Okay, I'll come back in 30 minutes to an hour with a Witch class base idea. That seems to be the only thing that works in scenarios like these.
(Also, I never said it should be a half-caster, I'm going to make it a full caster. Yes, I know, another full arcane spellcaster, but it'll be unique.)
Edit: Well, that took more than an hour. Just posted it, after 11 hours (granted, I was a bit busy today, but still).
Is there anything in 5e that lets you use bones or blood to cast spells? Is there a subclass devoted to empowering yourself through your familiar? No, there's not. That means there's a thematic niche to be filled.
You can use bones and blood as an arcane focus if the DM says you can, and there are a small number of spells where having a bit of the target makes a difference. As for familiars, chain pact warlock. I mean, I'm perfectly willing to admit that there's things D&D can't build well, but you aren't even trying.
Oh, so now our niche depends on the DM allowing a homebrew rule that still doesn't give us what we want? Great. That sounds like it's going to work out for all people who want to play a witch.
Still trying to get a clear definition of 'what you want.' It seems to be a half arcane caster, other half undefined, who does not invoke higher powers nor has any pacts with any powers and does not shape shift, uses bone and/or blood for casting components and has a special tie with their familiar but not a pact of the chain....
Mostly that is what you want the class not to be rather than what you want the class to be. And the things you want the class to be, you reject easy answers for (bone and/or blood simply replacing normal components and pact of the chain for the familiar tie). And the bone and blood thing? Feels like trying to do an end run around expensive components. For the inexpensive stuff there are component pouches, which may as well contain bone and blood since no one EVER specifies what they are pulling out to cast with.
Here's my idea: the class would be a half caster, but it would be half arcane, half primal. This is similar to the warlock, which I would say is half divine/half arcane. It would have janky spell slots and lots of features, like the warlock.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
A fool pulls the leaves. A brute chops the trunk. A sage digs the roots.
I wasn't angry in my previous post. I was in the one quoting Vince. But I'm not trying to start a fight with anyone. I was merely outlining to Pantagruel the impracticality of a class niche depending on DMs ruling in favor of a homebrew rule.
Fair enough. I've been seeing a lot of bad juju going around lately, so I probably am just a little hypersensitive at the moment.
I think the question is what will the bones and blood do mechanically? Do you need different bones and blood for different feats/spells? Do you need to track them? Will this be something like non-cost components that are ignored already?
Now for this hypothetical witch, Third_Sundering mentioned using blood/bones as a spellcasting focus. Suppose we developed that idea further and introduced something that explicitly doesn't exist in 5e: blood magic. Let's say that this Witch class has the ability to empower their spellcasting by directly sacrificing a portion of their life-force. Let's also add a "jinx"mehcanic that functions as an at-will debuff ability that grows more powerful and can be customized as you gain in level. For the "Familiar" aspect, let's actually ditch the spell entirely and take a page from the Artificer/CFV UA and create a series of stat blocks that can be picked from and possibly customized as well. Third_Sundering also mentioned Coven Magic; let's say that adds additional low-level spell slots that can be shared with others who join in a ritual at the start of the day, and possibly adds some sort of passive benefit for engaging in this ritual as well.
For subclasses let's say that thematically, they channel their power directly from different sources, without actually making a bargain for power (cutting out the middleman, as they say). Let's also give them a list of spells known a la Paladin/Cleric that are always available, which are thematically appropriate for the subclass (nature magic, divine magic, dark magic, etc). For the subclass abilities themselves, I imagine they wouldn't differ too much from how they'd work for other arcane casters, but right now I'm just spitballing so who knows?
Now obviously this is all very raw, but with fleshing out and refinement I'd say there's a strong potential for something that plays *very* uniquely from other classes.
I think the question is what will the bones and blood do mechanically? Do you need different bones and blood for different feats/spells? Do you need to track them? Will this be something like non-cost components that are ignored already?
I'm still working on it, and it will be dependent on your subclass, but this is generally how I think it would work.
One subclass is for Blood Magic, allowing you to cast spells using blood. If a spell has a material component that has a cost, you may substitute the material component for humanoid blood. A bottle of blood can also be used as a spellcasting focus. One bottle of blood equates to 50 gold pieces worth of components. The blood is consumed after the casting. At later levels, they'd get the ability to cast spells with certain amounts of blood without using spell slots x-times per day, and so on.
Another subclass is Bone Magic. You may use a variety of humanoid bones as your spellcasting focus (skulls, finger bones, etc), and when you cast a spell through the bones, they are empowered in a certain way. Maybe it lets you reroll damage dice, or give disadvantage on the saving throw.
I'm still brainstorming ideas, but that's how it would generally work. Any thoughts?
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Is there anything in 5e that lets you use bones or blood to cast spells? Is there a subclass devoted to empowering yourself through your familiar? No, there's not. That means there's a thematic niche to be filled.
You can use bones and blood as an arcane focus if the DM says you can, and there are a small number of spells where having a bit of the target makes a difference. As for familiars, chain pact warlock. I mean, I'm perfectly willing to admit that there's things D&D can't build well, but you aren't even trying.
Oh, so now our niche depends on the DM allowing a homebrew rule that still doesn't give us what we want? Great. That sounds like it's going to work out for all people who want to play a witch.
Still trying to get a clear definition of 'what you want.' It seems to be a half arcane caster, other half undefined, who does not invoke higher powers nor has any pacts with any powers and does not shape shift, uses bone and/or blood for casting components and has a special tie with their familiar but not a pact of the chain....
Mostly that is what you want the class not to be rather than what you want the class to be. And the things you want the class to be, you reject easy answers for (bone and/or blood simply replacing normal components and pact of the chain for the familiar tie). And the bone and blood thing? Feels like trying to do an end run around expensive components. For the inexpensive stuff there are component pouches, which may as well contain bone and blood since no one EVER specifies what they are pulling out to cast with.
Here's my idea: the class would be a half caster, but it would be half arcane, half primal. This is similar to the warlock, which I would say is half divine/half arcane. It would have janky spell slots and lots of features, like the warlock.
And how exactly is 'primal' defined?
Primal is drawing from nature. Not exactly connected to gods or religious entities, but rather the mostly non-sentient spirits of the land itself. I described the various types of classes in my post here.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
A fool pulls the leaves. A brute chops the trunk. A sage digs the roots.
Okay, I'll come back in 30 minutes to an hour with a Witch class base idea. That seems to be the only thing that works in scenarios like these.
(Also, I never said it should be a half-caster, I'm going to make it a full caster. Yes, I know, another full arcane spellcaster, but it'll be unique.)
It was Durog25 who specified half-caster. But that you do not consider that a sticking point while they do is backing my position that no one can even come up with a group approved definition, only their own personal definition.
We've been discussing the mechanics of it for about a day, now. Everyone was disorganized about how a Shaman or Magus would work until someone gave an example of how it should function. Stop pretending like our arguments are invalid if an idea that different people have loosely given thought to up until this point aren't 100% solid on how it would work.
We know what we want, but be a bit patient. I've got something in the work, and will be back with the post sometime.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Kotath, I think you're misunderstanding what we're trying to do. We aren't trying to come up with a group definition that automatically everyone agrees with. We're trying to demonstrate that there are mechanical and thematic niches that can be filled out with new classes that don't work out nearly as well with existing ones. Now, we can try and come up with a group-defined framework for new classes, but I can tell you now the design process is more like sausage making than anything else...
Now for this hypothetical witch, Third_Sundering mentioned using blood/bones as a spellcasting focus. Suppose we developed that idea further and introduced something that explicitly doesn't exist in 5e: blood magic. Let's say that this Witch class has the ability to empower their spellcasting by directly sacrificing a portion of their life-force. Let's also add a "jinx"mehcanic that functions as an at-will debuff ability that grows more powerful and can be customized as you gain in level. For the "Familiar" aspect, let's actually ditch the spell entirely and take a page from the Artificer/CFV UA and create a series of stat blocks that can be picked from and possibly customized as well. Third_Sundering also mentioned Coven Magic; let's say that adds additional low-level spell slots that can be shared with others who join in a ritual at the start of the day, and possibly adds some sort of passive benefit for engaging in this ritual as well.
For subclasses let's say that thematically, they channel their power directly from different sources, without actually making a bargain for power (cutting out the middleman, as they say). Let's also give them a list of spells known a la Paladin/Cleric that are always available, which are thematically appropriate for the subclass (nature magic, divine magic, dark magic, etc). For the subclass abilities themselves, I imagine they wouldn't differ too much from how they'd work for other arcane casters, but right now I'm just spitballing so who knows?
Now obviously this is all very raw, but with fleshing out and refinement I'd say there's a strong potential for something that plays *very* uniquely from other classes.
Thanks, those are some good ideas. I'll use what I can from that in my first rough draft.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Now for this hypothetical witch, Third_Sundering mentioned using blood/bones as a spellcasting focus. Suppose we developed that idea further and introduced something that explicitly doesn't exist in 5e: blood magic. Let's say that this Witch class has the ability to empower their spellcasting by directly sacrificing a portion of their life-force. Let's also add a "jinx"mehcanic that functions as an at-will debuff ability that grows more powerful and can be customized as you gain in level. For the "Familiar" aspect, let's actually ditch the spell entirely and take a page from the Artificer/CFV UA and create a series of stat blocks that can be picked from and possibly customized as well. Third_Sundering also mentioned Coven Magic; let's say that adds additional low-level spell slots that can be shared with others who join in a ritual at the start of the day, and possibly adds some sort of passive benefit for engaging in this ritual as well.
My thoughts is that some of these things need to be in subclasses, not the base class. The simple fact is that the idea of a witch is itself highly varied. Trying to bundle too many things into the base class will cause problems for people who have a specific idea for a witch, rather than a general one. Kinda like how we can't just reskin a Warlock to be a witch -- it would still be a Warlock.
For example, some kinds of witch might make a Damnable Pact, which gives their magic a decidedly demonic slant. Such a witch would probably not have much in the way of potions, and would instead have a mixture of fel talismans and straight up spellcasting.
Other kinds of witch would be more along the lines of a wiccan, relying more on a bond with the natural world to bring out their magic. Such a wiccan would definitely make use of potions, but would also have more in the way of rituals.
I feel like the Coven idea should definitely be in the base class, with the different subclasses having their own unique ways to use it. Kinda follow the same pattern as the Cleric and Channel Divinity (if with a more broadly applicable base choice that Turn Undead...). Because a Coven of Damnable Pact Witches would operate completely differently than a Coven of Wiccans.
Oh, so now our niche depends on the DM allowing a homebrew rule that still doesn't give us what we want? Great. That sounds like it's going to work out for all people who want to play a witch.
It's not homebrew to allow unusual arcane foci, an arcane focus is a generic object. And as far as it goes, neither of the things you describe is part of my concept of a witch anyway (Witch is a pretty vague archetype to start with, but to the degree it's standardized on anything, it's probably the Macbeth style witches, tossing Eye of Newt and Toe of Frog into a cauldron). That's part of my problem with this discussion: a lot of the ideas people are discussing are way too specific to someone's personal view of how a particular concept should be implemented.
Now for this hypothetical witch, Third_Sundering mentioned using blood/bones as a spellcasting focus. Suppose we developed that idea further and introduced something that explicitly doesn't exist in 5e: blood magic. Let's say that this Witch class has the ability to empower their spellcasting by directly sacrificing a portion of their life-force. Let's also add a "jinx"mehcanic that functions as an at-will debuff ability that grows more powerful and can be customized as you gain in level. For the "Familiar" aspect, let's actually ditch the spell entirely and take a page from the Artificer/CFV UA and create a series of stat blocks that can be picked from and possibly customized as well. Third_Sundering also mentioned Coven Magic; let's say that adds additional low-level spell slots that can be shared with others who join in a ritual at the start of the day, and possibly adds some sort of passive benefit for engaging in this ritual as well.
For subclasses let's say that thematically, they channel their power directly from different sources, without actually making a bargain for power (cutting out the middleman, as they say). Let's also give them a list of spells known a la Paladin/Cleric that are always available, which are thematically appropriate for the subclass (nature magic, divine magic, dark magic, etc). For the subclass abilities themselves, I imagine they wouldn't differ too much from how they'd work for other arcane casters, but right now I'm just spitballing so who knows?
Now obviously this is all very raw, but with fleshing out and refinement I'd say there's a strong potential for something that plays *very* uniquely from other classes.
Fascinating. I like the idea of the coven magic... would that be limited to witches or could any old person join in the ritual?
Blood Magic: maybe an inverse of Aid to empower spells? What would that look like? Does that lower each required spell slot by one (might have to do a smaller amount of HP to start and then a certain amount per spell). Could that lowered HP come from another character in exchange for a boon? Maybe that's a leaching effect given to help cast other spells? Interesting.
Oh, so now our niche depends on the DM allowing a homebrew rule that still doesn't give us what we want? Great. That sounds like it's going to work out for all people who want to play a witch.
It's not homebrew to allow unusual arcane foci, an arcane focus is a generic object. And as far as it goes, neither of the things you describe is part of my concept of a witch anyway (Witch is a pretty vague archetype to start with, but to the degree it's standardized on anything, it's probably the Macbeth style witches, tossing Eye of Newt and Toe of Frog into a cauldron). That's part of my problem with this discussion: a lot of the ideas people are discussing are way too specific to someone's personal view of how a particular concept should be implemented.
It is homebrew to allow a different arcane focus, but this is not a hill I'm going to die on.
Maybe you just need an example of what a 5e witch would be. Be patient, I'm working on it.
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Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Kotath, I think you're misunderstanding what we're trying to do. We aren't trying to come up with a group definition that automatically everyone agrees with. We're trying to demonstrate that there are mechanical and thematic niches that can be filled out with new classes that don't work out nearly as well with existing ones. Now, we can try and come up with a group-defined framework for new classes, but I can tell you now the design process is more like sausage making than anything else...
The overall theme of the thread though is that 5e needs additional non-homebrewed classes, i.e. new official classes. Whenever anyone mentions homebrew, there seems to be a 'but we shouldn't have to homebrew' outcry.
Or at least 'we shouldn't have to use homebrew to adapt an existing class' (which to me is just a pride version of 'we shouldn't have to homebrew, because to me, it is only a fine distinction between the two.
I could be wrong on that but that is the sense I have gotten.
And given that, the problem is 'What definition of these missing classes is the 'right' one?'
We're homebrewing these ideas. It's what idea of witch/magus/shaman we want until WotC gives us an official class version. The definition of witch is created by the class and subclasses.
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Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Everything but fighter, wizard, thief, and priest. Obviously.
Kotath: The issue is more that there are gaps in the existing class make-up that people can't really play without extensive homebrew, and many people are not allowed to homebrew. the Death Knight is a good example - mechanically one could make heavy adjustments to the Paladin base class in conjunction with a 'Death Knight' subclass to get the sort of tone/aesthetic one wants for that character, yes.
First of all, making adjustments to a base class is absolutely impossible in DDB. You CANNOT alter the existing base class mechanics in any way, shape or form outside of plaintext "hey stupid, remember this!" notes, and none of us paid hundreds of dollars for access to the digital tool and library so we could use plaintext tools we could've had for free-ninety-nine instead.
Second of all, as has been stated numerous times before, many DMs absolutely forbid any sort of homebrew in their games. Many of those even forbid 'reflavoring'. You play what the book bloody well lets you play and that's it. Whether or not you agree with the DMs who take that hardline stance is irrelevant; thousands and thousands of DMs do. To say nothing of Adventurer's League, where deviating from the rules in any way for any reason is grounds to be taken out behind the store and given fifty lashes, fine fifty thousand dollars, and forced to work the back room at that store without pay fifty hours a week for fifty years.
Given those restrictions, more Official Book Options are the only way a huge percentage of players get to try and do something new. Why should we shoot that down out of hand just because some lucky privileged few get the chance to just homebrew whatever they figgety-fudge feel like at the drop of a hat, whether their DM approves or not?
I think the question is what will the bones and blood do mechanically? Do you need different bones and blood for different feats/spells? Do you need to track them? Will this be something like non-cost components that are ignored already?
I'm still working on it, and it will be dependent on your subclass, but this is generally how I think it would work.
One subclass is for Blood Magic, allowing you to cast spells using blood. If a spell has a material component that has a cost, you may substitute the material component for humanoid blood. A bottle of blood can also be used as a spellcasting focus. One bottle of blood equates to 50 gold pieces worth of components. The blood is consumed after the casting. At later levels, they'd get the ability to cast spells with certain amounts of blood without using spell slots x-times per day, and so on.
Another subclass is Bone Magic. You may use a variety of humanoid bones as your spellcasting focus (skulls, finger bones, etc), and when you cast a spell through the bones, they are empowered in a certain way. Maybe it lets you reroll damage dice, or give disadvantage on the saving throw.
I'm still brainstorming ideas, but that's how it would generally work. Any thoughts?
I can see for Blood magic, using base humanoid blood allows you to use the features of the class/subclass like normal. However, if you harvest blood from another creature types, you can gain some added bonus or something. Blood is often depicted as having great power, especially blood of ancient creatures like celestial, fiends and dragons. It’s not a fleshed out idea but I figured others might run with it.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Meddle not in the affairs of dragons, for thou art crunchy and taste good with ketchup."
Okay, I'll come back in 30 minutes to an hour with a Witch class base idea. That seems to be the only thing that works in scenarios like these.
(Also, I never said it should be a half-caster, I'm going to make it a full caster. Yes, I know, another full arcane spellcaster, but it'll be unique.)
Edit: Well, that took more than an hour. Just posted it, after 11 hours (granted, I was a bit busy today, but still).
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Spells, Monsters, Subclasses, Races, Arcknight Class, Occultist Class, World, Enigmatic Esoterica forms
Here's my idea: the class would be a half caster, but it would be half arcane, half primal. This is similar to the warlock, which I would say is half divine/half arcane. It would have janky spell slots and lots of features, like the warlock.
A fool pulls the leaves. A brute chops the trunk. A sage digs the roots.
My Improved Lineage System
Fair enough. I've been seeing a lot of bad juju going around lately, so I probably am just a little hypersensitive at the moment.
I think the question is what will the bones and blood do mechanically? Do you need different bones and blood for different feats/spells? Do you need to track them? Will this be something like non-cost components that are ignored already?
Now for this hypothetical witch, Third_Sundering mentioned using blood/bones as a spellcasting focus. Suppose we developed that idea further and introduced something that explicitly doesn't exist in 5e: blood magic. Let's say that this Witch class has the ability to empower their spellcasting by directly sacrificing a portion of their life-force. Let's also add a "jinx"mehcanic that functions as an at-will debuff ability that grows more powerful and can be customized as you gain in level. For the "Familiar" aspect, let's actually ditch the spell entirely and take a page from the Artificer/CFV UA and create a series of stat blocks that can be picked from and possibly customized as well. Third_Sundering also mentioned Coven Magic; let's say that adds additional low-level spell slots that can be shared with others who join in a ritual at the start of the day, and possibly adds some sort of passive benefit for engaging in this ritual as well.
For subclasses let's say that thematically, they channel their power directly from different sources, without actually making a bargain for power (cutting out the middleman, as they say). Let's also give them a list of spells known a la Paladin/Cleric that are always available, which are thematically appropriate for the subclass (nature magic, divine magic, dark magic, etc). For the subclass abilities themselves, I imagine they wouldn't differ too much from how they'd work for other arcane casters, but right now I'm just spitballing so who knows?
Now obviously this is all very raw, but with fleshing out and refinement I'd say there's a strong potential for something that plays *very* uniquely from other classes.
I'm still working on it, and it will be dependent on your subclass, but this is generally how I think it would work.
One subclass is for Blood Magic, allowing you to cast spells using blood. If a spell has a material component that has a cost, you may substitute the material component for humanoid blood. A bottle of blood can also be used as a spellcasting focus. One bottle of blood equates to 50 gold pieces worth of components. The blood is consumed after the casting. At later levels, they'd get the ability to cast spells with certain amounts of blood without using spell slots x-times per day, and so on.
Another subclass is Bone Magic. You may use a variety of humanoid bones as your spellcasting focus (skulls, finger bones, etc), and when you cast a spell through the bones, they are empowered in a certain way. Maybe it lets you reroll damage dice, or give disadvantage on the saving throw.
I'm still brainstorming ideas, but that's how it would generally work. Any thoughts?
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Spells, Monsters, Subclasses, Races, Arcknight Class, Occultist Class, World, Enigmatic Esoterica forms
Primal is drawing from nature. Not exactly connected to gods or religious entities, but rather the mostly non-sentient spirits of the land itself. I described the various types of classes in my post here.
A fool pulls the leaves. A brute chops the trunk. A sage digs the roots.
My Improved Lineage System
We've been discussing the mechanics of it for about a day, now. Everyone was disorganized about how a Shaman or Magus would work until someone gave an example of how it should function. Stop pretending like our arguments are invalid if an idea that different people have loosely given thought to up until this point aren't 100% solid on how it would work.
We know what we want, but be a bit patient. I've got something in the work, and will be back with the post sometime.
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Spells, Monsters, Subclasses, Races, Arcknight Class, Occultist Class, World, Enigmatic Esoterica forms
Kotath, I think you're misunderstanding what we're trying to do. We aren't trying to come up with a group definition that automatically everyone agrees with. We're trying to demonstrate that there are mechanical and thematic niches that can be filled out with new classes that don't work out nearly as well with existing ones. Now, we can try and come up with a group-defined framework for new classes, but I can tell you now the design process is more like sausage making than anything else...
Thanks, those are some good ideas. I'll use what I can from that in my first rough draft.
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Spells, Monsters, Subclasses, Races, Arcknight Class, Occultist Class, World, Enigmatic Esoterica forms
My thoughts is that some of these things need to be in subclasses, not the base class. The simple fact is that the idea of a witch is itself highly varied. Trying to bundle too many things into the base class will cause problems for people who have a specific idea for a witch, rather than a general one. Kinda like how we can't just reskin a Warlock to be a witch -- it would still be a Warlock.
For example, some kinds of witch might make a Damnable Pact, which gives their magic a decidedly demonic slant. Such a witch would probably not have much in the way of potions, and would instead have a mixture of fel talismans and straight up spellcasting.
Other kinds of witch would be more along the lines of a wiccan, relying more on a bond with the natural world to bring out their magic. Such a wiccan would definitely make use of potions, but would also have more in the way of rituals.
I feel like the Coven idea should definitely be in the base class, with the different subclasses having their own unique ways to use it. Kinda follow the same pattern as the Cleric and Channel Divinity (if with a more broadly applicable base choice that Turn Undead...). Because a Coven of Damnable Pact Witches would operate completely differently than a Coven of Wiccans.
It's not homebrew to allow unusual arcane foci, an arcane focus is a generic object. And as far as it goes, neither of the things you describe is part of my concept of a witch anyway (Witch is a pretty vague archetype to start with, but to the degree it's standardized on anything, it's probably the Macbeth style witches, tossing Eye of Newt and Toe of Frog into a cauldron). That's part of my problem with this discussion: a lot of the ideas people are discussing are way too specific to someone's personal view of how a particular concept should be implemented.
Fascinating. I like the idea of the coven magic... would that be limited to witches or could any old person join in the ritual?
Blood Magic: maybe an inverse of Aid to empower spells? What would that look like? Does that lower each required spell slot by one (might have to do a smaller amount of HP to start and then a certain amount per spell). Could that lowered HP come from another character in exchange for a boon? Maybe that's a leaching effect given to help cast other spells? Interesting.
I would allow any spellcaster to be in the Coven Ritual.
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Spells, Monsters, Subclasses, Races, Arcknight Class, Occultist Class, World, Enigmatic Esoterica forms
It is homebrew to allow a different arcane focus, but this is not a hill I'm going to die on.
Maybe you just need an example of what a 5e witch would be. Be patient, I'm working on it.
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Spells, Monsters, Subclasses, Races, Arcknight Class, Occultist Class, World, Enigmatic Esoterica forms
We're homebrewing these ideas. It's what idea of witch/magus/shaman we want until WotC gives us an official class version. The definition of witch is created by the class and subclasses.
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Spells, Monsters, Subclasses, Races, Arcknight Class, Occultist Class, World, Enigmatic Esoterica forms
I still want to hear from those 22 people who think we have too many classes. Which classes would they get rid of?
Everything but fighter, wizard, thief, and priest. Obviously.
Kotath: The issue is more that there are gaps in the existing class make-up that people can't really play without extensive homebrew, and many people are not allowed to homebrew. the Death Knight is a good example - mechanically one could make heavy adjustments to the Paladin base class in conjunction with a 'Death Knight' subclass to get the sort of tone/aesthetic one wants for that character, yes.
First of all, making adjustments to a base class is absolutely impossible in DDB. You CANNOT alter the existing base class mechanics in any way, shape or form outside of plaintext "hey stupid, remember this!" notes, and none of us paid hundreds of dollars for access to the digital tool and library so we could use plaintext tools we could've had for free-ninety-nine instead.
Second of all, as has been stated numerous times before, many DMs absolutely forbid any sort of homebrew in their games. Many of those even forbid 'reflavoring'. You play what the book bloody well lets you play and that's it. Whether or not you agree with the DMs who take that hardline stance is irrelevant; thousands and thousands of DMs do. To say nothing of Adventurer's League, where deviating from the rules in any way for any reason is grounds to be taken out behind the store and given fifty lashes, fine fifty thousand dollars, and forced to work the back room at that store without pay fifty hours a week for fifty years.
Given those restrictions, more Official Book Options are the only way a huge percentage of players get to try and do something new. Why should we shoot that down out of hand just because some lucky privileged few get the chance to just homebrew whatever they figgety-fudge feel like at the drop of a hat, whether their DM approves or not?
Please do not contact or message me.
I can see for Blood magic, using base humanoid blood allows you to use the features of the class/subclass like normal. However, if you harvest blood from another creature types, you can gain some added bonus or something. Blood is often depicted as having great power, especially blood of ancient creatures like celestial, fiends and dragons. It’s not a fleshed out idea but I figured others might run with it.
"Meddle not in the affairs of dragons, for thou art crunchy and taste good with ketchup."
Characters for Tenebris Sine Fine
RoughCoronet's Greater Wills
No, that's not the issue. The issue is that your concept of a witch just doesn't particularly relate to my concept of a witch.