Remathilis
Legend
A combination of the above, typically via Green Ronin's Witches Handbook
-
NOW LIVE! Into the Woods--new character species, eerie monsters, and haunting villains to populate the woodlands of your D&D games.
How do you prefer your WITCH?
- Thread starter Turanil
- Start date
TheAuldGrump
First Post
It is a derogatory term used to describe members of the old faiths (there are several) and arcane spellcasters, in particular Hedge Wizards - many of whom are also members of the old faiths 
. In areas that follow the old faiths (there are a few in my campaign world) the term is used to describe followers of the faith and/or spellcasters who have turned to the bad, in particular those who prepare poisons and cast curses. More typically spellcasters, both arcane and divine, are called wise or cunning, depending on local preferences and prejudices. (Typically Hedge Wizards, the Witch class, and Druids.)
A warlock is a spellcaster who has broken his oaths - be they to a religion or to person, so some warlocks are also considered witches.
Wizards and Sorcerers use the term Hedge Wizard to describe both spellcasters who follow the old faiths and casters of petty magics. Hedge Wizards refer to themselves as Cunning Folk, Hexen, or a few other terms.
The Auld Grump, members of the Witch class never call themselves witches.
. In areas that follow the old faiths (there are a few in my campaign world) the term is used to describe followers of the faith and/or spellcasters who have turned to the bad, in particular those who prepare poisons and cast curses. More typically spellcasters, both arcane and divine, are called wise or cunning, depending on local preferences and prejudices. (Typically Hedge Wizards, the Witch class, and Druids.)A warlock is a spellcaster who has broken his oaths - be they to a religion or to person, so some warlocks are also considered witches.
Wizards and Sorcerers use the term Hedge Wizard to describe both spellcasters who follow the old faiths and casters of petty magics. Hedge Wizards refer to themselves as Cunning Folk, Hexen, or a few other terms.
The Auld Grump, members of the Witch class never call themselves witches.
Sigurd
First Post
Witch is more vulnerable
I think a witch is a magic practitioner shorn of the few protections offered the cautious wizard. She gets magic quicker and more readily from questionable sources but it is often less powerful for she has problems, in comparison to wizards, knowing what was done before.
Conversely this having to know what was done before slows wizards and removes them from the people for whom they are safer but less useful. A witch is like a small business - little or no overhead to pay for. A wizard is like a big firm - slower, less flexible but eventually with more resources.
All of the type of witch should be represented if any one because it is such a charged stereotype, even today.
Sigurd
I think a witch is a magic practitioner shorn of the few protections offered the cautious wizard. She gets magic quicker and more readily from questionable sources but it is often less powerful for she has problems, in comparison to wizards, knowing what was done before.
Conversely this having to know what was done before slows wizards and removes them from the people for whom they are safer but less useful. A witch is like a small business - little or no overhead to pay for. A wizard is like a big firm - slower, less flexible but eventually with more resources.
All of the type of witch should be represented if any one because it is such a charged stereotype, even today.
Sigurd
Griffith Dragonlake
First Post
Norse of course!
I like the Old Norse dichotomy on magic, vis a vis masculine and femminine. Basically two types of spellcasting, masculine and feminine. Male spellcasters practiced a masculine style and Female a feminine. In one of the sagas, Odin is accused by Loki of being the passive partner in a homosexual relationship because Odin went and learned witchcraft from some women. Odin went so far as to dress up as a woman when he was learning the witchcraft. Personally I find it fascinating that Odin got his 20 levels as a rune-wizard and then studied "witchcraft" for awhile. Perhaps he was trying to get into a prestige class?
What kind of spells would the women of the house find useful while the men were out hunting, herding, or ploughing? Probably spells dealing with upkeep of hearth & home, love, sexuality, revenge, fertility, midwifery, child rearing, healing & poison, pest control, and horticulture.
I've been dabbling with this idea of feminine magic vs. masculine magic and think there is some merit.
I like the Old Norse dichotomy on magic, vis a vis masculine and femminine. Basically two types of spellcasting, masculine and feminine. Male spellcasters practiced a masculine style and Female a feminine. In one of the sagas, Odin is accused by Loki of being the passive partner in a homosexual relationship because Odin went and learned witchcraft from some women. Odin went so far as to dress up as a woman when he was learning the witchcraft. Personally I find it fascinating that Odin got his 20 levels as a rune-wizard and then studied "witchcraft" for awhile. Perhaps he was trying to get into a prestige class?
What kind of spells would the women of the house find useful while the men were out hunting, herding, or ploughing? Probably spells dealing with upkeep of hearth & home, love, sexuality, revenge, fertility, midwifery, child rearing, healing & poison, pest control, and horticulture.
I've been dabbling with this idea of feminine magic vs. masculine magic and think there is some merit.
Griffith Dragonlake
First Post
Wyrm Pilot said:
Wyrm Pilot said:
I recently did some research on the etymology and usage of typical D&D terms like witch, wizard, dweomer, etc. in the Oxford English Dictionary, unabridged edition. My findings are a little different.
It is true that witch could refer to either gender in the Middle Ages albeit far more references to female witches than to males witches. In the 1500s the term 'male witch' appears and by the start of the witch craze in the last 1500s the term wizard takes on it's modern definition. [Wizard comes from wysard which meant wise man]. The 'feminine bias' as you call it is documented as early as the 1100s when wicca became witch and wicce was dropped. [On a related note, apparently Cotton Mather himself differentiated between white and black witchcraft.]
Warlock comes from the Old English werlogh or some such meaning oath breaker. According the OED in the earliest OE bibles, Satan is referred to as a warlock as an oath breaker not as a spellcaster. Warlock doesn't pick up any spellcasting connotations until at least the witch craze of the late 1500s and 1600s.
In summary, I think the OED makes it clear that the feminine bias of witch goes back around 10 centuries rather than 2 or 3. Also that the OED has no evidence for associating warlock with witches and covens during the Early, High, or Late Middle Ages and not during the Renaissance.
Wyrm Pilot, you are certainly free to use these terms in any way you choose in your world and I heartily defend your ability to do so. But my interpretation of the OED does not support your assertions.
I'm A Banana
Potassium-Rich
First: Hags
Second: How they are in the DMG.
Third: Some warlock/druid hybrid thing, where the powers over nature are dark and dismal and from the fiends. Which is great for my monotheistic Feathered & Fallen campaign.
Second: How they are in the DMG.
Third: Some warlock/druid hybrid thing, where the powers over nature are dark and dismal and from the fiends. Which is great for my monotheistic Feathered & Fallen campaign.
Similar Threads
