Editing Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition (section)

===[[Warlock]]===
These too get fewer spells than wizards, but warlocks get a few neat unique spells, notably the sweet-ass ''eldritch blast'' cantrip, as well as some domain spells from their archetypes - i.e. beings they made their pacts with. 

In addition to their pact, they get additional customization through a pact boon - a spellbook with cantrips (which can be upgraded to include rituals), a magic weapon (mostly useful to take advantage of some of the fun magical weapons that require a caster to use, weaker than the others without a bunch of invocations bulking it up), or a more powerful familiar, such as a pseudodragon, imp, or quasit with some benefits over a normal one. Also, they have certain invocations/mini-feats, granting them normally unavailable spells, altering known spells, offering class features from other classes, etc. Several of them allow you to cast specific regular spells at-will (effectively turning them into higher level cantrips).

Worth noting also is that with the exception of the warlocks' solitary 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th level spells, all their spell slots are of the same level (capping at 5th) and regenerate every short rest, making them the best burst dungeon crawlers in the game. On the other hand, Warlocks natively only have 2-4 spell slots at most, ''in total'', so choosing the right moment to utilize this limited resource is a major decision.

*'''[[Cthulhu Mythos|Great Old One]] Patron''' (PHB): You're friends(?) with Cthulhu! You gain mindfucky spells and the ability to mess with peoples minds, culminating in making mindless ones out of your enemies.
*'''[[Archfey]] Patron''' (PHB): Fairies. That is all. Okay, really, you gain some fey powers - the ability to charm people nearby, the ability to teleport short distances, and illusory powers. You also have invocations that deal with support.
*'''[[Fiend]]ish Patron''' (PHB): Fiends Fiends Fiends. You gain some hellish powers - the ability to gain temporary hit points when you reduce kill/knockout/maim just right an enemy, the ability to add more dice to skill/save rolls, floating damage resistance, blasty invocations and spells, and the ability to throw someone through the lower planes. 
* '''Undying Patron''' (Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide):  You made a deal with an entity that has "cheated death" in some way, such as a [[Lich]], [[Vestige]], or other powerful undead/abmortal entity. On top of necromantic bonus spells and the ''Spare the Dying'' cantrip, they're somewhat resilient. They eventually come to resemble their undead masters, with advantage on saving throws against disease, slowed aging, the loss of bodily needs like food, sleep, ''breathing'', and an number of regeneration powers to reattach lost limbs and recover hitpoints. Finally undead need to pass a saving throw before they can try and hit them eventually. Not as straightforwardly powerful as some of the others, but offers plenty of utility.
* '''Ghost In the Machine Patron''' (UA: Modern Magic): A "technomantic" option for more [[dungeonpunk]], [[magitek]] or [[Urban Fantasy|urban fantasy]] settings. Gains the ability to mentally control computers, teleport along electrical wires & data cables, resistance to magical forms of detection and information retrieval, and the ability to "infect" others with a techno-virus by touching them, which hurts them with Psychic damage and lets you control them like puppets.
* '''[[Celestial]] Patron <sub>Formerly Undying Light</sub>''' (Xanathar's Guide to Everything): Contrasting the Undying patron from SCAG, and the Sorcerer's Shadow Bloodline, it's a bond to a powerful entity of fire or light, connecting the Warlock to positive energy. It comes with a D6 table of optional character flaws, all of which revolve in some way around fear of the dark or obsession with the light. It gets a bunch of fiery spells (Burning Hands, Flaming Sphere, Daylight, Fire Shield, Flamestrike), the Sacred Flame and Light cantrips, resistance to Radiant damage, extra oomph when dealing Fire or Radiant damage, increased reserves of life force, and culminating in the ability to heal others with a touch. In June 2017, they revealed the Celestial Patron for Warlocks, which is a rename of this Patron. It grants curative spells alongside the burninating ones, and a rearranged feature list: Healing Light is now its 1st level feature (with some mechanical tweaks), Radiant Soul is now its 6th level feature, and Searing Vengeance is its 14th level feature. Also, Radiant Resistance has been renamed to Celestial Resistance.
* '''Seeker Patron''' (UA: The Faithful): Based on the [[Greyhawk]] deity of [[Celestian]] and represents a warlock who serves a usually inscrutable deity tied to gathering knowledge. It gets a mixture of advanced mobility spells like Feather Fall, Levitate and Passwall and some divination spells as its bonus stuff, a unique Pact Boon called the Pact of the Star Chain that gives them a magical item that boosts Intelligence checks and can cast Augury, the Astral Refuge ability (once per turn, can cast two self-targeting spells), resistance to fire & cold, no need to breathe, and finally gains the ability to shift to the Astral Plane once per long rest.
*'''[[Hexblade]]''' (Xanathar's Guide to Everything): Despite the name, the Hexblade isn't limited to blade-pact warlocks, despite what you'd think. Rather, it represents a warlock who draws upon the power of an artifact-level magical weapon, using its strength to sustain itself. With [[Blackrazor]] called out as perhaps the definitive example of the kinds of blades who are power-sources for these warlocks, a blade pacted Hexblade is the perfect character for playing a expy of [[Elric]] of Melnibone. Aside from having a [[gish]]y array of bonus spells, like Shield, Magic Weapon, Smite, Blink and Destructive Wave, it's essentially a reiteration of the Hexblade from editions past, with maybe a touch of [[Swordmage]]. For 1st level features, it grants both Hex Warrior (proficiency with medium armor, shields, martial weapons; can use Cha for attack and damage rolls with a one-handed melee weapon you are proficient with) and Hexblade's Curse. This feature lets you curse a victim for 1 minute once per encounter, gaining a bonus to damage rolls against them, increased likelihood of dealing a critical hit to them, and some free healing if they die before the curse expires. Both of the Hexblade's higher level traits augment the curse; Armor of Hexes (level 10) lets you roll a D6 whenever a cursed victim attacks you and make them auto-miss on a 4+, whilst Master of Hexes (level 14) removes the recharge requirement for cursing somebody, though you can only have 1 cursed victim at a time - if you curse somebody else, the old curse ends. The only exception to this is the level 6 feature, Shadow Hound, which lets you animate your shadow as a spooky sentinel who can merge with an enemy's shadow to negate their cover bonus and let you always know exactly where they are. This got changed in Xanathar's because it made no fucking sense for the warlock to randomly get a shadow dog. Instead, the Hexblade gets Accursed Specter at level 6, where the warlock curses the soul of a slain humanoid to rise as a player-controlled specter until the next long rest.
* '''[[Raven Queen]] Patron''' (UA: Warlocks and Wizards): Every 4rrie's favorite spooky spirit of death, winter and fate returned as a mysterious oracular being with her own secret agenda. Aside from a list of bonus spells that mingles "white" necromancy like false life and speak with dead with icy attack spells, she gives a weird mixture of traits. The 1st level feature, Sentinel Raven gives you a familiar raven (without needing the Pact of the Chain) that can boost your perception by sitting on your shoulder or become a flying spy, as well as instantly wake you up if somebody tries to shank you in your sleep - bonus is, it comes back to life on its own if it dies. The 6th level feature, Soul of the Raven, lets you turn into a raven whenever you like. Level 10 gives you death protection via the Raven's Shield, in the form of Advantage on Death Saving Throws, immunity to Fear, and Resistance to Necrotic Damage. Finally, at level 14, you become the Queen's Right Hand, which lets you cast Finger of Death once per day.
*'''Noble Genie/Genie Patron''' (Tasha's Cauldron of Everything): You now have a lamp with which you can summon a genie and link yourself to an ally for protection and extra casting range.  Later levels let you effectively charm crowds and make (sorta but not really the spell) wishes to your genie. 
**The revisited version makes the genie an elemental type, making the class more like a Sha'ir alongside making it less support-based. You can now hide inside the genie's lamp to lay low (and eventually take others with you). The wish-alike now acts more like Limited Wish, though it requires a longer cooldown than if it were Wish.
* '''[[Lolth]] Patron''' (Mearls' Twitter): A dark counterpart to the [[Archfey]] patron, with plenty of spider-themed goodies.
* '''Fathomless Patron <sub>Formerly [[Kraken]] and Lurker in the Deep Patron</sub>''' (Tasha's Cauldron of Everything): A surprisingly solid subclass revolving around serving as the emissary for a monstrous god-like horrors from beneath the waves. Sort of a more aquatic & storm-focused counterpart to the Great Old One patron. 
**Was reworked in a recent UA under a new name, ''Lurker in the Deep'', to suit a wider choice of deep sea patrons. Now with extra tentacles and earlier access to underwater breathing.
**Tasha's final print makes the water breathing a feature from the start and instead delays access to communicating with the sea creatures. It also provides a free 1/day casting of Everard's Black Tentacles that also heals while the capstone feature loses all offensive ability.
*'''Undead Patron''' (UA 2020 Subclasses Part 4): Curiously not the same as Undying, you are instead the pawn of some death god or powerful undead. While they still remain slightly more durable and can eventually become more like their patron, they instead gain the ability to explode upon death (Only to return with 1 HP and exhaustion) and the power to project their astral spirits. Will be getting a final writeup in Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft.