Which Warlock idea do you like best?

[DarkMoon250]

I've been pulling together some ideas for a Warlock to play as my first major character, but I'm a bit of an indecisive person and can't decide which one to play. Was wondering what folks here think sounds the most interesting.

-a Hexblade Warlock who acts as a sort of voodoo priest. His desire to learn about what happens to souls in the Shadowfell led to him discovering an artifact of the Raven Queen, a Skull Lord making him a proxy on the material plane, or an ancient Shadow Dragon charging him with releasing the old wyrm from its imprisonment.

-a Lurker in the Deep Warlock with recurring visions of a dark oceanic abyss since his childhood. He is either a cultist for a Leviathan wanting to expand the influence of the Plane of Water, or he's been reached out to by one of the last few Krakens who remain loyal to the good-aligned Upper Planes (though it's thalassic grandeur may wear on his psyche).

-an Undead Warlock with a genocidal grudge against a race or civilization that he blames for wiping out his entire town. He seeks to release a Nightwalker from the Negative Energy Plane and set it loose in order to even the score (but he may or may not have a change of heart, or a "what have I done" moment if **** actually manages to hit the fan).



All of these, of course, will be cleared first with the DM and dropped/revised as needed for the setting of the campaign, but I'd like to at least get some group feedback on these current ideas.

[OldTrees1]

I like the elder evil vibes of a Lurker in the Deep Warlock. Slowly go insane.

[TrueAlphaGamer]

Yeah I'm biased towards Lurker, so that's what I'd play if given the choice. It has the strongest flavor of the warlock patrons while still allowing for a bit of mystery. It best encompasses the 'Shadow Over Innsmouth" type of fantasy, if that's something you'd want to touch on.

[firelistener]

The undead warlock sounds like it would be troublesome for the table. Unless the race or civilization is unequivocally evil, there's a high chance you're setting yourself up to be a problem player by flying off the handle and insulting or attacking when the party would rather you didn't.

All the Hexblade ones are cool, but I especially like the idea of a good-aligned kraken Lurker patron. It's very different from your typical warlock, and it gives you a good-aligned character so you can actually play a character that the rest of the party will probably like.

[KorvinStarmast]

-a Lurker in the Deep Warlock with recurring visions of a dark oceanic abyss since his childhood. He is either a cultist for a Leviathan wanting to expand the influence of the Plane of Water, or he's been reached out to by one of the last few Krakens who remain loyal to the good-aligned Upper Planes (though it's thalassic grandeur may wear on his psyche).

This one sounds like the best choice of the three.
Best wishes and have fun.

Let us know how it goes.

[zinycor]

Personally I like my warlocks being like ghost rider, a mean guy who look rad and does some questionable things but are ultimately good guys. So none of these really catch my attention.

[Composer99]

Going to concur that the middle one (the Lurker) sounds the coolest.

[Magicspook]

I agree with the rest.

Also hexblade is of questionable reputation so I'd recommend against it for your first character, lest your teammates look unfavourable upon you.

[Keravath]

The other aspect to your choice is how you plan to play the character ...
- pact of the tome
- pact of the chain
- pact of the blade

Mechanically, hexblade is the best choice if you want to go blade pact. Medium armor, shields and martial weapons are all very useful if you want to be in melee. On the other hand, if you plan to rely on eldritch blast, which fits all of the characters you described, then you can focus on the character back story more without having to give up functionality to match the concept.

Personally, I like the good kraken patron idea ... but I tend to prefer good characters to evil ones since they tend to work better with a party and have goals that typically align better with the rest of the campaign and other players. On the other hand, you can probably make all of these work with a good or at least neutral character. Good characters can be driven by revenge or a righteous need to see a perpetrator punished ... that might be more lawful that good though. If the character follows the philosophy of punishment fitting the crime then wiping out an entire village could be used to justify some extreme response.

[MrStabby]

I would vote for lurker.

[dragoeniex]

I'll go against the tide here and say I think the hexblade sounds most interesting. You said the character wants to find out what happens to souls in the Shadowfell, and that's a compelling motivation.

Does the character want to discover what may have become of lost loved ones? Are they filled with existential dread and trying not to have a panic attack over the fact that one day their existence as they know it will end and change in ways they have no control over? Are they determined to control their own fate? Or are they looking at this with a purely scientific curiosity?

This setup has an interesting goal already, and it comes with fun, shady flavor. A character who is being genuinely helpful but can put NPCs off at times by being Existential Eeyore sounds great, haha.

[DarkMoon250]

I'll go against the tide here and say I think the hexblade sounds most interesting. You said the character wants to find out what happens to souls in the Shadowfell, and that's a compelling motivation.

Does the character want to discover what may have become of lost loved ones? Are they filled with existential dread and trying not to have a panic attack over the fact that one day their existence as they know it will end and change in ways they have no control over? Are they determined to control their own fate? Or are they looking at this with a purely scientific curiosity?

This setup has an interesting goal already, and it comes with fun, shady flavor. A character who is being genuinely helpful but can put NPCs off at times by being Existential Eeyore sounds great, haha.

I think the only thing that deters me from taking Hexblade is that I'm not sure how to capitalize on the flavor for it. While it's a very strong subclass and it's existing lore has already called forth a few different ideas from my brain, it just feels a bit too... I suppose "generic" is the best way to describe it's mechanics.

There are no shadow- or necrotic- themed features to really make the character feel like it's drawing power from the types of beings I've imagined; it's just a single curse, with straightforward damaging effects, and that's it. Still, Xanathar's was the first DnD book I ever bought, so I somewhat feel like I'm required to take it.

[dragoeniex]

I think the only thing that deters me from taking Hexblade is that I'm not sure how to capitalize on the flavor for it. While it's a very strong subclass and it's existing lore has already called forth a few different ideas from my brain, it just feels a bit too... I suppose "generic" is the best way to describe it's mechanics.

There are no shadow- or necrotic- themed features to really make the character feel like it's drawing power from the types of beings I've imagined; it's just a single curse, with straightforward damaging effects, and that's it. Still, Xanathar's was the first DnD book I ever bought, so I somewhat feel like I'm required to take it.

I could see those concerns. First off, though, try not to feel obligated into taking anything. If you end up drifting toward one of the others, that's okay; I'm sure you'll use some of the things you found in Xanathar's still even if not the subclass. You may spend a fair amount of time as this character, right? So the main thing is making a fun experience for yourself.


In case you want to use the Hexblade and just have flavor concerns, though, let's talk about a few of those.

First up, check out your lv 6 feature Accursed Specter

Starting at 6th level, when you slay a humanoid, you can cause its spirit to rise from its corpse as a specter, the statistics for which are in the Monster Manual. When the specter appears, it gains temporary hit points equal to half your warlock level. Roll initiative for the specter which has its own turns. It obeys your verbal commands, and it gains a special bonus to its attack rolls equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum of +0). The specter remains in your service until the end of your next long rest, at which point it vanishes to the afterlife. Once you bind a specter with this feature, you can't use the feature again until you finish a long rest.



This is extremely on-point. Controlling a shadowy specter before it's fully released to its afterlife? Shady in theme and morals!

And you mentioned the curse as well, which is definitely a big part of the Hexblade. Even in its base form, the curse clings to its target and makes them more vulnerable to your hits-- extra damage, double crit chance-- and you steal some of their vitality if they die while still cursed. You don't even have to finish them off; the nature of the curse does this for you.

I like to play with flavor on curses. Why not envision this as the target's own shadow standing up and embracing them, weighing down their movements? Or your shadow stretches forward suddenly, becoming a tether from you to the target's shadow that remains no matter where they move?

The Armor of Hexes improvement can go along with that. When your target is forced to miss you with an attack that should have landed, it's either your shadow or their own knocking the weapon off-course.

The expanded spell list giving you access to items like Blink and Spectral Killer makes you more of an ethereal threat.

Banishing Smite? Clearly you'll keep the mechanic of natives to your current plan being held in a "harmless demiplane," but why not talk to the DM about having victims of this catch glimpses of the Shadowfell, as if you're holding them at its borders?



These are just a few examples of how things could tie nicely into that Gothic feel you're going for. If it's the subclass you want to gun for, go nuts with flavoring that's already there.

If it's still not your cup of tea, that's okay too. Do what's fun for you.

[Joe the Rat]

I'm just happy that two of your three Hexblade ideas went to "Dark Powers" rather than have an artifact sword fixation.

I would be fine with any of them, with a word of caution on the Undead one, as you need to play it as a secret motivation, with either a "game-friendly" civilization target (ostensible bad guys, one specific duchy, elves, etc.) or be willing to smile with gritted teeth until the time is right.
But I would also be heavily in favor of that one, because Torchwood.

[DarkMoon250]

I'm just happy that two of your three Hexblade ideas went to "Dark Powers" rather than have an artifact sword fixation.

I would be fine with any of them, with a word of caution on the Undead one, as you need to play it as a secret motivation, with either a "game-friendly" civilization target (ostensible bad guys, one specific duchy, elves, etc.) or be willing to smile with gritted teeth until the time is right.
But I would also be heavily in favor of that one, because Torchwood.

Yeah, it's the Shadow Plane flavor text that caught my eye when I first learned about Hexblade. I may be going against the grain, but personally I'd rather ignore the sentient weapon focus.

I realize that with the undead warlock i thought of, such a grudge-filled PC might not be the best team player in some situations. I've also thought about it being an ex-death cultist now on the run from his former brotherhood after confronting them with an epiphany that the Negative Plane was a compliment to the Positive Plane instead of an enemy (which, being apocalypse-obsessed evil cult masters, they didn't really appreciate). I'm not quite sure about when and how he would make his pact in this revised scenario, though.

[Toadkiller]

The one that gives you that little twinge of regret when you think about not choosing it.

Play the one that interests you.