Today I want to explore two similar witches. Or more to the point, two witches who approach similar magics and traditions of witchcraft from two different vectors.
Jana is another witch I created a couple of years ago. I wanted a human witch mixed up in the affairs of the Faerie Courts, in particular my Court of Swords. Despite being high(-ish) level, she is in way over her head. I have her serving the current Queen of Swords, Nicnevin. This is just one of her titles, she is also one of my witch queens. The Court of Swords is one of the "Shadow Courts" neither the Seelie nor the Unseelie, but somewhere in between. What they lack in prominence they make up for in guile, intrigue and ruthlessness. Nicnevin herself is ancient and very powerful. I say that Jana has a bit of fire nymph blood in her heritage, not enough to really do much than raise her charisma score a couple of point, but enough to give her entry to these courts.
Sarana is not really my character exactly. She also featured in my War of the Witch Queens, in the adventure Tanglewood Keep, from DL15 Mists of Krynn, as well as a past Character Creation Challenge. She is a composite of two of Vince Garcia's characters, Sarana and Stevie, who may have been the same character anyway.
Both of these characters are "Faerie Witches" that is, they are part of the faerie tradition. Since I am trying to figure out what my Occult D&D looks like through the lens of AD&D, I figured I would compare and contrast the play styles of two different sort of faerie witches. Jana is a faerie traditional witch from Mayfair's Role Aids book "Witches." Sarana uses my Faerie Tradition from my Old-School Essentials book, Monster Mash II: A Midsummer Night's Dream. I am also grabbing some ideas from my The Craft of the Wise: The Pagan Witch Tradition and The Green Witch for Swords & Wizardry. This covers OSE, S&W and AD&D 2nd Ed; so none of them are AD&D 1st ed.
Given I am trying to stick close to their native rules today I am not using Cantrips or Bonus spells.
13th level Human Witch, Neutral
Secondary Skill: Translator
S: 11
I: 17
W: 16
D: 12
C: 11
Ch: 17
Paralysis/Poison: 11
Petrify/Polymorph: 9
Rod, Staff, or Wand: 7
Breath Weapon: 11
Spells: 8
AC: 6 (Leather +2, AC 8)
HP: 31
THAC0: 16
Weapon
Dagger 1d4/1d3
Staff +1 1d6
Spells
First level: Audible Glamer, Comprehend Languages, Friends, Read Magic
Second level: ESP, Forget, Know Alignment, Detect Good & Evil
Third level: Delude, Speak with Animals, Tongues, Remote Seeing
Fourth level: Emotion, Fear, Wizard Eye, Enervation
Fifth level: False Vision, Domination, Advanced Illusion
Sixth level: Mindwrite, Mislead
Theme Song: Another Year of Rain
Jana is one of Queen Nicnevin's translators. Her job is to cast sublte magic to both enthrall and intimidate visitors to the Queen's court.
In my game Queen Nicnevin combines the mythological Nicnevin, with a bit of Hecate (already part of Nicnevin according to some scholars) and a bit of Scáthach.
13th level Half-Elf (Gray Elf) Witch, Neutral
Secondary Skill: Herbalist
S: 10
I: 18
W: 19
D: 13
C: 15
Ch: 19
Paralysis/Poison: 9
Petrify/Polymorph: 9
Rod, Staff, or Wand: 10
Breath Weapon: 12
Spells: 11
AC: 6 (Robe AC 9 +3)
HP: 43
THAC0: 16
Weapon
Dagger +2 1d4/1d3
Staff 1d6
Familiar: White Dove, "Zeraida"
Spells
First level: Allure, Wailing Lament, Fey Step, Glamour
Second level: Burning Gaze, Evil Eye, Stunning Allure, Witch's Tooth
Third level: Blink, Psychic Assault, Magical Vestment
Fourth level: Command Person, Dryad's Door, Threefold Aspect
Fifth level: Baba Yaga's Secret Chest, Magic Cauldron
Sixth level: Arcane Window
Theme Song: Gypsy
Sarana is always an NPC, so I don't have much to say about her growth as a character. As a witch though she has fewer spells than does Jana at the same level.
Along with Eireann and Rána, they were all in my "Kingdom of Rain" mini-campaign a couple years back. This was around the time I was experimenting with the Land of Faerie/the Feywild as a means to access other worlds. It would explain how I can have Forgotten Realms and Dragonlance Character's interact without resorting to gate spells, astral travel, or Spelljamming.
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