Hi, I'm just starting to play my first evil witch in a Way of the Wicked campaign. She's a level 1 human with Heart of the Wilderness, Evil Eye, Cackle, and Slumber hexes. Her Patron is "Time" themed.
My GM has informed me that he's out-right banning the Scar Hex, to keep me within 30 feet of my targets to maintain the risk/reward balance to Hexing.
I have some defensive measure in mind, namely an Orc Barbarian and Tiefling Magus hopefully standing in the way of trouble. Also, I will take the Flight hex at level 4. I'm also hoping that when fighting "good" aligned people, they're a bit hesitant to hit a girl :)
But for a squishy full-caster always within 30ft without wizard staples such as shield, mirror image, displacement, or even blur for that matter... what else can I do to keep her alive when her meat shields eventually fail at their job?
Any and all advice is appreciated! Thanks.
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I wouldn't worry too much. My witch is level 10 and hasn't been killed yet.
My advice is to pick the most dangerous foe and shut them down as quickly as possible. Also, the fly hex can help you stay out of reach. Rely on your allies to keep foes back, and if things look grim you can always retreat back to a safer distance.
Wands, potions, charmed minions, summoned creatures, illusions, the withdraw action, at later levels a mithril light shield with scary looking shield spikes, mundane items and alchemical weapons, standing in the background with a bow or crossbow when your really out of other things to do.
Hopefully your teammates will cover you though, it can get pretty rough if a squishy is attacked at lower levels. Luckily between spells and hexes you should have some way to get away or take them out. Haste is fantastic, but I always went for patrons with defensive spells myself.
The familiar is best as a skill monkey imo. I'd never let that thing out of my hat or jacket during combat. The downside of losing it is ridiculously painful.
On the upside, it learns from eating spellbooks right? Or something like that.
Evil eye for -2 to hit is pretty much the same as adding 2 to your AC against 1 target. Start with that if you don't think a 1 round take down is a good idea. If nothing else your meat shield will appreciate it.
Positioning is key for witches, a witch who leaves the safety of party controlled squares is usually a dead witch. Only get right into the thick of things if you can maintain distance (narrow corridor with fighter blocking access). Also master the art of hex move instead of move hex. As in let them come closer to you, then you hex then move away. Best used when going for the save or die effects. Don't let a charge lane to you appear. This means anticipating other party members actions (its not their job to save your butt, but you can make it so they effectively do so by anticipating where they will be).
At low level you are going to be squishy, and most parties who know what is what will accept you playing somewhat cautiously. The power and support you will offer in the long run is worth putting up with. You might help this along by using your hexes to be unselfish when it comes to combat actions. Currently your witch is set up to be the debuff save or die build. Some groups don't like how annoying a never run out encounter ending power can be. Be sure to use the party friendly options as you go forward.
As for flying, be careful, a flying caster screams arrow bait, as my groups witch found out fighting a harpy ranger. Against ranged enemies safety is found on the ground, prone, and preferably behind cover and/or concealment (I can't stress enough how much archers can destroy an unprepared witch, its as bad as standing next to a full attacking barbarian).
Wands, potions, charmed minions, summoned creatures, illusions, the withdraw action, at later levels a mithril light shield with scary looking shield spikes, mundane items and alchemical weapons, standing in the background with a bow or crossbow when your really out of other things to do.
Hopefully your teammates will cover you though, it can get pretty rough if a squishy is attacked at lower levels. Luckily between spells and hexes you should have some way to get away or take them out. Haste is fantastic, but I always went for patrons with defensive spells myself.
Hopefully I'll have a chance to UMD some stuff, not sure about the availability of magical items though. That's up to the GM.
Free Silence, Haste, Teleport, and Time Stop with the time patron. Three Fold Aspect is your +4 headband for a while. As well, the theme led to a really cool backstory.
Thanks.
A few points.
1. You do know hay cackle doesn't work with slumber hex? Works great with evil eye (or misfortune in the future)
2. I think your DM is missing how Scar works and why you would use it. Against an enemy you would have to first scar that enemy (and they get a will save) only then could you use it to hex (within a mile) or target for spells via the body part you have. And you can only have your INT bonus scars around. A more typical use of scar would be to scar your allies so you can aid them remotely.
3. Many hexes don't have the 30' range limit. (Though the offensive hexes do). The witch is a great class but the once per day vs a given target helps balance things (though evil eye gives you a few shots) and there are feats to modify that.
Don't forget that a witch is a full caster with a familiar. At early levels your familiar is fairly weak but you can do many creative things to leverage your familiar creatively (feats like evolved familiar or eventually improved familiar). See also the new animal archive for some Familar feats and archetypes.
Generally you will want to mobile and leverage your spells as well as help your allies along with attacking. I'd consider hexes like flight in the future.
1 - Yes, I'm aware slumber isn't extended by cackle. But a Standard action sleep spell, even with a 1 round duration, is a great boon at level 1!
2 - His worry arose when another player brought to his attention the possibilities of cheese when using Scar Hex with the Split Hex feat. Being able to evil eye, misfortune, or slumber hex from up to a mile away?
You're a full caster on top of hexes. A full caster with a pretty darn good spell list. Also misfortune is amazing.
You'll do fine.
/thread
If you used split hex on a teammate wouldn't that teammate be hit by the hex too? That doesn't sound like a good idea.
And yeah, but witches have limited defences. The best way to get defences I think is to be sure to explain to your friends their priorities over a desert. Be it a delicious cookie or a slice of rich cake.
The cheese is when you scar a poor little critter like a turtle and have your companions carry them in their pockets. Then when the split hex goes off it hexes the turtle and the bad guy.
^ This. That or you have scarred "pets" delivered to your enemies houses and just enjoy staying at home, scrying and watching as your hexes make their lives miserable. It's a good retirement plan for a witch, really.
It's just too bad that because it has the potential for this, it's been banned all together from my game. And here I was considering being nice to my party and taking the Fortune Hex... oh well! ;)
Surrender a lot. Like, at the end of any turn when one of your goody-goody opponents is in melee range of you. Talking’s a free action.
Try something like, “Please don’t kill me, I surrender! They made me do it, made me worship Asmodeus! In the name of God, please, I surrender!”
Then blast the crap out of them when it’s your turn again. Make sure no one survives to tell others about your fake-surrender gambit.
What? You’re evil!
^ Was planning similar tactics actually. Playing a woman really helps with playing on the misguided sympathies of good men. I just really hope my GM doesn't make me do a bluff check every time she bats her eyelashes at an enthusiastic worshiper of Mitra.
"So, Lone Starr, now you see that evil will always triumph, because good is dumb." — Dark Helmet, Spaceballs.
The Blindness/Deafness spell. If successful it makes them PERMANENTLY blind (or deaf), so it doesn't matter how long it takes for you to run away.