Bring the Complete Witch to your table
The Witch is one of our all-time favorite classes! Its role is to debuff and curse enemies, and it’s equipped with a sinister set of tools for just that purpose. However, the Witch also asks you to engage with a delicate balance of choices, all limited by your Bonus Action. This guide will help you understand the Witch class and make the most out of your new Witchy character.
Hex or Familiar?
Every turn, the Witch class poses a question: what do you do with your scarce Bonus Action? You have two major at-will options: use Cackle to continue a Hex, or attack with your Familiar. Let’s take a deep dive into both options.
Hexes
Your Hexes are a brand new category of cantrips with a completely unique design. Hexes take an action to cast and generally debuff an enemy for exactly one round. However, at Witch level 2, you gain the ability to Cackle as a Bonus Action, extending your Hex by exactly one more round. In fact, you can extend a Hex indefinitely as long as you keep Cackling! No concentration, just keep expending your Bonus Action every round.
We’ll talk about your Hex choices and give you a short list of excellent options later on, but for now the important thing to consider is that your Hexes are extremely hungry for your Bonus Actions.
Familiars
Every Witch can summon an empowered Familiar with a wide variety of special forms, everything from a friendly ghost to a literal pet rock. Importantly, your familiar can attack as a Bonus Action! This damage isn’t colossal, but it’s quite impressive compared to a single offhand Shortsword attack.
You should never feel like your turn is entirely wasted if an enemy succeeds on its saving throw or you miss with a cantrip — you can always send in your familiar for a quick swipe! Extra damage is never a bad thing, so now you have to choose: place a Hex on your enemy or attack with your familiar? This is a choice you need to make every combat, sometimes almost every turn, and it’s up to you to appraise the advantages of each approach in your current situation.
Spellcasting
The Witch is a full-caster with an arsenal of spells at their disposal. You won’t find as many Fireballs and Lightning Bolts on this spell list as a Wizard or a Sorcerer, but you’ll have your pick of debuffs and other tricksy spells.
Using Hexes and Spells
But why would you spend your turn casting a Hex when you have such powerful spells at your disposal? In fact, you should be casting both! Starting at Witch level 5, you gain Insidious Spell. When someone fails a save against one of your Hexes, they have Disadvantage on the next save they make against one of your spells, and vice-versa. Optimal witchy spellcasting can alternate between a Hex and a larger spell every other turn.
At even higher levels, you gain Hastened Hex, which lets you cast a normal cantrip as a part of the same action that you use to cast a Hex. From that moment on, pick-and-choosing your Hexes and spells isn’t quite so difficult — they both carry a ton of weight.
Great Starting Hexes
The Witch starts with a selection of 21 Hexes, which should be enough to make anyone’s head spin. Here’s a short list of options that I pick every time I run a Witch, and why I find them useful.
- Hex: Misfortune. This is perhaps the most interesting Hex in the lineup. Whenever the enemy rolls a Critical Hit, it misses instead! Importantly, this Hex doesn’t require a saving throw (and is the only Hex that doesn’t!) so it’s an invaluable pick against enemies that have Magic Resistance to similar buffs against spellcasters.
- Hex: Ruin and Hex: Bleeding. Both of these cantrips are extremely useful for helping your melee allies ruin a monster’s day. Ruin drops the target’s AC by 2 (scaling up to -5 at higher levels), and Bleeding causes them to take an extra d4 damage on every single hit (or a d6 if they’re Bloodied). They both require a Constitution save, so lots of monsters will be able to shrug off this effect without the help of Insidious Spell, but either cantrip can turn the tide of battle in your favor!
- Hex: Mire and Hex: Hobble. If you want to limit a creature’s mobility, turn to one of these Hexes. Mire creates a large area of Difficult Terrain where Hobble targets a single enemy and reduces their speed (causing them to fall out of the air if they’re flying!) With hit-and-run tactics from your familiar and a few ranged attacks, you can zone out slower and more dangerous enemies quite easily!
Grand Hexes
You can further customize your build starting at Witch level 11 with a Grand Hex. You only get four of these total, but they represent colossal witchy abilities for your character. There simply aren’t a lot of terrible options here, but I’d suggest Cauldron to brew options for your party, Witch’s Hut to give you a mobile base of operations, and Forceful Personality to enhance your Charisma past 20.
Roleplaying a Witch
Witches are cursed with their power, and that magical trauma can’t help but shape the character you play. As you’re building your Witch, consider how the curse you chose might have broken your character from the life they had, or set them on their path from the very beginning.
Here are some personality traits, bonds, ideals, and flaws hand-picked for the Witch class.
Witch Personality Traits
| d8 | Personality Trait |
| 1 | I treat every conversation like it’s the last one I’ll have with the person I’m talking to. |
| 2 | I tend to forget where I put my… everything. |
| 3 | I’m more comfortable talking to animals than I am talking to people. |
| 4 | I am most comfortable when covered in a fine layer of fresh dirt. |
| 5 | I think everyone I meet is the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen, and I’m really bad at hiding it. |
| 6 | I can’t resist speaking in riddles. |
| 7 | I’m fascinated by puzzles, and will spend hours figuring out the answer. |
| 8 | I struggle to understand sarcasm, but I’m confident I can fake it. |
What do you want?
These are your bonds—desires that help you determine the answers or solutions your character will choose if available. Roll on the following table, or choose one of the options:
Witch Bonds
| d6 | Bond |
| 1 | I lived for too long with nothing; now I’m determined to live like royalty. |
| 2 | I sold the wrong potion to a powerful noble—it’s better for everyone if they never see me again. |
| 3 | My coven gave me a list of 151 fantastic creatures I must find and study in the wild. Catching them seems to be optional. |
| 4 | I received a portent of great peril on my personal sojourn; I must make sure everyone is prepared for the coming apocalypse. |
| 5 | I can never let anyone see me eat. |
| 6 | I must provide a blessing to every building I enter, be it a mansion or a hovel. |
Why do you want it?
These are your ideals, the guiding principles for your choices learned from years of witchery, and tend to reflect your alignment. Roll on the following table, or choose one of the options:
Witch Ideals
| d6 | Ideal |
| 1 | Freedom. Everyone should be able to act in their own best interest. (Chaotic) |
| 2 | Balance. No one should take more from the world than they can give in return. (Lawful) |
| 3 | Nature. The best things in life come from the natural world. (Neutral) |
| 4 | Respect. The world is full of greater powers than mine; I give them the courtesy they’re due. (Neutral) |
| 5 | Perseverance. The best people are those true to their purpose. (Chaotic) |
| 6 | Power. With enough magic I can make this curse worth the pain I’ve suffered. (Evil) |
What gets in your way?
These are your flaws, choices or mental hurdles that hold you back despite your ideals. Roll on the following table, or choose one of the options.
Witch Flaws
| d6 | Flaw |
| 1 | I’ve never given anyone a straight answer in my life, and I don’t intend to start now. |
| 2 | I tend to trail off in the middle of my… um… |
| 3 | I hate my curse for what it did to me, and I will only use magic as a last resort. |
| 4 | I’ve forgotten what privacy is, and need constant reminders. |
| 5 | I have sticky fingers for shiny objects I think no one will miss. |
| 6 | I constantly invent new deities worthy of my companions’ worship. |
More resources for playing a Witch
Want to make the Witch even easier to play? Check out our custom character sheet for the Witch base class, or click here to find everything we’ve written about the Witch.
