Witch Hunter (OA Revision) [Archive] - Wizards Community

Witch Hunter (OA Revision) [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Gharlane
04-26-07, 03:54 AM Witch Hunter (OA Revision)

Entry Requirements
Alignment: Any Nonevil
Base Attack Bonus: +4
Skills: Knowledge (arcana) or knowledge (shadowlands)* 10 ranks
Feat: Track
Spells: Ability to cast magic circle against evil or magic circle against taint*

Table: The Witch Hunter Hit Die: D8
Level BAB Fort Ref Will Special
1 +1 +2 +0 +2 Kami’s aura, detect evil, smite evil 1/day
2 +2 +3 +0 +3 Kami’s grace,+1 level of existing class
3 +3 +3 +1 +3 Kami’s courage,+1 level of existing class
4 +4 +4 +1 +4 Kami’s protection
5 +5 +4 +1 +4 Smite evil 2/day,+1 level of existing class
6 +6 +5 +2 +5 Kami’s shield,+1 level of existing class
7 +7 +5 +2 +5 Kami’s honorable sword,+1 level of existing class
8 +8 +6 +2 +6 Kami’s circle
9 +9 +6 +3 +6 Smite evil 3/day,+1 level of existing class
10 +10 +7 +3 +7 Kami’s holy sword,+1 level of existing class

Class Skills (4 + Int modifier): Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Heal (Wis), Hide (Dex), Jump (Str), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Knowledge (local) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Knowledge (shadowlands) (Int)*, Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Profession (Wis), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Spellcraft (Int), Spot (Wis), Survival (Wis), Swim (Str), Use Rope (Dex).
* denotes features only available in the Rokugan campaign setting

Class Features
All of the following are class features of the witch hunter.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Witch hunter’s gain proficiency with all simple and martial weapons and all armour.

Spells per Day / Spells Known: When a witch hunter level is gained (except at 1st, 4th, and 8th), the character gains new spells per day (and spells known, if applicable) as if he had also gained a level in whatever spell casting class he belonged to before he added the prestige class. He does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained. This essentially means that he adds the level of witch hunter to the level of whatever other spell casting class the character has, then determines spells per day and caster level accordingly. If a character had more than one spell casting class before he became a witch hunter, he must decide to which class he adds each level of witch hunter for the purpose of determining spells per day and spells known.

Kami’s Aura (Ex): The power of a witch hunter’s aura of good (see the detect good spell) is equal to her witch hunter level and any shaman levels he may have.

Detect Evil (Sp): At will, a witch hunter can use detect evil, as the spell. In the Rokugan campaign setting, witch hunters use detect taint instead.

Smite Evil (Su): Once per day, a witch hunter may attempt to smite evil with one normal melee attack. She adds +4 to her attack roll and deals 2 extra points of damage per witch hunter level. If the witch hunter accidentally smites a creature that is not evil, the smite has no effect, but the ability is still used up for that day.
At 5th and 10th level, the witch hunter may smite evil one additional time per day.
In the Rokugan campaign setting, witch hunters smite Shadowlands opponents instead. A Shadowlands opponent is a monster with the Shadowlands descriptor or a character with a Taint score.

Kami’s Grace (Su): At 2nd level, a witch hunter gains a bonus equal to her Charisma bonus (if any) on all saving throws.

Kami’s Courage (Su): Beginning at 3rd level, a witch hunter is immune to fear (magical or otherwise). Each ally within 10 feet of her gains a +4 morale bonus on saving throws against fear effects.

Kami’s Protection (Su): At 4th level, a witch hunter is constantly surrounded by a protection from evil effect, as the spell cast by a shugenja of the character’s level. In the Rokugan campaign setting, witch hunters use protection from taint instead. A witch hunter cannot suppress this ability.

Kami’s Shield (Ex): At 6th level, a witch hunter gains a specialized spell resistance equal to 20 + her class level. This spell resistance applies only to evil spells or spells cast by an evil creature. In Rokugan, this spell resistance applies only to spells cast by maho-tsukai or other characters with the Shadowlands Taint, as well as spells and spell-like abilities used by Shadowlands monsters.

Kami’s Honorable Sword (Su): At 7th level, any weapon the witch hunter wields is treated as good-aligned for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.

Kami’s Circle (Su): At 8th level, the Kami’s protection improves; the witch hunter is now constantly surrounded by a magic circle against evil effect, as the spell cast by a shugenja of the character’s level. In the Rokugan campaign setting, witch hunters use magic circle against taint instead. A witch hunter cannot suppress this ability.

Kami’s Holy Sword (Su): At 10th level, any weapon the witch hunter wields is treated as a holy weapon, dealing an extra 2d6 points of damage to evil creatures (or Shadowland tainted creatures in Rokugan). This extra damage does stack with the extra damage dealt by a weapon with the holy property.

-------------
Designer's notes:
This is a minor revision to the Oriental adventures Witch Hunter prestige class. I gave it more appropriate high level abilities that fit with it's roll of routing out and destroying evil. I also gave it more smites/pay to be consistent with the 3.5 paladin. Finally, I straightened out the original's odd casting progression, and gave it two extra caster level for good measure to increase the likelihood of completing the class.
The_Shaman
04-26-07, 08:43 PM Okay, if a bit on the strong side. What's the problem with the Dragon Mag update?
Gharlane
04-27-07, 04:06 AM The Oriental Adventures update in Dragon 318 does not include a revision to the Witch Hunter. Is there another issue you're referring to?
The_Shaman
04-27-07, 08:01 AM The Dragon 318 issue has the "official" revision. If there is nothing in it, then the author has deemed that except for the spells/skills/feat, the class is still inherently playable.

I haven't run a witch hunter, to be honest, but the class seemed okay when I looked through the book. You're giving it a significant power boost (more abilities, 7/10 spellcasting compared to 6/10 iirc), which I'm not sure is necessary - a class with 2 good saves, full BAB and decent (if partial) casting progression isn't half bad anyway.
Gharlane
04-27-07, 03:09 PM The witch hunter's high end abilities were Power attack at 4th level, cleave at 6th and great cleave at 10th. None of these abilities have anything to do with the witch hunter's descriptive text, backstory, or its role of routing out and desroying evil spellcasters. It's also just not that interesting for a prestige class to award feats that a character could have taken 10 levels earlier.

I took the entry requirement of casting magic circle against evil and built the high end abiliies around that. So now it gets persistent protectection from evil at minimum ecl 11 and persistent magic circle against evil at ecl 15. Those abilities fit the class and the witch hunter gets them around the time that a spellcaster with pesistent spell could persist them anyway.

The class also needed some offensive class abilities. All 3.0 class that had smite and were updated to 3.5 received 3 smites per day, so I gave it to the revised witch hunter as well. At minimum ecl 14, I made weapons it wields as good-aligned for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction. It's a minor but useful ability, meaning he no longer has to rely on casting align weapon. This is certainly not unbalancing given the discrepancy between when the spell can be cast (ecl 3) and the level the witch hunter gets it (ecl 14).

Finally, great cleave as a succession technique is just terrible. It's a feat that few people would ever even take on their own. My philosophy is that the last level of a prestige class should give a cool ability that would make a character want ot stick through all 10 levels / reward them for completing it. Having your weapon gain the holy property at minimum ecl 17 is not that unbalancing when someone can buy a wepon with the propery as early as ecl 12.

No one talks about the witch hunter anymore because much better fighter/mage classes have been released in 3.5. When I say much better, I mean classes that that make the gish role viable. Even when all people had to work with were PrCs like the witch hunter, it was pretty much always used as a 2 level dip for divine grace (it didn't get its second caster level until 5th).

By cleaning up the spellcasting progression and giving it useful but ecl appropriate abilies, I've simply made it a class that people might want to take 10 levels in. I say might because losing three caster levels will still (rightly) turn off many players. It's also why I gave a caster level at 10th level - without it, the final level wouldn't seem worth taking since most people would rather have the caster level.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Gharlane 04-26-07, 03:54 AM	Witch Hunter (OA Revision) Entry Requirements Alignment: Any Nonevil Base Attack Bonus: +4 Skills: Knowledge (arcana) or knowledge (shadowlands)* 10 ranks Feat: Track Spells: Ability to cast magic circle against evil or magic circle against taint* Table: The Witch Hunter Hit Die: D8 Level BAB Fort Ref Will Special 1 +1 +2 +0 +2 Kami’s aura, detect evil, smite evil 1/day 2 +2 +3 +0 +3 Kami’s grace,+1 level of existing class 3 +3 +3 +1 +3 Kami’s courage,+1 level of existing class 4 +4 +4 +1 +4 Kami’s protection 5 +5 +4 +1 +4 Smite evil 2/day,+1 level of existing class 6 +6 +5 +2 +5 Kami’s shield,+1 level of existing class 7 +7 +5 +2 +5 Kami’s honorable sword,+1 level of existing class 8 +8 +6 +2 +6 Kami’s circle 9 +9 +6 +3 +6 Smite evil 3/day,+1 level of existing class 10 +10 +7 +3 +7 Kami’s holy sword,+1 level of existing class Class Skills (4 + Int modifier): Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Heal (Wis), Hide (Dex), Jump (Str), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Knowledge (local) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Knowledge (shadowlands) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Profession (Wis), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Spellcraft (Int), Spot (Wis), Survival (Wis), Swim (Str), Use Rope (Dex). denotes features only available in the Rokugan campaign setting Class Features All of the following are class features of the witch hunter. Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Witch hunter’s gain proficiency with all simple and martial weapons and all armour. Spells per Day / Spells Known: When a witch hunter level is gained (except at 1st, 4th, and 8th), the character gains new spells per day (and spells known, if applicable) as if he had also gained a level in whatever spell casting class he belonged to before he added the prestige class. He does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained. This essentially means that he adds the level of witch hunter to the level of whatever other spell casting class the character has, then determines spells per day and caster level accordingly. If a character had more than one spell casting class before he became a witch hunter, he must decide to which class he adds each level of witch hunter for the purpose of determining spells per day and spells known. Kami’s Aura (Ex): The power of a witch hunter’s aura of good (see the detect good spell) is equal to her witch hunter level and any shaman levels he may have. Detect Evil (Sp): At will, a witch hunter can use detect evil, as the spell. In the Rokugan campaign setting, witch hunters use detect taint instead. Smite Evil (Su): Once per day, a witch hunter may attempt to smite evil with one normal melee attack. She adds +4 to her attack roll and deals 2 extra points of damage per witch hunter level. If the witch hunter accidentally smites a creature that is not evil, the smite has no effect, but the ability is still used up for that day. At 5th and 10th level, the witch hunter may smite evil one additional time per day. In the Rokugan campaign setting, witch hunters smite Shadowlands opponents instead. A Shadowlands opponent is a monster with the Shadowlands descriptor or a character with a Taint score. Kami’s Grace (Su): At 2nd level, a witch hunter gains a bonus equal to her Charisma bonus (if any) on all saving throws. Kami’s Courage (Su): Beginning at 3rd level, a witch hunter is immune to fear (magical or otherwise). Each ally within 10 feet of her gains a +4 morale bonus on saving throws against fear effects. Kami’s Protection (Su): At 4th level, a witch hunter is constantly surrounded by a protection from evil effect, as the spell cast by a shugenja of the character’s level. In the Rokugan campaign setting, witch hunters use protection from taint instead. A witch hunter cannot suppress this ability. Kami’s Shield (Ex): At 6th level, a witch hunter gains a specialized spell resistance equal to 20 + her class level. This spell resistance applies only to evil spells or spells cast by an evil creature. In Rokugan, this spell resistance applies only to spells cast by maho-tsukai or other characters with the Shadowlands Taint, as well as spells and spell-like abilities used by Shadowlands monsters. Kami’s Honorable Sword (Su): At 7th level, any weapon the witch hunter wields is treated as good-aligned for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction. Kami’s Circle (Su): At 8th level, the Kami’s protection improves; the witch hunter is now constantly surrounded by a magic circle against evil effect, as the spell cast by a shugenja of the character’s level. In the Rokugan campaign setting, witch hunters use magic circle against taint instead. A witch hunter cannot suppress this ability. Kami’s Holy Sword (Su): At 10th level, any weapon the witch hunter wields is treated as a holy weapon, dealing an extra 2d6 points of damage to evil creatures (or Shadowland tainted creatures in Rokugan). This extra damage does stack with the extra damage dealt by a weapon with the holy property. ------------- Designer's notes: This is a minor revision to the Oriental adventures Witch Hunter prestige class. I gave it more appropriate high level abilities that fit with it's roll of routing out and destroying evil. I also gave it more smites/pay to be consistent with the 3.5 paladin. Finally, I straightened out the original's odd casting progression, and gave it two extra caster level for good measure to increase the likelihood of completing the class.
The_Shaman 04-26-07, 08:43 PM	Okay, if a bit on the strong side. What's the problem with the Dragon Mag update?
Gharlane 04-27-07, 04:06 AM	The Oriental Adventures update in Dragon 318 does not include a revision to the Witch Hunter. Is there another issue you're referring to?
The_Shaman 04-27-07, 08:01 AM	The Dragon 318 issue has the "official" revision. If there is nothing in it, then the author has deemed that except for the spells/skills/feat, the class is still inherently playable. I haven't run a witch hunter, to be honest, but the class seemed okay when I looked through the book. You're giving it a significant power boost (more abilities, 7/10 spellcasting compared to 6/10 iirc), which I'm not sure is necessary - a class with 2 good saves, full BAB and decent (if partial) casting progression isn't half bad anyway.
Gharlane 04-27-07, 03:09 PM	The witch hunter's high end abilities were Power attack at 4th level, cleave at 6th and great cleave at 10th. None of these abilities have anything to do with the witch hunter's descriptive text, backstory, or its role of routing out and desroying evil spellcasters. It's also just not that interesting for a prestige class to award feats that a character could have taken 10 levels earlier. I took the entry requirement of casting magic circle against evil and built the high end abiliies around that. So now it gets persistent protectection from evil at minimum ecl 11 and persistent magic circle against evil at ecl 15. Those abilities fit the class and the witch hunter gets them around the time that a spellcaster with pesistent spell could persist them anyway. The class also needed some offensive class abilities. All 3.0 class that had smite and were updated to 3.5 received 3 smites per day, so I gave it to the revised witch hunter as well. At minimum ecl 14, I made weapons it wields as good-aligned for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction. It's a minor but useful ability, meaning he no longer has to rely on casting align weapon. This is certainly not unbalancing given the discrepancy between when the spell can be cast (ecl 3) and the level the witch hunter gets it (ecl 14). Finally, great cleave as a succession technique is just terrible. It's a feat that few people would ever even take on their own. My philosophy is that the last level of a prestige class should give a cool ability that would make a character want ot stick through all 10 levels / reward them for completing it. Having your weapon gain the holy property at minimum ecl 17 is not that unbalancing when someone can buy a wepon with the propery as early as ecl 12. No one talks about the witch hunter anymore because much better fighter/mage classes have been released in 3.5. When I say much better, I mean classes that that make the gish role viable. Even when all people had to work with were PrCs like the witch hunter, it was pretty much always used as a 2 level dip for divine grace (it didn't get its second caster level until 5th). By cleaning up the spellcasting progression and giving it useful but ecl appropriate abilies, I've simply made it a class that people might want to take 10 levels in. I say might because losing three caster levels will still (rightly) turn off many players. It's also why I gave a caster level at 10th level - without it, the final level wouldn't seem worth taking since most people would rather have the caster level.