This is my first homebrew creation, the domestic witch. I hope you enjoy! It is technically a GLOG wizard like the Garden Wizard or Orthodox Wizard, but it has a few twists unique to it. If you just want some fodder for new GLOG spells, scroll to the bottom.

Edited 1/30/24: balance adjustment of cantrips and spells.

Long ago, wolves crept from their hiding places into the villages of ancient humanity. They found food and shelter, and an offer of peace and friendship with humankind. The humans gave the wolves this choice: Liberty and enmity, or peace and sublimation. The wolves who agreed overtime were shaped and twisted by their bargain, becoming smaller, gentler, and and more suitable to the purposes of the human societies who became their hosts. At last the spirit of these wolves was so utterly changed by their pact that they could no longer be called wolves at all. Now, their descendants are called dogs.

Wolves were not the only beasts to make this pact with humanity. Cats, cows, pigs, and many more all chose to change for mankind’s sake, subjecting themselves to the warping will of their new master: civilization. But it is pride that says that men domesticate only the animals. Men are accustomed to domesticating everything they encounter, and so when men began to interact with - and war with - witches, the offer was made once again, and there were those who accepted.

Domestic witches are friends to mankind - they are safer, softer, and gentler than their wild kin. An individual witch may choose to be tame - making herself an ally of mankind. But that does not make her domesticated. The old wildfire still burns within her, ready to return if circumstances shift. A normal witch is a wild thing that might be tamed, but a domestic witch is a domesticated thing that might stray. That doesn’t mean they are harmless - any more than a dog is harmless just because it isn’t a wolf. But a dog does not chafe at civilization - it is a part of it. So too is the domestic witch.

Starting Equipment: broom, spellbook, ink and quill, simple but pleasant-looking outfit.

Domestic Witches are outsider wizards with a better-than-average reputation. They sometimes get caught up in anti-witch sentiment, but most common folk would rather keep them around. Unlike more powerful witches and wizards, they rarely attract the attention of the nobility, and are mostly content to court the favor of the mercantile and peasant classes. The Church tolerates domestic witches as long as they don't try to climb too far in the social hierarchy.

Special

The spells of a domestic witch are just as domesticated as the witch herself, being more helpful but less imposing. Your MD is a d4 instead of a d6. Dice still return to your pool on a 1-3 and are expended on a 4.

Perk

You are incredibly light (1 bulk). You do not take fall damage, and you float of the surface of water. Waterwalking requires a dexterity test each round or you fall prone, but you are never in danger of accidental drowning.

Drawback

You are highly flammable. You take an additional point of damage from fire, and you must save vs Fear whenever you take fire damage.

Cantrips

You put the fast in fastidious. You are as fast, efficient, and productive as 1+[templates] people when organizing, cleaning, tidying, cooking, and performing other domestic tasks. You may illuminate a held object as if it were a torch. The light vanishes when you let go of the object. You may speak with domesticated creatures as if you shared a language. This does apply to strays and sapient domestic creatures (like multigenerational household servants and serfs), but not to creatures that are merely tame, like a king’s pet tiger or a dancing bear.

Spells

(Spells with asterisks are new, described below)

1. Spirit Talker*
2. Animate Conveyance*
3. Cornucopia*
4. Charm Person
5. Familiar Bolt*
6. Encourage*
7. Aid*
8. Break Enchantment
9. Scry
10. Sleep
11. Pet Shapes*
12. True Teleport

1d6 Mishaps

1. Spell fizzles.
2. Tire, gaining 1 fatigue until you rest for at least an hour.
3. Lose 1 MD until you rest for at least an hour.
4. Take 1 point of damage and drop a held object.
5. Fall prone and take 1 point of damage.
6. Sneeze violently and magically, rolling for random monsters in wild areas. Total monsters rolled are halved, minimum 1.

Dooms

1. You shrink 2d6 inches and are markedly less intimidating. You need a day to adjust and cannot cast spells during that time.
2. You shrink 2d6 inches and lose 1 strength. You are cuter than before, in the way a golden retriever is cuter than a wolf. You need 3 days to adjust, and cannot cast spells during that time.
3. You shrink 2d6 inches, lose 1 strength, and treat all humans as good friends (like Charm Person) unless they have mistreated you personally. You are not intimidating (no matter how hard you try), are cuter than before (in the way a toy breed is cuter than a fully grown dog), and your future dooms become mishaps. You need a week to adjust and cannot cast spells during that time.

Wild Witches and Domestic Witches

Wild witches (as well as most other magic users) often view domestic witches with a mixture of contempt, condescension, and smug pity. Domestic witches view their counterparts with some suspicion and pity, but they are not hostile towards them. Some domestic witches even try to reawaken their wild side (usually before their 3rd Domestic Witch template) by taking levels in more potent or savage spellcasting classes.

Garden wizards and domestic witches get along famously.

New Spells

Spirit Talker

Range: 0
Targets: self
Duration: [sum] hours
You may communicate with ghosts, nature spirits, and planar outsiders as if you shared a language. You are aware when anyone you are speaking with is benefiting from this ability.

Animate Conveyance

Range: touch
Target: object, see description
Duration: (dice) hours, permanent
You touch a mountable or sittable mundane object (like a broom or cauldron) no larger than a horse and speak the name of its designated rider. The object immediately clunks to life to serve as a steed for you and the named individual (you may name yourself). It grants one of the following benefits, which should match:

• Broomlike: Hover 10ft above ground or liquid at 2x speed. Fly at 3x at 3 MD, 4x at 4 MD.
• Cauldronlike: 1x movement and defense as chain. 2x and plate at 3 MD, Fly 2x speed at 4MD.
• Carpetlike: Hover 10ft above ground or liquid at 1x speed and carry 2 people. Fly at 1x speed and carry 4 people at 3 MD, 2x speed at 4 MD. Carpetlike mounts must still be driven by you or a named individual.

If you use 4 dice on this spell, it becomes permanent until you make a different animated conveyance permanent.

Cornucopia

Range: touch
Target: up to [dice] rations
Duration: permanent
Rations you touch explode into [sum] different and tastier rations. These rations may be eaten as normal, or up to [dice] creatures may eat them all over the course of lunch, removing 1 fatigue and healing [dice]x3 hit points. You may scarf them down over 10 minutes instead to heal [dice]x2 hit points.

Note: cornucopia rations meet the same dietary requirements as the rations they replace, and cornucopia rations may not be used to create cornucopia rations.

Familiar Bolt

Range: 50’
Target: creature
Duration: instantaneous
Target creature takes [sum]+[dice] damage, no save. Deals an additional [dice] damage if the target is a more powerful magician than you (if their max [sum] is higher than yours). As a domestic witch, your Familiar Bolt looks like an enthusiastic spectral version of the domesticated animal you most closely associate with zipping through the air to its target.

When used by anyone with with a d6 or larger base MD size, Familiar Bolt instead functions as Magic Missile.

Encourage

Range: 50’
Target: [dice] friendly creatures
Duration: [sum] minutes
You bring out the best in people. Target creatures get +1 to the modifiers of their highest and lowest stats and reduce their total roll by 1 when attempting to roll under those stats. They also feel a bit better about life.

Aid

Range: touch
Targets: one creature
Duration: [sum] hours
Target creature treats its negative hit points as being [sum]x2 closer to zero for the purposes of determining wounds received. If cast on a creature with 1 or more fatal wounds, it instead removes [dice] fatal wounds.

Pet Shapes

Range: touch
Targets: [dice]x2 creatures
Duration: [sum] hours
Willing creatures you touch are transformed into domesticated animals no larger than a housecat (1 MD), mid-sized dog (2 MD), prize pig (3 MD), or a bull cow (4 MD). You may choose different forms for each target. Alternatively, you may spend 4 MD to target a willing or unwilling creature. If it fails its save it is transformed into a domesticated animal of your choosing permanently. It will gradually (over 1 year) forget its old life, but if restored its memories will come flooding back. If it was a willing target, it may choose to keep its memories.

Final Thoughts and Balance Notes

The biggest balance shift is from the altered MD. A d4 MD means spells don't tend to last as long or deal/heal as much damage, but the 75% percent chance of keeping the die means that you have more overall casting stamina. It also means that you are much more likely to roll mishaps and dooms. A mishap is extremely likely on 4 dice casts, and you are very likely to end up fully doomed if you play this class for any real length of time.

To counteract the high chance of dooms and mishaps, I made both much less punishing. The mishaps are primarily designed to make the domestic witch seems silly or clumsy without doing too much to disrupt the actual spell (most of the time). The dooms won't even kill you or permanently steal your casting - very unusual among dooms. They do weaken you, but in a tolerable sort of way.