I also thought about this some when I was creating my new witch doctor character. I was trying to find an optimal race for a Mask of the Elements doc. Unfortunately, a few of the obvious choices were verboten for campaign purposes: dwarf, half-elf, and human. Fortunately, I stumbled across the gnome possibliity, which I was pretty stoked about, but I would have really been at a loss if I hadn’t.

So I did some more thinking … which is usually when I get into trouble.

This whole phenomenon seems to me to be an issue, not of mechanics, but of mindset–a holdover from 3e. You will recall that, in 3e, not all abilities were created equal. The physical stats were supreme, of course. Wisdom, modestly iimportant due to its impact on the Will save. Intelligence and Charisma were third-class citizens. Consequently, you could not simply swap out one ability score for another; the varying importance of them was used as a balancing factor. Nowhere was this more true than with the character races. This mechanical impact is compounded by the presence of aiblity score penalties. Half-orces received a +2 bonus to Strength and a -2 penalty to Intelligence and Charisma.

Enter Fourth Edition, which has an entirely different design paradigm. Every ability score is designed to be of relatively equal importance. (See, for example, how defenses are calculated; sub-optimal defenses issues–such as classes that require two abilities that impact the same defense–are handled through class features.) One race is not stronger or better than another simply on the force of which ability scores it grants a bonus to. Consequently, there is no mechanical impact to swapping one ability bonus for another. I do recognize that thematically this steps on the toes of the human. That consideration might not be trivial depending on your particular game and campaign.

Proposition: You can freely swap a character race’s ability score bonsues for any two abilities without damaging mechanical balance. Discuss.

N.B. – This discussion is particularly interesting and relevant in light of Hard-Boiled Cultures. HBC touched on this issue, but not in this context. A halfling with a bonus in Constitution and Charisma? Hmmm….

So, I’m just starting up a D&D 4th ed. game, basically as a nostalgia jag (I’m one of those snooty indie gamers from the Forge crowd – grin). And I ran across your Witch Doctor when looking for something else, and offered it to my players. One of them really likes the idea, but the whole primal-animist thing doesn’t really mesh with her background, so we’re re-skinning it. And I figured I’d share.

See full background below. (Hakeem is another PC, a cleric.) Basically, what we’ve got is an empire built around ancestor-reverence and longing for the days of power to return. And the upper tiers of what is essentially a priesthood-slash-secret-service are tiefling witch doctors … renamed for this use to Ancestor Channelers, tapping into the heavy-duty magic of the ancient days without actually having magical talent themselves.

The witch doctor’s mask re-skins to a veil, a very important part of their identity. Don’t touch the veil, trust me – can you say involuntary Infernal Wrath and Chains of Spirit? Veil of the Ancestors is of course the most common (and is our PC’s choice).  The staff is more of a wizard(esque) staff, rather than a medicine stick or the like. Most of the rest of it carries across very nicely indeed.

(The player hates earthquakes but likes the Close Wall powers a lot, so I’ve also given her Twisting Fire as a fire-keyword skin over Tremor Strike.  I figure the fire keyword cancels out, between possible ways to improve it and the relatively high likelihood of encountering resistant enemies, and certainly I can tweak it so that’s true.)

So far, so good.  Chargen was last night, and the Ancestor Channeler’s player is very jazzed about her character. I’ll let you know how it goes, especially if the WD-specific elements end up prominent at any point.

Oh, and here’s an item I added to the adventure’s treasure (actually the best item in the set, this being a level 1 party’s first adventure). Basically it makes Evil Eye “sticky” for one instance of an effect. In theory it’s not WD-specific … but in practice it’s certainly intended to complement that class. If you’d like to use it either direct or as inspiration when fleshing out the Witch Doctor in his final incarnation, I grant you full rights to do so without compensation, as a thank-you for making this interesting class available.

[Awesome campaign background behind the cut....]

The Morav Resurgence

Far from here, where the bronze grass blows in the hot wind, there is enlightenment and deep history. These are the lands of the Morav Resurgence.

Once, the empire of Bael Turath ruled over continents. But the tiefling dukes were thrown down in the chaos of war, as were the dragonborn princes, the rivals who doomed them both to die. Some say Bael Turath was a capital of learning, of art, of truth and power.

Some, such as the matriarchs of the Morav Resurgence. Named for a province of the ancient empire, the Resurgence lays claim to the power and glory of old. It asserts its rights as heir to that devil-riddled rule. The fell queens built a civilization out of ashes and scattered tribes, seemingly out of nothing but sheer force of will, and today it is a power to be reckoned with indeed. The local lords hereabouts do not know how lucky they are that two seas, a desert, and many great peaks lie between here and there.

The Resurgence is profoundly misandrist, sexist to an extreme. The highest rank to which any male can aspire translates simply as worth living, or worthies; most males are slaves, they cannot own property, speak in law, or dream of rising higher. Those who might say that the interpretation that the fell queens have taken from their histories is, perhaps, biased – skims over certain evidence and grants great weight to others – do not say so very loudly, or very long. For Morav has at least two things right.

First, its readings of history may not have produced an exact copy of the social and political structure of Bael Turath, but whatever they have created, it has endured – centuries now – and shows no signs of decay. Their philosophers point to the three-angled structure of their society, where alliances or enmities along axes of clan, of caste, and of precedence (formalized status) provide for multiple motives in every interaction, with no pure enmities leading to chaos, nor pure alliances leading to centralization. Each axis has its own rulership structure – the rosetta of each circle of precedence, for example, could be likened to a continuous stitch&bitch circle with the power of life and wealth, or poverty and death, over thousands. They point, too, to the breeding protocols which have produced “high tieflings” – none of the ragtag common breed so often seen in other lands, more kin to the ancient tapestries and (of course) more beautiful.

Second, it has found… something… in its efforts to reflect back to an age of glory. The topmost castes give rise to the faced ones, veiled executors (always female, of course, always tiefling) whose connection to the ancestral glories is more than just politics and boasts; the old power runs hot and cold in their veins, and their arm is long. Many are those who have been visited by even the lowest of these, the ‘searching faces’, who have never disobeyed even the spirit of the law again in their lives – or who have simply disappeared with neither apology nor redress.

Materi (mother) Vanglashi is a powerful human princess of the Red Tree clan (a reference to ancient myth, and a biome which has been extinct for ages).  But she wants more. Having positioned her clan at the top of the ladder of clans, she has turned to the paths of precedence. Precedence has its own rules, but of all the three axes, it is the most meritocratic, in the long run; it is achieved by deeds done and accomplishments shown. Many such games are in play, chess sets upon go stones upon coins… but there are some achievements which are seldom accomplished, and one such is to have sired a worthy. Hakeem (not of the Red Tree – males have no clan, of course) is a direct descendant of Materi Vanglashi by way of a favored daughter, now dead. Having been conditioned into the service of Sherayem, the goddess of war (who the ignorant foreigners sometimes, appallingly, call Kord, a male), Hakeem is potentially positioned to earn the title of worthy, a deed which would speak to the preferment of the Red Tree and Vanglashi herself.

To qualify, he must return on the Feast of Those Who Must Return, near the end of the wet season, before a goat born on the day he left bears her third young … having accomplished all of the list of tasks set to one of his position.  To heal a thousand sufferers; to smite a hundred foes; to fight in ten great battles; and to slay a mighty demon (ancient enemies of the devils who made Bael Turath great). If he returns successful, his bronze slave-collar, held here in keeping while he strives, will be melted down and cast instead into a mask, to hide his maleness and reflect back an echo of the womanhood he has come near. And he will be the closest thing to free his life can promise.

He’s running late.

The goat’s belly is tight with seed. At most three months remain, and there has been no word.

One of the Searching Faces has been summoned to the tower….

Let me tell you about my character.

I’ve been playing in a regular game for several years now. We made the switch over to 4e, and after years at the DM helm, I got to play a PC. I was immediately drawn to a tiefling starlock. My DM sensibilities–meticulous attention to worldbuilding detail, a nigh-encyclopedic comprehension of the rules, etc.–combined with my thirst for actually playing a PC combined for me to go a little overboard. I spent hours coming up with his background and hours more tweaking my build. I think I spent a couple of hours just deciding which feat to take.

Playing Garnet was a blast. He was a godless cuss with a touch of Locke Lamora in him. He carried a huge greatsword strapped to his back, which he couldn’t unsheathe much less wield. He delivered the killing blow on Balgron the Fat. He just got his rod of dark reward.

Last week, I dumped my beloved Garnet for the sexy new guy on the block.

After three levels, I’m switching characters so I can play a witch doctor. Not just any witch doctor: Exton, the gnome with the mask of the elements and an unhealthy obsession with fire. I’m still nuts, mind you.

So why the change? Because the witch doctor is fun. (It didn’t hurt that our wizard was also looking to make a change, freeing up the controller role.)

As I was editing the witch doctor, I noticed something I didn’t pick up on with a cursory review. Read through the witch doctor’s power array, really look at what they are doing, and you’ll see something interesting. With most of the core classes, there’s this bare interplay between the color and the effect of the power. In many cases–not all, certainly–you get the feeling that the effects were created and then a bit of flavor text was drafted to suit.

With the witch doctor, I am convinced that Rob went about it the other way round. (And, no, I haven’t asked him.) That is, he thought about what kinds of cool effects should a witch doctor be able to create? Now, how can I draft a power to suit? This is a subtle but dramatic design methodology, because it creates a stronger link between color and mechanics.

A great example of this is inevitable progress of flame:

So a witch doctor creates a serpent of fire that slithers across the battlefield immolating all enemies in its path. Now, how can we create that effect mechanically? Rob makes it a wall (close wall, natch) that removes 1 square of one end and adds it to the other each round. (I’m proud to say that the bit about spending a move action to repeate the advance was my suggestion.)

So I can’t wait to take Exton out for a spin. (Now, if only I can find a suitable mini for a gnome witch doctor.) I’ll post here about our next session and how it goes. In the meantime, I’m happy to report that Mike, our DM, has co-opted Garnet as an NPC. So I’m sure we’ll be seeing the fruits of his twisted, nefarious plotting down the road.

Every village must make its own arrangements with the spirit world, and they depend upon wise men and women to speak to those spirits and the primal forces they command. These people are witch doctors, and they use the powers of the spirit world to strike down their enemies with fire, lightning, spirit, and earth.

These are powerful forces, and each witch doctor chooses how to use them. Some demand service or payment for their intercession with the spirits. Others wander like nomads and deal with the creatures that threaten the places they visit. Some, eternally loyal to their duty, are patient protectors of sacred places. These powers are raw and primal — unrefined and crude, some say — but you understand their power. It is up to you how you will use it.

This is the Witch Doctor player class, the most ambitious undertaking yet from the minds at One Bad Egg. Learn more about it at our store page!