So I haven't run or played in this adventure path yet, and I'm dropping into the middle of the first book. And yet I had an idea for a character who may not fit in thematically, but hopefully may be useful in some aspects. But I would like to inquire your opinions on the viability of the occultist class from Occult Adventures in Reign of Winter. Would this make for a good fit for the adventure, or should I try something like an Ulfin Ranger (To compensate for the party's lack of survival skills) or a Changeling Magus (Witchblade archetype)?
Light spoilers are okay, since I already understand the places that this game may be taking me, as hinted by the player's guide, and the DM. I just wonder if its a good idea to bring an Occultist into a party of two Kitsune scammers (A Mesmerist and a Ninja), and a gunslinger for this adventure.
Witchblade Magus? Doe you mean Hexcrafter Magus?
I don't claim to be an expert in any of the Occult classes, but I can't think of anything that would be particularly more hurtful to an Occultist than to anyone else having the same amount of preparation for cold weather and attacks by the particular kinds of enemies found in this AP. You might need to check how well prepared the rest of the party is -- in particular, the Gunslinger might have a hard time resupplying for long periods.
Thematically, I wouldn't say that any Pathfinder class is a real misfit to this AP. That's true of most APs, with the obvious exceptions of Antipaladins in most APs and Paladins in Skull & Shackles or Hell's Vengeance, plus a few off-theme-specific archetypes.
It sounds like an interesting choice!
On the other hand, looking at that party line-up, I can't help but wonder which character will be blocking any large angry monsters from getting to the squishies.
^Occultists get Martial weapon proficiency, Medium armor proficiency (and are thus just 1 feat away from Heavy if you don't want to dip), Shield (non-Tower) proficiency, d8 HD, 3/4 BAB, and good Fortitude and Will Saves. With some work, the Occultist could be the blocker. Being a Dwarf would help with this (ideally with the standard Hardy racial trait and the Steel Soul feat, but if you're short on Point Buy points and/or feats, you could trade out Hardy for Unstoppable, which gives you Toughness as a bonus feat).
Since the party is short on spellcasting (Mesmerist is 6/9 and the only other spellcaster), consider Reliquarian if you can find a good set of Domain spells. This also makes your spellcasting divine instead of occult, which also prevents Intimidate and other sources of the Shaken condition from shutting you down.
@UnArcaneElection: Thank you for the explanation!
Thanks for the feedback everyone. I have been in the campaign for a few weeks now, and have really enjoyed wrecking up witch plans. Even managed to perform a reverse engineered ancient elf gate activation ritual to shut down an Irrisini gate with the makeshift assistance of a gun slinger and a mesmerist.
I have been handling most of the melee combat just fine, with the ninja popping out of bushes, windows, and snow piles to bring down enemies just on the cusp of vision, and a gunslinger dusting up the remains. An then there's the Mesmerist... God, Kitsune mesmerists are terrifying in their own right, (He wiped an entire encounter with a pack of gremlins with murderous commands and paranoia spells, causing them to wipe each other out while the rest of us watched while consuming popcorn and drinking tea), but in conjunction with a ninja? Those two can split from the party and wipe out a dungeon floor's worth of guards using just a bottle of wine, a pair of disguises, and some sneaky sleight of hand sneak attacks + Memory erasing abilities.
Its an atypical chemistry, but I think the party has some interesting tactics to cover most of our bases with stealth and utility being the core strength of our party. ...Oh, and the gunslinger miraculously survived a solo encounter with a yeti by the skin of his teeth. We're a few encounters into book two by now, so we're only about level 4. Nadia has only needed to step into combat once or twice in all the sessions we've played in.
So far, I think occultist is a good choice for the campaign. Thematically, he sticks out like a sore thumb, being a spireborn half elf who uses azlanti artifacts as his implements, but it's very fun to keep our enemies guessing as to what the extent of his talents are.
Glad to know it's working out.
Ya I know that this thread is very dead, pretty sure the whole sub forum is, but I hope the occultist worked out. In our campaign that we are taking a break from our occultist has been a godsend on numerous occasions. He decided on archery when not spell casting but overall the class is very robust.