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The remastered version of Second EditionPathfinderhas worked hard to make the witch fun and accessible to new players. Previously relegated to the advanced books, the remaster places them firmly among the core classes for good reason.
Related:Pathfinder 2e Remaster: How To Run Combat Encounters
Through the wide assortment of patrons, a Witch in Pathfinder can access any spellcasting form they wish. While wizards are relegated to arcane, druids to primal, and clerics to divine magic, a witch’s power is wholly determined by their subclass. This gives them tremendous versatility in how you can build and roleplay them. No two will be identical, but the fundamentals can help you decide on different directions to take them.
Witch Class Identity In Pathfinder 2E Remastered
The core identity of the witch is tied to theirfamiliar, a magically infused companionthat acts as a conduit to the source of their power.This source of power is the witch’s Patron,a figure of great power who has infused into the witch a portion of their magic via the familiar.
Don’t panic too hard if your familiar is killed. You canreincarnate or replace it at the start of the next dayand will not lose access to your spellcasting in the meantime.
The types of spells a witch can cast are entirely dependent on their patron: A witch pledged to a powerful ice spirit will have an entirely different spell list available to one chosen by angels.
Players who aren’t interested in the dynamic of the familiar and patron might prefer adifferent spellcasting class depending on the type of magic they want to cast: Wizards for arcane, clerics for divine, druids for primal, and bards for occult.
Divine
Zealotry and ferver
Allies who make a lot of attacks per turn will see the most benefit from your buffs. However, it can be fun toslap your bonus damage on a wizard upcasting Force Barrageinstead.
Arcane
Knowledge and support
Strengthens lore checks andprovides flanking, making a perfect complement to a rogue or ranger.
Occult
Curses and debuff
Has tools to apply and lengthen debuffs,setting up other heroes to take the spotlightagainst weakened enemies.
Primal
Cold damage and area control
The Snow Witch gains a lot of effects for slowing and controlling movement butplays rather similarly to a traditional druid.
Luck and fate
The spinner of threads can nudge a lot of numbers up or down by one, giving extra AC, a conditional modifiers on attacks and skills, and other twists of fate.Keep your reactions open,and choose your moments carefully.
Protector of nature
A more defensive primal caster than the Snow Witch, this has a wider skillset than pure control. You gain a few animal-centered abilities that will gainmore use in a wilderness campaign but might be irrelevant in a city.Tremorsense on your familiarwill always be useful.
Eldritch (or otherwise) horror
The starless shadow requires a good amount of setupto make use of their unique abilities which can be difficult for the witch to pull off. An invisible or hidden familiar can inflict fear with no saving throw, but you’ll need to actively plan and build around doing that to compete with other patrons.
The other defining aspect of the witch is the way they use magic.Witches are prepared casters, following the trend set by other systems such as older editions of Dungeons & Dragons. This means they need to anticipate the spells they might need in a day (and how many of them) based on what they expect to encounter.
Players uninterested in doing this type of preparationmay prefer a spontaneous caster, such as a sorcerer. Spontaneous spellcasters can cast a greater number of spells but will know fewer overall, making them less versatile.
Attributes, Ancestries, And Backgrounds For A Witch
Witches areintelligence-focused casters, encouraging you to take an ancestry without an intelligence flaw (or take alternative boostsif you’re determined to play a Leshy). You shouldaim to have a +4 modifierin this ability score, with the others determined by how you plan to develop them later on:
The flexibility of ancestries gives lots of options that can still provide the attribute boosts to reach +4 in intelligence at first level.
Intelligence, Dexterity, free
Constitution
The ancient elf heritagestarts the game with a multiclass dedicationthat lets them quickly get online if you have a specific multiclass concept planned out.
Constitution, Charisma, Free
Strength
Gnomes are a fun storytelling option for witchcraft.The determination to experience new things and escape a painful bleachingcan easily lead a gnome to pledge themselves to a patron they wouldn’t serve otherwise.
Any two
No flaw
Skilled human doesn’t offer as much to a character with high intelligence, but the general feat of the versatile human can give you some nice customizability.
(Gains boosts of any one ancestry)
(Gains flaw from same ancestry)
The planar scions are already theproduct of otherworldly influencesand might draw further attention from external powers as a result. A Nephilim witch might unknowingly barter for power with a celestial or fiend that is a distant family member.
Familiar And Master Abilities In Pathfinder 2E Remastered
The familiar is a big part of the class identity of a witch and comes with a greater number of abilities than those of other classes. You can choose what abilities your familiar has at the start of the day, adding another step to your daily preparations where you canmake changes to anticipate the needs of the day.
Familiar or Master Ability
Uses
Skilled
The familiar can use a skillwith a modifier of your spell casting modifier plus your level. It can be taken multiple times for different skills.
You can use this to cover the holes left in the party if a specific player is absent for a session, such as having yourfamiliar learn society or nature when the bard and ranger is missing.
Manual Dexterity
Your familiar can use its limbs to manipulate complex objects that wouldnormally need a hand with fingers.
If you plan touse your familiar as a recon or stealth aide,this will let it properly interact with the environment.
Flier
The familiar canfly.
Flight is rare at low levels,making your familiar a dominant scouting toolif it can observe the area from above. To make full use of that strategy, you’ll want to alsoobtain the Share Senses master ability.
Tough
The familiar gainstwo extra hitpointsper level.
A 40 percent increase in hitpoints bolsters the survivability of your very squishable friend.
Absorb Familiar
You canconceal your familiar on or even in your body,as a worn item, tattoo, or birthmark.
An alternative to bulking up your familiar is tohide it somewhere it can’t be targeted. Storing your familiar in a tattoo or accessory allows you to make use of its magic without the risk of it being killed.
Familiar Focus
Once per day, the familiar canrestore a focus pointto your pool.
Depending on the type of game you’re playing, an extra daily focus point will either be a considerable boon or a drop in the bucket.If you rarely have time for the refocus activity this jumps in value.
Spell Delivery
You can channel atouch spell into your familiar and then have it move and attack with the spell.
Whilelimited to the range your familiar can travel in one action, this lets you cast risky touch spells without needing to get close to melee.
You should discuss with your GM how much you are expected to build your familiarity for durability. Some tables mighttreat them as steeds, who shouldn’t be attackedwhen their rider poses a greater threat. Others mighttreat them similarly to summonsand other companions that are ‘fair game’ to kill.
Teambuilding Synergies For A Witch
Second Edition Pathfinder is heavily team-oriented in how the classes operate. How to best play a witch will depend on your allies and how you can complement each other.
