Talk:Occultist Savant (3.5e Class)

Jack of all Spells

Huh, this is an interesting concept. It's a self contained Super Ultra Hyper Mega Mystic Theurge of sorts. Besides being my personal hell of having to refer to 1001 different books and systems, there isn't a problem with it per se. Because it has so many moving parts, figuratively speaking, it's hard to judge if it succeeds at its goal. I think I'd have to test it in a game at some point.

I'm withholding rating until I know for sure. Still, from a glance it looks successful. Interdasting... -- Eiji-kun (talk) 06:55, 10 November 2016 (UTC)

It gets a touch of many things; Limited Eldritch Blast and some blast shape/essence invocations; some mid-level meldshaping, psionics and spells. It gets the Dispelling Orb thing from the Witchborn Binder PrC. The interesting thing is while is gets a wide variety of abilities to choose from, it can only choose a few from each - Its class ability list consists of, over 20 levels, the spells from 3 Wizard school of their choice and 4 Cleric domains of their choice; The powers from three Psion Discipline and three Psionic Mantles, and whatever 10 Soulmelds they choose from any class list.

However, these are only it's class list to choose from. 10 powers known, only 10 soulmelds known/shaped, and only maybe 7 blast shape and/or eldritch essence invocations in addition to having a limited 6-level spellbook; And the only thing not limited to 6th level are the Invocations. But, by choosing the right domains, mantles, disciplines and etc., you can literally create any themed caster you like.

The class's real power lies in versatility, and its ability to cast spells without worrying about daily limits - As long as they're careful not to exert themselves too quickly, they can keep casting all day; Almost as if Warlock's power was reduced to 6th in return for it being able to prepare the spells it casts as invocations. While this can be detrimental at first level - You'll be outcasting all but the warlock, AND have the option to change which spells you have prepared - You'll fall back in later levels, trading higher-level power for your ability to use it so often.

The spell components make a difference too; Based off of Pathfinder's Occult/Psychic magic spells. It blurs the line between spellcasting and the purely mental action of psionics, making it perfect for this class's theme. The DM can still nerf them and they still provoke AoO's, but logically when someone thinks "spellcaster" they think "tie his hands and gag him so he can't cast spells". Thus, many will be surprised when these guys still manage to hurl a Fireball their way.

On to the ability components, the three I made were designed specifically so this class - And multiclassed characters who have access to these things - Can spread out their spells, and make use of them. Blastbind is similar to the Spellblast invocation granted by the Eldritch Theurge, but with different mechanics. Instead of being able to Arcane-Archer your Eldritch Blast, you can instead add the effects of a single-target spell you can cast to the blast, affecting multiple targets if you use the right shape. There will be abuse (Enervation comes to mind, as you mentioned on your Spellinvoking warlock rating), but the character will have to build specifically for that, specializing. Plus, the time it takes to change spells means they can't do it mid-combat unless they get someone else to guard them and etc.

Spellbind is effectively a more-complicated manner for a member of this class to access Persistent Spell, since Persist has such a steep metamagic cost and etc. However, the class has other ways of getting around Metamagic costs (Occult Metamagic, to name one), but that doesn't work for things like Divine Power until 20th level. Plus, these guys don't have bonus feats to use for grabbing metamagic feats, so that saves them a little bit of trouble.

Finally, Eldritch Shield is a way for any invoker with an EB-like ability, whether it b Warlock, this class or etc, a way to protect themselves using their blast, since Warlock doesn't get a whole lot of defensive invocations. And, it's versatile; Only things it protect from currently are electricity and sonic (Since there weren't any Eldritch Essences for that in the CA).

I'm going to be working on the fluff section today, build an NPC for the class, all that good stuff. I hope to be starting a D&D group soon, thus I've been making a bunch of premade 1st-level characters, and I've going to be making a Silver Elf Occultist Savant here shortly, and I'll be sure to let you know how that goes if someone picks that character. I'll probably also give them an adventure where they're tracking down a cult, make one of these guys the big bad. Instead of having to choose an evil warlock, evil wizard, evil cleric, evil, brain-washing psion or some jerk making the souls of the dead do his bidding, I can just have all of the above~

Thanks for taking a look at this, I really appreciate it. Means a lot to me. Zhenra-Khal (talk) 18:17, 10 November 2016 (UTC)