The following is a new Tradition for the Player's Companion Witch class.
The Razor Hags were born out of hatred. Long ago, an angelic young girl dreamed of growing up to become a bladedancer. When she came of age, she journeyed far to a temple of the bladedancers to become an initiate. However, the sisters superior looked into the future and saw the terrible pain the young girl would inflict. They refused to train her. This set the young girl on a path of vengeance that would lead to her becoming the first Razor Hag. In time, she would collect a debt in blood from countless bladedancers. A Razor Hag is no match for a bladedancer in open, fair combat. But a Razor Hag is not easily drawn into the open, and she never fights fair.
Bonus Spells: 2nd – Sharpness, 3rd – Rain of Darts, Striking, 5th – Poison Darts
1st level: The first lesson of a Razor Hag is survival. A Razor Hag's frenetic fighting style provides a +1 bonus to armor class at 1st level, and an additional +1 at 7th and 13th level, as long as she can move freely.
3rd level: The second lesson of a Razor Hag is tenacity. A Razor Hag's fanatic focus provides a +1 bonus to attack throws, proficiency throws, saving throws, and initiative rolls for 1 turn (10 minutes), once per day per level of experience. The Razor Hag may enter into a fanatic focus without expending an action.
5th level: The third lesson of a Razor Hag is pain. A Razor Hag learns to wield short swords, swords and two-handed swords, sharpened to a razor's edge.
7th level: The final lesson of a Razor Hag is blood. A Razor Hag's blood debt provides a +2 on attack throws against humans, elves, dwarves, halflings, gnomes, and nephilim. At level 13, this bonus increases to +3.
New Spells
Rain of Darts
Divine 3 (Razor Hag Witch)
Range: 0'
Duration: instantaneous
This spell produces a torrent of darts in a cone 15’ long and 10’ wide stretching from the caster’s hands. Any creatures within the cone will suffer 1d4 points of damage per level of the caster. A successful saving throw versus Blast reduces damage to half.
Poison Darts
Divine 5 (Razor Hag Witch)
Range: 0'
Duration: instantaneous
As rain of darts, but the darts deliver a magical poison. Any creatures suffering damage from the darts must make a successful saving throw versus Poison or die.
I like the idea of this witch variant but... I feel the combat abilities are a bit pointless to a 'mage' style combatant. Maybe they could be reworked as a Divine 3, Fighting 1 class or something?
ReplyDeleteMechanically, this Tradition pushes the boundaries of how effective a caster can be in combat. And you’re right, she has no chance going toe-to-toe with a well-equipped warrior and the followers he likely has. Which is why she would never do that – ultimately, she’s an assassin who picks off one target at a time (ideally while they sleep), using every advantage, cheat and trick she possibly can. I’m a big fan of the ogre mage, and this Tradition is a bit like an ogre mage. Fear of her bite may be worse than her bite, but you can weave a pretty good tale around that fear.
ReplyDeleteI'm not really familiar with ACKS but I love the background behind this tradition.
ReplyDeleteACKS is awesome! It is very much like B/X D&D.
ReplyDeleteI really like this witch tradition. I need to try this one out in my own games.