Witch Handbook

[StreamOfTheSky]

Regarding Secret Chest- I think Witches get it so they can create items like Bags of Holding and Handy Haversacks. It's also somewhat ironic that you commented for Rest Eternal "extra style points for throwing the body into a Bag of Holding and then destroy the Bag" and then only a couple spells down the same level list, fail to note that the spell in question allows you to do exactly the same thing.

Of course, the Bag Type I is less expensive than a lost Secret Chest, so the spell still deserves a red rating probably. But still, combo worth noting yes?

It was kind of a joke to begin with, spending that kind of money just to make a body go away. It's probably much more feasible to just burn or disintigrate the corpse. Anything that leaves it no longer an object that can be targeted by spells to break the curse.

Secret Chest I honestly never fully understood the workings of anyway. It hides it...on the Ethereal Plane...where there's tons of creatures roaming about? Spell makes no mention of it being unfindable, other than that you "hide a chest on the Ethereal Plane." And yes, after enough time elapses, the chest becomes "irretrievably lost." But if you simply destroy the mini chest, "there is no way, not even with a wish spell, that the large chest can be summoned back, although an extraplanar expedition might be mounted to find it."

Sounds extremely far from "irretrievable" to me...Sounds more like "yay, sidequest!" That's the point of the bag of holding, it's a pocket/demiplane of its own, the bag being the only real way in or out. Seems like a far more secure hiding place to me.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

Ok, so I found that someone else HAS actually made a witch guide, though it's more incomplete at the moment than mine even is. If you'd like the extra resource, here is the link: https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1avH5AFYaZ838OC_W7BY_Bnt1TH9KGCc2ygTOb0CiYu0

Written by c873788 from the Paizo boards, related thread here.

I don't have many comments, we agree on many areas that I imagine most people would, and have a fair number of vastly different rankings as well. Reading through his guide, two main points stuck out for inclusion in my handbook:

1) Elves have an alternate racial feature called Dreamspeaker:
"Dreamspeaker: A few elves have the ability to tap into the power of sleep, dreams, and prescient reverie. Elves with this racial trait add +1 to saving throw DCs for spells of the divination school and sleep effects they cast. In addition, elves with a Charisma of 15 or higher may use dream once per day as a spell-like ability (caster level is equal to the elf’s character level). This racial trait replaces the elven immunities racial trait."

Now...by strict reading, only the divination part specified "spells," sleep was referenced as "sleep effects." So this should be a super awesome way to make Slumber even better and possibly propel elves past Tiefling for best Witch race. But I'm guessing some DMs might houserule it to spells only, which would make it worthless to the witch, who has no real reason to bother with sleep spells.

2) In a FAQ, SKR slipped in an arbitrary buff for the Scar hex:

"Fourth, the hex could benefit from a mechanical boost. Therefore, scarring a creature with the hex has two benefits: the witch can use any of her hexes on that creature at a range of up to one mile, and the witch is considered to have a body part from the target for the purpose of scry and similar divinations."

Now, that's all well and good, because holy hell does the Scar hex uber suck. But...it's really annoying how very important details like this are seemingly scattered across the web, and it's something that greatly irks me about Paizo. I mean, that little tidbit is NOT on the d20pfsrd! Rant aside, that buff makes scar into a very good way to buff hex allies from (far far far) far away, and leads to very synergistic, possibly even cheesy, uses with scrying. So I should probably upgrade Scar to at least Green.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

Witch sample build:

"The Stay at Home Hexer"

Based on the recent buff Scar got, I thought it'd be fun to make a silly build based around it that stays in the party's mobile super fortress (Magnificent Mansion, Instant Fortress, Hidden Home hex, etc...) or invisible/hidden near the cave/dungeon/deep sea dive/etc... area the party is set to explore. Instead of risking her life with those other saps, the stay at home hexer kicks back in posh luxury, keeping her team buffed and protected as she remotely views their goings on, cackling the day away. Make sure the entire party and your familiar is scarred. Scar, Fortune, and Cackle are the workhorses of this build. Remotely giving every ally one reroll every single round of the day is almost as good as having an actual extra party member around all on its own. This also makes for a great cohort.

Suggested Hexes:
Hexes: Scar, Cackle, Fortune, Ward, Water Lung (if useful), Healing, Tongues (to translate for the party when necessary)
Major Hexes: Major Healing, Waxen Image (use it to give an ally an extra move action as needed), Hag's Eye (if Scar allows you to make a party member the casting point of origin), Hidden Home, Vision
Grand Hexes: Life Giver, and if that runs out...Forced Reincarnation

Suggested Feats: Extra Hex, Split Hex, Split Major Hex, Improved Familiar, Extend Spell, Silent Spell, Enlarge Spell, metamagic feats (since you're basically support at this point)

Suggested/Synergistic Spells:
Greater Scrying (regular scrying's cast time and duration is usually insufficient)
Message (if scrying) or Telepathic Bond
Share Senses
Clairaudience/Clairvoyance
Witness
Magic Jar
Marionette Possession
Possess Object
Swarm Skin
Arcane Eye
(Greater) Prying Eyes
Teleport / Greater Teleport
Create Demiplane spells & Plane Shift (to retreat to afterwards)
[Any long duration buff spells]

Additional Comments: May extend the Witch's lifespan, as laughter is good for the heart. Check with your DM.

[sblock]This is mostly a joke, but...I kinda like it...[/sblock]