Warlock - The Pact-Making Process

[raygun goth]

So, the winds of change are a-blowin' and I'm going to start my post-apocalyptic 5e campaign soon.

I'm planning on starting PCs at "level 0," that is, with 6 + Con mod hit points, their Background, and their race, and then running them each through a prelude/prologue session depending on their background in which they will acquire their first class.

The sorcerer is going to get a cool Harrowing-like adventure where I'll make her undergo a series of personal trials to bring magic under her control. The engineer in cryosleep is going to play through a "pre-war" world bit.

Thing is, I'd like the guy who wants to make a warlock get to play through his pact-making process. What sorts of trials does a Great Old One throw at a guy to see if he's worthy?

[mgshamster]

Survival of something that would break a mortal's mind.

Maybe he walks a path along the 8th dimension and sees the people he grew up with by their true nature, and then has to survive a demon of Time that consumes its prey by aging them. His survival is dependent upon wearing an amulet that protects him - they key isn't that he has to win, he just has to not let his mind fracture.

After that, he walks along a strand of the Web of Fate to get back to his reality, helping the Fate-Spider stabilize destiny for mankind.

Upon his return, he has been blessed with a pact from the Great Old One.

[JellyPooga]

It depends on the Great Old One in question.

To take Cthulhu as an example; you'd first have to learn of his existence, somehow. An encounter with a Deep One or discovering a weird amulet, totem or tome. Then you'd have to seek out his cults and prove your worth to them as much as to Cthulhu himself. That could involve anything from ritual drowning to grueling disfigurement. Once in a position within the ranks and with sufficient knowledge learned, the cultist could invoke the mind of Cthulhu, likely driving him quite insane. If mentally strong enough, a measure of the Old Ones power would be grafted to the newborn Warlock. His personality would likely be drastically altered after his ordeal and it could take years to comprehend the intricacies of the secrets he beheld.

A different GOO might have a totally different process, maybe even seeking out the Warlock specifically, perhaps for unknown reasons or perhaps because it was fated or the stars were aligned right. Maybe all it takes is to read and understand a specific tome to summon the power of the GOO. Perhaps the GOO can only be contacted at a particular place or places and at those places he can whisper to passers by. There's a lot of potential variables, so you need to know what sort of GOO you're dealing with before you start thinking about trials.

[raygun goth]

Well, let's see.

In the setting, the Earth has been invaded by beings from a nearby universe that call themselves "The Teachers." I'm not describing them in any particularly great detail (I know what they look like), but they're here both to feed on human psychic experiences (which they "farm" by creating a universe that overlaps this one which causes memory engrams to create actualized phenomena - they make psychic energy/magic real to help the terraforming process) and use human meat to raise more of their kind. A group of them, preferring not to kill other intelligent beings, pulled themselves fully into the world (a process which injured them greatly, as they were not meant to exist on Earth in their shape, and it takes time, which allowed the other Teachers to attack them while they were translating in), used their technology to escape to the fake universe the Teachers created and then sealed up the gate to the Teachers' side, trapping the remainder in between.

The tribes of the "wasteland" revere these beings, which they call The Flayed, and some of them are still able to contact humans through the magical universe layer - but mostly through dream and metaphor. They do their best trying to guide the remaining free humans (called "Forsaken") to fight the Teachers.

The Teachers can do this thing where they stick a portion of their body inside a human host - like putting your hand on someone's elbow to guide them - they call it becoming "The Chosen." I was thinking of have one of the Flayed decide to do this to that PC. But the real issue is coming up with some cool little adventure to tack on to it.

[Klorox]

Well, let's see.

In the setting, the Earth has been invaded by beings from a nearby universe that call themselves "The Teachers." I'm not describing them in any particularly great detail (I know what they look like), but they're here both to feed on human psychic experiences (which they "farm" by creating a universe that overlaps this one which causes memory engrams to create actualized phenomena - they make psychic energy/magic real to help the terraforming process) and use human meat to raise more of their kind. A group of them, preferring not to kill other intelligent beings, pulled themselves fully into the world (a process which injured them greatly, as they were not meant to exist on Earth in their shape, and it takes time, which allowed the other Teachers to attack them while they were translating in), used their technology to escape to the fake universe the Teachers created and then sealed up the gate to the Teachers' side, trapping the remainder in between.

The tribes of the "wasteland" revere these beings, which they call The Flayed, and some of them are still able to contact humans through the magical universe layer - but mostly through dream and metaphor. They do their best trying to guide the remaining free humans (called "Forsaken") to fight the Teachers.

The Teachers can do this thing where they stick a portion of their body inside a human host - like putting your hand on someone's elbow to guide them - they call it becoming "The Chosen." I was thinking of have one of the Flayed decide to do this to that PC. But the real issue is coming up with some cool little adventure to tack on to it.

Maybe the PC can work with you a bit; something like he stumbles across noted about the Flayed, notes that were made by a man who committed suicide and was considered mad by most; but the note made sense to the PC somehow.

Later, the PC is facing impossible odds in a fight he can not win, and is, in an instant, totally disconnected from the gang about to kill him. The disconnect is caused by the GOO, who offers the power to vanquish his foes.

Choosing certain death or this pact, the life of a warlock has begun.

[Socratov]

Yo come across a musty book. it smells as if some forms of fungus have tried growing on it, but eventually abandoned the book for richter and more nutrient places. AS you try to read its archaic langauge you notice something: sometimes the letters slightly change in appearance. At the edges of your vision the letters start dancing, yet when you look at them they stand completely still. As you read on the shapes of the leters becomes more jagged, yet the gradual change is easy on your eyes as you get the time to adjust to the new alphabet. The langauge structure changes as well. ever so gradually a word seems out of place and a sentence seems crooked, but as you go on you stop noticing such changes. (learn new language: Abyssal reflavoured as R'ylehlian) Eventually your mind starts drifting as you read on (start rolling saves against sleep every so often agaisnt dc 10+2 for every save passed - number os saves passed determines how favourable patron is). (when save is failed player is unconscious, he just doesn't know it yet) eventually you gaze upon a black page. Not just black by ink, but black like the night sky without stars. As you gaze into black pages, the book gazes back into you. the black of the page sticks your fingers and spreads to consume you. As you get covered you feel a deep rumble in your mind as if something awakens within you. As the rumbling fades away you see a tiny point of light. teh point grows to a dot, to the size of a ball and after some time you realize that it's a spot far away and it's coming closer. After what seems to be an eternity a Black desert king, as black as the night, but surrounded by this strange light can be discerned. Still he seems far away. After what seems to be yet another eternity the pahraoh (now as large as a collossus) nears the player floating in nothingness.

In the same strange language the book tempted the player to learn, the black man booms:


"Mortal! Who be you who dared thread here into the dwelling of the Nameless ones. Who dares to approach me known as and a mental smell and taste combination rises to your surface thoughts the only concept you can think of is the smell/taste 'Nyarlathothep'.

And here the player starts play with the envoy of the Nameless ones: Nyarlathotep (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyarlathotep)

AS the palyer finishes making his pact he will wake up with a sudden breath of air and will see the book wither to desert sand and dust.

Good luck and have fun with the booming voice.

[Vogonjeltz]

So, the winds of change are a-blowin' and I'm going to start my post-apocalyptic 5e campaign soon.

I'm planning on starting PCs at "level 0," that is, with 6 + Con mod hit points, their Background, and their race, and then running them each through a prelude/prologue session depending on their background in which they will acquire their first class.

The sorcerer is going to get a cool Harrowing-like adventure where I'll make her undergo a series of personal trials to bring magic under her control. The engineer in cryosleep is going to play through a "pre-war" world bit.

Thing is, I'd like the guy who wants to make a warlock get to play through his pact-making process. What sorts of trials does a Great Old One throw at a guy to see if he's worthy?

Sounds fun, regarding the GOO, I'm fairly sure it's more one-sided than the other kinds of pacts.

I'd play it like Call of Cthulhu, the Warlock is maybe working as an observer on a deep space probe project, or a hubble telescope and one day sees this old one, and the old one communicates through the probe/telescope directly into the observers brain, forever changing his world view.

Now he knows that the universe is an uncaring unfeeling place where vast entities that could swallow the earth in an instant drift aimlessly. (Personally I think that basically sounds like black holes, so not that big a deal, but it's meant to be reality warping and having the potential to drive men mad trying to grapple with that truth).

Incidentally, I like the avatar picture it's stylish, but how is she supposed to get hair out of her face in zero gravity or put the goggles over her eyes when the helmet is on?

[Easy_Lee]

PC climbed the Mountains of Madness. There, on the horizon, he saw everything that man was not meant to know.

[ClintACK]

I've always imagined that GOOs aren't really *aware* of their warlocks, or of us at all. That would be a BAD THING. Just their attention would probably fry our whole reality.

I'd run the "Pact-Making Process" in a series of steps:
1) Character discovers, or by chance is exposed to, eldritch knowledge that would drive most men mad. (Anything from reading a forbidden text (perhaps including a part of a GOO's name?) to peering through a hole in reality at a small part of a GOO.)
2) Character spends time in a coma, mind drifting in madness through some incomprehensible realm.
3) Character awakens changed -- with only nightmares of what came before, lingering madness levels, and the ability to hear the thoughts of those around him.
4) Character slowly returns to sanity, more or less, and gains a handle on his new powers.



Incidentally, I like the avatar picture it's stylish, but how is she supposed to get hair out of her face in zero gravity or put the goggles over her eyes when the helmet is on?

Clearly, her hair is threaded with piezoelectric nanowire. It doesn't move at all, unless she's triggered one of her programs that make it move like it's blowing in a gentle breeze or shift into a different hairstyle.

[raygun goth]

There's some good stuff in here.

I'm looking for things that the PC will have to overcome - ways he might have to act if he wants to make this contract happen. Something that gives the PC perhaps a bit more agency in regards to the contract, and some of these ideas work pretty well. I'm going to combine some of them. I may have a walkthrough soon.

[khadgar567]

Yo come across a musty book. it smells as if some forms of fungus have tried growing on it, but eventually abandoned the book for richter and more nutrient places. AS you try to read its archaic langauge you notice something: sometimes the letters slightly change in appearance. At the edges of your vision the letters start dancing, yet when you look at them they stand completely still. As you read on the shapes of the leters becomes more jagged, yet the gradual change is easy on your eyes as you get the time to adjust to the new alphabet. The langauge structure changes as well. ever so gradually a word seems out of place and a sentence seems crooked, but as you go on you stop noticing such changes. (learn new language: Abyssal reflavoured as R'ylehlian) Eventually your mind starts drifting as you read on (start rolling saves against sleep every so often agaisnt dc 10+2 for every save passed - number os saves passed determines how favourable patron is). (when save is failed player is unconscious, he just doesn't know it yet) eventually you gaze upon a black page. Not just black by ink, but black like the night sky without stars. As you gaze into black pages, the book gazes back into you. the black of the page sticks your fingers and spreads to consume you. As you get covered you feel a deep rumble in your mind as if something awakens within you. As the rumbling fades away you see a tiny point of light. teh point grows to a dot, to the size of a ball and after some time you realize that it's a spot far away and it's coming closer. After what seems to be an eternity a Black desert king, as black as the night, but surrounded by this strange light can be discerned. Still he seems far away. After what seems to be yet another eternity the pahraoh (now as large as a collossus) nears the player floating in nothingness.

In the same strange language the book tempted the player to learn, the black man booms:


"Mortal! Who be you who dared thread here into the dwelling of the Nameless ones. Who dares to approach me known as and a mental smell and taste combination rises to your surface thoughts the only concept you can think of is the smell/taste 'Nyarlathothep'.

And here the player starts play with the envoy of the Nameless ones: Nyarlathotep (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyarlathotep)

AS the palyer finishes making his pact he will wake up with a sudden breath of air and will see the book wither to desert sand and dust.

Good luck and have fun with the booming voice.
damn you socratov that story can be used by fiend patron just change the backdrop to hellfire and brimstone and you are done consdering sh*t already hit the fan damning your soul may look like good idea

[Klorox]

I just wanted to say I think this idea is awesome, but what are you planning on doing if a player wants to multiclass?

[raygun goth]

I just wanted to say I think this idea is awesome, but what are you planning on doing if a player wants to multiclass?

Same deal - playing through things. If they're multiclassing into something that uses magic, the society has tests for that (it's pretty cool, I've got some stuff laid out for the sorcerer and the wizard, too). If they're multiclassing into a non-magical "warrior" type, then that can either be done as getting in touch with an NPC who can throw some pointers at them or even come about organically through play. Our group doesn't multiclass very often - I'm not sure whether it's because they don't really know they can or because they can typically get a clear vision of their concepts through a single class.

______________________________

For the Warlock
They will need to take the payisi, the drink that sends a dreamer into the Chimera. The mix the prospective warlock who wishes to contac the Flayed needs to take is recalled on the skin of the boar known as the Tattered King in the Kiava forest. After taking this mix, the warlock will awaken in strange halls bearing flesh and bone, a maze of tunnels and beating organs. Everything in the tunnel is wounded; a Medicine (DC 8) check will help the warlock to pass through unharmed, otherwise suffering minor injuries in an attempt to squeeze through the living and wounded caves.

Eventually, the warlock will come upon a coffin carved in art of arrows interconnected with one another in haphazard fashion. It resembles the Ark of Chaos from Kiava Island, a box said to contain the most shameful secrets of the Ancients. Opening it will reveal a staircase that descends into an ancient series of concrete canals and tunnels and eventually lead to the door.

There is a list of names on the wall. A statue of an angel weeps over them.


Cyrus Jones 103
Muriel Stonewall 51
Mikey Carson 8
Mr. Vertigo 52


The door is two large metal doors sealed with three bolts. There are buttons on the door, each with a letter. They spell out a phrase.


“THE JACKAL MOANS”



There is another phrase, scratched into the door, “Great Caesar, type 'OPEN'”

The solution is to arrange the names in the order of their death, using the last names as the first four keys in a Caesar shift.


CSVJ

This is the key to use in a Caesar shift cipher. Intelligence check (DC 13) gives to proper answer – type in the letters “MNAL,” the word “OPEN” in the shifted alphabet.

This door opens into a thick forest of cypress and Spanish moss. The cypress leaves on the ground resembled cut fingernails and toenails. The animal life is watching. This opens to a hangman's tree with several criminals wrapped in burlap shrouds, their crimes on their foreheads. The tree says "TABOO," and the warlock will have to hang those who have committed sins rather than crimes (DC 13 Intelligence).

That allows the path to be clear to "the Leviathan," a great and roiling creature in the river of the Chimera feasting on various dreams and ideas that roll near its mouth. Traversing its back (Dexterity DC 13) will allow the warlock to approach the realm of The Unfolder, the Flayed who helped create the Chimera and the Bleed.


The Unfolder
Along with the Ancient Eye and the Howler in the Dark, the Unfolder was one of the “architects” of the Bleed. It was not particularly well-versed in remmy nature and affairs, but joined the Flayed by virtue of its knowledge that it could find a form of immortality in the Chimera and in remmy memory. After the suturing, it continued to have a rapport with remmies that wandered into its portion of the Chimera either through dream or by design. Its touch can be felt like a cold shiver under the fingers not unlike the scratching of a nail on a piece of rusted metal. It is sometimes referred to as “the Faceless God” and it is primarily concerned with helping remmies put up a good fight against the Teachers and their chosen. It has dabbled in the creation of monsters before, but for the most part, it prefers to work with what exists – though it does not necessarily ask the same of its prophets. It is very interested in what seems to be the remmy capacity to “make an accounting of things,” and therefore acquire power over that thing. Experiments must be done. The Unfolder typically appears as a sphinx-like creature with no face.

The warlock will be given the option to hear an unanswerable question; if he refuses, he will be sent home, to do the test again. If he accepts and cannot answer, he will be obliterated and the Unfolder will send one of its agents to possess his body as it sees fit. If he accepts and answers correctly, he may take a portion of the Unfolder's power to do as he wills.

It's a trick question. The Unfolder merely wants the warlock to have the bravery to try to answer an unanswerable question.

[raygun goth]

He goes in to the Chimera tomorrow. Wish me luck!

Hmm. Should I take notes for some actual play?

[PotatoGolem]

That's sounds super cool. However, I'm a little concerned that it requires three dc 13 ability checks to complete, two of which are warlock dump stat checks. What happens if he fails his checks? Does the player just make a new character?

[CursedRhubarb]

You can get really creative with warlock pacts and patrons. What you go with can give endless opportunity for plot through a campaign too. For my lock, the Pact was a chance to live. Being a dwarf child who's parents and he were abducted by cult fanatics and then forced to watch his parents be exsanguinated before him one at a time on an alter then as he gets tied down, a whisper in his mind. Will he pledge his service for a chance to live? And thus bestowed with power from Azathoth itself, he manages to escape but spends the next fifty years fleeing the cults. Which seem to always show up if he tries to refuse seeking answers to his patron's questions, which coming from an unfathomly old God with untold power...and the mind of a child with no morals, are not always the most sane things to find out. So far I've had a range of questions to answer and quests from "show me what fire tastes like", to my current quest to catch a chimera alive so it can have a new pet.

[MrFahrenheit]

Why does the warlock HAVE to be "soul-for-powers?"

The way I read warlock, it seems like the patrons are like "you do this for me, and I'll grant the next level's power to you...OR sell me your soul and all you have to do is get XP."

FWIW, like any good drug dealer, the patrons in my campaign grant the first level for free and the second for a very minor and easy accomplishable task. Once you want a boon or higher, though, then the heavier requests start coming in. The overall objective is for the patron to force the player into saying "screw it, just take my soul!"

Though this brings up another question...say a warlock is killed, and wants to come back when his friends go to resurrect him. He says yes but his patron says no...