Dwarf Great Old One Patron Warlock Build Guide
Binding your mind to cosmic horrors makes you fragile, but a Dwarf's natural resilience creates an incredibly sturdy, telepathic battlefield controller.
Free — no signup needed for the free tier.
Why Great Old One Patron?
Choosing the Great Old One patron turns your Warlock into a master of psychological warfare and battlefield control. While many controller builds are "squishy" (meaning they have low health and can easily fall in battle), playing a Dwarf completely changes the game. Thanks to the Dwarven Toughness species trait, you gain extra hit points every time you level up, allowing you to stand firm while manipulating the battlefield.
Your cosmic powers let you manipulate the minds of your enemies. Features like Awakened Mind allow you to project telepathic messages directly into the brains of creatures around you. When foes try to retaliate with toxic weapons or spells, your Dwarven Resilience kicks in, granting you advantage on saves against poison to keep you standing.
With an optimal Charisma (CHA) of 15, your spells will easily break enemy resolve. Combined with your natural Darkvision, you can comfortably lurk in the dark, spotting targets and shutting them down before they ever realize you are there.
Great Old One Patron Features
Awakened Mind
Level 3You can communicate telepathically with any creature you can see within 30 feet. You don't need to share a language for the creature to understand your telepathic messages, but the creature must be able to understand at least one language.
Great Old One Spells
Level 3You gain additional spells that count as warlock spells for you: Dissonant Whispers, Tasha's Hideous Laughter (level 1); Detect Thoughts, Phantasmal Force (level 3); Clairvoyance, Hunger of Hadar (level 5); Dominate Beast, Evard's Black Tentacles (level 7); Dominate Person, Telekinesis (level 9).
Psychic Spells
Level 3You learn additional psionic spells that count as warlock spells for you. These spells allow you to invade and manipulate the minds of your enemies.
Clairvoyant Combatant
Level 6When you deal damage to a creature, you gain advantage on attack rolls against that creature until the end of your current turn, as you peer briefly into its immediate future. Additionally, that creature can't make opportunity attacks against you for the rest of that turn.
Eldritch Hex
Level 10When you place a curse on a creature (such as with the Hex spell or a warlock feature that curses), you can use a bonus action to give that creature disadvantage on saving throws against one ability of your choice until the curse ends.
Thought Shield
Level 10Your thoughts can't be read by telepathy or other means unless you allow it. You also have resistance to psychic damage, and whenever a creature deals psychic damage to you, that creature takes the same amount of psychic damage.
Create Thrall
Level 14You can use your action to touch an incapacitated humanoid. That creature is then charmed by you until a Remove Curse spell is cast on it, the charmed condition is removed from it, or you use this feature again. You can communicate telepathically with the charmed creature as long as the two of you are on the same plane of existence.
Recommended Ability Scores
Dwarf Traits That Benefit Great Old One Patron Warlock
Dwarven Resilience
Extra saving throw advantages protect against debilitating spells and effects.
Dwarven Toughness
Extra HP per level makes this Warlock significantly tougher across all 20 levels.
Darkvision
Dwarf Darkvision helps Warlocks scout ahead and fight in darkness without needing a torch.
Combat Effectiveness
| Level | HP | Melee DPR | Spell DPR |
|---|---|---|---|
| Level 5 | 33 | 3.9 | 9 |
| Level 11 | 69 | 3.58 | 12.38 |
| Level 17 | 105 | 3.58 | 16.5 |
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Strengths & Weaknesses
Strengths
- ♦ Great Old One Patron grants Awakened Mind at level 3
- ♦ Strong species-class synergy enhances core abilities
- ♦ Darkvision for dungeon exploration
- ♦ Versatile spellcasting options
- ♦ Built-in damage resistance improves survivability
Weaknesses
- ♦ Low Wisdom — vulnerable to common saving throws
- ♦ May require careful feat selection to optimize
Pro Tips
Use Awakened Mind to coordinate silent, tactical plans with your party members without alerting nearby enemies.
Stand confidently in mid-range combat; your Dwarven Toughness ensures you can take a hit while concentrating on control spells.
Combine Dwarf Darkvision with your psychic spells to target and disable unsuspecting enemies hiding in pitch-black rooms.
Activate Clairvoyant Combatant at level 6 to read your target's mind, making it even harder for them to bypass your dwarven defenses.
Other Warlock Subclasses for Dwarf
Other Races for Great Old One Patron Warlock
Frequently Asked Questions
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