Anthony Oxendine's page

Wow! I really appreciate the help. It sounds like my vision for the character wants to do too many things. I'll take a look at the battle host and probably use the build you suggest as a model for my character.

Thanks so much!

Hey Anthony, glad to see you are considering an occultist - love that class!

In response to your questions:
1) This will come down to what you, personally, are looking for from the build, but I wouldn't dip swashbuckler. First, Fort and Will are generally considered more important saves than Ref (losing a Fort or Will save means you are out of the often out of the fight, at best, while losing a Ref save generally means you take some damage), so penalizing those saves in favor of Ref doesn't sound like a winning proposition. In addition, unless you really wanted to go that direction for flavor, I'd recommend sticking with strength for attack and damage. Beyond better scaling with two handed weapons it's generally easier to add bonuses to strength than dexterity. If you are dead set on adding dexterity to damage I'd do it through a feat rather than a dip. Let me know if you'd like some sample builds.
2) There isn't any way specific to the Occultist - what focus powers and implements you choose you are stuck with. You might try checking out the retraining rules.
3) Yeah, unfortunately when an ability for a class lists a level requirement like that it means that it requires that many levels in that class - you do need 5 Occultist levels to qualify for Mind Eye. Swashbuckler levels don't count towards that requirement.

Thanks so much for the quick feedback! For #3, I had been reading the descriptions for the Implement Schools and it isn't specific there but they make it pretty clear under Focus Powers on the main class page that it is Occultist level. I saw that as soon as I finished submitting the post haha.

And I'd love to see some sample strength builds if you have them. I'd be more than happy to not have to multiclass but my DM prefers 15-point buy and I'm trying to have an 18 INT after racial modifiers. I was looking at the Elf FCB as well. I'd appreciate your thoughts!

Hi, I am really excited to play an Occultist for an upcoming campaign but had a few questions for people more experienced with the class and system. I have done my best to search the forums for my questions but was unsuccessful.

1) I have had some issues in building my character because of the inherent MADness of a combat build. I like the idea of starting with 1 level of Inspired Blade Swashbuckler to allow me to start with Dex to damage as well as a few other situational abilities before moving to Occultist for all the remaining levels. Swashbuckler's full BAB means I'm never behind in my levels of Occultist and between the two classes all of my saves are boosted. Fort and Will are behind the standard Occultist by 1 at a few levels but Reflex is always 2 higher. My question is, is it worth it to have dex to damage, more balanced saves, and a few defensive abilities at the cost of a level of Occultist? My thought is that I can concentrate on Dex and Int more easily and that the Occultist gains spell levels so slowly that I might not notice the difference most of the time.

2) Spells can be switched 1-for-1 at a few levels. However, there is no indication that one can trade out Focus Powers as you gain levels and implements. Does anyone know if it is possible to trade out old focus powers at higher levels? For instance, I don't plan to take Abjuration until Occultist level 6 or 10 but the 1st level Abjuration focus powers are better than most of the other focus powers at that level. Would I be able to exchange the focus power I took at 1st for one of the Abjuration powers without having to sacrifice a higher level focus power choice?

3) The SRD says that you must be a certain level to take certain focus powers. It specifies Occultist level for the scaling of the power itself but does not specify character or class level when it comes to levels at which the power becomes available. Normally, you gain feats at the same rate as focus powers, but with 1 level of Swashbuckler my choices become staggered. Feats at odd levels, focus powers at even levels. That said, if I take Extra Focus power at Character Level 5 (which is Occultist Level 4), can I take the Mind Eye focus power? Technically, I qualify as being at 5th level but I am wondering if that is a misunderstanding and it was intended to mean that you can only choose a power when you have that many Occultist levels. My thought in assuming it's character level is that dipping Occultist at high levels for a better focus power isn't that effective because the power would be useless without more Occultist levels.

Sorry for the long post, just wanted to make sure I gave some clarity on what my questions are getting at. Thank you!