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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Shardstone" data-source="post: 8188893" data-attributes="member: 6807784">Update to the Witch I'm working on.So I think I've settled on what the core/defining feature will be. I was thinking about the story of a witch, and all witch's in all cultures usually rely on manifesting curses, jinxes, or hexes, which are usually employed when the witch's services are somehow bought. I had to play with this a bit, bringing in the ideas of relying on external powers, small-time magic, etc, and then looking at the greater story. Why would an adventurer be a witch? Maybe probably would take the charlatan, hermit, or acolyte background maybe, where its a traveling witch spreading their wisdom, debauchery, or trying to make a buck. But then I thought that witch's could have some grander purpose too. Much like how a warlock is submitting to the will of its patron, or at least wrestling with it, witch's should probably be doing the opposite — looking for powers to serve in exchange for favors.So what that means is that the witch is compelled to travel, accruing knowledge to grow their bag of curses/jinxes/hexes and throwing themselves into these mystical, arcane situations as almost a sort of magical mercenary. Whereas the wizard has the feel of the scholar, the druid the guiding will of nature, the cleric the voice of a god, the witch has a hedge fund of supernatural powers they're looking to either get in with or work with in exchange for more knowledge, stimulation, etc. These often are most accessed through their Covens, which is what I'll call their sub-classes. Covens essentially are gatherings of witches with very similar goals or philosophies, allowing the witch to learn more secrets and have a wider span of supernatural connections for them to benefit from.Many classes in D&D are based off their origin of power, so besides the story thrust, I also needed an origin. I decided to play with the warlock-variant idea some more, wherein the witch's source of power isn't selling their soul, but instead communing with a vast array of supernatural forces from which they gather their knowledge. Its almost like how the Wizard is based around their spellbook, only the witch doesn't have their own spell book, they instead use the spells of those supernatuarl powers they entreat. But unlike a warlock, who has a single power they MUST serve, the witch is again more like a mercenary or broker, think almost of them like a criminal with ties to various syndacites.So, mechanically what does this mean?<ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">For spellcasting, the witch will have a variant of Pact Casting. They'll know all spells, but everyl ong rest will choose which ones to prepare, representing the witch interacting with their various supernatural contacts to build their daily spell list.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">For their core feature, not yet named, they will have a variant of eldritch invocations. These curses/jinxes/hexes are "spell-riders"; when a creature fails a saving throw against a witch spell, the witch can choose one of their curses to also apply to them. The length of the curse depends on the level of the witch, but does not use concentration. <ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Levels 1-4 have the curse lasting 8 hours.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Levels 5-10 = 24 hours.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">11-16 = 10 days.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">17-20 = 1 year and 1 day.</li> </ol></li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Curses will be broken up as well, much like invocations, by level. Stronger curses you will need higher levels for. And you can only have a number of curses active equal to your proficiency bonus. If a curse is broken (dispel magic, antimagic of any kind, lesser and eventually greater restoration/wish, and a fun roll table of possible ways to break a curse) the witch cannot use that curse again until they complete a long rest. You'll never know more than 8 curses IMO + 1 from your Coven for 9 total.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Right now there are 5 covens: the Coven of Queens (Voudoun-inspired; this is the "champion" of the witch class and a story of passions), Coven of Woad (nature witch; based on environmental manipulation and a druid-adjacent story), the Infernal Coven (Diabolism Witch; based on violence and a story of walking a wicked line), Coven of Fates (three fates; based on control and a story of fate), Coven of Muses (inspired by classical greek muses; based on buffs and a story of ever greater inspiration).</li> </ol>So this is how I'm coming right now.</blockquote>

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