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

[Charlaquin]

Yup. I wish the warlock was mechanically centered around their patron rather than eldritch bolt. Heck I would rather see the eldritch bolt ability go to the sorcerer and give the warlock other things to really play up their patron. Instead they are a ranged blaster class.

Warlock really, really isn’t centered around Eldritch Blast. There is one, pretty specific warlock build that’s focused on Eldritch Blast, and it eats up most of your character build choices to pull off. But it really is a tiny portion of what the 5e warlock can do. If you’re not spending all of your invocations just to be almost as good as a fighter at shooting stuff, it’s pretty impressive how versatile the warlock class actually is.

 

[Sithlord]

Inha

Just build a different warlock. Eldritch Blast is one, very limited, type of warlock. You can easily make a warlock that actually feels very witchy if you just let go of Eldritch Blast and explore more of what the class has to offer.

I have never seen one in play ever. And I play at a flgs with over 80 people playing on a slow night since 5E came out. I also play at home games with friends. I think players (rightfully) think they are nerfing themselves and their party if they don’t take it with agonizing hex. It’s hard to nerf yourself. At the home game we are working on homebrew options. But that is a sin to many people. One of our options for a pact with devils is changing it to fire damage which is less effective than force damage overall. And throwing in some resistance to fire a little easier since fire damage is situational and fire damage isn’t as effective as force damage.

 

[Charlaquin]

I have never seen one in play ever.

I see them quite regularly.

And I play at a flgs with over 80 people playing on a slow night since 5E came out. I also play at home games with friends. I think players (rightfully) think they are nerfing themselves and their party if they don’t take it with agonizing hex.

I don’t think it’s rightful at all. Eldritch Blast spam is fine, but it’s really not that impressive. A fighter can achieve the same results - better results, even - with one feat and a heavy crossbow. Instead of dumping all your invocations into enhancing Eldritch Blast, you could be doing any number of other things that frankly are just as good, if not better.

It’s hard to nerf yourself.

Going for a different build than EB spam really, really isn’t nerfing yourself. Try it some time, you might be surprised.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

How do I imagine her?

Buff-breaker, with a sactum or special place to craft expendable or single-use magic item (potions, talismans, scrolls, tatoos or runes). With "pact magic", like the vestige pact magic but the witch has got like a mini version of cleric domain list. You can change the pact with a piece of time for a ritual. She can cast primal magic (ranger+druid).

 

[Mecheon]

Personally, I would like to see a witch class and a shaman class replace the druid, but I agree with the rest of what you wrote about the witch should be a class.

Druid is a longstanding fantasy Thing these days though, particularly due to a certain World of Warcraft, so its unlikely to go anywhere.

Ol' Walrock's is my personal choice of Witch for the moment though

 

[Sithlord]

I see them quite regularly.

I don’t think it’s rightful at all. Eldritch Blast spam is fine, but it’s really not that impressive. A fighter can achieve the same results - better results, even - with one feat and a heavy crossbow. Instead of dumping all your invocations into enhancing Eldritch Blast, you could be doing any number of other things that frankly are just as good, if not better.

Going for a different build than EB spam really, really isn’t nerfing yourself. Try it some time, you might be surprised.

I have. Agree with your post. It’s just not something I see others do. And i run lots of games. But it’s cool that this is something you see alot

 

[Older Beholder]

I feel like there was a missed opportunity in not calling this thread:
'Which witch is the witchiest witch?'

Personally I think Warlock works well. Maybe throw in the hexblood lineage for some more options/flavour.

 

[Greg K]

@LuisCarlos17f mentiond what his version of a witch would be like. Here is mine


Hit Points d6
Armor Proficiency: None
Weapon Proficiency: Simple Weapons
Tools: Herbalist's Kit or Poisoner
Saving Throws: WIsdom, Charisma
Skills: Choose (x) from Animal Handling, Arcana, History, Insight, Intimidation, Medicine, Nature, Persuasion, Survival

A spontaneous wisdom based caster whose spell list is built around Illusions, Charm, Curses (including aging/stealing youth and long slumbers), some blessings (e.g. improved use of skill or tool proficiency),Transformation (altering one's appearance, polymorphing oneself, polymorph others), breaking enchantments, dispel magic, nature (animals, plants, weather), some divination (e.g. read throughts, comprehend languages, clairaudience/clairvoyance, seeing the future, scrying), some healing and curing afflictions, and some creation (e.g. food and water).
Other abilities; a familiar, brewing potions and poisons, crafting items (candles, charms), ritual magic

 

[Cap'n Kobold]

I'd probably shy away from making a Witch class. There are already many existing classes that seem to cover most of the bases. If someone said that they wanted to play a witch class in my game, the first thing that I'd have to ask them is what their vision of a witch was.

I don’t think it’s rightful at all. Eldritch Blast spam is fine, but it’s really not that impressive. A fighter can achieve the same results - better results, even - with one feat and a heavy crossbow. Instead of dumping all your invocations into enhancing Eldritch Blast, you could be doing any number of other things that frankly are just as good, if not better.

A single invocation brings you up to the level of a fighter with a feat. - But the Warlock is also a primary caster with better skills and a lot of other Invocations.
Once you start "dumping all your invocations into enhancing Eldritch Blast" you can do things that the fighter just can't.

Going for a different build than EB spam really, really isn’t nerfing yourself. Try it some time, you might be surprised.

It is a step down in raw power. For example the Celestial Warlock has a bonus to Fire and Radiant spells. - But they're still better off using Eldritch blast than Sacred Flame.

You can definitely do things with the Warlock class that don't involve Eldritch Blast. - It can be a very flexible class. But unless they have a very strong concept, many people find the drop in raw power to be a sacrifice they don't always want to make.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

Warlock really, really isn’t centered around Eldritch Blast. There is one, pretty specific warlock build that’s focused on Eldritch Blast, and it eats up most of your character build choices to pull off. But it really is a tiny portion of what the 5e warlock can do. If you’re not spending all of your invocations just to be almost as good as a fighter at shooting stuff, it’s pretty impressive how versatile the warlock class actually is.

I don't think is quite true. You grab agonising blast and hex and you're good to go. Sure, you could improve it further, but you don't really need to, with these you will be doing pretty horrid damage.

I really wish there was an easy way to support more varied builds. One thing I did was to let agonising blast (renamed 'agony') to apply to all cantrips, which makes it slightly less idiotic to use cantrip other than eldritch blast, but that still is the best cantrip and comboes amazingly with hex. One thing I considered was changing eldritch blast so that multiple beams aimed at one target become one beam, but that seemed like a too drastic nerf. (I.e. instead of 3 x d10+Cha+hex you would have 1 x 3d10+Cha+hex.)