I wrote a Witch class a while back, and while I think it's pretty decent, the brewing system was pretty much unusable. The ingredients were overspecific, they were sourced from all over the world instead of one reasonable environment, and worst of all, there was no foraging system or indeed any mechanized way of obtaining materials. Here's a replacement, which I think does a decent job of addressing those issues. There's still some specificity in ingredients for some brews, but much less, all of the herbs and many of the other ingredients can be found in Southern England, and there's both foraging and downtime acquisition. A note on currency: "p." stands for pence, and can be converted to sp in a silver standard system or gp in a gold standard system; "d." stands for shilling (the d is from denarius) and equals 12 pence; "s." stands for pound (the s is from solidus), and equals 20 shillings.
Ingredients:
Foraging:
For every 4 hours spent foraging for herbs, roll a DC 10 Medicine check. On a success, roll on the Various Herbs table three times. On a failure, roll only once. If you want to find a common plant that isn't on the table (for example, hornbeam wood is used in a potion, but is not on the table), you have a 50% chance of finding one immediately if in the appropriate environment, and will find one in an hour if you don't see one immediately. If you want to find a rarer plant or don't want to leave your herb foraging up to chance, you have a 1-in-6 chance of finding the specific plant you need in 4 hours with a successful DC 10 Medicine check, and no chance at all on a failure.
Various Herbs (d20):
- Bearberry (medicinal)
- Betony (magical, medicinal)
- Chamomile (infusion, medicinal)
- Comfrey (medicinal)
- Deadly nightshade (anesthetic, poison)
- Hellebore (contraceptive, medicinal, poison)
- Henbane (anesthetic, poison)
- Hyssop (medicinal)
- Lion's mane (stimulant)
- Mandrake (anesthetic, magical, poison)
- Mint (infusion)
- Monkshood (medicinal, poison)
- Poison hemlock (poison)
- Pot marigold (medicinal)
- Rowan (magical)
- Sage (magical, medicinal)
- Water hemlock (poison)
- Wild carrot (contraceptive)
- Willow (medicinal)
- Yarrow (medicinal)
Other Ingredients:
For non-plant ingredients, refer to the following table:
| Ingredient | Cost | Availability |
|---|---|---|
| Cedar oil | 10 d. | City |
| Fire salamander | 15 d. | City |
| Glass lens | 5 s. | City |
| Honing oil | 1 d. | Town |
| Pitch | 3 p. | Village |
| Rose oil | 1 s. | City |
| Salt | 1 d. | Village |
| Silk | 2 s. | City |
| Tiger's eye gem | 5 s. | City |
Iron and silver dust are available anywhere and simply cost as much as the price listed in the brew. Particularly mundane items, such as charcoal, cooking oil, and broomsticks, do not have any cost.
Brews and Items:
Brews have three listed components: the ingredients, the brewing time, and the effects. If an ingredient requires heat (i.e boiling water or heated oil), a fire must be lit for the entire duration of the brewing process, and all the liquids involved require a cauldron or other container. The witch doesn't have to personally tend to the brew for the entire duration, only the beginning and end, but someone must be tending it at all times. This list of brews is fairly exhaustive but should certainly not limit you - witches should feel free to make up their own brews and agree with their DM on the effects and ingredients. Don't hesitate to use extremely specific ingredients, especially parts of monsters you've slain. I've simply avoided them for ease of general use.
A potion or other liquid takes up 1/3 of a slot and must be kept in a container to be transported (glass bottles cost 5 d., small waterskins cost 1 d.). Herbs are used according to their descriptions in the above table (lion's mane is a stimulant and sage is magical and medicinal, for example). If more than one herb of a type is required, it must be two different herbs, and one herb cannot fulfill two types. Therefore, an Affirming Brew might use sage, willow, and yarrow for its 1 magical and 2 medicinal herbs - sage is here acting as a magical herb, not a medicinal one, although it can also be medicinal under different conditions.
Affirming Brew
Ingredients: Wild carrot, 1 magical herb, 2 medicinal herbs, boiling water.
Brewing Time: 1 hour.
Effects: If consumed once a week for 7 weeks, the drinker's body transforms to have whatever combination of primary and secondary sexual characteristics they desire.
Antidote
Ingredients: 3 medicinal herbs, crushed charcoal, heated vegetable oil.
Brewing Time: 1 hour.
Effects: The drinker, if they are poisoned, must Save vs Poison. On a success,
the poison affecting them is ended. On a failure, its effects are
halved.
Arrow and Blade Poison
Ingredients: Monkshood and 1 other poison herb, heated honing oil.
Brewing Time: 8 hours.
Effects: This poison can be applied to a bladed weapon or 5 arrows (takes 10 minutes). The first enemy struck by the blade or an arrow must Save vs Poison or take 2d6 damage.
Cloud-Pine Sprig
Ingredients: Mandrake and 2 other magical herbs, a cloud-pine branch (only found in the most remote forests of the distant northeast), 30 d. of silver dust, heated cedar oil, heated rose oil.
Brewing Time: 3 weeks.
Effect: In addition to functioning as a flying broomstick, the witch who possesses this branch may travel as far from their familiar as they wish. Their familiar can speak all the languages they can. 1/3 slot when carried.
Ingredients: Mandrake and 2 other magical herbs, a cloud-pine branch (only found in the most remote forests of the distant northeast), 30 d. of silver dust, heated cedar oil, heated rose oil.
Brewing Time: 3 weeks.
Effect: In addition to functioning as a flying broomstick, the witch who possesses this branch may travel as far from their familiar as they wish. Their familiar can speak all the languages they can. 1/3 slot when carried.
Contraceptive
Ingredients: 1 contraceptive herb, cedar oil, boiling water.
Brewing Time: 10 minutes.
Effect: The drinker is unable to become pregnant for the next week, and if they are currently pregnant, the pregnancy is terminated.
Curing Infusion
Ingredients: 2 medicinal herbs, boiling water.
Brewing Time: 1 hour.
Effect: The drinker receives +2 to their daily Con check if they are internally diseased.
Curing Poultice
Ingredients: 2 medicinal herbs, a bandage, boiling water.
Brewing Time: 1 hour.
Effect: The
person it is applied to receives +2 to their daily Con check if they
have an infected wound or skin disease, or it provides +2 to Medicine
checks to avoid complications from wounds on the recipient. Enduring Torch
Ingredients: 2 magical herbs, pitch, silk, conifer branch.
Brewing Time: 8 hours.
Effect: This torch burns for 4 hours and remains on fire for 1 minute when immersed in water. 1/3 slot.
Fast Poison
Ingredients: 3 poison herbs, boiling water.
Brewing Time: 8 hours.
Effect: The drinker must Save vs Poison or take 2d6 damage.
Flying Broomstick
Ingredients: Mandrake and 2 other magical herbs, a broomstick, 1 s. of silver dust, heated cedar oil.
Brewing Time: 2 weeks.
Effect: The witch who created this broomstick may use it to fly by expending one
MD and a paste of dried mandrake per hour aloft. They may carry at most 3 slots of gear and their
familiar with them. This can also be made with a mortar and pestle instead of a broomstick. 1 slot.
Herbal Infusion
Ingredients: 1 infusion herb, boiling water.
Brewing Time: 10 minutes.
Effect: Restores 1d4 hitpoints. No one can gain hitpoints from it more than once per day. Must be drunk hot. Honey provides +1 healing.
Invigorating Brew
Ingredients: Lion's mane, 3 medicinal herbs, and boiling water.
Brewing Time: 24 hours.
Effect: Restores 1d8 hitpoints.
Magic Oil
Ingredients: Rowan and 1 other magical herb, salt, 10 d. of iron filings, heated honing oil.
Brewing Time: 8 hours.
Effect: The blade this oil is applied to (takes 10 minutes) deals magic damage for the next 24 hours.
Painkiller
Ingredients: 2 anesthetic herbs, 3 medicinal herbs, and boiling water.
Brewing Time: 8 hours.
Effect: The drinker either regains 1d6 hitpoints or can ignore one injury or disease for an hour. If taken more than twice per hour, it instead functions as a potion of sleep.
Philter of Charming
Ingredients: Deadly nightshade and 1 other anesthetic herb, 2 magical herbs, boiling water.
Brewing Time: 24 hours.
Effect: The drinker must Save vs Magic or suffer the effects of charm person as if cast by the first person they see.
Potion of Disenchantment
Ingredients: Rowan and 1 other magical herb, salt, 10 d. each of silver and iron dust, boiling water.
Brewing Time: 8 hours.
Effect: The drinker of this potion has all magical effects currently affecting
them removed, except for curses which cannot be removed by remove curse.
Potion of Healing
Ingredients: 4 medicinal herbs, boiling water.
Brewing Time: 24 hours.
Effect: The remaining healing time of one injury is reduced by half. At the DM's discretion, brews containing herbs with specific associations may have improved effect on the appropriate injuries: comfrey for broken bones, for example.
Potion of Invisibility
Ingredients: Henbane, 3 magical herbs, a glass lens worth at least 4 s. (not consumed), boiling water.
Brewing Time: 1 week.
Effect: The drinker becomes invisible for 1 hour.
Potion of Ironskin
Ingredients: 1 anesthetic herb, 1 magical herb, hornbeam wood, boiling water.
Brewing Time: 8 hours.
Effect: For the next 4 hours, the drinker's AC increases by +1 and they gain resistance to slashing and piercing damage.
Potion of Protection from Fire
Ingredients: Rowan and 1 other magical herb, crushed charcoal, a fire salamander, boiling water.
Brewing Time: 8 hours.
Effect: For the next 4 hours, the drinker gains resistance to fire damage.
Potion of Sleep
Ingredients: Chamomile, 3 anesthetic herbs, boiling water.
Brewing Time: 8 hours.
Effect: The drinker must Save vs Magic or fall asleep for 1d6 + 4 hours. On a roll of 6, they never wake up.
Potion of Transformation
Ingredients: 2 magical herbs, a limb of the desired animal, rose oil, 1 s. of silver dust, boiling water.
Brewing Time: 24 hours.
Effect: The drinker must Save vs Magic or transform into the desired animal permanently.
Potion of Truesight
Ingredients: Wild carrot, 2 magical herbs, tiger's eye gem, boiling water.
Brewing Time: 24 hours.
Effect: For the next 4 hours, the drinker sees all things as they truly are.
Rune of Protection
Ingredients: Rowan, sage, either betony or pot marigold, 10 d. each of silver dust and iron filings.
Brewing Time: 3 days.
Effect: The wearer is constantly under the effect of the sanctuary spell and has +1 Save. The first time a creature succeeds on their Save vs Magic for the spell or the first time the wearer fails a Save, the rune crumbles into dust. Fairies and elves automatically fail their Save against sanctuary so long as the wearer has not harmed or offended them. 0 slots.
Slow Poison
Ingredients: 2 anesthetic herbs, 3 poison herbs, boiling water.
Brewing Time: 24 hours.
Effect: Every hour for the next 6 hours, the drinker must Save vs Poison or take 1d6 damage.
Other Notes:
If you're using this in a game without a specific class that brews things, or if you want your non-witch PCs to be able to brew things as well, consider limiting the brews each character knows. The whole list has a lot of options, and this is both very powerful by virtue of versatility and extremely daunting. PCs should definitely be able to collect herbs and brew potions during downtime with less granularity than in regular play, but my rules for that are going to be tied into my as-yet unfinished domain rules, so I'm not including anything here, except for the suggestion that a small garden might grow 5 portions of 5 different herbs during a season and a large garden might grow 10 portions of 5 herbs or 5 of 10.
If we used this as a single class, what pieces of your earlier Witch would we be using? Spells? Cantrips?
ReplyDeleteAll of it except for the Witches' Brew section, which would be replaced entirely by this. I'd also probably move the Familiar to B template, just to reduce how incredibly frontloaded the class is.
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