I made a character who had a lot of "Court Bard" in the family, but also grew up with strange experiences more befitting of a witch. And thus, this archetype was born: the Eldritch Artist. Give me your thoughts. Do you think a detail is overpowered or underpowered? Why do you think so? What should I change?
Eldritch Artist (Bard Archetype):
One artist may sing about a beautiful sight she saw; another may watch a bustling city for hours and invent a new dance. The Eldritch Artist pierces past the veil, bringing inspiration from strange and recondite forces into her art. She sings about the forgotten. Her dance attempts to recreate sights and visions that authors have no words for. The performances she weaves are both terrible and oddly wondrous.
Artist’s Patron: At 1st level, the Eldritch Artist must select a witch patron theme. This patron represents a force she knowingly or unknowingly draws upon for artistic inspiration. At 3rd level, an Eldritch Artist adds the first bonus spell her patron offers to the bard spell list. Every three levels thereafter, the Eldritch Artist adds the next bonus spell from her patron to the bard spell list. For example, an Eldritch Artist that selects the Deception patron would add ventriloquism to her spell list at 3rd level, invisibility at 6th, blink at 9th, and so on.
Otherworldly Performance: At 2nd level, the Eldritch Artist can break from the standards and tropes of her art to manifest unnatural magic powers. She learns a new witch hex at 2nd level, and every four levels thereafter. She may only learn hexes that can be used as a standard or move action. At 10th level, she may select from the major hex list as well. In order to cast a witch hex she knows, she must spend one use of bardic performance. This replaces versatile performance.
A Witchish Archetype is pretty neat for a Bard, but I definitely think Otherworldly Performance needs some tweaking. I think increasing the round usage would work. Maybe 2 for a regular hex, 3 or 4 for a major? I could be wrong I think, maybe?
Thanks for the advice. I originally had it at 2 uses, but the reason I turned it down was because it seemed like they'd be bleeding out Bardic Performance uses, especially early on, but I suppose that's the point.
Let's make it, yeah, 2 for a regular hex, and 4 for a major hex. Let's also make it so that she can learn a grand hex at 18th level, and let's have that cost 6 rounds of bardic performance.