Quote Originally Posted by diplomancer View Post
I think one thing in common with most warlocks is the adversarial (or at least neutral/indifferent) relationship with the Patron. This also thematically sets them apart from Clerics and Paladins.

So how do you do it with a being of the upper planes? By being a bad guy (or at least someone who did something terrible in the past), and is now being "redeemed", willy-nilly, by his Patron; the Celestial Warlock I'm playing with right now did something terrible that resulted in the accidental death of a childhood friend, long forsaken for more exciting, criminal friends; childhood friend's last words were wishing that I'd grow a conscience. Boom! Celestial Patron that's now interested in keeping me on the straight and narrow.
I think Jean val Jean, from Les Miserables is a good model for a Celestial Warlock. No magical powers, of course, but he's a reformed criminal who was given a second chance not to rot in jail, on condition that he devote his life to doing God's work. And it's not easy for him! He ends up having to uproot his life twice, caring for the daughter of a woman he barely knew, risking his life in a struggle that he doesn't have a stake in and eventually living out his last days in self-imposed exile.