With the release of psychic anthology came occultist panoplies and the ability to raise an occultist's BAB to that of a fighter - provided I use a weapon and a shield. So i'm thinking about attempting a martial focused weapon and shield build for the occultist following this concept. I almost exclusively play two-handed weapon, thrown weapon, ranged weapon or (much more rarely) spellcasting characters, so I'm not too familiar with getting the most out of shields.
The issues:
-No bonus feats, so that could hamper my ability to pick up the full two weapon fighting + shield bashing combos that a fighter doesnt hesitate to grab.
-To make matters worse, I'd ideally like to keep a few feats aside for things like eldritch heritage.
So, what is the least feat intensive way to maximise my effectiveness as a shield using martial occultist? Are there any combos you think I should push for despite how few feats i'll be able to spend?
It depends on what you want to get out of "using a shield"
I had an inquisitor I ran successfully for 15 levels who used a quickdraw light steel shield and the quick draw feat to be able to either two-hand a one handed weapon on his turns or have a hand free to cast and still have full shield benefits on enemies' turns. Feat requirements are quick draw and power attack. The latter moreso because any full-bab character wants to have it if they're going to be melee primary.
On the other hand if you're looking to go full twf with the shield then you want to be a ranger or slayer who can get Shield Master at lv 6.
A third option I've seen in thrown around on the boards is use a heavy shield and either two-hand it (apparently fully possible) or let go with a hand to cast on the turns you need to. This is similar to my quickdraw build, but instead focuses on just the one primary item. May possibly run into issues of cost for enchanting the shield as both a defensive item and a weapon, and how the bashing property interacts with a weapon enhancement.
...if you're looking to go full twf with the shield then you want to be a ranger or slayer who can get Shield Master at lv 6.
Agreed, I don't think i'll be able to pull off the variety of things that they can with their bonus feats, so I'm trying to see what is possible for an occultist.
A third option I've seen in thrown around on the boards is use a heavy shield and either two-hand it (apparently fully possible)
I believe I need to be holding the shield and the weapon to get the BAB... the same goes for your suggestion to always be quick drawing the shield. The wording they use is: "a single bearer must hold all the panoply's associated implements to gain the panoply's resonant power" but to be honest they might have meant "hold" as "have on their person" given the nature of one of the panoplies being a crystal ball, a wand AND a robe. So RAI its probably closer to "have on their person", in which case I could just use a two-handed weapon and have the shield on my back? I'm not sure if that would qualify though as it wouldn't even be occupying one of my slots. As you can see, it's super fuzzy to me, and unless there's been some clarification I'm thinking i'll need to play it safe and have the shield and weapon in my hands constantly.
or let go with a hand to cast on the turns you need to.
I dont think a psychic caster needs hands to cast (no somatic) :)
The wording they use is: "a single bearer must hold all the panoply's associated implements to gain the panoply's resonant power"
Well I suppose the question I should ask at this point is what items the panoply consists of.
The wording they use is: "a single bearer must hold all the panoply's associated implements to gain the panoply's resonant power"Well I suppose the question I should ask at this point is what items the panoply consists of.
Depends on the panoply, but for the warrior panoply its a shield implement and any weapon implement. Shortly after your first reply I made This Thread which explains the issue a little better. I'll likely give that thread a little bump if it gets drowned before I get any replies.
@nicholas storm
Agreed, I was thinking of haunt collector aswell, the little boost to weapon damage is nice :)
Wouldn't it be more straightforward to just build for hitting with one hand and using a shield with the other? You don't have to attack with the shield as well.
And when you decide to use the shield for defense only, doesn't that open a lot of breathing room, both in terms of feats and gold?
Indeed it does, and I never ruled out doing that. I was simply asking if there's one or two feats that might be worth picking up to get a little more out of using a shield :)
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I'm having a great time with my Thunder & Fang Slayer, Shield Mastery is amazing. But (fairly, I guess) that requires some real class dedication to unlock.
It looks to me like it just isn't doable to combine the various shield builds in one PC until fairly high level because many of them have steep prerequisites, both in feats and BAB.