What do patrons want

One offers to use the Warlock to spread life and light. The other option seeks to make the Warlock a living weapon of the Raven Queen herself.

The Hexblade patron uses the forces of the Shadowfell to manifest itself as a powerful and sentient weapon for the Warlock. These weapons may take many forms and may even find better use as a spellcasting tool for the Warlock who makes this pact. With potent hexes and the power of darkness, the Hexblade becomes a living weapon of their Patron.

It is speculated that these powerful weapons and the forces that create them are used to exercise the will of the Raven Queen. Through sentient weapons of the Shadowfell, such as the famous Blackrazor, she reaches into the Material Plane from the Shadowfell. Warlocks are so often thought of as mad, power-hungry seekers of dark knowledge. The Celestial Warlock Patron, on the other hand, sees the ability of mortals to be a force for good. Warlocks who take the Pact of the Celestial may be called upon to fight the forces of evil or to be stalwart defenders of the innocent.

They serve as beacons of hope who aspire to visit the paradise of the celestials, but who must assist those on the Material Plane for now. Warlocks who walk the path of the Celestial gain powerful healing abilities. However, one would be mistaken to ignore the destructive power of the same light that powers these abilities. Popular Celestial Patrons include empyreans, unicorns, and solars who are able to imbue the Warlock with holy light. Perhaps your Warlock is tempted by the mysteries that lie at the bottom of the vast oceans of the world.

Or maybe they have found a Patron in the form of a noble genie? There are many ways that a Warlock may find themselves approached by a Fathomless Patron. A character from a coastal region or with a sailor background is the most likely to have encountered a being strong enough to offer a Pact of the Fathomless.

Regardless of their motivation, the Patron has seen an opportunity in this Warlock. Upon accepting the pact, the Fathomless Warlock is able to conjure spectral tentacles to strike at foes and protect the Warlock. They also gain the ability to breathe underwater and teleport to known bodies of water in a pinch. Elementals from the Plane of Water, a mighty kraken lurking beneath the tides, or even a coven of sea hags are all likely Patrons for the Fathomless Warlock.

Read the full guide to the Fathomless Warlock here! Noble genie are the rarest of their kind, though one might be interested in entering a pact with the Warlock who is able to expand their reach in the world. The Warlock who takes the Pact of the Genie is given a vessel such as an oil lamp or stopped bottle that is used to grant them power from their Genie Patron. The nature of the power granted by this Pact determines on the specific type of Genie that the Warlock encounters.

As each of the four types of Genie are tied to a specific element, this determines the nature of the abilities that the Warlock can be granted. Djinni patrons offer abilities associated with the Element of Air and thunder.

Efreeti grant the power of the Element of Fire while Marid grant abilities more associated with cold and the Element of Water. Lastly, the Dao grant the protection and power of the Element of Earth.

In many ways, this feels like an answer to the admittedly underwhelming Undying Patron that we talked about earlier in this article. This Patron is a being that has come to defy the laws of life and death. As such, those who call on these Patrons for power are able to call upon the force of the grave itself to assist them. Because they were once mortal themselves, these Patrons understand what motivates mortals and use that to form their bargains. A Dungeon Master may decide why a patron accepted the pact, but together, player and Dungeon Master should develop a backstory that lays out goals, motivations, events that led to the pact, and what plans a patron may have for a Warlock.

Your story as a Warlock began with a pact between yourself and your patron. The basis for the pact will vastly differ between Warlocks and can lie somewhere between noble and malicious. Below, we will list basic lore about each of the patrons to help a player gain a better understanding of the nature of their pact. We will also list possible pact motivations and how a patron might hold a player to their pact. An Archfey patron is characterized as a legendary fey creature who holds secrets unknown to mortals.

Typical to fey creatures, Archfey patrons may be eccentric in their motivations and may utilize Warlocks to fulfill deeds of their ancient resentments. The following are part of the Archfey patronage. Once known as the Sun Prince, lord of the realm of summer and warmth, he tragically lost the love of his life who grew bored of the revelry of the fey and gave her heart to a mortal folk hero. Now ruler over the Vale of Long Night within the Feywild, a moon-enshrouded and ice-covered winter citadel, the Prince of Frost built his fortress out of arctic tears of sorrow, adorning the palace with ice statues of frozen mortals.

The Prince is known for his control over winter elements. From this source, it can be assumed that the Frost Prince hates mortals.

Why would he make a pact with one? Perhaps to use them as pawns, easy fodder, in his obsession with finding his lost lover. Perhaps to punish the warm fey he shunned or other mortal beings, symbols of the one who stole his companion.

A player might expect this patron to be petulant and expectant. Disappointment would risk an instant severance of power. A player might be interested in tailoring their powers to the theme of a cold and dark winter, such as Armor of Agathys, Darkness, Banishment, Elemental Weapon with cold damage type; or means to control other mortal creatures, who are also pawns to the Frost Prince.

Queen of Air and Darkness: An intangible looming presence who rules over an institution of evil fey, the Queen of Air and Darkness lacks physical form but appears as a formidable and handsome female faerie avatar.

This macabre patron who revels in hatred, enslavement, and death is opposed by seven deities for her corruption of the fey lineage, a result of the influence of a great black diamond offered to her by dwarven miners. The Queen of Air and Darkness is fond of yeth and hell hounds and is served by brambles, quicklings, and spriggans.

Servitude to the Queen might be a form of enslavement to her. A creature under her tutelage might experience corruption and greed. It is unclear what the goal of the Queen might have as a patron. Titania of the Summer Court : Queen of the Summer Feywild and the fey patron deity, mightiest of all archey, the Faerie Queen Titania is an accomplished strategist with a dry sense of humor and practical level head.

Peculiarly, Titania is affectionate to and amused by mortal beings. Like other sylvans, Titania is immune to paralysis, illusions, power words, and physical damage. Adept at charming and woodland magics, Titania fondly stewards all fey beings: brownies, dryads, pixies, satyrs, sprites, treants, unicorns, and so forth. Historically, Titania has been patron to many Warlocks throughout the Realms. This patron may truly have an apprentice-master relationship with a Warlock.

Oberon, the Green Lord : From Monster Mythology , we discover that the King of the Seelie Court and fey deity, the Green Lord, is a mighty tracker and skilled warrior, finding strength in his attunement to nature.

Like a river, Oberon is volatile in his emotions; like a great oak, the Green Lord is strong and stern. To avoid the political machinations of the court, and instead of employing wily illusions and magic, Oberon protects the fey with physical combat and brute strength.

The god himself enjoys roaming in the Beastlands. This patron would take well to a Warlock who uses weaponry to fight while retaining a somewhat good alignment—one who is friend to nature and hopes to protect creatures of the fey. This deity would also work well in an apprentice-master relationship. Find invocations and spells that are communal with nature and its strength.

Hyrsam, the Prince of Fools : A savage trickster with mischievous tactics and a cunning will, this satyr archfey is titled the Prince of Fools, though not because he lacks intelligence. In his guile, Hyrsam plays the fool to have covert advantage over dismissive political players, finding ways to manipulate his foes. Rumored to be the incarnation of music, and skilled in charming music, this immortal being attracts many races from the fey and other realms, like githyanki and genies.

Hyrsam may use a Warlock in his web of plots and political games. A task from Hyrsam may seem inane but reveal extreme outcomes in due time, all according to the plan of the Prince of Fools.

Ancient hags : Sustained by maleficence, hags are the embodiment of ugliness, the repugnant counter to the Fey. Evil sustains the hag, and manipulated souls do their bidding, finding joy in the misfortune they sow. Often unfathomable in their motivations, a hag is selfish, savage, unpredictable, and volatile. However, hags are unequalable as keepers of forbidden knowledge discovered through dark divinations and arcane pacts.

Hags rarely hope to get anything out of the bargain except sheer elation at watching a mortal fall, though they sometimes have pragmatic intentions. A bold player may use this patronage to seed her own demise without the promise of redemption.

Residing in the Upper Planes, the planes of everlasting bliss, a Celestial patron is filled with radiant light with the power to change the world of mortals for the better. Ancient Empyrean: Descendants of the deities of the Upper Planes, Empyreans are unaging majestic manifestations of beauty and strength whose intense emotional influence could alter their surroundings: radiant sunshine, sprightly creatures, a world of song and joy when happy; or withering flora, caustic rains, and ailing animals when moody.

An Upper Plane Empyrean is typically altruistic, but corruption from the Lower Planes could curse and banish the deity. A Warlock who enters a pact with an Ancient Empyrean might find themselves a steward of light, compelled to fight evil wherever found. An Empyrean might share its power with a Warlock so long as they fulfill this purpose. Solar: Holy celestial angels who loyally serve the divine being they wear allegiance to, Solars sow fear into even the most powerful fiends.

Though they never took on their own worshippers, Solars sometimes summoned the aid of other celestial beings. Solars have access to immensely powerful magic, like searing bursts of energy, true sight, psionic abilities, flight, and regeneration.

The greatest divide in Solar personality is favoring law or freedom over the other. Embodying virtues like devotion, honor, and purity, Solars were created as rewards for their gods, and failing to serve could result in a loss of power and demotion.

A Warlock who took a Solar as a patron would need to be devout to the god the Solar served. This Warlock should act more like a Paladin or Cleric and not deviate in the slightest from their morality. Ki-rin: Celestial golden hooved equine creatures, Ki-rin serve good deities and oppose evil.

Though extremely resistant to magic, Ki-rin avoid violence and would rather render their foes unconscious than fight. From the 2nd Edition Monster Manual, we learn that, though seldom found, a Ki-rin may be discovered gracefully searching the sky above the material plane for too-powerful evil-doers to punish.

Those who help the Ki-rin may share their goals in stopping evil and destructive creatures. A Ki-rin may inform their Warlock of the location of these beings, though they may require non-violent methods. Demogorgon : Considered a demon lord and lesser Abyss deity, Demogorgon, the Prince of Demons, has earned his title by defeating all who challenge him for his honorific. Crowned with two baboon heads atop his shoulders, Demogorgon is a dual creature who endures his own internal dissonance.

The left head, named Aameul, is charismatic, cunning, and deceptive. Hethradiah, the right head, is impulsive, feral, and destructive.

With magical abilities and servants that allow him to avoid direct conflict, Demogorgon relishes in control of other beings, disease, and fear. Demogorgon is also a creator and experimenter, having constructed retrievers, ettins, and the first death knight.

Demorogon has a small but strong cult of worshippers from several races. Orcus : Master of the undead, Orcus is a large demon lord who loathes all other living things, including his own worshippers and the undead. Orcus has been defeated many times and resurrected to rise in the ranks again.

A former Warlock of Orcus strived to become a lich, though lost his power when Orcus lost his power-delivering skull-topped wand. A Warlock now might be an Orcus fanatic who has a fascination with the undead, such as a Warlock necromancer. A player might try to trade off power with this patron who has been defeated many times before despite his intended fate by Orcus.

After major terraforming and erecting beautiful structures upon the layer of Abyss he ruled, his power grew too strong to challenge. The Prince, who ruled several demon hordes, would deceptively summon demons to his courts and take their possessions that were desirable to him, until his true name was discovered by a pair of mortals who eventually trapped him in a black jewel that corrupted many beings until its destruction, placing the Prince of Deception back into the Abyss.

Now, his cultist priests trick beings into serving the demon until they eventually sacrifice themselves to him. An Archfey is a powerful fey creature with the influence, understanding, and power to bend the surrounding Feywild to its will. Most Archfey belong to the Seelie Court, the Unseelie Court, or one of the other courts, but may even be unaffiliated, like Artagan.

Putting my vote in for Faerie and Shadow for the Feywild and Shadowfell. They just seem like the simplest and most elegant names. Fey Presence The creatures that fail their saving throws are all charmed or frightened by you your choice until the end of your next turn. What do Archfey patrons want? What does an Archfey want? Can Archfey become gods?