An Easy Fix: A New, More Playable, Witch

I think that my Uncle's Witch is very interesting and accurate from historical/simulationist view inside of his AD&D universe. Unfortunately, this means that it is incredibly complicated and unfun from a game design perspective. The following is my idea for how to make the class fit better and become more playable in AD&D games I would be involved in while changing as little as possible.

For this quick fix almost everything would stay the same, including: Familiars, Potion/Poison creation, Taboos, Witch Marks, Candle Magic, Talismans, Control Dolls, Spell research, creation of magic items, penning of scrolls, and special powers.
What changes is their magical literacy, use of Wizard/Clerical Magic Items, and "spheres".

As I see it, there are two glaring flaws with the Witch right now.

First, the Witch is currently intended to be in a uniquely fucked up situation until 3rd level. They start with a number of spells known like a Mage, but they have no way of keeping a spellbook from which to prepare the spells. In Uncle David's world, this means that they are only able to continue preparing the spells which they have previously prepared the day before, and can not prepare spells which they know, but do not have currently loaded.

At third level they are able to now keep a spellbook where they can record and prepare spells from, but since they don't have a copy of the spells they don't have memorized, they will need to find another copy of those spells before they can put them in their book, essentially baring them from preparing them again.

In addition, the Witch's ability to do things which Wizards and Clerics can do but not both comes in slowly, strangely, and haphazardly. There is a logic to it, but it is not predictable or sensible to someone who isn't embroiled in AD&D. It goes as follows: Use magic items Wizard or Illusionists but not Clerics can use @ 3rd, Cleric only items @ 5th, Read scrolls @ 6th, Read any scrolls as thief @ 9th.

Instead of this system, I propose a simpler one. At first level, if a Witch were to attempt to engage in an action which a Cleric or Magic-User could do but not both, they suffer a -50% chance at success. This decreases every level by 5% to 0 at 11th level. This includes learning new spells from Wizard spellbooks or scrolls instead of from another Witch or as their leveling spell.

Now instead of 5 rules which all occur at different levels, there is one rule which represents a Witch slowly becoming more and more literate in traditional magic. Witch's spell books would still be pseudo spell books, and they still would not even be able to learn spells from a Wizard's spellbook till 3rd level when they can cast Read Magic, but now they don't suffer from a very specific and punishing interpretation of the pseudo Vancian casting my Uncle uses in AD&D.

The second problem with the Witch is how confusing the current "sphere" system is. In an attempt to include established but taboo gods in the Witch's portfolio, (namely Bahamat who my uncle has many Witches of) there is a system now where a witch Patron can also grant Clerical Spheres in addition to allowing the Witch to use "witchcraft" (their standard spell casting). These come at the cost of a penalty to learn new spells and high level spell witch spell casting. So a Witch devoted to Asmodeus may gain the ability to spontaneously cast spells from the Evil, Law, and Charm(Rulership) domains, but they would loose the ability to cast 5th, 6th, or 7th level "normal" witch spells and a -15% chance to understand "normal" witch spells of any level.

This doesn't really make sense to me for a number of reasons, but my largest gripe with it is that it is overly complicated and only serves to confuse class identity by buffing what was before a downside (limited spell list) and removing part what made it uniquely powerful/interesting. (the high level unique witch spells) That being said, I think that differentiating Witches based on their Patrons makes sense as a goal, but I suggest a different way of doing it.

Around every new spell level, the Witches Patron (maybe through their familiar, the Patrons organization, or through dream) may reach out to the Witch and ask them to perform a task for the Patron. At low levels this will be minor (take care of someone in the town the Witch is already in, collect an item from a dungeon they're already going to, ect.) but will grow to full blown quests at higher levels. As opportunities for the Witch to prove their loyalty, usefulness, or faith to the Patron the Witch will receive a reward for successful completion of the mission.

Now each Patron can provide powers to the Witch in exchange for the Witch's unique support in various efforts, fulfilling the promise of a pact specific to each Witch. Patrons which are close to and desire godhood can reward the Witch with access to spheres, while others could give physical rewards or magical powers. Patrons with less of a interest or power in the world may not offer as many missions or care if they are completed while others may have severe consequences if the Witch fails to constantly further their goals.

If I were to continue to adjust the Witch there are two more major changes I could see making. Currently the class has access to a hodge-podge of alternate magic systems. I think this is really cool and flavorful, but ends up burying players in a large number of confusing and bizarre options which border on making the class overpowered and mid-high levels in very specific circumstances. Instead of the current system I would have a few different options of specific alternate magic systems the Witch could choose between (like alchemy, charms&dolls, maybe curses&candles?) to provide a more controlled power level and clearer focus for players, while also expanding the world and its cultures.

The second problem I see is that by providing the Witch total control over the powers of their familiar, the mysterious spirit which is flavorful a mentor becomes nothing more than a common minion. I would want to provide tools for a DM to construct familiars as entities of their own with goals, plans, and schemes which may not align with that of the player/character, perhaps even giving them additional powers which are decided by the DM/Patron or chance instead of the witch themselves.

Hopefully these two quick fixes can change the class from being all but unplayable to instead a bit complicated but still fun and engaging. If people have feedback on/want to help with these or the suggested next steps of the class I'd love to hear from them.

EDIT: I have been notified the link to the original Witch isn't working great. Here is a link to the geocities cache of the page it is on, and here is a link to a cache of the whole site.