Warlock (Dungeons & Dragons)


The warlock is a character class in the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. It was introduced as a non-core base class who practice arcane magic in the supplemental book Complete Arcane for the 3.5 edition of Dungeons & Dragons. In 4th and 5th edition, the warlock is a core class.

Publication history

''Dungeons & Dragons'' 3rd edition

Warlocks in 3rd edition receive their abilities through the influence of some unearthly being such as a Demon or Fey. They are either born with these powers or receive them through a fell pact, which turns their soul into a dark font of eldritch powers. Warlocks do not cast spells, but instead use spell-like abilities called "invocations", which represent the tapping of the power granted to the warlock. The most important of these abilities is the "eldritch blast" which is the warlock's main offensive ability, firing a blast of magical energy at the target.
The major difference that warlocks have from all other D&D 3rd edition magic users is their ability to use their invocations "at will," without a limit on the number of times an invocation can be cast. In contrast, a wizard or sorcerer can cast a set number of spells every day from a wider selection of spells than a warlock.

''Dungeons & Dragons'' 4th edition

In 4th edition, the warlock's powers are known as spells, and use the standard power system. The warlock has many different unique abilities, though a warlock's trademark ability is still Eldritch Blast. They can also deliver various effects through Warlock's Curse. The Warlock's other class features make them more accurate at ranged attacks when no ally is closer to their target and allow them to gain concealment whenever they move a sufficient distance. Almost all of the warlock's attack powers depend on charisma or constitution for accuracy and damage, with some powers gaining bonuses from intelligence.
The specific source of the warlock's power is defined as a Pact, which affects at-will power options and makes certain powers more effective and provides a pact boon, an effect which is triggered whenever a cursed enemy is killed or incapacitated. There are six Pacts:
Tieflings and gnomes have racial bonuses to both intelligence and charisma. In 4th edition a warlock's role is striker, meaning they are designed to deal heavy damage while avoiding retaliation. Warlocks also have many exotic powers that have bonus effects; such as Eyebite which makes the warlock invisible for one turn if it hits. Many of the Warlock's powers allow them to move as part of an attack or to move in an unusual manner, such as flight or teleportation.

''Dungeons & Dragons'' Essentials

The Essentials rulebook Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms presented an alternate version of the Warlock, known as the Hexblade. The later rulebook Player's Option: Heroes of Shadow introduced another Warlock variant, the Binder. Both of these variants were adaptations of classes introduced in the 3.5 edition of the game.

''Dungeons & Dragons'' 5th edition

The warlock was included as a character class in the 5th edition Player's Handbook. It is a magic-using class with a combination of spells and invocations granted by the warlock's patron.
The warlock has three options for its patron in the Player's Handbook: The Archfey, the Fiend, and the Great Old One. Warlocks with a patron of the Archfey make pacts with powerful lords of Faerie, wild incarnations of the forces of nature, to gain their power; those with the Fiend patron make deals and bargains with infernal powers such as Demon Lords and Princes of Hell for magic; and those with the Great Old One patron draw their magical power from the Far Realm, strange, dark gods of entropy such as Tharizdun, or even eldritch alien beings, and are often on the verge of insanity. The Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide adds a fourth possible patron, the Undying, drawing their powers from pacts with powerful immortals like Iuz the dread or the lich-queen Vol. In Xanathar's Guide to Everything, two more patron options were added: The Celestial, where a pact is forged with a being connected to the Upper Planes such as a unicorn or solar, and the Hexblade, whose patron is a mysterious force from the Shadowfell that creates sentient magic weapons. It also added 14 new Eldritch Invocation options, with a focus on higher level play and building off of other class features.
Three options for its type of pact are presented. Pact of the Chain allows the warlock to summon a familiar, Pact of the Tome grants the warlock a Book of Shadows containing additional spells, and Pact of the Blade allows the warlock to conjure a magical weapon for combat.
The warlock uses charisma as its spellcasting ability. It is structured so that its spell slots and spells known are limited, but the slots renew after every short rest, and all spells are always cast at the highest slot level to which the warlock has access. These spells are supplemented with invocations that provide additional abilities.

Other media

Warlocks are featured in the Neverwinter Nights 2 video game from Obsidian Entertainment.
The Warlock class is offered in the MMO computer game Dungeons & Dragons Online.

Reception

Screen Rant rated the warlock class as the 7th most powerful class of the base 12 character classes in the 5th edition.
The Gamer rated the 5th edition warlock subclass Celestial Patron as the 7th most awesome subclass out of the 32 new character options in Xanathar’s Guide to Everything.
Gus Wezerek, for FiveThirtyEight, reported that of the 5th edition "class and race combinations per 100,000 characters that players created on D&D Beyond from" August 15 to September 15, 2017, warlocks were the 8th most created at 8,711 total. Tiefling was the most common racial combination followed by human and then half-elf.