Fiend's Witch Introduction: The smell of incense was beginning to overpower the slim young woman. She grew dizzy, lightheaded, fell to her knees. But she kept her watery eyes wide open and focused on the summoning circle engraved on the stone floor. There was no spectacular flash of light, no puff of smoke, no gong ringing . . . but he was there suddenly, and the witch's heart leapt to her throat and pounded. He was a dark, shadowy man-shape, perhaps twelve feet tall. His massive arms ended in dagger-sharp claws, his misshapen head was crowned with horns. And his eyes . . . glowing pits of abyss-fire, fueled by hatred and rage. "We have much to discuss, my servant," the fiend rumbled in a voice that seemed to make the walls quiver. "You have an important role to play in our Blood War." "My servant," the witch thought grimly. How long ago had the roles reversed? When had she stopped being the master . . . of the fiend, or of herself? It didn't matter anymore. She was getting what she wanted. Power. And if the price was too high . . . well, it was too late to go back now. Description: The Fiend's Witch learns her magical arts from creatures from the Lower Planes. Role: The Fiend's Witch is always a pawn in a fiend's greater schemes. This usually involves the Tanar'ri of the Chaotic Evil plane known as the Abyss, the Baatezu of the Lawful Evil plane called the Nine Hells, or the Neutral Evil Yugoloth who roam all of the other Lower Planes: Tarterus, Hades, Gehenna and Acheron. The Fiend's Witch is a particular fiend's Prime Material ally, one who can work toward the fiend's ends there while he is involved in other tasks in the Lower Planes. The Fiend's Witch, then, can act as a spy, a scout, an assassin, a guard, or a soldier in the eternal Blood War which rages between the Baatezu, Tanar'ri and the Yugoloth. In return, she learns powerful magics and becomes skilled at summoning extra-planar creatures. Requirements: The Fiend's Witch must be very crafty and courageous in order to deal with the denizens of the Lower Planes. She must, therefore, have a minimum Wisdom of 13, in addition to any other requirements due to specialization. Alignment: The Fiend's Witch is selfish at best, diabolically evil at worst. She will always be Lawful Evil, Chaotic Evil, Neutral Evil, or Chaotic Neutral. Preferred Schools: Fiend's Witches crave power, and so usually specialize in Invocation/Evocation or Conjuration/Summoning. Barred Schools: None. Weapon Proficiencies: In addition to the normally allowed weapons for wizards, the Fiend's Witch can learn to wield the scourge, whip and sickle (traditionally fiendish weapons). Non-Weapon Proficiencies: Bonus: Religion. Required: Spellcraft, Ancient History. Recommended: Etiquette. Equipment: The Fiend's Witch does not need a spellbook of any kind in order to learn spells. She does need supplies and materials, such as incense, powdered gemstones, candles, and so forth, in order to contact her fiend. She starts out with enough of these materials to make it through first level; after that, she must spend at least 50 gp per experience level at the start of each level (i.e., 100 gp at 2nd level, 150 gp at 3rd, 300 gp at 6th, etc.) in order to maintain appropriate supplies. Special Benefits: 1) Fiendish Mentor. The Fiend's Witch learns her spells through the tutelage of an extra-planar being, who wishes to use her for his own ends. This fiend need not be capable of casting spells. Many fiends have access to caches of wizard scrolls, which they can study and teach to their students. The Arcanaloth and Ultraloth of the Yugoloths can take on students, as can any of the Greater Baatezu and the True Tanar'ri. Each day, the Witch summons an image of her mentor. (Despite the Introduction above, the fiend only appears to exist physically; it is in reality still on its home plane.) The mentor then teaches the Witch her spells for the day. The mentor may also give commands or instructions. He is incapable of casting spells or attacking physically during these sessions, but neither can he be affected by like attacks. Learning spells in this fashion is exactly like studying them from a spellbook, except that the information is spoken to the Witch rather than read off a page. The Fiend's Witch faces the same restrictions to learning spells (based on Intelligence score), and must spend the same amount of time memorizing, as any other wizard. 2) Fiendish Protections. Fiends are immune to or partially protected from certain magical effects (such as fire, acid, poison, electricity, etc.), and they can pass along some of this power to their students. At each of levels 5, 10, 15 and 20, the Fiend's Witch gains protection against one attack form from which her mentor is also protected. Any attack form that causes only half damage to the fiend grants the Fiend's Witch a +2 bonus to any allowed save. An attack form that causes no damage to the fiend is saved against with a +4 bonus by the Fiend's Witch. The Fiend's Witch can never gain more than one bonus per attack type (i.e., she can't choose +4 vs. fire three times and end up with a +12 bonus). The only exception to this protection is in regards to weapons: the Fiend's Witch can never be "protected" from normal, magical, or silver weapons in this way. Example: Mara's mentor is a greater Baatezu who takes half damage from silver weapons, gas and cold attacks, and no damage from fire, poison, and iron weapons. At 5th level, Mara could choose a +2 bonus vs. gas or cold, or a +4 bonus vs. fire or poison. She cannot gain any bonuses against the silver or iron weapons. 3) Fiendish Familiar. Until 4th level, the Fiend's Witch may or may not have a normal familiar summoned by the find familiar spell. At 4th level, however, the Witch may sacrifice her familiar (if she has one) and accept the services of an imp, quasit or mephit (as per the Monsterous Manual). An imp will only serve a Lawful Evil Witch; a Quasit will serve a Chaotic Evil or Chaotic Neutral Witch; and a smoke, mist or ice mephit will serve a Neutral Evil Witch. They will serve the witch so long as she is doing her master's bidding. Mephits who serve as familiars lose their ability to gate in reinforcements. If the Fiend's Witch does not have a familiar to sacrifice, she may be offered a fiendish familiar as a reward for performing a particularly nasty or difficult task. 4) Fiend Summoning. Fiend's Witches who serve the Tanar'ri or Baatezu (but not Yugoloth) gain the power to summon and command some of the lesser fiends. This power is gained at 7th level, and can be used once per week. The Witch starts off by stating her intention to open a gate to the Lower Planes, then casting a normal monster summoning I spell. There is a straight 66% chance that one or more fiends step through. She must then persuade them that it is in their best interest to serve her, or face the wrath of her mentor. This is accomplished by means of a successful Charisma ability check. If the Witch is not a Conjuration specialist, she must also offer the summoned fiends 100 gp worth of coins or gems for each HD worth of creatures summoned. This takes one round. If she fails to persuade them, they return to their home plane immediately, and the spell ends. If they are convinced, they stay and serve her for the remainder of the spell's duration, returning upon the spell's expiration. Either way, the Witch is drained of 4 points each of Strength and Constitution (to a minimum of 3) for the next 24 hours, as this is a tiring, draining process. The Fiend's Witch can only summon naitives of her mentor's home plane (the Abyss or the Nine Hells). The creature or creatures stepping through will have total hit dice equal to the caster's experience level. However, no individual fiend will have more than 6 HD. For example, a 7th-level Witch can summon 7 hit dice worth of fiends. Below are listed some fiends that might step through: _The Nine Hells_ _The Abyss_ _Either_ Nupperibo (1 HD) Manes (1 HD) Larva (1-1 HD) Lemure (2 HD) Dretch (2 HD) Nightmare (6+6 HD) Spinagon (3+3 HD) Rutterkin (4 HD) Mephit (Any) (3 HD)* Abishai (4+1, 5+2, or 6+3 HD) Armanite (5 HD)* Osyluth (5 HD) Cambion (4 or 6 HD) Varrangoin (I-IV) (5 HD)* Succubus (6 HD) * The Armanite and the Varrangoin (Abyssal Bat) are detailed in the PLANESCAPE Planes of Chaos Boxed Set. The Mephit appears in the Monsterous Manual. The others are detailed in the Outer Planes Monsterous Compendium. Witches who cannot normally cast Monster Summoning I cannot gain this power. Special Restrictions: 1) Mark of the Fiend. Sometime during the Witch's first level of experience, she acquires a tell-tale sign that she is an agent of a fiendish power. The mark should be selected by the DM, but could include a forked tongue, small horns, scaly skin, glowing eyes, a stubby pointed tail, a cloven hoof, fangs, etc. The mark of the fiend, if not concealed, causes a -4 reaction penalty with any intelligent creature not of the Lower Planes. The mark of the fiend actually grants a +2 reaction bonus with regards to fiends encountered. 2) Mentor's Spell Repertoire. The fiendish mentor has only certain spells he can teach to his student. The DM should determine what they are at the outset. If the fiend's witch requests a particular spell that is not in the fiend's current repertoire, there is a 50% chance minus the level of the requested spell that the fiend can acquire it sometime before the Witch gains the next experience level. Of course, the fiend may require extra service as a "payment" for this favor. It is also assumed that the fiend attempts to upgrade his repertoire as he goes along. Each time the Witch character gains a level, the DM should choose d4+1 new spells of appropriate levels to add to the fiend's master spell list. When the fiend has a special mission for the Witch to carry out, he may insist on teaching particular spells that he believes will be useful during that mission. 3) Call of Duty. First and foremost to the Fiend's Witch is her duty to serve her fiendish master. When he gives orders, they are to be followed to the death. Failure to follow orders can have devistating effects. The first time the Witch purposely disobeys orders, the fiend will not respond to the Witch's summoning for a period of seven days. The second infraction results in a month's worth of the silent treatment. A third instance of disobedience spells catastrophe, as the fiend uses every effort to send minions to destroy the witch. A fiend will have several Prime Material contacts (such as free-willed undead, evil clerics, certain evil monsters) which will gladly track down the offending Witch and slay her. Just as the Witch plays a part in the Blood War, so does her master. In fact, the fiend's role may bring him into great danger. There is a non-cumulative 5% chance per level that the Witch's mentor has been either imprisoned by a wizard or another fiend (60% of the time) or killed (40%). If either of these happens, a new mentor will contact the Witch within 30 days in order to resume her training. Of course, this new master may have a different role to play, and a differing personal agenda. The DM should make the check at the start of each experience level, and then pick the appropriate time and circumstances of the fiend's disappearance if necessary. 4) Restrictions on Magical Items. The Fiend's Witch cannot use wizard spell scrolls, as she does not learn the magical language of wizards as part of her training. Wealth Options: The Fiend's Witch gains the typical (d4+1) x 10 gp to start. Races: Any that can normally become wizards can select this kit. Notes: It is vital that the DM have a clear picture of the fiendish mentor as a fully developed NPC, complete with motivation, personality, and goals. If the Fiend's Witch gains a fiendish familiar, the familiar should also be a well-detailed NPC. Adventure Ideas: Fiend's Witch as NPC: The Fiend's Witch could be a major nemesis of any campaign. She might be in charge of killing off good-aligned priests, capturing paladins, and other dastardly deeds. As PC: Many DMs do not allow evil PCs in their campaign, and if so, the Fiend's Witch isn't an appropriate PC choice. If permitted, the PC Fiend's Witch will have an almost never-ending stream of orders from her mentor. These orders might range from the seemingly minuscule (find out the name of the head of the thieves' guild) to the immensely difficult (kill the head of the thieves' guild). A Fiend's Witch may end up tricking or otherwise convincing the rest of the party to help her in her dastardly plots. In a Planescape setting, the Fiend's Witch might be an especially interesting choice. She might be required to travel to her mentor's home plane (or another of the Lower Planes) for especially deadly missions.