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Message: <blockquote data-quote="StreamOfTheSky" data-source="post: 5706269" data-attributes="member: 35909">Class Features <img src="http://pushallthebuttons.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/706px-twinrovasisters.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" /> Witches recieve:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Poor BAB</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">d6 HD</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Good Will Saves, Poor Fort and Reflex Saves</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">2 + Int skill points</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Proficient with simple weapons and no armor/shields</li> </ul>Class SkillsCraft: Alchemy is alright.  Basketweaving has been known to destroy campaigns and is often banned.Fly: You will be flying a lot.  Possibly on a broom.Heal: A one point wonder.Intimidate: If you optimize for multiple round duration, shaken is a handy debuff to setup your save or lose spells.  You can demoralize from 30 ft away.Knowledge (arcana): May as well max it.Knowledge (history): One point wonder.Knowledge (nature): See arcana.Knowledge (planes): See arcana.Profession: Not even worth a point 95% of the time.Spellcraft: Int synergy, lets you know what enemy casters are doing, ID items, and is used for item crafting.  Max it.Use Magic Device: It's one of the best skills in the game, and your spell list is kinda all over the place, you may need this.  Best for a (Improved) Familiar to double your casting per round.Cross-class SkillsPerception: It's the best skill in the game; it's worth maxing always.Acrobatics: I think tumble DCs are near impossible, but you'll probably have more skill points than you know what to do with, and when in trouble, some chance is still better than no chance of avoiding an AoO.Other knowledges: Most if not all are worth dropping a rank into just so you can make checks beyond DC 10.As a Witch, your class features mainly boil down to spellcasting and hexes.  The only other aspects to decide on are familiar and your patron, which works like a Sorcerer’s bloodline in that it gives you a specific set of bonus spells every other level.  Hexes and then spells are in the following two posts.  This post will cover Familiars and Patrons.Familiars[sblock]Despite what you may expect, a witch's familiar has no real benefits over those of any other class.  In fact, considering you lack the option of an arcane bonded item and that you have the d6 HD, 2 + int skills, poor BAB mechanic going (compared to say...a Magus familiar), a Witch overall may have the worst familiar class feature in the game.  Go figure.  In any case, while delivering touch spells is handy, it's my opinion that you want to protect your familiar from harm at all times.  Not only does obtaining a new familiar cost 2.5x(!!!!) as much for you than it does any other class (I guess that's the tradeoff for not having to wait a week...*sad face*), it's your spell book.  You know, that thing wizards go all super paranoid about trapping and hiding, and making duplicates of?  Familiars with high AC, tiny or smaller size (if you have a means to free them from grapples), and high speed or various movement modes to escape from danger may be the best criteria to look for.  Beyond the bonus it grants to you, of course.  Also, check with your DM regarding HD.  If the familiar counts as your HD for things like poison save DCs, those obviously are much more useful than if not.<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Bat: The skill bonus is alright, it's diminutive, has good flight, and blindsense.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Cat: Three primary attacks, great stealth, and scent.  Shame you want to keep your familiar safe.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">House Centipede (UM): Eww!  Seriously, though, this guy is shockingly good.  Land and climb speed 40, great AC, darkvision, a poison that dazes, and stealth that puts the cat to shame.  If the save DC improves with HD, this might be blue.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Compsognathus (BII): It's Improved Initiative for free!  That's enough on its own to make this the best choice.  Has speed 40 and a swim speed, and scent, too.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Donkey Rat (UM): It has scent and can swim, and boosts fort saves.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Fox (UM): Nothing really special.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Goat (UM): Your familiar is not for combat.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Hawk: It can fly, other fliers are better.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Hedgehog (UM): Slow and boosts the save you need least help with.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">King Crab (UM): Why would you grapple?!  Oh, it has the grab ability.  For fending off pixies, I guess.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Lizard: Climb is worthless when flight is a class feature, and the animal itself is bad, too.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Monkey: Acrobatics is a decent skill and monkey has decent movement.  If the monkey is allowed to Use Magic Device wands, this is a much better choice.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Blue-ringed Octopus (UM): Much scarier in real life than in PF.  The jet and ink cloud abilities are very handy, making this a good choice for an aquatic game.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Owl: Pretty equal to the Hawk.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Pig (UM): Just awful.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Rat: Can climb and swim, but slow at everything.  It is rather innocuous, though, has amazing stealth and scent, and boosts fort saves.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Raven: It can fly and talk, and that's enough to be good.  If it can Use Magic Devices, this is violet.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Greensting scorpion (UM): It's not that bad, it's just that Compsognathus is so much better.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Scarlet spider (UM): Just as in real life, centipede wins this showdown handily.  They do have insanely high dex if you absolutely insist on having a familiar to deliver touch spells, though.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Thrush (UM): Flight alone makes this better than pig.  Still pretty awful.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Toad: Speed 5 ft?!  You don't need hp this badly.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Turtle (UM): It's too slow to be practical in a land game.  In an aquatic game, it's alright, just for its massive AC and the +1 AC boon it gives you.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Snapping turtle (UM): Awful.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Viper: It can climb and swim, but nothing else of note.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Weasel: Slightly better than fox; keep it away from melee despite the attach ability.</li> </ul>[/sblock]Patrons[sblock]This is your one big chance to grab some nice spells not on your spell list.  Don't blow it!  The patrons will have an overall ranking, as well as ranking the spells they grant.  For the purpose of this class feature, it is INCREDIBLY suboptimal to take a patron that grants you spells you could have gotten anyway.  Any such spells will automatically be labeled red, without exception, and an asterisk (*) will be placed next to the spell to denote this as the reason for its ranking (although the spell itself may also suck on its own merits).  Patrons from APG are unlabeled, patrons from UM are denoted where applicable.  Finally, as with the spells section, the spells are ranked for usefulness to the Witch.  Which may make it more or less valuable than it would be to a Wizard or other caster.Agility: Hexes do not depend upon form (save for a few, like Prehensile Hair and Nails), so polymorphing spells shouldn't hose you as much as they do a wizard.2nd—jump, 4th—cat's grace, 6th—haste, 8th—freedom of movement, 10th—polymorph, 12th—cat's grace (mass), 14th—ethereal jaunt, 16th—animal shapes, 18th—shapechangeAncestors (UM): Blessing of Fervor, Prayer, and Bless are all great buff spells, but aren't enough to carry this patron.  Refuge is 2 levels lower than normal, but on your list regardless (and not very good).  I have to take a moment to rail on how GODAWFUL heroism as a 6th level spell is.  I'm assuming it's supposed to be greater heroism, but in either case, it's on your spell list already (heroism as a 3rd level spell!).  Atrocious.2nd—bless, 4th—aid, 6th—prayer, 8th—blessing of fervor, 10th—commune, 12th—heroism*, 14th—refuge*, 16th—euphoric tranquility, 18th—weirdAnimals: Antilife Shell is absolutely amazing.  While you lack the animal friends to utilize some of the spells well and the lower half of the list is poor, the high level spells are rather good.  As above, regarding polymorph spells.2nd—charm animals, 4th—speak with animals, 6th—dominate animal, 8th—summon nature's ally IV, 10th—animal growth, 12th—antilife shell, 14th—beast shape IV, 16th—animal shapes, 18th—summon nature's ally IXDeath (UM): Look at all those asterisks!  And they're all pretty bad spells anyway.  This is the worst patron ever!2nd—deathwatch, 4th—blessing of courage and life, 6th—speak with dead*, 8th—rest eternal*, 10th—suffocation*, 12th—circle of death, 14th—finger of death, 16th—symbol of death*, 18th—power word kill*Deception: Invisiblity and Time Stop are both great additions.  I like the idea of using Ventriloquism while invisible to have your cackles emanate from somewhere else.2nd—ventriloquism, 4th—invisibility, 6th—blink, 8th—confusion*, 10th—passwall, 12th—programmed image, 14th—invisibility (mass), 16th—scintillating pattern, 18th—time stopElements: Blasting isn't very good, and this offers an awful lot of fire spells.  Still, at least they're not spells on your list already.  If you want to use Dazing Spell feat a lot, this patron is green or perhaps even higher.  Fireball for a 6th level 20 ft radius save or lose or Flaming Sphere for a 5th level single target save or lose (maybe; 2 rounds dazed might not be enough) that you can keep putting on new people as a move action once/round.2nd—shocking grasp, 4th—flaming sphere, 6th—fireball, 8th—wall of ice, 10th—flame strike, 12th—freezing sphere, 14th—vortex, 16th—fire storm, 18th—meteor swarmEnchantment (UM): This is just a sliver less terrible than Death.  At least you get Unnatural Lust early...2nd—unnatural lust*, 4th—calm emotions, 6th—unadulterated loathing*, 8th—overwhelming grief, 10th—dominate person*, 12th—geas*, 14th—euphoric tranquility, 16th—demand*, 18th—dominate monster*Endurance: Miracle is awesome!  The rest of the spells, not so much.  Don't even consider this unless you're starting at level 18, and even then I wouldn't do it.2nd—endure elements, 4th—bear's endurance, 6th—protection from energy, 8th—spell immunity, 10th—spell resistance, 12th—bear's endurance (mass), 14th—restoration (greater), 16th—iron body, 18th—miracleHealing (UM): Even the good spells are just seldom used utility items.  I was very dissapointed breath of life was not on here.  That spell alone could make a patron worth taking, for saving your familiar w/o costly components. *sigh*2nd—remove fear, 4th—lesser restoration, 6th—remove disease*, 8th—restoration, 10th—cleanse, 12th—pillar of life, 14th—greater restoration, 16th—mass cure critical wounds*, 18th—true resurrectionInsanity (UM): How witches don't already have hideous laughter is beyond me.  Overwhelming Presence isn't bad considering the compulsion and save each round ends parts.2nd—memory lapse, 4th—hideous laughter, 6th—distracting cacophony, 8th—confusion*, 10th—mind fog*, 12th—envious urge, 14th—insanity*, 16th—symbol of insanity*, 18th—overwhelming presenceLight (UM): The middle and upper levels are pretty good, but the low levels and 9th are awful.2nd—dancing lantern*, 4th—continual flame, 6th—daylight, 8th—rainbow pattern, 10th—fire snake, 12th—sirocco, 14th—sunbeam, 16th—sunburst, 18th—fiery bodyMoon (UM): Darkness as a level 1 is nice if you have racial darkvision.  Overall pretty abysmal when only the 1st and 9th level spells aren't complete fail, though.2nd—darkness, 4th—darkvision, 6th—owl’s wisdom, 8th—moonstruck*, 10th—aspect of the wolf, 12th—control water, 14th—lunar veil*, 16th—horrid wilting*, 18th—meteor swarmOccult (UM): This patron is very similar to Plague, but has more witch spells and is thus worse.  Create Undead is poorly ranked due to lack of a way to control them.2nd—detect undead, 4th—command undead, 6th—twilight knife*, 8th—black tentacles*, 10th—snake staff, 12th—create undead, 14th—waves of exhaustion*, 16th—trap the soul*, 18th—gatePlague: Again, creating undead w/o a way to control them isn't very useful.  Negative levels are great, but Energy Drain is so very inferior to Enervation...2nd—detect undead, 4th—command undead, 6th—contagion, 8th—animate dead, 10th—giant vermin, 12th—create undead, 14th—control undead, 16th—create greater undead, 18th—energy drainPortents (UM): Ding ding ding!  We have a new loser!  Aside from blood biography (which is totally redundant w/ speak with dead): Every. Single. Spell.  Is. Already. On. Your. List.  W.T.F.?2nd—ill-omen*, 4th—locate object*, 6th—blood biography, 8th—divination*, 10th—contact other plane*, 12th—legend lore*, 14th—vision*, 16th—moment of prescience*, 18th—foresight*Shadow: Either we finally found another good patron, or my standards have just been lowered so much at this point that anything without witch spells excites me.  Probably both.2nd—silent image, 4th—darkness, 6th—deeper darkness, 8th—shadow conjuration, 10th—shadow evocation, 12th—shadow walk, 14th—shadow conjuration (greater), 16th—shadow evocation (greater), 18th—shadesSpirits (UM): This is slightly less good than Deception, the other invisibility-granting patron, too many of the spells are of very limited use.  Spiritual Ally uses your BAB and Wis mod for attacks.  Yeah...  Planar Ally is in an 8th level slot for a 6th level spell, maybe they meant it to be greater planar ally?2nd—ghostbane dirge, 4th—invisibility, 6th—speak with dead*, 8th—spiritual ally, 10th—mass ghostbane dirge, 12th—shadow walk, 14th—ethereal jaunt, 16th—planar ally, 18th—etherealnessStars (UM): A few good low level spells, then a lot of trash.  You have a hex if you want Dream.2nd—faerie fire, 4th—dust of twilight, 6th—guiding star*, 8th—wandering star motes*, 10th—dream, 12th—cloak of dreams*, 14th—circle of clarity, 16th—euphoric tranquility, 18th—astral projection*Strength: Oh, goodie.  A patron to celebrate your non-existent melee prowess.2nd—divine favor, 4th—bull's strength, 6th—greater magic weapon, 8th—divine power, 10th—righteous might, 12th—bull's strength (mass), 14th—giant form I, 16th—giant form II, 18th—shapechangeTime (UM): Good for a low level game, has some nice high level picks but too much trash along the way.  RAW no one has to hear your cackling, so being in silence isn't so bad, note that PF nerfed the duration and casting time, unfortunately (I had this as Blue till I noticed that).  Disintigrate is worth extra to a Witch for undead-killing potential.  Expend is oddly not compulsion, and is Green if it actually requires the victims to waste actions expending their magic.  If dispel magic couldn't undo it, I'd almost say it would be worth 5000 gp to make your familiar unkillable w/ Stasis.2nd—ventriloquism, 4th—silence, 6th—haste, 8th—threefold aspect*, 10th—teleport*, 12th—disintegrate, 14th—expend, 16th—temporal stasis, 18th—time stopTransformation: Again, you should be able to hex while polymorphed, so utility forms are decent.  The spells are extremely redundant, though.  Would've been nice to have more variety.2nd—jump, 4th—bear's endurance, 6th—beast shape I, 8th—beast shape II, 10th—beast shape III, 12th—form of the dragon I, 14th—form of the dragon II, 16th—form of the dragon III, 18th—shapechangeTrickery: This is a solid patron overall.  Mislead is the closest your spell list is going to get to Greater Invisibility.  Hallucinatory Terrain just feels redundant and unnecessary next to Mirage Arcana.2nd—animate rope, 4th—mirror image, 6th—major image, 8th—hallucinatory terrain, 10th—mirage arcana, 12th—mislead, 14th—reverse gravity, 16th—screen, 18th—time stopVengeance (UM): The 9th level spell is cool, but not nearly enough to pick this patron.2nd—burning hands*, 4th—burning gaze*, 6th—pain strike*, 8th—shout, 10th—symbol of pain*, 12th—mass pain strike*, 14th—phantasmal revenge, 16th—incendiary cloud, 18th—winds of vengeance Water: Note that slipstream is not an enhancement bonus to speed.  This can be an alright patron in an aquatic game, but it's not very good otherwise.  Water Breathing can be replicated with Water Lung hex.2nd—bless water/curse water, 4th—slipstream, 6th—water breathing, 8th—control water, 10th—geyser, 12th—elemental body III (water only), 14th—elemental body IV (water only), 16th—seamantle, 18th—tsunamiWinter (UM): Cold only resist energy?  Seriously?  Most of these patron spells are already on your list or are mediocre blast spells.2nd—unshakable chill*, 4th—resist energy (cold only), 6th—ice storm*, 8th—wall of ice, 10th—cone of cold, 12th—freezing sphere, 14th—control weather*, 16th—polar ray, 18th—polar midnight*Wisdom: A pretty good patron, the stand-outs are magic vestment and spell turning.  Again, there's a hex if you want to use dream.  Disjunction isn't nearly as treasure-destoying as in 3E, though still dangerous around artifacts.2nd—shield of faith, 4th—owl's wisdom, 6th—magic vestment, 8th—globe of invulnerability (lesser), 10th—dream, 12th—globe of invulnerability (greater), 14th—spell turning, 16th—protection from spells, 18th—mage's disjunction[/sblock]</blockquote>

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