As everyone knows, a Warlock’s power comes from pacts with powerful patrons. Who that person is and the nature of the pact depends on the Warlock, but the mechanics are the same for all Warlocks in Dungeons & Dragons. For some reason, they needed an ally or master with strength that could rival the gods.
We’ll go through each of the Warlock subclasses and the suggested patrons for each one.
Table of Contents
The Archfey Patrons
Your patron is a lord or lady of the fey, a creature of legend who holds secrets that were forgotten before the mortal races were born. This being’s motivations are often inscrutable, and sometimes whimsical, and might involve a striving for greater magical power or the settling of age-old grudges.
- The Prince of Frost
- The Queen of Air and Darkness, ruler of the Gloaming Court
- Titania of the Summer Court
- Oberon, the Green Lord
- Hyrsam, the Prince of Fools
- Ancient hags
The Celestial Patrons
Your celestial is a powerful being of the Upper Planes. Your pact with that being allows you to experience the barest touch of the holy light that illuminates the multiverse.
- Empyrean
- Solar
- Ki-rin
- Unicorn
The Fathomless Patrons
You have plunged into a pact with the deeps. An entity of the ocean, the Elemental Plane of Water, or another otherworldly sea now allows you to draw on its thalassic power. Whatever the reason for your pact, the sea, and its unknown depths call to you.
- Kraken
- Water Elemental
- Merfolk demigod
- Sea hag coven
The Fiend Patrons
You have made a pact with a fiend from the lower planes of existence, a being whose aims are evil, even if you strive against those aims. Such beings desire the corruption or destruction of all things, ultimately including you.
- Demogorgon
- Orcus
- Fraz’Urb-luu
- Baphomet
- Asmodeus
- Dispater
- Mephistopheles
- Belial
- Pit fiend
- Balor
- Ultroloth
The Genie Patrons
You have made a pact with one of the rarest kinds of genie, a noble genie. Such entities rule vast fiefs on the Elemental Planes and have great influence over lesser genies and elemental creatures. Noble genies are varied in their motivations, but most are arrogant and wield power that rivals that of lesser deities. They delight in turning the table on mortals, who often bind genies into servitude, and readily enter into pacts that expand their reach.
Currently, there are no characters of genies in D&D, so your DM will need to make one. However, you could always choose an elemental (fire, air, water, or earth), or a dragon as your genie stand-in.
The Great Old One Patrons
Yours is a mysterious entity whose nature is utterly foreign to the fabric of reality. It might come from the Far Realm, the space beyond reality, or it could be one of the elder gods known only in legends. Its motives are incomprehensible to mortals, and its knowledge so immense and ancient that even the greatest libraries pale in comparison to the vast secrets it holds.
- Ghaunadar, called That Which Lurks
- Tharizdun, the Chained God
- Dendar, the Night Serpent
- Zargon, the Returner
- Great Cthulhu
The Hexblade Patrons
Like the Genie subclass, the only somewhat established entity for Hexblade is a sentient sword called Blackrazor. There is some connection with the Raven Queen and the Shadowfell as a whole, but your DM will need to decide how they want to handle a Hexblade pact-maker. Sentient weapons are a good choice, but thematically you could really choose almost any creature, even something like a dragon that wouldn’t fall into any of the other categories.
The Undead Patrons
You’ve made a pact with a deathless being, a creature that defies the cycle and life and death, forsaking its mortal shell so it might eternally pursue its unfathomable ambitions. For such beings, time and morality are fleeting things, the concerns of those for whom grains of sand still rush through life’s hourglass. Having once been mortal themselves, these ancient undead know firsthand the paths of ambition and the routes past the doors of death. They eagerly share this profane knowledge, along with other secrets, with those who work their will among the living.
- Acererak
- Kas the Bloody-Handed
- Vlaakith
- Dragotha
- Ankhtepot
- Darklord Azalin Rex
The Undying Patrons
Death holds no sway over your master, who has unlocked the secrets of everlasting life, although such a prize—like all power—comes at a price. Once mortal, the Undying has seen mortal lifetimes pass like the seasons, like the flicker of endless days and nights. It has the secrets of the ages to share, secrets of life and death.
- Vecna, Lord of the Hand and the Eye
- Dread Iuz
- Lich-queen Vol
- Undying Court of Aerenal
- Vlaakith, lich-queen of the githyanki
- Fistandantalus
- Larloch the Shadow King
- Master of Warlock’s Crypt
- Gilgeam, the God-King of Unther
