D&D 5E making a new warlock...background flavor suggestions welcomed

[Warpiglet]

So I recently have been playing a warlock of a fallen angel...deluded into thinking it is merely a being a light. the background is acolyte and I am playing him like a self righteous puritan. best character ever for me...

however, will be DMing and occasionally playing an NPC/PC. The group needs to be rounded out plus I will have to play at some points. The character is going to be single classed hexblade, blade pact.

I am interested in finding inspiration for a new character. Nuts and bolts...initially going with sword and shield but later may move to two handed. Want to use eldritch blast for control primarily. Do NOT want agonizing blast but rather the invocation that pushes or the new one that pulls at some point, maybe.

I would like some ideas about flavorful background. only exclusion: did not strike a bargain to avoid death and "poof" he is a warlock!

Less concerned about optimization and more about flavor. When I am running the game, it will be run as a wargame---few punches pulled, decisions matter, etc. and tactical withdrawal may not be uncommon solution...

Mix of hex and dungeon crawl with more emphasis on dungeon so i can use modified published material.

Cannot wait to hear some ideas!

 

[Dausuul]

Here's a possible backstory, to use in pieces, in full, or as inspiration:

The character was in training to be a cleric. He read about this fallen angel in the holy scriptures and got curious about it. As he dug deeper, he became convinced that the scriptures had been tampered with by enemies of the faith; the angel wasn't fallen at all. When his efforts to establish contact with the angel and prove his point were discovered, he was thrown out and excommunicated for heresy. (To his superiors, it looked like he was trying to make friendly contact with powers of the lower planes, because, well... he was.)

He didn't give up, however. He continued striving to make contact with the fallen angel, trying darker and darker magic to do so, and finally succeeded. The angel told him yes, it's all true, I never fell, and I need you to clear my name and restore my worship. But be careful, the church is under the control of our enemies; you have to build support secretly, and there may be bloodshed before it's all over. It couldn't give him true clerical magic, but it could and did bestow warlock powers on him instead.

So, he is now trying to infiltrate his old church, establish a demonic cult, and kill the church elders, all while firmly convinced of his own righteousness.

 

[Ganymede81]

If your patron is a fallen celestial, why did you make your warlock a Hexblade? That is generally reserved for the denizens of the Shadowfell, while the Fiend pact is what would best fit a fallen angel.

 

[pdegan2814]

If your patron is a fallen celestial, why did you make your warlock a Hexblade? That is generally reserved for the denizens of the Shadowfell, while the Fiend pact is what would best fit a fallen angel.

I believe his fallen angel Warlock is different from this new one he wants to build, if I'm reading the OP correctly.

 

[Warpiglet]

I believe his fallen angel Warlock is different from this new one he wants to build, if I'm reading the OP correctly.

Correct!

I really love the fallen angel story. However, I want to do something new and not merely retread that one who was an acolyte led astray.

Maybe a sage for a wizard's apprentice looking for quick progress in spite of his master, to spite his master, something...

Usually ideas flow, but I am wanting to perhaps consider something that is new to me. Any suggestions would be fun to borrow from in whole or part! I just need some inspiration.

I though about a toady to a warlock plucked from the commoner tasked with gathering plants and specimens...

just nothing is gelling yet and I need to focus on prepping the game!

 

[Ganymede81]

Ok, I gotcha.

Well perhaps this warlock stumbles upon a leather-bound tome bound to a death spirit, and the pact the warlock forges with the death spirit is the source of his eldritch powers. Ok, I know that's a rough retread of Death Note, but it is still a source of inspiration for a background.

 

[MechaTarrasque]

You could go the Glen Cook route and have the warlock agree to wield the weapon in order to do something good (save the kingdom, his/her significant other, the family farm, etc.), ignoring all the warnings about the weapon (there are reasons warlocks are cha casters, not int or wis, and ignoring warnings is a big part of it) and then discover the weapon has an endless thirst for blood and draws the warlock into conflict. The Shadowfell part might be in the background, but it is something the warlock may never see or know about.