Hellfire Warlock PrC Lore/Fluff Addition
Sorrowdusk 17 Jul 2010, 05:14 -0-500
Now-people say that Warlocks are demonic, but really going by ability names like "Hellrime", "Hellspawned Grace", "Devils Sight", "Brimstone Blast", "Hellfire" they seem to have more of a ….Hellbent. (pun intended). But certainly some abilities like Witchwood Step, Warlock's Charm and the confusion abilities, as well as Nightmares Made Real can be interpreted though a fey lens -but other sources too if you like. Wheras all spells have standardized names and are recognized by the magic community, spell like abilities are abilities that are only comparable to known spells. It stands to reason that not all Warlocks would refer to their powers by the same names due to their origins, as well as personal preference. Individual warlocks may not give names to their powers at all. The Hellfire Warlock PrC has a distinct infernal theme. But what about alternatives? Rather than hombrewing anything silly, its a simple matter of adding to the Fluff of the therafim world to diversify the PrC, while expanding on the worldbuilding aspect of the PrC. So I propose-
-Hellfire Warlock (Infernal Power)
-Soulfire Warlock (Abyssal Power) Derived this name from the self destructive 'Soul Fire' energy used by Solamiths
-Witchfire Warlock (Dark Fey Power) Thought about Faerie Fire, but thats already the name of a SRD spell
-Weirdfire Warlock (Abberant/Far Realm/Old One/Elder Power)
-Saintfire (Celestial/Positive Power)
Each one WORKS EXACTLY THE SAME MECHANICALLY and CAN ALL be added to Hellfire Warlock PrC page. ITS ALL ONE PrC, but THE ONLY THING that makes these alternatives different is the fluff surrounding them, each one represents a pact with a different power greater than oneself. While Therafim's fluff is closer to 3.5 warlock, in my mind the PrC however very much represents a pact forged with some power. Complete Mage gives an overview on "Arcane Archetypes" and later on in that chapter also discusses the different sources Warlocks may derive their powers from (Devils/Demons/Celestials/Fey/Slaadi) although there can be more. As noted in the Complete Arcane, warlocks often get their power from a bloodline either by having unnatural blood in them, or through a pact made by their ancestors or a pct made by the warlock themselves when they first took the class (as elaborated on in Complete Mage- albeit pacts are considered standard and taken for granted in 4.0 to further differentiate them from Sorcerer which Therafim does not have.)
PrCs are generally not something you're born or forced into, but something a character must choose to become quite deliberately. NOT that it means you always have to choose the same PrC flavor as the origin of your powers. Maybe you're a thematically "Feylock" from your pact or by birth, but you went through the rituals to make a bargain/pact of sorts with Infernal powers later in life to go into the PrC as Hellfire flavor Or vice versa.
-Ghoulfire (Undead)
Note-although the 4 additional examples above are certainly enough, for whatever reason 'Ghoulfire' strikes me as cool sounding. Albeit, undead dont have con scores and cant take con damage, so they have no life to give in exchange. Although…if there were some potent undead power to make a pact with, I can see them wanting mortal life/con energy to feed on. Although theres no general undead group-Falazure is the undisputed dragon god of undeath and according to our fluff all necromancers pay some lip service to him. Perhaps he could grant Ghoulfire to warlocks, which among them would be known colloqially as "The Breath of The Night Dragon" or "Falazure's Fire".
As an alternative, since most of them deal with planes (the Witchfire warlock being the feywilde) you could LOOK at it as Ghoulfire being associated with say, the Negative Energy Plane. SO-
Hellfire Warlock [Nine Hells]
-Soulfire Warlock [The Abyss]
-Witchfire Warlock [The Feywild]
-Weirdfire Warlock [The Far Realms]
-Saintfire [Positive Energy Plane]
-Ghoulfire [Negative Energy Plane]
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