Your familiar casts your spells; integrating a familiar into class spellcasting

[Greywander]

I'm currently working on a witch class whose main gimmick is curses and hexes (debuffs, basically), and that aspect of the class seems to be coming along nicely. One of the other major aspects of the witch as a character concept is their familiar. I have a couple features that buff your familiar (10s in mental stats, ability to speak, shares your initiative, and can take a few invocations), but at the moment it just kind of feels like a tacked on extra. I'd like to find a way to really integrate your familiar into the class's playstyle. Instead of just being a nice but forgettable bonus, I want it to feel like the familiar is central to the class's identity; playing a witch without a familiar should feel like playing a monk in armor, or something like that.

Something I remembered is that in certain folklore, witches actually get their spells from their familiars, so I had the thought of integrating the familiar into your spellcasting system. Now, that could mean major changes to how spellcasting works, or it could mean little more than fluff. Maybe all it means is that you can use your familiar as a spell focus. I'm not really interested in something so half-hearted. That was one of my complaints with the artificer, and why I wrote up a homebrew version (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?612360-Revised-Artificer-Spell-Storing-Item-replaces-Spellcasting) of the artificer that replaces their spellcasting with an expanded spell-storing item system (which I think works a lot better at fitting the flavor). If we're doing this, I want to go all in.

So, what could this mean? My first thought was that your familiar is actually the one who knows your spells; you have a few spells that you know, personally, with Find Familiar being the major one. This might mean that when you resummon your familiar, you can choose a new list of spells (though honestly, even if you give your familiar a new form, it doesn't necessarily make sense that they'd have different spells unless you're literally summoning a different familiar). This makes witches essentially prepared casters, with the caveat that they can't prep at the end of a long rest, and need to spend gold on Find Familiar to prep a new set of spells. The upside is that prepping a new list takes much less time than a long rest, so you could change your list multiple times a day. This probably means having fewer spells prepared, e.g. half your witch level + WIS mod (so 15 compared to the 25 of other prepared casters).

Another thought was being able to cast spells from your familiar's space, and/or using your familiar's senses (e.g. if they can see a target while you can't). This is something that definitely feels like it suggests a certain kind of playstyle that really leverages this feature, but I'm not entirely sure what that playstyle actually is. Is it just about extending your range? Casting around corners? Lining up AoEs? I'm not sure what the best way to leverage a feature like this would be, or how it would fit in with the witch concept.

What happens if your familiar dies? Do you lose access to all your spells, except the ones you know, personally? I feel like this could cause players to lean heavily toward the owl, who can more easily maneuver around the battlefield or get out of melee without taking OAs, and I'd rather not encourage one familiar type over another. A possible thought I had was an empathetic link between you and your familiar, allowing you to take damage in your familiar's place. You aren't required to, so any time you can easily resummon them or your own HP are low you could still let them die.

So far, none of this feels like it's hitting the mark, though. It still just feels like normal spellcasting, but with slight modifications. And I don't think it's a good idea to let the familiar concentrate on spells for you, or use their actions to cast your spells. I'm just having trouble of thinking of a way to properly integrate the familiar into spellcasting in a way that feels unique and interesting, a way that changes how you play a caster.

[Quietus]

I'm a little too tired right now to really give suggestions based on what you've said here, but I do want to bring up is this a core class thing, or would this be better served as a subclass option? I can think of plenty of "double double toil and trouble" type witches where their magic is based more on creepy cauldron nonsense than familiars. With a subclass, you could give the familiar spells known, which can only be cast while it's out, but have the advantage that those spells can be cast from either the familiar's space or yours, and maybe apply some kind of benefit - extra damage like Arcane Firearm, or more likely, some of the less flashy metamagics like Extend? "I can only cast bestow curse while I have my familiar, but its effects are more potent than other casters" seems pretty witchy to me. You could also build in a way for the familiar to be less squishy, so it doesn't just poof as soon as anything sneezes in its direction.

[KorvinStarmast]

I'm currently working on a witch class whose main gimmick is curses and hexes (debuffs, basically), and that aspect of the class seems to be coming along nicely. One of the other major aspects of the witch as a character concept is their familiar.
As I think through your idea, I am reminded that the Trickery Domain cleric has a double that can be the origin for spell casting. (Invoke Duplicity, level 2). Do you want to cut and paste that into your class idea, but change the form into something like a bird or a mammal rather than a body double, or give it the option?

Heck, does Trickery cleric meet your needs if you redo the domain spells to match your theme better?

[GreyBlack]

I'm currently working on a witch class whose main gimmick is curses and hexes (debuffs, basically), and that aspect of the class seems to be coming along nicely. One of the other major aspects of the witch as a character concept is their familiar. I have a couple features that buff your familiar (10s in mental stats, ability to speak, shares your initiative, and can take a few invocations), but at the moment it just kind of feels like a tacked on extra. I'd like to find a way to really integrate your familiar into the class's playstyle. Instead of just being a nice but forgettable bonus, I want it to feel like the familiar is central to the class's identity; playing a witch without a familiar should feel like playing a monk in armor, or something like that.

Something I remembered is that in certain folklore, witches actually get their spells from their familiars, so I had the thought of integrating the familiar into your spellcasting system. Now, that could mean major changes to how spellcasting works, or it could mean little more than fluff. Maybe all it means is that you can use your familiar as a spell focus. I'm not really interested in something so half-hearted. That was one of my complaints with the artificer, and why I wrote up a homebrew version (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?612360-Revised-Artificer-Spell-Storing-Item-replaces-Spellcasting) of the artificer that replaces their spellcasting with an expanded spell-storing item system (which I think works a lot better at fitting the flavor). If we're doing this, I want to go all in.

So, what could this mean? My first thought was that your familiar is actually the one who knows your spells; you have a few spells that you know, personally, with Find Familiar being the major one. This might mean that when you resummon your familiar, you can choose a new list of spells (though honestly, even if you give your familiar a new form, it doesn't necessarily make sense that they'd have different spells unless you're literally summoning a different familiar). This makes witches essentially prepared casters, with the caveat that they can't prep at the end of a long rest, and need to spend gold on Find Familiar to prep a new set of spells. The upside is that prepping a new list takes much less time than a long rest, so you could change your list multiple times a day. This probably means having fewer spells prepared, e.g. half your witch level + WIS mod (so 15 compared to the 25 of other prepared casters).

Another thought was being able to cast spells from your familiar's space, and/or using your familiar's senses (e.g. if they can see a target while you can't). This is something that definitely feels like it suggests a certain kind of playstyle that really leverages this feature, but I'm not entirely sure what that playstyle actually is. Is it just about extending your range? Casting around corners? Lining up AoEs? I'm not sure what the best way to leverage a feature like this would be, or how it would fit in with the witch concept.

What happens if your familiar dies? Do you lose access to all your spells, except the ones you know, personally? I feel like this could cause players to lean heavily toward the owl, who can more easily maneuver around the battlefield or get out of melee without taking OAs, and I'd rather not encourage one familiar type over another. A possible thought I had was an empathetic link between you and your familiar, allowing you to take damage in your familiar's place. You aren't required to, so any time you can easily resummon them or your own HP are low you could still let them die.

So far, none of this feels like it's hitting the mark, though. It still just feels like normal spellcasting, but with slight modifications. And I don't think it's a good idea to let the familiar concentrate on spells for you, or use their actions to cast your spells. I'm just having trouble of thinking of a way to properly integrate the familiar into spellcasting in a way that feels unique and interesting, a way that changes how you play a caster.

So, I wouldn't make the Familiar a spell you cast, but instead maybe turn it into a specific class feature similar to the Beast Master Ranger's "Animal Companion." At first level, the caster gets access to a Familiar creature that uses certain rules, one of which being that spellcasting can originate from the caster or from the familiar.

What you're describing sounds very familiar to the PF Witch class. Is this your point of reference in working on this homebrew, or is there another source? Otherwise, I'd recommend starting with the PF Witch class and then work from there.

[Greywander]

is this a core class thing, or would this be better served as a subclass option?
I already made witch subclasses for both warlock and druid, and I've also looked at the Occultist by KibblesTasty, which also has a witch subclass. Any of these would work fine, but I wanted to see if I could capture the concept better as a full class.


"I can only cast bestow curse while I have my familiar, but its effects are more potent than other casters" seems pretty witchy to me.
I already have this, it's built into the curses/hexes/debuffs mentioned at the top of the OP. Basically, as you level up, you'll learn curses/hexes that can be applied on top of the normal effects of Bane, Hex, or Bestow Curse. So they kind of work like metamagic a bit, except they're just adding an extra rider onto those spells. I'm liking how it's turning out, though balancing them will be pretty tricky (particularly since the Hex spell doesn't allow a save, so you can apply these debuffs with no save via Hex; this is really nice against monsters with Legendary Resistance, but it does burn a spell slot and use concentration).

It's not a bad idea to give some kind of buff to your spells while your familiar is out. Maybe I can work something from that angle.


As I think through your idea, I am reminded that the Trickery Domain cleric has a double that can be the origin for spell casting. (Invoke Duplicity, level 2). Do you want to cut and paste that into your class idea, but change the form into something like a bird or a mammal rather than a body double, or give it the option?
It wasn't so much that I wanted an Invoke Duplicity-esque feature, that was just one of a couple ways I could see using the familiar. If I did use this (and if it's not a main class feature, it will probably still show up as an invocation), I probably wouldn't just copypasta Invoke Duplicity. I would prefer it to actually use the familiar, instead of an illusory double, and it would be pretty easy to just add a clause that states you can cast your spells as if you were in your familiar's space.

I know you saw my thread on how limited the design space for casters is (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?638882-Spellcasting-takes-up-a-huge-part-of-the-design-space-of-full-casters) (especially since you were the first to reply). I'm having to really focus down on the core mechanics of witch as a class; there's a lot of other "nice to haves" that I'd want on a witch character, such as being able to talk to animals, turn into an animal, and several others, but none of those seem to be mechanically critical to the function of the class, so I think I can relegate them to optional invocations.

An Invoke Duplicity-esque feature could fit as an invocation, what I'm really looking for is some kind of familiar-related feature that is critical to the core mechanics of the class, and I just can't think of anything that fits there. The Occultist actually had a really good version of this with the witch subclass's Witch's Touch feature: it allowed you to apply a few different riders onto your touch spells, and allowed you to turn non-touch spells into touch spells (not sure how that would work for, e.g. AoE spells). At first, that feature really confused me, because occultists didn't look like they were built to be on the front line, then I remembered that familiars can deliver touch spells for you, and wouldn't you know it? An early feature buffs your familiar to be more resilient. I don't want to just copy that, but honestly, something like that would really make the familiar integral to your playstyle.


Heck, does Trickery cleric meet your needs if you redo the domain spells to match your theme better?
Not really, casting from your familiar's space isn't that high up on my list of priorities for this concept, more of an afterthought than anything. While I do want to bring in a couple aspects from cleric, those will mostly show up in the witch spell list. The subclass specializing in dealing with the dead and undead might get Turn Undead, but that wouldn't be a general thing for all witches.

Honestly, I think the warlock is a much better fit, but the warlock is pretty much designed around EB spam, and I don't see witches as blasters. (That said, another subclass I have in mind is an ice/winter witch, who is the blaster subclass specializing in cold damage spells.) I'm using warlock as a base and ripping out EB and replacing it with the cursing features, turning you from a sustained blaster into a support/debuffer.


So, I wouldn't make the Familiar a spell you cast, but instead maybe turn it into a specific class feature similar to the Beast Master Ranger's "Animal Companion." At first level, the caster gets access to a Familiar creature that uses certain rules, one of which being that spellcasting can originate from the caster or from the familiar.
Two major reasons to use the Find Familiar spell are (a) it saves you from restating all the aspects of a familiar that are already codified in the spell (e.g. telepathic link, perceiving through their senses, etc.), and (b) it gives you an easy way to revive your familiar if it dies. Neither of these are insurmountable, I'm just not sure I see the value in making the familiar separate from the spell.

Now, what I did do already is give the witch some features to improve their familiar. All their mental stats are at least 10, the familiar can talk, it acts on your initiative, and it can take a few invocations for itself (which could let it cast spells, if it takes an appropriate invocation). As I said in the OP, though, these feel kind of like tacked on extras, rather than being integral to how the witch is played.


What you're describing sounds very familiar to the PF Witch class. Is this your point of reference in working on this homebrew, or is there another source? Otherwise, I'd recommend starting with the PF Witch class and then work from there.
I'm not familiar with the PF witch. Is this PF1 or PF2? I'll give it a look and see if I can get some inspiration from it.

[Millstone85]

This could overlap with a concept that I have had in mind for a while, though never seriously delved into.

The living-spell caster.

First, it would involve considerably expanding the rules pages 298 and 299 of RftLW, introducing creature traits based on a spell's level, school, casting time, range, components, duration and more.

Then it would be like storing spells as an artificer, except that you "store" the spell by giving it life and having it follow you around in a familiar-like fashion.

[GreyBlack]

Two major reasons to use the Find Familiar spell are (a) it saves you from restating all the aspects of a familiar that are already codified in the spell (e.g. telepathic link, perceiving through their senses, etc.), and (b) it gives you an easy way to revive your familiar if it dies. Neither of these are insurmountable, I'm just not sure I see the value in making the familiar separate from the spell.

Now, what I did do already is give the witch some features to improve their familiar. All their mental stats are at least 10, the familiar can talk, it acts on your initiative, and it can take a few invocations for itself (which could let it cast spells, if it takes an appropriate invocation). As I said in the OP, though, these feel kind of like tacked on extras, rather than being integral to how the witch is played.

I'm not familiar with the PF witch. Is this PF1 or PF2? I'll give it a look and see if I can get some inspiration from it.

PF1 Witch. Everything you're describing is codified pretty well into the PF1 witch, including semi-at-will "hexes", your familiar acting as your spellbook, and more.

The big reason you might want to consider turning the familiar into its own class feature is to differentiate it from other classes. Sure, some subclasses might get some type of animal companion, but the class you're describing seems to make the familiar into a part of its core identity.

To me, if you're trying to make something a part of a class's core identity, you don't tack class features on that interact with one particular spell; you create a feature which does exactly what you want it to. Something like:

Witches Familiar
At first level, you forge a bond with a familiar companion. Choose an beast with a CR less than 1/4. This beast becomes your familiar.

In addition to its standard creature abilities, a Witches Familiar gains the following:
* A Witches Familiar's HP is equal to your hit dice x 5.
* A Witches Familiar has an Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma score of 10 unless their score would ordinarily be higher.
* As an action, you can perceive through your Familiar's eyes to see and hear what they are. When taking this action, you receive the Blinded and Deafened conditions until you take a bonus action to end this effect.
* A Witches Familiar acts on your initiative count. Unless you take a Bonus action on your turn to order it to attack, it cannot use action to Attack.
* Whenever you gain a level, your Witches Familiar teaches you more about the natural magic around you. Your Witches Familiar can act as a spellbook, and can hold spells equal to your level. During a long rest, you can either consult your Spellbook or consult your Familiar to change your spell selection.


Something like that. This was written in about 5 minutes after some rather intense [REDACTED], so please modify as you see fit.

[Willowhelm]

The scribes wizard overlaps with this I think. You have an animated spell book with a manifest mind ability. They can recreate their spell book in an hour (I think) if it is destroyed. They can cast through it. They can use its senses without an action. They can learn spells super fast.

Reskin the spell book as a familiar and you’ve got a pretty solid familiar oriented class with a lot of the abilities you’re asking for I think.

[Greywander]

PF1 Witch. Everything you're describing is codified pretty well into the PF1 witch, including semi-at-will "hexes", your familiar acting as your spellbook, and more.
I took a look, and it seems like the only special thing familiars do for PF witches is act as a spellbook for them. And it costs 500 gp per witch level to revive them if they die. Ouch.

Using the familiar as a spellbook is certainly an interesting idea. I'm still not sure if witches should be prepared casters or spells known casters. On a spells known caster, you can make the spell list a bit bigger, since only the spells chosen actually matter, but on a prepared caster, just having a spell on the list is a power boost.


The big reason you might want to consider turning the familiar into its own class feature is to differentiate it from other classes. Sure, some subclasses might get some type of animal companion, but the class you're describing seems to make the familiar into a part of its core identity.
An idea that just came to me was to use your familiar as a sign of good or ill omen. Basically, your familiar can use their action to give, say, a +1d4 bonus to one roll, or a -1d4 penalty to a roll. You can penalize a save in order to make a spell more likely to stick, or protect your allies. It's a minor bonus, but if it's spammable then it's something you'd want to use all the time, and where you park your familiar could be pretty important. That said, this doesn't relate to spellcasting, so I'm not sure it's appropriate as a main feature, maybe for an invocation or something.


To me, if you're trying to make something a part of a class's core identity, you don't tack class features on that interact with one particular spell;
Are we talking about Find Familiar, or Eldritch Blast? :smallwink:

I know a lot of people criticize warlock and say that EB should have been a class feature. I tend to think they're right, though I do like some of the crazy multiclass combos you can get. In my case, I'm still not seeing a compelling reason not to use the Find Familiar spell as a base, it just seems like it would be easier. That, and it prevents us from having two familiars (one from witch and one from Find Familiar). The best case for not using Find Familiar would be if I wanted the familiar to not do something that the spell allows, e.g. reviving the familiar, seeing through its senses, dismissing it to a pocket dimension, change form, etc. Actually, not changing the familiar's form might be a good enough reason to make it separate. I'll have to think about that. Maybe each familiar option would bring a minor benefit with it, so we would need your choice to be fixed.

It's also worth mention that this is also basically how the curses/hexes work: they are a class feature that interacts with three specific spells: Bane, Hex, and Bestow Curse. And I think this actually works really well because of the differences between each of those spells. Bane is a short duration multi-target curse (and at-will for witches), Hex is a long duration curse with no save, Bestow Curse is a mid to permanent duration curse with no concentration (at higher levels). What's great is that these spells already existed and cover a wide variety of different situations, there was no need for me to create new spells to cover these.


Something like that. This was written in about 5 minutes after some rather intense [REDACTED], so please modify as you see fit.
It's worth noting that a formal write up generally takes up a lot more space than a quick summary. This is because it lays out the specifics of how it will interact with other rules and such, in order to minimize ambiguity. But yeah, it's not like it would be that hard; I'm already doing a lot of formal write ups for completely original features, so doing one for the familiar wouldn't be a problem.


So here's what I'm thinking at the moment:

Make the familiar a separate feature, with some minor bonus being granted for each type of familiar option (so that everyone doesn't just take owls). This does let you double up if you somehow get access to Find Familiar. Aside from not being able to change their form, I'm not sure how else it would work differently.

Your familiar gets the benefits I've already mentioned: minimum mental stats, ability to speak, shares your turn, and can learn a few invocations.

Your familiar has your spells, so if they die, you can't cast most of your spells. You would still have access to Bane, Hex, and probably cantrips, so you aren't totally helpless. You can resummon your familiar after a short rest. Your familiar will probably get Evasion, Magic Resistance, and their HP will probably scale as you level. Still not sure whether to go prepped or known.

You can cast spells as if you were in your familiar's space, and using your familiar's senses. The range is limited, but you can extend that range greatly by expending a spell slot, with the range increasing further the higher the slot (up to 5th level). Combined, these allow for remote spell targeting, so long as your familiar is able to find the target.

(This does step on the toes of another feature I wanted to give witches, likely as an invocation: sympathetic magic. Basically, you can make an effigy of someone using a part of their body, and then target the effigy with a spell and it would be passes along to the creature the effigy was of. This would be another method of remote spellcasting. I like this because (a) it's really on brand for witches, (b) you need a piece of the creature's body to make the effigy, so you can't just target anyone, and (c) the effigy is destroyed when used, so you can't spam spells on it. Personally, I think this works better and is more balanced than remote casting via familiar. Hmm, I'm torn between the sympathetic magic and the familiar for remote casting. I feel like remote casting via familiar helps sell the familiar as a sign of ill omen; when people see your familiar lurking around, they know someone's in for a bad day. Maybe these should both be invocations, and you can choose which one to get, or pick up both?)

Your familiar can also remain close by, granting you protection. They would extend their Evasion and Magic Resistance to you and give advantage on Initiative rolls while within 10 feet of you. This gives you a reason to keep them close sometimes, instead of always using them to extend your spell range.

How does that sound so far?

[Millstone85]

I still think it would be cool if the familiar was influenced by the spells you cast.

A fire spell? The familiar gains fire resistance, immunity or absorption, depending on the expended slot.

A divination spell? The familiar gains darkvision, blindsight or truesight, depending on the expended slot.

That kind of thing. It would help make the familiar feel part of the spellcasting process.

[GreyBlack]

So here's what I'm thinking at the moment:

Make the familiar a separate feature, with some minor bonus being granted for each type of familiar option (so that everyone doesn't just take owls). This does let you double up if you somehow get access to Find Familiar. Aside from not being able to change their form, I'm not sure how else it would work differently.

Your familiar gets the benefits I've already mentioned: minimum mental stats, ability to speak, shares your turn, and can learn a few invocations.

Your familiar has your spells, so if they die, you can't cast most of your spells. You would still have access to Bane, Hex, and probably cantrips, so you aren't totally helpless. You can resummon your familiar after a short rest. Your familiar will probably get Evasion, Magic Resistance, and their HP will probably scale as you level. Still not sure whether to go prepped or known.

You can cast spells as if you were in your familiar's space, and using your familiar's senses. The range is limited, but you can extend that range greatly by expending a spell slot, with the range increasing further the higher the slot (up to 5th level). Combined, these allow for remote spell targeting, so long as your familiar is able to find the target.

(This does step on the toes of another feature I wanted to give witches, likely as an invocation: sympathetic magic. Basically, you can make an effigy of someone using a part of their body, and then target the effigy with a spell and it would be passes along to the creature the effigy was of. This would be another method of remote spellcasting. I like this because (a) it's really on brand for witches, (b) you need a piece of the creature's body to make the effigy, so you can't just target anyone, and (c) the effigy is destroyed when used, so you can't spam spells on it. Personally, I think this works better and is more balanced than remote casting via familiar. Hmm, I'm torn between the sympathetic magic and the familiar for remote casting. I feel like remote casting via familiar helps sell the familiar as a sign of ill omen; when people see your familiar lurking around, they know someone's in for a bad day. Maybe these should both be invocations, and you can choose which one to get, or pick up both?)

Your familiar can also remain close by, granting you protection. They would extend their Evasion and Magic Resistance to you and give advantage on Initiative rolls while within 10 feet of you. This gives you a reason to keep them close sometimes, instead of always using them to extend your spell range.

How does that sound so far?

Here's another way you could do it, if you're dead set on using the "Find Familiar" spell itself.

Just write it into the separate ability. Something like "You know and can cast the Find Familiar spell without using any spell components or spell slots. In addition to the normal bonuses from the Find Familiar spell, you gain the following bonuses. [...]"

Would something like that work for you?

[Greywander]

Here's another way you could do it, if you're dead set on using the "Find Familiar" spell itself.

Just write it into the separate ability. Something like "You know and can cast the Find Familiar spell without using any spell components or spell slots. In addition to the normal bonuses from the Find Familiar spell, you gain the following bonuses. [...]"

Would something like that work for you?
Yes? That's what I was already doing. Find Familiar as a free spell, and your familiar gets a series of buffs, not unlike a chainlock familiar (though the buffs themselves are vastly different). I think I might be leaning toward not using Find Familiar now, though, as I think it might make sense to disallow certain aspects of the spell for your familiar. Namely, resummoning it in a different form, and dismissing it to a pocket dimension.


And I don't think it's a good idea to let the familiar concentrate on spells for you, or use their actions to cast your spells.
Okay, so I know I said this, but... I was thinking about this at work today, and I had a great idea. No no, don't leave, hear me out on this.

Both you and your familiar have your own set of spells. Only you can cast the spells you know, and only your familiar can cast the spells they know. Your familiar uses their own actions and concentration for their spells, but uses your stats and your slots. This allows witches to break the action economy and concentration limit, albeit in very limited ways (sorcerers can do this already with Twinned Spell, albeit with limits of their own).

Your familiar would have the bulk of your leveled spells. Maybe something like half your witch level (so up to 10 spells). Meanwhile, you'd get cantrips, as well as free Bane and Hex. I'm thinking it sounds about right to give you three more spells, for a total of 5. These might come at 5th, 11th, and 17th level, or at 6th, 10th, and 14th level (when you get subclass features).

Now, obviously one of the major benefits of this is that you can cast two leveled spells in the same turn, even if both are an action to cast. You can also concentrate on two spells at the same time. But the way spells are split between you and your familiar greatly limits this. It isn't as simple as "you can cast/concentrate on two spells at once", rather, it's more like you have two lists of spells, and you can cast/concentrate on a spell from list A along with a spell from list B, but you can't do two spells from list A or two spells from list B. And you, as a witch, don't know a lot of spells yourself (though you could get up to some shenanigans with multiclassing or things like Magic Initiate). This means it's a huge tactical decision of which spells you give to your familiar, and which spells you take for yourself. Most of the time, you'll probably be concentrating on Bane or Hex, while your familiar concentrates on some other major spell. It's also worth mentioning that we're using pact magic slots, so that severely limits how much we can do with double barrel spell spam.

I was also thinking that perhaps when your familiar casts a spell with a range of self, it could change the range to touch. Normally, I'd limit it to only be capable of targeting the witch, but it might actually be interesting if the familiar could target anyone, allowing you to pass along the benefits of self-only spells to your allies. Though this might mean having to limit the spell list that familiars have access to, so that certain self-only spells are only available to the witch. Alternatively, self-only spells cast by either of you might affect both of you if you're within a certain range (e.g. 10 feet).

I can see some multiclass shenanigans, where someone dips into witch to get the familiar who can cast independently from yourself. Ultimately, I think that will be reigned in by the selection of spells available to the familiar. You could pick up some pretty decent 1st level options, but anything more than a spell or two, or higher level spells, would require dipping deeper into witch, and at some point it's no longer a dip. It might be specifically limited to using pact magic slots, too, so you'd only get one or two castings per short rest, being unable to use other spell slots.

This is going to be tricky to balance, but it could be just what I was looking for. I think it could work pretty well, and would certainly feel different.

[Gtdead]

Sharing spells with the familiar sounds like a recipe for disaster to me. It would take too much work to create a framework for the familiar to stay relatively safe because every enemy that is intelligent enough to understand who he faces, will shoot it down with extreme prejudice.

Aside from the familiar providing boni to spellcasting, I don't see how else that could work. This can be baked into the class features similar to how Hunter Ranger's features work. She can choose one of three effects, and augment it at higher levels, or perhaps choose a new effect at the basic level. Something like that:

Familiar Bond:

Your bond with your familiar is so strong that you gain a boon when it stays within 10 feet of you. Choose one of the following. At levels 11 and 17 you can choose a different feature, or improve your existing one.

Concentrating Familiar: When the witch concentrates on a spell, the familiar provides a +1 to concentration saves. If the familiar is dead or far away, the Witch takes a -1 penalty to this save. Choosing this feature again will increase all numerical absolute values by 1.

Empowering Familiar: When the witch casts a spell, the familiar provides a +1 to the DC of that spell. If the familiar is dead or far away, the Witch takes a -1 penalty instead. This effect applies for the whole duration of the spell. Choosing this feature again will increase all numerical absolute values by 1.

Quickening Familiar: Once per short rest you can cast a spell that requires an action with a bonus action. If the familiar is dead or far away, you need to use your reaction to stabilize any spell you cast, in addition to the standard action and you can't use reaction spells. Choosing this feature again allows you to use it one more time per short rest.


Another could be:

Sacrifice:

Your familiar sacrifices itself to increase your power. For the next 3 rounds, every spell you cast is empowered. Spells that require attack rolls, you do so with advantage, and spells that require DCs force the enemies to roll with disadvantage. Due to the stressful nature of the sacrifice, you can only do this once per long rest. For these rounds the penalties from Familiar Bond don't apply.


Something like that.

[Greywander]

So I wrote it up, and I think it should work, but I'm actually having second thoughts. My two main concerns are (a) that your familiar will take the spotlight away from your character, and (b) that not every player will want to emphasize their familiar so much. Familiars are a big part of witches as a concept, but how big a role they play can vary quite extensively. It might make more sense to move this to a subclass, one that leans a lot more heavily on the familiar.

Instead, maybe it does make more sense to move to a model of having the familiar bless or curse people. We could take the concept of the familiar sharing traits like Evasion and Magic Resistance (and now I'm considering a Devotion paladin-style always-on Protection from Evil and Good, possibly instead of Magic Resistance), and extend it to allow the familiar to share those traits with anyone. Only one person at a time, and they need to be within 10 feet.

On the cursing side, we could make this an extension of the different hexes you use to buff your curse spells. Instead of casting a spell and applying the hex as a rider to that spell, your familiar can curse someone they can see within, say, 30 feet. If the target fails a WIS save, you can apply one of your hexes to that target. The hex lasts for 10 minutes, but your familiar can renew the duration as long as they can see the target (meaning it can last indefinitely if your familiar follows them around). Probably two uses per short rest, one target at a time. I'd like to make it at-will, but, that would be functionally similar to not allowing a save, unless I use janky things like making the target temporarily immune after a passed save.