I posted a homebrew Wizard subclass called Witchcraft over two years ago, intending to bring a playstyle to D&D 5e that felt like a playing a proper witch from folklore! I decided to revisit it recently and make some small balance changes.
The replies to the original thread pointed out that with no cap to the amount of potions you could make, given enough time and money you could potentially make a limitless stock of healing potions. To counter this, I added a cap of 2 * PB to the amount of potions you can have at one time. I also made the healing potions cost more to craft than the other options.
Other than that, I made the Baleful Hex feature only add extra damage to spell attacks rather than all damage rolls, and along with some other minor wording changes that's about it! Feedback?
Hidden away within enchanted forests and swamps are students of magic shunned and condemned by society, for they practice the taboo study of witchcraft: a collective of macabre magic developed to invoke terrible curses upon the helpless. Witches don’t just mark their victims with their hexes, but also they also weave their magic into brews and concoctions. Desperate souls sometimes seek out witches for their alchemic prowess, searching for a philter to charm their true love or a cure to a terrible disease. However, the few who do receive a witch’s concoction are unaware of the dreadful curse held within.
Many practitioners of witchcraft are hags, although a few are outcasts who have been exiled for their unspeakable activities.
Baleful Hex
Starting at 2nd level, you learn how to mark someone with an ill fate. As a bonus action, you can target one creature you can see within 60 feet of you. The target is cursed for 1 minute. Until the curse ends, your spell attacks deal extra necrotic damage to the target equal to your Intelligence modifier (minimum of 1 damage), and whenever the target makes an ability check or a saving throw, you can use your reaction to roll a d4 and subtract the number rolled from the ability check or saving throw. The curse ends early if the target dies, you die, or you are incapacitated.
Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest or until you expend a spell slot of any level to use it again.
Exotic Brew
Also at 2nd level, you gain proficiency with herbalism kits. If you have an herbalism kit, you can spend two hours crafting an exotic potion, or one hour if you also have a cauldron. Crafting a potion this way requires 10 gp worth of materials, unless listed otherwise, and an exotic ingredient. Exotic ingredients are strange components only found in nature, such as frog legs or spider eyes, and you can find one exotic ingredient per hour spent foraging in the wilderness. Apothecaries and similar places may also have exotic ingredients for sale.
When you create the potion, you choose the effect it has from one of the following options. As an action, a creature can drink the potion or administer it to an incapacitated creature.
Additionally, when you create the potion, you can expend a spell slot of any level to magically mask it as one of the other options on the table, such as making a poison potion appear as a healing potion. The mask is merely visual, and a creature who makes a successful Intelligence (Investigation) check against your spell save DC determines its true nature.
The maximum number of potions you can have with this feature at one time is equal to twice your proficiency bonus. If you try to exceed your maximum, the oldest potion immediately becomes a nonmagical liquid, and then the new potion applies.
Acid. As an action, a creature can spill this potion and make a melee attack roll against a target within 5 feet of them, or throw it and make a ranged attack roll against a target within 20 feet. In either case, the creature adds their proficiency bonus and Dexterity modifier to the attack roll. On a hit, the target takes 2d6 acid damage. If the target is an object or surface made of wood or metal, the acid eats a hole through it 6 inches in diameter and 1 inch deep. A creature also takes this damage if they drink the potion.
Crafting this potion requires 5 gp worth of materials.
The damage increases to 3d6 when you reach 10th level in this class.
Healing. The drinker regains a number of hit points equal to 2d4 + your Intelligence modifier. This potion has no effect on undead or constructs.
Crafting this potion requires 20 gp worth of materials.
The healing increases to 3d4 + your Intelligence modifier when you reach 10th level in this class.
Love. The drinker is charmed for 1 hour by the next creature they see within 10 minutes of drinking it. The effect ends early if the subject of the creature’s charm or any of their companions do anything harmful to the drinker.
When you reach 10th level in this class, the duration of the charming effect increases to 8 hours.
Poison. The drinker takes 3d8 poison damage and must succeed on a Constitution saving throw or be poisoned. While poisoned this way, at the end of every minute the drinker takes an additional 1d8 poison damage and can repeat the saving throw, ending the effect on itself on a successful save.
The initial damage increases to 4d8 when you reach 10th level in this class.
Resistance. The drinker gains resistance to one of the following damage types for 1 minute, chosen randomly: acid, cold, fire, lightning, poison, thunder.
When you reach 10th level in this class, you can choose the damage type when you create the potion, instead of determining randomly.
Vitality. The drinker is cured of one disease or poison affecting it. This potion has no effect on undead or constructs.
When you reach 10th level in this class, the drinker’s exhaustion level is also reduced by one.
Manic Malediction
At 6th level, you add the bestow cursespell to your spellbook if it is not there already. For you, it has a range of 30 feet, and you can cast it as a bonus action. When you cast bestow curse, the nature of the curse can be one of the following additional options:
The target begins vividly hallucinating. While the target is cursed, it has disadvantage on all ability checks.
The target hears constant screaming in its head. While cursed, the target is deafened, can’t concentrate on spells, and takes 1d4 psychic damage at the start of each of its turns. This damage can’t reduce the target’s hit points below 10.
While cursed, the target can only speak gibberish, and is incapable of normal speech or casting spells that require a verbal component.
Accursed Concoction
At 10th level, you can imbue your potions with dreadful magic. This process takes one hour, and at the end of the process you touch one of your exotic potions and expend a spell slot of 4th-level or higher to store one of the following curses in it:
The drinker suffers the effects of one of the curses you can create with bestow curse.
The drinker suffers the effects of the polymorph spell, transforming into a beast of your choice whose challenge rating is 1 or lower, but they retain their mental ability scores, personality, and alignment.
The drinker is under the effect of the feign deathspell.
The stored curse triggers when a creature drinks the potion. The drinker must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC or be afflicted with the stored curse for 12 hours. It has disadvantage on this saving throw if it is convinced that the potion is beneficial in some way. If you expended a spell slot of 5th-level or higher, the duration increases by 12 hours for each slot level above 4th. As an action, you can touch a creature afflicted with a stored curse and dismiss the effect. A remove cursespell ends the effect early.
You can only store one curse at a time. The curse remains in the potion until the potion is consumed or you use this feature again.
Witching Hour
Starting at 14th level, your curses grow stronger:
When the target of your Baleful Hex drops to 0 hit points, you can move the curse to a different creature you can see within 60 feet of you, provided you aren’t incapacitated.
Any spell that would end a curse of yours early automatically fails if that spell is of a lower level than the spell slot you expended for the curse. For the purposes of this, a “curse” refers to any spell you can cast that can be ended with remove curse, as well as a curse created by your Accursed Concoction feature.
I love this concept so much! I'm currently trying it out in a good friend's long-term homebrew campaign (we're currently level 3, but looking at ending it near level 20ish), so hopefully I can come back with any feedback I think of! One idea I'd already had would obviously have to be discussed with the GM beforehand, but I've talked to mine about the possibility of homebrewing even more elixirs with other cool effects I'd be able to make at later level ups, I'll be sure to come back and post again when we get to those points in the campaign just to share. :)
This is easily one of the most detailed and flavorful homebrews I have ever seen. I didn't give it a deep read, but the mechanics seem to be balanced, probably more balanced than some official subclasses. The witch concept was always something that I enjoyed about pathfinder and I was dissatisfied that it was not present in 5e. In my opinion, the Warlock or Necromancer Wizard did not fit the niche. Nice job.
A bit late, I haven't logged into D&DBeyond forum posts in so long, but thank you! I put a lot of time into this and I'm glad people have been enjoying it! Maybe I'll find a way to fully publish it someday :)
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I posted a homebrew Wizard subclass called Witchcraft over two years ago, intending to bring a playstyle to D&D 5e that felt like a playing a proper witch from folklore! I decided to revisit it recently and make some small balance changes.
The replies to the original thread pointed out that with no cap to the amount of potions you could make, given enough time and money you could potentially make a limitless stock of healing potions. To counter this, I added a cap of 2 * PB to the amount of potions you can have at one time. I also made the healing potions cost more to craft than the other options.
Other than that, I made the Baleful Hex feature only add extra damage to spell attacks rather than all damage rolls, and along with some other minor wording changes that's about it! Feedback?
Original thread: https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/dungeons-dragons-discussion/homebrew-house-rules/88629-wizard-subclass-witchcraft
Witchcraft
Hidden away within enchanted forests and swamps are students of magic shunned and condemned by society, for they practice the taboo study of witchcraft: a collective of macabre magic developed to invoke terrible curses upon the helpless. Witches don’t just mark their victims with their hexes, but also they also weave their magic into brews and concoctions. Desperate souls sometimes seek out witches for their alchemic prowess, searching for a philter to charm their true love or a cure to a terrible disease. However, the few who do receive a witch’s concoction are unaware of the dreadful curse held within.
Many practitioners of witchcraft are hags, although a few are outcasts who have been exiled for their unspeakable activities.
Baleful Hex
Starting at 2nd level, you learn how to mark someone with an ill fate. As a bonus action, you can target one creature you can see within 60 feet of you. The target is cursed for 1 minute. Until the curse ends, your spell attacks deal extra necrotic damage to the target equal to your Intelligence modifier (minimum of 1 damage), and whenever the target makes an ability check or a saving throw, you can use your reaction to roll a d4 and subtract the number rolled from the ability check or saving throw. The curse ends early if the target dies, you die, or you are incapacitated.
Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest or until you expend a spell slot of any level to use it again.
Exotic Brew
Also at 2nd level, you gain proficiency with herbalism kits. If you have an herbalism kit, you can spend two hours crafting an exotic potion, or one hour if you also have a cauldron. Crafting a potion this way requires 10 gp worth of materials, unless listed otherwise, and an exotic ingredient. Exotic ingredients are strange components only found in nature, such as frog legs or spider eyes, and you can find one exotic ingredient per hour spent foraging in the wilderness. Apothecaries and similar places may also have exotic ingredients for sale.
When you create the potion, you choose the effect it has from one of the following options. As an action, a creature can drink the potion or administer it to an incapacitated creature.
Additionally, when you create the potion, you can expend a spell slot of any level to magically mask it as one of the other options on the table, such as making a poison potion appear as a healing potion. The mask is merely visual, and a creature who makes a successful Intelligence (Investigation) check against your spell save DC determines its true nature.
The maximum number of potions you can have with this feature at one time is equal to twice your proficiency bonus. If you try to exceed your maximum, the oldest potion immediately becomes a nonmagical liquid, and then the new potion applies.
Acid. As an action, a creature can spill this potion and make a melee attack roll against a target within 5 feet of them, or throw it and make a ranged attack roll against a target within 20 feet. In either case, the creature adds their proficiency bonus and Dexterity modifier to the attack roll. On a hit, the target takes 2d6 acid damage. If the target is an object or surface made of wood or metal, the acid eats a hole through it 6 inches in diameter and 1 inch deep. A creature also takes this damage if they drink the potion.
Crafting this potion requires 5 gp worth of materials.
The damage increases to 3d6 when you reach 10th level in this class.
Healing. The drinker regains a number of hit points equal to 2d4 + your Intelligence modifier. This potion has no effect on undead or constructs.
Crafting this potion requires 20 gp worth of materials.
The healing increases to 3d4 + your Intelligence modifier when you reach 10th level in this class.
Love. The drinker is charmed for 1 hour by the next creature they see within 10 minutes of drinking it. The effect ends early if the subject of the creature’s charm or any of their companions do anything harmful to the drinker.
When you reach 10th level in this class, the duration of the charming effect increases to 8 hours.
Poison. The drinker takes 3d8 poison damage and must succeed on a Constitution saving throw or be poisoned. While poisoned this way, at the end of every minute the drinker takes an additional 1d8 poison damage and can repeat the saving throw, ending the effect on itself on a successful save.
The initial damage increases to 4d8 when you reach 10th level in this class.
Resistance. The drinker gains resistance to one of the following damage types for 1 minute, chosen randomly: acid, cold, fire, lightning, poison, thunder.
When you reach 10th level in this class, you can choose the damage type when you create the potion, instead of determining randomly.
Vitality. The drinker is cured of one disease or poison affecting it. This potion has no effect on undead or constructs.
When you reach 10th level in this class, the drinker’s exhaustion level is also reduced by one.
Manic Malediction
At 6th level, you add the bestow curse spell to your spellbook if it is not there already. For you, it has a range of 30 feet, and you can cast it as a bonus action. When you cast bestow curse, the nature of the curse can be one of the following additional options:
Accursed Concoction
At 10th level, you can imbue your potions with dreadful magic. This process takes one hour, and at the end of the process you touch one of your exotic potions and expend a spell slot of 4th-level or higher to store one of the following curses in it:
The stored curse triggers when a creature drinks the potion. The drinker must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC or be afflicted with the stored curse for 12 hours. It has disadvantage on this saving throw if it is convinced that the potion is beneficial in some way. If you expended a spell slot of 5th-level or higher, the duration increases by 12 hours for each slot level above 4th. As an action, you can touch a creature afflicted with a stored curse and dismiss the effect. A remove curse spell ends the effect early.
You can only store one curse at a time. The curse remains in the potion until the potion is consumed or you use this feature again.
Witching Hour
Starting at 14th level, your curses grow stronger:
I love this concept so much! I'm currently trying it out in a good friend's long-term homebrew campaign (we're currently level 3, but looking at ending it near level 20ish), so hopefully I can come back with any feedback I think of! One idea I'd already had would obviously have to be discussed with the GM beforehand, but I've talked to mine about the possibility of homebrewing even more elixirs with other cool effects I'd be able to make at later level ups, I'll be sure to come back and post again when we get to those points in the campaign just to share. :)
This is easily one of the most detailed and flavorful homebrews I have ever seen. I didn't give it a deep read, but the mechanics seem to be balanced, probably more balanced than some official subclasses. The witch concept was always something that I enjoyed about pathfinder and I was dissatisfied that it was not present in 5e. In my opinion, the Warlock or Necromancer Wizard did not fit the niche. Nice job.
In my experience...
A bit late, I haven't logged into D&DBeyond forum posts in so long, but thank you! I put a lot of time into this and I'm glad people have been enjoying it! Maybe I'll find a way to fully publish it someday :)