There are tales inDungeons & Dragonsabout those that serve the fey, tales not wandering too far in the woods, lest you be snatched up and tricked into staying for hundreds of years in the blink of an eye. Tales meant to scare children into huddling deep in their beds or to mind their parents.

RELATED:Dungeons & Dragons: Ideas For Shared Player Backstories

If you’re building a warlock for such a creature for your campaign, those tales didn’t work. Relying on illusion, trickery, and charm, the Archfey Warlock weaves a confusing web around their enemies, locking them in place for their allies to pick the ensorcelled creatures off one by one.

Patrons

Capricious and frightening, beautiful and austere, the archfey aresome of the arcane patrons that can grant your character their warlock abilities.Often operating under their inscrutable moral code, they deal with mortals only when they deem it important.

They may be drawn to artists, dreamers, nobles, peasants, warriors, and farmers all the same because, to them, mortals presumably look the same. The archfey have established themselves in the Feywild as ancient, powerful fey whohave grown far beyond their regular scope of dominionand may fashion themselves titles to represent their influence.

A Feywild Trickster Archfey Warlock laughing while it rests on the grass.

Here are some archfey personalities that may help you design or choose your warlock’s patron:

Personality

Hyrsam, The Prince of Fools

Hyrsam is a satyr archfeywho delights in tricking others, presenting himself as a joke while disguising his intelligent and shrewd nature. He despises civilization andseeks to bring the Feywild back to its former wild, untamed glory.

Baba Yaga, Mother of All Witches

Fickle and vicious, Baba Yagahas been said to eat her own worshipersmostly because she has the ability to.She is known to trade in secretsand to weave her deals in more confusing ways than any other fey.

The Prince of Frost

Also called “The Pale Prince,” The Prince of Frost isbest known for his tragic romance, the brutal loss of which led to his willing corruption. That being said, he is not known for being cruel for cruelty’s sake, thoughhis smile is said to be the coldest thing there can be.

Titania

Frivolous and brilliant, beautiful and terrifying, the Queen of the Summer Court is perhapsthe most powerful archfey in the Feywild.Known to take mortals as lovers, Titania delights in all things beautiful, andher smile even possesses the ability to ripen fruit.

The Queen of Air and Darkness

MTG: Feywild Visitor card art

She’s one of the few fey to lack a form. Formerly the sister of Queen Titania,this Queen is the head of the Unseelie Court, and it’s said she’s loathed even by the gods. Enigmatic and cruel, the Queen of Air and Darkness has amultitude of dark powers at her disposal.

Neifion

An ancient, bat-like fey witha penchant for making pacts.He was alsoknown to devour those who displeased him, on top of his ability to summon bats.

Archfey Warlock Features Overview

The Archfey Warlock will gain a number of features as they level thatwill let them control the battlefield and alter the minds of their enemies.At the first level, an Archfey Warlock can utilize their patron’s influence toproject an image into their opponent’s mind.

Fey Presence

You make all creatures within a ten-foot cube to make a save against your spell save DC, and if they fail,they will be frightened or charmed by you:

Because this is a singleaction,you may’t use it again until you rest.

Guests from the material plane and the feywild come to a palace to party

At the sixth level,your warlock receives the ability to teleport upon taking damage.

Misty Escape

At the tenth level, your patron instructs you in the classic fey art ofdeflecting your enemy’s charm effects, leaving you unaffected in the face of creatures like vampires, other fey, beholders, myconids, and other spellcasters’attempts to enchant you.

Beguiling Defense

Atthe fourteenth level, your warlock can mentally mess with their enemy,making them believe they are in an entirely different realm.

Dark Delirium

Dark Deliriumis one of those features that works well outside of combat, making Archfey Warlock a great choice for a character in a political intrigue campaign, or one in which you may need totemporarily trick (or “convince”) someone. Because the illusion doesn’t damage the creature, but rather mentally incapacitates them,this ability will work best with some creativity.

Best Species For Archfey Warlocks

Species like the changelings work well for Archfey Warlock, playing right into their mythos thematically. Mechanically, it may be helpful for you to choose a changeling character to not feel the need to take the invocation Mask of Many Faces,leaving yourself open to other invocations to choose from.

The eladrin also play into the fey aestheticwhile also allowing you an extra Misty Stepuse to move you around the battlefield without costing you a spell slot. Kalashtar is also a good option, withresistance to psychic damage thatallows you to mess with the minds of others while protecting your own.

The Wild Beyond the Witchlight Standard Cover Art, showing a harlequin and a shady character with a top hat, looming above a circus tent.

Best Ability Scores For Archfey Warlocks

Charisma

This is yourmost important ability scoreand will be most of your spellcasting, so do not let this beanything but your best ability scoreunless you like punishment. Being an Archfey Warlock, youmay be called on to be the face of your partymore than other subclasses, so having some real proficiency would be great for your character.

Constitution

Fiendish Vigor is a great invocation to boost your hit point maximum, but if you don’t have that,you’ll need your Constitution to be high to make up for it. You will be more durable than a wizard’s, but still quite low, soyou should definitely let your Constitution be higher.

Dexterity

Archfey Warlock works best with more spellcasting-oriented warlocks, so you shouldn’t be within melee range very often. However, a lot of your abilities lean on you being within range of an enemy, soyou should boost your armor class anyway.

Intelligence isn’t required for a warlock build, but becauseit’s responsible forso many of the ability checks,you may enjoy letting this stay fairly high. Wisdom is also somewhat useful for Archfey Warlock, and havingan extra cushionmay benefit your playstyle.

Cover Art for D&D: Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything showing a witch casting from a spellbook

Strength can remain at the bottom of your priorities, asthere are very few places where it will be applicableon an Archfey Warlock’s character sheet.

The spells you get in choosing the Archfey Warlock subclass are as follows:

Eldritch Blast

Eldritch Blast is maybe the best cantrip to have, and it’syour warlock’s main aggressive spellas an Archfey Warlock. It’ll level with your character andlet you stay nice and far from the people you’re trapping in illusions.

Mind Sliver

Consider taking Mind Sliver, asvery few creatures areresistant to psychic damage,and the cantrip inflicts a one d4 penalty against their next roll, whichworks well for a lot of your spells that impose saves.You’ll have more than enough spells for crowd control and to help parse enemies away from your allies, sobeing able to do small amounts of damage will be helpful.

At the first level,the spells you take will determine the sort of warlock you want to play.With how versatile the warlock is, it may seem daunting to try and pick out any,because you won’t get to switch them out until you level upand you’re able to cast very few.

For Archfey Warlock, it may be good toskip on spells like Charm Person andCause Fear, as your abilities will do this for you.

Armor of Agathys

Armor of Agathys provides some temporary hitpoints and makes your enemy take cold damageafter hitting you, something you may take advantage of beforeteleporting away withMisty Escape.Because there’s no save,your opponent just takes the damage.

Hex

Being able to Hex acreature’s saving throwswill become very important for you. There are so many saves an opponent could potentially succeed on, rendering your abilities temporarily useless, so consider hexing an opponent’s Wisdom saves, andthis instantly becomes less of an issue.

The extraNecrotic damage it provides when you hit the affected enemy with attacksis also a nice benefit.

Comprehend Languages

If you decide to do most of your damage through Eldritch Blast, thenconsider taking Comprehend Languages.It’s a good utility spell, and if your Dungeon Master is keen on using languages in their game you could do well adding it to your repertoire, asthis leans well into a diplomatic warlockor a character who’s trying to be the party’s face.

Hellish Rebuke

If you expect to be using your Misty Escape ability frequently,you may want to take this spell as well. Not only does it use your reaction to be triggered, butit also deals a fair amount of damageas another nasty, fey-like surprise.