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Lorgar

2018-08-19T19:31:17Z

2A02:587:3A12:6900:10A1:BBEB:CD88:D307:

{{heresy}}
[[Image:Lorgar Handsome.jpg|400px|thumb|right|Bet you didn't know Mr. Clean was a primarch.]]
{{Topquote|From fanaticism to barbarism is only one step.|Denis Diderot}}

{{Topquote|Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord;"<br>"He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored."<br>"He has loosed the fateful lightning of his terrible swift sword"<br>"His truth is marching on|Battle Hymn of the Republic}}

{{Topquote|For years I have despised Lorgar... look at your [[Roboute Guilliman|primarch]], Honorius. So singular in aspect. So noble. I have envied you, envied the Imperial Fists, the Luna Wolves, the Iron Hands. And I am not alone. We struggle with a mercurial mind, Honorius. We labour under the burden of a brilliant but fallible commander. We no longer bear the word, my friend. We bear '''''Lorgar'''''.|Sorot Tchure, a Captain of the Word Bearers, to Captain Honorius Luciel of the [[Ultramarines]] (shortly before Tchure betrayed him at Calth)}}

{{Topquote|Dost thou (kimi) seest not this man of Enlightenment (Satori)"<br>"Who hath ceased studying and livest now effortlessly?"<br>"Neither doth he seeks to defeat dellusion nor to fin truth any longer.|''The Song of Sudden Enlightenment'', by Grand Master Yoka, disciple of Hui Neng, 6th Patriarch of Zen}}

{{Topquote|The difference between gods and daemons largely depends upon where one is standing at the time.|The dude himself.}}

The human incarnation of 'Did Nothing Wrong'.

'''Lorgar''', also known as '''Lorgar Aurelian''', '''Bearer of the Word''' and '''The Urizen''', is the [[Primarch]] of the [[Word Bearers]] legion, the extra religious legion of [[Chaos Space Marines|Kheyos Sphess Mahreens]]. He is credited within [[40k]] [[fluff]] for being ''the'' first Primarch to fall to the [[Chaos Gods|Ruinous Powers]]. Yes, we know what you're thinking and no, [[Horus]] was just the most powerful Primarch to lead the actual Rebellion and the first to be public about it. Lorgar was the first to be corrupted, though this wasn't noticed as he was very secretive about it. Also, looks just like Patrick Stewart.

Tl;dr: [[Horus Heresy|EVERYTHING]] is this guy's fault. Seriously, [[Archaon]] has nothing on this guy...

==Pre-Heresy==
[[Image:Lorgar Aurelian.jpg|200px|thumb|left|Lorgar's model, the first in [[Forge World]]'s primarch line. Unfortunately, while very nice, it shows in his static pose and (relatively) standard design of power armour.]]
Like the rest of the Primarchs, Lorgar was scattered through the Warp by the [[Chaos Gods]]. The infant landed on Colchis, a world of excellence, beauty and most of all, faith. Lorgar was taken in by [[Kor Phaeron]], a former priest of the Covenant (Colchis' chief religious order) and a Chaos worshipper. As he grew, he was educated in philosophy and rhetoric and he was gifted with a charisma that greatly aided his role as a preacher, making him immensely popular with the Colchisian faithful. At first, he remained a staunch defender of the Faith, but his life changed due to his frequent visions of a new [[God-Emperor of Mankind|Messiah]] arriving into Colchis, clad in [[Pauldrons|gleaming armour]], who rode on [[Imperial Navy|clouds of iron]] as he led his [[Space Marines|army of angels]] across the stars. Though Kor Phaeron had little patience for what he considered [[Heresy]], his own grudges with the Covenent meant that when they declared war on Lorgar and all his followers Kor Phaeron would aid his "son" (and continue to give lip service to the Emperor until the time was right). Six long years engulfed Colchis into Civil War, yet, due to his insane charisma convincing thousands upon thousands of faithful to worship the new Messiah, Lorgar won through [[Imperial Guard|sheer numbers]]. By the time they were done, the [[God-Emperor of Mankind|Emperor of Mankind]] and [[Magnus the Red]] arrived on Colchis and everybody was absolutely ''ecstatic.'' Almost overnight Colchis became an extravagant world all in devotion to the Emperor. After about a month of celebrations, the now slightly annoyed Emperor appointed Lorgar head of the Imperial Heralds, which Lorgar renamed the Word Bearers.

During the [[Great Crusade]], Lorgar loved the Emperor. Like ''really'' loved him; in fact, he was the <s>only</s> (tell that to Russ and his Space Wolves and their Emperor the Allfather crap) first Primarch to venerate him like a god. He loved the Emprah so much that he wrote the Lectitio Divinitatus which was all about the divinity of the Emperor, and built huge Gothic cathedrals on every single world the Word Bearers conquered. And, ironically enough for a being genetically engineered to be a super-soldier and general, he disliked war. To say his generally preachy attitude didn't endear him to his brothers is an understatement. Except for Horus, Leman Russ and Magnus; Lorgar had little friends or support amongst his brothers. (Guilliman respected the fact he rebuilt planets after conquering them but they were never really close and he would become something of a pal with Angron during the Heresy, as much as can be said that Angron could be.) This is best demonstrated by the following example: at one point the Word Bearers had come to the help of the Iron Hands, so Ferrus Manus decided to craft a nice weapon for Lorgar as a thank-you gift. Lorgar was actually happy but as he watched Manus busy at his forge, he couldn't help to wonder ([[Fail|aloud]]) whether his brother would be able to craft anything beside tools for war with his metal hands. Manus didn't really appreciate the comment and wondered back if Lorgar would able to craft anything at all! Ferrus still gave him ''Illuminarum'' and Lorgar would wield the huge Crozius Arcanum from then on, but the incident only broadened the wedge between them.

Unbeknownst to Lorgar, [[The Last Church|the Emperor was a NAYtheist]], and was ''really'' disappoint towards his son. Lorgar's religiosity threatened to undermine his top-secret project to starve Chaos of any kind of worship. He made Lorgar stop his god worship in a very good-daddy kind of way: by having the [[Ultramarines|Smurfs]] destroy Lorgar's greatest masterpiece city, Monarchia. He then used his [[Psyker]] powers to [[Troll|force Lorgar and the entire XVII Legion to kneel]] before the Emperor, [[Roboute Guilliman]], and [[Malcador|Malcador the Sigilite]]. Destroying an entire city is one thing, but being forced to kneel down before Great Grandpa Smurf was of such humiliation that it would inflict clinically incurable depression into anyone... Which is totally understandable as the Emprah had waited a whole century to tell that he was not at all into this being worshipped as a god thing Lorgar kept preaching about all the time, only to have the Ultramarines destroy the city Lorgar considered one of his greatest achievements to make his point - again - this was 100 years after Lorgar's discovery by big E, and Lorgar rightfully pointed out to Magnus that the Emprah spent weeks on Colchis following his arrival and witnessed that people were clearly worshipping him as a God, yet said nothing then, only to tell Lorgar a century later that he was a failure and should shape up (see "The First Heretic").

What is even more mind boggling is that - despite this fact - it neiter occured to the Emprah nor Magnus, who are both supposed to be hyper geniuses, that it probably would have been the sensible thing to tell Lorgar right then and there that religion was not really the Emprah's thing... instead of waiting a whole century before letting Lorgar know that he had messed up. The Emprah even went so far as to tell Lorgar that "out of all of his sons" Lorgar, and Lorgar alone, had failed him. Again, after 100 years, making his bitterness and eventual fall of Chaos much more understandable. It was the Emprah who had fucked up, a fact that apparently Malcador eventually realized at some point as in the audio drama he says "if there is one Primarch I wish we could have saved, I would have hoped it to be Lorgar" (not exact quote, but close).

Severely humiliated and wracked with self-doubt, Lorgar secluded himself in Emo sulking, and began listening to Kor Phaeron (now First Captain of the Word Bearers) and First [[Chaplain]] [[Erebus]] about the facts of the Old Faith of Colchis: many other worlds shared similar concepts of such gods. Having unrelated worlds share a single common faith, is this evidence that [[Chaos|such Gods beyond the realm of material existence]] truly existed and were worthy of worship? This in turn led to Lorgar, willing to expand his enlightenment and guided by the sorcerer Ingethel the Ascended of the planet [[Cadia]], plunging headfirst into the [[Eye of Terror]]. The rest is <s>history</s> heresy.

Before the heresy Lorgar was widely considered the weakest Primarch as both a fighter and warlord, preferring to act more as a [[Reasonable Marines|diplomat]] and [[Ecclesiarchy|preacher]]. His actions during the Heresy proved everyone wrong (or maybe his power grew massively once he tapped into his psychic powers- he nearly got shredded by Corvus during the Drop Site Massacre). When Lorgar first toured the Eye of Terror, he was forced to fight An'ggrath the Unbound (who is to [[Bloodthirster]]s what Bloodthirsters are to Gretchin) in order to prove himself worthy of becoming the champion of Chaos Undivided, and [[What|won]]. He also got a visit from Kairos Fateweaver, informing him of his possible futures in a one-time deal where that [[Lord of Change]] would only speak the truth, primarily involving his future campaign on Calth, and a very important choice to make.

His<s> plan of attack</s> shooting of his allies in the back on Calth resulted in beating the shit out of Ultramarine forces two times his army's size, proving Lorgar was also a damn good warlord. Even the fact that his Calth attack force was finally screwed over was part of his plan: the entire point of the Calth war was to purge the Legion of ignorant hotheads who put revenge and hatred over Chaos worshiping, in addition, Fateweaver explicitly told him that [[Roboute Guilliman]] had to survive the campaign on Calth, which would cause him to become paranoid & doubtful and therefore start summoning his forces to [[Macragge]] to create '''[[Imperium Secundus]]''' which would starve [[Terra]] of resources and possibly swing the war in the direction of Horus. Killing Guilliman would mean that the separatists would never get that chance, so Lorgar had to make a choice between slaying his most hated brother, or sparing him for a shot at something greater.

By the way, in the Horus Heresy novels it's seen he actually cared a lot for all of his brothers, for example he was good pals with Magnus, which is more than you can say about some loyalist primarchs. He was also pretty much the only one who cared about Angron in some way and actually ran the ritual which transformed Angron into a Daemon Prince, thus freeing him of the Butcher's Nails and premature death. He even seems to be good friends with Leman Russ, referenced in Betrayer given that Russ read something Lorgar wrote and thought that was some spiritual shit worth remembering, which is pretty significant considering how down-to-earth this guy was. Also in The First Heretic, Magnus tells Lorgar that Russ argued for preserving Lorgar's place in the crusade and sparing him excommunication when the Emps was pondering kicking Lorgar to the curb. More significantly, when Lorgar asked Russ and Magnus to stop fighting, they '''actually listened.''' The two Primarchs who just might have had the most mutual hatred stopped fighting because Lorgar asked them to. Angron or Mortarion might have been able to make war more effectively, but only Horus was Lorgar's equal in diplomacy. Even when grudging with his brothers he was quite diplomatic, and he sincerely believed he could eventually convince everyone else about his point of view on the Emperor's divinity. Also, he worked to make Colchis a decent place to live, and it seems like whenever he conquered a planet he took his time to convince the population of the benefits of Imperial rule to the point rebellion became an impossibility. So yeah, it would have been far more sensible for Emprah to put this guy in charge of the Imperial propaganda machine or diplomatic body and overlook his religious views.

He was also terrifyingly powerful Psyker, but refused to use his gift for the same reasons. He ceased this emo shit after falling to Chaos, turning into a bad ass sorcerer able to rival Magnus, or at least Magnus's psychic projection, which is still far beyond any 40k-level monster-Psyker capabilities. In fact he was the third or forth most powerful (once-Imperial) Psyker in the galaxy: second to only Big E, Magnus and maybe Malcador. (A couple of daemons and [[Eldrad|a certain dick]] might give him a run for his money as well if you consider non-humans.)

He also bore the greatest physical similarity to the Emperor: under his golden tattoos he looked exactly like a younger version of Big E's true form (yeah, yeah, da Emprah told Corax that he had no true form, but then he also said that daemons were minor xenos pests, so figure that out yourself). He has also dabbled in [[Meme|Trolling]] shown in one scene in Know No Fear, where he's pretty much blatantly trolling Guilliman.

<blockquote>

Lorgar: ''Have you lost your temper, Roboute?''

Guilliman: ''I am going to gut you.''

Lorgar: ''You have lost your temper.''

</blockquote>

Take that BITCH.

His actions during the Heresy mainly consisted of keeping Angron on a slaughter path as well as saving his life. He repeatedly tried to get Magnus to join the traitors but realised that he was totally out of his depth in terms of warpcraft. Unfortunately, Lorgar turned out to be closer in mentality to Erebus than he would ever like to admit. When Horus was elevated by the gods on Molech, Lorgar grew frustrated about how Horus would not submit to Chaos and received a vision of his leadership leading to their defeat on Terra. When Horus was wounded by the Emperor's Spear, Lorgar sensed the opportunity to usurp him as Warmaster as well as High Priest of Arch-Chaos.

Suffice to say that it did not go to plan and a revived Horus curb-stomped him publicly in front of the entire massed traitor forces on Ullanor. He would have killed Lorgar but relented at the last minute, banishing him from his court and telling him that Lorgar would die if Horus ever saw him again (which turned out to be moot later but partly explained why Lorgar isolated himself from his brothers afterwards). A large portion of the Word Bearers legion swore themselves to Horus at that point and Lorgar warned the Warmaster that his refusal to submit to the Chaos Gods would lead to the traitors' defeat. One can only assume that following Horus' death that there was a lot of smug "I told you so"-ing on Lorgar's end.

==Post Heresy==
[[Image:Lorgar portrait.jpg|thumb|left|'''GREETINGS MEWLING CORPSE SLAVE, DO YOU HAVE A FEW MINUTES TO HEAR ABOUT THE GOOD WORD OF CHAOS UNDIVIDED?''']]
[[Image:Lorgar.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Note that his [[Galactic Partridges|purity seals have purity seals]] and his scalp is inscribed with holy scripture. Because if you are going to do it, you have to do it right.]]
So now he's the Daemon-Primarch of the [[Word Bearers]], the guys who make the rest of the Chaos Space Marines look like all around swell secular humanist types. They're kind of like Jehovah's Witnesses except instead of knocking on your door and telling to you about Jesus they knock down your door and ask you which end of a daemon summoning you want to be on. This tends to make Chaos's otherwise awful selling pitch seem oddly compelling. He also has a particular hatred for atheists, so he loathes his atheist daddy Emprah and the [[Tau|weeaboo space communists]] more than he hates everything else.

In a supreme twist on irony, the [[Ecclesiarchy]] of the Imperium (which is the primary target for the Word Bearers during conquest) derives most if not all of their religious texts from Lorgar. That Bible they administer to citizens daily? The prayers quadrillions of soldiers and civilians utter daily in an effort to believe? That devotion to the Emperor? All fostered and nurtured by Lorgar. All brought about by his and his Legion's sheer devotion. And all that shit works (Grey Knights are protected from the Daemons by their faith while the latter fear holy water blessed by the Ecclesiarchy, Sisters of Battle pull out miracles and have (a) freakin' Living Saint(s) resurrected by the Emperor, etc), leading to countless jokes about it being Lorgar's plan all along. In short, Lorgar is responsible for both the Heresy that marked the end of the Imperium's golden age, and the only thing that would save Humanity in its long evolution to a fully psychic race. That being said, Lorgar is actually so ashamed of the Lectitio Divinitatus (the primary holy book of the Imperium he wrote) that bringing it up is a surefire way to have your body and soul obliterated in such horrific ways [[anal circumference|that no words exist in the myriad tongues of the universe to fully encompass the unholy rape you would receive]]. Seriously, just... don't.

Since the Heresy, Lorgar's notable achievements consist of becoming a [[Daemon Prince]] of [[Chaos Undivided]] (and, yes, that is technically possible) before doing sweet fuck all for several millennia. Seriously, at least while [[Magnus the Red|Magnus]] pretends to be plotting the downfall of Man or something while he sits in his tower screaming "[[JUST AS PLANNED]]" at the top of his lungs whenever he pours milk over his daemon cereal, he actually got off his red ass and led the [[Thousand Sons]] to wreck the [[Space Wolves]]' shit on their own home planet. ([[Fail|Twice.]]) Lorgar, though? The lazy fuckwit has just been holed up on Sicarus meditating and traversing the warp, secretly "Crying and weeping in guilt for what he has done" quote unquote by our [[Spiritual Liege|spiritual liege]] himself, [[Roboute Guilliman|Rawbutt Derpyman]]. Congratulations, [[Chaos Gods]], you have created the Lovecraftian equivalent of that unemployed asshole friend who won't get off your couch and who is secretly [[Cyrus|emo]]. If you believe Magnus, Lorgar has already achieved what the Chaos Gods wanted by setting up this stalemate between Chaos and the Imperium so he's entitled to some well-earned ruminating on scripture, but fuck that because it's boring. Also because it runs totally counter to the beliefs that Lorgar develops during ''The First Heretic'', which are all about mankind embracing Chaos and everyone becoming willingly possessed like his Gal Vorbak.

Apparently he was actually working on some new daemon summoning techniques, which he taught Abbadon before the Thirteenth Black Crusade. Which on the whole... is pathetic, that's like something they should be doing on their off hours when not busy slaughtering Imperial worlds. Given that Abbadon's the only other big player on the Chaos side who's still devoted to toppling the Imperium in the name of Chaos Undivided, you'd think Lorgar would be beside him every step of the way. The prevailing theory is that he's busy <strike>Indulging Slaanesh's churchboy fantasies</strike> "contemplating the mysteries of Chaos". Although if you want to be logical, (if logic could be applied to chaos or 40k in general) him being the daemon prince of chaos undivided means that he must execute the will of chaos undivided, which is, incidentally, divided, and as such, he literally can't do shit.

As of M42 where shit has most definitely hit the fan in the form of the Great Rift splitting the Galaxy in half, Lorgar has apparently been seen leading the Word Bearers on their Unholy Crusades. So looks like he's finally gotten off his lazy ass!

==On The Tabletop==
{| class=wikitable
! || Pts || WS || BS || S || T || W || I || A || Ld || Sv
|-
| '''Lorgar Aurelian:''' || 375 || 6 || 6 || 6 || 6 || 5 || 6 || 4 || 10 || 2+
|}

Lorgar may be the cheapest of the Primarchs, and he may have one the lowest statlines amongst them (aside from a decent initiative), but do not let this fool you - used properly he can be one of the most powerful Primarchs.

First off, he magnifies the strong points of his legion: Word Bearers are already quite brave with 3d6 morale tests (discarding the highest dice). Lorgar makes them all Ld10 (for Morale and Pinning tests, does not require LoS), and immune to Fear, effectively turning them into the bravest non-fearless army in 30k bar the [[Adeptus Custodes]] and [[Solar Auxilia]], but only if the squad sees him, i.e., has LoS. Hell, even in 40k none could rival their resolve (apart from Tyranids until you kill their synapse, or Deathwing Terminators). Word Bearers are quite good in melee with their compulsory psyker-chaplains, ability to re-roll 1s for sweeping advance and cheap melee-friendly squad-wide buffing through Dark Channeling; Lorgar enhances their close combat by granting +1 to charge distance and combat resolution (LoS needed). He also confers his crusader rule to any unit he joins, further increasing the chances of successful sweeping advances if they win in melee.

As for Lorgar himself, he wields ''Illuminarum'', a S8 AP2 MС [[Power Weapon|power maul]] with Smash; a MC S6 AP3 pistol for +1A and 2+/4++ armour which grants 3++ against ''any psychic empowered attacks (including witchfire powers and blows from Force Weapons)'', but against Witchfires is a bit redundant, because Lorgar would likely Deny any spell targeted at him with his rerollable DtW on 3+. He can also force one model or unit to reroll all 5-6 to hit and to wound against him once per game, which is obviously his "I win" button in challenges.

Lorgar's main strength is that he's a ML2 psyker with access to Divination and Telekinesis. Though he got a handicap, he can only harness warp charges on 5+ ''(amended for 7th edition by FAQ)'' this matters very little, because he can (and should) be upgraded to ML3, where he harnesses warp charges on 3+ and gains the freedom to pick powers manually at the start of the game instead of randomly rolling them. This is where he starts turning into rape machine, as both Divination and Telekinesis have quite a murderfuck set of powers normally compensated by the fact that there's only a small chance of getting the good ones. While losing access to Telepathy (and Invisibility by extension) in his revised rules is a bit of a setback since he can't cheese his way through most Primarch vs. Primarch fights like he used to, the variety of supporting powers that Divination provide are a fine compensation for that. Precognition seems to take the mantle of his "I win" button, making him both tougher and killier.

Assuming you take Lorgar ascended to pick your powers, tailor your needs to suit your opponent. Precognition, as previously mentioned, turns him into a challenge monster who gets to reroll all of the things. Objuration Mechanicum is another solid power, getting easy hull points off vehicle squadrons or making units kill themselves that rely on volume of fire to cause wounds in the shooting phase. Misfortune is particularly good against MEQ units to begin with and the ability to simply have it when you need it is equally good as a result. Should you sit Lorgar back with a heavy support squad full of high damage weapons, laugh at all the death inflicted from Perfect Timing denying cover saves (though that's a strange use of a 450 (when upgraded) point model). Really, your imagination is the limit and the ability to have the power that will benefit you the most against the army you're playing is worth the 75 point Lorgar upgrade, all day every day.

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==Lorgar VS other Primarchs:==
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="100%">
Primarch fighting, while fun to see isn't a very competitive thing to do as it'll usually tie up both Primarchs for the entire game without either of them dying (and Lorgar's abilities and statline mean he's much better suited to fighting marines where he can Instant Death them), with that in mind this section is how Lorgar fares against other Primarchs Mathhammer wise. Please note that all the various abilities, with the exception of Blind and Lorgar's powers, are taken into account (Blind is ignored because it never helps nor hinders the outcome of the fights, and psychic powers are too random to apply to this and don't work often enough to sway the fight) and the match-ups assume the Primarchs are the only ones involved in the fighting, so various abilities like Angron's "The Butcher's Nails" and Rampage do not provide any bonuses. Note too this mathhammer is only based on regular Lorgar.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">

* Lorgar VS Horus (using The Talon)
**Round 1: Horus hits 3.444 times, wounds 1.775 times, 0.887 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.554 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Round 2: Horus hits 4 times, wounds 3.554, 1.777 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 1.444 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Lorgar hits Horus 2.5 times, wounds 2.083 times, 0.694 after saves and IWND will take that to 0.083 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Lorgar loses this fight. BADLY.

* Lorgar VS Angron
**Round 1: Angron hits 4.888 times, wounds 3.846 times, 1.923 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 1.59 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Round 2: Angron hits 4 times, wounds 3.333, 1.666 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 1.333 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Lorgar hits Angron 2.5 times, wounds 2.083 times, 1.041 after saves and IWND will take that to 0.708 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Lorgar loses this fight. BADLY.

*Lorgar VS Fulgrim
**Round 1 (Laer Blade): Fulgrim hits 4.147 times, wounds 1.726 times, 0.863 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.530 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Round 2 (Laer Blade): Fulgrim hits 4.666 times, wounds 2.333 times, 1.166 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.833 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Round 1 (FireBlade): Fulgrim hits 4.147 times, wounds 2.456 times, 1.228 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.895 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Round 2 (FireBlade): Fulgrim hits 4.666 times, wounds 3.107 times, 1.553 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 1.22 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Lorgar hits Fulgrim 2.5 times, wounds 2.083 times, 0.694 after saves and IWND will take that to 0.708 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Lorgar loses this fight. BADLY.

* Lorgar VS Mortarion
**Round 1: Mortarion hits 2.961 times, wounds 1.752 times, 0.876 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.543 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Round 2: Mortarion hits 3.333 times, wounds 2.222 times, 1.111 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.778 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Lorgar hits Mortarion 2.5 times, wounds 1.666 times, 0.833 after saves and IWND will take that to 0.278 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Lorgar loses this fight. BADLY.

* Lorgar VS Ferrus
**Round 1: Ferrus hits 2.37 times, wounds 1.865 times (Forgebreaker)/1.58 times (Bare Hands), 0.932 times after saves (Forgebreaker)/0.79 times (Bare Hands) after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.599/0.457 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Round 2: Ferrus hits 2.666 times, wounds 2.221 times (Forgebreaker)/1.777 times (Bare Hands), 1.11 times after saves (Forgebreaker)/0.888 times (Bare Hands) after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.777/0.555 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Lorgar hits 2.5 times, wounds 2.083 times, 0.555 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.222 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Lorgar loses this fight. BADLY.

* Lorgar VS Konrad Curze
**Round 1: Curze hits 3.555 times, wounds 2.369 times, 1.184 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.851 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Round 2: Curze hits 4 times, wounds 3 times, 1.5 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 1.167 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Lorgar hits 2.5 times, wounds 2.083 times, 1.041 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.708 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Lorgar loses this fight. BADLY.

* Lorgar VS Vulkan
**Round 1: Vulkan hits 2.37 times, wounds 1.865 times, 0.932 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.599 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Round 2: Vulkan hits 2.666 times, wounds 2.221 times, 1.11 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.777 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Lorgar hits 2.5 times, wounds 1.666 times, 0.554 wounds after saves and 0 wounds after IWND.
**Lorgar loses this fight. BADLY.

* Lorgar VS Perturabo
**Round 1: Perturabo hits 2.37 times (both types), wounds 1.58 times (Normal)/1.865 times (Forgebreaker), 0.79 wounds (Normal)/0.932 wounds (Forgebreaker) after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.457/0.599 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Round 2: Perturabo hits 2.666 times (both types), wounds 1.777 times (Normal)/2.221 times (Forgebreaker), 0.888 wounds (Normal)/1.11 wounds (Forgebreaker) after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.555/0.777 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Lorgar hits 2.5 times, wounds 2.083 times, 0.694 wounds after saves and 0.361 wounds after IWND.
**Lorgar loses this fight. BADLY.

* Lorgar VS Alpharius
**Alpharius round 1: hits 3.333 times, wounds 1.9444 times, 0.972 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.639 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Alpharius round 2: hits 3.889 times, wounds 2.268 times, 1.134 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.801 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Lorgar hits 2.5 times, wounds 2.083 times, 1.041 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.708 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Now that's a fight! Lorgar still loses, because Alpharius has Preferred Enemy, but not by much.

* Lorgar VS Rogal Dorn
**Round 1: Rogal Dorn hits 2.37 times (Normal)/1.259 times (Sundering Blow), wounds 1.579 times (normal)/1.164 times (Sundering Blow), 0.789/0.582 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.456/0.249 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Round 2: Rogal Dorn hits 2.666 times (Normal)/1.333 times (Sundering Blow), wounds 1.999 times (normal)/1.295 times (Sundering Blow), 0.999/0.648 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.666/0.315 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Lorgar hits 2.5 times, wounds 1.666 times, 0.833 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.5 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Lorgar loses this fight. BADLY.

* Lorgar VS Corvus Corax
**Round 1: Corvus hits 4.741 times (Scourge)/3.555 times (Shadow-walk), wounds 3.16 times (Scourge)/2.369 times (Shadow-walk), 1.58 wounds (Scourge)/1.184 wounds (Shadow-walk) after saves and IWND will take that down to 1.247/0.851 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Round 2: Corvus hits 5.333 times (Scourge)/4 times (Shadow-walk), wounds 3.999 times (Scourge)/3 times (Shadow-walk), 1.999 wounds (Scourge)/1.5 wounds (Shadow-walk) after saves and IWND will take that down to 1.666/1.167 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Lorgar hits 2.5/1.666 times, wounds 2.083/1.388 times, 1.388/0.925 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 1.055/0.592 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Lorgar loses this fight. BADLY.

* TLDR version: The weakest Primarch? Actually, if you don't consider his psychic powers, he is. But if you do...?

* Dirty Trick: Upgrade Lorgar to Lorgar Transfigured and give him Precognition. With this he will beat any other Primarch barring Horus (and a maxed out Angron). And even the Warmaster will be hard pressed in this fight.

</div>
</div>

{{Primarchs}}
[[Category:Chaos]]

Ephrael Stern

2018-08-19T13:22:25Z

2A02:587:3A12:6900:10A1:BBEB:CD88:D307:

[[Image:Ephrael Stern 1.jpg|thumb|Right|350px|Every heretic's (and inquisitor's) worst nightmare]]
"''I would know what you are, girl!''"

"''You are the Inquisition. I am whatever you say I am.''"

"''What manner of creature are you? Be you daemon, heretic, or saint? I would have the truth!''"

"''I am Ephrael Stern, Sister of Battle.''"

- Inquisitor Silas Hand meeting Ephrael Stern

'''Ephrael Stern''', also known as the Thrice-Born, Daemonifuge, and Heretic Saint is one of, if not the, most badass [[Sisters of Battle|Battle Sisters]] of all time. Seriously, if she had up-to-date rules, she'd probably be up there with [[Saint Celestine|Celestine]] in terms of power and points-cost. Basically, she's the 40k version of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucy_(2014_film) Lucy], but with less superficial pseudo-scientific bullshit and more [[awesome]].

=Storytime=
Originating in a Warhammer Monthly comic, Daemonifuge, Ephrael Stern was a gifted [[Seraphim Squad|Seraphim]] Superior from the Order of Our Martyred Lady who had shown great promise, achieving her rank in record time (and considering the [[Ecclesiarchy|Ecclesiarchy's]] records go back thousands of years, this is impressive indeed) before experiencing a meteoric fall after she led a team to investigate a lost convent of the Orders Pronatus on the planet Parnis. The Orders Pronatus were a branch of the sisterhood who specialized in the study and care of holy relics, so ensuring their safety was a matter of great import to the Ecclesiarchy. No one knew what happened on that world, but Stern was the sole survivor of the expedition. When Stern returned to Ophelia VII, she was barely cognizant, twitchy, and constantly muttering to herself. The Prioress ordered her to be locked away in a cell until her condition (and whether or not they needed to purge her) could be ascertained. Four years later, and Stern's condition remained unchanged, as she had covered the walls with strange glyphs and markings, all while continuing her mad ravings. Desperate, the Prioress gave the Inquisition a call to get their opinion on the matter. As soon as she got word of this, one of the guards to Stern's cell busted in to [[Blam|BLAM]] her. Dodging the shot, [[Awesome|Stern tackled the errant guard to the ground, punched through her throat, and yanked a daemon of Slaanesh out of her body]].

With the confirmation of Slaaneshi corruption on Ophelia VII, Inquisitor Silas Hand of the Ordo Malleus arrived on the scene. After a brief investigation confirming that the sister killed by Stern had indeed been corrupted by Slaanesh, and that the same corruption had spread to the [[Navis Nobilite]], Hand ran Stern through a series of tests to see if she was corrupted or not. Satisfied of her purity (at least, as much as an Inquisitor can be satisfied with anyone's purity), she was restored to her rank and sent with Hand to Parnis to conduct another investigation of what happened there. After entering orbit, Hand received a message from his agents informing him that the corrupted [[navigator]] was on board with them. Hand, Stern, and some battle sisters went to the navigators quarters to find him [[NSFW|actively copulating with a slaaneshi daemon]]. Suffice to say, his subordinate was quickly [[PROMOTIONS|promoted]]. Satisfied that the ship was secure from the taint of chaos, Hand led Stern and a force of battle sisters to the planet below. Unfortunately, he was wrong, and the ship detonated at the hands of corrupted crewmen shortly after their departure.

After barely surviving a crash landing, Hand was psychically tormented by a daemon of [[Khorne]] whom he had fought in the past, only to be saved by Stern, who entered the warp and fought him off. This was enough to earn Hand's implicit trust. Stern, Hand, and the surviving Sororitas set out for the ruins of the Orders Pronatus monastery. Unfortunately for Stern and her squad, the sisters on Parnis weren't studying relics, but a [[Keeper of Secrets]], by the name of Asteroth, one of the most powerful daemons the Imperium had ever encountered. The sisters had landed on the planet intending to make it just another outpost when they discovered Asteroth imprisoned in a crystalline stone, and couldn't pass up the chance to study it up close and personal (which is probably what the daemon wanted all along). Even the extreme zealotry and faith of the sisters wasn't enough to stay its corrupting influence, and many fell to chaos in their studies. Eventually, some of the corrupted sisters survived long enough to set it loose, whereupon it captured all the sisters of the order, flayed their skin, and weaved it into a structure called a Screaming Cage. This linked all the sisters, body, mind, and soul, so that any suffering it inflicted on one of them would be shared by all. What it hadn't counted on, however, was that their faith was shared also, which protected them from the Keeper's corrupting influence.

Upon encountering the Screaming Cage, Stern's memories came flooding back to her. Her fellow sisters had been corrupted within moments of making planetfall, turning sister against sister, and leaving Stern the sole survivor (and easy pickings for Asteroth). Despite super-murdering her, the sisters trapped in the Screaming Cage managed to use its combined faith to bring her back from the dead. This also gave her a fragment of their combined knowledge about [[Chaos]] and [[Slaanesh]], hence why she was a [[Warp|little crazy]] when she returned to Ophelia VII. Now that she'd returned, they could finish implanting their combined knowledge and power into her. Once Asteroth realizes this, it attacks in force, so Hand and the surviving battle sisters left tried to hold it off for as long as possible while Stern got super-charged with forbidden knowledge. The knowledge transfer was successful, though Stern was, once again, the sole survivor of the incident, as the other sisters were killed by Asteroth and Hand sacrificed himself to banish it back to the warp.

Stern survived alone on the planet for a indeterminate (but lengthy) amount of time. During this ordeal, she wrote The Stern Codex, which contained all of the information she'd absorbed from the Screaming Cage, though she had to write it in her blood to [[warp|prevent the book from mutating]] due to the vile knowledge it contained. Eventually, she was rescued, though she quickly realized that the [[Ordo Malleus]] had branded her a [[Heretic|witch]] and was actively hunting her, as were the agents of Slaanesh, who were desperately trying to keep her knowledge from falling into the [[Inquisition|wrong]] [[Harlequins|hands]]. Stern lost her Codex to the warp during this hunt, making her position even more precarious. It was during this period that a [[Shadowseer]] took note of Stern, and dispatched a disgraced [[Harlequin|harlequin]], the Pariah, to bring her to the [[Black Library]] for safe-keeping. Stern, meanwhile thought to hide on a pilgrim ship and, in keeping with her [[Lamenters|abysmal luck]], was captured by [[Dark Eldar]] raiders and forced to fight in the arenas of [[Commorragh]].

After surviving for an unspecified amount of time (though long enough to be noticed and sponsored by an [[Archon_(Warhammer_40,000)|Archon]] in the [[Wyches|Wych]]-cult arenas), she was rescued by the Pariah, who explained that they're both hunters of Chaos and that she would be best off in the Black Library. Given her [[Heresy|recent experiences with the Imperium]], Stern was inclined to agree, and they set off into the webway... only to be intercepted by [[Ahriman]]. After the both of them were telepathically violated by him as he rooted through their minds for knowledge pertaining to the Black Library and the warp, the Ordo Malleus intercepted his ship and teleported a massive strike force of [[Grey Knights]] over. Trapped between several parties who wished to use her, and none of them well, Stern elected to kill herself and end the whole debacle.

In the aftermath, the Grey Knights turned her body over to the Adepta Sororitas, having detected no signs of chaos taint on her. Agreeing with this assessment, the Sororitas gave her an honorable funeral at a hospitaller convent combating the diseases of [[Nurgle]]. The Pariah stood watch over her tomb, waiting for the moment when she would be resurrect for the second and final time. Some months later, Inquisitor Hand's old apprentice, Inquisitor Fazael arrived to exhume the body, only to find the tomb empty. Nearby, one of his agents locates a barely-conscious Stern wandering through ruins infested by the taint of Nurgle. The Pariah rescued her and began leading her to the nearest webway gate with Fazael close behind. During this journey, Stern finally began to comprehend her power, and how to use and control it. Armed with this knowledge (and frankly tired of running), Stern turned around to face her pursuers. Unfortunately, Fazael came prepared for such an occurrence and sent in a [[Culexus|Culexus Assassin]] to finish her off once and for all. Just when said assassin was on the verge of consuming her soul [[Wat|she gave him a kiss which blew his body apart]].

Following this, she manifested a webway gate out of thin air and beckoned for the Pariah to come and take her to the Black Library. Turning to Fazael, she pointed out that they're on the same side and his energy would really be better spent fighting Chaos than her. Nevertheless, he vowed to pursue her to the end of days as she and the Pariah departed.

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==Ephrael von Stern - Sister of Sigmar==
Warhammer Monthly also published a one-shot reimagining of Stern as a [[Sisters of Sigmar|Sister of Sigmar]], aiding the [[Witch Hunters|witch-hunter]] Silas Handschaff in rooting out heresy in [[Mordheim]]. Unlike Daemonifuge, this story is explicitly non-canon.

=Canonicity=
Although [[Games Workshop|GW]] republished Daemonifuge in 2016, its canonicity has been [[Skub|a subject of much debate]]. Those in favor of it being canon point out that, despite it's age, there's very little in the story that conflicts with the current state of things in 40k, and much of that is simply outdated aesthetics. They also point out that GW would not be publishing it if it wasn't intended to be canon. Those who disagree point to Stern's lack of presence in other books (the fact that she's so obscenely powerful and yet is never mentioned or appears in any codex or other Black Library books is a little strange) as well as the age of the story leading to some questionable events (overloading a Culexus assassin, for example).

=Rules=
Ephrael Stern's original incarnation was as an [[Wat|Adepta Sororitas Dreadnought]]. Ignoring that silliness, she and Inquisitor Hand both had [[The Steadfast Pewter Sororitas|miniatures]] and rules as part of the [[Black Library]] character series in the early 2000s. Despite her apparent badassery in the fluff, her rules were fairly lackluster, leaving her [[Canoness Veridyan|slightly better than a standard Seraphim Superior]]. You can still occasionally find the pair on eBay from time to time.

==Homebrew Rules==
Cuz [[/tg/ gets shit done|that's what we do here]]. [https://drive.google.com/open?id=1VHaQ9K_gdpYhLAZVtktMnUE7wLoI7aRS These rules are also available in (much more legible) PDF]. You can find her old rules [https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B20ZFeyGKxcweG1iSG9scXR0M0k here].

===EPHRAEL STERN===
{| class=wikitable
! || Power || Points || M || WS || BS || S || T || W || A || Ld || Sv
|-
| '''Ephrael Stern:''' || 10 || 200 || 12" || 2+ || 2+ || 3 || 3 || 5 || 4 || 10 || 3+/4++
|}
''Ephrael Stern is a single model armed with a bolt pistol, power sword, frag grenades, and krak grenades. Only one of this model may be included in your army.''
{| class=wikitable
! '''Weapons:''' || Range || Type || S || AP || D || Abilities
|-
| Bolt pistol || 12" || Pistol 1 || 4 || 0 || 1 || -
|-
| Power sword || Melee || Melee || User || -3 || 1 || -
|-
| Frag Grenades || 6" || Grenade D6 || 3 || 0 || 1 || -
|-
| Krak Grenades || 6" || Grenade 1 || 6 || -1 || D3 || -
|}
'''ABILITIES:'''
*'''Acts of Faith''': See Index: Imperium 2, pg 90
*'''Daemonifuge''': When Ephrael Stern manifests and targets a {{Template:W40kKeyword|CHAOS DAEMON}} with the Smite psychic power, it inflicts D6 mortal wounds instead of D3 (whether or not the result of the Psychic test is more than 10). In addition, she has a 4+ invulnerable save.
*'''Premonitions''': Ephrael Stern re-rolls armor and invulnerable save rolls of 1.
*'''The Stern Codex''': Roll a D6 whenever Ephrael Stern suffers a mortal wound. On a 5+, that wound is ignored.
*'''Webway Traversal''': During deployment, you can set up Ephrael Stern in the webway instead of placing her on the battlefield. At the end of any of your Movement phases she can teleport into battle – set her up anywhere on the battlefield that is more than 9" away from any enemy models.
'''PSYKER:''' Ephrael Stern can attempt to manifest three psychic powers in each friendly Psychic Phase, and attempt to deny three psychic powers in each enemy Psychic phase. She knows the ''Smite'' power and all powers from the Daemonifuge discipline. Whenever Ephrael Stern attempts to manifest or resist a psychic power, add 1 to her Psychic test or Deny the Witch test.

'''FACTION KEYWORDS''': {{Template:W40kKeyword|IMPERIUM}}, {{Template:W40kKeyword|ADEPTUS MINISTORUM}}, {{Template:W40kKeyword|ADEPTA SORORITAS}}, {{Template:W40kKeyword|ORDER OF OUR MARTYRED LADY}}, {{Template:W40kKeyword|HARLEQUINS}}

'''KEYWORDS''': {{Template:W40kKeyword|INFANTRY}}, {{Template:W40kKeyword|CHARACTER}}, {{Template:W40kKeyword|JUMP PACK}}, {{Template:W40kKeyword|FLY}}, {{Template:W40kKeyword|PSYKER}}, {{Template:W40kKeyword|EPHRAEL STERN}}

'''DAEMONIFUGE DISCIPLINE:'''
{| class=wikitable
! D3 || Psychic Power
|-
| 1 || '''Screaming Cage'''
''Screaming Cage'' has a warp charge value of 5. If manifested, pick a visible enemy unit within 12" of the psyker. Both controlling players roll a dice and add their respective unit’s highest Leadership value. If the target’s total is equal to or greater than the psyker’s total, nothing happens. If the psyker’s total is greater than the target’s total, the target unit suffers a number of mortal wounds equal to the difference.
|-
| 2 || '''Vortex of Doom'''
''Vortex of Doom'' has a warp charge value of 8. If manifested, a vortex opens above the nearest visible enemy model within 12" of the psyker. That model’s unit, and every other unit within 3" of that model suffers D3 mortal wounds. The number of mortal wounds inflicted is increased to D6 if the power is manifested with a Psychic test of 12+.
|-
| 3 || '''Webway Gate'''
''Webway Gate'' has a warp charge value of 6. If manifested, pick a friendly {{Template:W40kKeyword|IMPERIUM INFANTRY}} or {{Template:W40kKeyword|HARLEQUINS INFANTRY}} unit within 12” of Ephrael Stern. Remove that unit from the battlefield and immediately set it up anywhere on the battlefield that is more than 9” from any enemy models.
|}

===INQUISITOR HAND===
{| class=wikitable
! || Power || Points || M || WS || BS || S || T || W || A || Ld || Sv
|-
| '''Inquisitor Hand:''' || 5 || 67 || 6" || 3+ || 3+ || 3 || 3 || 5 || 4 || 9 || 3+
|}
''Inquisitor Hand is a single model armed with a bolt pistol, force sword, frag grenades, and krak grenades. Only one of this model may be included in your army.''
{| class=wikitable
! '''Weapons:''' || Range || Type || S || AP || D || Abilities
|-
| Bolt pistol || 12" || Pistol 1 || 4 || 0 || 1 || -
|-
| Force sword || Melee || Melee || User || -3 || D3 || -
|-
| Frag Grenades || 6" || Grenade D6 || 3 || 0 || 1 || -
|-
| Krak Grenades || 6" || Grenade 1 || 6 || -1 || D3 || -
|}
'''ABILITIES:'''
*'''Authority of the Inquisition''': See Index: Imperium 2, pg 117
*'''Quarry''': See Index: Imperium 2, pg 117
*'''Unquestionable Wisdom''': All friendly {{Template:W40kKeyword|IMPERIUM}} units within 6" of Inquisitor Hand can use his Leadership characteristic instead of their own.
'''PSYKER:''' Inquisitor Hand can attempt to manifest one psychic power in each friendly Psychic Phase, and attempt to deny one psychic powers in each enemy Psychic phase. He knows the ''Smite'' power and one psychic powers from the Sanctic discipline.

'''FACTION KEYWORDS''': {{Template:W40kKeyword|IMPERIUM}}, {{Template:W40kKeyword|INQUISITION}}, {{Template:W40kKeyword|ORDO MALLEUS}}

'''KEYWORDS''': {{Template:W40kKeyword|INFANTRY}}, {{Template:W40kKeyword|CHARACTER}}, {{Template:W40kKeyword|PSYKER}}, {{Template:W40kKeyword|INQUISITOR}}, {{Template:W40kKeyword|HAND}}

=Gallery=
<center>
<gallery>
Image:SternMini.JPG|Stern and Hand's official models. Not pictured: [[THIN YOUR PAINTS|paint thinner]].
Image:SternDreadnought.jpg|[[Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader|'Member when everyone could have dreadnoughts?]]
Image:Ephrael stern page29.jpg|She was also in the [[Lost Worlds]] battlebook series
Image:Ephrael Stern 2.jpg
Image:Ephrael Stern 3.jpg|With Asteroth in the background
Image:Ephrael Stern 4.jpg|Now you fucked up
Image:Ephrael Stern 5.jpg
Image:Ephrael Stern 6.jpg
Image:Ephrael Stern 7.jpg
Image:Ephrael stern by littlecutter.png|As she appears in [[If The Emperor Had a Text-To-Speech Device]], treading the path of the swole
Image:Stern MVP.jpg|After arriving at the Black Library, Stern spent most of her time playing Ghost in the Shell.
</gallery>
</center>

[[Category:Warhammer 40,000]]
[[Category:Imperial]]
[[Category:Sisters of Battle]]
[[category:Black Library]]

Warlock

2018-08-19T01:26:26Z

2A02:587:3A12:6900:10A1:BBEB:CD88:D307:

:''For Eldar Warlock, see [[Warlock (Eldar)|here]].''

'''Warlocks''' are a type of magic spellcaster in fantasy settings. They are also the male counterpart of witches. Compared to others, warlocks are usually dedicated completely to offensive magic and in a few cases, dabbling in the forbidden arts like black magic and daemonology to achieve more power, although this is not always the case.

==In Deadlands==
In [[Deadlands]], both the generic black magic-using badguy and the PC "huckster" class/archetype/thingy would technically fall under the warlock moniker, and black magicians are commonly called warlocks to boot. Hucksters are a special case in that they literally deal with the devil for their magic; whenever a huckster casts a spell, they astrally project into the Spirit World and offer a passing demon to play a game of skill & chance (poker being, of course, traditional); if the demon wins, it gets a chunk of the huckster's soul (which translates to a huge amount of physical pain and/or death for the huckster), and if the huckster wins, the demon has to surrender the mojo needed to make the huckster's spell a reality. Part of what makes spells differ in difficulty to cast is the some spells either need more juice to work than others or else are calling for stuff the demon wouldn't normally like to do - it's a lot easier to call them up to kill somebitch than to make them protect you, for example.

==In Dungeons and Dragons==
[[File:D%26D Warlock.jpg|400px|thumb|right|A Warlock class character.]]
Instead of gaining their power though meticulous training and study like the [[Wizard]], or natural-born talent like the [[Sorcerer]], they make contracts with very powerful entities and forces and channel that energy, like an arcane [[Cleric]].

===1e===
In 1st ed AD&D, characters had titles as they leveled up. An 8th level Magic-User gained the title "Warlock." Nobody cared about these titles, not even the people who used weapon speed or the AC to-hit modifiers for each weapon. There was a Dragon magazine article (issue 43) describing a 'witch' npc class, and male npcs that took this class were sometimes called "warlocks" instead.

===2e===
In 2nd ed AD&D, a character could take a class kit, which was essentially a set of alternate class features that you could take to add a different play style to a class. Such kits required you to meet certain requirements to take them though. In the [[Splatbook| The Complete Wizard's Handbook]], there was a Wizard kit called the Witch. In the description of the Witch kit, it is mentioned that most Witches are female, but male Witches are possible, being commonly referred to as Warlocks. The Witch kit states that the power the Witch gains, is taught to them by extraplanar entities, for a variety of reasons. In exchange for this magical knowledge though, Witches constantly had to struggle with the extraplanar entities to maintain their free will. Unlike traditional Wizards, a Witch needed to be more than just Intelligent, requiring decent Wisdom and Constitution scores as well. While this kit is not an official Warlock class, it was the first time the themes of the Warlock made it into a player class.

===3.5===
The 3.5 ed Warlock was introduced in [[Splatbook| Complete Arcane]]. It looks like textbook [[munchkin]] bait, but is actually kinda ''meh''. Warlocks have at-will casting and no spells per day in 3.5, which made some people call hax but isn't so hot because very few DMs would ever run enough encounters in one in-game day for [[Vancian]] casters to completely run out of spells. Among the ones the handful that do, some like to have [[Awesome|spells that are at-will and keep 3.5]]. One of the Warlock's most powerful abilities is to [[Dakka|DAKKADAKKADAKKA]] with Eldritch Blasts, without having an accuracy problem. This ability can win encounters, but the time necessary to do so balances it out, so this class is both for people who want fast combat going The Matrix on the ceiling, and for patient masterminds.

===Pathfinder===
[[Pathfinder]] didn't give the warlock a conversion due to their non OGL status. ''Occult Adventures'', however, introduced the [[Kineticist]] class, which follows Warlock mechanically a bit more closely than [[Magus]] to [[Duskblade]], but thematically you are an element bender instead of having made vague deals with evil outsiders or fey. The [[witch]] takes up the flavor portion of the warlock while having its own mechanics.

Then ''Ultimate Intrigue'' came along and made warlock an archetype of the Vigilante. In this context, they are more Vigilante Arcane spellcasters. While they have some Magus spellcasting, they also can sling magical bolts, and still use almost all the vigilante tricks of misdirection, masked combat, and walking straight past the guards after making a quick change of outfits.

===4e===
When 4th edition rolled around, Warlocks made a surprising leap into the [[Player's Handbook]], supplanting the [[Sorcerer (Dungeons & Dragons)|Sorcerer]] as "the other PHB [[mage]] class". Classified as Arcane Strikers, Warlocks were flavored as eerie, sinister casters who could place victims under dread curses and gain magical benefits by reaping the souls of those they had cursed. They were also somewhat stealthy, thanks to their "Shadow Walk" feature, which granted them concealment until the end of their next turn on any turn in which they moved at least 3 squares. Like all classes in core 4e, the Warlock had subclasses, and a very obvious basis: their Pact, or what 5e would rename their Patron; the specific kind of unearthly entity that the warlock had received their power from, which even dictated one of their cantrips and also determined which kind of bonus they got from reaping the souls of those they had cursed. As a result, they started with three patron types in the PHB; the Fey, the Infernal, and the Star. In a step that 5e wouldn't replicate, a paragon level (11+) Warlock could take a feat called ''Twofold Pact'', which represented them swearing allegiance to a '''second''' patron and getting access to its associated cantrip and pact boon, allowing them to choose which boon to benefit from whenever they d dropped a cursed enemy.

The '''Fey Pact''' was made with an [[Archfey]] or, really, any particularly strong [[fey]]. Fey spells tend to have themes of either "glamour magic" (seductive, intoxicating enchantments") or savage nature-type magic (such as setting a pack of ravenous sprites on a foe that rend the flesh from their bones). Their mandatory cantrip is Eyebite, and their pact boon is Misty Step (teleport 3 squares when a cursed creature drops to 0 HP).

The '''Infernal Pact''' was, as you can probably guess, made with a scheming [[devil]], or maybe even one of the [[Archdevil]]s. The least subtle of the pacts, it's all about scouring foes with fire, sucking away their souls, or invoking other hostile elements from [[Baator]]. Is mandatory spell is Hellish Rebuke and its pact boon is Dark One's Blessing (gain temporary HP equal to your level when a cursed creature drops to 0 HP).

The '''Star Pact''' is an odd one, with elements of the [[Cthulhu Mythos]] - basically, in the [[World Axis]] cosmology, certain stars are sapient and they're basically giant [[aberration]]s, which can bestow powers on those willing to risk communion with them. These stars were so new that they actually got an article in [[Dragon Magazine]] ("Wish Upon A Star", #366) that went full Lovecraft, detailing some of the most common of these "dark stars" and a [[Paragon Path]], the Student of Caiphon, dedicated to one of these stars - something that would be followed up in Dragon #403's "Strange Constellations", which adapted Atropous, Father Llymic, Pandorym, Ragnorra and The Worm That Walks from 3e's Elder Evils into star-fiends that can empower warlocks. Arcane Power would present a far more benevolent motif for the Star-lock in the Master of Starry Skies PP, but overall they remain a creepy, creepy son of a bitch - and the only class in the PHB other than the [[Cleric]] that specializes in doing radiant damage! Their mandatory cantrip is Dire Radiance, and their pact boon is Fate of the Void (you gain a +1 bonus to one D20 roll of your choice made before the end of your next turn when a cursed creature drops to 0 HP - this bonus stacks, but it only remains usable for one turn).

For those curious, the "dark stars" named in that issue are Acamar, Caiphon, Delban, Gibbeth, Hadar, Ihbar, Khirad, Nihal, Ulban and Zhudun. These had actually first appeared as part of certain powers in the PHB1, alongside a never-detailed star called Thuban ("Tendrils of Thuban", a level 15 daily spell, which paralyzes and consumes a cluster of foes with tendrils of of liquid summoned from the frozen emerald seas that lie under the star Thuban). The [[Monster Manual]] 3 would create a sadly under-developed monster category called the [[Star Spawn]]; celestial aberrations representing the progeny of these terible stars, and even statting one such star - Allabar, Opener of the Way, a living planet corrupted by the [[Far Realm]] - as the most powerful of them.

When the [[Forgotten Realms]] Player's Guide rolled around for 4e, it introduced the new '''Dark Pact''', an alliance made with horrible, malevolent spirits native to the [[Underdark]] and popular with [[drow]] warlocks, resulting in spells focused on darkness, poison, madness, and spite. Several of its iconic spells possess the ability to gain upgrades if you inflict damage on your allies, although even without this "augment" they're quite beefy. Its mandatory cantrip is Spiteful Glamor, and its surprisingly complex pact boon is Darkspiral Aura (when a cursed creature drops to 0 HP, your Darkspiral Aura value gains 1 point; you can use your Darkspiral Aura as an immediate interrupt when an enemy makes a melee or ranged attack against you, inflicting 1d6/1d8/1d10 Necrotic & Psychic Damage per point in your Darkspiral Aura; if this damage is less than 12, your Aura drops to 0 points; if more than 12 damage, you can halve the damage you take and your Aura drops to 1 point - you lose all Aura points when you take a short rest).

[[Dark Sun]] did the same thing; the '''Sorcerer-King's Pact''' was its attempt to recreate the [[Templar]] of AD&D, that strange pseudo-priestly class that derived its powers from its oath of allegiance to the tyrannical mage-psions of Athas' last cities. Its mandatory cantrip is Hand of Blight, and its pact boon is Fell Scorn - this strange feature is borrowing some elements from the psionics rules system, and can trip up an unobservant reader; the Sorcerer-King pacted Warlock has a single point of "Fell Might", which can be spent when casting certain spells in order to trigger some upgraded effects, and is recharged whenever the warlock drops a cursed creature to 0 HP. This trait is controversial to say the least because, normally, pact-associated spells don't need to spend this sort of resource to get their bonus. Even though Fell Might will recharge like crazy because, hey, cursing people is what a warlock is supposed to ''do'', it still leaves a sour taste in the mouth.

Arcane Power would introduce what many wrongly believed to be the last of the Core pacts, in the form of the '''[[Vestige]] Pact'''; obviously themed after the [[Binder]] of last edition, the Vestige Pact calls upon the spirits of bizarre ghosts and ancient, forgotten entities, with a unique mechanic attached to it. Each Daily power associated with this pact, always named "Vestige of whoever", becomes a Vestige in the Warlock's arsenal. Whenever the warlock completes a rest, they can determine which Vestige is their "Active" Vestige - they can also choose to change their Active Vestige whenever they use one of those Vestige powers, causing the newly invoked Vestige to become Active. Your Active Vestige determines the effects of your pact boon and the secondary effects of your mandatory cantrip, "Eyes of the Vestige".

The reason that neither Vestige nor Sorcerer-King was the last of the Core 4e Warlock Pacts? Hidden in the Essentials era sourcebook "Heroes of the Elemental Chaos" is the '''Elemental Pact''' for core warlocks. Representing the obvious choice of a warlock drawing their power from a [[Archomental|Primordial]], this [[elementalist]] warlock has some slight overlap with the [[Wild Mage]], but not much. It gains the bonus feature "Elemental Affinity", where you have Affinity to either Acid, Cold, Fire, Fire, Lightning or Thunder - this is determined randomly each time you complete a rest, and you can change your Elemental Affinity when you invoke your second wind. When you cast an arcane attack power that deals Force, Necrotic, Poison or Psychic damage, you can make it inflict whichever damage type you have Elemental Affinity for instead. Its pact boon is Accursed Affinity; after you drop at least one cursed victim, everyone you place your Curse on for the rest of the encounter gains Vulnerability (5/tier) to whichever damage type you currently have Elemental Affinity with.

Essentials also introduced two Warlock [[Variant Class]]es (alternatively known as subclasses); "Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms" introduced the [[Hexblade]], an Arcane Striker-Defender that is basically a cross between a Warlock and a [[Swordmage]], whilst "Heroes of Shadow" introduced the [[Binder]], a restyling of the Warlock into a full-fledged Arcane Controller.

The Hexblade was initially introduced with only Fey and Infernal Pact options; it gained its own version of the Star Pact in Dragon #393, an Elemental Pact in "Heroes of the Elemental Chaos", and a Gloom Pact in "Heroes of Shadow".

The Binder, as the very last Warlock derivative to emerge prior to 4e's cancellation, only had the two Pacts; Gloom and Star, both in its native "Heroes of Shadow". It did manage to gain a Fey Pact for itself in Dragon #406.

It bears mentioning that, whilst original/"Core style" warlocks can take the spells from both the Binder and the Hexblade for themselves, the "Pacts" as used by these variant classes are not synonymous with the Core-lock's Pacts, so Gloom Pact spells have no special riders when used by non-Binders or Hexblades. This is one of the many reasons why most of 4e's fans didn't like the "simplified" versions of classes created for Essentials.

4e paired the Warlock class up with the [[Tiefling]] race, much like how Dwarves make iconic [[Fighter]]s or [[Clerics]], or Elves make good [[Wizard]]s, or [[Half-orc]]s make good [[Barbarian]]s. 5e continues this tradition.

====4e Sample Patrons====
Issue #381 of [[Dragon Magazine]] featured an article called "Performing the Pact", which provided some example Patrons for each of the five pacts available at the time.

The Dark Pact patron is ''Yorgrix, Weaver of the Poison Web'': once a demonweb spider kept as a [[familiar]] by an overconfident [[drow]] matron, Yorgrix patiently mastered the dark magic it watched its mistress perform and then, fueled by hunger and ambition, slew and devoured both her and the entire city in which she dwelled. Glutted on countless souls, Yorgrix was transformed into a dread spirit; now imprisoned in the city it massacred, it reaches out to the minds of mortals with a simple promise: power for food.

The Fey Pact patron is ''The Eochaid'', a strange [[fey]] spirit embodying the interplay between nature and arcane magic, and which manifests as a strange amalgamation of humanoid, animal and plant. Ancient as the [[Seldarine]] themselves, the Eochaid desires only to promote and strengthen magic, seeking its growth. Those willing to plant magic's seed - and to retrieve arcane artifacts for it to protect - are blessed with its wild hexes and unearthly glamors.

The Infernal Pact patron is ''The Prisoner in Iron'', an infernal warlock of such power that the [[Archdevil]]s feared him and have bound him in the deepest dungeons of Dis, hoping to hide him forever. But such is his power that he can still reach out to the mortal world, offering tutelage to the ambitious, seeking to empower a champion mighty enough to free him from his chains.

The Star Pact patron is ''Ulban, the Wanderer''; a sapient time-traveling comet from a far-flung apocalypse, the last survivor of its universe. Now it wanders space and time, empowering those who, in some inscrutable way, will play their part in prevent Ulban's future from coming to be - often battling against the other dark stars in the process.

The Vestige Pact patron is ''The Bleak Guide'', a reaper-like entity from the [[Shadowfell]] charged with maintaining the orderly transition of life to death, and more than willing to act as a go-between for [[vestige]]s and those mortals who will use their power to make is own existence easier. It can't act against the [[necromancer]]s and [[undead]] that vex it so - but its mortal agents, on the other hand...

===5e===
The 5e Warlock is a complicated marriage of 3e invocations, 4e pacts, and 5e spellcasting, with a few caveats. They gain a pitiful amount of spell slots, as well as only a handful of spells known. To the untrained player's eye, they're painfully limited compared to "real" casters, but in reality they're <strike>roid-pumping nightmares</strike> not bad. Their spell slots all automatically scale the slot level up so their spells are always guaranteed to be pumped up, and also refresh after every encounter or few (short rest). Invocations are back from 3.5, albeit scaled back a bit, providing various kinds of special abilities, from access to spells that aren't on their list as at-will, encounter or daily powers, to power-ups for the pact form, and of course power-ups for Eldritch Blast.

To complete the Warlock package, you get a pact with a supernatural being. The pact gives you a thematic extended spell list; for example, Great Old One Warlocks can cast (but not spam, sadly) Evard's Black Tentacles. Pacts provide a bevvy of unique class features like teleportation, damage resistance or telepathy. On top of magical powers, they also give you a consolation prize in the form of a pact boon, which can either be a souped-up familiar, a free enchanted weapon that you can shapeshift into whatever kind of weapon you need, or a magical book that gives you three cantrips from ''any'' other spellcasting class. An alternative pact boon was the Star Chain, introduced in "Non Divine Faithful", which closely ties into the Seeker patron: this is a magical trinket that can be used to cast ''Augury'' and can be used to grant Advantage on an Int check once per short rest.

The available pacts are:

''Archfey'' - Bound to a powerful faerie lord or sylvan pseudo-deity, a warlock with this pact gains the power of Fey Presence (Charm or Frighten all creatures in a 10ft cube around you once per short rest), Misty Escape (teleport 60 feet and turn invisible once per short rest), Beguiling Defenses (you are immune to Charming and can attempt to Charm anyone foolish enough to try a Charm effect on you) and Dark Delirium (can attempt to entrap a target in an illusion to Charm or Terrify it once per short rest). This one is in the Player's Handbook.

''Fiend'' - Bound to a [[Demon Prince]] or [[Archdevil]], a warlock with this pact gains Dark One's Blessing (gain temporary HP for dropping another creature to zero HP), Dark One's Luck (can choose to re-roll an ability check or saving throw with a +10 bonus once per short rest), Fiendish Resilience (gain Resistance to a single damage type of your choice after completing a short rest, though magic and silvered weapons can pierce it) and Hurl Through Hell (teleport a target into some hellish dimension for 1 turn, causing 10D10 Psychic damage to a non-fiendish target, once per long rest). This one is in the Player's Handbook.

''Great Old One'' - Warlocks with this pact are bound to terrible abominations from outside time and space, drawing on the power of aberrant gods like [[Cthulhu]]. They gain the boons of Awakened Mind (telepathy with a 30ft range), Entropic Ward (can make yourself harder to hit and get a bonus if the target missed once per short rest), Thought Shield (mind cannot be involuntarily read, Resistance to Psychic Damage, inflict equal Psychic damage on anyone who inflicts Psychic damage on you) and Create Thrall (permanently charm a single creature with a touch, gaining telepathic communication with them from anywhere on the same plane). This one is in the Player's Handbook.

''Undying'' - A Warlock with this pact has offered their soul to something that has "cheated death"; most obviously a powerful [[lich]], [[ghost]] or [[vampire]], but mortals ascended to godhood and weirder things are also valid. [[Planescape: Torment|The Nameless One]] isn't mentioned, but would be a perfectly thematic (and awesome!) patron for this pact. The "necromantic" pact, these warlocks get features related to the ability to cheat death; Among the Dead (Spare the Dying as a bonus cantrip, Advantage on saving throws against disease, Undead must pass a Wisdom save to attack you), Defy Death (gain a significant healing 1/day by passing a death saving throw or using Spare the Dying), Undying Nature (can hold your breath indefinitely, don't need food, water or sleep, immunity to magical aging, age 1 year for every 10 you live) and Indestructible Life (can freely heal yourself 1/encounter, including reattaching limbs as part of it). Comes from the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide.

''[[Hexblade]]'' - Basically, you want to play a character inspired by [[Stormbringer|Elric of Melnibone]]; your power is with a mysterious [[Shadowfell]] entity that makes its presence felt through powerful weapons bound with shadowy magic. [[derp|Despite this, you don't have to take the Pact of the Blade.]] Having first appeared in [[Unearthed Arcana]], the official version came out in "Xanathar's Guide", at which point it seems to have absorbed some of the fluff, if not the crunch, from the [[Raven Queen]] patron featured in that same UA. This pledge makes the warlock more of a melee combatant, in the vein of the class it takes its name from; their two level 1 features are ''Hexblade's Curse'' (1/short rest, place a curse on a foe within 30ft that makes your attacks more likely to hit and heals you if they die whilst cursed) and ''Hex Warrior'' (you can enchant one-handed weapons you are proficient with to use Charisma for their attack & damage rolls; if you've the Pact of the Blade, your Pact Weapon always has this trait no matter the form it takes, also you get free proficiency with medium armor, shields and martial weapons). At level 6, they gain ''Accursed Specter'' (raise a slain humanoid as a loyal specter 1/day). Their level 10 feature, ''Armor of Hexes'', buffs up their curse by letting the warlock negate a cursed opponent's attack against them on a 4+. Finally, at level 14, they get ''Master of Hexes'', which lets them forgo the healing effect for dropping a cursed opponent to instead immediately reapply that curse to a fresh opponent. Its bonus spells are close-ranged, a mixture of protective spells (shield, blur, blink) and temporary weapon enchantments - the only exceptions are Phantasmal Killer and Cone of Cold.

''Celestial'' - This is the "good guy warlock" patron option, where you make a pact with an [[angel]] of some description. In mechanics, it's a refluffed version of the Undying Light Patron presented in an earlier Unearthed Arcana - ironically, unlike the Hexblade, this version was so well-received that WoTC saw no need to change its subclass features when they reprinted it for the Xanathar's Guide to Everything. The difference between the two versions is that it adds some healing spells to its list of bonus spells, instead of just fire/radiant damage-dealers, and rearranges what levels you get which features at. At 1st level, you gain Healing Light - the "heal with a touch" feature from the UL Patron, which it didn't get until level 14 - and Light & Sacred Flame as bonus cantrips. At level 6 it gets Radiant Soul, which is Resistance (Radiance) and bonus to radiant & fire damage, a feature the UL got at 1st level. They both get the same "bonus temporary HP on completing a rest" feature at level 10, but the Celestial renames it the Celestial Resilience trait. Finally, it gets Searing Vengeance - 1/day, when reduced to death, spring up at half maximum hitpoints and inflict radiant damage & blindness on all enemies within 30 feet - as its 14th level trait, when for the UL Patron it was a 6th level feature.

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===A minor footnote on D&D 4e and 5e Warlocks===

One of the roleplaying possibilities for Warlocks that sometimes gets mentioned is that once empowered, the Warlock is under no obligation to keep obeying their Patron. The rules explicitly do not contain any references to any of the patrons being able to strip the powers from a Warlock, unlike, say, a Paladin--in other words, the implication is that once granted, a Warlock's powers are theirs to keep. (It's mildly worth mentioning that "Warlock" decends from the old English ''"wǣrloga"'', meaning "traitor or deceiver" ("wǣr", meaning "covenant, truce, or pact" and "loga", meaning "liar"), and that kind of name cuts both ways.)

This was intentional (as, among other things, it allowed for Lawful Good Infernal Warlocks), and influenced the initial three 4e Patron choices (and a few later ones): Who would give away free power to mortals that you could not revoke? Somebody whose cause is advanced by the mere usage of that power; Devils, Archfey and The Great Old Ones all obviously qualify (as did [[Vestige]]s)--all were (in 4e's default cosmology, at least) restrained in some way from the mortal world, and higher level 4e Warlock powers, at least, frequently gave them some temporary purchase on said world when used.

([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iiS5mkIff_8 Here's a Mike Mearls interview] that explicitly notes this possibility in 5e, as well. Then again, Mearls also implies in that interview that Clerics can turn against their Deity and still have their Divine Magic, so take that claim for what it's worth. Admittedly, Divine classes did lose their "powers are revoked if your deity is pissed" trait in 4e, so it's not unprecedented.)

DMs should also note that while the Patron cannot directly withdraw the Warlock's new powers, they are also not restricted from sending repo men to get the recalcitrant Warlock back in line if the Warlock still has debt outstanding.

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Warlock

2018-08-19T01:23:46Z

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:''For Eldar Warlock, see [[Warlock (Eldar)|here]].''

'''Warlocks''' are a type of magic spellcaster in fantasy settings. They are also the male counterpart of witches. Compared to others, warlocks are usually dedicated completely to offensive magic and in a few cases, dabbling in the forbidden arts like black magic and daemonology to achieve more power, although this is not always the case.

==In Deadlands==
In [[Deadlands]], both the generic black magic-using badguy and the PC "huckster" class/archetype/thingy would technically fall under the warlock moniker, and black magicians are commonly called warlocks to boot. Hucksters are a special case in that they literally deal with the devil for their magic; whenever a huckster casts a spell, they astrally project into the Spirit World and offer a passing demon to play a game of skill & chance (poker being, of course, traditional); if the demon wins, it gets a chunk of the huckster's soul (which translates to a huge amount of physical pain and/or death for the huckster), and if the huckster wins, the demon has to surrender the mojo needed to make the huckster's spell a reality. Part of what makes spells differ in difficulty to cast is the some spells either need more juice to work than others or else are calling for stuff the demon wouldn't normally like to do - it's a lot easier to call them up to kill somebitch than to make them protect you, for example.

==In Dungeons and Dragons==
[[File:D%26D Warlock.jpg|400px|thumb|right|A Warlock class character.]]
Instead of gaining their power though meticulous training and study like the [[Wizard]], or natural-born talent like the [[Sorcerer]], they make contracts with very powerful entities and forces and channel that energy, like an arcane [[Cleric]].

===1e===
In 1st ed AD&D, characters had titles as they leveled up. An 8th level Magic-User gained the title "Warlock." Nobody cared about these titles, not even the people who used weapon speed or the AC to-hit modifiers for each weapon. There was a Dragon magazine article (issue 43) describing a 'witch' npc class, and male npcs that took this class were sometimes called "warlocks" instead.

===2e===
In 2nd ed AD&D, a character could take a class kit, which was essentially a set of alternate class features that you could take to add a different play style to a class. Such kits required you to meet certain requirements to take them though. In the [[Splatbook| The Complete Wizard's Handbook]], there was a Wizard kit called the Witch. In the description of the Witch kit, it is mentioned that most Witches are female, but male Witches are possible, being commonly referred to as Warlocks. The Witch kit states that the power the Witch gains, is taught to them by extraplanar entities, for a variety of reasons. In exchange for this magical knowledge though, Witches constantly had to struggle with the extraplanar entities to maintain their free will. Unlike traditional Wizards, a Witch needed to be more than just Intelligent, requiring decent Wisdom and Constitution scores as well. While this kit is not an official Warlock class, it was the first time the themes of the Warlock made it into a player class.

===3.5===
The 3.5 ed Warlock was introduced in [[Splatbook| Complete Arcane]]. It looks like textbook [[munchkin]] bait, but is actually kinda ''meh''. Warlocks have at-will casting and no spells per day in 3.5, which made some people call hax but isn't so hot because very few DMs would ever run enough encounters in one in-game day for [[Vancian]] casters to completely run out of spells. Among the ones the handful that do, some like to have [[Awesome|spells that are at-will and keep 3.5]]. One of the Warlock's most powerful abilities is to [[Dakka|DAKKADAKKADAKKA]] with Eldritch Blasts, without having an accuracy problem. This ability can win encounters, but the time necessary to do so balances it out, so this class is both for people who want fast combat going The Matrix on the ceiling, and for patient masterminds.

===Pathfinder===
[[Pathfinder]] didn't give the warlock a conversion due to their non OGL status. ''Occult Adventures'', however, introduced the [[Kineticist]] class, which follows Warlock mechanically a bit more closely than [[Magus]] to [[Duskblade]], but thematically you are an element bender instead of having made vague deals with evil outsiders or fey. The [[witch]] takes up the flavor portion of the warlock while having its own mechanics.

Then ''Ultimate Intrigue'' came along and made warlock an archetype of the Vigilante. In this context, they are more Vigilante Arcane spellcasters. While they have some Magus spellcasting, they also can sling magical bolts, and still use almost all the vigilante tricks of misdirection, masked combat, and walking straight past the guards after making a quick change of outfits.

===4e===
When 4th edition rolled around, Warlocks made a surprising leap into the [[Player's Handbook]], supplanting the [[Sorcerer (Dungeons & Dragons)|Sorcerer]] as "the other PHB [[mage]] class". Classified as Arcane Strikers, Warlocks were flavored as eerie, sinister casters who could place victims under dread curses and gain magical benefits by reaping the souls of those they had cursed. They were also somewhat stealthy, thanks to their "Shadow Walk" feature, which granted them concealment until the end of their next turn on any turn in which they moved at least 3 squares. Like all classes in core 4e, the Warlock had subclasses, and a very obvious basis: their Pact, or what 5e would rename their Patron; the specific kind of unearthly entity that the warlock had received their power from, which even dictated one of their cantrips and also determined which kind of bonus they got from reaping the souls of those they had cursed. As a result, they started with three patron types in the PHB; the Fey, the Infernal, and the Star. In a step that 5e wouldn't replicate, a paragon level (11+) Warlock could take a feat called ''Twofold Pact'', which represented them swearing allegiance to a '''second''' patron and getting access to its associated cantrip and pact boon, allowing them to choose which boon to benefit from whenever they d dropped a cursed enemy.

The '''Fey Pact''' was made with an [[Archfey]] or, really, any particularly strong [[fey]]. Fey spells tend to have themes of either "glamour magic" (seductive, intoxicating enchantments") or savage nature-type magic (such as setting a pack of ravenous sprites on a foe that rend the flesh from their bones). Their mandatory cantrip is Eyebite, and their pact boon is Misty Step (teleport 3 squares when a cursed creature drops to 0 HP).

The '''Infernal Pact''' was, as you can probably guess, made with a scheming [[devil]], or maybe even one of the [[Archdevil]]s. The least subtle of the pacts, it's all about scouring foes with fire, sucking away their souls, or invoking other hostile elements from [[Baator]]. Is mandatory spell is Hellish Rebuke and its pact boon is Dark One's Blessing (gain temporary HP equal to your level when a cursed creature drops to 0 HP).

The '''Star Pact''' is an odd one, with elements of the [[Cthulhu Mythos]] - basically, in the [[World Axis]] cosmology, certain stars are sapient and they're basically giant [[aberration]]s, which can bestow powers on those willing to risk communion with them. These stars were so new that they actually got an article in [[Dragon Magazine]] ("Wish Upon A Star", #366) that went full Lovecraft, detailing some of the most common of these "dark stars" and a [[Paragon Path]], the Student of Caiphon, dedicated to one of these stars - something that would be followed up in Dragon #403's "Strange Constellations", which adapted Atropous, Father Llymic, Pandorym, Ragnorra and The Worm That Walks from 3e's Elder Evils into star-fiends that can empower warlocks. Arcane Power would present a far more benevolent motif for the Star-lock in the Master of Starry Skies PP, but overall they remain a creepy, creepy son of a bitch - and the only class in the PHB other than the [[Cleric]] that specializes in doing radiant damage! Their mandatory cantrip is Dire Radiance, and their pact boon is Fate of the Void (you gain a +1 bonus to one D20 roll of your choice made before the end of your next turn when a cursed creature drops to 0 HP - this bonus stacks, but it only remains usable for one turn).

For those curious, the "dark stars" named in that issue are Acamar, Caiphon, Delban, Gibbeth, Hadar, Ihbar, Khirad, Nihal, Ulban and Zhudun. These had actually first appeared as part of certain powers in the PHB1, alongside a never-detailed star called Thuban ("Tendrils of Thuban", a level 15 daily spell, which paralyzes and consumes a cluster of foes with tendrils of of liquid summoned from the frozen emerald seas that lie under the star Thuban). The [[Monster Manual]] 3 would create a sadly under-developed monster category called the [[Star Spawn]]; celestial aberrations representing the progeny of these terible stars, and even statting one such star - Allabar, Opener of the Way, a living planet corrupted by the [[Far Realm]] - as the most powerful of them.

When the [[Forgotten Realms]] Player's Guide rolled around for 4e, it introduced the new '''Dark Pact''', an alliance made with horrible, malevolent spirits native to the [[Underdark]] and popular with [[drow]] warlocks, resulting in spells focused on darkness, poison, madness, and spite. Several of its iconic spells possess the ability to gain upgrades if you inflict damage on your allies, although even without this "augment" they're quite beefy. Its mandatory cantrip is Spiteful Glamor, and its surprisingly complex pact boon is Darkspiral Aura (when a cursed creature drops to 0 HP, your Darkspiral Aura value gains 1 point; you can use your Darkspiral Aura as an immediate interrupt when an enemy makes a melee or ranged attack against you, inflicting 1d6/1d8/1d10 Necrotic & Psychic Damage per point in your Darkspiral Aura; if this damage is less than 12, your Aura drops to 0 points; if more than 12 damage, you can halve the damage you take and your Aura drops to 1 point - you lose all Aura points when you take a short rest).

[[Dark Sun]] did the same thing; the '''Sorcerer-King's Pact''' was its attempt to recreate the [[Templar]] of AD&D, that strange pseudo-priestly class that derived its powers from its oath of allegiance to the tyrannical mage-psions of Athas' last cities. Its mandatory cantrip is Hand of Blight, and its pact boon is Fell Scorn - this strange feature is borrowing some elements from the psionics rules system, and can trip up an unobservant reader; the Sorcerer-King pacted Warlock has a single point of "Fell Might", which can be spent when casting certain spells in order to trigger some upgraded effects, and is recharged whenever the warlock drops a cursed creature to 0 HP. This trait is controversial to say the least because, normally, pact-associated spells don't need to spend this sort of resource to get their bonus. Even though Fell Might will recharge like crazy because, hey, cursing people is what a warlock is supposed to ''do'', it still leaves a sour taste in the mouth.

Arcane Power would introduce what many wrongly believed to be the last of the Core pacts, in the form of the '''[[Vestige]] Pact'''; obviously themed after the [[Binder]] of last edition, the Vestige Pact calls upon the spirits of bizarre ghosts and ancient, forgotten entities, with a unique mechanic attached to it. Each Daily power associated with this pact, always named "Vestige of whoever", becomes a Vestige in the Warlock's arsenal. Whenever the warlock completes a rest, they can determine which Vestige is their "Active" Vestige - they can also choose to change their Active Vestige whenever they use one of those Vestige powers, causing the newly invoked Vestige to become Active. Your Active Vestige determines the effects of your pact boon and the secondary effects of your mandatory cantrip, "Eyes of the Vestige".

The reason that neither Vestige nor Sorcerer-King was the last of the Core 4e Warlock Pacts? Hidden in the Essentials era sourcebook "Heroes of the Elemental Chaos" is the '''Elemental Pact''' for core warlocks. Representing the obvious choice of a warlock drawing their power from a [[Archomental|Primordial]], this [[elementalist]] warlock has some slight overlap with the [[Wild Mage]], but not much. It gains the bonus feature "Elemental Affinity", where you have Affinity to either Acid, Cold, Fire, Fire, Lightning or Thunder - this is determined randomly each time you complete a rest, and you can change your Elemental Affinity when you invoke your second wind. When you cast an arcane attack power that deals Force, Necrotic, Poison or Psychic damage, you can make it inflict whichever damage type you have Elemental Affinity for instead. Its pact boon is Accursed Affinity; after you drop at least one cursed victim, everyone you place your Curse on for the rest of the encounter gains Vulnerability (5/tier) to whichever damage type you currently have Elemental Affinity with.

Essentials also introduced two Warlock [[Variant Class]]es (alternatively known as subclasses); "Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms" introduced the [[Hexblade]], an Arcane Striker-Defender that is basically a cross between a Warlock and a [[Swordmage]], whilst "Heroes of Shadow" introduced the [[Binder]], a restyling of the Warlock into a full-fledged Arcane Controller.

The Hexblade was initially introduced with only Fey and Infernal Pact options; it gained its own version of the Star Pact in Dragon #393, an Elemental Pact in "Heroes of the Elemental Chaos", and a Gloom Pact in "Heroes of Shadow".

The Binder, as the very last Warlock derivative to emerge prior to 4e's cancellation, only had the two Pacts; Gloom and Star, both in its native "Heroes of Shadow". It did manage to gain a Fey Pact for itself in Dragon #406.

It bears mentioning that, whilst original/"Core style" warlocks can take the spells from both the Binder and the Hexblade for themselves, the "Pacts" as used by these variant classes are not synonymous with the Core-lock's Pacts, so Gloom Pact spells have no special riders when used by non-Binders or Hexblades. This is one of the many reasons why most of 4e's fans didn't like the "simplified" versions of classes created for Essentials.

4e paired the Warlock class up with the [[Tiefling]] race, much like how Dwarves make iconic [[Fighter]]s or [[Clerics]], or Elves make good [[Wizard]]s, or [[Half-orc]]s make good [[Barbarian]]s. 5e continues this tradition.

====4e Sample Patrons====
Issue #381 of [[Dragon Magazine]] featured an article called "Performing the Pact", which provided some example Patrons for each of the five pacts available at the time.

The Dark Pact patron is ''Yorgrix, Weaver of the Poison Web'': once a demonweb spider kept as a [[familiar]] by an overconfident [[drow]] matron, Yorgrix patiently mastered the dark magic it watched its mistress perform and then, fueled by hunger and ambition, slew and devoured both her and the entire city in which she dwelled. Glutted on countless souls, Yorgrix was transformed into a dread spirit; now imprisoned in the city it massacred, it reaches out to the minds of mortals with a simple promise: power for food.

The Fey Pact patron is ''The Eochaid'', a strange [[fey]] spirit embodying the interplay between nature and arcane magic, and which manifests as a strange amalgamation of humanoid, animal and plant. Ancient as the [[Seldarine]] themselves, the Eochaid desires only to promote and strengthen magic, seeking its growth. Those willing to plant magic's seed - and to retrieve arcane artifacts for it to protect - are blessed with its wild hexes and unearthly glamors.

The Infernal Pact patron is ''The Prisoner in Iron'', an infernal warlock of such power that the [[Archdevil]]s feared him and have bound him in the deepest dungeons of Dis, hoping to hide him forever. But such is his power that he can still reach out to the mortal world, offering tutelage to the ambitious, seeking to empower a champion mighty enough to free him from his chains.

The Star Pact patron is ''Ulban, the Wanderer''; a sapient time-traveling comet from a far-flung apocalypse, the last survivor of its universe. Now it wanders space and time, empowering those who, in some inscrutable way, will play their part in prevent Ulban's future from coming to be - often battling against the other dark stars in the process.

The Vestige Pact patron is ''The Bleak Guide'', a reaper-like entity from the [[Shadowfell]] charged with maintaining the orderly transition of life to death, and more than willing to act as a go-between for [[vestige]]s and those mortals who will use their power to make is own existence easier. It can't act against the [[necromancer]]s and [[undead]] that vex it so - but its mortal agents, on the other hand...

===5e===
The 5e Warlock is a complicated marriage of 3e invocations, 4e pacts, and 5e spellcasting, with a few caveats. They gain a pitiful amount of spell slots, as well as only a handful of spells known. To the untrained player's eye, they're painfully limited compared to "real" casters, but in reality they're <strike>roid-pumping nightmares</strike> not bad. Their spell slots all automatically scale the slot level up so their spells are always guaranteed to be pumped up, and also refresh after every encounter or few (short rest). Invocations are back from 3.5, albeit scaled back a bit, providing various kinds of special abilities, from access to spells that aren't on their list as at-will, encounter or daily powers, to power-ups for the pact form, and of course power-ups for Eldritch Blast.

To complete the Warlock package, you get a pact with a supernatural being. The pact gives you a thematic extended spell list; for example, Great Old One Warlocks can cast (but not spam, sadly) Evard's Black Tentacles. Pacts provide a bevvy of unique class features like teleportation, damage resistance or telepathy. On top of magical powers, they also give you a consolation prize in the form of a pact boon, which can either be a souped-up familiar, a free enchanted weapon that you can shapeshift into whatever kind of weapon you need, or a magical book that gives you three cantrips from ''any'' other spellcasting class. An alternative pact boon was the Star Chain, introduced in "Non Divine Faithful", which closely ties into the Seeker patron: this is a magical trinket that can be used to cast ''Augury'' and can be used to grant Advantage on an Int check once per short rest.

The available pacts are:

''Archfey'' - Bound to a powerful faerie lord or sylvan pseudo-deity, a warlock with this pact gains the power of Fey Presence (Charm or Frighten all creatures in a 10ft cube around you once per short rest), Misty Escape (teleport 60 feet and turn invisible once per short rest), Beguiling Defenses (you are immune to Charming and can attempt to Charm anyone foolish enough to try a Charm effect on you) and Dark Delirium (can attempt to entrap a target in an illusion to Charm or Terrify it once per short rest). This one is in the Player's Handbook.

''Fiend'' - Bound to a [[Demon Prince]] or [[Archdevil]], a warlock with this pact gains Dark One's Blessing (gain temporary HP for dropping another creature to zero HP), Dark One's Luck (can choose to re-roll an ability check or saving throw with a +10 bonus once per short rest), Fiendish Resilience (gain Resistance to a single damage type of your choice after completing a short rest, though magic and silvered weapons can pierce it) and Hurl Through Hell (teleport a target into some hellish dimension for 1 turn, causing 10D10 Psychic damage to a non-fiendish target, once per long rest). This one is in the Player's Handbook.

''Great Old One'' - Warlocks with this pact are bound to terrible abominations from outside time and space, drawing on the power of aberrant gods like [[Cthulhu]]. They gain the boons of Awakened Mind (telepathy with a 30ft range), Entropic Ward (can make yourself harder to hit and get a bonus if the target missed once per short rest), Thought Shield (mind cannot be involuntarily read, Resistance to Psychic Damage, inflict equal Psychic damage on anyone who inflicts Psychic damage on you) and Create Thrall (permanently charm a single creature with a touch, gaining telepathic communication with them from anywhere on the same plane). This one is in the Player's Handbook.

''Undying'' - A Warlock with this pact has offered their soul to something that has "cheated death"; most obviously a powerful [[lich]], [[ghost]] or [[vampire]], but mortals ascended to godhood and weirder things are also valid. [[Planescape: Torment|The Nameless One]] isn't mentioned, but would be a perfectly thematic (and awesome!) patron for this pact. The "necromantic" pact, these warlocks get features related to the ability to cheat death; Among the Dead (Spare the Dying as a bonus cantrip, Advantage on saving throws against disease, Undead must pass a Wisdom save to attack you), Defy Death (gain a significant healing 1/day by passing a death saving throw or using Spare the Dying), Undying Nature (can hold your breath indefinitely, don't need food, water or sleep, immunity to magical aging, age 1 year for every 10 you live) and Indestructible Life (can freely heal yourself 1/encounter, including reattaching limbs as part of it). Comes from the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide.

''[[Hexblade]]'' - Basically, you want to play a character inspired by [[Stormbringer|Elric of Melnibone]]; your power is with a mysterious [[Shadowfell]] entity that makes its presence felt through powerful weapons bound with shadowy magic. [[derp|Despite this, you don't have to take the Pact of the Blade.]] Having first appeared in [[Unearthed Arcana]], the official version came out in "Xanathar's Guide", at which point it seems to have absorbed some of the fluff, if not the crunch, from the [[Raven Queen]] patron featured in that same UA. This pledge makes the warlock more of a melee combatant, in the vein of the class it takes its name from; their two level 1 features are ''Hexblade's Curse'' (1/short rest, place a curse on a foe within 30ft that makes your attacks more likely to hit and heals you if they die whilst cursed) and ''Hex Warrior'' (you can enchant one-handed weapons you are proficient with to use Charisma for their attack & damage rolls; if you've the Pact of the Blade, your Pact Weapon always has this trait no matter the form it takes, also you get free proficiency with medium armor, shields and martial weapons). At level 6, they gain ''Accursed Specter'' (raise a slain humanoid as a loyal specter 1/day). Their level 10 feature, ''Armor of Hexes'', buffs up their curse by letting the warlock negate a cursed opponent's attack against them on a 4+. Finally, at level 14, they get ''Master of Hexes'', which lets them forgo the healing effect for dropping a cursed opponent to instead immediately reapply that curse to a fresh opponent. Its bonus spells are close-ranged, a mixture of protective spells (shield, blur, blink) and temporary weapon enchantments - the only exceptions are Phantasmal Killer and Cone of Cold.

''Celestial'' - This is the "good guy warlock" patron option, where you make a pact with an [[angel]] of some description. In mechanics, it's a refluffed version of the Undying Light Patron presented in an earlier Unearthed Arcana - ironically, unlike the Hexblade, this version was so well-received that WoTC saw no need to change its subclass features when they reprinted it for the Xanathar's Guide to Everything. The difference between the two versions is that it adds some healing spells to its list of bonus spells, instead of just fire/radiant damage-dealers, and rearranges what levels you get which features at. At 1st level, you gain Healing Light - the "heal with a touch" feature from the UL Patron, which it didn't get until level 14 - and Light & Sacred Flame as bonus cantrips. At level 6 it gets Radiant Soul, which is Resistance (Radiance) and bonus to radiant & fire damage, a feature the UL got at 1st level. They both get the same "bonus temporary HP on completing a rest" feature at level 10, but the Celestial renames it the Celestial Resilience trait. Finally, it gets Searing Vengeance - 1/day, when reduced to death, spring up at half maximum hitpoints and inflict radiant damage & blindness on all enemies within 30 feet - as its 14th level trait, when for the UL Patron it was a 6th level feature.

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===A minor footnote on D&D 4e and 5e Warlocks===

One of the roleplaying possibilities for Warlocks that sometimes gets mentioned is that once empowered, the Warlock is under no obligation to keep obeying their Patron. The rules explicitly do not contain any references to any of the patrons being able to strip the powers from a Warlock, unlike, say, a Paladin--in other words, the implication is that once granted, a Warlock's powers are theirs to keep. (It's mildly worth mentioning that "Warlock" decends from the old English ''"wǣrloga"'', meaning "traitor or deceiver" ("wǣr", meaning "covenant, truce, or pact" and "loga", meaning "liar"), and that kind of name cuts both ways.)

This was intentional (as, among other things, it allowed for Lawful Good Infernal Warlocks), and influenced the initial three 4e Patron choices (and a few later ones): Who would give away free power to mortals that you could not revoke? Somebody whose cause is advanced by the mere usage of that power; Devils, Archfey and The Great Old Ones all obviously qualify (as did [[Vestige]]s)--all were (in 4e's default cosmology, at least) restrained in some way from the mortal world, and higher level 4e Warlock powers, at least, frequently gave them some temporary purchase on said world when used.

([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iiS5mkIff_8 Here's a Mike Mearls interview] that explicitly notes this possibility in 5e, as well. Then again, Mearls also implies in that interview that Clerics can turn against their Deity and still have their Divine Magic, so take that claim for what it's worth. Admittedly, Divine classes did lose their "powers are revoked if your deity is pissed" trait in 4e, so it's not unprecedented.)

DMs should also note that while the Patron cannot directly withdraw the Warlock's new powers, they are also not restricted from sending repo men to get the recalcitrant Warlock back in line if the Warlock still has debt outstanding.

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Warlock

2018-08-19T01:20:27Z

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:''For Eldar Warlock, see [[Warlock (Eldar)|here]].''

'''Warlocks''' are a type of magic spellcaster in fantasy settings. They are also the male counterpart of witches. Compared to others, warlocks are usually dedicated completely to offensive magic and in a few cases, dabbling in the forbidden arts like black magic and daemonology to achieve more power, although this is not always the case.

==In Deadlands==
In [[Deadlands]], both the generic black magic-using badguy and the PC "huckster" class/archetype/thingy would technically fall under the warlock moniker, and black magicians are commonly called warlocks to boot. Hucksters are a special case in that they literally deal with the devil for their magic; whenever a huckster casts a spell, they astrally project into the Spirit World and offer a passing demon to play a game of skill & chance (poker being, of course, traditional); if the demon wins, it gets a chunk of the huckster's soul (which translates to a huge amount of physical pain and/or death for the huckster), and if the huckster wins, the demon has to surrender the mojo needed to make the huckster's spell a reality. Part of what makes spells differ in difficulty to cast is the some spells either need more juice to work than others or else are calling for stuff the demon wouldn't normally like to do - it's a lot easier to call them up to kill somebitch than to make them protect you, for example.

==In Dungeons and Dragons==
[[File:D%26D Warlock.jpg|400px|thumb|right|A Warlock class character.]]
Instead of gaining their power though meticulous training and study like the [[Wizard]], or natural-born talent like the [[Sorcerer]], they make contracts with very powerful entities and forces and channel that energy, like an arcane [[Cleric]].

===1e===
In 1st ed AD&D, characters had titles as they leveled up. An 8th level Magic-User gained the title "Warlock." Nobody cared about these titles, not even the people who used weapon speed or the AC to-hit modifiers for each weapon. There was a Dragon magazine article (issue 43) describing a 'witch' npc class, and male npcs that took this class were sometimes called "warlocks" instead.

===2e===
In 2nd ed AD&D, a character could take a class kit, which was essentially a set of alternate class features that you could take to add a different play style to a class. Such kits required you to meet certain requirements to take them though. In the [[Splatbook| The Complete Wizard's Handbook]], there was a Wizard kit called the Witch. In the description of the Witch kit, it is mentioned that most Witches are female, but male Witches are possible, being commonly referred to as Warlocks. The Witch kit states that the power the Witch gains, is taught to them by extraplanar entities, for a variety of reasons. In exchange for this magical knowledge though, Witches constantly had to struggle with the extraplanar entities to maintain their free will. Unlike traditional Wizards, a Witch needed to be more than just Intelligent, requiring decent Wisdom and Constitution scores as well. While this kit is not an official Warlock class, it was the first time the themes of the Warlock made it into a player class.

===3.5===
The 3.5 ed Warlock was introduced in [[Splatbook| Complete Arcane]]. It looks like textbook [[munchkin]] bait, but is actually kinda ''meh''. Warlocks have at-will casting and no spells per day in 3.5, which made some people call hax but isn't so hot because very few DMs would ever run enough encounters in one in-game day for [[Vancian]] casters to completely run out of spells. Among the ones the handful that do, some like to have [[Awesome|spells that are at-will and keep 3.5]]. One of the Warlock's most powerful abilities is to [[Dakka|DAKKADAKKADAKKA]] with Eldritch Blasts, without having an accuracy problem. This ability can win encounters, but the time necessary to do so balances it out, so this class is both for people who want fast combat going The Matrix on the ceiling, and for patient masterminds.

===Pathfinder===
[[Pathfinder]] didn't give the warlock a conversion due to their non OGL status. ''Occult Adventures'', however, introduced the [[Kineticist]] class, which follows Warlock mechanically a bit more closely than [[Magus]] to [[Duskblade]], but thematically you are an element bender instead of having made vague deals with evil outsiders or fey. The [[witch]] takes up the flavor portion of the warlock while having its own mechanics.

Then ''Ultimate Intrigue'' came along and made warlock an archetype of the Vigilante. In this context, they are more Vigilante Arcane spellcasters. While they have some Magus spellcasting, they also can sling magical bolts, and still use almost all the vigilante tricks of misdirection, masked combat, and walking straight past the guards after making a quick change of outfits.

===4e===
When 4th edition rolled around, Warlocks made a surprising leap into the [[Player's Handbook]], supplanting the [[Sorcerer (Dungeons & Dragons)|Sorcerer]] as "the other PHB [[mage]] class". Classified as Arcane Strikers, Warlocks were flavored as eerie, sinister casters who could place victims under dread curses and gain magical benefits by reaping the souls of those they had cursed. They were also somewhat stealthy, thanks to their "Shadow Walk" feature, which granted them concealment until the end of their next turn on any turn in which they moved at least 3 squares. Like all classes in core 4e, the Warlock had subclasses, and a very obvious basis: their Pact, or what 5e would rename their Patron; the specific kind of unearthly entity that the warlock had received their power from, which even dictated one of their cantrips and also determined which kind of bonus they got from reaping the souls of those they had cursed. As a result, they started with three patron types in the PHB; the Fey, the Infernal, and the Star. In a step that 5e wouldn't replicate, a paragon level (11+) Warlock could take a feat called ''Twofold Pact'', which represented them swearing allegiance to a '''second''' patron and getting access to its associated cantrip and pact boon, allowing them to choose which boon to benefit from whenever they d dropped a cursed enemy.

The '''Fey Pact''' was made with an [[Archfey]] or, really, any particularly strong [[fey]]. Fey spells tend to have themes of either "glamour magic" (seductive, intoxicating enchantments") or savage nature-type magic (such as setting a pack of ravenous sprites on a foe that rend the flesh from their bones). Their mandatory cantrip is Eyebite, and their pact boon is Misty Step (teleport 3 squares when a cursed creature drops to 0 HP).

The '''Infernal Pact''' was, as you can probably guess, made with a scheming [[devil]], or maybe even one of the [[Archdevil]]s. The least subtle of the pacts, it's all about scouring foes with fire, sucking away their souls, or invoking other hostile elements from [[Baator]]. Is mandatory spell is Hellish Rebuke and its pact boon is Dark One's Blessing (gain temporary HP equal to your level when a cursed creature drops to 0 HP).

The '''Star Pact''' is an odd one, with elements of the [[Cthulhu Mythos]] - basically, in the [[World Axis]] cosmology, certain stars are sapient and they're basically giant [[aberration]]s, which can bestow powers on those willing to risk communion with them. These stars were so new that they actually got an article in [[Dragon Magazine]] ("Wish Upon A Star", #366) that went full Lovecraft, detailing some of the most common of these "dark stars" and a [[Paragon Path]], the Student of Caiphon, dedicated to one of these stars - something that would be followed up in Dragon #403's "Strange Constellations", which adapted Atropous, Father Llymic, Pandorym, Ragnorra and The Worm That Walks from 3e's Elder Evils into star-fiends that can empower warlocks. Arcane Power would present a far more benevolent motif for the Star-lock in the Master of Starry Skies PP, but overall they remain a creepy, creepy son of a bitch - and the only class in the PHB other than the [[Cleric]] that specializes in doing radiant damage! Their mandatory cantrip is Dire Radiance, and their pact boon is Fate of the Void (you gain a +1 bonus to one D20 roll of your choice made before the end of your next turn when a cursed creature drops to 0 HP - this bonus stacks, but it only remains usable for one turn).

For those curious, the "dark stars" named in that issue are Acamar, Caiphon, Delban, Gibbeth, Hadar, Ihbar, Khirad, Nihal, Ulban and Zhudun. These had actually first appeared as part of certain powers in the PHB1, alongside a never-detailed star called Thuban ("Tendrils of Thuban", a level 15 daily spell, which paralyzes and consumes a cluster of foes with tendrils of of liquid summoned from the frozen emerald seas that lie under the star Thuban). The [[Monster Manual]] 3 would create a sadly under-developed monster category called the [[Star Spawn]]; celestial aberrations representing the progeny of these terible stars, and even statting one such star - Allabar, Opener of the Way, a living planet corrupted by the [[Far Realm]] - as the most powerful of them.

When the [[Forgotten Realms]] Player's Guide rolled around for 4e, it introduced the new '''Dark Pact''', an alliance made with horrible, malevolent spirits native to the [[Underdark]] and popular with [[drow]] warlocks, resulting in spells focused on darkness, poison, madness, and spite. Several of its iconic spells possess the ability to gain upgrades if you inflict damage on your allies, although even without this "augment" they're quite beefy. Its mandatory cantrip is Spiteful Glamor, and its surprisingly complex pact boon is Darkspiral Aura (when a cursed creature drops to 0 HP, your Darkspiral Aura value gains 1 point; you can use your Darkspiral Aura as an immediate interrupt when an enemy makes a melee or ranged attack against you, inflicting 1d6/1d8/1d10 Necrotic & Psychic Damage per point in your Darkspiral Aura; if this damage is less than 12, your Aura drops to 0 points; if more than 12 damage, you can halve the damage you take and your Aura drops to 1 point - you lose all Aura points when you take a short rest).

[[Dark Sun]] did the same thing; the '''Sorcerer-King's Pact''' was its attempt to recreate the [[Templar]] of AD&D, that strange pseudo-priestly class that derived its powers from its oath of allegiance to the tyrannical mage-psions of Athas' last cities. Its mandatory cantrip is Hand of Blight, and its pact boon is Fell Scorn - this strange feature is borrowing some elements from the psionics rules system, and can trip up an unobservant reader; the Sorcerer-King pacted Warlock has a single point of "Fell Might", which can be spent when casting certain spells in order to trigger some upgraded effects, and is recharged whenever the warlock drops a cursed creature to 0 HP. This trait is controversial to say the least because, normally, pact-associated spells don't need to spend this sort of resource to get their bonus. Even though Fell Might will recharge like crazy because, hey, cursing people is what a warlock is supposed to ''do'', it still leaves a sour taste in the mouth.

Arcane Power would introduce what many wrongly believed to be the last of the Core pacts, in the form of the '''[[Vestige]] Pact'''; obviously themed after the [[Binder]] of last edition, the Vestige Pact calls upon the spirits of bizarre ghosts and ancient, forgotten entities, with a unique mechanic attached to it. Each Daily power associated with this pact, always named "Vestige of whoever", becomes a Vestige in the Warlock's arsenal. Whenever the warlock completes a rest, they can determine which Vestige is their "Active" Vestige - they can also choose to change their Active Vestige whenever they use one of those Vestige powers, causing the newly invoked Vestige to become Active. Your Active Vestige determines the effects of your pact boon and the secondary effects of your mandatory cantrip, "Eyes of the Vestige".

The reason that neither Vestige nor Sorcerer-King was the last of the Core 4e Warlock Pacts? Hidden in the Essentials era sourcebook "Heroes of the Elemental Chaos" is the '''Elemental Pact''' for core warlocks. Representing the obvious choice of a warlock drawing their power from a [[Archomental|Primordial]], this [[elementalist]] warlock has some slight overlap with the [[Wild Mage]], but not much. It gains the bonus feature "Elemental Affinity", where you have Affinity to either Acid, Cold, Fire, Fire, Lightning or Thunder - this is determined randomly each time you complete a rest, and you can change your Elemental Affinity when you invoke your second wind. When you cast an arcane attack power that deals Force, Necrotic, Poison or Psychic damage, you can make it inflict whichever damage type you have Elemental Affinity for instead. Its pact boon is Accursed Affinity; after you drop at least one cursed victim, everyone you place your Curse on for the rest of the encounter gains Vulnerability (5/tier) to whichever damage type you currently have Elemental Affinity with.

Essentials also introduced two Warlock [[Variant Class]]es (alternatively known as subclasses); "Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms" introduced the [[Hexblade]], an Arcane Striker-Defender that is basically a cross between a Warlock and a [[Swordmage]], whilst "Heroes of Shadow" introduced the [[Binder]], a restyling of the Warlock into a full-fledged Arcane Controller.

The Hexblade was initially introduced with only Fey and Infernal Pact options; it gained its own version of the Star Pact in Dragon #393, an Elemental Pact in "Heroes of the Elemental Chaos", and a Gloom Pact in "Heroes of Shadow".

The Binder, as the very last Warlock derivative to emerge prior to 4e's cancellation, only had the two Pacts; Gloom and Star, both in its native "Heroes of Shadow". It did manage to gain a Fey Pact for itself in Dragon #406.

It bears mentioning that, whilst original/"Core style" warlocks can take the spells from both the Binder and the Hexblade for themselves, the "Pacts" as used by these variant classes are not synonymous with the Core-lock's Pacts, so Gloom Pact spells have no special riders when used by non-Binders or Hexblades. This is one of the many reasons why most of 4e's fans didn't like the "simplified" versions of classes created for Essentials.

4e paired the Warlock class up with the [[Tiefling]] race, much like how Dwarves make iconic [[Fighter]]s or [[Clerics]], or Elves make good [[Wizard]]s, or [[Half-orc]]s make good [[Barbarian]]s. 5e continues this tradition.

====4e Sample Patrons====
Issue #381 of [[Dragon Magazine]] featured an article called "Performing the Pact", which provided some example Patrons for each of the five pacts available at the time.

The Dark Pact patron is ''Yorgrix, Weaver of the Poison Web'': once a demonweb spider kept as a [[familiar]] by an overconfident [[drow]] matron, Yorgrix patiently mastered the dark magic it watched its mistress perform and then, fueled by hunger and ambition, slew and devoured both her and the entire city in which she dwelled. Glutted on countless souls, Yorgrix was transformed into a dread spirit; now imprisoned in the city it massacred, it reaches out to the minds of mortals with a simple promise: power for food.

The Fey Pact patron is ''The Eochaid'', a strange [[fey]] spirit embodying the interplay between nature and arcane magic, and which manifests as a strange amalgamation of humanoid, animal and plant. Ancient as the [[Seldarine]] themselves, the Eochaid desires only to promote and strengthen magic, seeking its growth. Those willing to plant magic's seed - and to retrieve arcane artifacts for it to protect - are blessed with its wild hexes and unearthly glamors.

The Infernal Pact patron is ''The Prisoner in Iron'', an infernal warlock of such power that the [[Archdevil]]s feared him and have bound him in the deepest dungeons of Dis, hoping to hide him forever. But such is his power that he can still reach out to the mortal world, offering tutelage to the ambitious, seeking to empower a champion mighty enough to free him from his chains.

The Star Pact patron is ''Ulban, the Wanderer''; a sapient time-traveling comet from a far-flung apocalypse, the last survivor of its universe. Now it wanders space and time, empowering those who, in some inscrutable way, will play their part in prevent Ulban's future from coming to be - often battling against the other dark stars in the process.

The Vestige Pact patron is ''The Bleak Guide'', a reaper-like entity from the [[Shadowfell]] charged with maintaining the orderly transition of life to death, and more than willing to act as a go-between for [[vestige]]s and those mortals who will use their power to make is own existence easier. It can't act against the [[necromancer]]s and [[undead]] that vex it so - but its mortal agents, on the other hand...

===5e===
The 5e Warlock is a complicated marriage of 3e invocations, 4e pacts, and 5e spellcasting, with a few caveats. They gain a pitiful amount of spell slots, as well as only a handful of spells known. To the untrained player's eye, they're painfully limited compared to "real" casters, but in reality they're <strike>roid-pumping nightmares</strike> not bad. Their spell slots all automatically scale the slot level up so their spells are always guaranteed to be pumped up, and also refresh after every encounter or few (short rest). Invocations are back from 3.5, albeit scaled back a bit, providing various kinds of special abilities, from access to spells that aren't on their list as at-will, encounter or daily powers, to power-ups for the pact form, and of course power-ups for Eldritch Blast.

To complete the Warlock package, you get a pact with a supernatural being. The pact gives you a thematic extended spell list; for example, Great Old One Warlocks can cast (but not spam, sadly) Evard's Black Tentacles. Pacts provide a bevvy of unique class features like teleportation, damage resistance or telepathy. On top of magical powers, they also give you a consolation prize in the form of a pact boon, which can either be a souped-up familiar, a free enchanted weapon that you can shapeshift into whatever kind of weapon you need, or a magical book that gives you three cantrips from ''any'' other spellcasting class. An alternative pact boon was the Star Chain, introduced in "Non Divine Faithful", which closely ties into the Seeker patron: this is a magical trinket that can be used to cast ''Augury'' and can be used to grant Advantage on an Int check once per short rest.

The available pacts are:

''Archfey'' - Bound to a powerful faerie lord or sylvan pseudo-deity, a warlock with this pact gains the power of Fey Presence (Charm or Frighten all creatures in a 10ft cube around you once per short rest), Misty Escape (teleport 60 feet and turn invisible once per short rest), Beguiling Defenses (you are immune to Charming and can attempt to Charm anyone foolish enough to try a Charm effect on you) and Dark Delirium (can attempt to entrap a target in an illusion to Charm or Terrify it once per short rest). This one is in the Player's Handbook.

''Fiend'' - Bound to a [[Demon Prince]] or [[Archdevil]], a warlock with this pact gains Dark One's Blessing (gain temporary HP for dropping another creature to zero HP), Dark One's Luck (can choose to re-roll an ability check or saving throw with a +10 bonus once per short rest), Fiendish Resilience (gain Resistance to a single damage type of your choice after completing a short rest, though magic and silvered weapons can pierce it) and Hurl Through Hell (teleport a target into some hellish dimension for 1 turn, causing 10D10 Psychic damage to a non-fiendish target, once per long rest). This one is in the Player's Handbook.

''Great Old One'' - Warlocks with this pact are bound to terrible abominations from outside time and space, drawing on the power of aberrant gods like [[Cthulhu]]. They gain the boons of Awakened Mind (telepathy with a 30ft range), Entropic Ward (can make yourself harder to hit and get a bonus if the target missed once per short rest), Thought Shield (mind cannot be involuntarily read, Resistance to Psychic Damage, inflict equal Psychic damage on anyone who inflicts Psychic damage on you) and Create Thrall (permanently charm a single creature with a touch, gaining telepathic communication with them from anywhere on the same plane). This one is in the Player's Handbook.

''Undying'' - A Warlock with this pact has offered their soul to something that has "cheated death"; most obviously a powerful [[lich]], [[ghost]] or [[vampire]], but mortals ascended to godhood and weirder things are also valid. [[Planescape: Torment|The Nameless One]] isn't mentioned, but would be a perfectly thematic (and awesome!) patron for this pact. The "necromantic" pact, these warlocks get features related to the ability to cheat death; Among the Dead (Spare the Dying as a bonus cantrip, Advantage on saving throws against disease, Undead must pass a Wisdom save to attack you), Defy Death (gain a significant healing 1/day by passing a death saving throw or using Spare the Dying), Undying Nature (can hold your breath indefinitely, don't need food, water or sleep, immunity to magical aging, age 1 year for every 10 you live) and Indestructible Life (can freely heal yourself 1/encounter, including reattaching limbs as part of it). Comes from the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide.

''[[Hexblade]]'' - Basically, you want to play a character inspired by [[Stormbringer|Elric of Melnibone]]; your power is with a mysterious [[Shadowfell]] entity that makes its presence felt through powerful weapons bound with shadowy magic. [[derp|Despite this, you don't have to take the Pact of the Blade.]] Having first appeared in [[Unearthed Arcana]], the official version came out in "Xanathar's Guide", at which point it seems to have absorbed some of the fluff, if not the crunch, from the [[Raven Queen]] patron featured in that same UA. This pledge makes the warlock more of a melee combatant, in the vein of the class it takes its name from; their two level 1 features are ''Hexblade's Curse'' (1/short rest, place a curse on a foe within 30ft that makes your attacks more likely to hit and heals you if they die whilst cursed) and ''Hex Warrior'' (you can enchant one-handed weapons you are proficient with to use Charisma for their attack & damage rolls; if you've the Pact of the Blade, your Pact Weapon always has this trait no matter the form it takes, also you get free proficiency with medium armor, shields and martial weapons). At level 6, they gain ''Accursed Specter'' (raise a slain humanoid as a loyal specter 1/day). Their level 10 feature, ''Armor of Hexes'', buffs up their curse by letting the warlock negate a cursed opponent's attack against them on a 4+. Finally, at level 14, they get ''Master of Hexes'', which lets them forgo the healing effect for dropping a cursed opponent to instead immediately reapply that curse to a fresh opponent. Its bonus spells are close-ranged, a mixture of protective spells (shield, blur, blink) and temporary weapon enchantments - the only exceptions are Phantasmal Killer and Cone of Cold.

''Celestial'' - This is the "good guy warlock" patron option, where you make a pact with an [[angel]] of some description. In mechanics, it's a refluffed version of the Undying Light Patron presented in an earlier Unearthed Arcana - ironically, unlike the Hexblade, this version was so well-received that WoTC saw no need to change its subclass features when they reprinted it for the Xanathar's Guide to Everything. The difference between the two versions is that it adds some healing spells to its list of bonus spells, instead of just fire/radiant damage-dealers, and rearranges what levels you get which features at. At 1st level, you gain Healing Light - the "heal with a touch" feature from the UL Patron, which it didn't get until level 14 - and Light & Sacred Flame as bonus cantrips. At level 6 it gets Radiant Soul, which is Resistance (Radiance) and bonus to radiant & fire damage, a feature the UL got at 1st level. They both get the same "bonus temporary HP on completing a rest" feature at level 10, but the Celestial renames it the Celestial Resilience trait. Finally, it gets Searing Vengeance - 1/day, when reduced to death, spring up at half maximum hitpoints and inflict radiant damage & blindness on all enemies within 30 feet - as its 14th level trait, when for the UL Patron it was a 6th level feature.

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===A minor footnote on D&D 4e and 5e Warlocks===

One of the roleplaying possibilities for Warlocks that sometimes gets mentioned is that once empowered, the Warlock is under no obligation to keep obeying their Patron. The rules explicitly do not contain any references to any of the patrons being able to strip the powers from a Warlock, unlike, say, a Paladin--in other words, the implication is that once granted, a Warlock's powers are theirs to keep. (It's mildly worth mentioning that "Warlock" decends from the old English ''"wǣrloga"'', meaning "traitor or deceiver" ("wǣr", meaning "covenant, truce, or pact" and "loga", meaning "liar"), and that kind of name cuts both ways.)

This was intentional (as, among other things, it allowed for Lawful Good Infernal Warlocks), and influenced the initial three 4e Patron choices (and a few later ones): Who would give away free power to mortals that you could not revoke? Somebody whose cause is advanced by the mere usage of that power; Devils, Archfey and The Great Old Ones all obviously qualify (as did [[Vestige]]s)--all were (in 4e's default cosmology, at least) restrained in some way from the mortal world, and higher level 4e Warlock powers, at least, frequently gave them some temporary purchase on said world when used.

([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iiS5mkIff_8 Here's a Mike Mearls interview] that explicitly notes this possibility in 5e, as well. Then again, Mearls also implies in that interview that Clerics can turn against their Deity and still have their Divine Magic, so take that claim for what it's worth. Admittedly, Divine classes did lose their "powers are revoked if your deity is pissed" trait in 4e, so it's not unprecedented.)

DMs should also note that while the Patron cannot directly withdraw the Warlock's new powers, they are also not restricted from sending repo men to get the recalcitrant Warlock back in line if the Warlock still has debt outstanding.

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Warlock

2018-08-19T01:18:21Z

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:''For Eldar Warlock, see [[Warlock (Eldar)|here]].''

'''Warlocks''' are a type of magic spellcaster in fantasy settings. They are also the male counterpart of witches. Compared to others, warlocks are usually dedicated completely to offensive magic and in a few cases, dabbling in the forbidden arts like black magic and daemonology to achieve more power, although this is not always the case.

==In Deadlands==
In [[Deadlands]], both the generic black magic-using badguy and the PC "huckster" class/archetype/thingy would technically fall under the warlock moniker, and black magicians are commonly called warlocks to boot. Hucksters are a special case in that they literally deal with the devil for their magic; whenever a huckster casts a spell, they astrally project into the Spirit World and offer a passing demon to play a game of skill & chance (poker being, of course, traditional); if the demon wins, it gets a chunk of the huckster's soul (which translates to a huge amount of physical pain and/or death for the huckster), and if the huckster wins, the demon has to surrender the mojo needed to make the huckster's spell a reality. Part of what makes spells differ in difficulty to cast is the some spells either need more juice to work than others or else are calling for stuff the demon wouldn't normally like to do - it's a lot easier to call them up to kill somebitch than to make them protect you, for example.

==In Dungeons and Dragons==
[[File:D%26D Warlock.jpg|400px|thumb|right|A Warlock class character.]]
Instead of gaining their power though meticulous training and study like the [[Wizard]], or natural-born talent like the [[Sorcerer]], they make contracts with very powerful entities and forces and channel that energy, like an arcane [[Cleric]].

===1e===
In 1st ed AD&D, characters had titles as they leveled up. An 8th level Magic-User gained the title "Warlock." Nobody cared about these titles, not even the people who used weapon speed or the AC to-hit modifiers for each weapon. There was a Dragon magazine article (issue 43) describing a 'witch' npc class, and male npcs that took this class were sometimes called "warlocks" instead.

===2e===
In 2nd ed AD&D, a character could take a class kit, which was essentially a set of alternate class features that you could take to add a different play style to a class. Such kits required you to meet certain requirements to take them though. In the [[Splatbook| The Complete Wizard's Handbook]], there was a Wizard kit called the Witch. In the description of the Witch kit, it is mentioned that most Witches are female, but male Witches are possible, being commonly referred to as Warlocks. The Witch kit states that the power the Witch gains, is taught to them by extraplanar entities, for a variety of reasons. In exchange for this magical knowledge though, Witches constantly had to struggle with the extraplanar entities to maintain their free will. Unlike traditional Wizards, a Witch needed to be more than just Intelligent, requiring decent Wisdom and Constitution scores as well. While this kit is not an official Warlock class, it was the first time the themes of the Warlock made it into a player class.

===3.5===
The 3.5 ed Warlock was introduced in [[Splatbook| Complete Arcane]]. It looks like textbook [[munchkin]] bait, but is actually kinda ''meh''. Warlocks have at-will casting and no spells per day in 3.5, which made some people call hax but isn't so hot because very few DMs would ever run enough encounters in one in-game day for [[Vancian]] casters to completely run out of spells. Among the ones the handful that do, some like to have [[Awesome|spells that are at-will and keep 3.5]]. One of the Warlock's most powerful abilities is to [[Dakka|DAKKADAKKADAKKA]] with Eldritch Blasts, without having an accuracy problem. This ability can win encounters, but the time necessary to do so balances it out, so this class is both for people who want fast combat going The Matrix on the ceiling, and for patient masterminds.

===Pathfinder===
[[Pathfinder]] didn't give the warlock a conversion due to their non OGL status. ''Occult Adventures'', however, introduced the [[Kineticist]] class, which follows Warlock mechanically a bit more closely than [[Magus]] to [[Duskblade]], but thematically you are an element bender instead of having made vague deals with evil outsiders or fey. The [[witch]] takes up the flavor portion of the warlock while having its own mechanics.

Then ''Ultimate Intrigue'' came along and made warlock an archetype of the Vigilante. In this context, they are more Vigilante Arcane spellcasters. While they have some Magus spellcasting, they also can sling magical bolts, and still use almost all the vigilante tricks of misdirection, masked combat, and walking straight past the guards after making a quick change of outfits.

===4e===
When 4th edition rolled around, Warlocks made a surprising leap into the [[Player's Handbook]], supplanting the [[Sorcerer (Dungeons & Dragons)|Sorcerer]] as "the other PHB [[mage]] class". Classified as Arcane Strikers, Warlocks were flavored as eerie, sinister casters who could place victims under dread curses and gain magical benefits by reaping the souls of those they had cursed. They were also somewhat stealthy, thanks to their "Shadow Walk" feature, which granted them concealment until the end of their next turn on any turn in which they moved at least 3 squares. Like all classes in core 4e, the Warlock had subclasses, and a very obvious basis: their Pact, or what 5e would rename their Patron; the specific kind of unearthly entity that the warlock had received their power from, which even dictated one of their cantrips and also determined which kind of bonus they got from reaping the souls of those they had cursed. As a result, they started with three patron types in the PHB; the Fey, the Infernal, and the Star. In a step that 5e wouldn't replicate, a paragon level (11+) Warlock could take a feat called ''Twofold Pact'', which represented them swearing allegiance to a '''second''' patron and getting access to its associated cantrip and pact boon, allowing them to choose which boon to benefit from whenever they d dropped a cursed enemy.

The '''Fey Pact''' was made with an [[Archfey]] or, really, any particularly strong [[fey]]. Fey spells tend to have themes of either "glamour magic" (seductive, intoxicating enchantments") or savage nature-type magic (such as setting a pack of ravenous sprites on a foe that rend the flesh from their bones). Their mandatory cantrip is Eyebite, and their pact boon is Misty Step (teleport 3 squares when a cursed creature drops to 0 HP).

The '''Infernal Pact''' was, as you can probably guess, made with a scheming [[devil]], or maybe even one of the [[Archdevil]]s. The least subtle of the pacts, it's all about scouring foes with fire, sucking away their souls, or invoking other hostile elements from [[Baator]]. Is mandatory spell is Hellish Rebuke and its pact boon is Dark One's Blessing (gain temporary HP equal to your level when a cursed creature drops to 0 HP).

The '''Star Pact''' is an odd one, with elements of the [[Cthulhu Mythos]] - basically, in the [[World Axis]] cosmology, certain stars are sapient and they're basically giant [[aberration]]s, which can bestow powers on those willing to risk communion with them. These stars were so new that they actually got an article in [[Dragon Magazine]] ("Wish Upon A Star", #366) that went full Lovecraft, detailing some of the most common of these "dark stars" and a [[Paragon Path]], the Student of Caiphon, dedicated to one of these stars - something that would be followed up in Dragon #403's "Strange Constellations", which adapted Atropous, Father Llymic, Pandorym, Ragnorra and The Worm That Walks from 3e's Elder Evils into star-fiends that can empower warlocks. Arcane Power would present a far more benevolent motif for the Star-lock in the Master of Starry Skies PP, but overall they remain a creepy, creepy son of a bitch - and the only class in the PHB other than the [[Cleric]] that specializes in doing radiant damage! Their mandatory cantrip is Dire Radiance, and their pact boon is Fate of the Void (you gain a +1 bonus to one D20 roll of your choice made before the end of your next turn when a cursed creature drops to 0 HP - this bonus stacks, but it only remains usable for one turn).

For those curious, the "dark stars" named in that issue are Acamar, Caiphon, Delban, Gibbeth, Hadar, Ihbar, Khirad, Nihal, Ulban and Zhudun. These had actually first appeared as part of certain powers in the PHB1, alongside a never-detailed star called Thuban ("Tendrils of Thuban", a level 15 daily spell, which paralyzes and consumes a cluster of foes with tendrils of of liquid summoned from the frozen emerald seas that lie under the star Thuban). The [[Monster Manual]] 3 would create a sadly under-developed monster category called the [[Star Spawn]]; celestial aberrations representing the progeny of these terible stars, and even statting one such star - Allabar, Opener of the Way, a living planet corrupted by the [[Far Realm]] - as the most powerful of them.

When the [[Forgotten Realms]] Player's Guide rolled around for 4e, it introduced the new '''Dark Pact''', an alliance made with horrible, malevolent spirits native to the [[Underdark]] and popular with [[drow]] warlocks, resulting in spells focused on darkness, poison, madness, and spite. Several of its iconic spells possess the ability to gain upgrades if you inflict damage on your allies, although even without this "augment" they're quite beefy. Its mandatory cantrip is Spiteful Glamor, and its surprisingly complex pact boon is Darkspiral Aura (when a cursed creature drops to 0 HP, your Darkspiral Aura value gains 1 point; you can use your Darkspiral Aura as an immediate interrupt when an enemy makes a melee or ranged attack against you, inflicting 1d6/1d8/1d10 Necrotic & Psychic Damage per point in your Darkspiral Aura; if this damage is less than 12, your Aura drops to 0 points; if more than 12 damage, you can halve the damage you take and your Aura drops to 1 point - you lose all Aura points when you take a short rest).

[[Dark Sun]] did the same thing; the '''Sorcerer-King's Pact''' was its attempt to recreate the [[Templar]] of AD&D, that strange pseudo-priestly class that derived its powers from its oath of allegiance to the tyrannical mage-psions of Athas' last cities. Its mandatory cantrip is Hand of Blight, and its pact boon is Fell Scorn - this strange feature is borrowing some elements from the psionics rules system, and can trip up an unobservant reader; the Sorcerer-King pacted Warlock has a single point of "Fell Might", which can be spent when casting certain spells in order to trigger some upgraded effects, and is recharged whenever the warlock drops a cursed creature to 0 HP. This trait is controversial to say the least because, normally, pact-associated spells don't need to spend this sort of resource to get their bonus. Even though Fell Might will recharge like crazy because, hey, cursing people is what a warlock is supposed to ''do'', it still leaves a sour taste in the mouth.

Arcane Power would introduce what many wrongly believed to be the last of the Core pacts, in the form of the '''[[Vestige]] Pact'''; obviously themed after the [[Binder]] of last edition, the Vestige Pact calls upon the spirits of bizarre ghosts and ancient, forgotten entities, with a unique mechanic attached to it. Each Daily power associated with this pact, always named "Vestige of whoever", becomes a Vestige in the Warlock's arsenal. Whenever the warlock completes a rest, they can determine which Vestige is their "Active" Vestige - they can also choose to change their Active Vestige whenever they use one of those Vestige powers, causing the newly invoked Vestige to become Active. Your Active Vestige determines the effects of your pact boon and the secondary effects of your mandatory cantrip, "Eyes of the Vestige".

The reason that neither Vestige nor Sorcerer-King was the last of the Core 4e Warlock Pacts? Hidden in the Essentials era sourcebook "Heroes of the Elemental Chaos" is the '''Elemental Pact''' for core warlocks. Representing the obvious choice of a warlock drawing their power from a [[Archomental|Primordial]], this [[elementalist]] warlock has some slight overlap with the [[Wild Mage]], but not much. It gains the bonus feature "Elemental Affinity", where you have Affinity to either Acid, Cold, Fire, Fire, Lightning or Thunder - this is determined randomly each time you complete a rest, and you can change your Elemental Affinity when you invoke your second wind. When you cast an arcane attack power that deals Force, Necrotic, Poison or Psychic damage, you can make it inflict whichever damage type you have Elemental Affinity for instead. Its pact boon is Accursed Affinity; after you drop at least one cursed victim, everyone you place your Curse on for the rest of the encounter gains Vulnerability (5/tier) to whichever damage type you currently have Elemental Affinity with.

Essentials also introduced two Warlock [[Variant Class]]es (alternatively known as subclasses); "Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms" introduced the [[Hexblade]], an Arcane Striker-Defender that is basically a cross between a Warlock and a [[Swordmage]], whilst "Heroes of Shadow" introduced the [[Binder]], a restyling of the Warlock into a full-fledged Arcane Controller.

The Hexblade was initially introduced with only Fey and Infernal Pact options; it gained its own version of the Star Pact in Dragon #393, an Elemental Pact in "Heroes of the Elemental Chaos", and a Gloom Pact in "Heroes of Shadow".

The Binder, as the very last Warlock derivative to emerge prior to 4e's cancellation, only had the two Pacts; Gloom and Star, both in its native "Heroes of Shadow". It did manage to gain a Fey Pact for itself in Dragon #406.

It bears mentioning that, whilst original/"Core style" warlocks can take the spells from both the Binder and the Hexblade for themselves, the "Pacts" as used by these variant classes are not synonymous with the Core-lock's Pacts, so Gloom Pact spells have no special riders when used by non-Binders or Hexblades. This is one of the many reasons why most of 4e's fans didn't like the "simplified" versions of classes created for Essentials.

4e paired the Warlock class up with the [[Tiefling]] race, much like how Dwarves make iconic [[Fighter]]s or [[Clerics]], or Elves make good [[Wizard]]s, or [[Half-orc]]s make good [[Barbarian]]s. 5e continues this tradition.

====4e Sample Patrons====
Issue #381 of [[Dragon Magazine]] featured an article called "Performing the Pact", which provided some example Patrons for each of the five pacts available at the time.

The Dark Pact patron is ''Yorgrix, Weaver of the Poison Web'': once a demonweb spider kept as a [[familiar]] by an overconfident [[drow]] matron, Yorgrix patiently mastered the dark magic it watched its mistress perform and then, fueled by hunger and ambition, slew and devoured both her and the entire city in which she dwelled. Glutted on countless souls, Yorgrix was transformed into a dread spirit; now imprisoned in the city it massacred, it reaches out to the minds of mortals with a simple promise: power for food.

The Fey Pact patron is ''The Eochaid'', a strange [[fey]] spirit embodying the interplay between nature and arcane magic, and which manifests as a strange amalgamation of humanoid, animal and plant. Ancient as the [[Seldarine]] themselves, the Eochaid desires only to promote and strengthen magic, seeking its growth. Those willing to plant magic's seed - and to retrieve arcane artifacts for it to protect - are blessed with its wild hexes and unearthly glamors.

The Infernal Pact patron is ''The Prisoner in Iron'', an infernal warlock of such power that the [[Archdevil]]s feared him and have bound him in the deepest dungeons of Dis, hoping to hide him forever. But such is his power that he can still reach out to the mortal world, offering tutelage to the ambitious, seeking to empower a champion mighty enough to free him from his chains.

The Star Pact patron is ''Ulban, the Wanderer''; a sapient time-traveling comet from a far-flung apocalypse, the last survivor of its universe. Now it wanders space and time, empowering those who, in some inscrutable way, will play their part in prevent Ulban's future from coming to be - often battling against the other dark stars in the process.

The Vestige Pact patron is ''The Bleak Guide'', a reaper-like entity from the [[Shadowfell]] charged with maintaining the orderly transition of life to death, and more than willing to act as a go-between for [[vestige]]s and those mortals who will use their power to make is own existence easier. It can't act against the [[necromancer]]s and [[undead]] that vex it so - but its mortal agents, on the other hand...

===5e===
The 5e Warlock is a complicated marriage of 3e invocations, 4e pacts, and 5e spellcasting, with a few caveats. They gain a pitiful amount of spell slots, as well as only a handful of spells known. To the untrained player's eye, they're painfully limited compared to "real" casters, but in reality they're <strike>roid-pumping nightmares</strike> not bad. Their spell slots all automatically scale the slot level up so their spells are always guaranteed to be pumped up, and also refresh after every encounter or few (short rest). Invocations are back from 3.5, albeit scaled back a bit, providing various kinds of special abilities, from access to spells that aren't on their list as at-will, encounter or daily powers, to power-ups for the pact form, and of course power-ups for Eldritch Blast.

To complete the Warlock package, you get a pact with a supernatural being. The pact gives you a thematic extended spell list; for example, Great Old One Warlocks can cast (but not spam, sadly) Evard's Black Tentacles. Pacts provide a bevvy of unique class features like teleportation, damage resistance or telepathy. On top of magical powers, they also give you a consolation prize in the form of a pact boon, which can either be a souped-up familiar, a free enchanted weapon that you can shapeshift into whatever kind of weapon you need, or a magical book that gives you three cantrips from ''any'' other spellcasting class. An alternative pact boon was the Star Chain, introduced in "Non Divine Faithful", which closely ties into the Seeker patron: this is a magical trinket that can be used to cast ''Augury'' and can be used to grant Advantage on an Int check once per short rest.

The available pacts are:

''Archfey'' - Bound to a powerful faerie lord or sylvan pseudo-deity, a warlock with this pact gains the power of Fey Presence (Charm or Frighten all creatures in a 10ft cube around you once per short rest), Misty Escape (teleport 60 feet and turn invisible once per short rest), Beguiling Defenses (you are immune to Charming and can attempt to Charm anyone foolish enough to try a Charm effect on you) and Dark Delirium (can attempt to entrap a target in an illusion to Charm or Terrify it once per short rest). This one is in the Player's Handbook.

''Fiend'' - Bound to a [[Demon Prince]] or [[Archdevil]], a warlock with this pact gains Dark One's Blessing (gain temporary HP for dropping another creature to zero HP), Dark One's Luck (can choose to re-roll an ability check or saving throw with a +10 bonus once per short rest), Fiendish Resilience (gain Resistance to a single damage type of your choice after completing a short rest, though magic and silvered weapons can pierce it) and Hurl Through Hell (teleport a target into some hellish dimension for 1 turn, causing 10D10 Psychic damage to a non-fiendish target, once per long rest). This one is in the Player's Handbook.

''Great Old One'' - Warlocks with this pact are bound to terrible abominations from outside time and space, drawing on the power of aberrant gods like [[Cthulhu]]. They gain the boons of Awakened Mind (telepathy with a 30ft range), Entropic Ward (can make yourself harder to hit and get a bonus if the target missed once per short rest), Thought Shield (mind cannot be involuntarily read, Resistance to Psychic Damage, inflict equal Psychic damage on anyone who inflicts Psychic damage on you) and Create Thrall (permanently charm a single creature with a touch, gaining telepathic communication with them from anywhere on the same plane). This one is in the Player's Handbook.

''Undying'' - A Warlock with this pact has offered their soul to something that has "cheated death"; most obviously a powerful [[lich]], [[ghost]] or [[vampire]], but mortals ascended to godhood and weirder things are also valid. [[Planescape: Torment|The Nameless One]] isn't mentioned, but would be a perfectly thematic (and awesome!) patron for this pact. The "necromantic" pact, these warlocks get features related to the ability to cheat death; Among the Dead (Spare the Dying as a bonus cantrip, Advantage on saving throws against disease, Undead must pass a Wisdom save to attack you), Defy Death (gain a significant healing 1/day by passing a death saving throw or using Spare the Dying), Undying Nature (can hold your breath indefinitely, don't need food, water or sleep, immunity to magical aging, age 1 year for every 10 you live) and Indestructible Life (can freely heal yourself 1/encounter, including reattaching limbs as part of it). Comes from the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide.

''[[Hexblade]]'' - Basically, you want to play a character inspired by [[Stormbringer|Elric of Melnibone]]; your power is with a mysterious [[Shadowfell]] entity that makes its presence felt through powerful weapons bound with shadowy magic. [[derp|Despite this, you don't have to take the Pact of the Blade.]] Having first appeared in [[Unearthed Arcana]], the official version came out in "Xanathar's Guide", at which point it seems to have absorbed some of the fluff, if not the crunch, from the [[Raven Queen]] patron featured in that same UA. This pledge makes the warlock more of a melee combatant, in the vein of the class it takes its name from; their two level 1 features are ''Hexblade's Curse'' (1/short rest, place a curse on a foe within 30ft that makes your attacks more likely to hit and heals you if they die whilst cursed) and ''Hex Warrior'' (you can enchant one-handed weapons you are proficient with to use Charisma for their attack & damage rolls; if you've the Pact of the Blade, your Pact Weapon always has this trait no matter the form it takes, also you get free proficiency with medium armor, shields and martial weapons). At level 6, they gain ''Accursed Specter'' (raise a slain humanoid as a loyal specter 1/day). Their level 10 feature, ''Armor of Hexes'', buffs up their curse by letting the warlock negate a cursed opponent's attack against them on a 4+. Finally, at level 14, they get ''Master of Hexes'', which lets them forgo the healing effect for dropping a cursed opponent to instead immediately reapply that curse to a fresh opponent. Its bonus spells are close-ranged, a mixture of protective spells (shield, blur, blink) and temporary weapon enchantments - the only exceptions are Phantasmal Killer and Cone of Cold.

''Celestial'' - This is the "good guy warlock" patron option, where you make a pact with an [[angel]] of some description. In mechanics, it's a refluffed version of the Undying Light Patron presented in an earlier Unearthed Arcana - ironically, unlike the Hexblade, this version was so well-received that WoTC saw no need to change its subclass features when they reprinted it for the Xanathar's Guide to Everything. The difference between the two versions is that it adds some healing spells to its list of bonus spells, instead of just fire/radiant damage-dealers, and rearranges what levels you get which features at. At 1st level, you gain Healing Light - the "heal with a touch" feature from the UL Patron, which it didn't get until level 14 - and Light & Sacred Flame as bonus cantrips. At level 6 it gets Radiant Soul, which is Resistance (Radiance) and bonus to radiant & fire damage, a feature the UL got at 1st level. They both get the same "bonus temporary HP on completing a rest" feature at level 10, but the Celestial renames it the Celestial Resilience trait. Finally, it gets Searing Vengeance - 1/day, when reduced to death, spring up at half maximum hitpoints and inflict radiant damage & blindness on all enemies within 30 feet - as its 14th level trait, when for the UL Patron it was a 6th level feature.

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===A minor footnote on D&D 4e and 5e Warlocks===

One of the roleplaying possibilities for Warlocks that sometimes gets mentioned is that once empowered, the Warlock is under no obligation to keep obeying their Patron. The rules explicitly do not contain any references to any of the patrons being able to strip the powers from a Warlock, unlike, say, a Paladin--in other words, the implication is that once granted, a Warlock's powers are theirs to keep. (It's mildly worth mentioning that "Warlock" decends from the old English ''"wǣrloga"'', meaning "traitor or deceiver" ("wǣr", meaning "covenant, truce, or pact" and "loga", meaning "liar"), and that kind of name cuts both ways.)

This was intentional (as, among other things, it allowed for Lawful Good Infernal Warlocks), and influenced the initial three 4e Patron choices (and a few later ones): Who would give away free power to mortals that you could not revoke? Somebody whose cause is advanced by the mere usage of that power; Devils, Archfey and The Great Old Ones all obviously qualify (as did [[Vestige]]s)--all were (in 4e's default cosmology, at least) restrained in some way from the mortal world, and higher level 4e Warlock powers, at least, frequently gave them some temporary purchase on said world when used.

([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iiS5mkIff_8 Here's a Mike Mearls interview] that explicitly notes this possibility in 5e, as well. Then again, Mearls also implies in that interview that Clerics can turn against their Deity and still have their Divine Magic, so take that claim for what it's worth. Admittedly, Divine classes did lose their "powers are revoked if your deity is pissed" trait in 4e, so it's not unprecedented.)

DMs should also note that while the Patron cannot directly withdraw the Warlock's new powers, they are also not restricted from sending repo men to get the recalcitrant Warlock back in line if the Warlock still has debt outstanding.

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