[RPG] If the Feign Death spell is cast on a warlock, what happens to their Pact Boon item? Does it matter whether their patron is “tricked” by Feign Death

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When a warlock dies, if they have a Pact Boon item from their Pact Boon class feature (e.g. a Book of Shadows from Pact of the Tome; or a talisman from Pact of the Talisman), it crumbles to ash. Similarly, if they have a pact weapon (from the Pact of the Blade), it disappears when they die. I presume that, narratively, that's the patron's doing.

Interestingly, a familiar (from Pact of the Chain) does not vanish upon the warlock's death.

The description of the 3rd-level spell Feign Death says (PHB, p. 240):

For the spell’s duration, or until you use an action to touch the target and dismiss the spell, the target appears dead to all outward inspection and to spells used to determine the target’s status.

Mechanically, when Feign Death is cast on the warlock, is the fate of these Pact Boon items the same as if the warlock had died? Or does the spell make it look like that Pact Boon crumbles/vanishes?

Importantly, do the mechanics of the spell change depending on whether the patron is fooled by the spell as well?


On the one side, it's going to be a pain to spend an hour re-summoning the book/talisman etc. just because Feign Death is cast on your warlock. On the other, it's going to make it quite obvious that the death has been faked if it doesn't cause those items to disappear or turn to ash.

Best Answer

Whether a patron is fooled by the Feign Death spell or not is irrelevant. I would suspect not since we're talking a about low-level spell vs a god-like entity, but that's more in the realm of the DM's prerogative.

The important point to note is that the Feign Death spell says that the target only appears to be dead. They aren't actually dead, of course.

And even though this appearance can even 'trick' spells, it has no effect on the warlock's class features such as the book or talisman.

Both of these features state that they crumble when the warlock is dead: The warlock isn't dead. Hence by RAW they don't crumble.

So if someone knew that the target was a warlock, and knew that a warlock's special Book of Shadows or Talisman vanished upon death, then they would know that they weren't really dead, circumventing the purpose of the spell.

How common it is for someone to have this kind of knowledge would, again, be up to the DM. In my opinion it wouldn't be that common and would assume that anyone wanting to know this even knew the character was a warlock in the first place ("class" is a meta-property, not in in-universe mechanism).

The warlock could, of course, take pains to hide their book or talisman before feigning death!