Wings of Peace
2011-08-21, 06:17 AM
I've decided to revive the Twin-Souled Witch thread. There were actually a lot of good ideas mentioned and the trick itself is fairly interesting to me.
For those out of the loop this thread will be discussing the Witch class from Pathfinder used in conjunction with the Beast Bonded Archetype (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/base-classes/witch/archetypes/paizo---witch-archetypes/beast-bonded). For the purpose of this discussion we will be assuming that the hypothetical Witch is level 10 (just high enough to receive the Twin Soul ability from the archetype). Lower level optimization for helping the Witch reach level 10 is fine but again, the primary focus of this thread will be on the Twin Soul ability itself and enabling a Witch who has Twin Souled into her familiar to cast spells.
The two hurdles to overcome for the Witch to cast spells once again are Verbal and Somatic spell components. Verbal components are the easy part. The Pathfinder SRD (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic#TOC-Components) describes verbal components as:
A verbal component is a spoken incantation. To provide a verbal component, you must be able to speak in a strong voice. A silence spell or a gag spoils the incantation (and thus the spell). a spellcaster who has been deafened has a 20% chance of spoiling any spell with a verbal component that he tries to cast.
Now, from what was mentioned in the previous thread a Witch has two easy options for achieving speech. The first option is the Speak with Master (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/wizard/familiar). Speak with Master gives the familiar a way to formulate complex articulations and thus arguably a way to incant spells. Should Speak with Master not fly for whatever reason there is a second option however, the Feral Speech (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/base-classes/witch) hex. Feral Speech (like Speak with Master) gives the Witches new body a way of forming complex articulations and thus incanting spells.
The second hurdle as mentioned earlier is Somatic components. The Pathfinder SRD (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic#TOC-Components) describes somatic components as:
A somatic component is a measured and precise movement of the hand. You must have at least one hand free to provide a somatic component.
To be stringent about RAW most of the familiars don't have actual hands. There is however one familiar (which inspired the thread name) that has hands, and very dextrous hands at that, the Monkey (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/animals/primates/monkey).
Now, some of you may be thinking "Hey man, you didn't ask any questions. You just told me how it is." and you're half right. I've told you the rules as I see them. I'd now like the playground to chime in, criticize, and critique the arguments I've made as in the thread before to confirm if these tricks work and maybe even come up with some better methods of execution.
Edit: Something pointed out in the previous thread was the Surrogate Spellcasting feat from Savage Species. If 3.5 material is allowed in your group then this is an excellent feat to take because it allows the Witch to cast no matter what her familiar is. This opens up excellent choices like the Compsognathus (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/animals/dinosaur/compsognathus) which confers a tasty +4 Initiative.
For those out of the loop this thread will be discussing the Witch class from Pathfinder used in conjunction with the Beast Bonded Archetype (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/base-classes/witch/archetypes/paizo---witch-archetypes/beast-bonded). For the purpose of this discussion we will be assuming that the hypothetical Witch is level 10 (just high enough to receive the Twin Soul ability from the archetype). Lower level optimization for helping the Witch reach level 10 is fine but again, the primary focus of this thread will be on the Twin Soul ability itself and enabling a Witch who has Twin Souled into her familiar to cast spells.
The two hurdles to overcome for the Witch to cast spells once again are Verbal and Somatic spell components. Verbal components are the easy part. The Pathfinder SRD (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic#TOC-Components) describes verbal components as:
A verbal component is a spoken incantation. To provide a verbal component, you must be able to speak in a strong voice. A silence spell or a gag spoils the incantation (and thus the spell). a spellcaster who has been deafened has a 20% chance of spoiling any spell with a verbal component that he tries to cast.
Now, from what was mentioned in the previous thread a Witch has two easy options for achieving speech. The first option is the Speak with Master (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/wizard/familiar). Speak with Master gives the familiar a way to formulate complex articulations and thus arguably a way to incant spells. Should Speak with Master not fly for whatever reason there is a second option however, the Feral Speech (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/base-classes/witch) hex. Feral Speech (like Speak with Master) gives the Witches new body a way of forming complex articulations and thus incanting spells.
The second hurdle as mentioned earlier is Somatic components. The Pathfinder SRD (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic#TOC-Components) describes somatic components as:
A somatic component is a measured and precise movement of the hand. You must have at least one hand free to provide a somatic component.
To be stringent about RAW most of the familiars don't have actual hands. There is however one familiar (which inspired the thread name) that has hands, and very dextrous hands at that, the Monkey (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/animals/primates/monkey).
Now, some of you may be thinking "Hey man, you didn't ask any questions. You just told me how it is." and you're half right. I've told you the rules as I see them. I'd now like the playground to chime in, criticize, and critique the arguments I've made as in the thread before to confirm if these tricks work and maybe even come up with some better methods of execution.
Edit: Something pointed out in the previous thread was the Surrogate Spellcasting feat from Savage Species. If 3.5 material is allowed in your group then this is an excellent feat to take because it allows the Witch to cast no matter what her familiar is. This opens up excellent choices like the Compsognathus (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/animals/dinosaur/compsognathus) which confers a tasty +4 Initiative.