Fantastic Friday: Witch Class in D&D, Part 1

My home game setting is heavily influenced by fairy tales, so I've long thought of including a Witch class for players of the game. Why should NPCs and monsters have all the fun? I'm not the only one who's thought of this, as the Witch class has been homebrewed for D&D of various flavors for decades.

In tracking the origins of witches in D&D, I find there's a lot of previous incarnations. So many, that I need to split this post into parts.

Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Addendum

Original Edition D&D

While there are references to witches in the original Dungeons & Dragons booklets (Men & Magic had a couple of illustrations of them), the witch was not defined as either a "monster" or as a character option in the original game.

In the Judges Guild magazine The Dungeoneer issue #02 (September 1976), Jennell Jaquays had an article titled "Those Lovely Ladies" which included female-only subclasses for D&D. The female variant of the Magic-User was called the "Circean," which calls back to one of the earliest legendary witches, Circe of Homer's Odyssey and other myths. With both a minimum 15 Intelligence and 16 Charisma, the Circean gains all standard abilities of the Magic-User plus two other abilities: the ability to charm at will with normal speech, and the ability to manufacture a variety of non-magical potions (e.g. poison, sleep, etc.) This is effectively a "witch" class in all but name. Dragon magazine issue #003 (October 1976), included a similar article ("Notes on Women & Magic" by Len Lakofka) which had "Witch" as the "name level" for female magic-users and gave them some special spells, mostly enchantment/charm types.

The witch received far greater treatment in Dragon magazine issue #005 (March 1977). Called "The Witchcraft Supplement," the article had been received by the magazine editors fifteen months prior to publication but was delayed as they tried to determine the author. To this day, nobody knows who authored the article, which was the first to provide statistics for witches.

"The Witch Supplement" defined several "subclasses" of witch: Lawful witches (35% of witches), the practitioners of white magic (of which 4% were "Priestesses" who could perform greater feats), and Chaotic witches, the practitioners of black magic (65% of witches). Chaotic witches were either Low order witches (75% of the time), High order (about 17% of the time), or part of the "forbidden" Secret order (about 8% of the time); nothing was really defined of these orders, although a note informs the reader that, in ages past, an alliance of witch covens fought against Secret orders of witches who sought "darker and more Godly enchantments, pursuing powers of devastation and the very elements." Where the magic of regular witches is "the magic of plants and animals," the Secret orders use "dark sorceries and wicked powers," with which they intend to "enslave the world of men."

In truth, witches were made out to be extremely powerful spellcasters, able to provide a challenge even for groups of high-level adventurers, with a suite of strange powers and magic items beyond those of the common sorts. But they were specifically meant to be encounters, i.e. NPCs. The spells they are given are fairly broad in scope, with offensive, defensive, curative, divinatory, and utilitarian spells listed.

In the Holmes version of Basic Dungeons & Dragons (July 1977), a witch class was mentioned as intended to be included in Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. Of all the subclasses mentioned as being intended for AD&D, the witch was the only one that didn't make the cut.

Some time later, in Judges Guild Journal issue #07 (December 1977/January 1978), Phil Benz had an article published, "Witchcraft in Dungeons and Dragons," where he worked up a witch class using the psionics system presented in Supplement III: Eldritch Wizardry (1976). While markedly different from other interpretations, this was arguably the only "witch class" to be produced for the Original edition of D&D. Beyond 4-sided hit dice and psionic powers, the witch gained several abilities: brewing drugs and potions, preparing talismans (including talismans that could inflict curses), and the ability to animate one broom per month. Witches could sell their souls for additional magical powers.

AD&D 1st Edition

In Dragon magazine issue #020 (November 1978), "Another Look at Witches and Witchcraft in D&D" by Ronald Pehr took the concepts of "The Witchcraft Supplement" and expanded it to be a class. While an editor's note specifies this as an NPC class, the author in the first paragraph says it is "a dandy player-class." Mr. Pehr provides 18 levels of this class, which grants 4-sided hit dice and spellcasting up to 8th-level spells. Most of their low-level spells are divination or similar spells, with sleep being a 4th-level spell for them. They don't get overtly offensive spells (e.g. firestorm, earthquake) until they reach 16th class level; prior to that, the most offensive spells the get are the reversed form of healing spells. The class is complex, with new abilities being gained each level; these feel very "witchy," with abilities such as brewing love potions or candle magic. They only get a familiar at 9th ("name") level.

Later, in Dragon issue #043 (November 1980), "Brewing up a new NPC: The Witch" by Bill Muhlhausen updated and revised the previous information into an NPC class. The witch required an Intelligence and Wisdom of at least 15, and could be of any alignment. There were two subclasses: the Low Order and the High Secret Order. A witch could join the High Secret Order upon reaching level 10, assuming they had an Intelligence and Wisdom of at least 16 and possessed either a magic mirror or enchanted book of magic. The class granted a 4-sided hit die, and provided the witch with the ability to brew a variety of potions and poisons, to perform candle and doll magic, to beguile, and to acquire a familiar. The witch's spell list was as varied as the magic-user's, and in addition High Secret Order witches gained the ability to cast additional powerful spells drawn from a short list. In this interpretation, all witches worshiped "forbidden gods" and could attract followers (up to 200!) by constructing a place of worship.

In Deities & Demigods (1980), the "Newhon Mythos" section includes a paragraph about Snow Witches: "Many of the northern tribes have a group of women that have a measure of magical power. These women, after some preparation and working together, can control all forms of cold and ice spells. They also possess, among the strongest members, a limited telepathy when in direct eye contact with a human. Given a group of 5 women and 24 hours of time, limited weather control (chilling) is possible; this effect has a range of 5 miles." This was an interesting foreshadowing of the cooperative spellcasting abilities given to many witch classes later on.

The Dungeoneer issue #16 (March/April 1980) included "The Mystic: A New Magic-User Subclass" by Jon Mattson; Mr. Mattson updated this class in The Dungeoneer #17 (May/June 1980). This class required a minimum of 14 in Intelligence and 12 in Wisdom and had 4-sided hit dice. The class included a wide variety of divination and utility spells -- the mystic received no offensive magic besides summonings. Mystics gained a lot of spells, but none higher than 7th level spells. Mystics gained the ability to detect invisible objects or creatures, and they could learn to turn undead by learning it as a spell; the level of the turn undead spell indicated what effective level of cleric they were for the purposes of turning. This character class was meant to represent "Fortune-Tellers, Diviners, Demonologists, Necromancers, Witches, Cabalists, or any combination of these."

Also in The Dungeoneer #16, Anthony D. Barnstone published the article "Warlocks: A New Magic-User Subclass," that was meant to represent occultists, but included some "witchy" elements. The class required a minimum of 13 in Intelligence and 15 in Wisdom; the warlock had 4-sided hit dice. The warlock could learn up to 7th level spells, and the list included offensive spells (e.g. sonic boom, net of fire) in addition to the standard divination and utilitarian magic. Many of the spells were summonings, culminating in demon summoning spells. In addition, the warlock could manufacture poisons.

Judges Guild Journal issue #19 (February/March 1980) also had a witch class, based on the druid. This witch class replaced plant- and animal-themed spells with element-themed spells, including spells to manipulate storms. It had 8-sided hit dice like the druid. The witch also gained the ability to shoot lightning bolts, the ability to fly (very slowly), and the ability to shapechange into elemental forms.

Due to the legal environment at the time, Judges Guild specified their products were generic fantasty RPG items. Nevertheless, witches received further AD&D support in their Wilderlands supplement Witches Court Marshes (1982), with a full class in the section "Witchcraft in Fantasy Rolegaming." This class drew heavily on the original "Witchcraft Supplement" from Dragon #005. This class requires a score of 15 in Intelligence and 12 in Constitution and Dexterity. They have 6-sided hit dice, and are divided along alignment lines: Lawful Evil witches practice Black Witchcraft, Lawful Good witches practice White Witchcraft, and Chaotic Evil witches practice Secret Witchcraft. Black Witches are further divided into Low Orders (up to level 6) and High Orders (witches of level 7 and higher); once in the High Order, they had to make a roll every level or else change to Chaotic Evil and enter the Secret Order, and this happens automatically at level 20. White Witches were also divided into two orders: Normal (up to level 15) and Priestess Order (witches of level 16 and higher). 

The spell list for these witches includes spells drawn from the cleric, magic-user, and druid lists. It includes many odd spells: various transmutations, curses, and utility spells, some healing, summoning, and charm spells, and a few offensive spells. Among the spells are ones to foretell using card; creating magic amulets, brooms, and mirrors; and, doll magic. A later section, "Other Powers of Witchcraft," includes descriptions of their common implements: the crystal ball, the cauldron of brew, and the pentacle. The crystal ball functions as expected. The cauldron of brew empowers certain witch spells cast in its vicinity. The section concludes with detailed rules for demon summoning.

In 1983, Bard Games produced a highly regarded supplement, The Compleat Spell Caster. Similar to the Judges Guild supplements, legal restrictions prevented the authors from specifying it was for AD&D. The witch class in this supplement was associated with the druid class, and received some similar abilities: they could identify plants and animals, pass through wooded areas without a trace, read magical and obscure scripts, and at high level create potions. The book included a spell list with many unique spells, few with any offensive use. The witch was later revamped and included in Bard Games' Arcanum book.

In Dragon #114 (October 1986), the Witch class from issue #43 was republished  in a revised and expanded form. Among the revisions was a reduction in the potential number of followers (down to 50), a reduction in the number of additional spells High Secret Order witches can cast, and a paragraph detailing that an NPC witch will be found with a large amount of magical treasure. It also greatly expanded the power a witch gained from her familiar.

Mayfair Games in 1990 produced a supplement for their Role Aids line called Witches. This supplement presented a core witch class (which learned up to 9th level spells), and then each chapter provided a subclass suitable for a specific genre and type of setting, with spells lists including new spells for each. As a basis, the witch needed to have a 9 in Intelligence; some traditions had more stringent requirements. The subclasses provided were the classical witch (for games set in the Ancient world), faerie witch (an elven tradition), Dianic witch (for games in Medieval European settings), Golden Dawn witch, wiccan, voodoo witch, animistic witch (a shamanic tradition), elemental witch (a more "gamey" tradition), and the Deryni witch (a psionic-adjacent tradition for fans of the novel series from Katherine Kurtz). It was not intended that the DM include all of these traditions in one campaign; instead, a variety was provided so that DMs could find the best fit for their world building. Each tradition was fairly distinct: for example, several traditions could make potions, but not all of them.

Basic D&D (BECMI)

In GAZ3 The Principalities of Glantri (1987), Bruce Heard put some thought into different magical traditions studied at the Great School of Magic. Since Glantri is a nation ruled by magic-using princes and princesses, it makes sense it would have a robust and detailed witchcraft tradition. In GAZ3, a system is described where a player can spend experience points and rise through 5 ranks of a secret order of witches. In so doing, they gain abilities of brewing potions, beguiling with their voice, doll magic, magically disguising their appearance, summoning creatures, cursing, shapechanging, and finally possession. As they rise through the ranks, they lose 2 Charisma points per rank, to represent a deterioration in physical appearance; I'll admit I'm not fond of that last point, since in D&D physical appearance is absolutely not equated to Charisma.

In GAZ7 The Northern Reaches (1988), Ken Rolston had a more viking-inspired interpretation of witches with an NPC class. A "kit" for the magic-user class, the "Wise Women (Witches)" had the ability to read runes and skill at deception, with a spell list that contained both cleric and magic-user spells; most of the spells were divinatory or enchantment/charm types. With the new Rune Magic of the supplement, witch NPCs had the potential to be much more dangerous than most parties would expect.

AD&D 2nd Edition

PHBR4: The Complete Wizard's Handbook (1990) for 2nd edition AD&D included a kit for making a wizard character into a witch. The kit required a minimum of 13 Intelligence, Wisdom, and Constitution. The witch character began the game with 1,500 gp worth of potions, magic rings, rods, staves, wands, or miscellaneous magic items; a significant boost at 1st level. As she went up in level, the witch gained powers: a familiar; the ability to brew sleeping draughts, flying ointment, and poisons; the ability to beguile a creature at will; and, the ability to inflict a witch's curse. The witch also suffered special hindrances: prejudice from the public at large and the occasional struggle against the extraplanar forces that granted her her powers.

On October 31, 1999, Timothy S. Brannan (who has something of a focus on witches) released The Complete Netbook of Witches and Warlocks for AD&D 2nd edition which is still available online. A huge distillation and development of all the previously-available witch materials in D&D, it built the witch as a subclass of the cleric. They had the ability to turn undead and detect magic, and could choose from a huge list of occult powers drawn from fiction, folklore, and fairy tales: brewing potions and poisons, candle magic, beguiling, summoning fiends, and a host of other powers. Kits were provided to allow the player to customize the base witch class for a variety of traditions. Available traditions are: the family tradition, amazon witch, crone, faerie witch, gypsy witch, malefica (diabolist witch), mara (death witch), natural witch (innate powers), occultist, tantric witch, tempestarii (elemental witch), venefica (a witch focused on potions and poisons), and the voodoo witch or witch-doctor. Kits were also provided to give witch-adjacent powers to other classes: exorcist and mystic (for priests), sorcerer (for wizards), witch knight (a paladin variant for warriors), and the witch-hunter (a kit for any class). The netbook has sections on witch skills, covens, magical correspondences, and familiars. New spells (mostly charms, transmutations, and illusions), a bestiary with monsters related to witches, a section of witch NPCs (such as Baba Yaga and Morgan le Fay), new goddesses, a consideration of using the witch class in other TSR products and settings, and finally an herb listing.

Next time, we progress past 1999 into the next major change in D&D.