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Witches suffer a bit from action economy. Specifically, by hexes, they slowly reduce a single enemy to a pile of ineffective gibbering mush. As a fan of making characters that are useful in all circumstances, I tailor my feat selection and spell list to cover all other eventualities.

So. I like persistent spell, because I can throw it on AOEs like Stinking Cloud. Persistent Stinking Cloud or persistent web are pretty great actions. Because a re-roll is vaguely equivalent to a -4 penalty (-5?), they're actually hitting like level 7 or 6 spells, when they only cost you a 5 or a 4 slot.

So long as I have the pre-req, taking Quicken at 9 is also sort of a no-brainer. As you said, quickened ill omen is pretty great. Later on, quickened just-about-anything becomes prettyp great. The real reason to take it at 9 is that your 11 and 13 feats are going to be spoken for, with split hex, ability focus (ice tomb), and maybe an extra hex.

So, to conclude, yes. Take Quicken, because, as a witch, you don't really have to worry about blowing your spell slots - you will always have plenty, thanks to the wonder of hexes.

-Cross

I think I am taking this advice and taking Quicken Spell. Plus, I have the cash to get a lesser wand of Persistent Spell right now. So, this should be a fun couple of weeks!

Spell Perfection would allow you to quicken a spell pretty much every round without draining your resources quite as much. Since your you will spend most fights flying, cackling, and hexing people your swift action is the only action you have left.

Since you don't want to cast buffs in combat (and why would you once you have ice tomb ^^) extens spell is your friend ^^. At low levelw metamagic rods are extremly awesome.

Craft wondrous items would be worthwile for your group and you can never have enough pearls of power ^^

Spell Perfections prerequisite is 15 ranks in Spellcraft. So, the Witch would need to be 15th level to take the feat. Plus, it also requires 3 metamagic feats too. Nice feat for a Wizard IMO, but not a Witch.

Seems to me that some more healing would be an option. Since I am a huge fan of Spell Perfection, I would suggest you to consider it.

Thanks for the feedback Sebastian.

She has Cure Mods and Lights, and we typically blow through a wand of Cure Light every other level or so. And the Silvanshee has Lay on Hands 5 times a day. We are pretty good with the heals right now.

My witch primarily focuses on Hexes, so I don't know if Spell Perfection is the right feat.

I am really liking the idea of taking Ability Focus: Misfortune. That seems to be the best bet. Although, I think Quicken Spell with Ill Omen, followed up with a Misfortune could be sweet. Second round would then have a SoL like Blindness/Deafness or Bestow Curse, all while the fighters are pounding away rolling 2 times for a d20 on round 3.

Any other opinions?

Maybe post the rest of your build and your party.

Good idea.

The party are 9th level half-orcs who have the Scar hex on them.
Bard 9 - Buffer and misc melee build
Inquisitor 9 - Turtle tank who takes the attacks
Sorcerer 9 - Glass cannon type
Fighter 8/Barbarian 1 werewolf lycanthrope - Front line damage dealer. Just became a werewolf. He still has control over his will and doesn't flip out at a full moon.

My witch (abbreviated stat block):
CN Medium Humanoid (Orc)
Init +7; Senses Darkvision (60 feet); Perception +10
hp 50
Fort +6, Ref +8, Will +9
Str 8, Dex 16, Con 12, Int 23, Wis 10, Cha 10
Hexes at DC 20: Evil Eye), Misfortune, Slumber, Flight, Scar, Cackle, Fortune
Feats: Extra Hex, Extra Hex, Improved Familiar, Improved Initiative
Traits: Courageous, History of Heresy
Familiar: Silvanshee, Agathion

My witch just hit 9th level, so you what that means... feat time!

I plan on getting Split Hex, but that has a 10th level prerequisite (don't get me started about feats having prereq's of 10th level when you don't get feats at 10). Our DM allows us to retrain one thing a level, so for now, I think I am going to have fun with Quicken Spell and Ill Omen (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/i/ill-omen). This will help with near guarantees of Misfortune/Evile Eye/Slumber hexes and almost any other SoL spells.

I will play with this combo for at least one level, but in the meantime, are there any other first level spells to consider to apply toward Quicken Spell? Maybe Ray of Enfeeblement, but none of the others jump out right now. Did I miss one?

I am also open to a different feat right as well. Maybe Ability Focus on Misforune or Slumber. DM does allow this Monster feat. My with has a 23 INT right now so saves are already high. Any other feats come to mind? Already have Improved Inititiative and Improved Familiar, but anything else?

Threnodic spell, from Ultimate Magic. Unless you can get a rod of it, this suggestion probably isn't going to be much good to you right now, but later on when you're up against the vampires, it'll come in handy. Depending on your level when you get to those vampires, Thanatopic Spell might be handy. Thanatopic enervation? Yes, please!

Tasty. But two slots? Yowsers. But, as I look at the 6th level spells, a Thanatopic Spell Enervate would be pretty sweet. Yet, spending a feat on a what could be anywhere from 1 to 40 encounters would be hard.

What Patron do you have?

I took the Ancestor Patron mostly for flavor, but really like Prayer and Blessing of Fervor for buff support.

Misfortune has been what my witch has been doing for previous encounters against the mind affecting immune (some golems, other undead). Fortunately, right now the DC is really high at 20, so it has proven useful about 50% of the time. Had Accursed Hex, but retrained as StreamOfTheSky alluded to - can get pretty boring just cackling and giving all the punchy types rerolls and watching them get all the fun (but, it is gratifying to help).

I do have a Silvanshee improved familiar that I might utilize more. She has Lay on Hands (4d6 right now) as well as incredible damage reduction and immunities that can help keep her safe. When sharing spells, she can have AC 23 and around 38 HPs usually. She has been dubbed the Super Cat among the group :) It might be worth sending her in here and there if the enemy looks low on the HPs. Maybe even sending her in with Cure Moderate wounds charged as a touch.

I didn't think of the Smite Evil ability of summoned celestials. That is good advice too.

Why can't Flame Strike be on the witch spell list ?? :)

Bestow Curse is on my list right now, so that is one that I didn't think about either.

So, our GM basically foreshadowed that we will be battling some undead here in the near future (foreshadowing was in game, of course). Using this knowledge, and my witch's high intelligence, she has a knack for doing research and using tactics in order to win a fight.

As soon as she heard we were going against undead eventually, this brought a bit of anxiety to my witch as most hexes are mind affecting, and undead are not affected by mind affecting abilities/spells. Then, when turning to researching spells, my witch got even more anxious because there are barely any spells on the witch list that are effective against undead. There are the general spells to be used of course, such as black tentacles or summon monster. But what about damage, efficiently? Even most debuffs don't work as most of the debuffs are also mind affecting. It just doesn't look like there are many spells/hexes that work really good against undead. Any thoughts? Is there an obvious spell I am overlooking?

Right now we are 8th level, and sounds like we are going to be going against some undead in the near future as well as several levels down the road (vampires - yeesh).

Thanks in advance for the advice.

Alright gang. Thanks for the reply.

I think where this thread landed is that it does count as an attack, but from whom is another question.

Overall, I need to see how my GM rules it, but it is always nice to give him several perspectives before making his own.

So, I am going to have a witch level up to eighth level soon, and I was looking at the fun hexes that I could take. My group tends to put itself in social situations, so naturally, Charm hex is drawing my attention. So this brings up some questions that I have, not only about Charm hex, but also Evil Eye, and potentially other hexes.

So, with Charm hex, your target gets a Will save. Let's say my witch is at a guard post and wants to get through. The guard has an attitude of "Indifferent". The witch decides to step forward and "Charm" this guard. Little does the witch know that the guard has a really good Will save, and when my Witch uses her hex charm, and the guard makes the save, does the guard detect this attempt to sway his viewpoint and his attitude goes from "Indifferent" to "Unfriendly"?

I don't think I really understood how hexes come in to play when used in non combat scenarios. For example, could my Witch hang back as the party leader starts talking with the guard and start Evil Eye to reduce the Will save, then start Cackling, then use Misfortune, continue Cackling, then start talking to the guard and then use Charm hex? Obviously the Evil Eye and Misfortune hexes would give a HUGE advantage to making the guard fall prey to the Charm hex. Would the guard feel the Evil Eye creep in? would the guard or some of the lesser guards start looking at the cackling Witch and think something is up, then pull their weapons and attack my party?

As you can see and imagine, this can go on and on. From what I have read, the only hex that really is blatantly detectable is perhaps the Cackle hex as the Witch is just doing that... Cackling. And that could be perceived as somewhat unnerving at the least. But unnerving to the level of considering it an attack? And then retaliating on said attack by brandishing weapons? From what I can tell, using Evil Eye, Fortune, Misfortune, or Charm don't have any somatic of verbal requirements, so if the guard did make the save, would he sense that he just staved off some form of assault? And if he did, would he know who assaulted him?

Or even just using Fortune hex to maybe give the party leader the opportunity to roll twice for the diplomacy check to sway the guard. Would that be detected by anyone?

Any help in the RAW about hexes and their use and consequences would be appreciated. Any general feedback would be welcome too.

Thanks in advance!

I grabbed a Hedgehog at 1st level. He gives a +2 to Will saves which I really liked early on. He isn't a really nice Hedgehog, so when my witch gets the nerve, she is going to drop him off a cliff and take Improved Familiar. The roleplaying part is important to me, so the timing to do so will have to be right and also play into the whole Patron thing. Going to see if my DM will allow me to switch Patrons too.

I am looking at Earth Elemental to deliver the touch attacks via Earth Glide and Burrow. Since we seem to have most of our adventures so far in dungeons or in the wild, this made sense to me.

I've perused the boards and I couldn't find an answer to this question anywhere.

Can a witch use a hex while they are under the effect of Vermin Shape (or any shapechange effect, for that manner)? I think I am correct that spells can't be cast since you need to speak to cast spells, but I see nothing that says you can't use hexes while in the shape of another creature.

Is this posted somewhere and I missed it? Seems pretty useful if Hexes could be used in this situation.

Thanks!

A friend of mine says this is just an issue of rule as intended (RAI) vs rule as worded (RAW). I guess the game creators haven't officially decided about this, but my GM basically said that the Guide's Focus and Horizon Walker's terrain dominance abilities don't stack.

Anyone disagree?

I have a strong feeling this question has been asked multiple times, and I tried to find it else where in the forums, but I couldn't locate the most simple explanation possible, and I'm not the smartest guy in the world, so hopefully I can get someone to help with the clarification.

I am playing a Ranger of the Guide variant right now. I started to look at the Horizon Walker because not only does it appear to have some great bonuses, but I also feel like it fits in my dude's background. I saw what the Horizon Walker gets at 3rd level, Terrain Dominance, and it made me think...

Since I am lazy, I can only assume others out there are too. Here is the Terrain Dominance ability: At 3rd level, a horizon walker learns total dominance over one terrain he has already selected for terrain mastery. When dealing with creatures native to that terrain, the horizon walker treats his favored terrain bonus for that terrain as a favored enemy bonus (as the ranger class feature) against those creatures. This bonus overlaps (does not stack with) bonuses gained when fighting a favored enemy.

Here is Guide's Focus: At 1st level, once per day, the guide can focus on a single enemy within line of sight as a swift action. That creature remains the Ranger’s focus until it is reduced to 0 or fewer hit points or surrenders, or until the Ranger designates a new focus, whichever occurs first. The Ranger gains a +2 bonus on attack and damage rolls against the target of his focus. At 5th level, and every five levels thereafter, this bonus increases by +2. At 4th level, and every 3 levels thereafter, the Ranger can use this ability one additional time per day. This ability replaces favored enemy.

Ok. Since the bonus granted by Focus isn't a Favored Enemy bonus, and Terrain Dominance specifically says that its bonus doesn't stack with Favored Enemy bonus, then, do they stack together?

I am always good with examples:

I end up going Guide 6/Horizon Walker 3. Here is the Focus ability updgrades and here are all the Favored Terrains with their bonuses that my character picks up...

Guide 1 - Focus +2 once a day
Guide 3 - Favored Terrain: Jungle +2
Guide 4 - Focus +2 twice a day
Guide 5 - Focus +4 twice a day
Horizon Walker 1 - Favored Terrains: add Underground +2, Jungle bumps to +4
Horizon Walker 2 - Terrain Mastery: Jungle
Horizon Walker 2 - Favored Terrains: add Plains +2, Underground still at +2, but bump again Jungle to +6
Horizon Walker 3 - Terrain Dominance: Jungle. Now, he earns a Favored Enemy bonus of +6 against enemies native to the jungle.

So, the party is strolling along through the forest when they are surprised by a group of lizardmen and they are ticked that we stumbled in their territory. First off, my Guide gets a bonus of +6 against all the lizardmen, right?

Then, of the group of lizardmen, one of them seems to be a pretty powerful cleric. The guide sees this and Focuses on this threat and his Focus ability (at +4 twice a day due to Guide 6), kicks in. Does the Guide character get both the +4 from Focus and +6 from Terrain Dominance (aka newly acquired Favored Enemy bonus) for a total of +10 to hit and damage?

Thanks - this stuff is always bewildering and sometimes I read too much into it, so other opinions are always valuable to me.

These are some really great replies, so thanks for taking the time everyone!

One thing I have to remind everyone that it isn't negative energy affinity, but it it similar.
My cleric had to pray to the dark dwarf god for some cause moderate wounds spells. He is making it a priority to keep my character alive. I have to check with the GM in regards to our cleric for turning unread purposes. Especially since we will be seeing many more undead right away.

Again, this affliction goes away with a restoration spell. Unless I can convince my GM for a different means to restore my guy, how early should a character gain access to Restoration? Better yet, what can I suggest as an alternative to the Restoration option? Maybe something relayed to his own deity? If he fulfills an oath or religious related quest, then he gets this "taint" reversed by deity intervention? Or is that too much deus ex machina?

Fyi, as for the afterlife, my character is a mwangi tribesmen and he basically took on the guise of his spirit totem, a panther, while on the other planes. There, he far-spoke with his dead mother, who was in pantheress form and she told him to return for the greater of all good.

We are playing in a campaign where my party came across a Raise Dead scroll at an incredibly low level (2nd).

Unfortunately, my character met an untimely end at 3rd level. After debate, I decided to bring him back after the cleric successfully used the scroll to bring my Ranger back.

Now, it doesn't make sense for a 3rd level ranger to come back with 2 negative levels, considering he will get gutted as the front line fighter (which he was being optimized for). Also doesn't make sense because the party isn't any where near the availability for a Restoration (due to geographic and financial limitations).

So, the DM decided to help out and alter the penalty from coming back from the dead. Since my Ranger was killed by a ghoul, he is coming back "tainted" from the experience. Instead of being healed by positive energy and harmed by negative energy, he is now healed by negative energy and harmed by positive energy. This "taint" goes away with a Restoration.

I was wondering from both a role playing perspective what impact this may have, and from a tactical rules standpoint. First, are there any characters or living non-evil type of creatures out there that have something similar going on? Like, a good aligned, living vampire, or something else out there?

Just trying to gauge some thoughts behind this new penalty being applied and see if any of you smart people out there can think of something I am missing other than the obvious of a cleric channeling positive energy to the group will harm my dude.

I have a 3rd level character that died and just got resurrected. We found a scroll of Raise Dead and it was used on my character. So now, my character is basically at first level and will more than likely die again due to the tenacity of the campaign.

Does anyone have any decent houserule ideas I can pitch to our DM? I find it interesting that we get the scroll of Raise Dead so early in our adventuring days, but I don't think the campaign's writers or the DM thought through the implication of using it. I mean, number one, you are at two negative levels, and number two, to regain those levels, you basically have to throw 2,000 more gp at it to get that character back to what he was before he died.

I was half tempted to not bring the character back, but I felt guilty that the party burned through a 5,000 gp piece of treasure for my dude (which is A TON at first level), and the DM didn't really give the option to create a new character - I would have to use an NPC for the rest of the adventure.

Curious what other rules may be out there.

My group and I are revisiting the Age of Worms campaign and are converting it to Pathfinder. When we left off, I was playing a Changeling Rogue/Fighter/Warshaper. She was basically a spy and master of diplomacy and bluff. Really a fun character to play, but had a hard time keeping her healthy in combat. She got killed once and that was really a bummer.

So, we are doing a reboot since we left the campaign three years ago and we are converting to Pathfinder. We have to remain core with the exception of being a Changeling since the Changeling's racial feature of alter self is the main theme behind the character. Our DM is allowing an additional +2 to any attribute. Here is the starting stats array:

18, 16, 14, 13, 12, 10. This is before any racial or level modifiers.

We are starting at 11th level and this is where you guys come in. Creating an 11th level character isn't easy. After contemplation. I settled on Rog 3/Wiz 3/AT 5. Yes, this is rather different from the fighterish build she was before, but I like the non-combat roleplayiing I did with her. I liken it to a flash sideways (for you LOST fans out there). She is going to really focus on the core characteristics she originally had - the face of the party and spy. Use stealth skills and knowledge skills to gather info is also on the list of responsibilities.

I am struggling primarily with what feats to take, what school to specialize in, and what magic items to get. I am thinking that for combat, she will be a controller and an occasional sneak attacker. The party already has a Cleric and a Paladin, so we have lots covered with those two. We also have an Artifcer as a leftover from the previous campaign.

We have 102,500 gp to work with (additional gp because of the Artificer), and other than a few staple wands and a Rod of Metamagic, Lesser Quicken, I don't know what to get. Sure, some stat boost items will make sense, such as Headband of Intellect or Mithral Buckler. Handy haversack too. What other items are staple?

Shall I focus on illusions? Haven't done so before and it feels right with the AT class. What are some of the better illusion spells for both in combat and out? What is the staple blasty spell? Scorching Ray seems to fit the bill.

How about feats? I like improved initiative and point blank shot. Think spell penetration will be useful for this campaign as well. I am already having her with the Magical Knack trait as well as the Reactionary trait, so she will still be pretty good with some spell DCs and will go first often in combat. What other feats?

So for the rambling post. As aforementioned, creating an 11th character isn't the easiest thing to do. I've always started at level one and progressed, so this has been quite the challenge.

Thanks in advance!

Thanks for all the feedback everyone. This was a tricky call, but one that can be seen from both sides. In the end, my DM didn't have any problems with the invisibility staying active when the sphere rolls into an enemy.

Now, can I ask yet another question?

If you were to cast pyrotechnics on the sphere...

1. Is the flame from the flaming sphere magical? Does it go away when cast?
2. Does the invisibility end once you cast pyrotechnics on the sphere?
3a. (Not related to the original post) Can the caster tell the rest of the party to close their eyes when casting pyrotechnics to avoid being blinded?
3b. Can the caster close their eyes after casting pyrotechnics to avoid being blinded?

Thanks again for all the help!

But correct me if I am wrong, the wizard is directing the spell 30 ft south. Technically, the creature is getting in the way of the sphere. Shame on him/her/it. Use your reflexes, or get outta the way.

What if said wizard wanted to send a flaming sphere to that square 30 ft south because their group tactics are to place a flaming sphere in place B in order for the fighter type to bull rush his enemy right into a spongy ball of flame? But, wizard guy doesn't have time to look at the diagonal's of the battle grid to notice the flippant goblin standing there. Flaming sphere rolls right into him, and he gets hot a moment too late and is getting burned by a ball of flame...

How is that an attack? Sure, you can read soo much into that previous statement. But I guess the DM and all involved (especially the goblin) would have to weigh the intent.

To the guy named by cats... Didn't leave that off on purpose, but you are right. Now... to that I say this. If wizard guy tells sphere to go to point B, and some an ally is in the way, then the ally suffers 3d6 without the invisibility ending because they aren't a foe? But if the goblin in the original post is deemed to be a bad guy by the wizard, then the invisibility ends?

Invisibility states: "The spell ends if the subject attacks any creature. For purposes of this spell, an attack includes any spell targeting a foe or whose area or effect includes a foe."

Here is Flaming Sphere: "If it enters a space with a creature, it stops moving for the round and deals 3d6 points of fire damage to that creature... The sphere moves as long as you actively direct it (a move action for you)"

So, my wizard goes invisible. Then, he casts Flaming Sphere as a standard action. Doesn't become visible. Next, as a move action, he directs it to move directly south for 30 feet. In its path, happens to be a goblin, 20 ft due south of the sphere. It then enters the square with the goblin, stops, and deals 3d6 damage.

The million dollar question... is this an attack to end invisibility? If you read the spells, it technically isn't an attack to end invisibility. This is a move action to direct the ball to go from point A to point B. If the goblin gets in the way, then make it needs to make a reflex save, or get burned. According to invisibility, it isn't an attack if you cut the rope on a bridge and cause the enemies to fall. This, to me, is the same thing.

My wizard should still be invisible, to skulk around the battle field and summon monsters or enlarge his allies to his heart's content, all without becoming visible.

What say you?