Ummmm. Huh.
It doesn't say that the Witch has a limited number of spells known or that she learns spells as she levels.
Which leads me to believe that a Witch casts spells like a Divine prepared caster, meaning anything on her list that she can cast is fair game that day.
This is bolstered by the Patrons giving spells that aren't on the Witch list normally.
I've never looked in-depth at Witch before, can someone back me up on that?
You might want to ask your GM if you can go about researching spells to find new ones. Otherwise, yeah, you're not gonna too many.
Unless you kidnap enemy wizards and force them to start scribing scrolls for you, I suppose.
@ Rynjin: No, she's limited on spells known. She teaches them to her familiar.
You also know all of the 0th level witch spells and 3+int mod 1st level spells.
@Rynjin: All that is detailed under the familiar section. The witch acts like a wizard with a living spell book.
Ah, I see, thanks. 3+Int mod 1st level + 2 of any level you can cast every level.
So our OP here would know 13 spells + Int mod of 1st level spells then, yeah?
Really should've put the Familiar rules right under the Spells section instead of below the Hexes and Patron Spells section. *grumble*
You missed the patron spells, so 16+int, of which at least 6+int are 1st level, between 1 and 9 are 2nd, and between 1 and 5 are 3rd.
If items can be "found or created", why can't they be bought?
a cleric CANT shre scrolls with you ... its divine-arcane thingy..
Um, not necessarily. Clicky.
Yes, they can with UMD.
Don't forget about favored class bonuses to gain extra spells.
Witches are weird. I'm running one now. It may help to think of it this way: the witch doesn't learn spells, her familiar does. She just communes with the familiar every morning to prepare some subset of the spells it knows. This is why the starting spells are listed under Witch's Familiar rather than under Spells.
The witch/familiar has no limit to the number of spells known, and begins with the same number as a wizard: all 0-level witch spells and 3+INTmod 1st level spells.
Like the wizard, the witch/familiar automatically gains two spells of appropriate level every time she levels up, plus the bonus patron spell at even-numbered levels. Some races allow the witch to spend a favored class bonus point to gain an additional spell upon leveling up, instead of an extra hit point or skill point; unlike the two freebies upon leveling up, this one has to be at least one level lower than the highest level spell she can cast. (That last requirement means this option isn't available before 3rd level, so at levels 1 and 2 you might as well take bonus skill points.)
Past all that, you have two possible ways to gain more spells:
Get a scroll of a witch spell you don't yet know, burn it and feed the ashes to your familiar; with a successful Spellcraft check the familiar now knows that spell. (You can't do this with non-witch spells even if you have enough UMD ranks to have cast the spell from the scroll yourself.)
Find another witch's familiar and let it swap recipies with yours; with a successful Spellcraft check your familiar now knows that spell.
Under RAW it appears that witches can't learn spells by direct instruction from other spellcasters, or from spellbooks. So for example, cure moderate wounds is a witch spell, but in order to learn it from your buddy the cleric, he'll have to scribe a scroll for you to burn.
So, max your Spellcraft and plan to buy scrolls every chance you get, and you shouldn't have much trouble building up a decent repertoire.
Also - take a look at the Blood Transcription spell (if it's allowed in what sounds like a rather limiting campaign for a spellcaster).
Basically - if you manage to kill a enemy spellcaster, you can drink a pint of their blood to learn one of their spells for 24 hours (you choose the spell). Which you can then TEACH to your familiar (thus, adding the spell to your list of spells known). Assumes the spell is on the Witch's spell list - you can't add a spell that isn't on that list.
Another end run around these limitations - have more than one PC with a Witch character. Take different spells. Then put the familiars in a room together and let them teach each other. Allowable by RAW.
cheers.
Also - take a look at the Blood Transcription spell (if it's allowed in what sounds like a rather limiting campaign for a spellcaster).
Basically - if you manage to kill a enemy spellcaster, you can drink a pint of their blood to learn one of their spells for 24 hours (you choose the spell). Which you can then TEACH to your familiar (thus, adding the spell to your list of spells known). Assumes the spell is on the Witch's spell list - you can't add a spell that isn't on that list.
Interesting. I'd seen the spell before but didn't remember it could be used by a witch that way. It does carry the Evil descriptor, which means my CG witch isn't likely to learn it, though. AFAIK, unlike clerics, arcane casters don't need to pay much attention to alignment-based descriptors, so I think that'd just be a roleplaying choice for a witch. So far my 5th L witch hasn't learned any [evil] spells.
Casting an evil spell is an evil act.
Casting an evil spell is an evil act.
Yes, but clerics are actually prohibited from casting spells with opposing alignment descriptors, arcane casters are not. That doesn't make the act less evil for an arcane caster, but does make it a roleplaying choice, and a single evil act doesn't make a person evil.
It could easily be argued that learning an [evil] spell in the first place implies premeditation and thus makes the whole thing more serious, which again will probably keep me as a player from adding [evil] spells to my own CG witch. But as far as I know there's nothing in the RAW or even RAI that prevents good-aligned arcane casters from (occasionally, reluctantly) casting [evil] spells. I believe some alignment-based archetypes or prestige classes (possibly 3pp, I haven't really looked into it) require using two spell slots in such cases, but that's about it.
I would strongly suggest speaking with your GM about this. It feels like he's really putting a hurting on your PC - especially relative to divine casters.