How to roleplay a good-aligned celestial warlock

[Chibachiva]

Hi everyone!
I've been working on a celestial warlock character lately and I've ran into an issue I'm sure many people have ran into. Here are my impressions and what I want for my character. Go ahead and comment!

TL;DR : Not being a cleric : I want to play a good-aligned spellcaster who has a background of an acolyte (I know, I'm dangerously close to a cleric). However, I, as a player, am not much into religion and don't want to "Wololo" my way into my DM's world. What makes a celestial warlock different from a cleric? The patron is one of the elements, but what would be the reason for it to have chosen my guy? Shoot away your suggestions!

The warlock class : I like the idea of a short-rest based spellcaster with limited magical options, which, in turn, makes one's choices all the more interesting and difficult. I like the fact that you get so many different options, customizing and making your character truly unique, all while being an agent of an otherworldly entity.

On the other side, the warlock is more often than not described as a selfish individual who took the easy way to get his/her powers. The epitomy of what is known to be a warlock is the evil dude chanting with the eyes rolled back in his head in order to offer a child's soul to some dark prince of the nine hells (exaggeration level is over 9000!). There's space for getting away from that trope, it just seems like the label is hard to rip, just like a paladin's lawful good tag is hard to get away from.

Moreover, I don't want a relationship of abuse with my patron, as this is not the type of "vibe" I'm looking for in playing DnD. I would be disgusted by a patron that would ask me to sacrifice a child to it, hence my choice of a celestial patron. However, I understand this leads to interesting character development and choices.

The sinner (or the necessity to have a tension) : The warlock class heavily depends on the character's backstory, the celestial maybe even more so. One trope is the character having some proverbial (or literal) skeletons in the closet and the celestial wants to help redeem the dude or dudette. That's one way of creating tension, which is unavoidable if one's to create an interesting story. Do you guys have any suggestions on other ways to create tension for such a character?


If someone's going through the same, here are some links to websites and videos giving roleplay advices:

Old Gods and Hellfire on Roleplaying a Warlock
https://winghornpress.com/2015/11/25/old-gods-and-hellfire-roleplaying-a-warlock/

Spilled Ale Studios on Why and How to Roleplay a Celestial Warlock
http://spilledale.blogspot.com/2017/11/5e-why-and-how-of-celestial-warlock.html

WebDM on How to RP the Warlock class
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPmmFb6gYrI&frags=pl%2Cwn

Reddit conversation by Pariah-- Advice on Roleplaying a Good Warlock
https://www.reddit.com/r/DnD/comments/3djxua/advice_on_roleplaying_a_good_warlock/

[Unoriginal]

TL;DR : Not being a cleric : I want to play a good-aligned spellcaster who has a background of an acolyte (I know, I'm dangerously close to a cleric). However, I, as a player, am not much into religion and don't want to "Wololo" my way into my DM's world.

Why do you want to play an acolyte if you don't want to have religious stuff in your character?



What makes a celestial warlock different from a cleric? The patron is one of the elements, but what would be the reason for it to have chosen my guy?

Your guy is a warlock, not a cleric. The Patron hasn't chosen you like a god would chose a cleric, you made a deal with them. Aka you traded something in exchange for your power



On the other side, the warlock is more often than not described as a selfish individual who took the easy way to get his/her powers.

Not true. The Warlock might be selfish or not, but they didn't take "the easy way". It's more the "dangerous, unusual way that's probably going to kill you but eh if it works it works".



However, I understand this leads to interesting character development and choices.


Like all the Warlock Patrons choices.



The sinner (or the necessity to have a tension) : The warlock class heavily depends on the character's backstory, the celestial maybe even more so. One trope is the character having some proverbial (or literal) skeletons in the closet and the celestial wants to help redeem the dude or dudette. That's one way of creating tension, which is unavoidable if one's to create an interesting story. Do you guys have any suggestions on other ways to create tension for such a character?


Why not the guy wanted to make a pact with a different entity, but the Celestial showed up and went "you don't want to do that, it's going to blow up the town". It turned out he had been tricked by an evil cult who tempered his ritual. So the Celestial agreed to make a deal to keep the guy out of getting snatched by evil beings again.

[igor140]

If your DM will allow Unearthed Arcana, have you checked out the Favored Soul? It's the sorcerer version of Celestial Warlock. It grants you access to BOTH the Wizard and the Cleric spell books (arguably overpowered...), and is a full caster. Just a thought.

As for the Warlock, it sounds like you're already familiar, but I always try to caution people not to rely on Warlock spells too much. Yes, they come back on a short rest, but unless you can convince your party/ DM to rest after almost EVERY encounter, it still isn't very much. For example, at level 10, a full caster would have spell slots numbering 4/ 3/ 3/ 3/ 2; so 15 total slots with a good distribution across levels. At that same level, a Warlock has 0/ 0/ 0/ 0/ 2 ; so two total castings, though all spells are cast as level 5. So even if you convince your party to do a short rest after EVERY encounter (as DM, I would start throwing random encounters at you during those rests) for five encounters a day, that's still only 10 total castings as compared to the Sorcerer's 15. Granted, they're all at level 5, but that isn't always as awesome as it sounds. Even with the Mystic Arcanum, the situation becomes more dire at higher levels, to the point that I don't really consider a Warlock to be a caster; they are highly adaptable hybrid characters with some casting ability.

The Shield spell, for example, is one of the most useful in the game. Starting around level six or so, level 1 spell slots aren't really viable for offense anymore; but four castings of Shield should get you through most days of combat. Warlocks also get access to the Shield spell, but the spell does not scale at all beyond spell level 1, so there's no point in casting it at a higher level. This is a moot point for Warlocks, because all of their spells are at the maximum level... but it also means that the Shield spell is ABSOLUTELY a waste after character level 3 or so. Now, Celestial Warlocks have other tricks up their sleeves that make them viable healers without relying entirely on spells... so as long as you're aware of all this, the choice is yours : )

As to how to role-play it... the source of the pact itself is often useful for this. I could imagine a scenario where a young boy/ girl raised as an acolyte tried to save a stranger from being mugged in the street, and was mortally wounded. As s/he is dying, s/he cries out to some kind of angelic power, who shows up and is willing to make a pact.

Or you could go the reverse route: exploring the woods as a child, you come across a young deva (or whatever) that has been mauled by a rabid animal. You create a pact so that you can both live and become stronger.

You are raised as an acolyte in a war-torn country. As a child, you try to tend to the wounded soldiers as best you can, but realizing your own training and skills are not enough, you turn to something else.

As an orphan, you were raised by the Church, but some of your childhood friends were not so fortunate. You still keep up with some of your street-urchin friends as you grow older, and one finds himself in trouble with a local gang. You try to help him out, but your efforts are too little too late. In your grief, you turn to a higher power for the strength to protect people in the future.

[Millstone85]

Why do you want to play an acolyte if you don't want to have religious stuff in your character?I think what they are saying is that they do want religious stuff in their character, but lack real-life experience on being religious, and fear being caricatural in their roleplay.


If your DM will allow Unearthed Arcana, have you checked out the Favored Soul? It's the sorcerer version of Celestial Warlock.It has since been published in Xanathar's Guide to Everything as the Divine Soul.

[Naanomi]

I assume you are going for a classic Angel patron? Lots of ways to go, but I can easily imagine a Good-Aligned church with a 'secret society' dedicated to the personal service of a 'Patron Saint' style angel; or even a more public branch of the church that is still a separate order... a knightly order or an inquisition style sect?

Of course, if you look at other celestial options beyond angels, more potential there as well.... a disney princess with a unicorn companion? A tribal society worshiping a Couatl as an alternative to the serpent lords of the Yuan-Ti? A monk-like monastic order where the 'grand master' is a Ki-rin? A traveling bard-like empyrian and her 'groupies'? And that is just limiting ourselves to the celestials with published stats, if we are willing to delve into extended lore even more options open up.

[solidork]

My Celestial warlock is in the service of a powerful Couatl who was created by the gods of magic (Mystra, Azuth and Deneir) in order to acquire dangerous magical artifacts and keep them away from people who would want to abuse them. To that end, she has the ability to bestow mortal allies that she thinks are worthy with power to help her achieve those goals. My character is a former smuggler that used his patrons connections in Waterdeep to get out of the criminal life and set himself up as a investigator, eventually joining the Watchful Order of Magisters and Protectors.(The magical police in Waterdeep)

Couatls make great patrons because they are created to accomplish a very specific goal, which helps focus what your Warlock is actually helping with. My DM souped up the base Coautl's stats to make it more appropriate for a patron.

[Aeros1]

My celestial warlock made a pact with a patron who was an angelic servant of a good aligned god focused on non-intervention. Something that the angel did not exactly agree with. But the angel did not want to outright disobey and so made a pact with a mortal as a sort of loophole.

My inspiration was something like Aziraphale from the novel Good Omens. Someone who is not exactly fallen but more sauntered vaguely downwards to earth.

[Unoriginal]

You could also go for a more chaotic kind of Celestial, like a Dionysus-type figure.

[leogobsin]

A way of looking at it might be thinking about the existence of a kind of 'celestial bureaucracy', where Clerics exist as the established, proper way of deities influencing the mortal world: they grant power to Clerics who then use that power based on their understanding of the deity's teachings.
The Celestial Warlock, then, represents someone in the mid-level of the bureaucracy deciding they're going to sidestep that whole process and just appear directly to a mortal and say "Here are specific goals I want accomplished, and here are tools to accomplish them". Unlike a Cleric, the mortal they choose isn't necessarily a dedicated servant of a deity, just someone they see as having potential to influence the world.
This is going to be a tricky approach to take though, since it would really require that you and your DM work together on having specific things your patron wants you to do and finding a way to tie those into the campaign, but it's an interesting idea (at least, I think so).

[Millstone85]

Your patron could be an angel in service of a foreign god. Said god can not empower clerics on this continent/planet/plane, nor do they want to annoy local gods by sending a flashy celestial agent, so they send an angel to discreetly empower a mortal in their name. Maybe they want you to seek an artifact and return it to wherever their followers live.

[Quoxis]

Did you even *read* the phb description or what Xanathar’s guide added in fluff? Wotc made sure to include examples of good causes for making pacts, even some examples of pacts beneficial to both sides.

[JakOfAllTirades]

The other side of the coin is understanding your patron. I'd suggest perusing the entries for powerful celestial outsiders in the Monster Manual, Volo's Guide, and Mord's Tome. They all have different agendas, which naturally leads to different reasons for making warlock pacts with mortals. Knowing who/what your patron is, why they made a pact with you, and what their expectations are could give you some role playing guide lines.

Choose Aasimar for your race and you'll have an angelic guide as a racial feature; they're a natural candidate for Celestial warlock patrons.

[ad_hoc]

You may be overthinking it.

Any Warlock can have a good alignment. Celestial Warlock screams it.

[Sigreid]

It's fairly common for religions to have secret societies that aren't priests or brothers but form to do their god's work. Sometimes without the knowledge or blessing of the main church. Think of them as sort of the religion's black ops units.

[Chibachiva]

Hi again everyone!
I like what I'm reading, thanks for the suggestions!

@Unoriginal
See @Millstone85's answer as to why I picked a religious background. By "[the warlocks] taking the easy way", I meant that they didn't study for it like the mages did, nor did they showed any form of devotion to a deity. Like you said, they merely got lucky/unlucky/brave/stupid enough to get in touch with something foreign and powerful that would be interested in trading something with them. As for the selfish part, it's true that one does not have to be selfish to strike a pact, other reasons could lead to that (which is what I'm mostly looking for by writing this thread).

@igor140
A Favoured Soul dip could be an interesting rp option and a good justification for a patron's interest in the character. Moreover, that dip could give access to more slots, although I'm not exactly sure about how the rules work. I'll definitely give some thoughts to it! Nice background suggestions too!! Simple, yet open to more depth!

@Naanomi That could work with my background story, since the Deva sometimes comes to the temple where my character grew. You mentioned some very original ideas for the other patrons, but I think I'll stick to Angels. I picked Selûne as the temple's deity and I read that she is served by beings called Shards, which are blue-skinned angels. Thanks nonetheless!

@solidork souping up the Deva's stats could be nice, since I'm not exactly sure they'd be powerful enough to act as patrons. As for "being more specific", that might be a good lead! Hunting down undead wherever they are could correlate to my backstory and what you mentioned! You seem to have a pretty good relationship with your patron and I like that!

@Aeros1 I'll look up Aziraphale and Good Omens! Thanks for the hint!

@leogobsin A sort of relationship like what mercenaries are to soldiers? As in, less patriotic (devoted) but more specific in what they have to do? It's a good idea, if the hierarchy of the deity is well structured. Selûne being more on the chaotic bent however, it might not fit as well. Good idea though!

@Millstone85 Nice! Because a direct intervention would be too destructive on the mortals' lives, a goddess could instead try to more subtly tip the balance in her favour by sending an angel to be a patron for a mortal (or more than one). I'll write that one down!

@JakOfAllTirades I'll look some more into what are the Shards and what they do, that could certainly lead to something interesting! Thanks for the tip!

[Millstone85]

Choose Aasimar for your race and you'll have an angelic guide as a racial feature; they're a natural candidate for Celestial warlock patrons.
A Favoured Soul dip could be an interesting rp option and a good justification for a patron's interest in the character.If your character has both the Divine Soul sorcerous origin and the Celestial as their otherworldly patron, I would encourage you to make them an aasimar as well.

Sorcerer levels could represent your character unlocking their angelic heritage instinctively, while warlock levels would represent a mix of learning from your guardian angel and getting an occasional "push" from them.

[Unoriginal]

You could also have been one of people who took religious office because it was a profitable career plan, not for devotion reasons, but one day something terrible happened (ex:cultists attacked and prepared to sacrifice everyone) and it was up to you to save the day, so a Celestial agreed to help.

[Throne12]

It early morning you are walking to a spot in the woods when you recite your daily prayers. In the middle of your prayer. There a bright flash of light followed by a loud boom. You stand up and look in the Direction of this Commotion. You see a glow among the tree. So you go to Inspect what happen. As you get closer to the light your nose Is assaulted by the smell of ozone. Using your hands to pinch your nose and shield your eyes. You find a Angelic bean laying on the ground bloodied and Severely wounded. The heavenly creature looks over at you and you here In a week but commanding course.you there will you come closer and offer me aid? Not thinking of any danger you rush the its aid. You spend 3 days taking care of this creature but his condition is not improving. So you decide to go into town to get a cleric or a druid out here to use healing magic. Right before you step out the door the creature calls out to you. No there isn't any magic caster on this plain that can cure me. You ask what you can do then. He tells you a story of a battle with some powerful plainer creature and he is going to die if he cant find another vessel to house his Divinity. So he makes you a offer. I'll grant you my powers if you allow me to reside within you. You agree and now your a Celestial warlock.

[ZorroGames]

Why do you want to play an acolyte if you don't want to have religious stuff in your character?


Snip.

An acolyte is sometimes like someone who studied to be a priest, nun, brother, then decided that was not where his life needed to be so never formally took vows.

[Unoriginal]

An acolyte is sometimes like someone who studied to be a priest, nun, brother, then decided that was not where his life needed to be so never formally took vows.

I know, but it's still someone for whom religion was a big part of life for at least a while.


Heck, the Acolyte background is more tied to organized religion than the Cleric class. Clerics are chosen by gods, sure, but the Acolyte background is what represent training in and ties with a church's organization. A Cleric could just be the baker's son that Kord went "yo, your qualities are admirable, we need you to go scare away the Ogre who's about to level the village".

[Chaosmancer]

I've always liked warlocks (especially celestial warlocks) where the power you weild is the price of the deal.

For example, you go to some secluded shrine and beg for an entity to cleanse your village of a plague. The Divine entity agrees, but in exchange you must spend at least a decade in their service combatting the forces of evil.


However, it sounds like with Selune and these Shards you've got a pretty strong idea where you are going with this character. It's just a matter of the nature of the deal you made

[Malifice]

When mass murdering children, just make sure you're doing it for the 'greater good'.

If this forum has taught me anything, it's this.

[Quoxis]

When mass murdering children, just make sure you're doing it for the 'greater good'.

If this forum has taught me anything, it's this.

Because as we all know, the only way to act out a good alignment is to never hurt anything or anyone, to start a long rest by 9pm and to donate all your adventure loot to local orphanages.
And even then you must be wary, for if you decide to kill even one creature in self defense your soul will burn in hell for eterni- wait, what’s this?
You mean to tell me this is not church, but a game? My black and white thinking is discouraged and individual once-in-a-lifetime deeds don’t define a creature‘s general alignment? No, that can’t be, i must be correct, everyone else is wrong.

[Sigreid]

When mass murdering children, just make sure you're doing it for the 'greater good'.

If this forum has taught me anything, it's this.

Unless I missed something this thread is just about how to have a divine centered caster, member in good standing of a church who is not a cleric. Dont see why you feel the need to come in with this and try to turn it into an alignment arguement thread.

[Vogie]

Some of the Red Priests and Priestesses of R'hllor from the Game of Thrones books/show fall into the Good category, and have very un-cleric-y powers, so emulating a warlock in the style of, say, Moqorro would work

[The Aboleth]

Unless I missed something this thread is just about how to have a divine centered caster, member in good standing of a church who is not a cleric. Dont see why you feel the need to come in with this and try to turn it into an alignment arguement thread.

I think Malifice is still carrying stuff over from a previous thread in which the OP, as a thought exercise, asked the forum to come up with examples of Good-aligned creatures that are normally Evil (like Black Dragons or Liches). Malifice didn't like the premise and proceeded to accuse everyone who participated in the OP's discussion as bad people who condoned the murdering of children. Best to just ignore them.

As to the OP of this thread...I think you could RP your character's attitude toward religion a bit like Roy from the comic: a sort of "If I leave the Gods alone, they'll leave me alone" attitude. This would be his attitude until, of course, Something Happens that forces him to make a Pact with an Angel--now he struggles to reconcile his "live and let live" attitude towards the Gods with the fact he now literally is bound to a celestial agent of said Gods.

[carrdrivesyou]

I am actually playing a NG celestial Warlock now. It's a great class and even better subclass as far as abilities and such go mechanically.

RP-wise, my character had made a deal with an angel in exchange for his powers. But if this is not the way you want to go, you could always just be "blessed" or "touched" by divine powers and are their unwitting agent in this world.

[Unoriginal]

You could also be a very junior member of a celestial bureaucracy. Like, a mortal who will climb up the ranks and transform into a Celestial bureaurat in the afterlife, but for now is just a trainee.

[Vogie]

But if this is not the way you want to go, you could always just be "blessed" or "touched" by divine powers and are their unwitting agent in this world.

That reminds me of the Ted Chiang short story where angels are giant eldritch abominations, and an angelic appearance usually leaves destruction in the wake, but those who happen to be in that wake are taken straight to heaven, healed, or otherwise blessed.

[Millstone85]

That reminds me of the Ted Chiang short story where angels are giant eldritch abominations, and an angelic appearance usually leaves destruction in the wake, but those who happen to be in that wake are taken straight to heaven, healed, or otherwise blessed.My headcanon is that you can reach the Far Realm by going far enough (or maybe "too far") into any plane. There are exotic-matter primordials in the depths of the Elemental Chaos, and there are flaming-wheel-of-wings-with-eyes-for-feathers angels at the top of Celestia.

[KorvinStarmast]

celestial warlock character ... I want to play a good-aligned spellcaster who has a background of an acolyte .... don't want to "Wololo" my way into my DM's world. What does that mean? Wololo.

On the other side, the warlock is more often than not described as a selfish individual who took the easy way to get his/her powers. By whom? Why are you letting some anonymous they harsh your groove? Celestial warlock is WoTC saying "that old sold-your-soul-to-the-devil-trope is Dead." Embrace the Celestial patron. Touched by an angel; see also a Guardian Angel. (And to take it a step further, read R.A. McAvoy's three books on an archangel and a guy named Damiano (1) Damiano, Damiano's Lute, Raphael).

Moreover, I don't want a relationship of abuse with my patron Then don't have one. Talk with your DM to establish the relationship between your patron and your character.

The warlock class heavily depends on the character's backstory, the celestial maybe even more so. Sez who?

Here's an idea: don't do what other people do. Be a trail blazer. Establish a new trope. Establish your own custom made one of a kind, Celestial Warlock. The sky is the limit.


The other side of the coin is understanding your patron. I'd suggest perusing the entries for powerful celestial outsiders in the Monster Manual, Volo's Guide, and Mord's Tome. They all have different agendas, which naturally leads to different reasons for making warlock pacts with mortals. Knowing who/what your patron is, why they made a pact with you, and what their expectations are could give you some role playing guide lines.

Choose Aasimar for your race and you'll have an angelic guide as a racial feature; they're a natural candidate for Celestial warlock patrons. Superb advice.

It's fairly common for religions to have secret societies that aren't priests or brothers but form to do their god's work. Sometimes without the knowledge or blessing of the main church. Think of them as sort of the religion's black ops units. Also good advice, and it fits with Jak's advice.
I know, but it's still someone for whom religion was a big part of life for at least a while. A good friend of mine spent two years in the seminary. As it turned out, he never became a man of the cloth. He was a career Air Force officer; he flew F-4 Phantoms. :-)

When mass murdering children, just make sure you're doing it for the 'greater good'. Where did the OP suggest that mass murdering children was part of the warlock's character concept?