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<blockquote data-quote="Steampunkette" data-source="post: 9469073" data-attributes="member: 6796468">... no. I don't think I will!When you make a deal with a crossroads demon for power you don't get power before you promise them your soul. Rumpelstiltskin doesn't start spinning gold from straw 'til you've promised him your firstborn child. The only pact where that kinda thing would work is for an Old God 'cause they might not even be -aware- of you taking power from them. But if they're not aware of it, they're definitely not a voice whispering to you how to get and use that power, either.And if you never take the 3rd level of Warlock you retain the &quot;Free Hit&quot; forever without paying?The narrative conceits do not line up.But also... The Pact Magic description kinda shoots that -whole- conceit in the foot. &quot;Through occult ceremony, you have formed a pact with a mysterious entity to gain magical powers.&quot;So you've made the deal. You've got the powers. But you don't know who or what you've made a pact with 'til you pick at level 3. You might've started play wanting to do a Fiend Pact and described a Diabolical ritual but then 3rd level rolls around and, y'know, Fey just seems more fun with how the party dynamic works out. Guess the Fey really love them sacrificed goats and pentagrams!It's a purely mechanical shift in a way that strips away identity. Your post also doesn't touch on how that &quot;Mysterious Voice&quot; might apparently be the Headmaster of a Magical School for Wizards that you make your Pact with on the first day of school while running late with a piece of toast hanging out of your mouth, I guess.Because the Cross-Class Archetypes are absolutely going to rear their head, again, after Strixhaven. Someone liked the idea SO MUCH that all the classes got homogenized to better work with it, and so what if the entire narrative core of the Warlock gets torn out when they have pact magic with no patron at 3rd level?</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Steampunkette, post: 9469073, member: 6796468"] ... no. I don't think I will! When you make a deal with a crossroads demon for power you don't get power before you promise them your soul. Rumpelstiltskin doesn't start spinning gold from straw 'til you've promised him your firstborn child. The only pact where that kinda thing would work is for an Old God 'cause they might not even be -aware- of you taking power from them. But if they're not aware of it, they're definitely not a voice whispering to you how to get and use that power, either. And if you never take the 3rd level of Warlock you retain the "Free Hit" forever without paying? The narrative conceits do not line up. But also... The Pact Magic description kinda shoots that -whole- conceit in the foot. "Through occult ceremony, you have formed a pact with a mysterious entity to gain magical powers." So you've made the deal. You've got the powers. But you don't know who or what you've made a pact with 'til you pick at level 3. You might've started play wanting to do a Fiend Pact and described a Diabolical ritual but then 3rd level rolls around and, y'know, Fey just seems more fun with how the party dynamic works out. Guess the Fey really love them sacrificed goats and pentagrams! It's a purely mechanical shift in a way that strips away identity. Your post also doesn't touch on how that "Mysterious Voice" might apparently be the Headmaster of a Magical School for Wizards that you make your Pact with on the first day of school while running late with a piece of toast hanging out of your mouth, I guess. Because the Cross-Class Archetypes are absolutely going to rear their head, again, after Strixhaven. Someone liked the idea SO MUCH that all the classes got homogenized to better work with it, and so what if the entire narrative core of the Warlock gets torn out when they have pact magic with no patron at 3rd level? [/QUOTE]

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