The Witch

[MrStabby]

I thought I would post this here...: A witch class for 5th edition D&D.

https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/liFWl8ZmE


Still a work in progress but just beginning to shape up.

Still to do:

1) A bit of document housekeeping - a few of the added spells are not on the class spell list
2) add in a few thematic defensive spells
3) Trim down the number of features, and by extension the power of the class. There is some bloat here.
4) Replace some of the ill-fitting coven spells or spells that damage the balance with some more homebrew
5) Add to the description text and improve quality of writing
6) Run through the higher level stuff in more detail; I have played less at this level so needs more attention and less intuition to work out what needs a fix.
7) Need to write a couple of cantrips


Challenges facing the class:

1) Where it sits - it is an absolute caster like the wizard; few non spell benefits like a cleric's armour or a bard's inspiration. The class has a narrower functionality than a wizard but with slightly more buffs for a particular playstyle.
2) It needs a review of spells. Ensure that it isn't stepping on another class toes too hard. Bard is the closest in terms of theme.
3) Check casting stat - could be any mental stat but chose int due to fewer classes in that stat and thematic overlap with bard and druid on the other stats.
4) Ensuring there are the right amount of "sexy" spells - not just good spells,but the ones that make you think it is fun to play the class and that you can't get elsewhere.
5) Tighten the Coven abilities; getting the right balance between specialist and generalist will rely on the coven spell list giving just the right amount of extra breadth.
6) The class faces challenges vs magic resistant enemies - almost everything is a save. Working in just the right amount of exceptions to ensure the class isn't completely unplayable in certain encounters will be important... just the right number.


I will update as I go, possibly adding explanations if anything is confusing.

Edits:

Changelog:

04/20/2020
Changed quickbuild background to hermit
Moved affliction to 11th level from 7th
Added the missing witch specific spells to the spell list
Added Soul Cage and Mental Prison to the spell list

[JNAProductions]

Reading it now.

Great crabnuts, that's a LOW amount of spells known!

But... Apparently, according to the text, they literally just learn spells like a Wizard.

You get a pretty potently upgrade familiar.

Just looking it all over... It's like a Wizard, in a lot of ways. But better.

[MrStabby]

Reading it now.

Great crabnuts, that's a LOW amount of spells known!

But... Apparently, according to the text, they literally just learn spells like a Wizard.

You get a pretty potently upgrade familiar.

Just looking it all over... It's like a Wizard, in a lot of ways. But better.

So the spells prepared scales slower than the wizard, at Int plus half level rounded down. Total effect is that you get access to same number of spells each day but can change fewer off them.

The narrowness of the spell list is also a constraint. Whilst a wizard can do just about anything but healing, the witch has a relatively narrow range of roles its spells can fulfill, although this is augmented by the coven choice somewhat. How much this matters is debatable- how much would the wizard lose without access to fireball, wall of force, force cage, counterspell... is the cost of a narrower spell list worth the buffs (judging by popular reaction to the Ravnica backgrounds that add to casters spell lists I would infer that a common view is that what is on the spell list is really, really important).

[Arkhios]

Haven't read it thoroughly yet, but I take this is at least partly inspired by Pathfinder's Witch?

Regarding the suggested background, usually classes have only one suggestion. Wouldn't the Hermit make most sense as a "default" background for a witch?

[MrStabby]

Haven't read it thoroughly yet, but I take this is at least partly inspired by Pathfinder's Witch?

Regarding the suggested background, usually classes have only one suggestion. Wouldn't the Hermit make most sense as a "default" background for a witch?

Good shout on the backgrounds. I was really being indecisive there and missed the best one. First entry on the change-log I guess!

I haven't seen the pathfinder witch; that said I wouldn't be surprised if there was some overlap. I based this pretty firmly on North European tropes for witchcraft so any similarly inspired class would be similar. The exception being the Stormshroud coven which was more inspired by the Greek Circe, Hekate, Medea - school of witchcraft.

[Arkhios]

Good shout on the backgrounds. I was really being indecisive there and missed the best one. First entry on the change-log I guess!

I haven't seen the pathfinder witch; that said I wouldn't be surprised if there was some overlap. I based this pretty firmly on North European tropes for witchcraft so any similarly inspired class would be similar. The exception being the Stormshroud coven which was more inspired by the Greek Circe, Hekate, Medea - school of witchcraft.

Pathfinder's Witch (http://pathfinder.d20srd.org/advancedPlayersGuide/baseClasses/witch.html) in a nutshell (IF you're interested, that is):
- You technically learn and cast spells like a wizard, except they have their own spell list (including Cure Wounds spells, but lacking a lot in damage department. Full of spells that make your enemies fear and hate you in ways other than dealing loads of damage)
- Instead of having a spell book, you form a weird but strong bond with a familiar. Your familiar acts as your spellbook, and you literally feed any scrolls you find to your familiar in order to "scribe" them. If your familiar dies, say goodbye to the spells you learned with this method.
- Hexes, gained every odd or even level (can't remember which; they're kinda like Warlock's Eldritch Invocations really)

[MrStabby]

Pathfinder's Witch (http://pathfinder.d20srd.org/advancedPlayersGuide/baseClasses/witch.html) in a nutshell:
- You technically learn and cast spells like a wizard, except they have their own spell list (including Cure Wounds spells, but lacking a lot in damage department. Full of spells that make your enemies fear and hate you in ways other than dealing loads of damage)
- Instead of having a spell book, you form a weird but strong bond with a familiar. Your familiar acts as your spellbook, and you literally feed any scrolls you find to your familiar in order to "scribe" them. If your familiar dies, say goodbye to the spells you learned with this method.
- Hexes, gained every odd or even level (can't remember which; they're kinda like Warlock's Eldritch Invocations really)

Thanks for the link.

So there does seem to be some similarities there. I wanted to have the core witch list be pretty light on damage spells - enough low quality ones to get by and some that do damage but their main effect is fear and control. As you saw I did have two of the covens be able to do a bit more damage in different ways, but the core is mind control.

When I looked at 5th edition there seemed to be a theme among primary casters: wisdom casters prepare spells from their whole set (Cleric, druid), charisma casters know their spells but don't change them (bard, sorcerer, warlock) and Int characters can't really make a trend with just one example... but that one uses a spellbook.

The reasons I chose to supplement the spellbook with spells known are:

1) This pushes the Witch towards some signature spells, which I feel builds on the character
2) It interacts with the level 3 feature and provides an incentive for the witch to invest in the core curse/enchantment type skills
3) Adding stuff to a book is a great plot driver/RP element for an Int based character - having it represented mechanically is nice
4) Making the boost on certain spells be through a limited player choice lets players differentiate their character more than it would with things like the Enchanter's split enchantment ability or the evocation wizard's sculpt spells ability.

Feeding scrolls to the familiar is a cool idea though! Not sure how it would work in practice, but very evocative.

I did have a bunch of Hexes like warlock invocations as well! That would have been one more thing in common. I stripped them out as my first bit of simplification. I found that I had these rules for spell like effects of different power... and then needing to sacrifice spell slots to trigger them to account for their power... then thought that I should just have them as spells given that you would be using spell slots for spell effects. That is where a lot of the class spells as the end of the doc came from. It seemed simpler and more elegant way to do it; the previous iteration was a hot mess.

I still want to streamline the class a bit, to cut out a bit of the power and some of the bloat - make some of the mechanical abilities more ribbon type abilities; not sure which are the more flavoursome pieces to keep though.