You weren't born with the power to cast spells, nor have you spent years dedicated to worship, study, or uncovering mystical secrets. Your magic instead has been gifted to you by a potent being, one who knows that by empowering you so, you'll further the being's agenda in the world, whatever it may be. This entity is typically mysterious and distant, revealing little of their identity and motivations. They make their will known to you in abstract signs such as omens, dreams, or similar subtleties rather than words.

Rather than interacting with you directly, your patron works through a familiar—a mystical creature that teaches you, serves as the conduit for your patron's magic, and maybe even keeps an eye on you to ensure you're furthering your patron's nebulous ends.

At 1st level, choose your patron, which determines your spellcasting tradition and grants you the skill for that tradition of magic, your first witch's lesson and a unique familiar ability.

Using your familiar as a conduit, your patron provides you the power to cast spells. You are a spellcaster, and you can cast spells of your patron's tradition using the Cast a Spell activity. As a witch, when you cast spells, your incantations might rhyme, your gestures might be as simple as an ominous pointing finger or a complex folk sign, and your familiar might even echo your words or movements slightly as your patron's magic surges.

At 1st level, you can prepare up to two 1st-rank spells and five cantrips each morning from the spells your familiar knows. Prepared spells remain available to you until you cast them or until you prepare your spells again. The number of spells you can prepare each day is called your spell slots. As you increase in level as a witch, the number of spells you can prepare each day increases, as does the highest rank of spell you can cast, as shown in the Witch Spells per Day table.

Some of your spells require you to attempt a spell attack to see how effective they are, or have your enemies roll against your spell DC (typically by attempting a saving throw). Since your key attribute is Intelligence, your spell attack modifier and spell DC use your Intelligence modifier.

Heightening Spells

When you get spell slots of 2nd-rank and higher, you can fill those slots with stronger versions of lower-rank spells. This increases the spell's rank, heightening it to match the spell slot. Many spells have specific improvements when they are heightened to certain ranks.

Cantrips

Some of your spells are cantrips. A cantrip is a special type of spell that doesn't use spell slots. You can cast a cantrip at will, any number of times per day. A cantrip is always automatically heightened to half your level rounded up—this is usually equal to the highest rank of witch spell slot you have. For example, as a 1st-level witch, your cantrips are 1st-rank spells, and as a 5th-level witch, your cantrips are 3rd-rank spells.

Your patron has sent you a familiar, a mystical creature that teaches you magic and facilitates your spells. This familiar follows the rules for familiars, though as it's a direct conduit between you and your patron, it's more powerful than typical familiars. Your familiar gains two additional familiar abilities: one of these is a unique ability based on your patron and is always selected, and the other is an additional familiar ability that can be selected daily as normal. Your familiar gains another extra ability at 6th, 12th, and 18th levels.

Spells: Your familiar is the source and repository of the spells your patron has bestowed upon you, and you must commune with your familiar to prepare your spells each day using your witch spellcasting. Your familiar starts off knowing 10 cantrips, five 1st-rank spells, and one additional spell determined by your patron's initial lesson. You choose these spells from the common spells of the tradition determined by your patron or from other spells of that tradition you gain access to. Each time you gain a level, your patron teaches your familiar two new spells of any rank for which you have spell slots, chosen from common spells of your tradition or others you gain access to. Feats can also grant your familiar additional spells.

Learning Spells: Your familiar can learn new spells independently of your patron. It can learn any spell on your tradition's spell list by physically consuming a written version of that spell over the course of 1 hour. This can be a scroll of that spell, or you can prepare a written version using the Learn a Spell exploration activity. You and your familiar can use the Learn a Spell activity to teach your familiar a spell from another witch's familiar. Both familiars must be present for the entirety of the activity, the spell must be on your spellcasting tradition's spell list, and you must pay the usual cost for that activity, typically in the form of an offering to the other familiar's patron. You can't prepare spells from another witch's familiar.

Undying: If your familiar dies, your patron replaces it during your next daily preparations. The new familiar might be a duplicate or reincarnation of your former familiar or a new entity altogether, but it knows the same spells your former familiar knew regardless. Your familiar's death doesn't affect any spells you have already prepared.

As a favored agent of your patron, you can invoke their power for a more direct magical intervention. A hex is a spell shaped by your patron and sent to you through your familiar, rather than an ability you use directly. Your patron expects you to advance its interests and does not take kindly to repeated requests for aid; as such, you can use only one hex each turn, and any attempts to use a second hex on that turn fail and the actions are lost.

Hex spells are a type of focus spell. It costs 1 Focus Point to cast a focus spell, and you start with a focus pool of 1 Focus Point. You refill your focus pool during your daily preparations, and you can regain 1 Focus Point by spending 10 minutes using the Refocus activity to commune with your familiar.

Focus spells are automatically heightened to half your level rounded up, much like cantrips. Focus spells don't require spell slots, and you can't cast them using spell slots. Certain feats give you more focus spells. The maximum Focus Points your focus pool can hold is equal to the number of focus spells you have, but it can never be more than 3 points.

You learn your choice of the Patron's Puppet hex or Phase Familiar hex, which let you command your familiar or defend it from harm, respectively. You learn most other hexes from witch lessons.

Hex Cantrips

Hex cantrips are special hexes that don't cost Focus Points, so you can cast them as often as you like, though you can still use only one hex each round. Hex cantrips are in addition to the cantrips you choose with witch spellcasting and aren't counted toward your prepared cantrips.

You gain a hex cantrip determined by your choice of patron.

You remain alert to threats around you. Your proficiency rank for Perception increases to expert.

The flow of magic and your defensive training combine to help you get out of the way before an attack. Your proficiency rank in unarmored defense increases to expert.

You've learned how to inflict greater injuries with the weapons you know best. You deal an additional 2 damage with weapons and unarmed attacks in which you are an expert. This damage increases to 3 if you're a master, and 4 if you're legendary.

You've learned how to inflict greater injuries with the weapons you know best. You deal an additional 2 damage with weapons and unarmed attacks in which you are an expert. This damage increases to 3 if you're a master, and 4 if you're legendary.

Your patron grants you the power to command incredible works of magic. You gain a single 10th-rank spell slot and can prepare a spell in that slot using witch spellcasting. Unlike with other spell slots, you can't use 10th-rank slots with abilities that give you more spell slots or that let you cast spells without expending spell slots. You don't gain more 10th-rank spells as you level up, but you can take the Patron's Truth feat to gain a second slot.

A witch's knowledge from their patron comes in the form of lessons, which you can learn by selecting feats like Basic Lesson. Each lesson grants you a hex and teaches your familiar a new spell, adding it to the spells you can prepare using your witch spellcasting. You gain this spell even if it's not on your tradition's spell list.

BASIC LESSONS

You can select from these lessons when a feat or another effect grants you a basic lesson.

Lesson of Dreams You gain the Veil Of Dreams hex, and your familiar learns Sleep.

Lesson of the Elements You gain the Elemental Betrayal hex. Your familiar learns your choice of Breathe Fire, Air Bubble, Hydraulic Push, or Pummeling Rubble.

Lesson of Life You gain the Life Boost hex, and your familiar learns Spirit Link.

Lesson of Protection You gain the Blood Ward hex; your familiar learns Mystic Armor.

Lesson of Vengeance You gain the Needle Of Vengeance hex, and your familiar learns Phantom Pain.

• Uncommon

Lesson of Calamity: You gain the Stumbling Curse hex, and your familiar learns Ill Omen.

GREATER LESSONS

You can select from these lessons when a feat or other effect grants you a greater lesson.

Lesson of Mischief You gain the Deceiver's Cloak hex, and your familiar learns Mad Monkeys.

Lesson of Shadow You gain the Malicious Shadow hex, and your familiar learns Chilling Darkness.

Lesson of Snow You gain the Personal Blizzard hex, and your familiar learns Wall Of Wind.

Lesson of Favors You gain the Return The Favor hex, and your familiar learns Mind Of Menace.

Lesson of Decay All living things eventually decay, feeding fungus and insect. You gain the Mycological Malady hex, and your familiar learns Insect Form.

Lesson of the Flock Power flows when many work as one. You gain the Sheltering Wings hex, and your familiar learns Levitate.

Lesson of the Shark Learn the ways of this deadly oceanic predator. You gain the Blood In The Water hex, and your familiar learns Feet To Fins.

MAJOR LESSONS

You can select from these lessons when a feat or other effect grants you a major lesson.

Lesson of Bargains You gain the Over The Coals hex, and your familiar learns Subconscious Suggestion.

Lesson of Death You gain the Curse Of Death hex, and your familiar learns Raise Dead.

Lesson of Renewal You gain the Restorative Moment hex, and your familiar learns Field Of Life.

• Rare

Lesson of Frozen Queen You gain the Glacial Heart hex and your familiar learns Wall Of Ice.