Why Create This Class

I created this class after yet another re-listen to the Glass Cannon Podcast and I've always loved the character Gormlaith, created and played by Matthew Capodicasa, and loved how fascinating she was as a character and the concept of a witch in a RPG.

This means I was heavily inspired by the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game in the creation of this class, but this isn't merely just a copy and paste from their Advanced Player's Guide. This is influenced by them, as evident by the Hexes that this class gets with just a few of them being inspired by what's in that game, but also fueled by pop culture's view on witches.

Most people see witches as hooked nose crones with big pimples growing all over them, pouring over spell books and making strange concoctions in their cauldrons, and while that might be a fair idea about them, I wanted something a bit more geared towards the Buff/Debuff class. As of right now, D&D 5e has few choices if you want to be a true Buff/Debuff class with Bard being really your own option. Sure you could do some stuff as a Cleric, but then why do you have heavy armor if you aren't going to get it dinged up in combat?

No, I wanted something that was all about messing with the monsters you face and trying to do something different with the mechanics. Pathfinder got a witch very close to what I would want, but I wanted more debuff options and I wanted it to be in 5e as that is the system my groups like the most.

Now, some may freak out upon seeing a full Debuff/Buff caster. The Bard comes close to this, but they are mostly focused on the buffing of their allies and doing a few minor debuffs like vicious mockery and cutting words. The witch brings that debuffing to a whole new level.

Divine Magic and Intelligence?! I explained why I created this class, what about the decision to tie it to Intelligence? And divine magic? The divine magic is easy to answer, they are nature focused. You never see a witch in a wizard tower, just like you don't see a wizard in a witch hut. Wizards are focused on the arcane, witches are focused on nature. Witches are primal, they are almost bestial with their being depicted with long claws and hiding in swamps overrun with fungi. Intelligence is an interesting choice for their spellcasting because you'd think a divine caster, or at least someone obsessed with nature, would be geared towards Wisdom... to that, I say go play a druid. We have enough wisdom focused classes, and that's not really what the witch is about. A witch is about unlocking ancient secrets, about following recipe books as they mix ingredients together in their pot. You ever wonder why Nature is an Intelligence skill? It's because it takes someone really smart to know how to mix poisons, how to use ingredients found in nature, how to understand exactly how nature works. A druid can feel nature, a witch can understand nature.