Patreon Early Access: Playtestable Witch Class!
After much toil and trouble, the early version of our witch class is finally here and available to you, our beloved patrons!! A lot of care and deliberation went into developing the class for Erika to use, and we’ve been so eager to share it with you all and hear what you think.
Erika found this page of rough ideas in their notebook, so we think you can see just how far we’ve come in developing it into a playable class.
Worlds Beyond Number - Witch Class Playtest (PDF)
We have to stress that this is an early draft of the class mechanics—it hasn’t been thoroughly playtested (you’ve basically heard the extent of it on the podcast), so GMs should be fully aware of that before allowing it to be used in their games.
Because of this, we’ll be seeking feedback from the Patreon in a month or two, once people have had some time to play the class and test it out. We don’t expect feedback, but if you decide to try it out and are willing to share some thoughts, we’d love to hear from you, so keep an eye out!
Big thanks to everyone who helped us put this together, including designers Mazey Veselak, Brandes Stoddard, and Hannah Rose; layout artist Ruby Lavin; illustrators Corey Brickley, Tucker Donovan, and Taylor Moore; and original character illustrator Lorena Lammer.
EDIT (Feb 12th, 2024): If you’ve played a witch, played in or run a game with a witch, or even just read through the PDF, we would love to hear from you in this survey! (If you already left a comment on Patreon, it would be super duper helpful if you could also put your feedback in the form, but we will read the comments regardless.) The feedback form will be open for a month, through midnight Pacific Time on Sunday, March 10th!
Comments (220)
Hi! I’m kind of new to this and not exactly sure how all the publishing/rights work, but is there a way to play with this witch class on dnd beyond? Any info appreciated!
I’m staring my own home brew campaign and one of my player is going to try out the Witch class! I was wondering if anyone has tried to figure out a way to use DnD beyond to make a witch and if they have any tips?
I have the same question, have you found any solutions yet?
I'm surprised not to see Hex in the list of curses
Been playing this class in a homebrewed setting, for about 7 months now ( 5e rules apply). Wondering if the update to this class will reflect changes aligned with the 2024 pbh.
They will! But keeping in mind that plenty of folks will be playing with the 2014 rules—you'll see examples of this with the Citadel Wizard in a couple weeks.
Will WBN be releasing a 2024 version of the class?
All i want is someone to cast Animate Hut on Grandma Ren's, sorry Ame's cottage
Do y’all think Hags could be cousins to the coven of the wicked? I’m in a campaign with a ‘grandma’ nightmare hag and reading this gives me some very helpful ideas!
Incredible. I love the art so much, too!!
Ohmigoodness! Your secrets have finally been revealed! I have been DYING to see this class! I love it so so much!
Going to let one of my players use this in a Planescape campaign I’m running. It goes from level 3 to level 10, and then jumps to level 17! I’m excited to see how this class plays at a high level. Also, the big level 10 fight will certainly be against someone who wronged her, so that gonna be good! The level 17 fight, not so much, but I’m still excited to see this class in action
Has anybody tried creating this in DND Beyond through the homebrew creation? I tried using wizard, but there's some base class features that get in the way.
For the Coven of the claw it says you can make a Weapon attack or an unarmed strike as a bonus action against a cursed creature but I feel like it should also give you an actual die for your unarmed strikes. Like a 1d6 or something because you can't cast alter self and cast hunter's mark or most other curse spells because they're both concentration.
Many of the main class features such as the talismans and familiars they don't really specify what level you get them at.
I love the storytelling potential of the Wickedness mechanic, and I especially love the Coven spells aspect of that. Having an "early warning system" in the change of spells and also having the temptation of those wicked spells remaining in your prepared list after redemption is just great. I think Oathbreaker paladins should work exactly the same way.
I love this. Every time I got to a mechanic that felt too strong, it also just felt right to work that way. Perfect for a story-focused group where no one is trying to find abuse-cases, and pretty good for a standard table as well. Great design!
Amazing job & really good thoughtful depth to the class & mindful to those using magick. Been playtesting the witch for a few weeks and been DMing for 38 years; my Game Mechanics suggestions: Tokens - while I love by-5-or-more chance of ‘failure’, I think the tokens have too much potential for abuse, especially if we’re talking about 5 of them. One suggestion about what I presume was a omission/typo, and three simple lines of rules to add; A. All levels of tokens should be limited by the ‘spell that targets one or more creatures’ rule, and it should be further clarified to “explicitly states that it is TARGETing you or some other creature(s)”. [eg Enhance Ability clearly has a target & uses the word ‘target’; Augury does not]. 1. A creature other than you can only possess only one token at a time. 2. Each token must be imbued with/hold a different spell. 3. Tokens can expire if not used soon enough: they lose their magic either after 24 hours, or when the witch takes & completes their next long rest. The talisman rule about sacrificing a spell slot for a magic item is good, maybe even a little strong, but I really like it and the “crafting+labor = magic” flavor is super on-point, …reminds me of many different magical practices including what we see Vianne do in ‘Chocolat’, the Naomi Novik ‘Schoolomance’ books, and ‘Kiki’s delivery service’. Great work!
I am playing a level 7 Rune Knight Fighter Goliath named "Strongheart" who I have wanted to build/play as a more wisdom/nature version of a paladin. Coven of the Heart seems like a perfect multi class option so I just took a single level for level 8. As a multi class option, the tokens do seem to be very strong. Especially since they can be made per each short rest. With a PB of +3 (and +4 next level) so that currently gives me a full 5 spells with just the two spell slots. Maybe if it was one token per long rest it might feel less overpowered.
So, I built a L5 Wicked witch and played her for the second time last night. The DM let me hand out some pre-made tokens as like a “thanks for letting me join your table” gift, and I can’t tell you how psyched I am to throw a wracking, retributive curse on somebody’s behalf.
Can’t wait for my L6 concentration tokens either
I've had a player looking at this class as a potential build in a game I'm running request to swap the four conjure spells on their list for five of the summon spells out of Tasha's: Summon Beast, Summon Fey, Summon Elemental, Summon Celestial, and Summon Draconic Spirit. Replacing Conjure Woodland Beings, Conjure Minor Elementals, Conjure Elemental, and Conjure Fey. And TBH I think this is a solid swap. The summon spells are much better design for both player and GM. And they allow for easy flavor swapping with less "I want a swarm of pixies to polymorph the team into T-rex" vibe. I also think the summon spells are more powerful and more likely to be used, so a bit of extra "boost" for the PC, but the conjure spells are clunky and hand PCs stat blocks from the monsters manual. I'll take consistency and smooth gameplay, ty v much.
I don't think they'll be using any spells in the official version save for the PHB ones, but they make plenty of sense for home games.
Getting to this a little late so forgive me if someone has already said this and I'm just not finding it with the search feature: Subclasses should be mentioned at the level where you get them in the class features with flavor text and the levels at which you'll get subclass features. For reference, Arcane Tradition in the Wizard class should read the same. Awesome homebrew and I'm excited to let any of my players try this out.
For the option of making a magic item as a talisman, it seems like a broom of flying would be a must-pick choice (unless they are super easy to acquire in the campaign setting), and the other options are pretty meh. Or am I missing some standouts? (Brooms of flying are so much better than nearly any other uncommon item!) Here's the thing-normally a talisman gives you one cast of a spell each day, but anyone can use it. A broom of flying is like getting to cast an undispellable fly spell 24 times a day.... Letting witches make a broom of flying is totally thematically appropriate, but it just blows away anything else you can do with this feature. It's kind of a shame because the concept is cool.
Super psyched. One quick thing, though. If you don't put some kind of expiration date on tokens, they will be pretty broken. At 13th level, with prep time, your team can go into a scenario with 5 bonus counterspells or hypnotic patterns that anyone can use....
Tokens, as far as I can tell, can only be gotten 1 per rest. So in theory (and I would require this in any game with a Witch), you can only take 1 short rest between combats. That means each day you have 5 spells, but in practice you have 1 per combat extra, with 4 "emergency only" ones you can use. Also tokens require a targeted creature. Counterspell does not target a creature and I'd rule that AOE control spells do not "target" anyone.
Incredible! And I love Erika’s notes on the “Empathy Witch.” Y’all amaze me with your collective interweaving of mechanics and storytelling. Could we expect a WBN core rule book at some point in our future????
I just heard the ad for this. Does anybody know if Erika's "violent sugar baby" is a home game or something I could listen to?
Are there plans to add the other covens mentioned in WWW #15?
This is super cool! I think a clarification about whether the Call to the Hunter feature from the Claw Coven uses an action or not would be great -- right now I would assume so, since it feels similar to Conjure Animals in some other aspects (like the the "no action required to command"), but specifying it more would probably be helpful :D
Just played part one of a two-shot with my level 16 Coven of the Claw Witch last night and it was an absolute blast. Can't wait to explore more in part two!
So many brilliant elements, like a whole subclass that has to happen to you, but for me the subtleties seem equally well -chosen. So excited to play with multiclassing Coven of the Claw for different extensions on both the combat and crafting capabilities
Has anyone heard any plans about whether or not the wizard of the citadel subclass is being released anytime soon?
This is such a cool class. I want to play it so bad!
my friends and I are putting together a witch one shot, each of us are playing one of the coven subclasses ♪(´▽｀)
I'll be playing my level 8 Coven of the Heart Witch in a streamed one shot on Saturday! Their familiar is a lamb named Dewdrop 🐑
Small note: Fox is not included in the list of familiar options!
I noticed that too, but then I saw you can use any CR 0 animal. So, presumably, foxes, roosters, etc.
So with the Curse Token lvl 6 feature of the Coven of the Wicked, is the item maintaining the concentration for you (as in you no longer have to maintain concentration on that curse) or is it like the Magical Assistant feature that lets your familiar "hold" the concentration for you?
For clarification, can a witch build a talisman using a Cantrip? I know it references spell slot, but it would be nice to be able to pass talismans out so that Retributive Curse is worth it. The cost of Sacking a spell slot when at best you only have 4 is a bit rough
Would you give up the cantrip from your list ?
If Suvi or Eursulon dies, I wonder if Ame will end up in the whicked coven. Or maybe if Fox is lost.
incredible 🥹❤️🔥
it’s interesting that cackle is an action, not a reaction…
Such a good class, I'm in love with it. The spells are flavored so, so well and evoke exactly what I would want out of the witch, and I love that the class isn't afraid to do some new mechanical things that are unique and awesome. I can't wait to try it in my own game!
For retributive curses-- it says you can only target the triggering creature. However, for Othershoes, you need to target two creatures. What's up with this??
Looking at "Spellwrapping Curse"; if the curse fails on a creature that "can't cast at least one spell", does that mean a creature that casts through magical items or spell scrolls would never be effected by this spell? To be honest it seems like a pointless line, most things have the *potential* to casts spells, except maybe low in beasts/plants.
Playing in a nordic themed series of one shots, starting at level 14 and decided to do a coven of the claw seiðr user. Loved all the use of reactions and bonus actions, thought the tokens also worked nice. Can you clarify, does it take an action to use a token, or is it whatever the spell’s casting time is? A lot of the spells are concentration, especially with coven of the claw and wanting to use hunter’s mark, maybe a higher level ability could be that your familiar can actually concentrate so you can have two going at once? Same vein, with coven of the claw you wanna take melee attacks but only have proficiency with simple weapons, maybe something to buff the normal weapon attacks? Even with taking two attacks, one of which can be a cantrip, it’s still better to just cast the higher level spells (although I know you’ll run out eventually)
Transferring concentration to the familiar is available from the start if I understand correctly (although it's a bonus action, so not fully free) - and I think the reason Claw coven witches don't have a lot of weapon proficiencies is that they're supposed to use Primal Savagery (d10s) as their main attack, especially since its damage goes up with higher levels :)
The description of Tongue-Tie states “If you have caught the target in a lie, or if you have done it a kindness and receive no thanks within 1 minute, the target has disadvantage on its saving throw, the spell DOESN’T REQUIRE CONCENTRATION and the effect is permanent unless removed by a remove curse or greater restoration spell, or similar magic.” Othershoes has a similar stipulation but does not specify that the modified version of the spell does not require concentration. I assume it does not as if it did the spell would require the caster to maintain concentration forever but that should probably be specified in the description.
It doesn't look like there is any action economy assigned to summoning your Allied Hunter
I feel like Coven of the claw should get Green flame blade instead of poison spray. There don't seem to be many spells for buffing your weapon attacks that most Gish classes have access to, other than the 1d6 that hunter's mark gives. And if Green Flame Blade isn't the vibe of the class, there's always the chance to add another homebrewed weapon attack cantrip.
Does Coven of the Claw's Curse of the Claw feature that grants spells, specifically "Hunter's Mark" count as a curse spell?
I think is specifically is called out to not trigger Wracking and Retributive Curses. Wicked's Phantasmal Killer is called out specifically. I do wish the Allied Hunter was affected by it for healing and maybe for the advantage,
I'm so playing a fucking witch
Does anyone know if there is a WBN discord that cares about optimizing the Witch? I'd love to join! I optimize for fun, not for "let's ruin tables" and have a similar philosophy to Colby from D4 - playing a powerful character that has a niche fantasy/role is better than finding the best build in the game and allows me to fulfil the power fantasy. I LOVE THE WITCH! They are my new go-to mage support and so strong. I do wish they had access to Mage Armor or higher HP, as they are effectively the squishiest class in the game. However, I think there may be some oversights with Coven of the Claw. It both fixes the squishiness issue of the witch and might have broken levels of DPR in addition to full casting. I think it outshines the other subclasses in an unfortunate way. Update, I should have read more carefully! The simple and natural restriction fixes my worries
I don't know if it's a spoiler or not but I'm so curious what Grandma Ren's Coven was!
I think she says shes the last "Witch of the World's Heart" so my bet is COH.
One other quick comment. Tongue tied. The idea that they start babbling gibberish reminds me of Norrel and Strange. It was a show of BBC a few years ago there's a part where a fae absconds with a young woman every night and when she tries to tell people what happened, she can only speak in babbling nonsense! I love this so much!
That show is actually a book too! Its worth reading. And this was also my first thought!
First thoughts. I *Love* the covens. They are all so full of life and flavor and feel like what I would envision a witch to be. I also love that to become a wicked witch, it is something you'd most likely explore in game, not necessarily starting thay way, but falling as your character moves along their journey. And for your friends to say "honey, i think youve changed, but not in a good way you need to back it on up and come correct. The idea of a fall and redemption arc is so good! One other small thing. Eyebite should absolutely be on the witch spelling (which it is), and I don't know that it shouldn't be one of the reactive curses. "You have wronged me and mine??!! FEAR ME! TO BEHOLD ME SICKENS YOU TO YOUR CORE" That just feels super witchy to me. Maybe I'm wrong. Anyway, I love it! Hoping I can convince some folks to play with me and convince them to let me test it out!!
the wicked coven/corruption mechanics look dope
This is absolutely FANTASTIC. Not only do I LOVE LOVE LOVE the subclasses here, I've been brewing ideas for a witch subclass while waiting for this release and I am SO EXCITED to start working on some homebrew!!!!!!! Now just to complete the most daunting task of DND ....... scheduling games to test these all LOL
Thank you WBN, and Ahuhu. Shauna and I were wondering how concentration spells work with a talisman - is a check ever required? The language is different than for tokens. Thanks again, and please: stay at Econo-Lodge.
I’m wondering why Hex isn’t one of the curse spell options 🤔
Same.
I LOVE how many of the original Witch spells are so clearly inspired 1 to 1 from classic witches or witchy stories? Like the animated hut is Baba Yaga, the tongue-tied spell is just Liar Liar the spell, Othershoes is every "Freaky Friday" type thing, Swineskin is the spell cast on the parents in Spirited Away (we love Miyazaki!). So many good ones!
I thought that too! Swineskin also reminds me of Circe turning Odysseus' men into pigs
Holy Moly! Having your familiar hold your Concentration is AMAZING!
I imagine a basketball style give and go on a banishment spell. Do you hit the witch or her familiar that she can repeatably save with spell slots?
This is incredible. I can’t wait to try it out. Definitely want to be a Green Witch!
WOW I love this SO SO SO incredibly much!!!!!!!!
Coven of the Claw is everything i've ever wanted in a Sorcerer Subclass. Witch class is dope as hell!
THIS IS SO GOOOD!!!
Hoping you can get this on D&D Beyond someday! 😁
*Internally screaming* I've been hype about this ever since y'all announced the homebrew class!! 😻 Definitely gonna make a Coven of the Heart Witch for my next 5e one shot 💖
this is so cool! i have a character who i made for a campaign set in post-apocalypse nyc who was going to be a wild magic sorcerer, but i’ve been thinking about turning them into a witch! however, they’re a water genasi living in the hudson and east rivers, so i’m conflicted about how the sanctum might work later on, as well as connections to people and places. curious about making things like sea and water witches, which are a relatively common feature in many stories. i’ll either homebrew something or stick with sorcerer, but just a thought i had
I suspect that, when we listened to the level up and they mentioned upcoming covens, that's Erika's cut off comment is 'sea' not 'see' so I suspect we will see a water witch someday though hard to know when. Sanctum is a *very* late game ribbon feature so I wouldn't let that hold you back if the class is calling to you.
Familiars acting on the turn they roll. I think I'll homebrew it to *before or after* your own turn, or even during.
I agree here. It feels bad to have the same player take 2 turns in a round, even if one is just move familar, help action.
The coven of wickedness is absolutely genius!! What a way to use mechanics to tell a story.
Love this! It definitely captures the Miyazaki witch flavor and I could see using it to play a Discworld-style witch, too. Is the Witch's Familiar feature gained at 1st level? I think it's missing from the class table. For Coven of the Claw's Call of the Hunter feature, what's the casting time? It seems like 1A but I could also see 1BA
I cannot wait for the first time that Ame casts Imprisonment as a reaction!
I know Critical Role has gotten their homebrew into D&D Beyond in some shape or form, and I would *love* the option to play a Witch or be a Wizard of the Citadel via their site some day, and would pay gladly for the opportunity!
Immediately had a player decide to take a break from his lvl 11 diviner to try this out. Should be a breath of fresh air, I'm charmed by this class.
This is so awesome. Sending it to one of my players today to see if they want to switch over before our first session tomorrow!
Oh I'm rolling a wicked witch IMMEDIATELY 🧙
This looks really cool! Nothing stands out on first glance as being glaringly broken (unlike Wizard of the Citadel...looking at you Secret of Ricochet lol)
Is the subclass already out?
Sympathetic Bond is so painful (in the best way)! You'll know if they stop feeling love towards you😭
I'm checking with our group's GM if I can learn the othershoes spell cause it's really freaking cool. Thanks ya'll!
Wow, very cool! I don't play dnd personally but I'm loving how much the spells tease possible future WBN shenanigans :3 With that said, something I was wondering about with some of the curses (especially the bonus effect on Othershoes) is that they're clearly narratively targeted at specific situations, but the requirement to prepare a subset of spells in advance might mean the curse isn't available in the one situation it would be perfect for. Maybe there could be some leeway there? (I'm not sure if this is a good idea, but maybe allow witch spells to be cast as rituals if not already prepared, or something like that?)
that's always the rub with utility spells! sometimes the right occasion just doesn't arrive, or else it does just when you didn't stock the spell. the trick in designing them is to make sure spells can do other things (like save your familiar, or counterspell)
This is so wonderful, thank you!!!
I love this, so exciting! I look forward to seeing how it works for everyone. I can tell you folks put a lot of thought into it.
A section outlining the rules for multiclassing a Witch doesn’t exist. Based on the material presented here, a minimum of 13 Wisdom would be required. I might also grant a character that is multiclassing into Witch from another class the ability to choose one artisan tool of their choice, and one skill proficiency from the list of Witch skills since they start with three instead of the usual two.
Love it! I have a question about tokens. How long do the tokens last? Also in the token section, it’s says at 9th level you can create a token with any witch spell of 2nd or lower. Does this mean you can do so without the wisdom check. Or does this mean that until 9th level you can only create level one spell tokens?
i read it as the latter, until 9th level you can only create lvl1 tokens, then until 13th you can only create lvl2. this makes the capstone a *much* bigger deal. (tho personally i plan to allow attempts to bend those rules, with perhaps some consequences if the player's reach exceeds their grasp)
Love the new class. Small nitpick: The table of contents in the PDF is just a unique code of random characters.
Do the curse spells that target multiple creatures (like bane and othershoes) still affect multiple enemies if they are cast using the Retributive Curses feature, or only the target that triggered the feature? If they only affect the triggering creature I think that would be a mistake as it severely debuffs the spell in question. If they continue to affect multiple creatures you guys should probably add some text saying that they do. Also make Hex a curse spell.
i think that's part of the trade-off, right? sacrificing utility for action economy.
So cool! My initial thoughts are: - Could the level at which a feature is given be included in the headline of that feature for the base class? - While all the classes look great for multiclassing, the coven of the claw would rock for a druid, or even a ranger or monk - The wicked is very cool. Changing the coven spells seems a little complicated, but I'm sure it can be figured out - I noticed the Cleansing Crystal spell has a casting time of 1 minute and a duration of 1 minute, and it's concentration. It seems a little difficult to practically cast it and then have a reasonable chance to use it within it's duration. - Othershoes! You Freaky Friday loving sons of bitches! :-D This looks so great guys, can't wait to try it out
This looks fun! My first impression is that it ought to have access to the Hex spell
I agree on this. I’m already possibly adjusting my grave domain cleric who’s patron is the first ever hag to a witch class.
I CANNOT WAIT for a chance to play this class!!!
What fantastic care was taken in creating this! thank you for sharing!!!
This is wonderful, amazing work all round by the designers! Can't wait to try 'Othershoes' on some unsuspecting NPCs...
The spells are incredible. They give a different kind of vibe to most of the spells in the game or that I've seen from other notable 3rd party publishers. Miser's Menace, Animate Hut and Othershoes are just so fun and ripe for shenanigans...
I can't even imagine our Ame becoming a...Wicked Witch. But I'd love to see a cackle thrown at the next douche hedge mage who thinks they're a big shot.
Big fan of the Claw Coven. I'm gonna be playing in a folk horror/gothic campaign and a Shifter Coven of the Claw Witch would be great for it
I feel like there should be a mechanic in the Witch's Familiar wording for the familiar to be able to speak. Not necessarily raising its intelligence to 10, but perhaps 6-8.
I thought the same thing. I came to the comments just to see if it was already addressed! :-)
Thank you all so much for working on and releasing this! 🖤 I am currently shoving it into my mouth
Absolutely excellent! A few notes before I get to type out my whole praising comment; Wyrding has a range of 30 feet, though it appears to only be able to be cast on yourself. A few spells mention circumstances that make the spell permanent, and a few have concentration. One points out that when the conditions are met, concentration is no longer a factor, but a few others don’t. Finally, the Green Gifts feature in the Coven of the Green subclass has some pretty gnarly formatting in its first few lines. Not illegible, but pretty jarring. Sorry for the nitpicks, but I just needed to get a few things out there, absolutely excellent work!
Wyrding has a specific effect in text that only applies within that range, so it isn't a contradiction it's just difficult to word. Which spells don't clarify the conditions under which they become permanent? yeah that spacing under green gifts is *wild* some kind of autoformatting error i'm guessing :/
Assorted first impressions: On the whole, I'm glad they opted for too powerful over too boring, and applaud them for taking big swings. That said? Wicked Witches are terrifying and obviously too powerful for standard play. Othershoes is hilarious, and the fact it apparently works just fine on identical twins or a spellcaster and his simulacrum is delightful. Swineskin is the strongest third level spell in the game, except for maybe Counterspell. It's essentially a third level save-or-die that also doubles as a way to permanently transform your familiar (or ally or baby nephew) into a goddamn tiger. Polymorph only wishes it had this much power, and it's a fourth level spell.
If Ame ever gets tired of these other jokers, as of level 5, she can permanently transform herself into a giant octopus and go hang out with Naram.
A HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE SPELL!?!?! This is such a fantastic class. The features, subclasses and curse spells are just great. I would love to try it sometime.
This is the best birthday present I could have received today. Thank you!! I’m so excited about the Coven of the Wicked. The roleplaying opportunities of a change like that are so cool. Oathbreaker is one of my favorite elements of the paladin class and this feels similar in the best way. What an incredible narrative opportunity for a party with a paladin and a witch…
immediately called my dm “i have an idea for our campaign and i NEED you to say yes”
Me as a DM; *sweeps everything off the table in one swoop* "Ahoo-hoo to all it may concern, I have new class options for our pre-existing campaign, and I will incentivise you using them. Best Wish, Sil"
I've been trying to homebrew a witch class for a while now and I'm so excited to try this out
I have had a chance to briefly skim on my lunch break, and BRB. Multiclassing like ahoo-ahoo
Really love coven of the wicked and its lvl10 mechanical parallel with coven of the heart! Also extremely concerned about the storytelling implications of ame’s homebrew class having that opportunity for heartbreak. Terrifying. Delightful.
Idk why, but this comment specifically made me go "oh, Ame has a lot of Magical Girl energy, doesn't she?"
FUCK yeah dude
Ahhhh and so many witch spells! Animate hut is my new favorite spell
SOOOO EXCITED!
I'm loving how this class looks and all the fairy tale allusions (deny an earnest request for food or shelter, etc.). But what I can't get out of my head is the wicked coven's Curse-Token ability and the description for Wavebreaker. Does that mean - since Wavebreaker casts Remove Curse - whoever cursed Ame and Grandma Wren knows it's been broken?
I think it was alluded to in the last ep of WWW arc 1 (mostly because I remember gasping in fear)
Let's GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
I love the passive spell effect on spellwarping curse. Having that awareness just by preparing the spell is a SUPER COOL concept I’ve never seen in a spell before!
Coven of the heart’s level 6 feature, Overflowing Heart, plus revivify is a cute combo 😘💀😇
i was just thinking about that! like, depending on how hardline you wanted to play it, the only one you can usually store is tears - a corpse can't *share* a kiss or an embrace. though ofc i get it if people wanted to give that a more generous read, i also think the potential workarounds could be lovely! an artificer storing their friends' laughter in little recorded knick-knacks for the witch to use, or crafty witches keeping scraps of paper with lipstick kisses on them...
this is SO COOL. idk if it’s just me but im imagining a witch (13)/cleric (5) who makes a token out of the revivify spell—could be a wedding ring with a diamond for the material components? this class seems so freaking awesome!!!
The new spells are beautiful! Spellwarping curse is so great, zapping people that try and scry on you! Amazing
It mentions witches jealous guarding their talismans, but I can't figure out a way for a talisman to be more useful to a witch then just saving that spell slot for the spell until the level 6 magic items. Unless Im misunderstanding.
It does free up your spell list a bit since you wouldn’t need to prepare it, but I agree, I think it’s mostly useful as a gift or something your allies have access to
I've been super excited to see what yall did with this class! Was there any inspiration or relation to the GM Binder Witch Class? https://www.gmbinder.com/share/-Lz-_rNijZNaMv3BpwVQ
Yaaaaaassssss!
I was surprised to see Galder's tower isn't a Witch spell
SO EXCITED!! I'm DMing for the first time in a week and think I'll use this for an NPC for fun :)) thank you guys so much for putting this together <3
But now I need to find time for a 7th campaign how could you
I’m honestly weeping at Maiden Mother Crone in the description. It’s such a KNOWLEDGE of story, my HEART
I am sooooo excited to play this class… just need to find time to play
This seems a tad strong. Double-concentration, plus the ability to cast some absolute banger spells as reactions, puts this class quite a bit ahead of other casters. Can a familiar use a token? A Witch seems to be sitting at like 2-3x the ✨action economy✨ of a Wizard.
it's not double the concentration; it's *trickier* concentration. you still can't cast a second concentration spell tho. and the retributive curses are fairly carefully designed - most of them are more utility than damage and the most consistently useful one is also concentration *and* holds the target meaning it's most often going to effectively shift the tempo by one turn, right? (it will otherwise be the same situation as if the witch had cast Grasp first)
WOOOOOO
This is rad. Since I assume it's come up, are there any plans to eventually make it available on dndbeyond (since a lot of folks play digitally and organize campaign stuff through there)?
D&D Beyond doesn't allow homebrew classes, only subclasses unfortunately.
Shout out to the Baba Yaga hut 🛖
This could just be me not knowing how the wording works, but some of the spells say "permanent" in the description, but "X hours" in the duration (e.g. tongue tie). Is that a misprint or does permanent mean "until duration is up"? Also tongue tie duration having concentration, but also the text says "does not require concentration". Does that mean it replaces any concentration spell cast, but past that point does not require concentration?
i believe they're permanent if the conditions are met, and X hours otherwise (same with concentration) so presumably "If you have caught the target in a lie, or if you have done it a kindness and receive no thanks within 1 minute" then all the following alterations apply.
The urge to kill my level 10 barbarian I've been playing for 5 years is VERY STRONG. Or he takes a level of witch...
This is AMAZING thank you so much for sharing ❤️
This is AWESOME. I was so impatient to discover the witch class since finding out Erika would play it in the Children’s adventure! And it truly feels exciting. I have a question right off the bat though: why do the Covens’ Curse features come at level 2 if witches can only cast curses at level 3?
witches can only cast *retributive* curses at level 3 - but the spell Witch's Grasp is still listed as a curse spell. ;)
This is so cool!! So many little gifts for role play to be impacted by the mechanics and the spells are so cool! Animate Hut is incredible!!! You can literally be baba yaga or howl from hmc
My initial reaction as far as balance goes is that everything looks pretty good. The wicked coven stands out as particularly powerful in the hands of a munchkin, but due to the limitations in gaining access to it, that seems fine. The spells are incredibly flavorful. I love the situational riders and the potential for permanence. My one nitpick is that the Claw Coven doesn't get it's extra attack until level 10. Bladelocks get it at 5, and Bladesingers get it at 6. The other subclass features encourage getting into melee, but delaying extra attack until level 10 really harshes that fantasy. I think i would personally swap the 6 and 10 abilities and beef up the Allied Hunter's HP.
The Claw Coven gets to use it's Wisdom for attack and damage, which is already incredibly strong a full spellcaster. If it got extra attack at around the same time as everyone else it would be just a better melee combatant than most martial classes. Bladelocks and Bladesingers both have other limitations to try to prevent that (and arguably they aren't even enough).
Does magical assistant also give your familiar advantage on their con saving throw if you take the War Caster feat?
Can't wait to try it at my game!
As a WBN fan (fire head?), this is amazing. As a forever GM, devastating.
Confirming that there will be a separate post calling for itemized feedback, rather than stuffing the comments here?
I'm honestly in love with pretty much all of this. The only clarification I would like is for the Coven of the Claw's 6th-level feature Call to the Hunter: what time is required to summon your Allied Hunter? Action, Bonus Action, minute? In a similar vein, the balance on cleansing crystal as a spell feels a bit limiting - taking 1 minute to cast a spell that then only lasts 1 minute feels limiting. Everything else, absolute GOLD.
Boy howdy this is thicc. I can see how this could only really be playtested through a longterm campaign considering the reliance on time so many of these mechanics have. This is undoubtedly a labor of love and I can't wait to see it play out.
Aaaaah! I must find a way to play this!
We ❤️ Toil here at the fireside
Oooh the conditions that must be present for the wicked coven is such a cool, interesting twist!
“The wicked spells that the witch learned remain on their coven list after rehabilitation—as does the temptation to use them.” this has me SO excited, what a cool mechanic for a complex character journey. i love this
BRILLIANT AND PERFECT. I absolutely ADORE the coven of the wicked, there is something so brilliant about the notion of allignment being a result of your actions and not an ideal and taking it a step further to class consequences....*chefs kiss* that's-a gooooood
okay so i was JUST about to run a game with a player who wants to be a pond naiad and i am so excited this dropped in time to recommend it! (we'll see if she likes it but i'm hopeful) i'm thinking we'll come up with a custom subclass, maybe a Coven of the Blue? of the Depths? or do we go more poetic with it, a Coven of Dappled Reflection? or a Coven of Morning Mist?
This is so cool! Question about the "Call to the Hunter" feature. Does it use a bonus action or action to summon your ally? I'm assuming action since its similar to the Summon Beast spell, but the feature didn't specify
Welp rip to my DMs as I swap all my characters to this to be an actually decent witch class that I always wanted
This is fantastic!! I love the new witch spells too! Can’t wait to see those come into play!
The wicked witch subclass is a work of art. The fact that the mechanic to remove the subclass involves another person carrying for them and getting through to them is so full of potential for great storytelling. I kind of teared up reading it.
This is SO GOOD. I am very in love with it. I can’t wait to make a witch to play
FINALLY. Time to live out my Miyazaki fantasies
I'M NOT SCREAMING YOUR SCREAM
You know, whenever someone said it on the pod, I never heard “crafting and consequences,” but always “crafting *in* consequences,” which feels like a really evocative way to describe that aspect of the witch mythos. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
just got chills from this
Ooo I’m so excited!
Absolutely in love
In credible
oh this is so dope. I would bet money that Emily Axford's next PC is gonna be a witch
I'm already playing a warlock that my DM & I planned to cross-class artificer to try to homebrew an apothecary witch, but this is exactly what I need!
"Chef's tools" I see you 👀👀 Thank you for such a great drop!! I'm so excited to see this play out and also give it a run myself
As soon as I saw the name "Othershoes" I knew EXACTLY what it was gonna do and I am so glad the team made the incredibly correct decision to include a Freaky Friday spell for witches.
Oh my goodness, so good. Great work!
Let's go!
holy cow! i LOVE 'rest for the wicked', what a gorgeous gorgeous feature that speaks so beautifully to this class but also relationships 🥹 "a witch can never turn away from wickedness - alone" are you fucking kidding me!!??? amazing
Hell yes!!
I’m so excited!!! I’m going to DM my first campaign just so I can use this class (and maybe convince one of my players to use it too 👀)
Can’t wait for Erika to cast “cackle” lol
my favourite part of this is that Brennan noticed many firesides ago that the animal list didn't contain fox and it still doesn't (genuinely love, I would also note something and then forget to fix it)
I am so excited to look through all of this after my dnd session tonight!
I've never been so hyped thank you 😭 I've been searching years for a decent witch since porting from pathfinder to 5e
I have been running a campaign with someone playing a Witch character, though mechanically right now they're a warlock. Going to look through this with them and see if they want to switch!
My biggest takeaway from this is that Fox can be brought back if Brennan cruelly targets him in combat.
LET'S GOOOO
Yay ✨
"Animate hut" yes!!!!!! Yes!!!!!!!!!!
I heard Emily Axford screaming from my house
Rad as hell 🔥 AND I'm the 69th heart on the post?! Bonus
I'm a forever DM and my wife has never played dnd before. She has recently expressed some (timid) interest and wants to play a witch style character. This will be just thing to catch her interest! I'm so excited to try it out and will absolutely give feedback once I see how it plays
The loud audible shriek I just made upon seeing the notification just now!!!! Be still my witchy heart I’m so excited to try this out!!!!!
I'm apparently unable to access the PDF. Is anyone else having this problem?
I had issues accessing it on my phone, I believe it is because my browser was not logged into my Patreon account automatically and I was trying to do it from the app (it tried to reroute me to the website on the phone browser and said I didn't have access). Once I logged onto my computer and clicked the link, I started an immediate download for the PDF. If you haven't already, try logging into Patreon on your phone's browser to see if it works! :) Hopefully that's all it is.
Yessssssssss I can't tell you how excited I am for this
Crackle crackle!
A hoo-hoo!
Will you release a similar thing for the new Wizard subclass mentioned in the Fireside Chat?
I really hope so!!! Secrets sound so amazing!!!!
I’ve been waiting for this for so long…
Im so hyped rn
Im super excited!!!
OMGGGGGG LETS GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO AAAAAAAAAAAAA
Thank you, thank you, thank you! Can't wait to show my partner who's been eager to build a witch forever!
Let's goooooo