Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 terminus_vortexa Nov 23, 2006 22:44:58	I had a thought- A T'liz gets its powers from bargaining its soul to a Dishonored Spirit in exchange for undeath. Warlock powers apparently have their origin through pacts with potent entities of various types. I have a few ideas for appropriate beings with whom bargains could be made to grant the Warlock's abilities. Dishonored spirits, of course. Perhaps only a portion of the soul would have to be bargained up for the powers granted, rather than the whole thing, and the dishonored spirit would join the remaining portion of the Warlock's soul with the Grey in such a manner as to grant the Warlock's powers. The Shadow Giants could infuse the prospective Warlock with power from the Black. I don't see that they would require the soul, however, maybe just a service of some type. Spirits of the Land could grant such powers, too. I cite the reference in Complete Mage to the fact that even Celestials and Fey can forge a Warlock pact. Dark powers do not necessarily have a dark source. SKs who are capable of granting spells could also convey a Warlock's powers, as an interesting variation of a Templar. The raw magical nature of an invocation seems like something that could be the result of tapping into and channeling raw magic. Maybe even Elemental Lords could grant the powers of a Warlock, with an Elemental theme to the granted invocations. And finally, maybe a Warlock could just preserve or defile, like a regular Athasian Wizard. Also, after reading Complete Mage, I will be designing an Eldritch Psion prestige class similar to an Eldritch Theurge or Eldritch Disciple. It will grant full progression in Invocations and Psionic abilities, and a couple of abilities allowing one to use metapsionic feats on invocations and channel an area power through the Eldritch Blast as well.
#2 throkat Nov 24, 2006 17:42:45	As I've just picked up Complete Arcane, I've been pondering Athasian warlocks the last few days. I seem to have taken quite a different route than you, TV, but I like a few of those ideas. Particularly the one about the shadow giants. I'm not too keen on sources of divine energy on Athas (spirits of the land, elements, SKs, etc.) granting power to an arcane class, though, unless you plan on changing the warlock to a divine class. My own ideas on the warlock were kind of born from an idea I picked up from the boards here: Treating defilers as addicts. Well, as children born of addicts are born already being addicted to whatever the mother was addicted to, could the same be true of the children of defilers? Could the children of defilers be born with an addiction to life energy? They wouldn't have any physical differences from other children, but they could have an almost instinctual ability to gather life energy that, without any sort of training, they would then release as eldritch blasts. The vast majority would be defilers, but I suppose some could beat their lifelong addiction and become preservers. And what would really make Athasian warlocks hated (for those who would bother with the difference between them and wizards) is the possibility that they could defile a limitless number of times per day, whereas a wizard would be limited by their number of spells per day.
#3 ruhl-than_sage Nov 24, 2006 18:09:22	For me the Wilder and wild talents in general take the place of the spontaneous magic user found in other settings. Only in very particular situations would I even consider using the Sorcerer or Warlock classes on Athas. I could handle the idea of a few warlocks having formed pacts with the shadow giants, or with warlocks or sorcerers being the children of Dragons or Avangions, but making these classes readily available for play or as common NPC ruins the flavor of DS for me.