Burn The Witch!

I was just looking over some Warhammer setting and I felt I just had to ask something.

Why are people allowing Warlocks in their party?

I mean, I've seen a few people post that they were overjoyed that Hero's in 4.0 are supposed to be Good or Lawful Good. Some people even liked it how the Evil deities were left out of the PHB. So I'm going to have to ask people why they would allow a Warlock with an Infernal pact join the party? I mean, he made a deal with infernal powers. Not that the other ones are seen as nice. Pact with an otherworldly power doesn't seem very pleasant. to most commoners.

I'm talking in character reasons though.

Well pretty simple really, not all Warlocks are evil. There have been many examples brought forth to show this:

-Tiefling Warlock, uses his races connections to gain control over a Devil's powers so he can fight off invaders.

-A Elder of a village, making a Pact with the Fey of the forest so he can protect his village and help it in times of need.

-A young child, makes a Pact with the Stars, so they change the fate of her dying father.

I can go on and on.

Some won't know, others won't care. Some will care, some will kill the infernal warlocks, others will be killed by the infernal warlocks. Some DMs will awark XP for it, others wont's award XP for it and other DMs may dock XP for it.

How can Satan be evil? He invented sex, heavy metal music and, of course, roleplaying games.

The party allows the warlock around for the same reason the warlock made their pact in the first place: the power outweighs the moral cost.

... I remember games where people who made deals with the devil ate babies and bargained until they made a mistake and devils dragged them to hell.

I'm going to have to work on that infernal pact, develop different fluff for it. Christian themed monsters annoy me for some reason. Angels, devils, infernal pacts. It just doesn't fit with DnD with me.

A rose with setting appropriate name and appearance makes a world of a difference.

Byronic said:

... I remember games where people who made deals with the devil ate babies and bargained until they made a mistake and devils dragged them to hell.

I'm going to have to work on that infernal pact, develop different fluff for it. Christian themed monsters annoy me for some reason. Angels, devils, infernal pacts. It just doesn't fit with DnD with me.

A rose with setting appropriate name and appearance makes a world of a difference.

Click to expand...

I think that the flavor doesn't always have to align exactly with the crunch.

What if the infernal warlock is not "pacted" at all? What if instead it's a birthright? He has these powers because his father is the 4th pit fiend of the Dark Eight who serve Asmodeus himself? What if the character is as morally straight as a Paladin of Tyr, but can shove somebody on a quick trip to Hell just by thinking about it?

As far as commoners vs. the party, the party may adventure with them because they know the truth, and despite what Old Hobb the Peasant claims, they know the Warlock is a Good Man (tm), and would take his word over some ignorant peasant? Sure, Old Hobb would like to take a lynch mob to the road if he knew, but if said Warlock just personally saved the Duke's life against some diabollic plot, then that would lend a lot of support to the Warlock....

It's a Faustian bargain (literally!). Depending on the circumstances, it might be considered foolhardy or tragic. Perhaps the character didn't know what he was getting in to. Perhaps he did, but decided that his soul was a price he was willing to pay for the power to do what he thought needed to be done.

Naruto.

Or so I'm told.