Should my witch take Animal Skin hex?

[Friend of the Dork]

Hello.

My witch is now 10th lvl and can take her first Major Hex. I want either Ice Tomb, Major Healing or Animal Skin. The latter would enable her to change animal forms as easily as one changes clothes (plus a std. Action), limited only by the pelts she can get and Beast Shape II stats.

However she won't be able to cast spells in animal form, and she already has the Fly Hex on in most combats. Hexes work, I even persuaded my gm to allow Prehensile Hair, however in animal form she gets -5 on it as a secondary attack due to attaining actual natural attacks. Str 9 means that those are completely useless even in large sized forms.

Afaik the only real gain is natural armor and permanent fly, scent etc. Darkvision would be nice, but no animals have it, and my witch is an Elf.

More healing on the other hand is welcome in a party with no cleric (just a Pally), and Ice Tomb is awesome vs undead and those others immune to mind effects and Sleep (Slumber Hex).

The party already has a druid who uses beast chape in combat, so Animal skin kinda his ball game.

Any tips? Or are there animals I don't know about that can make a great difference? Im playing Rise of the Runelords and we know we're going up into snow covered mountains soon.

[Heemi]

I'd say go with ice tomb: It's thematically appropriate for a witch to pick it up for going into a icy area, and the most useful.

FYI: If you already have the healing hex you can pick up the spell "Hex Vulnerability" and heal the party that way--they can voluntarily fail their save so they can be affected anyways.

[Just a Guess]

Animal shapes can be very useful when used as disguise. When an elf walks around in a place she has no business being in guards will react alarmed. If an animal (if well chosen) does the same the guard might just shoo it away. And if the druid uses his wildshape in combat he might be reluctant to "waste" uses on non combat usage.
But major healing is always good, too.

[Friend of the Dork]

My reply failed when I lost connection. So good suggestion with ice tomb, accursed hex dont work on failed saves (and saving vs healing to get extra is banned here).

Any animals I havent thought of that could help for purposes other than disguises?

[Heemi]

Foxes, bunnies, and squirrels are the big ones I can think of that people can actually skin...

Rats would be optimal for dungeon crawl scouting but I'm not sure if your DM would let you skin something with that thin of a skin.

[Imbicatus]

I'd say Hag's Eye. It's better for scouting that Beast Shape 2, and if you still want to turn into a tiny animal, you can just get a ring of 7 lovely colors.

[Friend of the Dork]

Hags Eye is 1 min/lvl so useless outside room to room scouting.

What is this magical ring og colors you arw talking about? My money is spent on a hags blouse, but tiny animal is pretty much the goos thing about Animal Skin.

[Kalindlara]

Ring of Seven Lovely Colors, a magic item created by worshipers of Shelyn.

One of my favorites. ^_^

[Friend of the Dork]

Kalindlara wrote:

Ring of Seven Lovely Colors, a magic item created by worshipers of Shelyn.

One of my favorites. ^_^

Pretty nice and cheap. Of course 10 minutes is not long enough for scouting much, but for that price well worth it.

[Kalindlara]

Friend of the Dork wrote:

Kalindlara wrote:

Ring of Seven Lovely Colors, a magic item created by worshipers of Shelyn.

One of my favorites. ^_^

Pretty nice and cheap. Of course 10 minutes is not long enough for scouting much, but for that price well worth it.

Remember that you get to use that power seven times per day, though...

[Friend of the Dork]

ooh