The Medium gains power with spirits of the dead based on key areas; the Mesmerist uses a powerful gaze; the Occultist channel power through ancient relics; the Psychic has... psychic powers, which are different from regular magical spells; the Spiritualist can conjure a Phantom.
(We're talking about some pretty weird and obscure abilities here.)
And then you have the Kineticist, who can manifest elemental energy in various ways... like just about any spellcaster with a knack for evocation spells.
Seriously, of all Occult classes, the Kineticist comes out as the least alienating/unnerving class. You can EASILY pass as a monk-like warrior (insert Avatar: the Last Airbender reference here) or as a specialized spellcaster... until people realize that they can't counterspell you :P
Is it in the name, because "Kineticist" refers to mind powers? Would the name "elemancer" (pyromancer, hydromancer, aeromancer, geomancer, etc...) have put it as an "occult" class? Is manifesting elemental energy that special?
What's so "occult" about the Kineticist again?
It is entirely possible that they have had this one in the works, and this seemed like the best place to use it.
It's a class that has you conjure up material from other dimensions using your fragile mortal frame as the conduit, which slowly and painfully transforms you into a primordial monster as you use it's power.... how is that not Occult?
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It is part of the game development gymnastics done to avoid using the word "psionic."
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I immediately made to the connection between the kineticist and Carrie or Firestarter in a similar to way that the gunslinger class screams Dark Tower's Roland.
But with that sort of context, the class feels properly occult as that is the bread and butter of so many of Stephen King's horror books. Just my take on it however.
yep...Kineticist seems a really weird fit if you come at it from the angle of The Last Airbender, but makes a lot more sense if you think about Carrie and Firestarter.
Discovering psychic powers by violently hurling objects telekinetically or setting things on fire is pretty common in fiction. The other three are perhaps less occultish, but do a nice job of allowing the class to fit a lot of other character concepts.
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I immediately made to the connection between the kineticist and Carrie or Firestarter in a similar to way that the gunslinger class screams Dark Tower's Roland.
But with that sort of context, the class feels properly occult as that is the bread and butter of so many of Stephen King's horror books. Just my take on it however.
Exactly spot on.
Exactly spot on.I immediately made to the connection between the kineticist and Carrie or Firestarter in a similar to way that the gunslinger class screams Dark Tower's Roland.
But with that sort of context, the class feels properly occult as that is the bread and butter of so many of Stephen King's horror books. Just my take on it however.
I understand the inspiration, but when magic has been there "before" occult classes, it does beg the question ;)
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I understand the inspiration, but when magic has been there "before" occult classes, it does beg the question ;)Exactly spot on.I immediately made to the connection between the kineticist and Carrie or Firestarter in a similar to way that the gunslinger class screams Dark Tower's Roland.
But with that sort of context, the class feels properly occult as that is the bread and butter of so many of Stephen King's horror books. Just my take on it however.
There's actually some interesting discussion about how to do something "occult" and "hidden" in a world where the regular world already has magic if you decide to use the "occult underworld" theme in your campaign (underworld here meaning a hidden world like in Dresden Files, rather than a nether world like Hell or something). The basic premise is that wizards have their spells and clerics have their gods, and those work, but there's also old folk stories and urban legends about things like knocking on wood, or putting up lucky horseshoes, or wearing tinfoil to protect you from mind control, and the spellcasters dismiss this as hogwash, but the occult characters try them all out, and they find out that 99% of them were hogwash, but then one of them works, perhaps a ritual allowing even a nonspellcaster to open a rift to Hell...except, to prove their theories that some of these things work...well, they'd have to publicize that ritual, which could go very very badly, so when the jeering wizard asks "So weirdo, did any of your crazy theories actually work?" they sigh and say "I guess not."
If you went into a Pathfinder setting bookstore, the "Kineticist Phenomenon" would be in the new age section, next to all the PF equivalent of Sylvia Brown's books.
The truth is buried in crap! :)
If you went into a Pathfinder setting bookstore, the "Kineticist Phenomenon" would be in the new age section, next to all the PF equivalent of Sylvia Brown's books.
The truth is buried in crap! :)
Oh man! Linda and I recently went to visit Portland and checked out the enormous bookstore Powell's Books, and there was a giant section named "Metaphysics." I was like "Wow, how could so many books be written about Metaphysics" and so I checked and it turned out to have all the occult topics I recognized from Occult Adventures.