Suggestions for "accidental" warlock?

[thorr-kan]

I'm wondering what might be the best warlock pact for an "accidental" warlock, one who's not consciously aware he's made a pact.

The fluff in the PH leans towards a great old one pact, with the "And sometimes, while poring over tomes of forbidden lore, a brilliant but crazed student's mind is opened to realities beyond the material world and to the alien beings that dwell in the outer void." quote.

I'm looking others' suggestions.

[J-H]

Fiend: While deciphering a tome in an archaeology dig, you read two pages of an archaic script aloud to help you translate it to a more modern form of the language, thus chanting a ritual incantation that linked you to a fiend of some power. Fortunately, the room you were working in had wardings against possession that had been covered by later frescoes, giving you only the benefit of the pact without the price.

Archfey: As a young child child, you wandered into the woods and danced with the fey for a year of their time, or a few hours of man's time. As you grew up, you gradually forgot, just like most people forget everything that happened before age 5 or 6.

Undying: Your great-great-grandfather is a Lich. He still keeps an interest in the keeping the family line alive. You'll need the power he's feeding you to survive what's coming.

Hexblade: No idea, it's thematically a mess.

[Joe the Rat]

General
Answering the Call - the Patron asks for help, and you agree to help them, not realizing what you are Helping, or what the Help entails.

Archfey

Half of the faerie schtick is Alternative Interpretations of Exact Words. Half is Manners are Deadly Serious. Half is General Weird Dickery.
You invite a Fey Lord or Lady into your house, they ask you for something (preferably esoteric - "May I Have your Name" is making the rounds right now), and due to your response including some suggestion of reciprocity or some obscure Law of Hospitality, you get a Pact in exchange.

I'm also a fan of Fey Pact as STD, but that's just me being me.


Fiend

Generally these folks are up front about the obvious bits (You get Power, I get Service), but occasionally a little subterfuge is used on the front end - you're signing a contract for something, possibly innocuous, but thanks to Exact Words, both your Payment and Obligation are significantly more than you expected.


Hexblade

If you are one of those people who thinks the Patron has to be a weapon (you are the blade in the name not the Patron), this can easily be a "you drew it, you wield it" sort of situation. The fact that you ignored the warnings of what happens if you draw the blade (or don't read the 10,000 year old language it is written in) is irrelevant. The "not reading the language but fulfil the stated requirements" could work for just about any Patron, really.

On a similar vein, you could 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo it. You accidentally let something loose, and The Dark Powers That Be obligate you to put it back - and grant you the power needed to do so.


Fathomless
The simplest is not realizing what it means to sign up with Davy Jones' crew (or your setting equivalent).

Genie
The Three Wishes Gambit - Your vessel was your Patron's prison, and it has to answer Three Wishes from one person to release it. Unfortunately, you're the first one to not know that releasing the patron means someone has to replace them. You are bound to the lamp/ring/pokeball/etc., but as a mortal you get to spend more time outside of the lamp.

"I wish to be an all-powerful Genie" - Your Warlock progression is your turning into some manner of Genie, culminating in your daily Wish-granting. Resting in your vessel will become obligatory.

[Amnestic]

One for each patron:-
Archfey: You got lost in the woods once and a trickster fey helped you find your way home, putting you in their debt. Your pact exists until you can 'pay it off', and since they "gave" you your life back, well, you'll be paying for a while.
Celestial: One day you found a traveller bleeding on the side of the road. Unfortunately you're not great at medicine, and in the process of patching them up you hurt yourself and your blood mixed with theirs. The traveller, of course, was an angel in disguise - one you're now bonded with, despite neither of you really wishing to be so.
Fathomless: You come from a family of fishers on the coast. You never swore any pact, your great-great-great-great-great-great-[...]-great-grandfather did, but the elemental being of water still demands her due.
Fiend: You really should have scrutinised that housing contract better. It was a great deal where your coinpurse was concerned. Less so for your soul.
Genie: A poorly worded wish for power had this generous genie give you a bit more than you bargained for. You'd like to be rid of it - and them - but they seem to have plans for you yet.
GOO: You read a book that you really shouldn't have done, and glimpsed into the great dark beyond.
Hexblade: While defending your town from rampaging [attackers of your choice], you were near death, praying to whoever would listen for help. This sapient weapon replied, and in-so-doing bound itself to you.
Undead/Undying: When going digging for mummies, one should take care not to fall victim to their curse. With their power now forced upon you, you risk death and decay should you not carry out your undead "master's" will. Difficult to do when their tongue rotted years ago, mind you.

[Quietus]

In a game I'm running, there is an NPC this is happening to. He tried stealing from a hag's garden, got caught, and she gave him the choice between death, or "giving her a child" as recompense. This is a deal he made, but not the pact itself.

He thinks that "give her a child" works in the same way it does for humans, and visits on a schedule to make the attempt. During those visits, he is learning a small portion of natural/ potion magic from her, in exchange for word of the outside world. This is the pact, and he has no idea that he's even entered into anything that formalized.

[Kvess]

My take on warlocks is that having a formal agreement or bargain isn’t as important as an Outsider introducing a Mortal to strange powers that they shouldn’t have. Where sorcerers are like Mutants who discover inherent abilities, a warlock is analogous to a normal person who is bitten by a radioactive spider or stumbles on a magic ring.

You were exposed to some power from outside reality, and have been empowered to harness whatever exotic form of spellcasting-like magic that Outsider has at their disposal. That power might indeed come from a devil’s pact, or from gazing at a star that gazes back, touching a cursed sword, rubbing a lamp which once contained a genie that wasted away after millennia of captivity, reading a book whose pages are blank for everyone but you… you might not know why you have the powers that you were granted.

[thorr-kan]

Quietus, you've just recreated a significant variation on the plot of _Into the Woods_. Nicely done.

Reading over the suggestion, and the more I think about it, the less I like anything that requires interaction with another creature. It would be much to easy to later tie back to that interaction with an "ah-HA!" moment.

But that's clarification of my thinking, not denigration of any of these offerings. They've been brilliant, and people have brought up a lot of options I hadn't considered: the innocent fiendish/fey contract, a forgotten childhood encounter, a family ancestor (and I know better; I've used that one!), graverobbing (that's clever).

Thanks folks; keep the suggestions coming.

[Tvtyrant]

I'm wondering what might be the best warlock pact for an "accidental" warlock, one who's not consciously aware he's made a pact.

The fluff in the PH leans towards a great old one pact, with the "And sometimes, while poring over tomes of forbidden lore, a brilliant but crazed student's mind is opened to realities beyond the material world and to the alien beings that dwell in the outer void." quote.

I'm looking others' suggestions.

Genie in a bottle seems like a good one. The genie becomes your patron in return for being let out, it doesn't particularly care if you wanted that or not.

[thorr-kan]

Thanks for all the suggestions folks.

I finally decided to with a gnome, outlander background, swapping wander feature for spirit medium feature, pact of the book warlock with an undying patron.

He stumbled into a barrow for shelter one night from the elements, recovered some written materials, and learned how to cast spells. Multi-class in to alchemist artificer. Of *course* he's a wizard! He's got a spellbook, a familiar, and makes magical items!

[KorvinStarmast]

I'm wondering what might be the best warlock pact for an "accidental" warlock, one who's not consciously aware he's made a pact. Great Old One fits this perfectly. A GOO from the deep, dark, chaotic far realm reached out in a fevered dream and touched your mind, and soul, without even realizing it. You are now something different from what you were before. You learn as you go.

GOO: the best warlock, in concept, 14th level pact skill notwithstanding.

Hexblade: No idea, it's thematically a mess.
Concur

[Lokishade]

Hexblade

A temple guards a sacred relic: A sword once wielded by a legendary Valkyrie. The item in question curses whoever tries to steal it.

However, you, as a humble servant of the temple, is tasked to clean it and, in a ceremony, you present it the the head priestess. Unbeknownst to you, the soul of the Valkyrie inside chooses you as the recipient of her powers. The ceremony seems to fail to attract the favor of the gods.

And here you go. You're just a nun, going about your duties, but during war, where everyone has to pitch in, your weapon is guided by mystical forces and you can fire off the ceremonial bow without arrows or even a bowstring. Angered, you utter curses that make your attacks hurt even more, etc.

And that's just the beginning.

[Keravath]

It could work for any kind of warlock if you make part of the pact the fact that the character doesn't want to be aware of it. Perhaps they sought help curing an illness on their sister but were so ashamed that they did not want to remember the bargain they made to save her so the patron uses Modify Memory and the character is still bound but does not remember it until the patron requires it.

[Segev]

Archfey, fiend, and fathomless seem most likely to do this, but any Patron theoretically works:

You are actually a fetch or simulacrum or the like, created by your Patron to replace/take the place of a mortal they stole/kidnapped. You do not even remember the events surrounding your original's being taken, nor your release in his or her place. There is a vague but plausible boring memory of nothing special happening at that time.

You are a very good fake: you remember your original's life up to just before his fateful encounter with your Patron, and by physical examination, you appear to be your original inside and out. But whether through inefficient magical profligacy or imperfect understanding of mortal limits, your Patron left you with magical abilities your original lacked.

If you have the Pact of the Blade boon, perhaps it is your true substance extruding as useful tools/weapons. If you have the Pact of the Tome, perhaps it is a diary your Patron sent you to help keep your false memories fresh. The Pact of the Chain could be a spy your Patron has sent to keep track, a fragment of your own essence breaking off, or even your original escaping and deciding you aren't to blame for his predicament and deciding to do his best to help his old life by guiding you to live it how he would have.

[Red Fel]

Genie in a bottle seems like a good one. The genie becomes your patron in return for being let out, it doesn't particularly care if you wanted that or not.

This is actually a fair take on one of the original genie-in-a-bottle stories, from the 1,001 Arabian Nights. The story went that a fisherman found a bottle with a genie inside. The genie reveals that, for the first century of its captivity, it resolved to grant prosperity to its rescuer forever, but that never happened. For the second century, it resolved to grant great wealth to its rescuer, but none came. For the third century, it resolved to grant three wishes to its rescuer, but none came. After that, it resolved merely to let its rescuer choose how it would kill them. The fisherman tricks it back into its bottle and it ultimately makes a bargain with him for its freedom instead. There's more to the story, but that's the relevant part.

This could work as a version of that. The genie, frustrated by the expectation of subservience, instead of killing its rescuer, resolves to make a servant of its rescuer. It decides to make someone suffer as it has for all these years. It grants a boon - power - for freeing it, but by the same token demands servitude as recompense for making it wait for so long.

I might use this one, honestly. It has some nice thematic elements to it.

[Tanarii]

Probably the best is the PHB standard "studious" warlock. Because the warlock obviously realizes they've gained some kind of power somehow, but the perceived cause needs to be unassociated with the Patron. In this case, they think that it's like a Wizard, except it comes from studying 'forbidden' lore. They don't realize they've entered into a pact in the process of studying that lore. IMO this definitely works best for Great Old One, but also could work with Archfey, Fiend, or Celestial.

Hexblade would be pretty straight forward if they started with Pact of the Blade, they would think it comes from a 'magical weapon' they can summon forth in any form. Unfortunately Pact of the Blade doesn't happen until level 3, and it's not a required Pact Boon.

[Segev]

In the same vein as the HExblade whose pact of the blade weapon is his patron, inspiration could be taken from Marvel's Darkhold: a book written by the Patron that is, itself, sentient, and shows those who read it what it wants them to know. It's all true, useful information to bring about their deepest desires, but the means and methods are often questionable in their ethics and morals. They wind up with Pact of the Tome, the book of secrets being the very volume they think they're studying and gleaning their own knowledge from.

[Red Fel]

Okay, I've got one for Fathomless. Hear me out.

In aeons past, an entity of the deep seas became enamored of the surface world. Ignoring the warnings of its parent, it abandoned the mysterious fathoms below and sought out the surface, and even dwelt there for a time, but ultimately died, as it was not meant to be part of that world. Its spirit, however, did not return under the sea - it remained on the surface, reincarnating from one generation to the next, with no memory of its origins, only a general feeling of longing for the oceans. Its patron is its parent, a being of unfathomable (no pun intended) power that seeks to safeguard the poor, unfortunate soul of its child. Though the child has no memory, it draws power from the deeps and its protective patron.

Using a Jamaican accent for your familiar is not advised.

[Joe the Rat]

Red Fel - brilliant and evil, as usual. I'd be tempted to drop this on a player just so I can break out the Rip Torn voice.

My go-to recommendation for Hex is Weapons Satellite, [I]a la Brother Eye from classic OMAC. It rides that line between entity and weapon. In this case, the selection of the warlock follows some sort of Cosmic Peace Council (Mordenkainen is probably involved, the punter), and your blank buddy is the chosen recipient. Exactly how you entered Selective Service of the Multiverse remains a question - a weird open-ended clause in Faction documents has potential here. (It would also work pretty well as a Celestial - there's a lot of calling down light involved there)


In the same vein as the HExblade whose pact of the blade weapon is his patron, inspiration could be taken from Marvel's Darkhold
I quite like this one - you can start from "lost pages" (damn thing scatters them like a bard's by-blows), and reach finding/summoning the thing with Tome at 3.

[Segev]

Okay, I've got one for Fathomless. Hear me out.

In aeons past, an entity of the deep seas became enamored of the surface world. Ignoring the warnings of its parent, it abandoned the mysterious fathoms below and sought out the surface, and even dwelt there for a time, but ultimately died, as it was not meant to be part of that world. Its spirit, however, did not return under the sea - it remained on the surface, reincarnating from one generation to the next, with no memory of its origins, only a general feeling of longing for the oceans. Its patron is its parent, a being of unfathomable (no pun intended) power that seeks to safeguard the poor, unfortunate soul of its child. Though the child has no memory, it draws power from the deeps and its protective patron.

Using a Jamaican accent for your familiar is not advised.

Always get a bit of forboding when gawking in doorways, as if someone is questioning your upbringing?

[Red Fel]

Always get a bit of forboding when gawking in doorways, as if someone is questioning your upbringing?

We mustn't do that. It's rude.

In any event, while the first one was purely accidental, by the second I realized that I'd inadvertently stumbled into a pattern. So I decided to see if I could ride it out. Building on an earlier idea for Archfey patron.

In a place deep in the woods, between the shadows of two withered oaks beneath a sunset, there lies a vale between light and dark. In that place, across a bridge built of sighs, above a chasm of tears, on a hill of dreams, lies a strange castle. In this palace between dreams and nightmares, in a manor that almost breathes as if alive, dwells a terrible, accursed fey of ill temper and vile form, lost and forgotten to time. On a trip across the countryside, the character's father stumbled into this place between places, and fell victim to the castle's bestial lord. The character soon followed in the father's footsteps, discovering the strange manor and its stranger inhabitant, and traded one freedom for another. The character remained in the palace for some time, learning the creature's ways and enjoying its hospitality, before being permitted to leave.

But the permission and the bargain differed, and the word of a fey is precise. What the character gave up was freedom; what the character was later granted was the right to leave the castle. Freedom had not been granted, after all, and now the terrible fey creature commands the character's obedience from a place beyond dreams.

Carrying a portable scrying mirror is encouraged. Having an archnemesis with advantage on all expectoration-related rolls is optional.

[thorr-kan]

<SNIP!> Red Fel was here.
Be...Our...

That's really a quite clever interpretation.

[Red Fel]

Be...Our...

That's really a quite clever interpretation.

Eh, it's a tale as old as time.

Okay, this is my last one. (It will not be my last one.) It's another Fathomless, so you probably already know where it's going.

You were a very small child when it happened. Your family was visiting the shore, and you wandered off to play by the seafoam. You watched and laughed at the fish and turtles, and waved at the waves as they crested.

And the waves waved back.

You were a child. You were innocent. You didn't know how an ocean is supposed to behave. So as you spent the afternoon playing with the sea, you thought nothing of it. When the waters receded to give you a gift - a beautiful, shiny stone - you found it delightful. And when you tried to tell your parents about your adventure, they dismissed it as a child's overactive imagination. As the years passed, so did you.

But the ocean did not forget. It chose you for a task. In accepting its gift - the sign of your bargain - you bound yourself to its service. And child or no, forgotten or no, you will honor the promise made.

Royal lineage is not required. Peeing in the ocean at least once is.

[Burley]

I really like Celestial for accidental warlock. The spells and abilities afforded are light and healing, so, the warlock may assume they're a cleric. It's natural to be afraid of the dark and feel safe in the light (unless you're drow or whatever), so, a Celestial's intentions could be easily hidden behind a human(oid)'s assumptions.

Remember: Where there is light, there is shadow. A celestial light could obscure a eldritch darkness.

[Segev]

You were hungover after waking up from a bender, and you were desperate for any hair of the dog you could find. You had no patience for the loud person booming something at you after you found a bottle and opened it.

You did find yourself feeling better by the time you wandered home. And now you always seem to have a bottle of booze on you. You've also gotten really good at hiding when you just want to be alone to drink. Your family's started joking about how you can "literally" crawl into a bottle.

[Joe the Rat]

You were hungover after waking up from a bender, and you were desperate for any hair of the dog you could find. You had no patience for the loud person booming something at you after you found a bottle and opened it.

You did find yourself feeling better by the time you wandered home. And now you always seem to have a bottle of booze on you. You've also gotten really good at hiding when you just want to be alone to drink. Your family's started joking about how you can "literally" crawl into a bottle.

A little Djinn and Tonic, eh?

[KorvinStarmast]

A little Djinn and Tonic, eh? Don't forget the twist of lime. :smallwink:

[Sigreid]

You don't really have to be complicated. It could be as simple as the whole sleeping beauty scenario. The character was born and for what ever reason an entity showed up at the birth celebration and "blessed the child".

[Segev]

You don't really have to be complicated. It could be as simple as the whole sleeping beauty scenario. The character was born and for what ever reason an entity showed up at the birth celebration and "blessed the child".

"Why am I loved only when I'm gone?
Gone back in time to bless the child?
Think of me long enough to make a memory;
Come bless the child one more time!"

[pragma]

Basically any Lovecraft short story would work for this. They can almost all be summarized as "unsuspecting person stumbles upon something strange and is changed". Rats in the Wall, Color Out of Space, Music of Erich Zann, Mountains of Madness, Shadow Over Innsmouth and many others are good launching off points for GOO locks and Fathomless. Even better, the stories are all public domain, so you can browse to your heart's content: https://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/#fiction

[Arkhios]

This could work for either fiend or archfey*.

Are you familiar with the Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and a particular questline with the daedric lord Sanguine, who tricks you into a drinking contest that ends up a really wild night of chaos and debauchery, and eventually grants you his boon in the form of a Sanguine Rose (a staff allowing you to summon a dremora).

Anyway, a fiend or an archfey could potentially trick an unwitting person into a pact, such as Sanguine does. Technically you have not made any deal with him, but you have been given his staff and in using it you are unwittingly serving Sanguine's unknown agenda.

*daedric lords are a bit vague bunch, that could be seen as fiends or fey, or even celestials, depending on their own agendas. Sanguine, in particular, has strong vibes similar to those of the satyrs, which are kind of an amalgam between fiend and fey, from my point of view at least.

[Sigreid]

Depending on the patron, there's plenty of room for one to form a pact with someone who doesn't know they did because they're bored and it might be funny. "Oooh, that's a lovely flower little girl. Give me the flower and both you and it will bloom!"