Initiate of Witchcraft

[Wolf_Shay]

One thing that always bugs me about players is the lack of creativity, the short backgrounds, and the general nonpluss fluff.

"Oh, I made a pact with a Patron of the moon." DONE. Really? Give me specifics, give me names, give me something

"Under the moonlight, I beseeched the night for help. Long since had I been enslaved and now, this being my only night of freedom, I fear that such is my life... Under the moon I cried, wept, prayed for salvation from various gods, entities, and whatever else might listen...and I was answered. Under the falling shafts of moonlight descended a being of what I can only describe as Beauty and Light incarnate. Her(?) hand reached out to rest upon mine shoulder and her words, sonorous and wonderful, touched my very soul.
"I've heard your pleas, and was touched by your sorrow. Answer to me, and I shall give you the freedom you seek, and the power to keep it. In return, you must learn my ways, student of the Moon."
In my haste, I accepted her promise eagerly, anything to be freed of my captors.
"Then you are my student. Give to me your hand"
I reached out my palm and she sliced it with a silver blade, so sharp I barely felt more than a cool wind.
"Blood is the pact, blood is your freedom. The magic suffused in your soul now given release. My gifts be showered on you, and my tenets you'll keep. With your own life, now accept your ally, teacher, guardian, and friend."
She brought the blade up, and shook a drop of blood from its edge. From where it landed, a scuttling thing rose from the grass. It crawled to me, a large spider, its eyes jewel bright. Silver bands adorned its body, and a crescent moon was intertwined in them. The bond I felt immediately. It crawled to my hand and wrapped the wound in gossamer, then took to my shoulder where it nuzzled(? can spiders nuzzle?) my cheek and rested.

I looked up, and my patron had gone. But in my heart, I knew she had done me no wrong, and at my fingertips there danced a charge. And in my mind, a thought that was not mine rang out.

"With the morning sun, you will begin your tutelage. Rest well...my witch"

Seriously...is it that hard? And that's not even the tip of the iceberg!!!

So tell me forum, how did you form your pact? Were you in the right place at the right time? We're you initiated into a coven? Were you apprenticed, was your family cursed?

And a cookie if you can give me some interesting hex fluff too

[Selgard]

Yanno, looking at what you wrote, I kind of smacked my forehed abit.

My current witch- I didn't really go for the "pact" thing at all- in so much as the witch making a formal or purposeful agreement with some greater being for power or anything.

He was rather a chelaxian child who grew up favoring animals and ended up getting run out of town because he wouldnt' bow to the whims of his family and what they thought he should do with his life, and that lead him deeper into the forest(s) where he tended to himself and various critters while being on the run from them.. This lead him to the eventual bonding of his familiar, and his constant contact with that creature and being on the run- to the forming (or at least finding) of his powers as a Witch. He eventually out paced his pursuers and was left alone for a time, exploring both his new found abilities and the world at large, which began a trail of enlightenment and exploration that lead him to Sandpoint and the greater investigation of certain ruins there. (which lead into his inclusion of the AP we're in, after my 2nd character bit the dust!)

It never really occurred to me to do as you did- sort of some power or other coming down and literally granting him powers.

-S

[pH unbalanced]

I love the fluff for the Witch. And one of the reasons is that, as written, you pretty much have to be naive, crazy, or desperate to become one. You are forming a pact with an unknown being of great power in return for...what exactly? A favor to be determined later? As sure as a paladin must follow his code, you know that (if the GM is doing his job) at some point a witch's patron is going to come collecting, and she just better hope she's up to it.

I'm currently playing my second Pathfinder witch.

My first one had the kind of background you get from watching too many episodes of Criminal Minds: she'd been kidnapped, tortured, and chained up in a discrepit old house. Then her kidnappers disappeared (dead? left town? who knows) and she spent months living on rainwater and whatever vermin she could catch. She could watch the moon through a hole in the wall, and it was her only friend. She often talked to it and asked it for help, and one day it answered back and freed her.

She was crazy, unpredictable, and a lot of fun, but that campaign fell apart before the GM could really bring the patron into the story much.

My current witch started as a Rogue (while always planning to switch to Witch), so the GM and I roleplayed her pact. (Via email between game sessions.) I spent several sessions wishing I had magic, loudly envying the spells other players cast, and so when I went up my first level, my GM had my familiar appear to me in a dream. We walked through several visions of my childhood, and of several ancestors, and I eventually agreed to give my Patron my loyalty in return for help achieving fame and power so I could win the heart of the NPC my character was in love with.

What was really cool was that we didn't tell the other characters what had happened, so the GM had my character disappear from camp during this 'dream'. While I was gone the rest of the party played through dealing with my disappearance.

In the episodes since then, my familiar has let slip references to several of my ancestors, so apparently he's been affiliated with my family for some time. But my patron (unknown, but I have my suspicions) is of the Trickery domain, so I can't really take anything at face value.

[Poldaran]

pH unbalanced wrote:

I love the fluff for the Witch. And one of the reasons is that, as written, you pretty much have to be naive, crazy, or desperate to become one.

Agreed. That's what drew me to the witch as my first character for a full campaign run by a single GM(the campaign we've built off the Beginner Box has a rotation of GMs and is more of a place to play around with concepts rather than try to build too much of a story).

For the heck of it, my Witch's Backstory:

On the day Kyra was to become initiated as a cleric of Sarenrae, her village was attacked by elementals led by a cloaked figure. As one of the elementals moved to slay her, something stopped it. She watched as it turned to regard the cloaked figure, who shook his head. This caused the elemental to wander off to find a different target. She ran into the woods, pausing at the edge and watching as the cloaked figure cut down her parents.

For days she ran, until exhaustion claimed her. When she awoke, feelings of rage flooded through her. She called out to the uncaring wilderness, begging for the strength to bring retribution upon those who had wronged her. She expected no response, for she believed no one listened, that she had been abandoned by all deities, including her goddess. But the answer came, nonetheless. An offer spoke within her mind. She would be given the power she sought. All that was required was that she fulfill her quest for vengeance.

(Since the campaign started at level 3, backstory continued a bit:) She spent years within the woods, mastering the gifts given to her. Then she sought out a group of adventurers to bring down the man who had slain her parents and taken the life she felt she had deserved from her. It proved folly, as the party was no match for the villain. Yet again, she found herself spared the wrath of the foe. As she fled the keep, he called after her, urging her to be careful and calling her by a nickname only used by her village's prodigal son: Her beloved older brother.

Now she finds herself unsure of what to do, as she must fulfill her oath, but at the same time, does not wish to kill the only remaining family she has.

[Lorm Dragonheart]

I always thought background was important, so when I DM, I will give xp's for backgrounds and use the backgrounds to mold the world. This gives the players more investment in the world creation. I encourage npc's or at least bare bones of them, friends of the characters, and/or love interests, and of course enemies. Of course, as DM, it is my right to alter any of these characters for plot purposes, but to keep close enough that the players recognize them.

[Wolf_Shay]

Selgard wrote:

It never really occurred to me to do as you did- sort of some power or other coming down and literally granting him powers.

It happens :P But that's the point to the witch...there are so many options. Just because it states that you make a pact with the unknown doesn't necessarily mean you're uninformed. My friend built a Hedge Witch who learned her craft from family, being an initiated witch into a coven and earning the gifts associated. This, as we described it, was kinda just "adding her name to the contract." And whenever she uses the healing hex, she uses a spicy smelling salve on the wound, but any sort of cuts will always scar. Me personally, I built the foil for this character using the Gravewalker. He never made a pact in the way I described earlier...he did however conjure a wicked spirit and bound it into a doll (spell poppet) to force it to teach him magic. It's gonna bite him in the low fortitude save later.

[Phneri]

My witch for a campaign a while ago wound up being named "The Artificer." Not his original name, I just wound up with a LOT of crafting feats.

He didn't sign a pact or anything else, he had magical parents who acquired a fey protector (yes, Dresdenish, was before I read the books).

'Art' spent fifteen of his first twenty-five years as a raven, in the protection of a flock. The queen of them was his protector, and over time he came to know and befriend the one that would become his familiar.

Most of his abilities were tied into this. His protector had the power to kill with a thought, he learned its lesser form (slumber hex). He had the flight hex (naturally), and had max ranks in appraise (an...unhealthy attraction to baubles and shiny objects from his prior years). And while he was good at mingling with the flock (crowd) and getting his way, he had very little sense of the way the world worked.

That was how the party found the odd 'wizard' who traveled with a number of magical baubles and wore a patchwork cloak composed of seven different materials, dozens of different thread, and had all manner of trinkets sewn into it.

[Wolf_Shay]

This is the stuff I love...the fluffy bits that make a character more than (insert class name) #5. From a Gravewalker built on the bones of Dr. Facilier, to a Gypsy witch who conjures fiendish ponies (yes...I actually helped with that one, and it was glorious) and plays all manner of pranks. The simple things that take the class from being a spell caster to being a Witch. What is your Witch's Craft?

I know, just repeating myself here, but I love hearing peoples' stories :)

P.S. With a halfway decent bluff check and nobody rolling sense motive over it, a witch with a book of scrolls that they can cast from easily passes as a wizard...who knew?