Warlock flavors & themes

[Kane0]

Hey guys, I have myself a warlock and I'm trying to establish a flavor slash theme for him. I get to dabble a bit but don't want to have a bit of everything.

So far I'm working on stuff for:
Evocation (covers a lot of fiendish and elemental stuff)
Necromancy (covers shadow, curses, undeath, draining stuff)
Enchantment/Illusion (covers fey, psychic and mind-affecting stuff)
Divination/Conjuration (covers fate, summoning, teleportation, binding)

I'm definitely going to be getting heavily into the first two, and would like to have another as a secondary focus. As far as I know, warlocks don't really get far into transmutation or abjuration type magic.

[ghost_warlock]

Not entirely sure what it is, exactly, that you're asking for.

For starters, though, your list doesn't include the star pact, which itself contains a few "themes."

Painful and/or blinding radiance.
The void.
Perpetual hunger (esp. Hadar).
Changing luck/fate.

You're also missing:

Psychic attacks & mind control.
Teleportation.
Quickening/draw strength from death.

Not to mention that you haven't really covered the thing that is probably the central and most important quality a warlock has: the pact itself. This can have a number of themes unto itself:

Blind obedience/slavery.
Betrayal/attempts to subvert or break the pact (also, battle for one's soul).
Student becomes the master.
Insatiable thirst for power.

Probably more I'm too tired to think of atm. :smalltongue:

[Sol]

Also keep in mind that, while all of these themes can be cool and can create excellent backstories and flavor, none of them are required (and using all of them would be way too much). The only thing you need to do is come up with something - anything - that adequately explains the mechanics of your character. The themes you list all lead to possible sources of your powers, but they're far from the only options.

[Kane0]

Thanks guys. I should probably elaborate a little.

My warlock is a cross between a 3rd and 4th ed version. His primary attack is Eldritch Blast which he has learned a couple modifications for and works like a swiss army knife. Any other attacks are sustain minor so he can only have one up at any given time. He also has a lot of passive abilities that come from rituals that must be done every 24 hours, and like most warlocks his powers/abilities are not shared.

The fiendish pact is set in stone from the backstory (visited at birth by an Imp messenger to renew the pact the family made generations ago) but he has a deep interest in necromancy and its sub-schools. He acts as the party scout out of combat and blaster in combat, but otherwise has few other tricks to make use of.

As he progresses I hope to pick or make a paragon path that maximizes these traits rather than opening up new paths and later on the same deal for an epic destiny.
Edit: The paragon path will definitely be shadow/fiend focused (Shadowfiend? Sounds like an alright name) and the epic destiny very similar. Perhaps name it something like 'Occult Immortal'.