Hey there. First Thread!
Ok, I'm making a Witch for an upcoming campaign and I REALLY want to take a support role. But not sure of the best way to go about it, here's what I've got:
Lv 1
Lawful Neutral or True Neutral
Half-elf or Human (up for change)
Bound Witch (Staff as bound item i think if half-elf)
25 pt buy: Str 7, Dex 14, Con 11, Int 19, Wis 14, Cha 14
Traits: Harrow Born, Harrow Chosen
Feats: Harrowed, Fortune Teller (will need flaw if half-elf)
[DM said the free trait and feat decks will be the same 1]
I'm obviously VERY focused on divining. The DM trusts me as a PC to not be obnoxious with divination spells, so I'm going to focus on that and support as my niches.
[BTW, never used Harrow Deck, VERY excited!!!]
The rest of the party:
Human Sorcerer focused on Illusions
Human or Elf Sorcerer (primal bloodline) [like old school Wild Mage]
The other is still deciding, she's thinking a Paly, Ftr, or Barb...
Again, I'm trying to be a support character, the others are focusing on combat and manipulation. So please toss any advice!!
P.S. i'm not interested in the Slumber / Accused Hex build. Spamming 1 attack isn't fun to me unless that attack is with a sword.
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Well, for a support character, I would advocate taking Fortune and Cackle as your hexes, and a patron that has some nice buffs. But you have a problem: Are you sure you want THREE full arcane d6 hit die casters in a party of 4? You're really going to be hurting when it comes to taking in and dishing out damage.
If you want to be support, I would go melee Cleric/melee Oracle. You got a LOT of buff spells, important divine spells your party doesn't have access to at the moment, heal spells and channeling, and with good strength and medium armor you make a decent melee frontliner. Do you think you could capture the flavor you're going for with a Juju or Lore Oracle? Or a Knowledge domain Cleric? (You'd get free clairaudience, and divination as a class spell.)
If you reaallly want to be witch, a focus on Summoning would really help your party out.
PS: I would definitely switch Charisma and Constitution if I were you. A d6 hit die with no con bonus, plus the fact you need to be within 30 ft of monsters to hit them with most stuff, means you are one pounce away from being doorknob-level dead. You need 2 hit points per level and a +2 on your fort save much, much more than you need a +2 on diplomacy checks.
Well, for a support character, I would advocate taking Fortune and Cackle as your hexes, and a patron that has some nice buffs. But you have a problem: Are you sure you want THREE full arcane d6 hit die casters in a party of 4? You're really going to be hurting when it comes to taking in and dishing out damage.
PS: I would definitely switch Charisma and Constitution if I were you. A d6 hit die with no con bonus, plus the fact you need to be within 30 ft of monsters to hit them with most stuff, means you are one pounce away from being doorknob-level dead. You need 2 hit points per level and a +2 on your fort save much, much more than you need a +2 on diplomacy checks.
Sorry, I suppose I didn't preface my request for advice with saying this. My DM is VERY story and PC choice oriented. If there is no rogue, he'll only use traps sparingly. If there's low HP, he'll make encounters less about the actual fighting, and more about the situation. It's similar to my style of DMing, so I get where he's coming from.
If you want to be support, I would go melee Cleric/melee Oracle. You got a LOT of buff spells, important divine spells your party doesn't have access to at the moment, heal spells and channeling, and with good strength and medium armor you make a decent melee frontliner. Do you think you could capture the flavor you're going for with a Juju or Lore Oracle? Or a Knowledge domain Cleric? (You'd get free clairaudience, and divination as a class spell.)
I thought about that for a long while actually. The idea of being an Oracle seemed cool. Actually I was thinking of Samsaran Orcale that did the harrow bit. But honestly, I'm just not a fan of being a divine caster. I like religion when it's optional. For instance, recently I played a Human Barbarian / Fighter who took the racial ability and feat that allowed him to act as a dwarf and went the Foehammer archetype. I was a VERY religious character for the pathfinder dwarf god. From time to time I would correct the misspeaking of the actual cleric in the party. It was kind of funny to see play out.
If you reaallly want to be witch, a focus on Summoning would really help your party out.
You sir are a genius!!! I honestly didn't even think that... actually, now I'm kind of thinking of being a summoner all together. But for now I'll stick with the witch build. (how did I not think of that...)
Overall, thanks for helping me to clarify exactly what style the campaign will be.
By the by... I reread the Summoner and realized there wasn't much merit to the whole Divination bit (Unless Samsaran w/ Mystic Past Life (Su)) with that class. So that'll kill my chances of Harrower PRC should I go that route...
But summon spells still on the table... Any other advice?
Thanks Again!
bump for the hope of advice...
I've been having a lot of fun playing a support hedge witch GMPC in my 3-player WotR game. My hexes are Aura of Purity (Champions of Purity), Healing, Ward, and Flight so far. I'm usually fairly optimized with my characters, but wanted to make sure this one took a back seat to the PCs while still keeping up with them.
If your GM is allowing Traits, consider the Magic trait Possessed from Ultimate Campaign. It allows you to once a day treat a skill as trained, or boost a skill by 2 points. Handy for Knowledge skills you may lack.
Don't forget when preparing your spells that you can leave slots empty. With 15 minutes of preparation time, you can fill up to 1/4 your slots on the fly. Good low-level spells to have handy: comprehend languages, enlarge person, identify, infernal healing (good for moral quandaries ... just be careful with it), mage armor, and remove sickness. Oh, and cure light wounds of course. As a hedge witch, I don't have to prepare that, thankfully.
Pick a reach weapon such as a longspear. Even with a Strength of 7, you can provide flanking and (sometimes) aid another bonuses.
If you can, have a supply of handy items ready, such as earplugs, paper, chalk, flint and steel, etc. Pick up spring-loaded sheathes so you can have potions ready to go in case an ally goes down when you're out of spells.
I have a lot of fun describing my spells and hexes. For example, my ward hex manifests briefly as a wrought-iron cage surrounding the targeted character, replete with snarling gargoyles and flower filigree. My healing hex begins with my hands glowing a bright orange-red, as if tempered with fire. The touched target feels the warmth subsume him, as if from a pleasant hearth - or perhaps a fiery pit. My witch worships Sarenrae but has made a deal with a devil, if that helps ...
Oh, on that note - you might look at the False Focus feat (Inner Sea Magic 10). It allows you to present a holy symbol in lieu of using material components, up to the value of the holy symbol. Pretty awesome, I think - granted, my witch pretends to be a priest, so your mileage may vary.
EDIT: In combination with the above, Ultimate Equipment lists 500 gp as the value for a platinum holy symbol. Then, you just need to see if your GM will let you 'bling' out your symbol with embedded gems - if so, it would be easy to reach 1,500 gp, which covers the most expensive witch spells, barring resurrection (10,000 gp, though since it already has a Divine Focus listed, I'm not sure if False Focus works), the expensive symbols (5,000 gp) and trap the soul. (Make it 20,000 gp and you can use trap the soul to suck practically anyone into your holy symbol…)
Oh, on that note - you might look at the False Focus feat (Inner Sea Magic 10). It allows you to present a holy symbol in lieu of using material components, up to the value of the holy symbol. Pretty awesome, I think - granted, my witch pretends to be a priest, so your mileage may vary.
EDIT: In combination with the above, Ultimate Equipment lists 500 gp as the value for a platinum holy symbol. Then, you just need to see if your GM will let you 'bling' out your symbol with embedded gems - if so, it would be easy to reach 1,500 gp, which covers the most expensive witch spells, barring resurrection (10,000 gp, though since it already has a Divine Focus listed, I'm not sure if False Focus works), the expensive symbols (5,000 gp) and trap the soul. (Make it 20,000 gp and you can use trap the soul to suck practically anyone into your holy symbol ... )
Benefit: By using a divine focus as part of casting, you can cast any spell with a material component costing the value of that divine focus (maximum 100 gp) or less without needing that component.
You got a cap on the material component of 100 gp.
/cevah