What this guild is about
Find a place among the outcasts.
The Coven takes in people other traditions have cast out. Its members turn their inner magic into corrosive poison, strengthen curses and shape dreams that can wound or heal. They wear witch-iron wristbands and look after their own.
The Coven’s founders were outcasts who borrowed from different magical crafts and found a source of power of their own: the magic that keeps their bodies alive, turned into poison by hatred. Their spells go beyond direct damage to weakening enemies, changing dreams and a dangerous touch, and the same dreamcraft can cause suffering or give someone back their confidence. That range suits a player who wants several ways to affect a fight. The brotherhood also protects its own, even when the rest of the world wants nothing to do with them.
You might feel at home here if…
- You like weakening a dangerous enemy before a long fight.
- You want to learn the separate crafts of curses, poison and dreams.
- You feel at home among outsiders.
Lore & origins
What the outcasts made together
The Coven began with people from different magical traditions who had been shunned, judged evil or condemned as traitors to their crafts: fallen rangers, corrupted mages and power-hungry psionicists among them. A band of these outcasts formed a loose brotherhood to protect others in the same position. Refugees, recluses and people with darker motives all found a place, and none of them had much reason to trust established society.
The founders put their magic together from scraps of other disciplines. Along the way they found that the sustaining magic in their own bodies could be turned into deadly poison and powerful curses, with hatred driving the change, and the Coven became feared in its own right. Its later arts reach into desecration, charm and dreams, used to harm enemies or to strengthen whoever the caster chooses to help.
Today the Coven meets in the shadow of an ancient oak with grey leaves, and a plaque nailed to the trunk makes this eerie outdoor spot its guildhall. Members wear corroded-looking witch-iron wristbands, the focus of their deadly touch. It is a plain place for a loose brotherhood, held together by the protection its members give each other and the craft they made.
A place in the world
Beneath the grey-leaved oak
An ancient oak rises over the Coven’s outdoor meeting place. Its grey leaves move above a single nailed plaque, and the place has a strong, unsettling magical presence. The guild teaches its foundations here.
Read about the worldTheir role in a fight
Change the terms of the fight.
You can affect an enemy in more ways than damage. Curses reduce what it can do, scourges turn your inner magic into poison and dreamcraft changes what a target experiences. Pick the effect for the problem in front of you, then add attack magic when it helps. Mostly you change the conditions everyone else is fighting in.
With a party
A curse can weaken an opponent while your companions keep hitting it. Helpful dreams can raise confidence or restore abilities, depending on the magic. Tell the group what you are casting and why.
On your own
Alone, you learn quickly what weakening, poisoning and striking each do. A curse that lets you last through a long fight can be worth more than another attack, and a direct spell such as Toxic Spike is there when you need damage now. Get a small, dependable sequence working before you explore the rest.
Trade-offs
Range takes knowledge. Hex strengthens curses, Scourge supports magical poison and Dreamcraft covers dream weaving, and learning one doesn’t teach you the others. Some attacks mix damage types or add conditions, so how useful they are depends on the foe.
Abilities
Signature abilities
Hex
Strengthen curses
The understanding behind the Coven’s curses. It helps you cast them, makes them last longer and can make them stronger; the curse itself decides what is weakened. Train it when you want your hostile magic to keep working after the cast.
Scourge
Turn inner magic into poison
Improves the flow of magic when you turn your body’s sustaining power into deadly poison. Without it, the poison is weak and short-lived. The witch-iron wristbands are the focus for the guild’s touch. Train it if poison is central to how you fight.
Dreamcraft
Dreams that harm or restore
The knowledge of weaving powerful experiences into someone’s dreams: painful visions, or confidence and restored abilities. Oneirism takes the art further. Dream magic can hurt an enemy or help someone recover.
Toxic Spike
Poison and acid attack
A spike of mostly poison damage with an acid coating, which can also inflict ordinary poison. It needs several Coven skills to work at full strength. Know your target first, because the mixed damage suits some foes better than others.
Progression
Learn what the outcasts preserved.
The Coven teaches Hex, Scourge, Oneirism, Dreamcraft and related arts alongside casting and meditation. Each new piece of knowledge adds ways to weaken, influence or harm opponents and to help companions. The wristbands give you the guild’s touch action, so learn their commands along with the spells. Decide which part of the repertoire you like most and train the skills it needs. Read the guild lessons and spell help as you go, and try new effects on purpose so you learn when a curse, a dream or a direct attack works best.
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Thought · Telekinesis · Melee
Psionicists
The Infecti turn a dangerous condition into a discipline. Probe a mind, direct invisible force or combine weapon combat with psionic power.
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Bound spirits · Planar magic
Sorcerers
An old order surviving its god’s fall. Sorcerers open pathways between planes and bind unwilling spirits into their sceptres.
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Undead servants · Earth magic
Earthpriests
Priests of Dhubr who shape the earth, raise the dead and keep an undead servant fighting beside them.
Play Icesus
Make a character
and try a guild.
Pick a race and a first profession, then meet your guild’s teachers in the game.