Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Vanuslux" data-source="post: 2010219" data-attributes="member: 937">The Witch's Handbook is one of Green Ronin's Master Class products, this one presenting their take on the witch as a core class.  I picked this up because I hoped it would fit into my campaign's post-apocalyptic feel.  A naturalist spellcaster sounded like a perfect fit and over all I'm pleased with what I see.  Appearances - The Witch's Handbook is an attractive 64-page soft-cover with a pleasing cover.  The interior art is very good and the layout is easy on the eyes.  Contents -     Chapter 1 - The Way of the Witch: Here we are presented with the Witch core class, which is basically a sorcerer with a more nature oriented spell selection that is ultimately pretty limited.  That's pretty much how I would have wanted them to do it, but I would have preferred the witch get a little something else to make them more distinct from the sorcerer class at lower levels.  All in all, however, it works.      Also in this chapter are prestige classes.  We're given the Infernal Witch, the Shaper, the Witch Hag, the Witch Priest/Priestess, and the Witch's Champion.  The Prestige classes seem too potent.  For instance, three of them have full caster progression and get other spiffy stuff at every level.  Why would anyone take straight Witch levels after qualifying for one of these classes?  No good reason that I can see.    The chapter closes out with a brief overview of common elements of witchy life, such as initiations and covens and how they might fit into a campaign.  Nothing that will surprise those who are even the most passingly familiar with witch lore.    Chapter 2 - Skills and Feats: This chapter brings us some information of new uses for skills that a witch would likely appreciate and some feats.  I liked most of the feats, especially Swarm Shape and Healing Trance.  The only one I question the balance of is Spell Trap.  It seems a bit cheap to make the trap permanent and there's nothing preventing it from being used with beneficial spells.  So for 80xp and 200gp a witch could use Spell Trap and Cure Light Wounds to create a battery of infinite healing usable by the whole party.  And since Spell Trap can be used on objects, not just places, the party can take their infinite healing with them everywhere.    Chapter 3 - Tools of the Craft: Here we get some meager but sufficient information on herbalism, ritual items, and alchemical preparations.  There's not really enough here to be useful except maybe the plant toxins.  A witch wanting to make any actual use of herbalism will likely want to find another source.  The chapter also has a nice selection of magic items such as the Cauldron of Brewing, the Rod of Ritual, and Witch's Dagger.  I'm rarely very concerned with magic items, but the ones presented here earned my appreciation.  I found the inclusion of several new potions to be especially appropriate.          Chapter 4 - The Craft of the Wise: This chapter deals with the magical aspect of being a witch.  There are some obligatory rules on ritual magic, but anyone serious about ritual magic will want a better source.  There's some info about places of power and times of power (moon phases and sabbats).  Most importantly we get the witch's spell list and some new spells.  I like the selection of spells the witch gets from a flavor standpoint.  In combat, the witch will be pretty limited but not useless as a support caster and healer.  The witch will shine better in the area of dealing with NPCs, being able to charm and beguile quite efficiently.    The new spells aren't anything spectacular, but they do help round out the witch's spell choices.  Some are cool, such as the ninth-level Call the Wild Hunt, which summons an outsider called a Huntsman that rides on a Nightmare and is accompanied by a whole mess of fiendish dire wolves.  I'm a bit annoyed that there wasn't a CR given for the huntsman in case I wanted to have this spell used against my players.  Since it's terribly unlikely that the party would face the caster of this spell and the results of it in the same encounter and could concievabley never even see the caster of the spell, I don't think such an encounter should fall into the rule of summoned creatures falling being factored into the summoners CR.  I've always thought that rule was a load of hogwash anyway.      In Conclusion: I don't have any of the other books which present the witch as a core class, so I can't make comparisons.  Standing on it's own, I find it quite satisfying for the price. I would have liked to have seen more in depth herbalism and ritual magic, but it really wouldn't have fit and there are plenty of products to help fill that role.  What is important is that the witch is playable and interesting straight out of the book.  It's all very well done and I think anyone interested in adding the witch as a core class should at least give it a good look through.</blockquote>

Verification