Just becaue it's October - Witches?

Greenfield · Oct 12, 2017

Just because it's seasonal, are there any Witch class or PRCs in D&D 3.5 that are worth anything?

I'm thinking that some sort of Ride skill, focused on Broom should be in there somewhere.

I'm also thinking that Brew Potion would be a class feat, while Craft Alchemy would be prerequisite if we're talking PRCs.

Flavor wise, her spells should either have to be in the form of potions or dusts, or have a Spell Focus effect if they're done that way..

Perhaps she "prepares" her daily spells in the form of dusts and potions with a short shelf life. Like a day, maybe.

Or, as I asked at the start, is there such a class or PRC already in the game?

Celebrim · Oct 13, 2017

Green Ronin has one, but I've always felt a specific witch class unnecessary. If you need a witch class, then it implies your spell-caster classes aren't customizable enough.

Personally, in my campaign, 'Witch' is a derogatory term for a female spellcaster, particularly those that engage in socially unacceptable practices like shamanism, thaumaturgy, diablerie, necromancy, or enchantment magic. (Or presumably sex magic, although my game tends to be PG-13 and avoid such topics.)

In my opinion a 'witch' could be easily built from Green Ronin Shaman with the appropriate selection of totems and taboos. With small changes, I consider the Green Ronin Shaman the best 3.X era spellcaster class, and if I had to allow only one spellcaster class in a campaign it would probably be Shaman. It's capable of emulating virtually every real world magical tradition.

Greenfield · Oct 13, 2017

Yeah, you could pretty much rename another class and add some veneer.

Spirit Shaman would work, if you want your "Witch" to have more of a "Woods-witch" feel. This class has a "Spirit Guide" that they send out into the spirit realm to bring back spell knowledge, when they want to change their prepared spell list. Give a physical appearance and you're real close to the classic image.

Similarly you could build it with a Wizard or Sorcerer foundation, and add some style changes for flavor.

Heroes of Horror has the Dread Witch class.

So no, it's not that there isn't variety in the D&D casting classes, I was just wondering if this particular one already existed.

Celebrim · Oct 13, 2017

Greenfield said:
So no, it's not that there isn't variety in the D&D casting classes, I was just wondering if this particular one already existed.

Dozens. The earliest one I know of was a Dragon Magazine (#114?) "NPC Class" designed to be a spell-caster suitably powerful enough to challenge an entire party as a solo monster (not that we had that sort of terminology at the time). There may be an even earlier one though, as I'm not familiar with the first 50 or so Dragons.

Igwilly · Oct 13, 2017

Guy, in one 3.5 campaign I used to participate, I remember seeing a Witch Spell list, but I think it’s homebrew. I also like this archetype, and I love when a proper Witch class appears. It’s a concept that doesn’t fit exactly in any pre-existing spellcasting class.
Outside this edition, there’s a Wizard subclass named Witch in 4e (post-Essentials) and a Wizard Kit named Witch in 2e (Wizard’s Handbook). Outside that, a Witch class appeared in Pathfinder too. That’s what I know for sure.

Dannyalcatraz · Oct 14, 2017

There is a Witch class in Pathfinder you could yoink.

Dandu · Oct 14, 2017

Warlocks make good witches.

Igwilly · Oct 16, 2017

Dandu said:
Warlocks make good witches.

Hahaha well, logic would say that, but I don't quite agree. My mental fluff on witches make them very different from warlocks, especially when dealing with the 3.5 version.

Dandu · Oct 17, 2017

Actually, doesn't the DMG have an example of an incomplete witch class used as an example of how to build your own class?

It's referenced here, for example. Basically a sorcerer with a few changes to the spell list.