Warlocks, Charisma and Growth

[Beard Master Flex]

Hello!

I’m looking into Warlock lore for an upcoming game and I’m not clear on some of the details about the warlock class with respect to how they gain power and level up.

Is each new ability passed on to the warlock via further propagation of the pact or are they essentially given the keys to a great and terrible font of magic that they then have to delve into themselves to pull greater power from, perhaps with continued deviant tutelage from their greater pact holder or through their own preternatural will and lust for power.

I find the later more compelling and more in line with how Charisma could influence a character who is very willful and determined, especially when dealing with extra-planar beings of great power.

I gather there is a lot of open open endedness with the class so I wanted to hear others thoughts.

[Drowble Oh Seven]

It's absolutely up to you how you want to make it work. You can be getting powers inch by inch, each new ability for a new demonic service. It can all dumped on you at once, and you're only slowly coming to terms with how to use it as you claw your way through the choking mess. Maybe you came into possession of a mind-bending fey-tome, and you're struggling to decipher each secret, growing a little less human with each one.

There's a lot of freedom to play with, with warlock pacts.