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Breaking the Pact: A Lore Topic
unsungchampion
Member Posts: 70 Arc User
So, I am a roleplayer. I am also an admitted new to the DnD Lore. I have a character whom made pact with a demon to prolong her life and grant her enormous power, in exchange that she hunts down escaped demons devils from the Blood War. First of all would this make any sense. Also eventually I want her to break the pack. Not linking her to any demon/devils and she would become a bloodmage, keeping her ability to do warlock-esque things, but not being bound to a contrat. Is this even possible?
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The pact seems fine. It makes sense, at any rate. As for warlocks breaking their respective packs, I believe (but am not 100% sure) that is possible but dangerous. Your warlock can ignore the contents of her contract and keep her warlock powers (the contract is similar to a god-cleric relationship, the power cannot be retracted), but would find herself hunted by the same demon with which she make the pact in the first place.
Another way would be to make a new pact with a power that would protect you, like Corellon or Shar or an entity that serves them (Fey & Star Pacts, respectively). In 4e, when power is bestowed by a Deity, it cannot be taken away by that Deity, except upon one's final death - e.g. body destroyed, soul goes to the Plane it belongs to (since Mystra isn't controlling Magic, arcane or divine, in 4th - She's back now in 5th/Next edition).
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I'd say that Zebular explained it quite well, but I'd like to point a little detail.
Both Corellon and Selûne (Or Sehanine Moonbow!) would be able to provide Fey Pacts, but not Star Pacts. Star Pacts are intimately related with the Far Realm, and only gods (Or, in this case, elder evils) like Ilsensine, Dendar the Night Serpent, Kezef the Chaos Hound, and Ityak-Ortheel the Elf-Eater would be the divine patrons of a Star Pact Warlock.
Update: Oh I see.. I wrote Selune in my post above, instead of Shar. I corrected that, my apologies!
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I also have another question, I thought Warlocks could not make Packs with Deities, isn't that the same of being a Priest? Would a Deity/Celestial Warlock be Stronger than a Warlock that contracts with lesser powers... I Mean Asmodeous Warlock then should be Overly more powerful than the other Warlocks that make packs with the other Devils, no?
PS: Also Can anyone link me to read the Lore of what has happened in the 5th Edition... I'm intrigue of what new power have risen or fallen since the 4th Edition... (OMG I hope they dint take off the Vampire Class and Reverent Class out in the 5th edition!... I love that new Race that could achieve those paths amoung others that use powers we only see in enemies, it was so interesting! Really Hope they added it to Neverwinter in the future when they open up the Shadowfel)
In terms of presence, yes. A warlock under a pact of a Deity would be held in a different regard than one pact to a Devil or Celestial. Their granted power, on average, is about the same however. For example, a Devil of Asmodeus would be wary of going against a Warlock that has made an infernal pact with Asmodeus himself (remember, Asmodeus is now a Greater God in 4e). Whether that would stop the Devil from acting against said Warlock however, is another matter all-together. This is where a DM would come in and tweak such things to fit specifically in with their Campaign, party and adventures.
Right now you can download free PDF versions of D&D Next's Players Guide and DMs Guide here:
http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/basicrules
As for 5th Edition Source Material for the Realms, all we really have to go on right now is what happened at the end of the last Sundering Novel, The Herald. Wizards.com is also rolling out some source material as "news" type articles (keep in mind, with 5th Edition, Forgotten Realms is now the Core-Campaign setting, so everything in the DMs and Players guides directly translates into the Realms), unlike before were Mystara and Hollow World (and Greyhawk before those) was the core campaign setting, a base world per say. The Rulebooks pre-5th edition were subject to what was written in Forgotten Realms specific source material, which overridden whatever was written in the the core rulebooks and core supplements -- when dealing with the Realms.
The Sundering is quite blatantly, Ed Greenwood's, Salvatore's, and other notable Author's way to revert many of the changes Wizards of the Coast did to their beloved Realms in 4th Edition. For you see, 4th edition changes were done without consent of Ed Greenwood and other notable Authors and even against their express wish for them to not do what they did.
We should start seeing D&D Next FR Source Material very soon and I suspect that it will be very similar to how the Realms were in 2nd Edition and most of 3rd Edition. Two awesome things happened for sure, one is Mystra has returned and the second is that with her return, all remnants of the Spellplague were wiped clean from the Realmspace.
Most welcome!
There are many ways one could find a powerful magical item or artifact that would protect one's where-abouts from prying demonic or even divine eyes. For example, you could have obtained a powerful magical item endowed with a powerful Nondetection Spell cast by a circle of High Elven Mages and then sealed with a permanency spell. Such powerful magics would prevent scrying from all but the most powerful of entities. Anything less than an intermediate god would have difficulty finding you but a Lesser or Demigod would still be able to. It would be difficult for them but would become increasingly more easy for them to overcome the barrier the close you got to them or to one of their vassals.
For example from what you wrote there:
Let's take a "Ring forged by ancient Dwarves" that was "Endowed with Nondetection by a circle of High Mages from ancient Evermeet." You find this ring on the body of one of your victims and realize it's power. This is what then sets you to believe you can break your pact with a Devil of Asmodeus. Upon defying the Devil you have a pact with, the Devil is enraged and begins hunting you down with is army of demons. Unable to locate you after many years, the Devil finally convinces Asmodeus himself to aid and the Greater God locates you, descending down upon you a small army of devils and demons, including the one you made a pact with.
In the fight to survive, the ring is torn from your finger and in a blast of High Elven Magic, the ring's destruction destroys the Devil you had a pact with and sends all the devils to their maker but leaves you unharmed due to a trace of elven blood in your family heritage. With your once-pact Devil gone, you discover latent bloodmagic coursing through your veins, awoken by the destruction of the elven ring. You begin tapping into this ancient elven bloodline and scour the Realms to learn more and sharpen your talents.
Now with the Devil you once held a pact with destroyed and Asmodeus' small army sent limping back to the Abyss, this has given you some awe and fear among the devils, who now believe The Seldarine is protecting you. Which results in fewer and fewer attempts upon your life and those that do are naive and weak, underestimating your new-found bloodmagic, yet leaves you always looking over your shoulder for the next attack.
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Just one nitpick - can we get the thread title changed to "Pact" instead of "Pack"? It just bugs me because I keep thinking it has something to do with one of the in-game item packs.
"Is it better to be feared or respected? I say, is it too much to ask for both?" -Tony Stark
Official NW_Legit_Community Forums
(I didn't even notice! *chuckles*)
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Are devils and demons now friendly in fourth edition? I'll admit I still use AD&D for almost all things planar, and other than the Succubi suddenly being devils for no particular reason, I haven't read a lot about the current relationship between Baatezu and Tanar'ri. Are they in friendly terms now, or is the Blood War still going on? If it is still going on, the cooperation between the two seems unlikely, at best.
My warlock Alistair has such a pact with the Executioner of Hell Alastor. He allows Alastor time possessing his body from time to time and the promise of the souls of those he executes (has to be handled in a showy manner with witnesses calling out the sins of the slain) at the cost of the knowledge of warlock spells and freedom from his demonic heritage. Should he break the pact he would still retaib casting ability, he'd just have to deal with Alastor's wrath and the fact that he has allowed a direct conduit between the Devil and his body.
Hmmmm Sooo Mystra is back huh? OOOOOOooooooo she is going to be soooo Mad when she finds out what Asmodeous did to her precious Azuth! TAN, TAN, TAN! DRAMA! Making the goddess of magic your enemy is not a good thing in a realm where its all about that... but Im sure it was all part of his master plan as its always explain in the lore... EEEEEEEEEEE!! Just had a Lore diarrhea in my head... XD
hahaha don't mind me I side tract there I really hope Neverwinter can keep bringing all this interesting lore to life in the game...Since they did mention they take all the editions into account...oooooo cant wait to see whats next!!!!!!!!!
Wow this Warlock talk is getting very interesting... Thanks for the info guys, I'm very thrill just reading your post and lore... I think Warlocks seems to be the most interesting class of all because of their interaction with outsider influences... making it very rich lore wise and story wise... Even in WoW Warlocks had ALWAYS play a big part in the lore...
This is also very plausable. The OP wanted some lore that didn't tie to gaining power from an item controlled by a powerful entity, which is just as likely as gaining their power from a powerful entity. As I wrote it, when they broke their pact as their Devil caused by its death, they lost their Warlock powers and instead awoken bloodmagic. If the power came from an item instead of a devil, then the devil's death would have no ramifications. Also, the terms of the Pact would also have to come into play, say for instance - upon the Death of the Devil, the power could remain with the Warlock.
My pleasure!
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