Alright, my witch hits lvl 6 next adventure, and I need another hex, the build so far:
human, Str 8, Dex 12, Con 14, INT 21, wis 8, Cha 10
Feats: 2x Extra Hex, Accursed Hex, Improved Initiative
Hex: Cackle, Evil eye, slumber, misfortune, flight
I see that the scar hex is rated high, but don't see so many uses with the hexes I have, so maybe prehensile hair or fortune?
Was also considering improved familiar (have the compognasathus right now), so was thinking something with thumbs to use a wand:
Faerie Dragon or Azata, Lyrakien, both seem quite good. The Silvanshee looks good, but cannot use a wand unfortunately. Idea was to get a wand of ill omen, so first round evil eye, next round followed by ill omen plus e.g., slumber.
Items, she has a headband of intellect, lamellar cuirass, mithril, slick, and a mithril buckler. Wanted to get a cloak of resistance +2 - to sell later when replaced by witching gown, handy haversack, amulet of natural armor, ring of protection, rod of extend spell, lesser - any other suggestions?
Any comments, help, highly appreciated.
Hexes - You have the basic ones that rock at combat. I would grab a utility hex or a party buff.
Fortune - Free re-roll...yes please! Note that the duration is one round but it can be extended by cackle.
Tongues - knowing any language and being able to speak it at the drop of a hat without having to cast a spell is nice. Duration sucks! Min per lvl is not long enough for more in depth diplomacy. Good enough for things like..."what did that orc just call me?"
Ward - What party member doesn't like a bump to AC and Saves. However, at that lvl most of your party is rocking a ring of prot and a cloak of res, so YMMV.
Prehensile Hair - 10ft reach is nice. Use it to make touch attacks / deliver healing without provoking. Also, since it's str is off of your Int mod, you will be better at escaping / preventing grapples (no living witch initiates a grapple). It also gives a big bump to your Str based skills. Lastly, use it to hold a wand or rod. It's a third hand.
Improved familiar - Do it. Yes you loose some spells. However, your familiar is your spellbook and it needs to survive more than a wizards does. Grab an improved familiar just for the increased survivability. If your not against it too much, grab an Imp. I love my little back stabber.
Items - Some pearls of power. Grab a couple lvl 1 pearls and a lvl 2 if you have the cash. Extra spells is nice. Grab a couple wands (you are bumping UMD right?)
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Yeah, you do have the rocking combat hexes and a utility hex is best for now. (Save scar hex until about 10th level, it gets awesome once you get access to the split hex feat, Makes you a godly de-buffer.)
Prehensile hex will probably be the best choice you can make at your level and focus. Rocking 2 metamagic rods at a time with a free trip attempt at anyone who tries to melee you is made of win.
Avoid the fortune cheese, spending a move action every round of every day cackling will peeve off 99% of the GM's out there and get you smacked down. Don't risk it.
Tongues is stupid, buy a wand of comprehend languages and move on.
Charm becomes uber at 8th level but ignore it till then.
As for your improved familiar (you do not lose any spells when you get one by the way, they all freely transfer to the new familiar) it depends on what you want and your available cash.
If you have some cash laying around I'm fond of the homonculus myself. Highest survival ability of any familiar and total loyalty and obeidience unlike the imp.
Remember every 2 grand you spend on it gets you an additional Hit Die for him, I usually drop 10 grand or so for a 6HD familiar with 4 feats, a fistful of skillpoints, a decent Bab (+6+dex) and some of the best defenses in the game (Seriously, look over what construct traits give you). Drop an alter self spell or a hat of disguise and you have the best assistant/bodyguard (squishy but good) you can ever find.
Yes the homunculus is useful. However, you can not get it in PFS.
Reasoning - The master must create the homunculus themselves. This requires the use of a craft skill for a non-day job and also requires you to have the feat craft construct. Both of these are illegal in PFS play.
So no homunculus familiars in PFS.
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Yes the homunculus is useful. However, you can not get it in PFS.
Reasoning - The master must create the homunculus themselves. This requires the use of a craft skill for a non-day job and also requires you to have the feat craft construct. Both of these are illegal in PFS play.
So no homunculus familiars in PFS.
Uhmm.. No. You're wrong.
A homunculus is shaped from a mixture of clay, ash, mandrake root, spring water, and one pint of the creator's own blood. These materials cost 50 gp. After the body is sculpted, it is animated through an extended magical ritual that requires a specially prepared laboratory or workroom, similar to an alchemist's laboratory, and costing an additional 1,000 gp to supply. If the creator is personally constructing the creature's body, the building and ritual can be performed together. A homunculus with more than 2 Hit Dice can be created, but each additional Hit Die adds +2,000 gp to the cost to create.
The person whose blood is used to form a homunculus's body becomes its master; it is possible for one person to give blood for the creation, another to sculpt the base material, and another to magically animate it as a minion for the one who provided the blood.
You just need to find someone to create it for you, THEN you use the ritual to turn it into your familiar.
edit: Also to find someone to build it for you go to Magnimar and visit the Golemworks. They specialize in doing this job for you.
Your build looks pretty good. Scar is great, but only really to buffing and/or scrying witches. Lets you scan and hex buff your allies from far, far away. No idea why Mathew says it helps debuff, and you absolutely don't want to wait until about 10th level for it. 10th level should be Ice Tomb or Retribution, and your 11th level feat is Split Hex. As a feat at 9 or hex choice at 8 would be ok. I don't think the "fortune cheese" i that bad, at least maintained for a few hours in a dungeon. In general with cackle, remember that the sound it makes doesn't matter, only that you're taking the action to do it. I would cackle very softly, no need to play into stereotypes so much. :)
Items: you basically want the same things a wizard does, minus the blessed book. High priority on +int, since it affects spell and hex DCs.
Yes the homunculus is useful. However, you can not get it in PFS.
Reasoning - The master must create the homunculus themselves. This requires the use of a craft skill for a non-day job and also requires you to have the feat craft construct. Both of these are illegal in PFS play.
So no homunculus familiars in PFS.
Uhmm.. No. You're wrong.
A homunculus is shaped from a mixture of clay, ash, mandrake root, spring water, and one pint of the creator's own blood. These materials cost 50 gp. After the body is sculpted, it is animated through an extended magical ritual that requires a specially prepared laboratory or workroom, similar to an alchemist's laboratory, and costing an additional 1,000 gp to supply. If the creator is personally constructing the creature's body, the building and ritual can be performed together. A homunculus with more than 2 Hit Dice can be created, but each additional Hit Die adds +2,000 gp to the cost to create.
The person whose blood is used to form a homunculus's body becomes its master; it is possible for one person to give blood for the creation, another to sculpt the base material, and another to magically animate it as a minion for the one who provided the blood.You just need to find someone to create it for you, THEN you use the ritual to turn it into your familiar.
edit: Also to find someone to build it for you go to Magnimar and visit the Golemworks. They specialize in doing this job for you.
I stand corrected on having the homunculus crafted for you. However, what is the price for a homunculus that is crafted by someone else. The price per HD is for the cost of crafting. Like any other item bought, the crafting cost is less that the buying cost. There are no rules for having an NPC craft you a custom item. That is why I still think they are illegal for PFS play. I will ask in the PFS forum.
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the reason you want to take split hex and scar together is range and frequency:
A. Put a scar on a small animal (like a turtle) and put it in each of your party members pouch. Have them engage any enemy the want. Invoke your hex on the turtle and split hex it off to whatever target you want that's within 30 ft of the turtle.
Do this from a mile away looking through the eyes of your invisible flying familiar.
If you take scar before 10th level all you can do is scar your party members and then use what hex? that's right, none that you have.
As for the cackle softly bit, wouldn't fly at my table. The whole "A witch can cackle madly" is not something I can see you doing quietly.
Now I never said it was illegal but unless you drop a silence on yourself you will be dealing with the repercussions of spending hours on end shrilly laughing madly.
edit: @Lab_rat, the 2K difference is a stand alone cost and is the same whether you craft it yourself or have someone else do it for you.
Now what that NPC charges you to do this for them is up to your negotiating skills, but that's why I send players to Magnimar. That's a centuries old business with well established prices on their services.
Bag of rats (ok, turtles, but functionally the same basic idea) to split hex debuffs onto enemies = cool; using cackle exactly as originally written and without looking like a crazy person = cheesy.
Got it.
And cackle can be loud. It does not say it needs to be loud nor heard by the targets in order to function (indeed, Scar proves this not to be true by working up to a mile away). If you HAD to cackle loudly enough for it to be "madly," Charm hex would be rather worthless. It lasts for rounds; you NEED cackle to maintain it. How exactly are you going to keep someone charmed in a town while LOUDLY cackling and expect that to work out?
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As I said it's not illegal just that you will have to deal with the repercussions of wandering around town laughing like a madman non stop for hours at a time. If your GM doesn't require it good for you, my games require a bit more immersion then that.
My example was strictly mechanics and discretion taking into consideration everything about how the powers work and what it looks like so to keep the ROLEPLAYING aspect going.
Your example of cackling without actually cackling is an example of trying to use the powers without dealing with the roleplaying side of it. Great for you but maybe not so much for the OP and their GM.
Thanks so far, I will go with the prehensile hair then, as it looks like. Maybe fortune at 8, ice tomb for sure at 10 as well as split hex feat at 11.
Usually we play PFS in a home game, and some consider the witch as broken - because of the hefty de-buffs.
UMD gets bumped every level, so wands yes, esp. for a familiar. Don't know about the improved familiar. Homunculus might be nice, if it works the way in PFS that it gets feats. Otherwise, any other suggestions, not really wanting an evil familiar.
So, an update on he homunculus is out, but the costs are quite high - 4000gp per HD. So, any other suggestrions for an improved familiar maybe? Thanks!
Just another question, what ckind of damage does hair do? B, S and/or P? Also, for tripping, it usually provokes, but I guess due to reach the defender cannot take an AoO?
Should be B, though it would've been nice if they had said for sure. And you're correct. If you outreach someone, you could trip w/o Imp. Trip an not provoke an AoO because he's not threatening you.