Introduction
Your choice of Witch Patron gives you your spell list, a skill, a Hex Cantrip, and a free 1st-level spell that your familiar knows (remember that you get 5 more of your choice at 1st level). Every one of the skills is taken from Arcana, Nature, Occultism, and Religion, and while Nature and Religion are harder choices because they’re Wisdom-based, all four skills are still good choices for the Witch since you’re likely your party’s Librarian, and unless someone else in the party has better Wisdom you’re likely to pick up several or all of them.
The Spell List is likely your most mechanically impactful decision, because while the Witch is more than just spellcasting your spellcasting is still your defining function in the party. Different spell lists have different strengths, but they’re all roughly equivalent in power.
Remastered Patrons also grant a wholly unique familiar ability. On top of the Witch’s unusually large number of familiar abilities, this adds a unique option which can make a huge impact on your tactics. However, the offensive options frequently require your familiar to be close to a target (often 15 feet), making some of them dangerous to use unless you take appropriate precautions.
Table of Contents
Disclaimer
RPGBOT uses the color coding scheme which has become common among Pathfinder build handbooks.
- : Bad, useless options, or options which are extremely situational. Nearly never useful.
- : OK options, or useful options that only apply in rare circumstances. Useful sometimes.
- : Good options. Useful often.
- : Fantastic options, often essential to the function of your character. Useful very frequently.
Witch Patrons
(PC1)
Stoke the Heart is great on a blaster or if you have martial allies who like to make large numbers of attacks. Familiar of Restored Spirit provides an incredibly powerful source of temporary hit points, allowing you to easily protect your allies without cutting into your action economy further. Between the two, Faith’s Flamekeeper is a powerful option for highly aggressive parties that are leaning into damage output over defense.
Prior to the remaster, Faith’s Flamekeeper was the Fervor Patron Theme.
- Spell List: Divine
- Patron Skill: Religion
- Hex Cantrip: : See our Witch Hexes Breakdown.
- Granted Spell: : Briefly inconvenience your target(s).
- Familiar Ability: : If you’re routinely casting and/or sustaining Hexes (easy with options like Stoke the Heart), these Temporary Hit Points will be consistently impactful despite their short duration. The 15-foot range is extremely limited, so consider having your familiar ride around on your party’s Defense so that you can keep them buffed.
(PC1)
The Witch’s only Arcane option, this brings you closest to the Wizard of any other Patron Theme, and starts you with some excellent support options. Discern Secrets will boost Recall Knowledge checks which you’ll likely be making frequently, as well as allowing you to delegate Seek actions to allies who probably have better Perception than you. Runic Weapon is a spectacular buff if you have martial allies in the party who can benefit from it.
If you’re having trouble deciding between the Witch and the Wizard, this is a great option. If you want to play a witch, but don’t want to deal with using Hex Cantrips in combat, this is a good option, too, since Discern Secrets is so frequently useful outside out combat, but won’t be necessary in every combat encounter. But that’s not to say that you won’t be able to use Hexes in combat: you absolutely can. You just aren’t locked into a Hex Cantrip which is primarily useful in combat.
The combined features of The Inscribed One definitely predispose you to supporting martial characters. If you have someone in the party swinging big melee weapons, that’s ideal.
Prior to the remaster, The Inscribed One was the Rune Patron Theme.
- Spell List: Arcane
- Patron Skill: Arcana
- Hex Cantrip: : See our Witch Hexes Breakdown.
- Granted Spell: : A fantastic buff if your party has someone using a weapon with a justifiably large damage die. Strongly consider taking Cackle so that you don’t need to spend a bunch of Actions to Sustain this.
- Familiar Ability: : A decent way to help allies flank, but familiars are fragile, so be cautious about using this constantly. Consider taking the Independent familiar ability so that your familiar can move into position to flank without requiring you to spend an Action to command them on top of the action cost to cast or sustain a Hex.
(PC1)
All about debuffs, the Resentment can combine Evil Eye and Enfeeble to significantly debuff enemies, making them much less threatening in combat. Familiar of Ongoing Misery allows you to extend debuffs on a target, such as the one applied by Enfeeble, allowing you to put debuffs in place and keep them there for as long as you need.
Prior to the remaster, The Resentment was the Curse Patron Theme. If you’re coming from the legacy rules, note that Enfeeble got a major buff over Ray of Enfeeblement by removing the attack roll.
- Spell List: Occult
- Patron Skill: Occultism
- Hex Cantrip: : See our Witch Hexes Breakdown.
- Granted Spell: : Against Strength-based enemies, this is a massive debuff at any level.
- Familiar Ability: :
Potentially very powerful, but the range is problematically short, and you
need to hunt for effects which work with this, such as the short-term
blindness when a creature succeeds on a save against the spell Blindness.
Status conditions like Frightened, Sickened, and Stunned
won’t work here since they reduce their value on their own, but effects like
the Enfeeble and Slow spells will work. Slow is particularly great example because it applies
Slowed 1 even on a Success and lacks the Incapacitation trait, making this combo a great choice
for enemies above your level.
It appears that you could trigger this repeatedly, potentially keeping an effect in place indefinitely.
(PC1)
All of the provided options are area control and crowd control effects, and with the Primal spell list you’ll resemble the Druid in many ways. As a whole, Silence in Snow is all about slowing and deterring enemies’ movement. That’s very useful, but you’ll need to find ways to eliminate enemies in other places.
Prior to the remaster, Silence in Snow was the Winter Patron Theme.
- Spell List: Primal
- Patron Skill: Nature
- Hex Cantrip: : See our Witch Hexes Breakdown.
- Granted Spell: : Situationally useful when enemies rely on smoke or fog, and when you’re facing flying foes.
- Familiar Ability: : A small
but potentially impactful area. The effect notably doesn’t limit the
difficult terrain to surfaces, so it appears that it also imposes Difficult
Terrain in the air, inhibiting flying creatures. I’m not sure if that’s
intended or not.
Consider taking the Independent familiar ability so that your familiar can move into position without requiring you to spend an Action to command them on top of the action cost to cast or sustain a Hex.
(PC1)
All about moving the math in your party’s favor, Spinner of Threads is excellent at any time and in any situation.
Prior to the remaster, Spinner of Threads was the Fate Patron Theme.
- Spell List: Occult
- Patron Skill: Occultism
- Hex Cantrip: : See our Witch Hexes Breakdown.
- Granted Spell: : A great option at higher levels. The 1-Action casting time allows you to cast this before casting another spell, dramatically improving the reliability of higher-level spells which require attack rolls.
- Familiar Ability: : Literally always useful. Target a creature who you’re expecting to take a lot of attacks in the next round, whether it’s an ally you’re expecting to be swarmed or an enemy that you’re expecting your party to focus their attacks upon.
(PC1)
There are several other Occult options that have better Hex Cantrips, and Fear is on every spell list, so you’re not getting anything novel. Familiar of Stalking Night is decent, but not enough to carry the subclass.
Prior to the remaster, Starless Shadow was the Night Patron Theme.
- Spell List: Occult
- Patron Skill: Occultism
- Hex Cantrip: : See our Witch Hexes Breakdown.
- Granted Spell: : Not significantly better than Demoralize.
- Familiar Ability: : Imposing Frightened 1 without a save or a check or anything is fantastic, but keeping your familiar concealed, hidden, or undetected may be difficult in a lot of cases. If you can spare the spell slots, Invisibility will keep your familiar undetected or hidden for 10 minutes, though it will limit your familiar’s Action options, so you’ll want to adjust your familiar abilities accordingly.
(PC1)
With the Primal spell list and a thematically-appropriate leveled spell, the Wild Patron Theme closely resembles the Druid. Wilding Word provides a reliable defensive option, and Familiar of Keen Senses provides a good counter to sneaky enemies.
Prior to the remaster, Wilding Steward was the Wild Patron Theme. If you’re coming from the legacy rules, note that Wilding Word got a major buff.
- Spell List: Primal
- Patron Skill: Nature
- Hex Cantrip: : See our Witch Hexes Breakdown.
- Granted Spell: or : Summon spells work reasonably well, especially since you can use Cackle to Sustain the spells without cutting into your Actions. Note that the remaster has changed some fundamental monster rules, so options which were great prior to the remaster may be less appealing.
- Familiar Ability: : Great counters to hidden or invisible enemies, and the range is surprisingly good.
Legacy Witch Patron Themes
Legacy Patron Themes do not include a familiar ability. This does mean that as a baseline they’re less powerful than remastered Patrons, but individual options may still be appealing.
Baba Yaga (L)
Spirit Object is neat, but in a post-remaster world, it’s not enough to compete with any of the remastered patrons.
- Spell List: Occult
- Patron Skill: Occultism
- Hex Cantrip: : See our Witch Hexes Breakdown.
- Granted Spell: : Basically Breathe Fire (Burning Hands prior to the remaster), but you trade a bit of damage for a small speed penalty.
Mosquito Witch (MoM)
Buzzing Bites is a fantastic, easy source of damage output, but it might not be enough on its own to keep up with other patrons.
- Spell List: Primal
- Patron Skill: Nature
- Hex Cantrip: : See our Witch Hexes Breakdown.
- Granted Spell: : Useful for scouting and similar non-combat activities.
Pacts (DA)
I love the concept, but it’s just not good enough to keep up with remastered patrons.
- Spell List: Occult
- Patron Skill: Occultism
- Hex Cantrip: : See our Witch Hexes Breakdown.
- Granted Spell: : Briefly inconvenience your target(s).
