How do you prefer your WITCH?

[Scharlata]

I voted "Evil Sorceress" but actually would have chosen "petty wizard" as well if I could, ...

Dito

 

[Tonguez]

I think the hag (monster) does a good job of fulfilling the achetype to a great extent, although that emphasizes the image of the crone. The warlock class (complete arcane) is very much what I would think of for a witch class, as opposed to a monster. A witche's supernatural ties should definitely transform them over time, in the manner of a warlock, favored soul, and many prestige classes (such as the alienist).

I use Witch as the feminine form of Warlock
although generally when a Witch appears IMC it is a Hag (monster)

NB Trolls are male Hags imc...

 

[reason]

...

I notice you don't have "monsterous semihuman entity" in that list of options. There's a category of "witch" with a fine mythic history in many a real world culture.

http://www.principiainfecta.com/archives/2006/10/a_certain_ward.php

"Two winters did I hunt the Whisper Witch in the web-choked, snowy forests of Tsibra, whilst maw spiders waited in frozen death for the thaw of spring and new prey. I sought high, upon ice-strewn hills above the storms; I sought low, where the stinking fens cast icy glissades into sinkholes that lead to the palaces of the Undergods.

"In the summer of migrating, knife-footed hrale that followed the first futile winter, Blue Talia of Kol Kut cast the bones of a fresh-slain slave. She saw the Whisper Witch engrossed within her caverns, spinning silk from the eyes of venom-weakened youths. So it was the caverns I delved in the second futile Tsibra winter, for I sought a certain ward and sign that the witch of spiders had long known well."

But there's something to be said for all the rest. I'm partial to the Sumerian clay tablets, deserts, lithe sorceresses and demons feel to the whole thing myself. It all goes to pot once you starting bringing in the vegetation worship. There really has to be dancing, consorting, and a libidinous two-way road of gender misanthropy, however, else where's the fun? Witches are like classical heroes; a certain mythic manifestation of the way in which men and women interact, think of one another, and collude to build and tear down civilization.

http://www.principiainfecta.com/archives/2006/10/a_cask_of_woman.php

"The first thaw brought me to the Green Isle's flowered hills, ruins and strange standing stones. Witches paint their skin red to dance naked in the deepest wooded valleys, and clawed demons dwell within the greatest rune-marked stones - but I sought the giants of the Lantac cliffs and shores."

http://www.principiainfecta.com/archives/2006/10/the_tower_that.php

"The MarMar look like other men of the great jungle, but are ants in thrall to their queens, the dark-skinned witches who chant and sing within huts forbidden to their men-slaves. They dance in circles about mud shaped to resemble The Tower and worship it as a God; the MarMar men crawl and shudder in fear before any witch's hut that contains such a hidden semblance.

"I charmed the lithe witch Nukarum with a sorcery from the slave markets of Abekabar while she bathed alone beneath a waterfall. For ten crystal strands taken from the roots of far-off humra trees, she led me far through the vines and trees, to a cliff whereby I might see The Tower That Eats the Jungle."

http://www.principiainfecta.com/archives/2006/11/the_beauty_of_t.php

"But wrists and ankles cased in gold were the sign of Arthymaste then, and even before her thrall to the spawn of the Demon-King. A women can tame any man, given but enough time and length of rope - perhaps even demons are not immune."

Reason
Principia Infecta

 

[Nyaricus]

I prefer them to replace sorcerers.

And you've basically just convinced me to add this class into my games . el-remmen, out of any HR'er on EN World, you are by far the greatest! I love the way you think man.

reason, I agree with your sentiments. The hag, et al, are missing form this poll. BTW, where do you get all the inspiration for your Principia Infecta stuff? Like, what's it all about; I always see you writing about it here and there, and it always intrigues me.

cheers,
--N

 

[el-remmen]

And you've basically just convinced me to add this class into my games . el-remmen, out of any HR'er on EN World, you are by far the greatest! I love the way you think man.

cheers,
--N

You are making me blush.

Thanks.

Oh and in the interest of full disclosure, my witch class is based on a shaman class post on Spoony's old RPG site by SojournerJudas.

 

[Wyrm Pilot]

I went with "other" because while I'd consider the term derogatory, it's not gender-biased; historically the term was applied to people of either gender, and the feminine bias is a relatively recent innovation (say, about the last 2 or 3 centuries).

Cheers,
Wyrm Pilot

 

[Wyrm Pilot]

I use Witch as the feminine form of Warlock

More gender bias... in my world the two terms have no relationship to one another; however, historically a warlock was simply the leader of a coven, and could be male or female just like any other witch.

Cheers,
Wyrm Pilot

 

[reason]

BTW, where do you get all the inspiration for your Principia Infecta stuff? Like, what's it all about; I always see you writing about it here and there, and it always intrigues me.

It is a curse upon the brain - that it will not cease to commence, and ever fails to forge a completed work. I will either build a virtue or a pyre of this, but in the meanwhile, misery is ameliorated by forced company.

Reason
Principia Infecta

 

[Particle_Man]

Mine is a bit unusual. I went with Great Goddess' worshiper. But the Great Goddess in question is Wee Jas.

 

[WhimsyTheFae]

I voted - Evil Sorceress Consorting with Fiends

For my game, that's what I want. Goddess worshippers are for real life.