Witch Class (PEACH)

[Oramac]

The Witch, for 5e D&D.

There's been MANY updates since I first posted this, so feel free to comment on any and everything.

Thank you!

http://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/rJpjo51ve

[Oramac]

Reserved, just in case.

[clash]

So I haven't thought about all the features, but here is a few things to start:

1) Find Familiar says it counts as a prepared spell, even though this class doesn't prepare spells.
2) I would be really careful with things like improved find familiar. Most of the points are fine, but rather than opening it up to any small creature I would add to the list of available ones as the pact of the chain warlock does. That makes a lot less room for abuse.
3) For what they give you crafts might be usable a little too often. At level 10 a sorcerer can give disadvantage on saves 3 times per day. Witches can do the same 15 times a day assuming 2 short rests. That being said some of the crafts are only a little better than a cantrip ie Toughness Charm so maybe some balancing is needed on the crafts as well.

The class abilities seem alright for the most part though, and the flavor is there.

[Oramac]

So I haven't thought about all the features, but here is a few things to start:

1) Find Familiar says it counts as a prepared spell, even though this class doesn't prepare spells.

Good catch. That was left over from the very first iteration when I was basing the class on the druid. I got it changed.


2) I would be really careful with things like improved find familiar. Most of the points are fine, but rather than opening it up to any small creature I would add to the list of available ones as the pact of the chain warlock does. That makes a lot less room for abuse.

I was wondering about that myself. For now, I'm just going to remove the line about small sized creatures, and I'll revisit the new familiar forms later.


3) For what they give you crafts might be usable a little too often. At level 10 a sorcerer can give disadvantage on saves 3 times per day. Witches can do the same 15 times a day assuming 2 short rests. That being said some of the crafts are only a little better than a cantrip ie Toughness Charm so maybe some balancing is needed on the crafts as well.

Also a good point. Changes in bold:

Toughness Charm: Changed to: "As an action or reaction, choose one creature that you can see within 60 feet. That creature gains resistance to all damage until the beginning of your next turn"

Curse of Lethargy: Changed to: "When you cast a spell requiring a single enemy to make a saving throw, you may Curse it with lethargy, giving it disadvantage on the saving throw. Once a creature has suffered this curse, they cannot suffer it again."


The class abilities seem alright for the most part though, and the flavor is there.

Thanks!! Another concern I had: what are your thoughts on the 20th level capstone that allows concentration on two spells?

[clash]

Once/long rest with disadvantage on concentration saves seems fine even if there might be some abuse combining two powerful spells.

[Oramac]

Once/long rest with disadvantage on concentration saves seems fine even if there might be some abuse combining two powerful spells.

Ok. That was my thought as well. As well as limiting the first spell to 3rd level or lower, I figured that ought to help balance out the really powerful effects of double-concentration.

[Gastronomie]

I really like the concept, but there's no spell list, so I'd like to see it. Also, see some flaws in balance.

For instance, improved Find Familiar definitely requires a CR restriction. Otherwise you can summon a CR 18 Demilich at level 7.

I like Craft Magic, but I think it should be recharged like Bardic Inspiration - "you get a number equal to your INT modifier, recharges at a long rest", and "from level 5 and then on, you recharge with a short rest". Otherwise it's too much.

Most of the effects of the Crafts are balanced, but I think Revitalizing Charm should, say, "cost a number of Craft uses equal to the level of the spell" or something. Curse of Lethargy is too powerful as it is right now - again, it should "cost a certain number of Craft uses", something like "3 uses" to match with Heightened Spell. Curse of Pain is just way too abusable, and I advice you change it to the same effect as Empowered Spell.

[Oramac]

I really like the concept, but there's no spell list, so I'd like to see it. Also, see some flaws in balance.

For instance, improved Find Familiar definitely requires a CR restriction. Otherwise you can summon a CR 18 Demilich at level 7.

I like Craft Magic, but I think it should be recharged like Bardic Inspiration - "you get a number equal to your INT modifier, recharges at a long rest", and "from level 5 and then on, you recharge with a short rest". Otherwise it's too much.

Most of the effects of the Crafts are balanced, but I think Revitalizing Charm should, say, "cost a number of Craft uses equal to the level of the spell" or something. Curse of Lethargy is too powerful as it is right now - again, it should "cost a certain number of Craft uses", something like "3 uses" to match with Heightened Spell. Curse of Pain is just way too abusable, and I advice you change it to the same effect as Empowered Spell.

I'm on my phone so I'm not going to edit it yet, but thank you for the feedback!

I really like the comparison to bardic inspiration. Most likely I'll implement all of that in some way.

[Oramac]

I really like the concept, but there's no spell list, so I'd like to see it. Also, see some flaws in balance.

For instance, improved Find Familiar definitely requires a CR restriction. Otherwise you can summon a CR 18 Demilich at level 7.

I like Craft Magic, but I think it should be recharged like Bardic Inspiration - "you get a number equal to your INT modifier, recharges at a long rest", and "from level 5 and then on, you recharge with a short rest". Otherwise it's too much.

Most of the effects of the Crafts are balanced, but I think Revitalizing Charm should, say, "cost a number of Craft uses equal to the level of the spell" or something. Curse of Lethargy is too powerful as it is right now - again, it should "cost a certain number of Craft uses", something like "3 uses" to match with Heightened Spell. Curse of Pain is just way too abusable, and I advice you change it to the same effect as Empowered Spell.

EDIT: I forgot to add, the Witch uses the Druid spell list. No changes.

So I'm back in front of an actual computer now and took a new look at the features in question.

Craft Magic has changed thus: "Craft Magic: At 2nd level, you gain access to various Hexes, Curses, and Charms that you can use to enhance yourself and your allies, or harm your enemies, as detailed at the end of this class description. You know 3 Crafts, and may use them a number of times equal to your Intelligence modifier. You regain expended uses when you finish a long rest."

And Empowered Craft Magic: "Empowered Craft Magic: At 10th level, your Craft Magic is empowered. You learn 2 additional Crafts of your choice, and you now regain all uses of Craft Magic when you finish a short or long rest."

For the Charms/Curses:

Revitalizing Charm: Added a line "this Charm costs a number of uses equal to the level of the spell being cast." Though I wonder if it should be half the level of the spell, since you'll only ever have 5 uses, and using this on a 5th level spell would mean you can't do anything else until you rest. That seems like an awful high cost for one healing spell.

Curse of Lethargy: I don't think that it's too powerful, because of the line "Once a creature has suffered this curse, it cannot suffer it again". You can only effect one creature at a time, and can only affect it once. So pick your spell wisely.

Curse of Pain: I'd argue this is the same as Curse of Lethargy. It's basically the same as the Tempest Cleric Channel Divinity as well, except that it works with any damage type. And it has the line "Unlike other curses, the curse of pain is taxing to use and can be used only once between rests" preventing abuse as well.

Possibly the last two would need some good playtesting to be sure.

[Oramac]

Updated this one A LOT. New archetype, more Craft Magic, and lots of wording changes.

Feel free to PEACH it.

Thank you!

[Ninja_Prawn]

Under spellcasting, it says "if you know the spell burning hands," but that spell isn't on the class spell list or any of the coven spell tables.Naturally, I was so disoriented by this terrible error that I could not bring myself to read the rest of the class!

My first thought here is how similar this is to the MHP Witch (http://mfov.magehandpress.com/2016/09/witch.html), in that both are offensive support/debuff casters with improved familiars and a range of extra tricks (your crafts, our hexes). You even used the same names for the subclasses! In some ways, I like yours better, because there are longstanding concerns about whether or not ours is overpowered while there's no question in my mind that yours isn't.

Overall, I think it's very well executed. I can't think of any real improvements to suggest.

[Oramac]

Under spellcasting, it says "if you know the spell burning hands," but that spell isn't on the class spell list or any of the coven spell tables.Naturally, I was so disoriented by this terrible error that I could not bring myself to read the rest of the class!

It never even occurred to me to change that. I'll definitely do that.


My first thought here is how similar this is to the MHP Witch (http://mfov.magehandpress.com/2016/09/witch.html), in that both are offensive support/debuff casters with improved familiars and a range of extra tricks (your crafts, our hexes). You even used the same names for the subclasses! In some ways, I like yours better, because there are longstanding concerns about whether or not ours is overpowered while there's no question in my mind that yours isn't.

Overall, I think it's very well executed. I can't think of any real improvements to suggest.

I swear I didn't even know MFoV had even written a Witch. Thank you for the compliment! I'm reading through yours now. Much as I can at work, anyway.

[JNAProductions]

Nice picture. Looks good.

Why Con saving throws? Would Wisdom make more sense?

Cheering Charm should have a clause about giving advantage on the save if in combat, or something like that.

Enduring Charm is really good-it replicates Greater Restoration, a 5th level spell.

Cruciatus Curse is also really good. Exhaustion is POWERFUL.

I'm not really gonna look at the rest of them, since I believe you can probably look over them and rebalance them yourself. If you really would like me to look them over, let me know.

Overall, though, I like this class. Feels good. A few outliers, a few odd choices, but it feels pretty well-balanced.

[Oramac]

Nice picture. Looks good.

Why Con saving throws? Would Wisdom make more sense?

Now that you mention it, probably.


Cheering Charm should have a clause about giving advantage on the save if in combat, or something like that.

Good catch.


Enduring Charm is really good-it replicates Greater Restoration, a 5th level spell.

True enough. It's less versatile since it can't remove other effects, but still powerful. I'll look into it.


Cruciatus Curse is also really good. Exhaustion is POWERFUL.

Indeed. Which is why I specified that targets have advantage on every save after the first. Might still need some balancing. I haven't had a chance to playtest it yet.


I'm not really gonna look at the rest of them, since I believe you can probably look over them and rebalance them yourself. If you really would like me to look them over, let me know.

I certainly wouldn't say no if you wanted to take a look, but by no means do you have to. I can definitely go back through them as-is.


Overall, though, I like this class. Feels good. A few outliers, a few odd choices, but it feels pretty well-balanced.

Thank you!

[Composer99]

About to head out the door, so I don't have time for a fulsome review, but one thing popped out at me:

Why does the witch have an ability score increase at 14th level? IIRC only the fighter and rogue have extra ASIs. As a full caster, the witch doesn't really need it.

[Oramac]

About to head out the door, so I don't have time for a fulsome review, but one thing popped out at me:

Why does the witch have an ability score increase at 14th level? IIRC only the fighter and rogue have extra ASIs. As a full caster, the witch doesn't really need it.

Good catch. It doesn't. Not sure how it got into the table, but it's not supposed to be there.

[Composer99]

All right, so looking at this in a bit more detail. Apologies in advance if I retread ground covered by other posters above. I'm going to come back to the spell list later.

Core Features
These all look pretty good to me.


Coven of White Magic
The 1st-level White Magic Adept feature is fine but doesn't look that great compared to the Nature Coven 1st-level feature.

The 14th-level Gift of Rest feature seems really weaksauce for 14th level, especially compared to the other coven features of the same level. You could give this coven proficiency with Medicine, coupled with the double proficiency bonus, at 1st level (on top of its existing feature) and it would be fine. Maybe some other way to protect yourself and your allies would be more appropriate - perhaps, say, getting to cast counterspell or dispel magic without using a slot on a short+long rest recharge basis?

Overall, it does seem like this coven, apart from the 6th-level extra Craft Magic, has the predominant theme of healing, which is maybe a little over-focused for a witch. Witches can heal, of course, but specialising in it just doesn't strike me as a very... well, witchy thing to do.


Coven of Natural Magic
The Natural Magic Adept feature makes the other covens' 1st-level features look kind of lame, since it scales much more dramatically. ("Oh, your spells make enemies wither and decay a little more than mine do? How nice for you, dearie. Now, excuse me while I head off and churn out some quarter-cost potions of speed.") That said, I wouldn't nerf it, because it's really cool and it's a downtime feature.

Natural Herbalist is also a really nice downtime feature. I should note that there's only one poison in the DMG that you can't make for only 5 gp using this feature, which is purple worm poison. Also, unless the DM fiddles with prices, you can make uncommon potions at best with this feature (creation cost of 500 gp in the DMG) which is fine, although 5 gp potions of hill giant strength might be a little much.

By the time we reach Master of Nature, I would say this coven is overdoing potions and poisons as the thematic focus. I'd consider something a bit more animal or plant focused for this feature. Maybe the ability to cast conjure animals at will, or tree stride on a short/long rest recharge?


Coven of Black Magic
I'd actually consider taking the poison-crafting parts of the nature coven's 1st-level feature away and giving it to this coven instead, on top of its existing feature, because it seems to me that poison is something a Black Magic Adept should be good at (c.f. the witch queen in Snow White).

Unlike Gift of Rest, Dark Charm is both IMO thematically appropriate and appropriately powerful for a 14th-level 'ribbon' feature.

Limbo is frickin' awesome. I love it. It positively screams 'eeevil witch'.


Craft Magic
The Cheering Charm doesn't actually strike me as having the right name. That name makes me think of a buff effect you apply to yourself or your allies (granting immunity to being charmed or frightened, or advantage on saving throws against same, for some period of time, say). The charm as written strikes me as basically charm person by another name, making it overlap a bit too much with the Black Magic coven Dark Charm feature.

If the Toughness Charm is usable as a reaction, if you want it to be a feature you can use on your turn, I'd consider making it a bonus action to use. Maybe have the first sentence discuss how you can use it as a reaction, and then add a sentence saying something to the effect of: "You can use this Charm on your turn as a bonus action instead, without requiring the triggering effect."

The Cruciatus Curse is apt, but maybe you should rename it to the Curse of Agony?

When you have curses such as the Cruciatus Curse and Curse of Pain, the Curse of Hives just looks wimpy, especially since, as I recall, poisoned is among the most-resisted of conditions. I'd consider having it last longer.

The Curse of Weakness, like the Cheering Charm, doesn't have the effect I think it would have from looking at the name. Weakness makes me think of having disadvantage on Strength ability checks and dealing half damage with weapon attacks. This curse also treads on the toes of the Elemental Adept feat, which probably isn't a problem, just something to keep in mind. I'd consider renaming it, at any rate.

Witch's Inscription is about equivalent to the 3.5 cantrip arcane mark (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/arcaneMark.htm), making it decidedly weaker than many of the other Crafts. If you don't want to buff its effect, maybe allow this Craft to be used at will, instead of expending one of your "Craft charges"?

Touch of Fire seems to run into the problem where 'inflammable' doesn't mean what we tend to think it does - it's actually a synonym of 'flammable' that predates the latter term (http://mentalfloss.com/article/61201/why-do-flammable-and-inflammable-mean-same-thing). Also, is there a range limit on your ability to extinguish flames? 60 feet or what-have-you?

[Oramac]

All right, so looking at this in a bit more detail. Apologies in advance if I retread ground covered by other posters above. I'm going to come back to the spell list later.

Good stuff! Thank you. I'm at work right now, so I can't really go through it in a lot of detail. I'll reply more comprehensively once I get home.

[endlessxaura]

I really, really like the concept! Sometimes when people brew classes, they don't feel like they ought to be a base class, but this really deserves it! So, questions and comments:


Craft Magic: So, there is some weirdness here. I get that you're trying to go for the Bard uses, but remember, the Bard only uses a single Inspiration die and gets, at most, 3 roughly equal kinds of uses for it. Meanwhile, Crafts vary in both power and use-case (Witch's Inscription vs Curse of Pain, say). Curses that are more powerful you limit by only allowing them to be used between short/long rests, which muddies the Craft Magic mechanic itself. It's a resource within a resource, effectively. Here's my recommendation: a) Make curse use a currency that is expended (even just "curse uses"). This provides a numerical balancing scale, just like Vancian magic. You only need to balance level 1 spells against other level 1 spells, level 2 spells against other level 2 spells, and so on. It also allows the player to make tactical decisions as to the best use of the resource. b) Make it work like Warlock invocations. That way, each Craft is balanced against each other but have encapsulated rules that limit its power. If a Warlock invocation is powerful, it limits itself to a short/long rest to keep it in check. If a Warlock invocation isn't very powerful (a ribbon, for instance), it can be used at-will or several times before a rest. A Craft could function the same.
Gift of Rest: As Composer99 noted.
Natural Magic Adept: I don't think there are rules for crafting poisons and potions. You may want to make some here.
Natural Herbalist: Can I only do this while travelling? What if I'm camping in a meadow? Can I do this while I'm travelling anywhere? What if I'm travelling through the Underdark? What price metric should I use for the value of poisons and potions? Maximum for potions? Can I create a rare potion?
Black Magic Adept: What counts a spell that deals damage to a single target? If I cast Scorching Ray (suppose I multiclass for it), would the extra damage apply to every hit or just one? Would the extra damage only apply if I target one person? Would the extra damage not apply at all because I CAN hit multiple targets? What about Bestow Curse using the extra 1d8 damage on hit? Would it apply to every proc? What about Shillelagh? Would it apply to every hit with it? To avoid all of this, I think you might want to just want to put it as "When you deal damage with a spell, one creature hit by the spell takes additional necrotic damage equal to your Intelligence modifier. This can only happen once per turn."
Bane of the Simple Mind (Transmutation): I don't know if you intend to make transmutation for crafts mean the same thing as transmutation for spells. If so, this is a charm, not a transmutation.


That's a lot, but I genuinely think that the only place this class suffers is the Crafts. Once you get that down, this will be a solid class.

Also, a few comments about formatting (nit-picky, I know):


Under hit points and proficiencies, hit points is the wrong header type and the items should be listed in bold like **Hit Dice:**
Under Spellcasting, Ritual Casting is the wrong header type
Under Witch's Coven, Coven Spells is the wrong header type
All of your Crafts are the wrong header type
In your spell list, you can put <br> a line below the header to force a new paragraph and align the first spell with the rest of them

[Composer99]

Black Magic Adept: What counts a spell that deals damage to a single target? If I cast Scorching Ray (suppose I multiclass for it), would the extra damage apply to every hit or just one? Would the extra damage only apply if I target one person? Would the extra damage not apply at all because I CAN hit multiple targets? What about Bestow Curse using the extra 1d8 damage on hit? Would it apply to every proc? What about Shillelagh? Would it apply to every hit with it? To avoid all of this, I think you might want to just want to put it as "When you deal damage with a spell, one creature hit by the spell takes additional necrotic damage equal to your Intelligence modifier. This can only happen once per turn."






For wording that, how about, "Once on each of your turns, one creature you damage with a spell takes additional necrotic damage equal to your Intelligence modifier."?

[Oramac]

Ok! Finally had a chance to go through it all.

The link in the OP is updated thus far.


Core Features
These all look pretty good to me.

Glad to hear it.


Coven of White Magic
The 1st-level White Magic Adept feature is fine but doesn't look that great compared to the Nature Coven 1st-level feature.

The 14th-level Gift of Rest feature seems really weaksauce for 14th level, especially compared to the other coven features of the same level. You could give this coven proficiency with Medicine, coupled with the double proficiency bonus, at 1st level (on top of its existing feature) and it would be fine. Maybe some other way to protect yourself and your allies would be more appropriate - perhaps, say, getting to cast counterspell or dispel magic without using a slot on a short+long rest recharge basis?

Added the Medicine skill stuff and reworked Gift of Rest (renamed Gift of Protection).


Overall, it does seem like this coven, apart from the 6th-level extra Craft Magic, has the predominant theme of healing, which is maybe a little over-focused for a witch. Witches can heal, of course, but specialising in it just doesn't strike me as a very... well, witchy thing to do.

You made a really good point about being over focused. I've tried to address that. Hopefully it's a little closer to the mark.


Coven of Natural Magic
The Natural Magic Adept feature makes the other covens' 1st-level features look kind of lame, since it scales much more dramatically. ("Oh, your spells make enemies wither and decay a little more than mine do? How nice for you, dearie. Now, excuse me while I head off and churn out some quarter-cost potions of speed.") That said, I wouldn't nerf it, because it's really cool and it's a downtime feature.

It does scale really well, but considering the normal poison crafting rules are utter ****, I felt like this feature needed to be rather powerful, else nobody would ever take it.


Natural Herbalist is also a really nice downtime feature. I should note that there's only one poison in the DMG that you can't make for only 5 gp using this feature, which is purple worm poison. Also, unless the DM fiddles with prices, you can make uncommon potions at best with this feature (creation cost of 500 gp in the DMG) which is fine, although 5 gp potions of hill giant strength might be a little much.

Leaving out the Purple Worm Poison was intentional. Uncommon potions works, I think, though you make a good point about the more impactful potions. Not sure how to deal with that. Maybe a skill check to make it or something.


By the time we reach Master of Nature, I would say this coven is overdoing potions and poisons as the thematic focus. I'd consider something a bit more animal or plant focused for this feature. Maybe the ability to cast conjure animals at will, or tree stride on a short/long rest recharge?

Redesigned with two free spells, cast once per long rest without using a spell slot. Again, I agree about it being too focused, though I'm not 100% sure I like just giving more spells. It feels uninspired.


Coven of Black Magic
I'd actually consider taking the poison-crafting parts of the nature coven's 1st-level feature away and giving it to this coven instead, on top of its existing feature, because it seems to me that poison is something a Black Magic Adept should be good at (c.f. the witch queen in Snow White).

On the one hand, I agree. On the other, pulling poison crafting away from the Coven of Natural Magic kinda makes that coven less desirable.


Unlike Gift of Rest, Dark Charm is both IMO thematically appropriate and appropriately powerful for a 14th-level 'ribbon' feature.

Thank you!


Limbo is frickin' awesome. I love it. It positively screams 'eeevil witch'.

Thanks again. I admit I am quite proud of this feature.


Craft Magic
The Cheering Charm doesn't actually strike me as having the right name. That name makes me think of a buff effect you apply to yourself or your allies (granting immunity to being charmed or frightened, or advantage on saving throws against same, for some period of time, say). The charm as written strikes me as basically charm person by another name, making it overlap a bit too much with the Black Magic coven Dark Charm feature.

Good call. This has been changed


If the Toughness Charm is usable as a reaction, if you want it to be a feature you can use on your turn, I'd consider making it a bonus action to use. Maybe have the first sentence discuss how you can use it as a reaction, and then add a sentence saying something to the effect of: "You can use this Charm on your turn as a bonus action instead, without requiring the triggering effect."

Changed the wording as you suggested.


The Cruciatus Curse is apt, but maybe you should rename it to the Curse of Agony?

Changed the name as suggested. I guess ripping off Harry Potter for Curse names is unwise. :D


When you have curses such as the Cruciatus Curse and Curse of Pain, the Curse of Hives just looks wimpy, especially since, as I recall, poisoned is among the most-resisted of conditions. I'd consider having it last longer.

Slightly redesigned and lengthened.


The Curse of Weakness, like the Cheering Charm, doesn't have the effect I think it would have from looking at the name. Weakness makes me think of having disadvantage on Strength ability checks and dealing half damage with weapon attacks. This curse also treads on the toes of the Elemental Adept feat, which probably isn't a problem, just something to keep in mind. I'd consider renaming it, at any rate.

Renamed. Also, added an actual Curse of Weakness. Thanks for the idea!


Witch's Inscription is about equivalent to the 3.5 cantrip arcane mark (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/arcaneMark.htm), making it decidedly weaker than many of the other Crafts. If you don't want to buff its effect, maybe allow this Craft to be used at will, instead of expending one of your "Craft charges"?

Funny you mention it. That 3.5 cantrip is exactly what the Craft is based on. It's meant to be a fun flavor effect. I decided to roll this into the 10th level feature, as the Craft system is changing to be more like Invocations (see endlessxaura's post).


Touch of Fire seems to run into the problem where 'inflammable' doesn't mean what we tend to think it does - it's actually a synonym of 'flammable' that predates the latter term (http://mentalfloss.com/article/61201/why-do-flammable-and-inflammable-mean-same-thing). Also, is there a range limit on your ability to extinguish flames? 60 feet or what-have-you?

Changed to "non-flammable" and added a range to extinguishing the flames.


I really, really like the concept! Sometimes when people brew classes, they don't feel like they ought to be a base class, but this really deserves it!

Thank you!! I really appreciate that.


Craft Magic[/B]: So, there is some weirdness here. I get that you're trying to go for the Bard uses, but remember, the Bard only uses a single Inspiration die and gets, at most, 3 roughly equal kinds of uses for it. Meanwhile, Crafts vary in both power and use-case (Witch's Inscription vs Curse of Pain, say). Curses that are more powerful you limit by only allowing them to be used between short/long rests, which muddies the Craft Magic mechanic itself. It's a resource within a resource, effectively. Here's my recommendation: a) Make curse use a currency that is expended (even just "curse uses"). This provides a numerical balancing scale, just like Vancian magic. You only need to balance level 1 spells against other level 1 spells, level 2 spells against other level 2 spells, and so on. It also allows the player to make tactical decisions as to the best use of the resource. b) Make it work like Warlock invocations. That way, each Craft is balanced against each other but have encapsulated rules that limit its power. If a Warlock invocation is powerful, it limits itself to a short/long rest to keep it in check. If a Warlock invocation isn't very powerful (a ribbon, for instance), it can be used at-will or several times before a rest. A Craft could function the same.

I love the idea of using the warlock's invocations. Already changed it to use that system, though it's going to take me a bit to rebalance all the crafts.

I did decide to keep the 6 craft limit instead of the 8 a warlock gets because the witch is a full caster. Might even drop it down to 5 total crafts.


Gift of Rest: As Composer99 noted.

See above.


Natural Magic Adept: I don't think there are rules for crafting poisons and potions. You may want to make some here.

Natural Herbalist: Can I only do this while travelling? What if I'm camping in a meadow? Can I do this while I'm travelling anywhere? What if I'm travelling through the Underdark? What price metric should I use for the value of poisons and potions? Maximum for potions? Can I create a rare potion?

The rules are in the DMG.


Black Magic Adept: What counts a spell that deals damage to a single target? If I cast Scorching Ray (suppose I multiclass for it), would the extra damage apply to every hit or just one? Would the extra damage only apply if I target one person? Would the extra damage not apply at all because I CAN hit multiple targets? What about Bestow Curse using the extra 1d8 damage on hit? Would it apply to every proc? What about Shillelagh? Would it apply to every hit with it? To avoid all of this, I think you might want to just want to put it as "When you deal damage with a spell, one creature hit by the spell takes additional necrotic damage equal to your Intelligence modifier. This can only happen once per turn."

The intent is for this to act like the Twin Spell meta magic insofar as targeting it concerned. So, I changed it to mirror the wording of that feature.


Bane of the Simple Mind (Transmutation): I don't know if you intend to make transmutation for crafts mean the same thing as transmutation for spells. If so, this is a charm, not a transmutation.

I honestly hadn't even thought about it. I changed it for consistency's sake.


Under hit points and proficiencies, hit points is the wrong header type and the items should be listed in bold like **Hit Dice:**
Under Spellcasting, Ritual Casting is the wrong header type
Under Witch's Coven, Coven Spells is the wrong header type
All of your Crafts are the wrong header type

Got it sorted.


In your spell list, you can put <br> a line below the header to force a new paragraph and align the first spell with the rest of them


Didn't work. It just moved everything down a line. Same with using ___ and the like. /shrug

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Thank you both a ton for the help!!

[Composer99]

I'm going to come back to the spell list later.

So... spell list.

I think you could add a few spells or groups of spells to the list:
- some of the invisible servant utility spells (such as unseen servant)
- some animal or plant spells (such as animal messenger or animal friendship) even if there's overlap with the Nature Coven spells
- some shapechanging spells
- some mental manipulation spells (dream and weird spring to mind)
- eyebite

The predominance of elemental spells gives the list a feel that just doesn't strike me as 'witchy'. They're appropriate spells, it just feels like some other thematically 'witchy' spells are missing to balance them out.

[Oramac]

So... spell list.

I think you could add a few spells or groups of spells to the list:
- some of the invisible servant utility spells (such as unseen servant)
- some animal or plant spells (such as animal messenger or animal friendship) even if there's overlap with the Nature Coven spells

Agreed. Added a few, including those.


- some shapechanging spells

Added Seeming. I'm not terribly familiar with other spells of the sort.


- some mental manipulation spells (dream and weird spring to mind)
- eyebite

I'm extremely hesitant to add a lot of spells like Weird or Eyebite to prevent shenanigans with Masterful Concentration. I could be convinced, but depending on the spells it might take some doing.

[Composer99]

- some shapechanging spells


Added Seeming. I'm not terribly familiar with other spells of the sort.


Sorry, I wasn't clear. I meant some of the lower-level spells such as disguise self or alter self. These now appear to be in the spell list.


- some mental manipulation spells (dream and weird spring to mind)
- eyebite



I'm extremely hesitant to add a lot of spells like Weird or Eyebite to prevent shenanigans with Masterful Concentration. I could be convinced, but depending on the spells it might take some doing.

I hear ya, but it's a 20th-level feature, which in my view means it's allowed to be a little overpowered and lots of awesome. (I'm of the opinion that most capstone features should do more to emulate, say, the paladin 20th-level subclass features, and less to emulate, say, the bard, monk, or ranger capstones.)

Incidentally, if you wanted to clamp down on the possibility of Masterful Concentration shenanigans, you could consider letting witches concentrate on a second spell only for up to 1 minute. That means they could basically have two concentration spells up for one combat encounter - one ongoing one providing lots of long-term utility that they don't want to just drop, and one handy buff (or debuff) for the encounter.

Edit to add: Oh, yeah, before I forget, if you want to do less work trying to rebalance Crafts against one another, one thing you could do, having made them work a bit more like warlock invocations, is add level prerequisites to some of the stronger ones. If you want to keep it simple, you could just have two tiers of Crafts, matching the levels when you get Craft-related class features: those with no prerequisites (ones you can choose from 2nd level onward), and those with 10th level as a prerequisite. But you could also do no prereq/6th level/10th level/14th level if you wanted (probably no more complex than that).

[Oramac]

I hear ya, but it's a 20th-level feature, which in my view means it's allowed to be a little overpowered and lots of awesome. (I'm of the opinion that most capstone features should do more to emulate, say, the paladin 20th-level subclass features, and less to emulate, say, the bard, monk, or ranger capstones.)

Incidentally, if you wanted to clamp down on the possibility of Masterful Concentration shenanigans, you could consider letting witches concentrate on a second spell only for up to 1 minute. That means they could basically have two concentration spells up for one combat encounter - one ongoing one providing lots of long-term utility that they don't want to just drop, and one handy buff (or debuff) for the encounter.

Well, dammit, you convinced me. That's a good idea.


Edit to add: Oh, yeah, before I forget, if you want to do less work trying to rebalance Crafts against one another, one thing you could do, having made them work a bit more like warlock invocations, is add level prerequisites to some of the stronger ones. If you want to keep it simple, you could just have two tiers of Crafts, matching the levels when you get Craft-related class features: those with no prerequisites (ones you can choose from 2nd level onward), and those with 10th level as a prerequisite. But you could also do no prereq/6th level/10th level/14th level if you wanted (probably no more complex than that).

Oh yea. I'm still playing with how exactly to split them up, but this is definitely on the table.

[endlessxaura]

Sorry, I meant the <p> tag, not the <br> tag. >.<

Sort of like this from an Artificer Homebrew by Freewolf I can't link yet:

#### Cantrips (0 Level)

<p>***Arcane Mark***
<p>Blade Ward
<p>***Elemental Ward***
<p>***Emergency Repairs***
<p>Guidance *(C)*
<p>***Infuse Weapon***
<p>Light
<p>Lightning Lure *(SCAG)*
<p>***Makeshift Wand***
<p>Magic Stone *(EE)*
<p>Mending
<p>Resistance *(C)*
<p>Shocking Grasp
<p>***Static Shock***
<p>Sword Burst *(SCAG)*
<p>***Thunder Armor***
<p>Thunderclap *(EE)*

...

[Oramac]

Sorry, I meant the <p> tag, not the <br> tag. >.<

Sort of like this from an Artificer Homebrew by Freewolf I can't link yet:

#### Cantrips (0 Level)

<p>***Arcane Mark***

That worked. Thanks!

[Oramac]

Made several changes, including prereq's for Craft Magic, new Crafts, and some wording. Still want to come up with at least 2 more Transmutation Crafts.

Feedback is much appreciated!