How unbalancing: Two Patrons in one?

[jaappleton]

Zariel, as I understand it, is a rebellious Angel that was named Archdevil of Avernus after she was brought before Asmodeus.
(There’s a bit more of course, but that’s the jist of it)

This puts her in a rather unique position: both a Fiend, and a Celestial.

So, here’s my proposal, you tell me how unbalanced it is:

She qualifies to be a Patron for both Celestial and Fiend. And at the end of a long rest, you choose which benefits to gain.

While obviously versatile, is it actually unbalanced? At no point do you have the benefits of multiple Patrons at once.

[Greywander]

You're basically talking about the difference between wizards and sorcerers. One picks a spell when they level up, and sticks with it for their whole career (or until they level up again), while the other can change their entire spell loadout every time they rest. So, to answer your question (with another question), would you feel it balanced if wizards could only switch out spells on a level up, just like sorcerers, or if sorcerers could change their entire spell loadout every long rest? I feel like that level of versatility is its own form of power, as you can optimize for whatever the situation at hand is.

In the case of Zariel, specifically, I'd say that she's left her Celestial nature behind, and would no longer be able to qualify as a Celestial patron. However, in theory you could have a dual-nature patron, so how would that work? Well, I'd think it would work the same way as a cleric serving a deity with multiple domains: pick one domain/patron, and stick to it.

It especially doesn't make sense for warlock, though, as most interpretations I've seen don't see the patron continuously granting you your power; instead, your power is a one-time gift that you keep. So, even if you broke your pact and stopped serving your patron, you'd still keep whatever power you'd already gained from them. As such, it doesn't make a lot of sense to be able to switch out one set of benefits for different ones (except invocations, apparently?).

[BloodSnake'sCha]

Well, it doesn't look unbalanced.

You fo have a problem with the extended spell lists.
Will the warlock lose fire ball for daylight or revivify when they change from fiend to celestial?
Will he be able to learn from both the spell lists?

If he switch then it look balance, if he can take both it may be a problem but warlock don't have a lot of spell slots so it will only be a small problem (I will probably still allow it).

I will tell the other players that they can ask for stuff at the same power level.

[Bjarkmundur]

Feeling this is a great opportunity to make a single subclass that fits her specific description tbh

[MarkVIIIMarc]

OP, it might be fun. Depending on your skill, DM and party I doubt the character would come out TOTALLY overpowered. Only you know your situation though.

My Warlocks are usually pretty competitive on Eldritch Blast damage and then utility spell usefullness so I'd worried about my charactet being the overpowered OP and annoying. If you're in a group where you NEVER short rest or something it may help balance things in a weird unpredictable way.

[Kane0]

It's no different than allowing retraining, although admittedly at an accelerated pace. Should be fine.

Edit: Though by the same logic Grazz't is both a Demon and Devil.

[KorvinStarmast]

She qualifies to be a Patron for both Celestial and Fiend. And at the end of a long rest, you choose which benefits to gain. Do all of the other PC's get to change their sub class at the end of a long rest? If no, then this isn't fair to the other players.

[OverLordOcelot]

Do you let other PCs swap their subclasses around every day? Does a moon druid get to decide that they would rather do more casting and swap off to Dreams, or does a cleric get to decide to emphasize another aspect of their deity and swap domains around? It's not any more unblanacing than letting a player have two characters and pick which one goes on a given adventure, but it is a significant boost in flexibility to that single player. Story wise it doesn't make any sense, as Zariel is no longer a celestial so doesn't qualify as a celestial patron, and doesn't switch between angelic and fiendish abilities herself. Flavor wise it's weird, because the ability set of the celestial warlock is so different than that of the fiend warlock.

[Man_Over_Game]

I think a more balanced approach, one that avoids adding extra versatility for no cost, is that the character does not get to choose which of the two forms he is each day. He alternates every time he takes a Long Rest, and his spell selection follows suit.

If you want to tone down the randomness, have the player roll a d20 to determine whether they shift or not. If they roll under their level, they choose what form they start the day with; otherwise, they take the form alternate from the one they just had.