Hedge Witch 2.0 Options

[awolfromlife]

Help!!! I want to make a Hedge Witch character but when I look at the skills. I am going to have to take every magic based skill in the game it seems like. Any advice for a Hedge Witch Char would be graetly appreciated.
P. S. I want to make the char an elf with Severe Allergy to Iron. How difficult a life would she have?

[Ol' Scratch]

That's pretty much a problem all decent full magicians have to deal with. It's intended to keep their power levels in check during character creation (lots of lower-level skills versus one or two higher-level skills). When in doubt, think about what you want your witch's focus to be (spellcasting, ritual magic, on-the-fly conjuring, the long-term binding of spirits, storehouse of magical lore and arcana, enchanting, being an aethernaut, etc.) and go from there. You can always improve your other skills as you progress.

As for the allergy, I imagine it'd be pretty rough. There's lots of cooler negative qualities to consider. Allergies are so passe, though if she has a history with the fey folk an iron allergy fits in nicely. I'd personally go with a Condition Geas (not in contact with cold iron) or something to better reflect it. That way whenever someone binds you in iron, for example, your Magic depreciates. But that's just me.

[Backgammon]

Iron is almost completely absent from modern life, however, so it wouldn't come up very often.

[MK Ultra]

Specializing the character to some degree or another is certainly a good idea (almost impossible not to do so), unless you want your which to live in an ivory tower with nex to no mundan skills or knowledge whatsoever, which is also a veritable option, but will give you a harder time to survive the first couple of runs.

Editorial Note:
See what you did to me Grinder, I spend my scarce free time posting in the discussion forum, instead of loging into a dead latino´s comlinks!

[Ravor]

Although it is not a popular opinion on these boards, I would ask yourself whether or not you need huge dicepools to thrive as a Witch.

[MK Ultra]

Good point!

[Drogos]

Indeed. If you want your witch to be at least skilled in all areas having to do with magic, the skill groups available at low levels are probably the best bang for you buck. You drop 40-50 points in those and a soft max (or even hard max) magic attribute puts you slinging 7-9 dice depending on your focus. If you drop magic to a 4, you're still sling 6-7 dice for any magic test. Pick up a smattering of enchanting or arcana and for under 150 build you are a completely rounded magic user. It's not the optimal build for wielding arcane might, but it gives you a basis in everything. If you want to be able to do everything, you aren't going to be AWESOME at it. that's how the BP system works. You will feel a little underpowered compared to the characters around you. Heck, that is how a generalized character should feel. The specialists are going to outshine you. You make up for that by pickign up some abilities that they can't even come close to matching. Pick up an illusion or maybe a mental manipulation and you are quickly becoming a major asset to the team with abilities that no other player can match. As a possession tradition, you lack the ability to bring to the fore materialized spirits on a whim. You have to worry about vessels. But if you invest a few nuyen here and there on it, you can quickly become as great a help as the Drone Rigger in evening the odds. A few karma to specialize here and there and increase your magic and you are on your way to being as good as any focused spellcaster, but in every magical skill in the game. the generalist lacks the starting power of any focused build. But the versatility and range of choices for advancement allow you to better compliment your team. You aren't a specialist, but you still sling the mojo. A smattering of magical skills is better than none at all. Plus, hyperspecialize and you breed in weakness...it's a slow death.