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Not EVERYTHING is immune to cold. A lot of the more difficult enemies and several regular enemies are, but I wouldn't say your character is unplayable because of it. Plus, if you take the Winter Witch PrC (Yes, there's an archetype AND a PrC of the same name and flavor!), there are certain abilities that reduce resistances and immunity to cold damage. You get a lot of abilities that fit the flavor of the campaign too. And remember, WW can cast spells other than cold magic too. Altogether, you're not horrendously optimized to tear through everything in the AP, but you're not next to worthless either. Make sense?
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It all depends on your playstyle.
A Winter Witch provides you with an advantage in the game, especially early on. That said, the start of the game can be quite lethal, so having that advantage might be useful. ;)
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I'm playing a Winter Witch and having a blast. Even took the prestige class (yeah, I know its suboptimal. But a witch can afford to be suboptimal).
Admittedly a lot of the fun comes from the RP side and a lot of that needs a decent and cooperative GM to really shine. But there are LOTS of possibilities in the AP for a winter witch to really stand out
It helps in the second half of the first book and most of the second. After that, even they end up out of their comfort zone.
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When the GM reads the introduction, you'll see why a winter archaetye doesn't make sense. However, your GM could make up his own intro & starting point and have all of the party be made of winter archetypes. (Which does sound kind of cool now that I think about it).
Anyway, it's an awesome AP. Think dark fairy tale. Have fun.
Actually, pretty much NONE of the Campaign Traits really fit the region. But the game doesn't need to start in Taldor. You could have it in Varasia or one of the northern countries.
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Actually, pretty much NONE of the Campaign Traits really fit the region. But the game doesn't need to start in Taldor. You could have it in Varasia or one of the northern countries.
That really irked me at first to be honest, but we found a way to make them work and still keep it it starting in Taldor and actually made our characters more in depth then they might've been otherwise, so in the end it was actually beneficial.
Given that I started the game with a separate campaign in mind, the Campaign Traits didn't really matter much because they came from a different area. That and I allow back stories to be modified if need be - one player initially had distinctive birthmarks on her face but when we got enough information on certain human ethnicities that tattoo themselves, she selected to be that race and for her birthmarks to be facial tattoos - and then took the Trait for being a wanderer. :) Another player did a wholescale rewrite but seeing that I ended up moving the world from my own homegrown campaign to Golarion, it didn't matter much.
Really, the point is to have fun. Being able to modify things so they fit better is perfectly acceptable in my opinion.
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I have a player in my campaign that is a Winter Witch and it actually fits in well with the story. She took the Failed WW Apprentice trait and we worked on her background saying that she was training to be a WW under Nazhena's tutelage, but Rhadosek put the moves on her and when she rejected him, he told Nazhena that she tried to seduce him, leading Nazhena to chase her out of the Pale Tower, trying to kill her. She ran through the portal into Taldor where she nearly died from the baddies at the Taldor side of the portal and collapsed just in time to see Lady Argentea's caravan get ambushed.
Having a WW in the party has given some great role playing opportunities both with NPCs and intraparty RP as we have two Ulfen brothers who aren't exactly fond of witches.
Mechanically, she took the Winter patron and while a lot of enemies have cold resist/immunity, her other spell selections have made her quite useful. The party is currently 5th level in Logrivich's clock tower and there have been very few combats where she hasn't been useful.
I played a Winter Witch in this AP, it was very rewarding. Here is her background and story intro...
Description
Lillend El’lana is a comely woman standing 5’4" and weighing around 108 lbs; she has stark white hair, pale blue eyes and a milky white complexion. She is usually sporting a haughty expression unless she is happy, in which case she will have a slightly wry smile. She dresses either in fine white robes, cut in a retro style of the Irrisen Winter Witches, or a full courtiers outfit of modern Irrisen nobility, accentuated by her signet ring and expensive jewelry.
Her familiar, Byelava, a female snowy white owl of the wintery lands, is always near her side. She carries a sturdy walking stick of white fir, the ends tapered into a clawed hand grasping a sapphire, and a candle lamp that glows with a pale blue light that she refreshes with her Light cantrip.
Bio
Lillend El’lana, Circumstances of Birth:
Bogatyr Oleg El’lana rode hard for the forest edge, seeking the clearing he had, so many months before, spent a week surviving the frightful cold within. His four personal guards rode with him, each heavily armored and armed, each willing to fulfill their oaths at a moment’s notice and lay down their lives for their liege. Oleg wasn’t expecting trouble, but he had to be prepared, her people were not known for keeping relationships, they were more known for their complete capriciousness.
The summer thaws wrapped the clearing in beauty; the snow lilies were in full bloom. Oleg smiled, remembering his nights with her; their blanket, the snowdrifts, their bed, the cascade of snow lilies they lay upon, made love upon, night after night. She kept his body warm, alive. She feed him of the snow lily berries with her magic, each berry sustaining life for a day. She brought fire back to his passions. He was never the same thereafter.
They rode forward into the clearing; she seemed to melt out of the forest, out of the very trees. He caught his breath at her beauty; the perfection of her skin, the snow falling from her fir-like hair, matching the tree she had merged with. He barely heard the gasps of his guards behind him, one he shared even now, even after spending so many nights with her. He felt his blood boil like never before, his body warming with renewed lust. She was perfect…
His voice barely escaped his lips, a grasping whisper, Frostfir, is it true? I could not hope enough it was true and not a prank of your people!
Even across the clearing, nature guided the words to her fey-like ears; words carried on the winds, her preternatural senses catching all within her realm. She sauntered over slowly, each step magnifying his wanting, his lust. She carried a bundle of the finest ermine pelts in her arms, wrapped about the infant. Frostfir? So formal, my love? It was just mere moments ago when I was your Frosty and you my Oley! Have you forgotten our lovemaking so soon? Her voice was playful, sultry. Everything about her made him want her so much the more. She smiled wryly, enjoying the game, It is true, my love. We walked in the garden and our seed has grown. I present to you, your daughter, Lillend.
She was perfect, like her mother. Fair skin, pale blue eyes and a full head of stark white hair. He smiled and his daughter matched it; her smile was that of her mothers, slight and wry, curving at the corners. Lillend? he questioned. Yes, Lillend; of the snow lilies, named for our conception bed. Her smile cascaded across her face, and he saw the same lust in her eyes he had been feeling since entering the clearing.
You men, bring my daughter home! I must speak with Frostfir some more, to ensure I know all of the proper care of a changeling girl. He stepped into the forest, hand in hand with the Boreal Dryad, his Frosty, and melted into the woods…
Lillend El’lana, Goals and Motivations, Campaign Entrance:
Lillend scanned the small group of gathering fey nervously, although it did not show on her haughty face. I must remain strong, i cannot show them weakness! Mother has chosen me, has championed me before the council, I cannot let her down! She spared a second to glance at Silvanus, her satyr lover. Her cheeks flushed with lust, her temperature rising enough to melt the snows. She would remember last night’s revelry to the end of her days. He will never have another night like that, not even if he beds every nymph while I am away!
Her mother, as beautiful as the treeline after the first snows, spoke, I, Frostfir, Yeoman of the Frost Council Moot, after much discussion with your representatives, have chosen our champion to investigate this assault upon nature herself! This unnatural plague of winter has, through mystical portals, spread across many fey moots all over Golarion, causing a great inbalance!
All we know is the magic is of Irrisen, of those Winter Witch b*%*%es serving Queen Elvanna! her mother spate, contrasting greatly with the boreal dryads regal beauty and bearing. The gathered fey hooted and beckoned insults to the Winter Witches. We, through holy communion with Nature herself, have found the greatest portal, the portal showing the greatest power! We send as our champion to investigate their foul plots my daughter, Lillend El’lana! She watched as her mother, drawing a blade of cold iron, sliced across her wrist, letting the blood fall upon the ring of stones serving as the altar to the First World. She is of fey blood, my blood, our blood, yet has tasted of the Winter Witches magics! She is of my own blood and by this I swear my oaths that she will steer true! I swear this oath by all we hold holy, before all of you to witness, and impart to her our strength! The fey cheered with great abandon, crazed with excitement!
Lillend smiled, her pride in her mother, her people, herself, shining through. Her gaze fell upon Silvanus and she let out a wry smile. His gaze matched her pride, his stance showing his admiration, his eyes flashing deeper lust than she has ever seen. She walked forward, grasping the blade and sliced across her wrist as her mother did. The cold iron burned through her skin, the poison seeping through her veins. The inside of her whole arm was on fire, hurting more than the worst frostbite she has ever felt. I must not show them any weakness! I must not falter with her here! This is nothing! I am their champion, I am the only one who can succeed! The pain is nothing!
She held the blade up to the sky as lightning flashed, covering each stone, in turn, with her life’s blood. In perfect Sylvan, she announced I go now, as your champion, to find the source of this unholy taint! Our brothers and sisters here may be enslaved by those foul b#$&@es, but I will tell you this! I am not enslaved, and I am ready to fight! I will find this source, I will destroy it if it means I must march upon Elvanna herself! Anyone who stands in my way, our way, will find that the fey will no longer stand by and be slaughtered at their whims! I cry for vengeance, vengeance for all our brothers and sisters, throughout all our moots, throughout all of Golarion, and those who stand in our way will find vengeance is a dish best served cold! The gathering of fey cheered crazily, starting into a chaos of revelry.
Lillend El’lana, cross-blooded fey noble of Irrisen, stepped into the white fir tree of her mother and stepped out into a new world as the magic of her faith transported her to the greatest source of power within the portals raining winter onto Golarion…