I thought it'd be a really unique concept for a character to be a mix of the witch and the magus, and with the hexcrafter from Ultimate Combat falling short of my expectations, I decided to design the [Hexblade].
Basic Features:
- Witch spell list
- Spontaneous Charisma caster
- Witch Patron
- Gains a couple witch hexes, and can sub a magus arcana for additional witch hexes
- At first, can only use spellstrike to deliver hexes, curses, and necromancy spells. Eventually, spellstrike functions as normal.
Let me know what you guys think, and enjoy! If you play a character with this archetype, please let me know how it goes! (none of my players have taken me up on this concept yet)
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Spontaneous Cha seems off, given that you're combining two Int-based prepared casters.
He means to echo the 3.5 Hexblade, which was Charisma-based and spontaneous. I'd love to see some spontaneous Intelligence-based magicians, though (then again, I wish they'd started that trend from the get-go with the Sorcerer).
I'm not crazy about them getting major and grand hexes. I feel like those should stay with the witch.
Getting patron spells feels "meh" to me considering it replaces abilities you don't get until much later and yet you benefit from it at 2nd level.
Accursed pool doesn't need to exist. Just say that the hexblade magus uses Charisma instead of Intelligence for hexes, arcane pool, magus arcana, and other magus class features. Making up a new pool just raises a lot of mechanical questions while not really doing anything. It's one of the many reasons the Eldritch Scion is such a terribly designed archetype.
Other than the above points, I actually really like the general idea behind this archetype. And the tradeoffs made seem fairly balanced. The magus's spellcasting is diminished, but he gets hexes and can spellstrike with them.
Spontaneous Cha seems off, given that you're combining two Int-based prepared casters.He means to echo the 3.5 Hexblade, which was Charisma-based and spontaneous. I'd love to see some spontaneous Intelligence-based magicians, though (then again, I wish they'd started that trend from the get-go with the Sorcerer).
This, and also the idea that the witch patron infuses the hexblade with power, typically against their will, like the Oracle.
It is for this same reason that they get patron spells.
I took away Greater Spell Access mostly because I really didn't want them to have access to the offensive wizard spells like fireball again, doesn't really fit with the theme I was going for. Though I suppose at 19th level, it doesnt really matter that much that. I can add it back.
I'm not crazy about them getting major and grand hexes. I feel like those should stay with the witch.
Getting patron spells feels "meh" to me considering it replaces abilities you don't get until much later and yet you benefit from it at 2nd level.
Accursed pool doesn't need to exist. Just say that the hexblade magus uses Charisma instead of Intelligence for hexes, arcane pool, magus arcana, and other magus class features. Making up a new pool just raises a lot of mechanical questions while not really doing anything. It's one of the many reasons the Eldritch Scion is such a terribly designed archetype.
Other than the above points, I actually really like the general idea behind this archetype. And the tradeoffs made seem fairly balanced. The magus's spellcasting is diminished, but he gets hexes and can spellstrike with them.
The hexcrafter archetype gets major and grand hexes, so I just followed along with that decision. They are at a late enough level, and the magus arcana are already so precious in their availability, that I think it's a fair trade.
The addition of patron spells, like I stated above, was mostly a thematic/flavor decision that does little in the way of swaying his power balance. A hexblade's patron chooses him for some mysterious purpose, and then infuses him with power to carry out that purpose. Patron spells seemed like a natural representation of that, plus it helps expand his spell list a bit, as some patrons offer spells not on the witch's spell list.
A hexblade is already pretty limited in the number of spells he can cast per day, so giving him a few patron spells on top of his also limited spells known really doesn't do a whole lot in terms of power, just like a Sorcerer and his bloodline spells; just because they get more spells known, doesn't mean they get more spells per day. Plus, the number of spells they'd know is still less then they could theoretically get with a spellbook, which is only limited by its number of pages and access to spells to copy into it.
I changed the name of the arcane pool mainly for flavor reasons, and I attempted to make it as clear as possible that accursed pool works just like arcane pool, and anything that alters arcane pool also alters accursed pool. It's enough to change it back, if it helps eliminate confusion.
Anyhow, thanks for the feedback guys! I'm glad you guys like it for the most part. I'll make those couple tweaks here shortly. Thanks again!
Oh, I didn't realize that hexcrafter gets major and grand hexes. That's my mistake. I'd honestly go a little further with the patron than giving spells, but I guess this is fine. But yeah, I'd just leave arcane pool as is. By making it a different pool, it raises many questions. For example, Extra Arcane Pool would technically not work for accursed pool since it's not arcane pool anymore. Generally, you shouldn't replace the pool with a different one unless the mechanics work differently. Grit, Panache, and Luck are exceptions because the game specifically says they're all the same pools.
Looks pretty good on the whole.
Spells
Because of the difference in theme between the witch's spell list, and what the 3.5 hexblade got, this might warrant building a custom spell list. Its a lot of work, but might be for the best. I'm not sure I agree with granting access to the highest level spells for scrolls and such. Does a magus or bard gain such an ability? The original hexblade certainly had no equivalent.
Patron Spells
I not sure you need to loose a class feature to justify gaining access to these bonus spells. Its pretty common nowadays for spontaneous casters to gain a predetermined list of bonus spells.
Spellstrike
I would actually revert this to the original version and leave it that way. The ability to only cast necromancy seems pretty hindering. If you want the ability to toss out a hex while making weapon attacks, you could write a custom hexblade arcana for that.
Hex Arcana
It might be appropriate to write a list of magus arcana and hexes that he has access to, and then to write a half dozen or so hexblade-specific abilities to augment it.
Hex Magus
I feel like its enough that he gains access to a magus arcana or hex at every even numbered level, and that grand hexes should should stay with the witch. Maybe you can think of something else to put in these levels. Something unique to the hexblade, that is not pulled from the magus or witch.
Oh, I didn't realize that hexcrafter gets major and grand hexes. That's my mistake. I'd honestly go a little further with the patron than giving spells, but I guess this is fine. But yeah, I'd just leave arcane pool as is. By making it a different pool, it raises many questions. For example, Extra Arcane Pool would technically not work for accursed pool since it's not arcane pool anymore. Generally, you shouldn't replace the pool with a different one unless the mechanics work differently. Grit, Panache, and Luck are exceptions because the game specifically says they're all the same pools.
It's already changed, but I did have these two lines of rules for the exact point you bring up:
"This otherwise functions as the magus’ arcane pool class feature."
"This ability alters arcane pool, and abilities that modify arcane pool also modify accursed pool."
That would have covered your Extra Arcane Pool feat. Also, if an archetype ability alters a class feature, and doesn't actually replace it, then you still have that class feature.
I do see where it can cause confusion though, which is why I still changed it.
Looks pretty good on the whole.
Spells
Because of the difference in theme between the witch's spell list, and what the 3.5 hexblade got, this might warrant building a custom spell list. Its a lot of work, but might be for the best. I'm not sure I agree with granting access to the highest level spells for scrolls and such. Does a magus or bard gain such an ability? The original hexblade certainly had no equivalent.
That would take a crazy ton of work, as you said. What spells from the witch list don't work for this concept? The 3.5 hexblade inspiration pretty much stopped at the spontaneous Cha casting. The 3.5 hexblade is still very much an arcane magic user; I wanted more witchcraft with this archetype.
Also, there is a caveat in the spells entry already, "A hexblade cannot use spell completion or spell trigger magic items (without making a successful Use Magic Device check) of witch spells of 7th level or higher." This straight up prevents him from gaining access to higher level witch spells.
Patron Spells
I not sure you need to loose a class feature to justify gaining access to these bonus spells. Its pretty common nowadays for spontaneous casters to gain a predetermined list of bonus spells.
Knowledge Pool is strictly for prepared spell-casting, not spontaneous, so it's of no use to the hexblade. This just seemed to be the most convenient place to state the replacement.
Spellstrike
I would actually revert this to the original version and leave it that way. The ability to only cast necromancy seems pretty hindering. If you want the ability to toss out a hex while making weapon attacks, you could write a custom hexblade arcana for that.
I understand your skepticism, but consider this list of necromancy spells at 1st level, keeping in mind that the ability states, "but the hexes or [necromancy or curse] spells need not be touch attack abilities":
touch of fatigue, cause fear, chill touch, hex vulnerability, inflict light wounds, interrogation, ray of enfeeblement, ray of sickening (likely missed one or two others)
Also, the ability says that he can cast spells with the curse descriptor with spellstrike as well, meaning such spells don't need to be necromancy spells. PLUS hexes on top of that; so you're not really hurting for spellstrike options until you hit 7th level and get your normal spellstrike.
Hex Arcana
It might be appropriate to write a list of magus arcana and hexes that he has access to, and then to write a half dozen or so hexblade-specific abilities to augment it.
He has access to all hexes and to all magus arcana that don't involve prepared spell-casting. Fairly straightforward. Some hexblade-only arcana would be pretty sweet though; thanks for the add!!
Anyone have some suggested hexblade magus arcana? Perhaps ones tied more closely to his Patron (that'd be pretty cool)?
Hex Magus
I feel like its enough that he gains access to a magus arcana or hex at every even numbered level, and that grand hexes should should stay with the witch. Maybe you can think of something else to put in these levels. Something unique to the hexblade, that is not pulled from the magus or witch.
At most, the hexblade gets 2 mandatory hexes, one at 4th and another at 11th. Otherwise, he gets a magus arcana at 3rd (can't swap this one for a hex, yet), and then every 3 levels thereafter, not every even level (not sure where you got that from; thinking of the witch's hex progression, perhaps?).
That is 6 magus arcana and 2 hexes, over 20 levels. The hexblade can get a grand hex at 18th level, but possibly only ever one, because he'd have to give up his last magus arcana to do so. A witch gets 2 grand hexes.
Again, swapping a magus arcana for a hex is completely optional. Furthermore, this is the exact same option as the hexcrafter archetype, so Paizo already thought it was fair/balanced. Honestly, I'd be more inclined to take a magus arcana over a hex 75% of the time, as their just more combat effective.
Thanks for combing through everything, Ciaran, I really appreciate the thorough inspection!