Posts
LAST
TIME, I wrote about the Celestial Warlock build that was introduced in
“Xanathar’s Guide to Everything”. Not
one word was spoken about the mechanics of the class, just that I heartily
dislike it from a story standpoint. To
that end I issued myself a challenge, “Fix it”.
To do this
I have to first look at some inspirations in pop culture and mythology. I need to find angels and other celestial
beings that are on the side of GOOD, but are
not necessarily nice, and certainly fit the flavor of the Warlock class,
being a small participant in a pact with powers beyond one’s keen.
Fixing the
Celestial Warlock
Contrary to
popular belief thru most of human history gods, even the good ones, were pretty
fickle. Most of this had to do with how
people saw the natural world. To
pre-science humans the weather was a chaotic and cruel mistress who would level
a town, flash a flood, or bake your crops to uselessness… unless you lived in ancient Egypt, the Nile provided
such consistent crop output that they perceived of all but a handful of their
100+ gods as good guys.
But, let’s
make like Phillip II of France and ignore Egypt’s importance, instead let’s
construct a vision of Celestial that is more akin to the terrifying but still
“good” beings of the ancient world.
While Jesus was a rather chill guy,
the Old Testament is full of visions of an incredibly powerful, unyielding, and
TERRIFYING vision of YAWEH. His angels
are not just sexy people with wings but multi-dimensional
lovecraftian horrors.
 |
| "WHAT EVEN!?" |
“Then there came a voice from above the vault over their heads as they
stood with lowered wings. Above the
vault over their heads was what looked like a throne of lapis lazuli, and high
above on the throne was a figure like that of a man. I saw that from what appeared to be his waist
up he looked like glowing metal, as if full of fire, and that from there down
he looked like fire; and brilliant light surrounded him. Like the appearance of a rainbow in the
clouds on a rainy day, so was the radiance around him.
“This
was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. When I saw it, I
fell facedown, and I heard the voice of one speaking.”
“And you, son of man, do not be
afraid of them or their words. Do not be
afraid, though briers and thorns are all around you and you live among
scorpions. Do not be afraid of what they
say or be terrified by them, though they are a rebellious people. You must speak my words to them, whether they
listen or fail to listen, for they are rebellious. But you, son of man, listen
to what I say to you. Do not rebel like
that rebellious people; open your mouth and eat what I give you.”
“Then
I looked, and I saw a hand stretched out to me.
In it was a scroll, which he unrolled before me. On both sides of it were written words of lament and mourning
and woe.”
The Warlock
who is participating with this celestial force is not so much asked or
bargained with, but dictated to. “Do
not be afraid,” is repeated multiple times. The scope of this being’s goals are massive,
the resettlement of entire nations, the creation of new testaments, the defense
of nations, and the breaking of its Dark Adversaries like Dagon, Bal, Moloch,
and Mammon.
While the mortal races are
important to this being’s view of the universe, loved like children, there is a
larger picture whose scope shatters the minds of mortals, a cosmic view whose
fate hangs in the balance. A “deal”
handed down by a bring like YAWEH would see the Warlock only as useful as it
was obedient and much like the mana from heaven in Exodus, not trusting
absolutely in YAWEH will result in not only his favor revoking, but his wrath coming
down like stone tablets soon after.
The DC
Universe (more so than Marvel) has a magical quality to it and invests its most
powerful beings with the mystique of Magic.
One of the best examples is Nabu,
a Lord of Order and the supernatural entity which empowers the Helm of Fate.
While the
exact nature of the Helm of Fate changes based on which continuity it takes
place I think the best is in “Young
Justice”. In that continuity the
Helm is NABU, when worn it suppresses the personality of the wearer and Doctor
Fate becomes the dominate personality.
Multiple times Fate is bargained
with before ultimately taking on a permanent wearer, as the spirit was tired of
being relegated away, only to be called upon in the most dire of circumstances. Striking a deal with Nabu is very much a core
aspect of it, but like all magic it has a deep cost.
 |
| "Fate Must Take a Hand!" |
Holding
court in the Rock of Eternity, guarding the 7 deadly sins, and anointing
champions to guard earth from supernatural threats the Wizard SHAZAM has
seen champions fall to the dark side in eras past and has taken greater and
greater care over the centuries to not see it happen again.
To that end
he searches for those pure enough at heart to restore the world to a truer state
of good and right, rather than empowering those who would try to impose their
own vision of true and right. Captain
Marvel has been one of his champions harnessing a variety of divine powers to
save the world.
SHAZAM is
perhaps the closest to the idea of a benevolent celestial for the Warlock
class. That while he was once mortal,
made mistakes, and is obviously functioning on another level, his motives
appear to be on the level even if too many of the bad guys Captain Marvel fights
are left overs from SHAZAM’s inability to keep a lid on supernatural evil.
 |
| "I ask too much." |
In the DC
universe they wisely stay away from naming the Presence that serves as the
supreme god of the whole shebang.
However, they do make its will felt thru the presence of various spirits
and powerful beings. The two that most
fit the purpose of a Warlock-esc entity are Spectre and
Eclipso.
They are in
effect two aspects of the same force, that of karmic punishment. Eclipso represents a more primitive and
brutal method of seeking vengeance which is why it was replaced by the Spectre,
who is a Dante like dealer of ironic punishments, “What is justice without
vengeance?... Simply a slap on the wrist, and an invitation for evil to
continue… unabated.”
 |
| They may also bang occasionally. I mean, they have a lot in common. |
The key
difference in these beings has to do with how they are tied to Earth, via
bonding with a mortal soul. Eclipso
possesses a living being whom it overrides.
Some can overpower the spirit, but they are usually powerful with
magic. Others can work in concert, but
only if they are 9 kinds of ax-crazy.
Spectre in contrast bonds with a
dead person but one that has the will and mindset to temper the Spectre’s wrath
and keep it grounded, an excellent comic by J.M. Dematteis (JLA 1997 #35, Day
of Judgement) illustrates how the Spectre’s wrath often makes it wish to strike
at people because of what they MIGHT do.
Again, from
DC comics one of the oldest and most powerful species of humanoid in the
universe are the little blue gnome wizards that created the Green Lantern Corp. Their selection process is based entirely
around willpower (courage) and so leads too often to members being kind of tyrannical,
but they do have some standards. They
even have an Oath.
In brightest day, in
blackest night,
No evil shall escape
my sight.
Let those who worship
evil's might
Beware my power--Green
Lantern's light!
 |
| "Can you dig it?" |
Follow the
rules. Fight evil. And in exchange you will be trusted with tremendous
power. It is important to note that the
Guardians are also a cause of many-MANY issues that are left floating
around the universe, caused by their quests for knowledge and control of a
universe they perceived as their bailiwick.
Vorlons
The Vorlons are a race of
ultra-powerful aliens that have been guiding the other intelligent races of the
galaxy since the beginning of life. They
push for a system of unity (or at least live and let live) and via their powerful
telepathy they can provide wisdom and insight to the other races. They are also huge assholes, standing off to
the side in times of crisis behind a condescending wall of riddles and
mysterious acting.
Touched by
Vorlons, is a trope in fiction which is about as close to WARLOCK as it
gets in science fiction (the Warlock class is referenced on the TVTropes
page). It refers to how telepaths in the
series would get a tremendous boost from interacting with the aliens. Turing them into agents of the Vorlon’s
ultimate goals.
Watch the show. It is now on a free streaming service.
The
mythology of this game is dense and strange.
Its presentation is pervy in that uniquely Japanese sense. That being said the protagonist of the game
is unquestionably a Warlock by the standards of Dungeons and Dragons. Bayonetta is a
witch who made deals with the devil to hunt angels who are absolute bastards in
their own right.
 |
| "I'm doing it for the thrill." |
The angels
in this series care about the extermination of the witches and they act as
such, leaving way too many people dead and too much of reality twisted in
pursuit of their goal. Modifying these
guys to be the sponsors of Warlocks in Dungeons and Dragons would make
sense. They are the sort of capricious
power source the class is all about.
This franchise
is goofy
as hell, but its over the top nature gives
birth to another instance of, “I will blow up the universe to accomplish my
goal of GOOD”. As if I haven’t made it
clear by now that is the factor I am looking for.
I consider Darksiders the least
“deep” of these options for what I consider to be obvious reasons. That being said, there is a lot of stuff laid
out.
This game
has a whole list of beings that could make for fitting patrons for Warlocks. The Charred Council being perhaps the best,
but Samael fits for a demonic patron, and Abaddon works for a Celestial. You could plum the depths of this game’s
maddeningly over the top goulash of names drawn from obscure Christian
Mythology for an entire pantheon of powerful beings in DnD.
I Swear I
Didn’t Mean for this to Happen
I am going
to have to make this a 3-part deal.
Looking over the list of pop culture things here I will whip together a
list of Celestial Patrons for the Warlock class that I feel work better for the
intended flavor of the class than the options presented in the core book.
You might
be asking, “uh… if you ran down all of these things here, why do I need to read
the next entry? Won’t it just be the
rendered version of this?”
To that I
answer, I am going to try and put some more spins on the whole thing and add a
few that aren’t in here, this was more a rundown of the IDEA, not a complete
list.
Though I guess if you were
satisfied with this feel free to stop.
It is your life. Have Fun!
If you want
to read more of my stuff talking about Dungeons and Dragons, click
here.
If you
would like to see more of my Political side, click here.
______________________________
No comments:
Post a Comment