Warlocks get their magic from powerful entities that they enter into a contract with. This pact may not be fully known to the warlock.

Typically, warlocks serve dark masters and will have a mission or goal. If they don’t serve the entity well, they will be punished or in extreme cases killed. Serve well, and you will likely get gifts.

Warlocks tend to have limited magical abilities compare to other magic users, but their abilities “hit harder” as warlock spell splots are limited to the current warlock level.

Other magic users get level 1 spell slots, then level 2, etc.

Warlocks get all level 1s, then all level 2s, etc