After a long drought several recent books have introduced a number of new hexes, which I haven't seen discussed anywhere. While there's the usual stupid "this is a witch thing right" hex (if you're going make a hex called No Place Like Home it could at least have something to do with like...a teleportation spell to a pre-set location? Not getting lost? Something anyone anywhere might ever actually take?), some seem decent.
The stand-out for me is Gift of Consumption. A hex that lets you duplicate and retarget a hostile Fort save effect as an immediate action?
Yes, sometimes the enemy will be immune to their own power, but it doesn't even have to target the person inflicting it, so if they have non-immune allies it still works.
Also I love the idea of someone casting Stone to Flesh on their enemy, only to end up petrifying both of them.
It also uses the DC of the effect instead of standard hex progression, making it a good target for dipping.
Slumber got an Upgrade. Another Slumber with a different name and a bonus rider effect. Bravo.
Less cynically: The one that steals age and makes you tougher and sturdier by doing so is awesome.
Slumber got an Upgrade. Another Slumber with a different name and a bonus rider effect. Bravo.
Less cynically: The one that steals age and makes you tougher and sturdier by doing so is awesome.
Yeah that's a very...thorough save or die.
I'd be happier with Withering if it wasn't an enhancement bonus, but conceptually it's very cool.
Stargazer.
I'd be happier with Withering if it wasn't an enhancement bonus, but conceptually it's very cool.
What makes Withering good is that Age Resistance is on the Witch's list, so you can hit yourself with the hex 2-3 times and get a bonus to your mental ability scores. The temporary HP and +2 to any physical score you don't have a belt for are just a throw-in.
How good Restless Slumber is depends on the campaign, party, and GM.
Sleep can be removed by a mere standard action touch from an ally, if that happens a lot in your campaign, 6+ rounds of confusion afterwards can be nice. If your Slumber targets normally stay asleep, it's pretty bad because Accursed Hex is a thing that exists.
I actually had to look up No Place Like Home - I read the word "trap" and immediately skipped the rest of if and removed it from memory. I wonder if it was written by the same guy who thought that the Shifter was a good idea.
City Sight could be pretty powerful in an all-darkvision party - monsters with darkvision likely won't carry light sources.
Enemy Ground is a hex I wouldn't use even if it didn't allow a save and would automatically fail tumbling.
Summer's Heat has only one interesting aspect - it doesn't have a range. Don't know if that's intended. At standard 30' range, it'd be vastly underpowered.
If Witch's Bounty wasn't already allocated as my level 8 hex I'd seriously consider taking Poison Touch. On myself? Not so great. On the barbarian who fights unarmed or the Wildshaped druid? It's nice but you'd fall into the trap of "but I might need it later" (I have this issue with the Fortune hex). Where I see this hex being most effective is when used on summoned creatures as the duration of the hex typically outlasts the summon.
Once per day abilities do present a conundrum. They are a lot easier to justify when you tend to have a once per day boss fight, as is typical in an AP.
If Witch's Bounty wasn't already allocated as my level 8 hex I'd seriously consider taking Poison Touch. On myself? Not so great. On the barbarian who fights unarmed or the Wildshaped druid? It's nice but you'd fall into the trap of "but I might need it later" (I have this issue with the Fortune hex). Where I see this hex being most effective is when used on summoned creatures as the duration of the hex typically outlasts the summon.
Witch's Bounty is a major hex, how are you getting it at 8th?
When it comes to characters, my group takes rules as suggestions. In this case I'd taken the hedge witch and herb witch (pre Ultimate Wilderness) archetypes as they suited my character concept and worked well together on a thematic level but the remedies of the herb witch rendered the near useless empathic healing of the hedge witch completely useless. On a similar note, I liked how the Witch's Bounty hex fit thematically (it's like a pale echo of the magical fruit grown once grown in Storasta) but hated that it was a major hex. It takes one hour to basically copy first level spell. How is this a major hex? So the solution was to replace empathic healing with Witch's Bounty; I'm no more powerful but like the thematics of it.
That said my GM would probably acquiesce to letting me take Poison Touch instead as it would still be fitting with my character's overall concept (he's a physician, healer and herbalist). While I do have the Poison Use feature (it replaced racial weapon proficiency) I haven't gotten any use out of it largely due the the low DCs of poisons so having Poison Touch gives a nice thematic element while the poison DC scales with levels.
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I've seen a pretty crazy use of Gift of Consumption and it's upgrade. Specifically, willingly exposing yourself to the biggest Fort-based Save-or-die in existence: a coup-de-gras.
Oh wow that works, doesn't it. You still eat the crit, but that's awesome. I'm imagining a witch being executed by beheading, then the executioner's head falls off, or the judge.
Regenerative Sinew is the new hex I've been eyeing.
Can finally heal ability damage as a (non-healing patron) witch. Also regenerate. That's a real boon for a no cleric party.
Withering is thematically very cool but there are only so many (major) hex slots to go around.
Some more Grand Hexes would be welcome. Slim pickings indeed...
Regenerative Sinew is the new hex I've been eyeing.
Can finally heal ability damage as a (non-healing patron) witch. Also regenerate. That's a real boon for a no cleric party.
Well, Heal (and Regenerate, although I really don't see the appeal of the latter) is on the witch list, so unless you select Regenerative Sinew as your first major hex, the benefit is pretty small.
Withering is thematically very cool but there are only so many (major) hex slots to go around.
Well, +1 to all hex and spell DCs (and all skill checks and will saves) is nothing to sneeze at. Remember that you can also do the trick on every party member with Age Resistence on their spell list.
It's completely crap as an offensive hex, though.I've seen a pretty crazy use of Gift of Consumption and it's upgrade. Specifically, willingly exposing yourself to the biggest Fort-based Save-or-die in existence: a coup-de-gras.
Full discussion here.