Class: The Witch [Second Draft]

Available on the DM's Guild (pay what you want) at this link!

It's been a long time coming, but the second take on the witch is finally fully revised and ready to go!

This time, the witch has two new subclasses, several new jinxes, the inclusion of Xanathar's spells, not to mention new, beautiful art by the talented Diana Nock (@jinxville)! 

This is a full rules revision, and not a single part of the witch remains untouched. Let's give a rundown of what's been changed.

CHANGELOG:

• General reorganization of features, giving the class a more reasonable progression in line with existing classes
• Added rules for applying potions to food and drink with Imbue Potion
• Added a new feature: Fine Fettle
• Streamlined casting to be INT-only, though WIS casting exists as an optional rule
• Revised the spell list, adding Xanathar's spells and defining the witch's role as a support caster
• Added personality tables and roleplaying advice for familiars
• Coven of the Dark Moon has received a re-kit, adding undead and scarecrows to their repertoire
• Coven of the Full Moon is now the only coven that can heal, focusing strongly on doing excellent healing with low-level spells
• Coven of the Half Moon has a new low-level feature, and has had its capstone expanded significantly
• Coven of the Crescent Moon, a gish-witch, has been added!
• Coven of the Eclipse, a subclass focusing on forbidden magic and demonology, has been added!
• Added several new jinxes, and revised existing options

CONCERNS:

• Balance, as always!
• How does the class scale vs. other classes?
• How do the subclasses measure against each other?
• Is the familiar sufficiently survivable?
• Are jinxes clear in their functions? Are they well balanced against each other?

WHAT I LEARNED:

• Commission art for everything, all the time. All. The. Time.

Class: The Witch [ROUGH DRAFT]

Download a selectable-text, printsafe version here!

Man oh man, have I been looking forward to releasing this.

Just in time for Halloween, spooky/scary month culminates with the Witch, the first full class I've ever released! An impressive endeavor clocking in at 14 pages of content and three full subclasses, the witch joins the ranks of Strongholds and Merchants as one of the larger projects I've ever worked on.

The witch weaves both natural magic and the arcane, carrying on a magical tradition that harkens back to the first casters to receive magic from the gods. A witch can curse or heal, dispense potions, fly on brooms, animate their house to walk on chicken legs, and much, much more!

Let's see if I can't list off everything this class does:

FEATURES:

• Casts with INT or WIS, enabling you to play either an academic or a wild witch!
• Jinxes! Magical effects halfway between Invocations and Channel Divinities.
• Make potions with Brewcraft and Imbue Potion, two companion features for all your potable needs.
• Dark Moon, Full Moon, and Half Moon Coven subclasses, focusing on cursing and stealth, healing and inspiring, and trickery and illusions, respectively!
• Familiars as a core feature, with increased durability and the capacity to sass-talk their witch.

CONCERNS:

• Oh, so, so many. Where to start?
• Is INT/WIS casting a good idea?
• Are jinxes roughly balanced, against one another and in general?
• Is the Beast Skin jinx too derivative of the druid's Wild Shape? 
• Are the number of spells per day right? They're midway between sorcerers and wizards, but still!
• The spell list seems large, but is smaller than the wizard and missing some of their more esoteric spells. Is that reasonable?
• Are all the various subclass features balanced roughly against each other?
• Is Light of the Half Moon too powerful for what it is?
• Is Dream-Eater too similar to the GOO warlock's level 14?
• Is the idea of 1 free subclass spell per long rest a good or bad idea?
• Does the class do a good job of capturing flavor?

WHAT I LEARNED:

• Building a class is exponentially harder than a subclass in every single way. I can see why Wizards sticks to subclasses, most days of the week.