Warlock Patrons: The Archfey

Guide by Sam West, Twitter:@CrierKobold

So you want to have an Archfey Otherworldly Patron; the appeal of a lavish floral faerie overlord is certainly there, as is equally the appeal of a cackling curse slinging witch, warts and all. As far as Otherworldly Patrons go, the Archfey features and spells work best on characters who want to put themselves in danger and have an escape plan. Trickster based characters with beguiling charm and a knack for trouble love this option; if you want to play a character based around charisma, style, out of combat social control, and some in combat area control and utility, Archfey is an excellent choice for you.

1st-3rd Levels: Fey Presence, 1st and 2nd Expanded Spells

Fey Presence is a once per short rest action that creates a 10 ft. cube of fey nonsense originating from you, potentially frightening or charming them until the end of your next turn. This little feature may seem innocuous, but perfectly defines what you can expect from this subclass moving forward. It's a single use new tool for a specific circumstance, a new tool dedicated to giving you a powerful escape plan when you get in way over your head. Of the two options, charmed is probably the better of the two for escape, while frightened is better when you intend to plant and fight. Charmed creatures can’t make attacks against you, but can still beat up your friends, while frightened creatures can attack anyone, including you, just at disadvantage.
Melee warlock builds probably weaponize this feature best, as they’re the ones regularly putting themselves in range of groups of enemies to potentially effect, but a panic area of effect fear or charm can help any warlock build escape in a pinch.
Sleep is the first of the two expanded spells you get access to, and can be a build around spell if you love it. 5d8 dice worth of status effects can easily knock down three or four CR ⅛ creatures early, and can be sculpted to targeted higher hit point enemies causing the group pain. It scaling 2d8 per spell level also means it's a spell you don’t mind casting with your upper level Pact Magic slots, which is a huge boon to its credit. Sleep will be a scaling option that gets better as you do all the way up until 9th level. Having 1st level spell options with potentially powerful effects like this on hand is excellent, even if it isn’t your first go to spell at every level. It not eating your concentration for a minute long duration effect also makes it incredibly easy to cast and not worry about. Sleep is one of the best options you can ask for on an Archfey warlock.
Faerie Fire is quite a bit worse. It potentially grants advantage on attack rolls against a handful of creatures and denies Invisibility effects, but it doesn’t scale with spell level and eats your concentration. Still, for 1st and 2nd level warlocks, this can be a perfectly serviceable combat spell against large groups in the first two levels, especially in larger parties that can make more use of the advantage. Past 2nd level you probably want to swap this out for a higher level spell.
Calm Emotions, while normally a spell I adore, suffers from similar problems to Faerie Fire; it takes concentration, often competing with Hex and summon effects you’ll be getting down the road. The effect you’re getting certainly fits the Archfey play style of being a beguiling, charming, tricky to pin down kind of character, but it not scaling with spell level leaves Calm Emotions as something you play with for levels 3 and 4 and drop once 3rd level spells are unlocked.
Phantasmal Force doesn’t fare better; illusory tormenter certainly fits thematically with what an Archfey would bestow upon their warlocks, but mechanically ends up being underwhelming as the game progresses. It has only a minute duration, takes your concentration, and likely is going to feel like a save or die d6 damaging status effect that might mitigate some movement or eat an action or two; perfectly reasonable for a 2nd level spell slot. Not worth the 5th level slots you’ll eventually need to be spending on it.

4th-7th Level: Misty Escape and 3rd and 4th Level Expanded Spells

Misty Escape at 6th level gives you another new once per short rest escape tool, this time attached to a reaction, and coming with a free 60 ft. teleport and a round of Invisibility. Any character loves to have this; it works great as a way to escape certain death while simultaneously being a 60 ft. invisible teleport you can use when you’d like by simply pricking yourself with a dagger, which feels exactly like the type of ability a warlock manipulating trickster gifts would get. If you want to know when you’ll start feeling the most like a fey prankster, it’ll probably be right around when you start regularling using Misty Escape.
Blink is a fickle spell with a mediocre effect at its best case scenarios on characters with ample 3rd level spell slots. Warlocks don’t have that luxury, and while the gimmick of randomly blinking in and out of existence at random is appealing to many, isn’t going to have a large enough impact to justify its cast, especially in the mid tiers when you get access to it.
Plant Growth, on the other hand, is a standout 3rd level spell I’d consider occasionally casting with even upper level Pact Magic slots, and can be a central focus on some warlock builds. The eight hour cast effect is neat, but the action option can be backbreaking to some encounters, creating super-difficult terrain to lock down potentially an 100 ft. radius area. This opens up a massive, reusable, albeit conditional, lockdown tool to your trickster, area controlling warlock. Paired with Eldritch Blast builds or area damaging effects and you’ve got yourself a recipe for major damage with minimal opportunity for ground based enemies to deal with it.
Dominate Beast is unfortunately just a pretty bad spell. By 7th level, the amount of beasts you’ll actually want to spend a spell slot on to gain control of is basically none. If you’re going to fight dinosaurs maybe consider it; otherwise, this is too niche an effect to stick on your sheet.
Greater Invisibility, however, is a banger of a spell. A minute of Invisibility you can attack and cast in is excellent. The major downside to it is its concentration requirement with a short duration; melee based warlock’s with extra attack from Thirsting Blade will love the free advantage and major defensive boon, though. Outside those builds, you definitely have better concentration effects we’ll touch on later. Still, it’s certainly a useful effect to have access to, but not likely better than an up-cast normal Invisibility to turn your whole party invisible out of combat.

7th-10th Level: Beguiling Defense and 5th Level Expanded Spells

Beguiling Defense, like a lot of the 10th level warlock subclass features, is a mediocre defensive option that is outrageously niche. Immunity to charm effects isn’t crazy or anything, more of a silver bullet against a handful of enemies, and then reflecting that charm is going to come up as reasonably useful maybe a handful of times per campaign, if that. When it does happen, though, you will feel like the trickiest little fey, the master of charms and deception. I wouldn’t expect this to deliver on that promise anytime close to when you get it.
Dominate Person: now THIS is a 5th level top end spell slot for your warlock. Unlike beasts, humanoids are everywhere, and often some of the most dangerous foes you’ll come up against. Having a tool to gain control of any humanoid on a save or die is excellent, is worth your concentration, and will be a great option to have at your disposal as the game progresses, even for out of combat shenanigans.
Seeming, too, is a great addition to most Archfey sheets. It can transform any number of creatures' appearances. Want to make a grand ruse, turning the bar from a tavern full of ruffians to a fine dining establishment catering only to the richest of the rich? Seeming plays a major role in that kind of insane plan. It’s never going to be the most powerful effect, but it is a fun to play with spell that slots into your toolbelt of nifty tricks you’d expect an Archfey warlock to have.

14th Level: Dark Delirium

Dark Delirium is cool, but ultimately is going to be a near equivalent to a free cast of Banishment. That’s fine, nice to have for sure, and coming back on short rest makes it feel like yet another nifty little archfey tool in the belt full of battlefield controlling tools you’ll be accustomed to at this level. When it sometimes does nothing it’ll be a real bummer. This, alongside Fey Presence, basically requires you invest in your Charisma, making Archfey melee builds invest heavily into Ability Score Improvements when able to get a high spell save DC and high dexterity for AC and attacks. It's not the best Otherworldly Patron capstone feature, but because it's a solid extra effect to get, it will feel fine to use over the remainder of the campaign.

All Together

Archfey warlocks get a bundle of impactful tools that make any character feel tricksy. You’re basically getting three new resources that recharge on short rest (Fey Presence, Misty Escape, and Dark Delirium) which will feel similar to bonus spell slots that expand how you engage in fights but also how you can navigate social and exploration encounters. Their expanded spells are for the most part great additions to warlock characters, namely Dominate Person, Seeming, Greater Invisibility, Plant Growth, and Sleep. All in all, Archfey is a great option for any warlock looking to build out a suite of tools, works fine for early multiclassing, but also rewards you for sticking with it enough you’ll be happy to stay in warlock for a while.

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Warlock 5e