Mirror Witch (Witch Archetype)
Mirrors and reflective surfaces have always seemed to have a strange, mystical quality, and have long been seen in fiction and mythology as a window into the soul, or into another world.
Inspired pretty much directly by Snow White and other stories of mages using a mirror as a focus for their powers, the mirror witch uses a mirror, rather than a familiar, to communicate with an aspect of their patron. This connection has the advantage of allowing direct, reliable communication with at least a fragment of the otherworldly being.
Such witches are often masters of divination, viewing things from afar through their mirror. This makes them valuable informants or even the ringleaders of organizations and conspiracies. The example given in Villain Codex in particular is an imprisoned queen secretly manipulating her ex-husbands kingdom from within with the magic of her mirror.
As the witch grows in power, so too does their mirror, becoming supernaturally tough no matter its composition, and gaining new abilities.
Strange omens and cryptic prophecies are often uttered by the mirror, and each day, the mystic can listen. Though they may seem cryptic at the time, they usually make perfect sense at the exact moment they are needed in the near future, allowing them to react to a danger, say the right word at the right time, or get ready for battle.
By talking with the mirror at length, the mystic can ask questions of their patron, collaborating its knowledge with their own.
As they grow in power, the prophetic words of the mirror come more often and with greater detail, the witch able to ask about matters of the immediate future.
Over time and mastery, the mirror begins to express more of the patron’s knowledge, allowing them to be consulted in greater detail about certain topics.
By focusing their power, these mages can look or hear through a magical sensor, what it perceives manifesting through the mirror.
They can also use it to scry, looking upon a subject from afar with a bit of the mirrors power.
The most powerful mirror witches, however, can use sensory spells through the mirror’s scrying, and have a minimal chance of affecting the subject with other spells as well, though the nature of such transmitted spells makes it easy to become inoculated to such casting.
Interested in a divination-focused witch? This can certainly be a way to make a flavorful variant. Remember that the mirror is completely unable to move under its own power, so be sure to keep it safe. Various knowledge and secrecy-related patrons are a good choice here, adding to their options. I recommend a defensive build that uses magic to stay safe and defeat foes from afar with debuffs and damage, in addition to gathering information, using spells to give them the edge before entering a situation.
The most prominent character to inspire this archetype, the Evil Queen of the Snow White story, may have used her mirror mostly to stroke her own vanity, but that doesn’t mean your character has to. Also, consider how the nature of your patron will affect how they behave when interacted with. While a wisdom patron may be supportive and give sage advice, a patron of insanity may not even be lucid most of the time, their abilities being the interpretation of their incoherent ramblings.
They say that the magic mirror of Nedi Soulseer was buried with her, inert but still holding much magical potential. However that magical potential has leaked into the surrounding soil, creating a gravesludge from the dirt, corpses, and lingering spiritual vestiges of those buried nearby. Nedi herself might have also risen as a powerful undead.
A nation in the midst of a rebellion, Orbdai is ruled by Queen Orbd the Third, using her mastery of mirror magic to consolidate her power and watch her subjects. The leader of the rebels is none other than her own daughter, a burgeoning master of bardic magic and a friend to animals whom fights to free the nation from her mother’s tyranny.
Though homely by conventional standards, Umar spends a lot of time accentuating his features with the help of his favorite mirror. What few realize is that most of his time spent talking to his reflection is so much more, and those who insult him risk being cursed or torn apart by the sensitive ragebred skinwalker.