Hey y'all,  what's your approach to playing as witch?  D&D doesn't have a dedicated Witch class, but there are plenty of homebrew Witch classes and subclasses out there. Do you have a source you prefer?

For example, rather than introduce an entirely new class or subclass, my approach is to have Witch be a background. This is a background that works similar to the backgrounds introduced in the Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica, where it gives you an expanded spell list, and in that spell list there are the iconic witch spells like hex, find familiar, magic circle and so on (bestow curse isn't in there, since that would break the Warlock class). This allows my players to approach witches from a very broad range of directions. One players could be a more academically minded witch and use the wizard class. Another can be a more wiccan inspired witch and use the druid class. Another can be a dark witch and be a fiend warlock. They can even, if they feel really creative, be some sort of witch paladin.

The background also unlocks unique feats that I'm still trying to iron out. Like being able to make your own weird magic items, a unique form of fortune telling, and the ability to form a coven with other spellcasters.

I am personally not approaching this from a D&D perspective. I will be creating for Troika!, maybe Quest, and potentially a mini expansion for my game Basic Witches. 

For my submission, I’m working on a class for Basic Fantasy RPG (though by nature it’ll be cross compatible with a bunch of old/retro systems). My approach is to base it on the magic user class (for xp progression, saving throws, etc). I’m going to modifier the spell list (combo of magic user and Druid), though instead of spells in the traditional sense, I’m reflavoring them as tinctures, salves, and charms. They will take longer to prepare, but can be used by others as well. They will have a familiar, which will be the spirit (in animal form) that they draw their power from. The familiar will provide added utility, but if it is killed it will harm the witch, and weaken their power until resummoned. 

Anyway, that’s what I have so far. 

The approach I took to making a 5e witch was to make it an ancestry (= "race"), taking inspiration from mythology and works like A Discovery of Witches or The Golden Compass, where witches are a distinct, not-quite-human lineage. Like the background approach, it lets a character of any class have a bit of witchery.

i really recently stumbled upon this newer 5e homebrewed witch class! i've only been able to give it a brief skim myself but it sounds like it hits a real good niche.