The Archmage! Although I have previously posted the Chivalric Order, that was actually not the first otherworldly patron I ever created. That honor goes to the Archmage, which has had a surprisingly long history among my homebrews. If memory serves, I made my first draft of this homebrew two or three years ago by now! This was one of my first homebrews, created shortly after the three Oaths of the Fantra, Lyan, and Paramander that were the precursors to my present Oaths of Anarchy, Society, and Detachment.
Because it was such an early piece, the errors of my inexperience showed through it. The first feature, Prepare Arcana, has changed very little over time. It's just been dialed down; it used to grant four "prepared spells" at 1st level; I've since reduced that to three, with the third gained at 6th level. However, every other feature has changed substantially! Weaveblooded is almost original to the first draft, but it used to be flat resistance to spells all the time. The 6th and 14th level features used to be quite different, which I won't get into here, but trust me when I say that Residual Power and Flexible Arcanum are much better.
In the end, I'm glad I'm able to share this first Otherworldly Patron to my blog. It's kind of nostalgic, in a way. The Chivalric Order is definitely my favorite patron that I've ever made, but there's something special about the first one.
Now then. You may be wondering what I mean by the title of this post: "on overlap among patrons." This is a pretty small scale observation, but I think it's interesting enough to note, as it helps keep patron homebrew more open.
In the introductory text of the homebrew, I suggest broadly that a lich could fulfill the role of an Archmage patron and name Acererak as an example. However, some might object to this, pointing out that Acererak and other liches are already "covered" by an official otherworldly patron: the Undying, from the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide. This is where my point on overlaps comes in.
When I first started playing Dungeons & Dragons and making homebrew, I assumed that otherworldly patrons should be like independent "silos." A creature or creature type slotted into one patron, and it could never crossover into another. That's the perspective the aforementioned hypothetical objector might be coming from.
However, since then I've concluded that this is an impractical and unnecessary limitation on creativity for otherworldly patrons. Who's to say that a single creature type, or even creature, should be incapable of bestowing different warlocks with different powers and abilities from within their arsenal? Looking at official options, wouldn't it make sense for Orcus, demon lord of undeath, to be able to have some warlocks serve him as the Fiend and others serve him as the Undying? After all, both fiendish and undead powers fall within his sphere of influence. And what about powerful night hags? As hags, it makes sense for them to grant powers as the Archfey. But then again, they are not fey creatures, but fiends, so it makes sense for them to grant powers as the Fiend. Why not both, one for some warlocks and the other for other warlocks? Maybe one night hag operates exclusively as the Archfey, another only as the Fiend, and another as both for different servants.
In that spirit, I think it is therefore appropriate and creatively interesting to suggest liches as possible candidates to be the Archmage for a warlock. This perspective also helps open up patron homebrew possibilities. By freeing patrons from their "silos," it becomes possible to operate within the penumbras of existing options.
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