Occultist Playtest - Level 2 - Emerald Spire: Tower Ruins

[Doghion Abyndon Harbourne, Esq.]

I was lucky enough to have a level 1 character with three experience who had not yet played at level 2, so I rebuilt him per Society rules as an Occultist. I built the character with the expectation that I will continue to play it after the playtest and chose my feats and traits accordingly. Taking on summoning feats and a trait is risky because at this time, the Occultist is lacking any summoning spells (an oversight which Jason Buhlman has stated he will fix). Still, we can't always expect every ability/power to be useful all of the time. The character's stat block can be seen by clicking on the avatar's name. For the first, and likely only, time I found Heirloom Weapon to be a worthwhile trait as it was my transmutation implement and for fluff I could say it was an ancient family heirloom passed down through the generations.

Mr. Harbourne, Esq. joined several other intrepid adventurers in searching out the Emerald Spire and exploring the tower ruins. His companions included: Alchemist 1/Investigator 1, Paladin 1, Sorcerer 1 and Wizard 2.

Initial Impressions: The Occultist meshed really well with the party members. His skills complemented the other skill monkeys. Having the Conjuration and cure light wounds spell worked out well as he was able to take on the primary healing duties with a wand while the paladin main tanked and the sorcerer and wizard both used UMD to help heal as they were both hindered from ranged spells and attacks by the lack of light. His attacks were on a par with the paladin and it was nice to have a keen falcata at level 2 (which would also be available at level 1).

Starting off:

Spoiler:

We began at Fort Inevitable and his Diplomacy came in handy for finding out about the ruins and working out that we needed writs to legally explore the spire. As the Occultist is Chelaxian, and a lawyer to boot, he was happy to comply, especially as the paladin immediately volunteered to pay for everyone.

Upon Entering:

Spoiler:

We were completely unprepared for the light foiling darkness throughout the ground level. Only the paladin had darkvision, so we suffered heavily in the first fight as we spent rounds trying to get enough light to see by. The Occultist held his own throughout the running battle, able to be an effective fighter with a keen falcata in one hand and as a healer with a wand of cure light wounds in the other hand. The Object Reading feature was very helpful when our casters and alchemist could not identify every item. As an automatic success, it is a very powerful feature which came into play later.

Moving Around:

Spoiler:

I was able to take full advantage of looking for, and disabling, traps as we moved through the ground floor. Finding the construct's arm was a boon as I was again able to use Object Reading to determine what it came from and help the party prepare for facing a construct. It was an opportunity for our GM to insert some out of the box role playing to describe what the Occultist experienced in "reading" the object.

Penultimate encounter:

Spoiler:

The goblin cleric and construct were formidable but it was very handy to have the falcata as my transmutation implement which allowed me to cast magic weapon and psychic weapon without having to free up that hand or bring out some other implement, however; I was not fully able to utilize the bonuses from the psychic weapon ability. Our GM ruled that although the wording of the power specifically states that psychic weapon stacks with any other enhancement bonus, it does not stack with the enhancement bonus to hit from a masterwork weapon. Still, the extra +2 to hit and being able to wield the weapon two-handed for another +1 came in very handy.

Ultimate Encounter:

Spoiler:

This encounter was not tough because the BBEG missed with every shot. Discovering what he was wielding and his bonuses to hit after the fight left everyone feeling very good about all of those low rolls. Again, the slow movement gave the Occultist an opportunity to cast magic weapon and psychic weapon again. 1d8+5 for damage at second level with a keen falcata makes for a very powerful attack.

All in all, I liked the class. I felt it was balanced and the abilities are pretty cool. I was so excited to try it out that I actually bought props beforehand to use in play (twas the season to buy plastic human skulls and toy swords; I even found one of those octagonal mirrors used for feng shui). I will definitely continue to play this character and look forward to seeing more about it when Occult Adventures comes out next year.