PDA

View Full Version : Pathfinder Gale Witch [Archetype]



Aergoth
2014-12-03, 11:41 AM
Gale Witch

And every man knew, as the Captain did too/ T’was the witch of November come stealin’[…]
When afternoon came it was freezing rain/ in the face of a hurricane west wind.

"Get thee back into the tempest and the Night's Plutonian shore!
Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath spoken!"

A Gale Witch is a truly fearsome enemy, and even as an ally a frightful force to be reckoned with, commanding the winds and weather to slash at enemies and calling down sleet, lightning and worse to foul enemies. Most Gale Witches are of a wicked humor, capsizing or simply destroying ships, conjuring banks of fog to waylay travellers or summoning terrible storms to blight crops and destroy villages. Others act as silent guardians of coastal villages or crews, managing and shepherding particularly powerful storms away from their charge and into enemies.

Patron Spells: A Gale Witch must choose the Tempest Patron as described below.

Tempest: Your patron is a being of stormy dispositions, impulsive and given to sudden destructive outbursts. You feel their influence most strongly in the vicious, biting rains of the coldest downpours and in the brief breath-taking calm before truly awesome storms.
2nd—Steal Breath, 4th—Sleet Storm, 6th—Control Winds, 8th—Call Lightning Storm, 10th—Wind Blades, 12th— Freezing Sphere, 14th—Control Weather, 16th—fire storm, 18th—Winds of Vengeance.

Gale Force: When casting in inclement weather, treat your caster level as +1 when casting spells with the [Air] or [Electricity] descriptors, or with the [Air] or [Cold] descriptors depending on the weather. This replaces the witch’s first level hex.

Storm Tossed: You treat the wind as one step less severe when determining the adverse effects of wind, and take no penalties on perception checks made to hear sounds regardless of the severity of the weather as the wind seems to bring sounds to you ear. You gain either cold or electricity resistance 5. Once chosen this cannot be changed. These effects apply a witch's familiar so long as they remain within 5 feet/witch level of their master, and your familiar may use your size category when determining the effects of wind. This replaces the witch’s second level hex.

Weather Eye: Your eyes are seasoned at working in even the foulest of weather and it poses less of an obstacle to you than to others. You can see 10 feet into mist, fog, sleet or other precipitation even when it would normally impede vision. This distance increases by 10 feet again at 8th level and every 4 levels thereafter. In addition you add half your witch level to Survival and Knowledge (Nature) checks related to the weather, and may make such checks untrained. This replaces the witch’s fourth level hex.

Tempestuous: You further reduce the severity of adverse effects of winds by a step (for a total of two steps) and treat yourself as a size category larger when determining if you are blown away instead of checked. You gain cold resistance 5 or electricity resistance 5, whichever you do not already have. The benefits of this apply to a witch's familiar so long as they remain within 10 feet/witch level of their master This replaces the witch’s 10th level hex

Storm Conductor: The witch can redirect nearby electrical attacks. As an immediate action, you can shift the area or target of an electricity attack by 5 feet in any direction. If the electricity affects an area, select one square to be unaffected and an adjacent square to be affected (if this square is already in the area, this has no additional effect in that area). If the electricity affects a target, select an adjacent target. You cannot redirect electricity damage conducted to you by physical contact with an object or creature (such as a shocking grasp or a shock weapon). You may use this ability a number of times per day equal to your Charisma bonus. For example, if you were in the line of a enemy’s lightning bolt, you could have the spell skip your square and instead affect an adjacent square, even if this meant the spell did not form a continuous line. If another enemy attacked you with call lighting, you could shift the targeted bolt to an adjacent square, hitting a creature in that square (if any). This replaces witch’s 14th level hex.

Stormborne: At 20th level a witch gains access to the following Grand Hex:
Stormborne: You are no longer adversely affected by magical or natural winds. While you are in an area of strong or greater wind you gain a natural fly speed (Good maneuverability) equal to your base land speed, adding 10 feet per step above strong, in addition you gain a bonus to your Fly skill equal to what the normal penalty would be (Strong winds +2, Severe Winds +4, etc.) this bonus supersedes the usual bonus to fly checks based on maneuverability, even if it is lower than what that bonus would typically be. Your familiar shares the benefits of this hex.

The following Hexes complement this archetype: Flight, Swamp's Grasp, Swamp Hag, Prehensile Hair, Water Lung, Retribution, Control Weather, Ice Tomb, Natural Disaster

Aergoth
2014-12-03, 11:43 AM
Credit where credit is due to Admiral Squish's Witch of November (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?385266-Witch-of-November-Monster-Crossroads) and the song that inspired it (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vST6hVRj2A)

Amechra
2014-12-03, 12:55 PM
You know what you should totally do?

Restrict their Familiars to birds, and then have Storm Tossed, Tempestuous, and Stormborne affect them as well.

Other than that, this looks pretty boss; I'd play one.

Aergoth
2014-12-03, 12:58 PM
I debated restricting familiars, but will definetly include the caveat about those features affecting familiars. (Gives me an excuse to quote Poe)

Pokonic
2014-12-03, 01:01 PM
I debated restricting familiars, but will definetly include the caveat about those features affecting familiars. (Gives me an excuse to quote Poe)

I would prefer the Winged template to be applied to a familiar, when appropriate; mostly, this is because, if I was to play this, I would totally get me a flying monkey.

Amechra
2014-12-03, 01:11 PM
...can't Witches already get flying monkeys as a Familiar?

If not...

Aergoth
2014-12-03, 01:12 PM
Get some fake wings! Updated the original thread to include your suggestion Amchera, and then realized that it would be even better if the familiar used their master's size category. Because nothing says supernatural quite like the black cat that should be getting tossed around like a tin can curling up like nothing was going on.