By 11th level some of most characters defense is going to come from items instead of intrinsic abilities.
Critical negating headgear is helpful, many characters end up with a Jingasa of the Fortunate Soldier.
Shield, Reduce Person, Blur, Mirror Image, Barkskin, Shield of Faith, Displacement, Invisibility, and others can be gotten as potions or wands. If you are any good at UMD wands open up a lot of good buffs. Potions are great for all characters, I think they are undervalued by many.
Greater False Life will give even more HP, your call if the higher level slot is worth it.
Heroism is indeed worth having up for almost everybody all the time, mostly for the saving throw bonus.
Persistent Vigor is a great buff, it doesn't last too long, but immunity to nauseated is really nice. The fact that it will save you if you go negative and stops bleed effects is pretty neat too.
Named Bullet and Greater Named Bullet are lights out good if you have a ranged character to work with. Despite the name of the spell it works with any kind of ammunition or thrown weapon. Not great for random encounters, but perfect for boss fights.
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Good Buffs to have up and that I use on my level 10 Gluttony Wizard going through RotRL are:
Arcane Bond: Ring of Invisibility
(This is active unless in social situation so you can count it as Invisibility spell)
Read magic
Breeze
Mage Armor
Defending Bone
False Life
Arcane Sight (I plan to permanency this and darkvision eventually)
Fly + Lesser rod of Extend spell (only 3k gold and so worth it)
I sometimes have a Summoned Accuser up to do some scouting and relaying everything to me with his special power. Then I make use of His SLAs the best I can.
A few witch buffs that are very good:
DEATH KNELL (my necromancer wishes he had this spell.)
See invisibility (always handy to have on a scroll.)
Death Ward (this is nice to have on a scroll or prepared if fighting negative energy enemies)
THREE FOLD ASPECT (this spell is good...it really is)
Marionette Possession + any personal Spell (gets some amazing buffs on your allies they typically would not get...See above suggestion)
especially Mirror Image is missed.
That's the main reason I went for the Trickery patron. It's saved my witch numerous times.
That's the downside of the witch being such a powerful debuffer - every intelligent foe prioritises her as a target.
Hex vulnerability - How did I missed that spell? Combined with fortune it becomes nearly game braking. A free re roll every round of combat, every fight. Though one guess who becomes the focus target?
Ward will be bought next time in town, but used in moderation/combined with healing hex, least the dm drops rocks.
Hex vulnerability + Healing Hex = massive HP healing. Get a wand of the spell.
Ward is a Hex, not a spell. As a deflection bonus, it does not stack with the ring.
Heroism
The slots are a reason why Heroism can't be up for everybody, all the time. With five characters in our group it would be all my slots, and would covers roughly 2 of 24 ours. That is plenty to rush through a dungeon, not so great when you're in dangerous territory not knowing when the next ambush will be. (hint, just a bit over 2 hours after the first time you buffed) A great spell for someone else - fighter(not to kill us) or scout(survive the 1 on disable trap). Somehow I like greater herosim worse, as it lasts only one fight on one person... might be worth that one time though
1) Pearl of Power. Tell everyone, you will carry 1 instance. If they buy the PoP, you will use it for them.
2) Rod of Extend, Lesser @ 3,000 gp. Double duration Heroism 3/day.
/cevah
What's your patron?
Time and Agility offer the Haste spell, pretty much the best buff spell in existence.
Time in particular is a very strong patron.
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Its a shame Marionette possession would be frowned upon in your group for 2 reasons.
1: It is not evil and should not be viewed as evil. You can change peoples minds in character as well. I convenienced the rogue of my group and after the first time another person said how useful it seems. You can built trust with a group after a few heroic deeds.
2: Your body is left laying there for another group member to watch over...you can always say hey if I do harm then kill my body. Usually good guys are OK with something if it helps accomplish goals.
The Spirit Talker feat, which lets you select one Shaman Spirit Hex to use each day, is a great option for witches.
When it comes to improving your armor class, the Air Barrier Shaman Hex (Wind) is amazing. By level 11, it is providing a +8 armor bonus for 11 hours! And those hours don't even have to be consecutive; you just use it when you need to. By level 19 it is providing a +12 armor bonus. It's as if you could stack maxed out Bracers of Armor with Mage Armor.
Additionally, starting at level 13 it provides a 50% miss chance to virtually all ranged attacks - including rays! Unlike a lot of ranged attack countermeasures, this isn't limited to affecting only one attack per round. This makes flying in combat a much safer option.
And all of these benefits come with no ACP, no encumbrance, and 0% chance of spell failure!
For buffing your familiar, the Spirit's Gift feat lets you select a Shaman familiar ability. Some of the best are DR5/adamantine (Stone Spirit), fast healing 1 (Life Spirit), and increasing its natural armor bonus by 2 (Battle Spirit).
I believe it was discussed that hex vulnerability was not intended for beneficial hexes. I can't be assed to check where.
You are probably thinking of this post by James Jacobs. Of course, that is just his opinion rather than an official ruling.
@ Cevah:
A ward of hex vulnerability is not a hex.
Ward of hex vulnerability + healing Hex = massive HP
Ward of hex vulnerability + fortune Hex = rerolls for the whole party
Chances of finding a ward of hex vulnerability = Chances of buying one. Such wards are rather rare, would porbably be a comission/side quest once we get to a city.
Speaking about hexes, is there a good major hex to support your party? At this point I doubt taking the ward hex at lvl 12 instead of say retribution or major healing is worth it.
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Ok, what nice can we do for our party?
Hexes:
Fly - Mobility is king
Ward - +2 Ac/saving throws for one guy (doesn't stack)
Ward of hex vulnerability + healing Hex - better than clw
Ward of hex vulnerability + fortune Hex + crackle - rerolls
Scar Hex + Healing Hex/Fortune - ranged healing
What is this "Ward of hex vulnerability" you keep mentioning?
There is the hex "Ward"There are the spells "Hex Vulnerability" and "Hex Ward"
I don't understand what you mean.
Do you mean to say "Wand"?
Per magic item availability states:
Base Value and Purchase Limit: This section lists the community's base value for available magic items in gp. There is a 75% chance that any item of this value or lower can be found for sale in the community with little effort.
Combined with the table, any town of "Small town" or larger has 75% chance of having one.
At a "Large Town", you can find a 5th level caster, and have a chance at a caster with Craft Wand who can make you one if you have the spell.
For hexes, Agony is Nauseated(Fort), Beast Eye is great for scouting, Cook People(Evil) is great for long term buffing, Delicious Fright imposes shaken for 3+IntMod(or 1) rounds, Hag’s Eye gives you Arcane Eye, Hidden Home is great for hiding your base of operations, Major Healing can be used alongside of Healing, Retribution is great if you face enemies with large DPS, Waxen Image can be used to expend your standard to give the big DPS damage dealer a move into position for a full round attack on its turn.
/cevah
Yeah, I'm pretty sure that he meant "wand."