Council Warlock (v1)

Powerful mortals tend to congregate in groups. Whether these are formed out of necessity or vanity, such groupings can collectively rival some of the more powerful beings, for a time. While mortal power is fleeting, it is this same quality that drives those most dedicated to its mastery.

Read on below for more on the Council Warlock!

-Warlock- Council Patron v1.1

You can also find the PDF version here.

A warlock of a Council is a strange thing indeed. Most mortal Councils have only enough power for a single servant, if that. This agent then serves as the Council’s eyes, ears, and hands in the affairs of the world – whether settling minor issues or studying for a place on the Council itself someday, these warlocks have quite a lot of knowledge and power at their fingertips. Provided the Council is available, of course.

FEATURES:

  • Faced with a problem you can’t solve alone? Never fear, you have the wisdom and power of archmages behind your cause!
  • The Council’s magic wards and protects you from attack!
  • When times seem darkest and your concentration is stretched thin, ask the Council to share in your struggle – two concentrating minds are better than one!

DESIGN NOTES:

  • This subclass is a combination of many things. Partially, it’s a response to the constant desire many people feel for an Intelligence-based warlock – not only does this subclass encourage pumping Intelligence, it also can (with an Eldritch Invocation) replace Charisma entirely. Otherwise, though, this is basically just Medivh, or any of the Guardians of Tirisfal really, from Warcraft and WoW. A single person empowered by archmages to protect the world – seems like a good warlock to me!
  • The primary guiding thought behind this subclass is “wizard-warlock.” This is meant to allow for the most wizardly warlock possible (without multiclassing). Otherwise, it’s really up to the player. One defining characteristic of the wizard is its versatility, after all.
  • Now, there are two problems here. Firstly, some likely won’t like the flavor behind this class. That is fair. Having a council of mortals replace an extradimensional being like a Fiend or Archfey can seem like a bit of a stretch. But the idea here isn’t that the Council is a strong as other Patrons, they’re merely very knowledgeable and very powerful in their own way.
  • Secondly, the subclass itself is on iffy grounds mechanically. Switching the primary casting stat of a class is unprecedented. Going from Charisma to Intelligence is in most cases a downgrade, but even so it can have its issues. For one, this subclass is insanely good for multiclassing with wizard. That could be an issue.
  • This is one of my weirder creations. It’s something I haven’t seen done yet (though I’m sure someone has), and whether or not it works is something that probably falls mostly to personal opinion. Hopefully the balance is sound though – I don’t mind if people don’t like the flavor. But if there’s problems with the mechanics, then we need to look at some changes.

Thanks for reading!

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