Psychic or Occultist. I'm too dumb to understand either..


Advice


As the title says. I think the Occultist is super interested in theory, and I like the idea of an Android psychic, but I'm like, no clue how to even it. Right now I'm working on an Android character for a pirate campaign and I'm torn between the two. I think either'd really cool in theory but I just don't get either. I'm at a loss as to what I can actually do with an occultist and it's value or to the point of the Psychic. I just don't know that they do. Man I feel super slow reading this book cause I just can't even. Any helpfuls out there wanna tell me what it is they do, how should build one etc.


Occultist is like a balanced wizard. Psychic is like a sorcerer, except it has mind reading class features, new-age/occult fluff (like getting magic from drugs, an malevolent personality, or enlightenment) rather than being descended from a monster, and a spell list more focused on the mind rather than a grab bag of flashy magic.


Milo v3 wrote:
Occultist is like a balanced wizard. Psychic is like a sorcerer, except it has mind reading class features, new-age/occult fluff (like getting magic from drugs, an malevolent personality, or enlightenment) rather than being descended from a monster, and a spell list more focused on the mind rather than a grab bag of flashy magic.

I want to thank you very earnestly for your quick reply, and I do mean that. But I'm not even. Like, the Occultist is just a wizard but weaker (Because I "Balanced" wizard assumes a weaker one cause lolwizards.). And the psychic is just a worse sorc? Cause it sounds like the spell list is alot weaker.

Dark Archive

An occultist is essentially a wizard but with a more limited spell list and actual class abilities that allow it to do things as a wizard of it's level or unique buffs/spell-like things a good number of times/day(see relic powers).

The psychic is a full caster that can be very good offensively and defensively with class abilities that allow for greater specialization, but is weak vs robots, vermin, and other mindless enemies.


Helcack wrote:

An occultist is essentially a wizard but with a more limited spell list and actual class abilities that allow it to do things as a wizard of it's level or unique buffs/spell-like things a good number of times/day(see relic powers).

The psychic is a full caster that can be very good offensively and defensively with class abilities that allow for greater specialization, but is weak vs robots, vermin, and other mindless enemies.

I'm not seeing the wizard thing with the Occultist, but, it's seems super cool in theory. As for the psychic, I get as much, but, like, what does it do exactly? Every class in the book feels like I'm missing something important to make the classes super cool and interesting but It's not. I mean, like, base line I see the classes and I think a Psychic.Occult android (And a medium android using spirits as "Settings" would be baws but because medium is, like, bad, I don't see myself using it) would be cool in concept but I don't want to drag the table down with a bad class.


You can do the wizard thing by being an individual who gets his abilities from research into magic, have mechanics focused around spell schools (including the elemental spell schools elemental wizards have via Sha'ir), has the ability to tap into magical focuses in the manner of a wizard's bonded item.

As for psychic, it's got some of the coolest abilities in the game via the memory palace and drug aura.


Milo v3 wrote:

You can do the wizard thing by being an individual who gets his abilities from research into magic, have mechanics focused around spell schools (including the elemental spell schools elemental wizards have via Sha'ir), has the ability to tap into magical focuses in the manner of a wizard's bonded item.

As for psychic, it's got some of the coolest abilities in the game via the memory palace and drug aura.

I feel like I'm missing the cool stuff on the psychic> Maybe you could name some of the cooliest things it can do? Cause alot of it didn't seem that interesting.

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber

Explode head, 'nuff said


I'm still trying to work through the spell list for the psychic. They have around 670 spells to choose from. It's going to take a while for me to see what the better combinations are.

I have a better grasp on the Occultist. I don't really understand the comparison to Wizards. When I think of Wizards, things that come to mind are 9th level casters, prepared casters, INT based casters, 1/2 BAB, and terrible weapons and armor selection. Aside from being INT based casters, Occultists share none of those traits.

For me the closest analog to the Occultist, mechanically speaking, is the Bard. They are both L6 spontaneous casters. Both have 3/4 BAB, are feat-starved, have decent weapon choices, and can cast in armor. (The Occultist does a bit better in the weapons and armor areas.) Compared to a class like the Magus, both have broad spell lists - even including some traditionally divine spell-types like healing. Both of them even have knowledge related special abilities, although the Bard definitely has the edge there. If you treat Mental Focus and Implement powers as a replacement for the Bardic Performance abilities, you can envision the Occultist as something like an INT based Bard. My suggestion is to pick one of the standard Bard builds: melee Bard, ranged Bard, Controller Bard, etc. Then apply the same basic approach using an Occultist.

If you have a particular party role that you are trying to fill with an Occultist, we might be able to offer some more specific advice.


Pathfinder Maps, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Maps, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber

The fluff of the occult classes is that they are supposed to be more skilled, yet less powerful than their arcane counterparts. It sounds good in theory, yet in practice the occult classes can be just as powerful if optimized carefully - though they are far more specialized.

The best advice is to use occult classes in one shot campaigns as practice to get the feel for them before using them in a campaign where you feel the need to "not drag the table down with a bad class".

Psychics are awesome when facing serpentmen, as they might actually treat you as more of an equal if you communicate telepathically (or at least treat you as a rival threat, rather than a mindless savage).

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