Editing Witch (section)

===Chronicles of Aeres===
In the [[Chronicles of Aeres]] fansetting for [[Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition]], the Witch represents the oldest known form of magic user in the setting, and as such it gets an entirely unique class, similar to the [[Alchemist]] and [[Dreamcaller]]. The Aeres witch can be best summarized as a melding of [[Sorcerer (Dungeons & Dragons)|Sorcerer]] and [[Druid]], with a dash of [[Warlock]]; they are individuals with an innate ability to tap into the ambient magical energies of nature, drawing power from trees, rivers, and the motions of stars, sun and moon, and then shaping this through near-religious beliefs in sacred precepts such as the Rule of Three and the Twin Paths. Witchcraft largely fell out of favor as the more potent, flexible and secular magic of [[wizard]]ry developed, but persisted in the rural lands and on the fringes of society. Despite this, the practitioners of witchcraft survived everything fate threw at them, even the anti-magical inquisition of the tyrant Emperor Lancathir, and so they persist in Aeres today.

Witches are divided philosophically into two paths, which form the subclasses. The '''Malefici''', or ''Black Witch'', practices the "Left Hand Path", which champions the use of magic for personal freedom and self-advancement, and rejects the notion of "things man ought not to know" or even the more conventional definitions of good or evil. In contrast, the '''Feasa''', or ''White Witch'', follows the "Right Hand Path", which is devoted to using magic to aid and benefit others.

To start with, witches use Wisdom as their spellcasting ability score, and have a pool of cantrips and spells known, similar to a sorcerer. They also have a pool of pseudo-spells similar to the warlock; these are called ''Hexes/Curses'' (offensive magics, only available to the Malefici) and ''Charms'' (utility magics, only available to the Feasa).

Here's where things start getting weird... firstly, witches can only learn spells up to 6th level. Secondly, they have only '''three spell splots''' to use per day; they regain 1 spell slot on a short rest, and 3 spell slots on a long rest. Witches rely very heavily on their cantrips and on their Hexes/Charms, which have their own pool of spell slots; a Witch knows 3 (or a multiple of 3, depending on level, up to 12) Hexes/Charms, and can use that same number of Hexes/Charms per day; they recover 3 Hex/Charm slots on a short rest, and their entire pool of them on a long rest.

Like most spellcasting classes, witches use a spellcasting focus. In their case, a magic wand. What makes a witch's wand unique is that it has a pool of hitpoints it can sacrifice to act as an equivalent bonus for a spellcasting modifier, spell attack roll, or spell damage roll. Once a wand's HP pool is depleted, it breaks and must be replaced. Depending on their level, witches can make increasingly powerful wands, which require varying amounts of time, gold and base materials.
* From 1st level, a witch can make a '''Simple Wand''', which costs 3 GP, takes a Short Rest, and has 3 HP. This can be made of any common wood, copper, or glass.
* From 3rd level, a witch can make an '''Apprentice Wand''', which costs 10 GP, takes a Long Rest, and has 6 HP. This requires birchwood, living oak, ash, cedar, animal bone, brass or quartz.
* From 6th level, a witch can make a '''Superior Wand'', which costs 50 GP, takes 3 days, and has 12 HP. This can be made of black walnut, alder, holly, rosewood, apple wood, driftwood, petrified wood, silver or gold. 
* From 12 level, a witch can make a '''Masterful Wand''', which costs 250 GP, takes 6 days, and has 18 HP. This can be made of yew, obsidian, jade, onyx, human bone harvested from somebody who died a natural death, or an adult dragon's bone.
* From 18th level, a witch can make a '''Wand of Supreme Power''', which costsd 3000 GP, takes 1 month, and has 36 HP - this wand ''never'' breaks, instead regaining 6 HP per long rest. To make this kind of wand, a witch needs either gold and intricately carved diamonds, the horn or claw of an ancient dragon, platinum, or wood from the World Tree.

Witches also begin play with an '''Animal Familiar''', which is summoned using a variant of the Find Familiar ritual at 1st level. Unlike the normal [[familiar]] summoned by any other class, this familiar is a living being (Beast instead of Celestial, Fey, or Fiend), and whilst it possesses all of the same abilities, the depth of their bond means a witch loses 1 Wisdom for 1 month, minimum, should their familiar die. From 6th level, the witch gains the Spirit-Bond technique, allowing them to sacrifice their own hit points instead whenever the familiar takes damage.

At 3rd level, a witch gains the feature ''Stalk the Shadows'', which is basically a variant on the Druid's Wild Shape that only lets them take the form of a small, harmless, land or sea-based animal. At 6th level, they gain the ability to fly 30 feet if they assume the form of a small flying creature. Also at 6th level, they gain the ability to cast spells, hexes and charms whilst in beast form, in exchange for suffering Disadvantage on spellcasting and spell attack rolls when doing so.

At 9th level, '''Mystical Traveler''' gives the witch a magical flying mount, with the default list being a Flying Broomstick or Pitchfork, an Iron Cauldron, or a Giant Raven. At 12th level, they can summon a more powerfuel kind of flying mount, such as a [[Nightmare]] or a [[Couatl|Winged Serpent]]. 

Their final class feature is 20th level's '''Witch Lord'''. At this level, not only does the witch gain their own base of operations and a steadily-increasing pool of students (1d6 3rd level witches, wizrds, sorcerers or other mages per month), but their spell slots increase to 12 and they recover all spell slots on a short rest.

Subclass plays a major role in the Witch's mechanics. Chosen at 2nd edition, the witch can only take certain spells and pseudo-Invocations based on which subclass they took. They also gain their own array of subclass features based on this choice at levels 3, 6, 9 and 12.

The Malefici's subclass features are:
* The Grim (3rd): Once per combat encounter, reroll a natural 1 on a single damage roll.
* The Key to the Gate (6th): At night, or when otherwise not exposed to natural sunlight, increase speed by +10ft. From 12th level onwards, you can teleport from one shadowy area to another within line of sight 1/day.
* Pricking Thumbs (9th): 1/day, you can cause a missed spell or hex to automatically hit its target.
* Ensorcelling Stare (12th): As an action, you can cast a baleful gaze at a single visible target within 60 feet; so long as it remains both visible and in that distance, the target suffers a -1 penalty to AC and saving throws.

The Feasa's subclass features are:
* Blessings of Aeres (3rd): You can cast Bless 1/day as a bonus action, without it affecting your spell slots.
* White Wind (6th): Once per short rest, you can either heal a single target of (your Witch level * 3) damage, or heal 3 targets of (your Witch level) damage.
* Hand of Wisdom and Motion (9th): All allies within a 10ft radius add their Wisdom bonus (if any) to their saving throws.
* Merry Ye Meet, Merry Ye Part (12th): You can cast Banishment as a 4th level spell without sacrificing your slots 1/day.