School of Witchcraft

All wizards know that certain elements of magic are forbidden. These taboo arcane practices, like blood magic and curse-weaving, are simply too potent; too potentially dangerous to be freely wielded. But there are some wizards who dare to break these taboos, who ignore the warnings and potential dangers, and instead embrace these practices. These wizards adhere to the School of Witchcraft, and have learnt how to weave powerful curses, form witch covens and summon familiars whose capabilities are unlike those of lesser wizards.

As a wizard of the School of Witchcraft you were either self-taught, having discovered and read forbidden books of lore, or you might have been taught by a powerful hag. Perhaps this hag shared their secrets freely, knowing the dangers, or perhaps you traded something for this knowledge.

Witch’s Familiar

Beginning when you choose this tradition at 2nd level, you’ve forged a bond with a familiar and granted it a measure of your arcane power. You can add the Find Familiar spell to your spellbook. The spell requires no material components to cast but you can only cast it as a ritual.

When you cast it, the familiar you create is modified in the following ways:

• Its Charisma, Intelligence and Wisdom scores all increase to 14.
• Your familiar can talk, even if not normally cannot. It can understand and speak any language that you can.
• Your familiar can add your proficiency bonus to any skill checks it makes, provided it lacks proficiency in the skill.
• The telepathic link between you and your familiar functions as long as you are both on the same plane of existence.

Wicked Curse

Also at 2nd level, you’ve learnt how to weave powerful curses. As a bonus action, you can mark a creature within 60 feet of you that you can see with a wicked curse. A cursed creature suffers the following effects:

• Whenever you deal damage to it using one of your wizard spells, it takes additional damage equal to your Intelligence modifier. The damage type of this extra damage is necrotic.
• The movement speed of the cursed creature is reduced by 10 feet.

Additionally, as an action, you can use the senses of the bearer of your curse. While you’re doing so, you can see and hear anything that the cursed creature can. Your own body is considered blinded and deafened. The cursed creature remains unaware of you using its senses, unless it has reason to believe otherwise.

Only one creature can be under the effects of your Wicked Curse feature at a time.

Your curse remains on a creature for a number of hours equal to your wizard level + 4. The curse can end early if Remove Curse is cast on its bearer, if you curse a different creature or if you choose to end it (requires no action by you).

You can use this feature a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus per long rest.

Form Coven

At 6th level, you’ve learnt how to forge arcane connections between yourself and your allies. After finishing a long rest you can choose a number of willing creatures up to your proficiency bonus that joined you for the long rest. An arcane bond known as a “coven” is then formed between you and the chosen creatures.

Whenever you cast a spell you know, you can cast it as if you were standing in the space of one of your coven members, as long as they’re within line of sight of you. If you cast a spell with a range of Self in this way, such as the Mage Armor spell, the spell affects your coven member instead of yourself.

You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Intelligence modifier per long rest.

The bond remains until you choose to add or remove members of your coven as part of another long rest.

Greater Curse

At 10th level, the curses you weave grow stronger. While you’re using the senses of a creature bearing your Wicked Curse, you can perform the following features:

Voice of the Wicked. Provided that the cursed creature has a mouth, you can speak through it, using its voice to do so. If the cursed creature normally cannot speak, the voice sounds like your own.

Puppet’s Strike. You can use your bonus action to force the cursed creature to use its reaction to make a single melee weapon attack or unarmed strike against a creature you choose within range.

Chain Curse. You can use your bonus action to move the curse to a new creature within line of sight. After doing so, the previous bearer of your curse is no longer considered cursed. This expends a use of your Wicked Curse feature as normal.

Witch Monarch

At 14th level, you’ve become a master at witchcraft. You gain the following features:

• Members of your coven can add your Intelligence modifier to any saving throws they make against spells and other magical effects.
• The target of your Wicked Curse feature has disadvantage on saving throws against spells you cast that are of the enchantment and illusion schools of magic.