Friday, October 31, 2014

Skylla: The Complete B/X Adventurer

Been a while since my last Skylla post.  Longer than I care to admit really.
But something popped up in my feed in my feed today to make me want to get this particular post done.  Plus it is great for a Halloween post.

+Jonathan Becker over at B/X Blackrazor has been talking about witches, and his The Complete B/X Adventurer witch in particular.  What I like about his witch class is that while it is compatible with Basic Era D&D, it is also very different than my own witch from The Witch.  I have always wondered how well they interacted with each other and how his played.



If you like you can compare this version with my Eldritch Witchery version and +Joseph Bloch's Adventures Dark & Deep version.

Skylla, 7th Level Witch, "Initiate"

Strength: 9
Dexterity: 11
Constitution: 10
Intelligence: 14*
Wisdom: 13*
Charisma: 12

Hit Points:  20 (d4)
Alignment: Chaotic
AC: 4 (Ring of Protection +1)

Special Abilities
1st: Book of Shadows, bind wounds (heal 1d4)
6th: Brew Potions

Spells
Maximum Spell Level: 3rd
Number of Spells know: 14
1st Level (4): Charm Person, Detect Magic, Hex, Ugliness,
2nd Level (6): Cause Fear, Disguise, Eldritch Flame, Familiar Spirit, Hold Person, Levitate
3rd Level (4):  Bestow Curse, Hoodoo, Object Read, Wizard Lock

Additional Scribed
4th Level (2): Dispel Magic, Scrying

This witch has a lot of interesting features and a lot of spell potential.  Not only will she end up with a lot of spells, her spells go up to 10th level!

I think I would have liked to see some more special abilities/powers to seperate her more from the Wizard, but this is a really cool class.

Playing with this Witch and my Witch
There is no reason why both witches can't exist in the same game.  After all Jonathan and I both used B/X-style D&D as our starting points.  So these two witches have a lot in common from the word go. While their styles of magic differ I think their overall power remains the same over the 36 levels.
I think a good test will be to take my current iconic Queen of Witches (level 36) and see how she looks under both classes.

I say take both classes, pick one you like the best. Call that one "witch" and the other one "warlock" and you are good to go.