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The BBEG in my campaign is going to be the descendant/follower of the Archfey Vampire Kannoth.

If a follower of Kannoth made a pact with Kannoth as their warlock patron, would they level through the Archfey-patron subclass, or the the Undead-patron subclass?

From my perspective, they would likely level through the pact of the Undead subclass – somehow being a vampire supersedes any fey ancestry which can be built into the character as part of their race and background.

The question :: If an Archfey Vampire exists, and has followers via being a Warlock patron, would they be followers of a Fey path or an Undead path? Or is it completely up to interpretation for any given use?

Penny for your thoughts?

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    – Nobody the Hobgoblin
    Commented Jul 22, 2022 at 22:50
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    \$\begingroup\$ Please clarify your specific problem or provide additional details to highlight exactly what you need. As it's currently written, it's hard to tell exactly what you're asking. \$\endgroup\$
    – Community Bot
    Commented Jul 22, 2022 at 23:10

1 Answer 1

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You are the DM, you decide

The rules have nothing to say on this, so it comes down to the fundamental rule, here from Tasha's Cauldron of Everything, page 4:

The rules of D&D cover many of the twists and turns that come up in play, but the possibilities are so vast that the rules can't cover everything. When you encounter something that the rules don't cover or if you're unsure how to interpret a rule, the DM decides how to proceed, aiming for a course that brings the most enjoyment to your whole group.

In addition, NPCs and monsters do not have to be built like player characters, so you are not limited to use the character creation rules provided for warlock PCs. You certainly can use the character creation rules for a classed NPC if you like to, but you also can use a monster-based approach, as mentioned on page 92 DMG:

When you give an NPC game statistics, you have three main options: giving the NPC only the few statistics it needs, give the NPC a monster stat block, or give the NPC a class and levels. (...) You can create an NPC just as you would a player character, using the rules in the Player's Handbook. You can even use a character sheet to keep track of the NPC's vital information.

Guidance on how to create NPCs is in Chapter 4 of the DMG, on how to evaluate it as a monster is in Chapter 9, starting on page 273.

It's your BBEG, do what you think makes most sense.

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    \$\begingroup\$ You should probably also mention that NPCs (and monsters) are not built like player characters, so they don't use the character creation rules (e.g. class features and subclasses) provided for warlock PCs. So this isn't really a case of "the DM decides" – but rather "this isn't even a decision you have to make, because NPC warlocks don't follow the character creation rules for PCs". \$\endgroup\$
    – V2Blast
    Commented Jul 22, 2022 at 23:07
  • \$\begingroup\$ Both of these are awesome points -- I suppose the question itself is simpler than character creation and the rules, more a question of labels. If an Archfey Vampire exists, and has followers via being a Warlock patron, would they be followers of a Fey path or an Undead path. Certainly as the DM I can make whatever I want, but from a classification standpoint its just an interesting consideration. \$\endgroup\$
    – HtDM
    Commented Jul 22, 2022 at 23:20
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    \$\begingroup\$ @V2Blast Added. The DMG has surprisingly explicit guidance that using PC rules to build an NPC is a thing, and presents using a monster-based approach as an alternative, without me being able to find a clear statement for mix-and-match of the two, but I agree with your view. \$\endgroup\$
    – Nobody the Hobgoblin
    Commented Jul 23, 2022 at 5:15
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    \$\begingroup\$ @HtDM Whether a warlock follower of an Archfey Vampire would be "Archfey" or "Undead" doesn't particularly matter unless it matters to your story (especially as you have an Archfey Vampire in the first place!). Some warlocks could even be Archfey and some Undead depending on how they view their patron - you can simply "color" their abilities. E.g. An Archfey warlock gets Fey Presence at 1st level allowing them to charm or frighten creatures. That sounds pretty vampiric to me! \$\endgroup\$
    – PJRZ
    Commented Jul 23, 2022 at 20:27

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