I have to add to the wish that we could choose a god for all characters given that this is Faerun and having a god you especially follow is sort of a big deal in the lore. But also, warlocks.
It would be nice if we could designate a patron for your warlocks... things like Dendar, the Night Serpent, Moander, or Cthulhu for Great Old One or maybe whatsherface the Erinyes for a fiend
To be honest, it would be nice to have something aside from the "who do you dream of" character (which admittedly, I haven't encountered yet... usually I stop at hitting level 4 and start a new character so haven't hit the dream person yet) for all characters though I admit this would require a LOT of new material to be inserted and is probably impractical.
But, I was sitting her thinking "it's too bad warlocks won't get pestered by their patron unless you play Wil" and started thinking what it would require for such scenes to be included and then realized that it would require making a bit of story that would make warlocks have a huge draw that other classes wouldn't.
How to fix that?
Well, maybe clerics and paladins could have occasional interactions with their gods, but that's just two classes... but even if all Faerun residents should worship a god not all paladins are going to be centric on a god (a crown paladin... even if its unlikely we'll get that subclass early on... if at all) for example would have their oath to a nation or liege. The Acolyte and Hermit background could similarly have contact with gods, but still same problem... this would be a handful of characters getting interactions that others wouldn't
So... instead, let's expand and include flashbacks with dream contacts... now we can include teachers and mentors in the mix. Then you can have the possibility of different mentors or the like based on class, lineage, or background. This would be set characters not player designed ones, I think.
So, like Warlock would definitely come with a patron from a list based on their subclass. Clerics would get a god choosing from a list based on their chosen subclass again. A fighter might get a list of fighting instructors. Soldiers might have a list as well, former commander or squad mates.... elves and githyanki might have some relative...
You might not choose this with each element, but from a list compiled based on your choices. IE a Half-Elven Soldier Wizard might have a list of potential mentors that cover family members, commanding officers, and wizard masters. Warlocks, due to the overwhelming nature of their pact would just get a list of patrons. Clerics, Paladins, and Acolytes would get the option to choose their god but not all clerics have an intensely personal relationship with their deities... not even in Forgotten Realms where the gods tend to be a bit more personal with mortals.
Of course this might come to the reverse issue of what was going on at the start of this: namely now Warlocks have less choice than other classes. This could be A) fine because it's part of the limits of the class or B) you DO choose one mentor/patron per class/lineage/background and just have warlock patrons weighted heavily to be preferred by random generation of flashbacks/interactions.
In the case of B let's assume
- Human Sage Warlock - a Cousin, a fellow scholar, and their patron Dendar the Night Serpent
- Half-elf Soldier Ranger - a full-elven Sister, a recruiter, and a dryad,
- Tiefling Acolyte Wizard - a human relation, Mystra, the master who instructed them
- Halfling Urchin Cleric - a local farmer, a gang leader, Mask
so, when times for flashback or other scenes come the Warlock would be heavily waited toward interactions with Dendar and the Acolyte and Cleric would have low chances of interacting with their gods (the acolyte lower than the cleric), meanwhile the Ranger would have about an even chance of having a flashback with any three of their figures.
Admittedly, this is all very complex and a lot of work and add even more long-rest scenes than we already have. Possibly even side-quests. A high cost requiring more voice acting, files for a bunch of potential NPCs that wouldn't show up for most people unless they several play throughs. And it's mostly geared towards having the warlock-patron interaction without cutting out other classes from similar personal story lines.
