Yeah, it's Dark Sun.
The last of the Apocalyptic Subclasses options, this Warlock subclass has you working for one of the tyrannical Sorcerer-Kings, or potentially any grand and powerful tyrant.
And yes, before we get into it, it's a little funny to have a patron who is just straight-up a member of another class. But I also think the Sorcerer Kings are meant to have gone beyond mere mortal status, more along the lines of Emperor Leto Atreides II from God-Emperor of Dune.
Sorcerer-King Spells:
1st: Command, Compelled Duel, Wrathful Smite
2nd: Hold Person, Mind Spike
3rd: Fear, Sending
4th: Compulsion, Staggering Smite
5th: Dominate Person, Synaptic Static
Also, this feature allows Psionic Casting, which allows you to ignore verbal and material components (except those consumed or that have a cost) with any of the spells on this list.
Weird that they make the material component specification given that none of these spell use consumed or costly material components.
But this is a cool list - lots of spells that upcast well for a Warlock, and some all-time bangers like Fear and Synaptic Static. There's a bit of a pressure to go Bladelock, which is fine, but I think you'll be ok as a Blastlock as well.
Level 3:
Tyrant's Herald gives you the following:
Intimidating Presence: You gain proficiency in Intimidation and also have Expertise in it.
I mean, expertise in Intimidation does feel like something Warlocks should get more easily.
Voice of Tyranny: You can cast Command as a bonus action for free Cha times per long rest.
Command is a solid spell, and while we won't be upcasting this, getting several free casts of it that we can also do along with our action is really cool. As a note: Command is 100% the Voice from Dune, as used by the Bene Gesserit. You can do some nasty things with Command (I think the 2024 version is theoretically more limited, but I'll always allow a creative player to do cool things if they can come up with a one-word directive).
Level 6:
Decisive Edict:
When you cast a spell using a Pact Magic slot, you can cause a 30-foot eruption of magic around you. Within that area, you can choose for each of creature to either Marshal them, giving them advantage on attack rolls until the end of their next turn, or Oppress them, Frightening them on a failed Wisdom save until the end of their next turn.
Once you use this feature, you can't use it again until you finish a Short or Long Rest or use Magical Cunning (so basically, until you regain a Pact slot).
I don't worry too much about that limitation, because the activation on the expending of a spell slot is already going to be close to that same limit anyway. This is a nice bit of tide-turning, making the following round much better for you and your allies, and the 30-foot emanation means you can do it even if you're fairly far from the action. Of course, advantage is cheap in 2024 rules, but the fear effect could be very handy if the monsters fail their saves.
Level 10:
Vindictive Rebuke:
When an enemy hits you with an attack roll, you can use a reaction to force them to reroll the d20 and use the new result. If this causes the attack to miss, the creature takes psychic damage equal to your Warlock level.
You can use this Cha times per long rest.
This is a decent defensive ability, and even if you still get hit, it can be some insurance against critical hits. The damage you can deal with it is quite decent, but definitely the main attraction is the chance to prevent a hit.
Level 14:
Absolute Tyranny:
When you cast Command, you can target one additional creature within the spell's range. A creature frightened by you automatically fails its save against your Command spell.
Ok, I love how this brings features together. Command upcasts to target more creatures, so if casting with a spell slot, this is less exciting (as by this point we'll be hitting 5 targets, so a 6th is not that much). But consider this:
You cast Synaptic Static on a group of, say, four enemies. As you do so, you use Decisive Edict, so in addition to a bunch of psychic damage, some of them are now frightened. You can cast Command on the ones that are frightened as a bonus action using Voice of Tyranny, because you're not expending a spell slot so the "one spell slot spell per turn" rule isn't violated, and it works automatically.
Notably, Command is not a charm effect, so it will work on any kind of creature. At worst, an auto-failing creature will waste their action following the command. (Immunity to fear is not uncommon, though.)
Overall Thoughts:
There's certainly some light pressure to go Bladelock here, as I mentioned above. I do think that you'll want to have some source of better armor - starting off as a Fighter before multiclassing into Warlock the rest of the way is going to solve several of your problems.
I think this could be a lot of fun to play. Once again, like many of these subclasses, it might be a fun challenge to figure out a way to play these as heroic characters (though D&D has always allowed for villain protagonists). This one's certainly a subclass for the Dune fans.
And that concludes our look at the Apocalyptic subclasses. My general impression is that they're all decent, and possibly quite powerful indeed. Each has a strong central mechanical concept that ties to its theme, which is always what you want in a subclass.
I feel like we're due for some announcements of future D&D books, but so far, no official word.
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