Atlantean Trilogy Archive
A painted witchdoctor in a feathered mask binds a green spirit into a carved fetish in a jungle clearing by drums and fire.

Witchdoctor

Profession, dual-classed

A dual-classed, always evil practitioner of Low Magic and Black Magic, pledged to demons or devils like a necromancer. Witchdoctors bind spirits into objects rather than themselves and can make the dreaded juju.

Also called Witch-man, Witch-woman

From the book

Witchdoctors combine Low Magic with Black Magic. As with necromancers, they are evil and must pledge themselves to either demons or devils to gain magic, sealing the necromancer's pacts at the same five levels; some regions call them witch-men or witch-women.

Their grasp of Low Magic is narrow: they may cast none of its restricted spells except those of Image Magic, and they can never gain a Power Animal or bind spirits into their own bodies. They can, however, bind one spirit into a lifeless object such as a spear or stone, making a magic item whose spirit serves once on command and then goes free.

The most feared use is the juju, a shrunken head holding a dead spell caster's spirit, made over two weeks with the eyes and lips sewn shut; its spirit must answer the owner truthfully, but too many questions free it to take revenge. Like shamans, witchdoctors can see into the spirit realm.

Skills by level

  1. Level 1
  2. Level 3
  3. Level 5
  4. Level 7
  5. Level 9
  6. Level 10
  7. Level 11
    • Rods, Staves and Wands
  8. Level 12
  9. Level 13

At a glance

Minimum attributes
INT 12, WILL 12, PER 12
Alignment
Any Evil Alignment
Combat training
Untrained
Hit points per level
1 H.P. per point of CON, plus 2 H.P. at first level; then +2 H.P. and any CON bonus per level gained; after 12th level, +1 H.P. per level with no CON bonus (optional rule, page 48)
Special abilities
Limited Spirit Binding: binds a spirit form into an inanimate object such as a spear, staff or stone, one spirit per object; each such object counts as a magic item. When the witchdoctor asks, the bound spirit serves one time only and is then free to leave the material plane. Roll d20 on the spirit binding table (appendix) at -1. Spirits cannot be bound into the witchdoctor's own body. Juju: a shrunken head holding the spirit of a dead spell caster, made over two weeks (the skull is removed, the head shrunk, and eyes and lips sewn shut). The spirit stays trapped forever, or until released, and must truthfully answer any question put by its owner; if asked more than three questions in one month, the fetish loses its power, and the freed spirit takes revenge on the witchdoctor who made it and on every owner it has had. See Into Spirit Realm: as a shaman, in a 20 ft. radius, sensing spirit, astral or ethereal presences at will; the witchdoctor cannot watch both the prime material plane and the spirit realm at once.
Fields of magic
Low Magic (limited), Black Magic
Restrictions
Cannot cast restricted Low Magic spells except those pertaining to Image Magic; Cannot obtain a Power Animal; Cannot bind spirit forms to their own physical selves; Must declare allegiance to demons or devils
Patron
Pledged to demons or to devils (one or the other); pacts at levels 1, 5, 7, 9 and 13 as for the Necromancer
Open to races
Humans, Nethermen

Dual-classed by two fields of magic (Low Magic and Black Magic), not two professions.