Multi-patron warlock?

[Seekergeek]

Here’s a mechanical question that has never occurred to me before - what if a warlock breaks his pact with one patron and forms a new pact with a different patron mid stream. There are no rules for same-class multiclassing but it seems like this is the one class where that should be technically possible. We were talking at the table about how, by the rules, if you lose your patron you keep your powers...but how does it work if you get a second patron in the mix?

[HappyDaze]

It is simply not allowed, just as you cannot be a Cleric of two Domains even if the deity grants both of them.

EDIT: This is a game where you make a character using the pieces that are there rather than building custom pieces like in HERO or GURPS. That means some ideas just don't fit well into the D&D 5e system.

[Mr Adventurer]

If the rules don't cover it, as a DM I'd say that the new pact includes trading away the specific benefits from your old pact.

Depending on the circumstances, I might later make a story point about e.g. an Archfey taking on a fragment of power from an Old One.

[MustaKrakish]

Here’s a mechanical question that has never occurred to me before - what if a warlock breaks his pact with one patron and forms a new pact with a different patron mid stream. There are no rules for same-class multiclassing but it seems like this is the one class where that should be technically possible. We were talking at the table about how, by the rules, if you lose your patron you keep your powers...but how does it work if you get a second patron in the mix?

It happened with my group. One of the PCs was an infernal lock and he made a deal with an undead patron, thus taking the undying pact. I allowed the player to choose a new pact boon and replaced his old powers with the new ones. Warlocks are taking shortcuts. Most of the powers they wield are not theirs. The only thing I allowed him to keep was his spells known list because I ruled that those spells are actually the result of him studying and practicing with the dark arts. But, from the level he switched patron and forward he will be able to choose only from the bonus spells his new patron reveals to him.

It was very fun and led to some really cool scenarios as his old patron attempted to claim him back.

[MarkVIIIMarc]

Here’s a mechanical question that has never occurred to me before - what if a warlock breaks his pact with one patron and forms a new pact with a different patron mid stream. There are no rules for same-class multiclassing but it seems like this is the one class where that should be technically possible. We were talking at the table about how, by the rules, if you lose your patron you keep your powers...but how does it work if you get a second patron in the mix?

I MIGHT allow it for a good player who was willing to have some fun with me.

This scenario sounds ripe for rollplaying an "ex". Imagine all the good stories involving an evil ex...now make the ex a REAL fiend. Heck, maybe the ex wants the Warlock back. Maybe its a nuts Harley Quinn love/hate thing. Maybe the new patron is paronoid about the old one and now the party has to protect or choose sides.

This sounds like some sessions of fun. As DM you'll have to decide where the power curve is and if the player and their party members can handle it.

[Spiritchaser]

Be careful.

I tried doing something like this once, with three nefarious patrons fighting over scraps of the player’s soul, and granting different portions of available power as a reward.

I’d intended it to be a political puzzle with the player gaming the powers against each other.

I’d expected it to work with the player making whatever deals he needed to address his immediate requirements.

But to put it bluntly, I’d bitten off more than I could chew, and I didn’t manage to play the various villains against each other with enough subtlety. I sucked at it, and I would file the incident as my greatest failure as a DM.

I wouldn’t do this again unless I wanted a challenge, and quite frankly I find DM’ing hard enough.

[Damon_Tor]

Here’s a mechanical question that has never occurred to me before - what if a warlock breaks his pact with one patron and forms a new pact with a different patron mid stream. There are no rules for same-class multiclassing but it seems like this is the one class where that should be technically possible. We were talking at the table about how, by the rules, if you lose your patron you keep your powers...but how does it work if you get a second patron in the mix?

In 4e there was a warlock subclass based on "vestiges". Instead of having one very powerful patron he drew from the power of several dead or dormant cosmic entities. This gave him the ability to shift between several different features depending ng on which vestiges he was tapping into at the moment. You could have a similar system, where you could swap between your two patrons features during a short rest or something.

[Sol]

Here’s a mechanical question that has never occurred to me before

There are not mechanics for this, so you're not going to get mechanical answers other than "this isn't a thing," though you may get opinions on how to handle it outside of existing mechanics.

Not only are there no official rules for a warlock trading one patron for another, there's no official rules for a warlock successfully breaking a pact at all (nor for the patron breaking the pact).

It's a good plot line, (but as others have said, a difficult one for a DM to navigate, AND may thrust the warlock player into the spotlight more than he or the other players are happy with), but there's no rules in place for what happens next. Does he lose his powers entirely? Does he steal the arcane spark that has for so long been embedded within him, and become a sorcerer/EK/AT? Is the only way out to enlist the patronage of a more powerful patron, thus trading patrons?

These are the sorts of questions that some previous editions may have tried to handle more explicitly, like they did with the fall of a Paladin.

In 5e, it appears to have been intentionally left entirely up to you as the DM how and if to adjudicate such things.

[Joe the Rat]

This one is solidly in DM perogative territory.

If it were changing between Patrons of the same type, it would simply be a narrative point. The two times I have had this come up in game did this.

For changing between types, I like the "change patron powers, keep spells" angle. A feylock with fireball isn't going to break the world. Beyond that, it's up for discussion on whatever else changes (Pact, Invocations, etc.)

[Seekergeek]

I appreciate the feedback. I thought I remembered JC making a ruling back when his Twitter did such things about a warlock keeping his powers if he broke a pact but I can’t find it now. That memory is what lead me to wondering what the best course would be. If they lost their powers on a broken pact, I’d just have them swap out fully, but I like the flavour of retaining what powers you’ve already siphoned from your patron. Either way, I think what I’m going to do is to have the new pact take over from the effective level. Existing abilities are going to stay in play, and new ones will be under the umbrella of the new GOO patron that has infected his mind. Part of what leads me this way is that the swap is going from archfey to GOO which isn’t going to really unbalance anything and partly because of continuity of combat and social strategy for the party.