Witch Hex revisions


Homebrew and House Rules


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The witch is one of my favorite classes, but it has a bit of a problem when it comes to its hexes. Some of them are subpar choices (unnerve beasts), others pidgeonhole characters in a specific direction (swamp hag), and some are both (child scent). As the witch is a class without an alignment requirement able to make a pact with a huge variety of different potential patrons, I thought I'd try my hand at fixing the hexes up a bit.

Beast of Ill Omen: This hex persists on the witch's familiar until the bane effect has targeted a number of creatures equal to the witch's Intelligence modifier (minimum 1).

Blight: The witch draws vitality from the target of her blight. Once per day, when the witch uses her blight hex, she gains a +2 profane bonus to Fortitude saves for as long as her blight hex persists on her target or until the witch fails a Fortitude save, or 1 hour per witch level passes, whichever comes first. At 6th level, the witch may instead gain the effects of death knell once per day when an animal or plant creature fails to save against her blight hex. The creature is not further harmed beyond the normal effects of blight, and the duration is 10 minutes.

Child-Scent: This hex is now scent. A witch with this hex gains the Scent special quality, and may attempt a Perception check (DC 15) as a move action to determine the age categories of those she can smell (child, young adult, adult, middle-aged, old, venerable). If she smells more than one target, the result is muddled unless a clear majority of the targets are of one age category.

Healing: This hex acts as cure moderate wounds at 4th level, and cure serious wounds at 8th level.

Infected Wounds: This hex is now major blight. It functions as per blight, but may be used on any living target. The duration of the death knell effect remains unchanged.

Major Healing: This hex acts as cure critical wounds. At 15th level, it instead acts as heal.

Nails: This hex now grants a single primary natural attack, dealing 1d3 lethal damage (1d2 for a Small witch). If used in a full attack, nails becomes a secondary natural attack.

Nightmares: This hex is now dreamshaping. In addition to its normal usage, this hex may be used to ease the rest of a sleeper. If they were exhausted, the condition is removed rather than being replaced with the fatigued condition, if the target sleeps for 8 hours. If used on a creature under a magical sleep effect, this instead lowers fatigue by one category, if the sleeper rests for the full duration of the sleep effect. A sleeper can only be affected by this hex once per day.

Swamp Hag: This hex is now bound to the land. When this hex is taken, the witch chooses a terrain type: cold, desert, forest, jungle, mountain, plains, planar (pick one, other than the Material Plane), swamp, underground, urban, or water. While in her chosen terrain, the witch possesses the trackless step feature, and automatically confirms saving throws against natural hazards.

Unnerve Beasts: In addition to its normal usage, this hex may be used on an animal to frighten it for one round per point of the witch's Intelligence modifier (minimum 1).

Ward: Witches may use this hex on themselves.

Waxen Image: This hex is now crafted image. It can be waxen, woven, carved, sculpted, or otherwise created as long as it is hand-made.


I like your changes for the most part, although I think Nails is still not very useful.

No hex remake is complete without a nerf to Slumber Hex. Coup de Graces are annoying, so I would turn it into something else like Stagger Hex or Slow Hex.

I think Ward could use a buff to make it useful later on, as well.


You raise a good point. Although, I still do like the thematics of the sleep hex. How about a compromise:

Slumber: This hex now causes targets to become staggered rather than affected by sleep. unless the witch touches the target (a melee touch attack) as part of the hexing.

As far as Ward goes… I dunno, it's a +4 to AC/saves at high levels. I guess if I were to improve it, I might add SR or protection against one extra hit at 8th and 16th levels along with the existing effects. Or have it be usable as a move/swift action at those levels.

re:Nails - At higher levels the nails could be counted as cold iron/silver, depending on alignment, and/or allow the safe application of poison? Or perhaps simply be poisonous at the witch's discretion.

Scarab Sages

I'm alright with Ward not being useable on oneself - I don't know about you, but I keep it by default on my Familiar!

Two new options I think we can all agree Witches need:

- a Flotation Hex

and

- a temporary baleful polymorph ("She turned me into a newt! I got better....")

RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 16

Witches have a flotation hex, it's part of what Flight does at level 1.


I'm Hiding In Your Closet wrote:
- a temporary baleful polymorph ("She turned me into a newt! I got better....")

Sounds like a Major Hex. Baleful Eye, perhaps?

Scarab Sages

Petty Alchemy wrote:
Witches have a flotation hex, it's part of what Flight does at level 1.

I know, but *jiggles hand to indicate noncomittal uncertainty*....


Thanis Kartaleon wrote:

You raise a good point. Although, I still do like the thematics of the sleep hex. How about a compromise:

Slumber: This hex now causes targets to become staggered rather than affected by sleep. unless the witch touches the target (a melee touch attack) as part of the hexing.

As far as Ward goes… I dunno, it's a +4 to AC/saves at high levels. I guess if I were to improve it, I might add SR or protection against one extra hit at 8th and 16th levels along with the existing effects. Or have it be usable as a move/swift action at those levels.

re:Nails - At higher levels the nails could be counted as cold iron/silver, depending on alignment, and/or allow the safe application of poison? Or perhaps simply be poisonous at the witch's discretion.

I love the slumber revision, gives the Witch a fun choice to make.

My issue with Ward is that it becomes redundant since your party typically has those bonus types anyways. Maybe change it into a luck bonus?

Even with those changes to nails, I would never use it unless I was so into a long-nailed witch concept that I was willing to take something that's useless to me. I mean, why would a Witch ever want to be fighting in melee with 1/2 BAB? Compare it to Prehensile Hair, which does more damage and has a myriad of uses inside and outside of combat.


Admittedly, Nails is hard to justify as a good choice. What if it came with a once per day true strike (usable only on the nails of course)?


Thanis Kartaleon wrote:
Admittedly, Nails is hard to justify as a good choice. What if it came with a once per day true strike (usable only on the nails of course)?

That's good, it has combo potential with touch spells but is limited enough that it isn't necessarily better than the alternatives. Still a sub-par choice imo, but not useless.


I don't feel that luck fits Ward. Perhaps it gains an alternate use after level 6 or so? Like, you can discharge the Ward for an effect, or it protects against an energy type/endure elements?


I'm Hiding In Your Closet wrote:
Petty Alchemy wrote:
Witches have a flotation hex, it's part of what Flight does at level 1.
I know, but *jiggles hand to indicate noncomittal uncertainty*....

What do you want for flotation that flight doesn't provide?

Scarab Sages

Thanis Kartaleon wrote:
I'm Hiding In Your Closet wrote:
Petty Alchemy wrote:
Witches have a flotation hex, it's part of what Flight does at level 1.
I know, but *jiggles hand to indicate noncomittal uncertainty*....
What do you want for flotation that flight doesn't provide?

All the Flight Hex gives you is a +4 to Swim checks - not terrible, but it's hardly a proper Flotation Hex.

The 3.5 Spell Compendium had a float spell, I believe - I think I'd like something a little more in line with that. Something that makes you a little like Lt. Cmdr. Data in that scene in Star Trek: Insurrection: "In the event of a water landing, I have been enchanted to act as a flotation device."


They also need to be able to polymorph themselves into a bridge.


I don't get your reference, Atarlost.

EDIT: Oh! Ooooh. Hehe. Bridge materials then, not a bridge itself. Or a duck. A wooden duck?

I see what you mean, I'm Hiding In Your Closet. A witch floats, doesn't sink. Not sure how a Hex based around that would be advantageous enough to be something I would pick. My bound to the land would insure a witch against water hazards. Water lung allows water breathing. And then there's flight, as mentioned. The combination of those three would make a witch pretty much one with the water.

I suppose you could make one similar to Flight but gives you a swim speed instead.

Scarab Sages

You could make it 'passive' and their default nature (and could suppress it by an act of will when desired) so that they'd float to the surface even if they were unconscious - and voila: Proof against drowning!

I could see this being awesome in a nautical intrigue game: The Witch feigns death (maybe with a help of a 'special' apple) while on a ship where they're disliked (or imprisoned or something), they're thrown overboard, ship moves on, and the witch wakes up, adrift but unharmed, a few hours later.

There IS also the "enchanted for use as a flotation device" angle to consider: They could help rescue other drowning characters.


Atarlost wrote:
They also need to be able to polymorph themselves into a bridge.

Not this!

Troll: Hey! Cross this bridge cost 1 gold or eat you!

Traveler: Oh no, a Troll! Okay.

Witch Bridge: Excuse me, I also demand 1 gold for crossing. Or I will turn you both into toads.

Troll: What?

Traveler: What?

Troll: Go south next bridge?

Traveler: Sure. I'll pay you that 1 gold to carry my pack.

Troll: Okay.

Shadow Lodge

If you're going to nerf Slumber - not recommended, compare it to wizard spell options - then you'd want to do something like have it Charisma based instead of Intelligence based to ward off the heavy DC's, not require a melee touch, which no other similar ability does and puts the witch in extreme danger.

Don't forget it it is completely useless on anything immune to mind affecting and the witch already needs to find other avenues.


Surprised that this thread ended so soon - some great ideas!

The witch has always been too polarised towards the usual choices; Slumber, Evil Eye, Misfortune, Flight and Fortune.

All great, but Slumber is a bit overpowered.

Most of the other hexes are strange, underpowered and so insanely circumstancial as to be only useful for an NPC witch (and mostly for flavour).

These suggestions are a great way of expanding the reasonable choices for a witch PC, although I still think we need to go further to present balanced options.

So here are a few of my own adjustments/suggestions:

Slumber - Staggers opponent who fails a save. If targeting an opponent who is already staggered, they are instead sent into a magical sleep. Can only be used to send an opponent to sleep once per 24 hours, all other uses stagger opponent instead (but this may be used unlimited times/day).

Nails - As Nails, except it may be used for 1 min / level / day. The witch grows long nails and gains +1/2 levels morale bonus to attacks with nails. In addition, the nails count as Cold Iron or Silver (witches choice each manifestation). At 5th level they also count as +1 magic weapons and grow longer, dealing 1d6 damage.

Savage Nails (Major Hex) - Witch must have the nails hex to take this. The nails grow more savage, and deal 1d10 damage. The witch also gains the effects of Bull Strength while brandishing her nails. They also count as the alignment of the witch and deal 1 bleed damage in addition to normal damage.

Vampiric Nails (Greater Hex) - Witch must have the nails hex to take this. The nails also deal 1 point of Constitution damage. Each time the nails deal damage, the witch heals half the damage dealt or gains this as temporary hit points if she is not damaged (though this doesn't stack with itself). The witch gains the effects of a Death Knell from anyone killed by the nails.

Liberty's Edge

I agree with Old Cranky, there does need to be some buffing to some of the other hexes to make them more viable outside of the role of debuffer. They don't need to be as powerful directly as wizards, just more effective at other things. The hexes i would modify include witchs hut as a grand hex (since at the moment its a house on chicken legs and thats about it.) Now If it could also fight-then we have something more awesome. Smell children could be retooled to be more effective, for what it can do. and there are others that i would really like to see more effective.

Hexes I would add might include a hex called waking dream, a debuff that also causes the individual to count as asleep for the purpose of nightmare and other sleep linked spells/hexs. it does not last very long, and limits the effectiveness of slumber when it wears off, but it feels like something a witch would do. Also a confusion causing hex could be fun, especially if the player needed to get away from a fight to heal or provide support. AND maybe one to turn them into a monsterous beastlike form, similar to a druid, but more as a battle form that also limits your spell casting (not hexes) and makes you a literal combat beast.

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