So tell me about your witches

So tell me about your witches.

What do you like to do with them in your settings?

Are they more in line with more standard depictions, or do you love to play with the witch archetype in unusual ways?

How do you justify witches that are pretty unusual (like having green skin and giant hats that somehow never fall off their heads)?

In the last case I justify it that the skin is a result of a mix of druidic magic induced plant symbiosis, meaning they are part plant, whereas the hat stays still because its semi-sentient and has suction cups like squids and octopuses have. The more eccentric and powerful the witch, the bigger the hat.

Literally no interest?

Come on...

I usually have abnormal looking magic users look that way because they've been changed by magic. Either inadvertently or intentionally modifying themselves.

Witches in my settings more closely resemble the wizards from destiny, with a splash of wraith from evolve (because something good had to come from these piles) outside those recurring elements they are very different from one another, some having large humanoid bodies they just out of, others more limbs or different faces, they are ment to tick off the boxes for nightmare faps a human or any race can become one of these monsters by dabbling enough into dark magics, but they can also be born. The un/lucky mate may be taken as an apprentice, turned into a familiar or simply consumed in any manner the witch or your imagination favors

Interesting.

Interesting and grimdark.

my witches may be monstrous but they aren't all evil

OK. Now I feel safer.

Witches in my setting are more of a culture than a class. They serve various aspects of reality in various ways, but together they form a disharmonious whole, with each with having their place among the whole, but with contested areas of control and specialization that don't necessarily work in harmony.

They all realize they are all necessary and worthy - else they would not be witches - but that does not preclude conflict or even combat. Such conflicts can be as amicable as one conceding the other more powerful and bowing out of a fight uncontested, or as disastrous as two witches using an entire township's people (and in some cases, entire cities or even countries) as the battleground for their desires and machinations.

Covens are as small as threesomes or as large as entire city-wide cults, but they are rarely in the public eye or even obvious to common folk. they work hard to blend in and hide their true nature, though they masquerade as wizards, sorcerers, bards, or even priests and priestesses. However, one theing they cannot do is lie about beign a witch. To do so would anger their patrons forces and they would become accursed and stripped of power....or worse, punished (which is where hags and the less common and more horrific undead spring from). Deceive, avoid the question, and not answer yes, but they cannot say "I am not a witch" in any variant.

Do they have a problem with the common folks?

Are witch-hunts common?

Additionally, the witches don't actually need the brooms to fly, they just tend to carry their channels that way in flight, these range from incense bouquets, caligraphy brushes to wicker brew sticks etc.

They're medicine women, herbalists, and spiritualists who parlay with the supernatural entities of the material realm for power and boons, or placate said spirits to prevent trouble.

They're basically European Shinto

"Witches," in my setting, is just a catchall term by the general public for any female caster (even ones with vastly different methods, traditions, whatever). It has a negative connotation due to casters being rightly feared and semi-rightly reviled in setting. "Warlocks" is the term used for male casters.

The hat and the green skin then contradict each other, as without enough sunlight the plant symbiotes would lose the photosynthesis ability.

Nice.

The hats know this, so they often position themselves so that as much skin is visible. Not to mention these types of witches generally have already outfits that show a lot of skin.

And due to this they accidentally tend to catch the eyes of young men and the ire of jealous women and the moral guardians.

It ain't easy being green.

In my game a 'witch' is any magic-user who embraces certain paths to power. The darker paths, usually. Bargaining with certain elder/eldritch entities, praying to certain dark gods or ancient spirits, deliberately altering their own soul, harvesting magical power from other living casters, directly forging connections with powerful magical artifacts/locations/anomalies, etc.Extensive abuse of such magics often leads the witch to transform into a monster. Females usually become some variety of hag while males deform into something resembling an Ogre Mage.

Wow. But they do try not to go too far over the line? Or is it impossible to not go?

Some restrain themselves. Some try to restrain themselves but are forced by poor decissions to go over the line anyway. Some get into those types of magic specifically because they see the monstrous end result as favorable to them. Depends on the individual witch.

Bargaining with ancient spirits which predate humanity or eldritch horrors from beyond the stars or ancient evil deities is a great way to wind up indebted to them and forced to do things which drive you further down the path than you intended to go. Likewise attempting to augment yourself and your magic by altering your own soul is an easy way to screw up and force yourself to further alter yourself in vain attempts to undo the damage, or simply get addicted to the rush of power.

I was against the physiology changes until I saw the spoiler. Fucking brilliant. Going to use this in my games.

For me, witches would be herbalists who left society for some reason. Perhaps widowed, lesbian and didn't fit in, ex-rulers after a coup, or any number of reasons. Hermiting plus being really good at stuff people barely understand (medicine before Boyle) means superstition and people begin to believe they're women with special womenpowers.

In reality, they have bridged the gap between natural druidic magic and the infernal, attempting to keep nature and corruption both in balance and harmony together. For as long as there are Druids and as long as there are Warlocks, there will be conflict. Witches serve as mediums that keep the peace when necessary.

It's encouraged for witches to dabble in divination, necromancy, transfiguration, herbalism, and ritual magic. They rarely if at all would cast conjuration or abjuration type spells. No slinging fireballs.

Well that's what one gets when dabbling with these kinds of things.

Nice ideas you have. I also have a different take on witches.

Overall, along with , I was thinking about how witches could differ from each other and how the whole magic thing works with them. The green part I did base with druidic stuff, but earlier the whole plant thing was an idea of some other anons, so I thought of combining my idea with this.

In my case, witches are a catch term for hermit women. The magic they use started out as a mixture of shamanism and druidism that through the years included into itself many various elements from more traditional schools of magic, as well as forbidden lore and dark magic of the more destructive flavor.

Most witches follow the "whole" path, while there are some that do focus on specific elements. Hence why, for example, there are green witches that are part plant. The focus on the druidic part of witchcraft makes them green and can photosynthesize. A witch that focuses more on pyromancy turns into something akin to Bright Wizards from WHFB or even a pseudo-fire elemental, and one that focuses on necromancy does turn slowly into a Lich-like creature.

The magic of a witch grants them a very long lifespan and the ability to actually shape their bodies, hence they can either choose to look like an old hag or look uncommonly beautiful. And because of their lifespans, they can expand their knowledge on various medical, alchemical disciplines and more.

The witches, if ignore the whole stuff I wrote, are humans in the end (or whatever race they are), and can have loved ones and offspring (the latter sometimes, depending on the physical changes and how big they are). On the other hand the extended lifespans can cause them pain over all of this, hence why they are hermits. Their kids are generally normal at first, but after six springs they start to develop magic of their own due to how witchcraft changes the mother's biology.

Semi unrelated but is there a name for that kind of spear? Like, split down the middle? Pronged? I really like that style for some reason.

Yep, it's a pronged spear.

A three pronged one makes it a trident.

I make every magic user the same class. Witches are therefore the type of hedge mage taught in mother daughter style apprenticeships. It tends to have the female connotation because young men who develop magic tend more often to become wandering Sorcerers seeking training. But male "Witch Men" exist.

>Witch Men

My case, I just call them Forest (or [insert whatever biome]) Hermits who are essentially male offspring of Witches.

They're pretty traditional.
They range from good to evil, but they're all firmly adults. I almost never present teenager girls or young women as things other than dabblers or apprentices. They don't look like the stereotypical green-skinned, hatted old witch, but many have at least a few element of that look. Generally they're separated from mainstream society, living either in remote places, wandering the earth, or living secretly in cities and villages. They serve rulers very rarely and only with old and mythical societies (like not-egypt or lost civilizations), but it's played more like priestesses and philosophers than scientists and battle-mages. Only wise and experienced non-witches know much of them, and they are considered either powerful allies or terrible foes, to be treated with caution and respect. They follow the ways of old, wild and esoteric gods and practices, and are skilled with all the classic "magic" associated with witches, such as cursing, brewing potions and communication with animals and spirits. Where male wizards excel with magic of stone, fire and sun, witches excel with sorceries of blood, moon and water. Powerful witches are implied to only be partially human, perhaps having a god or spirit as an ancestor, BEING a god or spirit in disguise, having made a deal with something magical, or simply having been born under strange stars/in ritual/in prophecy/with a "seventh daughter of a seventh daughter" kind of deal.

I pretty much never attempt to justify or explain why they are the way they are to my players. Their magic system isn't really defined or made clear. I prefer to keep them in mystery, and play the whole "old school witch/wise-woman" thing completely seriously/without irony.

Good-old take. Nice one.

Witch is a blanket term for those proficient with magic.

They often have tattoos with partial magical circles so they can form the circles with clever body positioning, sometimes bordering on contortion. All the magic works with magic circles and the usage of thereof, but only witches can utilize them without the use of either the voice or the elements.
They can use their life energy to have magic flow on their skin and thus activate the magic circles. Normally, activating a magic circle would either require a great amount of monotonous incantation (which they can do too) or being exposed to the elements, such as dousing it in water.

Setting takes strides from ancient Greece, but obviously is a thing of its own.

>Magical tattoos
Why do I like this?

Seriously, this kind of thing is why I want to use it, but cannot find a way to implement it properly.

I like my voodo witches.

Urban and jungle like at the same time.

Good taste Freud. Good taste.