I need some help. I'm trying to make a Witchwarper work with Optimizing Players, Min/Maxers is too negative a connotation, these guys are great, they just crunch numbers better than I do.
Okay, a few things:
- A) Homebrew Campaign
- B) Level 5
- C) The GM is my husband - so I have leniency.
Anyway, why Witchwarper, you ask?
Flavor, I say!
The flavor of the Witchwarper fits so very well in this campaign. It's a science-fantasy world where 4k years ago humans crossed dimensional barriers with their technology and came to this high magic universe. Humans didn't have magic. Floating in the space between universes, even in statis, granted some of these humans the ability to use a new form of Magic - Channeling - where they would basically channel different realities. (This is an old setting of my husbands, but now you see why Witchwarper seems so perfect!)
Now, many people went insane, and those who didn't slowly changed and melded this new magic with established ones to lower the incidences of tragedy.
No one knows how many of these Arcs there were, and for a character background, my character was on a ship that came through the barriers 15 years prior to the adventure. Her parents are dangers to themselves, her brother is a danger to society with the ego to match, and so it's just been the character who is trying to find out more about her abilities which are so much more pure than anyone knows at this point in time, that she's gone off and is a wandering adventure that is also trying to prove that she isn't insane as well - mostly trying to prove that to herself.
So, I'm surrounded in this campaign with 2 Operatives - one espionage/spy/stealth based, one technology/hacker based, a Mechanic and a Soldier. They are all great players, but I just can't optimize a character to save my life. Get me started, and I can continue but ... I'm too much of a "Let's let RP decide what I take this next level ...." Which is inefficient compared to my companions.
I'm just not understanding spell usage, or picking the right spells, to be all that effective, though I have maxed out Diplomacy - so I have one useful skill!
Any suggestions on what Paradigm Shifts to choose? What spells to choose? I took Cook Grenade because the thought of making grenades more effective via the Treknology of a Witchwarper amused me. I should probably get rid of that.
But spells, class abilities, feats? Any suggestions? My husband is already considering just letting me have access to all spells, since no one else is playing a caster and has no interest in it.
Help me, please!!!
Did you pick a Race and Theme yet?
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So, the basics for a casty witchwarper (ignoring all flavor, roleplay, neat builds, or unique combinations)
Pick a +DEX/+CHA race, get 18 CHA, and either 16 DEX or 14 DEX and 12 CON depending on preference.
Feats - 1) mobility, 3) spell focus, 5) agile casting
Paradigm shifts, 2) eldritch secret for magic missile, 5) Inhibit or optimize depending on if you want to rely on saves or not.
Spells - 1st) Magic missile, summon creature, and two flavor spells. 2nd) Invisibility, mirror image and remove condition.
Buy some low level armor, some spell gems of magic missile, and... anything else that tickles your fancy.
At least that's my first pass at making a 5th level witchwarper.
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Sounds like a setting in desperate need of some witchwarping :)
I think the Witchwarper naturally lends itself best to one of four broad approaches, especially as regards combat:
1. Mitigate/Buffer - make your team better. Take Paradigm Shifts like Disrupt Attack, Thwart Ability, Prevent Wounds, and Optimize that help your party survive and do their jobs better. Witchwarpers get access to spells like Remove Condition and its lesser/greater variants that can be real life-savers. If you aren't going to be shooting things yourself, make use of the Harrying Fire and Covering Fire actions (and consider the Tactical weapon fusion?) Making saves and taking damage happen, well, every fight more or less, so you're likely to run out of RP and Reactions before you run out of things to mitigate with RP and Reactions :)
2. Debuffer - make the other team suck. Focus on things like Disrupt Creature or Inhibit and save-or-suck spells like Hold Person, Fear, or Daze Monster, and get your Charisma as high as you can to make those Save DCs sky-high. If you want to get more out of that high Cha, you can try and maximize your Bluff bonus, and feint in combat a lot, using feats like Improved Feint, Spell Feint, and Greater Feint? Eventually you'll likely want to pick up Spell Penetration, but that's a higher level consideration.
3. Straight Up Blaster - arguably a technomancer is better suited to this, but a witchwarper can have a good go at it! Your bread-and-butter offensive spells don't really come until level 7 when you get 3rd level beauties like Space Fireball so I'd suggest the Eldritch Secret paradigm shift to grab other staples like Magic Missile or Space Lightning Bolt (but if you already can take all spells, of course that's less attractive.) Put some points into Dex, and grab longarm proficiency and versatile specialization so you can put down respectable damage with a gun when you're not casting.
It's a bit cheeky, but if you've also got a high Intimidate bonus, consider the Frightful Display feat, which lets you attempt to demoralize people who fail a save vs your spells. Because the only thing worse then taking 9d6 exploding fire damage is taking 9d6 exploding fire damage and being terrified :D
(I thought that there was some class ability that let Witchwarpers add +1/2 lvl to spell damage, like Technomancers and Mystics can get, but I can't see it now, so maybe I imagined that? If that's a thing, though, the Blaster build is the one to capitalize on that!)
4. Utility. Witchwarpers have access to a lot of great utility spells and abilities, like Alternative Curricula, Charm Person, Alter Enhancement, Life Bubble, Disguise Self and Parallel Form, Flight, Invisibility and Enduring Worlds to make your Infinite Worlds battlefield terrain stuff hang around longer. Grab spell gems for the things that come up less often but are still useful: your See Invisibility, Ectoplastmic Snare for when you encounter incorporeal stuff, and so on. Lean into the class's flexibility and do a little bit of everything!
Or mix and match! Hope this helps give you some ideas.
Oh my goodness!
I've had a dickens of a time logging in! I think my settings and cookies have gotten messed up!
First of all, THANK YOU! for your responses! This is great information, and I think it will be helpful as I rework my character just a little with all this in mind.
I think Debuffer makes sense. Utility is probably a good idea, too. We have some great combatants, so I don't necessarily need to compete with them. I just keep getting in the way and being the one to take all the damage because I'm the squishiest, obviously, and easiest to hit.
My husband, since we don't have any other casters, is opening up the spell list so I can basically take any spell, regardless of class.
Spell Gems work like scrolls, right? I'm still trying to wrap my head around the differences. ;)
Thanks again!
Spell gems works basically like scrolls. I recommend a handful of magic missile gems because they are better than shooting with a pistol, and cheap enough that you shouldn't have feel bad rounds where you can't do anything. The auto-hit is pretty nice too.
Since the spell list is wide open, devoting a single high level spell known to the max level mind thrust tends to do wonders as long as your targets aren't immune to mind affecting.
Excellent! Right, so spell gems of Magic Missile!
Mind Thrust? That's a good idea. Thank you!