Warlocks are a different class from witches in my Old-School games. Warlocks get more powers but far fewer spells to cast. Witches and warlocks cast spells from the same group, Occult Spells, and there are even a few power overlaps. Both have patrons, but these patrons demand more of the warlock than the witch.
In NIGHT SHIFT, they are interchangeable in terms of mechanics. The differences largely lie in roleplaying.
I have two different warlock books, each covering a different OSR system (Swords & Wizardry and OSE) and different types of warlocks. I have discussed the differences between the two books before, but for today I want to talk about what each offers NIGHT SHIFT.
The Warlock
In the case of both books, if you choose to play a warlock in NIGHT SHIFT use the Witch class from the Core. Could you use the S&W or OSE Warlocks as is? Sure, but I have to point out I have never play-tested the warlock under the NIGHT SHIFT rules. It *should* work, but I can't promise that there isn't some odd little system things that might come up.
With the warlock, it is much less about one-to-one conversions as it is a role-playing one.
Start with the NIGHT SHIFT witch class and add invocations and spells as appropriate to whichever warlock pact and/or lodge you want to play.
Pacts
Warlocks have pacts. This is pretty much a given in FRPGs today, but it bears repeating. These pacts are almost like subclasses, in a sense.
Each of these gives us a slightly different warlock. Sure to the outsider Chaos and Demon pact warlocks act the same and the differences between Demonic and Diabolic might be purely academic, but to the warlocks in question they are all the differences they need.
Lodges
Witches have covens, and warlocks have Lodges. These are groups of like-minded warlocks (and sometimes others) to achieve a specific Earthly goal. Often they have members of the same pacts, but not always so. Characters will typically not deal with "Demon Pact Warlocks" but more often "The Lodge of a Particular Demon Lord."
Like the pacts, each book offers different lodges.
The Warlock for Swords & Wizardry has: Ascension Lodges, The Dark School of the Scholomance, Goetic Lodges, The Grand Coven, The Hermetic Lodge, the Lodge of Pure Thought, and the Masters of the Invisible College.
All of these would be right at home in a NIGHT SHIFT game. The Scholomance would be a great rival school in Generation HEX. Most, if not all, these lodges would find a home in Jason's "Veterans of the Supernatural Wars" Night World setting. Indeed many of the groups would work with my Hermetic Lodges. In his "Nocturumverse" his Esoteric Order of Gnostics would follow my lodge rules, as would his Rosicrucians.
My "Ordinary World" setting also has a lot of room for warlocks. Angels and demons battle each other and seek mortal aid in their wars. Fey lords and ladies plot and scheme, and who knows what else is out there hiding and waiting.
Erika Lenard 3rd Level Witch (Warlock)
Strength: 10 (0) Dexterity: 17 (+2) S Constitution: 14 (+1) Intelligence: 15 (+1) S Wisdom: 12 (+0) Charisma: 16 (+2) P
HP: 13 Alignment: Light AC: 9 Attack: +0
Fate Points: 1d6
Check Bonus (P/S/T): +3/+1/+0 Melee bonus: 0 Ranged bonus: +2 Saves: +3 against spells and magical effects
Spells First Level(2): Detect Magic, Sleep Second Level(1): Animal Summoning
Erika Lenard always knew she was different. Very different. Even at a very young age, she could understand animals, particularly cats. It was a school field trip to the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago that she heard the voice of Sekhmet. She passed out and the next thing she knew, she was surrounded by her classmates, and she could see the Goddess Sekhmet.
Sekhmet has given her the spells she knows and has instructed her via her cat-familiar Isis.
She has so far, used her ability to summon cats as a means to help find a missing child and even attack a would-be burglar. Though Sekhmet has mentioned that she has greater plans for Erika.
Erika is currently being watched by several groups, including the OTO, the Rosicrucians, and the One True Way. Each with their own plans for her.
The first movie is a fun one I won't deny it. It is not exactly horror, but it has all the tropes. The others, well let's see how it goes. Its the weekend, so let's go on a Warlock bender.
Warlock (1989)
This is the movie that introduced most of the world to the hammy overacting of Julian Sands. Ok, my not all that over the top, but he does chew up the scenery with gleeful abandon. It also features a young Richard E. Grant and Lori Singer who was at the time the biggest star on the cast.
The plot is thin but fun. Julian Sands plays the Warlock, the one true son of Satan. Grant plays Redfern the witch hunter. The Warlock escapes judgment from Redfern by traveling in time from 1691 to 1991 (presumably) Los Angeles. He runs into Lori singer who has a part of The Grand Grimoire. He curses her to cause her to age 20 years. If she doesn't find a way to stop him (with Redfern in tow) she will die of old age in a matter of days. There are some nice witchcraft hijinks like the warlock needing the fat of an unbaptized boy to make his flying potion, nails in the witch's footprints will hurt the witch, using salt to keep the warlock away, and using the witch's blood in a compass. You know. Fun stuff.
The Warlock travels from LA to Boston putting together the Grand Grimoire so he can summon Satan to Earth, but he stopped at the end.
Warlock II The Armageddon (1993)
A sequel was inevitable. Julian Sands is back as The Warlock, but that is it. This one is kind of a mess. There is a bit about a group of Druids in modern-day being charged by God (yeah...I don't know either) who are supposed to protect the world from the forces of Satan. Anyway, our two leads, Kenny and Samantha, learn they are the last two Druid warriors. Though they have to die first before they can fight the warlock.
So there is this bit with these elemental stones that can only be used during a lunar eclipse. Again the goal here is bring Satan to Earth. But he is defeated finally by, no joke, the lights of a truck.
So I saw this one when it was new and completely forgot most it. Now I remember why.
Warlock III The End of Innocence (1999)
Ok. So this one is completely different. Bruce Payne is in for Julian Sands, but I am not sure if he is supposed to be the same character or not. Ok in this case back in the past the Warlock needs to sacrifice a particular girl to well...not entirely clear on that. More power I think. Anyway, a young woman named Kris Miller (Ashley Laurence) learns she is the heir to an old house that is about to be torn down. Since she doesn't know anything about her family she opts to go. She goes to the house, alone, and surprise she gets some scares. Actually, some of the scares are pretty good ones. This one already ups the scare content.
Eventually, her friends show up and stay the night. The next day the Warlock shows up pretending to be an art historian. One by one he turns her friends against her by magically granting them what they want most. Only Robin, played by the always wonderful Botti Bliss, sees the warlock for what he is. She is a witch and has a magic battle with him. She is no match of course and is killed. One by one her friends fall leaving only Kris. We learn that Kris was the girl from the past and her mother, a powerful witch, sent her to the present and gave her the means to kill the warlock, a knife hidden inside her old doll.
So this one, while off from the formula of the first two, might actually be a better movie.
I know that real murderer of the High Witch Queen is a wizard, so I plan to use some ideas about warlocks to inform this particular character though I don't think I want him to be a warlock per see as defined by D&D.
There is a lot here. Warlocks in NIGHT SHIFT are broadly defined, so I can do with them as I need. A warlock like this would work great for my Ordinary World setting. The careful balance of the witches, vampires and other monsters in hiding is disrupted by a new Warlock coming to town to, I don't know, raise up the Devil. He the warlock thought dealing with witchhunters was bad wait till he deals with a family full powerful witches that don't want their nice lives disrupted by this nonsense.
October Horror Movie Challenge 2022 Viewed: 10 First Time Views: 7
Going a little bit old-school and a little bit new-school tonight.
Earlier in the year Wayne Robert released what he was calling O5E classes. His first batch includes the Warlock and Sorcerer for Old School Essentials.
PDF. 8 pages. 1 cover, 1 title, 2 blank, 1 back page. 3 pages of content. $1.50.
Presently this version does not have art. There was a version before this that did have art, but the author made the choice to remove it for now.
The class is done up in OSE style. There are obvious nods to the 5e Warlock, which is by design. The warlock does have spells and which spell list you use will depend on the warlock's pact. Four Patrons are detailed, The Archfiend, The Faerie Regent, The Whisperer, and the Primordial.
In truth a very serviceable class. Though some new, Warlock-only spells, would have been a nice add.
Kicking this off with a very summery sort of "Witch." And this one is a bit different than most of my fare here. It is a Warlock Patron for 5e warlocks and it is on Itch.io, a platform I really don't use much.
This warlock Patron was written by Harlen Eherenman and based on the patron of Ginny Di's warlock character Aisling. I like Ginny Di. She is super enthusiastic about all things D&D and she is a joy to watch. Likewise, Aisling is also a very enjoyable character. I can see Aisling and Morelia the Wood Witch both making guest appearances in my War of the Witch Queens campaign as "celebrity NPCs."
How is this product though?
Again it is on Itch.io and I typically see prices much higher than I see for similar content on DriveThruRPG. If I am using a rule of thumb of 10 cents per page at DriveThru then I should likely expect 25 cents per page here. Sill, I am going to follow my rules for these reviews.
This is $3.50 for four pages. One page is for the cover and the last page is a half-page, so here we are doing $1.00 per page. The PDF is full color.
What is included here is some background on the Lady of the Soil. What spells she grants her warlocks and what powers they gain at various levels. There are four new invocations, but no new spells.
The cover mentions that this uses the OGL, but there is no copy of the OGL included (as required) and while there is a notice of Product Identity, there is no explicit declaration of what is being claimed. The assumption I guess is the whole document.
Ok, it is fun, but there isn't really enough here. This really is for the Ginny Di fans out there. Without Aisling to make this interesting there is not enough here to justify the price tag.
Sorry. I really, really wanted to like it a lot more.
I was waiting on today's Character Creation Challenge until I got my copy of Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse today. While this collects a bunch of material for other books into one volume, I did want to wait to see what the options for new character races/species were. And I can say I am not disappointed at all!
Personally I like having all these different options in my games. Especially with the way I have been playing D&D 5 of late. It makes me want to make my part of the world something akin to Elis Island of the Multiverse. A place where everyone comes too on their way to new lands.
One of those places in my town of West Haven. Once I settled on that then the choice of today's character was an easy one.
Nik Nak is a goblin fey-pact Warlock in service to the Goblin King. I featured him a while back for my Swords & Wizardry Warlock book; which introduced both the warlock class and the goblin playable species. Here he is in his D&D 5th Edition version.
He is a sneaky little goblin, but not completely evil really. He lives in the Goblin Wood where he is the local Boglebo (akin to a warlock/shaman for goblins) and alchemist. He sometimes sells potions in the market. He has learned that ripping off a customer is a good deal in the short term, but to sell what he has at a fair price brings in more money in the long term. He is fond of urban life and would bring more money home if he didn't have such a taste for human alcohol.
He is often found with his toad familiar, "Lady Patricia Blackwell." A gift to him from his patron the Goblin King.
Yesterday I reviewed some DMSGuild Druid circles that would work as witches. Today I am going to look at some Warlock Pacts that would work as witches.
For many a witch is a distaff warlock, but as you can imagine that has never really worked for me. That is not to say you can't do it. I am currently playing a very witchy warlock. In fact the whole point of the character is to see if I can get a witch-like experience of the Rules As Written warlock.
This PDF is one page (cover not included in the download). It is a PWYW with a suggested price of $1.00.
While it is called the Warlock Patron The Witch, I am not seeing much to differentiate it from other warlocks. Nor anything about it that is particularly witchy. I was hoping for warlocks that make pacts with ancient witches and Witch Queens like Baba Yaga, or even Tasha/Iggwilv. So some neat ideas here and there, but not pulled together well enough for me.
Which is too bad, the cover art had a lot of promise.
Hala was the Goddess of Witches for Ravenloft. She was introduced in the late 2nd Edition days along with the Ravenloft Witch.
This PDF is three pages (1 cover, 1.5 content) and sells for PWYW, suggested $0.50.
In this case the warlocks do choose Hala as their patron and we get a Warlock pact that is very, very similar to what we saw in 2nd Ed Ravenloft, Van Richten's Monster Hunter Compendium Vol. 3. It works so well in fact that this could be the model for other witchy-type warlocks.
This one is a neat idea. A Warlock with a special kind of patron to become a Gingerbread Witch, ala the witch from "Hanzel and Gretel." This PDF is a straight sale of $0.75 and you get three pages of class features to the Warlock. There is also a Gingerbread familiar which is a nice touch. Though I am less impressed with the art; the author uses the Gingerbread man from the movie "Shrek." This is doubly disappointing given the number of public domain images that could have been used or artists out there that would have done art for this. While the idea has some merit I don't see a lot of people playing this as a class option long term.
Lastly, I have one that covers Warlocks, Druids, Sorcerers and Wizards all as witches.
This 9 page PDF is PWYW with a suggestion of $2.00. It covers four different subclass archetypes that can be used as the witch.
There is Druid: Circle of the Coven, which draws on the natural powers associated with the Fey. Sorcerer: Witch Stigma, which is a sorcerer with faerie blood, or witch blood if you prefer. Warlock: Haggardly Pact which is a pact with hags and finally the Wizard Arcane Tradition: Coven, which is similar to the witch kit found in AD&D 2nd ed or the witch subclass for wizards in D&D 4e.
Each one is like viewing the witch through the lens of the stated class. Each one also provides something unique, but also each one is an incomplete picture. I think what might be fun is to have a coven of five witches, each one represented by a subclass here and one more as a Witch class. OR create a witchy subclass for the cleric.
Maybe as much as Tolkien, the works of Michael Moorcock laid down the foundation that was going to be the lens of D&D. The alignment system, the multiverse, champions of Law and Chaos, all these things came to D&D via Moorcock. Though in truth for this piece I could also just say Elric since these are the mythos we are discussing today.
Whether or not these meet the AD&D Monster Manual criteria for a demon is to be decided. Let's explore some other details first.
Law & Chaos, Good & Evil
The battles in Elric's world(s) are not just of Good vs. Evil but of Law vs. Chaos. Chaos is shown to be a destructive, and often evil force. Elric and his kin are all dedicated to the Lords of Chaos and have pacts with many of these lords. So the "alignment" system of Elric's world view is the same as that as D&D really. It's where we get it in fact. So this does free up one issue; creatures described here as being Chaotic Evil are likely appropriately described in their own world and an AD&D one. We are not going to run into issues here of Chaotic Evil creatures that also protect mothers like in the Aztec myths for example.
Lords of Hell and Demons
The Elric saga takes a "multiple hells" view on the cosmos. There is more than one hell and they ruled over by Lords of Chaos. Some of these Lords are also explicitly demons. They are called such in the text. In many ways, One Man's God and my own games have evolved to be more like this point of view.
Demons vs. Elemental Lords
There are many creatures of power in the Elric tales (and Moorcock's books as a whole). Some are explicitly demons. Others though are classified as Elemental Lords. These creatures do not see to differ very much the Princes of Elemental Evil first seen in the Fiend Folio. In the 4e cosmology they would be called Primordials and the Titans and Giants are their offspring. This also fits in well with the mythology Gary was building in the GDQ series. So there are at least some relationships between these Elemental Lords and the Demons. But that is for another day. Though all of this leads me to two conclusions:
Many demons/creatures/lords of the Elric saga are very much like the demons of AD&D. Or maybe it is the other way around.
Elric might be listed as a "Magic-user 19th level" and "Cleric 10th level" but what he really is, using the current term, is a Warlock. In fact he might be the exemplar from which we draw from.
But more on that later.
Elemental Lords & Animal Lords
Before I get to the Demons, let's look at the various Elemental Lords Elric has pacts with or is able to summon. We can compare them to other examples in other AD&D works.
Elemental Lords are not the only creatures Elric encounters. There are also the various Animal Lords, or Master Types. These are almost taken verbatim for the Monster Manual II Cat Lord and in the later editions of AD&D/D&D. Among the Animal Lords are Fileet (Lady of Birds), Haaashastaak (Lord of Lizards), Meerclar (Lady of Cats), Nnuuurrr'c'c (Lord of the Insect Swarm), Nuru-ah (Lord of Cattle), and Roofdrak (Lord of Dogs). Back in the 80s we treated Meeclar as the Cat Lord before the "current" Cat Lord and Bast as the one before Meeclar. Gary would go on to support our claim in the 90s when he made Gord the new Cat Lord. all of this fit into our worlds very nicely.
The Demons
Let's get to the demons. There are lot of creatures in these myths are weird and Chaotic Evil. BUT, does that make them an AD&D demon? Well, some fit perfectly, others, we might need to file off some of the edges to make them fit.
Arioch (and Xiombarg)
Let's address the Chaos Lord in the room. Arioch. In the books he is Elric's patron. I believe he is even described as a Patron Demon. He often referred to a Lord of Hell, a Lord of Chaos and it is said he is worshipped as a god in many worlds. But is he a god? He is certainly very powerful. On the side of a God is the fact that he can have many avatars on multiple worlds (though in D&D 3 and beyond this would be called an Aspect), on the side of Demon is the fact that he can be summoned, sometimes even against his will. It is possible that Arioch (Knight of Swords), as well as Xiombarg (Queen of Swords) and Mabelode (King of Swords, and not in the D&DG) are Demons, they are just very, very powerful ones on the level of the Arch Dukes of Hell.
I am inclined to make them powerful Demon Lords/Princes. Their power is such that would disrupt the hierarchy of Hell (the AD&D Hell), but in the Abyss they can plot and scheme all the like. Again they have never been described as anything but Chaotic Evil. I would also argue that their stats in the D&DG might be a touch high. Elric did kill Arioch in the end.
Assassinator of the Gods
Back in the AD&D days we always combined this creature with Ma Yuan of the Chinese Mythos. Though they were not exactly the same. In this case, I am inclined to make this a completely unique creature.
Clakar
Chaotic Evil winged apes that can be used as guards. A bit like a summoned demon, but nothing about them screams demon to me.
Elenoin & Grahluk
These two are in a perpetual race war against each other. Not demons. I always thought of them as the female and male of the same species in a division that has gone very, very wrong. I say every few years both races have a "pon farr" like time where both are compelled to mate. While both can be summoned I took this more as they were responding to some other pact made. So they are not demons, but likely commanded or ruled by demons.
Kelmain
Humanoids from Limbo.
Mist Giant
More of a monster than a demon.
Mordagz
Now here is an interesting character. A former Lord of Chaos, he has been "demoted" to a Storm Giant. He could qualify as the classical definition of a demon; a former god reduced in power and status. His alignment though is Chaotic Neutral.
Pyaray
Now this guy. Lord of the Ocean Abysses. Looks like a demon. Commands a flotilla of sunken ships manned by undead sailors. his soul is stored in the blue crystal on his head like a demon amulet. Yeah, this one fits the demon description rather well. His 250 hp makes him a bit more powerful than Demogorgon, but otherwise he is a good fit. We also know that Pyaray and Straasha are bitter enemies. so if Straasha is an Elemental Lord, we can have Pyaray be a Demon Lord.
Quaolnargn
Ok. This one is explicitly called a "demon from the Abyss."
There are more creatures in the tales, but these are what appear in the D&DG.
Elric as a Warlock
The big surprise here is not that there are demons and elementals in this mythos, but that Elric might be better represented as a warlock rather than a wizard, or as he is described in the book, a sorcerer. We see Elric using magic, but mostly we see him summoning creatures to do his bidding. We rarely see him use the sorts of magics that one might expect of a 19th level magic-user/10th level llusionist/10th level cleric/5th level druid. However, all this magic can be used by a warlock.
I did a quick build with Elic for the 5th Edition warlock. I made him a tiefling to cover his demonic ancestry and it worked out well. But a better choice might be a Demonic Pact Warlock using some old-school rules.
My Warlock book for Swords & Wizardry would be a good fit here since I also re-classified the various demons to work with multiple "hells" and planes.
Spells: 1st: Black Fire, Charm Person, Command, Detect Magic, Mage Armor, Obedient Beast, Spirit Servant 2nd: Agony, Burning Gaze, Cause Light Wounds, Clothes of the Emperor, Grasp of the Endless War, Magic Circle Aganist Spirits, Share my Pain 3rd: Astral Sense, Circle of Respite, Clairsentience, Fiend's Shield, Lifesteal, Summon Winged Steed 4th: Arcane Eye, Call Imp, Divine Power, Fear, Spell storing 5th: Blade Dance, Conjuration of Elementals, Extend Spell (Greater), Song of the Night, Ward of Magic
*6th: Invisible Stalker **7th: Conjuration of Demons ***8th: Symbol
I rather like this.
And Arioch would fit rather well in my Warlock book too.
Last week I talked about the adventure Quagmire for the Expert set. Earlier I talked about the adventure Death's Ride for the Companion set. What do these both have in common? They were the genesis points of a reoccurring bad guy in my games, Magnus Ulslime, the Chaotic.
Magnus, as he was most often known in my games, is not just an awesome reoccurring bad guy, he was my testbed for all sorts of evil, death-priest, warlock style characters.
Anytime a new version of D&D would come around I would roll up a new Johan Werper as the son of the previous one, either as a LG Cleric or Paladin. I'd attempt to make a version of Larina. And I would make a version of Magnus. But unlike Johan, who is a different character each time but always a LG holy warrior, or Larina who was a reincarnation of her previous version and always a witch, Magnus was always something different. I would always go with the class that would give me the best evil traits. In Basic he was a evil Cleric. In AD&D1 a Death Master, in 2nd Ed he started out as a Druid and then became a Necromancer. When I switch over to 100% Ravenloft in my college years the cover of Ship of Horror and the evil necromancer Meredoth also had a huge influence on me. As it turns out Meredoth would be revealed as an expatriate of the Mystaran country of Alphatia.
In 3rd Ed...well there were some many choices that I eventually made 6 different versions. You can see some of that in my Buffy adventures The Dark Druid and The Dead of Night. In 4e I used him as a test of the Death Pact Warlock that never saw the light of day under 4e. It did, however, affect the writing I did for my warlock books.
Magnus Ulslime became my poster boy for warlocks soon after I got a copy of 4e.
I tried him out in several different ways mixing in bits of cleric, wizard, and especially necromancer.
In my Strange Brew: Warlock book for Pathfinder I introduce both Cthonic and Death Pact warlocks. I expand on those ideas from a different point of view in my more recent book, The Warlock for Old-School Essentials. In both cases, I made Magnus a Death Pact warlock. It was a much better representation of how I saw the character. He made a trade to Death for more power in the mortal world.
Magnus for BECMI
If I rerun Death's Ride again for any version of the game I'd like to replace Ulslime the Cleric with Magnus Ulslime the Warlock. For 3rd to 5th Edition of D&D this is not a big deal. But BECMI does not have a warlock.
My warlock for Old-School Essentials is a B/X style warlock with Death Pacts. But it only goes to 14th level. My warlock for Swords & Wizardry goes to 20th level (the level I want Magnus at) but it doesn't have Death pacts. No problem. I designed the books to work together like this. By combining them I can get the exact warlock I want. If I need more death or necromancy themed spells
Magnus Ulslime, the Chaotic 20th levelDeath Pact Warlock Lodge: Sixth Circle, Masters of the Undying
Str: 10
Int: 18
Wis: 16
Dex: 10
Con: 15
Cha: 18
HP: 66
AC: 2 (mage armor, phantom shield, ring +2)
Invocations (10)
Arcane Blast, Agonizing Blast, Armor of Shadows, Aura of Fear, Claws of the Ghoul, Eldritch Sight, Form of the Undead Horror, Mask of Many Faces, The Wasting, Whispers of the Grave
Spells
Cantrips (6): Aura Reading, Daze, Detect Curse, Mend, Message, Object Reading
1st level (7): Arcane Dart, Corpse Servent, Häxen Talons, Feel My Pain, Mage Armor, Phantom Shield, Taint
2nd level (7): Augury, Aura of Chaos, Corpse Walking, Death Knell, Grasp of the Endless War, Speak with the Dead, Ward of Harm
3rd level (6): Bestow Curse, Black Lightning, Cackling Skull, Corpse Candle, Lifesteal, Rage
4th level (6): Animate Dead, Crystal Visions, Extend Spell (Lesser), Fear, Spell Storing, Undead Compulsion
5th level (6): Bad Luck (Run of Bad Luck), Death Candle, Death Curse, Dreadful Bloodletting, Song of the Night, Winds of Limbo
Magic items: Amulet of Chaos, Pentacle Rod, Ring of Protection +2, Staff of the Warlock,
Not too bad really. I might have to go more "BECMI" and raise him to 25th or 36th level!
While I am playing around, here is a 5th Edition version to use in my 5e Converted Death's Ride.
The classes are the same XP, HP progression wise save for where B/X and S&W differ.
There are few overlapping spells, but I wanted to go with new spells for the book.
There are few overlapping Invocations, again plenty of new and a couple revised ones here. For example, both books have an Arcane Blast, the bread-and-butter attack of all warlocks.
There are no overlapping Patrons or Pacts. If you play OSE and use this Warlock book, but want a demon pact you can import it from the S&W book with no changes needed. Same if you play S&W and want a Dragon pact.
There are no overlapping lodges. I wanted to include the Masters of the Invisible College warlocks from S&W for the OSE book, but space ran out. Instead, I am going to the Masters here at a later date with the text that was going into the book on how you play them with OSE and these Pacts. The Masters also take Cosmic Warlocks.
I wanted both books to complement each other. I am very keen on people not thinking "hey, I already bought this book two years ago!"
For the two Old-School Essentials books, the biggest potential overlap was the spells.
I mention in the Warlock book that witches can take warlock spells and the other way around. That is depending on your Referee. There is the subtle notion that the witches of the Pagan Tradition are at odds with warlocks. Granted this idea works best with the demonic pacts, but it is there for players to use. This can limit access to spells the others might "steal".
In both books, I also add new spells for Clerics, Druids, Magic-users, and Illusionists. How they get those spells is of course up to the Referees.
I have made all the spell names and levels available for you to see in this Google Sheet.
Spell names in Red are from the OSE Warlock. Blue links take you the book the spells appear in.
You can also link to it here: Old-School Essentials Spells.
This sheet has ALL the Old-School Essentials spells, not just mine.
I guess the question of "why is there any overlap at all?" Well, some spells are so ubiquitous to witches that not including them would be strange. A good example is Bestow Curse, which interestingly enough is not in these two books.
So here is a break down of all 1,078 spells I have used and 229 monsters. Again spell names in Red are brand new to the OSE Warlock book. This sheet helps you see the spell overlap.
My goal is always to give you something new with each book while making it playable.
So any book can be your "first" witch book and it will work AND be 100% compatible with your "second" or "third" book.
I am currently drafting my next book which will be all monsters. After that, the plan is to do what I am now calling my last witch book, the High Secret Order Tradition.
Power. Humans have always sought it.
Clerics pray for it. Wizards study for it.
Warlocks take it.
Introducing the Warlock class for your Old-School RPGs.
- Four new warlock pacts: Chaos, Cosmic, Death, and Dragon.
- 78 Warlock spells including Cantrips
- 13 new spells for clerics, druids, illusionists, and magic-users each.
- 55 Warlock Invocations, the ultimate expression of their power!
- Magic items and warlock patrons.
This book is 100% compatible with The Craft of the Wise: The Pagan Witch Tradition also for Old-School Essentials. In fact it is written so warlocks can use witch spells (up to 5th level) and witches can use warlock spells. The two groups of classes are also natural antagonists for each other.
This book is also 95%(*) compatible with The Warlock for Swords & Wizardry.
Both warlock books feature pacts, invocations, spells, and lodges. There is some minor overlap (invocations like Arcane Blast, some spells) but otherwise, each book adds to the other. Expand the warlocks spell list and invocations.
Back in 2011 Dungeons & Dragons 4e Essentials was out and Wizards of Coast was putting it's full efforts behind it. To help expand on their 4e and Neverwinter properties WotC turned to relatively new author Erin M. Evans to turn in a tale about tieflings and warlocks, two of 4e's more popular additions.
The result of her efforts was the first novel in the "Brimstone Angels" series, also titled Brimstone Angels. The six-book series spanned two editions of the D&D game (4th and 5th) and help define what tieflings, warlocks, Dragonborn and even devils, succubi, and Asmodeus himself. But it all started with a tiefling girl named Farideh with mismatched eyes and her twin sister Havilar.
Farideh is a tiefling and since publication, she has become something of a poster girl for tiefling warlocks. But that is getting way ahead of myself. Farideh and Havilar were abandoned outside of the walls of their village, they are adopted by a Dragonborn warrior (who has a past) Mehen. Mehen is a good father to the two girls, although no amount of warrior training prepares him for raising teenage girls, especially tieflings and teens at that. In the Forgotten Realms tieflings are new and twin tieflings are considered to be a bad omen. That soon enough comes true as Havilar finds an old book and attempts to summon an imp. Farideh has to jump in, she is more familiar with magic, and the girls soon realize they have bitten off far more than they can deal with. They summon the cambion, Lorcan, the half-human and half-devil of the Invidiah, the leader of the Enriyes. To send him off Farideh agrees to a pact with him and becomes his warlock.
Summoning the devil has other consequences, including burning down their home and getting them kicked out of their village of refugees (Arush Vayem). They then go on an adventure where Evans treats us to a *new* Forgotten Realms. I say new because unlike other Realms books where you can play spot the Extra Special Guest Star, this is a trip of normal folk, or in this case, three unknowns that happen to be a Dragonborn and his two adopted tiefling daughters. Evans plays the family dynamics expertly. Mehen obviously loves and worries about his girls. Havilar is closer to his sensibilities having picked up the glaive and become and fighter like her father, but it is Farideh that has him the most worried.
In addition to that dynamic, there is the Farideh-Lorcan relationship which gives us the best "Will they or Won't they" dynamic since Maddie and David (Moonlighting) or Ross and Rachel (Friends). I won't spoil it, but I will say I am very satisfied with it. Evans knows how to write characters, she would be fantastic in a game.
All this time there is a great story and impending apocalypse that could change the face of the Realms and a prophecy about the Brimstone Angels that will change the politics of Hell itself. So no small stakes here, so no small feat for the first book.
The background story is great and a ton of fun, but truthfully it is the characters that will make you want to read the next in the series. Lorcan is devilishly fantastic, Havilar just wants to beat things, Mehen wants to keep his family safe and Farideh is caught between them all.
As "gamer fiction" the book does a great job of explaining some of the quirks of 4e. Such as why are succubi devils now? Why did erinyes change? What happened to Hag Countess of Hell? Why is Asmodeus a greater god now? What is the deal with Rohini? Well, not all these questions are answered right away, but they are dealt with.
What I loved about this book, other than the characters, of course, was that you didn't need a ton of Realms knowledge to enjoy it. But in truth none of that matters, there is enough of Farideh, Lorcan, and Havilar to enjoy. It is also a good introduction to the Forgotten Realms if you are like me and ignored the Realms for the last few decades.
It's a great start to a great series.
Legacy
Brimstone Angels was the first of six books that spanned from 2011 to 2016, and like I said, two editions of Dungeons & Dragons (4e and 5e). The books had a huge effect on the direction of the game at least in terms of how warlocks could be played.
One needs to look no further than the Player's Handbooks for both editions to see the effects.
There in the Dragonborn names are Mehen, Farideh, and Havilar.
There are other cases where text from the books, in particular interactions between Farideh and Lorcan, are used to flavor text next to the warlock entries.
As I go through the other books I will try to remain spoiler-free, but apologies if an odd one slips by.
Of course, this is all great stuff for a game.
Nibriu could be a sub-brown Dwarf, a body with 2.5 times the mass of Jupiter.
With a name like Nibru it could be some Clark Ashton Smith-like god, a fatal star whose invisible light shines down bringing woe and destruction. Worshiped by insane warlocks and blind abominations whose milk-white eyes can see the foul light.
Witches and warlocks can forge a pact with Nibiru for more magics.
Nibiru's Crossing Level: Witch/Warlock 2 Range: 1 person Duration: Instantaneous
By means of this spell, the warlock can instantly transport himself instantly 10 feet + 5 feet per level to any unoccupied space of five feet square. So a 4 level warlock can transport 30 feet away. The warlock does not need to see the area he is transporting too, but he must know if it is occupied or not.
Winds of Nibiru Level: Witch/Warlock 3 Range: 40 feet from the warlock Duration: 1 round + 1 round per 3 levels
With ancient incantations, the warlock summons the foul winds of Nibiru. The winds blow from the warlock in a cone shape and terminate 40 feet away. Creatures in the area of effect are blown outside of it. Those outside cannot enter the cone area in front of the warlock. Missle weapons and spells are also ineffectual in area. Such is the concentration required that the warlock cannot move during the duration of the spell.
Dreadful Gravity of Nibiru Level: Witch/Warlock 4 Range: 100 feet from warlock Duration: 1 round
With this spell the warlock summons the dreadful gravity of the planet Nibiru and can pull one Small, Medium or Large creature to it to stop five feet from the Warlock. The creature is pulled and immobilized for 1 round. After this it may attack normally.
Eclipse of Nibiru Level: Witch/Warlock 5 Range: 50 feet radius sphere from warlock Duration: 5 rounds
This spell summons a piece of dread and invisible Nibiru to block all magical attacks directed at the warlock. Any spell directed at the warlock is deflected or is stopped at a distance of 50 feet from the warlock. Magical weapons are also likewise deflected.
Of course, this is all great stuff for a game.
Nibriu could be a sub-brown Dwarf, a body with 2.5 times the mass of Jupiter.
With a name like Nibru it could be some Clark Ashton Smith-like god, a fatal star whose invisible light shines down bringing woe and destruction. Worshiped by insane warlocks and blind abominations whose milk-white eyes can see the foul light.
Witches and warlocks can forge a pact with Nibiru for more magics.
Nibiru's Crossing Level: Witch/Warlock 2 Range: 1 person Duration: Instantaneous
By means of this spell, the warlock can instantly transport himself instantly 10 feet + 5 feet per level to any unoccupied space of five feet square. So a 4 level warlock can transport 30 feet away. The warlock does not need to see the area he is transporting too, but he must know if it is occupied or not.
Winds of Nibiru Level: Witch/Warlock 3 Range: 40 feet from warlock Duration: 1 round + 1 round per 3 levels
With ancient incantations, the warlock summons the foul winds of Nibiru. The winds blow from the warlock in a cone shape and terminate 40 feet away. Creatures in the area of effect are blown outside of it. Those outside cannot enter the cone area in front of the warlock. Missle weapons and spells are also ineffectual in area. Such is the concentration required that the warlock cannot move during the duration of the spell.
Dreadful Gravity of Nibiru Level: Witch/Warlock 4 Range: 100 feet from warlock Duration: 1 round
With this spell the warlock summons the dreadful gravity of the planet Nibiru and can pull one Small, Medium or Large creature to it to stop five feet from the Warlock. The creature is pulled and immobilized for 1 round. After this it may attack normally.
Eclipse of Nibiru Level: Witch/Warlock 5 Range: 50 feet radius sphere from warlock Duration: 5 rounds
This spell summons a piece of dread and invisible Nibiru to block all magical attacks directed at the warlock. Any spell directed at the warlock is deflected or is stopped at a distance of 50 feet from the warlock. Magical weapons are also likewise deflected.
One thing that the 1st Edition had that the new 2nd Edition has expanded on is the Warlock class.
The book tells us:
Some warlocks practice the sorcery of cryomancers and may be referred to as ice lords; others practice the sorcery of pyromancers and may be referred to as fire lords. Perhaps the most feared and reviled of warlocks are those who practice the black arts of necromancy (death soldiers)...
Warlocks the choose witchcraft as their sorcery see (Vol. II, p. 148: Table 68) are known as Witch Lords. These warlocks are often found protecting the covens of more powerful witches or ruling over covens of less powerful ones.
Using the Grand Coven idea from my Warlock for Swords & Wizardry you can use Witch Lords as the leaders of Grand Covens in the Hyperborean world. Instead of the usual compliment, a 9th level Warlock can gather, they may opt to form a Grand Coven.
The troop gathered include these 0th-level fighters of 1d8 hp each (known as cowans).
* 15 longbowmen (studded armor, longbows, short swords)
* 5 cavalrymen (chain mail, lances, light crossbows, horseman’s flails; light warhorses)
* 20 light crossbowmen (chain mail, small shields, light crossbows, long spears, short swords)
* 15 halberdiers/pikemen
They also gather the following coven
* 9 initiate witches of 0 level
* 3 witches of 1st level
* 1 witch of 2nd or 3rd level
A 9th level witch and a 9th level Witch Lord that gather together can create a cult stronghold to house all these members.
Once again, AS&SH is firing up my imagination for a game.
