Copyright 2011 Wizards of the Coast.

The North has always had a reputation as a hotbed for cultist activity, especially in these dark times, but this reputation is more than a bit exaggerated. In truth, most of those cults are groups of young nobles from minor families who get together to appear edgy, intimidate rivals, and have really wild parties. They start their meetings with some mock evil ceremonies for the lulz, then proceed to drink themselves into a stupor and leave a mess for their servants to clean.

Choosing this theme means you were one of these “cultists” until recently. Though you come from a noble lineage, your family was never wealthy or very influential. You saw the cult as an opportunity to make useful connections and advance your own wealth and power. Also, the parties were really fun.

One day, you were late for a meeting. And when you arrived you found all of your cult buddies dead, the room painted with their guts. In the center of the carnage, the brazier you used for your pretend “diabolic rituals” burned with an intensely hot flame that drew you in as if you were a moth. It lashed out and etched a brand on your chest, and the pain caused you to pass out.

You woke up at home, but your hope that this had been just a nightmare faded when you noticed that the brand was still there. You somehow recognize it as a mark of Asmodeus. You fled your native Waterdeep in a confused panic, heading to a backwater where no one knew you: the ruined city of Neverwinter. You found allies and protection in the other PCs, though you are reluctant to share your dark secret with them, and haunted by dreams where you betray them all.

This theme is the best choice for infernal warlocks who want to warlock twice as hard, but there are no hard class prerequisites. There are no racial prerequisites either, though since the PC is also from a minor Waterdeep noble family they are likely to be a human, half-elf, elf, dwarf, or eladrin. Tieflings with devil ancestors are also an interesting possibility (guess FR tieflings are more similar to old-school ones).

The theme skills are Bluff and Religion.

Features

As mentioned above, these features let infernal warlocks go at it twice as hard, and they also lend an infernal “flair” to non-warlocks.

At level 1, the devil’s mark allows you to use the Hellfire and Brimstone encounter power. This uses up a minor action and creates a zone in a Close Burst 2 around you. Creatures in the zone when it’s created take 5 fire damage (7 at level 11, 10 at 21). Anyone inside afterwards takes a -2 penalty to all attack rolls and defenses. The zone lasts for a turn.

The damage from Hellfire and Brimstone feels a bit low, but it’s automatic. And the attack/defense penalty is useful for everyone at all levels.

At level 5, you gain a +4 to Diplomacy to interact with devils, and people or creatures devoted to them (like diabolists or duergar). The brand exerts a pull on them and draws them to you, whether you want to or not.

At level 10, you gain 10 Fire Resistance. If you already have fire resistance from other sources (such as being a tiefling) it increases by 5 instead.

Optional Powers

The fiction here is that you trade a bit of your soul to learn these powers (or to use the level 10 one), but that doesn’t have any more mechanical impact than other infernal warlock powers. All of them also grant you additional benefits if you’re an infernal pact warlock.

Traitor’s Brand is a Level 2 daily power that can be used as a reaction when an enemy within 5 squares hits you. You cause all creatures adjacent to that enemy to take 1d6 fire damage. Add your Int modifier to this roll if you have the Infernal Pact feature.

Int isn’t usually a high attribute for infernal warlocks, so the bonus is likely to be low. But hey, it’s automatic damage, so every point helps.

Shielding Hellfire is a Level 6 daily power that uses a minor action. It’s a stance that envelops you in dark infernal flames. This gives you a +4 power bonus to Stealth and Resist 5 Fire. If you already have fire resistance, it increases that by 5 instead.

If you have an Infernal Pact, whenever your Warlock’s Curse is triggered the stance also gives you a +4 power bonus on damage rolls from fire attacks until the end of your next turn.

Pit Fiend Harbinger is a level 10 daily power that uses a minor action, and represents you fully embracing the power of your brand. In other words, you turn into Devilman: your skin hardens into blackened scales and you grow wings and horns. This gives you a +2 power bonus to AC, a fly speed equal to your ground speed, and fire resistance equal to 5 + (your level). As usual, if you already have fire resistance it gets increased by 5 instead.

The downside of the transformation is that you can’t spend healing surges and you must make an attack on your turn each round or take damage equal to your level at the end of the turn. This damage cannot be prevented or reduced in any way. Warlocks already want to be attacking every turn anyway, but this could be a problem if the last enemy falls before they can attack that turn, or if an enemy prevents them from attacking somehow.

All of this lasts for a turn but can be sustained with more minor actions. If you have an Infernal Pact, you gain 10 temporary HP every time you sustain the power, which neatly remedies or mitigates both downsides of this power.

Impressions

This feels like an ironic take on the “edgy but not evil” trope, since a PC with this theme thought they were that but then it turned out their pretend cult drew the attention of actual cosmic evil.

You can still be an involuntary wielder of infernal magics if you stick with just the features, but by default there’s nothing “involuntary” about the optional utilities: they represent you willingly trading bits of your soul away for more power. And both the level 6 and 10 powers seem like a very tempting choice for an infernal pact warlock, be they full- or multi-class.

I don’t think multiple PCs with this theme in a party would work out. The default inciting incident is very specific, which means all of the Pawn PCs would have been present there. Them being in the same party set ups an unsustainable tension between “no one must know!” and “this one knows!”.

Also, the more Devil’s Pawns you have together, the higher the chance one of them would succumb to the temptation of embracing these powers, dragging the others down along with them. An all-Pawn party might start with the best of intentions, but it would turn into an evil campaign quite soon. I’m not sure I’d allow it in a group at all. If someone really wanted to play a warlock, I’d try to convince them to take the Fey Pact instead.

There’s a bit of lore elsewhere that claims most PC infernal warlocks are following an esoteric tradition based on stealing power from Hell, which allows them to wield infernal powers without imperiling their soul and could explain why devils generally dislike the character instead of being drawn to them. Separated from its story bits, this theme could represent a warlock who gained their powers through the more traditional path of making deals with devils. They are more powerful than a theme-less warlock, but also more evil.