Download - Mega Miniatures

With the disclaimer out of the way let us proceed on to
the good stuff.
BASICS
The Witch’s Handbook, from Green Ronin Publishing,
adds another viable core character class to the game of
Dungeons and Dragons. Like other books in the
Master Class series, The Witch’s Handbook provides
all of the information that is needed to use this class in a
campaign. The witch is presented as practicing a unique
style of arcane magic. To quote the book a witch’s
magic is “…born not of intellectual study and research,
nor of the power inherent in the blood, but from an
understanding of nature and simple hearth wisdom.”
The authors sum up their version of witchcraft better
than I can.
BETWEEN THE COVERS
The first thing that really caught my attention when I
first glanced through this book was their disclaimer on
page three. To paraphrase: this book is not meant to be
a guide to any neo-pagan religion or spiritual practice
and the herbalism section should not be taken as a real
guide to medicinal or therapeutic herbs. This book is
meant for role-playing games and nothing else. “The
material in it is presented in the spirit of fun and
enjoyment, not to educate or parody.”
The Witch’s Handbook is organized in chapters that
cover information about witches and witchcraft, their
traditions, history, abilities, rites and more. This book
includes everything needed to play witch characters in
your campaigns or use them as non-player characters.
Chapter One: The Way of the Witch describes the witch
character class and its abilities. It provides several
witch-related prestige classes, along with an overview of
the traditions of witchcraft and the roles of the witch in
history and mythology. Each class comes with at least
two sample characters, which are usable as non-player
characters.
Chapter Two: Skills and Feats cover the use of existing
skills with witches. An emphasis is given to the Heal and
Profession (herbalist) skills. New feats and metamagic
feats, suitable for witches are described. Many of these
feats are suitable for use with other character classes.
Chapter Three: Tools of the Craft gives descriptions of
the many tools that are used by witches. Included is a
look at herbalism and the medicinal and magical uses of
herbs and plants. Information is also provided on
alchemical creations, ritual tools and components and
magic items created and used by witches.
Chapter Four: The Craft of the Wise looks at the magical
side of witchcraft. This chapter gives rules for ritual and
cooperative spellcasting, granting witches (as well as
other casters) wider flexibility and power but more time,
effort, and preparation of spells offset these bonuses.
Last but not least are the witch spell list and the
description of various new spells, with notes on
changing some existing spells to fit with the style of
witchcraft.
VALUE
The Witch’s Handbook gives a buyer very good
content for the price (MSRP $14.95 US). The buyer
receives five prestige classes, fifteen new feats, over a
dozen new spells (plus new uses for old spells), rules for
ritual and circle magic, thirty new potions, an assortment
of magic items and expanded rules for the Heal and
Profession (herbalist) skills. As a bonus, this book
contains nice artwork by Drew Baker, Storm Cook, and
Stephanie Pui-mun Law. If you need more variety in
your campaign, then head out to your local game store
and pick up a copy of The Witch’s Handbook.
WWW.GREENRONIN.COM