Where did all the warlocks go to?

[The Dark]

I was thinking on this some more today, and there is somewhat of a cross-edition justification for warlocks gaining power from a pact with a Darklord. Back in Forbidden Lore, it's noted that Dark Sun templars lose their spells upon entering Ravenloft, since they can no longer draw on their Sorcerer-King. However, if they start to worship a Darklord instead, they regain their spells. 4th edition made (mosst) templars into warlocks, so it's reasonable to extend the templars' spell ability to warlocks in general.

For added bonus fun, the magic's probably actually coming from the Dark Powers, and it's possible a Darklord might not even be aware of "their" warlocks.

[alhoon]

For added bonus fun, the magic's probably actually coming from the Dark Powers, and it's possible a Darklord might not even be aware of "their" warlocks.

For some Darklords, that would be my choice, to be honest.

[TheArcaneWeirdo]

So let's start brainstorming this 'Pact of the Darklord'.

- I feel like part of the subclass should be individualised according to the specific darklord's powers and vibe, but I don't want to create 100 different subclasses. I noticed that a lot of darklords have some sort of an ability involving the creation and summoning of minions, but it looks very different for each one of them. So maybe one feature, called 'create minion', where the nature of the minion can be adjusted according to the darklord granting it? For example, for a warlock of Dominic D'honaire this would look like temporarily controlling a passerby's mind, but for a warlock of Harkon Lukas this would look like summoning a wolf familiar, and for a warlock of Wilfred Godefroy this would look like peeking into the near ethreal and commanding a nearby ghost, and for a warlock of Viktra Modrenheim this would look like quickly creating a construct. Logic entails some mechanical difference between these, but it should be kept at minimum. I also think this ability should scale, but by the minion's power and by your control over them more than by number (To avoid the necromancer problem of having to wait until your 27 skeletons are done attacking).

- Corrupting power. While Power Checks were invented as punishment for player behaviour, I think many of us have a player fantasy of playing a character that goes down a path of corruption and discovering what it'll turn into. Doing this 'naturally' requires... Ugh... Being a murder hobo (or another kind of evil character), which can really ruin the party's dynamic. So what if there was another way? Necromantic and evil spells can also be power-check worthy - what about spells granted by a darklord?
Also, one of the warlock's defining mechanical characteristics is the way its spell slots work. You only have two, but they're always of the highest level, and they regenerate once per short rest. It makes sense: It's another being's magic, not yours, so you can't just use it at will or moderate its power-level. It emphasizes the themes of depending on your patron, of this being dangerous. But in practice, it makes most warlocks ridiculously reliant on cantrips and turns one of the most versatile classes into 'I cast eldritch blast... Again...'
So what if we fix one problem with another?
I like the idea that the reason warlocks need so much rest between spells isn't that they can't cast three spells in a row, but that doing so is very dangerous. You're channelling through your body an unknowable, corruptive energy meant for an entity far stronger than you are - it can't be good for you. If you don't pace yourself, you don't want to see what happens (Unless you like torturing imaginary characters as much as I do.)
Right, it doesn't work like that in normal DND. But it could work like this in Ravenloft! We have 'dread' versions of magically-created things, from familliars to constructs and abberrations. What stops the Dark Powers from twisting the warlock pact, making it more powerful but also more dangerous? (Other than it being mechanically broken).
I call this mechanic 'Dreadslot' - A warlock's ability to use magic more often than they're supposed to (IE cast spells without expending a spell slot), at the risk of letting it consume them
Now, the effects of this 'pact magic overdose' can look like a lot of different things. It could look like your basic cast-from-HP 'blood magic'. It could be ability damage, or simply gaining a level of exhaustion. I like the idea that for GOOlocks this would require a madness save, for the full 'eldritch horror' vibe.
But I think we all know what this would look like for a darklord's warlock. People who choose this will come for the darklord fantasy, and that's what they'd get.
Using the Dark Powers' own magic attracts their attention far more easily than anything else. The powers-check DC for using a Dreadslot is, let's say 10%. It's 20% for the 4th, 30% for the fifth, and so on. Fortunately, you probably won't need the 'so on' before you get your normal spell slots back. The DC resets after a long rest - though not the curse you might have gained. (What happens if you reach the 5th or 6th step of corruption this way is between you and your DM. Maybe it happens as described in RCS - but personally I don't think the DP will outright turn into a darklord someone who didn't really harm others. I think at this point our warlock would face a decision - to prove themself as vicious as their patron and to take their place, to die, or to break the pact, give up magic and start the long, hard way toward purification.

I think I should make dreadslot versions for existing warlock subclasses too. But the hard thing would be to balance it - I want the cost to be steep enough for players to consider well before breaking the game with it, but not as much as to kill/render unusable/turn into a monster a character prematurely.

[Teravala]

Just to chime in here, I think Ravenloft has some AMAZING patron possibilities for Warlocks.

Some of these include: Mummy Lords, Liches, Hags, Vampires(?), powerful Vistani seers, Loa, Ghosts, and type of Djinn from the desert like domains, a fiend like Inajira or the Gentleman Caller, or my personal favorites: Maeve the Fae Queen or Isolde of the Carnival. Hell, even a wizened old Treefolk would suffice.

I think a lot of dark lords would qualify as being powerful enough to impart some of that power on a warlock. I laughed for like 5 minutes when I pictured a teenage character pledging themselves to Maligno, but some of them really would make pretty awesome patrons. Also a psionic style warlock pledged to the Elder Brain would be incredible.

[Rock of the Fraternity]

Anton Misroi would work, due to his conflation with the Lord of the Dead.

[The Dark]

A Warlock of Simon Audaire would be interesting, given his cult's description in Dragon #264. Warlocks could also be a way to depict the early stages of Toben the Many taking over another body. Another possibility for a psionic warlock would be a devotee of the Living Brain.

And heck, I'll see your teenage Warlock of Maligno and raise you a Warlock of Merilee Markuza.

[Teravala]

A Warlock of Simon Audaire would be interesting, given his cult's description in Dragon #264. Warlocks could also be a way to depict the early stages of Toben the Many taking over another body. Another possibility for a psionic warlock would be a devotee of the Living Brain.

And heck, I'll see your teenage Warlock of Maligno and raise you a Warlock of Merilee Markuza.

I have no idea what dragon mag issue you're talking about, nor who merilee markus is, but the instant I'm not at work I plan to dive into both those things.

You think Inajira is still making deals?

[The Dark]

A Warlock of Simon Audaire would be interesting, given his cult's description in Dragon #264. Warlocks could also be a way to depict the early stages of Toben the Many taking over another body. Another possibility for a psionic warlock would be a devotee of the Living Brain.

And heck, I'll see your teenage Warlock of Maligno and raise you a Warlock of Merilee Markuza.

I have no idea what dragon mag issue you're talking about, nor who merilee markus is, but the instant I'm not at work I plan to dive into both those things.

You think Inajira is still making deals?

A definite yes on Inajira making deals. Inajira giving up on making deals would be like Strahd giving up on possessing Tatyana.

After Bleak House, Dragon ran an intermittent series of articles in the Van Richten's Legacy series, which introduced the twins as his heirs. Issue 264 had the twins run across his manuscript to the Guide to the Ancient Dead, and presented material that RvR struck from that work. Audaire was Jacqueline Renier's father, murdered by Marie Renier (his wife) in 710. Audaire was embalmed and buried in the catacombs of Ste. Ronges. His (human) nephews Pierre and Gerard exhumed the body and made a pact with dark powers to animate it. Simon's now a 3rd rank Ancient Dead, while Pierre (T7) and Gerard (P5) lead a cult of their male Renier cousins to hunt lycanthropes. For an edition with warlocks, Gerard would probably work better as one of those, rather than a priest.

Merilee was the only non-Darklord profiled in the product Darklords. She's a vampire who was turned on her tenth birthday and has been stuck at that age for the last 150 years. She's bonded with Adam over both being outcasts who hate their bodies.

[Teravala]

A definite yes on Inajira making deals. Inajira giving up on making deals would be like Strahd giving up on possessing Tatyana.

After Bleak House, Dragon ran an intermittent series of articles in the Van Richten's Legacy series, which introduced the twins as his heirs. Issue 264 had the twins run across his manuscript to the Guide to the Ancient Dead, and presented material that RvR struck from that work. Audaire was Jacqueline Renier's father, murdered by Marie Renier (his wife) in 710. Audaire was embalmed and buried in the catacombs of Ste. Ronges. His (human) nephews Pierre and Gerard exhumed the body and made a pact with dark powers to animate it. Simon's now a 3rd rank Ancient Dead, while Pierre (T7) and Gerard (P5) lead a cult of their male Renier cousins to hunt lycanthropes. For an edition with warlocks, Gerard would probably work better as one of those, rather than a priest.

Merilee was the only non-Darklord profiled in the product Darklords. She's a vampire who was turned on her tenth birthday and has been stuck at that age for the last 150 years. She's bonded with Adam over both being outcasts who hate their bodies.

Oh how interesting, I'm always really interested in the dragon mag stuff because I've never really dove much of their content. I wish there was a way to see what issues features RL content.

Cool, so Merilee is kind of like Claudia from Interview with a vamp. Makes sense her and Adam would get along, I imagine there's a lot of self loathing going on there, being served eternal body dysmorphia. Does the cult hunt all lycanthropes or specifically wererats, do you know?

[The Dark]

A definite yes on Inajira making deals. Inajira giving up on making deals would be like Strahd giving up on possessing Tatyana.

After Bleak House, Dragon ran an intermittent series of articles in the Van Richten's Legacy series, which introduced the twins as his heirs. Issue 264 had the twins run across his manuscript to the Guide to the Ancient Dead, and presented material that RvR struck from that work. Audaire was Jacqueline Renier's father, murdered by Marie Renier (his wife) in 710. Audaire was embalmed and buried in the catacombs of Ste. Ronges. His (human) nephews Pierre and Gerard exhumed the body and made a pact with dark powers to animate it. Simon's now a 3rd rank Ancient Dead, while Pierre (T7) and Gerard (P5) lead a cult of their male Renier cousins to hunt lycanthropes. For an edition with warlocks, Gerard would probably work better as one of those, rather than a priest.

Merilee was the only non-Darklord profiled in the product Darklords. She's a vampire who was turned on her tenth birthday and has been stuck at that age for the last 150 years. She's bonded with Adam over both being outcasts who hate their bodies.

Oh how interesting, I'm always really interested in the dragon mag stuff because I've never really dove much of their content. I wish there was a way to see what issues features RL content.

Cool, so Merilee is kind of like Claudia from Interview with a vamp. Makes sense her and Adam would get along, I imagine there's a lot of self loathing going on there, being served eternal body dysmorphia. Does the cult hunt all lycanthropes or specifically wererats, do you know?

Dragondex is a great resource for finding articles. Go down to R and scroll to "RAVENLOFT setting" and it'll provide most of the articles about Ravenloft from the magazine (it doesn't list the Book of Souls from issue 234 for some reason, and I'm not sure what else that's for Ravenloft is in the index but not in that part of the index).

The Cult primarily hunts wererats, since one of their goals is to put the human Reniers in charge of the family instead of the wererat Reniers. Pierre (the thief) wield a rapier +2, +4 vs wererats and a main-gauche +2, +5 vs rats (explicitly not including wererats, but any type of normal or giant rat), while Gerard has developed a spell that wards against wererats.

[Teravala]

Dragondex is a great resource for finding articles. Go down to R and scroll to "RAVENLOFT setting" and it'll provide most of the articles about Ravenloft from the magazine (it doesn't list the Book of Souls from issue 234 for some reason, and I'm not sure what else that's for Ravenloft is in the index but not in that part of the index).

The Cult primarily hunts wererats, since one of their goals is to put the human Reniers in charge of the family instead of the wererat Reniers. Pierre (the thief) wield a rapier +2, +4 vs wererats and a main-gauche +2, +5 vs rats (explicitly not including wererats, but any type of normal or giant rat), while Gerard has developed a spell that wards against wererats.

That's really good to know, I'd never heard of Dragondex so thank you for turning me onto a new resource.

The stuff about the Renier's is so cool. I've never had a group adventure in Richmulot but it's always been in the back of my mind as a cool setting for an adventure. right now I am running a converted hyskosa's hexad set, with OC filling the gaps between the modules, so I might take advantage of the chance to get to have a story beat in Richmulot, especially if the group can insert themselves into a power struggle.

[Drinnik Shoehorn]

I would think Strahd would not work well as a Warlock pact master. He has been burned by pacts in the past... honestly, I don't think he would go for it. He has other ways to compel mortals.
That's my take on it, though. I simply don't see him like that.

You have a point. I thought that he's powerful enough to be capable of granting pact magic, and that if I wanted to play a character associated with a villain I'd probably go for the most iconic one in the game. (also it could be hillarious to have one of Azalin's warlocks and one of Strahd's warlocks in the same party) But maybe it's not really his thing.

Lyssa on the otherhand, being technically an older vampire than Strahd, but cursed to be only awake for a fraction of the night, she would definately make pacts with people to further her powerbase.

[TheArcaneWeirdo]

I would think Strahd would not work well as a Warlock pact master. He has been burned by pacts in the past... honestly, I don't think he would go for it. He has other ways to compel mortals.
That's my take on it, though. I simply don't see him like that.

You have a point. I thought that he's powerful enough to be capable of granting pact magic, and that if I wanted to play a character associated with a villain I'd probably go for the most iconic one in the game. (also it could be hillarious to have one of Azalin's warlocks and one of Strahd's warlocks in the same party) But maybe it's not really his thing.

Lyssa on the otherhand, being technically an older vampire than Strahd, but cursed to be only awake for a fraction of the night, she would definately make pacts with people to further her powerbase.

Thank you!

[Drinnik Shoehorn]

It makes narrative sense too.

Lyssa used a ghost to prematurely age her, basically meta gaming vampire aging.

So whilst she has the powers of a 500+ year old vampire, she still has outlook and impulsiveness of a young woman. So she might not consider the long term implications of making a lot of pacts.

Her entry in CotN:Vampires shows she surrounds herself with a cult of personality as it is, so it’s only a small step to becoming a warlock patron if it means she can escape the curse Strahd placed on her.

[The Dark]

Looking elsewhere, I feel like each of the Three Hags would have their own coven and they'd alternate between working together to do things none of them can do on their own and viciously backstabbing each other when they think they can get away with it.