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View Full Version : Witch: Homebrew, Looking for Anyone to Post Feedback



Brom
2009-06-10, 06:12 AM
As the title suggests, I am making the 'Witch' a base class for an up and coming campaign. I am looking for suggestions, ideas about balance, and general feedback. I have very little outlined thus far, and I am having a hard time with thinking of concepts. So far, I have this:

- The class will be capable of healing, illusions, necromancy, the 'nastier' abjurations, transmutation, and some conjuration. It's going to be somewhat of a generalist.
- MAD will reflect this. It will have the broadest array of Charms (and I'm thinking of giving it some abilities related to charming), as it will have both charms (but not Dominate) off of the Druid, Bard, Beguiler, and Wizard/Sorcerer spell list. Thus, charisma will be important. I'm trying to think of a few original class abilities that go with this, that are based on Charisma.
- I want it to have healing and 'hex-removal' talents. Break Enchantment, Dispel and Greater Dispel Magic, Stone to Flesh, Remove Paralysis, Cure Poison, Remove Curse, etc. In this way, it could act as a healer.
- It's going to have a D4 HD, simple weapon proficiencies only, and Will as the sole good save progression with 1/2 BAB.
- I'm thinking 4 + Int modifier for skills, however. They are the leaders of the Gnomes in my campaign: witchcraft comes out of Gnomes. They act as Shaman's, only they act more along the lines of voodoo.
- I want them to be spontaeneous casters, so they have a limited spells known.
- The role I think they will fill will be of debuff. They'll lack the more potent crowd control/battlefield control (Wall of Force doesn't fit the flavor.) They will, however, be a superior option to the Sorcerer by having better class abilities related to...(I'm not sure yet)...something, and will have access to a wider range of spells than Sorcerer or Beguiler. They will have 0th to 9th progression in spell levels.
- Justifying the spread: They will have major holes in the Evocation department. Fireballs, Lightning Bolts, Shatter, Scorching Ray, Cone of Cold, Chain Lightening, Freezing Sphere. They will lack Summon Monster and Planar Binding/Planar Ally spells. They will have the Summon Nature's Ally progression, however. They will lack spells like Stone Shape but retain things like Baleful Polymorph and Slow. They will lack practical, everyday use Abjurations like Protection from Arrows, Mindblank, Shield, Alarm, but retain debuffs, antimagic, and status fixes. They will be pretty full on Enchantments: Geas/Quest, Suggestion, just not the Hold or Dominate line. Similarily on Illusions, they will have the Image line, Invisibility, Illusory Wall, but not Shadow Walk, Shadow Evocation, Shadow Conjuration. They will have Transmutations in spades, with more powerful ones like Control Weather, Control Winds, Transmute Rock to Mud, Flesh to Stone, Polymorph, the Alter Self line, etc.

What I want my players to get:

I want my players to get a class that is fun and sort of insidious. It's not a Necromancer. It's not necessarily an Enchanter (although a Witch should be able to, with spell selection, act in the stead of the Beguiler to a modest extent). It isn't a Conjurer. Rather, the Witch has the means to have lots of allies on the field (Charmed creatures and Nature's Allies) while debuffing effectively.

What I lack is the class features that say, ''Hey, this is what I can do besides flinging spells that I took off of other spell lists, and this is what differentiates me from the other dabbler classes, the Bard and the Druid, who get lots of varied spells."


Endnote? Ideas for spells and class features that are unique would be lovely.

Feel free to ask more questions about the in game universe.

readsaboutd&d
2009-06-10, 08:52 AM
How about familiars? Take away the severe xp loss and wait when they are killed while keeping a hp loss and wait until the end of the day when they die so they dont become cannon fodder. They must be thematic and can cast low level spells and fight(some being more orientated in one or the other direction). Give some unique abilities to make them stand out and add another one every 5-10 levels. They can also be useful for roleplaying.