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Got a dwarven occultist that just reached level 2, and having some difficulty picking a 3rd implement school.
The character is built for melee with secondary support and utility roles. Already have Transmutation and Conjuration. Considering Abjuration, Divination, and Illusion. The party includes a psychic and an alchemist (with whom I am splitting the healing - hence taking Conjuration).
Starting Int is 15 - planning on bumping it to 16 at level 4 and getting a Headband as soon as feasible but still feeling short on Focus and my DCs aren't great. Planning on taking Craft Wondrous Items at lvl 3.
Abjuration
Upsides: Resonant power is very useful. Spells are solid. Qualifies me to take the Panoply of the Warrior in the long run.
Downsides: Not a big fan of the focus powers until Globe of Negation - which is unfortunate since the resonant power encourages a moderate amount of investment in the school.
Divination
Upsides: Resonant power is potentially quite nice, and the base power is useful. Mind Eye is probably my favourite level 5 focus power.
Downsides: As a dwarf, I don't really need low light or darkvision, so I wouldn't get much out of the resonant power until I can invest 9 focus in it for see invisibility - which is hard since it's competing with Transmutation.
Illusion
Upsides: Base power and several focus powers are moderately useful. Resonant power can be useful but doesn't demand investment. Mirror Image is a very handy spell. Sort of fits the character's personality.
Downsides: Not sure my DCs are going to be good enough - the party psychic might pick up illusions and would do them better.
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How easy is it to get magic items in your campaign? I ask because the abjuration resonant power looks useful at first glance, but it's really the same as a Cloak of Resistance. For my own melee occultist, I'm planning to just buy the cloak and not bother investing mental focus to get that power. The main reason I want Abjuration is for Shield and some of the other spells. That lets me use a two handed weapon for offense while still "wearing" a shield for good AC.
For my guy, I'm doing Transmutation, Abjuration, and Divination at levels 1 and 2, followed by illusion at 6. But I also don't need Conjuration for the healing that badly on this PC.
I'd say Illusion is not as important for a melee build as Abjuration or Divination. The real question is which you want to boost more: offense or defense? With Abjuration, you get Shield as a known spell right away, which is nice. With Divination, you get that nice offense boost from the swift action base power. I'd probably lean towards Divination myself, but it depends on the rest of both your build and the rest of the party.
Well, for utility, I think Divination can't be beat. Mind Eye is incredible, Perception bonuses are always nice to have and Sudden Insight is really strong. But getting Trappings of the Warrior at level 6 is fantastic since it turns you almost into a full BAB class. From level 6 onwards, you'd also have a use for all the mental focus invested into Abjuration because my goodness, Combat Trick is amazing.
So, I'd say it depends on when you plan to take Trappings of the Warrior. If that can wait until level 10, then I'd take Divination. Yes, Mirror Image is incredible, but I don't think it warrants taking that implement school especially since the Psychic is likely to pick up Invisibility themself.
But if your Occultist is the main frontline fighter and everyone depends on them being reasonably good at fending off enemies in melee, then you should probably go for a level 6 Trappings and thus Abjuration at level 2.
Although here's something to make it even more complicated: Shadow Beast (Illusion focus power) at level 9 enables you to summon quasi-real flanking buddies, but possibly even more importantly Bralani Azata who can cast Cure Serious Wounds twice a day, fulfilling your healing role. But you already have Conjuration and that's such a long way away that Illusion's still not worth it in my opinion.
Edit:
I ask because the abjuration resonant power looks useful at first glance, but it's really the same as a Cloak of Resistance.
True, but there's a reason slotless items are so expensive. Freeing up your shoulder slot is pretty strong although I haven't looked too deeply into what I would want to replace the otherwise ubiquitous Cloak of Resistance with.
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This is always a tough choice. I would go for Divination or Abjuration at 2nd level and the other at 6th.
If you are really focused on melee then Abjuration has some useful spells and a couple of swift action Focus Powers that are available at low levels. That's really nice for an Occultist's action economy.
On the other hand, Divination has Detect Magic, which I really like having at low levels. Mind Eye is a truly awesome Focus Power, but you can't take that until 5th level anyway. As Nixitur points out, the Perception Bonus from the Resonant Power is very nice.
Since you mentioned you are serving a secondary role as a healer, here is a list of healing-related options for an Occultist.
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Occult Skill Unlocks
-Faith Healing (Heal Skill): Suppress, suspend, or remove ability damage, curses, diseases, or poison.
-Read Aura (Perception Skill): Determine whether a creature is wounded, poisoned, diseased, confused, disabled, dying, nauseated, panicked, staggered, stunned, or unconscious.
Level 0 Spells
-Detect Poison (Divination Implement)
-Stabilize (Conjuration Implement)
Level 1 Spells
-Cure Light Wounds (Conjuration Implement)
-Diagnose Disease (Divination Implement): Can be used to detect a number of conditions
Reliquarian Domain Spells
-Cure Light Wounds (Healing Domain Spell)
-Diagnose Disease (Healing Domain, Medicine Subdomain Spell): Can be used to detect a number of conditions
-Remove Fear (Liberation Domain Spell)
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Haunt Collector
-Possessed Possessions (Hierophant Spirit): Gives your healing spells and abilities +2 points of healing per target.
Panoply (Saint’s Holy Regalia)
-Font of Healing (Resonant Power): Adds points of healing to ‘Cure’ spells.
-Restoring Touch (Base Focus Power): Cures temporary ability damage and at higher levels cures permanent ability damage.
-Martyr’s Benediction (Focus Power): Restores hit points to your allies.
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Focus Powers
-Flesh Mend (Conjuration Implement): gives you a way to heal hit points using Mental Focus instead of using up spell slots.
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Level 2 Spells
-Calm Emotions (Enchantment Implement): Can be used to suppress fear conditions and confusion
-Cure Moderate Wounds (Conjuration Implement)
-Delay Poison (Conjuration Implement)
-Status (Divination Implement): Can be used to detect a number of conditions
Reliquarian Domain Spells
-Cure Moderate Wounds (Reliquarian Archetype - Healing Domain Spell)
-Placebo Effect (Healing Domain, Medicine Subdomain Spell)
-Remove Disease (Healing Domain, Restoration Subdomain Spell)
-Remove Paralysis (Reliquarian Archetype - Liberation Domain Spell)
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Focus Powers
-Purge Corruption (Conjuration Implement): Duplicates the effects of the Neutralize Poison and Remove Disease spells. It's really valuable since neither of those spells is on your list.
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Level 3 Spells
-Age Resistance, Lesser (Transmutation Implement): Can suppress the negative effects of age
-Cure Serious Wounds (Conjuration Implement)
-Dispel Magic (Abjuration Implement): Can end spells which place conditions on you or your allies
-Gentle Repose (Necromancy Implement): Can help preserve your fallen comrades until a better healer is available
-Symbol of Healing (Conjuration Implement)
Reliquarian Domain Spells
-Cure Serious Wounds (Reliquarian Archetype - Healing Domain Spell)
-Remove Curse (Reliquarian Archetype - Liberation Domain Spell)
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Level 4 Spells
-Age Resistance (Transmutation Implement): Can suppress the negative effects of age
-Break Enchantment (Abjuration Implement): Can remove enchantments, transmutations, and curses
-Cure Critical Wounds (Conjuration Implement)
-Death Ward (Necromancy Implement): Can temporarily remove the penalties from negative levels
-Freedom of Movement (Abjuration Implement): Can remove paralysis, grappled, and the like
Reliquarian Domain Spells
-Cure Critical Wounds (Reliquarian Archetype - Healing Domain Spell)
-Freedom of Movement (Reliquarian Archetype - Liberation Domain Spell): Can remove paralysis, grappled, and the like
-Neutralize Poison (Healing Domain, Restoration Subdomain Spell)
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Level 5 Spells
-Cure Light Wounds, Mass (Conjuration Implement)
-Dispel Magic, Greater (Abjuration Implement): Can end spells which place conditions on you or your allies
-Temporary Resurrection (Necromancy Implement): Can help preserve your fallen comrades until a better healer is available
Reliquarian Domain Spells
-Break Enchantment (Reliquarian Archetype - Liberation Domain Spell)
-Break Enchantment (Healing Domain, Restoration Subdomain Spell)
-Breath of Life (Reliquarian Archetype - Healing Domain Spell)
-Raise Dead (Healing Domain, Resurrection Subdomain Spell)
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Level 6 Spells
-Cure Moderate Wounds, Mass (Conjuration Implement)
-Heal (Conjuration Implement): Can remove ability damage, blinded, confused, dazed, dazzled, deafened, diseased, exhausted, fatigued, feebleminded, insanity, nauseated, poisoned, sickened, and stunned
Reliquarian Domain Spells
-Dispel Magic, Greater (Reliquarian Archetype - Liberation Domain Spell): Can end spells which place conditions on you or your allies
-Heal (Reliquarian Archetype - Healing Domain Spell): Can remove ability damage, blinded, confused, dazed, dazzled, deafened, diseased, exhausted, fatigued, feebleminded, insanity, nauseated, poisoned, sickened, and stunned
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Wow, that's a super in-depth look at healing options! I'd probably also consider summoned monsters with healing SLAs or spells. These can be summoned both with Servitor or Shadow Beast, although I prefer Shadow Beast due to scaling much faster. And for healing, the difference between shadow creatures and real ones doesn't matter that much unless you have a superstitious Barbarian or a Medium under influence penalty by a Trickster in your party. Everyone else can just choose to fail their save to disbelief.
Here's summonable monsters that have some sort of healing abilities:
Bralani Azata (lvl 9 for Shadow Beast, 13 for Servitor) - two Cure Serious Wounds
Lillend Azata (lvl 11 for Shadow Beast, 16 for Servitor) - two Cure Serious Wounds, up to eleven Cure Light Wounds
Astral Deva (lvl 17 for Shadow Beast) - at-will Remove Curse, Remove Disease, Remove Fear, seven Cure Light Wounds, one Heal
Ghaele Azata (lvl 17 for Shadow Beast) - at-will Cure Light Wounds, one Heal, one Restoration, two Lesser Restoration, three Cure Serious Wounds
Trumpet Archon (lvl 17 for Shadow Beast) - two Heal, two Mass Cure Serious Wounds, one Mass Cure Light Wounds, one Neutralize Poison, one Cure Serious Wounds, two Cure Moderate Wounds, two Lesser Restoration, three Cure Light Wounds
Sure, these only come online at level 9 at the earliest, but at that point, their Cure Serious Wounds outperforms your Flesh Mend. At level 11, your Flesh Mend does 3d8+11 versus the Lillend's 3d8+7, but they get two of those and for the same price! Not to mention that Lillends also get Inspire Courage+2. But especially getting two Heals and two Mass Cure Serious Wounds at level 17 is incredibly cheap for a single point of Mental Focus.
I suppose the only issue is keeping them alive. Even though against disbelieving creatures, Shadow Beasts do 50% of the damage they normally do and their spells and SLAs have a 50% chance of working, it looks like their HP is still just 20% the normal amount like for regular Shadow Conjuration.
Good idea, Nixitur. I hadn't considered the options with summoning.
I would do abjuration. If you haven't taken an archetype and are combat oriented, take a look at haunt collector.
Definitely my favorite Occultist archetype. :)
Woo, Occultists are my personal pet project. :)
Abjuration is really sweet for its Resonant bonus, indeed, but otherwise kinda meh. If you're in front a lot, you're going to want to put a lot of points in here, but you already said you didn't have enough points.
Never really used Divination because I don't like it, but I do see it's very strong. Just a few points here and there can boost your Perception, and Sudden Insight and Danger Sight are really good.
Illusion is also great if you're in melee a lot. As you said, Mirror Image is amazing for survivability.
I'd personally go with either Divination or Illusion. Divination more for the Focus Powers, Illusion for the spells. Both can help you in combat (Displacement, See Invisibility) and out of combat (Perception bonus, Mind Eye, Invisibility). How are you spending your spells compared to your Mental Focus? That's basically the question you need to answer every time you get a new Implement. You said you didn't have enough Mental Focus, so I suggest you go look at which spells you like more. I've never really liked the Divination spells, but See Invis and Comprehend Languages are really good to have. Then again, they're the only ones of note at early levels, IMHO. Illusion gets you Vanish, Invisibility (play in the same space, but nice you you run out of second-level spells), Mirror Image, Displacement.
As you said, your INT isn't high enough to make offensive spells (spells with DCs) viable. Don't bother with Minor Image and the like. Grab utility stuff or out of combat stuff like Spider Climb, Resist Energy, Vanish, and so on. In melee you're a competent frontliner. Not amazing, but Legacy Weapon compensates for that. In melee, you hit things a lot. Out of melee, you're a magical toolbox. I've found that really worked for my Occulitst.
As for Mental Focus... The feat Extra Mental Focus gives you two more. Not amazing, but it's something.
Am I overestimating how good Trappings of the Warrior is? I just found out about it a few days ago and it seems absurdly good for a melee occultist with an almost-full BAB and the ability to just get any combat feat for three focus. But I noticed that neither Gisher nor Quentin mentioned it, so is it not actually that good?
Also, apart from the limitation on which implements to use, it seems to be straight up better than taking Abjuration or Transmutation a second time since you actually get a more diverse choice of spells. Am I missing something here?
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Well, a lot of people have written off Trappings (and the mage panoply) because they're not PFS legal and a lot of people play PFS or at least use it as a baseline.
The "Trappings of the Warrior" Occultist is a specific kind of character though, as if you want to play a "smash face" occultist it ends up speaking for 3 of your first 4 implement choices (Ideally, you pick up the panoply at 6th level to get your first iterative when the full BAB folks do.) If that's the character you want to play, by all means play that character (Conjuration is a strong choice for that other early implement since it eventually gives you side step, and is a good choice for one to haunt if you're a haunt collector as the resonant power does basically nothing for you.) But if you want to play that character, your next two implement choices are spoken for.
The "a combat feat for 3 MF" is not necessarily a great deal though, since you can apply "Training" with Legacy Weapn to grab a combat feat for 1 MF if you need blind fight or something (the opportunity cost here is that you can't also bane.) A panoply is definitely better than taking an implement school more than once, though.
Well, my Occultist is currently level 7 (if only I had known about Trappings of the Warrior a few weeks ago...), so I'm debating whether to take Conjuration or Trappings at level 10. Since he's the main frontline guy in the party, though, it'll probably be Trappings, even if that means no sidestepping or teleportation until way later.
The "a combat feat for 3 MF" is not necessarily a great deal though, since you can apply "Training" with Legacy of the Warrior to grab a combat feat for 1 MF
Oof, I hadn't even considered that, that makes it much worse, making the choice way harder. Trappings still has pretty amazing focus powers, though.
Thanks for all the information, that changes things considerably.
Am I overestimating how good Trappings of the Warrior is? I just found out about it a few days ago and it seems absurdly good for a melee occultist with an almost-full BAB and the ability to just get any combat feat for three focus. But I noticed that neither Gisher nor Quentin mentioned it, so is it not actually that good?
It's really, really good. A Haunt Collector with the Champion Spirit and Trappings of the Warrior is a melee beast. Weirdo said that he was thinking about taking Abjuration to go into the Panoply, and that's a not a bad idea. But I think of it as a later option when the increased BAB is large. At low levels I really value versatility.
One of the biggest downsides to TotW is that it seems to lock you into a sword and board fighting style. At the moment I'm more into THF with reach weapons.
Also, apart from the limitation on which implements to use, it seems to be straight up better than taking Abjuration or Transmutation a second time since you actually get a more diverse choice of spells. Am I missing something here?
I agree with that.
Well, my Occultist is currently level 7 (if only I had known about Trappings of the Warrior a few weeks ago...), so I'm debating whether to take Conjuration or Trappings at level 10. Since he's the main frontline guy in the party, though, it'll probably be Trappings, even if that means no sidestepping or teleportation until way later.
The "a combat feat for 3 MF" is not necessarily a great deal though, since you can apply "Training" with Legacy of the Warrior to grab a combat feat for 1 MFOof, I hadn't even considered that, that makes it much worse, making the choice way harder. Trappings still has pretty amazing focus powers, though.
Thanks for all the information, that changes things considerably.
One of the great things about Legacy Weapon is that it gets more valuable every time a new Weapon Special Ability is published. :)
One of the biggest downsides to TotW is that it seems to lock you into a sword and board fighting style. At the moment I'm more into THF with reach weapons.
Power Attack, Shield Focus, and Shield Brace is three feats and will fund your entire combat style.
Plus wearing a bracer doesn't really get in the way of anything, even archery (which is way more shield intensive.) Some GMs may have liberal interpretations of what "hold" means in the context of panoplies (informed by how one of the panoplies requires a robe), and let you count your shield strapped to your back as "held."
Some GMs may have liberal interpretations of what "hold" means in the context of panoplies (informed by how one of the panoplies requires a robe), and let you count your shield strapped to your back as "held."
To be honest, I was kind of counting on that since I have invested in a +1 Greatsword already. But I think that should be alright since a holstered weapon counts, too.
Even if it doesn't count, a buckler is only a -1 to attack with two-handed weapons which sucks, but is still a small price to pay for increasing your BAB.|
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Wow, thanks for all the suggestions and sorry for the delay getting back to the thread.
I'm leaning towards Divination at 2, Abjuration at 6, Trappings at 10. We spend fewer rounds in combat than average, so Sudden Insight would be a decent way for me to buff my to-hit.
Shadow Beast is pretty cool, but I'm not confident we'll get to 9th level. I might consider it instead of Trappings at 10 depending on how I'm feeling about combat. Presumably it's possible to make a melee occultist without Trappings.
Focus powers would probably be:
1 - Size Alteration
3 - Flesh Mend or Danger Sight
5 - Purge Corruption or Mind's Eye (Extra Focus Power?)
7 - Side Step
9 - Power over Gravity
11 - Globe of Negation or Shadow Beast
More Background
On top of the psychic and alchemist (a ranged build but with OK defenses) we've got two switch-hitters: a geokineticist and a ranger. While I want to contribute in melee, I'm not the party's primary damage-dealer or the only person standing between the enemy and a bunch of squishies.
I have Extra Mental Focus as my 1st level feat.
I'm already Sword & Boarding as a thematic preference. This makes Trappings more attractive and makes Abjuration less necessary in the short term (since I don't need the Shield spell).
I'm expecting a slightly lower than usual WBL but with reliable access to specific items through crafting, and generous application of the custom item rules to make multi-powered items or even re-slot things.
I did look carefully at Haunt Collector but wasn't sold on the thematics, and also was uncertain about which implement to Haunt -
Conjuration has the worst resonant power but I wanted it at 1st level and get the Haunted Implement at 2nd level. I could probably retrain, and the GM might even let me declare my Conjuration implement as the haunted one - but at that point I'm uncertain whether the Flesh Mend, Purge Corruption, and Side Step powers will be useful enough to be worth pulling Focus away from implements with more useful resonant powers. Or is it worth trading away the powers on Abjuration (I could just get a cloak) or Divination (I'll probably only really benefit from the perception bonus)?
How are you spending your spells compared to your Mental Focus? That's basically the question you need to answer every time you get a new Implement. You said you didn't have enough Mental Focus, so I suggest you go look at which spells you like more.
I think Divination - it has a better range of utility spells. Illusion has Invisibility (which is great but something I could access from the alchemist, psychic, or items), spells with DCs (need more Int), and a couple different ways to get a miss chance in combat (nice, but I'd prefer utility).
One of the biggest downsides to TotW is that it seems to lock you into a sword and board fighting style. At the moment I'm more into THF with reach weapons.Power Attack, Shield Focus, and Shield Brace is three feats and will fund your entire combat style.
Plus wearing a bracer doesn't really get in the way of anything, even archery (which is way more shield intensive.) Some GMs may have liberal interpretations of what "hold" means in the context of panoplies (informed by how one of the panoplies requires a robe), and let you count your shield strapped to your back as "held."
Good suggestions.
@Weirdo
Size Alteration is a nice Focus Power. If you haven't noticed the fine print yet, it is not limited to a type of creature the way that Enlarge Person is. You can use it on your Ranger's Animal Companion or on creatures you summon with Servitor.
Focus powers would probably be:
1 - Size Alteration
3 - Flesh Mend or Danger Sight
5 - Purge Corruption or Mind's Eye (Extra Focus Power?)
7 - Side Step
9 - Power over Gravity
11 - Globe of Negation or Shadow Beast
I'm not sure about Flesh Mend. Sure, it grows in power, but remember that you can never switch out focus powers and you only get your second die at level 7. Until then, you're probably better off just having a Wand of Cure Light Wounds on hand and even after that, you can probably spare the odd cure spell here or there, especially since you get Cure Serious Wounds at the same level, one of your best choices for a lvl 3 Conjuration spell.
Danger Sight, on the other hand, is amazing. There's nothing that ruins a psychic spellcaster's day as much as a failed Will save.Mind Eye is probably one of the best focus powers at the Occultist's disposal, just for the sheer versatility. It's small enough to go through keyholes, imagine the posibilities!
Purge Corruption is quite good, but Remove Disease and Neutralize Poison are both on the Alchemist's spell list. They only get that at level 7, though, two levels after you could take it. It's a solid choice, but I'm not sure if it's worth a feat.
Side Step and Mind Over Gravity are both fantastic picks. The latter is especially useful because you're probably going to have plenty of mental focus invested in Transmutation, anyway.
If you're going to want to take Extra Focus Power at some point, I'd say Energy Shield is an extremely good choice, too. Yes, it's not as powerful as Protection from Energy, but it's a swift action activation or even immediate for double the cost.
Meant to say "buckler" not "bracer" earlier, but I got my b-words confused and the edit window is closed.
Probably the most effective (in terms of wrecking shop) Trappings Occultist is an archer (because full attacking at full BAB with bane arrows), which is possible because the entry for the buckler in the CRB says:
You can use a bow or crossbow without penalty while carrying it.
So by any definition of "hold" you're good for the bow+buckler for the Trappings. You'll need Unhindering Shield to actually get the AC bonus, but you're hard up for feats (rapid shot at level 5 if you're an elf/half-elf) as is so you can hold off for a while.
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@Gisher - Yup, I picked Size Alteration partly with the intent of using it on animals. Didn't think about combining it with Servitor, though - thanks for the idea!
@Nixitur - Danger Sight over Flesh Mend, got it.
Re: Purge Corruption, Neutralize Poison is 4th level for alchemists, so they don't get it until level 10. Otherwise I'd agree it's not worth the feat with an alchemist in the party. As-is it's still tempting to just take Delay Poison and stock up on antitoxin.
I'll keep Energy Shield in mind but I'll probably only take Extra Focus Power once - I also want one or two crafting feats and maybe some actual combat feats. In previous games I've gotten pretty good mileage out of Resist Energy.
@Gisher - Yup, I picked Size Alteration partly with the intent of using it on animals. Didn't think about combining it with Servitor, though - thanks for the idea!
@Nixitur - Danger Sight over Flesh Mend, got it.
Neutralize Poison is 4th level for alchemists, so they don't get it until level 10. Otherwise I'd agree it's not worth the feat with an alchemist in the party. As-is it's still tempting to just take Delay Poison and stock up on antitoxin.
Weirdo, I think you may have confused Flesh Mend with Purge Corruption. I agree with everything Nixitur said about Flesh Mend, but Purge Corruption is pretty good if you and the Alchemist are the only healers. You won't need Neutralize Poison or Cure Disease every day, but there will likely by times when your party will love you for having taken this.
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No, I meant Purge Corruption for the second bit. The problem is it's competing with Mind's Eye as a Focus Power, and Extra Focus Power is competing with Craft Arms & Armour.
We do have access to NPCs with Remove Disease - I'm not expecting to need it in the field much if at all, and if we do we should be able to make do with some combination of UMD'd scrolls or infusions. Neutralize Poison is more of an issue, but I've been in parties without access to that spell, and we've done OK.
And not only does everyone except the psychic has a good base Fort save - we're all dwarves.
It's really, really good. A Haunt Collector with the Champion Spirit and Trappings of the Warrior is a melee beast.
I've never looked into the Haunt Collector before and now I wish I hadn't. It is so obviously the best choice that I feel kinda bad for not picking it.
Is a melee Occultist with Trappings (at level 10), but without Haunt Collector viable? If I went for Haunt Collector, I would probably swap out my Illusion resonant power if my GM allowed it, but I'm not sure I want to. Not only is it a pretty decent power, but I love the flavor of Magic Circles and Binding Circles has such interesting uses. Yes, from a numbers perspective, it is clearly the worse choice, but I'm wondering just how much worse it is. I just don't want to be that guy dragging the party down and if I just can't hit anything at higher levels, then that's pretty bad.My Occultist has 14 strength and I don't plan on increasing it further. With Physical Enhancement, it's 18 and at level 12, it's 20. With almost full BAB due to Trappings, that still doesn't bring me anywhere near Fighter-levels of melee competence, but is it good enough? We have a rogue in our party, so we're probably going to be flanking most of the time.
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Panoply savant is another archetype you might look at, given that you're using a panoply.
But yes, unless the rogue is very well made you should be at least as likely to hit in combat as them as a standard occultist. Less damage output, but you have spells and probably better defences.
No, I meant Purge Corruption for the second bit. The problem is it's competing with Mind's Eye as a Focus Power, and Extra Focus Power is competing with Craft Arms & Armour.
We do have access to NPCs with Remove Disease - I'm not expecting to need it in the field much if at all, and if we do we should be able to make do with some combination of UMD'd scrolls or infusions. Neutralize Poison is more of an issue, but I've been in parties without access to that spell, and we've done OK.
And not only does everyone except the psychic has a good base Fort save - we're all dwarves.
I failed my Reading Comprehension Skill Check. :(
Given that your party has access to Cure Disease, I think your analysis is correct. Mind Eye can be a game changer for an Occultist. The class has access to an amazingly broad set of buffs/defenses that can be applied to themselves and often others. Unfortunately most of them take Standard Actions to apply, and you don't want to spend an entire combat prepping for that combat. Using Mind Eye to scout ahead gives you the time you need to set your team up for success. Fore-knowledge is power for an Occultist.
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It's really, really good. A Haunt Collector with the Champion Spirit and Trappings of the Warrior is a melee beast.I've never looked into the Haunt Collector before and now I wish I hadn't. It is so obviously the best choice that I feel kinda bad for not picking it.
Is a melee Occultist with Trappings (at level 10), but without Haunt Collector viable? If I went for Haunt Collector, I would probably swap out my Illusion resonant power if my GM allowed it, but I'm not sure I want to. Not only is it a pretty decent power, but I love the flavor of Magic Circles and Binding Circles has such interesting uses. Yes, from a numbers perspective, it is clearly the worse choice, but I'm wondering just how much worse it is. I just don't want to be that guy dragging the party down and if I just can't hit anything at higher levels, then that's pretty bad.
My Occultist has 14 strength and I don't plan on increasing it further. With Physical Enhancement, it's 18 and at level 12, it's 20. With almost full BAB due to Trappings, that still doesn't bring me anywhere near Fighter-levels of melee competence, but is it good enough? We have a rogue in our party, so we're probably going to be flanking most of the time.
Don't worry, vanilla Occultists were good at melee before Haunt Collector and Panoplies existed. With Trappings you are going to be even better. You have lots of ways to boost your attack rolls, increase your damage, and overcome DR that Fighters don't. And I believe that flavor is important. If you like Aura Sight and Magic Circles then you shouldn't give them up. They are useful abilities in their own right.
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Panoply savant is another archetype you might look at, given that you're using a panoply.
The problem with Panoply Savant is that it requires you to take the Panoply before taking any non-panoply related implements. That means for Warrior that your first implement that isn't Transmutation, Abjuration, or Trappings comes online at level 6. For me, I needed Conjuration before that.
Might work for Nixitur if he can retrain his level 7 PC and doesn't mind replacing one of his current implement schools (to get it again at level 10).
Might work for Nixitur if he can retrain his level 7 PC and doesn't mind replacing one of his current implement schools (to get it again at level 10).
It's an attractive choice, but Gisher's post really eased my fears of creating a useless PC. Even if his strength score isn't that high, I think I'm going with flavor over optimal choice on this.