What do you do when your patron is one of the rulers of the world? Well, for Sorcerer-King Warlocks – a whole lot of Intimidation.
The Sorcerer-Kings are the absolute rulers of the world of Dark Sun. They wield tyrannical power over all Athas. Each one is a powerful enough defiler to be numbered among the ranks of demigods (at a minimum). Through their actions, the world has become a brutal wasteland, where not even the strong survive. Of course, they lend their power on occasion to mortal agents to act in the world. And that’s where the Sorcerer-King Patron comes in for the Warlock.
With a powerful patron like that, they command a great deal of power. Weirdly enough, it isn’t the defiling power of the Sorcerer-Kings themselves. But rather it’s like the concept of their tyranny. You’ll be making a lot of Intimidation checks and also casting the Command spell a bunch, it seems. This feels perhaps the most underbaked of the recent Apocalyptic Subclasses, but let’s take a look anyway!
Sorcerer-King Warlock – Everybody Wants To Rule The World
Warlocks who take a Sorcerer-King Patron are maing deals with the very rulers of Athas. What a terrible bargain that must be – and yet, in exchange for spreading their influence in the world, you stand to gain a fraction of their impossible might. But what can you do with that fraction?
“Your pact draws from the power of a monstrous, tyrannical force akin to a demigod or an overwhelmingly powerful magic-user. Through your pact, you herald this tyrant’s interests in the world, channeling their influence and mind-bending psionic power.”
Mostly? This means casting the Command spell. As you’ll discover with one of your two level 3 features: Tyrant’s Herald. This feature gives you two main benefits. The first is proficiency and expertise in Intimidation if you don’t already have either. And the second is the ability to cast Command as a Bonus Action without spending a spell slot.
This is huge for a spellcasting class, as it leaves your main Action free to cast a spell with a spell slot. You are limited to your Charisma modifier in terms of times per long rest, but that’s going to start at 3, and quickly jump to 5, which is probably more than enough for any given adventuring day.
The other big feature is Sorcerer-King Spells. These are the spells you get on top of the normal Warlock list. And what really matters with these, is that thanks to your patron, you can cast these spells (and these spells only) psionically. Meaning you don’t need Verbal or Matrieal components. Except for ones consumed by the spell or that have a costly component.
It’s a substantive list, too. You get Command, as you might expect, as well as Compelled Duel, Hold Person, Mind Spike, and Wrath Smite at 3rd level. At 5th level, you get Fear and Sending. At 7th level, Compulsion and Staggering Smite. While 9th level brings Dominate Person and Synaptic static. It’s a nice variety of offensive and control spells with a smattering of spell-fueled melee in the mix.
Higher Levels Of Tyranny – If You Think The Frightened Condition Is Tyrannical
At higher levels, the Sorcerer-King Warlock leans in harder to the tyranny theme. And here, we turn briefly to the other “tyrannical” subclass WotC has dabbled with before, the Oath of Conquest for Paladins. They were all about ruling with an iron fist – and that meant finding new ways to give creatures the Frightened condition, mostly. This coupled with the ability to deal psychic damage to anyone that attacked them. I mention this because the Sorcerer-King Patron has a lot of abilities that feel very familiar in a certain light.
Starting at Level 6, when you gain Decisive Edict. Whenever you cast a Pact Magic spell, you can create a 30-foot emanation that gives your allies Advantage on attack rolls, or gives your enemies the Frightened condition until the end of its next turn. You can do this once per rest (and regain it with Magical Cunning as well). Not bad – because you’ll do that every time you cast a spell. But it’s very reminiscent of the Oath of Conquest.
At level 10, you gain the ability to deal psychic damage to the people who hit you. Although in this case, it’s not automatic. You can instead force a successful attack to be rerolled, and if it misses, then you deal psychic damage to them. And you can do this up to your Charisma modifier times per day.
Finally, At level 14, Absolute Tyranny upgrades your Command spell. Now, whenever you cast it, you automatically target one extra person with it. And any creature that’s Frightened, automatically fails its save against your Command spell. Which is not bad, because this means you can guarantee your effect goes off, but that’s another capstone feature that centers around letting you cast a level 1 spell.
I think this one needs more time in the oven, so to speak. It’s so limited compared to the others – but that’s just one opinion. WotC wants to know what everyone thinks. And right now (through September 12th) you can let them know by filling out the playtest survey, which you’ll find below, along with the playtest itself.
Take the Sorcerer-King Warlock for a spin and see what you think!
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