So tell me if I’ve got this right

>We're talking some setting specific kind of warlock here then. The standard definition (aka d&d) doesn't actually require him to summon shit, just make a pact with a powerful being.

Even in D&D they're fluffed as being pretty scholarly.

Sorcerer = gf
Wizard = no gf because sorcerer NTR'd you again
Warlock = patron gf

This is so... specific

>just make a pact with a powerful being.

Of which normally requires knowledge of the powerful being which either means years spent studying the darker bits of knowledge or being the unlucky bastard that grabs the eye of some dark being by circumstance.

It's more like

Sorcerer = Corn Farmer

Mage/Wizard = Soybean Farmer

Warlock = Migrant Laborer

...Go on?

Does that mean Witch = Peach farmer?

Sorcerer = /ic/

Wizard = Veeky Forums

Mage = Veeky Forums

Warlock = /x/

>/x/
>only tries to summon succubi, they never respond

>/pol/
>resurrects an ancient Egyptian god of chaos and primordial darkness, unleashing untold fuckery into the world entirely by accident

Think the warlock crown belongs on another noggin boss

Sorcerer: the bell curve

Wizard: outliers

Warlock: local mom discovers one weird trick for infinite magical power, wizards hate her!

/pol/ has no control over the chaos they unleash, if they’re a Warlock, they’re a shitty one who happened to get lucky with one of their bindings.

Being a warlock is about willpower to either control, dominate, or resist, depending on the type of Warlock we’re talking about.

I would argue that summoning something and having no control over it would make you a more accomplished warlock then the guy who can't summon shit, but I will admit you probably wouldn't live long enough to gloat about it

A physicist can study fireballs but not throw them. You want to conjure shit out of thin air? Cause people real harm with a few cryptic words in an arcane dialect? Lawyers, media whores, and financiers are the only ones who can do it on their own.

>warlocks
>controlling the being they made pact with
>not being manipulated by and otherwise ignored by them
user

Wizards are the kids in class who study for a couple hours every night and get straight As.
Sorcerers are the assholes in class who never have to try but are naturally smart and get As as a result.
Warlocks are just fucking the teacher.

Cleric/Warlock is an artificial distinction perpetuated by false editions.
Is a just world, you could get all the way to 6th level before deciding on your Cleric's alignment.

I don't know what system you're referring to, but in D&D
Sorcerer = Savant
Wizard = Hard working Scholar
Warlock = Blew the teacher to get the answer sheet.

*7th level, sorry

>Sorcerer = >40 y.o. virgin
>Mage/Wizard = 30 y.o. virgin
>Warlock = edgy 30 y.o. virgin

Warlocks are just a touch more scholarly than a Sorcerer, just because they have to look up the names of Old Ones and Demons.

Wizards are the true Historians.

patron gf is the best kind of patron because you can be lovers instead of just a slave or a snack

I feel like warlocks don't get the respect they deserve here, and everyone automatically assumes they're idiots like Faustus who literally sold their souls to a devil and couldn't possibly have arranged any other kind of pact.

>Using this garbage autistic compartmentalized shit when all the titles mean similar things
>Actually using the even worse D&D meme of "Sorcerers are born with magic and Wizards train it" when actual folklore has it being the literal exact opposite
>Most of them even have similar spells and abilities they can use just being re fluffed differences that need to come from different classes for some reason

Could you just stop?

I like this.

what if I want to be lovers, a slave, and a snack?

hot

>Words can only mean what I say they mean

Okay

A Warlock makes a Pact or Lasting Contract with a being classed as an Outsider by D&D's Planar standards. The Outsider takes the Warlocks soul through some varied means and replaces it with unstable Incarnum from it's own body. As this is the unspecified cosmic makeup of various outsiders which determines how they take form, Warlocks master disciplines known as invocations to warp these innate energies to their liking as a form of pseudo-magic. To note, the difference between a Warlock and a native outsider is that say, a Succubus is born with it's innate abilities, fresh out the oven, and in some cases, per depiction through the concept of Monster Class Templates in 3.5 We know these are gained over a short period of time until said Outsider is up to standards with it's base Statblock.

In 40k, that's the equivalent of becoming a Daemon Prince.

A Warlock, is- in effect, to the notion of his Patron- what Wizards are to the Arcane- to the very notion of Outsiders, beings who in generalization (Far Realm, Native outsiders and other rare exceptions to this excluded) are beings who have their Souls and Bodies in One single unit and express the natures of their homeworlds through native powers, personalities, and other such common-features.

A Warlock, takes this energy, and innovates it to his own ends, namely to become a unique Outsider-like or actual Outsider His/herself. Come many a year later, a Warlock may be an outsider of certain CR whose Warlock Disciplines are all but gone and are now Spell-like abilities and a natural Spellcasting ability to the equivalent of a Certain spellcasting class serving as equivalent CL. In effect, a Warlock takes what to an Outsider is as easy as breathing, and innovates it into something they can call their own that even the Outsider could not perform.

Warlocks are closer to batshit insane Drug-junkies practicing 'magic'

Does this mean their potential peak power is significantly lower than a sorcerer or wizards, even as they reach it faster?

It depends really, there isn't enough stuff on the Warlock End-game results pre-4e, and the DMG has a Baron of Hell who is a Warlock (Don't ask me how, it's up there with the Vampire using a Lich phylactery for the Rejuvanation ability working for the Twisted Rune from Undermountain, the Druid Lich, from FR, the one unnamed Vampire in Khelben Blackstaff's Organization member roster, two instances of vampiric gibbering mouthers and other red herrings) But it's variably based on the type of patron the Warlock has, how the Warlock has built their invocations up over time, and the actual conditions of the pact and ownership of the Warlocks native soul.

So- if anything, the regular Warlock with a Free-form Pact to homebrew nondescript stock Pit-Fiends or Balors/other Evil outies with CR equivalent by advancing them via class levels or advancement rules/templates whatever if they need to be fleshed out more is probably not going to get his hands on anything special in terms of when he hits the levels required to ponder the possibility of reclaiming his/her soul because setups like these tend to revolve around the aforementioned patron adhereing closer to generic "stock" Evil outsider behaviors that only affect party cooperation at crucial moments- and is likely to not get anything along the Lines of DEMON LORD mode unless you and your buddies kill Demogorgon on his native plane of the Abyss and get his, title- something which CAN happen.

At best, the average Warlock just tends to get the Fiendish template- then they later become similar to their patron or a demon that best aligns with their build- something touched upon but never fleshed out properly with the like of Acolyte of the skin for example.

Getting one's soul back justifies the shift to Outsiderdom because of the Soul/body in one unit thing and the Warlock recovers the means, probably trapping/beating his patron in the process- presumably to consume them in some manner towards these ends.

>artist (natural talent)
This is how I know you're not an artist

Now then this is only for the freeform classic base Warlock setup- if the Warlock in question has a Core patron- a Baron of Hell, Archdevil or leader, things are to be tailored to matters of their master's character, aims and the like, if it's an Archdevil or Baron- Usurping them is something a GM can work with- but the thing about the Nine is they're big on law, so there's a strong possibility of the Ass-Man showing up and saying "Why yes, you've killed my employee, now you've got to replace him, but we have strict entry policies here, so you're going to have to go through the whole Tortured until Individuality lost thing we do here as part of recruitment." Unless you somehow DO become a Devil in technicality (Get the Evil and Lawful subtypes) (See ritualism) and point this out beforehand- to note, there's actually something of a minor Racial tension in hell with I forget which- some of the devils not getting along with some other types that were of a different generation- So Asmodeus can technically put you through the "promotion" process without issue (It shouldn't be a problem to artificially inseminate you with Ovatorim to explode you into). And again, you're a Devil, so that means even if you've gained all your power, you're stuck with shitloads of Buercracy, infighting, and fragile alliances with people you don't even like.

Unless- you get the Treatment the guy who wrecked the shit out of the Demon Lord who was the guy in control of the Abyss's equivalent of Hellfire- Vilefire and then became a Demigod in FR who the Ass-man banished because reasons- which is a win-win.

b8

Now then, the Abyss and it's Patrons on the other hand- being Chaos and Evil incarnate is the least restricting, but the offset of it being the most invasive, unpredictable, unfair, brutal, unforgiving pit of TPK in the multiverse in more ways than one is a bit of an issue, but this place has all sorts of benefits, namely Demon Lord Hood, the Abyss only has a single enforcement system in place to ensure you're doing your part to help Nuke the Universe to kill the alignment system off, and asides from that, you're free to do as you please and possibly become a (Minor) Demon Lord, something Iggwilv fleshed out, and there are SHITLOADS of unclaimed layers in the Abyss, and one that literally turns you into a Demon lord of Ammorality, allowing you to ignore the Alignment system and break the game so meta it isn't even funny.

Hell, the Wand of Orcus has the capacity to turn you CE and over six weeks into a Demon Lord, so you know, try and rob it from him if you want.

If it's personal power the Warlock is out for, the Abyss is basically the best proving ground you can work with, you however, may not get much in terms of your piece of 'eden' you'll have to carve that out yourself- but if there's one thing the Abyss isn't in short supply of it's people willing to help you if they KNOW what you're doing is wrong, like if there's one thing in the Abyss that's a constant, it's risk of corruption and friendly open arms to set that in, just doing logical things in that place is enough to turn you evil even if good intentions were had.

It's EXTREMELY likely a Warlock Patron to the Abyss has a High-success, but also Death/failure/worse rate because of what goes on down there.

Also, if you're a woman, then trust me, the Abyss has you covered, Vecna's Mom and Iggwilv are proof of Escorting for Demons supplying you with absurd amounts of material power is a thing, and you will be made a goddess in the eyes of evil just for a saucy night of fucked up murder-sex action

Yugoloths however are clearly shitposting 4channer Oldfags who don't give a shit, I've actually not heard of any stories on Warlock pacts with these guys, so I can't really help you other than mention that they literally have the entire Acolyte of the Skin thing under a different name as a template, because they've got this nasty prison thing that their kind are willing to cease existing just to escape by merging with the flesh of a mortal.

A Beholder Did it and became the perfect Combination of a Beholder and Cacodemon from DOOM as a part of the example provided.

This is making me think it'd be fun to have a "assign a class to each board" thread.