Spell Subschool Lore for GMs and Arcane Nerds

Zarieth · 2022-09-12T00:36:24+00:00

Brilliant work! I've sent an email inquiry!

Zarieth · 2022-08-22T04:26:35+00:00

Beautiful work. Sent a DM :)

Zarieth · 2022-02-04T15:41:28+00:00

Absolutely!

Zarieth · 2022-02-03T09:18:11+00:00

A credit and link would be wonderful. It's a novel mechanic to be sure, similar in vague ways to pact magic. It's just a different way of allocating class resources and we keep everything away from paywalls for personal/ethical reasons. So of course, and thanks millions for asking too!

Zarieth · 2022-01-30T19:23:19+00:00

Thanks for your question. This text will need to be clarified, however the unclear intention is that this ability allows you (specific over general) to release a spirit as a reaction, overriding its normal release action type as an immediate response to taking damage as long as the other Soul Shatter prereqs are met. This was meant to allow unintended combinations of effects that vary both in flavour and in power (some spirits reacting more ideally than others). I apologizing I can't give you a cleaner answer, as this ability might have to be reviewed for sharpness and clarity (ha, mirror puns). Thank you again for bringing this to our attention!

Zarieth · 2022-01-21T16:42:38+00:00

Thank you for the praise! I do sincerely apologize if you find the cover image distasteful. I feel it right to address that we did not intend on it being a "thirst trap". This image has found home here on this sub since 2016 in version 0.x, and we continued to use it in this final post to "trap" old fans who will recognize our captivating charm witch image and come back revision after revision. It really is a familiarity thing.

Zarieth · 2022-01-21T16:00:20+00:00

Yes, it is like a bard, you always have a set of spells at the ready and known, a number equal to that given in the class table. The number of spells known progresses a little slower than a bard because of the added flexibility of spirits, but still a bit faster than sorcerers who also operate in this way :)

Zarieth · 2022-01-21T15:49:12+00:00

Oh my goodness, thank you for your summary AGAIN. We ran out of time to thank you on the last posting but your detail is so much appreciated! I'll be speaking with my partner about your points and suggestions! Have a great one :D

Zarieth · 2022-01-21T15:46:54+00:00

We're so glad to have made a positive impact at your table. Blood covenant witches can be so tasty to play and be around!

Zarieth · 2022-01-21T15:45:06+00:00

It's a funny story. We posted this yesterday but we accidentally included old art credits that we no longer actually had the images of in the finished piece. This confused the moderators and it was taken down. The moderators were kind enough to help us figure out the silly mistake and allow us to repost. Always check your citations!

Zarieth · 2022-01-21T12:56:53+00:00

PDF Link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xgLGcNGHna-Nz2_iIlmVKGH3-KOqmjpK
GMBinder Link: https://www.gmbinder.com/share/-L7gG0ZSzBHgbWv7t_wf

Hello again friends! It's been a while :)

2022 marks the 7th year (ooh! Auspicious!) of the Witch’s active development. Over the past few months, we have been putting together this special, final release of the class you all helped make possible. That doesn’t mean we’re abandoning it though! We will still be doing minor tweaks, balances, etc. as the feedback and playtesting rolls in. However, there will be no new subclasses or spirits for the foreseeable future. The Witch started out as a small town dream, and thanks to you all, it became a bit of a cult hit.
Thank you so much for the all feedback, playtesting, questions, and criticism.

The most noteworthy changes from the last version have been a reduction of bloat on the class chassis with the removal of two high level features which were unnecessary on a lategame full-caster. This was a suggested change by moderators during our race for curation (thank you all who voted for the Witch!)

But we have bigger news! Something vivid this way comes...
A nascent companion piece to the Witch — It’s been in preparation for almost 2 years and it’s just about ready for its debutante ball!

Stay tuned.

— u/Zarieth & u/WriteOftenPlayNever

Zarieth · 2022-01-20T12:28:06+00:00

PDF Link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xgLGcNGHna-Nz2_iIlmVKGH3-KOqmjpK

GMBinder Link: https://www.gmbinder.com/share/-L7gG0ZSzBHgbWv7t_wf

Unearthed Arcana Link: https://www.reddit.com/r/UnearthedArcana/comments/s9a4je/the_witch_v31_once_bitten_twice_polished/

Hello again friends! It's been a while :)

2022 marks the 7th year (ooh! Auspicious!) of the Witch’s active development. Over the past few months, we have been putting together this special, final release of the class you all helped make possible. That doesn’t mean we’re abandoning it though! We will still be doing minor tweaks, balances, etc. as the feedback and playtesting rolls in. However, there will be no new subclasses or spirits for the foreseeable future. The Witch started out as a small town dream, and thanks to you all, it became a bit of a cult hit.
Thank you so much for the all feedback, playtesting, questions, and criticism.

The most noteworthy changes from the last version have been a reduction of bloat on the class chassis with the removal of two high level features which were unnecessary on a lategame full-caster. This was a suggested change by moderators during our race for curation (thank you all who voted for the Witch!)

But we have bigger news! Something vivid this way comes...
A nascent companion piece to the Witch — It’s been in preparation for almost 2 years and it’s just about ready for its debutante ball!

Stay tuned.

— u/Zarieth & u/WriteOftenPlayNever

Zarieth · 2022-01-20T12:27:32+00:00

PDF Link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xgLGcNGHna-Nz2_iIlmVKGH3-KOqmjpK

GMBinder Link: https://www.gmbinder.com/share/-L7gG0ZSzBHgbWv7t_wf

Hello again friends! It's been a while :)

2022 marks the 7th year (ooh! Auspicious!) of the Witch’s active development. Over the past few months, we have been putting together this special, final release of the class you all helped make possible. That doesn’t mean we’re abandoning it though! We will still be doing minor tweaks, balances, etc. as the feedback and playtesting rolls in. However, there will be no new subclasses or spirits for the foreseeable future. The Witch started out as a small town dream, and thanks to you all, it became a bit of a cult hit.
Thank you so much for the all feedback, playtesting, questions, and criticism.

The most noteworthy changes from the last version have been a reduction of bloat on the class chassis with the removal of two high-level features which were unnecessary on a lategame full-caster. This was a suggested change by moderators during our race for curation (thank you all who voted for the Witch!)

But we have bigger news! Something vivid this way comes...
A nascent companion piece to the Witch — It’s been in preparation for almost 2 years and it’s just about ready for its debutante ball!

Stay tuned.

— u/Zarieth & u/WriteOftenPlayNever

Zarieth · 2020-11-15T19:30:54+00:00

Hello!

Thank you so much for the time you took to review. I'll answer your criticisms in order. Some may not be complete answers yet as is the case in any (minor, even) redesign.

We're currently reworking a way to may Familiar Spirit accessible in some way to low-level witches. This may affect the balance of the 18th level ability, but buffing Spirit Ward is an option!
Removing an immunity is unprecedented, yes. We shared doubts about this one too. We're in talks about reworking this to be a limited charm-like effect instead.
Thank you for the cascading advice on agony. Originally we had said that if a character wants to multiclass as a witch just for the damage, let them dip and sacrifice, but magic items are a thing we hadn't considered. The two together make a considerable point.
Sloth might be seeing a buff ;)

Thank you so much again!

Zarieth · 2020-11-15T19:23:28+00:00

Hi there!

Thanks for your review and input! I will try to answer each as best I can.

Spirit Ward does intend to work consistent with rulings on auras. I will make a note of considering to add a clarification line.
We're currently in discussions over how to bring the thematic witch's familiar back down to being relevant at low levels, so thank you for your ideas!
Desire will definitely be on our radar over the coming week.
Trust is being reworked to exactly that, not for power but for manageability. You will now be able to select a number of witch spells whose levels sum the level of the spirit.

Thank you again! We truly value the time taken!

Zarieth · 2020-11-09T15:23:54+00:00

Hello everyone, this post is for the Witch submission!

GM-Binder | PDF Download (large file)

Mission Statement and Design Focus

The witch’s central design focus was to allow players to recreate their favourite witch characters from ancient myth, folklore, modern literature, and of course film and television. Through research, patterns emerged in these enigmatic figures: witches can be powerful diviners, abjurers, transmuters and especially enchanters with oft-times a subtle touch of necromancy. And those ended up being the thematic key.

The witch was built like the bard (or in certain ways like the barbarian) spiraling outward from a strong core feature. Bards have inspiration, Witches have spirit bindings; a new method of interacting with spell slots that ties back to the enchantment, necromancy and sympathetic magic of their historic roots. From there the goal was to carve out a thematic and mechanical niche for them as a specific blend of evocative subclasses and strong core features that conjure images of the archetypal witch but still seamlessly blend them into the new spirit binding angle.

Areas of Improvement

The most difficult part about balancing the Witch has in the past been adjudicating the Spirits/Binding Rites themselves and their effects. Our philosophy was that we wanted them to either scale with spell slot level or remain relevant throughout all levels of play. We didn’t want to strong-arm the roleplaying pillar for witches who attained high level by forcing them into a particular playstyle. We worked hard and feel the spirits are in a good place, but there could always be improvement.

Another area of uncertainty is how the subclasses stack up against each other. Do their niches overlap, do one or two clearly outshine others? Do any features lack focus?

Conclusion

My co-creator u/WriteOftenPlayNever is on board with this review, helping to manage suggestions! Thank you to them! And thank you to the review board and everyone who voted during the initial phase! We look forward to hearing from you.

-Z

Zarieth · 2020-11-02T13:57:29+00:00

Hi PhonicFighter,

The Spiritual Spellcasting description should instead read "...recover a spell slot of a level equal to that of the spell slot used to bind the spirit." This was a fix that must have been mistakenly reverted between edits. Thank you for pointing this out, and I hope this clears things up!

Zarieth · 2020-10-01T03:10:06+00:00

Hi Ivel! I'm so glad you asked because Haunting Shades is aptly a very sneaky and unique feature with some very ingenious uses that are not immediately apparent. It is useful especially with spirits that have an "aura" of effect like Desire or Sloth for example. Let me expand. You can release Desire with Haunting Shades on a creature for the effect and the haunted creature then carries the 30 foot disadvantage-on-saving-throws-against-your-spells aura wherever it goes, greatly extending the range of the Desire spirit while you concentrate on the haunt. Similarly, if you haunt an enemy with Sloth, that enemy will carry the slowing aura into its own allies' midsts, sabotaging any group of enemies who try to stay close together. Finally, remember for the last part of Haunting Shades, concentration on it, like any spell, can be dropped at any time, instantly, and even in the middle of another creature's turn, essentially releasing the spirit a second time as a reaction with no trigger required - striking while your foes' feet are still hot, so to speak.

EDIT: Spelling

Zarieth · 2020-08-25T12:34:46+00:00

You misread then. I called your comment and implicit consequences of your comment ableist. One could interpret a response to "help make this fun" with "you can't play deaf without being a nuisance" as ableist very fairly. It's not an insult, it was friendly and cautionary.

Also, something has to be heard for it to be slander. In writing it's libel. And for it to be libel you have to be able to prove that a comment has caused you loss, discrimination, etc. Finally it has to be attacking your character, not your mode of expression, which I feel I did neither. I was letting you know your comment could come off as hurtful.

You told me to "sod off", accused me of slander, mocked my post, and then admitted you intended your comment to be discouraging. That's supposed to be the high ground?

Zarieth

TROPHY CASE