Witch Patron
Source: Hexbound
Witches need a mentor to teach them witchcraft. Warlocks need a patron to grant them their powers. As a Witch Patron warlock, your mentor and your patron are one and the same. An incredibly powerful witch taught you witchcraft, and through your covenant they also became both your mentor and your patron. Your magic stems both from the summoning of spirits and from your mentor themselves. You are able to tap into your patron’s immense source of magic, so long as they agree with your actions.
Under the watchful eye of your familiar, your patron sees your every move. Whether this is to protect you from harm or to ensure you carry on their evil deeds depends on the mentor and patron you chose. Your training under an immensely powerful witch has taught you the importance and strength that lies in belonging to a coven; a powerful coterie of magic users that enhance each other’s magical abilities. You know that there’s strength in numbers, and with both your coven and your familiar at your side, there’s little in this plane or any other that can oppose you.
Witchmark
Witch Warlocks have the most diversity in their witchmarks, since they depend solely on their patron and mentor. Some noble witch mentors use their family’s coat of arms as their witchmark, while other patron mentors choose a witchmark in the shape of a ring around the finger of their pupil to illustrate their bond. The most common motif is chains snaking around the body of the pupil symbolizing the unbreakable covenant between the patron mentor and the student.
Expanded Spell List
Starting at 1st level, you learn additional spells when you reach certain levels in this class, as shown in the Witch Patron spell table. The spells count as warlock spells for you, but they don’t count against the number of warlock spells you know.
| Spell Level | Spells |
|---|---|
| 1st | faerie fire, shield |
| 2nd | animal messenger, moonbeam |
| 3rd | fireball, phantom steed |
| 4th | dominate beast, polymorph |
| 5th | insect plague, cloudkill |
Greater Familiar
Starting at 1st level, you acquire a special familiar that will accompany you on your journey. This familiar is intrinsically tied to your mentor and patron, and it serves them as much as they serve you. They are your companion, but also the eyes and ears of the powerful witch that gives you your warlock and witch powers. It has its own will and opinions, and will not hesitate to make them known.
You learn the find familiar spell and can cast it as a ritual. The spell doesn’t count against your number of spells known.
- Your familiar’s Intelligence is either 10 or the Intelligence marked in the creature’s character sheet, whichever is highest.
- Your familiar knows all languages you do, and can communicate telepathically with any creature within 100 feet with whom it shares a language.
- When using the senses of your familiar, you are not deaf or blind.
- Your familiar adds your Charisma modifier to their AC, and both your Charisma and proficiency modifiers to their HP.
- The material component cost to cast the spell find familiar is ignored, and the casting time is halved.
Coven Magic
Starting at 1st level, you gain the ability to make your own coven to empower you and all other members. The bond that ties those within the same coven is arcane in nature, and their magical abilities are enhanced by the mere presence of another coven member.
Choose a willing creature with whom you share a close bond who can cast spells. This creature is now a member of your coven, both their and your magic is empowered when in the proximity of one another.
When all members of the coven are within 30 feet of each other:
- The time and material cost for casting spells as rituals is halved for all members of the coven.
- Members of the coven cannot be targeted by divination magic that aims to see them or hear them, such as arcane eye, clairvoyance, or scrying.
- Choose a spell that all members of the coven know. When one member of the coven casts that spell, any other member of the coven can use their reaction to cast it as well, provided they have the necessary spell slots to cast it. The spell in question can’t be cast at a higher spell level. Once you’ve chosen a spell, you can’t change that spell until all members of the coven finish a long rest. Once a member of the coven has used this ability to cast a spell as a reaction, they can’t do so again until they finish a long rest.
Any member of a coven can leave the coven whenever they please. When they leave, they do not enjoy any of the benefits that came with the coven anymore.
Familiar Bond
At 6th level, the bond between you and your familiar rises to new heights. You are able to call on the spirits through the veil to protect your familiar and keep it from harm when in battle.
- The familiar can use the help action both as a bonus action and as an action in one turn. If using the help action to help you, its range is 30 feet.
- Whenever the familiar needs to make a saving throw, it can do so using your stats instead of its own.
- If your familiar goes down to 0 HP, you can use a spell slot to bring them back to full HP as an action without needing to cast the spell find familiar, provided you do so within 1 minute of their death. Once you’ve brought back your familiar through the use of this ability, you can’t do so again until you finish a long rest.
Coven Bond
At 10th level, your mastery over witchcraft has grown, and so has your coven. Up to three willing creatures with whom you share a close bond and who are able to cast spells can now be part of your coven. Their magic is further empowered as your bonds grow stronger.
When all members of the coven are within 50 feet of each other:
- Members of the coven cannot be charmed
or frightened. - Members of the coven have advantage on Charisma saving throws.
- Members of the coven do not receive any damage caused by a spell cast by another member of the coven as long as that spell has an area of effect. For example, a fireball cast by one member of the coven does not affect the other members. Members of the coven do not need to make saving throws when entering the area of effect of another member’s spell if the saving throw is used to determine how much damage they would take. Other effects, such as blindness or deafness, are not negated and members of the coven need to make the appropriate saving throws if in the spell’s area of effect.
Final Familiar
You call on the spirits from beyond the veil and on your own witch patron to greatly empower your familiar in battle.
As an action, you empower your familiar. The powers granted to your familiar stay for a number of minutes equal to your Charisma modifier, with a minimum of one. While this ability is active:
- Your familiar grows one size larger.
- Your familiar’s speed increases by 10 feet. If the familiar is able to fly or possesses another way of movement such as swimming or burrowing, it is also increased by 10 feet.
- Your familiar’s HP becomes equal to your max HP.
- Your familiar’s Charisma modifier is equal to your Charisma modifier.
- Your familiar can attack on its initiative turn, as well as taking other actions, bonus actions, and reactions as normal.
- On its turn, your familiar can cast any cantrip you know. When casting any cantrip, it acts as if you cast it when it comes to character levels. Additionally, any eldritch invocations that empower or otherwise affect this cantrip for you also affect the cantrip cast by your familiar.
A Warlock Witch Familiar
As a Witch Patron warlock, you and your familiar have a bond more intense than any other master does with their familiar. Your familiar is an integral part of your playstyle, and they could also very well be an integral part of your party. Your familiar is able to speak, and has its own thoughts and feelings. It also acts as the never-blinking eye of your patron, which can lead to all sorts of shenanigans for the party.
Here are a couple of tables that you can roll on to make your familiar more of a character and less like a collection of stats and numbers. Work with your GM to use this as a springboard to flesh out your familiar’s personality in order to make it a true member of the party.
Personality Trait
| d8 | Trait |
|---|---|
| 1 | I am my warlock’s shepherd. I’m here to watch over them and won’t let them stray away from their path. |
| 2 | I see myself as a mentor to my warlock. I’ll make sure they don’t neglect their studies, and will routinely quiz them on the basics and oversee their spellcasting. |
| 3 | I am actively looking for new suitable students for my master, and will try to bring these potential pupils to them. |
| 4 | I see myself as a parental figure to my warlock, and will act as such. |
| 5 | I am deathly afraid of animals and will do my best to avoid them. |
| 6 | I am convinced I am the leader of the adventuring party, and will act as such. |
| 7 | Nothing angers me more than someone treating me like a normal animal. |
| 8 | I am a big gossip, and don’t know how to keep a secret to save my life. |
Flaw
| d8 | Flaws |
|---|---|
| 1 | Once I’ve made up my mind about something, or someone, it takes a lot for me to change my initial opinion. |
| 2 | I follow the orders of my master blindly, without taking into account my warlock’s feelings on the matter. |
| 3 | The only two people I trust are my master and my warlock. I am suspicious of every person other than those two, including the other members of the party. |
| 4 | I see myself as superior to people, and have a hard time taking their feelings into account. |
| 5 | I have a hard time understanding feelings and I’m not good at communicating them or dealing with those felt by others. |
| 6 | If my warlock’s orders go against what I personally believe is the best course of action, I will ignore them. |
| 7 | I believe my master’s magic is the most powerful source of magic in the universe. I see all other forms and sources of magic as inferior and I’m not afraid to let those that use them know. |
| 8 | I will defend my warlock without any regard to my well-being. |
Bond
| d8 | Bonds |
|---|---|
| 1 | I am deathly afraid of my master. I see my warlock as my only way out of this and I’m traveling with them to make them strong enough to take their patron down. |
| 2 | I was once a warlock in the same contract that binds my current warlock to my master. I am magically unable to tell them about it. |
| 3 | I love my warlock above all things and will protect them with my life. |
| 4 | I’m using my warlock to advance my own agenda. |
| 5 | I long to return to the realm of the fey where I hail from. |
| 6 | I am secretly a fiend, not a fey spirit. I outwardly appear to be helping my warlock, but I’m actually sabotaging their plans. |
| 7 | I love both my warlock and my master equally, and I’m scared what would happen if their interests started to diverge. |
| 8 | I see my master as a parental figure, and have great respect for them. I won’t tolerate anyone speaking ill of them or working against them. |