Questions that came up

[Tellerve]

True, but that comes a later. And if the scrolls work the way they are written currently I think there is something lacking as otherwise all the classes seem to be pretty good. But there is, I believe, a hole in the power progression of the Occultist as is currently.

Tellerve

 

[Saeviomagy]

Note that the occultist is intended for the shadow chasers campaign.

Note that the shadow chasers campaign is a very low magic campaign. Psis, Mages and adepts DO NOT EXIST in it, only occultists.

Being the ONLY person in the group who can cast spells is pretty damn good, as long as you don't try for damaging or disabling spells (ie - ones which hardly matter). The power of a scroll that allows you to breeze into a facility unhampered (change self), allow you to hurt an invincible demon (magic weapon), hit any target, no matter how small (truestrike) or read a language you've never encountered before (comprehend languages) is fantastic. One which lets you throw a grenade (fireball) sucks.

 

[Tellerve]

Saeviomagy-

I agree, those spells would be very useful in the way you describe. Although that's it after they are used, that's basically my complaint.

As far as not working alongside the Mage and the Acolyte your correct, but they do work with the Shadow Slayer. The shadow slayer is a pretty beefy "prestige class". Which isn't to say the occultist isn't bad, in fact their later powers, especially the 10th is nice. But the slayer gets great saves, +1 bab per level, sweet abilities...eh

Mainly i just want some clarification on their research abilities and scrolls.

Tellerve

 

[Mistwell]

The occultist response:

Charles Ryan said: j1000 is correct. The text is pretty clear: "The table below shows how many scrolls of each spell level the Occultist receives upon gaining a new level. . . ." The Occultist gains that number of scrolls for free at each level, not that number of new spells for which she can make scrolls.

J1000 said: I'm pretty sure that "scrolls gained" means scrolls gained, not possible spells to put onto scrolls. The occultist does have bery limited spellcasting abilities, and cannot make scrolls in between levels. On the other hand, they do have other abilities that compensate for this. Think of the daredevil AdC- most of those abilites are worthless once you run out of AP. The same goes for occultist spells.

 

[Saeviomagy]

Tellerve - it's a brains vs brawn thing. The shadow slayer has the brawn in spades. So do a lot of the other character classes. None of the other classes get any form of spellcasting or the ability to use magical artifacts. They just don't.

The primary focus of the occultist is their use magic device skill. Their scrolls ability simply guarantees them the use of it. If the GM puts just ONE spell-trigger item in an adventure, then even an occultist without scrolls is validated.