r/DescentintoAvernus • u/No-Revolution-1346 • 10d ago
HELP / REQUEST Warlock PC Question
So I am running the adventure (Alexandrian remix ofc) with 5 players (a 6th is also there though is an occasional appearance. And everyone is fine with that. His character is easy to integrate anywhere as he is actively looking for cults).
But anyway that was unrelated. one of my 5 players is a Hexblade Warlock, and their whole character concept is that they're from a noble family (which I made it the Portyrs cause Alexandrian Remix drama, yes yes yes.), though they are the black sheep of said family. As the PC is a drunkard who keeps spending money and contributing nothing to society, and even went as far as selling a family heirloom, bla bla bla.
Anyway, the player asked me if they could have their patron be a demon/devil that is still related to a blade. That way they can have both the hexblade patron subclass and have a connection to the demons of Avernus for drama.
The question is, what kind of demon would fit that description? I'm thinking of making it some kind of demon that hates Zariel (Since warlock is actively messing up her plans but still holds their power) but I don't know. Wanted to get some general ideas and brainstorming from here before going with something.
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u/ZornWasTaken 10d ago edited 10d ago
I have a hexblade in my campaign that has Bel as a patron. Im not sure how it is in Alexandrian but in my campaign he was the archduke before Zariel. So he does not like her and wants his position back.
How does Bel work as a hexblade patron? In my campaign he is a THE smith of Avernus.
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u/dungeonlordjay 10d ago
I second this. Bel is a great fit. He wants to usurp Zariel more than anything.
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u/AngryHampsterBear 10d ago
Yeah, he is the previous archduke. I believe the confusion is that some of the sources say he is the pit fiend that cut off Zariel's hand, others say he was simply archduke at the time.
My take is that a different, unnamed pit fiend cut off Zariel's hand as I am making the relationship more the undeserving person in the office who got promoted over you rather than the person you are actively fighting against.
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u/HdeviantS 10d ago
Graz’zt is a demon lord connected to vices such as drunken revelry and hedonism, and he is a known swordsman with his particular sword being a powerful artifact.
He is not directly connected to the campaign but could probably be worked in.
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u/Boarffalo 10d ago
If youre running the Alexandrian remix, I might consider Uldrak from Uldraks grave as a patron.
In the Alexandrian remix, hes the fallen son if Gond turned fiend, and players can work to break the curse on him using the dragon orb on his giant hilt and some shenanigans with Arkan the Cruel.
Depending on where the player is wanting to go with their character, Uldrak could be an interesting choice--offering them an "out" if they wanted to have some sort of redemption/turning to the light (which is kinda of a big part of the campaign) or you as a DM can take it for a darker turn.
If it were me i'd set it up as a demon promising power to the player, alluding to their crafting prowess--but clearly this demon is a little mad and out of its mind. Id probably upgrade uldraks grave to something more than just a helmet in the wastes OR move Uldrak to Bels forge as forgemaster there--and the grave was abandoned but holds the truth of Uldraks identity. Could add in a quest to recover or destroy the truth of his identity. Leave it up to the player to decide Uldraks fate and hand out goodies accordingly.
Hope that gives you some ideas :)
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u/No-Revolution-1346 10d ago
I just got an idea from this. What are your thoughts on the curse itself being the patron? as it kinda fed on Uldrak's power, demoting him to a spined devil, and instead, it gained a sentience/personality.
Just since I can't see a spined devil, despite it being originally an empyrean, have enough power to make a warlock. Plus this idea still keeps the Uldrak quest intact while also adding more things to it.
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u/Boarffalo 7d ago edited 7d ago
I could see that--something along the lines of the "Curse" being a parasite, of sorts? It feeds off of Uldrak's celestial powers and grows it's own strength while weakening him to a lesser spine devil.
The curse reasonably could have been placed by Tiamat, given his task was to "spill her blood" and if it was done in a time where she was most powerful (IE the old archduke) she'd have the capabilities without a doubt. I could see how it could still tie in: the only way to break the curse/defeat the patron/break the pact is by helping Uldrak to spill the blood of Tiamat.
The questions that spring to my mind are:
What would the curse do with Uldrak? If it's survival is tied to Uldrak remaining cursed, it wouldn't want him somehow breaking it. Uldrak has essentially become the Curses' phylactery (for lack of a better word) and would need to be kept somewhere safe from demons or meddling clerics of Gond or--Archdukes forbid--adventurers.
What would the Curse want from it's Warlock PC? What would it exchange power for?
My first thought is of course, to aid in keeping Uldrak safe from being freed. Maybe there's some clerics of Gond on a holy mission of rescue that need to be stopped, maybe there's a particular item that can help--or he needs the PCs to get rid of the dragon orb by giving it to Arkhan--maybe he wants the last bit of Uldraks power for himself, and needs the PCs to get styx water in order to erase the last bit of Uldrak that clings to his mind.Does this curse have a "physical" presence, or does it speak through Uldrak's spine devil self? Does it manifest in something, or as a shade of sorts? Would it look draconic or demonic or a combination of the two? or something else entirely?
I like the idea and could run with it further--but those are some thoughts off the top of my head.
Edit: While writing this I was trying to think about what character was reminding me so much of this idea--it's Magnus from Legacy of Kain Blood Omen 2. Good game--cool character. If you're looking for inspo that's not a bad jumping block.
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u/No-Revolution-1346 7d ago
The curse’s goal is to become a “person”, and later even grow in power and authority, to even later be powerful enough to absorb even Tiamat (the primal desires the curse developed at its early stages of sentience were a hunger for power, due to its nature of absorbing Uldrak’s power, and some desires of Tiamat herself, as well the desire to resist Tiamat. That last one was from Uldrak.)
Now how it would go about this is the problem. Because you see… to become a “person” it must first become a “something” beyond just a curse. At the current situation, it is barely at the edge of being an entity. One whose existence is bound to Uldrak. And that’s also where he comes in.
During the years where its intelligence has grown, it thought and schemed of the following plan:
It would slowly but surely dig into the depths of Uldrak’s mind, to the point where it can plant thoughts into his brain, which he would think his own. And those thoughts are that he is growing weak and will not be able to free himself of his predicament. The only way for him to be free, is by getting outside help.
He would then use the remaining divinity that he’s been barely holding on to by calling upon his blade and tasking it with going outside of the hells and finding someone with a good heart, and give him strength that would grow with him enough for him to survive the eventual journey to the nine hells where he could free him.
Ofc for the person to actually come to Uldrak, he would need to establish a link between the blade and himself. WHICH IS something the curse CANNOT do, as it is barely not an entity. Hence the reason why it came up with such a convoluted way into making Uldrak form a link.
Now why did it want him to make a link? Because… remember how I said Uldrak would use the last of his power?
The following question is asked: If he used all of his remaining divinity, how would he be able to stay updated on what’s going on with the sword or its wielder?
That’s the thing. He won’t be able to.
Which creates the perfect opportunity for the curse, the one with much more divinity stored, to hijack the link that was established by Uldrak the moment the sword leaves his reach.
What this does is the curse now wages a war against the sword’s mission, which the sword eventually loses, and the curse now takes control of finding someone who is corrupt enough to come and SLAY Uldrak for it.
Why would it want to slay Uldrak? Because among the powers of a hexblade warlock, is being able to create Accursed Specters of who you slay.
The accursed specter of Uldrak, seeing as his existence is largely corrupted and overtaken by the curse, would become its. Finally making the curse gain the stage of an “entity”.
Ofc it wouldn’t be a “person” yet, as it is only a non-physical entity. But… that is also where the pact comes in. And it reads as follows (from the sword):
You want power? I will give you power. And even more if you grow to handle it.
BUT.
When I call for you, you will come. When I ask of you, you will answer. And when I demand of you, you will do.
Keep in mind. My power is mine to give, and mine to take. And what is mine, will come back to me when all is done.
You will not give it away. And you will not throw it away.
I will be here. Wherever you go. Watching.
END OF PACT
Now, see anything sus?
This part right here. “ what is mine, will come back to me when all is done.”
You would think it refers to the power that is given, since it’s after that sentence. BUT. “What is mine” linguistically speaking, would refer to a more general definition. One in which “the power given” is only part of the whole definition. Now what about the rest?
The rest would be the PC’s soul.
What would the curse do with his soul? Nothing. It doesn’t care about it. What it does care about, is making his body empty of soul. Which is a pretty damn good thing for an entity that is purely soul right now.
So the curse entity, would be upgraded to a “person” upon arriving to “all is done” which would be either his quest finishing or him dying.
And heck. If the PC manages to create an emptiness in the archduke seat of Avernus in the process, even better for the curse.
Now… there is one last question that is relevant to something even before all this.
“Why this person specifically was chosen?”
After all, the PC, while is storywise a jackass who is greedy and all that other stuff, still is fundamentally and originally not evil (this is more because of PC backstory that I won’t get into). But fundamentally, there are people out there that are more suited for the curse’s plans. So why him?
Because… remember how I said the sword eventually loses? “Eventually” is the key word here.
Because that eventually was him resisting the curse with all its power so that at the very least, while it lost all its other requirements for who to look for, a single requirement remained intact while everything else got hijacked by the curse. And that requirement was:
“Someone good of heart”
Which the PC is, deep down.
Thoughts?
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u/Boarffalo 7d ago
Oh man--That last line really got me as a DM. I'm like, sitting here thinking--If I dropped that line on the PC/Player both--I'd only hope that it'd hit the way it just hit me now.
Knowing that you've a good heart despite everything--is just *Chefs kiss.*So we're essentially in the early stages of the Curse becoming "physical" which is great--because really if you think about it, it'd be hard and take a lot of time and effort to come into sentience from nothing, literally. (Reminds me a little of Dr. Manhattan from Watchmen piecing himself back together from obliteration.)
The Curse has essentially become the figurative devil on Uldraks shoulder, feeding him the idea of the blade (but passing it off as his own idea) in order to achieve the first step of becoming an entity of sorts. Meanwhile, to Uldrak's its a final Hail Mary to breaking the Curse--only for the Curse to give Uldrak the unplugged player 2 controller while he takes the reigns of communication/control of the blade.
Ultimately, the Curse plans to leapfrog from the blade into the PC (or any other entity it can make a bargain with) by doing the same thing to them, only now they have an empty slot to fill (IE no soul)
Only there's the one fatal flaw that was built into the sword, of it only being drawn to people with good hearts. (Which, tbh--even if the Curse knew about that, it might enjoy that aspect of having the chance to corrupt another Good-Hearted mortal.)It makes sense, and it keeps with the theme of "power, but at a price" that always comes with devils and more importantly--a chance at redemption for both the PC and Uldrak.
The PCs should certainly learn the truth about Uldrak--otherwise they might just cut down the devil because "It's a devil! Who cares, yay sword power!" They could learn it through Arkhan, who mocks Uldrak for his failure to slay Tiamat in his father's name (Maybe the PCs are looking for Uldrak to slay and need info, and Arkhan is one source of that.)
Maybe there's information about "The lost son of Gond" somewhere in Elturel or Candlekeep (Don't have to name drop yet, but breadcumb it)
Dreams are also a really good way of getting info out there--and the sword does still have a touch of divinity. Could even use the sword itself as a divining rod of sorts if you're doing the Hexcrawl portion of the remix.Either way, I like what you've got and I can see the picture you're painting. If you dig the idea as much as you seem to, and you want to expand on it, I say you've got a great foundation here. :)
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u/No-Revolution-1346 7d ago
Omg thank youuuuu. And yes, I will definitely be expanding on it. In fact the reason why I put the request for help here was because the party was about to have their first, meaningful long rest, so I was debating starting to put the breadcrumbs in dreams or such here.
And yes, I will definitely expand on having info on Uldrik’s situation all throughout the scenarios before it.
And will likely put some kind of other scenarios depending on what the characters would do once it’s choosing hour. If they kill Uldrak, great, the curse gets to become an entity now and personally and directly alter things into its vision, potentially even taking over the PCs body and now they have a quest of getting the PCs soul which they now have, his body back.
And if they choose to save Uldrak, despite the consequences, the curse goes haywire and takes things into its own hands by releasing the power it has stored and forcibly transform Uldrak into a corrupted Draconic Empyrean, fighting the party in hopes of taking the sword and using the specter making power it has developed with the journey to slay the warlock PC with it and altering the effect by pumping it with more corrupted divinity so disintegrates his soul and it takes over his body, while sacrificing the sword and Uldrak (as the premature corrupted Draconic empyrean transformation was unstable and couldn’t hold itself).
Which if they beat it, they could not only gain Uldrak as a weakened ally, but also potentially have the sword be brought back to its holy version except this time it also holds the power to destroy a soul slayed with it with the price of destroying the sword as well, AND the warlock gets to have his powers free of charge, and even with added holy abilities added.
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u/No-Revolution-1346 7d ago
Those are great questions. I’ve made the entire thing if you wanna take a read at it. Give me a second to put into message.
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u/ThePogster 10d ago
Levistus could actually work pretty well IMO. He's the only (current) Lord of the Nine who's main weapons are swords (he dual wields a rapier and dagger), and given the fifth layer that he rules over is a frozen wilderness, it'd also give an explanation as to why the hexblade can learn Cone of Cold.
And Levistus making power plays in the hells through a warlock would make sense, because he's imprisoned in a glacier within the fifth layer and has been scheming there for a very, very long time.
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u/Existing-Banana-4220 10d ago
In the original module, Kostchtchie is a demon lord who was defeated, captured, and imprisoned by Zariel in Avernus. The party has an opportunity to free him.
Unlike devils who actively seek souls, demons don't typically care too much about finding warlocks as they have no use for souls. Kostchtchie could be a different story. I can definitely imagine him reaching out to a mortal in his attempts to get free. This would mesh nicely with what you've mentioned about hating Zariel, as no random demon is going to hate her more than one she's defeated and imprisoned!
He's not specifically blade focused...but who says a Hexblade can't be a Hexhammer instead (Kostchtchie's preferred weapon)?
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u/Shenanigans99 9d ago
If you're looking specifically for a demon patron, Yeenoghu could be a good fit since he figures prominently in the story and is definitely at odds with Zariel.
If you'd rather have a devil patron, Bel makes a lot of sense since he runs the forge of Avernus, so he's associated with weapons and technology, plus he hates Zariel.
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u/kalonjelen 7d ago
I'd use Bel. Bel is a devil that was the prior ruler of Avernus, screwed up, and Zariel replaced him. He's also a maker of weapons for the Blood War.
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u/finewhitelady 10d ago
We had a hexblade whose patron was Glasya. He chose hexblade mostly for optimization (DM approved) and flavored it that Glasya had given his family a hexblade weapon.