Ive never played a witch and Im thinking of giving it a go. How do you incorporate them into your gameplay and which type is more fun.

I can't say much about incorporating witches to gameplay - I've always played more or less fantasy game, but when I want witch in a modern house, I build a magic-dedicated backyard shed for her/him. As for witch types, you'll have to find for yourself. I usually play with good witches, because they have spells that they and other sims can benefit from, evil witches are better at bullying others. Neutral witches also have some good spells - I use this mod so my good witches can use neutral spells without loosing any of their "goodness". Have fun!

I started out by having one of my (knowledge-)sims get to know one of the witches that occasionally show up at comm lots. Once your sim knows the NPC witch reasonably well (they must, I think, at least be friends), your sim can ask them to be transformed into a witch as well. If the NPC witch is a good witch, then your sim will be a nice (low-good alignment) witch. And otherwise, your sim will start out as a nasty (low-evil alignment) witch. And if the relationship is very high, there *is* a way to get them to transform your sim in an infallably good witch or an atrociously evil witch. But you will still have to learn all the spells.

Whatever witch your sim becomes, as you open their inventory, you will find that they have also magickally recieved a cauldron and a bookstand with the magickal tome. Both are bound to your sim. As your sim's alignment (good, nice, neutral, nasty, evil) changes, the cauldron and tome will change with him/her. Be careful, and don't destroy/sell them, unless you have a way to create new ones.

Whatever is the most fun, I cannot say. I like playing both good and evil witches. I've had several couples where a good witch/warlock was married to an evil witch/warlock. I even had a couple where one was Captain Hero/Good Witch, while the other was Criminal Mastermind/Evil Witch. Really, lots of fun.
I have not had any witches in a long time, though, because I was enamored by Plantsims. I don't want to have Plantsims become witches... But now, some of my sims are rolling wants to be witches. And since none of them are Plantsims, maybe I should help them get their wish

I don't have any witches in my current hoods, but in one of my more recently-deceased hoods, my evil witch had the most fun. She was a former struggling rock musician who later owned a good deal of the hood by the time it exploded. She was un-apologetically evil and seductive, and fun to play. My good witch was about to form a commune of like-minded witches and try to counteract the influence of the evil witch, but alas, the hood itself became cursed.

In terms of appearance, my evil witch looked and usually dressed like a normal Sim, though I usually put her in darker colors. I have the overlay that gets rid of the green skin. I did wind up having a tiny green strip above the ear if my evil witches put their hair up, but my evil witches simply had hair that covered the ears most of the time. I also have the overlay for the good witches that got rid of the .... things ... on their face. Save for occasional meetings in their houses with fellow good or evil witches, all witches mingled normally among the other Sims.

Three of my playables are currently evil witches and I don't know what it is, but I love the evil spells more than the good ones. Making someone walk around pretending to be a chicken? Every. Day. It doesn't get old.

Which type is most fun to play will vary with your playstyle and preferences. Try them both and find out!

Bear in mind that, without mods, witchcraft is very labor-intensive. The only character I have with the time and inclination for witchcraft is one who got to the top of her career early, went permaplat, and has an employed husband and a gold gardening badge, so there's no question of needing to invest effort in a rabbithole job or a business to make a living. She befriended (had to be best friends) the good witch and has mostly cast good spells, even though she's a grouchy sim, because not long after witchifying she and her husband both got pregnant, so she's cast benemoodus simae a lot and is starting to get sparkly. She still cheats at chess, though.

I've got a good witch. So far she hasnt cast any spells as shes busy making reagents. Although she did fly to the castle and buy some stuff. I have never had a sim roll a want to be a witch, or any of the supernatural beings.

Never? Do you not have Knowledge sims? They tend to roll witch wants after they meet one of the head witches on a community lot and see spells cast. They roll wants to be werewolves after they hear a wolf howl or meet a wolf, or sometimes just randomly. They don't roll wants to be aliens or zombies, but do roll wants to be abducted after a spontaneous abduction happens, to make zombies (as opposed to resurrecting) when someone they don't know well dies, and to be saved from death, which may result in zombieism.

I've never had one roll a want to become a vampire, but that may be because I don't cultivate vampires. The only ones who've ever made friends with vampires have been Romance sims, who want to see what all the hype is about. And I've never seen a want to become a plantsim, but the only one in any of my games is William Greenman in the GS Uberhood, and I haven't done much with him. His plantbaby Ash got turned human with the painting because I find the whole toddler to adult transition squicky. And my gardeners use ladybug houses instead of pesticide so I've never had anyone turn into a plantsim; but I expect Knowledge sims roll wants for that once someone they know turns, too.

Most of my witches are my Harry Potter sims, so I tend to play them like that. No reagents needed to cast spells, just for potions (otherwise it's honestly a PITA). No green skin or starry rash. Born that way, no learning how to become one (I just batbox them into it when they become teens). I just wish they'd stop with the cure wants; it's not a disease. XD

I have a mod which stops witches on my community lots (they slow the computer down too much). This must be why they dont roll the want as I often play knowledge sims.

Yes, that will be it. I expect once your playable witch gets a good stock of reagents and starts casting spells and flying around on her broomstick, the other Knowledge sims will start rolling the wants.

I just finished re-reading the Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud, and I think it would be pretty easy to approximate that universe within TS2, and then just allow your game to progress from there like you would any other story, plus it takes a different approach to magic than many other stories do (magic isn't hidden, for instance- it's the source of the elites in society's power!). You'd just start with rules like these:

-Society is divided into Magicians (witches and warlocks) and Commoners (non-witches)
-Only Magicians can use any "magical" items (including career and aspiration rewards)
-Only Magicians can have "government" jobs (politics, law, intelligence, etc.) above level 3
-Only Magicians can have ANY job above level 5
-Magicians' magic skill level must be at least as high as their job level.
-Law enforcement Magicians must also be Werewolves.
-Magicians cannot have children of their own, they must adopt any they wish to have
-Only adopted children of Magicians can become Magicians themselves
-Commoners may have biological children
-Commoners may give up children for adoption by Magicians in exchange for a large sum of money (say, $10-20,000)
-Magicians must have "witchiness" as a turn-on, and will not deign to enter into relationships with commoners (or if they do, it will have a Romeo & Juliet- esque "forbidden love" nature)

And once you have general rules like that established, many other elements of the story fall naturally into place, and you're free to develop your own Magical society from there!

It's easy to get carried away creating rules and a world surrounding supernaturals like witches. I started doing the same thing, too, mostly because I don't really use evil witches and had to come up with a way to play them. So, to the OP, my answer is that good witches are better. I'm just not the type of simmer that usually lets sims pick fights; my sims have to do that autonomously and with the evil witch spells I'd have to actively be mean to other sims. And, yeah, I just don't do that very often. And considering the amount of work it is to train a witch and build up a good stock of reagents, evil witches just come up lacking, imo. Good spells are just hands down more useful while neutral witches (not spells) are hands down the most useless. It may be controversial, but basically, when you look at all the benefits of being a witch, good witches come out ahead by a mile. They still have access to all the neutrals spells but can also cure sick sims, summon a spectral assistant (i.e. maid), send the grim reaper away, make friends faster via compello acceptus and mactoamicus, and they have a powerful mood booster in benemoodus populus which increases the needs of everyone on the lot. And, if you ever get sick of rain or need to send some roaches packing, there's always good old beautificus locus.

Meanwhile neutral witches can't cast apello servantus (why, why, why isn't that a neutral spell?) and most importantly, don't have their own throne. They have to borrow either the evil witches' throne or the good witches' one, meaning they need to know another witch to make it for them (you could always use a hack to make a head witch selectable on the magic lot and have one of them craft it, too) or, to make it themselves, they have to spend hours building up the proper alignment, make the throne, then spend hours getting their alignment back down. Boo. Again, meanwhile good witches have two mood boosting spells AND a throne. Then, with evil witches, their top spells don't compare. Their summoned servant just attacks other sims for you and doesn't clean which is a bummer for me because my sims are perfectly capable of delivering a thrashing to other sims themselves. Tabula Rasa and Extractum amoras can be useful in certain story situations but the average evil witch isn't (at least in my game) going around erasing memories and ruining other sims' relationships willy-nilly. I don't like to play zombies. There's basically no benefit to it and I use the zombie apocalypse mod so I'm not using vivificus zombiae all the time. And corruptus locus. Even if I was in a rain and lightning kind of mood, it comes with roaches, so no. Just no. The only truly useful evil spell for me is inflammo, which is a great way to go around murdering sims. Sadly, evil witches have no spell to directly kill a sim.

I'm not saying that playing an evil witch isn't fun and that you absolutely won't use evil witch spells--it's just in my experience that you'd have to make yourself use them and find situations in which they are useful, but ymmv. To me, good witches and good spells are more useful in everyday sim life.

I do concur that you might want to use mods to prevent neutral spells from changing alignment and to take out the face/skin changes. I know my evil witches don't like being green (it kind of gives them away) nor do my good witches like sparkling like a twilight vampire. I do use a mod that lets sims buy reagents using aspiration points, but lately, since I've been restricting aspiration rewards to aliens only, I find Boiling Oil's slow aging mod more useful. Adult and elder witches age 2-3 times a week (can't remember which one, at the moment) instead of everyday like a normal sim. I like this because in my mind their magic would make them healthier and younger longer and it gives them more time to skill, raising their magic levels and making reagents.

Finally, after you play a witch for a bit, I do recommend thinking about how you'd like to incorporate them into the way you play. For me, since I have to make my evil witch do mean things and I consider my good witches overpowered, I place restrictions on them. Evil witches are all about shortcuts and power. I'm having them choose a life goal (from a predetermined list) in which their magic would be helpful. They also buy genie lamps from normal sims and are the only ones who are allowed to use them (normal sims have no idea the power lamps hold while good witches are too good to cheat to earn money and most everything else they can already do). Evil witches must also go to Twikki Island and get themselves a voodoo doll. Every evil witch household must have one. That levels the playing field, giving them a way to easily make friends and lovers, etc. Finally, they're allowed to kidnap/buy other creatures, enslaving them and using them to be their personal servants (don't worry, I have rules for escape, too ). Good witches, on the other hand, are all about service and using their powers not just for themselves but for the greater good. They must adopt a non magical family and every week choose a way to help them out. Oh, and while evil witches go around to community lots on Spooky Day, casting evil spells and causing havoc, on the first day of spring, good witches go around casting beautificus locus, creatum insecto volucris, and benemoodus simae and try to break up any fights they see. Of course, this in addition to any supernatural wars I may decide to have going on.

I have quite a few witches in my game. They can be unaligned "wilders" or belong to any one of three groups: the League of Mystics (which is supposed to be the "good" side, and judges on behaviour rather than official alignment), SimSych (officially neural, does not accept sparkly or green-skinned witches) and the BaneForce (evil and proud of it, accepts any non-sparkly witch - as well as non-witches who agree with the group's philosophy - but the stronger spells are only available to those with evil behaviour who are also classified as at least "Mean" in alignment, and whoever is the senior witch in the BaneForce has to be green-skinned).

Wilders are just like any other Sim apart from having the magic ability, and range from barely using their magic to having it as a serious sideline. Only one has ever made money from it (by selling reagents - they'd have made more money if they'd remembered to market to magic-users as well as decor enthusiasts...)

League of Mystics and BaneForce are at war with one another. The League of Mystics is almost entirely defensive and refuses to involve anyone who isn't some sort of witch (or interested in becoming one). The BaneForce's agenda requires the co-operation, or at least tolerance, of large swathes of the population. These two facts are the main reason most Sims in SimHampton are in absolutely no danger from the war.

SimSych mostly read tea leaves and palms, occasionally prophesying in public and generally aiming to entertain Sims as much as inform them. They aim not to be especially memorable as individuals as they feel this distracts from their actions. They are almost exclusively professionals, making stable livelihoods from their abilities that the rest can only dream about.

Each of the groups has access to a range of spells that wilders can't use (and are not built into the game). These do not require reagents but do require a certain skill level, and also in some cases membership of the correct group. (League of Mystics has access to some healing and empathy spells the other groups can't use, SimSych has some exclusive spells for predicting the future, entertaining and protecting Sims, and the BaneForce can uniquely use a range of corrupting, destructive and/or dramatic spells).

New witches are found and developed. Witches with special ability to sense the spark of magic (or its absence) in someone use special equipment to test them. Either they fail - in which case that Sim can never learn magic - or they pass, in which case they must decide if and how they will be trained. (A wilder might be inclined to do it, but any of the three groups will generally be able to do it faster). The BaneForce only tests Sims who have already agreed to its philosophy, but the others will test anyone who will agree to be tested for magic. The test doesn't work on anyone who is not yet a teen, unless a young Sim is instinctively using magic at the time a witch is already trying to test someone else. The latter usually only happens when the young Sim is in serious danger, or a peculiar glitch is happening.

Witches are theoretically no more likely to emerge from a family of witches than from someone with no known magical traces in their lineage (at least, that's been the case since the all-witch Sunrina line died out), though the tendency of magical people to cluster tends to create some semblance of family groupings anyway. That said, most Sims live their whole lives without ever being tested, so no Sim is sure if the theory is true or false. Witches can have children just like anyone else, but there's a reasonably high chance that even they will not bother to be tested for magic, and a fair chance that those tested will turn out to have no magic spark. Teaching of magic is separate from school. Elves are forbidden from studying magic before they turn adult (they are free to become witches, but all magic advancement for an elven teen must be from casting spells, and they can't make reagents, only purchase or receive them).

It is possible for someone with the magic spark to have it removed. Wilders, and particularly over-ambitious witches of any type can attempt magic they can't technically cast, with the risk that it could go wrong and result in the permanent loss of their magic. A magician who sufficiently angers a member of the League of Mystics or the BaneForce may have the ability removed from them through a spell. And a magician who commits a severe enough crime will have their magic judicially removed, regardless of whether magic was in any way involved in the crime. Any of these methods destroys the magic spark, preventing any possible regaining of magic. (Sims can also drink potions to lose magical ability, but this only "binds" the magic and a Sim may regain their magical ability, albeit in a weaker form, by asking a powerful witch nicely enough).

On three occasions, a member of the League of Mystics or BaneForce has been the High Ruler of SimHampton. It never goes well.

I haven't done much with witches yet but I have 1 in my game now, not made too long ago. Gunnar Rogue and going to be a good witch. I had the make 5 reagents at a time mod by CJ but it never worked, for me anyway, and his mods are good so i'm sure I had a conflict somewhere that I couldn't be bothered to figure out so I've now downloaded the mod that spells don't take any reagents at all, hopefully that works for me but now I have Sim Manipulator I can just buy as many ingredients as I need if it doesn't work. Normally i'm not one to cheat to make it easier but making all those reagents really does get tedious and take away some of the point (for me anyway).

I also have mods to take away the witch auras, no sparkly or green witches for me, just their normal skintone (though the evil head witch will have a green head the first time you see her, it's noted in the mod info last I knew, but it fixes itself the second time she shows) so I can make the witches wear their normal clothes and they can blend right in, I love it! Granted everytime they reach a new thresh-hold of magic or something they auto-change into the witchy clothes again so it does get annoying...if there is a mod to stop that I haven't seen it and I would love it. I also have neutral spells do not change alignment.

I plan on having good and evil witches, depending on the Sim's personality/character. I'll have to figure out some laws to go with them, particularly the evil ones. What little i've played of both I enjoy myself, it just depends on the Sim, though good witches do seem more handy to have around with their spells. The evil ones can be funny and interesting but the good ones have the useful spells from what i've seen.

Several people already here have mentioned great ways to have fun with witches, i'll have to figure something out for my game

Gunnar turned into a witch thanks to the Genie, which I have now made illegal (but not retro-active so he's alright). I do have the head witches that i'll let turn some Sims into Witches and go from there. I want one, or both, of the beakers to be evil witches, it would totally fit them I think.

I'm going to go with only a head witch can make another Sim a witch or some Sims may be "born" with magic that manifests itself in teen-hood IF they inherit it from witch parents. Even if both parents are witches I will still roll a dice and make them have a chance to be magic-less.

Now i'm thinking of witch schooling and houses...hmm....

You will need this: http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=299368 Trust me. Like @ Peni Griffin said, making the ingredients to cast spells, is very labor intensive. Takes FOREVER. That being said, I like making reagents to sell in home businesses. My witch in my medieval 'hood is a neutral witch selling handmade wares and reagents.

I LOVE marrying evil/good pairings. OMG so much fun. EAxis says you shouldn't do that, that they'll fight but I've never had that problem. My last couple got along great and were triple bolt.

I also have mods to get rid of the name change and skin change. Kept the glow, though. And I have green skin for my evil witch I made. (plus her kids will get her "magic" green skin too )

I've only played with one witch, her name is Candi and she's a nice girl who followed the path of darkness. She loves causing mischief, though. She made a living off of selling witchy furniture and mostly kept to herself with her spectral cat, Cotton for company, even though her sister lived next door. (I wonder if there's a mod that neighbors are more likely to show up... huh) She used her magic to fend off advances from her next-door neighbor, Don Lothario, meanwhile hoping her sister was okay and wasn't dealing with her roommate being a creeper. Did I mention that her sister graduated from college and moved in with mr fuck everything?

I agree that making reagents is a pain, but I found that mod to be a little too cheaty. I prefer these two by Cyjon. With both in the game, it still takes the witch a bit of effort to make reagents, but it's nowhere near as bad as doing it in an unmodded game. I kept hoping he'd do something similar for the OFB craftables, but he never did.

http://www.cyjon.net/node/250 (Faster Reagents - witches make reagents in half the time)

http://www.cyjon.net/node/251 (Make 5 Reagents - witches make reagents in batches of 5)


I also have these two by Neder which you may find helpful (lots of nice toys here )

http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=544571 (Playable Sims Can Witchify - you can ask a playable witch to turn you into one if the witch is of a high enough level to know the Magus Mutatio spell, even if the witch is computer controlled. If the witch is computer controlled, he/she doesn't have to have reagents in their inventory.)

http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=319832 (Buyable Reagents - they cost the same as buying them from a head witch, but you don't have to go to the trouble of meeting the head witch and then buying from her. Just get them from the buy mode catalog. Alternatively, you can get a version which makes them appear as aspiration rewards which cost 200-500 aspiration points each.)

In Springwater, the two Belladonna Cove sisters - I forgot their names, but the evil one became an evil witch and turned slightly pyromaniac.



Before the Great Crash, I believe I was planning to have them open up a little shop and sell reagents and potions. Maybe I'll do that again in this 'hood. In Hazelton, I did have one of my witches open a shop and used the visitor controller to restrict it to witchy folks, but the evil witch kept showing up and making cockroaches.

I do agree that neutral witches get the short end of the stick. That is one feature of witches in this game that annoys me. There is no neutral head witch that can visit a lot, as written previously, there is no special place for them, and ... well, others have already listed the reasons. No respect for these folk!

Aah, Cordial sisters from Belladona Cove, I made them two became witches, no green skin and no witch clothing. Samatha is a good witch, bringing light and butterfly, and Kimberly, an evil witch, she's also Satan worshipper. I decorated her sorcery room with Pentagram rug, satanic cross, satanic bible, and skull deco.

Well, then.

Anybody who still has the original AL stealth hood template or a neighborhood made with it (I have 2 older hoods made with it) may notice 3 ladies in the NPC category whose thumbnails show them wearing neutral witch hats and robes, but with apparently invisible bodies or at least no visible neck (I saw these while using Paladin's Visual Teleporter and Christialov's Clothing Rack - I haven't tried looking for them in SimPE). These are not spectral servants. The teleporter cat only has one instance of Spectral Servant under the default category and like other default NPCs it doesn't show up in the Clothing Rack or Visual Teleporter. This makes me believe that Maxis may have originally intended to include a neutral head witch, but later changed their minds. I mentioned before somewhere that if you look at the costume makeup in CAS in debug mode, there's also a blank/empty face overlay for neutral witches. This makes me wonder what the original concept for the neutral witches was.

@RoxEllen1965
What do you mean by "computer controlled"?
I only have the first Cyjon's mod you linked to and may get the others.

I have the hardest time to use witches and warlocks in my game. I currently have a good witch and a bad warlock. I choose their alignment according to their mean/nice points. I have the required mods so they look like regular sims.
My good witch is supposed to open a shop but she spend most of her time doing reagents and she got triplets. She wrote a book though and seldom casted spells on community lots.
My bad warlock get turned after an abduction (BO's mod) but he working in a Maxis career and he's married to the local doctor and lives at the hospital. Things may change when the doctor will retire.

I think she means a playable sim when you're not playing their household.