How the Warlock has evolved in every Dungeons & Dragons edition (& what that means for its upcoming video game)

Dungeons & Dragons is having a viral moment. From prestige television adaptations to live-play podcasts and TikTok explainers, few corners of modern pop culture remain untouched by the magic of the Forgotten Realms. Video games, of course, are no exception. Riding the wave of Baldur’s Gate 3’s overwhelming success is Warlock, a newly announced video game from Invoke Studios, revealed during The Game Awards 2025.

Details about Warlock remain scarce. We know it’s a single-player, open-world experience. We know spellcraft sits at the heart of its design. And we know it carries the weighty Dungeons & Dragons name, one that invites speculation almost by default. Unlike original fantasy IPs, D&D games don’t exist in a vacuum. Every class, spell, and system arrives with decades of mechanical precedent and narrative expectation attached.

That makes Warlock particularly fascinating. Of all D&D’s core classes, the Warlock is the most fluid, the most reinterpreted, and arguably one of its most modern. Its identity has shifted dramatically from edition to edition, shaped by changing design philosophies and player narratives. To understand what Warlock might become as a video game, it helps to look backward at how the class itself has evolved across Dungeons & Dragons’ long history.

When Was the Warlock First Introduced in Dungeons & Dragons?

Image via Invoke Studios

When most people picture Dungeons & Dragons, they tend to gravitate toward familiar archetypes: the Paladin in gleaming armor, the scholarly Wizard hunched over a spellbook, or the devout Cleric calling down divine power. The Warlock, by contrast, exists in the liminal spaces of the game’s identity: a class defined less by tradition and more by transgression.

That ambiguity is reflected in its history. The Warlock, as a fully realized D&D class, is surprisingly young. But the word itself has lingered around the game since its earliest days, long before it meant what players recognize today.

The History of Dungeons & Dragons’ Warlock Class

Dungeons & Dragons 1st Edition (1974): “Warlock” as a Title, Not a Class

In the original 1974 version of Dungeons & Dragons, detailed class mechanics were sparse, but flavor was abundant. One of the earliest systems used “level titles” to distinguish character progression. Under this system:

• Magic users in D&D gained honorary titles as they leveled up
• “Warlock” was simply the 8th-level title for a magic user
• It carried no unique mechanics or identity of its own
• In other words, a Warlock was just a Wizard who had been around long enough, but still had room to improve
• Only at level 12 (and up) could a player be a “Wizard”

This naming convention carried over into early Basic and Advanced D&D editions, reinforcing the idea that “Warlock” was descriptive rather than mechanical.

Advanced D&D 2e (1990): Warlock as a Conceptual Identity (AD&D 2e)

The first meaningful shift came with Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition, specifically The Complete Wizard’s Handbook. Here, “Warlock” appears as a gendered offshoot of the Witch kit, itself a specialized wizard archetype. “Kits” were the 1990s version of a D&D subclass. While still mechanically tied to Wizards, this version introduced a core idea that would persist: power gained through questionable sources.

Warlocks and Witches in D&D 2e had their magic derived from extraplanar forces, often fiends. Warlocks also had a narrative focus on enchantment, charm, summoning, and necromancy. Witches (women) were also far more common in the Forgotten Realms than Warlocks (men).

Dungeons & Dragons 3.5e (2004): The Warlock Becomes Its Own Class

Everything changed with Complete Arcane for D&D 3.5e. For the first time, the Warlock stood alone as a fully independent class, and many of its most iconic traits were born here. Notable innovations included:

• Pacts as the source of power, sometimes inherited through bloodlines
• Pacts had to be made with non-deities. No gods, just feys, demons, etc.
• Warlocks had to heavily skew toward Evil or Chaotic D&D moral alignments.
• Eldritch Blast as a core, repeatable offensive ability
• Invocations as at-will magical effects

D&D 4e (2008): Warlock as a Tactical Specialist

D&D 4e reimagined nearly every archetype, and the Warlock class was no exception. While invocations faded as a distinct term, Warlocks retained their identity as flexible, encounter-focused damage dealers. Both narratively and technically, they became closer to battlefield tacticians than arcane scholars. Key changes included:

• Pacts gained mechanical differentiation, not just flavor. Pacts varied depending on the Patrons capable of making Warlocks
• Every Warlock had to personally make their pact, so no more inheriting a pact thanks to an unruly ancestor
• Magic followed the AEDU system (At-will, Encounter, Daily, Utility)

Dungeons & Dragons 5e (2014): The Modern Warlock

The Warlock most players recognize today debuted in D&D 5e, striking a balance between narrative flavor and mechanical identity. This design made Warlocks feel distinct without overwhelming complexity, and it’s this version that Baldur’s Gate 3 adapted. Defining features include:

• Patrons and pacts chosen independently
• Invocations returning as customizable, often at-will abilities
• Spell slots that refresh on short rests, not long rests

What the Warlock’s Evolution in D&D Means for Its Upcoming Video Game

The Warlock’s history reveals a class in constant motion—one that adapts easily to new systems and player expectations. That flexibility makes it an ideal foundation for a modern video game, especially one developed under Wizards of the Coast’s umbrella. Baldur’s Gate 3 proved that D&D features and mechanics can thrive in video game form when adapted thoughtfully rather than copied wholesale. If Warlock draws from 5e’s philosophy, it could carve out a distinct identity separate from Larian’s work. Several implications stand out:

• Spellcasting doesn’t need to mimic traditional RPG mana systems
• Pacts and patrons offer built-in narrative branching and replayability
• Invocations naturally translate into cooldown-based or at-will abilities
• Short-rest mechanics align well with open-world pacing

The Warlock has never been about rigid tradition. It’s about bargaining, bending rules, and embracing power at a cost. If Invoke Studios leans into that legacy, Warlock may end up being one of the most thematically authentic D&D games yet—not despite the class’s shifting identity, but because of it.

Created by

E. Gary Gygax, Dave Arneson

Movie

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

Creation Year

1974