Level 2 Witch gear help requested


Advice


So were doing WBL and starting at level 2 which means I've 1000G to spend but being a witch I can't figure out what I aught to buy.

I figure basic equipment for my witch will set me back about 30G and any single item we buy cannot cost more then 500G.

I cannot for the life of me figure out how to increase my AC (currently at 12 with a 15 in dex) as a witch isn't proficient with any armors or shields. So of course will be preparing mage armor. However I am not sure that 2 hours of 16 AC is going to be nearly enough.

If anybody has any sugestions for gear that I could purchase I'd greatly appreciate it.


A haramaki (basically a chainmail belly-covering sash) or silken ceremonial armor will give you +1 with no Arcane spell failure chance. You can get some scrolls of mage armor for 25g a piece, that's better than spending a spell slot on it. Stay out of combat, use the withdraw action if someone closes to within melee range, and drop prone if a bunch of archers start shooting at you. You can still cast and use hexes from prone. 16 AC at level 2 in a character who never expects to stand toe-to-toe with a foe is reasonable.

The best defense is a good offense. Make sure you have effective hexes (evil eye, slumber, misfortune, cackle -- if you're human you could have all 4 of these by now) and good spells such as Chill touch, ear-piercing scream, command, enlarge person, ill omen or obscuring mist. Your familiar should be beneficial to you in some way -- boost a save, boost a valuable skill, boost initiative, or be able to talk and fly like a raven or a thrush and thus assist you in checks and scouting. While you could get something that is flavorful but not very useful, you're looking for advice to stay alive, here, right?


I'm a scarred witch doctor half orc (suppose I aught to have put that in the original post).

At level 2 I've taken the Prehensile hair Hex (GM says I can retrain that later) and at lvl 3 I will be taking the Coven Hex (the healer in the party is also a witch).

After that I will be focusing on the regular witch hex's. I plan on being full debuffer (the other witch will spend to much time healing to allow this though with the coven hex she can aid another my casting to make it stronger) with a secondary eye on DD.

Mostly I plan on staying at range (so I've boosted my dex for ranged touch spells).

I've looked at turning mage armor into a scroll and into a wand (wand is cheaper). Beyond that is there anything that could be sugested? Not just for boosting AC but for gear in general?

Sczarni

Get some handle animal Mwk. Item and a heavy combat trained horse. It's a CR2 monster, carries your stuff, and you can give it armor, which drives it to ludicrous levels of power in a small package. The problem is having to put ranks in ride and handle animal, which a normal witch would have no problems with, but you may.


Obeliske wrote:
Not just for boosting AC but for gear in general?

Don't forget your adventurer essentials and the like!

Spoiler:
Healstick wand, crossbow if you don't already have one, alchemist fire in case you need a fire(swarms!), spring loaded wrist sheat for hodling things and getting them out fast, ioun torch for a quick source of light, silver or cold iron dagger because everyone needs a knife, spiked gaunlets for hitting people in a pinch, armor spikes because spikes are just awesome, masterwork tools don't hurt either, rope and maybe a grappling bolt, a horse for getting around and carrying things, a hat for style, and don't forget to bring a towel.


Wand is cheaper per use but requires an initial outlay of 750g. If you didn't have the 500g limit I'd say buy a wand of mage armor and then 250g of other things, but that's your limitation there.

For scarred witch doctor you want to make sure you have enough INT to get some bonus spells -- remember that CON determines your spell DC, hex DC, spells known at first level, and so forth, but doesn't affect your bonus spells per day.


personally i'm a huge fan of sleeve of many garmets for 200 gold they are amazing.

Sleeve of many garments:
Sleeves of Many Garments

Aura faint illusion; CL 1st
Slot wrists; Price 200 gp; Weight 1 lb.
DESCRIPTION

These translucent cloth tubes easily fit over their wearer’s arms.

The wearer of these sleeves can, when she slips them on, choose to transform her current garments into any other non-magical set of clothing. These new clothes fit her perfectly and are always clean and mended unless she specifically designates otherwise. When she removes the sleeves, her clothes revert to their original form.


I'm also a fan of the mask of stony demeanor
mask:
Mask of Stony Demeanor

Aura moderate transmutation; CL 6th
Slot head; Price 500 gp; Weight 4 lbs.
DESCRIPTION

When worn, this mask transforms the wearer's face into a stone statue and its voice into an emotionless monotone. Though it allows the wearer to speak, its facial expressions and voice betray little emotion, granting a +10 competence bonus on Bluff checks made to lie and a +5 competence bonus on Bluff checks made to feint, but also imposes a –5 penalty on Bluff checks made to pass a hidden message.


Buy a bunch of first level scrolls. Go through the process of teaching your fetish mask the spells. Have your fetish mask teach the other Witch's familiar all the spells it knows. Request that the other Witch player coordinate and do the same thing in reverse with the familiar teaching the fetish mask. Cackle madly as you both know most of the first level witch spells.


I was looking at a MWK item but it ocured to me that with the hair hex I probably wont be using a weapon much and what I do use wont be as strong as my hair (20 con, rolled stats, means 1D3+con mod means 1D3+7 damage with my hair)

So I decided to use a whip (alt-racial trait) and my hair aught to do me more then enough good at lvl 2 and no armor profs means MWK is fairly useless.

I didn't think of a mount tbh but encumbrance isn't enforced in our games so there isn't a lot of use for one. I don't have the skill points for ride anyway :P with Con being my caster stat in skill starved.

We have another witch healing and TBH I'm not a fan of buying a wand with half its starting charges in orderr to get it to 500G or less :P

Love the alch fire though definatly a good idea to pick up some of those in Mummy's Mask :P Half Orc's have dark vision so an Ioun Torch isn't going to be very useful (in fact everybody in the party except one guy has it :P).

I grabbed a MWK Thieve's Tools set no armor means spikes aren't great maybe caltrops though? Also gonna look up the spring loaded wrist sheath depending what I can put in there I can see some pretty awesome stuff (I have accelerated drinker for example if I can....)


You might consider snagging a skeleton key if you don't have a high disable device.


I really like those sleeves Korthis! unfortunatly not for this character as I feel I want to be the quintesential witch doctor I'm not wearing a shirt! Also gonna be wearing my voodoo mask most of the time.

Good idea MrSin we just lost our Trapper Ranger so we don't have anybody left for disable device. I took Trap Finder as my Mummy's Mask trait so its a class skill also grabbed MWK Thieve's tools. I'll check out the skeleton key I can see it being useful for sure :)


A buckler isn't a terrible idea either. You lose the AC bonus for casting a spell but I don't think that applies for hexing. And it only costs 5 gp. Though beware the 5% arcane spell failure chance. Bucklers are more for low-levels. Once you get high enough to cast extended mage armors and have a wand of shield then you can sell your buckler. Ultimately with your health, AC doesn't matter as much. So stick with the fun stuff.

I always pack a mirror for looking around corners and the occasional Medusa. I also always pack universal solvent after a particularly bad encounter with a bad GM a few years back.


Potions of Enlarge person for your Meat shield. I find Fighters provide the best cover.

@Larkos Shield is not on the Witch list. It will be a while before the OP can hit the DC 20 UMD unless they specialize in the skill.


Poor Wandering One wrote:

Potions of Enlarge person for your Meat shield. I find Fighters provide the best cover.

@Larkos Shield is not on the Witch list. It will be a while before the OP can hit the DC 20 UMD unless they specialize in the skill.

Wow, you're right I didn't even see that. I just kinda assumed because they had mage armor, shield wasn't too far-fetched.


Larkos wrote:
Poor Wandering One wrote:

Potions of Enlarge person for your Meat shield. I find Fighters provide the best cover.

@Larkos Shield is not on the Witch list. It will be a while before the OP can hit the DC 20 UMD unless they specialize in the skill.

Wow, you're right I didn't even see that. I just kinda assumed because they had mage armor, shield wasn't too far-fetched.

One of the big downsides to the witch spell list is that it suffers from a lack of defenses. No mirror image, no shield, no displacement, and no blur! Hexes don't do much to help you defend yourself either, and your certainly no 3.5 warlock. Its one of the (many) reasons that a scarred witch doctor looks appealing. It makes patron a big choice too, because a few of the patrons happen to add those spells back into your spell list.

The Exchange

Well, think outside the box. Buy yourself a longspear and a couple of attack dogs; they're well-within your budget and should discourage anybody from coming close enough to take a swing.


My 2cp on witches based on playing one for 5 levels so it may only be worth 1cp.

Witches lack most of the classic sorcerer/wizard defenses.
Shield, nope.
Blur, nope.
Mirror Image, nope.
They get Symbol of Mirroring though for reasons I cannot comprehend.
Protection from arrows, nope.
Protection from Alignment, nope.
Resist Energy, nope.
Invisibility, nope
etc...

Basically Witches are glass cannons. If it is not immune to Mind -affecting magic the Witch has a chance. Otherwise cast Mount and run.

Witches need to focus on things like initiative, combat casting and toughness because their nonexistent defenses mean they WILL get hurt.

Be wary of the Flight hex. W/O invisibility/Protection from arrows you just made yourself a pincushion unless you can zip from cover to cover.
Mind you grapple w/hair then half move straight up next round, repeat until they break free, is a fun tactic vs low cmb foes.

Abuse potions. Reduce Person, Mage Armor, Invisibility, Disguise self, these are your friends. Since there is another witch in the party look hard at the cauldron and coven hexes.

Fortune and Cackle. The meatshields will love you. Evil eye/Misfortune/Ill omen spell will help you save or die spells/hexes to land. You will want accursed hex and split hex when you can get them.

Get a lesser rod of reach if you are considering retraining the hair hex. You need a way to safely deliver touch spells.

Beg your GM to allow you access to the Web Bolt spell. I think it is the only low level Save or loose spell that targets Ref saves on your list.

Summon Swarm and Vomit swarm have subtle but important differences both will block charges though.

The Exchange

I really, really wish they had named that spell regurgitate swarm - or, better yet, upchuck of horrible little things. Because every time I hear the words "vomit swarm" I picture a swarm of little blobs of barf coming at me.

Stupid English! Verbs should not also be nouns-acting-as-adjectives!

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