Witcher as a fighter/mage subclass
- Thread starter xcheefoo
- Start date
I only ever heard of The Witcher because penny-arcade mentioned a computer game was being made of it and did a cartoon poking fun at the title. I believe the books have yet to be translated into English.
I am curious, however... can you tell us a bit about the Witcher? Maybe we could help you design a class or the character.
Boston gamers are slowly taking over ENWorld.
I am curious, however... can you tell us a bit about the Witcher? Maybe we could help you design a class or the character.
Boston gamers are slowly taking over ENWorld.
Witcher description
This is a rough translation of the short descrption from the russian D20 V.3 so forgive he grammar and spelling. I translated it through BABEL on Altavista and fixed some minor things.
Ved'mak (witcher) - hired killer of monsters. Created in the process of colonization by people of wild territories, witcher brotherhood was never very large. In essence, the abodes of witchers are located in the hard to find places, where nothing will be able to prevent the mysterious, half-magical process of creating new witcher
Witchers were created by people as weapon against evil beasts (monsters). After their training is complete they go into the world to kill what they were made to kill. The special feature of class are the fact that they do not go out looking for adventures but rather they simply sit and await far someone to hire them (in majority of the cases player party has to hire the witcher to follow them), so the roleplaying aspect of witcher introduction is important. Witcher always follow witcher's code and can not break it. The code is very interesting in the way it addresses creatures of the world. Witcher will never attack an intelegent creature (even if it is a monster) unless it is evil or undead. All representatives of evil or undead are monsters by default. Furthermore, witcher is neutral with respect to the social conflicts, and, with rare exceptions, in them he does not interfere
During their initiation into the world Witchers receive a longsword created from meteor metal and perfectly fit for their hight, weight and arm lenght so any change of a weapon in a game has to be warranted with a VERY good reason. Witchers are also very good in hand-to-hand combat.
Witcher is lawfull neutral ONLY
Witchers pray to no god and follow no cause unless they performed an act of some sort (murder, love, treason, etc) that would make them abandon their guild and follow god, goal and code
The creation of ved'maka is very complicated. This process begins, as a rule, when to future witcher is younger then 10, and includes many steps, each of which is very dangerous for life and health of neophyte. Only 2-3 out of 10 kids survive each step of the process. The creation of witcher includes gruiling trainings, which change very structure of muscles and bones, maximally adapting it for the combat loads. But the main thing - influence on the witcher caused by unique complexes of vegetable extracts, causing change in the composition of the blood, metabolism and genetic code. Because of these changes, witcher becomes very resistant to the poisons, the magic, the temperature variations and the diseases. Witchers have a collection of magic actions of the average effectiveness, which they call SIGNs. These actions are produced with the aid of the collection of gestures without the verbal or material components. Furthermore, witcher starts to recognize the habits of the nonintellegent monsters, whose destruction is withcers primary goal. Mutation changes lead to the fact that majority (90%) of witchers have the extraodinary special features of appearance, by which it is sufficiently easy to identify them (vertically elongated pupils, pigment disturbances in the structure of the skin and hair, specific build). That could/should be defined by the GM.
Witcher can only be a human or a half-elf
Witchers are very suspicious to any class and therefore it is very difficult to travel with them. Most of the time, in order to get Witcher to join the party he has to be paid handsomly and party's goal has to be desruction of evil monsters. Otherwise of witcher it will not go with the party and will live in the city until someone does not hire him.
This is a rough translation of the short descrption from the russian D20 V.3 so forgive he grammar and spelling. I translated it through BABEL on Altavista and fixed some minor things.
Ved'mak (witcher) - hired killer of monsters. Created in the process of colonization by people of wild territories, witcher brotherhood was never very large. In essence, the abodes of witchers are located in the hard to find places, where nothing will be able to prevent the mysterious, half-magical process of creating new witcher
Witchers were created by people as weapon against evil beasts (monsters). After their training is complete they go into the world to kill what they were made to kill. The special feature of class are the fact that they do not go out looking for adventures but rather they simply sit and await far someone to hire them (in majority of the cases player party has to hire the witcher to follow them), so the roleplaying aspect of witcher introduction is important. Witcher always follow witcher's code and can not break it. The code is very interesting in the way it addresses creatures of the world. Witcher will never attack an intelegent creature (even if it is a monster) unless it is evil or undead. All representatives of evil or undead are monsters by default. Furthermore, witcher is neutral with respect to the social conflicts, and, with rare exceptions, in them he does not interfere
During their initiation into the world Witchers receive a longsword created from meteor metal and perfectly fit for their hight, weight and arm lenght so any change of a weapon in a game has to be warranted with a VERY good reason. Witchers are also very good in hand-to-hand combat.
Witcher is lawfull neutral ONLY
Witchers pray to no god and follow no cause unless they performed an act of some sort (murder, love, treason, etc) that would make them abandon their guild and follow god, goal and code
The creation of ved'maka is very complicated. This process begins, as a rule, when to future witcher is younger then 10, and includes many steps, each of which is very dangerous for life and health of neophyte. Only 2-3 out of 10 kids survive each step of the process. The creation of witcher includes gruiling trainings, which change very structure of muscles and bones, maximally adapting it for the combat loads. But the main thing - influence on the witcher caused by unique complexes of vegetable extracts, causing change in the composition of the blood, metabolism and genetic code. Because of these changes, witcher becomes very resistant to the poisons, the magic, the temperature variations and the diseases. Witchers have a collection of magic actions of the average effectiveness, which they call SIGNs. These actions are produced with the aid of the collection of gestures without the verbal or material components. Furthermore, witcher starts to recognize the habits of the nonintellegent monsters, whose destruction is withcers primary goal. Mutation changes lead to the fact that majority (90%) of witchers have the extraodinary special features of appearance, by which it is sufficiently easy to identify them (vertically elongated pupils, pigment disturbances in the structure of the skin and hair, specific build). That could/should be defined by the GM.
Witcher can only be a human or a half-elf
Witchers are very suspicious to any class and therefore it is very difficult to travel with them. Most of the time, in order to get Witcher to join the party he has to be paid handsomly and party's goal has to be desruction of evil monsters. Otherwise of witcher it will not go with the party and will live in the city until someone does not hire him.
Based on the description, a couple of thoughts:
- NPCs only... the restrictions are too great and the apparent benefits would probably make the character ECL +1 or +2 anyway
- The mechanics will be fuzzy since many of the changes sound like they affect things normally affected only race, not by class (based on descriptions, sounds like a Str bonus may be in order, as well as a Con bonus (dex bonus, too???) and Cha penalty due to changed appearance) --especially because these changes seem to take place before the character is of age
- Favored enemy (designed to fight specific monster)
- Gets magic sword at first level then? Can anyone else use these swords?
- Spell-like abilities
I would say, make Witcher a race or template, with an additional Witcher class or prestige class to go with it.
- NPCs only... the restrictions are too great and the apparent benefits would probably make the character ECL +1 or +2 anyway
- The mechanics will be fuzzy since many of the changes sound like they affect things normally affected only race, not by class (based on descriptions, sounds like a Str bonus may be in order, as well as a Con bonus (dex bonus, too???) and Cha penalty due to changed appearance) --especially because these changes seem to take place before the character is of age
- Favored enemy (designed to fight specific monster)
- Gets magic sword at first level then? Can anyone else use these swords?
- Spell-like abilities
I would say, make Witcher a race or template, with an additional Witcher class or prestige class to go with it.
chaoticgreece
First Post
hello everyone! i jsut got some ideas that would help in the creation of a witcher race n class.
for the race first.witchers r not a race from their own.they become what they r with the use of mutagens.so the player should firstly decide what race he'd like to be before becoming a witcher.also the mutagens r not "given" all together.there r three stages of the characters transformation.so this gives the characters the oppurtunity to choose what theyd like to take from the mutation by following a path(like the heart choice of the dragonborn race).so when the char becomes a witcher he may take an immunity t poison n disease plus a bonus to one of the physical attributes(str,con,dex) and a decrease to charisma(as the mutation changes the physical appearance).so the character transforms as he gains lvls(ex. at first lvl gains 25% immunity to poison n disease plus +1 con, at 5th lvl he gains 50% immunity n +2 con -1 cha).but if the witcher does n the third phase of the mutation by his choise he has a 25% chance to live(it is mentioned in the game) but gains 85% immunity n +2 to the attribute he chooses but also -3 to cha.of course he can come back to life with the proper spells.that depends on how the dm wants to play.the witcher after the second dose of mutagens can choose if he wants to continue the mutation by taking the next dose every 5 lvls.but at the 4th the player starts becoming more of a low-intelligent monster (-2 int) and for every more dose he loses even more cha n int.
now for the class.for somebody to become a witcher in class he must already be a witcher in race.also if someone is a witcher he must take at least 1 lvl to the witcher class after he becomes a witcher race.after that he can choose any class he wants.at first lvl the char should gain a silver sword(which just gives him a bonus when fighting mosters n a minus when fighting humanoids),the ability to cast one or two 1st lvl spells(not smt special(firehand,daze)),n a favored enemy(except humanoids).after that he could take some more spells,favored enemies n some bonus feats.in the class skills must be alchemy,survival,parry,tumble,move silently n hide,concentration(for the spells) n craft traps(jump,climb,swim r a must too).for life a d10(the least d8)would be good n for skills a 4+int mod is great.the witchers gain light armor,simple n martial weapons n no shields.high base attack bonus is must for must as witchers r great warriors(they r trained since they were children).
even if witchers r better to be mercenaries(npc) they may have a job to take care of(like taking revenge for a friends death,or chasing someone that stole smt from them) which can make them a race easily controlled by players.or they could be given money from other players to join them or they could have the same goal(kill the monster that attacks the small village).the witchers cannot be chaotic.they can be lawful,neutral,good,evil but no chaotic.
for the race first.witchers r not a race from their own.they become what they r with the use of mutagens.so the player should firstly decide what race he'd like to be before becoming a witcher.also the mutagens r not "given" all together.there r three stages of the characters transformation.so this gives the characters the oppurtunity to choose what theyd like to take from the mutation by following a path(like the heart choice of the dragonborn race).so when the char becomes a witcher he may take an immunity t poison n disease plus a bonus to one of the physical attributes(str,con,dex) and a decrease to charisma(as the mutation changes the physical appearance).so the character transforms as he gains lvls(ex. at first lvl gains 25% immunity to poison n disease plus +1 con, at 5th lvl he gains 50% immunity n +2 con -1 cha).but if the witcher does n the third phase of the mutation by his choise he has a 25% chance to live(it is mentioned in the game) but gains 85% immunity n +2 to the attribute he chooses but also -3 to cha.of course he can come back to life with the proper spells.that depends on how the dm wants to play.the witcher after the second dose of mutagens can choose if he wants to continue the mutation by taking the next dose every 5 lvls.but at the 4th the player starts becoming more of a low-intelligent monster (-2 int) and for every more dose he loses even more cha n int.
now for the class.for somebody to become a witcher in class he must already be a witcher in race.also if someone is a witcher he must take at least 1 lvl to the witcher class after he becomes a witcher race.after that he can choose any class he wants.at first lvl the char should gain a silver sword(which just gives him a bonus when fighting mosters n a minus when fighting humanoids),the ability to cast one or two 1st lvl spells(not smt special(firehand,daze)),n a favored enemy(except humanoids).after that he could take some more spells,favored enemies n some bonus feats.in the class skills must be alchemy,survival,parry,tumble,move silently n hide,concentration(for the spells) n craft traps(jump,climb,swim r a must too).for life a d10(the least d8)would be good n for skills a 4+int mod is great.the witchers gain light armor,simple n martial weapons n no shields.high base attack bonus is must for must as witchers r great warriors(they r trained since they were children).
even if witchers r better to be mercenaries(npc) they may have a job to take care of(like taking revenge for a friends death,or chasing someone that stole smt from them) which can make them a race easily controlled by players.or they could be given money from other players to join them or they could have the same goal(kill the monster that attacks the small village).the witchers cannot be chaotic.they can be lawful,neutral,good,evil but no chaotic.
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Mustrum_Ridcully
Legend
In 3E terms, Witcher sounds like an acquired template for humanoids. (The alchemical process changes the body enough to make this sensible).
Afterwards, the Witcher is a mix of Fighter and Spellcaster, with a certain focus on potion brewing mixed in.
From the existing 3E classes, Duskblade seems to fit the class pretty well.
To mimic it in 3E without new classes, A Human Duskblade with Brew Potion might be all you need.
Afterwards, the Witcher is a mix of Fighter and Spellcaster, with a certain focus on potion brewing mixed in.
From the existing 3E classes, Duskblade seems to fit the class pretty well.
To mimic it in 3E without new classes, A Human Duskblade with Brew Potion might be all you need.
Aus_Snow
First Post
Racial class, or maybe template class, by the sounds of it. A rather extensive racial class (10 levels or more, perhaps), if some of those descriptions are accurate and I'm reading them right.
Classes? Well I suppose they could take anything at that stage (after all those other 'levels'.) Er, some kind of Artificer/Warblade hybrid PrC? I'm really going on total guesswork here, please forgive my ignorance.
Classes? Well I suppose they could take anything at that stage (after all those other 'levels'.) Er, some kind of Artificer/Warblade hybrid PrC? I'm really going on total guesswork here, please forgive my ignorance.
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