You command powerful magic, not through study or devotion to any ideal, but as a vessel or agent for a mysterious, otherworldly patron that even you don't entirely understand. This entity might be a covert divinity, a powerful fey, a manifestation of natural energies, an ancient spirit, or any other mighty supernatural being—but its nature is likely as much a mystery to you as it is to anyone else. Through a special familiar, your patron grants you versatile spells and powerful hexes to use as you see fit, though you're never certain if these gifts will end up serving your patron's larger plan.
Roleplaying the Witch
During Combat Encounters...
You cast spells to change the course of battle. You use magical hexes to hamper enemies and aid allies, while leveraging more powerful spells to control the battlefield, heal, or harm, aided by your extraordinary familiar, brewed potions, and magical items.
During Social Encounters...
You provide knowledge on numerous topics, including a variety of magical matters, and you might call upon your patron's magic to charm or deceive others.
While Exploring...
You remain alert for magical traps and treasures, employing a clever array of spells to overcome obstacles that stand in your way. Your familiar might aid you through its own considerable set of exceptional abilities.
In Downtime...
You brew potions, craft other magical items, or hunt for new spells for your familiar to learn. You might try to learn more about your patron, their aims, or your own powers, and you might seek out the company of other witches for collaboration or community.
Key Ability: INTELLIGENCE
At 1st level, your class gives you an ability boost to Intelligence.
Hit Points: 6 plus your Constitution modifier
You increase your maximum number of HP by this number at 1st level and every level thereafter.
Initial Proficiencies
At 1st level, you gain the listed proficiency ranks in the following statistics. You are untrained in anything not listed unless you gain a better proficiency rank in some other way.
Perception
Trained in Perception
Saving Throws
Trained in Fortitude & Reflex
Expert in Will
Skills
Trained in one skill determined by your patron, and a number of additional skills equal to 3 plus your Intelligence modifier
Attacks
Trained in unarmed attacks and simple weapons
Defenses
Trained in unarmored defense
Spells
Trained in spell attacks and spell DCs of your spellcasting tradition, determined by your first lesson
Starting Gear
Class Features
You gain these features as a Witch. Abilities gained at higher levels list the levels at which you gain them next to the features' names.
Your Level | Class Feature |
1 | Initial proficiencies, patron, familiar, witch spellcasting, hexes |
2 | Witch feat, skill feat |
3 | 2nd-level spells, general feat, skill increase |
4 | Witch feat, devastating attacks (two dice), skill feat |
5 | 3rd-level spells, ability boosts, ancestry feat, magical fortitude, skill increase |
6 | Familiar ability, witch feat, skill feat |
7 | 4th-level spells, expert spellcaster, general feat, skill increase |
8 | Witch feat, saving throw potency +1, skill feat |
9 | 5th-level spells, ancestry feat, lightning reflexes, skill increase |
10 | Ability boosts, witch feat, skill feat |
11 | 6th-level spells, alertness, general feat, skill increase, weapon expertise |
12 | Familiar ability, witch feat, devastating attacks (three dice), skill feat |
13 | 7th-level spells, ancestry feat, defensive robes, skill increase, weapon specialization |
14 | Witch feat, saving throw potency +2, skill feat |
15 | 8th-level spells, ability boosts, general feat, master spellcaster, skill increase |
16 | Witch feat, skill feat |
17 | 9th-level spells, ancestry feat, resolve, skill increase |
18 | Familiar ability, witch feat, skill feat |
19 | Devastating attacks (four dice), general feat, legendary spellcaster, patron's gift, skill increase |
20 | Ability boosts, witch feat, saving throw potency +3, skill feat |
Familiar
Your patron has sent you a familiar, a mystical creature that teaches you and facilitates your spells. This familiar follows the rules here, though as it's a direct conduit between you and your patron, it's more powerful than other familiars. Your familiar gains an extra familiar ability, and gains another extra ability at 6th, 12th, and 18th levels.
Your familiar is the source and repository of the spells your patron has bestowed upon you, and you must commune with your familiar to prepare your spells each day using your witch spellcasting. Your familiar starts off knowing 10 cantrips, five 1st-level spells, and one additional spell determined by your patron's theme. You choose these spells from the common spells of the tradition determined by your patron or from other spells of that tradition you gain access to.
Each time you gain a level, your patron teaches your familiar two new spells of any level you can cast, chosen from common spells of your tradition or others you gain access to. Feats can also grant your familiar additional spells.
Your familiar can learn new spells independently of your patron. It can learn any spell on your tradition's spell list by physically consuming a scroll of that spell in a process that takes 1 hour. You can use the Learn a Spell exploration activity to prepare a special written version of a spell, which your familiar can consume as if it were a scroll. You and your familiar can use the Learn a Spell activity to teach your familiar a spell from another witch's familiar. Both familiars must be present for the entirety of the activity, the spell must be on your spellcasting tradition's spell list, and you must pay the usual cost for that activity, typically in the form of an offering to the other familiar's patron. You can't prepare spells from another witch's familiar.
If your familiar dies, your patron replaces it during your next daily preparations. The new familiar might be a duplicate or reincarnation of your former familiar or a new entity altogether, but it knows the same spells your former familiar knew regardless. Your familiar's death doesn't affect any spells you have already prepared.
Hexes
Your patron and familiar teach you special spells called hexes. A hex is a short-term effect drawn directly from your patron's magic. As such, you can cast only one hex each turn; attempts to cast a second hex spell on that turn fail and the spellcasting actions are lost.
Hexes are a type of focus spell. It costs 1 Focus Point to cast a focus spell, and you start with a focus pool of 1 Focus Point. You refill your focus pool during your daily preparations, and you can regain 1 Focus Point by spending 10 minutes using the Refocus activity to commune with your familiar. Focus spells are automatically heightened to half your level rounded up.
Focus spells don't require spell slots, and you can't cast them using spell slots. Certain feats can give you more focus spells and increase the size of your focus pool, though your focus pool can never hold more than 3 Focus Points. The full rules for focus spells appear here.
You learn the phase familiar hex, which you can cast as a reaction to protect your familiar from harm. You learn most other hexes from witch lessons.
Hex Cantrips
Hex cantrips are special hexes that don't cost Focus Points, so you can cast them as often as you like, though you can still cast only one hex each round. Hex cantrips are in addition to the cantrips you choose with your witch spellcasting and aren't counted toward your prepared cantrips. Your hex cantrips are determined by your patron theme.
Initial Proficiencies
At 1st level, you gain a number of proficiencies that represent your basic training, noted at the start of this class.
Patron
You weren't born with the power to cast spells, nor have you spent years in devotion to tomes, deities, or mystical secrets. Your power comes through a potent being that has chosen you as their vessel to carry forth some agenda in the world. This entity is typically mysterious and distant, revealing little of their identity and motivations, and they grant you spells and other magical powers through a familiar, which serves as a conduit for their power.
A patron might be a deity or demigod, a coven of powerful hags, a fey lord, an archdevil, or a similarly powerful entity, or perhaps multiple such figures working in tandem. As you gain more of your patron's power, you might learn more about who or what they are—certain combinations of themes and lessons suggest particular patrons or agendas—but patrons empower witches for their own secretive reasons, which they rarely reveal in full.
At 1st level, choose your patron's theme, which determines your spellcasting tradition, a skill, a special cantrip you gain, and a spell added to your familiar. The patron themes can be found here.
Witch Spellcasting
Using your familiar as a conduit, your patron provides you the power to cast spells. You can cast spells using the Cast a Spell activity, and you can supply material, somatic, and verbal components when casting spells.
At 1st level, you can prepare up to two 1st-level spells and five cantrips each morning from the spells your familiar knows. Prepared spells remain available to you until you cast them or until you prepare your spells again. The number of spells you can prepare is called your spell slots.
As you increase in level as a witch, your number of spell slots and the highest level of spells you can cast from spell slots increase, as shown in Witch Spells per Day table.
Some of your spells require you to attempt a spell attack roll to see how effective they are, or have your enemies roll against your spell DC (typically by attempting a saving throw). Since your key ability is Intelligence, your spell attack rolls and spell DCs use your Intelligence modifier.
Witch Spells per Day
Your Level | Cantrips | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th | 10th |
1 | 5 | 2 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
2 | 5 | 3 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
3 | 5 | 3 | 2 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
4 | 5 | 3 | 3 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
5 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 2 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
6 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 3 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
7 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
8 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
9 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
10 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
11 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | -- | -- | -- | -- |
12 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | -- | -- | -- | -- |
13 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | -- | -- | -- |
14 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | -- | -- | -- |
15 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | -- | -- |
16 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | -- | -- |
17 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | -- |
18 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | -- |
19 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1* |
20 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1* |
Heightening Spells
When you get spell slots of 2nd level and higher, you can fill those slots with stronger versions of lower-level spells. This increases the spell's level, heightening it to match the spell slot. Many spells have specific improvements when they are heightened to certain levels.
Cantrips
Some of your spells are cantrips. A cantrip is a special type of spell that doesn't use spell slots. You can cast a cantrip at will, any number of times per day. A cantrip is automatically heightened to half your level rounded up—this is usually equal to the highest level of witch spell slot you have. For example, as a 1st-level witch, your cantrips are 1st-level spells, and as a 5th-level witch, your cantrips are 3rd-level spells.
Witch Feats (Level 2)
At 2nd level and every 2 levels thereafter, you gain an oracle class feat.
Skill Feats (Level 2)
At 2nd level and every 2 levels thereafter, you gain a skill feat (skill feats have the skill trait). You must be trained or better in the corresponding skill to select a skill feat.
General Feats (Level 3)
At 3rd level and every 4 levels thereafter, you gain a general feat.
Skill Increases (Level 3)
At 3rd level and every 2 levels thereafter, you gain a skill increase. You can use this increase to either become trained in one skill you’re untrained in, or become an expert in one skill in which you’re already trained.
You can use any of these skill increases you gain at 7th level or higher to become a master in a skill in which you’re already an expert, and any of these skill increases you gain at 15th level or higher to become legendary in a skill in which you’re already a master.
Devastating Attacks (Level 4)
At 4th level, your weapon and unarmed Strikes deal two damage dice instead of one. This increases to three at 12th level and to four at 19th level.
Ability Boosts (Level 5)
At 5th level and every 5 levels thereafter, you boost four different ability scores. You can use these ability boosts to increase your ability scores above 18. Boosting an ability score increases it by 1 if it’s already 18 or above, or by 2 if it starts out below 18.
Ancestry Feats (Level 5)
In addition to the ancestry feat you started with, you gain an ancestry feat at 5th level and every 4 levels thereafter.
Expert Spellcaster (Level 7)
You've learned to better control the power your patron has granted you. Your proficiency ranks for spell attacks and spell DCs for your witch spellcasting increase to expert.
Saving Throw Potency (Level 8)
At 8th level, you gain a +1 potency bonus to saves, increasing to +2 at level 14 and +3 at level 20.
Lightning Reflexes (Level 9)
Your reflexes are lightning fast, helping you avoid danger. Your proficiency rank for Reflex saves increases to expert.
Alertness (Level 11)
You remain alert to threats around you. Your proficiency rank for Perception increases to expert.
Weapon Expertise (Level 11)
Through sheer experience, you've improved your technique with your weapons. Your proficiency ranks for simple weapons and unarmed attacks increase to expert.
Defensive Robes (Level 13)
The flow of magic through your spellcasting and your defensive training combine to help you get out of the way before an attack. Your proficiency rank in unarmored defense increases to expert.
Weapon Specialization (Level 13)
You can inflict greater injuries with the weapons you know. You deal 2 additional damage with weapons and unarmed attacks in which you are an expert. This damage increases to 3 if you're a master and 4 if you're legendary.
Master Spellcaster (Level 15)
You've achieved mastery over your patron's magic. Your proficiency ranks for spell attacks and spell DCs for your witch spellcasting increase to master.
Resolve (Level 17)
Communion with your familiar has steeled your mental fortitude. Your proficiency rank for Will saves increases to master. When you roll a success on a Will save, you get a critical success instead.
Legendary Spellcaster (Level 19)
You've perfected your command of the magic your patron provides. Your proficiency ranks for spell attacks and spell DCs for your witch spellcasting increase to legendary.
Patron's Gift (Level 19)
Your patron grants you the power to command incredible works of magic. You gain a single 10th-level spell slot and can prepare a spell in that slot using witch spellcasting. Unlike with other spell slots, these spell slots can't be used for abilities that let you cast spells without expending spell slots or abilities that give you more spell slots. You don't gain more 10th-level spells as you level up, though you can take the Patron's Truth feat to gain a second slot.
No comments:
Post a Comment