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Witch
You treat with otherworldly powers as an equal, or at least as a petitioner worth their attentions. Conventionally, witches intercede between mortals and their local supernatural powers for good harvests, safe childbirths, and clemency from transgressions. As empires metastasize across the Continent and wizards yoke the mystical to their will, the place of the Witch has become increasingly one of protecting the supernatural from mortals, rather than the other way around. Courts of entities great and small seek advocates, providing power to those who keep the old ways alive in these troubled times.
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| by Bogdan Rezunenko |
Hit Die: 1d6.
Starting Skills: 2 of: Medicine, Headology, Nature, Local Lore, the Occult, Cooking
Starting Equipment: A large hat, a thick cloak with many hidden pockets, an athame (a ritual knife that inflicts 1d6 slashing or piercing damage), smelling salts, the skeleton of a small animal, sheaves of dried herbs and spices, a vial of something else’s blood, and your patron’s augury tools (if any).
Starting Abilities: The Craft, Patronage, a Gift
Advancement: Whenever you level up in the Witch class, gain an additional Gift.
The Craft
When a Witch performs a Working, they make a Craft Roll by rolling 1d20 and try to roll less than or equal to their Charisma. On a failure, they may attempt to Renegotiate by paying [witch] HP or appealing to their Patron with a compelling argument that this Working is in their interest. If the GM feels that their appeal would be granted (a blood payment is always accepted), the Witch rolls again and must accept the new result.
Success on the first roll is called an Assent, and is the most powerful. Success on the second roll is called a Concord, and is less powerful or requires further sacrifice from the Witch. Failure is called a Dismissal, and may impair the Witch going forwards.
Every Witch has learned the following three Workings from their Patron.
Augury
Assent: The Witch may ask their patron any question and receive an answer that their Patron believes would aid them. If the question interests the Patron, they may permit a series of clarification questions until they are no longer interested.
Concord: The Witch may ask their Patron one of their listed Augury questions. If the question interests the Patron, they may permit a single clarification question.
Dismissal: The Patron provides the Witch with a question regarding the current situation that they believe the Witch should ask or seek the answer to. The Witch cannot use Augury again until they have found a satisfactory answer and informed their Patron.
Hex
Assent: The Witch inflicts [witch]d6 damage to a target they can see, as well as a status effect associated with the manifestation of this particular hex.
Concord: The Witch inflicts 1d6 damage to a target they can see, and the target saves vs. the hex’s status effect.
Dismissal: Both the target and the Witch must save vs. the hex’s status effect.
Hexes also allow the witch to manipulate their environment in supernatural ways. If a hex targets an inanimate object, you do not need to make a Craft roll — it always counts as Concord.
Some hexes have save ends, others have action ends or damage ends. These are conditions under which the status effect is resolved. Saves are rolled after damage is applied, but at the start of the turn.
Summoning
Assent: Conjure a major or minor summon. These creatures are willing to perform services until the Witch dismisses them or they are in danger of death.
Concord: Conjure a minor summon with a single hit die. It’s willing to perform services until the Witch dismisses it or it’s hurt.
Dismissal: All your extant summons are recalled into the service of the Patron.
Minor Summon
1 HD, AC 8, +[witch] to hit. The size of a songbird, a kitten, or a loaf of bread. Choose three that represent the form and function of your summon.
1. Melee attack: 1d6 damage of an appropriate type.
2. Ranged attack: 1d3 damage of an appropriate type.
3. Exceptional movement ability.
4. Exceptional senses.
5. Tiny and +4 AC.
6. Something else.
Major Summon
[witch]+1 HD, AC 12, +[witch] to hit and damage. Human-sized, though not necessarily humanoid. Choose three that represent the form and function of your summon.
1. Melee attack: 1d10 damage of an appropriate type.
2. Ranged attack: 1d6 damage of an appropriate type to a target within range.
3. Exceptional movement ability.
4. Exceptional senses.
5. Large and +4 AC.
6. Something else.
Patronage
Witches gain their power through an ongoing relationship with great and inhuman powers that exist within and without the world.
Select a court of Patron powers. You can contact them to ask them questions, provide portions of their power, and to send emissaries that intercede on your behalf.
The Old Gods of the Wilds, the Storm, and Faerie
Names: The Verdant Maiden, the Crimson Mother, the Gloaming Crone, the King in Summer, the Prince of Spring, the Thunderous Duke, Diregreen, the Winterjack, Old Man Oak, the Skyblind Queen, the Mycelial Hells.
Augury: Take a handful of fresh soil, rainwater, or plant matter and chew until your mouth tastes of nothing else. Spit the remains into your hand and feel it drip through your fingers to commune with the basest truths of the world.
Augury Questions
- How did this place come to be?
- What is being overlooked here?
- What will happen if this place, creature, or situation is left undisturbed?
Hexes
- A hail of thorns tear at skin and lodge there. Bleed for [witch] damage per round (save ends).
- Vines constrict the target’s limbs, holding them in position (save or damage ends).
- A flash of lightning and peal of thunder. Target is blinded and deafened (save ends).
- Hallucinatory visions that swarm and multiply. Target cannot discern the location of allies, enemies, or objects (save ends).
Summoning: A pixie, a will-o-wisp, a dryad, a minor zephyr, living lightning.
The New Gods of Flesh, Steel, and Coin
Names: The Fleshtender, the Sunsmith, the Watcher-in-the-Walls, Lady Quickfingers, the Bloody Legion, Old King Coal, the Iron Maiden, the Crimson Mother, the Gleaming Crone, the Judge of Hearts, the Geometer, the Marque of Masques, Duke Tomorrow, Baron Count.
Augury: Set a small fire and stare unblinking into its depths. With the light of the fire scorched into your eyes, stare at a naked blade. The afterimage of the light will answer your questions in a series of blazing, demanding images.
Augury Questions
- Who controls this place or situation?
- What is being concealed here?
- What happened here in the recent past?
Hexes
- A burning brand scorches the target’s skin. The target is set aflame for [witch] damage per round (save or full-round action ends).
- You swing a knife through the air and the target’s skin splits open in harmony. Bleed for [witch] damage per round (save ends).
- You twist your fingers and the target’s flesh knots into horrid forms. Target is disarmed and weakened, dealing -4 damage on all its attacks (save ends).
- You deliver a cutting remark that perfectly undermines the target’s status. Target cannot be taken seriously or be obeyed (save ends).
Summons: A homunculus, a clockwork servant, a living fire, a mimic, a faceless soldier, a chimaera.
The Near Gods of the Harvest, Revelry, and Beasts
Names: Rrrgororr, the Friend to Friends, the Dire Pack, the Virgin Huntress, Father Fall and Mother Autumn, the Gloaming Crone, the Marque of Masques, Hissbuzz, the Jolly Baron, the Turning Wheel, the Fateweaver, the Lanternjack, Lord Almanac.
Augury: Throw the bones and read their facings, positions, and relations. Relay the tale the bones tell as faithfully as you desire, for only in the telling is meaning made. Carve a new bone if you must, but only from a creature you have killed and eaten.
Augury Questions
- What is hiding here?
- Who does this situation, creature, or place serve?
- What is weak or vulnerable here?
Hexes
- Your target is infected with a fast-acting disease that produces boils, lesions, and other horrid symptoms. They must spend an action each round clawing at their skin and vomiting (save ends).
- You intoxicate your target with the carelessness of revelry. They have -4 AC (save or action ends).
- A bite mark tears into your target’s flesh. They bleed for [witch] damage per round (save ends).
- Your target is overcome with atavistic terror. They cannot approach you or a target of your choice (save or damage ends).
Summons: A faithful beast, a scarecrow, a swarm, a flock, a fae reveler, animated farm equipment, a jack o’ lantern.
The Far Gods of the Heavens, the Moon, and the Night
Names: The Starguide, the Moon-Maiden, the Night-Mother, the Gleaming Crone, the Sunsmith, the Geometer, the Skyblind Queen, Qolendra-Qa, the Starlit Path, the Traveling Moon, the Loom of Fate, the Baleful Star.
Augury: Ask your question, then draw a spread from your tarot deck. Interpret the cards with the gravitas they deserve, but know that there are always deeper meanings hidden in their fractal geometries.
Augury Questions
- Who set these events in motion?
- What is hidden from my perspective here?
- How could everything go wrong here?
Hexes
- A beam of starlight scorches your target with the utter cold of deepest night. They’re frostbitten and move at half speed (save ends).
- You snip lines of the target’s fate and sew them into a less fortunate tapestry. They have disadvantage on attack rolls and skill checks (save ends).
- With a baleful stare, you shroud the target’s senses in the lightless and soundless depths of the void. They’re blinded and deafened (save or damage ends).
- You drag the target down with the gravity of far-off worlds or liberate them from the world’s pull to float them helplessly in midair. They are immobilized and either immune to forced movement or move twice as far when pushed (save ends).
Summons: A moonmite, a ghost that never was, living frost, a faceless reflection, a wisp of a star, a being from the darkest skies.
Gifts
Your patrons provide Gifts as a reward for your dedication, or less charitably, so that you can better carry out their work. Whenever you gain this ability, take an additional Gift you have not yet chosen.
Mark of Favour
You have a visible mutation that marks you as a witch. It provides you with an exceptional sense, an exceptional movement ability, a natural weapon, or another ability of a similar kind. This mutation cannot be hidden by magic and requires impractical clothing to fully conceal. You may choose this gift more than once.
Place of Power
You have worked with your patrons to create a personal place of great power such as a cottage, a henge, or a garden. You have an additional reroll for Workings in your place of power, though successes on any reroll still count as Concord rather than Assent. You may change your Place of Power during downtime, but you cannot take it with you on adventures.
Familiar
You have a permanent Minor Summon that cannot be dismissed. Choose its traits, name, and form when you receive this Gift. The familiar is at least as intelligent as you and knows it. Whenever it would die, it instead vanishes to lick its wounds and will return when you next Summon (in addition to anything else you summon, even on a result of Dismissal). Furthermore, you can speak with creatures of a similar kind to your familiar, though they may not want to talk to you.
Cauldron of Making
You have a large cauldron that lets you mix potions, poultices, poisons, and stews with useful properties. When you set up your Cauldron over a fire, fill it with clean water, bring it to a rolling boil, and fill it with relevant reagents and ingredients, you may make a Craft roll.
Assent: You brew [witch] potions with two effects of your choice.
Concord: Brew [witch] potions with one effect of your choice and one of the GM’s choice.
Dismissal: The reagents and ingredients denature into a tasty but mundane stew that counts as one ration per member of your party.
Potion Effects
1. Heal 1d6 HP or inflict 1d6 damage.
2. Automatically succeed on a saving throw vs. an ongoing condition or cause the next [witch] saves against an ongoing condition to automatically fail.
3. Inflict one of your patrons’ Hex effects.
4. Provide an exceptional sense or movement ability for one hour.
5. Increase or decrease an ability score by [witch] points for one hour. This does not apply to your Craft rolls.
6. Brew an additional 1d6 potions, but they only have a single effect.
7. Something else; negotiated with your GM.
Wyrd Transport
You have a powerful mount, enchanted item, or an animate conveyance that allows you to move yourself and your allies at great speed and with great safety. It can hold the entire party and their equipment, as well as a wagon-load of other cargo. It travels overland at the speed of a horse-drawn carriage, but is better at traversing difficult terrain. Your transport refuses to engage in combat, though if it is attacked it has 8HD, deals 2d6 damage on a melee attack, and always acts after all other combatants.
Book of Wyrds
Add the following modifiers to the Assent criteria for your Workings.
Augury
If you sleep on your question, you can converse with one of your patrons regarding your question in your dreams. If you have a large mirror in addition to your scrying tools, your patron can answer your questions with specific images.
Hex
You can hex up to [witch] additional targets. If you do, each target only takes 1d6 damage.
After rolling damage, you can forgo dealing damage to impose a -damage penalty to saves vs. the hex’s effects.
Summon
You may call [witch]+1 minor summons instead of a major summon.
When you Summon, you may dismiss three or more extant major summons to call a greater summon. The greater summon will perform a single service and will see it done to its own satisfaction, which is quite thorough but indiscriminate.
A greater summon is large, has 4+[witch]HD, inflicts 1d12+[witch] damage with its attacks, and has many other powerful abilities. Each greater summon is unique, intelligent, and has many names. Once you have called a greater summon and it has completed its task, it is likely to return of its own accord and is by no means an ally.
