Owl’s Guide to Witches

The witch is an intelligence-based, prepared arcane caster with a familiar in place of a wizard’s spellbook. The witch’s spell list is primarily a subset of the wizard’s with a handful of cleric & druid spells mixed in.

The witch gains hexes, which are roughly spell-like abilities, in addition to their spells. These hexes are broadly the defining feature of the class.

Resources

The goal of this guide is to cover the material found online at:

https://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/base-classes/Witch

Witch Guides

These guides are quite good, even if I have a few modest disagreements with each of them. Honestly the only reason to bother with another guide is to cover more of the existing material.

Hubble, bubble, toil and trouble. Fire burn and cauldron bubble (A guide to Witches: Pathfinder Rules)

Viking Irishman’s Guide

Rolling on the Floor Cackling

RPGBOT

Spell Guides

Note that the rating for a given spell as a witch may differ from the same spell’s rating for the class(es) from which it originates.

Wizard/Sorcerer

The COMPLETE Professor Q Wizard Guide (Zenith Games Copy)

Cleric

Tark's Big Holy Book of Clerical Optimization - Spells

Druid

Druid Handbook Part 3: Druid spells examined

Summoning Guides

https://rpgbot.net/pathfinder/characters/summon_monster.html

Why work when others can do it for you - a guide to Summoning

Summoning made simpler

Polymorph Guides

The witch’s low BAB mostly limits polymorph spells to utility rather than combat. Note that hexes can be used while transformed, e.g. the wasp (vermin shape ii) that buzzes past various guards, hexing them with slumber.

https://rpgbot.net/pathfinder/characters/polymorph.html

Polymorphamory - The Love of Changing Form

Races

Elf -- Take the dreamspeaker alternate trait for a bonus to the slumber hex.

Half Elf -- With a high int and no desire to multi-class you’ll want fey thoughts. Significantly, only half elves can learn the 3rd level spell paragon surge, giving you access to all of the situational hexes below.

Half Orc -- Strongly consider the scarred witch doctor archetype. For your favored class bonus pick a skill your familiar has but which you do not, e.g. stealth, since your familiar gets your skill ranks.

Halfling -- A halfling with the alternate trait halfling jinx, the evil eye hex, and then the feat malicious eye gains a -1 effect on their evil eye. Most witches are better off with the feat extra hex than malicious eye though. Alternately, the creepy doll trait, backed by the feat bruising intellect gives you a backup plan to leave your opponents shaken. While this stacks with evil eye it’s often just too slow, and you’d be better off escalating to misfortune.

Human -- You get a bonus feat, and it’ll probably be extra hex.

Changeling -- You’ll need the witchborn trait. You gain access to the dreamweaver archetype, which could be quite nice in an intrigue-style campaign.

Goblin -- You get the 1st level spell mudball, but that’s probably not enough.

Ratfolk -- Good stat bonuses, the small size is an overall win, and the favored-class bonus incrementally extends your hex range and gives you more breathing room.

Samsaran -- You’ll want the mystic past life trait to gain access to marquee wizard spells. Your DM should probably tell you to choose another race if you try this. Unless your choices are thoughtful & interesting, as opposed to just adding raw power (e.g. haste, wall of stone, greater invisibility, etc).

Sylph -- Take the alternate trait breeze-kissed. Consider the cloud-gazer feat.

Feats

Accursed Hex -- Reusing a hex that an opponent successfully saved against can turn the tide of an encounter.

Evolved Familiar (skilled: UMD +8) -- If you’ve taken an improved familiar that can use wands then this is worth considering.

Extra Hex -- At lower levels this is amazing, getting you key hexes earlier than you’d otherwise have access to them.

Improved Familiar -- This adds more utility than power. I recommend a few choices, below.

Improved Initiative -- A +4 bonus to initiative increases the odds that you’ll get off evil eye or misfortune before your party members take their turn.

Spell Hex -- (10th level) You can cast a 1st level spell 3/day with your hex DC. You’ll likely want to use this with charm person, or maybe touch of blindness. The latter is particularly valuable if you’re stuck within melee range since hexes do not provoke an attack of opportunity.

Spell Focus & Greater Spell Focus -- A bonus to your most used school’s DC is nice, if unspectacular.

Spell Penetration & Greater Spell Penetration -- at mid to higher levels you’ll encounter enough spell resistance that this becomes increasingly valuable/essential.

Split Hex (10th level) -- You literally double the value of each offensive hex.

Split Major Hex (18th level) -- If your major hex is: agony, ice tomb or retribution then this is a terrific choice.

Crafting Feats

Witches are usually somewhat starved for feats, so finding room for a crafting feat is challenging. That said, taking a single crafting feat can fill in nicely for important items you’re just not finding nor able to afford otherwise.

Craft Magic Arms & Armor (5th level): Only consider this if you have at least one party member who uses a fairly uncommon weapon, or if specific weapon/armor abilities are important to your party.

Craft Rod (9th level): Lesser rods are quite cheap to craft, and even standard rods become somewhat affordable.

Craft Staff (11th level): You’re effectively buying spell slots and putting them in a walking stick. The main argument against this feat is that you’ll likely only ever craft a very few of them.

Craft Wand (5th level): If your familiar uses wands regularly this becomes a reasonable choice for a feat.

Craft Wondrous Item (3rd level): This is easily the best choice to take of the crafting feats, purely because you & your party will perpetually wish they had additional items of one sort or another.

Forge Ring (7th level): Rings seem to me a bit less essential than some other items.

Scribe Scroll -- Ensure that you have remove blindness or neutralize poison available when you need it. Round out your utility by incrementally adding scrolls for spells that you otherwise wouldn’t have prepared in advance.

Metamagic Feats

The goal here is to construct improved versions of your spells that are: 1. worth the higher spell slot they require, and 2. worth investing a feat. I’ll generally try to use examples to indicate why I think these feats are or perhaps are not worth considering.

From there we need to determine whether a metamagic rod is a better choice. A lesser rod for a +1 level metamagic is only 3,000 gp, so at mid-levels this is often the way to go.

Bouncing (+1 level): Bouncing blindness or hold person are very worthwhile 3rd level spells, particularly as you encounter spell resistance around 8-10th level and above.

Dazing (+3 levels): If you’ve taken the elements patron then this is worth considering for a 6th level dazing fireball. Note that a lesser dazing rod is 14,000 gp and leaves that fireball in a 3rd level spell slot.

Ectoplasmic (+1 level): This is too situational to justify a feat, but could well be worth the price of a lesser rod.

Extend (+1 level): Spells with a saving throw each round (hold person/monster, charm person/monster) don’t benefit much from this. A longer-term buff such as mage armor does. An extended suffocation is almost certain death if the initial saving throw is missed.

Heighten (+N levels): Simply increasing the spell level to increase its saving throw DC is a great strategy at higher levels to broaden your effective spell choices. At mid-to-lower levels you’re likely better off with the power of your higher level spells.

Intensify (+1 level): At mid-levels a 10d6 snowball is a nice 2nd level spell. Given the limited number of direct damage spells on the witch’s list you’re probably fine with a lesser rod.

Persistent (+2 levels): Persistent blindness is a 4th level spell that now requires 2 successful saves against its base 2nd level. Persistent hold person, also 4th level, requires 2 saves each round. Unlike bouncing this does not apply to spell resistance.

Quicken (+4 levels): Quickened ill omen can take out a key opponent in 1 round, definitely worth a 5th level spell slot at higher levels. Consister the trait magical lineage to reduce this to +3 levels.

Reach (+1 level/range increase): Your main use here is to increase touch-range spells to close range, a +1 level usage. The key touch spells for a witch are: touch of blindness, touch of idiocy & bestow curse, so a lesser rod is a great choice. (Note that a lesser rod leaves touch of blindness in its 1st level slot, while the reach feat itself would put it in a 2nd level slot where you’d of course prefer the 2nd level spell blindness/deafness.)

Rime (+1 level): Give this serious consideration as a winter witch, but otherwise you’re likely fine with a lesser rod for snowball, frost fall & ice spears.

Silent (+1 level): This works well with invisibility, another reason to consider the deception patron. But it’s still a tradeoff to determine whether you’d prefer to cast summon monster iv silently or summon monster v.

Still (+1 level): It’s hard to justify this as a feat, given that 1. you’ll also require silent for spells with verbal components, and 2. casting spells in secret doesn’t come up with great regularity.

Widen (+3 levels): There are scenarios where an enormous sleet storm or black tentacles is worth a 6th or 7th level spell slot (resp.). But it’s usually not.

Familiars

The best familiars fly and/or add a bonus to initiative or perception. Saving throw bonuses to reflex or fort saves are worth considering too.

Improved Familiars

These are available via feat improved familiar. Familiars with hands and spoken language can use (rather than just wear) magic devices, including wands.

Hexes

Hexes have three key benefits over spells:

Many witches will want to start with largely the same hexes: slumber, misfortune, cackle, evil eye and flight. But starting each encounter with: evil eye, misfortune, slumber gets old, regardless of how effective it is. Fortune or protective luck give your front-line characters a nice buff, and soothsayer increases their power significantly. For the creative player, charm and discord are nice effects once you reach 8th level. Prehensile hair opens up safer touch spells as well as the utility of high strength.

Common Hexes

Ameliorating -- Each party member can benefit from this hex daily. It could be very useful if you are headed toward an encounter where you can expect the party to face, e.g. sicken. But in most cases it’s just too situational.

Aura of Purity -- At minutes/day, with a 10’ radius this hex is reasonably effective, but pretty situational.

Beast of Ill-Omen -- Bane is too minor/weak an effect to justify a hex.

Blight -- This hex has great flavor, but is far too situational.

Cackle -- This is a key hex, extending several others (primarily Evil Eye and Misfortune) for rounds as a move action.

Cauldron -- At lower levels preparing potions in advance allows for more spells per day and can broaden the spells you have available. But the cost in gold ultimately limits potions’ overall benefit.

Charm -- Only consider this after 8th level when you get a 2 step improvement in attitude, and you’ve taken enough of the preferable hexes that it looks better.

Child Scent -- Interesting in terms of flavor, but still terrible.

City Sight -- Too situational.

Combat Hypnosis -- The 2d4 HD limit on your target will quickly make this hex obsolete. Slumber is almost completely superior.

Congeal -- Too situational.

Coven -- In combat you’ll probably have something better to do than boost another witch’s DC by +1, but out of combat this is useful. If your party has multiple witches and you each take this hex then it’s … okay.

Cursed Wound -- Only for NPCs.

Dark Apothecary -- Only if you’re a Veneficus Witch.

Discord -- The opposite of Charm, you lower the attitude of a target. Only consider this after 8th level when you get a 2 step decrease in attitude. Nice flavor for a witch.

Disguise -- The utility here is largely dependent on the campaign and the player’s interest in using disguises in the first place.

Disrupt Connection -- Confusion for a single, summoned target, with a chance at controlling the creature. Only consider this after 8th level.

Distraction -- You’ll usually want slumber instead. The only advantage of distraction is that the target can’t be awakened by an ally.

Enemy Ground -- Too situational, even after 8th level.

Evil Eye -- You’ll usually want to apply this to saving throws and sustain it with cackle.

Feral Speech -- Pretty situational, but interesting flavor.

Flight -- Good at 3rd level, amazing at 5th.

Floating Lotus -- Flight is better in most situations.

Fortune -- In general it’s a fine buff where a 50% chance to hit becomes 75% (since the chance of missing twice is 50% x 50% = 25%), and can be extended with cackle. It can be overpowered when applied to a player whose weapon has a high crit range as well as keen or the feat improved critical. In that case, talk to your GM before you take it. (Some math -- a weapon with an 18-20 crit range and improved critical has a 15-20 crit range. The odds of not getting a crit is then 70% x 70% = 49%, i.e. just over half your attacks are a critical hit.)

Gift of Consumption -- Every fort save you have to make becomes a free attack, provided there is a new target within a 30’ range.

Gift of Consumption, Greater -- Now you’re drinking poison just to watch it affect opponents. Until you run out of targets (once each/day) you are effectively immune to fortitude save failures.

Healing -- This is terrific at low to mid levels. You can apply it to each party member 1/day, which is consistently useful. Once the party can reliably afford a wand of cure light wounds (50 charges for 750 gp) you’ll want to re-train it if your GM permits.

Heralding Bloom -- Too situational.

Iceplant -- Nice, but an amulet of natural armor +2 replaces it for the player if not the familiar.

Leshy Summoning -- The leshy lotus is an interesting target for summon monster iv.

Minor Prophesy -- An additional 2nd level spell (augury) 1/day is nice at earlier levels. Talk to your GM to make sure this is compatible with their campaign.

Misfortune -- This significantly disables an opponent when they fail their save, and all but ensures they will fail successive saves. Extend it with cackle.

Mother’s Eye -- Unless your campaign takes place in an overgrown forest this is too situational.

Mud Witch -- You’re probably not playing a goblin.

Murksight -- An interesting hex once you’ve taken enough of the preferable ones, maybe 10th level or later. Alternatively, consider playing a sylph and taking the feat cloud gazer.

Nails -- You never want to be in melee range, and if you are this is still a modest attack.

No Place Like Home -- Too situational.

Peacebond -- Slowing down the start of hostilities can buy your party time.

Poison Steep -- If you’re a veneficus witch and you took the cauldron hex then this is kind of fun.

Poison Touch -- You get str poison with a good DC, but you still don’t want to be within melee range.

Pollute Water -- Too situational.

Polluting Glance -- Better than polluting water, but not worth the 2 hexes to get here.

Prehensile Hair -- The 10’ reach is nice for touch spells and attacks of opportunity. The intelligence-based strength on top of the reach adds lots of utility. And if you don’t have any other attacks (put away that dagger), you have a primary natural attack, which means full BAB instead of a witch’s typical half BAB.

Protective Luck -- A solid buff for a front-line melee character.

Scar -- Extend your buff hexes beyond 30’ by scarring your allies. And scarring an enemy is fun.

Seduction -- I’m not that interested in the sexy witch trope, and slumber is preferable in most situations.

Sink -- Too situational outside of a nautical campaign.

Slumber -- Unless your opponent has someone to awaken them, if they fail their will save this ends the encounter. It can be overpowered, even boring, if used too often.

Soothsayer -- Buffing every party member with the fortune or protective luck hex before an encounter and sustaining it with cackle during the encounter can have a huge effect (though once per day). The same for applying evil eye & misfortune to an opponent before hostilities commence -- at least when the opportunity presents itself.

Summer’s Heat -- Modest damage and a modest debuff with a fort save.

Swamp Hag -- Too situational.

Swamp’s Grasp -- Decent battlefield control. It’s not as good as the “wall” spells, but it’s at will with the area increasing with your level. And most of the wall spells aren’t on the witch’s spell list anyway.

Swine -- At 8th level melee characters can’t hold a weapon and casters probably can’t perform somatic gestures. It is bad before 8th level though.

Tongues -- Nice, if unremarkable, utility throughout the campaign.

Unnerve Beasts -- Too situational, unless your campaign features lots of mounted encounters or perhaps guard dogs.

Verdant Familiar -- Only for flavor.

Ward -- A nice buff that you can always have on a single party member before an encounter starts. At higher levels your party members may have items that duplicate its effect.

Water Lung -- Situational, and must be cast once per minute per target.

Witch’s Bottle -- Soothsayer is almost always superior.

Major Hexes

Since you only get 2, and the 2nd is at 18th level, you’ll want to be pretty particular in your choice.

Agony -- The target can only act on rounds on which it makes a fort save, as long as you extend it with cackle. Without cackle it is a poor choice.

Animal Skin -- Nice utility (fly, swim, climb, darkvision), but that’s it with a witch’s ½ BAB.

Beast Eye -- Nice scouting utility in many scenarios, but hag’s eye is usually preferable.

Beast’s Gift -- Modest natural attacks are not worth a major hex.

Cook People -- Nice buffs if you’re evil and have a steady supply of cadavers.

Delicious Fright -- A decent debuff, a modest buff for you, but not extended by cackle.

Drugged -- Increases poison flexibility, but poison builds aren’t the best.

False Hospitality -- A +20 bluff boost 1/day. Could be good in the right campaign.

Hag’s Eye -- The ability to split this up into 1 minute increments greatly enhances it’s utility compared with arcane eye..

Harrowing Curse -- Cast bestow curse or touch of blindness all day, 1/target if you’re a cartomancer. Bad otherwise.

Hidden Home -- Better if your party has a consistent base that you regularly go back to.

Hoarfrost -- Slow and easily removed or saved against.

Ice Tomb -- Shut down one opponent. Complements slumber because it has a fort save.

Infected Wounds -- Slower than hoarfrost.

Major Ameliorating -- Can be very effective when you know in advance the threats the party will face.

Major Healing -- At this level you’re better off buying wands of cure light wounds.

Nightmare -- Nice flavor, but too slow and in most cases too low an impact.

Pariah -- Preventing opponents from aiding one another is just too weak an effect.

Prophecy -- Divination is already on the witch spell list.

Regenerative Sinew -- Flexible healing, restoration, or at 15th level regeneration.

Restless Slumber -- Add 1d10/level to the slumber hex and leave them confused after they do awaken.. This would be blue if slumber didn’t already put the opponent out of commission.

Retribution -- A lot of damage to a melee threat, particularly since it bypasses DR.

Speak in Dreams -- Unlimited, long range communication but only with sleeping recipients.

Steal Voice -- Tiefling only. Fun, but usually not a big enough effect for a major hex.

Vision -- Cannot be rated, effect is completely dependent on individual GMs.

Waxen Image -- Great flavor and utility, but the target has to fail two will saves.

Weather Control -- Situational, but potentially significant -- a 7th level spell, available at 10th.

Witch’s Bounty -- Reliable food and modest healing.

Witch’s Brew -- Potions are less important to the party by now, and they’re overpriced.

Witch’s Charge -- This would be better if witches had better buff/healing spells.

Withering -- Fun, but not really a big enough effect.

Grand Hexes

Abominate -- By 18th level you probably want something more impressive than monstrous physique iv.

Animal Servant -- A combination of baleful polymorph and dominate monster

Curse of Nonviolence -- Eliminate a powerful threat

Death Curse -- Too bad they get multiple saves.

Dire Prophecy -- Every effect from evil eye combined.

Eternal Slumber -- Too bad it’s at touch range, or delivered via food/drink.

Forced Reincarnation -- The target loses 2 levels, half of their spells, and it’s fun.
Lay to Rest -- Too situational for most campaigns.

Life Giver -- Depends on how often party members are at significant risk of death.

Natural Disaster -- Tons of power, but hard to aim/control.

Summon Spirit -- Call up an 18th level cleric, wizard, druid, whatever you need, at the temporary cost of 1 level. But subject to bargaining over payment with them (i.e. your GM).

Witch’s Hut -- A travelling, self defending and hiding hut is a fun effect with reasonable utility.

Patrons

You’re looking to expand the witch’s spell list. Any spell that is already on the witch’s list is at best saving you a bit of money to learn it. The spells are ranked based on how valuable they are to a witch. E.g. summon nature’s ally is a good spell, but witches already have summon monster, making this redundant.

The level of your campaign can shift the rating quite a bit, e.g. fate offers nothing of note below 8th level, but is very solid after that.

Agility

Ancestors

Animals

Aurora

Autumn

Boundaries

Conspiracies

Death

Decadence

Deception

Devotion

Dimensions

Elements

The witch broadly lacks direct-damage spells, so this expands her options.

Enchantment

Endurance

Entropy

Ethereal

Fate

Healing

Insanity

Jynx

Light

Mercy

Mind

Moon

Mountain

Nightmares

Occult

Peace

Plague

A fine choice for the gravewalker archetype.

Plant

Portents

Protection

Recovery

Revenge

Rot

Shadow

Space

Spirits

Spring

Stars

Storm

Strength

For most witches this is a poor choice, but for a white-haired witch or an arcane trickster it could pan out. Your familiar can also benefit from spells with a target of “personal”.

Summer

Thorns

Time

Transformation

Hexes can be used while transformed. This witch will need strength, dexterity & constitution, but will still have a bad BAB. You’re often better off transforming your familiar, however, 1. they likely have a bad BAB too, and 2. many transformations make your familiar into a target.

Trickery

Vengeance

Water

Winter

Wisdom

Woodlands

Special Patrons

With each of these: you get a specific hex for free(!), a penalty or restriction, a limited choice from among four specified patrons, and some patron spell changes. I list out each spell, because inferior ones may weaken a spell list. Any spell that is already on the witch’s list will be in red and italicized.

Note that this additional 1st level hex means that archetypes that otherwise trade away their 1st level hex still have this one, and hence qualify for the feat extra hex.

Celestial Agenda

A nice hex, a modest restriction, and spells that mostly improve the given patrons.

The Condition of All

A good hex for free, a modest restriction, and one good choice of patron spells.

Empath

A useful hex, an occasionally worrisome penalty, and one patron spell list that is improved via these spells.

Fey Gifts

Gaining charm is nice, but the cost of re-rolling once per day could be steep. Two of the best patron spell lists are improved.

Green Whispers

There’s no real benefit for you here, given how inconsistently feral speech is going to be of use.

Hag’s Calling

The restriction makes the hex … pointless.

Infernal Contract

This will kill any 1st level witch with 6 hp or  fewer within a week. If you can get past that, then a wand of cure light wounds will fix you up for 15 or 30 gp per day (per 5 levels).

Touched by the Outer Gods

There’s just no reason to take this.

Shadowbound

In most campaigns light-blindness will be an ongoing hassle, one that disguise hex is probably not worth. You’re likely better off taking the shadow patron by itself and skipping shadowbound.

Spells

Spells will be ranked a bit differently for a witch than for another class with the spell. E.g. lightning bolt isn’t a great spell overall, but if a witch needs to do damage to an enemy it’s one of their better choices.

This is not a replacement for reading the witch’s spell list a time or three as you gain each level. There are likely spells that are relevant to your specific campaign or your specific witch that aren’t broadly useful enough to list here.

When you learn new spells, you’ll almost always want to choose from the blue, or occasionally green ones. As you look for scrolls to buy you’ll also want to prioritize these spells, but some orange ones may be worth including -- depending on your character, interests and campaign. The breadth & variety of these spells highlights the utility of the scribe scrolls feat.

Cantrips

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

5th

6th

7th

8th

9th

Notable Spells by Saving Throw

1st level

2nd level

3rd level

4th level

Touch Spells

What can you cast with prehensile hair or spectral hand that’s worth casting?

1st -- Frostbite, Touch of blindness

2nd -- Touch of idiocy

3rd -- Bestow curse, Excruciating deformity, Trial of fire & acid, Vampiric touch

4th -- Fleshworm infestation(evil)

Non-wizard/sorcerer Spells

The witch’s best spells are predominately drawn from the wizard/sorcerer list. Below are the exceptions, including spells you get earlier than they do.

1st -- Cure light wounds

2nd -- Cure moderate wounds, Vomit swarm

3rd -- Bestow curse, Mind maze, Qlippoth appearance, Remove blindness, Remove curse, Remove disease, Speak with dead, Thorny entanglement

4th -- Neutralize poison, Vermin shape II

Archetypes

The defining characteristic of a witch is the hex. Archetypes will commonly offer features in lieu of one or more hexes, so the simple calculus is: would I prefer the hex(es)?

For any archetype that trades out one or more hexes, look at how early they are. The first 3-5 hexes you get are far more important than successive ones. If your hex progression will be stunted more than you’re comfortable with, consider a human character. This gives you an additional starting feat, i.e. extra hex, to offset the loss.

Conversely, archetypes that trade out or modify your familiar aren’t typically as painful.

Alley Witch

The skills gained are inferior to the ones lost, the patron spells are subpar, and hex trader isn’t worth losing a hex. But Speak to the City could be good for a campaign set in a single city.

Ashiftah

You lose your familiar and 2 hexes (2nd, 6th). The abilities you gain in trade are worth breaking out individually, simply because you’re gaining more than the typical “one useful feature.”

Beast Bonded

Twin Soul is pretty nice, but it doesn’t come online until 10th level and I’m not convinced it’s worth 2 hexes and a major hex.

Bonded Witch

Half elves only. An extra spell/day is a reasonable trade for the utility of a familiar. The ring, wand, and perhaps staff are your best choices.

Bouda

An evil archetype. Using a fetish to cast touch of blindness or bestow curse at range is very nice. Bouda’s eye is superior to evil eye. And hours/level as a dire hyena with natural spell is a reasonable trade for a major hex.

Cartomancer

A harrow deck doesn’t have the utility of a familiar, but it can’t be killed in a fireball. The ability to deliver touch spells (touch of blindness, bestow curse) as ranged touch spells is worth a hex.

Coral Witch

Your familiar has no utility, but can still be killed. You gain access to a few interesting (shaman, waves) hexes and lose your 8th level hex for an odd skill.

Dark Sister

While Hag crony is a very nice feature, you don’t get it until 12th level and lose 3 hexes in total.

Demon Sworn

The patron spells are a net loss unless you’re evil, the damage from cruel hex is a modest bonus, and while the quasit familiar comes a level early it’s not a top tier choice. The overall utility is a mix, but for role play this could be pretty enjoyable.

Dimensional Occultist

For the vast majority of campaigns the planar travel features of this archetype are not worth the loss of 3 hexes. And planar binding without a magic circle (none of which are on the witch’s spell list) is dangerous/foolhardy. Only consider this if your DM will add these spells to the witch’s list as a house rule.

Dreamweaver

Changling only. The Dreamweaver gains interesting, and by 10th level quite powerful, abilities vs victims of its slumber hex. This is in trade for 3 hexes, and is the rare case where you come out reasonably well. Consider your campaign though. The benefits of a Dreamweaver only apply if you’re not more interested in simply killing off any victims of your slumber hex. Look through the changeling alternate racial traits. You’ll want witchborn, and should consider hag magic, mist child & object of desire.

Flood Walker

Evil. If you’re playing an evil, nautical campaign then this is mediocre. Otherwise it’s bad.

Gingerbread Witch

A colorful, but 100% NPC archetype.

Gravewalker

Create undead, control undead, and take direct control of one of your undead.

Hagbound

Give up nearly all of your hexes for claws and strength. And a bestow curse hex at 10th.

Havocker

Give up all your hexes for a moderate blast.

Hedge Witch

You get spontaneous healing in trade for 2 hexes. This can give some parties just what they need without a cleric.

Herb Witch

Trade 1 hex for cures to poison, disease, blindness, nausea, etc, and must take cauldron at 2nd level. That pushes your first hex choice out to 4th level.

Hex Channeler

You give up your 2nd level hex for 1d6 of cleric-style energy channeling, and can give up additional hexes for additional +1d6 as desired. In general hexes are better than 1d6 of channeling. Because a witch’s channeling isn’t tied to a deity you don’t have access to variant channeling.

Invoker

You trade four hexes for a variety of bonuses, notably to spell/hex DC and to overcome SR. You’ll likely want extra hex to offset the loss. Consider the shadow patron, since higher DCs are particularly useful with shadow spells.

Jinx Witch

Buff your wisdom and constitution, consider iron willl. At 10th level this is a formidable anti-caster, though subpar below 10th. Compare with the hexes gift of consumption and greater gift of consumption.

Ley Line Guardian 

If you really want to be a spontaneous caster, this is the route. You do not get the bonuses of a sorcerer’s bloodline and you lose your familiar (though this means your familiar can’t be killed either). You gain a questionable ability, conduit surge, in trade for 2 hexes.

Medium

In a campaign featuring a good number of incorporeal opponents this could be worthwhile. Compare with buying a rod of ectoplasmic spell.

Mirror Witch

You lose the utility of a traditional familiar, but gain a +2 saving throw bonus per day each odd level. Add in bonuses to knowledge checks, clairvoyance & scrying and it’s a net positive. The scar hex complements scrying.

Mountain Witch

At the cost of one hex you get access to the shaman’s stone spirit hexes, a couple of which are pretty good. Note that the mountain patron gives you comparable spells without costing a hex.

Pact Witch

You get an improved familiar in trade for your 6th level hex, and a decent patron spell list. Unfortunately the familiar retains its int/wis/cha stats. You’re likely better off with the feat improved familiar.

Putrefactor

Trade six hexes for a variety of swarm abilities.

Rhetoricians

Trade away a hex for an odd anti-diplomacy skill, with subpar patron spells.

Scarred Witch Doctor

Orc or half-orc only. The int bonus and natural armor are worth the cost of 1 hex. The craft wondrous item ability for your mask partially offsets the loss of your familiar.

Sea Witch

Trade away one hex for know direction near the sea and a nautical wild empathy. The patron spells aren’t great either.

Season Witch

You do not get a patron spell list. Instead, each season narrows your choice of first hex to one of two selections and gives you a DC bonus with a specified energy. Witches mostly aren’t blasters, but a nearly free +1 is solid.

Seducer

You’re a charisma rather than intelligence based caster, i.e. more diplomacy, bluff & intimidation, but fewer skills. The charm hex isn’t very good until 8th level, and seducer’s kiss is generally inferior to the slumber hex. I also think the sexy witch trope is just too liable to take over this character to the detriment of overall role play.

Spellspy

A fairly interesting idea, but in most campaigns anti-divination just isn’t going to be worth the loss of a hex.

Synergist

With a pseudodragon familiar you get flight and blindsense, at 11th level the flight is unlimited. This costs 3 hexes. Compare with just taking the flight hex.

Tatterdemalion

Until 16th level when you get unravel you’re probably better off just taking prehensile hair. Even then it’s not clear this is worth 4 hexes, even with web & lipstitch as hexes.

Vellemancer

If you’re focusing on buffing your party (fortune, protective luck & ward, e.g.) then this is worth a look, but that’s not really the witch’s strength. You’ll likely want soothsayer as well.

Veneficus Witch

Lowering saving throws and poisoning opponents has a nice synergy, but for most encounters it’s just too slow. Consider learning the spell vermin shape II to create your own poison with your 4th level spell DC, if you’re intent on going this route.

Venom Siphoner

At 6th level you can add dex poison with a good DC to your single-target spells with a fort save (ear-piercing scream, blindness, lipstitch). This costs you 3 of your first 4 hexes. It’s a nice bonus on top of some good 1st/2nd level spells, but 1d2 dex/round isn’t usually going to be an effect that swings the encounter one way or another.

White-Haired Witch

I really want this to be good, but the witch’s low BAB just cripples the archetype. You have to treat this as a full caster with a fallback plan of grappling. You get no hexes.

Winter Witch

Taken by itself (i.e. without the prestige class of the same name) this is a decent choice. You give up 1 hex, and gain +1 DC on cold spells and scaling endure elements/cold resistance. The loss of fire spells isn’t significant for a witch. The familiar & patron lists are subsets of the witch’s, but include good choices.

Witch Watcher

At the cost of 1 spell slot at each spell level you can give a single target/day a number of defensive buffs.

Wyrmwitch

You choose from among some new patron spell lists, but none are top tier. Instead of a familiar, you carry around a hoard (likely some gems/jewelry) that also allows you to cast any 1 spell known 1/day like a wizard’s bonded object. A bonded witch is almost certainly better.

Prestige Classes

To get the most out of a witch you really need to retain progression in spellcasting and hexes. Most prestige classes do not include hexes, so failing that they have to add something at least roughly comparable. That limits our list to:

Arcane Trickster

Compared with a wizard, you gain a familiar and 2 hexes, but your spell list just doesn’t support arcane trickster as well as the wizard’s, i.e. generally you’d rather have invisibility and scorching ray than cure light wounds and bestow curse. However, the ashiftah witch at 2nd level vanishes and takes a 5’ step after using a hex, and this sets up a sneak attack. The choice of hex here will likely be evil eye because it can be used up to 5 times per target. At 10th level you can add spell hex with touch of blindness for more hex/vanish combinations.

Lastly you open up nice stealth opportunities such as, targeting a guard with evil eye vs skill checks so that you both vanish and lower their perception.

Evangelist

I think this looks good, but I’m not familiar enough with all of the features to give this a clear-eyed rating. The increase to 6+int skills/level, ¾ HD, and ¾ BAB is clearly a win. Losing 1 level of progression in witch is of course the cost. From there I’ll just link to a couple of guides for your further research.

Walter’s Guide to Deific Obediences

On Bended Knee: A Guide to Pathfinder's Obedience Feats

Stargazer

You gain hexes more slowly, and notably no major nor grand hexes, however your hexes do scale up with stargazer levels. The mystery magic and sidereal arcana you gain instead offer utility if generally not power.

Winter Witch

You must have the winter witch archetype. You lose one level of spell casting, which you can offset with the feat prestigious spellcaster. In all you get higher DC, caster level, and bonuses vs SR for cold spells, as well as some cold/ice utility, at the cost of this one feat. You cannot learn fire spells, and have a limited list of major hexes. Take the feat elemental focus for another +1 cold DC.

Sample Builds

This is just a quick sketch of some key choices for witch builds.

Sample witch builds