Occultist: What should the 3rd subclass be?
Added 2020-03-06 23:34:21 +0000 UTCThe Occutlist will launch with the Witch and Shaman subclasses. The Occutlist is a Wisdom based full caster, with a talent/upgrade/invocation system called Occult Rites.
The Witch is a spell caster with empowered hexes, familiars, a broad base of spell casting, and abilities and rites that grant the knack for brewing potions, animating stuff, and cursing stuff. It splits at level 1 into Black Coven, White Coven and Green Coven.
The Shaman is a bulkier caster getting more armor, shields, some more weapons (like spears) ,and hit points. They bind spirits or elementals that can use to empower themselves, or command to damage areas or alter the battlefield. The default to a gish, but can be played in a variety of ways, particularly with Rites focusing on area damage and control.
Those are the two that locked in at this point. They are things I've wanted to create awhile, and a large force behind making the class. Any good class should, of course, have many more options. It will launch with 1 other option, and this vote is to pick which! Below are a brief outline of the other concepts I've come up with so far:
The Hedge Wizard seems misplaced at first until you realize that these are not the scholastic sorts their cousins are. Generalist, scrappy, and resourceful, they take advantage of the greater flexibility of the Occulist to master a wide range of cantrips and rituals, while lacking the arcane emphasis of their book-bound cousins.
The Oracle is mystical and somewhat more divinely bound than the other traditions at play here, they are follow mystic calling; they are not a seer of the future, but guide their path with omens and revelations that empower them, granted powers for their devotion to their mysterious ideals.
The Witch Doctor uses their totems and fetishes to empower their magic. Their dark Rites focus on ways to bring down their enemies; a subclass that is all about pressing ones thumb to scales, enhancing their allies and debilitating their enemies with an emphases varying depending on their specializations.
The Necromancer (probably would rename it). There is a School of Necromancy. I know. You know. We both know it's not very good at making a Necromancer. A more minion based approach, they'd use their action to control the souls or skeletons under the command, with Occult Rites to specialized what their minion options and actions are.
The Cultist admittedly started a joke idea due to the name of the subclass, but some people liked it has caught on. Not a Warlock, but someone that practices their dark magic in service to a patron and receives dark boons for their service. Variable; caster or demonic gish.
Comments
Probably not too long; almost certainly this month and hopefully in the next week or two we'll at least see a draft of it. Unfortunately my schedule is always at the whim of how much free time I can get to work on it, but I'll do my best to have something up next, maybe with just the Witch and Shaman, maybe with the winner here too (which looks like it'll be the Oracle so far). There's a fair chunk to do with the with spells and rites still, and I'm always worried about releasing things too early when it's a set of puzzle pieces that all go together, but at the same time, sometimes things only fall into place when getting reactions and feedback to it, so I guess it's always a balance.
KibblesTasty
2020-03-10 20:44:48 +0000 UTCAny rough ETA on when we might see a draft of the Occultist? The Animated Weapon spell on Reddit has me intrigued as to where you're going with the class.
Larry Eger
2020-03-10 14:21:18 +0000 UTCCould call the Necromancer a "Dread Necromancer" after an older edition class & give it a few gish paths (sickle & scythe melee builds?)
Verixa Okblek
2020-03-07 13:19:49 +0000 UTC