School Of Witchcraft

A Wizard Witch Subclass

for Hexbound
A wizard learns through dusty old tomes and rigorous study. A witch
learns through secret whispers and strict mentorship. A wizard witch
melds these two ways of teaching into the School of Witchcraft, a
school that takes both the unbending studying practices of wizardry
with the oral tradition practices of witchery
to make a school that seeks and sees
knowledge in places that both
wizards and witches can’t
possibly imagine.

Wizard witches are charac-

terized by their thirst for knowl-
edge, but also for their unorthodox
ways to obtain it. To a wizard witch, a
skill or a spell can be learned by the words
written in a book, the words of their mentor,
or the words spoken by the spirits from the
beyond, including those spirits that they have
just slain.

Witchmark
Wizards of the School of Witchcraft tradi-
tionally have witchmarks related to words. Some
of them have the last words of a spirit they
have slain that they used to acquire more
knowledge. Some witchmarks take
the shape of words that the
wizard found particularly
insightful, or moving.
Some have the names
of their mentors as
witchmarks. Another
common theme for a
wizard witch’s witch-
mark is eyes, to sym-
bolize their constant

quest for knowledge.

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Level 2:
Teachers from the Beyond
You confer with spirits of gifted spellcasters,
like famed sorcerers and pious clerics, so they can
teach you their magical secrets. After a long rest,
you can take 10 minutes to learn a cantrip of the
sorcerer, warlock, druid, cleric, bard, or wizard
spell list. For you, this counts as a wizard cantrip.
This cantrip does not count towards the number
of cantrips you know and is not written on your
spellbook, but you can cast it as many times
as you want. You can use this cantrip until
you finish a long rest.
Level 2: Oral Tradition
The ways of witchcraft are taught through
conversation and training between a pupil and a
mentor. You are able to translate their teachings
to the realm of arcane scholastic tradition. When
finding a spell that you are able to learn, you may
choose to commit it to memory instead of copy-
ing it down. Spells that can be learned through
oral tradition of witchcraft are under the same
limitations of spells you can copy in your spell-
book. In order to commit it to memory, you must
spend 4 hours per spell level practicing the spell.
Once you’ve spent the appropriate time to
commit the spell to memory, you can prepare
it just like your other spells. You can commit to
memory a spell from a Spell Scroll, in which
case you must also succeed the necessary
Intelligence (Arcana) check to do so suc-
cessfully, the Spell Scroll is destroyed just
like it would be if you had copied it to
your spell book. You can’t commit to
memory cantrips obtained by the
use of the Teachers from the
Beyond ability.
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Level 6:
Spectral Learning
At 6th level, you summon the spirits of slain
foes to learn new abilities through them. When
a creature you can see is brought down to 0 hit
points, roll a d20 and add your proficiency bonus.
Your roll must be higher than the creature’s CR.
On a success, you are able to momentarily trap
the spirit of the slain foe and use its power. One
of their abilities, determined by the GM, is now
yours to use. If the ability in question is a par-
ticular spell, or otherwise consumes a ressource,
you must consume that resource when using
the ability. If the ability relies on the creature’s
morphology, like a prehensile tail or a claw, you
summon a spectral manifestation of that body
part when you use it. The stat used when using
these abilities is Intelligence, even if the ability
in question is a melee attack. The spirit is set free
and you lose the ability attached to it after a long
rest. If the ability you acquire is a spell you do not
know, you can add it to your list of spells through
your Oral Tradition ability by learning it from the
spirit. Once you’ve used this ability, you can’t use
it again until you finish a long rest.
Level 10: Spiritual Savant
At 10th level, you have mastered the art of
learning through spirits. When you bring a crea-
ture to 0 hit points and learn one of their abilities
through your Spectral Learning ability, you can
choose to commit that ability to memory as if it
was a spell. You can only commit one ability that
isn’t a spell to memory using this feature. It takes
CR of the creature x 10 minutes to commit the
new ability to memory and you must do so before
you finish a long rest. You can still hold a different
ability through Spectral Learning along with the
one you have committed to memory, at the end
of a long rest the ability acquired through Spectral
Learning will disappear, and the one committed
to memory through Spiritual Savant will still be
available to you. If you wish to replace the learned
ability with a new one, the old one fades from
your memory as the connection with the spirit
is severed.

Level 14:
Prodigy of the Arcane
Your prodigious mind can summon the spirits
of those that have completely mastered the arcane
arts to teach you their secrets. After a long rest,
you can prepare one spell of your choice from
any class’ spell list. The spell must be of a level
for which you have spell slots and you follow the
normal rules for casting it, including expending a
spell slot. If the spell isn’t a wizard spell, it counts
as a wizard spell when you cast it. It takes 10
minutes per spell level to prepare it. After you
finish a long rest, you’re no longer able to cast this
spell unless you prepare it again using this feature.
You can’t commit this spell to memory using your
Oral Tradition ability.

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