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Nerdarchy > Player tips  > Player Tips – Adding more Class to your Class – Warlock
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Player Tips – Adding more Class to your Class – Warlock

Player Tips – Adding more Class to your Class – Sorcerer
Player Tips - Adding More Class to Your Class - Wizard

more to your warlockWell my friends you have made it to successfully to another Friday.  It is time for some more player tips, Adding more class to your class and this time I am going to tackle, arguably the crowd favorite class, Warlock.  Last week we talked on the Sorcerer, and you can read about it here.

The warlock has the ability to do things all because a Faustian bargain made with a ‘dark’ power.  Well that is stretching it a little.  There is nothing that says it has to be a dark power and in fact with the Unearthed Arcana the pact of Light warlock looks like it is designed for good guys.

The sorcerer is born with power and the warlock makes bargain to get it so in that they are the same that they do not have a lot of time spent in there back story where they are trapped in some kind of training mode.  So because of this they too have a lot of time free to enter a lot of story into it.

But as you have made a pact with something for power you need to figure out what it is you have made a deal with.  Why did you make this deal?  Did you seek out power?  Did you go after this creature or were you sought out and a deal was made in a desperate situation?

Once the deal was struck what was its impact you?  What do you think the long term effects are going to be?  Do you struggle with the decision you have made knowing that you can not go back and change it?  Do you feel like a puppet or do you feel that you can still do what you want?

What is the interaction level of the pacy giver?  Have you talked with your DM about how this pact is going to effect the game and his story?  Are things intertwined or separate?  Is your DM on board for dealing with your story or is you being a warlock not factored into the tale that they are going to tell?

Lastly are you willing to give up your powers if you can over come the terms of the original bargain or are they something that you wish to keep despite the power coming from another source?

Player Tips – Adding More Class to Your Class – Backgrounds

Similar to sorcerer the warlock need not go through extensive training allowing for more time spent in backgrounds.  Is the situation that lead up to your taking a pact linked to an event that happened as part of your background career.  Did you fall over board while being a sailor?  Did an accident happen while you were performing.  Was there an explosion at the forge you were working at?

Acolyte – You spent time serving the church.  It was dull and boring and it did not fit you.  One night you player tips warlockawake in a sweat.  A small voice is heard only in your head.  You creep through the darkness in the empty night.  The chapel looks differently at night then it does in the day. After the voice guides you along for a while you find yourself in a part of the temple you have never been before.  The voice getting excited leads you to the bookshelf and hidden within another book.  You can only assume you read the book or was it all a dream.  You wake up with new found powers and the voice in your head.

Charlatan – You have spent years getting over on people and just loving it.  You get caught as you are attempting to get one over on a very powerful noble.  In jail and awaiting sentencing you cry out mentally can’t anyone help.  You envision your self standing elsewhere having a conversation with a shadowy figure.  When the conversation is over not only not only are you in the countryside but your appearance has changed. You are free to cavort as you desire.

Criminal – The dark world of being a thief and criminal can be challenging.  What if you find yourself in a jam.  A bargain is offered and you take power to escape capture and future profit.  You now have to decide do you use your new found powers to elevate your life out of crime or just make you excel at it.

Entertainer -Perhaps you felt your calling in life was to perform for others.  What if something happened and you had an accident that prevented you from being able to entertain.  Was it an injury, was it something traumatic?  It left you distraught for a long time.  Either you sought them out or your were sought out and a bargain was made.  All you thought you were going to get was to over come your issue.  You were not prepared for all this power.  How did you react?

Folk Hero  -As a young adult you uncovered a plot or a threat to the small village you are from.  While this attracted the attention of the town it also attracted other  powers as well.  A strange old man offered you power in return for service.   It was all vague at how it happened.  It took years for your powers to manifest so you thought nothing of it until the old man appeared again asking for a favor.

Guild Artisan – You have always desired to be the best at your craft.  Despite all your efforts the work your rival turns out always seems to looks, performs or is just considered better.   You question whether they are naturally gifted or if they posses a secret that you do not.  It gets frustrating that you utter a curse at your rival.  That night you are visited by one who claims to know the secret to your rivals success.  If you perform occasional tasks they are willing to share the secret.  In your ambition and tiredness you accept.

Hermit – Some how you have uncovered darkness that might spread among the world.  Sadly you could not resist its power and after years in isolation you have given in and are ready to rejoin the world.  Is the world ready for what you are bringing back?

Noble – For some nobles it is all fancy balls and boring haughty conversation.  You seek challenge and player tips warlockfun.  On one late night adventure you encounter a mysterious stranger.  Clad in shadows they offer the fun you seek for just one small favor.  You eagerly agree only to find that the favor was servitude.

Outlander – You spend your life outdoors.  You are more used to the wind and rain in the trees that the hustle and bustle of a city street.   You are out exploring the forest one day preparing to hunt when you come across a strange sigil n the ground.  You do not remember much else besides that, but you come to several days later with full knowledge of these new abilities.

Sage – Your family placed you in your first apprenticeship and things did not go well. You were to distracted by anything and everything.  You wind up in a library full of books.  Begrudgingly you take to your tasks.  When the master of the tower is found slain, a dagger plunged in his chest while he slept.  You run for your life.  It is on that run that power and strength are offered to you.

Sailor – Life aboard a ship has its twists and turns.  In the height of a storm you are thrown over board.  You quickly are tossed about no longer seeing the ship.  You gasp in shock forgetting that you are under water.  Taking a breath of water you quickly begin the struggle for life.  Tossed and turned around you are no longer sure which way is up.  It is at that exact moment that you feel a presence not around you but in your mind.  It claims it can save your life but only for a cost.  As you agree a line you are guessing finds its way into your hand and you struggle for life as you pull yourself out of the water.  Your shipmates on the other end of the line help pull you up.  You wonder for a while whether it was only a hallucination or if it actually happened.

Soldier – War brings pain and death.  War leaves people changed.  For you though, you were changed at a pivotal moment.  You were fighting in a battle as a common soldier.  Your squad was getting decimated and you were in the center.  If you line broke that would be it you would lose the battle perhaps the war.  Your leader sees his death coming and calls for you all to fall back.  As your squad follows its command they are getting cut down.  Everything freezes and you feel lifted off the field of battle.  Time seems frozen as you look below and see the full battle.  With the center falling you will lose. A large figure, too big for you to take all of it in, claims it can give you what you need to be the hero today in exchange to tasks in the future.  When you return you are in a key position to take out the opposing squads leader and several of your fallen comrades get back up.  You are unsure but they have a weird look in their eye.  You turn the tide and save the day, but at what cost.

Urchin – Life is hard when you are cold and hungry.  The desperate are the essayist to lure into the clutches of power for the offer need only be small in comparison to those of higher station.  After your family died around you from starvation, your cry as your brother draws his last breath as a voice says all you need do is serve and this will never be your fate.  The hunger in your belly growls and you eager acceptance covers the pain wracking your body.  Claiming power will now be your future, but to what ends will you aid those like your self or walk over those lower than yourself?

So there you have it.  More player tips on adding more class to your class for the warlock.  Next week we should finish up the series with the wizard.  Let me know what you think of this article or the series as a whole in the comments below.

Thanks for reading and until Next Time, Stay Nerdy!

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Ted Adams

The nerd is strong in this one. I received my bachelors degree in communication with a specialization in Radio/TV/Film. I have been a table op role player for about 20 years 17 of which with the current group. I have played several itterations of D&D, Mutants and Masterminds 2nd and 3rd editions, Star wars RPG, Shadowrun and World of Darkness. I am an avid fan of books and follow a few authors reading all they write. Favorite author is Jim Butcher I have been an on/off larper for around 15 years even doing a stretch of running my own for a while. I have played a number of Miniature games including Warhammer 40K, Warhammer Fantasy, Heroscape, Mage Knight, Dreamblade and D&D Miniatures. I have practiced with the art of the German long sword with an ARMA group for over 7 years studying the German long sword, sword and buckler, dagger, axe and polearm. By no strecth of the imagination am I an expert but good enough to last longer than the average person if the Zombie apocalypse ever happens. I am an avid fan of board games and dice games with my current favorite being Quarrios.

3 Comments

  • Brian Lynn
    April 25, 2016 at 4:08 pm

    May I recommend that you also do a "Player Tips – Adding more Class to your Class – Blood Hunter(WitchHunter)" blog post should be done as a specialty feature.

  • Steve Waterman
    April 29, 2016 at 12:13 am

    Really like some of these Ted

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