Warlock Lore - Must Read

[R0ninknight]

One of my favorite characters in tabletop was a CG Paladin of Freedom / Fey Warlock working for the Seelie Court out in the planes. Great times. It worked well.

It seems CG warlocks are taboo here among the player base according to this thread. I was disappointed when there wasn't information in the opening thread for someone wanting to roll up a Chaotic Good warlock from a Fey source. I'm also disappointed that its considered subpar RP to portray one.

If anything I'd advocate creating new powers for warlocks that are not so darkly-themed but rather have 'wild and untamed' as the theme. 3.5 lacked development in the Fey pact background, sadly.

I suppose I'm alone in my 'Chaotic Good Warlock Fan Club' around here.

[Mac]

CG Warlocks are snowflake characters. That said...

I had a CG warlock on BG. This was before there were any rules regarding it. He was even a Hellfire Warlock, Pacted to a Devil. His RP was that he was basically an unlucky guy who got duped and lost his soul in a card game. He was a fun character to RP and I have fond memories of him.

[Nocturnus]

I appologise if this has already been discussed but I recently made a Warlock, and I would like him to draw his powers through a pact with a far realm entity. I did some reading and found an article about the Star Pact, but it is from 5e. I'm not sure what the consensus on this would be. Any thoughts?

http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Warlock

[freekender]

CG Warlocks are snowflake characters.

Totally true, because, in theory, there should be much more evil infernal/abyssal pacted warlocks] around than good aligned due to the lore. But this same happens with all the snowflake chars, there are a lot around. And I have a CG warlock too

I appologise if this has already been discussed but I recently made a Warlock, and I would like him to draw his powers through a pact with a far realm entity. I did some reading and found an article about the Star Pact, but it is from 5e. I'm not sure what the consensus on this would be. Any thoughts?

Rasael posted some weeks ago he was working on some new content about different kind of pacts for warlocks, far realm pacts included. A feature I hope will come alive on the server, as it could bring tons of extra fun for warlock players.

[NegInfinity]

I appologise if this has already been discussed but I recently made a Warlock, and I would like him to draw his powers through a pact with a far realm entity. I did some reading and found an article about the Star Pact, but it is from 5e. I'm not sure what the consensus on this would be. Any thoughts?

http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Warlock

Since the server almost never interacts with being from far realm, I would advise to contact DM team for advice/approval.

3.5 warlock does not require making a pact, though its power ALWAYS originates from some entity, and that entity may be actively looking for a warlock that draws power from it.

Rasael posted some weeks ago he was working on some new content about different kind of pacts for warlocks, far realm pacts included. A feature I hope will come alive on the server, as it could bring tons of extra fun for warlock players.

I would like to remind that 3.5 warlock is essentially a "Dark Sorcerer" and is not REQUIRED to have made a pact (like sorcerer is not required to know the name of his dragon ancestor and family tree). "Far realm pact" etc is a thing straight out of 4e/5e, 3.5 warlock lore had lots of holes in it and involves a lot of hand-waving. Basically, nowhere in the rule books it is explained how warlock powers are acquired and how they work.

It is also nigh impossible for a mortal to make a warlock pact by themselves.

Most warlocks will have infernal origin regardless of their alignment (even with good-aligned ones), especially human ones, because nine hells enjoy messing with mortals the most.

As for far being pacted to far realm entity (and somehow not going nuts in the process), I would ask DM teams for approval in this case.

[Nocturnus]

"Far realm pact" etc is a thing straight out of 4e/5e, 3.5 warlock lore had lots of holes in it and involves a lot of hand-waving. Basically, nowhere in the rule books it is explained how warlock powers are acquired and how they work.

As for far being pacted to far realm entity (and somehow not going nuts in the process), I would ask DM teams for approval in this case.

I get that it is a 4e/5e concept, but as you said warlock lore has lots of holes in 3.5e so I don't see the problem. It also allows more playstyles for Warlocks rather than them all basically being tieflings. I could be wrong but I think the far realm does exist in 3.5 lore as well, just not that fleshed out.

Unless all of the Feylocks and the divine pact warlocks are forced to remake I have no intention of doing so.

BTW I have been roleplaying my Warlock as absolutely insane

[NegInfinity]

I get that it is a 4e/5e concept, but as you said warlock lore has lots of holes in 3.5e so I don't see the problem. It also allows more playstyles for Warlocks rather than them all basically being tieflings. I could be wrong but I think the far realm does exist in 3.5 lore as well, just not that fleshed out.

Unless all of the Feylocks and the divine pact warlocks are forced to remake I have no intention of doing so.

BTW I have been roleplaying my Warlock as absolutely insane

Far realm exists. A being from far realm could possibly grant warlock powers, but I suggest dm approval (which is what you're currently trying to get, as far as I know, which is good), because it is a very uncommon power source.

Following articles give more info on the subject:
http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp? ... c/20070314
http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp? ... c/20070328

//opinion.
Basically, to my knowledge, the most common power source is infernal (majority), then it would be fey, then planetouched origins. Fiend-related warlocks would probably outnumber all other warlocks combined by factor of two or more.

[Nocturnus]

Fair enough. I see what you mean, wouldn't want everyone running around as this type of warlock. Yes I did end up getting the green light, I can see why it would need DM permission as it requires a lot of digging to figure out how to properly roleplay it. I'm doing what I can to not use 4e info for my character. Although I'm using the idea of focusing on mind affecting invocations instead of the obviously infernal ones.

I'll give those articles a read, any other sources that would help would be appreciated.

I get that it is a 4e/5e concept, but as you said warlock lore has lots of holes in 3.5e so I don't see the problem. It also allows more playstyles for Warlocks rather than them all basically being tieflings. I could be wrong but I think the far realm does exist in 3.5 lore as well, just not that fleshed out.

Unless all of the Feylocks and the divine pact warlocks are forced to remake I have no intention of doing so.

BTW I have been roleplaying my Warlock as absolutely insane

Far realm exists. A being from far realm could possibly grant warlock powers, but I suggest dm approval (which is what you're currently trying to get, as far as I know, which is good), because it is a very uncommon power source.

Following articles give more info on the subject:
http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp? ... c/20070314
http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp? ... c/20070328

//opinion.
Basically, to my knowledge, the most common power source is infernal (majority), then it would be fey, then planetouched origins. Fiend-related warlocks would probably outnumber all other warlocks combined by factor of two or more.

[NegInfinity]

Yes I did end up getting the green light

Well, congrats. ^_^

I'll give those articles a read, any other sources that would help would be appreciated.

There aren't a lot of sources.

The primary sources of information on warlocks are complete arcane and complete mage, and they partially contradict each other + have a lot of holes in the explanations.

Warlock is defined in complete arcane (page 7), and additional info is provided in complete mage (scraps of information here and there, including origin info on page 7).... and that's pretty much it. Check that out.

Lore books can't quite decide what "warlock" is. Complete Arcane talks about "font of dark magic burning in their souls", "born of supernatural bloodline" and "few blameless individuals that are marked by supernatural forces as tools", while complete mage speaks about pacts, but hints that most likely there's more than one way to become a warlock.

Opinion:
I recommend to stick with "Dark Sorcerer" mindset, with pact-making (especially by yourself) being somewhat optional. The thing is, that in case of warlock the source of power may be actively looking for the warlock, so this kind of character can have a looming shadow over him/her. So even if your char didn't make the pact, one day the power source may present itself and demand something from you. That, I think, is an important aspect. Something may be watching your char, might have plans for him/her, and you might not even know what that "something" is. It is quite different from a sorcerer, wizard, or a cleric/favored soul.

To my knowledge the classes that ALWAYS make pacts are Blackguards (absolutely no way around it. If you're a blackguard - you made a deal with a fiend) and Binders (not implemented on the server). Blackguards use fiends to make pacts with gods, while binders are oddballs that deal with "Vestiges" which are some very strange beings.