Elric is still a magical being who performs magic and relies on it, but magic in the world of Melnibone isn't necssarily about spamming flashy spells left and right like a video game MMO or ARPG character. You may want to check out Through Sunken Lands. There's a class that is clearly inspired by Elric: i.e., "the Eldritch Sorcerer-King." It's a Warrior/Mage hybrid that doesn't get spells but does get cantrips and rituals.
That said, one of my chief complaints about how warlocks work in D&D is that the pact-making class doesn't really involve any real ritual summoning or pact-making. It seemingly relegates the archetype's pact-making to an "off-screen past."
Compare this with the Goetic in MCG's Invisible Sun that involves summoning/binding angels, demons, spirits, etc., and then actively bargaining with them for magical favors, arcane knowledge, etc. This is how one mechanically plays the class.
I don't see the point in having the warlock at all in D&D if it doesn't really have any mechanical teeth or "oomph!" that properly reinforces the archetype. One may as well play as a wizard and roleplaying having a fey, diabolic, or eldritch patron. It's the same difference mechanically speaking.
As I suspect you know, academically speaking, a "sorcerer" is a summoner, a mage who uses spirits of various kinds to do the marvelous effect. For example, a sorcerer doesnt fly, but has an invisible ghost or genie or demon carry the sorcerer.
Elric is a solid portrait of this understanding of sorcerer, whence a "sorcerer king", who knows how to bargain with spirits.
When 3e invented the Sorcerer class as a non-vancian spellcaster, I suspect the original inspiration was it compelled spirits to perform the spell effects, which is why it didnt need to prepare spells, and which is why the class used Charisma for spellcasting by influencing the spirits. But these spirits were left "off camera" sotospeak, and the D&D Sorcerer concept evolved differently. The absence of the spirits created the impression that the Sorcerer was casting spells innately. The spirits werent external entities, but rather were internal entities incarnated as "bloodlines". The situation seems to have altered the meaning of Charisma. Now Charisma more than influencing other people, is about self-expression.
Yet. The 3e Sorcerer was still required to learn how to use material components, in the same way that the 3e Wizard did. So the thematic identity of the Sorcerer was never salient. The only clear identity that the 3e Sorcerer class had was a "nonvancian" spellcaster.
Towards the end of 3e, frustration grew with 3e Sorcerer. It had too few spells known, delayed access to slot levels, and there was an impression that the designers were intentionally sabotaging the Sorcerer class in order to privilege the vancian Wizard. While the 3e Sorcerer remained moreorless as-is, the Warlock focusing on at-wills and the Psion focusing on spontaneous casting emerged out of the substantive critiques of the Sorcerer.
4e was a leveler: all classes used the same framework of at-will, encounter, and daily powers. 4e organized classes by "role" (Controller, Defender, Leader, or Striker). So for 4e, the difference between a Wizard and a Sorcerer, was no longer a difference of vancian versus nonvancian, it was of Controller versus Striker. The Wizard spells did things like block enemy mobility, while the Sorcerer dealt heavier damage.
5e became an identity crisis for the Sorcerer. Vancian casting that prepares each slot ahead of time no longer exists, and all spellcasters cast spontaneously choosing on the fly which spell to use for a slot. Any spellcasting class can potentially fulfill any role. There is no meaningful mechanical difference between Wizard and Sorcerer. The 5e Sorcerer focuses on "bloodlines". Yet, the Sorcerer continues to rely on material components rather than the bloodline to cast spells, so the thematic dissonance remains problematic.
In 5e, we have a Wizard, a Sorcerer, and a Warlock.
The Wizard mainly utilizes the magical properties inherent in natural objects (material components), whence a feeling of protoscience. This science requires learning and study, whence Intelligence.
The Sorcerer ostensibly uses the magical properties of ones own magically transformed body, the bloodline. For example, the Aberration Sorcerer gains psionic spellcasting by means of having ones body transformed by the Aberration creature type. This theme of bloodline is present even if unaffecting the spellcasting method.
The Warlock ostensibly makes a pact with a powerful creature. But the nature of this pact remains inconsistent. Some features suggest the creature has transformed the body of the Warlock, thus enabling the Warlock to cast spells innately and autonomously. Whence the Warlock is actually a Sorcerer. But other features suggest the Warlock requires learning and study to know how to spellcast. Whence the Warlock is actually a Wizard. Remarkably, the creature of the pact is never summoned to perform the magical effects itself. So the Warlock isnt a summoner regardless of the spirit pact.
The 5e mages lack consistent themes with regard to the nature of their spellcasting. Hypothetically, a spirit summoner could serve as a way to distinguish the three. For example.
• Psion − the mind affects the magical Weave directly.
• Sorcerer − the body is imbued with the Weave.
• Wizard − the protoscience exploits the Weave within natural objects.
• Warlock − the spirit or spirits relating to the pact manipulate the Weave.
Or some other thematic arrangement that made the Sorcerer a summoner.
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