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Alright, doing my medieval fairytale-style game last Saturday. Part of the plot was that an ancient and powerful witch had been locked in a crypt ages ago by a bunch of priests before the great war, and one PC had been killed the week before by a mandrake root and wanted to bring in a new character and wanted to do a witch. So he made up an Irish Celtic sort of witch and his witchy henchling who were fleeing some variety of witch hunts back in the isles, and oh yes, he was lawful good.
Okay, this all sounded reasonable, and I'm assuming the "otherworldly power" he made a pact with was the goddess Airmid or some similar lawful-goodish Irish divinity. This was left nebulous so we could get on with the game and backfill the story later as it became important to the plot.
Next thing that happens, said lawful good witch wants use of a forge for ring forging, and since there's no "Anvils R Us!" in the little mountain village and the local blacksmith has regular customers he has to keep happy despite offers of reasonable pay for use of his forge, the witch simply charms him and sets to work in the forge while wearing a pointy hat and black robes that look like they came from a Halloween superstore. (The player insisted that this is what they wore, so I just penciled it in as them having fled in their ritual robes and left their street clothes back at the isles.) Consequently the local Inquisitor--who is not terribly high level, and is using the "blind squirrel" approach to witchfinding, accusing everyone of witchcraft in the hopes of actually eventually finding one--well, let's just say that the blind squirrel finally finds his nut: The blacksmith is acting obviously charmed, there are two people in pointy black hats and black robes in the shop, and the Inquisitor points his finger and starts screaming "Witch! Witch!" and is promptly turned to stone by the actual witch he's finally found. This of course breaks the charm on the blacksmith, who is living in a Germanic country and paid attention to the story of Hansel and Gretel: When you encounter a psycho witch, push them into a convenient oven. And since there's a roaring forge currently in the shop, the blacksmith had little trouble bullrushing the witch into the forge.
In the end, the blacksmith was feebleminded and put to sleep, and then once incapacitated, cursed to have his wisdom blighted along with his intelligence. The witches then flew off on their broomsticks, leaving behind a PR disaster for any good and/or lawful witches out there, as well as leaving behind their "lawful" and "good" alignment tags, since the deeds were certainly chaotic, and cursing the unconscious blacksmith definitely goes in the evil camp too.
Meanwhile, the other PCs had succeeded in freeing the ancient witch from the crypt where she'd been imprisoned, and while it turned out she was both chaotic and evil, she wasn't stupid, and was quite grateful to all these nice people who'd let her out due to a combination of the goodness of their hearts and a desire for kewl ancient magikal sekritz (TM). It turned out the new PC witch and his henchling were looking for a third for their coven, and while the ancient witch might be lowering her standards to pick up with them, it's kind of like having a jam session, she needed to get her cat back anyway, and besides which, with their help she could cast Commune and touch base with the Queen of the Witches, that being Hecate, and introduce Her to her new friends.
And that's where we left it until next game session.
Now, here are my troubles as GM. Obviously if a paladin were to pull a stunt like this, they'd lose their paladinhood, and any priest or priestess of some lawful good god or goddess would likewise have some serious 'splainin' to do. But a witch? All the flavor text for the class mentions is "otherworldly power" and "pact" without specifying anything further. Is switching who you have your pact with no more consequential than switching cell phone service? Are there any penalties for early termination? Roaming charges? What?
I realize that some things are being left nebulous so the GM can pencil them in as they like, and I appreciate that, but it's also useful for a GM to have specific penalties set up in the rules so the players won't feel overly screwed over if something like this happens. And having unnamed "otherworldly powers" only works until you have someone get "Commune" and have them step on stage and tell the characters what They actually want.
Here's the relevant text:
the witch gains power from
her communion with the unknown. Generally feared and
misunderstood, the witch draws her magic from a pact
made with an otherworldly power. Communing with that
source, using her familiar as a conduit, the witch gains
not only a host of spells, but a number of strange abilities
known as hexes. As a witch grows in power, she might
learn about the source of her magic, but some remain
blissfully unaware. Some are even afraid of that source,
fearful of what it might be or where its true purposes lie.
Admittedly this all leaves the door open for Devils, Faerie Queens, "Dreams in the Witch House" style Lovecraftian Elder Gods and whatnot who all apparently offer free cell phone service with no apparent payments necessary (at least up front), but can three witches with three different "otherworldly powers" operate in the same coven without the otherworldly powers possibly objecting? And will they still not object if the witches Commune with any other otherworldly power?
The "pact" would also feel more pact-like if there were something the witch actually had to do apart from buy catfood to get her free cell phone service.
Hm... an unknown power gave the lawful good witch magic and she promptly uses it for evil...
I would say that flies right up into something an EVIL god would have done. No payment required services rendered will do fine.
The power was unknown... the witch THOUGHT it was a lawful good thing at the time, we have obviously seen otherwise and it was all just a devious plot to seduce the witch to the path of evil.
Beyond that I don't see it being a "this one power gave me my magic" thing so much as a "I learned this trick from an fire elemental" (burning hands) and this healing spell from an archon I talked to once, while the sleep spell I just cast was something my familiar came home with the after caterwauling and what not the night before -- he did have a headache though didn't you mister whiskers?
Generally my thoughts on "magic" origins for the classes:
Wizards -- study
Sorcerers -- bloodline or taint from other influences
Clerics -- Divine phone with their deity
Druids -- a bond with the natural world
Paladins -- from the over arching goodness and perfection of self being rewarded by the "POWERS OF GOOD AND LAW" in general (though occasionally picked up by one deity).
Oracles -- Focus driven... this is what happens when gods tinker too much, reality gives some mortals a way to tinker back.
Witch -- Various sources. Demon for a spell here, elemental there, fey on the side of the last coven... much more like the wizard, only without the studying. Sometimes it's a trade, sometimes the familiar goes on a "vision quest" and comes home with a new spell.
If this is a fairy-tale campaign, and the player pandered to tropes by using the black hat and robes, etc., you probably should have seen this coming.
This sounds to me like it might be the player's way of protesting the campaign. Are you sure this isn't someone out to spoil the whole? It certainly sounds like a passive/aggressive thing to do in that way.
Assuming the player is NOT out to wreck the campaign, then you have a couple of options, which will depends on the player.
First, you could decide that the "unknown" entity wanted a Lawful Good adherent and is now upset with the turn of events. Perhaps this entity now tries to steer the true Lawful Good in the direction of these Witches to direct retribution their way... or enlists the aid of other like-minded entities (read: Lawful Good gods) to set things right.
Second, you could decide that (as Abraham Spaulding suggested) it was all a plot by Hecate to show that all Witches are Chaotic Evil at heart (which seems to fit the fairy-tale theme, anyway). In that case, Hecate is delighted with this turn of events, and waits gleefully to see what happens next.. perhaps her new servants will start by turning those meddling kids and their dog (read: the party) into toads, newts, or the like.
Second, you could decide that (as Abraham Spaulding suggested) it was all a plot by Hecate to show that all Witches are Chaotic Evil at heart (which seems to fit the fairy-tale theme, anyway). In that case, Hecate is delighted with this turn of events, and waits gleefully to see what happens next.. perhaps her new servants will start by turning those meddling kids and their dog (read: the party) into toads, newts, or the like.
Oh, I'd agree that Hecate is delighted with everything except for maybe the dimestore robes. And there will likely be penalties for switching cell phone providers. I'm thinking at very least the witch's previous cell phone (read: familiar) is going to quit and the witch can get a new cell phone (read: familiar) from Hecate wireless.
After all, a pact is a pact and there have to be some terms and conditions somewhere.
Though given the petrified witchfinder and the addled blacksmith, I don't think for forces of niceness will have a difficult time following the breadcrumb trail even without the intervention of good deities.
Oh, I'd agree that Hecate is delighted with everything except for maybe the dimestore robes. And there will likely be penalties for switching cell phone providers. I'm thinking at very least the witch's previous cell phone (read: familiar) is going to quit and the witch can get a new cell phone (read: familiar) from Hecate wireless.
I find myself suddenly picturing a set of cursed "dimestore robes" (with the requisite pointy hat) that act as a marker... no matter what the Witch does to disguise himself/herself, the cursed robes and hat always proclaim "Witch" (perhaps with a magic mouth effect)?
Alternatively, I picture a scene in which the elder Witch looks askance at the ones in the costume dress, but says nothing. When they arrive at a large city, an ancient Magic Mouth bellows "WITCH! WITCH! ALARM! WITCH!". The cliche robes are not used anymore because they became a standard trigger for magic mouth alarms in the larger, older cities. The elder witch would then look at them and shake her head "When I saw you wearing those, I expected this no longer happened."
That is, of course, if you want to discourage the robes.