Here's my thoughts, I'm eager for others to add their insight as well :
- Fey Pact - the Feywild still exists, so there is some support here. But it's also been reduced to about 0.0000000000001% of the world's surface, and is almost dead. Is it powerful enough to grant boons to any PC who craves them?
- Infernal Pact - There are devils imprisoned in the Gray. They could still be powerful enough to grant boons...why not?
- Star Pact - This one is probably the weirdest and most uncertain of the three core pacts. Sure, the weird is an integral part of Athas, but it is not a horror setting. The H.P. Lovecraft "something beyond the stars" theme is a bit too cosmological or planar to really mesh well with the mood Athas tries to establish, which is "this world sucks, but we're stuck here." So, I don't know if I like the idea of the Far Realm in Athas or not. I personally would discourage it, but this is a case of YMMV - I'm sure most DMs won't have a problem with it.
Vestige pact could be a primordial of some stripe.
Fey Pact:
While the Feywilds have been decimated, there are many creatures that stem "from" the feywilds that wield powerful arcane magics. They could potentially teach a student, or become a patron to a character. Belgoi and Eladrin are two excellent examples of creatures that could be good or evil, that might have some connection to the Feywilds. The wars between the two races is one of jealousy and betrayal. A patron of a PC might be an ancient warlord or general from the bygone wars. A Belgoi with a hidden agenda to genocide the rest of the Eladrin race. An Eladrin outcast still proficient in the ways of Defiling.
Other patrons might include Spirits of the Land (Primal spirits) that know some knowledge of the Arcane arts. Examples include the Zwuun that inhabit/haunt the water hot springs near Nibenay, these are the spirits of Preservers of old.
Finally, in the Forest Ridge, there are plenty of wild or feywild sources of patrons. Ancient guardians of Halfling ruins. Halfling mentors or ancient Halfling voodoo shaman. Any or all of these powers would have their own agenda, and could be craving to escape the confines of the Forest Ridge.
Infernal Pact:
The idea of having devils in Dark Sun is somewhat new (to me at least). They inhabit the Gray. What does that mean? Do they have some connection to the Black, to Death, or to the Nine Hells? The Black is deathly cold, so you might consider converting some of the powers they provide to "cold"-based. Infernal pacts might also have a close connection to the Dark Pacts.
Some people have made connections between Ur Draxa and Tieflings. There are many Archliches (Karshaiga) in Ur Draxa that could easily be patrons to further their own dreaded goals or those of the Dragon.
Dark Pact:
What other beings live in the Gray? Wraiths and other ancient followers of the Cleansing Armies. We saw many instances in the Prism Pentad novels of wraiths that were servants of the Dragon (even after death). The other Sorcerer Kings might have something similar wraith followers (especially Nibenay, who has close ties to Death).
There are also many beings in the Black that oppose the Dragon and the Sorcerer Kings (for their own reasons). The Shadow Giants or powerful Shadar-Kai could become patrons to a willing Warlock. Sadira, in some ways, accepted a boon from the Shadow Giants to become a Sun Wizard (see the Amber Enchantress).
Star Pact:
Anything to do with Psionic, really. If you want something crazed and psionic "on Athas", go for it.
Ancient Psionic masters could be trapped in psi-crystals. The Order could very well have trapped some mad-powerful-master. Etc...
In 4e they can be converted to primordials that migrated to (or were imprisonned inside) the Gray and over time changed into some other, never before seen creature.
This theme suits Athas just fine.
Actually, a thought suddenly occurs regarding Fey Pact warlocks in Athas : feywild beings or primal spirits granting people the power to defile........wait, what?!
Not all feybeings/primal spirits are "good".
Belgoi, for example, have the 4e background that their homes in the feywilds were destroyed by Eladrin. In their quest for vengeance, they now take the "easy" route and destroy the world around them using defiling.
Defiling destroys life. That doens't mean it is the reason why the Feywilds are being destroyed. It could be only one of many reasons, or not the reason at all. Maybe there's a way to create new Feywilds using defiling? ... it would probably be a rather twisted version of the feywilds we know from PoL, but it could have some of the elements of the Feywilds (putrid swamps, darkened caves with glowing lights, maybe something similar to the feydark).
Actually, a thought suddenly occurs regarding Fey Pact warlocks in Athas : feywild beings or primal spirits granting people the power to defile........wait, what?!
Not all feybeings/primal spirits are "good".
It's not so much of a matter of being good or evil, it's more of blatantly poor decision-making on the part of the pact-granter, since giving mortals the power to destroy your own realm is cutting your own throat. It'd be like an ancient undead entity granting power to a zealous paladin crusader hellbent on destroying all undead. If the belgoi were to learn the art of the wizard, for instance, and defile out of spite for the eladrin, that'd be fine. But unless the belgoi are powerful enough to grant pacts to others, their emo rage toward the eladrin would be of little consequence from a cosmological sense.
This makes sense if you look at the Templars of the Sorcerer-kings article: many of Tectuktitlay's moon priests have bonuses to powers that are presented as having an inherit star-pact flavor
Do you think someone could make a pact with Rajaat?
A vestige warlock could be given their power from the dead gods. That'd be a fun thing to explore
oooh yeah! That's great!
I was also thinking a star pact might be fuelled by the very sun of Dark Sun. Stars in the D&D world are odd entities after all
A vestige warlock could be given their power from the dead gods.
And have a tortoise as a familiar...
I might reflavor the star pact as actually being a pack with the defiled sun of Athas. The sun itself may now be mad with it's defilement at the hands of halflings and the Champions.
Wholeheartedly agreed. Aberrants are now sunwarped, after all, and this even fits nicely into the 4e concept that the presence of psionics directly proportional to the influence of the Far Realm -- in this case, the defiled sun (which was first "defiled" by the Halflings in the Blue Age -- and directly cued the rise of psionics).
Plus, we have two potentially crazy moons to work with. And this whole Dust Kraken thing...
A vestige warlock could be given their power from the dead gods. That'd be a fun thing to explore.
It's not so much of a matter of being good or evil, it's more of blatantly poor decision-making on the part of the pact-granter, since giving mortals the power to destroy your own realm is cutting your own throat. It'd be like an ancient undead entity granting power to a zealous paladin crusader hellbent on destroying all undead. If the belgoi were to learn the art of the wizard, for instance, and defile out of spite for the eladrin, that'd be fine. But unless the belgoi are powerful enough to grant pacts to others, their emo rage toward the eladrin would be of little consequence from a cosmological sense.
I'm sensing you don't like this idea
I think its a matter of opinion and perspective whether the Feywilds are destroyed or not. All that's left are small pockets (mostly occupied by Eladrin) that pale in comparison to Feywilds of the PoL universe. The Fey have lost almost everything. In fact, it's at the point where many Fey probably have nothing else to lose. They've lost their courts, their beauty, their life... Those with no more purpose have probably faded away into history. Those that remain have nothing to lose but their goals of revenge.
Imagine what power you'd collect if you've lost your family, life, home, everything that you hold dear. And you know it would take a great power to kill the one(s) responsible for your pain. And you're immortal.
It's not so much of a matter of being good or evil, it's more of blatantly poor decision-making on the part of the pact-granter, since giving mortals the power to destroy your own realm is cutting your own throat. It'd be like an ancient undead entity granting power to a zealous paladin crusader hellbent on destroying all undead. If the belgoi were to learn the art of the wizard, for instance, and defile out of spite for the eladrin, that'd be fine. But unless the belgoi are powerful enough to grant pacts to others, their emo rage toward the eladrin would be of little consequence from a cosmological sense.
We have characters making deals with the devil to do good, why not an evil person convincing a fey being to give him power only to use it for evil (defiling)? Poor decision making? For sure, but maybe he was duped or mislead. Arcane magic of any sort does not automatically presume defiling. People of Athas may think so, but the game presumes most characters will be preservers with the occasional defilement, not dedicated defilers.
Thank you, I'll be here all week
If I were a halfling, I'd generally flavor warlocks with salt and pepper. Maybe some carrots and onions.
Thank you, I'll be here all week
Badoomboom-crash!!!
Vestige pact = Either draw power from different imprisoned beings, or more interestingly,
*steal* power from the sorcerer kings (each vestige is a different SK). The latter would definitely be something that is opposing the templars who are *granted* power by the SK.
Dark pact = just plain defiling goodness. You tap into the same power as the SK's do and exploit it.
Kind of difficult to see this being used as a preserver unless you stumbled on this by accident and try to keep it in control.
Fey pact = Could be some kind of primal connection. Maybe elemental?
Infernal pact = This could be reflavored into something to do with the sun and the SK power, but I would probably keep the default explanation.
Thank you, I'll be here all week
Try the veal! ([stage whisper]I don't think it's really veal...[/stage whisper])
Dark pact = just plain defiling goodness. You tap into the same power as the SK's do and exploit it.
How about: Dark Pact = pact with Rajaat himself. You siphon power from the Hollow, weakening his prison, while feeding him the souls of those you kill to strengthen him. And when the Lord Of This World breaks free from the prison where his treacherous servants bound him, you will be richly rewarded! Bwahahahaha! (Probably by being the first to be eaten, but that's what you get for freeing an ancient evil power...)
A dark pact warlock wouldn't necessarily know the being granting his power was Rajaat, of course. But the themes of the pact (darkness, pain, treachery, vindictiveness) seem to fit quite well with the imprisoned Rajaat, IMO.
As I told him, you don't have to have the Sorcerer King pact to have a pact with a Sorcerer King.
I don't have DS 4e books yet, but if the Sorcerer King Pact doesn't breakdown pact abilities to be unique based on Sorcerer-Monarch its a shame.
There's not quite enough space in the book to do that, but there was a very good Dragon Article released earlier this month that provides feats that modify Kinglocks based on which SK they've sworn allegiance to.