I finished my Oracle and am moving on to the next character in the group. I wanted to do a witch that threw fireballs and the like. So I'm looking at the Havocker archetype. It gives up hexes to get a kinectist (I think I spelled that wrong.) blast and infusion talents. It's the closest thing I can see to what I was thinking of.
Another option I was considering is the Winter Witch archetype, going into the Winter Witch PrC. Go all into the cold.
Which is a more viable option? The race I'm using is Aasimaar.
Havocker isn’t a great archetype. The biggest problem is that it’s missing infusion specialization. Those low level infusions aren’t meant to be “expensive” or rarely used. The witch is also missing all of the accuracy advantages of the kineticist, but there are workarounds for that.
Winter witch is pretty good if you want to focus on cold
Between those two... Winter.
For a blaster-type Witch, I would go Invoker with the Elements Patron... with Bridge reducing Spell Resistance, and Curiosity increasing DC's... Spell Focus/Greater Spell Focus for Evocation... and Witch Knife to raise the DC's of all your Patron Spells... yeah, it gets kinda out of control by level 11. Personally, I like the Halfling FCB to raise the CL of your Patron Spells, and you could even grab this as an Aasimar via Scion of Humanity/Racial Heritage.
I've toyed with the Havocker archetype a bit in the past and find it works best when paired with a single level of Spellslinger Wizard. You get a bonded item (firearm), can shoot your spells through the gun, and once you get conductive weapon property added to it (which you can do yourself since it is a bonded item), you can also channel your kinetic blast through it (provided it is an energy blast) at short range. All at the Touch AC.
I've toyed around with the Venom Admixture infusion and Pernicious Poison spell (with Reach meta-magic) so you can blast the enemy with: gun damage -> spell to lower poison save -> damage from blast plus save to be poisoned. Works pretty good if you can squeeze the Nanite bloodline into the build to get your own innate source of poison that scales with your level.
Another option is Unraveling infusion to dispel magic on things just by shooting them. The limitations of the Havocker witch are easily offset by how clever you can be.
Well, I just happen to have a PC with Leadership whose cohort is an aasimar witch who hurls fireballs! :) Our party's only full caster PC is my oracle, who is primarily a healer, and has very few direct-damage spells. So once we reached the level where Leadership became available, having someone who could dish out area effect damage from a distance was the obvious choice for a cohort.
Zahira has the Elements patron, which adds fireball to her spells known, and the Ley Line Guardian archetype, which gives her sorcerer-like spellcasting (but still using Int) and the ability to boost her CL a few times a day. (That and Spell Penetration help make up for lagging behind the PCs' level.) Her archetype also greatly simplified my bookkeeping for this game, because 1. I just have to figure out her new spells known each level, and not agonize over what she's preparing every single day; and 2. there's no familiar to track and keep out of harm's way. Finally, she's an emberkin assimar, to boost her Int a bit more.
Spellslinger is neat, but doesn't fit for this particular character. Invoker is also neat. Bridge and Curiosity are definitely helpful. I might go with that instead.
At level 10, an Invoker can have Bridge and Curiosity active at the same time... that's a -5 to their Damage Reduction and Spell Resistance, as well as a +2 to the DC's of your spells.
If you have Curiosity activated, Spell Focus/Greater Spell Focus, and Witch Knife... your Fireball DC is 18+Int...
Winning!
I’ve been personally playing a winter witch in a campaign, so far I haven’t gotten into the prestige class yet, but next level up I should be going into it finally… the archetype is certainly nice, though it 100% NEEDS the prestige class to really be effective… would have absolutely loved it if I could somehow take Havocker with Winter Witch though…
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I finished my Oracle and am moving on to the next character in the group. I wanted to do a witch that threw fireballs and the like. So I'm looking at the Havocker archetype. It gives up hexes to get a kinectist (I think I spelled that wrong.) blast and infusion talents. It's the closest thing I can see to what I was thinking of.
As others have said, Invoker is really good at this.
I mentioned it when you were first thinking about this, but I played a fireball-specialized witch in a "cheesy grindy survival tournament." Halfling witch (invoker) 8/sorcerer (crossblooded orc/draconic) 1. Elements patron. Halfling witches are great because of their alternate Favored Class Bonus of raising the CL of patron spells.
Wow. I must be doing something wrong. Lol. My level 11 Halfling Invoker is "only" at, like, 14D6 for her Fireballs.
Granted, she is built for/with Magic Trick/Selective Spell... more for flavor than any mechanical benefit. But still, a higher Caster Level and less dice.
Things that make you say, hmm...
Yeah, I think I'm going to go with Invoker. Now the question is, what hexes do I take? Most of them are buff/debuffs and are standard actions. The flight one and the one with the natural armor bonus are helpful, but I'm not sure about others. Quicken Spell technically doesn't have any requirements, but it's going to be a while before my witch can cast 5th level spells. Or afford a metamagic rod.
Evil Eye and Misfortune will hamper saves. Cackle can prolong those debuffs. But that won't combine well with focusing on fireball, because those AoE spells get more bang when used in the opening rounds, especially if the enemies start out bunched up. Those hexes can be pretty handy with big single target spells though.
You should use your Hexes for utility/versatility...
As a blaster, you have offense. A lot of your feats are probably dedicated to this, so grab Hexes that have nothing to do with your enemies... you already know what you're doing with your enemies, you're blasting them into oblivion... that's what blasters do.
Maybe some healing? Or that beautiful Protective Luck/Soothsayer combo? Cauldron/Brew Potion? Verdant Familiar?
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Ok. The Invoker archetype removes the hexes at level 1, 8, 10, and 16. The rest are left as they are. I think I'm going to go with Iceplant first to give my familiar a bit of extra protection. Shocking Grasp is a touch spell, after all. Then Healing at level 4, and Flight at level 6. The next one isn't until level 12 so I think I can hold off on picking it out.
True, but having it as a hex means the party won't have to use up resources like a wand or spell slot. Plus the hex does increase to Cure Moderate.
And of course, there's the Extra Hex feat to grab me more hexes. I'm wondering if I should take the hair one to have a reach weapon for some defense.
The healing hex is decent for niche in-combat healing. Besides improving to cure moderate at level 5, the additional +1 per level is better than a wand.
It's not that healing hex isn't good or useful. It's just that some other hexes are even better. For instance, slumber is game breaking for many encounters.
Is there a way for a familiar to get Flyby Attack? It would make it a lot easier for my witch to attack people with spells like Shocking Grasp.
Yes and no… it ultimately comes down to GM approval in the end, but you can trade out your familiars starting feat for any feats a creature of its type could normally qualify for or any feat listed as a familiar feat or on the animal companion feat list… I’d say Flyby Attack is a feat a creature if its type could qualify for, but some GMs might say no on account of it being a Monster feat.
Is there a way for a familiar to get Flyby Attack? It would make it a lot easier for my witch to attack people with spells like Shocking Grasp.
I should mention that the arbiter starts with flyby attack. Probably some other familiars have it too.
I went through the familiars. The Shimmering Dragonfly is a normal familiar and has Flyby Attack naturally. It's got a fly speed of 60 which is fairly decent. I won't have to use a feat for Improved Familiar.
Speaking of feats, aside from Spell Focus, what else should I take?
Witch Knife... for an Elements Patron blaster this great. Spell Focus/Greater Spell Focus for Evocation also covers pretty much, if not all, your Patron Spells. That's a +3 to the DC's of all your Patron Spells. Legit AF.
Craft Wondrous Item, so you can craft your own toys... like an Orange Prism ioun stone to add +1 to your CL... and a Corset of Dire Witchcraft... and a headband of... you get the point.
Coming back to this.
So Witch Knife, Spell Focus, and Greater Spell Focus are the obvious.
Blissful Spell seems handy. If I damage someone with one of my spells, they take -2 to Atk and Dam for a round. And it's only one level higher. Quicken Spell is great of course, but it's 4 levels so I can't use it until level 9. Probably better to get a rod for that one. Sickening Spell might be helpful. Another damage to debuff feat.
Is there a feat to change the element of a spell? Elemental Spell changes half of the damage, but not all of it. There's Elemental Conversion, but that's random and once per day.
And of course the basic feats that you take when you can't fill in a slot for various reasons. Alertness, Dodge, Extra Hex, Iron Will, Great Fortitude, etc.
Also, there are feats specifically for familiars to take. Like Critical Conduit. How does a familiar gain extra feats?
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Also, there are feats specifically for familiars to take. Like Critical Conduit. How does a familiar gain extra feats?
Depends on the source of the feat.
This section presents new feats for animal companions and familiars, as well as for PCs that make use of these animals. Some feats might be available to other creatures that meet the prerequisites. Feats that are meant for familiars can be switched out for a familiar's default feats (as listed in the familiar's statistics) if the familiar meets the prerequisites. Such feat replacements must be made when the PC first acquires a new familiar, and-like all new feats from supplemental sources-the new feats should be approved by the GM before being integrated into play.
The following feats can be taken by characters who have familiars that meet the listed prerequisites. Wizards can take a familiar feat as a bonus feat, and witches can select a familiar feat in place of a hex.
Critical Conduit is from Animal Archive - you swap out one of the familiar's base feats when you first acquire it.
Is there a feat to change the element of a spell? Elemental Spell changes half of the damage, but not all of it. There's Elemental Conversion, but that's random and once per day.
My go to metamagic feat to get around energy resistance is Benthic Spell. You have to deal with damage reduction, but that's usually less annoying to deal with.
Also, there are feats specifically for familiars to take. Like Critical Conduit. How does a familiar gain extra feats?
One of the best ways is through the Beast-Bonded Witch archetype.
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As for changing the element, the only really good way I know of is a single level dip in wizard with the admixture focused arcane school.
As for changing the element, the only really good way I know of is a single level dip in wizard with the admixture focused arcane school.
An extreme alternative is to use the variant multiclass system and pick the admixture school though the wizard option.
Leadership + Choral Support
Also, there are feats specifically for familiars to take. Like Critical Conduit. How does a familiar gain extra feats?Depends on the source of the feat.
This section presents new feats for animal companions and familiars, as well as for PCs that make use of these animals. Some feats might be available to other creatures that meet the prerequisites. Feats that are meant for familiars can be switched out for a familiar's default feats (as listed in the familiar's statistics) if the familiar meets the prerequisites. Such feat replacements must be made when the PC first acquires a new familiar, and-like all new feats from supplemental sources-the new feats should be approved by the GM before being integrated into play.The following feats can be taken by characters who have familiars that meet the listed prerequisites. Wizards can take a familiar feat as a bonus feat, and witches can select a familiar feat in place of a hex.Critical Conduit is from Animal Archive - you swap out one of the familiar's base feats when you first acquire it.
To add on to this... most familiars have Weapon Finesse as one of their base feats... TRADE IT OUT... Familiar rules allow familiars to always use the higher of their Str & Dex for attack rolls, CMB, Climb, & Swim...
Ok, so if trading it out is the only way, then I guess I'm not going to get Critical Conduit. The familiar I'm planning on taking has Flyby Attack, which I want to keep.
The Beast-Bonded archetype looks neat, but it clashes with Invoker. Both of them change out the 8th and 10th hex.
But it seems like I CAN take some familiar feats if they're from that Folio source? Is that right?
Honestly Critical Conduit is meant more for someone like a Beastblade Magus... a build where your familiar is regularly delivering touch spells to attack enemies...