Making a witchy warlock

[Greywander]

The other class that would be good for this concept is a druid, but I'm going to see what I can do with the warlock.

First, let's go over the basic traits I'd be looking for in a witchy character.

Keeps you guessing where they are on the sliding scale of "misunderstood nature magic user" to "spooky black magic user".
Does a lot of spooky rituals. Is also known for divination that is at once eerily accurate and frustratingly vague.
Is knowledgeable about obscure lore and magic.
Is a healer, specifically using traditional/folk medicine. Definitely not doctor recommended.
Deals in curses. Lots of them. This is one of the main reasons witches are feared.
Has a familiar.
Can talk to animals.
Can turn into animals.
Is either a fugly hag, a buxom beauty, or a fugly hag disguised as a buxom beauty.
Generally a forest hermit. They're too feared to live in town proper, but also respected enough that townsfolk still seek their aid.

This is all a pretty tall order, and it might not be possible to satisfy each of these on a single character. Still, let's see how we can do. By the way, this looks a lot like it's going to be a support character, possibly specialized for non-combat situations. So let's keep that in mind.

First up is our choice of race. This can be a good opportunity to knock out a few of the things we're looking for, particularly if we can't get a similar feature elsewhere or if we can save build resources somewhere else.

Yuan-ti Pureblood. Literally everything here fits with a witch concept. Unfortunately, these are all in the "nice to have" category, rather than being build-critical. If we can get everything else we need for the concept elsewhere, then this can give us a few extra goodies.

Firbolg. The main point of interest is the Speech of Beast and Leaf. However, it doesn't allow us to understand them back.

Forest Gnome. Gives us half magic resistance, free Minor Illusion, and Speak with Small Beasts. A pretty solid package, if you don't mind being small. DM might let you refluff as a medium creature.

Half-Elf. Extra stat points help us when we're spread a bit thin. Extra skills helps us fill out our concept with supporting skill proficiencies.

Variant Human/Custom Lineage. A free feat never hurt anyone. We're going to be a bit invocation-starved, so it might be tempting to grab Eldritch Adept. However, keep in mind that we can only grab this feat once (by RAW, DM might allow otherwise), so we're better off taking a race that gives us a trait comparable to an invocation we want and then taking Eldritch Adept later to grab a different invocation.

I'm sure there are others, but I can't think of them off the top of my head.

For ability scores, there will be some variance depending on race, but a +2/+1 is what most races give. With this spread, we can use point buy to get an array of 8, 14, 12, 12, 14, 16. That's better than I was expecting. We get a 16 in our main stat, a 14 in DEX, and respectable scores in our other mental stats for skills.

For proficiencies, I'd kind of like to grab these skills: Medicine, Animal Handling, Survival, Nature, Arcana, Persuasion, Deception, Insight. Unfortunately, we aren't going to be able to get all of these, so we'll need to narrow this down. I'd also like to grab a collection of obscure languages, but we'll also want proficiency with the herbalism kit and either the cook's utensils (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzMeuZeyQTM) or the alchemy kit. As far as background feature, the Folk Hero or Outlander are the only ones that seem to fit.

Now we can move on to the class proper. The Archfey patron offers us access to some druid spells, and the subclass features also kind of fit. Nothing especially jumps out, though. For pact, I was initially leaning toward Pact of the Chain due to the focus on the familiar, but a regular animal familiar should work fine, so I think Pact of the Tome is actually a better fit. This gets us access to our rituals (including Find Familiar), and lets us pick up some out-of-class cantrips to help customize our character.

We'll get four warlock cantrips, and Pact of the Tome lets us take any other three cantrips. We might decide to eschew EB in order to free up some invocation slots, but we still need to take a damage cantrip. In the end, we're probably taking either EB or Mind Sliver. Our other three warlock cantrips will probably be Mage Hand, Minor Illusion, and Prestidigitation. For our Tome cantrips, I kind of want to take Druidcraft; I know it overlaps with Presti, but it's oddly fitting for the concept, especially the ability to predict the weather. Other cantrips that might be useful picks are Dancing Lights (spookier than Light, so fitting) and Message. These aren't necessarily the most optimal choices, but I'm looking for things that will help support the concept.

I won't go over spell choices, as that would require a lot more analysis. The other main things we need to go over are invocations and feats.

For invocations, we're limited to 8, 9 if we take Eldritch Adept. Invocations are going to form the backbone of this character concept, so we need to choose carefully. The ones I'd like to get are:

Beast Speech. This gets us the ability to talk to animals. This is also a ritual, so it's somewhat redundant with Book of Ancient Secrets, but just being able to do it at will might be worth it. Still, perhaps we can bypass this by just playing a forest gnome or something.
Book of Ancient Secrets. A no-brainer. This gets us literally every ritual spell in the game, covering quite a chunk of the things we wanted with this concept.
Far Scribe. Not strictly a witchy ability, but it's another Tome invocation, and it's a pretty unique and cool ability. Useful? Eh, maybe not so much, but it is flavorful.
Devil's Sight. The spooky ability to see in pitch blackness. Fitting.
Mask of Many Faces. Necessary if we need to disguise ourselves as a buxom beauty. More seriously, this is in the witch's wheelhouse.
Misty Visions. Same as above, it's not necessarily a build-critical ability, but the flavor is on point.
Sign of Ill Omen. Curses. Literally. Bestow Curse is a pretty powerful spell, and definitely on point for a character like this.
Sculptor of Flesh. Unfortunately, this might be the only way we get to turn ourselves into animals. It also lets us turn enemies into toads, though, so it's on point.
Whispers of the Grave. Another spooky ability.
Witch Sight. It even has "witch" in the name. We can see through the disguises of others. Pretty cool.
Shroud of Shadow. Another illusion-type ability.

That's 11 invocations, so even with Eldritch Adept, we'll still need to drop two of them. From an optimization perspective, Beast Speech would be first on the chopping block, due to being a ritual that we'll get access to via Book of Ancient Secrets, but I'd still really like to have it as an at-will ability. One option might be to talk the DM into allowing some homebrew feats that will make certain invocations redundant, but you obviously can't rely on this.

For feats, we'll definitely want to spend two ASIs to boost CHA to 20. One needs to be spent on Eldritch Adept, since we already have too many invocations.. Fey Touched allows us to grab Bane, another curse-type spell, giving us a free casting at 1st level while also allowing us to cast it using a spell slot. So it's better than Thief of Five Fates, which would have cost us an invocation slot that we already don't have. Not sure what to spend the last feat on. Magic Initiate is always a solid choice, though.

Alternatively, perhaps dip two levels into Druid for Wild Shape. This costs us our fifth ASI, but if we don't need it then this can get us a way to turn into animals, something we're currently lacking (except for Sculptor or Flesh).

For an example build, lets go with a forest gnome, letting us drop Beast Speech. We'll also drop Whispers of the Grave, as we need to drop something. With free Minor Illusion, we can pick up a different warlock cantrip; let's go with Friends. We'll go ahead and dip two levels into druid as well. Druid dip is probably happening after 9th, 10th, or 11th level.

Are there any ways I can improve on this? It also doesn't seem like it might be very useful in combat, but between debuffs like Bane and Mind Sliver, it might be sufficient to support the party. If possible, I'd like to fit Agonizing Blast into this build so I can take EB and at least deal respectable damage, but maybe Mind Sliver is actually better anyway if I'm not picking up any other EB invocations.

[Grod_The_Giant]

If it helps, I've written a base class (https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/-zp0soxKohB4) for this exact concept.


Keeps you guessing where they are on the sliding scale of "misunderstood nature magic user" to "spooky black magic user".
...
Generally a forest hermit. They're too feared to live in town proper, but also respected enough that townsfolk still seek their aid.

This is exactly the sort of thematic identity I was going for.


Does a lot of spooky rituals. Is also known for divination that is at once eerily accurate and frustratingly vague.

Their single biggest schtick is amped-up ritual casting, using a dramatically expanded list.


Is knowledgeable about obscure lore and magic.

They're an Int-based class with a class feature to make them better at Intelligence checks.


Is a healer, specifically using traditional/folk medicine. Definitely not doctor recommended.

Only one subclass gets to heal easily, but things like Life Transference are on the main ritual list, along with some status-healing stuff like Lesser Restoration and Remove Curse.


Deals in curses. Lots of them. This is one of the main reasons witches are feared.

This is their other main schtick, and the Thing They Do In Combat. You use your choice of voodoo to link yourself to a target, concentrate as if on a spell, and then smack them with damage and debuffs. Especially debuffs.


Has a familiar.

On the ritual list.


Can talk to animals.
Can turn into animals.

The nature-themed subclass gets ritual spells to do both of these, eventually upgrading to a class feature.


Is either a fugly hag, a buxom beauty, or a fugly hag disguised as a buxom beauty.

Disguise Self and Alter Self are both on the ritual list.

[JellyPooga]

You seem to have all the bases covered for ypur concept, from what I can see, but have you considered Bard as an alternative to either Warlock or Druid?

They get all the Enchantments and Illusions you might want, as well as healing, blessings (including Bardic Inspiration) and curses. They've also got access to some of that nature-y goodness with the likes of Animal Friendship and Speak with Animals/Plants AND additional (literal) necromancy with Speak with Dead. Magical Secrets lets you tailor spells to taste (additionally so with College of Lore) on top of having all the skill proficiencies you might want.

Suggested feats to round out the concept might include Ritual Caster (Druid is a remarkably good choice here if you want to push the nature-magic aspect) and Magic Initiate (or one of those new fangled ones from Trasha's that do what Magic Initiate should have done in the first place).

[LudicSavant]

Far Scribe. Not strictly a witchy ability, but it's another Tome invocation, and it's a pretty unique and cool ability. Useful? Eh, maybe not so much, but it is flavorful.

I would say Far Scribe is one of the stronger utility invocations. In the immortal words of Senku, the cell phone is the strongest weapon of modern warfare, and Far Scribe gives you a cell phone.

Sure, you might have a limited Contacts List in your cell phone, but you can speak to them as much as you want, at any distance, with no cell phone bill or roaming charges and perfect reception even in the deepest depths of the underdark.

This is huge in terms of worldbuilding and narrative impact, but it's also useful in a pure dungeoneering sense, too. Coordinate with party scouts. Call the academy library to look up lore questions ("why yes, I do have at-will access to people with Expertise in every knowledge check"), or an allied diviner to feed you info. Stay up to date on news reports, army intel, the druid weather report, whatever. Heck, be Solid Snake (https://youtu.be/JrvEWWYLDHM?t=773) and have Codec Call support. Just think of how many heroes in fiction have support from someone back at the home base... and what a huge difference it makes.


Whispers of the Grave. Another spooky ability.

Another good invocation. There's a good post on great ways to take advantage of Whispers of the Grave here (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?628110-Whispers-of-the-Grave-is-underrated).


For invocations, we're limited to 8, 9 if we take Eldritch Adept. Invocations are going to form the backbone of this character concept, so we need to choose carefully. The ones I'd like to get are:

Beast Speech. This gets us the ability to talk to animals. This is also a ritual, so it's somewhat redundant with Book of Ancient Secrets, but just being able to do it at will might be worth it. Still, perhaps we can bypass this by just playing a forest gnome or something.
Book of Ancient Secrets. A no-brainer. This gets us literally every ritual spell in the game, covering quite a chunk of the things we wanted with this concept.
Far Scribe. Not strictly a witchy ability, but it's another Tome invocation, and it's a pretty unique and cool ability. Useful? Eh, maybe not so much, but it is flavorful.
Devil's Sight. The spooky ability to see in pitch blackness. Fitting.
Mask of Many Faces. Necessary if we need to disguise ourselves as a buxom beauty. More seriously, this is in the witch's wheelhouse.
Misty Visions. Same as above, it's not necessarily a build-critical ability, but the flavor is on point.
Sign of Ill Omen. Curses. Literally. Bestow Curse is a pretty powerful spell, and definitely on point for a character like this.
Sculptor of Flesh. Unfortunately, this might be the only way we get to turn ourselves into animals. It also lets us turn enemies into toads, though, so it's on point.
Whispers of the Grave. Another spooky ability.
Witch Sight. It even has "witch" in the name. We can see through the disguises of others. Pretty cool.
Shroud of Shadow. Another illusion-type ability.

That's 11 invocations, so even with Eldritch Adept, we'll still need to drop two of them. From an optimization perspective, Beast Speech would be first on the chopping block, due to being a ritual that we'll get access to via Book of Ancient Secrets, but I'd still really like to have it as an at-will ability. One option might be to talk the DM into allowing some homebrew feats that will make certain invocations redundant, but you obviously can't rely on this.

From an optimization perspective, I'd say the first ones to chop would be Beast Speech (for the reasons you say) and the "cast a spell 1/day using a Warlock spell slot" abilities (Sign of Ill Omen and Sculptor of Flesh). Sign of Ill Omen has a remote kill combo with Maddening Hex for Pact of the Chain Warlocks, but you wanna be Tome, and Maddening Hex would eat yet another invocation.

Also, both Polymorph and Bestow Curse are available from the cheesy Ravnica background feature spell lists, if those are on the table. Getting them from there is far more effective than getting them from the invocations, and frees up invocation space elsewhere to boot.

If you want more space, you probably don't need all of Misty Visions, Devil's Sight, and Shroud of Shadow, since they all have a bit of overlap with other things you want to do (and each other). Misty Visions and Shroud of Shadow both compete for Concentration, as does Darkness (if you're casting it yourself to go with Devil's Sight).

If you're going the Tomelock route (for the rituals and Far Scribe), you could do stuff like, say, use Shillelagh and BB/GFB and familiar Help for your attack cantrip instead of Eldrtich Blast.

[MrStabby]

A few things to add here having gone down the same path...

Bard is also a pretty good choice. Lots of enchantments, some good curses, polymorph and a bundle of druid spells as well. Lore bard is particularly good - cutting words is a mini-curse and as you will use this very frequently it really adds to the flavour of a character.

If you can use the Ravnica backgrounds and Eberron races this helps a lot as well. Between things like the Rakdos background for some scary mind affecting spells to add to the druid list to selesnia/gruul to pick up nature theme you are actually pretty flexible.

Throw in feats like Fey Touched into the mix and you really don't have to worry about the spell list so much and can focus on which set.of class features best captures the character you want.

Personally I would lean bard, wizard or druid over warlock. Warlock casting emphasises Big High-Level Spells. For a witch I imagined a more subtle approach - the right spell at the right time to turn a fight rather than raw power all the time.

Druid wildshape is a nice touch but the perfect subclass still feels missing (I would have gone Stars but they stripped free augury from the class).

Bard, as I mentioned would be lore (probably), to get cutting words and to fill in the gaps with extra magical secrets. Whispers or glamour can also be a good fit.

Wizard is nice if you want an Int focus. Divination is perfect - portent works as a blessing or a curse, the focus at 6 on divination magic will give you better use from your crystal ball... Enchantment also ticks the box an is a strong subclass.

I am not saying to not do a warlock, but just wanting to make sure you are not ruling out stuff you shouldn't.

Honourable mention to the Alchemist Arificer as well - not that powerful but with some refluffing an option that mechanically could capture what you want.

[fbelanger]

Druid 2 / Warlock X Fey, Tome.

Druid would allow you shape change and great pool of utility spell.

[da newt]

Is there any reason you are avoiding the HEXBLOOD Gothic Lineage? It's quite literally the new witch 'race.'

As for class, warlock is fun and thematic, but I'd think Wizard (or Bard) would give you more tools for your kit to bring this theme to life.

[Evaar]

Is there any reason you are avoiding the HEXBLOOD Gothic Lineage? It's quite literally the new witch 'race.'

Yup, came here to point this out.

You're thematically connected to hags. You get a daily free use of Hex and Disguise Self - the latter allows you to skip Mask of Many Faces, freeing up that invocation, so long as you don't specifically feel you need to need it at-will. It also adds these two your spells known. Plus you get a floating +2 +1 to your abilities and 2 skill proficiencies, and the super flavorful Eerie Token feature.

Plus getting a free daily cast of Hex offers some nice flexibility with your spell slots.

[Greywander]

Is there any reason you are avoiding the HEXBLOOD Gothic Lineage? It's quite literally the new witch 'race.'
Is that from Van Richten's? I haven't picked that book up yet, but it does sound like it might be a good fit.

As for bard, is there anything bard can't do? I did want to specifically focus on warlock, though, mostly because the warlock as a class has a very different feel from any other caster. IMO, this helps sell them as being fundamentally different from more "orthodox" spellcasters. At some point later I might look to see what I can do with other classes, but I wanted to focus on warlock specifically for now.

I did also forget about the Ravnica backgrounds. Though I do kind of feel like that's cheating a bit. The assumption is that you're playing in the Ravnica setting, and are a part of the faction in question, with all the associated duties and such. There's supposed to be an RP cost. Just taking the background for free spells on your spell list doesn't seem like the intended use. Dragonmarks are easier to justify because you are giving up racial features to get those extra spells.

One homebrew option I'd like to see is an invocation that lets you cast Bane at will. Unlike Thief of Five Fates, this wouldn't upcast, but it does mean that you can have it up every fight (if you're not concentrating on anything else). I'd probably rather have this than Hex, though both have their uses. And unlike Bless, Bane still has to get through enemy saves, so it's not an automatic debuff.

[Evaar]

Is that from Van Richten's? I haven't picked that book up yet, but it does sound like it might be a good fit.

Yes. Here's the Unearthed Arcana for it, and I don't think it changed in publication at all. (Edit: One change I forgot about actually, rather than being Fey and Humanoid they are just Fey as of publication. And Magic Token is called Eerie Token but otherwise appears identical.)

https://media.wizards.com/2021/dnd/downloads/UA2021_GothicLineages.pdf

[Dravda]

Just dropping by to say I love this concept! You may have just inspired my next character...