I rolled up a witch for PFS this week. Pretty vanilla so far; I maxed out INT and put all my feats into hexes: Evil Eye, Fortune, Cackle.
Any tips to rolling up an effective witch? To me it seems natural to focus on the buffing/leader stuff at low levels and move more into focusing on debuffing later.
I'd like to hear some general advice from people who have built and played witches, both in and out of Society play.
fortune will only work one per day, you are better off getting misfortune
Misfortune also works on undead / constructs / mindless things that are immune to Evil Eye and Slumber.
Both Evil Eye and Misfortune can be shaken off with a Will save. What makes Misfortune different?
fortune will only work one per day, you are better off getting misfortune
Once per day per each party member. And as I read it, if the target doesn't utilize it, you can target them again.
Misfortune is not "mind affecting", the target just has bad luck. =)
Mind affecting. Check.
Misfortune is not "mind affecting", the target just has bad luck. =)Mind affecting. Check.
Luck is mind-affecting? How on this earth (or any other) do you come to that conclusion?
Don't under estimate prehensile hair. Also, never under estimate the ability to make undead your b%$~~ via threnodic and thanatopic metamagic. The healing hexes can be meh but if you ever need it then it's great. Lastly, always interesting is the witch who seemingly does a bit of everything. Why? Because the witch mythos is about doing wierd stuff so it's always good when you can make someone go 'they can do that?' A 'generalist' witch is almost always effective, imo. That said, generally stay away from the ward hex.
i guess it depends on the "work day." If their are many encounters then misfortune just keeps on working and fortune will have been used earlier
i guess it depends on the "work day." If their are many encounters then misfortune just keeps on working and fortune will have been used earlier
Not sure what you mean. The hex only lasts one round (okay, more with Cackle) and whether or not the target made it's save, they can't be targeted for 1 day.
Whereas, if you target your Qback (Paladin, fighter, Eidolon, whatever) with Fortune and he opts not to use it (because there was no role worth it), you're then free to use it on him when it's time for the big boss battle.
i guess it depends on the "work day." If their are many encounters then misfortune just keeps on working and fortune will have been used earlierNot sure what you mean. The hex only lasts one round (okay, more with Cackle) and whether or not the target made it's save, they can't be targeted for 1 day.
Whereas, if you target your Qback (Paladin, fighter, Eidolon, whatever) with Fortune and he opts not to use it (because there was no role worth it), you're then free to use it on him when it's time for the big boss battle.
He means that you can hit the enemy with Misfortune in the first encounter, then hit the different enemy with Misfortune in the second encounter, and so on, whereas you can hit the ally with Fortune in the first encounter, and then that ally is done with Fortune for the day.
Relevant:
Witch, Fortune Hex: How often can a creature "benefit" from this hex? If it lasts more than one round, does it end after the first time it is used?
When a creature becomes the target of the fortune hex, it gains the benefit of that hex once per round, until the hex runs out, as determined by the level of the witch that created the effect. Once it ends, the creature cannot again be the target of that hex for 24 hours.
Fair play to you; never read that FAQ. I actually think that's a little better than I thought.
Doesn't the same logic apply to both hexes, though? You can hit one or two allies with Fortune in the first encounter and then one or more different allies in a later encounter. Whereas if the boss or the bandersnatch succeeds on their save vs. misfortune, that's it (for that critter).
Another aspect of fortune is that it can help a buddy save vs. some persistent effect. And it doesn't need to get through a saving throw to work.
Anyway, this wasn't supposed to be a misfortune vs. fortune thread. Any other tips to building a witch? Maybe beyond level one?
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The Accursed Hex feat is your best friend. Being able to hex targets more than once/day doubles your power.
Count how many times you need to take Extra Hex before 10th level, where you'll want Split Hex and Major Hexes becomes the flavour of the day. I say count, because you likely won't want every hex in the book.
The Flight hex is the best hex witches can take. Deception and Time are both strong witch patrons to take.
The difference between the wizard spell list and the witch list is that most of the witch spell/hex list has an enchanting/mind-affecting theme, and this is the witch's biggest weakness. Have a way to deal with constructs/undead/oozes, because they will come up more often than you'll like and you don't want to be floundering in an encounter where you're so used to being a strong controller.
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This one's important: be aware that Cackle has to be used in the same round as the hex you want to use it with, because Cackle expires at the beginning of your next turn.
That means no movement in that round, except for a 5-foot step. You're using the hex you want as a standard action, cackling as a move action, and then you've only got rooms for free/swift actions with the rest of your turn.
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Re why Misfortune is better than Fortune:
With Fortune, you have maybe 3 good guys to use Fortune on, per day.
With Misfortune, you come across an encounter, you use misfortune on everyone there, they die. You come across another encounter, you use misfortune on everyone there, they die. Repeat until end of day.
There's always more bad guys than there are good guys, and they don't stay around as long.
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The Advanced Class Guide (if you have it) has a few pretty cool rods that enhance hexes, but this one stood out for me:
This rod is crafted from a gnarled branch covered in sharp thorns. Three times per day when a wielder of this rod uses a hex (but not an advanced hex or grand hex), she can use this rod’s power to double the range of the hex, so long as the hex has a range measured in feet.
The 30ft limit on hexes is a pretty big deal, since the bad guys can generally close that distance and attack you if your slumber fails, and even if your misfortune succeeds. Being able to stay out of harm's way in the right situations 3/day, for a measly 3000gp, is pretty sweet.
Rod of Reach (in the APG) is also worth considering for your spells, especially healing.
Don't use slumber or ice tomb often unless you want your DM to murder your character by "accident". Those hexes are best left in the realm of gentlemen's agreements, like sundering and the wizard's spellbook.
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Don't use slumber or ice tomb often unless you want your DM to murder your character by "accident". Those hexes are best left in the realm of gentlemen's agreements, like sundering and the wizard's spellbook.
Any GM that can't handle Save or Dies needs to improve their GMing. Save or Dies are part of that game that everyone has agreed to play. Gentleman's agreements for regular old save or dies? I recommend that you save that for stuff like Simulacrum and Planar Binding.
spell focus to improve the DC is actually a good thing since the witches spell list is a lot of de-buffing. and the meta feat Persistent Spell is great the +2 can be hard to swallow but the requirement of 2 saves is totally worth it. and have fun with the witch I loved that class and am in the middle of making another one to play.
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I took mainly beneficial hexes with my pfs witch. Coupled with the scar hex allows you to use any of your hexes on your teammates as long as they are within a mile of you. I got a lot of mileage out of the healing hex. One free cure sell per person is nice especially with the one mile range. Plus you can use it to bring npcs conscious for questioning without having to waste any resources and you can smack undead with it too. I prefer fortune over misfortune too. Misfortune debuffs martial opponents, which is nice but usually unnecessary. Fortune buffs your allies against caster opponents, which is far better in my opinion.