Making a witcher

[RingofThorns]

Hello everyone I have recently had another one of my ideas and I have recently been playing alot of the witcher 3, and that got me thinking what would be the best way to go about making a witcher for 3.5?

[Andezzar]

I've only played Witcher 1 and 2 and read some of Sapkovski's books, but basically he is a Gish with some alchemy. Maybe throw in some acquired template that makes him not humanoid.

[The Vagabond]

Personally, I'd say that porting pathfinders alchamist, Asking to homebrew some spell like abilities to buy with alchemist discoveries, and ask for the magic magic recharge variant for your Alchemist extracts. Bam, Geralt in all his glory.

Ask to homebrew yourself a race that's a stronger variant than human, ask for LA to be paid in warrior levels to get it perfect.

[deathbymanga]

wouldn't ranger work of a sort? you got magic, you got the nature skills and powers to craft using herbs and potions and you have swordplay

[Strigon]

Maybe throw in some acquired template that makes him not humanoid.

Not humanoid?
Why on Earth wouldn't a Witcher be humanoid? Not human, perhaps, but that's very different from not humanoid; after all, they don't seem any further from your average D&D human than, say, Orcs or Dwarves.

[Andezzar]

To set him further apart and to give him immunity to some spells and abilities. And then there is this:

Indeed, there is nothing more repulsive than these monsters that defy nature and are known by the name of witcher, as they are the offspring of foul sorcery and witchcraft. They are unscrupulous scoundrels without conscience and virtue, veritable creatures from hell capable only of taking lives. They have no place amongst decent and honest folk.


wouldn't ranger work of a sort? you got magic, you got the nature skills and powers to craft using herbs and potions and you have swordplayI don't think Rangers get the right kinds of spells. Rangers get little if any blasting and just as much mind control. The rules for ranger casting (outside of mystic ranger and/or Sword of the Arcane Order) also makes them not very effective against CR appropriate opponents.

[Strigon]

To set him further apart and to give him immunity to some spells and abilities.

What spells and abilities do Witchers have immunity to?
And why should they be further apart? They're human-plus, not completely inhuman.

[Grod_The_Giant]

In 3.5 only? I agree with deathbymanga, Ranger is your best bet. I might actually go Ranger* 5 (with Sword of the Arcane Order)/Fighter 1/Runesmith 1/Ranger +13. Why Runesmith, you might ask? Because it lets you prepare spells in a tangible, material form-- runes, technically, but very easy to refluff as potions. But any gish of your choice+Runesmith is a solid option-- that's really the key.

Otherwise, yeah, Pathfinder's Alchemist is 100% perfect. Mutagen, Bombs, and potions are the three main features of the class, for goodness sake. They make quite capable melee types if you build them right. Heck, with their gish chassis they even match the Witchers' "use potions to level the playing field" schtick.


*Preferably Mystic Ranger, which is generally superior, especially considering that neither combat style really matches the Witchers'.

[GloatingSwine]

What spells and abilities do Witchers have immunity to?

None, really.

They're very highly resistant to diseases and poisons though.

[ExLibrisMortis]

None, really.

They're very highly resistant to diseases and poisons though.
This. They probably just have very high fortitude saves.

[Eladrinblade]

A pathfinder inquisitor is basically a witch hunter, and fits pretty well, I'd say.

[Andezzar]

This. They probably just have very high fortitude saves.I agree, but even an arbitrarily high fortitude modifier will fail 5% of the time. That is too often for my taste. So he would either need blanket immunity or some reroll ability.

[Manyasone]

If it were PF, I would say a Magus(kensai?/hexcrafter) with Alchemist (internal Alchemist) and the Darwin 's World mutant template

[ExLibrisMortis]

I agree, but even an arbitrarily high fortitude modifier will fail 5% of the time. That is too often for my taste. So he would either need blanket immunity or some reroll ability.
Golden Oriole exists for a reason :P.

[Andezzar]

What's that?

[Kahlendrrari]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned inquisitor yet. I think it would be a better fit, you don't even have to choose a patron deity if you don't want to. The abilities granted by the inquisitor class seem slightly better than what the ranger has to offer.

The bane ability is your "specialty" training in fighting monsters.
Inquisitors get monster lore and track.
Judgments and spell casting would be the magical side of the witcher.

[Wonton]

Funnily enough, we have a guy in one of my campaigns literally playing a witcher. Inquisitor is what he went with. Bane, Monster Lore, proficient in combat, but a little bit of magic to back it up. Not sure how to fit the alchemy in, you could take a level of alchemist maybe.

[ExLibrisMortis]

What's that?
It's a bird, and also a potion that grants poison immunity (or resistance, depending on the game). I'm not sure it's in the original books, though.

[Hal0Badger]

I answered this question earlier with a Ranger (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=19771316&postcount=21) build, depending on the ACF and some minor DM help. Maybe it can help you.

[KillianHawkeye]

I am currently playing in a 3.5 game with a character loosely inspired by The Witcher that is primarily a Hexblade with a 1-level dip into Warlock. He fights with a bastard sword, has a silver backup weapon (that I never use), an assortment of alchemical funsies (flash pellets, thunderstones, et al), access to Enchantment spells, and a maxed out Charisma score (for the ladies :smallwink:). Playing a mercenary "monster hunter"-type character works just as great in D&D as it does in the video games (perhaps even better), and I just go around being a total badass whenever possible. :smallamused:

Of course, I'd get bored playing a carbon copy of some character from a game or movie or TV, so it will never be more than an homage to Geralt. After taking the concept of The Witcher and forming the basics of a character build, I went back and tweaked some things, added other things, and just generally made it into something unique.


Oh yeah, I guess I should mention that my character is primarily based on Geralt from The Witcher 2, since that's the one I've played the most.