Ooh, October is your favorite month! It is one of mine as well. I met my wife in October, and it's also the month we got engaged five years later. We'd hope to be married in October as well but the schedules just didn't align and it got pushed to November. I just love fall in general. Thank you very much for your generous and consistent support of the channel. I really appreciate it!
I have a 32+ yr ongoing campaign where the Evil Witch Coven from 114 has been the major BBG -- because the primary group had to break up I switched half of them to become the anti-party vs the main party .. and DM'd a Markland style campaign where they were both hunting the same thing -- after 4yrs they ended up within an hour of eachother at the same place-- so I called the parties together and they had one of the most epic player vs player battle -- we still talk about it 25+yrs on -- the Witches prevailed .. albeit from a party of 8 they were left with one witch and one cleric..
@TheSoling27 If you have ever considered to post online a diary of such a monumental campaign, I'm sure many, starting with me, would be honored to read such an opera! I truly hope you're, or have, a dedicated chronicler from day on this campaign!
Thanks for the video! As far as (O)D&D but more so in 1E AD&D, I guess I always just thought of any MU as a potential "witch" if someone wanted to play it that way. One of the other DMs in our group had dibs on any official material on into the 80s so such things weren't on my radar when they were initially introduced, plus I liked keeping my 1E AD&D games mainly just core three books. I likely wouldn't have complicated the game on the player side of things even if I kept up with those innovations. Later in the 80s and into the 90s I often found that any expanded class rules advanced by players, things brought to me from time to time when starting up a new campaign, seemed to be more about that player wanting some sort of advantage for their PC mechanically rather than to add more RPing flavor, so I would ask such players to try and find a way within the core rules to become the type of character they envisioned. It's interesting to look back on all of this now even though it was not something I embraced back then. I appreciate your insights!
Thanks so much! I was just chatting in the comments how at the time I didn't like the term "magic-user" as I felt it was cumbersome, but looking back on it I realize that it was meant to be a catch-all term and that the person in question wouldn't necessarily call themselves a magic-user but instead would say they were a witch, wizard, sorcerer, etc. (I realize Sorcerer is also a level title, but I think you get my meaning). And I appreciate that now so much. When 3E came out and there was a separate class for Sorcerer versus Wizard, I thought that was kind of unnecessary, as it could mainly have been handled via roleplaying and a flexible DM saying, "Okay, you don't have to learn your spells. You just know them inherently." It might require working with the player to limit the spell list and/or the number of spells for the balance of not needing to "find" and learn new spells, but I don't think it requires an entirely new class. Same with the Witch. Maybe adjust the spell list and give them some flavor (maybe a familiar or whatever) and that's really enough rather than a whole new set of mechanics. But, I do like reading articles like this for inspiration on the roleplaying aspect or to use them as adversaries or mentors for the PCs. Cheers and thanks as always for watching and commenting!
Honestly, I've never played one, either, but I am having a blast running the Witch NPC for the B/X game I run for my daughter and her friends. Thank you so much for watching and commenting, and for your support of the channel!
I can certainly add that to the list! I seem to recall it was more of a 2E/3E era thing but I can do some digging into earlier versions. Thanks for watching and commenting!
I had a few of those RoleAods books back in the day, then several years ago I searched and eventually found all the rest. Some are really good, some are just so-so, most are at least usable in whole or in part
I've always been interested in them but never saw them for sale at any of my local shops. The ads in Dragon intrigued me. Thanks for watching and commenting!
I'm familiar with the BECMI and Mongoose Witch, but some of these others are fascinating! The more I think about it, the more I love the psionic witch. Without reading it, it seems like a good fit. There are a lot of psionics that map well to traditional spooky witches. Neat idea. I'll have to seek it out
I would love to get ahold of a copy as well! It seems to be one of those ones that's relatively difficult to track down as a PDF. I did see a few copies on Ebay, though. Glad you enjoyed learning about the other versions of the witch, and thank you so much for watching, commenting, and supporting the channel. Cheers!
I subscribed to Dragon back in the day and actually owned 114! It was a great issue, and loved the art for the witches. I didn't play or have any of my players in my Greyhawk campaigns play one, but I toyed around with adding the 114 witches coven as NPCs, but never got around to it. I like them, though the issue is a little heavy on "seducing the dudes" powers.
My wife has a 1E with a Halloween paint scheme that is the command mech of our shared pirate force. It's a real beast on the field regardless of era being played in. It's proven Primitive's worth countless times.
I've used most of the dragon mag versions and the 2e largely for npcs. I've tried assorted 3/day "pools" for players a couple times, especially with something along the lines of the 3e sorcerer. Having tinkered with this since like '83 I enjoyed this one a lot. Thanks!
Bard Games also put out their own game, based somewhat on those early "Totally not D&D we swear" books, called The Arcanum. It actually has a very intresting and flavorful take on things like black magic and witchy and shamanistic character concepts. If you're intrested, in a bit of divergent history, I'd recommend taking a look at the game in general. It's still essentially just someone's very homebrewed AD&D, but there's a *lot* of interesting tidbits there, and a lot of game design that frankly feels pretty modern for 1984. It's available on DriveThru as a 30th anniversary edition thing, which was cleaned up a lot. (The game later became Talislanta, incidentally, but I really like its humble roots, in that Wild West era of 3rd party products before any OGL or such).
I've always been bummed that I missed out on "Golden Age" White Dwarf. I was aware it existed via ads in Dragon Magazine, but I never saw it for sale at my local shop(s) and when I finally got around to getting it in the early-mid 1990's, it had already become a house organ for WH and 40K, primarily as a painting guide and teasers of new miniatures coming out. At the time, I was playing WH40K with a friend so I enjoyed it, but now going back and seeing some of the original issues that included more diverse content, there's so much creative stuff in there!
Weeyatches be working thar foul arts upon the village! Great video! At one point as you perused the Dragon magazine I saw an add for The Science Fiction Book Club featuring Boris Vallejo name plates as a bonus introductory gift. I had those and it was through the SFBC that I discovered Mythago Wood by Robert Holdstock, The Silver John or John the Balladeer series by Manly Wade Wellman, The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K Dick among so many others. Just wanted to that you for inadvertently triggering a crescendo of nostalgia and appreciation for a time when things like Dragon magazine and the SFBC were stalwart allies to my imagination.
It is interesting! I think it was just viewed as a type of "magic-user" rather than a monster. It's actually one of the reasons I prefer the old-school "magic-user" term versus "wizard." Wizard is too specific, whereas Magic-User can encompass a variety of different things.
Bard Games also was the first publisher of Talislanta (which was the first d20 system before the d20 system was a thing), which later got licensed by... Wizards of the Coast.
I have those "Compleat" books by Bard Games. I loved those, as expansions for AD&D. I loved the Complear Alchemist and Spellcaster. Really cool. Then there was Bard Game's full game system called Arcanum. Very cool also. And Atlantis. And Tarantis. Etc...
@@daddyrolleda1 I am working on a scenario where the players have to rescue some people from green belly spiders. The spider were driven south by a red dragon. I was thinking if the characters go north to investigate the dragon they will encounter some witches that are flying through the air on fire. They will see them crash in the near distance and if they go to investigate they will have the opportunity to save one.
Will watch the video later today. But my favorite PC of mine ever was a witch. Back in the days of Pathfinder 1E they had an absolutely BROKEN style of witch that used con as a casting stat. My DM let me play a lizard man witch. I was a front line spell caster because I had almost as many hit points as our paladin. At the time I didn’t know what the style of playing I was doing was called. I found out later it’s battlefield control. I would buff the homies and debuff the enemies. Curse here. Hex there. God that PC was so much fun. Paizo later errated the class not to use con as the casting stat. I was sad when that happened as we tend to play pretty much RAW. Anyway, looking forward to the video. Thanks for letting me reminisce. That PC also made it to the end of the campaign, the first campaign I ever finished.
I sincerely appreciate your ongoing generous support of the channel! I remember that Pathfinder Witch... I actually mention (and show!) it in this video toward the tail-end on 3 Party Products. And, a Lizard Man Witch sounds like a fun character, especially the way you played it! And what a fun thing for your very first campaign to reach completion!
Stay safe... from the Pinkertons! hehehe... I always think of witches in the Macbeth vein, or in the Lovecraftian Sabbath-celebrating vein. When pointed out to me, I can understand the other notions of witchery and where they come from, but I will never default to thinking of witches in those other ways. But it is nice to see options for those other depictions as well.
There is an "update" of the witches of Hala from the Van Richten guides in the sword and sorcery book "Van Richten's Arsenal" called the Hallowed Witch, and it is a prestige class much that requires both arcane and divine spellcasting levels, I always thought it was pretty neat, although basically the opposite of the 2e Ravenloft take.
Oh, very cool! I got the main campaign setting book for D20 Ravenloft by Sword & Sorcery Studios but never picked up any of the rest of the line. Sounds cool!
@@daddyrolleda1 the line was hit or miss, and I don't even mean in terms of min/maxing, like everybody jokes about "champions of darkness" for a reason, lol, but VR Arsenal and the guides to walking dead, Shadow Fey, and the Mists were all quite well done, imo, as was Dark Tales and Disturbing Legends, although it's perhaps a better read than it is a game supplement. The stand outs for the series are the (unfortunately unfinished) Gazetteer books, which did manage to cover the "core" and link old tsr material as best they could without directly breaking any copyright issues. But yeah, the Hallowed Witch is a little bit finicky, much like the older versions of the witch, in that they can be super powerful or next to useless, depending on the situation, but as much as I love 3.5 I'm really not a min/max player, so I've always wanted to give that build a try, but I'm a forever DM, lol, so maybe one day
I really enjoyed the witch from 114--I remember the controversy over the cover. I understood--it was on the cover, but it was really no different than anything that appeared in devils and demons in the monster manual. As far as the actual class goes--it's a great springboard to start fleshing out terrifying NPC villains, be they with complicated backstories or whether they are just stone cold crazy--one NPC witch I ran was inspired by Kevin Spacey's character of John Doe from the movie Seven. I had a really interesting and twisty backstory for her, but she was so crazy and so terrible my players did not care at all about her back story--they just wanted her dead.
Given that I just had a refreshing discussion on the nature of the Paladin class, I'd love to tap your knowledge on the class. I favor an older view of the Paladin as something special / rare and a leader of forces (more Joan of Arc than anything else) while younger players seem to think of the Paladin as just another strain of cleric.
IANL, but I believe WoTC would only own the Mayfair intellectual property if that was part of the deal when they bought TSR (or the deal was broad enough to include all assets TSR owned). But copyright and intellectual property law is complicated, so I could easily be wrong. I only know the cursory amount I do from researching who may or may not own certain aspects of superhero properties which may or may not have lapsed into the public domain, or reverted to the original owner or their estate over the decades.
My understanding on the topic is that Mayfair published those on the basis of a perpetual exclusive non-transferable license for publication. So they didn't own the intellectual property itself it stayed with the authors, TRS never acquired those licenses because they were non-transferable, and the exclusivity means no one could publish them or derivative works but the current holders of the contracts, Hasbro/WotC at time of writing, who would have to negotiate new license terms before they could. Also, yeah, copyright is a huge bloody mess that's confusing for even lawyers who mainly deal with it, let alone us laymen who just happen to have an interest in the topic and that's before you add the layer of hell that is contract law for licensing terms.
@@daddyrolleda1 those characters were pretty high level before I started playing with those guys. In fact, my first time seeing people playing D&D was those characters having a huge battle on a map the size of a dining room table. After watching that I was like man I have got to play this game!
I’m only a few minutes in, but found an online copy of this edition of Dragon to read. Some of the witches poisoning and seduction powers and very similar to an NPC, the Houri from White Dwarf magazine, June 1979. Just saying.
Ah yes, the Houri! I have a vague memory of having discussed that class before, but I can't remember which video. But that is giving me an idea to perhaps make a video focusing on the classes from White Dwarf magazine. Is that something you think folks would be interested in? Thank you for watching and commenting!
Thanks for letting me know! Looks like I'll be using this set-up moving forward. I didn't catch any "scratchiness" this time, so hopefully that issue is resolved. And, it's possible I may finally be getting a new phone sometimes in the next few months. Mine is currently a Samsung 9+ which came out in 2018!
I always liked how different interpretations of witches have always flip flopped between arcane magic and divine and/or nature magic. Historically witches never subscribed to the differences between that (because it was a difference made in the age of tabletop RPGs and not a historical thing). Like, even in the modern day there's a lot of 5e argument (not really argument, just interpretation) on whether a class like wizard/warlock or druid is best for the thematics of witches, and the second edition of pathfinder having the witch's arcane/divine/primal/occult spell list be chosen based on subclass. I am definitely a sucker for that aspect
Here's my list of early D&D witch stuff before I watch the vid. OD&D: Witch (Dragon mags 3p7, 5p4, & 20p11) Basic: Witch [6th level magic-user] (B/X pX6) Witch [Immortal in disguise] (Master set p13) Witchdoctor (B/X Expert p23, BECMI Expert p25) 1e: Witch = Magic-user (Holmes Basic p7, the source is Basic but it is about 1e) Witch (Dragon mags 43p7&8, & 114p8) Witch Doctor [NPC tribal cleric/magic-user] (DMG p40) 2e NPC class: Witch (DMG p32` nothing but a female wizard`) Witch Doctor (Monster Mythology p12-13) 2e NPC non class: "Witch" (PO: Spells & Magic p72) 2e kits: BARBARIAN SHAMAN Witchman (The Complete Barbarian’s Handbook p62) FIGHTER or THIEF Witch (Van Richten's Monster Hunter's Comp. III p272) PRIEST Kongo Witch Doctor (D#209 p18) Witch Doctor (The Complete Book of Humanoids p79) PSIONICIST Thought Agent- Witch hunter (D#191 p18) TALTOS (Rogue) Boszorkany/Witch (D#247 p43) WIZARD Rashemaar Witch (Spellbound p91) Roman Witch (The Glory of Rome p27) Sorceress Witch (Van Richten's Monster Hunter's Comp. III p249) Witch (D#200 p16) Witch (The Complete Book of Necromancers p21) Witch (The Complete Wizard's Handbook p45) 2e Witch magic system (PO: Spells & Magic p83) Comprehensive Witch Knowledge • Van Richten's Monster Hunter's Compendium Volume III TSR11613 p187-288 • A Dungeon Master’s Addendum On Van Richten’s Monster Hunter’s Compendium Volume III
Witch is one of those fantasy tropes that I think D&D has never captured. I think their more nebulous abilities lend themselves much better as a monster or NPC than as a PC.
Oh great! I was hoping you would see this! I even mention you in the video as the inspiration for the topic (although I fear I mispronounced your last name). But, you can share the video with your friends to prove you are famous!
@@daddyrolleda1 Thanks! I listened to the whole thing on a dogwalk, a killer episode, thanks for covering it, there was a lot more going on with the topic than I knew.
Thanks! I'm enjoying your dark gothic content lately, it's my favourite genre of D&D adventure.
October is my favorite month and I am really enjoying the Halloween stuff!
Ooh, October is your favorite month! It is one of mine as well. I met my wife in October, and it's also the month we got engaged five years later. We'd hope to be married in October as well but the schedules just didn't align and it got pushed to November. I just love fall in general.
Thank you very much for your generous and consistent support of the channel. I really appreciate it!
@@daddyrolleda1 That is a good reason to love this month. I hope yours is filled with goodness.
Would love to see you do an overview for the complete psyonics handbook and that class in general, its one of my favs from back in the AD&D days.
I have a 32+ yr ongoing campaign where the Evil Witch Coven from 114 has been the major BBG -- because the primary group had to break up I switched half of them to become the anti-party vs the main party .. and DM'd a Markland style campaign where they were both hunting the same thing -- after 4yrs they ended up within an hour of eachother at the same place-- so I called the parties together and they had one of the most epic player vs player battle -- we still talk about it 25+yrs on -- the Witches prevailed .. albeit from a party of 8 they were left with one witch and one cleric..
@TheSoling27 If you have ever considered to post online a diary of such a monumental campaign, I'm sure many, starting with me, would be honored to read such an opera! I truly hope you're, or have, a dedicated chronicler from day on this campaign!
Thanks for the video! As far as (O)D&D but more so in 1E AD&D, I guess I always just thought of any MU as a potential "witch" if someone wanted to play it that way. One of the other DMs in our group had dibs on any official material on into the 80s so such things weren't on my radar when they were initially introduced, plus I liked keeping my 1E AD&D games mainly just core three books. I likely wouldn't have complicated the game on the player side of things even if I kept up with those innovations. Later in the 80s and into the 90s I often found that any expanded class rules advanced by players, things brought to me from time to time when starting up a new campaign, seemed to be more about that player wanting some sort of advantage for their PC mechanically rather than to add more RPing flavor, so I would ask such players to try and find a way within the core rules to become the type of character they envisioned. It's interesting to look back on all of this now even though it was not something I embraced back then. I appreciate your insights!
Thanks so much! I was just chatting in the comments how at the time I didn't like the term "magic-user" as I felt it was cumbersome, but looking back on it I realize that it was meant to be a catch-all term and that the person in question wouldn't necessarily call themselves a magic-user but instead would say they were a witch, wizard, sorcerer, etc. (I realize Sorcerer is also a level title, but I think you get my meaning). And I appreciate that now so much. When 3E came out and there was a separate class for Sorcerer versus Wizard, I thought that was kind of unnecessary, as it could mainly have been handled via roleplaying and a flexible DM saying, "Okay, you don't have to learn your spells. You just know them inherently." It might require working with the player to limit the spell list and/or the number of spells for the balance of not needing to "find" and learn new spells, but I don't think it requires an entirely new class. Same with the Witch. Maybe adjust the spell list and give them some flavor (maybe a familiar or whatever) and that's really enough rather than a whole new set of mechanics. But, I do like reading articles like this for inspiration on the roleplaying aspect or to use them as adversaries or mentors for the PCs.
Cheers and thanks as always for watching and commenting!
I'd never considered playing a witch in D&D, but the idea is intriguing.
Honestly, I've never played one, either, but I am having a blast running the Witch NPC for the B/X game I run for my daughter and her friends. Thank you so much for watching and commenting, and for your support of the channel!
@@daddyrolleda1I want to play a witch after seeing this video.
I would love to see a video like this but for the Swashbuckler! Thanks for creating these awesome videos!
I can certainly add that to the list! I seem to recall it was more of a 2E/3E era thing but I can do some digging into earlier versions. Thanks for watching and commenting!
Thanks. This is a great guide to find information to play Witches, Hags, Warlocks, Hermits.
I had a few of those RoleAods books back in the day, then several years ago I searched and eventually found all the rest. Some are really good, some are just so-so, most are at least usable in whole or in part
I've always been interested in them but never saw them for sale at any of my local shops. The ads in Dragon intrigued me.
Thanks for watching and commenting!
Thanks!
Thank you so much for your support of the channel! I really appreciate it, and hope you liked the video. Cheers!
I'm familiar with the BECMI and Mongoose Witch, but some of these others are fascinating!
The more I think about it, the more I love the psionic witch. Without reading it, it seems like a good fit. There are a lot of psionics that map well to traditional spooky witches. Neat idea. I'll have to seek it out
I would love to get ahold of a copy as well! It seems to be one of those ones that's relatively difficult to track down as a PDF. I did see a few copies on Ebay, though.
Glad you enjoyed learning about the other versions of the witch, and thank you so much for watching, commenting, and supporting the channel. Cheers!
I subscribed to Dragon back in the day and actually owned 114! It was a great issue, and loved the art for the witches. I didn't play or have any of my players in my Greyhawk campaigns play one, but I toyed around with adding the 114 witches coven as NPCs, but never got around to it. I like them, though the issue is a little heavy on "seducing the dudes" powers.
My wife has a 1E with a Halloween paint scheme that is the command mech of our shared pirate force. It's a real beast on the field regardless of era being played in. It's proven Primitive's worth countless times.
I've used most of the dragon mag versions and the 2e largely for npcs. I've tried assorted 3/day "pools" for players a couple times, especially with something along the lines of the 3e sorcerer.
Having tinkered with this since like '83 I enjoyed this one a lot. Thanks!
Great video. SPOOOOOOKY! 💀💀💀
Yes, your audio is much improved. 👍👍👍
Bard Games also put out their own game, based somewhat on those early "Totally not D&D we swear" books, called The Arcanum. It actually has a very intresting and flavorful take on things like black magic and witchy and shamanistic character concepts. If you're intrested, in a bit of divergent history, I'd recommend taking a look at the game in general. It's still essentially just someone's very homebrewed AD&D, but there's a *lot* of interesting tidbits there, and a lot of game design that frankly feels pretty modern for 1984. It's available on DriveThru as a 30th anniversary edition thing, which was cleaned up a lot.
(The game later became Talislanta, incidentally, but I really like its humble roots, in that Wild West era of 3rd party products before any OGL or such).
Hail White Dwarf when it was good…. I remember how good you were before you fell into shadow.
I've always been bummed that I missed out on "Golden Age" White Dwarf. I was aware it existed via ads in Dragon Magazine, but I never saw it for sale at my local shop(s) and when I finally got around to getting it in the early-mid 1990's, it had already become a house organ for WH and 40K, primarily as a painting guide and teasers of new miniatures coming out. At the time, I was playing WH40K with a friend so I enjoyed it, but now going back and seeing some of the original issues that included more diverse content, there's so much creative stuff in there!
Weeyatches be working thar foul arts upon the village! Great video! At one point as you perused the Dragon magazine I saw an add for The Science Fiction Book Club featuring Boris Vallejo name plates as a bonus introductory gift. I had those and it was through the SFBC that I discovered Mythago Wood by Robert Holdstock, The Silver John or John the Balladeer series by Manly Wade Wellman, The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K Dick among so many others. Just wanted to that you for inadvertently triggering a crescendo of nostalgia and appreciation for a time when things like Dragon magazine and the SFBC were stalwart allies to my imagination.
I was always kinda surprised it was never in the Monster Manual, like the ghost etc
It is interesting! I think it was just viewed as a type of "magic-user" rather than a monster. It's actually one of the reasons I prefer the old-school "magic-user" term versus "wizard." Wizard is too specific, whereas Magic-User can encompass a variety of different things.
Bard Games also was the first publisher of Talislanta (which was the first d20 system before the d20 system was a thing), which later got licensed by... Wizards of the Coast.
I have those "Compleat" books by Bard Games. I loved those, as expansions for AD&D. I loved the Complear Alchemist and Spellcaster. Really cool. Then there was Bard Game's full game system called Arcanum. Very cool also. And Atlantis. And Tarantis. Etc...
Very inspiring. I'm definitely going to make use of a witch
Excellent! Glad it inspired you! I love hearing that!
@@daddyrolleda1 I am working on a scenario where the players have to rescue some people from green belly spiders.
The spider were driven south by a red dragon. I was thinking if the characters go north to investigate the dragon they will encounter some witches that are flying through the air on fire. They will see them crash in the near distance and if they go to investigate they will have the opportunity to save one.
Will watch the video later today. But my favorite PC of mine ever was a witch. Back in the days of Pathfinder 1E they had an absolutely BROKEN style of witch that used con as a casting stat. My DM let me play a lizard man witch. I was a front line spell caster because I had almost as many hit points as our paladin. At the time I didn’t know what the style of playing I was doing was called. I found out later it’s battlefield control. I would buff the homies and debuff the enemies. Curse here. Hex there. God that PC was so much fun. Paizo later errated the class not to use con as the casting stat. I was sad when that happened as we tend to play pretty much RAW.
Anyway, looking forward to the video. Thanks for letting me reminisce. That PC also made it to the end of the campaign, the first campaign I ever finished.
I sincerely appreciate your ongoing generous support of the channel!
I remember that Pathfinder Witch... I actually mention (and show!) it in this video toward the tail-end on 3 Party Products. And, a Lizard Man Witch sounds like a fun character, especially the way you played it! And what a fun thing for your very first campaign to reach completion!
Stay safe... from the Pinkertons! hehehe...
I always think of witches in the Macbeth vein, or in the Lovecraftian Sabbath-celebrating vein. When pointed out to me, I can understand the other notions of witchery and where they come from, but I will never default to thinking of witches in those other ways. But it is nice to see options for those other depictions as well.
Fascinating background gen…thanks DRa1
Glad you enjoyed it! Thank you very much for watching and commenting. I really appreciate it!
Great video, thank you!
I'm so glad you enjoyed it! Thank you for watching and commenting, and for your support of the channel. Cheers!
There is an "update" of the witches of Hala from the Van Richten guides in the sword and sorcery book "Van Richten's Arsenal" called the Hallowed Witch, and it is a prestige class much that requires both arcane and divine spellcasting levels, I always thought it was pretty neat, although basically the opposite of the 2e Ravenloft take.
Oh, very cool! I got the main campaign setting book for D20 Ravenloft by Sword & Sorcery Studios but never picked up any of the rest of the line. Sounds cool!
@@daddyrolleda1 the line was hit or miss, and I don't even mean in terms of min/maxing, like everybody jokes about "champions of darkness" for a reason, lol, but VR Arsenal and the guides to walking dead, Shadow Fey, and the Mists were all quite well done, imo, as was Dark Tales and Disturbing Legends, although it's perhaps a better read than it is a game supplement. The stand outs for the series are the (unfortunately unfinished) Gazetteer books, which did manage to cover the "core" and link old tsr material as best they could without directly breaking any copyright issues.
But yeah, the Hallowed Witch is a little bit finicky, much like the older versions of the witch, in that they can be super powerful or next to useless, depending on the situation, but as much as I love 3.5 I'm really not a min/max player, so I've always wanted to give that build a try, but I'm a forever DM, lol, so maybe one day
I really enjoyed the witch from 114--I remember the controversy over the cover. I understood--it was on the cover, but it was really no different than anything that appeared in devils and demons in the monster manual.
As far as the actual class goes--it's a great springboard to start fleshing out terrifying NPC villains, be they with complicated backstories or whether they are just stone cold crazy--one NPC witch I ran was inspired by Kevin Spacey's character of John Doe from the movie Seven. I had a really interesting and twisty backstory for her, but she was so crazy and so terrible my players did not care at all about her back story--they just wanted her dead.
What a great idea for an evil witch! I love it!
Thanks for watching and commenting!
Given that I just had a refreshing discussion on the nature of the Paladin class, I'd love to tap your knowledge on the class. I favor an older view of the Paladin as something special / rare and a leader of forces (more Joan of Arc than anything else) while younger players seem to think of the Paladin as just another strain of cleric.
IANL, but I believe WoTC would only own the Mayfair intellectual property if that was part of the deal when they bought TSR (or the deal was broad enough to include all assets TSR owned). But copyright and intellectual property law is complicated, so I could easily be wrong. I only know the cursory amount I do from researching who may or may not own certain aspects of superhero properties which may or may not have lapsed into the public domain, or reverted to the original owner or their estate over the decades.
My understanding on the topic is that Mayfair published those on the basis of a perpetual exclusive non-transferable license for publication. So they didn't own the intellectual property itself it stayed with the authors, TRS never acquired those licenses because they were non-transferable, and the exclusivity means no one could publish them or derivative works but the current holders of the contracts, Hasbro/WotC at time of writing, who would have to negotiate new license terms before they could.
Also, yeah, copyright is a huge bloody mess that's confusing for even lawyers who mainly deal with it, let alone us laymen who just happen to have an interest in the topic and that's before you add the layer of hell that is contract law for licensing terms.
Thanks, you two (@aaronbourque5494 and @chiblast100x) for all of this. Totally makes sense the way you explain it. I appreciate it!
@@daddyrolleda1 Quite welcome. At least something like this isn't like the quagmire of FASA, Harmony Gold, Hasbro, et al.
We had one player that had an old style Witch from Dragon #20.
I think that would've been a lot of fun! How'd it work out for your group?
@@daddyrolleda1 those characters were pretty high level before I started playing with those guys. In fact, my first time seeing people playing D&D was those characters having a huge battle on a map the size of a dining room table.
After watching that I was like man I have got to play this game!
I’m only a few minutes in, but found an online copy of this edition of Dragon to read. Some of the witches poisoning and seduction powers and very similar to an NPC, the Houri from White Dwarf magazine, June 1979. Just saying.
Ah yes, the Houri! I have a vague memory of having discussed that class before, but I can't remember which video. But that is giving me an idea to perhaps make a video focusing on the classes from White Dwarf magazine. Is that something you think folks would be interested in?
Thank you for watching and commenting!
@@daddyrolleda1 sure. WD did some classes of varying degrees of playability iirc. A demonologist, an artificer, a necromancer, berserker.. etc etc
Side note the sound remains great!
Thanks for letting me know! Looks like I'll be using this set-up moving forward. I didn't catch any "scratchiness" this time, so hopefully that issue is resolved. And, it's possible I may finally be getting a new phone sometimes in the next few months. Mine is currently a Samsung 9+ which came out in 2018!
I always liked how different interpretations of witches have always flip flopped between arcane magic and divine and/or nature magic. Historically witches never subscribed to the differences between that (because it was a difference made in the age of tabletop RPGs and not a historical thing). Like, even in the modern day there's a lot of 5e argument (not really argument, just interpretation) on whether a class like wizard/warlock or druid is best for the thematics of witches, and the second edition of pathfinder having the witch's arcane/divine/primal/occult spell list be chosen based on subclass. I am definitely a sucker for that aspect
Here's my list of early D&D witch stuff before I watch the vid.
OD&D:
Witch (Dragon mags 3p7, 5p4, & 20p11)
Basic:
Witch [6th level magic-user] (B/X pX6)
Witch [Immortal in disguise] (Master set p13)
Witchdoctor (B/X Expert p23, BECMI Expert p25)
1e:
Witch = Magic-user (Holmes Basic p7, the source is Basic but it is about 1e)
Witch (Dragon mags 43p7&8, & 114p8)
Witch Doctor [NPC tribal cleric/magic-user] (DMG p40)
2e NPC class:
Witch (DMG p32` nothing but a female wizard`)
Witch Doctor (Monster Mythology p12-13)
2e NPC non class:
"Witch" (PO: Spells & Magic p72)
2e kits:
BARBARIAN SHAMAN
Witchman (The Complete Barbarian’s Handbook p62)
FIGHTER or THIEF
Witch (Van Richten's Monster Hunter's Comp. III p272)
PRIEST
Kongo Witch Doctor (D#209 p18)
Witch Doctor (The Complete Book of Humanoids p79)
PSIONICIST
Thought Agent- Witch hunter (D#191 p18)
TALTOS (Rogue)
Boszorkany/Witch (D#247 p43)
WIZARD
Rashemaar Witch (Spellbound p91)
Roman Witch (The Glory of Rome p27)
Sorceress Witch (Van Richten's Monster Hunter's Comp. III p249)
Witch (D#200 p16)
Witch (The Complete Book of Necromancers p21)
Witch (The Complete Wizard's Handbook p45)
2e Witch magic system (PO: Spells & Magic p83)
Comprehensive Witch Knowledge
• Van Richten's Monster Hunter's Compendium Volume III TSR11613 p187-288
• A Dungeon Master’s Addendum On Van Richten’s Monster Hunter’s Compendium Volume III
Updated my TSR Witch list with info from the vid & additional stuff I found:
OD&D:
Beautiful Witch art (Men & Magic p27)
Witch (Dragon mags 3p7, 5p4, & 20p11)
Basic:
Wicca [non-human magic-user] (Master set p21-22)
Witch (GAZ 3 p76)
Witch [6th level magic-user] (B/X pX6)
Witch [Immortal in disguise] (Master set p13)
Witchdoctor (B/X Expert p23, BECMI Expert p25)
Wokan [nonhuman magic-user] (Rules Cyclopedia p215-216)
1e:
Snow Witch (Deities & Demigods p96 & 104, or 81 & 89 in Cthulhu & Melnibone redacted printings)
Witch (Dragon mags 43p7&8, & 114p8)
Witch Doctor [NPC tribal cleric/magic-user] (DMG p40)
Witch Doctor (Deities & Demigods p105, or 90 in Cthulhu & Melnibone redacted printings)
Witch mention (Deities & Demigods p19)
Witch mention as a magic-user (Holmes Basic p7)
2e class:
Bedine Witch [wizard] (FR13 Anauroch p18, 20 & 73, & Wizard's Spell Compendium 4 p1137)
Witch [NPC,` nothing but a female wizard`] (DMG p32)
Witch Doctor [NPC] (Monster Mythology p12-13)
"Witch" [NPC non class] (PO: Spells & Magic p72)
Witch (Wizard's Spell Compendium 4 p1148)
2e kits:
BARBARIAN SHAMAN
Witchman (The Complete Barbarian’s Handbook p62)
FIGHTER or THIEF
Witch (Van Richten's Monster Hunter's Comp. III p272)
PRIEST
Kongo Witch Doctor (D#209 p18)
Witch Doctor (The Complete Book of Humanoids p79)
PSIONICIST
Thought Agent- Witch hunter (D#191 p18)
TALTOS (Rogue)
Boszorkany/Witch (D#247 p43)
WIZARD
Rashemaar Witch (Spellbound p91)
Roman Witch (The Glory of Rome p27)
Sorceress Witch (Van Richten's Monster Hunter's Comp. III p249)
Witch (D#200 p16)
Witch (The Complete Book of Necromancers p21)
Witch (The Complete Wizard's Handbook p45)
2e Witch magic system (PO: Spells & Magic p83)
Comprehensive Witch Knowledge
Van Richten's Monster Hunter's Compendium Volume III TSR11613 p187-288
A Dungeon Master’s Addendum On Van Richten’s Monster Hunter’s Compendium Volume III
Thanks for the excellent vid!
I have the Green Ronin and Mongoose 3/3.5 Witch supplements
Witch is one of those fantasy tropes that I think D&D has never captured. I think their more nebulous abilities lend themselves much better as a monster or NPC than as a PC.
They're made of wood?
Ha! Of course! That would've been a funny joke to make in the video. Cheers, and thanks for your support of the channel!
@@daddyrolleda1 😁
Does anyone know if there is a vampire/ witch combo as a PC?
5:11 That absolutely is not a mythologically accurate Amazon.
Oh, not even close!
Witch Class? Oh, that class. 😅
The male form of witch is witch. Warlock is different non gendered term
I mean, you can't go wrong with Saint-Saens...
Well, now I need to look that up! I know he's a composer but don't really know much about him.
@@daddyrolleda1 You actually mentioned the reason I brought him up - Danse Macabre.
OF COURSE! Sheesh! Thanks for the reminder!
O.M.G. Thanks for this! I am all about it. 👀🪄
Oh great! I was hoping you would see this! I even mention you in the video as the inspiration for the topic (although I fear I mispronounced your last name). But, you can share the video with your friends to prove you are famous!
@@daddyrolleda1 Thanks! I listened to the whole thing on a dogwalk, a killer episode, thanks for covering it, there was a lot more going on with the topic than I knew.