The "I Didn't Comment in Another Thread" Thread

[overgeeked]

Personally, though, I'm kind of a fan of playing up the patron's influence on the warlock when I play one - for the most part, warlocks make pacts with beings whose inclinations and goals align with theirs, so there's little reason to protest against having your patron give you something to do in game when it's something you'd be inclined to do anyway...

Right? You'd think all these people who're playing D&D for the story would be falling all over themselves for all those juicy hooks.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Right? You'd think all these people who're playing D&D for the story would be falling all over themselves for all those juicy hooks.

I'm not sure those are the people who are objecting to an active (or even existent) patron, though.

(I'm all favor of an activist patron, personally; if I ever play a warlock, it'll be a wannabe bard who sold his soul at the crossroads.)

 

[Hussar]

Do DM's actually play the patron? Really? I've never seen that. I certainly don't. That's someone's character. Unless the player approached me first about playing their patron, I wouldn't even consider doing it. Forty years and I've never seen a DM bother playing out a cleric's deity but, for some reason people have to get all up in the warlock player's grill?

 

[AnotherGuy]

Do DM's actually play the patron? Really? I've never seen that. I certainly don't. That's someone's character. Unless the player approached me first about playing their patron, I wouldn't even consider doing it. Forty years and I've never seen a DM bother playing out a cleric's deity but, for some reason people have to get all up in the warlock player's grill?

When priests to the divination spells who plays the being on the Outer Plane?
At our table patrons/deities are NPCs and are played by the DM. Players have some creative input, the DM can confer with the player, but the idea is not as alien as you make it out to be.

EDIT: I imagine some DMs have a strong touch, others very lightly.

 

[MarkB]

Do DM's actually play the patron? Really? I've never seen that. I certainly don't. That's someone's character. Unless the player approached me first about playing their patron, I wouldn't even consider doing it. Forty years and I've never seen a DM bother playing out a cleric's deity but, for some reason people have to get all up in the warlock player's grill?

When priests to the divination spells who plays the being on the Outer Plane?
At our table patrons/deities are NPCs and are played by the DM. Players have some creative input, the DM can confer with the player, but the idea is not as alien as you make it out to be.

EDIT: I imagine some DMs have a strong touch, others very lightly.

I'd go somewhere in between. I'd allow the player to define who their patron is, what they want from the warlock, and how much the player is comfortable with having the patron show up in-game (right down to "not at all") and then I'd play the patron accordingly.

 

[AnotherGuy]

I'd go somewhere in between. I'd allow the player to define who their patron is, what they want from the warlock, and how much the player is comfortable with having the patron show up in-game (right down to "not at all") and then I'd play the patron accordingly.

That is exactly what I did.
My players prefer to be surprised so they leave much of it to me after the initial set-up. I'm currently doing the same for an origin story of an elf who found himself without memory after he was unpetrified by an orc mage who kept him as a slave for some time before he was able to escape the horde.

 

[eyeheartawk]

I play alot of DCC so to me the implementation of patrons in 5E is very meh.

In the last DCC game I played my wizard's patron was Jan-Michael Vincent from Airwolf.

 

[payn]

I play alot of DCC so to me the implementation of patrons in 5E is very meh.

In the last DCC game I played my wizard's patron was Jan-Michael Vincent from Airwolf.

With this kind of artwork, how can you not just dive in???

 

[eyeheartawk]

With this kind of artwork, how can you not just dive in???

Funny you should mention it, the top left is by Doug Kovacs. He was at my wedding and he's drawn a picture of all my cats including one as a mech pilot.

 

[prabe]

With this kind of artwork, how can you not just dive in???

Trust me, one can simultaneously see the appeal, and get the sense the game is distinctly someone else's game.