Hello all, now that the Occultist has been out for quite a bit, I was wondering what everyone's thoughts on them were. I'm considering one as a backup character (among others) and I guess I'm hoping to read some past experiences, maybe nifty tricks and such that they can do.
Are they a class that emulates John Constantine (hellblazer) like I was hoping? Or does it fall short in that regard? Are they solid enough to front line? Are they better as casters? Any PCs you've made with them that worked out particularly well?
Hard to say, personally.
From what I've seen, most of their melee boosting mechanics involving giving themselves enhancement bonuses. I tend to be wary of that, since it is something you can cover with regular wealth.
So I think there is kind of an expiration date on their melee abilities, at which point they need to focus on their spells. Whether that point comes up in most games (ie- ones going from level 1 to mid levels) is a question for debate.
I have found them to be a very versatile class. I have not played a melee focused one yet. I have found that caster based versions rely a lot on their implement powers.
My 3rd session with my Occultist is coming up this week. Not sure how representative a sample he'll be, though - we did 25pt buys and are using these feat tax rules, so that makes this finesse-based dude a lot more possible.
I'd say the story potential is what really drew me to the class. I'm playing a Forlorn Elf whose starting implements are the former possessions of his deceased friends. We're doing Emerald Spire, too, so there's plenty of potential relics and things with storied pasts to pick up.
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They get little benefit from Charisma and lack Bluff as a Class Skill, which makes being a con man like John Constantine tricky, though not impossible.
Their magical abilities do pretty closely mirror his in some ways, though.
And it certainly seems to work in a variety of roles. In terms of melee, with a Transmutation Focus it can grant Bane even better than Inquisitors and a variety of other abilities as well. Its direct bonuses are mostly Enhancement, but that at least saves money, and the other abilities are very solid.
As an offensive caster, I'm less certain exactly how that works, and more skeptical of it, but then I'm always skeptical of 6 level casters focusing on spells as the primary thing they do offensively even with supplemental abilities (and the Occultist does have such abilities).
Bane on demand and evocation damage boost makes this class work.
I really like the class.
It was kind of a chore to read through, like a lot of the occult classes for me, but once I did and I rolled up a character, I was pleased with what I got.
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I have Played my Occultist from playtest to just this weekend at a Con. He is level 7 and I've had him on slow progression for 80% of his games. He is Necromancy Transmutation Focused. Skeletons and Buffs. During this time I have come to a few conclusions about the Occultist Class.
One thing is the Mental Focus and Number of Implements starting even when we pick up our 3rd implement becomes strained. Yes Divination has some awesome resonances but so does Transmutation, Abjuration, Evocation, and Enchantment. So when you get another implement at 6th It starts to become difficult to Spread them out evenly and meet the prereqs for the Resonances, not to mention Focus Powers. So a bit of actual focus is required. Will you be Combat? Pick up Transmutation and the battle Host Archetype. You will hurt for spell Schools but you wont have to worry about mental Focus Distribution between you're AWESOME Transmutation Resonance, and other Implement Schools. Just Pick Up Abjuration, Conjuration or Necromancy. Whatever catches your fancy really, extra protection, teleporting, or flanking buddies respectively. Heck get Divination to help See the enemy, while the fighter stumbles in the dark, or fails to see the Invisible caster making him punch him self.
Yes You could pick up Extra Mental Focus, Max out your INT and/or get a Headband of INT. But you will likely ALWAYS suffer from "lack" of Points if you just go Pure Occultist. Or dont take a Implement/School Twice.
I Love this Class, If made/played correctly you'll be hard pressed to not find something different to do in and out of Combat every session. While I have no Campaign experience with them. I can hardly Imagine them faring any worse in any Adventure path, home campaign, or the like.
Hard to say, personally.
From what I've seen, most of their melee boosting mechanics involving giving themselves enhancement bonuses. I tend to be wary of that, since it is something you can cover with regular wealth.
So I think there is kind of an expiration date on their melee abilities, at which point they need to focus on their spells. Whether that point comes up in most games (ie- ones going from level 1 to mid levels) is a question for debate.
Unless you expect to get your hands on a +5 weapon with another +5 worth of special abilities then being able to slap Bane (Whatever) onto your weapon at will is going to be sweet.