Hosts with the Most: Queen Mother (Occultist aka Binder)

Yesterday we looked at the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Occult Adventures book and its medium class. But the medium is far from alone as a host to spirits. Today we are looking at “binders” or as the were more recently named occultists (from Radiance House) which are not to be confused with the even newer occultist from Occult Adventures.

So how does our occultist (binder) rate, we’ll compare our benchmark medium to find out:

Occultist: Breakdown

Looking at the occultist compared to the medium we see that:

Fragile Framework: Simple Weapons and only light armor, mid-BAB and strong Fortitude and Will save. More on par with cleric for saves but less protective armor. Skills are also slightly more limited. Spirit powers can alter this substantially.

Buddies (PLURAL) from Beyond: Here is were occultist (binder) pulls ahead. Vestiges and spirits are presented in constellations and have far more variety than even the earliest versions of the medium. You can eventually have up to four of the spirits and mix and match within minor limits to customize your build out. The basics of vestiges for this class include:

• Fifteen Spirit Constellations: The options presented for the occultist class are amazingly variable, with the upcoming expansion, the Grimoire of Lost Souls, the system will have over 130+ spirits to choose from. These unlock in constellation groups each “level” but even a first level character gets over a dozen choices.
• Changed Daily: Like the medium, the occultist changes its binding daily. Allowing for similar versatility and sustained play for players who struggle staying committed to a single concept.
• Buffs and Bumps: Good bindings can get variable augments and be pushed for even more constellation-based buffs. A lot of these are dependent on rolling well during your morning seal marathon. But don’t worry, if you fail you get some pretty awesome role-playing material.
• Powers: Every vestige has four basic powers and an extra-credit “capstone power” which is generally the one you want most. Again this is dependent on the morning binding check so roll well!
• You get up to FOUR of these guys. This is remarkably awesome.

Buddy Swap: If the potential of FOUR spirits isn’t enough for you, at 5th level you can get a backup spirit. This is with the Reserve Spirit feat (also available to most of the archetypes in the system) which allows you momentarily call in the extra spirit for aid during crucial moments.

Spells and Flavors: This occultist class doesn’t really get spells. Several spirits provide you with spell-like and supernatural abilities that cover similar needs and with the persistent augmentation you are unlikely to miss them. Extras like binder secrets and vestigial companions help round out the classes unique flavors.

Lovely Limits: The influence mechanic of the medium seems to forecast a theme prevalent in nearly every spirit-channeling class. For the occultist, the vestige spirits all of have influences on personality AND physical signs of their presence. As such, a vestige is probably harder to high than the medium’s spirits are. But with a good check, you can suppress all of these signs and influences.

Aside from the lack of spells, the occultist from Radiance House suffers only the most minor of skill and proficiency loss compared to the medium. If the loss of spells isn’t a deal breaker for you then the spirit variety of the class makes it among the greatest if not THE ruler of the spirit-binding game.

Then again? Why not both? Check out this Book of Beyond WIP goody:

Twined Tethers

Your own soul has found room within to host both the legendary and the lost.

Prerequisite: Any two: bind spirit class feature, draw upon legend class feature, or spirit class feature

Benefit: For purposes of the bind spirit class feature, draw upon legend class feature, or spirit class feature your levels in each class stack when calculating the strength of a given spirit or legends feature. This does not grant any other progression benefit (BAB substitution, new spirit or legend access) beyond the determining the strength of currently those spirits or  legend currently available. For each legend or spirit you have bound you gain a +1 to other binding checks.

Special:  The GM may rule that other spirit and companion abilities benefit from this feat.

Come back tomorrow for another medium (Amora Game) for more Host-filled fun.

Book of Beyond will be available later this winter or you can pre-order it as part of the Book of Beyond WIP subcription! You can see our other products at: d20pfsrd.com, drivethruRPG, paizo and RPGNow.