Good news on the Witch class for the remaster. They have announced some of the upcoming changes to the Witch that I personally think sound pretty great. The changes describe some apparent boosts to power balance, utility, effectiveness, and flavorful aspects that make the class’s gameplay sound much better.

To highlight the fact that the witch is the premier familiar user in the game, we’ve increased the capabilities of their familiar from its original version. Now, the witch’s familiar gains even more abilities, one of which is wholly unique to the patron. These unique familiar abilities both help to express the patron’s theme, and they generate a passive effect every time the witch Casts or Sustains one of their hex cantrips. For example, a familiar granted by the Silence in Snow patron is forever cold to the touch—it might be the color of ice or its breath might crystallize in the air—and so every time you cast your sustain one of your hex spells, frost will form next to your familiar, creating difficult terrain. Many of these abilities are strong, but have very short ranges from your familiar, so be sure to keep your little shadow cat or curséd raven safe with spells like phase familiar or patron’s puppet, which can help to shield them from damage or let them dart quickly in and out of safety.

Some interesting new features for the witch’s familiar. Attaching some combat mechanics to the familiar that tie into the core gameplay of the class (hexing and sustaining hex) is a really neat idea and I like the example of the snow one creating difficult terrain. I’m looking forward to finding out what they have for Curse and Baba Yaga patrons in this regard.

Many hex cantrips now no longer make enemies temporarily immune to their effects once cast, as we felt that having to sustain them and having the limit of 1 hex cantrip per turn (it turns out, your patron doesn’t like being pestered for supernatural favors three times in a six-second window) was already enough of a limit for most abilities.

Thank goodness for that. Although I was kinda hoping for being allowed to hex more than once a turn, but that was always a pipe-dream.

We also expanded some hex cantrips that were overly narrow, like wilding word, which used to function only against animals, fungi, or plants, but now function against any creature, with animals, fungi, and plants being especially vulnerable to its effects.

These types of changes are my favourite. Instead of limiting abilities, just making them more effective against certain things make a lot of options way more viable.

Patron’s Presence — Feat 14

Your patron can direct its attention through your familiar, and its mere presence becomes an ominous weight on the minds of other beings to distract them and blot out their magic. Your familiar gains the following activity.

Patron’s Presence [two-actions] (aura) Frequency once per hour; Effect A palpable weight extends from your familiar in a 15-foot emanation. Enemies who enter or start their turn within the aura must succeed at a Will save against your spell DC or become stupefied 2 as long as they remain within the aura, or stupefied 3 on a critical failure. The aura lasts until the end of your next turn, but the familiar can Sustain it up to 1 minute.

This is very cool. Kind of seems like you’ve got an otherworldly eldritch horror backing you up and definitely adds a more menacing aura to the character. Witches can be quite unsettling and this is a neat addition that actually helps differentiate them from other spellcasters. As an aside, have familiars always been able to use the ‘sustain a spell’ action?

Looking forwards to seeing the rest of the changes when the remaster comes out. I’m much more inclined to potentially play one long-term with the re-balancing done so far.

Are there any other updates that have been announced that I missed? Or are there any changes that anyone is crossing their fingers for?