D&D 5E Let's talk about Witches

[ZickZak]

Seeing Harry is a Wizard and Hermione is a Witch, then Witch is a female version of Wizard.

 

[Remathilis]

Hags aren't that powerful, though. Sort of stretches disbelief to make a pact with a CR 5 monster, especially when you get higher than level 5.

Actually, that concern does eventually come up with all warlocks. Make a pact with Orcus? Theoretically, you may be powerful enough to challenge him some day. How is that supposed to work?

Baba Yaga would beg to differ with you...

 

[TheCosmicKid]

Baba Yaga would beg to differ with you...

So if a witch makes a pact with Baba Yaga to get power, where does Baba Yaga, the ultimate witch, get her power?

 

[Merkaile]

Nice discussion. As a lover of the new warlock class I'd probably be all in for creating a new pact where you limit the spells as desired to make it feel more witchy while giving a few new ones to replace it.

You can also play around with backgrounds a little to create a coven member / witch background to fit the character theme you're going after.

 

[RobotElder]

So if a witch makes a pact with Baba Yaga to get power, where does Baba Yaga, the ultimate witch, get her power?

Self confidence. She believes in herself.

 

[The Grassy Gnoll]

Witches are Druids. Healers, wise women, and capable of doing you in - potion making seems more like a herbalist type skill. Or maybe I'm being too Discworld here.

 

[The Grassy Gnoll]

And those "familiars" are either the rest of her coven (or Circle) wildshaped into cat form when visitors come knocking...

 

[TheCosmicKid]

Self confidence. She believes in herself.

So does Rocky Balboa, but he can't turn you into an isopod. (Or can he?)

 

[Tony Vargas]

I think I'm going to try to hack up some sub-classes (Wizard and Warlock are most likely candidates) and see what I can can come up with.

The main limitation with subclasses is spell lists. There are a bunch of spells that don't feel very Witch-like (Fireball, anyone?), and while avoiding those spells could be player choice, I'd rather take them off the list and compensate with other spells that do feel Witchy. And removing class features in a sub-class doesn't have any precedent.

An issue for any sub-class with hopes of becoming official, but for a 'hack' not a problem. There is precedent for adding to a spell list, though, including adding known or prepared spells for 'free,' that could be extended to mandatory spells, reducing the non-Witchy spells the sub-class can learn or prepare. Or you could take a carrot approach, and designate 'witch spells' that the player can prepare or know 2:1, so learning or prepping a non-witch spell off the class list has an opportunity cost of two witch spell.

What's the best primary stat for a Witch? I could actually see it being Charisma, as long as Charisma isn't mistaken to always mean 'charming' or 'attractive'. A menacing half-orc can have high charisma.

Or it could buck the Arcane trend in the PH and be WIS.

P.S. I was being tongue-in-cheek about "Good Witch" and "Wicked Witch". That said, I could see one sub-class that had an emphasis on charms and buffs, and another one that had an emphasis on curses and hexes.

Or even just a personal choice: some new spells could each be cast one of two ways, as a 'charm' that helps the subject or a 'hex' that harms them. Learning one means knowing both (because black magic and white magic are just two sides of the same supernatural secret coin), and the 'white' witch is the one with the personal morality and discipline to avoid using the dark side of the Craft.

Hey, that dovetails with the two-for-one spells, above... sorta.

 

[Guest 6801328]

I could see Baba Yaga (or someone like that) being a patron.