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So my crew and I have decided upon a thematic party to help us roleplay stronger as a team. The theme we chose is Coven which means we are all witches or witch themed characters and to boot, we are all gestalt because there is only 3 of us playing. We will all be playing an Adventure Path from level 1. So far we have a Vindictive Bastard exPaladin/Witch as a frontline and a ranged Witch/Rogue who worships Calistria.
I'm wanting to play a Diabolist Witch/Wizard the concept ending in a tyrannical Sorceress like Abrogail Thrune. I'm the magical powerhouse and the most experienced member of the Coven. I've been pretty out of Pathfinder for about two years. If you guys have any suggestions to help me get up to speed, I would be stoked to hear them.
For the wizard part conjuration is an obvious choice for a diabolist type but I think divination can work too. It's easy to imagine a diviner as diabolical tyrant who uses superior knowledge and information gathering to gain power over others (enchantment spells allow a will save; blackmail not so much). This knowledge would be good for binding outsiders and the like. Of course as a diviner you you also benefit from the bonus to initiative and other school powers. As a witch you gain access to the Augury and Divination spells which fit nicely with the divination school.
Might be worth checking out Blood of the Coven. If you're all changelings you can form a proper coven without needing a hag. You take a -1 penalty to will saves but gain a number of SLAs; the number of times you can use these SLAs can be increased with the Enhanced Coven feat. If you're going for a diabolist theme then the Infernal Contract unique patron fits thematically.
You're probably well aware of the usual go-to witch hexes: Evil Eye, Slumber, Misfortune, Cackle and Flight. These are all still strong options but there have been some potent additions (and many not-so-potent). Of the more recent addition I think Gift of Consumption+Greater Gift of consumption make for a strong choice despite using up two hexes; the result is that so long as you have a suitable target and an immediate action you're more or less immune to anything that allows a fort save. If you plant to use summons then you might get some use out of the Poison Touch hex. I would also suggest that everyone take the Murksight hex as it allows you to see through natural fog, mist, and rain without penalty see through 15ft of if similar magical effects allowing you make the m most of using fog defensively; use this hex+Delay Poison+Stinking Cloud (or Poisonous Cloud or Cloudkill) to cause enemies/victims to have a bad time.
The Ritual Hex feat basically gives you a hex that you can change each day, assuming you can make the knowledge rolls. If someone takes the Leadership feat you can gain a hag for different coven SLAs (the Seducer archetype can help here as it changes the witch's casting stat to charisma).
Thanks for the help first of all. I've been reading a buddy's Blood of the Coven, and it's where we got the idea initially to do this. There is a Hag Crone deity that makes you function as Hag for the sake of a Coven as well. Divination is certainly a powerful school to focus in as a Wizard. I'm thinking about adding more Changeling Witches to our coven with the Recruits feat as well to help with ritual magicks later on. Now the struggle is coming down to what to actually gestalt with Witch to create a strong caster backbone for the group. I even considered some odd cheese by taking prestige gestalts like Evangelist/Exalted. I've got a lot of options and the decision fatigue is real!
I think Occultist Arcanist makes for a good convo as it gives summon monsters and all planar ally spells. The fact summons have no time limit at lv20 jist makes it better in my opinion. Wizards has the benefit of the True Name discovery.
Evangelist/Exalt is easilly one of the best combos for any class specially in gestalt due to sheer bonuses you get.
One of the evil casting prc (ex: diaolist) can also be good thematically. Im not sure on the mechanics.
I have been eyeing the Occultist REAL close too just for versatility let alone the HP and Saves, but I've discovered the Spell Sage Wizard and infinite versatility. The Diabolist gave a few features that could make a defining difference like Infernal Charisma especially if I commit to the ritual that turns you into a half fiend.
Avoid houses and water.
I've been reading a buddy's Blood of the Coven, and it's where we got the idea initially to do this. There is a Hag Crone deity that makes you function as Hag for the sake of a Coven as well.
Would you mind telling me who this Goddess is? It would be a real boon to my Character!
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Avoid houses and water.
By the time I'm done building this character, Houses and water should avoid me. ;)
This is really interesting and I love this idea.
Of course I have a ton of ideas about witches, but I don't think I have ever run a party of just witches. I really like this idea.
Looking forward to hearing more about this.
--
Tim Brannan
Author of "Strange Brew"
http://theotherside.timsbrannan.com
I'm going to come back with each of our builds and what AP we play in. I'll give you guys updates as we move along, and you can help us figure out where we can go in our builds. So living advice forum. :)
^Campaign journal, by any chance?
If you want 1st party only, grab the Iron Collar of the Unbound Coven for 46,000 gp to form your coven. Or go with the Simulacrum spell to make a hag loyal to you. [The spell is Sorcerer, Wizard, Summoner, and Void school.]
/cevah
I've never done a campaign journal so I dont know if that's specific term. But I hope to keep most of our stuff posted for the fun of it.
If you want 1st party only, grab the Iron Collar of the Unbound Coven for 46,000 gp to form your coven. Or go with the Simulacrum spell to make a hag loyal to you. [The spell is Sorcerer, Wizard, Summoner, and Void school.]
/cevah
I have never read that spell correctly, and that is spectacular. We are first party only.
For more info, check out the Guide to the Guides. The section on witches has:
A Witch's Guide to Shutting Down Enemies (Core, APG, UM, UC) [Discussion] (2014)
Hubble, Bubble, Toil and Trouble. Fire Burn and Cauldron Bubble (Core, APG) [Discussion] (2011)
Patron's Review (2011)
The Viking Irishman's Witch Guide (Core, APG, UM, UC) [Discussion] (2013)
Witch Handbook (Thread) (2014)
/cevah
So an update of larger proportions: We've decided as a group to run the Coven in the Strange Aeons AP. We are all changelings, and the party setup is Witch/Alchemist (Grenadier) serving as our archer/bomber, a Bard/Cavalier (Sister in Arms) going for a gestalt Prestige Battle Herald/Dragon Disciple for a supporty frontline, and me, a Spell Sage Wizard (Spell Sage)/Witch which spells real hard and good.
Everyone else is pretty well balanced across the board, I am so SAD that I went Witchborn alternate trait and have a 20 Int on 15 point buy. It's a high risk build for a dangerous AP sitting at 8 Str and Dex, 10 Con and Wis against Abberrations. I needed the Charisma for dealing with Devils in the future but I'm really second guessing that high of Int and Charisma.
Our Alchemist/Witch is really straight forward to work with and I've got that pretty much figured out for helping them.
Our Frontliner is a Basic Bard and Sister in Arms from the Adventurer's Guide. It's pretty awesome the things the Gray Maidens can do and there is a chance he will rebuild to become a Sanguine Angel with the new fighting style granting Teamwork feats to allies.
With so many Changelings, check out the Coven Caster feat:
You share your mother’s gift for working in groups.
Prerequisite(s): Changeling.
Benefit(s): As a standard action, you can attempt a special aid another action (1d20 + your choice of your Intelligence or Charisma modifier; DC 10). If you succeed, you can increase an adjacent spellcaster’s caster level by 1 until the beginning of your next turn. If you also have the coven witch hex, you can apply this bonus to all members of your coven within 30 feet.
In addition to reading the ARG's Changeling, read the bestiary's Changeling. There is information in one that is not in the other.
Be sure to watch out for 'the call'. It can really mess up your plans.... Or make them Evil!
/cevah
With so many Changelings, check out the Coven Caster feat:
You share your mother’s gift for working in groups.
Prerequisite(s): Changeling.
Benefit(s): As a standard action, you can attempt a special aid another action (1d20 + your choice of your Intelligence or Charisma modifier; DC 10). If you succeed, you can increase an adjacent spellcaster’s caster level by 1 until the beginning of your next turn. If you also have the coven witch hex, you can apply this bonus to all members of your coven within 30 feet.In addition to reading the ARG's Changeling, read the bestiary's Changeling. There is information in one that is not in the other.
Be sure to watch out for 'the call'. It can really mess up your plans.... Or make them Evil!
/cevah
I perused those guides pretty tightly. I found a coven-touched feat that would allow the Nonwitch player to join the coven. I also found some super awesome coven teamwork feats in Blood of the Coven since we have that as a physical copy. It showed us all the options for hags and the minutia so far. However, those links you provided for the d20pfsrd gives some pretty cleaned up and concise insight as well so thanks for the assist.