Witchy Plots
June 28th, 2011
Hello everyone and welcome to another exciting edition of Grave Plots, where we endeavor to entertain and inspire you with new plot hooks and adventure ideas each and every week. As I’m writing this article, I’ve been spending the week considering the witch. The witch has long been a staple of folklore and fantasy alike and so it should come as no shock that for years players have been striving to be witches in their D&D game. Now, thanks to the Advanced Players Guide, the witch has even got its own base class; however, even before then countless sorcerers, wizards, druids, clerics, adepts, bards, and others have styled themselves as witches. As those players know, being a witch isn’t really about having a set of mechanics or an official title, and that’s what this week’s article is all about! We’ll be taking a look at those things you can do to make your witches feel witchy enough to really deserve the name.
Coven
One of the most definitive aspects of the witch is her (or his) coven, the select group of insiders that shares in the mysteries of the witch. This inner circle contains the witch’s coconspirators, her confidants, and those who are best aware of her true nature. If you’re looking to get the most out of your witch, a coven is the single biggest thing you can do to squeeze that fantastic witchy flavor out of your character.
In your game: When creating a coven for your witch the single largest concern is who will be involved. If the party’s willing to back your mysterious occult-minded character concept, they make the ideal coven. Each party member can play a significant role in the witch’s inner circle, whether they’re her fellow black magicians looking to achieve their shared ends through communion with mysterious forces, spiritual advisers serving as a conduit to the natural world, revelers spurring what amounts to a religious ceremony into a bacchanalian frenzy in keeping with the old traditions, or even just an obliging fighter happy to wear a cloak, share in the company of his friends, and bear the honorary title of apprentice witch. Since this allows you to get everyone involved, the whole group can revel in the witch experience, giving you freedom to spend more time doing things which highlight the witch without really alienating anyone.
Alternatively, you might consider having your witch belong to a coven separate from the rest of the group. While you probably can’t spend as much time on developing the witch as you might be able to if the whole group was involved, this does give the witch some independence, as well as giving you the ability to develop the witch as an individual. Further, doing this gives the DM more control over exactly what the coven is like, with custom NPCs and its own motivations, which may or may not be at odds with that of the PCs, potentially forcing the witch to choose where her loyalties lie.
Finally, your witch’s coven, regardless of its source, might belong to a larger organization. Sometimes called circles, these organizations might consist of many related covens or individual practitioners with similar worldviews. This instantly gives you and the DM a whole lot of new NPCs who can be inserted as allies, contacts, rivals, potential employers, or secret enemies, while also providing a good starting point for a conspiracy game, rife with treachery and deceit.
As a plot hook: Using a coven as a plot hook can be a great way to start off a witch-oriented adventure or just get you going down whatever path you have in mind. While there are surely countless things one could do to use a coven in their plots, here are just a few ideas.
Perhaps the simplest way to use the coven is as an excuse to unite the PCs and get them adventuring: if they all belong to the same coven, they stand as a ready-to-go adventuring party, while if the witch alone belongs to a coven she might join the PCs for a number of reasons (perhaps because they serve the needs of the coven on their quest, or perhaps to keep an eye on them and ensure that they don’t interfere in the coven’s plans).
Apart from starting a game, the coven can provide fun adventures; perhaps a new member wishes to join the coven and it falls to the PCs to vet the aspiring witch, or maybe evidence turns up that a senior member has been working against the coven and the PCs are meant to investigate. Finally, covens involved in a circle or similar organization might simply be ordered to engage in adventurous activities to suit the needs of the whole group.
Ritual
A second iconic image of the witch often associated with the coven is her infamous black mass. These ritualized ceremonies are a definitive aspect of the witch – without them she may as well be a common wizard. While little rules support exists for these kinds of grandiose ritual celebrations of carnal power, the acts themselves are so important to the witch’s core being that to ignore them while trying to play as a witch would be well, silly to say the least.
In your game: As rituals are a such a vast part of being a witch, it should come as no surprise that in order to get the most out of them you will need to do more than just say “I do some spooky ritual stuff, then we move on” at the table. To get the full effect of the ritual’s role in the witch’s life, as well as to have the most fun at the table, it is essential to fully roleplay out the ritual. Since this will constitute a lot of extra work on the part of everyone involved, it might behoove DMs interested in seeing the characters in their story properly develop to offer some kind of incentive. This might mean providing some kind of in-game bonus (something I personally feel rituals of this type deserve), or it might mean bringing a pizza or whatever for your group to enjoy. Whatever the case, once properly motivated it is up to the witch to design and, for lack of a better term, choreograph her ritual; this will serve not only to help the witch develop as a character, but, when the time comes for the ritual to be performed, it will also help to entertain the group. If possible, get the other PCs (or failing that, at least the other players) involved and create a truly elaborate experience that no one will forget any time soon. Finally, for those of you worried that constant rituals will be far too time-consuming for your game, consider spending one session a month or even one session a season to plan out and then roleplay a black mass, consuming one night reveling in dark glory.
As a plot hook: Requiring full-scale roleplay performance rituals of this kind are more or less adventures unto themselves; however, for those of you looking to get more out of your rituals, consider the following plot hooks.
If one or more the of the players breaks character during the ritual or otherwise makes a mistake, you might consider having an adventurous in-game consequence; for instance, the group may accidentally summon unknown forces, or attract the attention of one or more dangerous powers. Or perhaps the PCs’ constant ritual behavior has caused the outside world to grow suspicious of them, resulting in a group of paladins hunting them down.
Ok, that’s it for this week’s Grave Plots. I’ll see you all next week for more great plot hooks and adventure ideas; until then, may I wish you all the best in your gaming endeavors.