Talk:Witch (5e Class)

I love it!

I can't speak to balance as of yet (my first campaign, and my first experience with 5e, looms), but it looks both fun and flavorful. Will you produce a list of spells, as well? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Hadalhum (talk • contribs) 17:14, 11 September 2014 (MST). Please sign your posts.

Some changes

First off let me say I enjoyed reading over your Witch class. It is definitely an interesting take on a witch and felt a lot more like how I envision Warlocks binding things to do their bidding which they don't really do in 5e.

My suggestions or critiques are as follows:

Change the wording ritual to something else or give Witch the Ritual Caster feature. The fact that your Witch has things called Rituals but does not have Ritual Casting is a bit confusing. In 5e a Class casting a spell with the ritual tag as a ritual with Ritual Casting doesn't expend spell slots and it could be confusing to a player to say I'm doing this Ritual of Warding/Exorcism/Summoning/Possession which is taking 10 minutes (the time of a normally instantaneous spell being cast as a ritual) and still costing them a spell slot.

Binding Rituals: I really like this aspect the most. However I feel like it should be important to limit the type of bond you have to one bond per type so people won't stack multiple iterations of the same bond over and over again. This especially becomes true if someone decides to stack Spirit of Agony or Spirit of Anger 8 times. I also feel like having 8 bonds would make your Witch incredibly powerful if they devoted all 8 of their bonds to Binding Rituals instead of for their Circle Archetype which seem a lot less powerful than Spirit Binding.

Spirit of Agony: In the presence of a spirit of agony, foes’ wounds continue to bleed, and fires continue to burn. While a spirit of agony is bound, any creature you damage continues to take damage in the round following your successful attack (on your turn). The damage dealt is of the same type as the original attack, and is equal to 1d6 per level of the spell slot filled when this spirit is bound. Binding this spirit requires a spell slot 1st level or higher to be filled.

Mechanical aspect: I think instead of upping the damage 1d6 per spell slot level which would potentially make your cantrip spamming incredibly powerful instead you should increase the rounds by which the damage is inflicted. So a 2nd level spell slot binding would cause 1d6 damage per turn for 2 turns either at the start of your turn or the end of the enemies turn. You could make this more powerful by saying repeated attacks increase the damage die by one size up to a maximum of 1d8. You could change the die size based on the Spell slot level used as well instead of increasing the rounds damage is taken. By changing it to rounds instead of flat damage boosts it mechanically fits into what the fluff of your spirit of agony does.

Spirit of Anger: Spirits of anger throw your opponents into a blind rage. For as long as a spirit of anger is bound to you, you gain a bonus to AC equal to the level of the spell slot filled for the binding. Binding this spirit requires a spell slot 1st level or higher to be filled.

Fluff aspect: The spirit of anger makes your opponents mad. Shouldn't this be shown as either more likely to attack you or anything around them, friend or foe? Why does this mechanically increase your AC?

Mechanical aspect: This is currently giving a +1 to +9 bonus to AC. I think instead this should be reworded to AC equals 10 + Spell Slot filled for the binding. One of the most common themes for AC in 5e is that there is no bonus AC mods, most everything instead sets AC to a certain equation or flat number. As its written a level 1 barbarian (or Monk) 19 witch could potentially have 29 AC (31 AC with shield). However setting it at a flat 10 + Spell Slot filled would mean at most they would have 19 AC (21 with shield). Barbarians and Monks with +5 DEX and +5 CON (or WIS if Monk) mods only have 20 AC (22 with shield) and a Fighter wearing full Plate only gets 18 AC (20 with shield) (21 with shield and Defense Fighting Style).

Spirit of Courage: A spirit of courage gives you the strength to achieve what might not have been possible. Whenever you roll a natural 1 on any save, ability check, or attack roll, you may reroll as long as a spirit of courage is bound. Binding this spirit requires a spell slot 3rd level or higher to be filled.

Mechanical aspect: This is basically identical to the Halfling Lucky trait. This should either be stated that it does not stack with the Halflings Lucky trait or that it can be used once per short rest. I understand the chance of getting a one is 0.0025% on a second dice roll, which means having this stack with Lucky trait shouldn't be an issue, but I feel that this trait should be something left specifically for Halflings. While giving a person Advantage to all rolls for saves, ability checks, or attack rolls feels to strong and still not inline with Courage, perhaps negating Disadvantage would be something still just as powerful and more meaningful.

Circle of Blood

Sympathetic Magic: You should just call this Blood Magic or Voodoo. This is incredibly powerful although limited in usefulness.

Protective Charm: I feel this is generally pretty weak seeing as it uses a bond slot. Limiting this to one per person with a duration of 10 minutes - 1 hour crafting the charm depending on the charm type would instead be much better. Maybe you could further limit it by making the Charm crafting have a total limit of how many you could craft per day of each type. This would allow a Witch to want to use this ability rather than punishing them for wanting to help out the party and not feel weakened by having to give up a potentially permanent Spirit Binding for single use item.

Strength of Spirit: Do these temp HP points refill per short or long rest? Do they only refill when binding a new spirit? Also this feature runs counter to Protective Charm because Protective Charm fills a Spirit Bond but isn't a spirit and thus RAI shouldn't apply to Charms taking up Spirit Bond slots. Further weakening the want to even use their Archetype feature of Protective Charm.

Blood Rituals: I would think perhaps the name Blood Ritual would suggest you are either using your blood or someone else's blood for the ritual. Perhaps you or a willing(?) target loses 1d4 Hit Points per level of the Spell Ritual you are casting and are then allowed to cast the ritual at the spell's level + 1. Perhaps you specifically lose 1d6 Hit Points per Spell level and then 1d10 Hit Points per spell level you are raising the ritual to. So a 2nd Level Ritual you want to cast at 9th level would cost you 2d6 Hit Points + 7d10 Hit Points. Also remember in 5e casting a spell with the ritual tag as a ritual costs an additional 10 minutes of time but does not use a spell slot (which is why I don't understand how a class so steeped in Rituals doesn't have ritual casting).

Circle of Power:

Spiritual Spell: This is great when you come across a situation in which giving up your spirit bond is needed so you can do something or another with a spell. This makes probably the best use of Spirit Binding as you can have the benefits of Spirit Binding and then release those spirits to regain your spell slots they're taking up for more spell casting as needed. Come back later and rebind your spirits and start all over again. Already a better overall feature than Circle of Blood.

Resonant Magic: This is pretty great. They fail a Wisdom save they take extra damage. Why wouldn't this apply to any save instead? Also I don't think it should be Wisdom damage it should probably be damage of the same type taken. This could be changed to when a creature would take damage from a spell you cast they would take an additional 1d4 of that damage type. Or perhaps it adds your CHA mod to damage as a flat bonus instead of 1d4.

Powerful Bonds: This is so so. 5 out of the 10 of your Spirits give flat bonuses instead of Spell Slot level bonuses. Perhaps instead of just increasing the bonus by one spell slot level you could also reduce the requirement of the spell slot by one (minimum 1st Level Spell Slot). This way your flat bonus Spirits can be used for one spell slot lower and your increasing bonus spirits could be used at one spell slot lower but would still have the benefits of a one spell slot higher.

Witch Spell list: You haven't made this yes and I can tell that this is still a Work In Progress. I would assume based on Circle of Power Archetype you envision them having a decent list of spells that target Wisdom with probably some standard elemental and nature spells to flesh out their spell toolbox.

Again I really liked the idea behind this class build and I think once the DMG comes out I'll give this another look because there is definitely an appeal to dealing with supernatural elements. Also I hope I posted this is the right spot as I don't really use Wiki stuff that much. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 99.146.169.72 (talk) 11:59, 21 October 2014 (MST). Please sign your posts.

Recommendations

Overall, very interesting. You wanted to make a unique class that fit the archetype of a witch and you succeeded. impressively detailed and thought out. Thought it may actually be more accurate to call it a Shaman. That's just me.

However, I'm not sure how I feel about the constant use of spell slots. That will quickly limit the Witch's abilities in battle to their cantrips. I feel like witches need a mechanic like Sorcery Points. Maybe just Spirit/Witchcraft points?

I agree with the other poster that the word "ritual" should be changed to something else. Maybe Communion?

The Rituals of Warding and Exorcism annoy me. It's specific to spirits, which may prove useless in many campaigns where there are no spirits involved. Yes, Clerics have turn undead, but that's a minor feature amongst others. Spirits are also a more specific kind of undead, which makes it even more limiting. And to avoid just making witches be necromancers, I would not change "spirits" to "undead." The Ritual of Warding requiring ten minutes also makes it useless. A round is six seconds, so thats 50rounds to complete the ritual. Unless the party somehow has lured the enemy into an area prepared prior to the battle, this is useless.

I feel like the Ritual of Summoning needs to be something more. I like the idea of summoning a spirit, but maybe it should just be instant? Right now it's just Planar Ally but worse. Perhaps make it an instant summon, not have to pay the spirit, and require concentration to keep the spirit in the Material Plane.

The Binding rituals are the primary need for a Sorcery Point style mechanic. I'd recommend making Spirit Points and have the bonds last for a duration of one hour or something until they fade off. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Goobaleegoo (talk • contribs) 12:41, 10 November 2014 (MST). Please sign your posts.

Further positive feedback

I haven’t read all of it yet, but I love the flavor and your respect for carefully approaching balance. As for the above-mentioned issue of “ritual,” you could instead call them rites, which as far as I understand are basically identical in meaning but should reduce confusion regarding ritual casting. Best of luck on your continued work! —Proton^[talk] 18:24, 29 November 2014 (MST)

Changes from feedback so far

Thanks everyone for the comments and suggestions! It really is appreciated. Here is what's changed so far:

Terminology Changed the word “ritual” to “rite” in the context of the witch’s four class abilities. “Binding Rituals” remains, as it removes any confusion over rite of warding, rite of summoning, etc. and seems to me distinct enough from spells with the ritual tag (a binding ritual binds things semi-permanently and is ongoing, while a ritual spell is simply a spell cast over 10 minutes). “Ritual bonds” has been changed to simply “bonds”

Binding Rituals Made it clear that only one spirit of each type may be bound at a time. Reduced and scaled the number of bonds allowed to a maximum of 6 at level 20. To offset this, Circle class features have been rebalanced and no longer require a bond to be filled. Also makes the use of circle class features simpler and distinct from binding rituals.

Spirit of Agony I changed the 1d6 damage per spell level to 1d6 + CHA modifier for a number of rounds equal to the spell level. This amounts to a slightly higher amount of damage but over a longer period of time. I also changed it so that repeat attacks reset the number of rounds (rounds of damage are not appended to each other). Against a single opponent this effect seems less powerful (the number of rounds which overlap are wasted), though strategy can help maximize the damage (spreading attacks over a number of different foes, or taking the time between attacks to cast spells which either benefit the party, or affect the foe in another way. This strategy encourages the use of more subtle or manipulative magic (more in line with the overall witch flavour).

Still not completely happy with it, seems overly complicated so any ideas are welcome :)

Spirit of Courage Changed the functionality to a choice to negate disadvantage a number of times per day equal to the spell slot level expended (3rd or higher). This lets the power of the spirit scale with the spell slot used, and also makes more sense (braving a moment of poor odds, choosing to rise up to a challenge).

Sympathetic Magic Decided to keep the name, as Blood Magic might be conflated with the Circle of Blood. A belief in sympathetic magic is a belief that a person or object can be affected supernaturally by something physically representative. Removed the requirement of a free bond, since it didn’t fill a bond anyway, and this made little sense. Keeps binding rituals and circle features separate and simpler.

Protective Charm Active charms no longer take up bonds. Charms now take 10 minutes to make, and last 24 hours. Only a set number of charms may be created per day, and multiple “copies” of charms do not stack on one creature. This makes the feature feel more like an additional feature of the circle, rather than a weaker alternative to binding spirits.

Strength of Spirit Clarified that temp hit points regenerate after a long rest. As long as a spirit is bound, you have those hit points, renewed each day.

Blood Rites Changed the name of the feature to use the new terminology “rites” to refer to rite class features. Spells with the ritual tag cast as rituals are also affected. Added a small HP sacrifice to fit the flavour and name of the feature.

Spiritual Spell Changed a wordy and confusing example.

Resonant Magic & Greater Resonant Magic Good points were brought up. The idea behind the feature is that when they fail a wisdom save, they draw closer to insanity. I also wanted this to work with spells that don’t deal damage. A failed save thus makes the foe more susceptible to future spells that require wisdom saves, so that a foe can be brought down mentally instead of through hit point damage (as spells which deal direct damage, or flashy spells, aren’t the witch’s forte). I will think about this more and revisit this.

I will also look carefully through the spell list to see if wisdom saves are common enough among the witch’s arsenal to make this ability useful/strong enough.

Powerful Bonds I liked how Spirit of Courage worked out with the addition of scaling, so I plan to revisit the spirits and see if I can get a greater number of them to scale with spell slot level.

Additional notes The point about some features being near useless in a campaign without much spirit activity is a good one. I plan on revisiting the rite class features to see if the class can be more self-sufficient, rather than relying on the DM to create a world specifically for the witch. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 135.0.36.40 (talk) 15:21, 7 December 2014 (MST). Please sign your posts.

general comments

Rituals could be renamed "workings", or something like that - maybe look at wiccan or pagan terms? To deal with the time issues raised above, perhaps some sort of "covenly" aspect, where a witch can conduct workings more quickly if she has other people (perhaps only other trained people, say other Ritual Casters, or like a herbalist's kit proficiency is required) to help?

Two other points I would raise are to do with the focus on spirits. Playing a spirit shaman in 3.5 had a similar limitation, and it requires some work from the GM to keep relevant - maybe to expand it you could consider using the Spirit Bindings as a way to increase the variety of targets possible to affect? EG, binding a spirit to a spell slot in order to allow you spirit-only abilities against non-spirits at one use per day per spell slot level?

Second is that the binding of spirits switches active actions for passive actions - so you are trading "my character does this useful thing!" for "this useful thing happens!". It's mechanically just as useful/important, maybe even more so - but it reduces the variety of things a character can do in combat and the amount of improvisation, characterisation and involvement they have - you can't come up with any clever tactics or variations upon "roll an extra dice of damage", if you see what I mean, in the same way you can do more interesting things than an attack roll with an attack action. I'd look to compensate for this with either unique cantrips - not more powerful but flexible, with more than one possible function, in the vein of Prestidigitation and Produce Flame - or by allowing a Witch to "expend" a bound spirit, burn its power out as a bonus action or reaction, in order to increase the bonus momentarily, then lose it until a long rest is taken? This gives a witch with multiple passibe effects an option - something to do in order to take an active role in combat! Might need more cost attached though. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 192.76.8.28 (talk) 15:50, 7 December 2014 (MST). Please sign your posts.

More changes

Terminology: Changed “Binding Rituals” to “Binding Rites”. Decided it was simpler to keep all witch abilities “rites”.

Rites (General): Only Binding Rites require spell slots. I figured with spirits taking up so many spell slots already, using the underpowered rite class abilities by sacrificing even more spells was highly unfavourable.

Rite of Warding: Made use of the ability an action rather than 10 minutes. Friendly spirits now stabilize allies who fall unconscious within the ward.

Rite of Exorcism: Can still use to banish spirits, but added functionality: exorcise a living creature’s own soul to temporarily stun and deal decent necrotic damage. Limited to 3 times/long rest.

Rite of Summoning: Now mimics planar binding, rather than planar ally. Casting time is reduced and material component is foregone, but duration is shorter and limited to a spiritual creature.

Spirits: All spirits have received adjustments aimed at balancing the passive effects with the sacrifice of a spell slot. Releasing a spirit now has a bonus effect which takes place on or near the time of release, giving the class more options for strategy and making their choices more important rather than relying completely on passive buffs.

Powerful Bonds: Added the option to bind spirits with a spell slot 1 level lower than stated to make up for the fact that not all spirits scale their effects with spell slot level.

Strength of Spirit: Made this the Circle of Blood’s 6th level ability, replacing Protective Charm.

Blood-Binding: This is the new 10th level ability granted by the circle of blood. It allows a slain creature’s soul to be immediately and temporarily bound, treated as a “bonus” spirit binding.

—The preceding unsigned comment was added by Zaith (talk • contribs) 12:09, 10 December 2014 (MST). Please sign your posts.

Super cool!

I can't really speak to balance, as I haven't played it, but from a glance it looks balanced. One thing is, the core class needs another ability. I think it'd be interesting to be able to release one or more spirits from their bonds to deal Xd8 necrotic damage to all creatures in a line. X is equal to the combined spell level that you released. I think this would help make filling 9th and 8th level spell slots with spirits worth it, as you can make up for the loss of damage in a burst.

Taking Over Edits

I stumbled across the Witch class in creating a character that fit something specific I had in mind. I realize it needs work - and so, I'm putting the work in. I have read all the past feedback thus far and will be working on the class to make it useable and decent.

I would like some feedback on the sheet when someone has time.

10/14/17: I didn't forget about the task I have undertaken. I went and got some feedback since no one up here seems to have any interest or care. It is as follows:

"ok first of all a flavor thing. this class feels more like a shaman than a witch. shaman deal with the spirits of the world and thier interacts while witches are known to make contracts with otherworldly beings to gain some of their powers (like warlocks). again just a flavor thing, call it whatever you want.

secondly most the spirits are way to strong spirit of courage removing disadvantage is a huge bonus that really shouldnt be in my opionon. think about how many other abilities let you just ignore disadvatage.

the release is fine i think. one other thing is that witchs appear to me to ahve less spells than other classes, which can be a trade of for passive spirit bonuses but do consider that

i think the spirit of fear needs a limit to fear durations. because 1 minute is a long time in comabte. that would basically end any combate situation. i think if teh fear was just 1 round it would give a nice boost but not force end the combate

spirit of guilt is also really strong since it gives everyone disadvatage. i think if you made it a reaction to give disadvatge it would be better. do you want me to move on to other points than?

so the quikening is maybe a bit to much at lvl 1 i think. since it gives witches the ability "speak with dead" at level 1 which is limited uses true but is also a lvl 3 spell i think you get for free if they felt the spirit and could get absic emotions at lvl 1 than at level 5 or something got teh ability to speak and interact it might be better like at lvl 1 they could tell that the man died with a lot of regret and saddness but at level 5 they could speak with the spirit and ask it why

i think the spell mod should be wisdom instead of chrisma since chrisma is the ability to bind things to convince people but wisdom is knowledge about how the world works. it makes since that a high wis low chr character that undersatdns the world but doesnt know how to talk to people can bind spirits but not a high chr low wis character that can convince people they know something but dont actually understand why spirit exist in teh first place

the binding rites takes maybe too long to do considering how important it is to the class. if it went from something like 10 minutes to 1 minute at lvl 13 it would make it so they could maintain their ghost army while still being ableto interact with others and npc's continuing though rite of warding giving immunity is really strong. i think giving advatage is much better since it wont just straight up remove the effivince of spells. and if you wanna give them resistances to witches you need to speciffy how much

the familiar needs a purpose. you get it at level 3 but cant summon it or do anything with it till lvl 11 with familiar hand so i dont know what teh point of him is

Sukana (Ashes)-Last Monday at 7:50 PM I was trying to consider what they could do. I was thinking perhaps having them serve as a bonus to Perception once every long rest. Then at level 5, they could assist with communicating with spirits if we alter The Quickening according to your suggestion. At level 7, they could add a bonus to Intimidation. Level 9, a three round bonus to strength in combat. Then what we see at level 11?

rite of exorism may want twicking to the damage on living creatures. (possibly remove it since exorcism is removing spirits from where tehy arnt supposed to be. clerics kinda do teh same with turn undead which des nothing on living things.) i know pathfinder familairs give bonuses to perception. maybe that early.

They evoke and invoke as well.

rite of possession i dont understand why you would use it on something dead. since it wont be able to move on its own anyway and it would be pointless. i dont think it should require the person to make a wisdom save to regain their body since the spirit would be bound or atracted to its home vassel. this would be the same reason that corpsis have their spirits nearby that can be bound by witches.

also when the witch isnt in their own body they would be out and the default ac of 16 is likly gonna be higher than their normal ac plus if they are seemlingly asleep it means an enemy could coup de ta them for instant kill anyways.

evocation is really strong too, but since its a lvl 18 it probably should be spring eternal is kinda a let down honestly although decent lore and motive wise for the pracrtisioners

i think blood rights from circle of blood should be the first bonus and the others bumped up once. since its only early game that pc's will care about that little damage, which we can change if you wnna make it a d2 or d4 self damage. that would make the players seriously consider if its worth it and if the rites are going to be really strong, it will be.

the witch con base of d6 is also something to consider with that though so maybe 1 damaage is best

circle of power wise i think you should say that the witch "cosumes" the spirit instead of dismissing it, that way it makes it clear the energy is coming from the spirit when they use spiritual spell and so they cant get both the realease bonus from the spirit and the extra spell slot.

also you should state that the greater resonant magic d6 replaces the d4 from resonant magic otherwise it sounds like they stack for a extra d10 damage

spirit of hate should have a set number of times to gain advanatge instead of just all the time.

passion should probably be removed since its absically the bardic inspiration which undermines the classes usefulness in the campain if you want rage to give advanatge it should probably be a wisdom save from the oppont or enter a effect similar to reckless atatck from barbarian where they get advantage on atacks but you also get them against him and the release is probably better buffing allies than hurting enemys since it would be anger that leads the effected party to do more damage like realease gives the next attack plus d6 damage or something

spirit of sorrow should also probably be limited somehow. since the way it is now will lead to a unending cycle of failures form having disadvatage that leads to them continuing to have disadvatage. although this could be alright if it was a focused things instead of to everyone within 30 ft.

i didnt look at the spell list so i cant comment on the adequicy of that

But at first glance you might want to tone down 5th-9th level spells you're essentially a wizard with lesser drawbacks now Being that you do not need to scribe spells for one Secondly if you have the spirits to assist a witch, every good of a class has it's weakness. you're writing in a way to cover all the angles while making an omnipotent character is good and all there are a couple of things that are mashing sorcs and wizs for your witch probably the first thing you need to think about is what kind of ability as a caster is a witch supposed to be as opposed to being able to be the do-it-all

Rite of Possession does seem unbalanced with the ease of possession vs. the potential risks behind re-entry. After all, if any PC has a "force a saving throw reroll" ability (which exists at least in 3.x & PF), it's entirely possible to push the person into death saves and you've lost nothing. There should be some defensive means to stop the possession beyond a single CHA saving throw.

What's the intent behind Familiar's Hand? A familiar would normally be nearby to the caster at all times, so why would you go through a summoning?"

I will do my best to address all of the above in a timely manner.

Changes 2017

Okay; the whole page has taken edits and changes in places. I'd appreciate if some members of the wiki could look it over along with my outside sources.

Some Points

Reading through, I love this class. I'm planning on using it for my very first campaign. I would suggest though to add a link or some further information about the athame, maybe some stats or a description of how it would be used as a focus? Also pointing out there seems to be a gap in the information for the Barghest first level details. (NutMegThings (talk) 02:36, 11 July 2018 (MDT))

Review - 04/05/2019

I personally have been using the Witch class for my character Saewynn in a campaign (currently third level, going the route of Black Witch and the Grey Lady), and have been finding it well balanced so far! The only locations I've found imbalance so far are in my own flavour text with the DM which brought up odd implications, however none of that is related to the class itself and more due to homebrew campaign lore. I think this class is a well balanced and versatile class, able to suit a number of character types. Some very good utility options thanks to the spell list and changes between Black and White witch. --Admiral Pegasus (talk) 20:07, 3 May 2019 (MDT)

Quick edits - 25/10/20

Class looks good - made the White witch have the death saves as a reaction rather than an action - unlikely your allies are gonna be failing a death save on your turn. Also added witch bolt to the 1st level spells for flavour. Kinda wanted to add Eldritch Blast, but I feel like that could unbalance it a lot.-- Anonymous

Rework Based Ideas 4/11/21

Alright, so this class looks cool in theory but can feel useless, and pointless when compared to other classes. In it's current state, you might as well go with a Druid/Rogue/Wizard multiclass. At least then, you get to do a LOT more fun things. Some features (such as Black Witch casting banishment once per long rest at level 20) are very underpowered, where other classes could get that kind of thing MUCH earlier on, and others (like the Black Witch's Potent Spellcasting) just feel... boring. Seriously, banishment can be achieved at 13th level at the latest, and is already part of the spell list, which makes level 20 an extra 4th level spell slot. It's not even a better kind of banishment either. One of my players tried playing a Witch, and we agreed that it's not fun to actually play early on, plus their spell list is so lackluster that playing any other similar class can get you the witch's features, and more. So I did what any self-respecting DM would do, and whipped up a version that I felt still fit, but was much better in terms of gameplay. And the changes I made are as follows:

New column to the Witch table called Familiar Damage, ranging from 1 to 2d6, increasing with each ASI.

Made Witch's Familiar a creature you summon spending 8 hours and 1 gp of incense to summon, you still choose any creature it takes the form of, but has a constant ability score set you can put into whatever they please (16, 14, 13, 11, 10, 8).

The familiar gets proficiency in Perception, with one other skill of your choice, and two saving throws. It has a number of Hit Points equal to (5+Their Constitution Modifier)*your level, with a 1d6 hit die, and always uses Strength for Attack and Damage rolls unless otherwise stated.

The Familiar only searches for you if it has no orders.

You can use an action to blind/deafen yourself to your own surroundings to see and hear through your familiar, using their senses and scores, being able to metally command it if you can sense it's location, before reaching 6th level.

The familiar can spend 1 minute to detect the presence of Celestials, Fiends and Undead within 1 mile, revealing what type is found, but not where.

6th level, the familiar's attacks are magical, and can target creatures on the ethereal plane, at disadvantage, gains a +2 to one ability score, or +1 to two ability scores, up to a maximum of 20, plus the bond's range increases to 100 ft.

14th level, once per short or long rest while looking through the familiar, you can cast See Invisibility without providing material components, when detecting the presence of Celestials, Fiends and Undead, each detected creature within 60 ft. is pinpointed, the familiar gains another Ability Score Increase, and the bond's range increases to 500 ft.

18th level, as long as you are peering through their vision, your familiar can freely cast See Invisibility at no cost, attacking creatures on the ethereal plane no longer imposes disadvantage, can attack twice instead of once, and all their ability scores increase by 2, to a maximum of 20, increasing another ability score (of choice) by the amount over if one would be increased over 20, the bond's range increases to Anywhere on the Same Plane, and they can be summoned in 1 minute.

Tweaked every Ghostly Bond, replacing features. Jack-o-the-Green:

1st: Cast Identify as a ritual, even when not prepared if targeting a plant, and learning if a plant is poisonous before consumption.

5th: Prepare a balm (over 10 minutes) that protects you and allies from natural hazards, advantage on stealth checks, discourages beast/plant attacks (unless provoked), resistance to poison, and advantage on saves against poison.

10th: Witch's familiar can communicate with animals, conveying vague messages, gains a climbing speed equal to walking, and can detect Beasts and Fey.

18th: Same as normal, but added a 1/day Transport Via Plants spell on top.

Grey Lady:

1st: Target specific Creatures.

5th: When a creature lies to you or you perceive an illusion within 30 ft. of you, the lying creature/illusion creator must make a Charisma Save against your Spell Save DC, or the lady tell you if there was a lie or illusion. As an action, she can tell you if one of these criteria were met within the past 10 minutes, but not what.

10th: Witch's familiar can levitate objects weighing no more than your Witch Level*5 as long as the familiar remains within 5 ft. of it, up to a maximum of objects equal to your Wisdom Modifier (With Concentration), and they can cast Invisibility on themselves at will, if they aren't engaged in combat, or concentrating.

18th: You can cast Detect Thoughts at will without providing a material component. Detect thoughts could also be used as an action to discern one thing that can be used against the targeted creature (still requires a save to resist).

Black Dog:

1st: You're alerted to magic as per the Detect Magic spell, but not the school or location.

5th: You can use an action to discern if any magic within 100 ft. is malicious, with vague direction, and the location of any physical traps within 10 ft. (traps that reveal you, or restrict without a debuff don't count. e.g. Snare)

10th: Your familiar becomes resistant to spells, advantage on spell saves, immunity to force, and immunity to the damage of your spells unless you say otherwise.

18th: You can cast Dispel Magic as a Ritual, evin if not prepared. Plus, if you fail the check, you may use your reaction to Identify the spell without a spell slot, revealing the effects, Spell Save DC and Attack Bonus of the creature. Plus, you gain advantage on saving throws against all spells.

Black Witch Coven:

3rd: The damage is equal to your Constitution Modifier + you Witch Level. Otherwise unchanged.

7th: The creature you summon has the shadow's stat block, but cannot reduce a creature's strength score via the Drain attack. The creature can take all actions, can be commanded telepathically from within 15 ft., and you can only have one per Short or Long rest.

11th: When you hit a creature with any attack, you mark it with a curse that causes that creature to take Necrotic damage equal to your proficiency bonus when they take any damage for 1 hour unless removed, but you can only curse 1 creature at a time.

15th: It is instead Enchanting Demeanor, which allows you to force all creatures within 60 ft. of you that you can see to make a Wisdom Saving Throw against your Spell Save DC, being charmed by you as if they looked up to you for a day on a failed save, or knowing you attempted to charm them on a successful one. After the effect ends, they know they were charmed, but not by who (unless they pass a History check against your Spell Save DC when they next see you), though their demeanor depends on your interactions. A creature can't be told to do something self harmful, but something they wouldn't otherwise do allows them to re-attempt the save. When the charm fails or ends, the target is immune for 24 hours.

20th: You can cast Magic Circle once per Long Rest at it's lowest level without material components, Plus, you can cast Forcecage once per long Rest providing only 500 gp of Ruby Dust. You can transport a Forcecage you cast this way as long as you are within 30 ft. of it.

White Witch Coven:

3rd: Temporary Hit points uses your Witch Level in place of your Wisdom Modifier. Otherwise the same.

7th: Same as the original

11th: Instead when you target a creature with Spiritual Aid, the target adds your Proficiency Bonus to all Saving Throws they make as long as the Temporary Hit Points Remain.

15th: It only applies to Saving Throws that induce the Blinded, Deafened, Frightened, Paralyzed, Petrified, Poisoned, Stunned, Charmed, or Unconscious conditions, but allows the target to re-roll while ignoring Disadvantage. The feature now requires a Reaction, and can be used a number of times equal to your Wisdom Bonus

20th: Spiritual Aid restores a number of Hit Points equal to your Witch Level + Your Wisdom Modifier to all creatures of your choice within 30 ft. of the aided creature on top of the Temp HP. Alternatively, you can expend a use of Spiritual Aid to cast Greater Restoration without a spell slot or material components.

Witch Spell List:

Cantrips: chill touch, control flames, dancing lights, fire bolt, friends, frostbite, guidance, gust, mage hand, magic stone, message, minor illusion, poison spray, produce flame, resistance, shillelagh, thaumaturgy, toll the dead.

1st Level: absorb elements, animal friendship, bane, bless, burning hands, cause fear, charm person command, comprehend languages, cure wounds, detect evil and good, detect magic, detect poison and disease, disguise self, faerie fire, false life, heroism, hex, identify, protection from evil and good, purify food and drink, ray of sickness, sanctuary, silent image, sleep, unseen servant, witch bolt

2nd Level: acid arrow, aid, alter self, arcanist's magic aura, augury, blindness/deafness, calm emotions, continual flame, darkness, darkvision, detect thoughts, enhance ability, enthrall, find traps, gentle repose, healing spirit, hold person, knock, lesser restoration, levitate, locate animals or plants, locate object, magic mouth, misty step, phantasmal force, prayer of healing, protection from poison, ray of enfeeblement, see invisibility, shadow blade, shatter, suggestion, warding bond.

3rd Level: animate dead, beacon of hope, bestow curse, call lightning, clairvoyance, dispel magic, fast friends, feign death, fear, fireball, tiny hut, life transference, lightning bolt, magic circle, nondetection, protection from energy, remove curse, sending, speak with dead, summon fey spirit, summon shadow spirit, tongues, vampiric touch, water walk

4th Level: banishment, blight, compulsion, confusion, death ward, divination, fire shield, ice storm, locate creature, private sanctum

5th Level: commune with nature, contagion, dispel evil and good, dominate person, dream, geas, greater restoration, hallow, legend lore, modify memory, planar binding, scrying, telepathic bond

As you can see, there's a lot that I felt was lacking. Expertise is not a worthwhile feature on its own, and it always comes with something more. Plus, I went for a much bigger focus on the familiar as the core of the class instead of just another Find Familiar copy paste. Seriously, I don't know of a base-game class with a heavy focus on spells (cleric, druid, warlock, wizard, sorcerer) that doesn't just give you a familiar uses Find Familiar with one or two extra rulings (off the top of my head anyway). But with these tweaks, I can already tell the class fits a much better space than the one it previously occupied. I will use these tweaks for my games, but it's up to you if you like them enough to add. --SamuelDancing (talk) 15:24, 11 April 2021 (MDT)