Warlock

A warlock is an arcanist who gains power through pacts with powerful entities, most commonly baatezu, elder evils of the Far Realm, fey, or tanar'ri. These pacts allow warlocks to channel powerful abilities of arcane might that would otherwise be closed to them.

These spells are called invocations, which are released through sheer force of will rather than by trained practice or innate ability. Invocations tend to be more powerful and deadly than those of a wizard or sorcerer, though with limited range or area of effect. Some invocations are less inherently deadly but instill terror or confusion in an enemy and warlocks are adept in cursing those with whom they fight. The most basic of all invocations is called an eldritch blast and is essentially a charged blast of pure arcane energy. When forced into combat, experienced warlocks often elude enemy blows through spells of flying, teleportation, or invisibility.

Warlocks have an overall poor reputation, a result of their dealings with otherwordly and often malevolent outsiders. However, not all warlocks are evil by nature and may use such deadly gifts for more benign purposes and how far the warlock goes to fulfilling their pact is entirely up to them, though corruption is an ever present danger for warlocks of all stripes. Likewise, many warlocks make pacts with several creatures, rather than just one, in order to access even more power, though all warlocks must eventually favor one pact over all the others.

Ammon Jerro is perhaps the best known example of a warlock.

Dark Pact Warlock


Dark pact warlocks forge some of the most dangerous, both morally and physically, pacts of all through foul alliances with demons, such as those who serve Lolth. It is this latter connection from which the dark pact gains its name and much of its tradition, since most male drow who did not choose the path of the wizard or the fighter took on the role of the warlock. In spite of its roots amongst the xenophobic drow, this tradition of dealing with demonic forces within drow society has slowly moved towards the surface and many such inclined warlocks now live above the Underdark.

These warlocks gain powers reflecting the pain, poison, and madness inherent in the forces of the Abyss. Dark pact warlocks also gain an ability known as a darkspiral aura, which enables them to feed off the death in battle to create more and more powerful eldritch spells. Invocations of the dark pact are almost always fueled by the strong willpower required of such warlocks.

Truly powerful dark pact warlocks might become darkwalkers, who immerse themselves so fully in the dark forces with whom they bargain that they become ghostlike and insubstantial.

Fey Pact Warlock
Fey pact warlocks forego the obvious dangers of dealing with devils or the forebidding mystery that surrounds the star pact but instead deal with powerful, supernatural forces of the Feywild. Such spirits of the natural world may be menacing or simply capricious in their dealings with mortals of the Prime. Some might be faerie-like dryads or sylphs while others are less easily defined, more like incarnations of nature than anything else.

The magic bestowed upon fey pact warlocks can be enchanting, while retaining the savage lethality common to the Feywild. Typical spells may charm a foe or burn them alive, reflecting the often fickle nature of the fey. Often such invocations require the wielder to have a high level of natural presence and charm, with which they can hold their own in neogitations with the wily and often deceptive fey.

Warlocks who focus all their attention on dealing with fey spirits might become one of the feytouched, half-mad arcanists who slip between the Feywild and the Prime as they wish.

Infernal Pact Warlock
Warlocks of the infernal pact are those arcanists who forge dealings with the devils of Baator, often exchanging their souls to a powerful baatezu in exchange for temporal power. Other warlocks of the infernal pact seek orbidden knowledge given to the mortal world by devils but since forgotten over time.

Infernal pact warlocks may lose much from their literal bargain with the devil but what they gain is vast. Warlocks who successfuly learn how to wield the powers of the Nine Hells can turn the lifeforce of enemies against them and can master the fires of Baator for their own purposes. These powers require warlocks to possess a strong constitution, since they often deal damage to the wielder as well as the target.

High-powered warlocks focused on their infernal pact might become life-stealers, vampiric warlocks for whom souls become weapons of war and tools to use.

Star Pact Warlock


So-called star pact warlocks forge their arcane alliances with the unknowable and alien forces of the Far Realm. Star pact warlocks often form these deals without a direct connection, interacting with the elder evils through the intermediary of ancient stars of the void, learning the secret names of those celestial objects which act as doorways into the Far Realm.

In some cases, star pact warlocks are unaware of how strongly these stars are connected to the dark powers of the Far Realm and are guided to their pact through haunting nightmares. Such warlocks might view the source of their powers as innocent or at the very least under their control. Others are fully aware of the connection and exploit it anyway, either due to insanity or sheer ambition. Others view these pacts, if they're even aware of them, with an even higher degree of suspicion than normal warlocks warrant, since the aberrant powers of the Far Realm are more horrific than any devil or fey spirit.

Regardless of their motivations or even awareness about the nature of their powers, star pact warlocks gain much from such dalliances, including degrees of prescience and powerful spells infused with radiant energy that inspire fear in the arcanist's enemies.

Experienced warlocks of the star pact can become doomsayers, who spread fear through their powerful magic, or students of Caiphon, apostles of the powerful elder evil that speaks through the ancient star. Star warlocks who continue this path may become a radiant one, beings who master the power of the Far Realm and become themselves aberrations.