That Kind of Bard's page

Seems intuitive enough; Reach 5th level, unlock 3rd level spells, the Signature Spells feature says you get one signature spell for each level you have, so I assume it works to give me a 3rd level signature spell. I just want to make sure because I forgot to do it when I first hit 5 and I've just now passed into 6th level so it'd be a good time to clarify that. Is this the general consensus of how this feature works?

Do I need to have 1 point in Necromantic Focus to be able to animate dead? If so I would not be able to ever spend that 1 point contained in that implement to animate dead.

I think it's a safe assumption that the ability to control undead based off of HD is either tied to the spells Create/Command Undead, or it's just a given for any spellcaster with access to those spells. I always interpreted Necromantic Focus as an ability that expands upon your pool of Animate Dead HD.

I think adding one more implement to Divination that can use Divinatory Focus would be a good move, as from a player perspective it's a fair bit weaker than Third Eye. It'd also make it an even 3 implements for each resonant power, so it'd even out the spread of options a bit more.

Do we think it'd be overpowering if the Occultist's mental focus progression was the same as how Barbarians get rounds of rage and Bards get rounds of Bardic Performance? Given that a level 20 Occultist has 7 implements to divide their attention towards, it doesn't seem like 23 + their INT mod is a very high number of points. I think it'd totally be fair to up the costs on some of the focus powers to compensate, or at least make them scale as their effect increases.

It just seems like trying to divide mental focus up is such a chore, but they payout is good. Anybody else have good ideas for how to better improve investing mental focus into implements?

I like the guide, the only complaint I have is regarding the Disruptive and Spellbreaker feat options.

Walter mentions that you can get them as feats - what he forgets to mention is that you can't get Disruptive until 12th level, and can't get Spellbreaker until 20th.

If you want to be a good signal-blocker anti-mage then it's totally worth the arcana. Specifically Spellbreaker is a wonderful feat in its own right. I suppose you could hold off getting Disruptive until 13th and then get Spellbreaker at 14th, which isn't terribly behind that of a fighter, but if you really want the hard denial playstyle, I suggest getting them a tad early.

Of course, I just like being the only character to cast spells in a gritty melee.