Halloween Showcase Special: Season of the Witch

[Venger]

Happy Halloween, everyone! Rather than optimizing around a particular mechanical strategy or rules interaction this time, daremetoidareyo, the Viscount, and I have each built our interpretation of a classic fairy tale witch in the spirit of Halloween.

To start us off, here's the Viscount's Witch of Shadows!




https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/4d1f389a-f267-4a54-a1e3-2354b69cb436/d1ref2e-93b23bad-c876-4d81-b75b-13e6d3fc2abb.jpg/v1/fit/w_828,h_1222,q_70,strp/khattam_shud_by_lord_of_the_guns_d1ref2e-414w-2x.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9. eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZD QxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgy MjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7ImhlaW dodCI6Ijw9MTMyOSIsInBhdGgiOiJcL2ZcLzRkMWYzODlhLWYy NjctNGE1NC1hMWUzLTIzNTRiNjljYjQzNlwvZDFyZWYyZS05M2 IyM2JhZC1jODc2LTRkODEtYjc1Yi0xM2U2ZDNmYzJhYmIuanBn Iiwid2lkdGgiOiI8PTkwMCJ9XV0sImF1ZCI6WyJ1cm46c2Vydm ljZTppbWFnZS5vcGVyYXRpb25zIl19.DoqBK0IWY4bFTjE7gbU XR3u76cDAka_i0KiFGqnnBUI
Witch of Shadows
NE Human Warlock 1/Shadowcaster 5/Dread Witch 5/Shadowcaster 14

Stats
Str 10
Dex 10
Con 14
Int 16 (increases here)
Wis 10
Cha 16

Build:


Level
Class
Base Attack Bonus
Fort Save
Ref Save
Will Save
Skills
Feats
Class Features


1st
Warlock 1
+0
+0
+0
+2
Bluff 4, Concentration 4, Intimidate 4, Knowledge (arcana) 4, Sense Motive 4, Use Magic Device 4
Dreadful Wrath, Aberrant Dragonmark (cause fear 1/day)
Eldritch Blast 1d6, Least Invocation (Darkness)


2nd
Shadowcaster 1
+0
+2
+0
+4
Bluff 5(2), Concentration 5, Intimidate 5, Use Magic Device 5(2)

Fundamentals of Shadow, Apprentice Mysteries


3rd
Shadowcaster 2
+1
+3
+0
+5
Hide 3, Intimidate 6, Use Magic Device 6(2)
Shadow Cast, (B)Still Mystery
Bonus Feat


4th
Shadowcaster 3
+1
+3
+1
+5
Hide 6, Intimidate 7, Use Magic Device 7(2)

Umbral Sight (Darkvision 30 ft)


5th
Shadowcaster 4
+2
+4
+1
+6
Hide 8, Intimidate 8, Move Silently 1, Use Magic Device 8(2)

Bonus Fundamental


6th
Shadowcaster 5
+2
+4
+1
+6
Hide 9, Intimidate 9, Move Silently 3, Use Magic Device 9(2)
Lesser Aberrant Dragonmark (scare 2/day, cause fear 2/day)
Sustaining Shadow (eat 1 meal/week)


7th
Dread Witch 1
+2
+4
+1
+8
Hide 10(2), Intimidate 10, Move Silently 3.5 (1), Use Magic Device 10(2)
(B)Unnatural Will
Master of Terror, Unnatural Will


8th
Dread Witch 2
+3
+4
+1
+9
Hide 11(2), Intimidate 11, Move Silently 4(1), Sleight of Hand 0.5(1), Use Magic Device 11(2)

Absorb Fear


9th
Dread Witch 3
+3
+5
+2
+9
Hide 12(2), Intimidate 12, Move Silently 5(2), Use Magic Device 12(2)
Blend Into Shadows
Fearful Empowerment 1/day, Apprentice Mysteries (Spell-Like), Initiate Mysteries


10th
Dread Witch 4
+4
+5
+2
+10
Hide 13(2), Intimidate 13, Move Silently 6(2), Use Magic Device 13(2)

Delay Fear, Greater Master of Terror


11th
Dread Witch 5
+4
+5
+2
+10
Hide 14(2), Intimidate 14, Move Silently 7(2), Use Magic Device 14(2)

Fearful Empowerment 2/day, Horrific Aura, Reflective Fear


12th
Shadowcaster 6
+5
+6
+3
+11
Hide 15, Intimidate 15, Move Silently 10, Use Magic Device 15(2)
Shadow Familiar (Bat), (B)Favored Mystery (Killing Shadows)
Bonus Feat


13th
Shadowcaster 7
+5
+6
+3
+11
Hide 16, Intimidate 16, Move Silently 13, Use Magic Device 16(2)




14th
Shadowcaster 8
+6/+1
+7
+3
+12
Hide 17, Intimidate 17, Move Silently 17, Spot 1

Bonus Fundamental


15th
Shadowcaster 9
+6/+1
+7
+4
+12
Hide 18, Intimidate 18, Move Silently 18, Spot 5
Instinctive Darkness, (B) Favored Mystery (Greater Shadow Evocation)
Apprentice Mysteries (Supernatural), Initiate Mysteries (Spell-Like Abilities), Master Mysteries, Bonus Feat


16th
Shadowcaster 10
+7/+2
+8
+4
+13
Hide 19, Intimidate 19, Move Silently 19, Spot 10

Sustaining Shadow (sleep 1 hour/day)


17th
Shadowcaster 11
+7/+2
+8
+4
+13
Hide 20, Intimidate 20, Move Silently 20, Spot 16

Umbral Sight (see in darkness 60 ft)


18th
Shadowcaster 12
+8/+3
+9
+5
+14
Hide 21, Intimidate 21, Move Silently 21, Spot 21
Improved Familiar (Beholderkin Eyeball)
Bonus Fundamental


19th
Shadowcaster 13
+8/+3
+9
+5
+14
Hide 22, Intimidate 22, Move Silently 22, Sleight of Hand 2.5(4), Spot 22




20th
Shadowcaster 14
+9/+4
+10
+5
+15
Hide 23, Intimidate 23, Move Silently 23, Sleight of Hand 4.5 (4), Spot 23
(B)Favored Mystery (Greater Shadow Evocation)
Unlimited Uses of Fundamentals, Bonus Feat



Uses per Mystery per Day


Level
0lvl
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th
7th
8th
9th


1st
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


2nd
3
1
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


3rd
3
1
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


4th
3
1
1
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


5th
3
1
1
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


6th
3
1
1
1
-
-
-
-
-
-


7th
3
1
1
1
-
-
-
-
-
-


8th
3
1
1
1
-
-
-
-
-
-


9th
3
2
2
2
1
-
-
-
-
-


10th
3
2
2
2
1
-
-
-
-
-


11th
3
2
2
2
1
1
-
-
-
-


12th
3
2
2
2
1
1
-
-
-
-


13th
3
2
2
2
1
1
1
-
-
-


14th
3
2
2
2
1
1
1
-
-
-


15th
3
3
3
3
2
2
2
1
-
-


16th
3
3
3
3
2
2
2
1
-
-


17th
3
3
3
3
2
2
2
1
1
-


18th
3
3
3
3
2
2
2
1
1
-


19th
3
3
3
3
2
2
2
1
1
1


20th
infinite
3
3
3
2
2
2
1
1
1



Mysteries

Fundamentals
Umbral Hand, Arrow of Dusk, Mystic Reflections, Sight Obscured (at 5), Caul of Shadow (at 14), Black Candle (at 18)

1st: Bend Perspective (EoD), Life Fades (ToT)
2nd: Piercing Sight (EoD), Flesh Fails (ToT)
3rd: Killing Shadows (EoD), Umbral Touch (ToT)
4th: Shadow Evocation (DR), Fearful Gloom (DA), Step Into Shadow (ER)
5th: Feign Life (DR), Sickening Shadow (DA)
6th: Greater Shadow Evocation (DR)
7th: Ephemeral Image (DM), Greater Life Fades (BoT), Grasping Shadows (S),
8th: Umbral Body (DM), Greater Flesh Fails (BoT)
9th: Shadow Time (DM)

Playtips
Hello and welcome to the witch build I put together for the Halloween showcase! A few notes on what I’m doing here first.
This build pulls from Eberron with Aberrant Dragonmark as well as Faerun with Dreadful Wrath and the Eyeball familiar. This is because I don’t care about mixing the sources; this is a build for fun. If you are forced to pick, only the Aberrant Dragonmark feats are necessary for this build, providing a means of qualifying for Dread Witch. Beholders do still exist in Eberron, so perhaps you can talk your DM about at least including that.
I have taken a number of feats in this build from Drow of the Underdark about using Darkness as a spell-like ability, and Blend into Shadows mentions burning a use of this ability. I’m using Darkness as an invocation from Warlock to fulfill this, presuming that you burn a use of your at-will ability and are still left with endless uses. If you’re working under an extremely restrictive and cruel reading of the rules, you still have 2 uses provided from the feats themselves for this.
I have invested in Intelligence, including with level up benefits, because years of Iron Chef means I always build like gear doesn’t exist. If you’re working where gear does exist, you can knock Int down to 13 and distribute the points elsewhere, like in Dex. There are no bonus mysteries for higher Int, you just need to recalculate skills accordingly.

Warlock meets a number of needs, even with the single level we’re taking here. Firstly, it provides at-will darkness, something we’re otherwise not getting until level 20 when fundamentals become limitless. Second, it gives light armor proficiency which we will make use of. Third, it gives Use Magic Device as a class skill, which will help cover a lot of the weird gaps from mysteries in the form of utility wands (flight, for example). And finally, eldritch blast is a nice fallback at low levels when you run out of mysteries.

We’ll talk about feats here all together. Dreadful Wrath is a natural choice since we’re doing fear stuff, triggering basically every round. Shadow Cast means you pick an adjacent square, and if it’s not threatened, you aren’t threatened, so we don’t need to invest in Concentration. Still Mystery means that your mysteries no long have somatic components (their only components) when cast as spells. This means you can now wear light armor and ignore the ASF. Blend into Shadows gives you HiPS when near magical darkness, and Instinctive Darkness means you can make darkness as an immediate action. This, coupled with your inherent ability to see in darkness from shadowcaster means you should be in darkness at all times for concealment/hiding purposes. Favored Mystery is targeting mysteries I think will benefit from the extra use per day, 2 feats are needed to get the extra use out of Greater Shadow Evocation, but still worth it. For familiar, I know a lot of people pick raven to say it can use wands, I chose bat so it can more easily navigate all the magical darkness (dark creatures sadly cannot see in magical darkness). Eyeball as an improved familiar is overlooked. With its eye ray it basically gives you reach spell for free, in addition to the useful stuff it can do with flight and mage hand.

Dread Witch is here because it’s fun, primarily. Of course in a fear build it makes natural sense to add it. Basically all of your mysteries have a visual component so make for good targets to be empowered. For baseline fear effects, fearful gloom affects an area (which means you can also absorb fear) and is only lessened, not negated by a save.

In terms of mystery selection, I went pretty aggressive because I think it makes for a flashier build. Shadow Evocation and Greater Shadow Evocation giving you up to 4th and 6th level evocation spells, respectively, mean that you’ve got a lot more options than it might seem. Mysteries may be more limited in selection than spells, but you still have some early divination, reliable damage, tactical teleportation, battlefield control, and a little bit of summoning (with feign life). At level 19 on you have time stop, and if you can’t have fun with that then I don’t know what to tell you

Sources
Shadowcaster, Shadow Cast, Favored Mystery, Shadow Familiar: Tome of Magic
Dread Witch, Unnatural Will: Heroes of Horror
Dreadful Wrath: Player’s Guide to Faerun
Blend into Shadows, Instinctive Darkness: Drow of the Underdark
Aberrant Dragonmark: Eberron Campaign Setting
Lesser Aberrant Dragonmark: Player’s Guide to Eberron
Improved Familiar: Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting
Eyeball Beholderkin: Monsters of Faerun
Additional Mysteries: Urban Magic Web Enhancement (https://web.archive.org/web/20070310211642/http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20070307a)
Image: https://www.deviantart.com/lord-of-the-guns/art/Khattam-Shud-106488518

[Venger]

Here is daremetoidareyo's Howler



Thing that goes Boo in the night
The Howler



https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/704885103867723830/1038334825028931674/Screen_Shot_2022-11-03_at_12.01.33_AM.png

"Spell Slots!!!!"



LE Sorcerer 2/Monk 1/Human paragon 3/Fiend-Blooded 4/Ur priest 1/Mystic Theurge 9

ABILITIES


Abilities

Initial

4th
8th

12th

16th
19th
20th



STR

8








DEX

8








CON
10








INT
12








WIS

16
2

1


1


CHA

18
1
1

1
1





TABLES



Level
Class
Base Attack Bonus
Fort Save
Reflex Save
Will Save
Skills
Feats
Class Features


1st
OA. Sorcerer
0
0
0
2
16: {+4} Bluff: 4; {+4} Concentration: 4; {+4} k. arcana: 4; {+4} spellcraft: 4;
Infernal Sorcerer Heritage (PHB2, p. 91), Infernal Sorcerer Howl (PHB2, p. 91)
summon familiar, Wu Jen spells (Oriental Adventures p.30)


2nd
Human paragon
0
0
0
4
6: {+1} Bluff: 5; {+1} Concentration: 5; {+1} k. arcana: 5; {+3} k. planes: 3; spellcraft: 4;

Adaptive learning


3rd
human paragon
1
0
0
5
6: {+1} Bluff: 6; Concentration: 5; {+1} k. arcana: 6; {+2} k. planes: 5; {+2} k. religion: 2; spellcraft: 4;
Blood Calls to Blood (Heroes of Horror p. 120)
Eschew materials
Bonus Feat


4th
human paragon
2
1
1
5
6: Bluff: 6; {+2} Concentration: 7; k. arcana: 6; {+2} k. planes: 7; {+1} k. religion: 3; {+1} spellcraft: 5;

wis +2


5th
OA Monk (Oriental Adventures p.19)
2
3
3
7
6: Bluff: 6; {+1} Concentration: 8; k. arcana: 6; k. planes: 7; {+5} k. religion: 8; spellcraft: 5;
Improved Unarmed Strike, iron will
Mental Training martial arts style (p.79), flurry of blows, Wis to AC, Unarmed Strike


6th
Sorcerer
3
3
3
8
4: Bluff: 6; Concentration: 8; {+2} k. arcana: 8; {+2 CC} k. planes: 8; k. religion: 8; spellcraft: 5;
Spell focus: evil



7th
Fiend-blooded 1
3
3
3
9
4: Bluff: 6; {+1} Concentration: 9; k. arcana: 8; k. planes: 8; k. religion: 8; {+3} spellcraft: 8;

Fiendish companion, fiendish heritage +1 AC


8th
Ur priest (Complete Divine variant, p. 70)
3
3
3
11
4: Bluff: 6; {+2} Concentration: 11; {+2} k. arcana: 10; k. planes: 8; k. religion: 8; spellcraft: 8;

Divine Spells


9th
Mystic Theurge 1
3
3
3
13
4: Bluff: 6; Concentration: 11; k. arcana: 10; k. planes: 8; k. religion: 8; spellcraft: 8; {+4} k architecture: 4;
Ability focus (Infernal sorceror howl) (MM5 p.204)



10th
Mystic Theurge 2
4
3
3
14
4: Bluff: 6; Concentration: 11; k. arcana: 10; k. planes: 8; k. religion: 8; spellcraft: 8; {+4} k architecture: 8;




11th
Fiend-blooded 2
5
3
3
15
4: Bluff: 6; Concentration: 11; k. arcana: 10; k. planes: 8; k. religion: 8; spellcraft: 8; {+4} k architecture: 12;

Fiendish sorcery: Creaking Cacophony (Spell Compendium, p. 55)


12th
Mystic Theurge 3
5
4
4
15
4: Bluff: 6; {+1} Concentration: 12; k. arcana: 10; k. planes: 8; k. religion: 8; spellcraft: 8; {+3} k architecture: 15;
Reverberation (Savage Species p.39)



13th
Mystic Theurge 4
6
4
4
16
4: Bluff: 6; {+4} Concentration: 16; k. arcana: 10; k. planes: 8; k. religion: 8; spellcraft: 8; k architecture: 15;




14th
Mystic Theurge 5
6
4
4
16
4: Bluff: 6; Concentration: 16; {+4} k. arcana: 14; k. planes: 8; k. religion: 8; spellcraft: 8; k architecture: 15;




15th
Mystic Theurge 6
7
5
5
17
4: Bluff: 6; Concentration: 16; k. arcana: 14; {+4} k. planes: 12; k. religion: 8; spellcraft: 8; k architecture: 15;
Versatile Spellcaster (Races of the Dragon p. 101)



16th
Mystic Theurge 7
7
5
5
17
4: Bluff: 6; Concentration: 16; k. arcana: 14; k. planes: 12; {+4} k. religion: 12; spellcraft: 8; k architecture: 15;




17th
Mystic Theurge 8
8
5
5
18
4: Bluff: 6; Concentration: 16; k. arcana: 14; k. planes: 12; k. religion: 12; spellcraft: 8; {+4} k architecture: 19;




18th
Mystic Theurge 9
8
6
6
18
4: Bluff: 6; {+4} Concentration: 20; k. arcana: 14; k. planes: 12; k. religion: 12; spellcraft: 8; k architecture: 19;
Empower Supernatural Ability: Howl (Tome of Magic p. 73)



19th
Fiend-blooded 3
9
7
7
18
4: Bluff: 6; Concentration: 20; {+4} k. arcana: 18; k. planes: 12; k. religion: 12; spellcraft: 8; k architecture: 19;

Blood of fiends +1 saves, fiendish heritage +1 Cha


20th
Fiend-blooded 4
10
7
7
19
4: Bluff: 6; Concentration: 20; k. arcana: 18; {+4} k. planes: 16; k. religion: 12; spellcraft: 8; k architecture: 19;

Fiendish sorcery: dominate monster, smiting spell 1/day






Class
0th
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th
7th
8th
9th


1st

Sorcerer 1
5
3










2nd

Sorc 1
5
3










3rd

Sorc 2
6
4










4th
Sorc 3
6
5










5th

Sorc 3
6
5










6th

Sorc 4
6
6
3









7th
Sorc 5
6
6
4









8th
Sorc 5/ Ur priest 1
6/4
6/2
4/-









9th
Sorc 6/ Ur priest 2
6/5
6/3
5/0
3/-








10th
Sorc 7/ Ur priest 3
6/5
6/3
6/1
4/0








11th
Sorc 8/ Ur priest 3
6/5
6/3
6/1
5/0
3







12th

Sorc 9/ UP 4
6/6
6/3
6/2
6/1
4/0







13th

Sorc 10/ UP 5
6/6
6/3
6/3
6/2
5/1
3/0






14th

Sorc 11/ UP 6
6/6
6/3
6/3
6/3
6/2
4/1
- / 0





15th

sorc 12/ UP 7
6/6
6/4
6/3
6/3
6/3
5/2
3/1
- /0




16th

Sorc 13/ UP 8
6/6
6/4
6/4
6/3
6/3
6/3
4/2
- /1
- /0



17th
Sorc 14/ UP 9
6/6
6/5
6/4
6/4
6/4
6/4
5/3
3/2
- /1
- /0


18th
Sorc 15/ UP 10
6/6
6/5
6/5
6/4
6/4
6/4
6/4
4/3
- /2
- /1


19th

Sorc 16/ UP 10
6/6
6/5
6/5
6/4
6/4
6/4
6/4
5/3
3/2
- /1


20th

Sorc 17/ UP 10
6/6
6/5
6/5
6/4
6/4
6/4
6/4
6/3
4/2
- /1



SPELL LIST
Sorcerer (Wu Jen List)
0: Read Magic, Detect Magic, Message, Ghost Sound, Mage Hand, Prestidigitation, Dancing lights, Light, Mending
1: charm person, Fiery Eyes (Complete Arcane), Silent image, Animate Wood, endure elements
2: invisibility, blur, protection from arrows, wood shape, alter self
3: Magnetism (Complete Arcane), haste, gaseous form, Major image, Creaking Cacophany
4: polymorph, dimension door, Lesser Spirit binding, solid fog
5: metal skin, teleport, telekinesis, fabricate
6: Spirit Binding, Transfix, globe of invulnerability
7: reanimation, giant size, body outside body
8: PAO, Mysterious redirection



INTRODUCTION
The infernal sorcerer howl ability is interesting to me. Sacrifice a spell slot for a 30’ cone of sonic damage at 2d6 damage per level of sacrificed spell slot. The first thing that comes to mind from this feat is to theurge up and get a bounty of spell slots to just scream at everything.
There are two benefits i see from this:
No need to get blasting spells onto your sorcerer spells known
Sonic damage bypasses hardness. You can scream down a building with enough spell slots.


Acid and sonic attacks deal damage to most objects just as they do to creatures; roll damage and apply it normally after a successful hit. Electricity and fire attacks deal half damage to most objects; divide the damage dealt by 2 before applying the hardness. Cold attacks deal one-quarter damage to most objects; divide the damage dealt by 4 before applying the hardness.

Check for yourself: Click here (https://www.d20srd.org/srd/exploration.htm#energyAttacks)

So that’s our basic premise, and optimization starts there.

First off, the spell creaking cacophony is a no save bard/druid spell that gives people vulnerability to sonic. So, as a synergistic choice, fiend-blooded is an excellent upgrade to the central premise. The fiendish sorcery class feature allows the addition of an illusion spell from any list to your spells known. Casting creaking cacophony on round 1 then immediately pays off when you howl next turn for +50% damage.

There’s a little known blurb in Oriental adventures (on page 30) that states that sorcerers may choose from either the sorc/wiz lists or the wu jen spell list. Obviously, that puts the Body outside Body spell onto the table. Here is why that is an awesome use of a 7th level spell slot.


This spell creates one or more indistinguishable duplicates of you, all of which share your ability scores, personality, class levels, skills, feats, and memories.
They carry the same arms, armor, and equipment as you do (but only have mundane versions of any magic gear), and they cannot cast spells or use any spell completion or spell trigger items.
They are friendly toward each other and your companions and will follow any order you give them (even actions that you wouldn't normally do yourself, such as charging a dragon or jumping off a cliff).
The duplicates you create each have one-quarter of your hit point total at the time of casting and take damage as normal in combat.
If a duplicate is slain, it disappears and you take 10 points of damage.
At the end of the spell's duration, all remaining duplicates (and any equipment created with them) disappear without dealing damage to you.
Material Component: A few of your hairs, fingernail parings, or flakes of skin.

You create 1 duplicate of yourself per 5 caster levels that last for a minute. These duplicates get all of your feats and class features, but they cannot cast spells. That means you can spend those duplicates’ spell slots to triple your infernal sorcerer howling at caster level 15. It doesn’t matter that they cannot cast, because infernal sorcerer howls are supernatural abilities granted by a feat.

Further, the wu jen list also has the magnetism spell, which may be quite helpful when confronted with oodles of rubble from screaming down enemy fortifications. The rest of spells were chosen to amplify utility, namely, getting into position to scream till the enemies and things around them drop.

In order to magnify the quantity of spell slots, a couple of options were considered:
Sublime Chord
Nar demonbinder
Ultimate Magus
Ur priest + mystic theurge

Ultimately, i eschewed sublime chord because showcases tend to use it so much. The skill gates are a headache, and bard seemed out of flavor.
Nar demonbinder has good flavor, but getting feats to arrive on time required ye olde otyugh hole.
Ultimate magus version of this build would be something like: sorc 1/wu jen 4/ultimate magus 1/ fiend blooded 2/ultimate magus 9/fiend blooded 3 or wonderworker 3
1, infernal sorc heritage/howl
2, metamagic feat
3. blood to blood
6. Eschew
9 ab focus howl
12 reverberate
14: metamagic
15 practiced spellcaster or wonder worker prereq
17: exalted metamagic
18 extra slot

We went with Ur priest/Mystic theurge because the flavor is compatible, and you could just ramp up utility spells and even healing from the cleric list. I expect a whole lot more screaming to solve your problems from those spell slots however.

In order to qualify for Ur Priest, you need two useless feats, (Spell focus: Evil and iron will) as well as a fortitude base save bonus of +3. In order to qualify in a timely manner then, it is necessary to dip a high fort save base class. In this case, we have chosen Monk. But not any monk. A monk augmented from Oriental Adventures, page 19.



Bonus Feats: At 1st, 2nd, and 6th level, a monk can sacrifice a class ability (stunning attack at 1st, Deflect Arrows at 2nd, or Improved Trip at 6th) in order to gain a different bonus martial arts feat. The monk can choose any feat listed on Table 6–1: Martial Arts Feats, but she must meet all the prerequisites for the feat she selects. This bonus feat can help a monk qualify for mastery of a martial arts style. .

Tucked away on that table is a martial arts style called “Mental Power” and under that heading is iron will. So the monk level pulls double duty to cover Ur Priest pre-requisites.

A variant of this build could replace K. architecture and Engineering with Perform: wind instruments in order to double damage for those unfortunate enough to fail a low DC fort save from pipes of pain (https://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/wondrousItems.htm#pipesofPain).

Along the way, after picking up the prerequisite feats for prestige classes, we take two different feats that increase the save DC of the howl: reverberation and Ability focus. After that, versatile spellcaster adds more utility to how you can use your spell slots.

At level 18, empower supernatural ability from tome of magic is selected. Remember you can only use it once a day...but so can all of your body outside body dupes.

The final level of fiend-blooded, at level 20, grants a fiendish sorcery, for which we have chosen Dominate monster to be added to your Ur priest list. It just seems like the right spell to get things done that you yourself don’t want to do.

[Venger]

This one is by yours truly:



https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/647393639886094337/1169325946130677891/download.jpg?ex=6554fea6&is=654289a6&hm=b0357e870a3f464d4344ccfdcd548240983cce4a0699080 fbf09361e775ddb6c&

The Dead of Night


For the longest time, we’ve been looking for a way to enter hexer, a mechanically interesting if unfortunately flavored class. Much like sybil, I like the idea of curse-work as a concept for a character even if mechanical support for this is somewhat lacking.

Hexer presents a number of hurdles and jumping things like this is half the fun making builds for me.

A nongood alignment is simple enough, as are arcana and spellcraft, common enough skills for any caster.

Survival is more difficult than it ought to be without further delaying entry, but is accessible enough revering a deity who grants access to the travel domain. To add to our rebuke pool, I also wanted one who gave access to a domain allowing the rebuking of non-undead creatures, so I selected the Syrkarn, a group living in the steppes near Riedra who reveres the land itself as their deity, providing access to the travel and plant domains. They are also descended from giants and humans so fit hexer’s nebulous requirements regarding race.

I’m not especially particular about avoiding mixing cross-class things when there’s no mechanical bump, so if it doesn’t gel having these ties alongside being a Mulan human, any deity offering a similar domain alongside travel (air, fire, earth, water, scalykind, etc) and allowing an evil alignment fits the bill. This provides a rebuke pool to qualify for master of shrouds.

Likewise, if you want something more solid regarding hexer’s racial req and think that this and/or being illumian is not enough, wu jen handily provides access to alter self, allowing you to turn into an orc, a textual example, for long enough to enter.

Finally, probably the most annoying thing to deal with, lightning bolt as a divine spell. What they want you to do is enter as an adept, but that sucks. What I’ve done instead is added it to your wu jen list through a dip in wyrm wizard, using southern magician to cast it as a divine spell. Illumian allows any languages selectable as bonuses so handily provides access to draconic.

Given the amount of spilled ink on wizards, I found wu jen to feel fresher to build with for me conceptually, alongside its fanciful class-unique spells that evoke a fairy tale vibe. While it lacks some expected utility wizard takes for granted, hexer helpfully shores up our spell list by letting us pick a handful of extra treats to supplement our repertoire.

NE Naenhoon Illumian cloistered cleric of Syrkarn 1/wu jen 2/ master of shrouds 3/ wyrm wizard 2/ master of shrouds 5/ hexer 10



str 8
dex 10
con 13
int (increases here) 18, languages: common, draconic, sylvan, giant, infernal
wis 12
cha 12





Level
Class
Base Attack Bonus
Fort Save
Ref Save
Will Save
Skills
Feats
Class Features


1st
Cloistered cleric of Syrkarn 1
+0
+2
+0
+2
concentration 4, k (arcana) 4, k (dungeoneering) 4, k (local) 4, k (nobility/royalty) 4, k (nature) 4, k (religion) 4, k (planes) 4, spellcraft 4, survival 4
spell focus (conjuration), augment summoning
rebuke undead, lore, travel domain, plant domain


2nd
Wu jen 1
+0
+2
+0
+4
concentration 1 (5), k (arcana) 1 (5), k (local) 1 (5), k (religion) 1 (5), k (planes) 1 (5), spellcraft 1 (5)

watchful spirit, bonus metamagic feat (extend spell), taboo (no one may tread on my shadow)


3rd
Wu jen 2
+1
+2
+0
+5
k (arcana) 1 (6), k (religion) 1 (6), k (planes) 1 (6), spellcraft 1 (6), survival 2 (5)
persistent spell



4th
Master of shrouds 1
+1
+2
+0
+7
k (arcana) 1 (7), k (religion) 1 (7), survival 4 (7)

extra rebuking, rebuke undead


5th
Master of shrouds 2
+2
+2
+0
+8
k (arcana) 1 (8), k (religion) 1 (8), spellcraft 2 (8), survival 2 (8)

summon undead (shadow)


6th
Master of shrouds 3
+3
+3
+1
+8
diplo 3, k (arcana) 1 (9), k (religion) 1 (9), spellcraft 1 (9),
southern magician



7th
Wyrm wizard 1
+3
+3
+1
+10
k (arcana) 1 (10), k (dungeoneering) 1 (5), k (planes) 4 (10) survival 2 (9)

knowledge of the wyrm


8th
Wyrm wizard 2
+4
+3
+1
+11
concentration 4 (9), k (arcana) 1 (11), survival 2 (10), spellcraft 2 (11)

spell research (lightning bolt)


9th
Master of shrouds 4
+5
+3
+1
+12
concentration 2 (11), k (arcana) 1 (12), k (religion) 3 (12), spellcraft 1 (12)
quicken spell
summon undead (wraith)


10th
Master of shrouds 5
+5
+3
+1
+12
diplo 2 (5), concentration 2 (13), k (arcana) 1 (13), k (religion) 1 (13), spellcraft 1 (13)

improved summoning


11th
Hexer 1
+6/+1
+3
+1
+14
concentration 3 (14), k (arcana) 1 (14), k (dungeoneering) 2 (7), k (religion) 1 (14)

hex 1/day


12th
Hexer 2
+7/+2
+3
+1
+15
concentration 1 (15), k (arcana) 1 (15), k (dungeoneering) 4 (11), k (religion) 1 (15)
planar touchstone: catalogues of enlightenment (undeath domain)
bonus spell (boreal wind), hex 2/day


13th
Hexer 3
+8/+3
+4
+2
+15
concentration 1 (16), k (arcana) 1 (16), k (dungeoneering) 4 (15), k (religion) 1 (16)

sicken hex


14th
Hexer 4
+9/+4
+4
+2
+16
concentration 1 (17), k (arcana) 1 (17), k (dungeoneering) 2 (17), k (nature) 2 (6), k (religion) 1 (17)

bonus spell (contingency), hex 3/day


15th
Hexer 5
+10/+5
+4
+2
+16
concentration 1 (18), k (arcana) 1 (18), k (dungeoneering) 1 (18), k (nature) 3 (9), k (religion) 1 (18)
obtain familiar (raven)
fear hex


16th
Hexer 6
+11/+6/+1
+5
+3
+17
concentration 1 (19), k (arcana) 1 (19), k (dungeoneering) 1 (19), k (nature) 4(13), k (religion) 1 (19)

bonus spell (elemental body), hex 4/day


17th
Hexer 7
+12/+7/+2
+5
+3
+17
concentration 1 (20), k (arcana) 1 (20), k (dungeoneering) 1 (20), k (nature) 4 (17), k (religion) 1 (20)

sleep hex


18th
Hexer 8
+13/+8/+3
+5
+3
+18
concentration 1 (21), k (arcana) 1 (21), k (dungeoneering) 1 (21), k (nature) 4 (21), k (religion) 1 (21)
cloudy conjuration
bonus spell (avascular mass), hex 5/day


19th
Hexer 9
+14/+9/+4
+6
+4
+18
concentration 1 (22), k (arcana) 1 (22), k (dungeoneering) 1 (22), k (nature) 1 (22), k (religion) 1 (22), spellcraft 3 (16)

charm hex


20th
Hexer 10
+15/+10/+5
+6
+4
+19
concentration 1 (23), k (arcana) 1 (23), k (dungeoneering) 1 (23), k (nature) 1 (23), k (religion) 1 (23), spellcraft 3 (19)

bonus spell (imprisonment), hex 6/day




You have shadows online at level 5, much sooner than most standard enemies can really do much about them, so take full advantage. Rebuke any spawn they create for more permanent companions and enjoy the full complement of obedient apparitions that can be the ultimate scouts alongside their deadly touch.

Your extra rebuking pool provided by the plant domain gives you more rebukes to fuel naenhoon, which can, as a swift, modify your spells with metamagic of your choice, paying the cost for you up to 2/day. Your primary use for this will be persistent spell but it can also be used to spontaneously extend things such as your buffs as well.

Master of shrouds’s extra rebuking lets you rebuke undead an additional 4 times/day. The catalogues of enlightenment, granting the domain power of the undeath, domain, the extra turning feat, explicitly adds 4 additional turning/rebuking attempts to each pool you have access to, so 4 for undead and 4 for plant for us. This means you will ultimately have access to 12 rebuke undeads/day and 8/rebuke plants/day for a total pool of 20 without even touching equipment. Once you run out of uses of naenhoon, using rebuke for its actual intended purpose keeping your shadows in check will quickly make you a force to be reckoned with.

A familiar is a natural choice for any caster with access to polymorph and shapechange thanks to the wu jen list and serves as a capable scout in situations where shadows are not appropriate as well as lending a classic witchy halloween flavor, plus as ever it has the ability to speak and use wands.

Cloudy conjuration gives your shadows and any other conjuration spells a little extra punch in addition to piling on the gloom.

Hexer’s trademark hexes add further utility to your repertoire, shoring up some of the things missing from the wu jen list, allowing you to sicken, scare, charm, and put your foes to sleep with a glance. It also lets you have pick of any desirable sorcerer/wizard spells that catch your eye. I’ve delayed entry to allow for the highest level selections (5-9), namely boreal wind for damage and bfc at long range, contingency for utility and defense, elemental body for blanket immunities, mobility and utility, avascular mass as a great debuff alongside bfc and imprisonment for a flavorful way t take an enemy out of the fight in one of the most difficult to deal with ways there is in the game. Tell me someone imprisoned in a tiny sphere at some unknown point in the earth’s mantle doesn’t sound like a curse laid by an evil witch looking for a clever way to be broken when powerful divination fails.

You can keep your enemies guessing growing or shrinking, appearing from the ether in a disguised form, coming back from a clearly witnessed demise, or turning foes into obedient trees. Whistle through the graveyard and happy hunting.




srd: cleric, cloistered cleric, spell focus, augment summoning, extend spell, quicken spell
secrets of sarlona: Syrkarn
complete arcane: wu jen, persistent spell, obtain familiar
races of destiny: illumian
libris mortis: master of shrouds
oriental adventures: southern magician
planar handbook: planar touchstone
masters of the wild: hexer
complete mage: cloudy conjuration
dragon magic: wyrm wizard

[Venger]

...and three witches make a coven! Hope everyone enjoys. I'm going to finish dotting Is and crossing Ts on mine in the morning, my computer battery's running low. Happy halloween!

[daremetoidareyo]

Some drag and drop play tips for the coven.

The minimum level for the shadow witch and the howler is level 8/CR8. The minimum level of the hexer for a full complement is level 12/CR 12.

According to the encounter level generater, at this minimum, this is a deadly encounter until a party of 4 is level 11. Levels 12 -14 is challenging. Levels 15+ is easy.

For 4 PCs at levels 15+, the coven should all be level 12-15.

At player level level 20, the coven can be Level 15+, with all three witches being a deadly encounter for the PCs at a CR rating of about 22.

The hexer makes nasty synergies with the fear debuffs feeding the witches individual abilities and spell casting. The howler can destroy items, terrain and fortifications, and the shadow witch has significant stealth type powers that lend themselves to battlefield control.

Handling these witches at high levels needs fear immunity, immunity to sonic, and significant save buffs. Dealing oodles of damage in a surprise round is probably an important first step to success. Removing the howler and hexer from play being a priority, with their casting being nasty force multipliers.

The dynamics of the coven at low levels are the howler as the blaster, the shadow witch as tactical officer, and the hexer as a leader. These witches can destroy a lot, and they know it, so their motives should be about them getting something personal that enriches them. This might lead to adventure hooks against other evil factions of significant power that can see the witches as temporary Allies against drow/illithid/rakshasas/dragons/anti magic entities, probably in exchange for artifacts that help whatever abstruse cause the coven desires, probably a residence change to a magical location or high level evil node or something similar.

The ur priest howler and the curse spewing hexer have spiritual tensions that can be exploited diplomatically. The shadow caster then becomes a sort of social middle child position that can be leveraged.

I hope that helps any attempts to drag and drop these witches into a campaign.

[The Viscount]

Of note, while immunity to fear will make it easier to fight the shadow witch, remember that because of dread witch, mysteries with fear (which with fearful empowerment could be any mystery for a few uses per day) could still affect the party.

The ability to see in magical darkness or otherwise negate concealment is another thing that, if you don't have, you're in for a rough go.

[Clause]

Hexblade 1, marshal1, dread witch 5, nightmare spinner 5, bllod magus 8.

[H_H_F_F]

All very fun! Thanks, guys.

On a separate note, dare, the fact that you built a build all about huffing and puffing down buildings and didn't call it The Wolf hurts my soul.