I'm creating a villain for my campaign and I started making him as a witch, but I'm struck that alot of the hexes aren't that useful at high levels. Here's what i have so far:
Trelixian Ardorsholme
CE human witch 11
Spells Prepared (CL 11th)
6—flesh to stone (DC 24), freezing sphere
5—baleful polymorph (DC 23), cure critical wounds, flame strike
4—black tentacles, confusion (DC 20), ice storm, phantasmal killer (DC 20)
3—fireball, lightning bolt, ray of exhaustion (DC 19), bestow curse (DC 19), stinking cloud
2—blindness/deafness (DC 18), cure moderate wounds, false life, hold person, summon monster II, web
1—burning hands, charm person, command, mage armor, ray of enfeeblement, sleep
Patron: Elements
Familiar: Scorpion named Droskar
Hexes: Disguise, Evil Eye, Flight, Cackle, Slumber, Misfortune
Major Hexes: Retribution
Feats: Combat Casting, Greater Spell Focus (transmutation), Spell Focus (transmutation), Improved Initiative, Great Fortitude
Str 11
Dex 14
Con 12
Int 22
Wis 8
Cha 14
Any suggestions for how to make this guy better?
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If he's an NPC and a BBEG at that, why not pump up his ability scores?
Why not trade Improved Init for Quicken Spell?
Why not give him potions to counter the Fort save effects he's scared of (int22 after all - this man plans) and spend improved Fort on Improved Familiar. Give him an Imp instead with Use Magic Device ranks?
Also, a MALE WITCH? @_@ Isn't he a warlock?
Also, a MALE WITCH? @_@ Isn't he a warlock?
No, he is a witch. Witch is a class, and therefore gender neutral term, in Pathfinder. One can also be a female wizard, remember.
I'm creating a villain for my campaign and I started making him as a witch, but I'm struck that alot of the hexes aren't that useful at high levels. Here's what i have so far:
Trelixian Ardorsholme
CE human witch 11
Spells Prepared (CL 11th)
6—flesh to stone (DC 24), freezing sphere
5—baleful polymorph (DC 23), cure critical wounds, flame strike
4—black tentacles, confusion (DC 20), ice storm, phantasmal killer (DC 20)
3—fireball, lightning bolt, ray of exhaustion (DC 19), bestow curse (DC 19), stinking cloud
2—blindness/deafness (DC 18), cure moderate wounds, false life, hold person, summon monster II, web
1—burning hands, charm person, command, mage armor, ray of enfeeblement, sleep
Patron: Elements
Familiar: Scorpion named Droskar
Hexes: Disguise, Evil Eye, Flight, Cackle, Slumber, Misfortune
Major Hexes: Retribution
Feats: Combat Casting, Greater Spell Focus (transmutation), Spell Focus (transmutation), Improved Initiative, Great FortitudeStr 11
Dex 14
Con 12
Int 22
Wis 8
Cha 14Any suggestions for how to make this guy better?
I would dump dex to 10, charisma to 12, and put hose points into wisdom. Failing a will save is a good way to make him die quickly.
If he is fighting alone the keep improved init. If he will have minions have them places as barriers so there is not straight shot to him. That will allow you to drop improved init. Spell focus Evil Eye should be a good spell to choose.Before I go any farther you need some type of barrier if you don't have minions.
What does the party consist of?
It is more challenging to drop his character level and use that removed CR to make some decent backup.
Spell focus Evil Eye
Wut?
I highly recommend Magic Jar and Animate Object. The former makes him an excellent spy/nearly impossible to kill and the latter is great for some quick and versatile minions.
Spell focus Evil EyeWut?
Oops, I meant ability focus.
Also, a MALE WITCH? @_@ Isn't he a warlock?
Actually the male form of witch is wizard, from the old english "wicce" - just take a look at merlin, he's far more a male witch than a modern wizard in tradition of hermes trismegistos (like the wizards of the hermetic order of the golden dawn)
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I really like having witches as my bad guys, so here's my two cents:
You can give him lackeys who complete his coven--two green hags don't add much to his CR, but they give him a way to cast more powerful spells (with the Coven hex and the hags' group-casting abilities). They're also cannon fodder, and the PCs could even be tricked into thinking the hags are more powerful than the human, and thus they might attack the hags first.
Summoning spells are really useful as a witch. They give you something to put in front of the caster and take damage for him, as well as doing direct damage to the players.
Spells like fly and levitate are great for keeping the NPC out of the players' reach. If he fights them all alone and on the ground, he'll be dead within 3 rounds.
Don't dump Wis; as Wraithstrike says, Will saves are important. Charisma isn't terribly important except for roleplaying, and for a witch Str is definitely a dump stat and could even be dumped to 7.
Try giving him a lot of AC items or spells. A potion of mage armor and a potion of shield are only 100 gp together, and they up his AC by +8, which is really important for a caster. Also, remember that buff spells are just as easily taken in potions as cast, and this saves you a spell slot that could be used to hurt the PCs.
If the NPC sees the PCs coming before combat, make sure he already has spells cast on himself and his familiar. Casting fox's cunning will up all his DCs by 2; casting fly will make sure he doesn't take damage right away. If you give him entropic shield in conjunction with fly, he'll be basically impossible to hit in melee and pretty hard to hit at range.
In your stat block, he's chosen sleep, but this only works on 4-HD creatures. I doubt your PCs are 4th-level if they're fighting this bad guy, so this might not be the best choice.
Good luck!
one thing about lowering charisma is that if you want to manipulate people socially as a witch your charisma really doesn't matter. give him charm hex. wether it's good or bad for him depends on how you use him. but it works well to justify villains background manipulations.
Thanks for the feedback everyone!
I've decided to give him two Annis hags as bodyguards but which will also allow him to gain access to coven spells.
Also I've changed his feats around: Augment Summoning, Combat Casting, Improved Familiar, Spell Focus (transmutation), Spell Focus (conjuration).
It makes sense with his backstory and flavour that he would focus on conjuration spells and have summoned minions.
I've decided to make him have summon monster VI instead of freezing sphere, he's going to summon a fiendish triceratops which is pretty badass with Augment Summoning.
I've decided to give him a lesser metamagic rod of extend, but I dont know what else to give him equipment-wise. Any help?
Also, rearranged his hexes as well
Cauldron, Coven, Evil Eye, Flight, Healing and Misfortune
but I've kept Retribution because it seems pretty awesome.
Are these good hexes? I'm thinking the party will be around 9th level when they encounter him.
Those are pretty alright. Slumber is still quite nice as it scales with him and would be a DC 21 (23 if you use 3fold aspect) will save or drop a combatant.
Eh. I think Slumber is a great hex for a PC witch, but for a BBEG type? If your players are remotely on the ball they can have one of the party members spend a standard action to wake the sleeper, essentially making the BBEG trade actions one for one with possibly the least-useful-in-that-particular-fight PC. That's not usually a good trade.
On the other hand, if you're planning on having lots of minions in melee with the PCs ready to drop the coup-de-grace ASAP on whoever gets slumbered, there you have something -- but I find most GMs are a little too merciful to come out that hard for PC death.
I've decided to make him have summon monster VI instead of freezing sphere, he's going to summon a fiendish triceratops which is pretty badass with Augment Summoning.
You might want to eye up your options for summoning 1d3 monsters from the V list or 1d4+1 from the IV list -- in some cases, only the toughest thing you can throw will do, but I find in general Augment Summoning tends to shine more with lots of weaker monsters rather than one strongest one.
Is this a solo BBEG or will the witch have minions?
If it's a solo then the most important things for it to do are to control the battlefield and to summon help in order to rebalance the action economy.
Like DM said tactics that work well for a group of PCs don't work well against PCs unless the PCs are outnumbered. Slumber Hex without the ability to CDG is a poor action.
Solid Fog or Stinking Cloud can be an excellent way of slowing down the PCs long enough to summon some assistance.
Mind Fog is actually a pretty decent group debuff if used with hexes like evil eye and misfortune. The Mind Fog nukes will saves which means that the PCs are extremely vulnerable to hexes and SoL spells.
With minions buying time and summoning is less of a concern. The witch should use his spells to help out allies (unfortunately not a ton of good group buffs) and harm groups of allies (the witch has good debuffs but unfortunately no slow :()
Good luck.
Mind Fog sucks. The fact that it has to beat the very save you are trying to reduce makes me wonder why you didn't just start off with your SoL spell to begin with.
Mind Fog sucks. The fact that it has to beat the very save you are trying to reduce makes me wonder why you didn't just start off with your SoL spell to begin with.
For a PC, I totally agree with you.
For a villain who can possibly set up the circumstances of the fight? The long duration can actually get you somewhere. Maybe you have to go through the Mind Fog in order to melee with the guy or in order to stop his evil plot.
That being said, I wish Mind Fog at least broke the standard rule on area spells and let the caster know who did and didn't make their save -- that, again, would give it at least a little use.
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I like that you've focused more on the spellcasting than the hexery, since hexes, more than spellcasting, are very strongly single-target-centric (which sucks for a BBEG facing four to six adventurers, as a round spent inconveniencing one of them with misfortune or possibly even taking one out with slumber is a round that the remaining 75% or more of the party is eating your face).
If there was a mid-level Witch spell or feat that allowed them to 'widen' a hex to evil eye or misfortune an entire party (perhaps requiring the sacrifice of a pugwampi as an extra component? There can't be enough excuses to kill a pugwampi in the game...), then yeah, those would be great.
It's a bit of a shame that the Witch is better designed to be part of a party going up against a BBEG, than actually being a BBEG.
On an offensive caster I'd agree that mind fog sucks. However for a defensive caster with advanced warning of the PCs it can be a useful long term duration AoE debuff. If they make the save then oh well but if they fail it then you have good targets for the remainder of the fight.
Considering most of the time low will save melee characters will try to close with the caster it's not a completely horrible spell selection.
If it provided cover or concealment it would be better but oh well.
I like that you've focused more on the spellcasting than the hexery, since hexes, more than spellcasting, are very strongly single-target-centric (which sucks for a BBEG facing four to six adventurers, as a round spent inconveniencing one of them with misfortune or possibly even taking one out with slumber is a round that the remaining 75% or more of the party is eating your face).
If there was a mid-level Witch spell or feat that allowed them to 'widen' a hex to evil eye or misfortune an entire party (perhaps requiring the sacrifice of a pugwampi as an extra component? There can't be enough excuses to kill a pugwampi in the game...), then yeah, those would be great.
It's a bit of a shame that the Witch is better designed to be part of a party going up against a BBEG, than actually being a BBEG.
I found a bunch of new hexes and feats for the witch on 4chan and Widen Hex was one of them.
I decided against taking Slumber due to the fact that a) i feel bad CDG'ing PCs and b) I'd rather he be able to effect multiple PCs (which is why I'm focusing more on spells then Hexes).
His background kind of forces him to be a witch so I thought i'd work with I've got.
Any suggestions for a good Improved Familiar?
Also, if he were to summon monsters from the summon monster V list, which one's would provide the best back-up for his annis bodyguards?
Finally (I know I'm asking alot from you guys), what sort of equipement would work, I can never really tell.
Cheers, thanks for all the great feedback!
Also in terms of summonings and familiars, I haven't settled on his alignment yet, so he could potentially be LE, NE or CE
I decided against taking Slumber due to the fact that a) i feel bad CDG'ing PCs and b) I'd rather he be able to effect multiple PCs (which is why I'm focusing more on spells then Hexes).
His background kind of forces him to be a witch so I thought i'd work with I've got.
Any suggestions for a good Improved Familiar?
Also, if he were to summon monsters from the summon monster V list, which one's would provide the best back-up for his annis bodyguards?
Finally (I know I'm asking alot from you guys), what sort of equipement would work, I can never really tell.
Cheers, thanks for all the great feedback!
He can't CdG until he gets close enough to do so. They can also be waken with a standard action, just like the sleep spell. It does cut down on their economy action though, and IIRC sleep can only be attempted on any one creature once per day.
With that said I guess it is not a good hex. Pass or fail they don't to deal with it anymore. Getting the fortune hex for his allies is a good idea though.
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Also, a MALE WITCH? @_@ Isn't he a warlock?
As a former Wiccan, and as someone who has trucked with practitioners of witchcraft, both within and without the framework of religious Wicca, most male witches tend to disdain the term warlock. I don't know the full derivation of the word, but common thought among the modern "magickal" community is that it derives from an old Scottish, or possibly German word meaning "oath-breaker" or "traitor." When I was still active in the wiccan community, it was commonly told that it was a term that the witches and pagans during the Inquisition gave to people who would name names in order to escape the judgment of the inquisitors (and wasn't limited to males). I don't know how true all of that is, but it has been passed around as true for quite some time, and as a result, many modern witches consider it an insulting term.
Try giving him a lot of AC items or spells. A potion of mage armor and a potion of shield are only 100 gp together, and they up his AC by +8, which is really important for a caster. Also, remember that buff spells are just as easily taken in potions as cast, and this saves you a spell slot that could be used to hurt the PCs.
Potions of shield are not legal items. Check the spell, then check potions, and you will find that shield cannot be made into a potion.
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Try giving him a lot of AC items or spells. A potion of mage armor and a potion of shield are only 100 gp together, and they up his AC by +8, which is really important for a caster. Also, remember that buff spells are just as easily taken in potions as cast, and this saves you a spell slot that could be used to hurt the PCs.Potions of shield are not legal items. Check the spell, then check potions, and you will find that shield cannot be made into a potion.
Okay... Shield is first level, and targets "you", and has a casting time of one standard action
I assume "you" is a creature in most respects.
Potions are effective for spells 3rd level and lower, so it meets this requirement.
Potions require that it target one of more creature, and again, assuming "you" is a creature, rather than a sword perhaps, then it also meets this requirement.
Potions also require that the spell have a casting time of less than a minute. Shield has a casting time of one standard action. So this requirement is met.
Since Shield meets the three requirements that I can find for making potions, what am I missing (I am probably missing something obvious here lol)?
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Since Shield meets the three requirements that I can find for making potions, what am I missing (I am probably missing something obvious here lol)?
Sadly, no. I made this mistake recently, too. Check under Magic Item Creation and Potions specifically, it states any spell with a range of Personal cannot be made into a potion. Shield is such a spell. It's unfortunate, but true.
So here's the full write up for Trelixian,
I've given him treasure of a PC as well as exceptional ability scores so I raised his CR by 1.
He will be accompanied by 2 Half-black dragon green hag oracle 2 (Zeega and Faeon) and the room he'll be occupying is a large underground gulch with a huge pit in the middle.
Trelixian Ardorsholme CR 11
CE human witch 11
Init +0, Senses darkvision 60ft, Perception +16
DEFENSE
AC 16 (10+4 armor +2 natural armor)
Hp 102 (11d6+33+11+8)
Fort +10, Ref +5, Will +15
OFFENSE
Speed 30ft, fly 60 ft (good)
Melee +4 light mace (1d6-1)
Ranged ranged touch +5 (as spell)
Special Attacks evil eye, cackle, retribution
Spells Prepared (CL 11th)
6—flesh to stone (DC 23), summon monster VI
5—baleful polymorph (DC 22),cloudkill (DC 22), teleport
4—black tentacles, confusion (DC 20), ice storm, threefold aspect
3—blink, lightning bolt, ray of exhaustion (DC 19), bestow curse (DC 19), stinking cloud
2—blindness/deafness (DC 18), invisibility, false life, fog cloud, vomit swarm, web
1—burning hands (2), charm person, command, mage armor, ray of enfeeblement
Patron: Deception
TACTICS
Before combat: Because of the warning he receives from Ixiol and his minions, Trelixian casts threefold aspect, and false life on himself. He also uses his flight hex. After this, he, Zeega and Faeon use their coven powers to cast mirage arcane on the pit so that it appears as smooth earth. They also use veil on themselves to appear as three cloaked figures with indistinct features and Zeega and Faeon’s wings are hidden.
During Combat: Once the PCs arrive, Trelixian casts summon monster VI to summon babaus, who immediately avoid the pit and move to attack the PCs. He then casts flesh to stone on any arcane spellcaster present and baleful polymorph on any divine spell casters to prevent the dismissal of his summoned minions. He then uses Evil Eye on the strongest fighter, followed by Cackle and Retribution. He then proceeds to cast his offensive spells on the party, once he’s out of these, he uses Arcane Blast.
Morale If dropped to 30 hp or if both Zeega and Faeon are killed, he casts teleport and returns to Tamras.
STATISTICS
Str 8 Dex 10 Con 16 Int 26 Wis 20 Cha 10
Base Atk +5, CMD +4
Feats: Arcane Blast, Augment Summoning, Combat Casting, Spell Focus (transmutation), Spell Focus (conjuration)
Skills Fly +15, Intimidate +15, Knowledge (arcane) +23, Knowledge (nature) +23, Knowledge (the planes) +23, Perception +16, Spellcraft +23, Use Magic Device +15
Languages: Abyssal, Aklo, Common, Hallit, Infernal, Varisian
SQ charm, flight, healing, coven, familiar (Rat)
Combat gear metamagic rod of extend, wand of lightning bolt, potion of cure serious wounds (2) Other gear amulet of natural armor +2, belt of mighty constitution +2, bracers of armor +4, cloak of resistance +2, goggles of night
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Sadly, no. I made this mistake recently, too. Check under Magic Item Creation and Potions specifically, it states any spell with a range of Personal cannot be made into a potion. Shield is such a spell. It's unfortunate, but true.Since Shield meets the three requirements that I can find for making potions, what am I missing (I am probably missing something obvious here lol)?
son of a blankety blank blankety blank! lol
never saw that before. Not sure I like that. Oh well. lol
thanks never knew that. Is that new to PFRPG?
How effective? Dunno.
But THEMATIC as all get out!
Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8
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Sadly, no. I made this mistake recently, too. Check under Magic Item Creation and Potions specifically, it states any spell with a range of Personal cannot be made into a potion. Shield is such a spell. It's unfortunate, but true.Since Shield meets the three requirements that I can find for making potions, what am I missing (I am probably missing something obvious here lol)?
son of a blankety blank blankety blank! lol
never saw that before. Not sure I like that. Oh well. lol
thanks never knew that. Is that new to PFRPG?
Nope, it's in the 3.5 SRD.