Warlock - The Great Tree
Great Tree Warlock, by Duong Thanh Lam
What happens to a would-be adventurer who just wants to honor the natural world? The warlock who pledges their soul to protecting the trees (or, maybe, destroying their foes?) Look to the Great Tree! There are plenty of fantasy tropes involving great and powerful trees - Elden Ring's Erdtree, Zelda's Deku Tree, LotR's Treebeard or the Two Trees. This patron's for the warlock who wants to honor them.
Role-wise, warlocks of the Great Tree are flexible. Their patron spells are a mix of control, defense, and utility, with some light damage but no big blasting. Their early abilities let them heal allies or themselves, and either protect their team or crush locked-down enemies. When Oaken Might kicks in at level 10, they gain powerful buffs that can help them control melee combat or stay safe at a distance. And the Mystic Shade of their patron helps every ally beneath its canopy.
Design-wise, this was a fun puzzle and a little hair-pulling in spots. Verdant Growth offers a lot of healing, but it's similar in magnitude to a celestial warlock, and significantly less flexible. Oaken Might went through a couple iterations to make sure it could support varied playstyles and avoid breaking the balance curve. And while most of the patron spells are by KibblesTasty and graciously shared by him, Oakenhide (or, as it was named in drafts, barkskin-but-not-crap) was the product of weeks of work and hundreds of comments. I also very rarely see vanilla warlocks at my table - my players default to SwEcky's Omega Warlock, so I took a little extra care to make sure this warlock patron is suitable for that as well as an eldritch-blasting pew-pew warlock.
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