Goliath Great Old One Patron Warlock Build Guide
Blending a Goliath's imposing physical dominance with the cosmic terrors of the Great Old One makes you an unstoppable, telepathic battlefield controller.
Free — no signup needed for the free tier.
Why Great Old One Patron?
Choosing a Goliath for your Great Old One Warlock creates a fascinating contrast between physical might and alien, mind-altering magic. While Warlocks are typically spellcasters who prefer to stay far from danger, your Goliath's Giant Ancestry provides a supernatural defensive edge that keeps you standing when enemies break through your front line. This added durability is crucial for a Controller—a party role dedicated to restricting enemy movement, shutting down threats, and manipulating the battlefield with your magic.
Your alien powers kick off immediately with Awakened Mind, allowing you to silently project telepathic messages into the minds of any creature you can see. Combined with your towering physical presence, you can easily intimidate foes or coordinate silent strategies with your allies. As you grow in power, features like Clairvoyant Combatant and Eldritch Hex allow you to read your enemies' thoughts and hex their minds, making it nearly impossible for them to escape your influence. Meanwhile, traits like Large Form ensure that you physically dominate the space around you, keeping fragile allies safe behind your massive shadow.
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
Goliath Traits That Benefit Great Old One Patron Warlock
Giant Ancestry
Giant Ancestry grants a supernatural ability that enhances the Warlock's combat or utility.
Powerful Build
Enhanced size and carrying capacity complement the Warlock's physical combat style.
Large Form
Enhanced size and carrying capacity complement the Warlock's physical combat style.
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
- ♦ Versatile spellcasting options
- ♦ Flexible build with room for customization
Weaknesses
- ♦ Low Wisdom — vulnerable to common saving throws
- ♦ No Darkvision — may need light sources in dungeons
Pro Tips
Use Awakened Mind to coordinate battlefield tactics silently with your party while using your massive Goliath height to scout ahead over obstacles.
Activate Large Form to physically block narrow corridors, then cast your mind-controlling Great Old One Spells from behind your own massive frame.
When an enemy targets you, use Clairvoyant Combatant to predict their strikes, pairing it with your Giant Ancestry defenses to shrug off the damage.
Stack Eldritch Hex on a dangerous foe to penalize their saving throws, making them easy targets for your party's most devastating control spells.
Other Warlock Subclasses for Goliath
Other Races for Great Old One Patron Warlock
Frequently Asked Questions
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What makes Great Old One Patron different from other Warlock subclasses?
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