Building a Hedge Witch (Bard build)

[JellyPooga]

So I'm building myself a Hedge Witch style character and decided to go down the Bard route (I differed on the Wild Shaping Druid path, but Bard offered more of the communication and support abilities I wanted). What I'm struggling with a little is Spells Known.

Without further ado, here's the parameters;
- Single Class Lore Bard.
- PHB only.
- Themes of: curses, communication/information gathering and glamours (in vague order of preference), with a side order of natural world/fey spirits.
- V.Human with Ritual Caster (Druid).
- Spells Known @lvl.5
Cantrips: Dancing Lights, Mage Hand, Vicious Mockery
1st Lvl: Bane, Healing Word, Unseen Servant
2nd Lvl: Enhance Ability, Suggestion, Calm Emotions
3rd Lvl: Bestow Curse, Fear
Charm Person[/I] for Suggestion at level 3 and Animal Friendship for Fear at level 5]

What I'm looking for;
- Magical Secrets Picks for lvl.6 & 10
- Bard Spell picks for lvl.6-10, including any swaps.

I should mention that I don't like swapping spells out for new ones unless I can justify the replacement being a direct improvement upon the old spell, even if only thematically (e.g. Charm Person -> Suggestion) or if the old spell is redundant in some way (e.g. Animal Friendship is kind of made redundant by Calm Emotions and a decent Animal Handling skill).

This character build is independent of party composition; I'll be using this for both solo and party play, with the party potentially changing week to week (playing at a club, but not AL).

I'm not too fussed about optimisation, so I'm not interested in the "best" choices here; I want thematic spell suggestions, bearing in mind that I've already got Druid Rituals covered. For reference, here's all the Druid Rituals by level;
[U]1st Lvl.
Detect Magic, Detect Poison and Disease, Purify Food and Drink, Speak with Animals
2nd Lvl.
Animal Messenger, Beast Sense, Locate Animals or Plants
3rd Lvl.
Feign Death, Meld into Stone, Water Breathing, Water Walk
5th Lvl.
Commune with Nature

I'd appreciate any suggestions. Thanks!

[SLOTHRPG95]

6th: Clairvoyance, one of Speak w/ Dead and Speak w/ Plants
7th: Compulsion, Polymorph
8th: Confusion, Hallucinatory Terrain
9th: Dream, Geas; Clairvoyance -> Scrying
10th: Minor Illusion, Legend Lore, Seeming; Suggestion -> Dominate Person

For spell secrets, there's a lot of good options, including: Alter Self, Blindness/Deafness, Pass w/o Trace, Spike Growth, Conjure Animals, Plant Growth, Revivify, Slow, Conjure Woodland Beings, Dominate Beast, Phantasmal Killer, Awaken, Contagion, Reincarnate, and Wall of Stone. Also, honorable mention to Eyebite as an on-theme spell pick if/when you hit 11th level.

[w15p]

I did this with a gnome illusionist. he started out as a scammer "Hedge Wizard" - charlatan background with "magic rocks" as his game. Then he found a ratty spellbook in a midden heap and started to cast real magic though he was a little slow to realize it.

His name, naturally, was Hedge.

[DevilMcam]

Hex is one very good curse with plenty of use that may ne a valid magical secret pick.

Hex someone wisdom or charisma in a social context,
Hex the smith dex so he messes up the lord's armor ...

[ATHATH]

Hex is one very good curse with plenty of use that may ne a valid magical secret pick.

Hex someone wisdom or charisma in a social context,
Hex the smith dex so he messes up the lord's armor ...
Hex has verbal and somatic components, though...


with a side order of natural world/fey spirits.
Summon fey spirit, from the Spell Tattoo UA, happens to be on the Bard spell list. You might wanna pick that up at some point.

Find Familiar is probably not the best use of a Magical Secrets slot, but you can cast Bestow Curse through a familiar, IIRC.

[JellyPooga]

6th: Clairvoyance, one of Speak w/ Dead and Speak w/ Plants
7th: Compulsion, Polymorph
8th: Confusion, Hallucinatory Terrain
9th: Dream, Geas; Clairvoyance -> Scrying
10th: Minor Illusion, Legend Lore, Seeming; Suggestion -> Dominate Person

For spell secrets, there's a lot of good options, including: Alter Self, Blindness/Deafness, Pass w/o Trace, Spike Growth, Conjure Animals, Plant Growth, Revivify, Slow, Conjure Woodland Beings, Dominate Beast, Phantasmal Killer, Awaken, Contagion, Reincarnate, and Wall of Stone. Also, honorable mention to Eyebite as an on-theme spell pick if/when you hit 11th level.
Thanks! This is really useful, especially the mention of Eyebite for he future.

Do you think it would be a waste to grab both Speak with Dead and Speak with Plants?

I really like the suggestion of Alter Self; it very much fits in with my head-canon for this character!


Hex is one very good curse with plenty of use that may ne a valid magical secret pick.

I did think about Hex but by the time I'm picking it up...I dunno. It's clearly on theme and I initially jumped at the idea of having it on this character, but the effect seems a bit lacklustre. Especially given the concentration element, as well as the verbal/somatic components as ATHATH points out; if it wasn't for that, I'd grab it without a second thought, but with both Bane and Bestow Curse already in the mix, Hex just doesn't make the cut for me.

If you have a compelling argument otherwise, I'd be glad to hear it.


Summon fey spirit, from the Spell Tattoo UA, happens to be on the Bard spell list. You might wanna pick that up at some point.

Find Familiar is probably not the best use of a Magical Secrets slot, but you can cast Bestow Curse through a familiar, IIRC.

PHB only, so no UA.

I debated hard whether to take Ritual Caster (Wizard) instead of (Druid) and in large part that was because of Find Familiar. I even considered making this character a Chain Warlock because of it! Given that I've steered away from it on both of those counts, I don't think I'm happy spending a Magical Secret on it. I might consider it if I were to pick up the Magic Initiate feat, though. Thanks for the reminder!

[SLOTHRPG95]

Thanks! This is really useful, especially the mention of Eyebite for he future.

Do you think it would be a waste to grab both Speak with Dead and Speak with Plants?

I really like the suggestion of Alter Self; it very much fits in with my head-canon for this character!


It depends on what else interests you at that level. For example, if you find Clairvoyance's visual vs. auditory restriction too limiting, or if you want to spend one of your magical secrets to get both. I've had great mileage (both in terms of party utility and personal fun) out of Speak w/ Dead on a couple different characters, and although I've used Speak w/ Plants less it does combine information-gathering and some minor BFC into a thematic spell for a hedge witch.

[Xetheral]

I took Phantasmal Force for a witch-themed character and it fit perfectly. Think of it less as a combat spell (although it's good at that too) and more as a tool to mess with someone's mind out-of-combat.

It's perfect for: making targets think that a bug is crawling under their skin; or that someone is always right behind them, whispering in their ear; or that a loved one is mortally wounded (yet can't be interacted with!) right nearby. You can even pull a Darth Vader and make them think they're choking by making the illusion of a tightening metal band around their neck (and if they have few enough hit points it can even be fatal). It's the ultimate spell for creepy magical intimidation.