotten before the mortal races were born. This being's motivations are often inscrutable, and sometimes whimsical, and might involve a striving for greater magical power or the settling of age-old grudges. Beings of this sort include the Prince of Frost; the Queen of Air and Darkness, ruler of the Gloaming Court; Titania of the Summer Court; her consort Oberon, the Green Lord; Hyrsam, the Prince of Fools; and ancient hags.

### **Celestial**

Your patron is a powerful being of the Upper Planes. You have bound yourself to an ancient empyrean, solar, ki-rin, unicorn, or other entity that resides in the planes of everlasting bliss. Your pact with that being allows you to experience the barest touch of the holy light that illuminates the multiverse.

Being connected to such power can cause changes to your behavior and beliefs. You might find yourself driven to annihilate the undead, to defeat fiends, and to protect the innocent. At times, your heart might also be filled with a longing for the celestial realm of your patron, a desire to wander that paradise for the rest of your days. But you know that your mission is among mortals for now and that your pact binds you to bring light to the dark places of the world.

### **Fiend**

You have made a pact with a fiend from the lower planes of existence, a being whose aims are evil, even if you strive against those aims. Such beings desire the corruption or destruction of all things, ultimately including you. Fiends powerful enough to forge a pact include demon lords such as Demogorgon, Orcus, Fraz'Urb-luu, and Baphomet; archdevils such as Asmodeus, Dispater, Mephistopheles, and Belial; pit fiends and balors that are especially mighty; and ultroloths and other lords of the yugoloths.

### **Great Old One**

Your patron is a mysterious entity whose nature is utterly foreign to the fabric of reality. It might come from the Far Realm, the space beyond reality, or it could be one of the elder gods known only in legends. Its motives are incomprehensible to mortals, and its knowledge so immense and ancient that even the greatest libraries pale in comparison to the vast secrets it holds. The Great Old One might be unaware of your existence or entirely indifferent to you, but the secrets you have learned allow you to draw your magic from it.

Entities of this type include Ghaunadar, called That Which Lurks; Tharizdun, the Chained God; Dendar, the Night Serpent; Zargon, the Returner; Great Cthulhu; and other unfathomable beings.

### **Hexblade**

You have made your pact with a mysterious entity from the Shadowfell – a force that manifests in sentient magic weapons carved from the stuff of shadow. The mighty sword Blackrazor is the most notable of these weapons, which have been spread across the multiverse over the ages. The shadowy force behind these weapons can offer power to warlocks who form pacts with it. Many hexblade warlocks create weapons that emulate those formed in the Shadowfell. Others forgo such arms, content to weave the dark magic of that plane into their spellcasting.

Because the Raven Queen is known to have forged the first of these weapons, many sages speculate that she and the force are one and that the weapons, along with hexblade warlocks, are tools she uses to manipulate events on the Material Plane to her inscrutable ends.

### **Kraken**

You have made a pact with a kraken that lurks somewhere in the oceans of the world. Krakens are ancient and terrifying creatures; incomprehensible alien knowledge lurks within their minds. Krakens are known to control the rain and storms in the region around them, thus drawing many farmers or sailors to worship krakens in hopes of fair weather.

### **Raven Queen**

Your patron is the Raven Queen, a mysterious being who rules the Shadowfell from a palace of ice deep within that dread realm. The Raven Queen watches over the world, anticipating each creature’s death and ensuring that it meets its end at the proscribed time and place. As the ruler of the Shadowfell, she dwells in a decayed, dark reflection of the world. Her ability to reach into the world is limited. Thus, she turns to mortal warlocks to serve her will. Warlocks sworn to the Raven Queen receive visions and whispers from her in their dreams, sending them on quests and warning them of impending dangers.

The Raven Queen’s followers are expected to serve her will in the world. She concerns herself with ensuring that those fated to die pass from the world as expected, and bids her agents to defeat those who seek to cheat death through undeath or other imitations of immortality. She hates intelligent undead and expects her followers to strike them down, whereas mindless undead such as skeletons and zombies are little more than stumbling automatons in her eyes.

### **Seeker**

Your patron is an inscrutable being who travels the Astral Plane in search of knowledge and secrets. In return for your patron’s gifts, you wander the world seeking lore that you can share with the Seeker.

Your patron could be any deity or other powerful entity dedicated to knowledge or forgotten lore. Celestian is an ideal patron for a Greyhawk campaign, and was the inspiration for this concept. In the Forgotten Realms, your patron might be Azuth or Oghma. Aureon makes an excellent patron in Eberron, while in Krynn and the Dragonlance campaign setting, Gilean is a good match for the Seeker’s role.

### **Undying**

Death holds no sway over your patron, who has unlocked the secrets of everlasting life, although such a prize – like all power – comes at a price. Once mortal, the Undying has seen mortal lifetimes pass like the seasons, like the flicker of endless days and nights. It has the secrets of the ages to share, secrets of life and death. Beings of this sort include Vecna, Lord of the Hand and the Eye; the dread Iuz; the lich-queen Vol; the Undying Court of Aerenal; Vlaakith, lich-queen of the githyanki; and the deathless wizard Fistandantalus.

In the Realms, Undying patrons include Larloch the Shadow King, legendary master of Warlock's Crypt, and Gilgeam, the God-King of Unther.