Introduction to Witches — Patrons, Traditions and the Craft

The Witch is a fantasy spellcaster shaped by patronage, inherited or learned tradition, ritual practice and personal magic. Witches may be healers, diviners, curse-workers, spirit-speakers, scholars, solitary practitioners or members of covens.

Scope note: this page preserves older Liber Mysterium material alongside the current campaign interpretation. Historical folklore, legacy d20 assumptions and in-world Witch traditions are kept distinct rather than treated as one universal religion or ruleset.

Introduction to witches — Hans Baldung Grien – Hexen (Witches; woodcut, 1508)

Witch. The very name summons up images of midnight Sabbats under the full moon. It is a terrible accusation to some, a badge of honor for others.

Liber Mysterium
The Netbook of Witches and Warlocks
By Timothy S. Brannan and The Netbook of Witches and Warlocks Team

But what is a witch?

Fantasy roleplaying has represented witches in many different ways: as independent classes, subclasses, patrons, spell traditions or cultural roles. Here, the Witch is treated as a distinct additional class where the campaign edition supports it, while the older d20 material is preserved as its own legacy rules tradition.

Fairy tale, legend and myth supply many different Witch-like figures, including Morgan le Fay, Circe and Baba Yaga. They do not represent one religion or one magical tradition. The English word witch descends through Middle English from Old English wicce and wicca; its deeper origin is uncertain, so later claims that it simply means “wise” or “to bend” should be treated as modern interpretations rather than settled etymology.

Ideas now grouped under “witchcraft” come from many different traditions rather than one continuous historical practice. Mesopotamian, Hellenic and Roman sources all describe harmful magic, protective rites, divination, curses, spirits and practitioners of specialised magical arts. Later folklore combined and reshaped those ideas. For the campaign, such material is inspiration for distinct traditions rather than proof that every Witch shares the same ancestry or beliefs.

Witches in the Game

The Witch is its own class because patron, familiar, tradition and Hexcraft create a different play pattern from other spellcasters. Similar spells do not make two classes the same.

Witches and Wizards

Wizards build power primarily through formal arcane study and an exceptionally broad spell tradition. Witches may also study books and scrolls, but their magic is shaped by supernatural relationships and specialised practices. A Wizard asks “how does this spell work?”; a Witch is just as likely to ask “who taught this, what does it require, and what does my patron think of it?”

Witches and Clerics

Clerics and Witches can serve the same deity without filling the same role. A cleric belongs to a sacred class tradition; a Witch approaches magic through patronage, familiar practice, covens, Hexcraft and Witch traditions. They can cooperate, compete or disagree according to local institutions and individual beliefs.

Witches and Druids

Some Witch traditions overlap with Druids in their attention to seasons, living places, spirits and natural cycles. Others have little connection to nature at all. Druids use their own primal class features; Witches remain defined by patron, familiar, Hexcraft and tradition.

Witches and Warlocks

Both classes can involve supernatural patrons, but the relationship produces different mechanics. The 5.5e Witch is a prepared full caster with a familiar, Hexcraft and Witch Tradition; a Warlock uses its own pact-magic chassis and class features. A patron relationship is story material shared by several classes, not ownership of one class.

Patrons, Traditions and Local Power

A Witch’s patron can be a deity, spirit, fey power, elemental intelligence, outsider, ancestor or another supernatural being capable of teaching or empowering magic. The relationship may be devotional, contractual, familial, initiatory, reluctant or openly adversarial.

How other people react depends on the specific patron and coven. One town may employ a respected healing Witch; another may fear a curse-working household; a temple may cooperate with one coven and condemn another. Secrecy can create suspicion, but secrecy is not evidence of guilt.

The same patron can also support different institutions. A deity might have priests, Witches, oracles and independent mystics who interpret that power differently. Their disagreements should come from doctrine, authority, history and personality rather than an automatic class feud.

Choose a Witch Patron → · Compare Witch Traditions →

Becoming a Witch

There is no single route into Witchcraft. A character might be called by a patron, taught by family, initiated into a coven, guided by a familiar, discover an old grimoire or deliberately seek out forbidden knowledge.

The Call	A patron, spirit or other supernatural power reaches out first.
Family Craft	Magic is taught through kinship, fostering, adoption or household apprenticeship.
Coven Initiation	An established group recognises potential and offers training.
Solitary Discovery	A book, ruin, relic, familiar or accidental ritual opens the way.
Deliberate Study	The character actively seeks a teacher, patron or magical tradition.

Choose the route that creates useful relationships. A Witch should begin play with at least one person, patron, familiar, coven or obligation that can matter during an adventure.

Covens and Solitary Witches

A coven can provide teachers, allies, rivals, safe houses and responsibilities. Some require formal initiation; others are loose networks of practitioners who meet only when necessary. A solitary Witch is not a failed coven member: the character may learn directly from a patron, inherited notes, a familiar or a personal magical practice.

Explore Covencraft → · Using Covens at the Table →

Beliefs Belong to Traditions, Not the Whole Class

Witches do not share one universal religion or cosmology. One coven may believe in reincarnation, another may serve ancestors, another may bargain with fey powers, another may follow a named deity, and another may treat magic as a craft with little religious content at all.

Questions such as the afterlife, resurrection, karma, sacred seasons and the morality of necromancy therefore belong to the character’s patron and tradition. They are not automatic restrictions imposed by the Witch class.

Optional Coven Beliefs

The Rule of Three

Some covens teach that harmful intent eventually returns to the person who sends it, sometimes described as returning threefold. Use this as an oath, superstition or roleplaying principle when it suits the tradition. It is not a universal game mechanic and should not be used to punish a player arbitrarily.

Life, Death and Rebirth

Some Craft, Classical and nature-linked covens understand existence as a cycle of life, death and renewal and may oppose undeath or resurrection magic for that reason. Other Witches hold completely different beliefs. Spell access follows the chosen edition and Tradition rather than one mandatory cosmology.

The Summerlands

The Summerlands is one legacy Witch belief describing a place where souls rest before rebirth. It can exist as a real realm, a coven teaching, a metaphor or not at all according to the campaign. No Witch is automatically barred from resurrection simply because of class.

Playing a Witch in the World

Local reaction should come from what this Witch does and whom this Witch serves. A village healer with a respected family tradition may be welcome; an unknown curse-worker with a hostile patron may be feared. A court might licence one coven while outlawing another. Clerics, druids, wizards and other spellcasters can be allies, rivals, teachers or enemies depending on the people involved.

For the rules themselves, return to the Witch class page. For character choices, continue to Witch Traditions, Patrons and Familiars.

Legacy source and doctrine

The older Liber Mysterium material presents the Call of the Goddess, the Rule of Three, life-death-rebirth and the Summerlands as widespread Witch beliefs. Those ideas remain available to covens that use them, but they are no longer treated as universal class doctrine.