Best hexes for VMC witch

[Extra Anchovies]

As the title. I'm specifically looking for hexes that are good from 1st level and that don't rely on saves, because this is for a 10-Int Medium. Any suggestions?

[Kurald Galain]

For a melee character, flight. For a caster, slumber if you want cheese, misfortune otherwise. If your party doesn't have a healer, the healing hex is decent.

[Dusk Eclipse]

Seconding the Flight Hex, it has SO much utility that I would even consider it on a Caster build as it frees spells for other nice stuff.

[Extra Anchovies]

The issue with Flight is that the hex functions as if I were a 1st-level witch (except for save DC) until level 15, so it would just be Feather Fall until then. Would it still be worth it? I could probably get a flight-enabling item well before that point.

I'm playing a 10-Int Medium with a heavy melee focus, so things like Slumber won't be super useful. I just want to pick up some extra utility to keep up with the Wizard, Cleric, Bard, and Summoner when there isn't a fight on. It's a jungle-heavy campaign (Serpent's Skull AP), so I'm considering Feral Speech.

Would I maybe be able to get more out of Wizard VMC than Witch VMC? I'm split between the two because I know I want a familiar but am not sure how useful the rest would be.

[Dusk Eclipse]

Given that I would go with Wizard VMC, the Forewarned ability of Divination (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/wizard/arcane-schools/paizo---arcane-schools/classic-arcane-schools/divination) specialist is always nice, and there are some pretty good discoveries you could take at level 15:

True Name (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/wizard/arcane-discoveries/arcane-discoveries-paizo/true-name) is incredibly strong, but quite risky.
Beyond Morality (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/wizard/arcane-discoveries/arcane-discoveries-paizo/beyond-morality-su): Is a pretty decent defence, and at level 15 the alignment words begin to make their appearance so it would be great to have immunity to them.
Golem Constructer (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/wizard/arcane-discoveries/arcane-discoveries-paizo/beyond-morality-su): Might also be worthwhile if you pick up Master Artisan, but being able to get Golems on demand might be worthwhile.
Time Stutter (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/wizard/arcane-discoveries/arcane-discoveries-paizo/time-stutter-sp): Is also pretty useful.

[StygianRose]

Does this mean that the Witch VMC is overall a trap option?

[Oberon Kenobi]

Does this mean that the Witch VMC is overall a trap option?No, what it means is that a melee-focused character with minimal Int is not likely to get the most use out of taking features from an Int-driven spellcasting class. Hexes are probably worth the feat tradeoff if you've got the Intelligence score to make the saving throws decent.

For out-of-combat utility in a jungle, Water Lung might be helpful, if situational. Swamp's Grasp could be useful for keeping the enemy locked down, if you've got a way to deal with the difficult terrain.

[Grod_The_Giant]

The issue with Flight is that the hex functions as if I were a 1st-level witch (except for save DC) until level 15, so it would just be Feather Fall until then. Would it still be worth it? I could probably get a flight-enabling item well before that point.
It lasts 1 minute-- more than enough for a single fight, although still not great.


Evil Eye and Misfortune always work, even if just for a round.
Feral Speech is decent utility, especially for someone with a nature feel
Flight gives you one airborne encounter/day, which is well worth a feat
Fortune is an okay minor buff
Mud Witch is pretty unusual, and could be useful
Nails could be good for certain builds
A friend/animal companion would like Ward, since you can keep it up 24/7
Water Lung is downright amazing here, since it's basically free water breathing for everyone

[Extra Anchovies]

Regarding Wizard VMC: what would be some good school choices? I gave them a once-over and am considering these (only paying attention to the 1st-level powers, since I get the 8th-level power at level 19):

Teleportation (Summoner's Charm is wasted, but Shift, well, it's a swift-action teleport 3/day)
Foresight (Forewarned is awesome, and Prescience is quite nice even at 3/day)
Enchantment (Enchanting Smile is alright because I'm taking ranks in Diplomacy and might add Bluff as well; Dazing Touch is good because it lets me put a lower iterative to good use)
Enhancement (Physical Enhancement is great, Augment is pretty solid especially if I get a surprise round to use it in)
Shapechange (a bite or gore wouldn't interfere with my using a two-handed weapon, and an extra attack is an extra attack)

Any thoughts on those? Foresight, Enhancement, and Shapechange are my top picks, but the other two might be nice.


It lasts 1 minute-- more than enough for a single fight, although still not great.

Flight actually only grants flight at level 5, which is bothersome. If it did it would definitely be my first hex (since the "as if you were a 1st-level witch" only affects hexes that gain non-scaling upgrades at specific levels, like Evil Eye's increased save penalty).

[Dusk Eclipse]

Personally I'd go Divination, that scaling bonus to Initiative is awesome, but Shapechange also does have it's uses. At this point it would be a toss up I guess.

[Extra Anchovies]

Personally I'd go Divination, that scaling bonus to Initiative is awesome, but Shapechange also does have it's uses. At this point it would be a toss up I guess.

I think I'll go with Shapechange, because I'm probably going VMC Wizard (Divination) on the Occultist I'm building for another game. Unless I should do VMC Witch for that guy? He's rocking a 20 Int from level 1, so he can totally make good use of most hexes, and it would save him some mental focus while giving him more combat options.

[grarrrg]

Misfortune always work, even if just for a round.
Flight gives you one airborne encounter/day, which is well worth a feat
Mud Witch is pretty unusual, and could be useful


Will Negates Misfortune, so that's out.
Flight isn't actually Flight at level 1.
Mud Witch requires Swamp Hag Hex and being a Goblin. VMC-Witch can't take Extra Hex, so this ones out.

[Psyren]

VMC Witch isn't a trap, though personally I think VMC Wizard is superior. Some highlights are below:

- {gish class} + VMC Witch (Prehensile Hair) = extra limb to hold metamagic rods, draw potions etc. with their hands full. It can also be used to hold a shield. Magus and Alchemist don't need this however - the former can use Hexcrafter and the latter can use tentacle etc.

- Grenadier Alchemist + VMC Witch (Cauldron) = get a familiar, get back Brew Potion, and get a +4 insight bonus to alchemy checks on top of your other bonuses. (suggested Major Hex: Witch's Brew - make two potions/day.)

- {pet class} + VMC Witch (Ward) = free defensive bonuses to your pet that can be kept up all day - +2 deflection to AC and +2 resistance to saves that increase to +3. (suggested Major Hex: Witch's Charge - share personal-range spells with your pet at range.)

- {summoning class} + VMC Witch (Fortune) = 1 free reroll/encounter for anything you summon, plus 1 free reroll/day for you and the party.

- Water Lung can be nice for aquatic campaigns.

Funny observation about the "Nails" hex - nothing says they have to be fingernails. Making them your toenails could give you two extra "claw" attacks if your GM is on board.

[grarrrg]

- {gish class} + VMC Witch (Prehensile Hair) = extra limb to hold metamagic rods, draw potions etc. with their hands full. It can also be used to hold a shield.

- {summoning class} + VMC Witch (Fortune) = 1 free reroll/encounter for anything you summon, plus 1 free reroll/day for you and the party.

Funny observation about the "Nails" hex - nothing says they have to be fingernails. Making them your toenails could give you two extra "claw" attacks if your GM is on board.

Prehensile Hair has a duration of 1 Minute/Level. 1 minute each day isn't going to cut it.

Fortune is a Standard Action, has a duration of 1 Round to use it, for an average bonus slightly better than +3, and can only be used on any given creature 1/day.
Pass.

Nails gives Claw attacks, Claw attack MUST be on the hands (paizo.com/paizo/faq/v5748nruor1fo#v5748eaic9rdk).


All the rest of your examples seem fine though.

[Kurald Galain]

- {gish class} + VMC Witch (Prehensile Hair) = extra limb to hold metamagic rods, draw potions etc. with their hands full. It can also be used to hold a shield.
The main issue with this is that it requires a standard action to activate.

[Psyren]

The main issue with this is that it requires a standard action to activate.

Sure, but it lasts at least a minute, so it's not like you have to do that every round.


Prehensile Hair has a duration of 1 Minute/Level. 1 minute each day isn't going to cut it.

It goes up to 8 minutes (read: 8 combats) at 15 though. Before that, save it for your toughest fight of the day.


Fortune is a Standard Action, has a duration of 1 Round to use it, for an average bonus slightly better than +3, and can only be used on any given creature 1/day.
Pass.

It also costs you no spell slots, and you can use it on everything you summon. Reconsider.



Nails gives Claw attacks, Claw attack MUST be on the hands (paizo.com/paizo/faq/v5748nruor1fo#v5748eaic9rdk).

It doesn't say "claw" anywhere that I can see.

[Extra Anchovies]

Now I'm all confused.

Hex: At 7th level, she gains a hex of her choice as a 1st-level witch. If she chooses the slumber hex, it can affect only creatures with Hit Dice less than or equal to her character level.

Improved Hex: At 15th level, she gains a second hex as a 1st-level witch, and her first hex advances as if she were an 8th-level witch.

Major Hex: At 19th level, she gains a major hex as a 10th-level witch. She cannot gain the ice tomb hex.
Does the "as a Xth-level witch" thing only affect fixed-level upgrades like the Evil Eye penalty increase, or does it also affect DCs and durations?

[Psyren]

Does the "as a Xth-level witch" thing only affect fixed-level upgrades like the Evil Eye penalty increase, or does it also affect DCs and durations?

It affects everything dependent on level. So if your hex advances to Witch 8, it's treated as though an 8th-level Witch used it.

[grarrrg]

It goes up to 8 minutes (read: 8 combats) at 15 though. Before that, save it for your toughest fight of the day.
...
It doesn't say "claw" anywhere that I can see.

I would rather have bonuses that are more useful than 1 fight/day.

Point on the Nails thing though. But keep quiet about it, or Paizo might nerf it into the ground.

[StygianRose]

It affects everything dependent on level. So if your hex advances to Witch 8, it's treated as though an 8th-level Witch used it.

So wait, this means that the comment about 'having the int to make DCs relevant' is fallacious because no hex gets the by-level DC scaling and will end up a weak/easy save no matter what.

Some math; considering a 20 int just for simplicity. You could probably get more at some of these levels, but that isn't relevant for the example as it applies to both a proper and VMC witch equally in terms of Chance of Failure. Chance of Failure is calculated as the chance of rolling AT LEAST the DC. I lumped in the 19th level Major Hex with 20th level as doing 19 and 20 together would be fairly superfluous and the list is already long.

I used the Monster Creation Table (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/rules-for-monsters/monster-creation) for reference in order to avoid spending literal hours to find the average saves of each CR used here. Outliers exist on both ends, but there is no mathable chance of them appearing in your campaign so I have used the averages.

7th Level
Hex (as first level witch) - DC15
CR / Good Save / Chance of Failure / Bad Save / Chance of Failure
5 / 8 / 70% / 4 / 50%
6 / 9 / 75% / 5 / 55%
7 / 10 / 80% / 6 / 60%

Hex (If you were a witch of 7th level) - DC18
CR / Good Save / Chance of Failure / Bad Save / Chance of Failure
5 / 8 / 55% / 4 / 35%
6 / 9 / 60% / 5 / 40%
7 / 10 / 65% / 6 / 45%

11th Level
Hex (As 1st level Witch) - DC15
CR / Good Save / Chance of Failure / Bad Save / Chance of Failure
9 / 12 / 90% / 8 / 70%
10 / 13 / 95% / 9 / 75%
11 / 14 / 100% / 10 / 80%

Hex (As 11th level Witch) DC20
CR / Good Save / Chance of Failure / Bad Save / Chance of Failure
9 / 12 / 65% / 8 / 45%
10 / 13 / 70% / 9 / 50%
11 / 14 / 75% / 10 / 55%

15th Level
Hex (As 1st level Witch) - DC15
CR / Good Save / Chance of Failure / Bad Save / Chance of Failure
13 / 16 / 100% / 12 / 90%
14 / 17 / 100% / 12 / 90%
15 / 18 / 100% / 13 / 95%

Hex (As 8th level Witch) - DC19
CR / Good Save / Chance of Failure / Bad Save / Chance of Failure
13 / 16 / 90% / 12 / 70%
14 / 17 / 95% / 12 / 70%
15 / 18 / 100% / 13 / 75%

Hex (As 15th level Witch) - DC22
CR / Good Save / Chance of Failure / Bad Save / Chance of Failure
13 / 16 / 90% / 12 / 55%
14 / 17 / 95% / 12 / 55%
15 / 18 / 100% / 13 / 60%

Lv20
Hex (As 1st level Witch) - DC15
CR / Good Save / Chance of Failure / Bad Save / Chance of Failure
18 / 20 / 100% / 16 / 100%
19 / 21 / 100% / 16 / 100%
20 / 22 / 100% / 17 / 100%

Hex (As 8th level Witch) - DC19
CR / Good Save / Chance of Failure / Bad Save / Chance of Failure
18 / 20 / 100% / 16 / 90%
19 / 21 / 100% / 16 / 90%
20 / 22 / 100% / 17 / 95%

Hex (As 10th level Witch) - DC20
CR / Good Save / Chance of Failure / Bad Save / Chance of Failure
18 / 20 / 100% / 16 / 85%
19 / 21 / 100% / 16 / 85%
20 / 22 / 100% / 17 / 90%

Hex (As 20th level Witch) - DC25
CR / Good Save / Chance of Failure / Bad Save / Chance of Failure
18 / 20 / 80% / 16 / 60%
19 / 21 / 85% / 16 / 60%
20 / 22 / 90% / 17 / 65%

If someone really wants me to, I will do a level appropriate Int chart using the Automatic Bonus Progression table as a guide. It won't chance anything besides when certain tiers of hex become an Auto-Fail, if I listed numbers above 100% or less than 0% on the base chart the difference between each Hex tier would remain the same numerical % regardless of int.

EDIT: Formatting

[Spore]

I too like the Ward hex. It's a free mini Heroism for the whole party.