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Hi! I've lurked these boards for years but I rarely post anything because I'm quite shy. Anyway, I've got a concept for a character I'd really like to make, but I'm not sure the best way to go about it. I play the MMO Final Fantasy XIV and my character is called a miqo'te (basically your typical anime cat people race). Her class is Astrologian which is a healer class that uses a tarot-like card deck to buff their party members. Flavor-wise, they don't so much tell the future as manipulate fate to try and get the ideal outcome. I have some ideas on how to go about it, but I'd like input.
First, I'm leaning toward Witch as my starting class for a couple reasons. Obviously, healing patron would be great for the healing aspect of my character as well as the healing hex and fortune/misfortune hex kind of goes nicely with the idea of controlling fate. There's also a couple archetypes I'm interested in. The obvious one is Cartomancer since Harrow decks are basically Golarion's tarot cards. The other is Synergist for one reason only: so I can merge with my familiar and "adopt some basic physical features of the familiar," ie have cat ears and a tail. The problem is the two archetypes can't be used together since Cartomancer makes your Harrow deck replace your familiar. So I was wondering about approaching the cat thing from another angle...
Racial Heritage (catfolk)? I've seen it debated (rather heatedly) that this feat could justify having cosmetic traits of the ancestor but taking a feat solely for that reason seems like a waste. I mean, I'm all about flavor, but I would still like a competent character at the end of creation.
And finally, the prestige class Harrower. Would it be worthwhile to pursue alongside Witch or would I be better off just sticking to the base class and have better hexes? Harrower has exactly the flavor I want for my character, but I'm concerned it's not really that strong a PC class. I'd lean toward taking Harrower more if I go with Synergist archetype. My "familiar" will be gimped, but that doesn't really bother me since I'm going to be merged with it all the time and pretending it doesn't exist.
TLDR: I want to be a cat girl that heals and buffs with a harrow deck. I am willing to sacrifice optimization to achieve this goal, but at the same time I don't want to be dead weight to the party. How I do?
Instead of Racial Heritage, you could take Eldritch Heritage for the Rakshasa bloodline instead. That would require 13 Charisma and Skill Focus (Disguise), but it would also give you a solid boost to your Bluffing skills.
I'd go with synergist as simply treat your cards as your (non-costly) material components. Essentially make it flavor.
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Cartomancer is a weird archetype: I played one recently through Tears at Bitter Manor (so levels 5-8) and found it interesting to play, and despite its oddness, it's not that ineffective. It just doesn't do what you'd expect a witch do due to Deadly Dealer. However, it sort of splits your focus - you'd like to get as much done as a witch as you can, but you also want to take ranged combat feats in order to, well, not be useless with your cards. Deliver Touch Spells can be crazy useful, and just having the cards gives you something to do when you're out of spells. However, you trade out any bonus a familiar would give you, as well as the possibility of getting Improved Familiar.
Synergist loses you some hexes, including your first hex, which can be off-putting for a lot of people - getting a lot of versatile hexes early (Slumber, Evil Eye, Fortune and Misfortune coming to mind at once - personally I would go for Misfortune first since the first two are mind-affecting) is something most people come to expect from a witch.
Also, you might note that casting harrowing, when you get to those levels, requires a noticeable amount of time and bookkeeping, since the effects you get are so random and varied. Not all people will appreciate it, or the fact you're flipping cards during the game. Timeslots can be a big deal in some PFS situations.
Going into harrower from witch is a viable option, since you don't lose caster level: do keep in mind, however, that nothing progresses aside from spells per day, so your patron spells, for instance, don't progress, and again you lose out on hexes. One issue can be losing out on major hexes. The harrower abilities give a lot of interesting buffs, but they're also very random and therefore vary in usefulness. They're also time-consuming card-flipping abilities, which can, again, be a problem for some people and situations. The witch spell list also has an... odd assortment of divination spells, which are a prerequisite for the prestige class: there are many nice low level ones, though, such as identify, comprehend languages, see invisibility, arcane sight, and tongues. Divination spells also aren't very well supported or acknowledged by PFS scenarios, and can be seen by some GMs as an attempt to "break" the scenario, so you might want to be cautious about spells like divination.
tl;dr: Cartomancer isn't bad, but for the cat flavor, go synergist. Harrower is an okay buffing PrC with a "cool" factor, but not as powerful as straight witch, and can be time-consuming and overcomplicated.
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Cartomancer Witch with a Healing Patron is a solid choice for using a Harrow Deck to heal and buff. You also get some nice control/debuff/damage options too. Harrower is fun for flavor, but it really does come down to how much you want the class to be about the cards/Harrow.
As far as the racial option go, there really isn't anything re: Catfolk that is legal without a chronicle granting you access to it. Eldritch Heritage (Rakshasa) is one option, but takes some feat investment.
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Instead of Racial Heritage, you could take Eldritch Heritage for the Rakshasa bloodline instead. That would require 13 Charisma and Skill Focus (Disguise), but it would also give you a solid boost to your Bluffing skills.
Oooh, I hadn't considered that. As long as I don't have to inherit backwards hands, that could work. xD
I'd go with synergist as simply treat your cards as your (non-costly) material components. Essentially make it flavor.
That seems to be the simplest route to take if I don't use the above Eldritch Heritage suggestion. The only trouble is how evil rakshasas are, but that could also be an RP opportunity. Maybe she devotes herself to healing and supporting her allies in an attempt to prove herself above her tiger fiend ancestry. Anyway, it's probably no more problematic than having a poor cat trapped in my body forever just so I can frolic about with his adorable animal features.
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Cartomancer is a weird archetype: I played one recently through Tears at Bitter Manor (so levels 5-8) and found it interesting to play, and despite its oddness, it's not that ineffective. It just doesn't do what you'd expect a witch do due to Deadly Dealer. However, it sort of splits your focus - you'd like to get as much done as a witch as you can, but you also want to take ranged combat feats in order to, well, not be useless with your cards. Deliver Touch Spells can be crazy useful, and just having the cards gives you something to do when you're out of spells. However, you trade out any bonus a familiar would give you, as well as the possibility of getting Improved Familiar.
Synergist loses you some of hexes, including your first hex, which can be off-putting for a lot of people - getting a lot of versatile hexes early (Slumber, Evil Eye, Fortune and Misfortune coming to mind at once - personally I would go for Misfortune first since the first two are mind-affecting) is something most people come to expect from a witch.
Also, you might note that casting harrowing, when you get to those levels, requires a noticeable amount of time and bookkeeping, since the effects you get are so random and varied. Not all people will appreciate it, or the fact you're flipping cards during the game. Timeslots can be a big deal in some PFS situations.
Going into harrower from witch is a viable option, since you don't lose caster level: do keep in mind, however, that nothing progresses aside from spells per day, so your patron spells, for instance, don't progress, and again you lose out on hexes. One issue can be losing out on major hexes. The harrower abilities give a lot of interesting buffs, but they're also very random and therefore vary in usefulness. They're also time-consuming card-flipping abilities, which can, again, be a problem for some people and situations. The witch spell list also has an... odd assortment of divination spells, which are a prerequisite for the prestige class: there are many nice...
Oh man, thanks for this! I've played with a couple witches, but never as one myself, so your insight is appreciated! The split focus of the cartomancer did concern me, though I am glad to hear it can be pulled off with a measure of success. I must admit I hadn't considered how time consuming it might be to keep track of which cards do what. I'm the kind of person that keeps a super neat binder with all my character's source material organized but even I would probably find 52 cards a challenge. The programmer in me wants to code something that could make it all faster. I wonder if there's an app available already? Would I even be allowed to use that? I recall one of the rules for using Harrow decks was you had to use a real Harrow deck and not any approximations.
Cartomancer Witch with a Healing Patron is a solid choice for using a Harrow Deck to heal and buff. You also get some nice control/debuff/damage options too. Harrower is fun for flavor, but it really does come down to how much you want the class to be about the cards/Harrow.
As far as the racial option go, there really isn't anything re: Catfolk that is legal without a chronicle granting you access to it. Eldritch Heritage (Rakshasa) is one option, but takes some feat investment.
Another option I could fall back on is kitsune. Not a cat, but fox ears and tails can be just as cute and it would require a lot less hoop-jumping to achieve. Cartomancer/Healing Patron is what I'm leaning toward. It gets me all the witch goodies and throw in card tricks for good measure. I'd need to figure out something about keeping track of which cards are what, though.
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Given that the most recent GM boon was Aasimars, I wouldn't be surprised if Tiefling came up in winter or spring. A Rakshasa-blooded Tiefling = catgirl aesthetics.
So, you could wait for that then GM at a con or trade with someone who did. Or maybe there's some very old tiefling boons floating around still you could trade for.
Doesn't one of the Aasimar bloodlines have "Cat-like" features? So, with those boons being in the current release mix, you might look at running an Aasimar.Given that the most recent GM boon was Aasimars, I wouldn't be surprised if Tiefling came up in winter or spring. A Rakshasa-blooded Tiefling = catgirl aesthetics.
So, you could wait for that then GM at a con or trade with someone who did. Or maybe there's some very old tiefling boons floating around still you could trade for.
Idyllkin (agathion-blooded) aasimar can have animal features, including feline from a leonal agathion. The stat modifiers are a bit weird for a witch - +2 Con and Cha - but more than workable since you just get a net bonus.
Except that at the moment, aasimar requires a boon. So unless they have an unbuilt legacy aasimar, that is not really an option.
Which was literally just mentioned three posts earlier.
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If the Rakshasa bloodline is enough to grant you rakshasa physical features, why not go with eldrich heritage (celestial) and stipulate cat agathion as your ancestor.
Requires skill focus (heal) (which fits the character) and gets you a ranged attack that does unstoppable damage to evil creatures and heals good creatures. It is a pretty trivial amount of damage, but a ranged emergency heal can be nice.
As a bonus, if you decide to go that route, you could qualify for improved eldrich heritage at 11th and get wings, though mechanically you are probably better off just taking the witch flight hex if you want that.
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Another option I could fall back on is kitsune. Not a cat, but fox ears and tails can be just as cute and it would require a lot less hoop-jumping to achieve. Cartomancer/Healing Patron is what I'm leaning toward. It gets me all the witch goodies and throw in card tricks for good measure. I'd need to figure out something about keeping track of which cards are what, though.
I had actually considered suggesting a Kitsune, but wasn't sure if that would break from your theme too much. They have some fun feats too!
I'm actually playing a Cartomancer Witch at the moment with plans to go Harrower. The Harrow spell itself is actually very unfriendly to PFS play both for time and that it can hand out penalties to folks at the table. I'm going to learn it for the PrC, but probably never use it. Greater Harrowing is a good option later on. From a Hex Standpoint, the Extra Hex feat can help you pick up more hexes. Just know that their DC won't scale, but if you're focusing on buffing that isn't as big a deal. You should easily have the improved version of the Healing Hex prior to taking Harrower, Fortune has no DC, Cackle is Cackle, and Fly Hex works just fine with only 6 levels of witch.
The other huge benefit to Cartomancer? You can enhanced your deck for ranged touch on spells.This means ranged buffing/healing when you'd normally have to touch someone. Make sure to take Point Blank/Precise Shot to get the most out of this combo.
If you really want to accentuate the harrow/fortune telling options, there are a couple things you can grab that are neat, easy to use, and give you some extra things to do outside of combat that don't mean using up spells.
Harrowed Feat from Inner Sea World Guide
Draw one Harrow Card each day and get a floating +2 bonus to checks using the ability associated with the card's suit you declare before the roll is made. Very flexible and fun.
Psychic Sensitivity from Occult Adventures
This unlocks Occult Skill uses, which gives you a bunch of cool skill uses ranging from fortune telling to reading auras to faith healing.
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Idyllkin (agathion-blooded) aasimar can have animal features, including feline from a leonal agathion. The stat modifiers are a bit weird for a witch - +2 Con and Cha - but more than workable since you just get a net bonus.Doesn't one of the Aasimar bloodlines have "Cat-like" features? So, with those boons being in the current release mix, you might look at running an Aasimar.Given that the most recent GM boon was Aasimars, I wouldn't be surprised if Tiefling came up in winter or spring. A Rakshasa-blooded Tiefling = catgirl aesthetics.
So, you could wait for that then GM at a con or trade with someone who did. Or maybe there's some very old tiefling boons floating around still you could trade for.
If the Rakshasa bloodline is enough to grant you rakshasa physical features, why not go with eldrich heritage (celestial) and stipulate cat agathion as your ancestor.
That's perfect! I can't believe I didn't think about agathions sooner. I love Silvanshees! If I can get a hold of an Aasimar boon, I'll go that route for sure, but if not, I don't see why eldritch heritage (celestial) couldn't work just as well.
I'm actually playing a Cartomancer Witch at the moment with plans to go Harrower (...)
If you really want to accentuate the harrow/fortune telling options(...)
Oh man. Cartomancer and Harrower? That's definitely going all in! I think I'll be satisfied with cartomancer alone, but I'll play with builds with and without Harrower and see what I like best. Thanks for pointing out those feats! I haven't picked up Occult Adventures yet, but I'll definitely look into it!
Idyllkin (agathion-blooded) aasimar can have animal features, including feline from a leonal agathion. The stat modifiers are a bit weird for a witch - +2 Con and Cha - but more than workable since you just get a net bonus.Doesn't one of the Aasimar bloodlines have "Cat-like" features? So, with those boons being in the current release mix, you might look at running an Aasimar.Given that the most recent GM boon was Aasimars, I wouldn't be surprised if Tiefling came up in winter or spring. A Rakshasa-blooded Tiefling = catgirl aesthetics.
So, you could wait for that then GM at a con or trade with someone who did. Or maybe there's some very old tiefling boons floating around still you could trade for.
If the Rakshasa bloodline is enough to grant you rakshasa physical features, why not go with eldrich heritage (celestial) and stipulate cat agathion as your ancestor.That's perfect! I can't believe I didn't think about agathions sooner. I love Silvanshees! If I can get a hold of an Aasimar boon, I'll go that route for sure, but if not, I don't see why eldritch heritage (celestial) couldn't work just as well.
Oh man. Cartomancer and Harrower? That's definitely going all in! I think I'll be satisfied with cartomancer alone, but I'll play with builds with and without Harrower and see what I like best. Thanks for pointing out those feats! I haven't picked up Occult Adventures yet, but I'll definitely look into it!I'm actually playing a Cartomancer Witch at the moment with plans to go Harrower (...)
If you really want to accentuate the harrow/fortune telling options(...)
Willing to come to Minnesota this weekend? Skalcon runs Fri-Sun. We might still need a GM or two.
I like where you're going with this character and I wish you the best of luck.
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Willing to come to Minnesota this weekend? Skalcon runs Fri-Sun. We might still need a GM or two.
I like where you're going with this character and I wish you the best of luck.
Aw, if it were Any other weekend, I'd see what I could do but I already have out of state plans this week! I do need to do more conventions, though. =3
Its not the same as the witch, but you should look into the oracle. Its a very customizable class, and since it is a spontaneous caster you can cast your cure spells every day and still have spell slots left over for real spellcasting.
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Its not the same as the witch, but you should look into the oracle. Its a very customizable class, and since it is a spontaneous caster you can cast your cure spells every day and still have spell slots left over for real spellcasting.
If you want spontaneous casting, the Ley Line Guardian witch gains spells per day and spells known as a sorcerer and gains patron spells as bonus spells knows. It's my favorite witch archetype.
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Oh man. Cartomancer and Harrower? That's definitely going all in! I think I'll be satisfied with cartomancer alone, but I'll play with builds with and without Harrower and see what I like best. Thanks for pointing out those feats! I haven't picked up Occult Adventures yet, but I'll definitely look into it!
Yeah. I love the feel of Harrow from a thematic perspective (Astrologian almost dragged me back into FFXIV. Almost.). I've been wanting to play a Harrower since I started PFS, but for a long time they weren't allowed for logistical/practical reasons (Harrow Handbook got them to re-examine it). I'm leaning more fortune telling/divination, so it's not as big a deal to me to lose Hexes, since I'm all about spellcasting anyways.
Just make sure for any drawing-from-a-Harrow-Deck dependent options (Harrowed, Harrower, Etc.) you have one of the two Harrow decks Paizo makes handy, as that's the only legal way to use them.