Occult Adventure characters in PFS


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4/5 5/5

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...

1/5

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While I have made a few, I have not seen many other people play them.

3/5 RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 32, RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16, RPG Superstar 2013 Top 16

I've got an Occultist at level 6 (mostly from Dragon's Demand credit, though), and a Paladin that's going to take a couple of levels of Medium for the Champion spirit.

5/5 **** Venture-Captain, Massachusetts—Central & West

I can't say that I've seen that many. Of them, the more popular (at least in my area) have been Kineticists, Mesmerists, and Occultists.

Liberty's Edge 4/5 5/55/5 **

Pathfinder Rulebook, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

We have a sizable group here. I myself have a level 15 occultist and some lower level occultists. I have seen at least one of every class in play down here; it's a pretty popular book. I think that the classes can be intimidating because there are lots of moving parts but my area is filled with people who enjoy character creation and the level of fiddling that the classes offer.

Silver Crusade 3/5 5/5

My Kineticist hit level 12 at GenCon and I know there are several Occult characters in my area. I'm looking at making a Psychic soon, a melee-based Kineticist, and a Living Monolith that dips into Medium.

Silver Crusade 4/5

I've seen a couple here and there, but not too many.

Kineticists are clearly the most popular, followed by psychics and spiritualists, and then occultists in 4th. Mesmerist is the only one that I've never seen at a table, other than a pregen in We Be Aspis 2. I've also only seen a medium at a table once, at a convention, so it's not someone I play with regularly to see that PC ever again.

I actually just threw a single level medium dip on my unchained rogue, which is my first occult PC. That's actually a good dip for any martial focused PC, as long as you just channel the champion spirit every time. It doesn't even matter if you dumped charisma (the class's casting stat), since you're not doing it for the two cantrips per day at level 1, but for all the class abilities.

5/5 *** Venture-Agent, Netherlands—Utrecht

I've seen two Kineticists so far. One was the playtest version, one is an Aetherkineticist. Aether says she isn't built for damage, but still has an insane damage output. I guess that'll decrease once iteratives come around.
I've seen two Mediums around. One's the Spiritdancer archetype, and I'm impressed. The other is a bit meh, to be honest.
I've seen several Mesmerists. One guy has two, one purely a back row character, and one a more hands-on character. Seems pretty fine.
I'm the only one who has made an Occultist. One went through All for Immortality, and I made a second one to try a different build. They're definitely tricky to plan out, but the most rewarding character I've made so far.
I've seen three Psychics. I'm not totally impressed, to be honest. They seem like fine full casters with some weird abilities.
No Spiritualists so far. Most people don't seem to know what to do with them. Spell list seems to me a bit sub-par, and the Spirit has the feeling of an overly-nerfed Eidolon/animal compaion.

1/5 5/5

Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

I saw one Geokineticist online.

A medium in a module at a convention.

A medium in a module online PbP.

I have a telekineticist that's seen limited play.

4/5 5/5

So far, the longbow-wielding spiritualist I've been playing is one of only two I've seen since the playtest. Seen a fair amount of kineticists, one medium and no occultists at all (I think the complexity on those builds can be a little daunting).

But I really like what I've seen so far, I think I'm going to be playing occult characters quite a bit, at least for the next few months....

Lantern Lodge 5/5

There's a couple kineticists, one medium,2 splash levels of mesmerist (and a psychic that I've played twice) in my area (about a dozen players). Also a pretty high-levelled mindblade magus, if that counts.

Dark Archive 4/5 5/5

I think I've seen everything in play except maybe an Occultist. That said outside of the kineticist I'd say their frequency has dropped off.

Silver Crusade 4/5 Venture-Captain, Pennsylvania—Pittsburgh

I also see a ton of kineticists, mostly from our more experienced players when they want something simple and blast-y. I've seen everything else get played a little tiny bit. A couple occultists, a couple mediums, a couple mesmerists, and then a single spiritualist and a single psychic so far.

There are a lot of players who don't own all the hardcovers, and in my area, it seems like people only find the kineticist super-interesting. So I think if they buy a book they don't have, they probably buy something else first. APG or ACG usually. OA is a little bit of a niche product, which IMO is fine. It'll probably get more popular as people finish playing through ACG character classes.

Shadow Lodge 4/5

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

Grand Lodge 4/5 5/5 * Venture-Captain, Mississippi–Hattiesburg

There's a few around:

I've seen a gnome geokineticist, a couple hydrokineticist chirugeons, a psychic, and a spiritualist. I've heard of mesmerists and multi-class mediums lurking around, too.

I myself have a super-armored dwarven occultist that is collecting multi-table specials and a mesmerist/unchained rogue.

They're fun to play. Folks are just unsure about how fun they really can be =)

Sovereign Court 3/5

I've only seen one Kineticist and a friend has a Mesmerist

Silver Crusade 5/5 5/5 **

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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.

3/5

Let's see...
I know of four kineticists in my area, one spiritualist, and maybe one other character.

Problem is, the drawbacks to psychic casting are harsh. I argue they're harsher than arcane casting's drawbacks. The SLA spellcraft FAQ greatly minimizes the benefits those drawbacks are intended to mitigate. End result is that doing something like taking the psychic bloodline on a sorcerer ends up being a net negative compared to any other bloodline in terms of overall efficacy. So unless your concept really begs for a psychic class or you decide "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!" you're unlikely to select psychic spellcasting options.

Thus 4 to 1 ratios of kineticists to every other psychic class instead of the reverse.

Grand Lodge 4/5 5/55/55/55/5 ***** Venture-Captain, Texas—Austin

I have a kineticist, and psychic and a spiritualist. My girlfriend has almost retired her mesmerist

I have seen 2 other kineticists at my lodge, another psychic,an occultist and a medium.

So I guess I have seen them all here.

Shadow Lodge 4/5

Got an 8th level Ectoplasmatist myself, but I've seen a 4th level mesmerist, a 3rd level psychic, one tier 1-2 aerokineticists and I think one more spiritualist at a con table.

Shadow Lodge *

Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Starfinder Superscriber

We have a geokineticist locally. Sigh.

I've made a Reliquarian Occultist that has a little bit of GM/pregen credit that I have yet to play, but am really looking forward to, and after playing the Mesmerist in We B Aspis 2, I'm now interested in making one of those.

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

I've GMed for everything occult except mediums. There are lots of occult characters in Minnesota, particularly at my little store where we have several players who've embraced the occult book.

Paul, fortunately all the occult classes are online. So long as the players know their characters, we're good. I'm always worried when I see a new player pick up a kineticist, though. It's a complicated class and I'm not well-versed enough to help them. Fortunately I have occult-obsessed regulars who can pick up the slack!

Hmm

4/5

Hilary Moon Murphy wrote:

I've GMed for everything occult except mediums. There are lots of occult characters in Minnesota, particularly at my little store where we have several players who've embraced the occult book.

Paul, fortunately all the occult classes are online. So long as the players know their characters, we're good. I'm always worried when I see a new player pick up a kineticist, though. It's a complicated class and I'm not well-versed enough to help them. Fortunately I have occult-obsessed regulars who can pick up the slack!

Hmm

Indeed, our adoption rate for these classes has been rather high in the MN lodge. Keith's mesmerist even completed Eyes of the Ten before the playtest was over. ^.^

I haven't come across a straight Medium yet (though I have a 1 level dip for Champion on a character), but I've played both Psychic and an Occultist, seen a Spiritualist, a few Mesmerists, and a few Kineticists.

Scarab Sages

I think there's couple around here (spiritualist and kineticist I believe). I know one player is probably making mesmerist soon. I almost made kineticist earlier. Not very common folk around table for sure.

Scarab Sages 2/5 5/55/55/55/5

I seen several (Kineticists, Mesmerists, Mediums) and played several (Kineticists, Spiritualist, various archetypes).

I doubt they will ever have the popularity of the core classes (except maybe core Fighter and core Rogue) but they do well enough.

4/5 ****

I finally got around to making a trio of Occult characters.

I've got Jaware a Tiefling Battle Occultist who finesses an elven branched spear and can add bane on demand to his weapon.

Hydris Bane is a halfling Medium. He channels the spirit of the great Durvin Guest. He's a halfling archer. Using a slingstaff at level 1 but upgrading to a bow at level 2.

Finally I have Zeldana. She's a Varisian Harrower who's a psychic who can explode people's heads with a bunch of weird divination caster level increases and the mind thrust line of spells. Mind Thrust is a damage spell from the divination school.

Dark Archive 3/5

Quentin Coldwater wrote:


I've seen several Mesmerists. One guy has two, one purely a back row character, and one a more hands-on character. Seems pretty fine.

I've seen three Psychics. I'm not totally impressed, to be honest. They seem like fine full casters with some weird abilities.

No Spiritualists so far. Most people don't seem to know what to do with them. Spell list seems to me a bit sub-par, and the Spirit has the feeling of an overly-nerfed Eidolon/animal compaion.

Since I'm from the same region, I echo Quentin, with a few additions:

- I actually got three mesmerists now, though you've only seen two. One purely back row, enchant based, one more hands-on (Vexing Daredevil) and a divine caster (Fey Trickster). Mesmerists are so versatile, I love it :)

- My psychic is specifically going for a niche/flavor build. They're indeed good full casters, but I'd say mine is far from optimal. Still, I like my take on a funerary priest of Pharasma.

- There'll be a spiritualist soon, but without a spirit. As someone with a high level summoner, I have to say the Phantom just feels.. meh.

- I've also seen a fire kineticist a few times from a couple of players, but it seems people find them too difficult to play. The rules are a bit much.

- Occultist.. well.. it's just too much to take in for me, I can't focus on reading through the whole class description. I've only seen Quentin's.

- I've only seen one full medium and a multiclass barbarian/bloodrager one. The full medium player later said she rebuild the character because it just didn't work out or feel right.

4/5 **

I've made quite a few occult characters and now I have a Medium, Kineticist and Occultist.

I think locally there's largest amount of Occultists with a few Spiritualist and Kineticist hanging around. Other occult classes seem to be very rare here.

Shadow Lodge 4/5

I'm brewing a Bloodkineticist myself, but really would like to try an Enigma one of these days. I just noticed that it does not retain painful stare so my dreams of a one shot wonder are much diminished...

Liberty's Edge 1/5

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Too many Kineticist. They do too much damage and do it way too often.
I really do not think Pazio play-tested that book well and the people who run PFS rushed it into play too quick, the classes are way unbalancing.I mean you get fly as a SLA that can never be dispelled? Don't give me the bull about burn being a limiting factor because of the short time frame of most PFS scenarios. That usually never comes into play,ever. I have seen Kinect at mid level deal out over 150 points of damage a round for 2-3 rounds in a row and that is with no crits.

Shadow Lodge 4/5

captnchuck67 wrote:


I really do not think Pazio play-tested

Well, duh. I mean, there probably was a testing of some sort, but in terms of QA kinda stress testing? Not really. Mind you, it's not really possible in this sort of medium, but people still expect it from high profile RPG dev teams.

Sovereign Court 3/5

For full 1-20 adventure campaigns a kineticist can more easily be reined in, either though specific mechanics or just stressing what resources they have. In PFS on the otherhand, as catnchuck67 said, with such a short time frame for each module those limits aren't really able to be pushed.

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

crashcanuck wrote:
For full 1-20 adventure campaigns a kineticist can more easily be reined in, either though specific mechanics or just stressing what resources they have. In PFS on the otherhand, as catnchuck67 said, with such a short time frame for each module those limits aren't really able to be pushed.

Yeah but then again they still underperform compared to other classes such as the alchemist.

5/5

Jeff Hazuka wrote:

There's a couple kineticists, one medium,2 splash levels of mesmerist (and a psychic that I've played twice) in my area (about a dozen players). Also a pretty high-levelled mindblade magus, if that counts.

And another psychic.

4/5 5/5

I will throw in this observation about kineticists after seeing one in an extended, multi-day event. When I ran the Plunder and Peril module at last month's Scarefest (an awesome small con, by the way), one of the players from Charlotte played a void chaokineticist and I was pleasantly surprised. It was powerful, no question of that, but it wasn't broken or OP, it was simply a good ranged damage dealer with some cool secondary abilities. It fit in very well with the brawler/monk/barbarian, the Waves shaman and the other, non-occult, characters and did not overshadow any of those builds. I'm really looking forward to seeing some of the other occult classes and how they stack up against the builds from the pre-Occult books.

Shadow Lodge *

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Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Starfinder Superscriber
captnchuck67 wrote:

Too many Kineticist. They do too much damage and do it way too often.

I really do not think Pazio play-tested that book well and the people who run PFS rushed it into play too quick, the classes are way unbalancing.I mean you get fly as a SLA that can never be dispelled? Don't give me the bull about burn being a limiting factor because of the short time frame of most PFS scenarios. That usually never comes into play,ever. I have seen Kinect at mid level deal out over 150 points of damage a round for 2-3 rounds in a row and that is with no crits.

Also, in my experience, the players do not always understand how burn works. I had to explain to our local kineticist that burn was hp *per hit die*. Seems basic, but...

5/5 *****

I see quite a few kineticists in online play, admittedly many played by the same person. I have yet to find one which is unbalancing. They do decent damage and have a small number of utility abilities which are rarely particularly powerful. They also have some pretty dangerous weaknesses, will saves being the primary issue.

They tend to do less damage than optimised archers, pouncing barbarians/druids or alchemists. Their utility is far less than any of the 6th level casters and at mid levels probably less than the 4th level ones.

I have seen very little of the other classes. I have had a couple of mediums, psychics and occultists. I have yet to see a spiritualist. Season 7 has forced me to learn how most of these classes work to some extent but I am yet to play one.

Grand Lodge 3/5

I have a spiritualist, and plan on making a kineticist.
my friend has a psychic, a kineticist, and wants to make a medium with an Eyes of the Ten protege.

I've seen quite a few kineticists, but not alot of mediums or occultists.

3/5 *

I haven't seen any mediums. People may just have a problem seeing how they work in society play, plus only champ seems viable for 99% of adventuring days

Spiritualists I've also never seen, my guess is because they are well below the other companion type classes and have some finicky flaws as well

4/5

4 kineticists, 2 occultists (one is mine), 1 medium, 2 psychics, 1 mesmerist, and 2 spiritualists are what I've seen around here. From what I've heard, kineticist is by far the most popular in the book.

I've also seen quite a few archetypes, like psychic detective investigator (mine) and relic hunter inquisitor to name a few. There's a lot more than that I've seen... just not coming to mind though.

4/5

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I've seen a kineticist, a mesmerist, a physic, a medium, and two of the inquisitors (relic hunters) that get the occultist's toys.

I'm anxious to start my half-orc psychic with the "overlooked mastermind" alternate racial trait. One of my pet peeves is when people play really stupid characters in this campaign, so I will play a character who pretends to be stupid, but is really a manipulative psychic super-genius.

I'm also really interested in the new Death Druid from Horror Adventures that gets a Phantom instead of an Animal Companion. That looks a lot more fun to me than a true Spiritualist.


Mark Seifter would be proud

3/5 *** Venture-Agent, Nebraska—Lincoln

I had an Kineticist here but the player got in a fight with another player (at another game in the same game store) and I haven't seen him in months. Other than that, I don't think I've seen anyone with Occult Adventures under their arm yet.

I've been wondering about what to do with my Vishkanya boon that I still haven't used. I have to crack open Occult Adventures and see if there's anything interesting in there for me.

Grand Lodge 3/5

plaidwandering wrote:

I haven't seen any mediums. People may just have a problem seeing how they work in society play, plus only champ seems viable for 99% of adventuring days

Spiritualists I've also never seen, my guess is because they are well below the other companion type classes and have some finicky flaws as well

Spiritualists have a Summoners spell list, with an intelligent "animal companion" that has some Familiar abilities and a few others abilities. Upside to Phantom is, you don't have to pay to get a new one. :)

If it weren't for the Spiritualist's lack of a decent spell list, the Phantom is a nice medium between a familiar and animal companion.

4/5

I wouldn't say that spiritualists are below other companion classes. Having an intelligent incorporeal ally is very handy in some scenarios, particularly one that you can just put away when you don't want it out.

I'm building an ectoplasmist at this particular moment, so I'm finding myself rather endeared to the class. Something about Spell Combat/Spell Strike using Resistance once you hit level 3 is rather entertaining. The spell list as you progress is also quite interesting.

Sovereign Court 4/5 5/5 ** Venture-Lieutenant, Netherlands—Leiden

Eric Ives wrote:

I'm anxious to start my half-orc psychic with the "overlooked mastermind" alternate racial trait. One of my pet peeves is when people play really stupid characters in this campaign, so I will play a character who pretends to be stupid, but is really a manipulative psychic super-genius.

I completely overlooked that trait. It's pretty neat.

Sovereign Court 4/5 5/5 ** Venture-Lieutenant, Netherlands—Leiden

I'm working up a grippli bad touch (lick) spiritualist right now. I don't think their list is bad in the least, it's pretty vicious.

4/5 ** Venture-Agent, Massachusetts—Boston Metro

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I've seen at least one of every class up in the Boston Lodge, including several myself.

I have a Occultist (with the necrocultist archetype), Salouris, who's just about to hit level 8. I definitely took me a bit to figure out the class and what to do with the character, but once he got a few implements I'm really enjoying him. Between the necromancy, transmutation, and divination implements, the Pathfinder has a huge variety of options and ways to approach problem and buff others.

I also have a halfling medium, the only medium I've seen in action. I wish that the class was easier to use different spirits each mission, but so much of the rest of your character is locked in to ability scores and feats that he's pretty much just focused on being a Champion. That said, Champion makes for a nice little melee class, and shared seance can really add up across a party.

I have one psychic and have seen another two locally. My impressions are that they're a fine caster but a bit less flexible than the sorcerer (in both spells and bloodlines > Disciplines).

One player has a high-level mesmerist. He's not the strongest character on its own, but the tricks are far more useful in practice than I would have expected on paper and he's quite the buffer. Held his own in Bonekeep just fine. The class seems really flexible.

I have a low level kineticist and have seen a high one. They're a bit tough to grok at first but seem pretty strong if a bit one note. As they get to high levels they get simultaneously more interesting (as your talents give you more unique options) and less (as like most 'archers' you are doing the same thing 80% or your rounds.

Spiritualist is the only one I've barely seen. One player around here has one but has only played it about twice so far. I've looked into it myself, but always lose my enthusiasm when I get to the phantom, who seems the weakest of the companion options by far.

Silver Crusade 4/5

Serisan wrote:

I wouldn't say that spiritualists are below other companion classes. Having an intelligent incorporeal ally is very handy in some scenarios, particularly one that you can just put away when you don't want it out.

I'm building an ectoplasmist at this particular moment, so I'm finding myself rather endeared to the class. Something about Spell Combat/Spell Strike using Resistance once you hit level 3 is rather entertaining. The spell list as you progress is also quite interesting.

Yeah, I'm surprised people are so down on the spiritualist's phantom. I GMed one through a dungeon crawl, and having a scout who can walk through walls was very nearly game breaking.

I haven't looked at the details to see how they compare to eidolons or animal companions in battle, but their ability to use weapons seems to make them pretty decent combatants.

Sovereign Court 4/5 5/5 ** Venture-Lieutenant, Netherlands—Leiden

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.

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