Occult Adventure characters in PFS


Pathfinder Society

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Sczarni 5/5 5/55/5 ***

There aren't a lot of Psychic casters in our area, but we enforce the strict casting requirements. When I've ventured away from my area, it seems that few GMs do (and many are simply unaware), so I don't look forward to GMing for Psychic casters at Cons.

Lots of Kineticists, though. I have a Sylph Aerokineticist who just reached 9th level, and will enjoy playing through the trilogy set on the Plane of Air.

Silver Crusade 4/5

Lau Bannenberg wrote:
I don't think phantoms can use actual weapons. They might look like they're carrying weapons but under the hood those are all slam attacks.

Are you sure? I distinctly remember one spiritualist carrying around a greatsword and handing it to his phantom when the phantom became corporeal for fights.

Sczarni 5/5 5/55/5 ***

"Fully manifested phantoms can wear armor and use items (though not wield weapons) appropriate to their forms."

Scarab Sages 2/5

Phantoms can't wear armour. It's a typo that's corrected with a FAQ. Also can't use weapons. Can use other magic items but i suspect can't walk through walls when wearing them.

Sczarni 5/5 5/55/5 ***

I just wanted to quote the statement in its entirety.

The other barrier to playing a Phantom is the statement that it "shares" the Spiritualist's item slots.

To me, the only way that can work is if the Spiritualist wears them, and the Phantom benefits from them. From a verisimilitude perspective it makes sense, since the Phantom resides within the Spiritualist.

But when people claim the Phantom must be the one to wear items, it eliminates the entire benefit of being incorporeal.

It's one of those cases of table variation that can shut down a character build entirely.

Silver Crusade 4/5

Huh. I never really looked at the spiritualist class much. Apparently, the local player who was handing his phantom a sword when it becomes corporeal was wrong.

Grand Lodge 3/5

I believe the reason why Phantoms can't wield weapons or armor is to inhibit them from becoming stronger than Animal Companions, bordering on becoming Lackeys without the LEadership feat.

Animal Companions' armor cost more as you need to bard the armor to fit the animal.
Do you want to cart around a +3 Full Plate with a +3 Long sword, just for your phantom to use?

I want to build a Mesmerist/Sandman (Bard) and steal spells.


Occult Adventures was the first book the boyfriend and I bough after Ultimate Magic and was one of the main reasons we started back in PFS. But due to the general aggression and hostility we were shown we've stopped going all together.

Grand Lodge 3/5

That's no good! I would try the pbp PFS group, as they are quite accommodating. The Flaxseed Lodge

Grand Lodge 4/5 5/55/55/55/5 **** Venture-Captain, Minnesota

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Toujours wrote:
Occult Adventures was the first book the boyfriend and I bough after Ultimate Magic and was one of the main reasons we started back in PFS. But due to the general aggression and hostility we were shown we've stopped going all together.

Oh no! Toujours, have you spoken to your Venture Team about this? I wonder if the people complaining about your characters knew that they were creating an unwelcoming environment. Someone needs to inform them, so they can change.

In the Minnesota Lodge, I always expect a whole lot of crazy builds at my table. Last night I had a transmuter occultist with a bizarre multiclass, a bolt ace archery multiclass, a summoner riding a demonic spider up and over the ceiling, and a whole bunch of other wacky. The animal speaker bard was my most normal one, and even he had swarms and summoned rock elementals at his disposal.

The players had tons of bizarre and highly creative solutions to the challenges played in this scenario, cooperated, roleplayed to the hilt, and had a great time. I do spend time with players beforehand, asking not only what they would be bringing, but who they will be bring. What personality are you bringing to my table? Who do you see your character as? How would they introduce themselves in character?

I do ask them if there are any special tricks or corner cases that they want to tell me about in advance. I do not need too understand everything that a chatacter has brought to my table, but I like to have a bit of a heads-up about what shenanigans I might see. However all that is really important is that they know their characters, and that everyone has a great time and shares the spotlight.

My main rules that I tell my players are:

1) You must know your character. Don't make me look things up for you in game.
(The exception for this is brand new players and pregens. But the pregens are old friends by now, so this is less of a problem.)

2) If we have to look something up, I'll have others at the table do so, so the game can go on.

3) Explore, cooperate, report and have a good time!

Now, note. I've read occult, advanced class and ultimate intrigue. But I had trouble understanding the classes until I got the opportunity to see them in play. GMing is a golden opportunity to learn and expand your understanding. My players teach me all sorts of wonderful things.

You don't have to know it all. You can learn the new classes one wacky player at a time.

Hmm


Hilary Moon Murphy wrote:
Snip.

Honestly I gave up Society play a while ago because of our Venture Captain. We were starved for Judges and he knew I DM'ed back in 3.x and 4e so at the start of a game day he'd just come up to me, hand me a mod, and tell me I was running.

I'd have maybe five to ten minutes to prep. It's not that I hate to DM cold but it's not as enjoyable for the players; one of the last straws for me was when he handed me the third part to a series and I had to run it. I'd never played the first two mods so I didn't know the story and the players had played parts one and two a while before hand so they didn't really remember. Mid way through the players asked me what they were there doing and I blanked because I didn't know. "Old School" DMing kicked in and I started looking for the top sheet to read them off the blurb. But Society doesn't have blurbs like Greyhawk or Arcanis did.

I never refused to run. People regularly did a fair bit of travel to game and I didn't want to turn them away. Even when I asked him to to have me run during second slot, or the occasional third slot, I'd still do it. I know what it feems like not to make final muster and have to sit out a slot and hope for second. I want players to play.

The final straw was when I noticed he wasn't reporting tables properly. I completely gave up when he started to ask my boyfriend to DM. He doesn't have as much system mastery as I do, which I admit is limited (No way am I trying to read through the fly rules again).

The occult classes are a crazy ball of weird, I get that, I really do. They require a bit more system mastery than some other classes, I originally got some of the same responses when I started my witch. Once people finally understood how she worked and what she brought to the party everything changed. They'd hear that I was bringing Aradia, my witch, everyone at the table would begin changing characters. Screech is a beautiful spell.

I understand the strains a new source book puts on a DM so I went the extra mile. I went through and wrote up a crib sheet on the bare bones for the DM, and anyone else interested at the table. I tried to make it as simple as possible.

Grand Lodge 3/5

Paul Jackson wrote:
John Lance wrote:
Just to satisfy my own curiosity, how many psychics, mesmerists, spiritualists, etc... are you seeing in your PFS sessions? Not that many? A lot? I was just wondering, I'm leveling a spiritualist right now, but haven't seen too many others lately, just one or two in the past few months...

Far, far, far too many :-(. And I only have the vaguest idea of what they can do.

I don't own the book and don't feel like spending the huge amounts of time to learn the completely new systems in the book.

I came very close to leaving PFS because of this book, and because of its overuse in Season 7 Scenarios.

I tend to agree with these sentiments. I just hate dealing with players who grab a new book, make up a new character and really don't know the rules for their newly created 'Min-Max.'

Grand Lodge 4/5 Venture-Agent, Texas—Houston

Pat Lowinger wrote:
Paul Jackson wrote:
John Lance wrote:
Just to satisfy my own curiosity, how many psychics, mesmerists, spiritualists, etc... are you seeing in your PFS sessions? Not that many? A lot? I was just wondering, I'm leveling a spiritualist right now, but haven't seen too many others lately, just one or two in the past few months...

Far, far, far too many :-(. And I only have the vaguest idea of what they can do.

I don't own the book and don't feel like spending the huge amounts of time to learn the completely new systems in the book.

I came very close to leaving PFS because of this book, and because of its overuse in Season 7 Scenarios.

I tend to agree with these sentiments. I just hate dealing with players who grab a new book, make up a new character and really don't know the rules for their newly created 'Min-Max.'

I can sympathize there, I've had to explain how taking butn works to at least one other kineticist player locally.

Speaking of which, I have attention deficit character disorder, so my personal count is at 2 kineticsts, 2 mediums, a mesmerist, and a blob that may become a medium when I apply a rebuild boon, though I'm also pondering vigilante there.

4/5

I do think the OA classes have a tendency to be difficult to understand. I've seen a Spiritualist and an Occultist played by someone who didn't understand how the phantom and the mental focus mechanics worked.

Unpleasant.

The Exchange 1/5

We had a player play the level 7 pregen occultist before we had any idea about how they worked, only thing we really did not do right was the mental focus allocation and aura sight.

4/5

Having a spiritualist and occultist, the spiritualist was one of the hardest classes to build I've ever built. That being said, playing the spiritualist is pretty darn easy so far. The hardest part is just knowing how to switch between incorporeal and ectoplasmic forms.

The occultist was a fairly hard class to build (not anywhere close to the spiritualist, though), but I find that the occultist is one of the more difficult classes to play, mostly because of mental focus stuff. It's not really that much more difficult to play than, say, a wizard though. The big difference there is that the occultist has a lot more unique rules.

4/5 5/5 Venture-Lieutenant, Finland—Tampere

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I haven't had problems with most of the occult classes, but the one I do have problems with is the one I've seen show up in scenarios the most - the kineticist. For some reason my brain just does not compute how it works. It looks at burn and gathering power and infusions and goes back to bed.

1/5 5/5

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

I had the same problem, Minna, and it took me almost a year to break down to play a telekineticist.

The best way I can look at it is this:

Burn = Good and Bad. Good, it helps boost your power. Bad, it hits you with a number of nonlethal points of damage (up to your hit die) that *don't* go away until you rest. Picturing sort of like a 'constant rage' is kind of what helped me figure it out.

Gathering Power = Like some of the horrible anime out there where the character sits there for an episode and complains about straining and 'not being able to hold it in much longer'... that's what is going on. Bad thing is being *hit* while that is going on, because it could get messy and painful.

Infusions = A 'kind' of metamagic (that isn't) that allow more versatility with a given element. What is gained in versatility is lost in power, typically.

Silver Crusade 4/5

Andrew Roberts wrote:

Having a spiritualist and occultist, the spiritualist was one of the hardest classes to build I've ever built. That being said, playing the spiritualist is pretty darn easy so far. The hardest part is just knowing how to switch between incorporeal and ectoplasmic forms.

The occultist was a fairly hard class to build (not anywhere close to the spiritualist, though), but I find that the occultist is one of the more difficult classes to play, mostly because of mental focus stuff. It's not really that much more difficult to play than, say, a wizard though. The big difference there is that the occultist has a lot more unique rules.

I haven't really looked at the spiritualist yet, but I've been looking at occultists lately as a possibility for my next PC.

It took a little time to wrap my head around it, but now that I understand the class, building a weapon focused occultist (melee or archery) doesn't seem like it would be that difficult. It's trying to figure out how to build one that doesn't revolve around weapons in combat that's hurting my brain.

4/5

Fromper wrote:

I haven't really looked at the spiritualist yet, but I've been looking at occultists lately as a possibility for my next PC.

It took a little time to wrap my head around it, but now that I understand the class, building a weapon focused occultist (melee or archery) doesn't seem like it would be that difficult. It's trying to figure out how to build one that doesn't revolve around weapons in combat that's hurting my brain.

Well, nothing in PF is exactly differential equations, but I would definitely call it complex when compared to other classes in PF. ;)

Occultist Build:
I have an occultist who is a pure caster with 9 strength. He is currently level 5, and has Conjuration, Evocation, and Transmutation. He has Flesh Mend and Purge Corruption to provide support; he has Size Alteration and Legacy Weapon to buff; he has Sudden Speed for an extra boost when needed. He took Energy Blast and uses Energy Ray to deal damage; he also knows Burning Hands and Flaming Sphere for more damage, and Glitterdust (just because Glitterdust is amazing). His feats are Extra Mental Focus and Extra Focus Power twice. Started him with 20 Int and made him a half-elf with the elven favored class bonus to give him as much mental focus as possible. He also summons with the Servitor power. Currently, his default mental focus split is 4 Conjuration/7 Evocation/4 Transmutation.

I took no archetype with my Occultist, as I wanted him to have the maximum number of schools possible.

He has proven quite useful, and fun. He's a support caster who can blast, heal, buff, and summon. He also has tons of skills he can use. :)

Shadow Lodge *

Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Starfinder Superscriber
Fromper wrote:
Andrew Roberts wrote:

Having a spiritualist and occultist, the spiritualist was one of the hardest classes to build I've ever built. That being said, playing the spiritualist is pretty darn easy so far. The hardest part is just knowing how to switch between incorporeal and ectoplasmic forms.

The occultist was a fairly hard class to build (not anywhere close to the spiritualist, though), but I find that the occultist is one of the more difficult classes to play, mostly because of mental focus stuff. It's not really that much more difficult to play than, say, a wizard though. The big difference there is that the occultist has a lot more unique rules.

I haven't really looked at the spiritualist yet, but I've been looking at occultists lately as a possibility for my next PC.

It took a little time to wrap my head around it, but now that I understand the class, building a weapon focused occultist (melee or archery) doesn't seem like it would be that difficult. It's trying to figure out how to build one that doesn't revolve around weapons in combat that's hurting my brain.

Yeah, I'm putting together a Reliquarian of Falayna (Transmutation implement and Liberation domain) and it looks to me like it's going to play similarly to a Warpriest, just with different tricks.

Dark Archive 3/5 **

I've seen a smattering, but Keneticist seems to be what shows up most followed by Mesmerist. There's a stray Occultist and Psychic around, too. I play a Medium now and then (Relic Channeler. The surviving hireling of a field agent team who were killed on assignment and now has them rattling in his head).

What I'm surprised I don't see more of are folks using Psychic Sensitivity to grant so many marvelous options to use their skills on.

4/5 5/5

The hardest part of me when I was creating my Spiritualist Bradoc (with Mace the Zeal Phantom) was understanding just what a phantom was and how it should (and should not) be used. Caster-wise, Spiritualists seem pretty straightforward, just a Wisdom-based spontaneous caster with access to cure spells (I made mine an Erastil worshipper and gave him a composite longbow). But the phantom was the tricky part, I had to really read and re-read the book to understand how it was different from eidolons, animal companions and familiars (though there was some cut-and-pasting used for the phantom section that made things a little confusing at first).

Now that I'm up to fourth, almost fifth level, I'm really enjoying my Spiritualist, but yeah, I can see how it could be a pain in the ass at first glance.....

Shadow Lodge 4/5 **** Venture-Captain, Ohio—Columbus

Nefreet wrote:

There aren't a lot of Psychic casters in our area, but we enforce the strict casting requirements. When I've ventured away from my area, it seems that few GMs do (and many are simply unaware), so I don't look forward to GMing for Psychic casters at Cons.

Lots of Kineticists, though. I have a Sylph Aerokineticist who just reached 9th level, and will enjoy playing through the trilogy set on the Plane of Air.

Nefreet, As someone who has not been able to mentally process the Occult class rules, I am not sure what casting requirements you refer to. Could you elaborate a bit so I can make sure I am doing this right?

4/5

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Janice Piette wrote:
Nefreet, As someone who has not been able to mentally process the Occult class rules, I am not sure what casting requirements you refer to. Could you elaborate a bit so I can make sure I am doing this right?

Here's a copy-paste from my local forums of a post I made for this.

Myself wrote:
  • First of all, psychic spellcasting is NOT arcane spellcasting and hence NOT affected by arcane spell failure. It is also NOT divine spellcasting. It is its own type of spellcasting.
  • Psychic spells do not have somatic or verbal components (but have new components explained below). Hence, psychic spellcasters can cast spells even when paralyzed or in other situations where having a verbal or somatic component would normally prohibit them from doing so.
  • Emotion Component: If a spell has listed that it requires a somatic component, for a psychic spellcaster that instead means that is has an emotion component. All this component really does is restrict when a psychic spellcaster can cast spells. If the psychic spellcaster is under any kind of non-harmless effect with the emotion or fear descriptors, then the psychic spellcaster cannot cast a spell with an emotion component at all as the effect interferes with spellcasting. Yes, this includes having the shaken condition from an intimidate check to demoralize.
  • There is a metamagic feat associated with removing the emotion component called Logical Spell, and there are also metamagic rods that have this metamagic.
  • Thought Component: If a spell has listed that it requires a verbal component, for a psychic spellcaster that instead means that is has an thought component. Whenever a psychic spellcaster has to make a any kind concentration check for a spell that has a thought component, the DC of the concentration check is increased by 10. This includes all sorts of concentration checks, such as making a concentration check for ongoing damage or casting defensively. A psychic spellcaster can completely remove the increased DC on concentration checks for one spell by spending a move action to center themself before beginning to cast the spell.
  • There is a metamagic feat associated with removing the thought component called Intuitive Spell, however, there are no metamagic rods available for this metamagic.
  • Undercasting Spells: This one is pretty simple. There are spells in the book that have scaling levels. For example: Mind Thrust I, Mind Thrust II, Mind Thrust III, etc. If a psychic spellcaster knows Mind Thrust III as a level 3 spell, they can undercast the spell and instead cast Mind Thrust I using a level 1 slot or Mind Thrust II using a level 2 slot. They would not be able to cast Mind Thrust IV, however, as you cannot use a higher level version of a spell than you know.
  • Important note: When a spontaneous caster (which psychic spellcasters are) learns a higher level version of a spell that can be undercast, they immediately replace the lower level version with another spell. For example, if they knew Mind Thrust II and learn Mind Thrust III, they no longer know Mind Thrust II and can replace that level 2 spell known with another level 2 spell known. (They still can undercast Mind Thrust III to a Mind Thrust II if they wanted, though)

Note: Even though Kineticists are in the Occult Adventures book, they are not actually spellcasters and hence use their own rules for using their abilities. (Mostly the Spell-Like Ability rules, although kineticists have quite a few of exceptions to the rules in their abilities)

Grand Lodge 4/5 5/55/55/55/5 **** Venture-Captain, Minnesota

* Applauds *

Excellent summary, Andrew!

(One tactic clever NPCs can use against parties with psychic casters is to intimidate. Though some barbarians will do that anyway.)

Hmm

Liberty's Edge 5/5

Starfinder Superscriber
Andrew Roberts wrote:
Well, nothing in PF is exactly differential equations, but I would definitely call it complex when compared to other classes in PF. ;)

I have to admit that I find the Occult Adventures classes way more complex to keep up with than

d^2 x / dt^2 = -k x

Silver Crusade 4/5

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Quote:
Emotion Component: If a spell has listed that it requires a somatic component, for a psychic spellcaster that instead means that is has an emotion component. All this component really does is restrict when a psychic spellcaster can cast spells. If the psychic spellcaster is under any kind of non-harmless effect with the emotion or fear descriptors, then the psychic spellcaster cannot cast a spell with an emotion component at all as the effect interferes with spellcasting. Yes, this includes having the shaken condition from an intimidate check to demoralize.

And this is why all psychics, spiritualists, occultists, and mediums that focus on casting should walk around with potions of Remove Fear (50 gp). Mesmerists have a class ability to deal with this, I think starting at level 3.

4/5

One important thing I would add to Andrew's excellent summary is that psych spellcasting still does provoke an attack of opportunity if not done defensively, even though the caster does not need to move to cast the spell.

4/5

Fromper wrote:
Quote:
Emotion Component: If a spell has listed that it requires a somatic component, for a psychic spellcaster that instead means that is has an emotion component. All this component really does is restrict when a psychic spellcaster can cast spells. If the psychic spellcaster is under any kind of non-harmless effect with the emotion or fear descriptors, then the psychic spellcaster cannot cast a spell with an emotion component at all as the effect interferes with spellcasting. Yes, this includes having the shaken condition from an intimidate check to demoralize.
And this is why all psychics, spiritualists, occultists, and mediums that focus on casting should walk around with potions of Remove Fear (50 gp). Mesmerists have a class ability to deal with this, I think starting at level 3.

At higher levels (8+), Intellect Fortress 1 is very handy. I also use talismans on my psychic, including Warrior's Courage to reduce any fear I fail the save on to Shaken, allowing me to Int Fort for the team.

3/5

Serisan wrote:
Fromper wrote:
Quote:
Emotion Component: If a spell has listed that it requires a somatic component, for a psychic spellcaster that instead means that is has an emotion component. All this component really does is restrict when a psychic spellcaster can cast spells. If the psychic spellcaster is under any kind of non-harmless effect with the emotion or fear descriptors, then the psychic spellcaster cannot cast a spell with an emotion component at all as the effect interferes with spellcasting. Yes, this includes having the shaken condition from an intimidate check to demoralize.
And this is why all psychics, spiritualists, occultists, and mediums that focus on casting should walk around with potions of Remove Fear (50 gp). Mesmerists have a class ability to deal with this, I think starting at level 3.

At higher levels (8+), Intellect Fortress 1 is very handy. I also use talismans on my psychic, including Warrior's Courage to reduce any fear I fail the save on to Shaken, allowing me to Int Fort for the team.

Or your improved familiar (gained through feats usually) can pop a wand of remove fear with a UMD check if of appropriate type of improved familiar.

Silver Crusade 4/5

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Andrew Roberts wrote:
Fromper wrote:

I haven't really looked at the spiritualist yet, but I've been looking at occultists lately as a possibility for my next PC.

It took a little time to wrap my head around it, but now that I understand the class, building a weapon focused occultist (melee or archery) doesn't seem like it would be that difficult. It's trying to figure out how to build one that doesn't revolve around weapons in combat that's hurting my brain.

Well, nothing in PF is exactly differential equations, but I would definitely call it complex when compared to other classes in PF. ;)

** spoiler omitted **

I'm leaning towards doing multiple occultists. I'm thinking a front liner, a pure caster, and maybe a pure necromancer later, with the necroccultist archetype, though that one's on hold, because it would require studying the necromancy spell list in detail to come up with a good design.

Occultist Builds:

Have you looked at the Haunt Collector archetype from Horror Adventures? It gives up the circles and summoning stuff for outsiders in order to create your own temporary haunts. Not something you'll do regularly, but neither is the stuff it's replacing.

More importantly, it doesn't give up any implements like most archetypes, but it does optionally let get some of the medium class's sceance bonuses instead of the resonant powers on some of your implements. So if you weren't going to use a particular resonant power anyway, trade it out for +2 on your weapon damage rolls, or your spell damage rolls, or your spell/class ability healing. That +2 on weapon damage makes it a GREAT archetype for weapon focused occultists, as long as you weren't planning to go Battle Host archetype instead (they don't stack).

That's actually my plan for a front line occultist - elf or half-elf with an elven curve blade (I've wanted to do a front liner with that one before, but never got around to it). I'll take Transmutation and Divination at level 1, Abjuration at level 2, but replace the Abjuration resonant power with medium's Champion sceance boon, for +2 on all weapon damage rolls for life. I'll probably take mostly Transmutation buffs as resonant powers to self buff in combat. Mental Focus would also go heavily into Divination for both the resonant power and swift action base power, which seems like a nice little bonus in combat. And use that elven favored class bonus for extra Mental Focus to be able to afford all that. All in all, a pretty easy build once you get past the initial roadblock of understanding the class.

For my pure caster, I'm thinking of skipping Transmutation altogether, even though it's clearly the best implement/school, just to avoid redundancy with the front liner. There are plenty of other good schools to take. I could do Conjuration early for cure spells and summoning minions at low level, Enchantment for the spells (Daze cantrip for something to do all day in combat at low levels), Illusion for defense and that early entry Minor Image, and Divination for out of combat scouting/utility. Also an elf, because that favored class bonus is too good to give up. And I'm thinking of going skill monkey/utility caster primarily with this, so the Breadth of Experience feat would work well for +2 on all knowledge checks and ability to roll untrained knowledges on a high int PC.

Grand Lodge 4/5 5/55/55/55/5 **** Venture-Captain, Minnesota

That sounds like a really fun build, Fromper!

Hmm

3/5 **** Venture-Agent, Massachusetts—Boston Metro

Fromper wrote:
Quote:
Emotion Component: If a spell has listed that it requires a somatic component, for a psychic spellcaster that instead means that is has an emotion component. All this component really does is restrict when a psychic spellcaster can cast spells. If the psychic spellcaster is under any kind of non-harmless effect with the emotion or fear descriptors, then the psychic spellcaster cannot cast a spell with an emotion component at all as the effect interferes with spellcasting. Yes, this includes having the shaken condition from an intimidate check to demoralize.
And this is why all psychics, spiritualists, occultists, and mediums that focus on casting should walk around with potions of Remove Fear (50 gp). Mesmerists have a class ability to deal with this, I think starting at level 3.

Intimidate shouldn't actively hinder an occultist too much. Its the one class from the book where you can kind of tell that they tacked on the whole fact that they are a psychic spellcaster at some point.

Grand Lodge 4/5 Venture-Agent, Texas—Houston

Fromper wrote:
Quote:
Emotion Component: If a spell has listed that it requires a somatic component, for a psychic spellcaster that instead means that is has an emotion component. All this component really does is restrict when a psychic spellcaster can cast spells. If the psychic spellcaster is under any kind of non-harmless effect with the emotion or fear descriptors, then the psychic spellcaster cannot cast a spell with an emotion component at all as the effect interferes with spellcasting. Yes, this includes having the shaken condition from an intimidate check to demoralize.
And this is why all psychics, spiritualists, occultists, and mediums that focus on casting should walk around with potions of Remove Fear (50 gp). Mesmerists have a class ability to deal with this, I think starting at level 3.

Mediums who focus on casting are likely to have a few arcane or divine spells as backup, as the archmage and heirophant spirits add spells of those types.

However, this means you will likely need a spell component pouch and a holy symbol as a medium, as the arcane/divine spells added don't say anything about removing material or focus components.

Dark Archive 5/5 5/5

Disk Elemental wrote:
I have an Occultist, a Kineticist, and a Psychic. Haven't seen any other Occult classes in the area.

You must not get out much.

There are a healthy number of Occult classes. I should know, I have two myself.

Dark Archive 5/5 5/5

Hilary Moon Murphy wrote:

I do spend time with players beforehand, asking not only what they would be bringing, but who they will be bring. What personality are you bringing to my table? Who do you see your character as? How would they introduce themselves in character?

I do ask them if there are any special tricks or corner cases that they want to tell me about in advance. I do not need too understand everything that a character has brought to my table, but I like to have a bit of a heads-up about what shenanigans I might see. However all that is really important is that they know their characters, and that everyone has a great time and shares the spotlight.

My main rules that I tell my players are:

1) You must know your character. Don't make me look things up for you in game.
(The exception for this is brand new players and pregens. But the pregens are old friends by now, so this is less of a problem.)

2) If we have to look something up, I'll have others at the table do so, so the game can go on

Hmm, all of this sounds familiar...

Grand Lodge 4/5 5/55/55/55/5 **** Venture-Captain, Minnesota

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Hey! Learn from the best!

As for Disk Elemental's comment, adoption of psychic classes varies store by store. They're all over Dreamers and Level Up, but I've seen them played less in other locations.

Hmm

Dark Archive 5/5 5/5

Hilary Moon Murphy wrote:

Hey! Learn from the best!

As for Disk Elemental's comment, adoption of psychic classes varies store by store. They're all over Dreamers and Level Up, but I've seen them played less in other locations.

Hmm

Who is this person? And how do I get in contact with them?

Grand Lodge 3/5

Andrew Roberts wrote:


Here's a copy-paste from my local forums of a post I made for this.
<long post>

I often forget about the Emotional/Thought component of my Spiritualist. Though he's taken a dip into Bloodrager and he's more of a melee build with the phantom as support, i wanted to take Mad Magic so he could possibly cast while raging- then the whole "non-harmless emotion/fear" aspect nulled that. eh, no big deal.

It's mostly just hard to remember which spells are Emotional- and which are Thought- component based.

4/5

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I remember it that it is alphabetical. Somatic and Verbal is in alphabetical order, and so is Emotion and Thought.

Somatic -> Emotion, Verbal -> Thought.

Sovereign Court 4/5 5/5 *** Venture-Agent, Nebraska—Omaha

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Andrew Roberts wrote:

I remember it that it is alphabetical. Somatic and Verbal is in alphabetical order, and so is Emotion and Thought.

Somatic -> Emotion, Verbal -> Thought.

I just remember to think when I speak. And that I use my hands to feel.

4/5

Fromper wrote:
** spoiler omitted **...

Wow. That archetype is awesome for a caster occultist. Thanks!

Silver Crusade 4/5

Andrew Roberts wrote:
Fromper wrote:
** spoiler omitted **...
Wow. That archetype is awesome for a caster occultist. Thanks!

Actually, I was thinking it's better for a melee/archer occultist, since the best Medium spirit to borrow is the Champion spirit for +2 to damage on every attack. The only down side is that it doesn't stack with Battle Host, so you have to pick one or the other.

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