D&D 5E Should Warlock Patrons be able to revoke a Warlock's powers if the Patron is displeased?

[Lost Soul]

There is no such thing as a free lunch. I think any patron with the possible exception of The Old Ones would outright take away power from a warlock for what it deemed as misbehavior. Demons & Devils are under no game obligation to play fair with a PC at all and even fey as written in most old literature are extremely mercurial. Friendly one moment, desiring to cut your throat the next then completely indifferent a few days later. (Think of most characters in Alice in Wonderland). I give the Great Old Ones more of a pass because if they adapted from Lovecraft they may kill, ignore or treat with you. They are so alien that their behavior makes as much sense to us as we do to insects. There just is no way to describe them in tangible human terms. But especially fiends are known for corrupting and killing mortals. Going against their aims of spreading tyranny or chaos and evil would certainly cause them to revoke powers granted and if not possible completely block advancement in the future.

 

[TheCosmicKid]

There is no such thing as a free lunch. I think any patron with the possible exception of The Old Ones would outright take away power from a warlock for what it deemed as misbehavior. Demons & Devils are under no game obligation to play fair with a PC at all and even fey as written in most old literature are extremely mercurial. Friendly one moment, desiring to cut your throat the next then completely indifferent a few days later. (Think of most characters in Alice in Wonderland). I give the Great Old Ones more of a pass because if they adapted from Lovecraft they may kill, ignore or treat with you. They are so alien that their behavior makes as much sense to us as we do to insects. There just is no way to describe them in tangible human terms. But especially fiends are known for corrupting and killing mortals. Going against their aims of spreading tyranny or chaos and evil would certainly cause them to revoke powers granted and if not possible completely block advancement in the future.

I don't think anyone is arguing that going against a patron wouldn't piss them off. That's not the question. The question is whether patrons have the power to take back what they've given.

What if warlock magic is like, say, a sword that a blacksmith has made? You go to the blacksmith and exchange some coins to buy the sword. That's your pact. Then you go off and plunder the blacksmith's home town. The blacksmith is furious. He may well put all his ability and influence into taking his vengeance on you. But he doesn't have the power to just snap his fingers and take the sword out of your hands. The sword is yours now, physically in your possession. If the blacksmith wants it back, he's going to have to kill you or steal it from you.

 

[Ancalagon]

I don't think anyone is arguing that going against a patron wouldn't piss them off. That's not the question. The question is whether patrons have the power to take back what they've given.

What if warlock magic is like, say, a sword that a blacksmith has made? You go to the blacksmith and exchange some coins to buy the sword. That's your pact. Then you go off and plunder the blacksmith's home town. The blacksmith is furious. He may well put all his ability and influence into taking his vengeance on you. But he doesn't have the power to just snap his fingers and take the sword out of your hands. The sword is yours now, physically in your possession. If the blacksmith wants it back, he's going to have to kill you or steal it from you.

A neat analogy, but it's a bit too... physical.

What about this: the warlock magic may be like a WiFi password... can the Patron change the password? Maybe each spell/invocation has its own password. The patron may be unable to change the passwords, but he may stop giving you new ones.

If we go back to the blacksmith, maybe it's more like arrows. The blacksmith can't take yours, but he sure isn't going to make new ones for you.

 

[tglassy]

I think it's more like this: The Patron is the Blacksmith, and the Warlock is the apprentice. The patron can stop teaching his apprentice, so the apprentice will never learn more, but he still has the knowledge and skills up to that point. He will always be able to make a sword, but hinges are beyond him, cause he never learned that.


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[TheCosmicKid]

What about this: the warlock magic may be like a WiFi password... can the Patron change the password? Maybe each spell/invocation has its own password. The patron may be unable to change the passwords, but he may stop giving you new ones.

Maybe. Or maybe the patron has actually given you a router and there's not much he can do to keep you from doing whatever you like on the internet (the you're-a-sorcerer-but-edgier model). Or on the other hand, maybe he's your ISP and he can unplug you completely (the old-school-cleric model).

 

[auburn2]

The way I look at it is the patron doesn't always have a choice. So yes you can potentially be enemies with a character that duped a patron into a binding pact (or potentially another immortal played a part in it).