How can a Hexblade establish a relationship to patron

[Hiro Quester]

In our up-coming campaign I'm playing a half-elf bard who wants to become a dashing swordsman type folk-hero. So before we get to second level, the DM is going to offer him some kind of patronage to take hexblade warlock at level 2.

The plan is something like : Bard1/ Hexblade 5 (Pact of the Blade)/ bard +2 (swords) /+more bard or hexblade (which and how much of each will depend on the campaign).
Stats 8, 16, 16, 8, 10, 17 to start. Elven Accuracy (4) and Warcaster (8) feats. My aim is to critfish, for moments of inspired glory, pumping sword flourishes and Eldrich smites into critical hits.
(I know this is less than optimal. I'm an inveterate optimizer, trying to tone it down by not playing a sorcerer-paladin-hexblade. This is for flavor and fun.)

From what I have seen (e.g. Fjord in Critical Role) the relationship with a Hexblade's patron can be seriously limiting. My character wants to be all swashbucklery-heroic and chaotic good but will probably be making a deal with a somewhat malevolent patron, arrogantly believing that he will get power with few limitations (he has low intelligence and wisdom).

I have not yet had a conversation with the DM about the relationship, apart from trusting him to think of something appropriate. This will probably happen in the coming weeks.

Has anyone who has played a hexblade, managed to tweak the relationship with the patron in a way that made it seriously fun to play (fun for the whole party, ideally)?

I'm wondering if anyone has creative advice for ways of establishing this relationship such that he can do his best to remain good-hearted, and use these malevolently-sourced powers for good, rather than being dragged, against his best intentions, to the Dark Side. And most importantly, without dragging the rest of the party with him.

[Melphizard]

Seeing as the various patron types just in the books alone are:
Fey, Celestials, Genies, Fiends, Great Old Ones (basically eldritch beings like Kyuss or Dendar), Undead, and Fathomless (Aboleths, Krakens, or Fjord's patron but the subclass wasn't published at the time).

With all of these various patron options I see no reason why your sword couldn't be a gift from something like a celestial patron who crafted that weapon in Celestia with the intention that you'd do good with it. You could also say it's something else like being made from the hardened blood of an ancient dragon who grants you some of their magic in exchange for you acting as an emissary of them so to speak.

[JLandan]

What if the patron was the spirit of a masked crusader vigilante folk hero. A Zorro type. The bargain being that the character continue his crusade against the forces of evil.

[f5anor]

Has anyone who has played a hexblade, managed to tweak the relationship with the patron in a way that made it seriously fun to play (fun for the whole party, ideally)?.

This all depends on the nature of the patron blade. For one of my players I have selected as patron the Moonblade of Corellon Larethian, a blade that became sentient by osmosis while being wielded by the god of the Elves.

The Warlock is an Elf, and the blade‘s identity plays into his religious beliefs, which helps to motivate him to take up tasks without outright coersion. Also the blade is obviously of good alignment, even if slightly racist, which makes for some fun situations.

The party encountered the blade in the Underdark during an unrelated adventure. The future Warlock returned to further investigate and ended up accepting the blade as his patron. My intention is drive some anti-drow plots based on the patron‘s agenda.

[Hiro Quester]

To be more clear, I doubt I will have any influence over the identity of the patron. The official patron is “the hexblade” if we’re playing by the book, a “mysterious entity from the shadowfell”.

Given that, I’m trying to figure out a fun way to roleplay having a relationship with a potentially malevolent entity who may have an agenda that I’m obliged to advance, even though I may not want to be forced to do so.

[Melphizard]

To be more clear, I doubt I will have any influence over the identity of the patron. The official patron is “the hexblade” if we’re playing by the book, a “mysterious entity from the shadowfell”.

Given that, I’m trying to figure out a fun way to roleplay having a relationship with a potentially malevolent entity who may have an agenda that I’m obliged to advance, even though I may not want to be forced to do so.

A mysterious entity from the shadowfell? From what I've read in books and on the Wikis about the Shadowfell, typical powerful entities in that area are:
- Skull Lords
- Night Walkers
- Mask (Thief god who has a realm on the plane)
- Shar (Night Goddess who has a realm on the plane)
- Null (Dragon God of Death who has multiple realms on the plane)
- Technically all powerful beings from the Domains of Dread
- Shadovar (Former Netherese folk)

There's a lot of different entities from those realms who could act as conduits of power and form pacts.

[f5anor]

To be more clear, I doubt I will have any influence over the identity of the patron. The official patron is “the hexblade” if we’re playing by the book, a “mysterious entity from the shadowfell”.

Given that, I’m trying to figure out a fun way to roleplay having a relationship with a potentially malevolent entity who may have an agenda that I’m obliged to advance, even though I may not want to be forced to do so.

The Shadowfell is not inherently evil, but evil creatures are strong and plentiful there. Evil may be abundant but it is never stated that only evil beings ever reside in the Shadowfell.

Although a complete account of the Raven Queen's motivations and origins was not generally known, it was believed that she was originally a much beloved elf queen from the Feywild who witnessed the conflict between Corellon and Lolth. Worried that the dispute might tear the Seldarine asunder, she rallied her followers to perform a powerful ritual in order to become a deity, so she could have the leverage to appeal to the deities' senses.

I dont think that you have to enforce an evil entity being the Hexblade patron, it would be fully justified if you did though.

In the case of an explicitly evil patron, the question is what is its agenda? As long as the Warlock furthers this agenda, I dont see that the alignment of the patron makes any difference. Unless the patron is psychotic, it will not ask the Warlock to do openly damaging things, since such acts would obviously create hurdles in achieving its goals.

An evil entity would place value in appearing trustworthy and reliable, all the while quietly guiding the Warlock towards supporting its evil goals, possibly even by performing good deeds, or at least deeds that feel good. Acts of revenge against evil acts, could later turn out to cause greater evil, or overthrowing a merely oppressive ruler may create the vacuum that will enable enable a truly evil ruler to take control etc.

[Ninjadeadbeard]

I've played warlocks with no relationship at all with their patron ("Two ships in the night"), warlocks who are slavishly loyal to their patron ("The devil was there when no one else was"), and warlocks who are out to screw their patron for all they're worth ("Patron rhymes with mark, from my point of view").

I really like the "Ghost of Zorro" thing said before though. I'd go with something like that. Like a warlock version of that one greentext, where the party rogue gets possessed by Don Quixote.

[DevilMcam]

The relationship between you and your patron is entirely up to you and your DM, as is their alignment.

The hexblade in particular is grey enough so that it doesn't need to be evil at all.

A couple years ago I played a hexblade who patron was a ghost ship inhabited by the souls of the locals navigators entitled to protect their homeland.
Not evil at all and still kept all the flavor of the hexblade

[Unoriginal]

To be more clear, I doubt I will have any influence over the identity of the patron. The official patron is “the hexblade” if we’re playing by the book, a “mysterious entity from the shadowfell”.

Given that, I’m trying to figure out a fun way to roleplay having a relationship with a potentially malevolent entity who may have an agenda that I’m obliged to advance, even though I may not want to be forced to do so.

I think you need to talk with your DM about the kind of entity you end up with before you can figure out how to make it fun.

Without knowing what your DM has in mind/is willing to let you do you really can't work on any concept, 'cause Hexblade patron could be anything and anyone from 'ghost of a vigilante" or 'ancestral supernatural friend' to 'the Archdevil Moloch'.

[tokek]

To be more clear, I doubt I will have any influence over the identity of the patron. The official patron is “the hexblade” if we’re playing by the book, a “mysterious entity from the shadowfell”.

Given that, I’m trying to figure out a fun way to roleplay having a relationship with a potentially malevolent entity who may have an agenda that I’m obliged to advance, even though I may not want to be forced to do so.

The archetypal patron is the Raven Queen and she's not malevolent so much as weird and mysterious.

I have played a Hexblade/Undying (changed subclass but narratively it was a different relationship to the same patron) which leaned heavily into the mysterious part. The patron came across as more like the 4th edition Raven Queen with elements of other things thrown in, whether she even was the Raven Queen or not remained a mystery. The patron was somewhat darker than the Neutral Good character but not evil, just distant from human concerns.

[Millstone85]

The archetypal patron is the Raven Queen and she's not malevolent so much as weird and mysterious.

I have played a Hexblade/Undying (changed subclass but narratively it was a different relationship to the same patron) which leaned heavily into the mysterious part. The patron came across as more like the 4th edition Raven Queen with elements of other things thrown in, whether she even was the Raven Queen or not remained a mystery. The patron was somewhat darker than the Neutral Good character but not evil, just distant from human concerns.I have recently reread the lore on the 4e Raven Queen, and found that she actually ought to have been evil-aligned. Like, big time.


In the early ages of the world, the souls of mortals unclaimed by the gods were not free to pass to the great beyond after death. Instead Nerull, the god of the dead, held them in his gray, cheerless dominion of Pluton. There they would spend eternity as powerless shades, haunted by the memory of life's rich sensation and vigor.
After her victory, the sorcerer-queen thought to take Nerull's place--but the other gods intervened. Rather than rising as the new deity of the dead, she instead presides over death itself. Mortal souls are no longer bound to eternal imprisonment but instead pass into the infinite, beyond the power or knowledge of the gods.
She sorely resents the gods who denied her the full power Nerull once wielded, and she jealously guards her domain. She has no power over souls who do not bind themselves to gods or devils in life, but the Raven Queen claims all who place themselves in her power, and they are enslaved within her cold realm forever.She was like a reverse-Kelemvor. Instead of being forced by the other gods to keep her predecessor's soultrap running, she was being stopped to turn it back on. :smalleek:

[MoiMagnus]

My Hexblade patron was the soul of a powerful Sorcerer magically trapped in some sort of magical object.
(My character didn't know exactly where his soul was stored, but it was part of the multitude ceremonial items and/or tatoos and/or the conjured weapon itseld. He had a blind faith in him so didn't felt the need to know too much about the detail. My Patron was a Guru venerated by my character before he ended up trapped there).

I did not chose to RP this a lot, but the interaction would have been very alike "Yu-Gi-Oh". Well, more of the Evil kind since my character gladly reached immortality as a Lich, but you get the idea.

[JLandan]

The relationship between you and your patron is entirely up to you and your DM, as is their alignment.

The hexblade in particular is grey enough so that it doesn't need to be evil at all.

A couple years ago I played a hexblade who patron was a ghost ship inhabited by the souls of the locals navigators entitled to protect their homeland.
Not evil at all and still kept all the flavor of the hexblade

I like the ghost ship idea. A lot of swashbuckler pirate flavor. Pact weapon: cutlass. Stat it out the same as scimitar.