She's a Witch! (burn her!) [15 level]

Holy Browser Cache, Netman! I accidently edited a old copy of the post, so I undid my second edit! Redo!

Yet another take on the witch, I'm sure - I was inspired by the Prestige Bard from Unearthed Arcana - the spell school bonus/penalty brought me back to the old days. (it just *sounded* more 1e/2e.)

I'm approaching this as a druid/wizard combination, with emphasis on brewing potions, enthralling mere mortals, and blending in.

I've had to force the acquisition of druid and arcane spellcasting levels to eliminate the possiblity of someone taking all arcane caster levels, and ending up with what is essentially a d6 Wizard. :\ Got to hate the playa' here, not the game.

Mostly druidic special powers, aside from the potions and enchantment. Some was pulled from Mongoose's Quint. Witch; I didn't want a core class though, nor another spell list. Haven't seen Green Ronin's.

Anyway: Here goes, let me know what you think. I've probably got too many spellcasting levels, and should be a d4, I'm sure. But, hey. If this prestige class drowns in the river of opinion, it obviously wasn't a witch

Thanks for your comments!

Koewn

[h4]WITCH[/H4]

Hit Die: d6.

Requirements
To qualify to become a witch, a character must fulfill all the following criteria:

Skills: Knowledge (Nature) 6 ranks, Knowledge (Arcana) 6 ranks.
Feats: Brew Potion
Spells: Able to cast Charm Person and Charm Animal
Alignment: Any neutral

Class Skills
The witch's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Appraise (Int), Bluff (Cha), Concentration (Con), Craft (alchemy) (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Disguise (Cha), Diplomacy (Cha), Gather Information (Cha), Handle Animal (Cha), Heal (Wis), Initimdate (Cha), Knowledge (Nature and Arcana) (Int), Sense Motive (Cha), Speak Language, Spellcraft (Int), and Use Magic Device (Cha).

Skill Points at Each Level: 4 + Int modifier.

Got tired of trying to line up the Caster Level Lines. I apologize for the messiness


Class Features

All of the following are Class Features of the witch prestige class.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Witches gain proficiency with no weapons or armor.

Spells per Day/Spells Known: When a new witch level is gained, the character gains new spells per day (and spells known, if applicable) as if she had also gained a level in a spellcasting class she belonged to before she added the prestige class. She does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained. This essentially means that she adds the level of witch to the level of some other spellcasting class the character has, then determines spells per day, spells known, and caster level accordingly. At levels defined as 'Existing Caster Lvl', the class gained is the witch's choice.

Spellcasting: A witch casts spells from the schools of Enchantment and Transmutation at +2 caster level, and Evocation at -4 caster level. Spells that are on both the Wizard/Sorceror and Bard spell list may be learned by the Witch at the lower of the two spell levels.

Familiar: As the wizard/sorceror ability.
Animal Companion: As the druid ability.
Is both too much? Only the Animal Companion makes a huge difference in combat capability, at least..

Beguile: A witch may use this supernatural ability to dominate one humanoid or animal target once per day. This action requires concentration to hold. One human target the witch gazes at must make a Will save with a DC equal to 15 + 1/2 Witch's level + the witch's charisma bonus. If the witch and the subject have a common language, she can generally force the subject to perform as she desires, within the limits of its abilities. If no common language exists, you can communicate only basic commands, such as *Come here,* *Go there,* *Fight,* and *Stand still.* She knows what the subject is experiencing, but she does not receive direct sensory input from it, nor can it communicate with her telepathically. By concentrating fully (a full-round action), she can receive full sensory input as interpreted by the mind of the subject, though it still can*t communicate with her. She can*t actually see through the subject*s eyes, so it*s not as good as being there herself, but she still gets a good idea of what*s going on. Any command that would amount to the suicide of the subject negates the effect.
Much like Dominate, but with some concentration restrictions.

Wild Shape: As the druid ability, limited to small or medium animals.

Resist Nature's Lure: As the druid ability.

Cauldron Brew: A witch may brew up to two potions a day (as opposed to only one)

Greater Brew Potion: A witch may brew potions of up to 6th level spells.
Probably needs to be higher up in level? I'd like a third ability around 12th or so that either cuts XP/gold costs or does 4/day. That may be a bit much though.

Everyvisage: As the druid's Thousand Faces. (alter self)

Timeless Body: As the druid's. (no aging penalties)

Coven: As the leadership feat, but only applicable to gaining witch, druid, or arcane caster followers and cohorts, also including sages specializing in the witch's sort of lore.
So, what if the character already has Leadership? It certainly doesn't stack. Does this have a precedent? I'd assume the 'true' Leadership feat will trump this one for purposes of follower/cohort types.

Tongues: As the monk's tongue of the sun and moon. (speak to any living creature)

Lasting Presence: At 15th level, recalculate the witch's maximum age. The witch's lifespan is equal to the maximum age for her race, plus the maximum die roll possible, multiplied by 5. A half-orc witch will only live till 400, a human witch will see her 550th year, while an elfin witch will meet death at 3,750 years of age, although not many choose to continue living that long.
Aging spells aside, not much of a single-campaign issue

--

Well, I'm a big dumb dummy of a dumbhead. I'll have to specifically call out that some levels are for the divine caster progession and some are for the arcane, else I'd end up with basically a 19 Wiz/1Drd that's much better than the default.

I was thinking about what my player would do with this class than what a munchkin would do

Oh well. Maybe I'll do 'Divine Level' at 1/4/7/10/13, 'Arcane' at 2/5/8/11/14, and Player's Choice at the rest, so we could be either a:

(starting off at Drd3/Wiz2): Druid 13/Wiz7, Druid 8/Wiz12, or Druid 10/Wiz10 or whatever depending on the player.

That's probably not too bad. You're not *too* far off from a Wiz10/Drd10, and I have yet to work up any restrictions as far as mechanics for the class, although having the Druid weapon restriction and the Wizard armor restriction helps in that regard, I'd expect. You've got the same 'average' HP as a Wiz/Drd, and a worse BAB...worse saves too - you lose the Druid Fort.

Plus, you're wanting Wis, Int, and Cha for this class. That's something right there. You'll need anywhere from a 14 to a 17 in Int and Wis, depending on how you split your caster levels, and you'll always want a high Charisma.

Anyway.


Koewn

Very interesting idea. I like the overall feel of the class, very witch-like.

Seems pretty balanced too. I'd say maybe make some changes to the familiar though, witches need uber-pets!

And: Drop the +2 Caster Level to Divination, so there's a total +4/-4 even on the caster level whatnot.

I'd bar evocation totally if it was just direct damage spells but there's some good utility spells scattered around in there.

Ya know, even if no one but me comments on this thing, it's a good exercise to put this out into the world, because it keeps it in the back of my mind, and I sit and fuss over it so that I can make sure it doesn't look too terribly stupid to the d20-thinking public.

Koewn

Pets

Ghostwalker_Daishi said:

Very interesting idea. I like the overall feel of the class, very witch-like.

Seems pretty balanced too. I'd say maybe make some changes to the familiar though, witches need uber-pets!

Click to expand...

Hmmm.

What about continuing the animal companion progression from the druid? That's a bigger game-breaker usually than a familiar, cause a familiar can't be a Dire Bear I'm never been real sure how to view the druid's animal companion in power level - in combat, it's kinda like a Extended Summon Nature's Ally at the druid's highest caster level.

Koewn