Hi everyone,
I’ve a doubt with the hex “Watching”.
Hex casting says:
“To cast them, either expend a sympathetic token during a secret ritual, or meet the target’s gaze and chant at them in tongues.”
Watching says:
“You enter a deep sleep, and begin to see the world through the eyes of the hexed. You can feel their reactions to and impressions of what they are seeing.”
How do you use this with the meet of gazes? You hex someone then enter in a sleep in a future scene?
It’s pretty stupid to meet someone gaze and enter in the deep sleep in front of him, and see the world through his eyes…. ^_^
Thanks
If you choose to meet the person’s gaze while using Watching, you enter a deep sleep as soon as you cast the hex. That means you’ll probably see yourself asleep through the other person’s eyes. If you’d prefer not to fall asleep, then steal something from the target to use as a sympathetic token instead.
I would disagree with the above. I think if you choose to meet the gaze, you cast the hex and then at a future point of your choosing (but only ONCE), you may enter the sleep and view through their eyes. Otherwise it’s a virtually useless application.
Unless the person in question is a co-conspirator.
Frankly I think allowing the character to cast the hex now but enter a deep sleep at a future time of their choosing is cheap. The whole point of the game is to cause drama.
If you do allow the Witch to cast the hex now but go to sleep later, I would say the spell starts when they go to sleep. So unless they know exactly where their target is, they probably won’t see what they want to see.
Causing drama, yes, but the drama can come from a lot of places… what the witch sees, what the victim realizes later, etc.
My problem with the immediate is that it’s too overt to be useful. If you drop to the ground in a coma after casting it, you’re not going to see much except the victim leaning over your body going “what the hell? Call 911!” If the witch gets taken to a hospital every time he casts that hex, he’s not going to ever cast it. Much of the witch’s play comes from trading in secrets and subterfuge.
I’d be fine with your suggestion of making it happen when the witch goes to sleep, so they have less control. Still makes it a subtle use, but makes it less advantageous.
Is there a reason people are unwilling to use a sympathetic token to cast the hex instead?
Well, for one, a character who isn’t a Witch may have taken Hexes, but not Sympathetic Tokens. In that case, using a sympathetic token just wouldn’t be an option.
Fair point Sarah B.. Though I have to say I feel as if people are intentionally looking for ways to say “Watcher is a useless hex” instead of trying to find creative ways around the perceived problem.
I don’t think it’s a useless hex. I think it’s a great hex for revealing wonderful drama. I just think it’s useless if the only path to doing it is either a token or a blatantly overt action. If the Witch’s actions draw immediate attention to themselves, they will not want to use them, anymore than the Werewolf would want to change in front of the whole school. If a character is built around secrecy and lies and deception, as the witch is, an overt display requirement for a basic ability is a prohibitive cost. The point is to use the hex, and if you make the hex too difficult to use, then there’s no drama revealed by it.
“Next time you go to sleep” sounds like a good enough solution to me if there’s a time limit on it (or maybe even a locational limit) to offset the benefit of being able to choose when to activate it.
Fictionally, it could be explained as the connection established by locking eyes and chanting at the target waning when the target wanders too far away (say, to the other side of town) or after a certain amount of time. Whereas if you have that sympathetic token, it helps you maintain the connection indefinitely.
I personally don’t like the whole ‘can cast hexes on someone when meeting their gaze’. I prefer it to be used if and only if the Witch is in Darkest Self. In the Playing the Witch section it says: “Manipulative, secretive, judgemental,
brooding. The witch is all about casting silent judgement, and powerful hexes, from the safety of her own bedroom.” none of which is in-line with the prospect of locking eyes with someone and chanting at them in tongues.
For me, reading the rules as written, the Witch casts the Hex, they fall asleep right then and there. That’s how I would interpret it in a game I was running. As has been mentioned above, if a PC didn’t want to do it that way then I would encourage them to get their hands on a sympathetic token. As the Witch is presented in the rulebook, they should be doing most of their Hexes through tokens rather than locking gazes.
I see what you’re saying, Richard Williams , but I see it differently. (Apparently, than a lot of people here.) If A) The Witch is supposed to be secretive, and B) The gaze & chant method is presented as a basic method, then C = the gaze & chant method is meant to be secretive.
The way I’ve played it in games (having played a Witch, run a game with a Witch and played with another person playing a Witch), the gaze & chant is forgotten by the person being hexed at the moment. Other people of course can see and remember clearly, so it’s important that the Witch pick a moment alone with the victim. On a miss, it’s clear to the victim what the Witch just tried to do.
That’s just my interpretation of the spirit of the game, because not everyone wants to play a witch who can only perform hexes in a ritual after picking pockets or thieving from lockers. I don’t think my interpretation or the others here are “wrong” or “right,” just a difference in play styles. As long as everyone at the table is having fun, I say do it how you like it.
How folk choose to play is down to them. For me, while I’ve not had many Witches go power-mad, I see it as a skin that is able to be particularly disruptive to other PCs. If a Witch framed a scene where they were talking to me alone, then hit me with a Wither Hex and then the MC told me that I didn’t remember they’d did it to me I would get very frustrated. I would pretty much refuse to be in a scene with that PC ever again.
I disagree that the gaze and chant is presented as the basic method for casting hexes. I would say that’s the sympathetic token route. Which, as has been pointed out, is hard to get if you’re playing as another Skin. But if you want to cast hexes as well as the Witch, maybe you should be the Witch and not something else.
Having characters forget that the Witch locked eyes and chanted at them in tongues seems even cheaper to me than allowing the Witch to go to sleep at a later time.
Not the basic method, but a basic method.
To each their own, I guess.