[PF] Healing Witch

[Evina]

Could anyone offer long term suggestions on a Witch healer? I am looking for useful feats, items, spells etc.

Brief Character Description: Lvl 4 gnome witch with trickery patron. She rides a war pony into battle to allow for better mobility. I considered taking the hex brew potion, but I might look into crafting feats instead.

Thanks!

[gourdcaptain]

Hedge Witch archetype trades the LV 4 hex slot for spontaneous cures ALA a Cleric. (And the LV 8 slot for something... much less useful.) Still, it should help you have actually interesting spells prepped.

[Feralventas]

Healing hex is probably a given (1 cure light per target per day, improves at 5th level, no need to burn an extra spell to fix folks up after a conflict).

Remember that preventing damage can be useful too. The Ward hex to grant a +2 AC bonus and +2 resistance to saves will also help minimize the amount you need to fix in the first place.

Lastly would be the Evil Eye. You can hit a target with a -2 to AC, ability checks, attack rolls, saving throws, or skill checks and it lasts for a number of rounds = 3+int mod. THere's no limit on the number of times you can do this, so you can start by weakening their will save before using their weaker defense to debuff the target further, making it more and more difficult for them to harm your charges and patients.

If your DM will allow you to take Augment Healing (not sure if there's a pathfinder version yet) it'll also improve your healing capacity.

[Igneel]

I'm not all that familiar with Pathfinder, but the one time I played was a Healer Witch since we lost our Cleric before the end of character creation.

I recall getting some use from the Accursed Hex feat while fighting Undead since it gives them a saving throw and with this feat allows me to use the Hex a second time during that round.

We also kinda blended some 3.5/homebrew into our game so don't take this last bit seriously. My Dm allowed a semi-homebrew feat based off the Complete Mage's Reserve feats for healing that was better then the Reserve feat found in Complete Champion. Basically it was based off Acidic Splatter, ranged touch attack at 5ft per level of the highest-level healing spell you have to cast, healed/dealt 1d6 damage per level of the highest-level healing spell. Save that it needed a 3rd level or higher Healing spell instead of 2nd level Acid spells, it saved us many a time.

Sorry I couldn't help more, hope you have as much if not more fun playing the Healer Witch!

[Psyren]

Definitely seconding Hedge Witch. Not only do you get spontaneous healing (letting you prepare better spells) but you effectively "learn" all the cure spells for free, letting you spend your spells known (either via leveling up or via the familiar ritual) on acquiring more exotic or utility ammunition.

[Cieyrin]

Definitely seconding Hedge Witch. Not only do you get spontaneous healing (letting you prepare better spells) but you effectively "learn" all the cure spells for free, letting you spend your spells known (either via leveling up or via the familiar ritual) on acquiring more exotic or utility ammunition.

Wait, spells known? Witches are prepared casters, just that they have restrictive sharing of spells from their 'spellbook' equivalent.

And I third Hedge Witch. The Cauldron, Witch's Brew and Cook People hexes all can boost a healer, though the last one depends on your party's stance on Soylent Green. :smallwink:

[Novawurmson]

Wait, spells known? Witches are prepared casters, just that they have restrictive sharing of spells from their 'spellbook' equivalent.

Well, their familiar learns the spell, and you only get so many every time you level up. Depending on DM/campaign setting, you might not be able to find places and time to learn new spells otherwise.

Also, Hedge Witch (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/base-classes/witch/archetypes/paizo---witch-archetypes/hedge-witch).

[Psyren]

Wait, spells known? Witches are prepared casters, just that they have restrictive sharing of spells from their 'spellbook' equivalent.

It was shorthand for "Spells stored in your familiar." You don't begin the game knowing every Witch spell - you start with a smaller set, and your familiar gains 2 more (which it can teach to you) every level, plus you can manually add some to it.

Here's the quote:


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 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.

In other words, without spontaneous curing, you'd need to use some of those 2 free spells to learn cures if you wanted your Witch to heal.

You can add spells to it in other ways (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/base-classes/witch/witch-s-familiar) as well, but each of those consumes other resources.

Hedge Witch is the only way to learn the curative spells for free, and without using up any of your 2 free spells from leveling.

[Cieyrin]

It was shorthand for "Spells stored in your familiar." You don't begin the game knowing every Witch spell - you start with a smaller set, and your familiar gains 2 more (which it can teach to you) every level, plus you can manually add some to it.

Here's the quote:



In other words, without spontaneous curing, you'd need to use some of those 2 free spells to learn cures if you wanted your Witch to heal.

You can add spells to it in other ways (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/base-classes/witch/witch-s-familiar) as well, but each of those consumes other resources.

Hedge Witch is the only way to learn the curative spells for free, and without using up any of your 2 free spells from leveling.

Witch's learning methods are just a reflavored version of Wizards. They both gain 2 spells per level of their choice, they can learn from other spellbooks/familiars, they can add new spells from scrolls. I'm not seeing how that's any more restrictive by comparison, plus the free patron spells Witch's get and if you happen to be Human for favored class bonus spells.

I agree Hedge Witch is a good method of grabbing the Cures for free, I don't believe I ever refuted that. All I'm saying is it's not any more of a pain or up to DM fiat than it is for Wizards, which I'm sure we can agree aren't any weaker for having such on them, either.

[Psyren]

I agree Hedge Witch is a good method of grabbing the Cures for free, I don't believe I ever refuted that. All I'm saying is it's not any more of a pain or up to DM fiat than it is for Wizards, which I'm sure we can agree aren't any weaker for having such on them, either.

Huh? I didn't say a thing about DM fiat :smallconfused:

As for it being a "pain" - that's a relative term. Scrolls cost money, assuming they can even be bought in the first place. (Even if you have a magic-mart, you might end up in the wilderness or a dungeon for long stretches/sessions.) If your aim (like the OP's) is to heal, HW means you can still do that, while reallocating your wealth and free spells to picking up other spells. How much pain that relieves depends on your campaign.

And if your objection is to the term "spells known," Hedge Witch uses it too:


A hedge witch can channel stored spell energy into healing spells that she did not prepare ahead of time. The witch can “lose” any prepared spell that is not an orison in order to cast any cure spell of the same spell level or lower, even if she doesn’t know that cure spell.

[Arbane]

The Prehensile Hair hex and the Reach Spell feat are potentially useful, giving you ways to deliver a cure spell to an ally without getting within 5-foot-step range of their enemy. (Can you spontaneously cast Reach Cure Light Wounds as a second-level spell?)

A Wand of Cure Light Wounds is a bit cliche (and pricey at low-level), but it lets you save your spells for more interesting stuff.

Remember, a crippled enemy won't cost your side as much healing. Witches have a LOT of fun ways to mess up their opponents, so make good use of them.

[Cieyrin]

And if your objection is to the term "spells known," Hedge Witch uses it too:

That is the gist of my disagreement but it's a semantic knowing spells as opposed to set spells known like spontaneous casters have. That's all I'm saying.

[Univoxs]

I have a hedge witch prestiged into a harrower in the jade regent adventure path. At times it is tough especially being the partys only mage and healer but definately can be done.

[Benly]

Witch's learning methods are just a reflavored version of Wizards. They both gain 2 spells per level of their choice, they can learn from other spellbooks/familiars, they can add new spells from scrolls. I'm not seeing how that's any more restrictive by comparison, plus the free patron spells Witch's get and if you happen to be Human for favored class bonus spells.

I agree Hedge Witch is a good method of grabbing the Cures for free, I don't believe I ever refuted that. All I'm saying is it's not any more of a pain or up to DM fiat than it is for Wizards, which I'm sure we can agree aren't any weaker for having such on them, either.

Actually, there is one fairly significant way that it diverges from wizards, although how important it is depends on the campaign. Witches can't maintain a backup spellbook. If your familiar dies and you summon a new one, your scroll money has gone to waste and you're going to need to reacquire those spells somehow, because "A new familiar begins knowing all of the 0-level spells plus two spells of every level the witch is able to cast." (Plus patron spells. Also bonus spells from the human favored-class bonus option, as specified under that option - and, for what it's worth, you do have the option of picking an entirely different set of spells than you had before if you're into that.) Combined with the fact that a familiar is more likely to get shot at than a spellbook, there is some merit in picking up extra "spells known" that won't be lost if the familiar dies.

[Bhaakon]

It's true that you can't have a backup familiar like you can with a spell book, but you can raise a familiar from the dead (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/r/raise-animal-companion), which you also can't do with a destroyed spell book.

Unless your DM is kind of a punk who will make you jump through ridiculous hoops to find a druid who can cast 4th level spells (something which admittedly becomes more likely if he/she is going after your familiar in the first place)

[Ravens_cry]

Raise dead also works on your familiar. Though more expensive, it is much more likely to be prepared.