Gnome Great Old One Patron Warlock Build Guide
Blending gnomish mental resilience with alien telepathy, this subclass combo creates an elusive, mind-bending battlefield controller that is incredibly difficult to shut down.
Free — no signup needed for the free tier.
Why Great Old One Patron?
Entering a pact with a cosmic entity turns your Gnome into a masterful battlefield controller. While your high Charisma (starting at 15) powers your psychic spells and telepathic abilities, your natural Gnomish Cunning provides a vital defensive layer. This species trait grants you advantage on Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma saving throws against magic, ensuring that while you are messing with the minds of your enemies, they cannot easily turn the tables and manipulate you back.
From the shadows, your Gnome can utilize Darkvision to spot targets in pitch-black environments without giving away your position with a torch. Once you spot your foes, you can use your Level 3 Awakened Mind feature to speak silently into their minds. This telepathic connection lets you coordinate battle tactics with your allies or terrify your enemies without uttering a single word, perfectly setting up your mind-controlling spells.
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
Gnome Traits That Benefit Great Old One Patron Warlock
Gnomish Cunning
Extra saving throw advantages protect against debilitating spells and effects.
Darkvision
Gnome 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
Weaknesses
- ♦ Low Wisdom — vulnerable to common saving throws
- ♦ May require careful feat selection to optimize
Pro Tips
Use your Darkvision to scout ahead in the dark, then use Awakened Mind to silently telepath allies about incoming danger.
Stay back and let Gnomish Cunning defend you from mental spells that might otherwise break concentration on your psychic controller spells.
Activate Clairvoyant Combatant at level 6 to read an opponent's moves, making it incredibly difficult for them to hit your small Gnome frame.
Combine your high Charisma with Eldritch Hex at level 10 to tank an enemy's defenses, ensuring your control spells land successfully.
Other Warlock Subclasses for Gnome
Other Races for Great Old One Patron Warlock
Frequently Asked Questions
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