Witch archetype

Winter Witch

The descendents of Baba Yaga rule the frozen realm of Irrisen, and possess a unique power stemming from their otherworldly origin and ties to cold magic. This power is partly magical, partly political, and partly cultural. Known as winter witches, these scions of Baba Yaga have not coveted or hidden their secrets, for they understand the truth that those who see winter witches work their frozen magic will simply assume the witch works for Irrisen. By opening their traditions to those who have no blood connection to Baba Yaga or the rulers of Irrisen, they spread the notoriety and infamy of their magic far beyond what they could accomplish on their own. While winter witches are most commonly encountered in Irrisen, they can and have been encountered throughout the Inner Sea region, working to spread their nation’s notoriety with each frozen spell and manipulative hex. A winter witch has the following class features.

Cold Flesh (Ex) level 1

This replaces the witch’s 4th-level hex.

At 1st level, a winter witch gains endure elements as a constant spell-like ability, but only against cold temperatures. At 4th level, she gains cold resistance 5, making her comfortable in near-freezing temperatures. At 9th-level, this increases to cold resistance 10, and at 14th level, it becomes immunity to cold. This replaces the witch’s 4th-level hex.

Cantrips

A winter witch adds ray of frost to her spell list, but does not automatically learn this cantrip.

Familiar

Winter witches must choose a familiar that is native to the frozen north, even when they themselves operate in other regions. Traditionally, this limits winter witch familiar choices to bat, cat, fox, hawk, owl, rat, raven, or weasel. A winter witch who gains the Improved Familiar feat can select any familiar she desires, save for familiars with the fire subtype.

Frozen Caress (Su)

Whenever the winter witch casts a touch spell, she can infuse the magic with cold as a swift action. This grants the spell the cold descriptor, and adds 1d4 points of cold damage to the spell’s effect. If the touch spell allows a saving throw, a successful save negates this additional cold damage.

Hexes

The following hexes complement the winter witch archetype: beast eye*, blight, cook people*, evil eye, feral speech*, hag’s eye, hoarfrost*, ice tomb*, witch’s hut.* An asterisk (*) indicates a hex detailed in Ultimate Magic.

A winter witch can select the following hexes: Frostfoot (Su): This ability works like the spider climb spell, but the surfaces the witch climbs must be icy. The witch can move across icy surfaces without penalty and does not need to make Acrobatics checks to run or charge on ice. She can move across regular snow without penalty, and heavy snow only costs her 2 squares of movement instead of 4.

Ice Magic

When a winter witch casts a spell with the cold descriptor, the save DC of the spell increases by +1. A winter witch cannot learn or cast spells with the fire descriptor at all.

Patron

A winter witch must choose her patron from one of the following patron themes: ancestors*, deception, enchantment*, endurance, moon*, occult*, portents*, stars*, transformation, trickery, vengeance*, water, winter*, or wisdom. An asterisk (*) indicates a patron theme detailed in Ultimate Magic.