D&D 5E 5e witches, your preferred implementation?

[Cadence]

Serious question for the mods (or anyone who has been here a while and knows this place well): this keeps coming up.

Is it worth putting into a sticky somewhere? Composing a digest with links to all the prior threads? A big Table of Witch Classes? Discussion is fun but I feel like we keep reinventing the wheel.

I thought I was doing well to grab this old thread I remembered from last summer to use

It does feel like a lot of topics have a bunch of past posts threads though.

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

Discussion is fun but I feel like we keep reinventing the wheel.

But I thought that was what the internet and chat rooms/forums were invented for? So that people can endlessly argue discuss the same things.

 

[Shardstone]

In every culture that has witchcraft, you see some similarities. You see telepathy, expanded awareness, extrasensory perception, and the ability to learn information through mental detection instead of other methods. These enable the witch to do whatever divine stuff that culture calls magic.

So what if the witch was a Psion + a spellcaster? The witch could have a handful of Psionic Powers she powers with psi dice, and then spell slots ala Pact Casting. The Witch uses their psionic abilities to get into contact with different kinds of beings or forces, such as demons or elemental spirits or even ideas like fate. These witches then form covens, which are psionically linked and who dedicate their abilities to some arcane or divine concept. The Coven of Fates who all are oracles, the Midnight Coven who are diabolist, and the Coven of the Wilds who use their psionic abilities to commune with nature.

This is a very radical combination of the Witch and the Psion IMO, but I can easily create more 3 subclasses for it, it makes sense with all the psychic powers seen in witches across the globe, and using one's mind to alter the weave is the base of psionics in 5E. This also lets you combine powers with spells.

You could go further and make a Bene Gesserit witch archetype (The Coven of Rulers), fairy tale witches (the Coven of Fables), and so on, creating a strong narrative, mainstream genre push to the archetype.

I don't think anyone will agree with this vision, but I think if I had to have a witch, this kind of coven-based psion witch would be what I think would be the most fun to play and make the most sense for being added to the game.

 

[steeldragons]

I don't think anyone will agree with this vision, but I think if I had to have a witch, this kind of coven-based psion witch would be what I think would be the most fun to play and make the most sense for being added to the game.

I wouldn't say I don't agree.

I definitely think psionic powers is an integral part for any witch class iteration.

I differ in whether or not it should be the "base" of the class and all class function...but there should certainly be something in the base class features that is psychic-based.

And a subclass of a coven/witch that focuses in on development/use of psychic powers, I think, is definitely warranted.

 

[Faolyn]

In every culture that has witchcraft, you see some similarities. You see telepathy, expanded awareness, extrasensory perception, and the ability to learn information through mental detection instead of other methods. These enable the witch to do whatever divine stuff that culture calls magic.

There's also a frequent trend in many cultures to witches being able to lay curses of illness, impotency, or death; having spirit/magical animal allies; having healing abilities, either through magic or medicine (via herbs or animal parts); and using sympathetic magic.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

There's also a frequent trend in many cultures to witches being able to lay curses of illness, impotency, or death; having spirit/magical animal allies; having healing abilities, either through magic or medicine (via herbs or animal parts); and using sympathetic magic.

I wonder how we can put sympathetic magic in a 5e D&D class.

 

[Faolyn]

I wonder how we can put sympathetic magic in a 5e D&D class.

Presumably as a material component that's consumed by the spell.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Presumably as a material component that's consumed by the spell.

That's not especially satisfying, IMO. I'd like to find a way to specifically do sympathetic magic, or provide some manner of benefit for creating sympathetic links between components and subject.

 

[steeldragons]

I wonder how we can put sympathetic magic in a 5e D&D class.

For my homebrew witch class, I have a series of specific supernatural powers (akin to Pathfinder's "hexes" for their Witch class) that I call "Crafts." [Geddit? "Witch's Crafts?" I crack me up.] Among them, what probably most fits your desire, is called "Poppet."

As you might expect, it's a poppet. And, yes, you need some piece/thing of the target creature (hair, fingernail, a scrap of clothing, or personal possession, etc...) to use the poppet on the target. It requires an hour of making/enchanting (using the craft). The target must be observed for a minimum of (an additional) one hour. The poppet will only function for the witch that creates it.

Once complete, while the poppet is in the witch's possession, and the target is in the witch's presence, the target will act/react as if under a Charm Person spell. No save. At 3rd level, the witch can whisper direction to the poppet up to 10 x level feet away and the target will comply. At 5th level, the witch can use the poppet to instill a Suggestion spell on the target, once per day.

The poppet lasts one day per witch level, unless the poppet's "trigger" (if you will) is a physical piece of the target: hair, fingernail, a few drops of blood,...a finger, etc... in which case the connection is indefinite until the poppet is destroyed (or witch that made it dies). A witch can never have more poppets enchanted than their Cha or Int modifier (whichever is higher).

Really, if a player wanted, they could fluff many of the witch's supernatural (non-spell) powers as, essentially or implicitly "sympathetic magic." The PC always pulls out a nondescript poppet, or a specific crystal (any "arcane focus," basically), rubs their family heirloom jeweled pendant, or the arranges bones on the ground in different patterns to use any craft/cast any spell. But I understand you're looking for a specific mechanical thing.

That's not especially satisfying, IMO. I'd like to find a way to specifically do sympathetic magic, or provide some manner of benefit for creating sympathetic links between components and subject.

Using the above as a base mechanic, you could tweak it to include/apply to targets of any of the Witch's powers/spells...as a ritual performed at a distance...require a physical object/piece of the target (a side quest/part of the adventure all its own) to a certain distance that increases with level.

A low level witch could "hex" you from around a corner, for example. The local Coven Queen might be miles away.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

For my homebrew witch class, I have a series of specific supernatural powers (akin to Pathfinder's "hexes" for their Witch class) that I call "Crafts." [Geddit? "Witch's Crafts?" I crack me up.] Among them, what probably most fits your desire, is called "Poppet."

As you might expect, it's a poppet. And, yes, you need some piece/thing of the target creature (hair, fingernail, a scrap of clothing, or personal possession, etc...) to use the poppet on the target. It requires an hour of making/enchanting (using the craft). The target must have be observed for a minimum of (an additional) one hour. The poppet will only function for the witch that creates it.

Once complete, while the poppet is in the witch's possession, and the target is in the witch's presence, the target will act/react as if under a Charm Person spell. No save. At 3rd level, the witch can whisper direction to the poppet up to 10 x level feet away and the target will comply. At 5th level, the witch can use the poppet to instill a Suggestion spell on the target, once per day.

The poppet lasts one day per witch level, unless the poppet's "trigger" (if you will) is a physical piece of the target: hair, fingernail, a few drops of blood,...a finger, etc... in which case the connection is indefinite until the poppet is destroyed (or witch that made it dies). A witch can never have more poppets enchanted than their Cha or Int modifier (whichever is higher).

Really, if a player wanted, they could fluff many of the witch's supernatural (non-spell) powers as, essentially or implicitly "sympathetic magic." The PC always pulls out a nondescript poppet, or a specific crystal (any "arcane focus," basically), rubs their family heirloom jeweled pendant, or the arranges bones on the ground in different patterns to use any craft/cast any spell. But I understand you're looking for a specific mechanical thing.

Using the above as a base mechanic, you could tweak it to include/apply to targets of any of the Witch's powers/spells...as a ritual performed at a distance...require a physical object/piece of the target (a side quest/part of the adventure all its own) to a certain distance that increases with level.

A low level witch could "hex" you from around a corner, for example. The local Coven Queen might be miles away.

Certainly a feature that gives a Spellcasting buff to the witch if they have something of the target would help.

I think something involving components, like if you use the actual material components for a spell (which generally follow sympathetic logic, even if they are oft silly), you get a buff to your casting, would also help.

Only kinda related, might also give them certain spells as rituals that normally aren’t, like spells of healing and restoration.