Looking over the Coven Hex, it's very good to get together a trio of witches, though there's the slight trouble that there has to be at least one actual hag in the trio to get the hag magics to work.
As an alternate option, picking up on another thread of folklore, three non-hag witches can access the full hag coven powers if they add a fourth to their band, a Horned One.
Horned Ones are always male and are usually Satyrs, Minotaurs, or Horned Devils, though other roughly humanoid horned or antlered creatures are possible at GM option. The coven's hag powers operate as if the Horned One were the coven's senior hag for terms of level. Moreover, the witches in the coven also gain their Horned One's spell like and special abilities so long as they continue to serve and please him. For example, a minotaur Horned One would grant his Natural Cunning in the form of immunity to mazes. A satyr would grant his spell like abilities as well as his special ability to play the pan pipes. A horned devil as Horned One would grant his witches numerous spell like abilities as well as the ability to Stun when using a spiked chain.
Covens with hags in them already may also serve a Horned One. They gain no additional powers from this beyond those granted by the Horned One, but they can gain additional caster level for their spells if they Horned One is of a higher level than the senior hag.
Thoughts? Too powerful? About right?
I like the idea of making the hex more useful, but I'm not sure about the selection of creatures you suggest. What I'd like to see is something that allows a witch a better chance to use it (otherwise it is purely a NPC hex). Say, allow a witch to work with 2 other casters and garner some advantages - that are more potent when it is witches, and most powerful with a hag. So a PC with this could work magic with the help of a cleric and bard, for instance. Another thought is that this is not worth a hex, perhaps it should be a witch feat.
Well, there's the old Wizard feat Cooperative Spell which was not released to the SRD but I see nothing conceptually wrong with it allowing wizards to link up with witches with the Coven hex and vice versa. But that's sort of an aside from what I was getting at with this feat.
Are there any other creatures that would be better for witches to get a "horned one" added to their trio, both to pull in old legends and also to get a bit of extra power without the eldest hag always being the senior party?
I'm talking having three young beautiful witches and a dude with horns or antlers. Any other likely candidates in Pathfinder, 3.5 or even 3.0 sources?
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When 3 witches with the coven hex gather, they gain the ability to summon a horned one (as per summon planar ally spell) once a month to lead their coven (as a hag’s coven). This service is not without a cost, per the planar ally spells. I’d define the abilities and differences, but I am not familiar with the flavors of patrons. Also should it matter if the witches have different patrons? Perhaps the horned one’s flavor is determined by the most powerful witch leading the coven, with caster level checks made to determine ties? While this spell will summon a horned one, the only service they perform is leading the coven, they will take no other actions and if the coven is interrupted, they return to their plane.
Hey – perhaps the coven hex should add the planar ally spells to the witches spells known too.
??
Well, there's the old Wizard feat Cooperative Spell which was not released to the SRD but I see nothing conceptually wrong with it allowing wizards to link up with witches with the Coven hex and vice versa. But that's sort of an aside from what I was getting at with this feat.
Are there any other creatures that would be better for witches to get a "horned one" added to their trio, both to pull in old legends and also to get a bit of extra power without the eldest hag always being the senior party?
I'm talking having three young beautiful witches and a dude with horns or antlers. Any other likely candidates in Pathfinder, 3.5 or even 3.0 sources?
Jack Nicholson?
Are there any other creatures that would be better for witches to get a "horned one" added to their trio, both to pull in old legends and also to get a bit of extra power without the eldest hag always being the senior party?
I'm talking having three young beautiful witches and a dude with horns or antlers. Any other likely candidates in Pathfinder, 3.5 or even 3.0 sources?
Unicorn, for good-aligned witches?
Most low CR demons and devils?