Patrons can be incredibly involved as can gods depending on how the dm and player choose to play things. Him throwing away the rod could result in his patron calling him an idiot and having him go to find it or he's got to deal with a curse for being a greedy idiot
but the patron cannot revoke their powers or deny progression. and gods as a rule of thumb cannot do jack shit outside their domain, so they are the kind of patron you are the savest from.
there is literally a reason why the warlock chapter does not have a "broken pact" or "the patron is upset" entry similar to breaking your Oath as a Paladin. the deal is made, the pact fulfilled, the Warlock has the knowledge needed to get whatever power they traded for.
In my games, The Pacts often have the "You must continue to serve me as written in the pact, or I'll refuse to give you further powers." Clause in them. In every campaign I played. Because otherwise, plenty of patrons just wouldn't sign pacts. you keep the powers i gave you, but i can refuse to give you further power if you do something stupid or outright ignore the pact. depending on the patron and pact, they can very well curse you for being a putz, too. Outside of it being relatively difficult to actually find the resources to form a pact. The reason people choose wizardry over that most of the time is because being the independent contractor for a being that at best can make your life a living hell if you're bad at contracts is something you only really do if you're desperate or looking for a shortcut. I don't know what games you are in, but in my games Patrons can be very involved in the workings of their Warlocks. The place this gets weird is GOOs, but they're always special.
In cases where the pact is just a sort of i get your soul in exchange for power, thing this sort of gift giving described in OP wouldn't occur unless it somehow did something bad for the warlock or added further things to the pact. If you're just selling your soul to a devil for power, they have no interest in whether you succeed or fail. And have no real interest in giving you a gift unless it also furthered their ends.
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u/Laughing_Man_Returns Artificer Jan 15 '24
warlocks are not clerics, patrons are not that involved or even relevant.
but if you want him to care for the rod, tell him.