The Quintessential Witch

[Messageboard Golem]

Witches, a word that invokes fear, confusion and superstition. These feelings are well grounded in culture; from folklore to fairytale to play, witches appear as shadowy figures with a malevolent intent; or as noble and kind hearted individual who risk their all to save an innocent child. The witch can fit into either stereotype with ease.

The witch is more than a simple revision of one or more of the existing classes. Rather, he stands as the symbol of uncluttered beliefs, an intricate connection between mortal ingenuity and infinite divine power. The witch, as he is discussed here, blends arcane and divine magic into a vastly reconceived character that can be seamlessly integrated into any campaign. The witch is not a wizard, nor cleric nor even a druid although he has qualities of each.

Character concepts, like those in previous books in this series, individualise the character by offering the tools to develop an interesting background and personality. Prestige classes are the goals of most witches, as each offers an enhanced or further specialised aspect of this exciting new class. Herbs, brooms, seeing stones and other tools are added to the mix to help the witch restore the fragile balance between the competing forces of the masculine and feminine powers. No witch is complete without a collection of spells to buttress his already formidable arsenal of magic. When these spells are not enough, he can work with other witches to cast greater and more powerful spells called Ceremonies.

 

[Simon Collins]

This is not a playtest review.

The Quintessential Witch is the eighth in Mongoose's class books, this one being a 'new' class developed from the witch example put forward in the 'Modifying Character Classes section in Core Rulebook II (p.26).

Its $19.95 for a 128-page book, fairly average. Space usage in terms of margin, font, and space are all average, though only two pages are taken up with contents, credits, and OGL. The cover is similar to the rest of the series with a fake red vellum effect. The internal mono art is average to good, with most being above average. Note that there are several semi-naked torsoes in this product. Writing style and editing are good, though not perfect.

After a brief introduction, the new class of Witch is presented. The witch class is presented as a cross between, a wizard, druid, and cleric. Though a divine spellcaster (via his deities, the Lord and Lady or God and Goddess) many of his spells are similar to arcane spells, and his class features are similar to that of a druid. The witch uses Charisma as a spellcasting base ability, has a d6 hit die, casts spells much like a wizard, can gain a familiar, has some druid-like class features - nature sense, wild shape and timeless body, plus other class features such as alter self, fascination and longevity as well as bonus item creation feats. The witch has her own spell list which includes a mixture of arcane-like and divine spells, plus some new spells detailed later in the book. There follows a discussion on the witch's role in society and advice on placing a witch in town generation or a previously existing town.

Next up there are some character concepts, role-playing templates with some minor game-related bonuses and penalties attached:
* Envoy - diplomatic witch
* Gardener - plant expert
* Enigma - chaotic trafficker with fiends
* Pagan - woodsy witch
* Black Witch - traditional evil witch with a fiendish familiar
* Fugitive - never expected the Spanish Inquisition
* Peasant - superstitious local witch
* Healer - pacifist healing specialist
* Savage - barbaric shaman
* Erudite Practitioner - irreligious ritualist
* Counsellor - political adviser
Each concept comes armed with information on adventuring, role-playing and the aforementioned bonuses and penalties.

Twelve 5-level prestige classes are then described:
* Avenger - seeker of vengeance with a fighter BAB and abilities to help him track down his enemy.
* Caller To The Veil - manipulates fiendish outsiders and gains fiendish familiars.
* Diabolist - not, as its name suggests, a trafficker with devils, but rather a master of symbols and true names.
* Gypsy Matron - gypsy-like class features such as interpret cards, evil eye, hex, farsight, and curse.
* Medium - channels spirits of the dead through body and can enter spirit world.
* Occultist - specialises in forbidden lore including Knowledge domain access.
* Patron Of The Five Spirits - elementalist, min. 15th level entry requirement.
* Priestess Of The Divine - dedicated to the worship of the Lod and Lady, fairly traditional wiccan feel.
* Puppet Mistress - charismatic leader of spy or cult network with charming gaze
* Vamp - evil seductress using feminine wiles to gain power and influence.
* Witch Doctor - non-human barbaric necromantic shaman with ability to create living creatures who look and act like zombies. The Living Death template is given to reflect these creatures, plus he can improve zombies.
* Witch Hunter - as the name suggests, hunts witches. Twist is, he is an ex-Witch blinded by hatred.

Several skills are discussed - some new rules for Alchemy focusing on the witches more naturalistic bent, Craft (various witchy items), Knowledge (several new skill subsets - Rites, Chiromancy (Palmreading), Numerology (divination through numbers), and Astrology). There are also rules for Profession (Herbalist). Al the former new skill rules are brief and basic. The section spends more time and goes into afair amount of detail on the new skill of Profession (Fortune Teller). Details of tarot layouts and definitions of cards are given, so that a real pack of normal cards could be used in-game if no tarot cards are available.

27 new feats are offered including Build Spell Area (like contingency but on objects), ceremonial casting (allows witches to participate in coven rites), ominous chant (frighten others with chanting), seasonal magic (magic power is greater at different times of year), 7th Child of a 7th Child (Witch class becomes second favoured class), and Tap Monolith (meditating before a standing stone helps regain small amount of spells quickly).

There is an 8-page section on herbs, with various real-world and fantasy examples, each with a DC for Wilderness Lore or Knowledge (Nature) DCs to find, and a Profession (Herbalist) DC to unlock the powers of the plant along with the relevant power description. There are also suggested modifiers for season, and time spent searching to the avilability check. The section goes on to describe more mundane witchy items, like tarot cards, athame (divine dagger for use in rituals), book of shadows (spellbook), broom, cauldron, and crystal ball, amongst others. Four new weapons are also given, three knives and a sword.

26 new spells are introduced for a Witch's Book Of Shadows. Spells range from Level 1 (e.g. Fey Sight (gives/extends low-light vision) to 9th level (e.g. Wrath Of Nature, which causes sudden severe weather conditions and summons elementals), though most of the spells tend to be relatively high (6-9th level).

The next section deals with the rites and ceremonies of witches, where a coven of witches pool their magical power at a sacred site to perform a lengthy ritual or ceremony. These gatherings are used to perform three major tasks - Item Creation (there is also an alternative method of sacrificing XP for gold costs during this ritual), Spell Heightening (up to 10 levels higher, but witches may take subdual damage), and Ceremonies. Ceremonies include standard initiation, marriage, burial, and seasonal rites but also some have game effects (such as calling a demon to perform a task in return for a human sacrifice).

Several magic items are detailed from witch-blight weapons to fey potions, rods that enhance metamagic feats, and various wondrous items including magical candles, legendary cauldrons, and tomes that enable readers to make untrained Knowledge checks by referencing the information within.

A section entitled Places Of Power, gives a system for ley lines, magical paths of power which connect two locations. These paths (and particularly the locations where they cross) boost spells of the Earth domain and give bonuses to creatures with the Earth sub-type. Where these paths are broken, earth spells do not function and earth subtype creatures take damage. Various ideas for ley origin points are given, such as faerie rings, cairns, lake islands and such like, with ideas for the unique magical powers that these places are imbued with. Further information is given on creating these powerful ley origin points, with a set of specialised item creation rules requiring feats, XP costs, and limits on the powers that can be imbued into the area. Over 50 examples of such powers are given, including Fey (+1 to all Enchantment spells) and Living (healing spells are maximised). Two more detailed examples of these places of power are given - a monolith with a tragic story behind it, and a sacred pool which enhances divinations.

Next up is some information on seasonal magic. Game effects dependent on the phases of the moon and sabbats (Celtic-style holy days) for witches are given.

Further details on Covens are then given, with rules on forming a Coven, using a feat similar to that used by Leadership. Further information is given on joining a coven, the benefits, and starting your own coven. A High Secret Order of witches is also described, as well as covensteads (the area of land around the centre for the covens worshipping marked by crude statues) and cowans (non-witches dedicated to the protection of the coven, specifically because each member of the cowan goes through a bonding ritual with one witch in the coven).

The last few pages include notes by the designer (where it is re-iterated that the quintessential guides offer extensions to the existing d20 rules rather than significantly changing them), an index, four pages of rules summaries, and a four-page character sheet.

Conclusion:
Though proper playtesting would be required, the witch class seems fairly balanced with other spellcasting classes, though I was a little disappointed that several of the class features were borrowed from other classes. The character concepts, though bordering on ties with other classes, are all well detailed and provide good ideas for basic roleplaying foci. I found the prestige classes a bit hit and miss, and again bordered on some other PC classes, but several of them were excellent. I particularly enjoyed the section on herbs, which had a nice simple mechanic for finding and using plants, though again I was disappointed to find no game-related terrain rules for availability. The spells section was a little hit and miss too, with some superb atmospheric spells and some which were just slightly more powerful versions of standard spells. The rites and ceremonies section I found the best since the rules here reflected my conception of a witch and witches covens. The ley lines and ley origins were an interesting concept but I felt a bit concerned about allowing players to start creating these places - definitely one to be wary of; I may well use the concept but not allow PCs to create them. The Seasonal Magic section was atmospheric and appropriate, though having to keep track of lunar phases may not be up every player or GM's street. The coven rules round out the information within the rest of the book, and you do feel like you've got a well-rounded and detailed concept here. Not perfect, and sometimes lacking in originality (perhaps restricted somewhat by the attempt to keep close to the basic ruleset), but a worthwhile purchase nonetheless if the character concept appeals, either as a player or a GM.

 

[GameWyrd]

The first of the Collector Series from Mongoose Publishing saw the Quintessential launch a line of class books but then it changed and we saw Quintessential race books and even though there are core classes and core races left untouched we find ourselves with The Quintessential Witch. So what on earth is going on?

The Quintessential Witch introduces a new core character class. Straight out of the gates the Witch knows what he (and he is used more often than she) has to do and sets about proving that the class really is different from a druid. The witch’s special abilities include Wildshape (as per the druid), a companion (much like the druid) and nature sense (much like the druid). That’s one side of the argument. On the other hand the witch uses a spell book, the book of shadows, needs to study their spells and uses charisma as the spell influencing stat. The companion’s actually a familiar. The witch has a spell list of arcane spells… but casts them by divine means. The other special abilities include the likes of "Timeless Body", "Longevity", "Alter Self" and "Fascination". The witch cannot cast spells which (going to have to watch my spelling here) oppose his alignment either. This means paying attention to the descriptors beside spell names. The witch can’t wildshape as often as a druid either, only ever getting as far as three animal shapes per day.

The name "the book of shadows" is the first clue. The witches as presented by the Quintessential Witch are based more in traditional occult than in Harry Potter. It’s not real occult though, nor is it real Wicca, certainly no more than the d20 druid is a representation of historic druids. The witch class presented in the book is darn slight closer to something believable as a ‘witch’ than the magic classes from the core rules though. Amazingly, perhaps more so since this is a Mongoose product, the Quintessential Witch has the feeling that the class would not be out of place in a low fantasy setting (if you kept the levels down).

There are plenty of levels to the witch though – the full total of twenty in fact. The same can’t be said for the prestige classes. There isn’t a prestige class with more than 5 levels of advancement and that’s a shame. Anything less than 10 seems undercooked to me. If you’re a hard core rules fan then there will be so such thing as an epic level prestige witch. That’s not to say the prestige classes are a waste of time, some of them are particularly sly. The "Witch Hunter" as a prestige class spawned off witch makes a good degree of sense. Further prove that Mongoose might have some low fantasy grit among their writers after all. The other prestige glance that jumped out in a similar way was the Gypsy Matron. In all the prestige classes include the Avenger, Caller to the Veil, Diabolist, Gypsy Matron, Medium, Occultist, Patron of the Five Spirits, Priestess of the Divine, Puppet Mistress, Vamp, Witch Doctor and Witch Hunter. The likes of Puppet Mistress and Vamp pander to the view of a witch as a seductive troublemaker.

Before we get to the prestige classes though we have the stalwarts of the Collector Series in the form of character concepts. It’s just possible that if you’re looking for a new core class and are interesting in the witch that you’ve never encountered a Mongoose style character concept before. The concepts are small templates for your basic class. They’re not a prestige class but they do effect the mechanics of your class slightly. More importantly though they provide a focus for your roleplaying, a tie in to your character history and a game balance safe way for the GM to reflect any particular quirks there. Rather than playing a vanilla witch you might try the Envoy, the Gardener, Enigma, Pagan, Black Witch, Misanthrope, Fugitive, Peasant, Healer, Savage, Erudite Practitioner or the Counsellor. They’re all good concepts although I’d look for better names than "Peasant" or "Savage" if simply to try and retain something above normal to the class system. You really wouldn’t want to see "Average Joe" as a class or concept to suggest your PC was something other than an NPC. The character concepts in the Collector Series are a good idea and they remain a good idea.

Traditionally the Tools of the Trade chapter runs through a list of objects, from the mundane to the magical. I suppose that’s true here except rather than carefully convinced adventuring equipment there are a lot of herbs. These herbs are actually drawn – it’s a nice cosmetic touch but the practical value is under question. If you’re willing to break the law and photocopy or scan parts of the book that you don’t have permission from then you might get away with doing so on these herbs and throwing particularly strange "go fetch" quests at your players. Mind you, I can see the truth in the saying a picture tells a hundred words because half a page is given over to each collection of herbs and I don’t think you could describe more than two or so in the same space rather than depicting the dozens which are shown. Before this, in the Tricks of the Trade chapter, strangely enough, we go through a basic tarot card reading – teaching you the Celtic spread (and even I know that one) and how to adapt two packs of playing cards for tarot. I sat on the fence over this for a while. Do roleplaying games really need yet more association with the occult? Is it value for money? In the end I shrugged off those doubts and reminded myself of just how much a roleplaying session can be improved with a bit of "tabletop larp". After all, you can’t actually tell the future, you can’t really see what the players are likely to do so why not let them deal cards and try and guess for themselves.

Do you know what’s missing from this Quintessential book? The section "New uses for old skills" isn’t here at all and I don’t miss it at all. Instead there’s a chapter on the book of shadows. It explains just how the witch prepares and manages their spells and introduces a host of new magic so to complete the Witch core class’s spell list. The Book of Shadows runs straight into the Rites and Ceremonies chapter. Rites are spells (well, rites really) used by a coven of witches to create items or sometimes to achieve certain effects. A coven of witches can be sure that none of their members are ever re-animated as an undead servant. I see how covens and witches go hand in hand. I’m less convinced that covens and adventure groups go hand in hand. It’s hard enough coming up with a reason why a druid’s wandering around but to do the same for a group of witches is challenging things and explaining why one witch of a coven isn’t with the others is a long term campaign investment. If you’re using witches as a group of NPCs then the coven option is a great strength, it’s an extra ball to juggle if you’re not – it’s great until you drop it.

Predictably enough the book moves on to a small chapter of magic items. With great relief I discovered that broomsticks are not used for flying around on even though they do appear in the book.

Following on from this we find two interesting chapters. As far as I know, two ideas hitherto untouched by the d20 world. The first chapter introduces places of the power and the next one seasonal magic. The Places of Power gives birth to the idea of ley lines, cairns, standing stones and a lot more. There’s a lot of Celtic mythology tucked away in these two chapters. Ideas like lake islands, places of the dead, appear along with similar ideas with no more than a few lines of text to their name. There are even mechanics available for PCs who wish to create their own holy area. As with the coven, though, this seems to encourage the style of play where the PCs have settled in an area and are the boss of those nearby. The Season Magic section looks at special days in the year – such as Beltane – and looks at the effect different moon phases have on Witch class game mechanics. It’s rather nice actually; it reflects the sort of superstitions that you might expect to be present in any campaign world. "What ever you do! Don’t go against the witches during the full moon!"

The book, all 128 pages of it, rounds off with a return to the coven system. Here you’ll look at the sort of leadership values needed t put together covens of different sizes. The section actually provides more game friendly use of covens in their ability to create non-initiated special people known as a "cowan". The rules appear as a template for standard races and I think they’re best described as a low fantasy prestige class. The book doesn’t finish there. The designer’s notes are an important feature of any Collector Book since they really do help you to move onto the same train of thought as the author and get the best from the book. There are several pages of indexes (thank you) and a detailed character sheet.

I think I’m just about won over to the idea of accepting the witch as a new core class. It is different enough from anything else and the rest of the book makes it worthwhile. I’m not so convinced that the witch is "mobile" enough to make a great adventurer character but is perhaps more "mobile" than others in the core rules. I think the rules in the Quintessential Witch are the best at straddling the various sub-fantasy genres that I’ve seen from Mongoose in a while and this comes as a welcome relief. The Collector Series benefits from more specific detail and less in the way of "new uses for old skills", castles, reams of weapon stats and mechanics that only expand what’s already there.

* This GameWyrd review was read by intelligent cats here first.

 

[trancejeremy]

The Quintessential Witch is a 128 page softcover book priced at $19.95 for the d20 system. Basically, it introduces a new class to the d20 system (or more specifically, D&D), the Witch. Witches have been around in D&D since almost the begining, though typically in an unofficial capacity, either as a write up in Dragon magazine (3 different versions, I believe) or in an unauthorized supplement (Mayfair's Witches). And this is not the first Witch class for D&D 3E - there was an outline of one in the DMG (just a spell list), and Mystic Eye's setting book for Gothos has a witch class in it as well. It does appear to be the best and first fully fleshed out witch class.

The core witch class has in d20 terms, the worst base attack bonus progression (like that of a wizard), great save for willpower and poor for reflexes and fortitude, and 2 skill points per level (like that of a Wizard, Sorcerer or Cleric), a d6 for hit points per level. The spells it casts are a mixture of the Wizard, Druid, and Cleric, and are considered 'Divine', not arcane. Spells are basically prepared like that of a Wizard, and the number of spells per day is almost like that of a Bard (maximum of 4 per level per day), only going up to level 9. The attribute used for spell casting is Charisma. The witch also has a number of powers, though nothing overwhelming.

All in all, it's pretty solid class. The only thing that irks me a bit, is the witch can cast a fireball. I typically don't think of them casting something like that.

The book itself is pretty much packed with material. The outer margins are about 1 1/3" (using a Mage Knight ruler, so I have to guess the fraction), with the font size about average. There's a lot of art, about one small picture a page, though the quality tends to be poor to awful (there's no cover art, either). Almost all of the artwork depicts female witches (including a couple topless ones), though in the text witches are generally called 'he'.

The class is pretty much just described in the first chapter or so of the book, about 10 pages. (There are no actual chapters, at least numbered ones.)

After that, there is a section on character concepts. This is basically like 2nd edition AD&D's kits. Ways of slightly modifying a class to make it somewhat different from the base class. The concepts here cover most of the popular conceptions of witches, with the exception of TV Sit-com.

Next is a chapter on the Prestige Witch. There are basically 12 different prestige classes, mostly just for witches. If you're playing a non-epic game, it probably doesn't pay for the witch to take a prestige class - the ability they get at 20th level is longevity. The variety of classes is pretty good, though they are all 5 level classes, which I tend to dislike.

The following chapter is a brief one, on skills for witches. Also is a brief overview on how tarot cards work. Then a few pages of new feats, mostly suitable for witches.

After that is a fairly long chapter on witch equipment, including lots and lots of herbs/plants. The latter if fairly well done. Each plant has a base difficulty class (DC) to find it, plus one to three DCs on how to prepare various uses for it. The plants are also all illustrated.

That is followed by a chapter on witch magic, specifically new spells and how witches cast them. Then comes a small chapter on Witch rites, which are cast by a coven of witches. (I would also probably use the ritual rules from Relics & Rituals).

Then there is a few pages of new witch related magic items, then some info on magical places (including ley lines). That latter is about 10 pages, and is very very interesting and detailed. Then there's a bit on seasonal magic, then some final info on a witch's coven. (Well, not quite final, the last page is designer's notes and then an index plus some reference material).

All in all, this is an excellent product. I've never been much of a fan of Mongoose's, having bought their book on Demonology and finding it was 95% filler. But since I really like witches (well, the fantasy versions, I find the real ones to be annoying, like pagan Ned Flanderses), I picked this up at my local-ish game store, and was quite impressed - it's almost entirely useful material, and almost entirely well done (I did notice 2 editing problems).

It's also relatively easy to integrate the witch into an existing campaign, since they tend to be fairly mysterious. So while it's perhaps not a must buy book if you're a d20 fan, it's quite good if you like the idea of adding witches to your game.

 

[John Cooper]

The Quintessential Witch
By Robert J. Schwalb
Mongoose Publishing product number MGP 4008
128 pages, $19.95

The Quintessential Witch was the eighth in the "Collector Series," but it was the first to break the mold of concentrating on an existing class or race and break out into completely new territory. This is exactly the kind of thing the d20 world can use the most of, I think, and Robert did an exceptional job with this book.

Like the others in the series, the book's cover sports a fake-leather look which carries over onto the inside covers as well. The artwork this time is by no fewer than 10 different artists providing 59 black and white illustrations in all. Some of these are very well done, but taken as a whole I'd have to rate the artwork as lower than average for what I've seen in Mongoose books. Some of the pictures look like they were hastily done, little more than quick sketches, really - in particular, the Avenger on page 22 (who for some reason is crawling around in a tree wearing a black bra and breechcloth with mesh stockings), the Patron of the Five Spirits on page 31 (in a Marilyn Monroe "holding her skirt down while the wind tries whipping it up" pose, only with a pissed-off expression instead of Marilyn's coy look), and the world's homeliest Vamp on page 36 (for someone who gains all sorts of Charisma bonuses she looks an awful lot like Marilyn Manson - on a bad day). Then there's the Witch Hunter on page 40, whose gender I still can't determine. You'd think the high-heeled boots and cleavage would be a dead giveaway, but I can't tell if those are supposed to be female breasts or just a well-developed masculine chest, and the outfit could be worn by either gender in a fantasy setting. You make the call. (Incidentally, I just now realized that all of the aforementioned artwork was by the same artist; since they're signed "DEM," that must be Danilo Moretti. This book came out a while ago; I'm glad to know that Danilo has improved his craft greatly since then.)

Oh, and lest we forget this is a Mongoose book, the requisite "nipple art" appears on pages 73, 98, and 103. The picture on page 98 is actually pretty funny as far as "nipple art" goes, because it's a female half-orc (or maybe a full-blooded orc) with a shaven head (and dreadlocks), wearing only a loincloth and wielding an oversized scythe. Anyone making any cute comments in her direction will probably instantly regret it! Also, in a surprising move (well, it was surprising to me, anyway), Mongoose actually countered their typical "fantasy babe pinup" pictures with the first ever (to my knowledge) flat-chested adult female in a Mongoose book! Don't believe me? Check out the Occultist on page 30 - also one of Danilo's works. Nicely done, Danilo!

Moving on to the book's text, we find The Quintessential Witch broken up into the following sections:

• Introduction: explaining the concept of "The Collector Series" and what to expect in the pages to follow
• The Witch: the Witch as a core class, plus sections on the witch in society, the witch in town generation, and incorporating the witch into an existing town
• Character Concepts: 12 different ways to play your witch, all of which provide a bonus and a disadvantage
• The Prestige Witch: 12 different witch-based prestige classes, one of which (the Witch Doctor) also includes the Living Death template and Improved Zombie creature statistics
• Tricks of the Trade: important witch skills and fortune telling techniques (including the basics of a Tarot-like reading)
• Witch Feats: 27 new feats useful to witches
• Tools of the Trade: 40 herbs (and how witches can unlock their potential), plus 20 useful mundane items and 4 new weapons
• A Book of Shadows: a witch's spellbook equivalent, plus 27 new witch spells
• Rites and Ceremonies: item creation, spell heightening, and ceremonies for initiation into a coven, burial of a coven member, fellowship, clairvoyance, celebration, summoning a fetch daemon (monster statistics provided), and creating a ring of monoliths
• Magic Items: 2 new magic weapon special abilities, 3 magic weapons, 2 potions, 2 rings, 7 rods, 7 staves, 8 wands, and 26 wondrous items
• Places of Power: rules for ley lines and the specific enchantments at these places of power (with 2 sample places)
• Season Magic: different magic effects for some witches (those who took the associated feat) based on the phases of the moon and the changing of the seasons
• The Coven: rules and benefits of joining a witches' coven (or starting your own), plus the High Secret Order (a sort of "super-coven") and rules for non-witch followers (called "Cowans," and who have a template of their own)
• Designer's Notes: what Robert J. Schwalb wanted to do with this book
• Index: a 2-page index (very useful)
• Rules Summary: handy extracts, so you can find the basics quickly

I found it very interesting to note that despite the predominance of female figures in the artwork, Robert uses the masculine pronoun when describing witches - apparently going out of his way to be gender-inclusive and break the "Halloween witch" stereotype. I also applaud the fact that he recognizes that "witch" means many different things to different people, and has made it such that pretty much anyone can play the witch he or she had in mind without being constricted too much by the rules. I'll say this: the Character Concepts is much more flexible in this book than in others I've seen in the "Collector Series" - not only does each Character Concept give an advantage and a disadvantage to the PC, but in many cases it even changes around the special abilities of the witch base class. For example, a Fugitive witch loses the Timeless Body and Longevity abilities that the standard witch class offers at 10th and 20th level, respectively, and the Gardener gains Nature Sense at 1st level rather than at 2nd, when other witches gain it.

As far as the witch class goes, they cast spells from a Book of Shadows (like a wizard casts his from his spellbook), but their spellcasting is Charisma-based (like a sorcerer) and the spells they cast are divine spells (like a cleric or druid), even though some arcane spells show up on the witch's spell list. This goes quite a way toward making the witch a separate, standalone class with its own unique "feel." However, while I liked many of the prestige classes offered, I did notice that taking even one level of a prestige class means that (unless playing in an epic level campaign), the witch has to give up his or her 20th-level class ability of longevity. This is quite a bit of a sacrifice, considering it means quadrupling the witch's normal life span! Many of the prestige classes provide some interesting and useful benefits, but if I were a witch I don't know whether I'd deem it worth it passing up the opportunity to live three times again as long as I could normally live. (Then again, I'm using non-game logic; an in-game character probably wouldn't think that way.) A couple of the prestige classes seemed a little off to me, though: taking all five levels of the Medium prestige class (that's Medium as in "Seer," not size) means losing 3 points of Charisma, the very attribute that powers a witch's spellcasting ability! That would be like a wizard taking a prestige class that would lower his Intelligence - it seems like there should be a better mechanic for that, or I don't imagine there would be very many Mediums in any given game world. Also, the Avenger gives up a level of spellcasting ability in exchange for the Toughness feat - twice! I know if I had the choice of advancing another spellcasting level or gaining three lousy extra hit points, it would be a pretty quick decision on my part.

The coven rules are nicely balanced and seem like they would work well, with the obvious problem that an adventuring witch probably wouldn't be staying in contact with his or her coven given the adventurer's proclivity for traveling great distances all over the world. Likewise, some of the Character Concepts and Prestige Classes seem more suited for the stay-at-home witch. Still, all that means is that they serve better as extra NPC ideas for the DM, not necessarily a bad thing.

The spells, feats, and items (both mundane and magical) all have a definite "witchy" feel to them and serve as welcome additions to any campaign. Robert also does a nice job explaining why witches would be persecuted in many areas, whereas wizards and clerics would not: the witch's view on the deities are in direct conflict with the standard views of most campaign worlds. While most game worlds are ruled over by an entire pantheon, witches fail to acknowledge their presence, believing only in a yin-and-yang balance of forces they call the Lord and Lady (or the God and Goddess). I could see how a paladin would not take kindly to the idea that this local peasant witch claims Hieroneous (or whichever god you pick) doesn't even exist as such.

Overall, the writing style is very clear, and while there's the occasional typo, misspelled word, and incorrect punctuation usage, for the most part it's easy to follow what was meant. (Of course, there are exceptions - on page 35, describing the Puppet Mistress prestige class, the following sentence appears: "A number and potency of her followers." I can't figure that one out even using the context of the sentences before and after; I'd hazard a guess that an entire line was left out somewhere in the middle there.)

I was surprised to see rules for ley lines in The Quintessential Witch, having just read about different (but not contradictory) rules for them over in The Quintessential Sorcerer, but it would be easy enough to incorporate both sets of rules should you wish to use ley lines in your campaign.

All in all, I am very pleased with the way The Quintessential Witch turned out. It adds a completely new character class to those of The Player's Handbook without being redundant, and makes the witch class flexible enough to fit just about anyone's vision. Furthermore, my timing on checking this book out was impeccable; while The Quintessential Witch was written before 3.5 came out, the author just had an update published in issue #3 of Mongoose's Signs & Portents magazine, providing a few changes to the basic witch class and some of the Character Concepts and prestige classes, including changing the Priestess of the Divine to a full 10-level prestige class for those wishing to play on into epic levels. (All of the prestige classes in The Quintessential Witch have only 5 levels.)

5 stars easy: I wish there were more books like this out on the market!

 

[Havoc]

After reading your review, I went to Mongoose site hoping to grab the update for v3.5; I own the quint. Witch and plan to use it in my next campaign. However, it seems that you need to buy Sign & Portents to get it. Not very customer friendly imho.

 

[John Cooper]

In my opinion, since Mongoose has a "free stuff" portion of their web site they're more or less honor-bound to put stuff there that's actually missing from their various books. As an example, the maps are missing from the adventure in The Slayer's Guide to Giants. People buying The Slayer's Guide to Giants should have gotten the maps but didn't, so I think Mongoose ought to provide them on their website free of charge as a showing of good faith: they screwed up, but they're fixing it.

On the other hand, The Quintessential Witch was published when 3.0 was the most current version of D&D. I don't see anything wrong with them not putting the "upgrade rules to 3.5" article from Signs & Portents #3 on their website; you know when you buy The Quintessential Witch that you're buying a 3.0 product and you're getting exactly what you pay for (and exactly what's being advertised). If you want the 3.5 rules for witches, that's a good incentive to pick up that issue of the magazine. I don't think that any d20 publisher is failing to be "user friendly" just because they don't post all of the associated rules changes forced upon them by 3.5 being published. After all, it's not like they had any choice in the matter; 3.5 was strictly a Wizards of the Coast decision.

Just my two cents' worth, anyway. And I liked the 3.5 witch upgrade article.

 

[Dispari]

Just for the sake of clarity,
The pictures signed "DEM" aren't mine.

I never sign my pictures but I always put a glyph similar to this " <b>O]|</b>"rotated 90° clockwise.

Mine are (for example) the three witches on pgs 66-68

Thank you for the attention.

Danilo Moretti

 

[John Cooper]

Thanks for clarifying, Danilo. I wonder who "DEM" is, then - nobody else in the "Artists" listing on the Table of Contents has those initials. (Although I just now noticed that the last artist listed has a comma after his name; apparently one or more artists got dropped from the ToC page. Bummer.)

By the way, if you're the "sideways glyph guy," I love your work! You've done quite a bit of great stuff for a fair number of Mongoose books.

 

[Dispari]

Thanks a lot, just today I was counting the number of Mongoose books accumulating on my shelves...

Staggering.

Anyway thank you and all teh guys at EN World for the reviews giving attention to "details" like art.
I know that a RpG supplements are principally "words" and not "images" nonetheless for an artist receiving feedback (good or bad) its a great way to "check" with the "reality" outside the studio.

Danilo Moretti - the man from O]|