D&D 5E Need Help Designing Custom Warlock Patron - The Artifact

ezo

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I'm not a big warlock player, and although I am familiar with many of the current official patrons, for my current game a player is looking for something "different". Given the path the game will likely follow, I thought a patron based on powerful magical items might work well.

Just so I don't reinvent the wheel, if anyone has one or knows of one, please pass it along.

Otherwise, I really don't have much to start with... but here's the idea:

1717109214018.png


So, I'm completely open to suggestions for patron features at levels 1, 6, 10, and 14, as well as any changes to the expanded spells draft.

Any thoughts?
 

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I'm not a big warlock player, and although I am familiar with many of the current official patrons, for my current game a player is looking for something "different". Given the path the game will likely follow, I thought a patron based on powerful magical items might work well.

Just so I don't reinvent the wheel, if anyone has one or knows of one, please pass it along.

Otherwise, I really don't have much to start with... but here's the idea:

View attachment 365571

So, I'm completely open to suggestions for patron features at levels 1, 6, 10, and 14, as well as any changes to the expanded spells draft.

Any thoughts?
I feel like the nature of the artifact is super relevant here. If your patron is the Orb of Dragonkind, that's going to be a very different power set from the Book of Vile Darkness.
 

Agreed.... pick a couple of artifacts to work with.
I would skip Find Familiar, as that's redundant to Chain boon. Perhaps Magic Missile? That's not on any Warlock list, and fits "is general magic and Force effects" theme.

In general, the Warlock patron feature pattern is
Level 1
Thematically appropriate effect that stays relevant from level 1 to 20. This ranges from the Fathomless Tentacle + swimming to the Fiend's THP on kill to the GOO's Telepathy to the Celestial's cantrips + healing pool.

Level 6
Defensive feature. Elemental resistances, save boosts, escapes/lifesavers.
Some include a damage boost of +PB to damage 1/turn.

Level 10
Useful 1/day effects, typically defensive.

Level 14
A useful 1/LR or 1/SR ability. This can range from teleport (Fathomless) to social (GOO Thrall) to combat (Fiend Hurl through Hell for 10d10 damage & lose a round of actions, no save).

Aside from Fathomless giving Evard's, and a couple of Patrons granting cantrips, none of these are off-the-shelf spells.
 

I feel like the nature of the artifact is super relevant here. If your patron is the Orb of Dragonkind, that's going to be a very different power set from the Book of Vile Darkness.
I agree. Think about the Hexblade: that's a warlock whose patron is a sentient sword. Making it a class of items might help focus things and give you ideas for class powers.

However, if you really want to do general magic items, I would reconsider the spell list. I would put identify and locate object on there, maybe animate objects. More spells having to do with objects and making them magical.
 

Thanks all for the feedback!

I feel like the nature of the artifact is super relevant here. If your patron is the Orb of Dragonkind, that's going to be a very different power set from the Book of Vile Darkness.
True. I was hoping for something a bit more "generic", but in this case it is a Staff of the Magi.

I would skip Find Familiar, as that's redundant to Chain boon. Perhaps Magic Missile? That's not on any Warlock list, and fits "is general magic and Force effects" theme.
I would put identify and locate object on there, maybe animate objects. More spells having to do with objects and making them magical

Yeah, I thought about Find Familiar a bit, but since it is only redundant in that one case, I edged that way.

Granted the Staff of the Magi is going to be the patron, and looking at what spells the staff can do, here's a revamped spell list. All of these spells (except magic missle) are spells a Staff of the Magi can do, and most can be upcast making them viable for higher level spell slots.

1st: detect magic, magic missle (options include: burning hands, find familiar, identify, mage armor, shield, sleep)
2nd: enlarge/reduce, flaming sphere (other options are: arcane lock, knock, web)
3rd: fireball, lightning bolt
4th: ice storm, wall of fire
5th: conjure elemental, telekinesis
(optional passwall)

I'm not thrilled in some way due to the heavy combat orientation of most of these spells, however.


In general, the Warlock patron feature pattern is
Level 1
Thematically appropriate effect that stays relevant from level 1 to 20. This ranges from the Fathomless Tentacle + swimming to the Fiend's THP on kill to the GOO's Telepathy to the Celestial's cantrips + healing pool.

Level 6
Defensive feature. Elemental resistances, save boosts, escapes/lifesavers.
Some include a damage boost of +PB to damage 1/turn.

Level 10
Useful 1/day effects, typically defensive.

Level 14
A useful 1/LR or 1/SR ability. This can range from teleport (Fathomless) to social (GOO Thrall) to combat (Fiend Hurl through Hell for 10d10 damage & lose a round of actions, no save).

Aside from Fathomless giving Evard's, and a couple of Patrons granting cantrips, none of these are off-the-shelf spells.
Awesome summary, that will help I think.

Here were some ideas I came up with today, but they don't follow the above guidelines:

1717211718222.png

1717211643749.png
 

I'm assuming the character doesn't actually have the Staff of the Magi at low levels, given the power of the item.
What level is the player starting at?

I like the Imbue Magic function. Even at 15th level, giving the party Fighter the ability to cast Eldritch Blast 5x/day equips him with a good ranged option that is shield-compatible.

I think attuning to 1 additional item is not going to have much value until somewhere between levels 5 & 10, as you don't typically see a lot of attunement items at low levels. How about the ability to know one additional cantrip and swap it out on a long rest?

I am not a fan of Siphon Magic. Use an action, and a magic item that you're not actively using but have on your person, to gain a spell slot that you have to use immediately. It costs 2 turns worth of actions to do anything, so you cannot use it out of combat. If you use it and a troll runs up to you, you're either stuck having wasted the ability because you Disengaged and ran away, or you're stuck next to a troll because you didn't want to lose the one extra spell slot per short rest you just created. Like the True Strike spell, it's a very niche ability because you have to have an entire round of combat where your best choice is doing nothing to set up the next round.

Instead, how about Defensive Siphon: 1/SR, when you succeed on a saving throw against a spell, you may use your reaction to siphon the thaumaturgical energy. You gain a temporary warlock spell slot, which expires at the end of your next turn.
-It's a defensive feature at 6th level
-A free spell slot (3rd, 4th, or 5th level) is pretty big, BUT it takes your reaction to earn it too.
Alternatively, something where, when you take damage, you can use your reaction to become invisible until the end of your next turn PB/day could be good.

As far as the bonus spells, if they're already on the warlock list, they're not a bonus. You'll need to go for spells not on the list, which is why Magic Missile is nice.
 

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