I noticed when trying to help a friend make a witch character, that it does not say how many spells a witch can select at 1st level.
A wizard gets all 0 lvl spells, and 3+INT 1st lvl spells. The only place it says anything about what spells the witch gets is in 'replacing the familiar'.Any help?
"A witch’s familiar begins play storing all of the 0-level witch spells plus three 1st level spells of the witch’s choice. The witch also selects a number of additional 1st-level spells equal to her Intelligence modifier to store in her familiar."
Look under "Witch's Familiar".
The text voodoomike quoted is on page 67 of the APG under the "Witch's Familiar" entry.
yeah, oddly, it's not where you'd expect (that being the spells section)
but yes, they start with all 0-levels, and 3+int mod First Levels, and gain 2 spells every level, can learn from other Familiars, Spellbooks, and Scrolls.
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but yes, they start with all 0-levels, and 3+int mod First Levels, and gain 2 spells every level, can learn from other Familiars, Spellbooks, and Scrolls.
Are you sure they can learn from spellbooks? All I see in the rules is scrolls, familiars, and natural leveling. Is there errata someplace that I am missing?
They can learn from scrolls, other witches familiars, or from Blood Transcription spell.
This is a question that has come up in our adventure. I am a hedge witch and I was reading pg 67 and 68 as saying that while the witch learns two spells per level the familiar learns 2 different spells itself based on its our experience in adventuring. Therefore 4 new spells would be added per level rather then just 2 like a wizard with a spellbook. I'm I reading this wrong?
Yes.
^^yes you're reading it wrong. You get 2 free spells (only) when you advance, and you can learn from scrolls, Blood Transcription, and other witches.
On the other hand, if you happen to have a friendly witch, you can teach all your spells to him/her, go get a new familiar who comes with 2 more spells per spell level, which are spells you never knew in the first place, and then have your friendly witch add all your previous spells (and all her spells) to the new familiar.
So while learning spells is harder for witches, they get to learn a lot more a lot faster if they're working in teams and cycling through familiars.
The drawback is there's no way to store your spells in the event of a familiar death, unless you have a friend witch you can teach everything you know to. If that familiar dies, you're back to square one with your spell knowledge, which is basically 2 per witch level. (as I understand it) Which also happens when you take an Improved Familiar! So that sucks, again unless you've got a friend.
You could conceivably take Scribe Scroll feat, and scribe out one of every spell you know, and use that as a "backup hard drive" for your spells. That'd be expensive but possible. You could also decant a bunch of your blood every day, die, get raised, and learn your own spells back via blood transcription.
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there's some comment by SKR somewhere on witches / improved familiar, that the familiar being paid for with the feat is free, and doesn't reset your witch spells. some grace period where the old familiar teaches the new one everything. you don't add 2 spells/level for free, but you don't lose any you learned with the old one. i'd have to track that down to be sure but i'm sure someone will pop up with it eventually.
edit: nvm SKR said no such thing. i'm thinking back to me asking about the 500gp/level tax for improved familiar. the faq says they'res no time/money cost.
http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/v5748btpy88yj/faq#v5748eaic9o81
but doesn't really cover the spell knowledge. so i guess Improved Familiar does have a spells known penalty for witches. though that seems to be against the intent of the faq. but goes with the RAW.
but doesn't really cover the spell knowledge. so i guess Improved Familiar does have a spells known penalty for witches. though that seems to be against the intent of the faq. but goes with the RAW.
Well like I said, if you've got a friend to hold on to your spells for you (e.g. you're in a coven) you can pull a new Fam with double your spell level in new spells, and add them to ones known, so maybe that's the balancing factor. (?) Witches become more powerful in groups and less powerful solo.
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mmh. kind of.
i'm just concerned b/c for society play, i have a witch that took improved familiar a few months ago... and i didn't unlearn any of my spells. =P
oops.
i don't think he's got any witch friends in the games. I didn't have her find an npc witch to hold her spells and gain any extra spells. I just didn't think about the spells so much when i did it. I was just happy to have my celestial goat. : )
I'll repost in society thread, see if there's any guidance what I can do w/ that sitch.
I have no idea how Society works. If one of them responds with any further info Seraphim, stick it back here so we can look it over.
It's certainly something most or all GMs would grant, but the base rules seem pretty clear that switching familiars is like switching spellbooks.