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Witch

hit dice: 1d6 per witch level

hit points at 1st level: 6 + your Constitution modifier

hit points at higher levels: 1d6 (or 4) + your Constitution modifier per witch level after 1st

armor proficiencies: Light armor

weapon proficiencies: Clubs, daggers, darts, quarterstaffs, scimitars, sickles, slings

tools: Herbalism kit

saving throws: Wisdom, Charisma

skills: Choose two from Arcana, History, Insight, Medicine, Nature, Religion, and Persuasion

starting equipment:
You start with the following equipment, in addition to the equipment granted by your background:

(a) a component pouch or (b) an arcane focus or (c) a druidic focus

(a) a priest's pack or (b) a scholar's pack

Any simple weapon and two daggers

spellcasting:
Your contact with the spirit world and intuitive knowledge of the magic which allows it to persist grants you the use of spells.

Cantrips

You know three cantrips of your choice from the witch spell list. You learn additional witch cantrips of your choice at higher levels, as shown in the Cantrips Known column of the Witch table.

Spell Slots

The Witch table shows how many spell slots you have to cast your spells of 1st level and above. To cast one of these witch spells, you must expend a spell slot of the spell's level or higher. You regain all expended spell slots when you finish a long rest. For example, if you know the 1st-level spell cure wounds and you have a 1st-level and a 2nd-level spell slot available, you can cast cure wounds using either slot.

Spells Known of 1st Level and Higher

You know three 1st-level spells of your choice from the witch spell list. The Spells Known column of the Witch table shows when you learn more witch spells of your choice. Each of these spells must be of a level for which you have spell slots, as shown on the table. For instance, when you reach 3rd level in this class, you can learn one new spell of 1st or 2nd level. Additionally, when you gain a level in this class, you can choose on of the witch spells you know and replace it with another spell from the witch spell list, which also must be of a level for which you have spell slots.

Spellcasting Ability

Charisma is your spellcasting ability for your witch spells, since your magic comes from bargaining with spirits. You use your Charisma whenever a spell refers to your spellcasting ability. In addition, you use your Charisma modifier when setting the saving throw DC for a witch spell you cast and when making an attack roll with one.

Spell Save DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus +

your Charisma modifier

Spell attack modifier = your proficiency bonus +

your Charisma modifier

Ritual Casting

You can cast any witch spell you know as a ritual if that spell has the ritual tag.

Spellcasting Focus

You can use an arcane focus or druidic focus as a spellcasting focus for your witch spells.

class features:

Quickening

At 1st level, you gain the ability to enter a trance known as the witch’s quickening, letting you see beyond the borders of the material world. As an action you can enter this trance to see into the Ethereal Plane up to 60 feet. Additionally you also gain insight into the emotional energy surrounding you, you know if and what spirits are bound within 60 feet, and you gain advantage on Wisdom (Insight) checks. The trance lasts for 1 minute, or until you end it as an action. You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum 1). You regain any expended uses when you finish a long rest.

Witch Covenant

At 2nd level you commit yourself to a spiritual philosophy known as a witch's covenant: the Covenant of Blood, the Covenant of Charm, the Covenant of Ruin, the Covenant of Shadows, Covenant of Silver, Covenant of Steel, or the Covenant of Unity, detailed at the end of the class description. Your choice grants you features at 2nd level and again at 6th, 10th, and 14th level.

Covenant Spells

Each covenant has a list of spells that you gain at the witch levels noted in the covenant description. Once you gain a covenant spell, you know it, and it doesn't count against the number of spells you know. If you have a covenant spell that doesn't appear on the witch spell list, the spell is nonetheless a witch spell for you.

Binding Rites

At 2nd level you can bind spirits to your service. Binding a spirit requires 10 minutes of uninterrupted meditation. During this time, the witch speaks the invocations required to summon the spirit forth and enacts the rite of binding depending on which philosophy the witch subscribes to. A blood witch might utilize a bone fragment to bind the spirit, while a shadow witch might bargain with the summoned spirit, exchanging a secret for the spirit’s service. A witch may perform this ritual at any time to swap a bound spirit for a new one, losing the old passive benefit and gaining the new (or simply to change the spell slot level the same spirit is occupying). You choose a spirit to bind from the list here, and you fill one of your available spell slots with the spirit. The spell slot used is no longer available for casting spells, and it remains unavailable for as long as the spirit filling it remains bound to you. The spirit is said to be of a level equal to the spell slot used to bind it. Thus, a Spirit of Passion occupying a 6th level spell slot is a level 6 spirit. You cannot have more than one spirit with the same name bound at once. Depending on the type of spirit, you gain certain benefits while the spirit remains bound and an additional effect when you release the spirit, as detailed in the Binding Rites section. Releasing a spirit is a bonus action, although some spirits allow release as a reaction. Once a spirit has been released, it no longer provides its passive effect and the spell slot it occupied is expended. You can bind a number of spirits up to the number shown for your witch level in the Bonds column of the witch table.

Spirit Ward

At 3rd level, you learn a rite that offers protection against spirits who wish you or your allies harm. As an action, you can create a spirit ward with a radius of 15 feet, centered on a point you touch. The ward lasts 1 minute. While inside the ward, creatures you choose who you can see cannot be charmed, frightened, or possessed by undead and have resistance to all damage from incorporeal undead. Additionally, if an affected creature is reduced to 0 hit points within the ward but is not killed outright, the creature becomes stable at the beginning on their first turn inside the ward. Once you use this feature, you must finish a short or long rest to use it again. Beginning at 9th level, you can use your Spirit Ward twice between rests, and beginning at 18th level you can use it three times between rests.

Ability Score Improvement

When you reach 4th level, and again at 8th, 12th, 16th, and 19th level, you can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or you can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, you can't increase an ability score above 20 using this feature.

Spiritual Spellcasting

At 7th level you call upon the spirits you have bound to help you cast your spells. You can dismiss a spirit as a bonus action to recover a spell slot of a level equal to that of the spell slot used to bind the spirit. The release effect of the spirit you dismissed is not activated.

Channel Spell

Beginning at 11th level, damage from spells you cast on undead and creatures on a different plane of existence ignores resistance to that damage.

Strength of Spirit

At 15th level, you learn to sap additional fortitude from the spirits you bind. When you finish a long rest, you gain a number of temporary hit points equal to the combined level of all the spirits you have bound.

Familiar Spirit

At 18th level, you learn the find familiar spell. Additionally, when you cast find familiar or if you already have a familiar, you can awaken spiritual energy within the animal as part of an additional ritual that takes 10 minutes. Once complete, you choose one spirit from the list at the end of the class description. Your familiar provides you with the spirit’s passive effect as long as your familiar is within 100 feet of you. Its level is equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum 1). If the familiar dies, the spirit produces its release effect if there is a valid target within range of the familiar.

Ghostly Step

At 20th level you gain the ability to enter the spirit realm as a bonus action by projecting part of yourself beyond the material plane. This projection lasts for 10 minutes or until you rematerialize as a bonus action. You and all your belongings become invisible. You have resistance to all non-magical damage, and cannot be grappled, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned, or restrained. For the duration, you can pass through solid objects as if they were difficult terrain. If you end your turn in an object, you take 1d10 force damage. If you rematerialize in a location occupied by a creature or solid object, you are shunted to the nearest unoccupied space and take damage equal to twice the number of feet you are moved as a result. Once you use this feature, you must finish a long rest before you can use it again.

subclass options:

Covenants

The covenant that a witch swears by at 2nd level exemplifies the witch's personal philosophy on spirits. When entering a covenant, the witch gains abilities which align with these core philosophies. Though witches of different covenants can hold similar opinions of spirits, it is important to think on how each covenant's teachings shape your character's attitudes towards the binding and utilization of spirits.

Covenant of Blood

Witches of the Covenant of Blood believe in strong connections between the physical world and the spiritual one. Spirits are connected to the physical world through objects that were important to them while they were alive. This knowledge allows a witch to bind spirits more easily — as long as they know something of the spirit's life. Though not always, witches from the Covenant of Blood tend to dominate the spirits under their control. They generally take care to leave spirits intact and in a state no worse than before they were bound, but nevertheless are capable of using a spirit's weaknesses against them, taking advantage of their connections to the physical world in order to gain great control of them.

Covenant of Charm

Witches of the Covenant of Charm tap deep into the emotions which govern lingering spirits’ behaviours. They use these emotions as signposts and guides to manipulate the desires and shape the aspirations of the living. They believe that although lingering spirits are echoes of the past, they hold the key to individual futures. By harnessing the raw emotional energy of the beyond, one can gain absolute control over the hearts and minds of those around them. Witches of this philosophy vary in their treatment of spirits. Some befriend and learn from the spirits they bind, using that knowledge to further their own ends. Others take only cursory notice of the spirits they enslave – an attitude that often carries over into their living interactions, manipulating and charming those they will, without any true regard for the desires of those they meet.

Covenant of Ruin

The Covenant of Ruin has less respect for spirits than the other covenants. Witches who bind these spirits utilize their magic to torture and pressure spirits in order to extract power from them. Their philosophy revolves around invoking ruin and causing as much damage as possible. Though good witches of this covenant are rare, they are not unknown. Good witches who share this covenant's ideology typically aim to bind evil spirits, turning these beings into weapons for good against their will (though this can hardly be considered to be completely benign). Such witches often claim their actions are for the greater good — using evil to combat greater evil.

Covenant of Shadows

The Covenant of Shadows subscribes to the belief that everything that exists, both physically and metaphysically, is a shadow cast by that which came before it. Shadows are windows into worlds beyond the material plane — as one world becomes dimmer, others become brighter and easier to see by comparison. There is reason to be wary of the dark. Witches from this covenant are more cautious dealing with spirits. They know that dangers lurk in the shadows, and they are careful with their dealings lest the spirits they bind show their dark side.

Covenant of Silver

Silver is a powerful weapon in any witch's arsenal but a witch who holds to the Covenant of Silver understands how to unlocking the transformative and soul-binding powers of a simple looking glass. It is through this window to the soul that the Silver witch draws their power. Reflections are the silver chains that bind the worlds together. Witches of the covenant of silver know that everything living has a reflection in the otherworld, and everything dead must reciprocate. Their craft is full of risk and reward, and through reflections, they come to understand and manipulate those outcomes.

Covenant of Steel

Witches who tie themselves to the Covenant of Steel are a select few who combine their spiritual connection with a grounding in eldritch combat. These witches traditionally devote themselves to the grim task of binding or banishing malign spirits, and then bending such spirits to their cause. Those of the Covenant of Steel often cannot afford to dwell on the wellbeing of their spirits, having often bound them to keep them from endangering the living. They know better than most the danger and power of these rogue entities, and lesser minds have been driven mad by their ethereal influence. For witches of this coven, any interaction with spirits is often kept to a necessary minimum, and even then with great suspicion.

Covenant of Unity

The Covenant of Unity subscribes to a philosophy that all spiritual entities are connected by a collective consciousness. They use this knowledge to surmount power over the spiritual realm itself. In other words, these witches gain their abilities by harnessing the secrets which govern the very basis of spiritual existence, rather than focusing on the relationships between the metaphysical and the material world. The Covenant of Unity is perhaps more sympathetic to the spirits such witches bind. Witches of this covenant tend to see spirits as allies instead of tools. They trust the spirits they bind enough to allow their power to grow under their command with the purpose of sharing this power.

Created by

That.One.Guy.

System

Dungeons & Dragons 5e

Statblock Type

Class Features

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Dungeons & Dragons 5e Class Features : Witch