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Feats
* Healer's Hands - this allows you to save your Spells and Wands out for out of combat healing. This has the possibility of performing treat Deadly Wounds during Combat if the injured Creature can move out of direct harm's way or you use a Hex/Major Hex/Grand Hex to create a reprieve.
* Toughness - Witches are flimsy Arcane types with d6 Hit Dice, so this boost can be a goodness send.
* Reach (Metamagic) Spell - if you are Combat avoidant then this will enable you to extend the Range of your Cure Spells from Touch, making the most of your low-mid. Spell Slots.
* Skill Focus(Heal) - the old go-to for non-magical healing and enables Healer's Hands to come into play earlier.
* Eldritch Heritage (Celestial) - if you do take Skill Focus(Heal), then this is an option, although not one that is really Feat worthy unless it fits with your background/theme. As well as boosting your Healer's Hands success rate, it also opens up the Celestial Bloodline, gaining Heavenly Fire (Sp) for 1d4 H.P. healing, (with limitations). I only mention it because your primary Ability Score is now Charisma as a Witch(Leyline Guardian), granting you more uses.
Hexes
* Slumber (Su) - if you have a singular Target that is susceptible to Sleep Effects you can effectively stop a Combat mid-battle. This can either be by coup-de-grace, (preventing further damage to the Party), or by allowing you to heal others without worrying about attacks.
* Cauldron (Ex) - this enables you to make Potions from Witch 1, (bypassing the Caster Level 3 Prerequisite), plus early on the +4 Insight Bonus to Craft(Alchemy) helps.
* Scar (su) - if your Party members are okay with it, this scarring will allow you to use your Healing Hex from a greater Range.
Major Hexes
* Regenerative Sinew - I adore this one : by Witch 20 you gain Fast Healing 5 for 10 Rounds, (50 H.P.), or you can heal 4 Points of Ability Score Damage to two Ability Scores, or it can act as the Regenerate Spell ... It is very versatile, especially if you take Damage to your Spellcasting Ability Score.
* Restless Slumber (Su) - see Slumber, only it causes H.P. damage to the Target and they wake up with the Confused Condition, further aiding you.
* Witch's Bounty (Su) - this is more thematic as it really does not do a lot. However, if you have a lenient G.M. and do not want to use a Cantrip Slot for Stabilize, then you can always pop a Goodberry in someone's mouth.
* Witch's Brew (Ex) - enables you to pump out healing Potions faster.
* Witch's Charge (Su) - I would not recommend this unless you have a younger or vulnerable ward as part of your schtick.
* Major Ameliorating - it is thematic but personally I would not recommend this either, unless you are in a game where you often get opportunities to scope out your antagonists' abilities in advance.
Grand Hexes
* Death Interrupted (Su) - I know that you replace your Familiar with Ley Lines but taking the Familair Bond Feat makes this usually better than Life Giver (Su). You can save multiple Targets per day, (1/day each), and the process of restoring them to life does not reference Raise Dead/Resurrection/True Resurrection. They appear to be returned to life with limited H.P. but no Negative Levels!
* Curse of Nonviolence (Su) - not a healing Effect as such, again it is forcing the opponent not to harm you or your Party (until you can heal/all get ready). Situational to Combat style.
* Forced Reincarnation (Su) - technically it is a healing effect, yet this is much more for offence as it both kills and restores to life the Target, bestowing two Negative Levels and most likely changing their Race in the process ... *Evil grin* As a side-note, if you or your Party want a route to effective immortality, reincarnating as a Young Adult every few decades is a viable route.
Something to think about is how many Hexes/Major Hexes/Grand Hexes you want, as increasing the number of Hit Dice for your Channel Energy (Su) ability requires sacrificing (non-Extra Hex Feat) Hex "slots". If you use the Extra Hex Feat to gain them back you are then sacrificing Feats ... If you utilize Healer's Hands for multiple uses of Full-Round Treat Deadly Wounds per day, then the Heal Skill becomes much more important to you, as it provides mundane healing that reduces the burden of needing to advance your Channel Energy (Su).
The witch spell list is weak on defence. You have 10 Con, 10 Dex, a d6 hit die, your favored class bonus is spent elsewhere... with ~20 hp and ~AC 14 at level 5, for example, you're in serious danger of being taken out in 1 round between your actions. Self-healing has limits. If you could drop Cha to 16 that'd give you some points to put in Dex and/or Con to mitigate that weakness.
Most offensive witch spells have saving throws. You're probably going to want persistent spell or similar eventually.
The healing hexes are probably overkill between spells, channeling and a few magic items. Having slumber will save you hassles.
I would suggest looking at the Hedge Witch archetype, it will let you spontaneously cast healing spells w/o learning them. If you are going the eldritch heritage route, you might also consider the solar bloodline. It gives you low light vision and a high levels it effectively gives you a lay on hands type ability and another channel energy ability.
Drop the racial heritage feat. As a spontaneous caster your spells known are way more important than hexes. An extra spell known per level is much better than a hex every 6 levels. 17 spells known is going to be more valuable than 3 hexes. Use the feat extra hexes instead. Use the first 3 levels of favored class bonus for HP to give you a little protection early when it is most valuable.
I recommend against the hex channeler. It is not worth the number of hexes and feats it eats up to be useful.
I'm not crazy about the ley line guardian either, but you sound pretty set on that, and it does give you innate spontaneous cures. So, my suggestion would be to rely on cure light at low level. Take healing hex and prehensile hair at level 1, with the extra hex feat. Hopefully, your GM will be cool with you using the hair to deliver your touches at a 10 foot reach. At level 3 or 5, you will want to grab the reach spell metamagic, to deliver your cures from a distance.
And, I'll agree that regenerative sinew is too good to not take. I might would even take it before greater healing hex as your first greater hex.
Edit: I just noticed the ley line guardian replaces your first hex, so you can’t take extra hex at level 1. And that same issue may keep you from taking the FCB at level 1 as well, depending on how your DM rules those to work.
I don't see the need for infight healing at all. Seriously, using an offensive action, or casting a buff, debuff, or battlefield controll spell, prevents more damage than the heal action would have healed.
E.g. if you slumber a hard to reach target, you've effectivly "healed" every point of damage your target would have done during that fight.
Channel is one of the few useful methods of infight healing, so that's OK, but I would strongly advice against cure spells or the healing hexes.
Outfight healing should be done by wands or the new Healer's Hands feat (possibly in combination with the skill unlock feat).
Some other things: 1) Using your FCB to gain a single additional hex at 12th level doesn't feel worth it.
2) Versatile Spontaneity is only one spell/day.
3) Your patron spells are added to you spells known, anyway.
4) The healing hexes are crap.
What trait(s), hexes and feats to take depends on what you want your character to do (without disrupting the game). A "normal" Witch is focussed on offensive hexes: Mediator grants +1 Slumber DC, Accursed Hex and Split Hex improve your hexes, Improved Initiative helps disabling the enemies before they can do somethign nasty. Most of your feat's will probably end up being Extra Hex, though - if you want to keep full channel progression, you don't gain any hexes from level ups.
The one time I played a healer-Witch, I mixed it with Arcane Archer to deliver healing spells from downtown. Was also pretty funny when the Lich caught a Heal arrow to the face.
The one time I played a healer-Witch, I mixed it with Arcane Archer to deliver healing spells from downtown. Was also pretty funny when the Lich caught a Heal arrow to the face.
very cool, what healing spells were you using? When I look at arcane archer I see that imbue arrow only works with area effect spells.
The one time I played a healer-Witch, I mixed it with Arcane Archer to deliver healing spells from downtown. Was also pretty funny when the Lich caught a Heal arrow to the face.very cool, what healing spells were you using? When I look at arcane archer I see that imbue arrow only works with area effect spells.
selective reading for the win! Actually I think my GM just let me use whatever spells (which seems fine to me, this was just after the Witch came out, so really this just put it in line with the ranged Magus archetype that came out later), or maybe we allowed the Mass Cure spells, it's been awhile and we only played like two games, so the exact details are fuzzy, but I do remember hitting a lich in the face with a Heal arrow!
Get Reach Spell so you can make your Touch range Cure spells into Close range (25ft +5ft/2lvls). This also improves your survivability when delivering touch spells like Touch of Idiocy to enemies.
http://paizo.com/paizo/faq/v5748nruor1fm#v5748eaic9qt8
If you have an archetype or other rules element that replaces part of a scaling class feature, or delays when you get that class feature, you do not have that class feature until you actually gain that class feature.
...
Example: If you have a witch archetype that replaces your hex at level 1 (but not later hexes, major hexes, or grand hexes), you don't gain your first hex ability until witch level 2, which means you don't have the hex class feature until you reach witch level 2. Anything with "hex" or "hex class feature" as a prerequisite is unavailable to you until level 2.
To reiterate: You can't take extra hex at level 1! You don't qualify for the feat at that level, because you traded away your first level hex, with the ley line guardian. You arguably can't take the FCB for getting a new hex until you have hexes either. And because hex channeler trades away your level 2 hex, you don't actually have hexes until level 4. And it's unclear if you still qualify at level 4, if you use that hex to advance your channeling, but I would suspect that you do not.
I have to wonder why you want to play a witch at all. You don't like the spell casting, and you are trading out most of your hexes. And your archetypes even remove your familiar. You should just play a spirit guide healing oracle. You'll have better spell variety and most of the same spell selection. And important to you, you'll have great channels, without needing to sacrifice much of anything.
But spontaneous casters get a nasty penality on metamagic use, so I'm reluctant to use this
Make sure you aren't confusing its full round action with a 1 round spell. It's mostly just losing your move action, which isn't usually that bad. You still have 5 foot steps. Spontaneous spell casters are generally better at metamagic than prepared, since they can use it when needed.
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For a change. We've seen too many clerics and oracles already in the campaigns we played.
But if you really think about it, is it a change? You have traded away so much of the witch that it comes closer to resembling an oracle than a witch. A real change would be trying to take on the challenge of being the healer without relying on the channels.
The weakness of the witch's defense is truly an important point I didn't spot right on.
However I do not think that grabbing a +1 dex or con modifier is the solution to that problem, as such a low bonus will not make any true difference in combat after a few levels.
For me, I should rather work on having more ranged healing options, like taking Scar or Prehensile Hair.
Cha 18 to 16 saves 7 points which would allow Con 14 and Dex 12 perhaps. The +1 Dex mod doesn't add much to any one stat (though it is a minor boost to many things), but the +2 Con mod is about +50% to your hit points. And a +2 to the save to not be staggered if you ever use conduit surge.
This is entirely independent of your ranged healing options. It's not either/or.
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Alternatively make a Witch with a familiar, cast invisibility on said familiar. Now the familiar can deliver all of your healing using its movement while you continue to use your hexes offensively. Just watch out for opponents that see invis.
I use a thrush in our Kingmaker campaign and he just zips around blasting undead and keeping the barbarian alive.
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all the movement penalties are negated by the invisibility effect and then some, then you take into account the Thrush's size, dex and skill modifier (+14 for just the base creature, then should it actually take ranks in Stealth, by the time it can deliver a touch spell, it should have a +20 to stealth checks), it's going to easily evade most any attempt to see it. And then it still has a 50% miss chance if it is somehow spotted. For AoE, it starts with Improved Evasion. Unless you DM just cheats, it's a perfectly viable tactic with a high rate of success
The reason people are going pure mechanics to help is because that is generally the purpose of the advice forum.
I agree on dropping charisma. For a holy vindicator 16 would still be plenty on top of your healing spells. For what you lose there, you gain a healthy cushion for when things backfire.
Anyways, if someone else hasn't mentioned it, I recommend UMD ranks for those situational spells you can't waste spells known on.
I get you don't like prepared casting, but hedge witch can be very versatile. I made one and leave spell slots open to prepare on demand to adapt.
Generally people here don't like in combat healing and prefer damage mitigation with debuffs. Emergencies are emergencies, but it's common to save healing (easy with spontaneous casting) to patch up after fights.
We just want to provide as many options as possible. Making a healer witch is a fun challenge, and it's good you found a unique path to it. It looks like you have what you need and are happy with it, so have fun! Should be a solid build.
Oh! Don't want to repeat someone else, but I'm too lazy to look through everything.
You should get haramaki armor. It only gives +1 armor, but there is no spell failure chance and cab be enchanted like regular armor. Combine with a mithral buckler, and you can cheaply get AC to an acceptable level for a support caster.
I think your healing witch build is fine, since that's what you want to do. Since you can't get Extra Hex at level 1, grab the Healing Hex at level 2, Scar with Extra Hex at level 3, and then other Hexes you want as you can from there.
He can’t take extra hex until he gets a hex. And that won’t be until level 4, assuming that he doesn’t use a hex to advance his channeling. So at level 5 he could have a 1d6 channel and a couple of hexes. Or a 2d6 channel and no hexes. Either option sounds pretty dismal.
Something you might want to consider is playing a Life Spirit shaman with the Witch Doctor archetype. While it is a prepared caster, RP wise it seems to be what you're looking for and you'll have hexes at 2nd level. Wandering Spirit gives some flexibility and spirit magic provides some limited spontaneous casting. Most importantly it will give you 2 separate pools of channel energy.
It's obvious any competent healer is always going to ressemble gameplay-wise for a good part to another healer, because decent healing sources are only a few in the game: channel, healing spells and a tad of heal skill.But at least roleplay wise, the witch is a completly different animal: she's a kind of outcast, a healer not tied to the divine, but more mysterious and less-understood forces. She has a different view on the world and a different base for relationship with the different social categories of PC and NPC.
People of this forum tend to only think about gameplay mechanics and forget that the best part of playing Pathfinder is character interpretation... and I never played a witch before, so, yes, it's going to be a welcomed change.
But that's a challenge that the OTHER players are the first to pay if you fail.
And since I take seriously the goal to prevent the other to need to reroll another PC, I'm not wanting to take up that challenge.That's still a no, and I already explained why above.
Then your DM is lenient.
1- Using an invisible familiar to actualy deliever heals create a penalty...
No need to be defensive and shoot everyone's advice down. If you want advice, you're in the right place but if you're just posting a build and telling everyone why they're wrong, try anywhere else. In my case, my familiar isn't even invisible so I have room to improve.
Channel is bad for combat unless you also get selective channel. You don't want to help your enemies.
Condition removal can be done several ways.
Patrons:
Devotion gives mass healing
Endurance gives greater restoration
Healing gives lesser restoration, remove disease, restoration, greater restoration, resurrection
Mercy gives restoration, remove curse, true resurrection
Spells:
1st: remove sickness
2nd: delay poison
3rd: accept affliction, remove blindness/deafness, remove curse, remove disease
4th: neutralize poison
5th: reincarnate
6th: raise dead, stone to flesh
7th: heal, temporary resurrection
8th: resurrection
Magic items:
Extraction Scarificator: [2500 gp] lesser restoration 1/day
Healer's Satchel, Specialized: [3000 gp] heal check: help with poison & disease, long term care: restore 1 point drain up to 5 people/day
Feat:
heal skill unlock: 5 ranks or more can heal some ability damage
Skill:
umd: wands and staves for additional spells
You don't need all those restoration spells on your list. You can use your generic trait to make UMD an int skill, I think. Even without that, it is easy to pump UMD to automatic for a wand or staff. [The circlet of persuasion is your friend.]
Witches are great debuffers. The Evil Eye hex really helps here. Especially on the BBEG.
Witches are also up close types. Not front line, but close. You will get beat up.
Lastly, the best way to get better is not to get worse. You will not do much melee damage, so prioritize saves, spells, stats, and AC over weapons. Another aid is to operate from concealment to make you harder to hit with weapons and spells. Fog Cloud + Goz Mask = you see and they don't. There are other combos available that do the same.
/cevah
Yeah. The FCB is probably not an option until you actually have a hex, though that is debatable, as it isn’t incrementing a bonus. But more importantly, it was nerfed in a later edition.
Gnome (Advanced Race Guide pg. 1 (Amazon)): The witch gains 1/6 of a new witch hex.
You should consider Imp Initiative for one of your lvl 1 feats. Going first is huge for both personal and group survivability. If someone is in trouble from last round, you can aid them sooner, and if noone is in trouble, you can debuff or delay your action, or ready an action to deal with an immediate threat.
Also, get heighten spell around lvl 5-9 so your lvl 1 and 2 debuffs can scale well. I particularly like using heightened beguiling gift spells and keeping a small collection of cursed items to hand to enemies. Hand the BBEG a necklace of strangulation and pull out the lawn chair and popcorn :)