Hellfire warlock

A hellfire warlock was a warlock who utilized hellfire, a type of magical energy that generated extreme heat.

"They tap into our power with their passions, and they can channel much of it through their bodies. However, even in great danger, they cannot take more than is granted to them. Such is their contract with our rulers."

- The imp Gurzek Balegaze, on the hellfire warlocks of the Ashmadai.

Culture
Hellfire warlocks were generally secretive loners, due to the hate they received by others. They had no real overarching organization and came to their power through one of two means. The first were people who simply came in contact with hellfire and learnt its use. The second were people who tinkered with their ability to cast eldritch blast and more or less hit upon hellfire by accident. However they came to their powers, it was normal for them to live by themselves to hone their new skills.

Hellfire warlocks could expect bad treatment from evil inhabitants, but as a general rule, such people were not sure what to think of such warlocks. Hellfire warlocks usually lived at the edge of a given society, and those living in evil ones were not an exception. That said, it was easier to garner information about the whereabouts of a given hellfire warlock in an evil community than in a good one.

Abilities
Every hellfire warlock had a penchant to bully people. They were also skilled spellcasters, had a lot of knowledge regarding planar matters, and were fluent in the Infernal language. All hellfire warlocks needed the ability to cast either brimstone blast or hellrime blast.

Hellfire warlocks were capable of using hellfire to enhance their abilities, namely their ability to cast eldritch blast and to use magic items. They also gained protective abilities using hellfire. However, this all came at the cost of versatility. For all its power, the use of hellfire took a toll on the user's physical health with death being a serious possibility. Therefore, a hellfire warlock had to be careful when deciding to use hellfire, as well as when to resist the temptation to use it, only giving in to it when they were certain that the use of hellfire helped further a battle in their favor.

The aforementioned ability to enhance an eldritch blast with hellfire was called hellfire blast. When a hellfire warlock cast an eldritch blast, it gained all properties of hellfire. This ability was dangerous to the user, for it drained the body's lifeforce on each use and could potentially kill the user, if the user was careless enough to overuse it. It was impossible to circumvent this toll on the user's physical health. When one tried to circumvent the cost, the ability simply did not work.

The aforementioned ability to enhance the ability to use magic items was called hellfire infusion. This ability worked by infusing the magic item, which had to be one with limited uses, such as a wand or staff, with the power of hellfire. This caused the discharged magic item's magic to have either a longer range, wider area of effect, a different elemental force, or simply stronger effects. The hellfire warlock's strength of personality determined how often hellfire infusion could be used.

There were two protective abilities that a hellfire warlock enjoyed. First, there was a general increased tolerance against heat. Second, there was an ability known as hellfire shield. This ability wreathed the hellfire warlock with hellfire. If somebody dared to hit the hellfire warlock, that somebody was hit by a retributive hellfire blast. While this ability was of protective nature, using it was not completely safe for the hellfire warlock for it drained the vitality like a hellfire blast on every retributive shot, potentially killing the supposedly protected user. Circumventing the drain on vitality was as impossible as with hellfire blast, trying it resulted in the ability not functioning.

Another ability of the hellfire warlock was the one to summon a devil. This devil would potentially be angry at the hellfire warlock and merely under its control for a short time. After the control expired, the devil either returned to where it was summoned from, or attacked the hellfire warlock. It was suggested to send back the devil while the control lasted to terminate the latter possibility.

Possessions
Hellfire warlocks were well aware of the danger their abilities posed to themselves. To counter these, they often carried a wand of lesser restoration to heal their loss of vitality. Hellfire warlocks were generally suggested to learn the use of magic items like these for the very reason to deal with the loss of vitality their profession entailed.

Relationships
Hellfire warlocks were the target of distrust, if not of outright hostility. Warlocks in general were not trusted, and when it came to warlocks who openly used the evil powers of Baator, people saw even less reasons to trust them. Only those hellfire warlocks who successfully hid their unique powers could hope to be met with normal reactions by other people. That said, not every hellfire warlock was evil, but it was quite normal for hellfire warlocks to head groups of thugs and/or devils as part of infernal cults against organizations dedicated to good. Hellfire warlocks with relationships to infernal cults took guardian and enforcer jobs, and were valued members of such cults thanks to their combat abilities.

Devils often provided support to hellfire warlocks. The devils did not do this because they had altruistic motives, and this was clear to every hellfire warlock, though the devils generally provided this support with good arguments to take it.

The relationship among hellfire warlocks was not good. In fact, hellfire warlocks generally tried to kill others of their profession, for they viewed each other as threats to their position of power.

Notable Hellfire Warlocks

 * Davoren Hellsheart, a master among hellfire warlocks, who was also a disciple of Asmodeus.

Appearances

 * Neverwinter Nights 2: Storm of Zehir •