A question on a Warlocks Morality

[Ouroboros]

To properly flesh out my RP char, i need some opinions:

1 - From a RP perspective, what would your char(s) say about Warlocks. What are their opinions? Are they afraid of them? Do they find them the bane of the earth or do they feel neither one way or the other?

2 - Do you think the reason they are either Chaotic or Evil is because the powers threy draw upon corrupt them in order to do so? Do you think it is simply because the method to gain power in such a dark art requires an absence of Restricting Laws or Consideration of others? For example, do you believe that a Chaotic Good Warlock is one who is harnessing the powers of Demons in order to do good, or do they simply have such a strong will of mind that they can remain true to themselves regardless of what the Dark powers are trying to compel them to do?

Just wondering how you all feel out there about these kind of questions. Really decides what history my char would have had (People Throwing stones, running in fear or simply not noticing) and wether she Can be collected, or a struggler.

[Lord Osadam]

My char feels that there are too many Warlocks running around.

[undeadsteak]

My warlock, thinks warlocks are supposed to be rare. Yet they're running around everywhere. And shes quite suprised that nobodys running around yelling WITCH!

I really dont understand why warlocks have to be chaotic or evil...

[Raksha]

Starting from the platform that: Tamara doesn't own Complete Arcane, and therefore doesn't know that warlocks have to be either chaotic or evil, she views them as rather akin to her. The powers that they hold are dangerous, and potentially very destructive to themselves or those around them

Warlocks who actively make pacts with devils and demons, she has very little sympathy with. Warlocks who are the product of ancestral pacts, she actually has rather a soft spot for, since they're basically just like her.

She's also a little confused at the wide acceptance of all of them, and at the acceptance that she's received. She was expecting a little more "eeep, don't blow me up, dragonblooded freak!"

The chaotic or evil makes little sense to me, since there are fey and celestial sources of warlock power. In fact, I think that almost all alignment restrictions (with rare exceptions, such as paladin / blackguard) are stupid.

[undeadsteak]

Aye, i hate alignment restriction to be true.. there are only few things that make sense. DD has to be lawful? I'd love to get a why to that. BArbarians have to be non-lawful. Maybe a barbarian could have become more interested within following the law..? >_>, a bit stupid, the alignments...

[Ouroboros]

To me, Warlocks are a lot like Pale Masters. Both Focus on Darker powers, both have a significant amount of powers that are designed to sap the strength, will even life of a victim, and both have the capacity to empower themselves at an innate level (i.e. Pale Masters get AC increases, Crti immunity, etc and Warlocks get DR increases, Unlimited casting INCLUDING buffs like Leaps and Bounds, flee the scene, etc). From what i can remember, both have the same / Similar Alignment restrictions. The only real difference i see between them is one draws their power from demonic energies and the other from Necromacy.

So i guess the Warlocks very types of attack are almost of an "Evil" nature. One would have to have a certain disrespect of Laws and others to be willing to Sap a person of life (A Wizard using Vampiric touch or "Finger of Death" probabally wouldn't be much better). But it doesn't seem like a prerequisite to be Evil (Could do it to Baddies without guilt i mean, we kill the bad guys anyway don't we?) or Chaotic (They're not exactly breaking the law are they?).

So maybe if they are just really good at using that power, then maybe an alignment restriction of "Any non Lawful-Good"? Otherwise, if the very power compells them to Disregard Law, society or others, then maybe their Alignment restriction sticks?

I agree however that a Paladin's Alignment restriction is understandable, even a druids and Rogues, but not a Barbarians.

[undeadsteak]

Rogues have no restriction. Druids is fine with me.. But Warlock dmg does not do negative energy nyways, its magical. It isnt sapping life is it..? Unless magic missiles sap life too. And i thought some get powers for fey..

[Ouroboros]

Hmm. "Draining Blast", "Hideous Blow", "Beshadowed blast" even "Dark Foresight" all sound pretty Dark and Evil. I know the damage type is Magic, but the intention is pretty dark.

[undeadsteak]

Draining is theo nly one i'd think acutally saps power... And, i dono, do you think random fiendish powers are even given names? Its... just a name. The description of what it does is what matters. Draining blast, meh, id consider a bit evil. Dark Foresight lets you look in the future (Which grants a DR i believe.) Hideous blow uses eldritch when you strike, and beshadowed blast fuses darkness with eldritch to blind somone.

[Raksha]

So, for that matter does "Finger of Death", "Energy Drain", "Phantasmal Killer", "Vampiric Touch", "Ennervation", "Cloudkill", and so on. Mages have a lot more and nastier "dark" stuff available to them than warlocks do, and yet warlocks get the bad rap?

Besides, it doesn't really matter what Wizards of the Coast calls it, does it? :P What matters is what it does. And the eldritch blast is really just a beam of magical force, that you can flavor any way you want. Draining Blast is pretty humane compared to anything that can drain levels permenantly.

[Dragoncleric]

Another warlock?
Bloody hells/abyss.

Look, le me jut say allignments are S, and I'm glad they are getting tossed out in 4th edition. A person is a person, static, not set in stone.

That asideWarlocks have an inner tormoil dillema: Do they embrace tmselves to darkness completely, or do they hol canle against it, becoming grey, or perhaps defying it altogether as a sort of anti-hero.

Bt yes,we have a bad rep, and I for one wish it was played out more. So many warlocks in Sundren would be cause for the big churches (particularly Helm) to start a 'witch' hunt. We're arely accepted, and our lot is supposed to be lonely in life. It takes people considerable effert to even look past our dark powers, not as much as say a drow, but it's just about to that level. Why even sorcerors are better accepted then we'll ever be in small towns. (Players Handbook II describes that all in more detail)

I have one excuse: My deep gnome is a relative unknown on the surface, and they are naturally inclined to keep to thier own kind anyways. Not a big del if he's alone. He's used to it.

But anyways, we call our powers from a dark font. Hence the 'taint'. Even if you don't cast a spell there's an 'air' around you. Milk may spoil, glass may break, crops may suffer, and even a whiff of brimstone could follow you about. Yes, you can tell someone's a warlock if you study them long enough. Why some warlocks even have certain things they can or can't do, perhaps based on a code: For instance they can't wear a certain colour, or can't enter a home without an invite, or drink something at certain hour of the day.
(Taken from the Complete Arcane)

Anyways, I digress. Warlocks are even more misunderstood to RP then a paldin, even in PnP terms. Rules lawyers don't know jack shite about to to role-play one beyond that level and stat progressions.
Valen has purple//pink hair because of his ties with demons. He's from the underdark, so his values are different then surfacers. For his family dealing with them was just to survive the greater 'demons' of the underdark (drow, etc) That and the particular demons he's been around are pleasure seekers like himself (in a twisted way) It's all perfectly logical and normal for him.
He's just now founding out that warlocks have stigmas on the surface world. But he's starting to wonder why there's suddenly so many of them here in that case...

Anyways Warlocks: should be getting the cold shoulder, I see people wanting to attack Drow and Duegar on sight, Warlocks should not be accepted so easily either. Not to say other characters can't learn to accept them eventually. It can happen with a race, so it can happen with a class. It'll just take time, and heaps of effort on the character's part.

[GodBeastX]

First:

My char feels that there are too many Warlocks running around.

Sums up my feelings.

If you want more detailed information why then read below, however, it's in rant form so I would prepare myself before reading.


I'm going to take this purely OOC, since I voice this often on Ventrilo. (Poor Kasso has to hear me talk crap about his favorite class).

[BEGIN RANT]
I hate the Warlock class in NWN2 (I've never used it in P&P to say whether I hate it in there). I would be 3% happier with life if I didn't look at the statistics page and see so many. I <b>REAAAAAALLY</b> want a warlock witch hunt. I want people to never say "I'm a warlock" without being afraid they'll be nailed to a stake and set on fire, pelted with rotten fruit until they are tarred and feathered then purified with holy water, or has a rock tied around their neck and tossed off the end of a pier.

Not to mention the class is dumb (to me). I don't like the twist on magic it has. I don't like the concept it has with dealing with demons/devils to get magic power. To me, it forces players to make an uncanny background story in order to explain how they became a warlock in the first place. Nothing like a PW full of players with background story of "Yeah, when I was little, my daddy told the Devil 'Yo, gimme yo powahs foo!'". And I <b>REALLY</b> don't like when I say that and someone goes "YEAH BUT YOU CAN DEAL WIF FEY TOO!" Let's consider how dumb that sounds:

OMG A FAIRY GAVE ME THE POWER TO TURN INTO A HORNED DEVIL!

Screw that noise The less people playing Warlocks, the better the server will be.

[/END RANT]

[Satoshi]

Unless you are very, very special - a powerful enough fey will unlikely grant you powers. Even so, it's likely that you were already an elven war hero with a distinguished past in aiding the fey-folk. Same with Celestials - they don't go around giving parts of their powers to anyone with a less than exalted reputation, and with an unflinching dedication to devotion. Personally, I think it would be easier to be a paladin than a 'good' warlock. So, with that in mind, you have a few more options:

1.) You stole the power from a powerful fey or celestial outsider. Chances are that is both chaotic AND evil.

2.) You made a deal to get your power, or someone in your lineage did. Who else but devils and demons do those sorts of deals? Devils would make a faustian pact to give a bit of power to a really staunch bargainer, but even that would be fairly uncommon: more often, they'll simply make deals for money/items, and power in the form of experience (in game terms), rather than unleashing a 'warlock'. Demons are the most likely, with their chaotic, unpredictable whimsy, to create warlocks.

[ThePaganKing]

My Elven character, Tellesian, does not accept Warlocks. According to him, their powers are derived from corruption and therefore they will be corrupt, no matter how good they act or seem, the power will always eventually corrupt them. What that means, well, the corruption takes complete hold and now you have this individual with immense power and no moral restrictions = bad Juju!

So, he will not necessarily kill Warlocks outright; however, he will voice his displeasure/disdain towards Warlocks and probably will not stay around them for any length of time. However, if they summon undead, which he and most elves hate or if they are in direct league with a demon or devil, then Tellesian will attach the Warlock.

[GodBeastX]

Unless you are very, very special - a powerful enough fey will unlikely grant you powers. Even so, it's likely that you were already an elven war hero with a distinguished past in aiding the fey-folk. Same with Celestials - they don't go around giving parts of their powers to anyone with a less than exalted reputation, and with an unflinching dedication to devotion. Personally, I think it would be easier to be a paladin than a 'good' warlock. So, with that in mind, you have a few more options:

1.) You stole the power from a powerful fey or celestial outsider. Chances are that is both chaotic AND evil.

2.) You made a deal to get your power, or someone in your lineage did. Who else but devils and demons do those sorts of deals? Devils would make a faustian pact to give a bit of power to a really staunch bargainer, but even that would be fairly uncommon: more often, they'll simply make deals for money/items, and power in the form of experience (in game terms), rather than unleashing a 'warlock'. Demons are the most likely, with their chaotic, unpredictable whimsy, to create warlocks.

Exactly. And if you were already a hero, wouldn't that be a multiclass then? Not straight up warlock since you've already gone through your life as something else to build up the reputation.

Warlocks just scream to me "I wanted to be a warlock, so I tacked the story on with it that doesn't hold much water".