Witch, Witch, You’re a Remastered Witch

Friday, October 13, 2023

It's October, and you know what that means—the leaves are falling, pumpkin spice floats on the wind, and the scourge known as candy corn is appearing on store shelves, and so I, James, am here to put on my pointy hat and talk about all things witchy coming in the Remaster!

Pathfinder iconic witch, Feiya, standing with her white, multi-tailed fox familiar Daji

Feiya the iconic witch and her familiar Daji. Art by Wayne Reynolds.

As we've mentioned in some of our past material, the witch was a class we were excited to put into the first book of the remaster, the Player Core. The witch is a really iconic fantasy theme with a ton of historical and cultural grounding, and a popular player archetype for many characters. Unfortunately, we were also aware that the witch class has not quite always done the best at living up to this fantasy. The Remaster sees the witch as one of the most heavily changed classes, in ways that aim both to increase the class’s overall power budget as well as to express the witch’s unique flavor in an evocative way.

In Pathfinder, the witch’s defining feature is their relationship with their familiar and their patron—the witch does not get power from study, or from inherent gifts, but as part of a bargain made with a mysterious patron entity, with a magical familiar there to both provide power and make sure the witch is advancing the patron’s agenda. To highlight the fact that the witch is the premier familiar user in the game, we’ve increased the capabilities of their familiar from its original version. Now, the witch’s familiar gains even more abilities, one of which is wholly unique to the patron. These unique familiar abilities both help to express the patron’s theme, and they generate a passive effect every time the witch Casts or Sustains one of their hex cantrips. For example, a familiar granted by the Silence in Snow patron is forever cold to the touch—it might be the color of ice or its breath might crystallize in the air—and so every time you cast your sustain one of your hex spells, frost will form next to your familiar, creating difficult terrain. Many of these abilities are strong, but have very short ranges from your familiar, so be sure to keep your little shadow cat or curséd raven safe with spells like phase familiar or patron’s puppet, which can help to shield them from damage or let them dart quickly in and out of safety.

We’ve taken advantage of the Remaster to also do some general quality of life changes to the witch and make their abilities a little easier to use. Many hex cantrips now no longer make enemies temporarily immune to their effects once cast, as we felt that having to sustain them and having the limit of 1 hex cantrip per turn (it turns out, your patron doesn't like being pestered for supernatural favors three times in a six-second window) was already enough of a limit for most abilities. We also expanded some hex cantrips that were overly narrow, like wilding word, which used to function only against animals, fungi, or plants, but now function against any creature, with animals, fungi, and plants being especially vulnerable to its effects. Between loosening these restrictions and the unique abilities from familiars that happen when you Cast or Sustain a hex cantrip, the witch should be seeing a fair bit of hexing during their turns.

But of course, as your witch grows in power, so too can your familiar, which can gain various special abilities through higher-level feats. Some of these feats let your patron themself manifest through your familiar, to spooky effect. For instance, the new Patron’s Presence feat directs your patron's baleful attention to the battlefield, partially disrupting the magic of other spellcasters.

Patron’s Presence — Feat 14
Witch

Your patron can direct its attention through your familiar, and its mere presence becomes an ominous weight on the minds of other beings to distract them and blot out their magic. Your familiar gains the following activity.

Patron’s Presence [two-actions] (aura) Frequency once per hour; Effect A palpable weight extends from your familiar in a 15-foot emanation. Enemies who enter or start their turn within the aura must succeed at a Will save against your spell DC or become stupefied 2 as long as they remain within the aura, or stupefied 3 on a critical failure. The aura lasts until the end of your next turn, but the familiar can Sustain it up to 1 minute.

Beyond some of these feats that lean on the Pathfinder side of witch mythology, we also wanted to go back to the rich folklore of witches worldwide and draw on this when we were giving witches new feats—and they’re getting quite a fair number of them! It would be remiss of me not to call out my very witchy colleagues Simone D. Sallé and Shay Snow, who drew on their deep knowledge of folk magic to suggest the seeds that grew into abilities like Ceremonial Knife, which allows a knife or dagger to direct magical energies like a magic wand; the new iron teeth Witch’s Armaments (supplementing eldritch nails and living hair); or Witch’s Broom, which lets you anoint a broom with flying ointments to transform it into a flying broomstick that you can ride through the night sky (this also works with a staff, polearm, or other broom-like object—not saying there are vacuum cleaners in Golarion, but I am saying the book gives you what you need to live your best Mary Sanderson life).

And with that, I think it's time for me to get into my Witch’s Hut and use its new Leap option to spin thrice and cast a 10th-rank teleport away! Be careful not to get cursed out there, and keep your eyes of newt on this space for more Remaster news!

The shadow remains cast,

James Case (he / him)
Senior Designer

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Tags: Pathfinder Pathfinder Remaster Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Pathfinder Second Edition
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Horizon Hunters

3 people marked this as a favorite.

Honestly it sounds super cool. I love me a flavoured subclass


3 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

Come, we Fly!

Vigilant Seal

1 person marked this as a favorite.

This sounds awesome


3 people marked this as a favorite.

For me, what will make or break the class rework is if the single target Hex cantrips are equivalently impactful as the Aoe Compositions.

Because Dirge vs (current) Evil Eye is a terrible balance point for me.


4 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber

Not a big fan of the flavor shift, but the mechanics sound really interesting.

Here's hoping the unique familiar abilities are strong and interesting because they sound like a really fun design space (mostly hoping the arcane witch's patron ability is more than what the preview suggested it was).


Love to hear it!

Sounds like Independent Familiar is must-have now.

I'm really glad Witch's Hut got such a cool and thematic buff, so that it doesn't just feel like a bad choice next to an extra 10th level slot.

Likewise, glad for the expansion to Wilding Word; I know that was one of the big concerns from the limited preview we saw so far.


It looks like Witch is getting a much-needed upgrade, and that's pretty cool.

I mean, it's a full caster, so I'm personally not likely to ever play one, but it's cool to see them get that upgrade they needed, and maybe I'll have more of a chance to see someone else play one.

Paizo Employee Marketing & Media Specialist

14 people marked this as a favorite.

Remastered Witch is for me, a known Witch lover!!! Happy Friday the 13th babes!


This makes me even more excited for the Play Core book.


3 people marked this as a favorite.

Sounds like a lot of fun. Really looking forward to hair, nails, and now teeth that keep up with DC progression???

The phrase "...the familiar can Sustain it" has me curious as to whether that's just a one-off, or if familiars will be independently sustaining all sorts of other nasty magics.

...and on a scheduling note, given this came out on Friday 13th, will we be getting an even bigger Witch drop on the 31st???

Dark Archive

Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber

This looks really fun. What is going to make-or-break it for me is how viably the familiar is in combat situations since a good chunk of the power budget is geared towards that.

Not to mention the hex reworks, but I'm less concerned with that piece as PF2e has had some great advancement in focus spells since the Witch was released (looking at Psychic, Animist, and while not exactly focus, the Inventor has similar features).

Absolutely can't wait!


1 person marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber

Glad to hear the one minute immunity is being pulled back. That will help a lot. Hopeful to hear what other hex cantrip improvements there are. Would be interested if Discern Secrets got a buff to make it more combat relevant.


1 person marked this as a favorite.
Easl wrote:
The phrase "...the familiar can Sustain it" has me curious as to whether that's just a one-off, or if familiars will be independently sustaining all sorts of other nasty magics.

As far as I can tell, familiars have always been able to sustain things. That isn't one of the actions that they are prevented from using. The difficult part was getting them to be the creature that created the sustained effect in the first place.

Spellcasting ability being the most obvious way. But then the question is what spell is worth casting and sustaining at that low of a level spell rank.


1 person marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber

Sustaining is becoming a general action that can be used for spells, impulses, and other effects as well.

Horizon Hunters

8 people marked this as a favorite.
Squiggit wrote:

Not a big fan of the flavor shift, but the mechanics sound really interesting.

the flavor shift? seems pretty much the same with just more flavour now.


1 person marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

Liking what I've seen of the changes so far. Doubling down on the familiar focus, leaning into that "witchy" flavor (and viability) for feats, and improving hexes fixes most of my issues with original release.


Hopefully it'll come with some clarifications and/or fixes on the subject of familiars in general.

Verdant Wheel

Maybe the chassis got upgraded?


6 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

As an avid witch player, I'm so happy that you'v understood what some of us love about the witch whilst also shoring up their weaker points. Love the doubling down on familiars and very very happy to hear about wilding word being buffed along with immunity being removed.

Thank you so much for all your hard work, looking forward to the remaster!

Radiant Oath

9 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber

Ooh, I love that the Witch's Broom feat works on polearms! It means I can successfully roleplay THIS!!!


2 people marked this as a favorite.
rainzax wrote:
Maybe the chassis got upgraded?

They're getting upgrades to the familiar, the hex cantrips, and at least some of the feats. I wouldn't expect much of a chassis upgrade after that.

I mean, yeah, the Witch was understrength, but it sounds like they're getting some fairly meaty upgrades already.

...also, given that one of the things they're teasing is yet another kind of Witch's Armaments, hopefully they have something in there that will make those worthwhile.

Envoy's Alliance

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber

Like others the idea of letting a familiar sustain a spell is interesting. I wonder if there are feats that let your familiar cast some of your hex spells, or just transfer the need to sustain over to them.

I love the patron's presence. but I thought of a thematic way to use it. Work out some anathema with the GM, and if you do one, your Patron activates this automatically, but with you as a viable target.

The witch's hut sounds even cooler than before.

The PFS character I played the longest was a Witch (started as Vengence, but after a fateful encounter, Baba Yaga)


5 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber
firelark01 wrote:
Squiggit wrote:

Not a big fan of the flavor shift, but the mechanics sound really interesting.

the flavor shift? seems pretty much the same with just more flavour now.

There's significantly more emphasis on the Patron being directly involved in the new text that was much more ambiguous pre-remaster. That's going to be a big change in how many of the witches I've seen people play end up feeling. Definitely a lot more cleric-esque.


6 people marked this as a favorite.
Squiggit wrote:
firelark01 wrote:
Squiggit wrote:

Not a big fan of the flavor shift, but the mechanics sound really interesting.

the flavor shift? seems pretty much the same with just more flavour now.
There's significantly more emphasis on the Patron being directly involved in the new text that was much more ambiguous pre-remaster. That's going to be a big change in how many of the witches I've seen people play end up feeling. Definitely a lot more cleric-esque.

The details of the nature of the relationship between Witch, Familiar, and Patron has always been fully up to the control of the player. The game devs said that rather directly when Captain Relyk asked about it. I don't expect that to change now.


Can't wait to redo my Skull n'Shackles character, Krax (as the new Hurricane King), leaning heavy into the patron feats, as his familiar, Uncle, was a direct channel to the curse shenanigans


11 people marked this as a favorite.

With more emphasis on familiars, I'm hoping familiars in general get a makeover with clear guidance on how they are mean to function in every mode. It would be nice to join a table and knew what the game expects my familiar can do in exploration for instance.


2 people marked this as a favorite.

Hexes being less restrictive and familiars getting special abilities has me sold. The witch has some of the best thematic trappings in P2E and I'm happy it'll measure up with the other classes now. Im excited to make an occult witch with the wizard archetype to really sell the whole scholar selling his soul for more knowledge and power archetype


1 person marked this as a favorite.

I am very much looking forward to some updates for my witches!


10 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Look, I'm a simple man. I see a Hocus Pocus reference, and I'm happy.


1 person marked this as a favorite.
Evan Tarlton wrote:
Look, I'm a simple man. I see a Hocus Pocus reference, and I'm happy.

I was born around the time Disney was killing it with their live action movies but I still 'member loving them


Would I be hoping for too much, if I said I'm hoping to see Waxen Image return, or even the Cook People major hex make a return in some way? ;w;
....and no I don't mean the Ideal Mimicry ritual that requires a huge level 12+ to even /attempt/. :C


GnollMage wrote:
Would I be hoping for too much, if I said I'm hoping to see Waxen Image return, or even the Cook People major hex make a return in some way? ;w;

Almost certainly, yes. You are hoping for too much for that to be a player-available option.

Abilities like these might be appropriate for NPC enemy antagonists. And those would fall under the Special Abilities section of creating a custom creature.


Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Maps, Rulebook Subscriber; Pathfinder Battles Case Subscriber

Ah so very excited for the Witch remaster and updating my witch for Roll for Combat's Three Ring Adventure!


1 person marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook Subscriber

James, feel free to send me all your candy corn.

Liberty's Edge

Squiggit wrote:
firelark01 wrote:
Squiggit wrote:

Not a big fan of the flavor shift, but the mechanics sound really interesting.

the flavor shift? seems pretty much the same with just more flavour now.
There's significantly more emphasis on the Patron being directly involved in the new text that was much more ambiguous pre-remaster. That's going to be a big change in how many of the witches I've seen people play end up feeling. Definitely a lot more cleric-esque.

My PFS Witch is a Taldan scholar who got obsessed with Baba Yaga after witnessing from afar one of her meetings with Jatembe. He pursues every scrap of knowledge that might be pertaining to her. He even uncovered how to make objects his allies and his stylus whispers occult secrets of magic to him.

Should I ever invest some feats in more direct Patron's attention, I will just flavor it as Baba Yaga starting to feel his existence and having a very tiny spark of interest in his walking a path that is extremely familiar to her.

Not that much of a flavour change really.


1 person marked this as a favorite.

Really excited for these changes! I'm looking forward to what the other patron familiar abilities are going to be besides the Silence in Snow familiar ability mentioned in the post.

Horizon Hunters

7 people marked this as a favorite.

Relying on squishy pets for benefits is concerning, particularly if there is a spell slot tax just to keep them alive.

Dark Archive

12 people marked this as a favorite.

Still not a super big fan of putting short range, self-centered AoE abilities on a body with full caster AC and 5 hp per level.

If the familiar abilities are sufficient to be a significant impediment to enemies, the familiar becomes a valid target. And nobody EVER wants that.
At least replacing a dead familiar isn't a huge ordeal in PF2, but still kinda sucks having a decent chunk of the class's power budget (and a LOT of the power being added to the class in the Remaster) being bolted onto something that can be killed.
At least Rangers have to opt in to an Animal Companion.

I dunno, maybe I'm just surly. I've been trying to play familiarless witches since the class's inception. Let's go Wyrm Witch and Cartomancer!


4 people marked this as a favorite.

"Oh boy, another class preview! Can't wait to see what I can expect to dive into on release.... at level 14, same as all my campaigns?"

It is neat to see some of the things, but high level previews feel useless to me.

At least it won't be long before there is full information!


8 people marked this as a favorite.

Love the changes to witch. The new familiar abilities seem very fun and requires interesting tactics to take advantage of. Hopefully Champion reaction can trigger of things affecting the familiar, would make some interesting collaboration depending on the availabile choices.

A very minor thing I think is funny, is that the witch that explicitly doesn't use study to gain their abilities but a contract with a patron uses int as it's primary ability score, while the thaumaturge which does explicitly study uses charisma. Just a thing that seems mismatched to me.


2 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber
breithauptclan wrote:
Squiggit wrote:
firelark01 wrote:
Squiggit wrote:

Not a big fan of the flavor shift, but the mechanics sound really interesting.

the flavor shift? seems pretty much the same with just more flavour now.
There's significantly more emphasis on the Patron being directly involved in the new text that was much more ambiguous pre-remaster. That's going to be a big change in how many of the witches I've seen people play end up feeling. Definitely a lot more cleric-esque.
The details of the nature of the relationship between Witch, Familiar, and Patron has always been fully up to the control of the player. The game devs said that rather directly when Captain Relyk asked about it. I don't expect that to change now.

They've said that yeah, but they've also made repeated references in all this pre-release material to the way the Witch now calls directly upon their patron for help, which isn't really language that existed in the APG (or PF1 for that matter). So it's still a change in language worth noting.


Yay to my favorite class - really excited about the Hex immunity being lifted


2 people marked this as a favorite.

I'm hoping more hex cantrips past the one you get at level can be picked up too like bards focus cantrips.


2 people marked this as a favorite.

Boo-ook! Come home or make thy self known!


5 people marked this as a favorite.
Dee Finder of Paths wrote:
Really excited for these changes! I'm looking forward to what the other patron familiar abilities are going to be besides the Silence in Snow familiar ability mentioned in the post.

They shared a lot of it during GenCon.

But in short, things things happen when you Cast/Sustain a hex:

Faith’s Flamekeeper (Fervor) - Familiar if Restored Spirit: 2+ half level temp HP to someone 15ft of familiar till the start of your next turn.

The Inscribed One (Rune) - Familiar of Flowing Script: Your familiar qualifies for flanking till the start of your next turn.

The Resentment (Curse) - Familiar of Ongoing Misery: Your familiar prolongs a negative condition with a duration of an enemy within 15ft.

Silence in Snow (Winter) - Familiar of Freezing Rime: 5ft burst from familiar’s corner of difficult terrain till the start of your next turn.

Spinner of Threads (Fate) - Familiar of Balanced Luck: Within 15ft either an ally gets +1 status bonus to AC or an enemy gets a -1 status penalty to AC till the start of your next turn.

Starless Shadow (Night) - Familiar of a Stalking Night: The creature you’re familiar is Concealed/Hidden/Undetected and adjacent to becomes Frightened 1.

Wilding Steward (Wild) - Familiar of Keen Senses: Your familiar gains 60ft imprecise scent/wavesense/tremorsense and can Point Out as a free action.

I was a critic of Wilding Steward’s Familiar of Keen Senses and how Wilding Steward would be the weakest of all Witch patrons, but seeing the Wilding Word changes, I’m happy that my fears are unsubstantiated and excited for both Primal Witches now.

I have a feeling that Discern Secrets and Shroud of Night will probably be a lot better too.


1 person marked this as a favorite.
3 Crows Witch wrote:
Yay to my favorite class - really excited about the Hex immunity being lifted

Yes the way you couldn't cackle and hex in the same round was one of the most stuffed up things about the witch.


3 people marked this as a favorite.
wegrata wrote:
A very minor thing I think is funny, is that the witch that explicitly doesn't use study to gain their abilities but a contract with a patron uses int as it's primary ability score, while the thaumaturge which does explicitly study uses charisma. Just a thing that seems mismatched to me.

The patrons are into nerds, I guess.

Just because you don't study *magic* doesn't mean you or your patron doesn't see the value in studying other things.


Gortle wrote:
3 Crows Witch wrote:
Yay to my favorite class - really excited about the Hex immunity being lifted
Yes the way you couldn't cackle and hex in the same round was one of the most stuffed up things about the witch.

From the sound of it

Quote:
we felt that having to sustain them and having the limit of 1 hex cantrip per turn (it turns out, your patron doesn't like being pestered for supernatural favors three times in a six-second window) was already enough of a limit for most abilities.

That may still be a thing.

Only the temporary timeout lock is being removed. So you can skip sustaining Evil Eye or Stoke the Heart for a round or two and then reapply it to the same target when you are less pressed for actions.


3 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber
Antonio Jackson D'Angelo wrote:
Relying on squishy pets for benefits is concerning, particularly if there is a spell slot tax just to keep them alive.

Phase Familiar is a focus spell, not a slot, and witches get it for free. Witch familiars also revive at your next daily preparation. If you can get enemies to waste actions and MAP to murder your resurrecting pet instead of your non-resurrecting witch or allies, that may be a win for your group. The only downside is you lose the ability to refocus, and obviously the familiar abilities themselves, until the next morning. How much that matters will depend on the time pressure you're under. (This also assumes nothing else changes about refocusing or reviving. It may very well.)

There's also a lot of familiar abilities which can keep them alive. One simple option is flight, which doubles as a useful scouting power. Rage of the Elements added a bunch of new defensive options, too.

The witch is going to be in an interesting spot that kind of out-wizards the wizard without time pressure. Like a wizard they need to manually add spells to their preparation options. But they also have familiar abilities which can be swapped daily. And depending on your GM's rulings familiars make excellent scouting tools.


2 people marked this as a favorite.
3 Crows Witch wrote:
Yay to my favorite class - really excited about the Hex immunity being lifted

That's big. That will help a lot.

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