Witches

[Roget Thesaurii]

I am playing a witch in the Ironfang AP. I played the role of party healer early on, and with a dhampir in the party I had to spend some of my learned spell slots on cure spells on both sides. My role now is more battlefield control. The problem is, as an arcane caster AND a healer, I'm a double target. Witches don't really have all the flashy escape spells of wizards, or the awesome defense spells of clerics, so I'm getting pummeled, a lot. Poor hp rolls has made this more than problematic. What items/spells might you suggest to help minimize my being targeted/aiding in my evasion/defense? My fellow PCs don't seem to get it when I REPEATEDLY explain "I am not a wizard! I don't do that!".

[avr]

Flying often helps by whatever means. If your GM doesn't feel that ironskin is for duergar only, get that spell.

A mithral buckler has no spell failure or armor check penalty and can add AC and/or special properties. Boots of escape are invaluable if grappled. A mirror of guarding reflections is effective if you don't have mirror image from some other means and assuming you don't really need a hand for a weapon.

I should ask though, how much do you have as a budget here, and can you actually buy magic items? The Ironfang Invasion is out where you can't buy stuff mostly as I understand it.

[Derklord]

Every time I see the word "healer" used in Pathfinder, I die a little inside.

If you need to use spells to heal in fight, your party is doing something very wrong. Cure spells are highly inefficient, and thus using them is a colossal waste of actions, especially on a Witch.
Try to be more pro-active with your spells, rather than reactive - incapitating or hampering an enemy means they don't do any (or at least less) damage, every damage prevented that way is damage you practically have "healed". Not only do these spells protect your party members, they also protect you.
The Witch list is full of awesome spells like that, e.g. Blindness/Deafness, Euphoric Cloud, Web, Barrow Haze, Sleet Storm, Stinking Cloud, Confusion, Enervation, or Web Cloud. And these are the area effects (plus a fortitude save-or-suck), you also have your ehxes for single target effects.

Here's the thing: Curse spells heal less than an average enemy does as average damage per round. You're using your actions to remove the effects of half of what an enemy did with their action.

Basically, three things have to be true for infight healing to be good:
1. The target needs to have a high chance of taking damage next round.
2. Your healing needs to have a high chance of making a difference.
3. There have to be no controlling or offensive actions you can take that have a high chance of removing the source of damage.

If the wizard is at 2 HP and the only enemy needs to roll a double natural 20 to kill him, you should not heal.
If the wizard is at 2 HP, an enemy hit will do 40 damage on average and your heal for 10 on average, you should not heal.
If the wizard is at 20 HP and the enemies need to do multiple crits to do more than 10 damage, you should not heal.
If you have a 50% chance to save the wizard by healing him, and a 75% chance to incapitating the enemy by slumbering them, you should not heal.
If your three party members are at 2 HP and whoever the last enemy will target will drop to -5, you should Channel Energy. If you don't have that, you should not heal.
If the wizard is at 40 HP and takes takes 50 damage every round, you should use Heal (the spell). If you don't have that, you should not heal.
If the wizard is at 2 HP next to a Wall of Fire, you should heal.

Short version is, unless you have full progression Channel Energy (with supporting feats), or the Heal spells, you're better of killing or disabling the enemy. HP healing can then be done with wands after the fight is over.

For defensive hexes, Greater Gift of Consumption (you also need the normal version) makes you practically immune against fortitude saves as long as there is an enemy within 30 ft. Swamp's Grasp produces difficult terrain so that enemies have a harder time reaching you. Lastly, Flight of course is a means of, well, flight, which is always good defense.

[Roget Thesaurii]

"Curse spells heal less than an average enemy does as average damage per round. You're using your actions to remove the effects of half of what an enemy did with their action."

I took a trait within the AP that allows me to add my level to a cure spell I cast, meaning at 5th level, my minimum healing for CLW was only 2 below the MAX of most casters at the same level. I'm a wicked awesome healer with the healing hex, too. My healing in a fight comes after stuff like 'The main party fighter takes a giant crit and a hefty damage attack from a mounted warrior and his mount. With bleed (from the crit) he will fall within two rounds. No one else can take these kinds of hits (as a party we have rolled low for hp, except the gnome illusionist).

I have been heading in the 'clouds' direction (stinking cloud, Obscuring mist, Euphoric cloud, etc), as I got the murksight hex, so I can see through even magic clouds. But my party b+@+$es about not being able to get into melee with their enemies. They dont get that this is my only/best means of defense. My witch does fly, but that has made me a target of the archers. Ironfang introduces a 'creature' called a troop. Imagine a 'swarm' of medium creatures. They love to target me when flying. As a standard action they are getting 4! Reflex sv for half effects each round on me. More than half the party has evasion so by now they know its pointless to fire at anyone but me. 4 saves a round, even when I get them all, adds up quick in damage.
My healing in combat is usually my hex, but I have done emergency healing to keep people in the fight. My signature spell is Ill Omen, so I am adept at nerfing hits on my guys (Accursed Glare and Pugwampi's Grace are good followers along those lines). They just want to see me throwing fireballs or super-healing them when they make bad combat decisions, never mind that witches don't get fireball and my character has half the hp they do, so rolling up next to a creature that just dropped them in 1 round and then demonstrating that I can keep enemies alive is a bad recipe. Thanks for the advice. It sounds a lot like the direction I was already heading. My party can b#$&* as much as they want... I'm trying to stay alive...

[PCScipio]

It sounds like you're in Book 3: Assault on Longshadow, so at least you can buy things. The Frontier Healer trait certainly improves your cure spells (and healing hex by my interpretation). Still, in-combat healing is a last resort; you don't want to be spending too many of your actions on it.

Sleet Storm is good for countering archer troops. You should take the Toughness feat, if you haven't done so already, and buy a Belt of Mighty Constitution. False Life is worth considering. I also recommend getting an Aegis of Recovery — you find one earlier in the AP, but my Shaman has gone through two or three of them (we're now in Book 5).

If the other players are complaining, ask them why they aren't throwing around fireballs or healing people!

[Roget Thesaurii]

PCScipio wrote:

It sounds like you're in Book 3: Assault on Longshadow, so at least you can buy things. The Frontier Healer trait certainly improves your cure spells (and healing hex by my interpretation). Still, in-combat healing is a last resort; you don't want to be spending too many of your actions on it.

Sleet Storm is good for countering archer troops. You should take the Toughness feat, if you haven't done so already, and buy a Belt of Mighty Constitution. False Life is worth considering. I also recommend getting an Aegis of Recovery — you find one earlier in the AP, but my Shaman has gone through two or three of them (we're now in Book 5).

If the other players are complaining, ask them why they aren't throwing around fireballs or healing people!

I am indeed in Book 3. My little Communist Witch has a real nice side when it comes to her fellow refugees but she's about as coldly evil as they come with regards to hobs at this point. The illusionist gnome DOES throw fireballs and we picked up a PC with cleric levels so my in-combat healing has come down to emergencies (excess bleed dmg on an injured character between me and certain doom, for instance) but he stays invisible a lot, which witches do not get as a spell option. Toughness is on my list of feats, just got shoved aside at 9th for a healing feat for outside combat (I can treat deadly wounds as a full-round action instead of an hour, do not require a healing kit, and can treat someone multiple times/day rather than just once. Average hp returned is around 20-30. Its great post-combat). Due to s*!$e hp rolls party-wide the Belt(s) of Con have gone to the party muscle. Got a Dex belt atm. Am I missing something with the shield stuff and witches? Had a recommendation to get myself a mithral buckler as well. Does the Aegis not act as an actual shield? Don't I need shield proficiency?

[PCScipio]

The Aegis is a neck slot item, so I think it's something like an amulet. It's nothing like a shield.

I'd sell the dex belt and buy a con belt.

[Quixote]

Roget Thesaurii wrote:

...s#!&e hp rolls party-wide...

Hit points and ability scores. I'll never understand why anyanyone chooses to roll for them. Having a handful of dice rolls influence every facet of the game henceforth is just terrible.

Why don't you work on some strategies with your party?
Combat begins. Throw down some fog. Support casters hand out a Bull's Strength or Haste here or there, primary combatants ready the action to arrow/javelin/axe any opponents who get through the fog. Then you all ready the action to attack in concert when you end the spell and mop them up.

[Cevah]

If you have time for retraining, you can up your HP.

While the clouds don't help your martial allies, if you fly inside a cloud in the sky, then the archers cannot get good aim. You get 50% miss chance if they even get the correct square. Meanwhile, with your murksight, you have no problem.

As to healing, get a Rod of Reach. Now you don't need to cure by touch.

/cevah