TL;DR: I like witches, but have some problems with them. I wanted to try and design a prestige class to fill a niche that I think is unoccupied. This is a link to the class; I want opinions on how to revise it to make it better.
Hello all,
I'm still within my first year of playing Pathfinder and I find that I learn systems better when trying to make things within them. I'm in two campaigns, but my longest character between them is also my first: a witch, who wants to establish a coven and later become the leader of this powerful force.
Though I like the witch class, I have a few problems with it.
Foremost among them is that many of the witch's unique options (Hexes and Archetypes) are either (A) seemingly designed for NPCs or (B) shoe-horn the witch into evil. While some helpful hexes exist (Healing hex, Ward, Fortune etc.), many of the other unique options available to witches are underwhelming, like the Nails, Cursed Wound, and Charm hexes. Or, very obviously more evil than not: Evil Eye, Misfortune, Poison Steep hexes, for example. While many hexes can be flavored to be less apparently evil, I'd like to see some more options for the witch. I feel as though most witches will wind up taking the same main hexes (e.g. Evil Eye, Slumber, Flight, Prehensile Hair) for lack of more diverse options. As debuff-specialized class, I understand how it's easy to have the witch's strongest options lean more towards evil. But still.
The witch archetypes face similar problems to the hexes. The White-Haired Witch archetype, while great for multiclassing into something else, doesn't seem to give a straight WHW much to keep pace with other members of the group. The Bouda, Dark Sister, Gravewalker, and Veneficus witch are all pretty evil in theme. The Hedge Witch can certainly move away from that, but the rest of the archetypes have - for all of my reading around - not much in the way of appealing strengths with the exception of niche cases (Sea Witch) or additional "dark" themed archetypes like the pre-errata Scarred Witch Doctor.
I have some problems with the witch spell list as well, largely in that they seem to be lacking many of the spells that can easily be associated with witches. Why wouldn't a witch gain access to Mage Hand and Prestidigitation, apparent staples of arcane cantrips? Or Silent Image? It helps me to view the witch as the "rogues" of arcane casters, favoring subtlety over brute force of magic, but the ability to cast illusions is strongly associated with witch lore and that a patron is necessary to achieve that sits poorly with me.
Further, I would like to see more witch-focused Prestige Classes beyond the Winter Witch. I think there is a lot of fertile ground in a range of further archetypes and Prestige Classes aimed towards the witch, and towards that end I have tried to draft one:
The Witchlord
The Witchlord was shamelessly made with my character's goal in mind. With it, I wanted to focus on a few things:
- The Coven hex
- The Leadership feat
- Introducing a range of hexes that supplement and provide alternatives to existing hexes
- Try to fill the "Witch Queen" design space. The Witchlord Prestige Class should be a boon to witch (or classes/archetypes that grant the Hex class feature) who wants to establish herself as the leader of a magical organization and do her work both herself and through envoys of her authority.
See the Witchlord prestige class here.
The Witchlord's four main class features are as follows:
Coven Casting
A lesser version of the coven casting ability available to hags.
Coven casting allows a Witchlord, at every odd level, to add two spells she knows with cast times equal to 1 round or less to a list of Spell-Like Abilities that she and two other members of her coven can spend a full-round action to cast. The selected spells can be of a spell level no higher than the highest spell level she is able to cast - 2.
The initial version of this class allowed the witchlord, at max level, to be the hag in her own coven and open up the same coven casting ability as hags have to her coven members. I thought that might be too strong, and so toned it down into this. A Witchlord 7 will have 14 Spell-Like Abilities she can only use with her followers. This is necessarily limiting - not everyone goes around with two subordinates - but does provide the witchlord with a unique repository effects to fall back on in times of need.
Witchery
Though witchlord's gain hexes at pre-determined levels, witchlord levels stack levels of a class that grants the Hex feature (Witch, Hexcrafter Magus, Shaman) for determining all other effects of hexes, like DCs, durations, etc. Additionally, the witchlord can select from a list of new hexes whenever she gains a hex.
These new hexes are intended to permit some remote work on behalf of the witchlord (Envoy, Enter Image, Hex Bag), to supplement hexes the Witchlord has by enabling more flexible use (Imbue Hex to allow an ally to use flight or Disguise hexes; Hex Bag to use the Waxen Image hex at long-range, combined with scrying or a similar spell), or to simply increase the witchlord's immediate power in a given situation (Circle Magic hex's CL bonus, Icon of the Witch's preparation advantage). Others have been created simply as a method of conveying the class's theme (Witch's Decree and Compelling Words' sense of authority and control) or because I saw the Vin Diesel's The Last Witch Hunter and it was exactly the kind of movie I expected it to be (the source of the Eternal Reign grand hex).
Witch's Whispers
A witchlord should have a good connection with her subjects. Witch's Whispers is an attempt to make that connection apparent. It benefits the witchlord who sends her envoys across the nation to do her bidding by informing her of their welfare, and also permits a witchlord who travels with her companions to benefit from more strategy by increasing the distance at which her companions can supplement her magical might.
Coven Lordship
I wanted a witchlord to be able to benefit from an increased range of hexes to select. Given that the class is a 7-level dip, and is first available at level 7, it's unlikely that many witchlords will access the witchlord grand hexes.
Coven Lordship was designed with this in mind. A witchlord who stops leveling in the class just doesn't stop leading a coven; she should be able to grow in power as she leads her organization. Coven Lordship's position as a capstone ability does require the witchlord to commit to the Prestige Class to gain its benefits, but doesn't leave the witchlord high and dry for wanting to pursue a career path for herself before level 11.
I'm looking for thoughts on the Prestige Class. Ideas for hexes or features, nerfs/buffs to the same, design thoughts, etc. Though this is version 2.0, this is still very much a rough draft by an unlearned player.
