Asked myself the question, what if I was playing in a campaign where you could only choose from the occult class list. the classes presented compared to each other seem far more reasonable then when compared to core classes.
I then considered the types of adventures you'd want to run around an occult setting and most of the non occult classes seemed fairly out of place.
I guess the question is, do all new classes need to be balanced against every other class ? Is it reasonable, that some books with a specific theme and intent, can instead be balanced within themselves and are not intended to be used with classes outside this book?
It's elementary, my dear Amiri.
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I wouldn't take only occult classes; that would leave you pretty much all-caster, but many occult-style settings feature a majority of non-casters.
On the other hand, I might want to swap out some of the old caster classes for the new ones; having too many full caster classes leads to a certain dilution of focus, I think.
For a 19th-century gothic horror (Penny Dreadful) style of game the list of available classes might be [occult classes], Witch (a slightly more subtle and spooky sort of caster than wizards), Investigator (more subtle than alchemist), Bard (particularly the Archaeologist; could also be officer material), Gunslinger, Cavalier, Rogue, Ninja, Fighter, Slayer, Ranger, Magus, Oracle, Monk, Brawler.
So no barbarian, bloodrager, paladin, wizard, sorcerer, alchemist, cleric, druid, hunter; they just don't fit with the style of a somewhat-more low-fantasy looking setting. Some of them might fit in provided the character concept was built to be more low-key.
I wouldn't take only occult classes; that would leave you pretty much all-caster, but many occult-style settings feature a majority of non-casters.
On the other hand, I might want to swap out some of the old caster classes for the new ones; having too many full caster classes leads to a certain dilution of focus, I think.
For a 19th-century gothic horror (Penny Dreadful) style of game the list of available classes might be [occult classes], Witch (a slightly more subtle and spooky sort of caster than wizards), Investigator (more subtle than alchemist), Bard (particularly the Archaeologist; could also be officer material), Gunslinger, Cavalier, Rogue, Ninja, Fighter, Slayer, Ranger, Magus, Oracle, Monk, Brawler.
So no barbarian, bloodrager, paladin, wizard, sorcerer, alchemist, cleric, druid, hunter; they just don't fit with the style of a somewhat-more low-fantasy looking setting. Some of them might fit in provided the character concept was built to be more low-key.
Yep...I would be tempted on replacing a few of the existing classes with occult, but for the most part don't see an issue with fitting them into Golarion or equivalent fantasy settings
Off the top of my head, for instance, I much prefer the Occultist over the Wizard and Arcanist. I could see swapping those out.
It's fun to speculate, but things may shake up a bit when the archetypes for existing classes are released in the final book. I'd love to see what they have for existing casters who dabble in the occult.
I know Eric Mona was writing about ki and chakra, so I'd love to seem some of those ki options for fighters and such. Playing a yogi master or Taichi expert would be awesome.
Alchemist and Investigator fit the niche perfectly, and most martials (aside from paladin and barbarian) fit in okay because even quasi-Victorian horror world have soldiers and warriors of a kind.
Is occult adventures intended more as a stand alone?
I hope so. Except for the summoner fix so far I do not like what I'm reading and would not like to play in games using those classes.