Warlock

As you make your warlock character, spend some time thinking about your patron and the obligations that your pact imposes upon you. What led you to make the pact, and how did you make contact with your patron? Were you seduced into summoning a devil, or did you seek out the ritual that would allow you to make contact with an alien elder god? Did you search for your patron, or did your patron find and choose you? Do you chafe under the obligations of your pact or serve joyfully in anticipation of the rewards promised to you?

Work with your DM to determine how big a part your pact will play in your character’s adventuring career. Your patron’s demands might drive you into adventures, or they might consist entirely of small favours you can do between adventures. What kind of relationship do you have with your patron? Is it friendly, antagonistic, uneasy, or romantic? How important does your patron consider you to be? What part do you play in your patron’s plans? Do you know other servants of your patron?

How does your patron communicate with you? If you have a familiar, it might occasionally speak with your patron’s voice. Some warlocks find messages from their patrons etched on trees, mingled among tea leaves, or adrift in the clouds — messages that only the warlock can see. Other warlocks converse with their patrons in dreams or waking visions, or deal only with intermediaries.   QUICK BUILD
You can make a warlock quickly by following these suggestions. First, Charisma should be your highest ability score, followed by Constitution. Second, choose the charlatan background. Third, choose the eldritch blast and chill touch cantrips, along with the 1st-level spells charm person and witch bolt.  

Warlock Table

 

Level	Proficiency Bonus	Features	Cantrips Known	Spells Known	Spell Slots	Slot Level	Invocations Known
1st	+2	Otherworldly Patron, Pact Magic	2	2	1	1st	--------------
2nd	+2	Eldritch Invocations	2	3	2	1st	2
3rd	+2	Pact Boon	2	4	2	2nd	2
4th	+2	Ability Score Improvement, Eldritch Versatility	3	5	2	2nd	2
5th	+3	-----------------------------------	3	6	2	3rd	3
6th	+3	Otherworldly Patron Feature	3	7	2	3rd	3
7th	+3	-----------------------------------	3	8	2	4th	4
8th	+3	Ability Score Improvement	3	9	2	4th	4
9th	+4	-----------------------------------	3	10	2	5th	5
10th	+4	Otherworldly Patron Feature	4	10	2	5th	5
11th	+4	Mystic Arcanum (6th Level)	4	11	3	5th	5
12th	+4	Ability Score Improvement	4	11	3	5th	6
13th	+5	Mystic Arcanum (7th Level)	4	12	3	5th	6
14th	+5	Otherworldly Patron Feature	4	12	3	5th	6
15th	+5	Mystic Arcanum (8th Level)	4	13	3	5th	7
16th	+5	Ability Score Improvement	4	13	3	5th	7
17th	+6	Mystic Arcanum (9th Level)	4	14	4	5th	7
18th	+6	-----------------------------------	4	14	4	5th	8
19th	+6	Ability Score Improvement	4	15	4	5th	8
20th	+6	Eldritch Master	4	15	4	5th	8

 

Class Features

As a warlock, you gain the following class features:  

Hit Points

Hit Dice: 1d8 per warlock level
Hit Points at 1st Level: 8 + your Constitution modifier
Hit Points at Higher Levels: 1d8 (or 5) + your Constitution modifier per warlock level after 1st    

Proficiencies

Armour: Light armour
Weapons: Simple weapons
Tools: None
Saving Throws: Wisdom, Charisma
Skills: Choose two skills from Arcana, Deception, History, Intimidation, Investigation, Nature, and Religion    

Equipment

You start with the following equipment, in addition to the equipment granted by your background:   (a) a light crossbow and 20 bolts or (b) any simple weapon
(a) a component pouch or (b) an arcane focus
(a) a scholar’s pack or (b) a dungeoneer’s pack
Leather armour, any simple weapon, and two daggers    

Otherworldly Patron

At 1st level, you have struck a bargain with an otherworldly being of your choice. You will find the different Patron options listed at the bottom of this article. Your choice grants you features at 1st level and again at 6th, 10th, and 14th level.    

Pact Magic

Your arcane research and the magic bestowed on you by your patron have given you facility with spells. See Spells Rules for the general rules of spellcasting and the Spells Listing for the warlock spell list. Below is a list of additional spells that a warlock can choose from, on top of the standard warlock spell list:

Cantrip (0 Level)
booming blade
green-flame blade
lightning lure
mind sliver
sword burst

3rd Level
intellect fortress
spirit shroud
summon fey
summon shadowspawn
summon undead

4th Level
summon aberration

5th Level
mislead
planar binding
teleportation circle

6th Level
summon fiend
Tasha's otherworldly guise

7th Level
dream of the blue veil

9th Level
blade of disaster
gate
weird

 

Cantrips

You know two cantrips of your choice from the warlock spell list. You learn additional warlock cantrips of your choice at higher levels, as shown in the Cantrips Known column of the Warlock table.    

Spell Slots

The Warlock table shows how many spell slots you have to cast your warlock spells of 1st through 5th level. The table also shows what the level of those slots is; all of your spell slots are the same level. To cast one of your warlock spells of 1st level or higher, you must expend a spell slot. You regain all expended Pact Magic spell slots when you finish a short or long rest.   For example, when you are 5th level, you have two 3rd-level spell slots. To cast the 1st-level spell witch bolt, you must spend one of those slots, and you cast it as a 3rd-level spell.    

Spells Known of 1st Level and Higher

At 1st level, you know two 1st-level spells of your choice from the warlock spell list.   The Spells Known column of the Warlock table shows when you learn more warlock spells of your choice of 1st level and higher. A spell you choose must be of a level no higher than what’s shown in the table’s Slot Level column for your level. When you reach 6th level, for example, you learn a new warlock spell, which can be 1st, 2nd, or 3rd level.   Additionally, when you gain a level in this class, you can choose one of the warlock spells you know and replace it with another spell from the warlock spell list, which also must be of a level for which you have spell slots.    

Spellcasting Ability

Charisma is your spellcasting ability for your warlock spells, so you use your Charisma whenever a spell refers to your spellcasting ability. In addition, you use your Charisma modifier when setting the saving throw DC for a warlock spell you cast and when making an attack roll with one.

Spellcasting Focus

You can use an arcane focus (see the Adventuring Gear section) as a spellcasting focus for your warlock spells.    

Eldritch Invocations

In your study of occult lore, you have unearthed eldritch invocations, fragments of forbidden knowledge that imbue you with an abiding magical ability.

At 2nd level, you gain two eldritch invocations of your choice. When you gain certain warlock levels, you gain additional invocations of your choice, as shown in the Invocations Known column of the Warlock table.

Additionally, when you gain a level in this class, you can choose one of the invocations you know and replace it with another invocation that you could learn at that level.

If an eldritch invocation has prerequisites, you must meet them to learn it. You can learn the invocation at the same time that you meet its prerequisites. A level prerequisite refers to your level in this class.

Click here to read and choose your Eldritch Invocations.    

Pact Boon

At 3rd level, your otherworldly patron bestows a gift upon you for your loyal service. You gain one of the following features of your choice:

Pact of the Blade
You can use your action to create a pact weapon in your empty hand. You can choose the form that this melee weapon takes each time you create it. You are proficient with it while you wield it. This weapon counts as magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance and immunity to nonmagical attacks and damage.

Your pact weapon disappears if it is more than 5 feet away from you for 1 minute or more. It also disappears if you use this feature again, if you dismiss the weapon (no action required), or if you die.

You can transform one magic weapon into your pact weapon by performing a special ritual while you hold the weapon. You perform the ritual over the course of 1 hour, which can be done during a short rest. You can then dismiss the weapon, shunting it into an extradimensional space, and it appears whenever you create your pact weapon thereafter. You can't affect an artefact or a sentient weapon in this way. The weapon ceases being your pact weapon if you die, if you perform the 1-hour ritual on a different weapon, or if you use a 1-hour ritual to break your bond to it. The weapon appears at your feet if it is in the extradimensional space when the bond breaks.

Pact of the Chain
You learn the find familiar spell and can cast it as a ritual. The spell doesn't count against your number of spells known. When you cast the spell, you can choose one of the normal forms for your familiar or one of the following special forms: imp, pseudodragon, quasit, or sprite.

Additionally, when you take the Attack action, you can forgo one of your own attacks to allow your familiar to use its reaction to make one attack with its reaction.

Pact of the Tome
Your patron gives you a grimoire called a Book of Shadows. When you gain this feature, choose three cantrips from any class's spell list (the three needn't be from the same list). While the book is on your person, you can cast those cantrips at will. They don't count against your number of cantrips known. If they don't appear on the warlock spell list, they are nonetheless warlock spells for you.

If you lose your Book of Shadows, you can perform a 1-hour ceremony to receive a replacement from your patron. This ceremony can be performed during a short or long rest, and it destroys the previous book. The book turns to ash when you die.

Pact of the Talisman
Your patron gives you an amulet, a talisman that can aid the wearer when the need is great. When the wearer fails an ability check, they can add a d4 to the roll, potentially turning the roll into a success. This benefit can be used a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and all expended uses are restored when you finish a long rest.

If you lose the talisman, you can perform a 1-hour ceremony to receive a replacement from your patron. This ceremony can be performed during a short or long rest, and it destroys the previous amulet. The talisman turns to ash when you die.    

Ability Score Improvement

When you reach 4th level, and again at 8th, 12th, 16th, and 19th level, you can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or you can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, you can’t increase an ability score above 20 using this feature.   Using the optional feats rule, you can forgo taking this feature to take a feat of your choice instead.    

Eldritch Versatility

Whenever you reach a level in this class that grants the Ability Score Improvement feature, you can do one of the following, representing a change of focus in your occult studies:

• Replace one cantrip you learned from this class's Pact Magic feature with another cantrip from the warlock spell list.
  
  
• Replace the option you chose for the Pact Boon feature with one of that feature's other options.
  
  
• If you're 12th level or higher, replace one spell from your Mystic Arcanum feature with another warlock spell of the same level.
  
  

If this change makes you ineligible for any of your Eldritch Invocations, you must also replace them now, choosing invocations for which you qualify.    

Mystic Arcanum

At 11th level, your patron bestows upon you a magical secret called an arcanum. Choose one 6th-level spell from the warlock spell list as this arcanum.   You can cast your arcanum spell once without expending a spell slot. You must finish a long rest before you can do so again.   At higher levels, you gain more warlock spells of your choice that can be cast in this way: one 7th-level spell at 13th level, one 8th-level spell at 15th level, and one 9th-level spell at 17th level. You regain all uses of your Mystic Arcanum when you finish a long rest.    

Eldritch Master

At 20th level, you can draw on your inner reserve of mystical power while entreating your patron to regain expended spell slots. You can spend 1 minute entreating your patron for aid to regain all your expended spell slots from your Pact Magic feature. Once you regain spell slots with this feature, you must finish a long rest before you can do so again.    

Otherworldly Patrons

The beings that serve as patrons for warlocks are mighty inhabitants of other planes of existence—not gods, but almost godlike in their power. Various patrons give their warlocks access to different powers and invocations, and expect significant favours in return.

Some patrons collect warlocks, doling out mystic knowledge relatively freely or boasting of their ability to bind mortals to their will. Other patrons bestow their power only grudgingly, and might make a pact with only one warlock. Warlocks who serve the same patron might view each other as allies, siblings, or rivals.