[Purple Duck Games] Witches of Porphyra discussion


Product Discussion


So yeah, I've mostly kept this project close to the vest pending its release, but here it is~ It's currently available on RPGNow, and I'll link any other sites when I can.

In any case, this thread's going to be here for anyone to ask questions regarding the book's contents, and I'll try and give the best answers I'm capable of. Here's hoping you guys enjoy the book!


Could you give a brief blurb on each of the archetypes?

Any new hexes, feates, or familiars you're particularly excited by or proud of?

Silver Crusade

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I'd like to take a moment here to talk about how proud I am of Onyx for finally writing their first solo book; I met Onyx because they were complaining about math in KOP 1...like, a lot. And when push came to shove, they were right. So I did what I thought was right; I brought them onto KOP 2 so that wouldn't be an issue anymore. And they were invaluable in helping that doc become amazing, so much so that I kept inviting them back to KOP 3, LK, KOP 4, and LK 2, the two latter books sharing authorial credit with them.

Onyx has developed tremendously as a writer since I've known them, and I believe that they're only going to keep getting better, with or without me around. I seriously hope this is just the start of their career, and I thank them sincerely for how much they've improved me as a writer.

Seriously, everyone go check this out, it's gonna be good.


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Ambrosia Slaad wrote:

Could you give a brief blurb on each of the archetypes?

Any new hexes, feates, or familiars you're particularly excited by or proud of?

Sure! I'll give a brief rundown of all the new archetypes I included. A lot of them arose from either ways I wanted to hybridize the witch with another class or things I thought might make a witch feel different a bit different to play as.

First is the blooded hag. Rather than following a patron, their source of power is their bloodline, making this something of a witch/sorcerer blend. They cast spontaneously and can select bloodline powers in place of hexes. Fairly simple, aside from a few rules tweaks to make things fair.

Like the blooded hag, the brewer is a sort of witch hybrid, this time with the alchemist. This is probably one of my favorites. It represents a major playstyle shift, though; while the brewer loses a good chunk of spells as well as their cantrips, they become able to create not only extracts in the same fashion as an alchemist, but unique splash weapons that deliver offensive spell effects. They can pick up discoveries to this end, as well as treating their familiar as an alchemist so it can use their extracts and mutagens.

Impetuous dervish is next. The closest analogy I can think of is the witches from Left 4 Dead. At the cost of a spell per day per level, they get a flurry, except they also get to use natural weapons and touch attacks.

The insufflator plays around with one of the new metamagics I included - Wicked Breath - and expands upon it. As the name of the feat suggests (as well as the archetype's name), insufflators turn their spells and hexes into breath attacks. Wyrmwitch, eat your heart out.

Next up is the legionmaster. Admittedly this one's not the most creative idea I had: if you're familiar with the summoner's broodmaster archetype, or the hunter's packmaster, you'll have a pretty good idea of how this works.

Another one that was inspired by existing archetypes is the mentor, which draws upon the wizard's instructor archetype. However, there's a little more to it. Have you ever wanted to be the familiar rather than the witch themselves? Or maybe be a patron? This is your chance!

The polytheistic witch brings us back to the hybrid archetypes this time splicing occultist influence into the mix. While this limits the number of spells they pick up quite a bit, the fact that you're getting multiple patrons is going to make this feel more like you're relying upon your patrons for your magic, I feel.

The sanguisuge was the first archetype I developed for this, and one Ehn himself seemed especially keen on when I showed him my early drafts of the book. It takes a little from the kineticist, and a little more from the arcanist, rolling them into a witch that uses their familiar as a living battery that fuels their abilities.

Next on the list is the sightless seer. This archetype makes use of one of the new types of familiars: the matoyasite crystal. I'm sure most people can guess the inspiration for this. Sightless seers obviously don't have their own visual senses, but instead see through their crystal familiar and gain "sixth" senses through some of the new hexes.

The warweaver is another drastic playstyle shift. This essentially transforms our 1/2 BAB 9th level caster into a 3/4 BAB 6th level caster, making them less powerful spellweavers but more useful with actual weapons. They become especially powerful with finessable weapons (something I did intentionally to allow for very powerful natural attack builds).

The whitelighter is halfway inspired by one of the rules of traditional witchcraft: never cast spells on people who don't desire it. Although this is admittedly a little relaxed, it provides an interesting mechanic that limits what they can target. Those partying with a whitelighter are going to need to position themselves very carefully on the battlefield. (One note: while I initially only allowed them to target animals attacking them or their familiars without first gaining permission, this is going to be errata'd to be a little more relaxed, allowing them to cast on animals which are hostile toward their party members. I just imagined a situation where the bard is getting eaten alive by wolves while the whitelighter is just standing by like, "Oh don't be dramatic, they're only playing! You probably didn't need that leg anyway.")

The final new witch archetype is the wood witch, which brings us back to the hybridization, this time between witch and druid. They are limited to plant-related patrons, but also are granted the Plant domain as well as the kineticist's wood blast and all of its composites (not accounting for those in Psychic Anthology if any... damn, I probably should have held off until I could pick up a copy of it and see if they had any new wood composites, but oh well), which they can use as a cantrip and 4th level spells.

The next new archetype- what was that? Yeah I did say that last one was the final archetype. For witches. Familiars get a little love too. Conduits give up some personal benefit from their masters' spells to make them better at delivering them, kidnappers can steal targets away, and messengers can be used to deliver not only magic, but send missives.

Speaking of familiars, there's four new ones. One is based on the hoop snake, and another upon the flying monkeys from the Wizard of Oz. The other two, like the ioun wyrd, are constructs with very interesting abilities: a book which gives its master a free cantrip, and the aforementioned matoyasite crystal.

The new hexes certainly aren't likely to replace the existing ones in anyone's hearts, but I'm pleased with them. You've got means to use a hex as an AoO, a mini-Tactician, a way to utilize "detect" spells differently, a harmful counterpart to the healing hex line, and a few other odds and ends that might entertain you.

Feats are also something that, while a bit niche, are going to prove useful I think. The new metamagics play around with hexes and curses (plus giving you breath spells as I mentioned before), and there's a few that can sorta make your witch play like a wonky magus, and a line that lets your familiar cast patron spells to some degree.

Oh right, patrons. Did I mention there's 13 new ones? I won't spoil what exactly they do, but I do have a few favorites, with Glass and Revelry among them. They cover quite a wide variety of themes, pull a large selection of spells from various sources, and every one of them gives an ability for you to consider if you want a patron familiar.

I've even included a few new materials that might prove useful to a witch; hauntwood and matoyasite. You didn't think the crystal was only used to make familiars, did you? Perhaps the only thing this book is missing that you might expect is new spells, and frankly, I think adding new spells would have been overkill.


Now available on DriveThru RPG!


Thanks! I was already a Purple Duck fan, and this sounds like an excellent addition. {waits impatiently for it to pop up on Paizo}


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Pop


Thanks for adding the Paizo link, guys~ And I'll go ahead and link to the book's page on Open Gaming Store to give everyone yet another option for purchasing it.

Anyone who's had the chance to buy the book from any of the sites and read it in more detail, feel free to drop a review for the product on any of the sites on which it's available. I'd love to know what you guys liked or disliked about it so the next book I push out can be even better!

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