I more I think about it, the more it appeals to me to remove the divine spellcasting classes, except for the Shaman, Ranger, Inquisitor, and Druid, who would be converted to psychic spellcasters. Witches would also be psychic. All psychic spellcasters from Occult Adventures would be allowed. Why does this appeal to me? The source of divine magic is the number one problem I have in worldbuilding, and I constantly flirt with removing divine spellcasting altogether. I don't like the classic "Gods are around and directly involved in e world" approach at all. However, it just so happens that the occult from Occult Adventures actually matches what I want from the divine really well. It's mysterious, dangerous, and all that jazz. Flavor wise, it hits just the right spots for me. Anyone else find that the occult really provides what they want out of the divine?
Yeah... Especially since the components fit more with having magic via divine right, and in my setting most divine casters are aristocrats who only have power because of divine right... rather than them just asking their gods to perform miracles.
Just change the Names
Cleric become Psychic
Miracle spell become Alter reality.
Bless become Good Vibrations.
Shield of Faith become Psychic Shield.
Holy Smite become Psychic Smite of Good.
Just change the Names
Cleric become Psychic
Miracle spell become Alter reality.
Bless become Good Vibrations.
Shield of Faith become Psychic Shield.
Holy Smite become Psychic Smite of Good.
Isn't that more the opposite of what is desired?
I was actually more thinking of ditching/converting over the arcane classes to psychic. I like the flavor associated with a lot of the psychic classes more than I do the flavor of the current wizard.
I was actually more thinking of ditching/converting over the arcane classes to psychic. I like the flavor associated with a lot of the psychic classes more than I do the flavor of the current wizard.
Arcane magic flavour makes sense to still be arcane... as long as you remove wizard from the game (and maybe bard). That way you'd have arcane magic that has a physical origin in the physiology of it's caster (bloodlines) compared to the mental origin of psychic magic with it coming from faith, social links, and mysticism.
I was actually more thinking of ditching/converting over the arcane classes to psychic. I like the flavor associated with a lot of the psychic classes more than I do the flavor of the current wizard.
You can reflavor your character however you choose.
An interesting idea is to eliminate all of the full casters except the psychic. Convert the occultist to arcane spellcasting to fill in for the wizard; require magi to take either the eldritch scion archetype in place of the sorcerer or the hexcrafter archetype in place of the witch (you could alter the archetype even further to use the witch familiar/patron rules instead of a spellbook and choose from the witch spell list with Spell Blending instead of sorcerer/wizard); hunter fills in for the druid, inquisitors and warpriests fill in for clerics; etc.
Why always ruin the witch? She's completely fine as Arcane caster, her powers are learned expertise like the Wizard, it's just that the teacher is an unknown entity that speaks through her familiar, but she doesn't receive power from it any more than an apprentice wizard from his senior.
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I more I think about it, the more it appeals to me to remove the divine spellcasting classes, except for the Shaman, Ranger, Inquisitor, and Druid, who would be converted to psychic spellcasters. Witches would also be psychic. All psychic spellcasters from Occult Adventures would be allowed. Why does this appeal to me? The source of divine magic is the number one problem I have in worldbuilding, and I constantly flirt with removing divine spellcasting altogether. I don't like the classic "Gods are around and directly involved in e world" approach at all. However, it just so happens that the occult from Occult Adventures actually matches what I want from the divine really well. It's mysterious, dangerous, and all that jazz. Flavor wise, it hits just the right spots for me. Anyone else find that the occult really provides what they want out of the divine?
I'm actually more likely to include a great deal of the "Psychic Magic" flavor into Divine Magic. I've never been a fan of Golarion's setting house rule that Divine Magic is a carrot/stick that the deities hold over their followers heads. Not only is it illogical and often contradictory even within the setting itself, it removes a great deal of the cool factor.
Taking back the idea of Divine Magic coming from the individual caster themselves, the power of their soul, the mastery over spiritual and planar matters and truths just works too well.
As for the "psychic" element, I could kind of care less, honestly. It was disappointing that the Cleric and similar classes where not even really mentioned in the book, let alone connections made. You'd think that the Cleric class would be the one class that fit perfectly well with most of the "occult" material.