Exclusive OCCULT ADVENTURES Preview for PATHFINDER!

Paizo Publishing has very kindly sent over a super-secret super-exclusive two-page preview of the upcoming Occult Adventures hardcover book due for release later this year. Lead designer Jason Bulmahn also had a short message -- "We are really excited to unveil the secrets of our game with Occult Adventures. Releasing in time for Gen Con, this hardcover book includes our take on rules for psionic magic, including six new character classes ready to uncover the truth and unlock the powers of the mind! In addition, Occult Adventures includes a wide variety of archetypes for the new classes and many of the existing Pathfinder character classes as well. This spread shows off one of my favorites: the Cult Master. This vile character is just begging to be the villain in your next campaign. Finally, this meaty book also includes a huge list of new spells, magic items, and other rules to help players and GMs make the occult a part of their game!"

​

Occult Adventures is due for release at Gen Con this year (end of July). The book underwent a public playtest last year. Click on the image for a larger PDF version of the preview.

Delve into the occult secrets of psychic magic, mystic rituals, and esoteric sciences with Occult Adventures, the latest hardcover rulebook for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game! Six new occult-themed character classes bring the vast treasures of occultism and mysticism to Pathfinder players like never before. Set out on new adventures as a kineticist, medium, mesmerist, psychic, occultist, or spiritualist, or choose from dozens of archetypes for these and most existing Pathfinder RPG classes. Explore forbidden secrets long kept from the world to discover magical forces that unlock vast powers of mind and body. Uncover lost relics and proscribed spells to give your hero new powers in the fight against evil, and pick up new psychic tricks with a library of new feats based on occult traditions.
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Occult Adventures includes:

• Six new base classes—the reality-warping kineticist, the spirit-infused medium, the manipulative mesmerist, the relic-wielding occultist, the mind-master psychic, and the phantom-bonded spiritualist.
• Thematic archetypes for appropriate Pathfinder RPG base classes, such as the haunted totem barbarian, the phrenologist bard, the ghost rider cavalier, the psychic detective inquisitor, and more!
• Tons of new spells and magic items, including lots of options for existing classes as well as the perfect gear for the new classes and archetypes introduced in this book.
• In-depth overviews of key occult topics such as auras, ki, chakras, psychic combat, possession, occult rituals, and the esoteric planes.
• AND MUCH, MUCH MORE!

​

SaveSave​

 

[Henry]

I see it all the time in the Paizo forums "Pathfinder needs a new edition" threads - one person's bloat is another person's "Perfect spectrum of customization options." One person says, "It's time," and seven others say, "no, it's not." I think the phrase, "five or ten more years" is hard-wired into a select few posters.

But in the end, with such a disparate community wanting different things out of whatever form PF 2.0 takes, it will be totally driven by Paizo keeping their eyes glued to the sales revenue charts. Paizo will internally always be working and tinkering with new design, keeping it under the radar, until the fateful internal company review that says, "core book sales are dropping, and x% of surveys tell us that the majority is not happy with status quo" -- and THAT is when we'll see the wheels for a "new edition" turning. We already see this with "unchained" - most are convinced it's either a test feeler for new edition ideas, or a test of a new paradigm for edition updates.

That said, option fatigue is already starting to creep into our group local game. The DM of our Skull and Shackles game threw out advanced class guide - first time that's happened with PF stuff for us. Plus, the second DM imposed house rules to de-incentivise certain classes (three tiers of point buy based on our group consensus of "brokenness" of certain classes), so at ground level i'm starting to see even rabid PF fans get a little offput by current options.

 

[Morrus]

I see it all the time in the Paizo forums

Happens in every Paizo product thread here, too, without fail.

 

[Grimstaff]

Happens in every Paizo product thread here, too, without fail.

I think by now we can accept that rule bloat is just a given for PF, no amount of constructive criticism can turn back the clock at this point.

It would just be nice if the design for all these options was more concise. The Mesmerist is a really cool archetype, and I'm sure a lot of folks would like to use it in their games in some form or other. So why not make it simpler to do so?

Look at the preview's False Healing ability for example. You can't tell me that ability couldn't have been presented a more concise manner. It's like being hammered over the head with an aeronautics manual.

 

[Morrus]

Look at the preview's False Healing ability for example. You can't tell me that ability couldn't have been presented a more concise manner. It's like being hammered over the head with an aeronautics manual.

Brevity isn't a universal positive. I myself dislike terse, brief rules. I like to read game books as well as reference them.

 

[HonorBoundSamurai632]

And the fan base is answered, via http://paizo.com/products/btpy9dyk?Pathfinder-Campaign-Setting-Distant-Shores-Gazetteer

I'm not big on the Occult book, but THIS ..... THIS is what I have been waiting a very long time for!!

Attention WoTC: This would be a good way to re-introduce other campaign settings!!

 

[Phaide]

One man's bloat is another man's options. I like the new classes. Besides, no one is making you use it. Stick to the core if that's what makes you happy, but some of us like variety.

 

[ZeshinX]

I'm always open to new classes and options. It's easy enough to ignore what you don't like, or disallow anything you think is broken. So far, I've liked most of the new classes and archetypes, though I was considerably disappointed in the Advanced Class Guide, mostly from feeling the hybrids/gestalts were lazy designs (smashing together two classes to see what sticks together) when Paizo has proven to be far better designers than that (but hey, they felt a big enough segment of their audience wanted them, so, cool).

I'm looking forward to Occult Adventures, though I do hope they do more with the Kineticist than make it a blast dispenser (I had higher hopes for Paizo's re-imagined Warlock...still, DSP's Cryptic fits the bill nicely).

 

[HonorBoundSamurai632]

One man's bloat is another man's options. I like the new classes. Besides, no one is making you use it. Stick to the core if that's what makes you happy, but some of us like variety.

Was this meant towards me?
If you saw my Pathfinder shelVES .... you'd be impressed. I'm not big on the whole occult thing. Everywhere I go (and I'm not talking about TTRPG's here either) everyone seems to be into evil, and undeath, and the occult. Every bo-bo with a handheld recorder now thinks themselves ghost hunters. It's everywhere you go. I'm burned out on it.

BUT!!!

I will probably get this book at one point to complete my collection.

AND!!!

I will probably get this book for the simple fact, that when it was first announced, all they said was they were making a book that was adding powers of the mind to Pathfinder. Many, myself included, freaked out because Dreamscarred Press had just released Ultimate Psionics, and all of us jumped the gun and thought this was going to be a book about psionics. It's an interesting concept it's just not something I'm in to. With that said, someday I will buy this .... but it's nothing I feel my table needs right at this moment. And when I do buy it, just like every other Pathfinder book I have after the CRB, I'll probably find something interesting in it anyway and figure out a way to add it to my campaign.

 

[Phaide]

My comment was directed at any who complain about "bloat". This weird belief that an invisible gun is held to people's heads forcing them to buy a new book or be forced in some way to add the new material to their games. I just don't get it.

 

[Morrus]

My comment was directed at any who complain about "bloat". This weird belief that an invisible gun is held to people's heads forcing them to buy a new book or be forced in some way to add the new material to their games. I just don't get it.

I'm with you. It seems people feel that it's better that a company stop publishing game material altogether rather than publish a book they personally don't want. It's weird.