Hey all!
My home game is cycling to a new GM next play session (2 weeks from now) and I get to make a new character. I am looking to play something that I wouldn't ever get to play in my PFS setting, a Scarred Witch Doctor. My plan is to take a level of fighter (Unbreakable), 5 levels of Scarred Witch Doctor, and then go 10 levels of Eldritch Knight.
My question is....what Patron?
Endurance seems to fit the character well and it gives you Miracle at 18 and some solid defensive spells prior to that.
do note that your hexes won't scale unless gm says otherwise :(
Endurance is nice. I also thought Agility and Elements (since witches lack any real blasting) would work well.
I know about the hexes. I will be going for the more utility hexes: Cauldron, flight, healing, fortune, scar, etc.
Depends on my GM. If they will let me I will just play a half-orc. If they want to be RAW about it, the I will go Human with the racial heritage feat.
Half-Orc wouldn't work since racial archetypes aren't an effect in this case, and technically human with Racial Heritage wouldn't work either since you choose your class before your feats. Since the SWD modifies abilities at first level, you can't qualify for it.
So if they're following the rules, he'd have to be an Orc.
My plan is to go eldritch knight so I would be taking a level of Fighter (unbreakable) first. At that level, I would grab Racial Heritage (orc). Then at second level, when I am both human and orc, I would take SWD.
Half-Orc wouldn't work since racial archetypes aren't an effect in this case, and technically human with Racial Heritage wouldn't work either since you choose your class before your feats. Since the SWD modifies abilities at first level, you can't qualify for it.
So if they're following the rules, he'd have to be an Orc.
Is the human racial bonus feat selected at step 2 or step 4? If it is selected at step 2 as part of the "Select race" step, he can use that feat slot for Racial Heritage. Note that step 4 only mentions class and level in regard to counting up how many feats the character gets.
Either answer would potentially present problems for some feat selections if a strict order of operations is followed.
So I am going to try to get this back on track. While I appreciated people explaining the rulings on races and SWD, I was already aware of it and have a plan for dealing with it.
I am looking at these patrons:
Elements - Gives the Witch some needed blasting.
Endurance - Some good protective spells but wastes a spell on bear's endurance (Will not boost spells so worse choice than magic item)
Healing - Works with the whole I'm a Doctor shtick. Gives the Restoration line of spells and a nifty self only mini Heal.
Strength - The best of the the beat stick cleric spells.
Hexes:
Need hexes that don't use DC (Only 5 lvls of witch). I will have 2 but may sacrifice a feat for another.
Healing
Cauldron
Flight
Prehensile Hair
I am also going to throw out an interesting idea. Since I am only going to be taking 5 levels of witch, my hexes will be really weak. That means that I will not be taking DC based hexes. This got me thinking...What would be a good "Hex" that would still scale with my leveling outside of witch. The answer was: Hedge Witch. I could swap out my lvl 4 Hex for the ability to spontaneously cast healing spells. This would mean that even at non-witch levels I would get access to new healing spells to throw out. In addition, with the healing Patron I truly am a Witch Doctor.
Could I suggest taking a level of Barbarian? I believe one can use hexes while raging and the CON boost actually makes your spells stronger. I'm currently running a Witch Doctor 5/Barbarian 1; much fun.
As for patrons- I like Time.
As for hexes, if you don't want DCs- evil eye, cackle, flight...
Answer to the Barbarian Idea:
While I love Barbarians I do not think that barbarian is a better choice for Eldritch Knight.
1) While raging I can not cast spells. So no matter how high I bump my Con with rage I can't use it to increase my DC. I won't have great hexes since only 5 lvls gives me a mediocre DC. So in the end, the only choice I have with 1 lvl of barbarian is to hit stuff while raging.
2) If I wanted to cast spells I would need Moment of Clarity. This would let me cast 1 spells per rage while raging. Nice....oh wait I would need 2 lvls of barbarian to do that. I just gave up lvl 9 spells for the ability to cast a spell. Not sure that's worth it.
3) Urban barbarian?? Why??? It nets you nothing extra. I am a caster who needs two stats: Con and Str. Why would I give up normal rage. I would also loose medium armor proficiency so I could't combo up the haramaki with an armored kilt.
4) The upside: 16 BAB. An extra Attack!
Thanks for this discussion! It brought an important piece of info to the front of my mind. Regarding patrons: Since I will only have 9 levels of SWD total, I will only be gaining patron spells on those 9 levels. As such, I will not gain any patron spells beyond the lvl 8 spell. Hmm....Anyone disagree with this?