Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Occult Adventures (OGL)

Is it July yet?

I can't speak in any official capacity about this, but from my understanding OA isn't so much "New Age" as in crystals and all that nonsense, so much as it is golden-era mysticism, the kind of stuff you'd see in the early 1900s and fantasy interpretations.

That's why I'm still baffled by the inclusion of the kineticist class. It doesn't fit into that at all. It falls more in line with the whole "ESP" thing from the 20th century than 19th/early 20th century mysticism, spiritualism, hermeticism, etc.

I like the idea of the book, but if I ever run a game with that sort of theme I'm disallowing the kineticist.

Robert Brookes wrote:

I can't speak in any official capacity about this, but from my understanding OA isn't so much "New Age" as in crystals and all that nonsense, so much as it is golden-era mysticism, the kind of stuff you'd see in the early 1900s and fantasy interpretations.

That's why I'm still baffled by the inclusion of the kineticist class. It doesn't fit into that at all. It falls more in line with the whole "ESP" thing from the 20th century than 19th/early 20th century mysticism, spiritualism, hermeticism, etc.

I like the idea of the book, but if I ever run a game with that sort of theme I'm disallowing the kineticist.

Really? I'd just restrict it to Aether instead rather than banning it. Sure, water, air, and earth don't quite fit, but moving stuff with your mind has a pretty long history in "spooky". Telekinesis explained with calling on restless spirits, or even having poltergeists following you around seems like a great fit. Fire I'd consider a bit more borderline, and probably look at how the player handled it. Gnomish pyro? Not so much. Tiefling with hellfire just barely kept in check? More like it.

Any intention of mythic paths aimed more at these classes?

I certainly hope there will be at least one (perhaps two) occult-oriented mythic path. Personally I won't be using them, but it makes the most sense that those will be there.

I am pretty doubtful we will see much more player option support for Mythic from Paizo.

Robert Brookes wrote:

I can't speak in any official capacity about this, but from my understanding OA isn't so much "New Age" as in crystals and all that nonsense, so much as it is golden-era mysticism, the kind of stuff you'd see in the early 1900s and fantasy interpretations.

That's why I'm still baffled by the inclusion of the kineticist class. It doesn't fit into that at all. It falls more in line with the whole "ESP" thing from the 20th century than 19th/early 20th century mysticism, spiritualism, hermeticism, etc.

I like the idea of the book, but if I ever run a game with that sort of theme I'm disallowing the kineticist.

To me the kineticist seems to fit perfectly with the eastern mysticism section of the book. Chakras, auras, etc..

I hope there are some good feats related to ki, chakras, and psychic abilities. Maybe a racial feat for any race with limited telepathy to gain actual telepathy or at least increase the range to 60ft.

I am pretty doubtful we will see much more player option support for Mythic from Paizo.

That would be really, really sad. I hope Paizo doesn't follow in WotC's footsteps and start putting out stuff that they never to support. I understand that they can't cover everything in every book and that's not what I'm asking for. Occult Adventures is the kind of release that screams for a support book. Honestly, I'd like to see a Mythic book that gives options for the new classes in the ACG, OA and, if necessary, Pathfinder Unchained. If their only reason for not supporting Mythic or anything else is the wailing and gnashing of teeth of a small vocal minority on the forums then I will move from sad to depressed.

SM

Many Mythic abilities can be adapted. Like, instead of Mythic domain read Mythic shaman hexes, etc.
But I also think it would be very good to have it "canonized".

Oh, I'm sure that Occult Adventures will receive support books, mostly dealing with how psychic magic and the classes represented fit into Golarion. Whether or not that will involve mythic material is considerably more questionable, but I'm certain Occult Adventures itself will be supported to some extent. After all, mythic is a fairly niche system, even beyond the issues people seem to have with it.

This is the book I am most excited about for the year. I hope they show the art for the new iconics soon.

There will be a LOT to be excited about in Occult Adventures! This summer can't come soon enough.

I am sure some 3rd party company will put out something to update all the newer classes to mythic But I don't think Paizo will revisit the topic they tend to focus on their AP's and whatever their current big hardcover is. To be honest unless these new occult classes prove to be extremely popular I doubt you will see much about them after the main book and probably 2 support books one from the campaign setting line and one from the player companion line. It will be up to 3pp to fill in the gaps.

From what they've shown in the playtest there's not much need for new mythic paths to accommodate the Occult classes. A psychic can easily benefit from the Archmage path, kineticist would get great mileage out of Champion, etc. While there could be some fun new mythic feats or perhaps path abilities, it isn't like Dreamscarred Press' Psionics system which requires it's own chassis.

As for future representation, I think Paizo has done a great job supporting all of its classes. We see new material for every class in each supplement (sometimes one class moreso than others) but there has been great representation. I see no reason to think they won't support the Occult Classes going forward.

From what they've shown in the playtest there's not much need for new mythic paths to accommodate the Occult classes. A psychic can easily benefit from the Archmage path, kineticist would get great mileage out of Champion, etc. While there could be some fun new mythic feats or perhaps path abilities, it isn't like Dreamscarred Press' Psionics system which requires it's own chassis.

As for future representation, I think Paizo has done a great job supporting all of its classes. We see new material for every class in each supplement (sometimes one class moreso than others) but there has been great representation. I see no reason to think they won't support the Occult Classes going forward.

A new path or two might not be neccessary, but some new path abilities could be useful, as well as mythic feats and maybe mythic spells.

Well, considering how Mythic and WoTR were received I don't think Paizo really wants to support Mythic anymore. The general consensus seems to be that it makes mid-to-high level combat encounters trivial, which is already a problem in the game even without Mythic. I just don't think "salvaging Mythic" is that high on the team's priorities right now.

I don't think they are going to ditch Mythic altogether. It's just that it's a niche system and therefore something they'll support sparingly. They have continued to support it past the initial slew of books.

For a book of this size, bringing lots of new mechanics, I'd really be surprised if they didn't offer some Mythic stuff.

Well, considering how Mythic and WoTR were received I don't think Paizo really wants to support Mythic anymore. The general consensus seems to be that it makes mid-to-high level combat encounters trivial, which is already a problem in the game even without Mythic. I just don't think "salvaging Mythic" is that high on the team's priorities right now.

At the same time, Mythic is helpful at lower levels.

I wonder we'll get to see the other iconics from this book? I gots to know!

Haven't we always revealed the iconics for new classes in similar ways over the years?

True, but we've gotten the psychic and the occultist sketches revealed. It's just that once you've wetted my appetite, I am driven with anxiety to see more. So this is just me being impatient to know more about Occult Adventures. :)

I can't wait for July but hopefully that we will not have to wait that ling to see the final art for the new iconics.

Can't wait to buy the pdf, since I can probably have it way earlier than international shipping :)
I'll use it heavily in my adventures, since I love occult themes and psychic phenomena but dislike the power point system.

Will there be more undercastable spells beyond the few in the playtest?

I hope there will be more undercastable spells as well.

Telekinesis explained with calling on restless spirits, or even having poltergeists following you around seems like a great fit.

That's a good idea!

QuidEst wrote:

Telekinesis explained with calling on restless spirits, or even having poltergeists following you around seems like a great fit.

That's a good idea!

Hey, it works for Oracles!

I hope this book will have more Sorcerer and Bloodrager bloodlines, and more Oracle mysteries and curses.

Wow!!! I've never let psionics in my games before-- I've just never liked to Sci-Fi feel of them in my games...

This "feels" like fantasy... I can't wait for this.

Wow!!! I've never let psionics in my games before-- I've just never liked to Sci-Fi feel of them in my games...

This "feels" like fantasy... I can't wait for this.

Same here...

I am so excited for this that I have been trying occult rituals to bring this release closer. so far nothing has occurred. But I have begun to hear scratching in the walls of my room, is that a bad thing?

I am so excited for this that I have been trying occult rituals to bring this release closer. so far nothing has occurred. But I have begun to hear scratching in the walls of my room, is that a bad thing?

Nah don't worry about that. What could go wrong after all?

I am so excited for this that I have been trying occult rituals to bring this release closer. so far nothing has occurred. But I have begun to hear scratching in the walls of my room, is that a bad thing?

Ohhhhh but it has worked!!!!!

Axial wrote:

Well, considering how Mythic and WoTR were received I don't think Paizo really wants to support Mythic anymore. The general consensus seems to be that it makes mid-to-high level combat encounters trivial, which is already a problem in the game even without Mythic. I just don't think "salvaging Mythic" is that high on the team's priorities right now.

At the same time, Mythic is helpful at lower levels.

Yeah, Mythic is really nice if you want to have character who are really impressive even at lower levels, but you want to avoid the "ho hum, an orc horde" you often get when you start hitting the high levels.

Well, considering how Mythic and WoTR were received I don't think Paizo really wants to support Mythic anymore. The general consensus seems to be that it makes mid-to-high level combat encounters trivial, which is already a problem in the game even without Mythic. I just don't think "salvaging Mythic" is that high on the team's priorities right now.

Um actually they are continuing to release NPCs with Mythic Tiers. So I have not seen any signs of them abandoning Mythic rules just yet.

It would be kinda strange to expect them to not make a few mistakes on the first go, so I kinda hope they give it at least one more go.

At least they're giving some time before implementing the new rules in an AP. I think that's one of the reasons Mythic rules and WotR didn't do as well. They will at least have half a year before anything major using Occult Adventures rules.

I wish it was July already.

After the WotR debacle, I always see the Mythic rules as NPC rules, especially for bosses, they work well in that case. But give them to PCs beyond 2nd tier and the game will break.

Can't wait for July! This book will shore up all the holes in my adventures and sure as hell I'll at least buy the pdf (too bad it's almost double the cost for the hardcover due to shipping)!

Can't wait for July! This book will shore up all the holes in my adventures and sure as hell I'll at least buy the pdf (too bad it's almost double the cost for the hardcover due to shipping)!

I was just commenting the other day, when I saw the cool subsystems that Stephen and Logan were working on, that we are going to have actual rules for several sorts of adventure that seem to come up a lot in fiction, but that so far there haven't been concrete rules for them (I've run some of them multiple times in home games essentially just by making it up myself).

5 months. 5 long agonizing months.

Well at least the front cover and product description will be updated in only a couple of months. Hopefully.

At least they're giving some time before implementing the new rules in an AP. I think that's one of the reasons Mythic rules and WotR didn't do as well. They will at least have half a year before anything major using Occult Adventures rules.

Yeah, James Jacobs made that complain while/after writting WotR (and to a lesser extend, the Technology Guide while making Iron Gods).

I'm a strange mix of hyper excited...and braced for disappointment...sort of waiting to see how this all play's out 0-O

The only thing I enjoy from this book is the Kineticist. The rest is psionic-light-wanna-be-garbage, IMO. I'll stick to Dreamscarred Press who actually is doing psionics right for a PF game. Which is sticking to its roots.

I like the Kineticist because it strongly resembles the Benders from the Avatar series, I plan on calling them Benders in my games and having Avatar-inspired NPCs and organizations in my games around them.

And, yes, I do hope there is a prestige class or archetype or a method to make Kineticists more martial, like a Monk/Kineticist build in a sense.

What about the Phrenologist Fighter?

"I study your personality based on the lumps on your head...which I put there."

I was just commenting the other day, when I saw the cool subsystems that Stephen and Logan were working on, that we are going to have actual rules for several sorts of adventure that seem to come up a lot in fiction, but that so far there haven't been concrete rules for them (I've run some of them multiple times in home games essentially just by making it up myself).

Isn't there a rule about not taunting the animals at the zoo with morsels of food?

What about the Phrenologist Fighter?

"I study your personality based on the lumps on your head...which I put there."

While this is not exactly in OA, it is far far closer to an actual and fairly unusual archetype from the book than I imagined that someone would be suggesting (unless that was a joke, in which case, joke's on you!)

While this is not exactly in OA, it is far far closer to an actual and fairly unusual archetype from the book than I imagined that someone would be suggesting (unless that was a joke, in which case, joke's on you!)

Now I'm picturing a Spiritualist who grabs the souls of his defeated enemies to use as his Phantom in combat.

Mark Seifter wrote:

While this is not exactly in OA, it is far far closer to an actual and fairly unusual archetype from the book than I imagined that someone would be suggesting (unless that was a joke, in which case, joke's on you!)

Now I'm picturing a Spiritualist who grabs the souls of his defeated enemies to use as his Phantom in combat.

...And that's close in most ways to a powerful medium ability. Occult is just so much crazy awesome weird that whatever you guys guess seems to remind me of something from the book. ;)

I'm most excited to see how the Spiritualist turns out...
If the Medium became less of a nightmare to work with, it will probably be a close second....