WendyWitch's page

I don't have my APG with me, but if I recall correctly, the witch can replace the familiar after 24 hours with a ritual costing X amount of gp (I think the cost goes up as the witch's level goes up). I think the new familiar comes with all cantrips, the bonus spells gained at each level, plus the patron spells, but not any spells that the witch might have taught the old familiar through ritual.

A familiar retains its arcane knowledge for 24 hours after separation from its witch. If the familiar is willing, it may teach spells to another familiar, subject to the time limitations (I want to say a 6th level spell would take 6 hours to teach, familiar-to-familiar, for instance, but check the APG).

So, I don't think there is a way for a witch to have an old, still living familiar teach her new familiar any spells, since there is the time limitation. The old familiar can only teach for 24 hours, and the witch cannot gain a new familiar until after 24 hours have passed.

If the party kills a witch, but spares the familiar, that familiar may be persuaded to teach spells known to another witch's familiar, though. Similarly, if you have two witches who are friendly with each other, they could have their familiars teach each other spells.

I think that if a witch were to take the Improved Familiar feat, and replace her familiar that way, that all the spells, regardless of source, transfer as a function of the feat.

I did most of my D&D type gaming in college, and our group was pretty much 50/50. Some were couples, some weren't. We really didn't think much about it.

This article and experiment tickles me no end. I am a mom of a 13 year old boy and an 11 year old girl. Both of my kids showed an interest in my old "red box" last year when I pulled it out of my closet one day, so I sought out a gaming group for my son and me to join last year. My daughter, while she had fun playing with her brother, didn't want to join a group, which was just as well, as the one I found was just starting Carrion Crown. Fine by my son, but not a genre my daughter was interested in.

It made me sad that she wasn't playing, so I asked her one day if she would play with a group of her girlfriends, if I was the GM. She agreed, and we invited three of her best friends to join the group, two of which were a little, "what's this about, now?" and the third being our Carrion Crown GM's daughter. She agreed to let her brother play, too. So I have a party of 11-13 year olds, and our group consists of a bard, a witch, a druid, a sorcerer and a rogue (my son). We occasionally have my son's best friend join in, and when he does, he plays a fighter. I play light and loose with the rules, and the girls all love it.

I found, however, during character selection, that the girls were often swayed for or against a class based on the iconic pictured for it. My daughter is musically inclined and wanted her character to play an instrument, so a bard was a natural choice - but she had to get her head around the fact that she wasn't being asked to play Lem. So, yes, I agree that the iconics are a powerful influence. I'm not passing judgment good or bad, mind you, just noting that I have seen how they influence class selection, especially on those new to the game.

Also, my girls, at least, are not murder hobos in any sense of the word. They don't want to kill anything. They want to talk their way through most encounters, so I have had to adjust my home brew scenarios to account for that preference. I love a good monster slaying as well as the next gamer, so this was a surprising turn of events for me.

I am constantly being asked, "When's our next gaming session?"

Yes, girls play D&D, too.

I discovered D&D in sometime in the mid-80s, as an awkward, shy teenager, even around family. Very much trapped within my shell. One summer, during my family reunion, my cousins were playing and I would listen to them play from the next room, being too shy (and a little younger) to ask right out what they were doing. I think one of my aunts realized the game had caught my attention, and asked the cousin who was DM'ing to try to draw me in. He did, and my very first character, a wizard, was born. He gave me far more power and magic items than I should have had, but I was suddenly part of the group, and it was FUN. To this day, I have fond memories of the Castle Amber module.

After the reunion, I couldn't wait to get my hands on my own red box and show it to my friends. My parents were just grateful to see me connecting with my cousins, I think, and didn't seem to bat an eyelash at the game itself.

I only drew my immediate friends into the game, though, once I returned home (NJ), and was already an outsider at school, so it wasn't particularly obvious to those outside of my immediate circle that I played D&D. So, no, I never ran into any problems.

Gaming in college in Cleveland, OH, in the late 80s, early 90s, involved things like Fantasy Hero and Shadowrun, more than strictly D&D, and we had our own happy little group. No, I never had any problems there, either.

I remember hearing the bad press about D&D and just not understanding it. I thought it was pretty obvious that the media had the cause and effect backwards, and that the kids that took the game too far had started out with a weak grasp on reality before they ever even found D&D.

The worst problem I had, which is different but related, was when, after reading Anne McCaffrey's Pern series in 11th grade, I got into dragons big time. My dad took me aside one day and expressed his concern about my obsession with these dark and demonic dragons, and was I getting into satanism? I couldn't help but laugh. I assured him that MY dragons were nothing like that, handed him Dragonflight, and asked him to please read the book before passing judgment. He did, and he read every subsequent Pern book out there. My dad is pretty cool.

Since the spell says immunities still apply, the paladin could have saved either the oracle or the cleric, without suffering ill effects of the spell himself. Certainly a paladin would have used the spell to save an ally. But the phantasmal killer spell can be seen only by the target. How did the paladin know that there was a fear effect spell in play against the oracle and cleric? Is it reasonable that he would have known that his spell would save his ally?

Either way, I wouldn't make him fall. He didn't deliberately choose not to save his allies. Maybe, in character, you could say the paladin was frozen with indecision about which ally to save, if he only had the spell once. Although held to a strict code, paladins are still subject to human (or elven, or dwarven, or whatever) failings. They're not perfect, though they strive to be. He might be eaten up with guilt over failing to save his allies and perhaps he would pray to his god/dess for guidance. You could, as GM, have his deity lay a quest before him to atone for his failing, a quest that would test and stretch his decision making skills, to help him grow in his faith. Good story hook right there.

Out of character, try to come up with ways to help this new player remember what his character can do. Come up with shorthand note cards for his spells with brief descriptions, which he can refer to during the session. Refer to the book and page # for each spell in case the full description needs to be looked up.

Or go back and change the events of the session, allowing him to save one of the other characters, whichever one makes the most sense for the paladin to have saved. Again, I really think this is more of a new player memory/learning curve problem, and not a paladin in danger of falling.

The only problem with Volcanic Storm is that after the spell's duration, the ash disappears, so it's not a permanent effect.

You could home brew a Hex that is opposite of Blight, which could look a lot like a Bless spell. To keep the power level the same, though, you'd only be able to have one Blessed plot of land at a time, size limited by your level. I like the idea of a good witch being able to do this, though.

There is a major hex, Witch's Bounty, which is thematically appropriate for your build, too.