I'm playing a witch in a campaign setting where the area I'm in is poor and barren, good soil is sparse and I want to help out. Witches have famously a lot of rot and curse-potential, but they are powerful spellcasters and among their spells I'm sure there are options to enrich the land.
One such spell is Ash Storm. It happens to be a conjuration(creation) spell, meaning the cinder and ash raining down will stay on the ground afterwards. Cinder is a valid media for plant growth and ash is a decent fertilizer, so I think repeated use of this spell and some manual labour can convert a rocky area into a usable crop field.
Any other suggestions? Mundane means are also welcome.
If you have a 13 charisma Skill Focus:Knowledge(Nature) to Eldritch Heritage (Verdant) to Improved Eldritch Heritage (Verdant) will get you Plant Growth at will. It costs 3 feats, 2 of which are only so so, but it will make the area fertile again if you use Plant Growth. You also qualify for the other verdant bloodline stuff, which is a nice side benefit. I imagine Knowledge (Nature) would help your character identify any mundane means that would help, though you might need to hire some NPCs with Profession (Farmer) to do the work.
That could be a way to go, although it seems improved eldritch heritage requires 15 cha. My witch has 11 cha, so it's not really an option, but that's still an interesting way to go.
I agree that knowledge nature should find mundane ways to do this, but it's still limited to me and my GM's imagination. We have already agreed that I can apply knowledge nature to the weather control major hex to terraform and promote growth, but my character just reached level 6, so this isn't going to happen for a while.
For the manual labour part, I may actually only need one person who's a trained farmer. From the profession skill, he can direct people to do work, and so with mounts and unseen servants, at least some of the manpower needed for plowing and sowing is present. Still, it could be easier to just hire some workers.
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
Maybe your witch needs to research a new spell: Rain of Manure.
For a while I looked for similar spells in hopes of creating a grape growing and fermenting hex caster that spoke with a german accent. Sadly while I found a lot of spells for land enrichment and plant growth, none of these are the domain of the Witch.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Or go on a quest to honor the gods of farming or appease the gods of famine. I presume that there are companions involved as well?
My witch is still an agnostic, meaning he prays at different shrines but follows no main god. There is indeed a party, two sorcerers, a ranger, and an oracle of bones. We just staged a jesus/"true prophet" moment for our oracle to the god of death and fate, but we're not getting holy quests through him yet. The ranger is going to get some neat spells in some time (we just dinged lvl 6, he gets plant growth at level 10), and he has a holy artifact to a goddess of nature with mysterious and unknown powers. I don't know where she stands on farming, but at some point, maybe we can use that artifact for some terraforming.
Maybe your witch needs to research a new spell: Rain of Manure.
This is a very cool idea. How's this?
"""
Rain of Manure
School: Conjuration (creation) (or maybe summoning or calling); level 3 Witch
Casting Time: 10 minutes
Components: V, S, M(the fresh blood of a domestic animal, fresh manure from said animal, a rock from the ground to be covered)
Range: long(400 ft. + 40 ft./lvl)
Area: cylinder(40-ft. radius, 20-ft. high)
Duration: instantaneous
Saving Throw: none, see text; Spell Resistance: no
During a ritual sacrifice of a domestic animal using a local mineral, manure of the kind of animal sacrificed rains from the sky and hits the ground, making the ground muddy (see environment section of CRB). The depth of the mud depends on the sacrificed animal (chicken: 2 inches, dog: 6 inches, pig: 1 foot, to a maximum of cow: 2 feet). During a sunny day, the mud will solidify, making for fertile soil. The spell is dispersed by wind effects. A moderate wind will spread the manure half as thick over the double area, but manure thinner than 2 inches will disperse and get lost.
"""
This is not a spell for combat, nor is it a spell that can be cast as much as one wants, and the locals will fear the whole thing. It plays into the witch portfolio (I'm thinking pentagrams and goat sacrifices here). I may have overdone the cons, but I think it's important to make sure low level creation spells don't get abused. This one can still be used to cover a small town with s$*&, but I'm not sure that the area is big enough for proper fields. I just used the area from sleet storm and ash storm as a model. Let me know what you think.
One of the world's best fertilizers is bat guano. Summon Swarm's duration is concentration + 2 rounds. That could be all day if you want. Take care of any unwanted pests in the area then let them trail behind you like a kite. :)
This one sounds very cool. Just walk in circles around the places to fertilize, making sure everyone else stays far away. Are there any similar mechanism for frog-eaters? Rain of Frogs is just a cooler spell than summon swarm, and I just dinged lvl 6, so I may take that, at least if I can use it to fertilize some soil. The Internet says big birds eat frogs. Could be done, I guess, at least if my raven familiar flys around in a level telling birds about the frog feast.
Yeah, Animate Dead could be swell, and only slightly disturbing for bypassers. The witch doesn't get it except through patrons, but my teammates may get it. It's not entirely clear from the spell what types of tasks they can be set to, but if the DM allows for an undead workforce, we may have a cheap castle in a couple of years.
Strangely appropriate for witches: Some great simple fertilisers are made with bonemeal and ash. Destroy your foes then grind them into a fine paste, add wood ash to taste and sprinkle across your fields. This mixture should contain decent amounts of Nitrogen, Phosporous and Potassium. Et Viola, fertiliser. You could ask your GM if Knowledge (Nature) would let you do this.
For a slightly more magical route you could use the level 4 spell Volcanic Storm. This is gives you a load of volcanic ash, which does produce fertile soils but can have other effects including on soil acidity. Used sparingly and plowed into the soil it should increase crop productivity. (NB - only use this on bare fields. It'll likely set any vegetation alight!)
You could always go to town on roleplaying and buy a couple of Mules for 8gp each and get them to plow it for you!
Further thinking about mundane and magical ways to improve agriculture:
Irrigation is always a good plan. Simple water channels dug by mundane means to allow fields better access to water - it's one of the technologies that allowed Ancient Egypt to flourish. If you have access to soften Earth and Stone or Stone Shape you could make these channels even easier to dig. You also have a portable water-source in your party: At level 6 your Oracle can produce 7200 gallons of pure water per hour using the Create Water Orison. You can use water or wind mills to pump water from low-lying rivers into higher irrigation channels.
Another simple real-world technology is crop rotation. By rotating cereal crops with legumes (like beans) and allowing fallow (unused) periods you can improve soil quality and increase overall production. You can even become a lot more technical with compex rotations that produce better results, such as planting grass or clover and using areas for animal grazing.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
The only problem with Volcanic Storm is that after the spell's duration, the ash disappears, so it's not a permanent effect.
You could home brew a Hex that is opposite of Blight, which could look a lot like a Bless spell. To keep the power level the same, though, you'd only be able to have one Blessed plot of land at a time, size limited by your level. I like the idea of a good witch being able to do this, though.
There is a major hex, Witch's Bounty, which is thematically appropriate for your build, too.
Maybe your witch needs to research a new spell: Rain of ManureRain of Manure:
...
This is... actually a really good homebrew. Nice.
Thanks!
@Corvino:
This is nice input to build upon! The bones of my fallen enemies don't account for that much yet, though, but it's a nice thought that if any enemy ever needs killing, I can hide the body and use it for good at the same time.
@WendyWitch:
You're right. Creation spells with duration goes away afterwards. That takes Ash Storm and Volcanic Storm off the table, I guess. I like the idea of hexes doing the job, so how about (copypaste from Blight, making a few changes):
Enrich (Su): The witch can bless an animal, plant creature, or plot of land, causing it to beam with life. Enriching an area takes 1 round, during which time the witch and her familiar must be in contact with the target. If it's used on a plot of land, the land comes to life the following day, and over the next week all plants in the area grow, at least enough to bear fruit. Anything will grow in that area so long as the curse persists. A witch can affect an area with a radius equal to her class level × 10 feet. Enriching a creature is a standard action that requires a melee touch attack. If used on a creature of the animal or plant type, the creature gains a +4 bonus on saving throws against poisons and diseases. Remove curse will break both forms of the hex, and the DC for the spell equals the DC of the hex.
Is it too good? Breaking with the spirit of the Witch?
I've seen the goodberry tree hex before, and thought it seemed weak and slow, as my healing hex heals way more hp per day. However, goodberries works as meals, so with this hex I could easily feed a large team of workers. It would be a really cool blessing for my favourite village, but as only one tree at a time can be used at a time, that is an expensive boon.
A lot of the more creative uses for spells are in making magical items - wondrous items in particular. A decanter of endless water can make for a spring in a dry area, for example, and there is nearly unlimited potential to what items you can devise (barring DM veto). For example, an arch with a permanent Diagnose Disease can help you keep the village lifestock in good condition. Still,in general the better spells of managing the land are on the druid list, but spell research can allow you to develop spinoffs or analogous spells - plant growth, control winds, commune with nature...
As for enriching, hmm, how often can you do it, both per day and on one place?
Oh, good call, I left out an important part. "A witch can only have one enrich in effect at a time. If another enrich hex is made, the first immediately ends.", just like the blight hex.
I think I'm going to have a closer look on the druid spell list for inspiration to spells for research.
A lot of the more creative uses for spells are in making magical items - wondrous items in particular. A decanter of endless water can make for a spring in a dry area, for example, and there is nearly unlimited potential to what items you can devise (barring DM veto). For example, an arch with a permanent Diagnose Disease can help you keep the village lifestock in good condition. Still,in general the better spells of managing the land are on the druid list, but spell research can allow you to develop spinoffs or analogous spells - plant growth, control winds, commune with nature...
As for enriching, hmm, how often can you do it, both per day and on one place?
I'd be careful with that. I had to explain to someone that a decanter of endless water in a desert has a better chance of turning the area into quicksand. or worse, a salt flat akin to Salar de Uyuni.
as well as the fact that the multitude of low stone walls created a microcomputer conducive to farming,
Yeah, I know it was a typo, but it still made me laugh. I had images of Pratchett's druids with their monolith computers.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
A good way to enrich the soil is to have a large battle over it. All that blood and bone is great for the soil, and the slaughter is definitely the RPG way to solve any problem. Just invite the local goblins to attack the village and play 'Magnificent Seven'.
A good way to enrich the soil is to have a large battle over it. All that blood and bone is great for the soil, and the slaughter is definitely the RPG way to solve any problem. Just invite the local goblins to attack the village and play 'Magnificent Seven'.
Erm, you need to do some work to ensure that there are no epidemics due to all the rotting flesh and thus grubs, parasites etc that tend to be involved, have the local clergy do some work so there are no angry ghosts or haunts and so on... but yes, it is an option. Still, it might be easier to arrange for some composting :P .
And yes, a decanter might need a few basic precautions, but it can work well enough. If you want it for irrigation as well as for clear water (and you probably would), you will probably want to dig a few ditches to carry the water anyway.
If all else fails, just graze sheep on the relatively infertile or hilly land. Those crazy woolly sods can live just about anywhere, and can be used to produce wool, milk and meat depending on breed. They're a bit thick though.
Good find Katydid, though I've no idea why that item exists!
According to my napkin math it'll take 108 bag days to fertilize an acre with one bag (One acre is 43560 sq ft, a 20 by 20 patch of land is 400 sq ft). With 16 of these bags you'd be able to cover 1 acre per week, which isn't too bad, considering that you'd probably need to plow/dig the dung in as you went, and could plant crops as you go. With a couple of weeks of downtime you'd be able to cover a smallish farmstead.
The bag of dung was my first idea.
But something else that is somewhat gruesome but could work is the combination of nature's ravages and restore corpse.
All you need is some kind of corpse, the bigger the better but look at the spell's limits. Now you cast nature's ravages on it until it is totally decomposed, acting as a fertilizer while doing so. After all the flesh is gone you cast restore corpse and you're ready to restart.
Don't take a sentient being's corpse.
If you happen to have one use a plant creature's corpse for it. Should result in near perfect soil.
For higher levels the witch's bounty hex could help a population very much but would not remain helpful for the witch while she leaves the bush behind.