[Dreamscarred Press] Psionics Augmented: Occult

[Kymera]

Goetic > Metacreativity horror > 1st-level special feature > Shield Interposition

Shield Interposition (Ex): So long as Metacreativity has a shield providing a bonus to its AC, it can, as an immediate action when an ally within its threatened area is attacked, swap squares with that ally. The decision to swap may be made after the attack has been rolled. Metacreativity loses the use of one shield providing it an AC bonus when it decides to swap (this shield’s bonus to AC does not apply to the attack).

How, exactly, is this intended to work? From the context, the general mechanical themes of the Goetic, and even (especially) the name of this ability itself, it appears to be intended to allow the goetic to take the blow in place of the ally, but the way it's currently worded, I don't see a way by RAW to do that. I'm picturing it as swapping places with my ally when they're attacked, and then that attack resolves against me instead of against its original target, but the way this is written, we've swapped places, and then the attack proceeds as normal. At best, if it's a melee attack that I was previously out of reach of, putting the original target out of reach might make the attack fail, but that really doesn't feel like it was the intention behind this ability, especially with that "Interposition" in the name.

[tynansdtm]

The big thing about the Living Legend is that overall, they're playing a role. They can use these powers through brute forcing it with psionics. You can detect as Good and channel negative energy because it's a mask you're wearing, just like you could use a spell to completely mask someone's alignment signature. Alignment domains are similar; the Living Legend is not beholden to similar rules as the cleric because that's not where they're getting there power from. The power's in them, the role just shapes it.

Okay, I figured that it would just be a single spirit that it was grabbing multiple properties from (and presumably that spirit couldn't break these rules), but I'm willing to accept that it's "just acting."

On a more mechanical side of things:

• The Govi, under Athanatism implement, the Spirit Ward power contains a double "is".
• For the Empath, the Expanded Collective feat is reproduced incorrectly, missing the Benefit with the Normal text marked Benefit.
• Expansive Collective is reproduced correctly but unfortunately the Empath never receives the Spirit of Many class feature and so never qualifies for it. Is it supposed to be able to qualify? I'd really be happy if it could, because it gets collective things earlier than other classes.

[Forrestfire]

Hello! It's been quite a long time since this project was updated, and I greatly apologize for that. Today we've got some updates to the Goetic and the Empath, as well as to the Kineticist options.

Spoiler: Short changelog

Show

Empath

• Collective Seance now counts as Spirit of Many for prerequisites
• Added sidebar about ​the Ultimate Intrigue​ Zeitgeist Binder spiritualist, and added a new feat (Volksgeist Binder) for multiclass Empath/Zeitgeist Binders
• Riastrad spirit power reworked.
• Fixed Expanded Collective reprint.

Goetic

• Lots of general clean-up and clarification.
• Specialization became a separate section just to make things easier to read.
• Splicing action cost changed to just start at free, then free-out-of-turn at 3rd, then retroactive at 8th.
• Fragmented Consciousness gives would-be possessor the opportunity to nope out (and defined Knowledge check to figure out the need to).
• Bonus psionic feats at 2nd and 6th.
• Specialists given extra uses of 16th-level horror features as part of the Horrific Cooperation capstone, since it's much less useful to them.
• Added a section on stuff like auras, knowledge checks, and so on.
• Athanatism's Martyr's Consolation no longer reduces the damage taken for allies, only delays it.
• Psychokinesis can choose any three weapons it is proficient with, rather than ​having​ to choose martial weapons.

Kineticists

• There've been some grammar tweaks in both the Avant Guard and the Gambler.
• Crystalline needle blast has had a note added to it about its compatability with infusions.
• A new feat has been added, Augmented Elements, that allows kineticists to slightly expand their repertoire of simple blasts.
• We've added a section on prestige classes—specifically, how Gamblers and other kineticists with the psionic subtype interact with psionic prestige classes.

[Kiton2]

Given the new options it may be appropriate for the Composite Power Metapsionic (is that really worth two whole points? it's "half X and half Y" not "damage becomes X AND Y") to be allowed to function with any of the elements as the "first", if not the second!

[Adamsmithchan]

I've started looking through the Empath Medium in preparation for an upcoming campaign and I noticed something. It's very difficult to PRC with the class.

I understand not progressing volksgeist, but as it stands you contact zeitgeists based purely on class level, versus manifester level. Is this intentional?

[Forrestfire]

I've discussed this with the author of the Empath, and right now, we're not quite sure how best to implement that. We'll get back to you on the question of Empaths and PrCs.

On an unrelated note, though, the Living Legend is now released! I want to personally thank all the people who've posted and playtested, since you've been incredibly helpful. It can be found wherever you normally get Pathfinder products

[Milo v3]

The living legend's description says "The release also includes information on playing Soulknives in high-psionics campaigns," is that a reprint of the side-bar from Soulknife Augmented?

[Forrestfire]

Yeah, it's a reprint of the sidebars (the one on the progression and also how it interacts with PrCs) from that, slightly reworded.

[Mehangel]

I had an idea for a soulknife archetype that replaces psychic strike and/or mindblade for kinetic blast, spending blade skills to acquire talents.

[Dr_Dinosaur]

Ok, I'm trying to build an Avant Garde/Elemental Ascetic Kineticist and figuring out how attacking with it works is giving me a headache. I'm assuming that since Kinetic Fist is a form and Stand Together is a blast they can be used together, making Stand Together melee and able to be used with iterative/flurry attacks? How would that work then? Does Stand Together replace the normal unarmed attack with a copy of the Magnum Opus attacking? Would I need Feral Combat Training then, since I'd be flurrying with Slam attacks?

[Forrestfire]

Kinetic Fist is... Weird, as a form infusion. It says this:

"You deal an additional 1d6 points of damage per 3 dice of your kinetic blast's damage (minimum 1d6), and this damage is of the same type as your kinetic blast's damage."

It's not actually a blast, and wouldn't carry any rider effects, substance infusions, or extra damage like a normal blast. All it does is add damage to your unarmed strikes. You would want Kinetic Blade if you want to use your magnum opus in melee like that.

[Dr_Dinosaur]

Kinetic Fist is... Weird, as a form infusion. It says this:

"You deal an additional 1d6 points of damage per 3 dice of your kinetic blast's damage (minimum 1d6), and this damage is of the same type as your kinetic blast's damage."

It's not actually a blast, and wouldn't carry any rider effects, substance infusions, or extra damage like a normal blast. All it does is add damage to your unarmed strikes. You would want Kinetic Blade if you want to use your magnum opus in melee like that.

Ok, so that archetype combo would only really give me the ability to flurry with the 'typeless' damage of my Magnum Opus? That's disappointing.

How would Kinetic Blade work, then? I hit them with it and then the whole 'Magnum Opus appears and takes the rest of its turn' thing happens? If I get a Conductive AoMF, do I get one punch a round that also applies Kinetic Blade's effects?

[Forrestfire]

That's correct; the kinetic blade would carry the effect of the blast and summon your magnum opus. A conductive AoMF is probably your best bet for being melee with it (and really, it's a pretty good choice in general, since it will later get you the ability to toss composite blasts and the like onto one punch per round).

[Dr_Dinosaur]

So let's say I go Brawler 2/Avant Guard 3 with the stated setup and the Advanced Construct feat to give my Opus armor spikes. I flurry with my conductive fists, and my first hit deals my normal unarmed damage plus the Opus' slam damage. Then my Opus appears adjacent to the target and may full attack with its armor spikes and its (now secondary) slam attack. Finally, I land my second punch for a total of four attacks. Does that sound right?

Obviously the spikes+slam combo is risky because of the -5 accuracy penalty, but with elemental overflow (presumably since it's part of a blast rider) compensating for that it's a potential 5d6 before adding my strength and the construct's strength as well as my other damage bonuses to our attacks.

[Forrestfire]

That sounds right, yeah.

1. Punch
2. Conductive stand together slam attack
3. Second punch
4. Magnum opus continues its full attack, making an attack with its armor spikes and any extra slam attacks it has.

[MilleniaAntares]

For the Avant Guard, you have this sentence for Magnum Opus:

"Your ability to create a magnum opus is limited; each you can construct a number of copies at full hit points per day equal to the number of burn accepted during your meditation + your Constitution modifier (minimum 1)."

You need to remove the "each" from the sentence to have it make sense.

[Forrestfire]

Thanks for the catch there; it's been fixed.

[Forrestfire]

Hey, sorry for the long silence. I have two important announcements to make today regarding the Psionics Augmented: Occult project.

The first one is that as of today, this playtest will be officially closing. We've had a really good run, and as always, I am super, super thankful for all of your testing, feedback, commentary, and really just the time and energy invested in helping us at Dreamscarred Press make this product great. Thank you.

In any case, we're going to be moving these archetypes and class options to layout and release in the near future (incorporating changes from the feedback we have received over time), and will not be actively playtesting this project any more. However, I will say that the Goetic Spiritualist archetype is being reworked. It will be its own, stand-alone psychic casting class. Once this is fully written, it'll be playtested separately and then added to the release queue for Psionics Augmented: Occult.

The playtests docs for this project will remain open up until the release of each product. Don't worry; if you're using playtest stuff in your games, it's not going away.

... Now, the second announcement, and a much more sorrowful one: I am going to be taking an extended leave of absence as Creative Director at DSP for personal reasons, and as such, I'm not going to be actively handling playtests or writing content. We've known this was coming for a bit, and have been working to get things cleaned up, handled, and ready to press onwards once I'm gone (hence this playtest closing at the same time as Fool's Errand's—today's my last day actively doing stuff, so we were holding off until now).

It's been a ton of fun, and I hope to return as soon as I can. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy the plethora of new products, playtests, and releases coming from Dreamscarred Press.

[digiman619]

... Now, the second announcement, and a much more sorrowful one: I am going to be taking an extended leave of absence as Creative Director at DSP for personal reasons, and as such, I'm not going to be actively handling playtests or writing content. We've known this was coming for a while, and have been working to get things cleaned up, handled, and ready to press onwards once I'm gone (hence this playtest closing at the same time as Fool's Errand's—today's my last day actively doing stuff, so we were holding off until now).

It's been a ton of fun, and I hope to return as soon as I can. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy the plethora of new products, playtests, and releases coming from Dreamscarred Press.

I hope whatever your personal reason that they resolve as happily (and hopefully as quickly) as possible. Thank you for your work on all these stuff; it does wonders for my games and I love practically everything DSP makes.

Stay sane (as possible) and healthy!

[jimminychrismas]

Hthe Goetic Spiritualist archetype is being reworked. It will be its own, stand-alone psychic casting class.

This is great news. After "this is really quite cool" my first thought was that it felt like there was enough there for a standalone class, if not an entire alternate subsystem of classes.(though, DSP might be getting collectively tired of outwriting Paizo and Wotc at those.) More of a physical medium than a spiritualist.

It seemed almost hampered by fitting into a template and like it could be improved by dropping some of the spiritualist that was left in favor of more goetia.
Perhaps free spending of minutes per day limited to a minimum of minute-long increments rather than uses per day and a max time. Possibly in exchange for some(or most/all) of its casting, or as the trade-off in an archetype limiting to a specialized link to a single Horror.

Or improved just from more creative control from the writer/s outside the constraints of conforming to an established class.

Either way, this looks like it'll turn out awesome.

[Thealtruistorc]

Something I would like to know: are there plans for psychic theurge classes in the style of the cerebremancer and bladecaster? I had some ideas regarding a psychic/psion villain for my campaign, and will probably create my own version if there isn't an official one. Nonetheless, I would like to know if I'm the only one to anticipate this.

[Cyrocloud]

So, did this drop then? http://dreamscarred.com/product/psio...mented-occult/

[vilor]

Is this any new material or reprints of what has already been published? If a collection of reprints will patreon supporters get it as a free update?

[Forrestfire]

The Psionics Augmented: Occult Compilation includes a chapter on supplementary rules, including skill unlocks and some new feats that didn't make it into the smaller releases.

[DMVerdandi]

Can we like...request certain classes be made or published?

[vilor]

The Psionics Augmented: Occult Compilation includes a chapter on supplementary rules, including skill unlocks and some new feats that didn't make it into the smaller releases.

Thanks Forrest, but if the bulk of the book is a compilation of the half a dozen releases already obtained via Patreon I'm not sure I want to pay for this material again....

A more detailed contents would be useful....

[Forrestfire]

Can we like...request certain classes be made or published?

Sadly, this project is over with the release of the compilation. There might be more Occult stuff from DSP in the future, but I don't know of any active plans.

Thanks Forrest, but if the bulk of the book is a compilation of the half a dozen releases already obtained via Patreon I'm not sure I want to pay for this material again....

A more detailed contents would be useful....

I think that the preview on drivethru should include the table of contents, at least? I might also consider asking the Dreamscarred Press Facebook page, or shooting an email to the address listed on their site's "contact us" page. I'm no longer actively working with the company, so I can't really make statements on this with any confidence, particularly with respects to the patreon. My apologies.