Advanced Options: Witches' Hexes

Advanced Options: Witches' Hexes

Witches in fantasy fiction have a long tradition of amazing and often frightening powers that they can use to aid friends, annoy pests, or outright destroy foes. From the magic feasts of Circe in the Odyssey and the dragon-form of the wicked queen in Sleeping Beauty to the flying monkeys of the Wicked Witch of the West, witches in fantasy fiction have a broad range of allies and abilities from which modern gaming can draw. Until recently, the concept of such extra abilities that sit well outside the realm of a sorcerer's heritage or a wizard's spellbooks had been left to the realm of the occasional feat or prestige class by the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game.

With the introduction of the witch class in the Advanced Player's Guide (APG), the spellcaster who has an entirely separate pool of power from which to draw has become a fully integrated and balanced part of the game mechanics. Unfortunately, due to space restrictions, only 14 hexes are presented in the APG, with even fewer choices for major and grand hexes for high-level witches. With only a handful of options, one sees witches falling into predictable patterns-the available hexes serve only a limited number of character concepts. This becomes particularly evident given that one of Pathfinder's greatest strengths is its broad range of character customization. If the witch is to stand on even footing with the other core classes, it needs the advantage of a broader range of hexes for characters.

To help in that regard, Advanced Options: Witches' Hexes presents 29 new hexes, major hexes, and grand hexes for witches to use to expand their options. That more than doubles the total number of hexes witches can use, which also creates a much broader range of possible witch character types. Witches gain new options in offense, defense, aid, and utility, allowing a player to focus a witch entirely in one style of hex, or make each choice a new and totally different element of a versatile character. To round things off, a few new hex-specific feats are added at the end, to help witches bring even greater focus on their class's unique set of powers.