Does a Bouda Witch still select a Patron?


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The Fetish ability of the Bouda archetype replaces the Familiar class feature of the Witch. Does this also prevent the Witch from selecting a Patron?

Bouda Archtype
This ability replaces the familiar class feature.

Witch Patron Spells
Patron Spells: At 1st level, when a witch gains her familiar, she must also select a patron.


No a Bouda witch still gets a patron. Patron is a separate class feature from gaining a familiar. Just because they both happen at first level does not mean they are the same.

The Bodua’s fetish functions identically to a familiar in its ability to hold spells, that would include patron spells. The gravewalker archetype also replaces the familiar but it keeps the patron. The gravewalker archetype replaces some of the patron spells, which it could not do if it lost the class feature patron.


^------- Mysterious Stranger is correct.

These are separate class features, so even though your Familiar has been changed to a Fetish, you still "gain a Familiar(Fetish) and must also select a Patron".

Witch wrote:

Patron Spells

At 1st level, when a witch gains her familiar, she must also select a patron. This patron is a vague and mysterious force, granting the witch power for reasons that she might not entirely understand. While these forces need not be named, they typically hold influence over one of the following forces.

At 2nd level, and every two levels thereafter, a witch’s patron adds new spells to a witch’s list of spells known. These spells are also automatically added to the list of spells stored by the familiar. The spells gained depend upon the patron chosen. Each patron is listed by its theme. Its actual name is up to the GM and the witch to decide.

See a complete list of witch patrons here.

Witch’s Familiar (Ex)

At 1st level, a witch forms a close bond with a familiar, a creature that teaches her magic and helps to guide her along her path. Familiars also aid a witch by granting her skill bonuses, additional spells, and help with some types of magic. This functions like the wizard’s arcane bond class feature, except as noted in the Witch’s Familiar section.

A witch must commune with her familiar each day to prepare her spells. Familiars store all of the spells that a witch knows, and a witch cannot prepare a spell that is not stored by her familiar. A witch’s familiar begins play storing all of the 0-level witch spells plus three 1st level spells of the witch’s choice. The witch also selects a number of additional 1st-level spells equal to her Intelligence modifier to store in her familiar. At each new witch level, she adds two new spells of any spell level or levels that she can cast (based on her new witch level) to her familiar. A witch can also add additional spells to her familiar through a special ritual.


ckdragons wrote:

Witch Patron Spells

Patron Spells: At 1st level, when a witch gains her familiar, she must also select a patron.

I get where you're coming from. However, if, for a vanilla Witch, you remove the part you cursived, the class would behave exactly the same. That shows that the cursive part is not rule text, but rather explanatory text, and thus can be disregarded for an rule questions.


it's also somewhat circular logic, as it says "Patron spells:"... one assumes they come from the mysterious patron... the Fetish text shows it functions "identical to the way a witch’s spells are granted by her familiar".

J.Jacobs chatted in the PaizoCon 2021 chat about how a witch's patron is purposefully unclear thus fits the trope where they believe their patron is X but it may actually be Z.

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