Implementing Magic: VampByDay's guide to the Occultist (qmpjjlp5@gmail.com):
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Table of Contents:
Section 1: Basic introduction to the guide
Section 2: Basic introduction to the class
Section 1: Introduction
The introduction of Occult Adventures has changed the Pathfinder landscape by introducing a third type of magic to the pathfinder world: psychic magic. As such, the six psychic classes introduced in Occult Adventures stand out as an odd duck when compared to all other Pathfinder classes, and a lot of their abilities are strange or unfamiliar. I have undertaken this project in an attempt to explore one of these classes: the Occultist.
Role:
Somewhat like a Bard or Inquisitor, an occultist can be considered a 'jack of all trades.' However, a more appropriate way to describe the occultist class is 'flexible.' Because there are so many options available to the occultist, there are many different ways to build them. Additionally, like a bard, just because you may build for a single role doesn't necessarily lock you out of another role in a pinch.
Why play an Occultist?
Occultists are a somewhat strange class, but they offer a lot of unique abilities which allows them to go in many different directions. They also have a fairly unique flavor to them. From a purely mechanical standpoint, they are a solid class. They have a 3/4 BAB, good fort and will saves (often considered the most important saves), proficiency in both martial weapons and medium armor, some spellcasting ability, and while they don't have a huge list of spells to choose from, the ones they can get are pretty good.
From a flavor standpoint they are also fairly unique in that they are able to draw out inherent magic out of seemingly mundane items, or make magical items even more potent. This allows you to make characters that carry around family heirlooms from levels 1-20, or can further improve upon that magic sword you got.
Occultists are a class that gives you both spellcasting and martial options. They also add the flavor of a character that doesn't just USE magical items, but truly attunes with them and understands them. Their bonuses to UMD let them do anything from wield a holy avenger to raise the dead with a scroll, and in combat they can constantly pulling out small magical items that they can use to devastating effect. If you want to be that sort of character, the occultist is for you.
Color Coding scheme:
Throughout this guide I will use a color-coding scheme in order to rank choices or abilities based on my experience. These should not be taken as absolutes, but rather, general ideas for the broad applications of the choice as it pertains to the class. If you find some loophole or issue that allows you to make good use of a red or orange choice, please, feel free to use it, and even send me a polite e-mail telling me as much. I might update the guide with your comments!
Note: I have also allowed 'in between' rankings in order to give this list further refinement. Thus a choices that is half-green, half-blue is better than good, but not quite great.
Red-Sub Par: This choice/ability is sub-par for some reason. Either it is just a poor choice in relation to Pathfinder in general, or that particular choice does not work well with the occultist class.
Orange-Sub-Optimal: This choice/ability isn't bad per se, but there may be better choices out there. Double-check before choosing an orange option to make sure that's where you want to go with your character.
Green-Good: An all-around solid decision/ability. Probably can't go too wrong with it.
Blue-Great: A very solid decision/ability. Many occultists will probably go this way.
Purple-Extremely good : Almost a class-defining choice/ability. If you aren't going to choose this option (or if you plan to trade out this ability), make sure you have a good reason for it. Almost all occultists will probably use this this.
Grey-Difficult to say: Some options will depend entirely on your build or what you are doing with your occultist. Grey options are, for whatever reason, choices outside the good-bad spectrum.
Section 2: How does the Occultist work?
Class Basics:
Hit die: d8
Starting Proficiencies: Simple weapons, martial weapons, light armor, medium armor, shields (except tower shields).
Base Attack Bonus Progression: Medium (so-called 3 / 4)
Good Saves: Fortitude and Will.
Skills: 4+int mod/level
Spellcasting: Strangely, Occultists are intelligence-based spontaneous casters. Their power source is psychic (see below.) They have the so-called “Sixth level” spellcasting progression (meaning they gain access to spell levels and spells per day like a bard.)
BEFORE WE GET STARTED:
I should mention that the following is based off the most prominent theory of how occultists work. Because of some very complex (and possibly misprinted) text in the class description, it is possible that the occultist works slightly differently (making them slightly less powerful.) If this text is in fact not a misprint, then you need to know the following:
One interpretation of the rules says that occultists only count spells on their 'list of spells known' as 'on their spell list.' If this is the case, then UMD becomes much more prominent, as players will not be able to activate wands or scrolls of spells they do not know. This issue has not be addressed by PAIZO as of the latest update of this guide.
Lastly, one part of the occultist spellcasting is listed as: “Whenever an occultist casts a spell, he must have the corresponding implement in his possession and present the implement to the target or toward the area of effect.” This vague wording also seems to be impossible (how do you 'point a sword at itself' when you use your sword as a transmutation implement to cast lead blades on itself?), and would also seem to require you to take off your belt to cast a spell and then put it back on. In my experience GMs will ignore this rule, and instead require that all your implements be 'prominently displayed,' but your mileage may vary. Again, this vague wording hasn't been addressed by Paizo directly as of the latest update of the guide.
Occultist Spellcasting:
Occultists are psychic casters, and as such have special rules that don't apply to arcane or divine casters. Additionally, occultists have some very strange and special limitations on how their magic works. Because of this, here is a brief primer on how occultist spellcasting works.
First off: Occultists are spontaneous casters (like bards, they do not prepare their spells ahead of time, but instead permanently know a small number of spells that they can cast whenever, so long as they have a spell slot of the appropriate level available.)
Secondly: Psychic spellcasting has special rules. This means instead of somatic components, they have emotion components, and instead of verbal components, they have thought components. A spell with an EMOTIONAL component cannot be cast if the occultist is under a 'negative emotional effect' (such as a demoralizing intimidate, fear, confusion, rage, etc.). A spell with a THOUGHT component has the DC of any associated concentration checks increased by 10 unless the caster spends a move action to center themselves before casting the spell.
Thirdly: Because there are no somatic components for any of their spells, occultists can cast with their hands full, or while bound. Also, because there are no verbal components, they can cast while silenced, gagged, or otherwise unable to speak. However, they still must make concentration checks as normal when grappled (presumably because it is very distracting to have someone grab you and throw you about while trying to align your chakras or whatever.)
Fourthly: Because all of this magic is coming from inside you, spells do not have non-expensive material components (basically giving all psychic spellcasters the benefits of the 'eschew components' feat.) Expensive components can be replaced by any object of the appropriate value so long as it has 'significant meaning.' The details of this are up tot he GM, but presumably you could use the Baron's favorite set of 100GP clothes to cast restoration on him in lieu of 100 GP worth of diamond dust.
Lastly: One of the problems of the occultist is that Occult Adventures does not do a good job of explaining how the occultist works. The issue for this is that the book breaks up the implements and spells sections of their abilities into two separate sections, when in reality, they are intricately interconnected.
How the occultist works is at level 1, they start with two 'schools known.' Choose two spellcasting schools. Add 1 knack (level 0 spell) from each school and that is on the occultist's spell list to your list of spells known. Also, add one level 1 spell from each school that is on the occultist's spell list to your list of spells known. At level 2, you gain access to another school, and you do the same (one level 0, one level 1, from that school.)
At occultist level 4, you add one level 2 spell from each of your schools (and that is on the occultist spell list) to your list of spells known. At level six you learn a new school, which nets you another level 0, 1, and 2 spell to your list of spells known from that school. At level seven, you add one third level spell from each of the four schools you know, and so on and so forth.
THIS IS IMPORTANT.
Spells from schools you have not chosen are not considered 'on your spell list.' Thus, if a level 1 occultist chooses abjuration and transmutation as their first schools, any conjuration, necromancy, divination, illusion, and enchantment spells are NOT considered on their spell list (even if they appear on the occultist spell list). So, if our level 1 occultist from above wanted to cast detect magic from a wand, she would have to use the Use Magic Device Skill (even though detect magic is on the occultist's spell list, it is not on OUR occultist's spell list.)
The second half of this equation is that each school has an associated series of 'implements.' For example, the abjuration school has “Amulet, armor, belt, bracer, brooch, cloak, holy symbol, or shield.” When you refresh your spells in the morning, choose an item from that list as the 'focus' of your mental power. For the rest of the day, you need that item in your possession to cast spells of that school (so, if you choose 'shield' and then someone sunders your shield, you will have problems casting abjuration spells) Some GMs may require that the items have some special significance, but they do not have to be magic, and do not take up magic item slots. (Thus you could wear a normal belt as your abjuration implement, and a belt of physical perfection +2 at the same time and both would function.)
If you do loose your implement for the day, you can still try to cast the spell with a DC 20+spell level concentration check (remember the +10 to DC if it has a thought component and you don't center yourself.) Any spell cast this way is always cast at minimum caster level.
Mental Focus and Implements: But wait, there's more! Each day you get an amount of mental focus equal to your Int Mod+Occultist level. You can divy that up amongst your implements you have chosen for the day. Each implement has a 'resonant power' that gives you a bonus depending on your level and how much mental focus you invested in that item for the day. Items also have powers (and you can gain more powers as you level up). You can spend the invested mental focus of items in order to activate any powers you have associated with them. Items retain their full resonant bonuses unless they are COMPLETLY drained of mental focus.
When you choose an implement, you automatically get the ability to use it's resonant power, and you automatically get it's base power. At level one, you get one free additional power from either of your choices for free. When you gain access to new implements, you gain their resonant power and base power for free. At level 3 and every other level after that, you gain an additional power which can be chosen from ANY implement power you have access to.
Example:
Level 1 occultist Janica has chosen the two schools abjuration and transmutation. She chooses one abjuration knack and one transmutation knack from the occultist spell list, as well as one abjuration level 1 spell and one transmutation level 1 spell. Occultist abjuration and transmutation spells are considered on her spell list, but not conjuration, necromancy, illusion, enchantment, or divination.
She gains the abjuration and transmutation resonant powers, as well as the base powers. She also picks up one free power that is either from the abjuration or transmutation powers list.( for example, Aegis for abjuration, or Burst of Speed for transmutation)
Janica, who has an intelligence of 16 and the extra mental focus feat, starts with 6 mental focus. (level 1+3 Int mod+2 from feat.) She invests 4 points in her weapon (a longsword) as her transmutation implement, and 2 points in her shield, as her abjuration implement. The resonant power for transmutation is +2 to one physical ability score for every three points invested (Janica invested 4), and the resonant power for abjuration is a +1 resistance bonus to all saves for every two points (Janica invested 2).
Janica can spend 1 mental focus from her shield to activate her base power or Aegis and still retain her resistance bonus, but if she spends her second and final point, she looses her resistance bonus to her saves for the day. She can spend up to three points from her transmutation implement to activate any powers from that, but when she spends her fourth, she looses her bonus to an ability score.
At level 2, Janica gains another implement, she chooses conjuration. She gains the resonant bonus and base power of the conjuration implement, as well as a level 0 and 1 conjuration spells to her spells known, and adds all the occultist conjuration spells to her spell list. At level three, she gains an implement power, which can be an abjuration, transmutation, or conjuration power that she qualifies for.
Of course there's more: One last thing, instead of choosing new schools, you have the option of choosing the same school multiple times. When you do, you add new spells of that school to your list of spells known, one per level that you can cast. You also, however, must have one instance of an implement for each time you have chosen a school. Thus a person who chooses abjuration twice would need two abjuration implements (such as a shield and a belt) and have two abjuration spells per spell level on their list of spells known. This is generally considered a poor choice, because it is redundant (you don't get a benefit from a second resonant power/a second iteration of a base power), but it is an option if you want to make use of it.
Other Occultist Abilities
After the massive quagmire that is the rules of how occultist spells/implements work, the other abilities they have are fairly easy to understand:
Magic Item Skill: Add half your occultist level to UMD checks. Super easy. Remember to round down, and that to use the skill, you need to have at least one rank in it, even if your class gives you bonuses.
Object Reading: Automatically identify any non-cursed, non-artifact magic item. Can identify cursed items if your occultist level is equal to the caster level of the cursed item. Remember it takes one minute, and you have to handle the item. This is particularly good if you do not have the divination school.
Shift Mental Focus: The ability to shift mental focus isn't BAD, per se, but you loose focus in the transfer. Better to plan well and be stingy with your mental focus, and only use this as a last resort.
Aura Sight: PERMENANT Aura Sight, which basically means you can instantly figure out anyone’s alignment (as long as they are, like, over level 5). Also lets you detect those cursed artifacts or whatnot if they are evil.
Magic Circles/Binding Circles/Fast Circles: These are pretty much flavor, but can be useful when you get 'fast circles.' They are fairly wordy, but easy to understand.
Section 3: Initial Choices (Build, Race, Ability Score Allocation, Archetypes, Traits)
Author's note here: After careful consideration, I have chosen NOT to rank build choices as color-coded because I feel that it is not my place to rank someone's defining character concept. If push came to shove, I would rank a support/caster occultist as slightly less optimal than a ranged/melee build, but I am not going to say that one is 'sub par' or one is a 'class-defining choice.' I am not here to tell you what character concept to have, just how to build out your character concept to be effective in the Pathfinder game system.
Before we get started: what are we looking for?
An occultist's most powerful resource is their mental focus, and unfortunately, they get very little of it compared to their needs at higher levels. While in the early levels you may be able to max out the resonant powers of your implements, this will not last. At higher levels you will basically be able to max out the resonant power of a single implement, or have all your implements running on minimum, but certainly not even close to maxing out all your implements.
Getting mental focus is a factor of your level, your intelligence, and one feat (which CANNOT be taken more than once.) As such, unlike certain builds of warpriests, bards, and inquisitors, your primary casting stat (intelligence) is VERY important for ANY build of occultist.
Build option 1: Melee
Why go melee occultist?
Occultists have a fairly impressive ability to go into melee. They start with proficiency in all martial weapons and with shield proficiency, as well as proficiency in both light and medium armors. Additionally, several of their implement powers and spells can greatly enhance their combat prowess. While it is true that they are not a 'full BAB' class, they can offset this with spells and buffs from their implements, making them an excellent melee-support class.
A side note: Dex Melee occultists
As several people are no doubt aware, recent developments in the pathfinder landscape has allowed for the creation of characters that use dexterity to hit and damage instead of strength. There are a few ways to accomplish this: The 'Agile' magical weapon property, as well as the feats Slashing Grace, Starry Grace, Dervish Dance, and Fencing Grace. However, the nature of these feats makes them inaccessible until level 3 at least, (probably level 5), and Agile requires at least an 8000 GP weapon enchantment, as you must have a +1 weapon first. This guide will mainly shy away from dex-based melee occultists. However, if you wish to go this route, here are some notes.
As a dex-based melee occultist, your primary ability concerns should be dexterity, intelligence, and constitution. You do not need a high strength, but a decent strength score will let you wear heavier armors like celestial chain. Wayangs and Tieflings are the best classes for this, though Half-Elves and dual-talented humans also work well.
Melee Occultist Race Choice
Core Races:
Dwarf (Reliquarian): A surprisingly good choice. The bonus to Con helps your survivability in a fight, and the penalty to charisma doesn't hurt too much (other than reducing your UMD, which is an important skill for you, but look into TRAITS, letter in this section.) Combined with several dwarf feats that can shore up your defenses, and you could do worse. The Reliquarian archetype makes this a more appealing choice, as it changes your mental focus stat to wisdom.
Elf: The bonus to Int helps as much as the penalty to Con hurts. Additionally, as a melee occultist, you shouldn't prioritize offensive spells, and that makes the Elven Magic racial not as appealing. Lastly, the Elven proficiency in several weapons is wasted on you, as the occultist already has martial weapon proficiency. However, the elf favored class bonus is VERY nice, as mental focus is at a premium for this class.
Gnome: Like a Dwarf, the bonus to Con is nice, as is the size bonus to hit and AC, but the penalty to Str really hurts you, as well as the size decrease in any weapon you choose to use.
Half-Elf: The +2 to any one stat (probably Strength) is really quite nice, and half-elves get a host of other goodies, like immunity to sleep and ghoul paralysis. Additionally, the free skill focus (or alternate racial, which nets them an exotic weapon) is great. Plus, as a part elf, you can take the elven favored class bonus (+1/2 mental focus) which really helps.
Half-Orc: Like the Half-Elf, the +2 to any ability score is great, along with the their ability to stay up for a round 1/day after being brought into the negatives (giving them a chance to heal themselves or something.) Additionally, there are a slew of half-orc racial feats that can be very handy for a melee character.
Halfling: Penalty to Strength, small sized weapons, and few racial feats that help out a melee occultist. There are probably better options out there. The only saving grace is the favored class bonus which grants +1/2 mental focus/day.
Human: Bonus to any one ability score, plus an extra feat and skill/level is always great. Or, take the dual-talented racial and get +2 to any TWO ability scores, which can help for some of the builds that require many different high ability scores. The only downside is no low-light vision and few racial feat options.
Other Notable Races:
Aasimar (Angelkin): A bonus to Int and no downsides is great, in addition to being a native outsider (which makes you immune to Hold Person and the like). However, instead gaining a bonus to Strength through Angelkin with a FURTHER bonus to strength through Alter Self 1/day is also really good. Oh, and some energy resist on top of all that? Don't mind if I do!
Nagaji: Bonus to str? Good. Bonus to natural armor? Great! Penalty to Int? Oooh, that might be a deal-breaker. Unlike melee inquisitors and Bards, who can get away with lower casting stats, Occultists really need their Int to be high due to their limited mental focus. Not quite so bad for a Reliquarian
Tiefling (Hungerseed): Bonus to Int is great, and as a melee occultist, you won't need too much charisma. Additionally, like an aasimar, you are immune to a lot of stuff. The Hungerseed goes further though by giving you buffs to Str and Alter Self, like the Angelkin. And then, of course, there are the energy resistances.
Wayang: Bonus to Int, bonus to hit and AC from size, no penalty to Strength, these guys actually would do pretty well. The have to use smaller weapons, but that's a fair trade for the bonus to hit and AC from their size.
Ability scores: As a melee occultist you will want good strength and intelligence, and a non-trivial constitution. Sample stat allocation for a 20 pt buy human:
Str: 16, Dex:12, Con:14, Int:16, Wis:12 Chr:7
Archetypes:
Battle Host: A great archetype if you want to go whole-hog into fighting. The restriction on identifying magic items and UMD to only weapons, shields, and armor, hurts, as does losing aura sight, but Heroic Splendor STACKS with the bonus from the transmutation resonant power. At level 7 you could give yourself a +8 bonus to strength (4 from the transmutation resonant power, 4 from heroic splendor), and then cast lead blades to REALLY put the hurt on someone. It's up to you if you wish to give up versatility for more fighting prowess.
Necroccultist: This archetype is clearly not designed for front-line fighting.
Sha'ir: By greatly reducing the number of implements/schools you have, you can add some extra wizards spells to your list of spells known, and can summon elementals. Not particularly good for a fighter, but you could do worse.
Tome Eater: This archetype doesn't add anything to a melee occultist, but doesn't take away much either. The ability to eat scrolls/books to regain mental focus could be interesting, but I have yet to see how often it would come up.
Reliquarian: Surprisingly, makes a very good melee occultists. The loss of a school/implement is not great, but the Reliquarian makes up for it by adding domain spells to a list of spells known. With the right choice (like Gorum, or Shizuru) could be very nice.
Ancestral Asparint: An interesting archetype, and it gives up very little that helps out fighter-types. However, it might be tough going at first level with one of your schools being Enchantment
Secret Broker: Good archetype, but not for fighty-types.
Build option 2: Ranged (Archery) Occultist
Why go ranged occultist?
Like melee, occultists have a fairly impressive ability to go into ranged combat. They start with proficiency in all martial weapons, as well as proficiency in both light and medium armors. Additionally, several of their implement powers and spells can greatly enhance their combat prowess. While it is true that they are not a 'full BAB' class, they can still hold their own in combat, making them great ranged support characters, firing their bow and using spells to control the battlefield. Some might mark this as a better choice than melee because of the occultist's d8 hit die.
A note about ranged occultists:
Unlike melee occultists, where arguments can be made for just about any type of weapon, as well as the benefits of weapon+shield vs. two-handed weapon, there is basically one 'best weapon' for a ranged occultist. The composite longbow. It offers the best range and damage out of all the ranged weapons, and can have the ability to add strength to damage (which makes it edge out the crossbow). Additionally, the +1000 GP 'adaptable' enchant allows you to always add your full strength bonus to damage with the bow, even if your strength score is bouncing around due to buffs. As an occultist, you are automatically proficient in it, so I recommend you make use of it.
Ranged Occultist Race Choice
Core Races:
Dwarf: Less tempting than it was in melee, as a ranged character doesn't need as much Con.
Elf: A bonus to Dex (to hit) and Int (for all your spellcasting/mental focus needs) As an archer, con is less of a big deal for you, so the con penalty isn't as big a problem. Maybe look into a few alternate elven racial abilities to replace Elven Magic and the weapon proficiencies you already have. And then of course, there is the favored class bonus.
Gnome: The size bonus to hit and AC is still nice, but the archery build no longer needs the Con boost that the Gnome provides.
Half-Elf: The +2 to any one stat, and the elven immunities are still good, but the ability to get an exotic weapon through the ancestral arms alternate racial is diminished somewhat because of our reliance on a longbow. Again, however, the elf favored class bonus option pushes this up.
Half-Orc: As before the +2 to any ability score is nice, but Half-Orc ferocity isn't as good to an archer as they will (hopefully) not get attacked as often.
Halfling: Bonus to dex, bonus to hit, bonus to AC. The penalty to strength can hurt, but Halfling occultists are automatically proficiency with the halfling sling-staff. With warslinger and slipslinger style, it can be reloaded as a free action, always adds strength to damage, and in a pinch, can be used as a melee weapon. Could be fun! Don't forget about that halfling favored class bonus!
Human: Here, the bonus feat really shines, as it allows a level 1 occultist archer have both point blank and precise shot. This allows them to get going on the other archery feats as soon as possible.
Other Notable Races:
Aasimar: As above, a bonus to Int and no downsides is great, and pared with energy resistances and being a native outsider it is still a solid choice.
Nagaji: Now that our archer doesn't need such a high strength, the Nagaji lost it's only redeeming factor.
Tiefling: Bonus to Dex and Int? AND native outsider? AND Energy resistances? AND I can replace some of my stuff with other cool Tiefling abilities? Yes sir!
Wayang: Bonus to Dex and Int, Size bonus to hit and AC, no penalty to strength, darkvision, yup, this is a good way to go!
Ability scores: As a ranged occultist you will want good Dexterity and Intelligence, and a non-trivial Strength score to add damage to those arrows. Sample stat allocation for a 20 pt buy human:
Str: 14, Dex:16, Con:12, Int:16, Wis:12 Chr:7
Archetypes:
Battle Host: Again, a great archetype if you want to go whole-hog into fighting. As before, you loose your utility in the form of no aura sight, and no ability to identify non weapons/armor, but Heroic Splendor still STACKS with the bonus from the transmutation resonant power. At level 7 you could give yourself a +8 bonus to strength (4 from the transmutation resonant power, 4 from heroic splendor), and then cast gravity bow to REALLY put the hurt on someone. It's up to you if you wish to give up versatility for more fighting prowess. As a bonus, the extra feats you get can help offset some of the problems with ranged builds being feat-intensive.
Necroccultist: This archetype is clearly not designed for fighting.
Sha'ir: While slightly better for a ranged build, as you can now toss out elementals to run interference when you shoot, I still don't see it being a great choice.
Tome Eater: As above, it doesn't add or subtract much from the powers you will be using as a ranged occultist.
Reliquarian: Surprisingly, makes a very good ranged occultist as well. The loss of a school/implement is not great, but it could work, especially with gods like Eristil.
Ancestral Aspirant: Interesting, but not geared towards fighty-types.
Secret Broker: Same as Ancestral Aspirant
Build option 3: Caster/Support
Why go support occultist?
Towards later levels, occultists gain a fairly large number of spells known, eventually (possibly) one from each school, which can net a great number of ways to deal with problems. Eventually, you can get dispel magic, break enchantment, all of the cure spells, and several enchantment spells such as charm monster and confusion. You will have a slow start (much slower than a wizard), but when augmented with implement powers you can deal with almost any problem that will be sent your party's way.
Secondly, in contrast to other 'level 6 casters' (such as inquisitors, bards, and the like), an occultist can actually pull off being a primary caster.. While other level 6 casters generally shy away from being casting-based because of their low number of spells/day and spell progression, you have the option of offsetting this downside with implement powers and mental focus. It requires careful choice of powers and very careful planning, but it is possible.
A side note: Blasters
Some people see spellcasters and all they want to do is hurl fireballs. While this CAN be done with the occultist's evocation base power, it may not be the best of plans. Sure, Fireball and Ice Storm ARE on the occultist's spell list, but they get those spells later than sorcerers/wizards, and they have fewer spell slots than those casters. I would recommend against this choice. However, if you have your heart set on a blaster occultist, the Evocation school is a must.
Caster Occultist Race Choice
Core Races:
Dwarf: Like our ranged option, we don't need con and we don't need Wisdom (unless you are a reliquarian.) And the feats that help Dwarven melee occultists don't help support occultists as much.
Elf: Bonus to Int is a plus, and as a casting focus character (instead of buffing yourself) you might even make use of that Elven Magic racial. Once again, the elven favored class bonus bumps this choice up to amazing.
Gnome: Con isn't a great selling point for casters, and occultists don't have much use for charisma. On the other hand, the size bonuses are good, and as a caster you don't have to worry about your strength as much.
Half-Elf: They're still good. +2 to any stat, and a free skill focus feat, like before. What more can I say? Oh yes, elven favored class bonus still in full effect.
Half-Orc: Still good. +2 to a stat and the ability to keep standing for a round to heal yourself 1/day.
Halfling: Like a gnome, the penalty to strength and small-sized weapons isn't a big deal for a caster, and dex is always nice, but there just isn't much here for an occultist caster other than their favored class bonus.
Human: As a single ability-score dependent build (just need Int) that +2 to a single stat looks real appealing. The bonus feat is slightly less appealing now that we don't need to start with point blank shot AND precise shot.
Other Notable Races:
Aasimar: I've said it before and I'll say it again. Bonus to int, no downside, outsider, energy resistances . . . so good.
Nagaji: Is there a below-red option? Now that Int is the ONLY thing we care about, a race with a racial penalty to int seems TERRIBLE
Tiefling: Same as the aasimar.
Wayang: Now that we don't care so much about physical ability scores or size, Wayang is still looking good. Bonus to Int, bonus to dex (for evading those stray shots coming your way), size bonuses to AC . . .still looks solid.
Ability scores: As a support occultist, your primary focus should be intelligence for your casting stat, followed by non-trivial dex and possibly charisma to act as a backup party face. Sample stat allocation for a 20 pt buy human:
Str: 7, Dex:12, Con:12, Int:20, Wis:10 Chr:13
Archetypes:
Battle Host: Suddenly losing all that versatility for fighting doesn't matter when your character is based on versatility and casting. Giving up that aura sight and ability to discover what magic items do what is a big issue when casting is your goal.
Necroccultist: Well, this archetype was designed for casting, but it is so lackluster I can't justify more than giving it an orange. It does give you access to necromancy wizard spells, so you can finally get control undead (which is boosted by your necromancy implement) but . . . why not just be a necromancer wizard and channel negative energy to control undead? It has possibilities, but I just find it bad at what it’s trying to do.
Sha'ir: I'm still not completely sold on the Sha'ir, but gaining a large number of extra spells from an outside source to your spells known might just be worth it.
Tome Eater: After careful consideration, I have labeled the Tome Eater as green for the ability to recover mental focus through eating scrolls. However, you do give up at least one school, and a fair amount of versatility (by losing Aura Sight) so it isn’t an ‘automatic choice’ over the base occultist.
Reliquarian: Giving up schools for a caster is bad, but the trade off for some divine spells? Seems like it could be made to work.
Ancestral Aspirant: If you are playing in a game with lots of nobility and political espianage, then this is the class for you. Ability to make use of your contacts for effects like ‘divination,’ is great. However, if you are in a standard ‘dungeon crawl’ type game . . . not so great.
Secret Broker: Another solid choice for a social game . Though you are forced to have only divination as your first power, share memory at will is pretty good, and the ability to steal secrets from people could be a great boon for those who are espionage-focused. Then again, if you are in a standard dungeon-crawl style game, basically bad.
Traits:
There are literally HUNDEREDS of Pathfinder traits, and there is no way I could list them all and list all the bonuses and downsides of each. So, instead, I am just going to list some of the better ones that come to mind:
For all Occultists
->Pragmatic Activator/Clever Wordplay: Yes, yes, a thousand times yes. Int is your go-to casting stat, and the entire purpose of this class is to UMD. Making UMD go off of Int is really, really good.
->Student of Philosophy: Okay, diplomacy is a class skill for you, but there is no reason to get a good charisma other than UMD and Diplomacy. Well guess what? Now you don't need charisma at all, just make diplomacy based off of your massive IQ!
->Grief Filled: A trait that gives you +2 to saves vs. emotion effects can help to prevent you from getting you psychic spells cut off due to those effects. Less good for a Reliquarian who are divine casters and don't need to worry about that kind of thing.
For Melee Occultists
->Reactionary: +2 to initiative is always good. So many of my friends who play pathfinder take this trait that we joke that being bullied as a child is the true mark of a hero.
->Armor Expert: Let's face it, as a melee guy, you'll probably be running around in breastplate at least, maybe even with a shield. If you have to climb or get thrown in the water, that could really ruin your day. Reducing the armor check penalty of that big suit of armor could save your life.
For ranged:
->Reactionary: +2 to initiative is always good. So many of my frikends who play pathfinder take this trait that we joke that being bullied as a child is the true mark of a hero.
->Deadeye bowman: Ignore the first soft cover from an ally when using a longbow. Really good for ranged occultists.
->Trap Finder: This controversial campaign trait allows you to get a rogue's ability to disarm magical traps as a trait! You have disable device and perception as class skills, the dex to work with traps, make use of it! Check with a GM before hand, as many won't allow this trait in their games.
For Casters:
->Mule of society: You have the ability to wear medium armor, but perhaps not the strength for it. This can solve your issues.
Archetype Specific:
->Armor Expert (for Battle Host): As above, but now you're in heavy armor!
->Wisdom of the Flesh (for Reliquarians) Want to tumble around the battlefield, but you have a dex of 7? No problem, Irori taught you how!
Section 4: Implement Choices
You are eventually going to have to make some choices regarding which implements you get and when. True, a base occultist can eventually get all eights schools, but most other archetypes don't, and what order you get them in is important.
Abjuration: A school that is good for mid-level occultists, it nets you some useful utility spells such as Dispel Magic and Break Enchantment. The resonant power grants you a resistance bonus to saves, which means you don't have to spend money on a cloak of resistance. Still, the list of powers are somewhat lackluster, and the early level spells are terrible. Best kept for mid-level.
Conjuration: This rating will probably net me some criticisms, but conjuration has good sides and downsides. It's resonant power increases the duration of rounds/level conjuration spells, of which the occultist has very few (glitterdust is one of the few that this power works with.) Additionally, the implement powers are very underwhelming. However the saving grace of this school is that you get to add cure light, moderate, serious, and critical wounds to your spell list as well as HEAL. If you choose some of these spells as your spells known, this can basically make you a secondary healer in parties where heals aren't covered very well.
Divination: Like abjuration, there are upsides and downsides to this school. The powers aren't that exciting, and neither are the spells (read magic can be covered by uses of the spellcraft skill and you can identify items through your second level object reading power. However, you still need detect magic to find magic auras and such, and most useful is the resonant power, which can give you constant see invisibility, darkvision, and even blindsense. Additionally, while not flashy, some of the powers (like Mind’s eye) have some very useful (if not combat-oriented) applications.
Enchantment: (Caster/Support types): Every power here is a save-or-nothing type ability, and your DCs probably won't be very high. The resonant power boosts your charisma skills, which you probably don't have. However, if you are a caster type, you probably have a very high int, which can make your DCs somewhat hard, making this school worthwhile.
Evocation: (Caster/Support types): The powers here are great if you want to blast people, but if you did, then you probably became a fire sorcerer or something. Still, if you want to be a blaster Occultist, this is the way to go. Also, it would be remiss of me not to mention that the 'radiance' power overcomes deeper darkness once the occultist hits level 8. This makes the occultist one of the few classes that can deal with deeper darkness without wasting a high-level spell slot.
Illusion: Some of the spells gained from this school are quite good (mirror image, displacement, invisibility (and sphere, and greater). The resonant power can turn you invisible as much as you like (in one-minute increments) so long as you don't attack, and some of the powers are good, such as shadow beast. All in all, a solid choice.
Necromancy: The resonant power is a joke, as you need the ability to control undead to make use of it, and you can't possibly get that ability until level 4 (and then only if you take the spell animate dead (lesser)). You can't even get the spell control undead from this school. Some of the powers can shut down psychic spellcasters through fear, but otherwise the school isn't worth it.
Transmutation: Hoo boy. Resonant power: Bonus to one physical ability score. Base power: further enchant one weapon that you have for a minute (is that a demon? Lemmie just make my +2 sword here evil outsider bane for a sec . . .), AND powers that let you fly and haste? Yes please. Plus the spells opened up are GREAT.
Section 5: Skills
As the class is very int-based, and you start with 4 skills/level, you are probably going to be one of your party's skill monkeys. Still, you are a far cry from the int-based investigator or an int-heavy rogue, so there are only so many skills you can take. Skilled marked with a “cs” are class skills.
Acrobatics (Dexterity based melee): It isn't a class skill, and unless you are an archer, you probably won't have great dexterity. On the other hand, you can make it a class skill with a trait, and if you decide to go the dex-based melee route the ability to tumble around and past your opponents cannot be understated.
Appraise(cs): Well, it's a class skill, you have a high int, and the gist of your class is being able to find value in old things, and being able to tell the magic from the mundane. Might be worth sinking a few points into this skill, but it shouldn't need to be very high.
Bluff (Student of Philosophy trait): It's not a class skill, and you don't need charisma much for your class. If you want to be a huckster, then the student of philosophy trait is your friend.
Climb: It's not a class skill, and you can get levitate and the ability to fly through multiple means.
Craft(cs): Craft is an Int-based skill, and you can use it to make your own implements, if you want. Not bad, but not great.
Diplomacy(cs) (Student of Philosophy trait): Unlike bluff, this IS a class skill, and it is generally nice to have friends. Replacing the key ability from charisma to your primary casting stat of intelligence makes this a MUCH more appealing prospect.
Disable Device(cs) (Trap Finder): I think the idea here is that you can break into tombs and such to find ancient relics, but you lack the rogue's ability to disarm magical traps. Plus again, unless you are an archer, your dexterity is probably not going to be that high. However, if your GM allows the Trap Finder trait (which they may not, as it is a campaign trait) this allows you to disarm magical traps and the option becomes very good.
Disguise(cs): You have multiple spells and implement powers that can do this, and chances are that you charisma isn't that high.
Escape Artist: It isn't a class skill, it doesn't help you much. Not a good fit.
Fly (cs): This one depends on how your GM runs the fly skill. If he runs it 100% completely by the book, you may want to invest a few points in this. Most of your flying comes with the +4 bonus for having a good fly speed (as per the fly spell) but that may not be enough to pull off those tight areal maneuvers (especially in armor). If he doesn't call for fly checks when you have good maneuverability, it's useless.
Handle Animal: There is very little you can do with this skill. You don't have animal pets, you can't summon them . . . it's not a class skill. Let's move on.
Heal: This isn't a class skill. Plus, you can get stabilize as a knack off of the conjuration spell list if you ever need to stabilize someone. Leave healing to the dedicated healers.
Intimidate: You aren't a charisma based character, it's not a class skill, let's move on.
Knowledge *: You have arcana, engineering, history, planes, and religion as class skills, and if you are doing your thing, those are the knowledges you could need. I recommend putting at least one rank in every one of those so you can at least 'try' some of those checks. Of the other knowledges, local and nature are good to have, especially if you use a trait to pick them up as class skills. Nobility and geography? Not so much.
Linguistics (cs): An interesting choice. As an occultist you might want to know all sorts of ancient dead languages like Thasalonian and Ancient Osiriani. Plus it can help you crack codes. On the other hand, depending on your campaign, it could be 100% useless. Look into your campaign before taking ranks in this.
Perception(cs): It's a class skill, and one that is often called upon to find secret doors and ancient traps. On the other hand, your wisdom is unlikely to be high, so it might be difficult to skyrocket perception to ridiculous levels. Still, a solid choice.
Perform: It's not a class skill, and you aren't a charisma-based character. On the other hand, if you want to become a dex-based melee occultist through dervish dance, you will need two ranks in perform (dance)
Profession (cs): It's a class skill, but unless you're a Reliquarian, your wisdom is unlikely to be very high. It's a skill you could use, but might be better choices out there.
Ride: It's not a class skill, dexterity probably isn't a high priority for you, and very little about the class lends itself to riding a steed. Unlikely to be useful.
Sense Motive (cs): It is a class skill, but your wisdom isn't likely to be high enough to figure out if the real smooth-talkers are pulling a fast one on you. Still, you could do worse.
Slight of Hand (cs): Honestly I don't know why this is a class skill. You are likely not to have great dex, you'll be in restrictive armor most of the time, and your class isn't about stealing stuff (well, not from the living.)
Spellcraft (cs): Unless you take divination (and read magic) as a school (and spell) this is the ONLY way you will be able to decipher magic scrolls in order to cast spells from them. A must-have.
Stealth: This class isn't really designed around sneaking around, and you are probably walking around in restrictive armor. Probably should pass this one up.
Survival: You are about surviving ancient spirit-infested dungeons, not roughing it outdoors. Still, with a trait to make it a class skill, you could do worse.
Swim: Not a class skill and you will probably be wearing restrictive armor anyway. Water is not this class's friend.
Use Magic Device (cs) (Pragmatic Activator): Okay, get this, your class is based around UMD. Not only that, you don't even get all your class's spells on your spell list, so you will be needing UMD for all of those spells anyway. Just, getting this shouldn't even be a question. You should do it.
Section 6: Feats
Feat choices for occultists are going to depend largely on your direction, build, and race. What is good for a half-orc Battle-host Occultist who uses a scythe is not going to be good for a bookish dwarven Reliquarian support character. Additionally, there are hundreds of feats to choose from in Pathfinder, so I am going to break down feat choices into sections, and only list a small sampling of feats.
All Occultists:
Extra Mental Focus: As I have stated many times before, mental focus is at a premium for you, and you will want as much of it as possible in order to get the most out of your resonant powers. Too bad it can only be taken once.
Extend resonant power: Could be useful for certain resonant powers (such as the bonus to a physical ability score) but most resonant powers are really not that useful if shared.
Extra focus power: You get a lot of these over your career, and half of them aren't worth taking. If you see two feat powers that's you REALLY want, and you have a feat to spare, you could do worse.
Efficient Focus shift: The ability to shift mental focus without loosing it is nice, as mental focus is at a premium, but more likely than not you'll have set up how much mental focus you think you'll need per implement at the beginning of the day.
Rapid Focus Shift: If you find yourself playing fast and loose with your mental focus, constantly running out of one implement's power or the other, then being able to do it in combat might not be a bad thing. Still, better to just plan well and be a bit more stingy with your mental focus.
Skill Feats (such as Magical Aptitude and Skill Focus): Depending on your build, these could be useful, especially if you want to focus on a particular skill. However, your class already has built-in ways to deal with your two biggest skills. You don't need too much spellcraft (because you can auto-identify magic items) and you add half your level to UMD checks.
Additional Traits: While I am not normally fond of this feat, there are so many good traits out there for occultists that it might be worth it.
Improved Initiative: Unlike other classes that benefit heavily from going first, such as wizards (for buff spells), and bards (so they can start inspiring), your initiative really only benefits you. While it will let you start getting your buffs up if surprised, it isn't as necessary as other classes, especially since you typically have so few feats to work with.
Melee Occultists:
Dex-to-Damage (slashing grace, fencing grace, starry grace, dervish dance), as stated before, I am not sold on a melee occultist dex-to-damage build. However, if I were to try it, I would rank them thus. None of them allow you to have anything in your off hand (except a buckler). All the 'grace' feats require three feats, whereas dervish dance only requires two. This means it can be obtained as early as level three (whereas slashing, starry, and fencing grace require level 5, as they both require weapon focus, which requires a BAB of 1)
Toughness: As a d8 hit die class, you will need all the hitpoints you can get if you are going to be standing in front of the big monsters.
Weapon Finesse (Dex-based-melee): You don't really need weapon finesse for your class unless you are doing dex-based melee, in which case it is basically required.
Power Attack (With Furious Focus): While some might say that power attack is required for any melee build, the fact that you do not have a full base attack bonus progression means that you might have trouble hitting at the later levels, and that's only going to be compounded if you are taking penalties due to power attack. And, as my friend is fond of saying, it doesn't matter how much damage you can do if you can't hit. Furious focus makes this option more appealing, as you don't receive your first iterative until level 8, and your iteratives probably won't hit anyway.
Step up (Following Step, Step Up and Strike): You don't have a whole lot of feats as an occultist, and if an opponent wants to back off, you can back off as well and start laying into them with control spells or healing/rebuffing yourself. Still, if you are the type of player who likes to keep the pressure on, you could do worse.
Combat Reflexes (reach weapon user): As a character probably without a great deal of dex, this isn't a great feat UNLESS you are using a reach weapon, in which case it lets you attack while flat footed, and can give you multiple AoOs per round as many more people will be moving through your larger threatened area.
Lunge (reach weapon user): The ability to hit from farther away is nice, but the drop in defense coupled with your hitpoints being not-so-great isn't. You could build a character concept around this with a reach weapon, but otherwise I wouldn't bother.
Ranged Occultist:
Point blank shot: While not great, it is basically required for just about every other archery feat.
Precise shot: You do not have a full base attack bonus: you don't need that -4 penalty for shooting into melee making your job any harder than it is.
Rapid Shot: This might seem like a no-brainer, but again, you won't have a full BAB, so eating that -2 to hit every round for an extra attack might not be as appealing as it would be for a archery ranger or fighter.
Deadly Aim: Again, many people will say this is a must, but tanking your to-hit too much (especially from deadly aim AND rapid shot) could basically make you useless.
Snap Shot (Improved Snap Shot): Because of your 3/4 BAB, you won't be able to get these very fast, but the ability to use your ranged weapon, which you are super good with, as a melee weapon is great, Unfortunately, you don't get a huge number of feats, so picking these up could be problematic.
Clustered Shots: While this feat is absolutely required by most archery builds, you as an occultist are unique. If you have the transmutation school, you can just make your weapon 'whatever-bane' which will probably overcome most types of DR. Additionally, you can buy weapon blanches to have cold iron, silver, or adamantine arrows, and you can even by blunt arrows to overcome DR/bludgeoning. Can be useful, but not as need as it is for some other classes.
Far Shot: If you are using a longbow, you shouldn't need more range than that.
Manyshot: Can't get it until at least level 8, but when combined with the transmutation implement to bane your bow, you could do some SERIOUS damage. Plus, it doesn't reduce your to-hit at all!
Caster/Support Occultist:
Metamagic Feats: As an occultist, (even a Reliquarian) you are a spontaneous caster, and thus casting any standard-action spell with a metamagic feat becomes a full round action. In addition, you don't get spells very fast, and the max spell level you can cast tops out at 6. I would recommend against most metamagic feats. If you think one is essential, get a lesser metamagic rod of the feat you want, that should last you a while.
Item Crafting Feats: You have high int, which means your spellcraft is probably pretty high. You may not have access to many spells, but you can always borrow your buddy in order to make something. Some GMs disallow crafting feats though, so check with your GM first.
Spell Penetration/Greater Spell Penetration (Enchantment/Evocation Focus): So most of your spells and abilities aren't going to target the bad guys, they will be buffs/debuff removers. However, if you are going for an enchantment/evocation occultist, most of their implement powers are spell-like, meaning they will have to overcome spell resistance.
Spell Focus (Spell Specialization) As you are not a full caster, spell focus is not that great for you. However, spell specialization can make some of your debuff-removal or buff spells last longer or have a better chance of hitting.
Combat Casting: Remember, as a psychic caster, all your concentration DCs are +10 unless you take a move action to steady yourself. Boosting your concentration checks might not be such a bad thing.
Expanded Arcana: Generally a pretty poor feat choice, but this is one of the few ways to get one or two extra spells without having to get an implement a second time. If you simply need to get an extra spell from one of the schools you already have, look into picking this one up.
Section 7: Spells
As above, with feats and traits, there are too many spells for me to list all of them here. Just assume any spells I have left out are either red or orange, and not worth talking about.
Level 0
Abjuration:
Resistance: Not good, especially with the abjuration resonant power, but the only choice.
Conjuration:
Create Water: Occasionally useful, like if you find yourself in the middle of the ocean or in a desert.
Stabilize: A much better choice: prevent a friend from bleeding out from up to 30 feet away.
Divination:
Detect Magic (Battle Host): So, the story is you don’t need detect magic to identify magic items, because of your level 2 object reading power. However, you still need detect magic to find magic auras from things like spells in effect and such, or FINDING magic items to try and identify. More useful for Battle Hosts who can ony identify armor and weapons.
Detect Poison: While occasionally useful, it's not worth one of your precious spell slots. Better to have the party cleric/druid prepare it if you suspect poison will be used.
Detect psychic significance: Depends on the game. If there is going to be a fair amount of psychic stuff going on, this spell might help, but if not, it'll be next to useless.
Guidance: While it's nice to give people bonuses occasionally, it's not worth your (possibly) one divination knack. Better to rely on someone else for this.
Know Direction: Again, can be useful, but not as one of your few spells known. Hopefully you have someone with survival in the party.
Read Magic: Unfortunately, your level 2 ability to identify magic items won't let you automatically 'decipher' scrolls to be able to cast them (you know what the scroll is, but can't cast it.) This will let you cast scrolls without the lengthy spellcraft check needed to decipher them.
Sift: An interesting knack that lets you look around an area without stepping foot there. If you have a great perception, could let you find traps without getting close enough to set them off.
Enchantment:
Daze: Your only option.
Evocation:
Dancing Lights: Creates More light than the 'light' spell, but only lasts for one minute at a time. Less useful if you have darkvision.
Flare: A small chance to give a creature a -1 to hit for a minute? Pass.
Light: Up to you whether you think it's worth it to have a long-lasting light, or a light that illuminates a larger area but winks out every sixty seconds. Personally, I prefer this one to dancing lights. Less useful if you have darkvision.
Spark: Cast a spell to start a small fire? I mean, I guess it could be useful if you don't have iron and flint or something . . .
Telekenetic Projectile: Actually a decent low level spell, as it does a d6 to almost anything. Quickly peters out as you can't enhance it in any way, but you could do worse. Good spell for support/caster occultists.
Illusion:
Ghost sound: Only option
Necromancy:
Bleed: Okay, so you can undo stabalization. I guess if you REALLY wanna kill someone . . .
Touch of fatigue: Actually a pretty useful debuff, as you can stop barbarians from raging and whatnot. Unfortunately it forces you to get close to people and most people will probably make their saves.
Transmutation:
Mage hand: Fun story, this knack doesn't work on magic items, so it can function as a poor man's detect magic. Also 5 pound telekinesis isn't too shabby while dungeon delving.
Mending: A great spell. It takes ten minutes, but it can fix your broken implements as long as they aren't completely destroyed. A solid choice.
Message: Great way to talk to your friends without shouting your battle plans to the enemy.
Open/Close: The ability to open or close a door at a distance . . . thrilling. I suppose it can be used for trapfinding in some cases.
Purify Food and Drink: Depending on your campaign, either a life saver or useless. If you find yourself on a high seas campaign, you can make all that seawater drinkable, and all that spoiled food edible. But if food and water is plentiful it's useless.
Level 1
Abjuration:
Abjuring Step: The ability to five-foot step across the battlefield and cast buffing spells without provoking attacks of opportunity might be worth it for some builds.
Alarm: Generally you are the one breaking these, not setting them. If you need one, I suggest a scroll.
Peacebond: Really lackluster spell, but if someone fails the check, it could shut them down in combat.
Shield: Depending on your build, could be great. If you are a two-handed weapon melee occultist, I say go for it!
Shock Shield: A worse version of shield that you can dismiss to deal damage to yourself and a couple people around you. Just . . . just go for the normal shield.
Warding Weapon: Suffering the +10 DC to all concentration checks unless you focus for a move action can be problematic . . . negate it with this spell!
Conjuration:
Cure Light Wounds: A lot of people think healing spells are terrible in pathfinder, but the ability to apply some emergency healing, especially at lower levels, can really save your bacon (or your friend's bacon.)
Icicle Dagger: As an emergency backup weapon, you could do worse than summoning a magic dagger. You can even enchant it with the legacy weapon transmutation ability.
Mage Armor: Great for wizards, not so much for you. You already are proficient in breastplate. Might find use among dex-based melee occultists so that they don't need to worry about max dex caps on armor.
Divination:
Comprehend Languages: Well, the basis of your class is delving into ancient tombs, but it is situational at best. Better to just get a few scrolls of this if you need them.
Detect Secret Doors: Could be useful, but this is covered by the perception skill, which is a class skill for you anyway. Not worth one of your few list of spells known.
Detect Snares and Pits: Same as Detect Secret Doors.
Diagnose Disease: Knowing what disease someone has really doesn't help all that much. You are still either going to use heal checks to help them out, or use a remove disease spell to just get rid of it.
Heightened Awareness: Great spell! Bonus to knowledge checks, and you can blow it for a bonus to initiative. All-around solid choice.
Identify: You get this for free as much as you want at level 2. And it automatically succeeds instead of just giving you a bonus. I guess it helps you identify cursed items easier, but . . . still not worth it.
Mindlink: An interesting spell that lets you download 10 min. worth of a conversation into someone's brain, and it bypasses language barriers. Not worth one of your spells known. Maybe worth a scroll though.
Psychic Reading: Another interesting spell, could help you discover the abilities and feats of some opponents. They don't get a saving throw, but you do have a straight up 30% chance to just get wrong information, even if you make the check.
Enchantment:
Charm Person: An old standby for some, but the fact that the DC is going to be low at later levels makes it very unappealing as your one enchantment spell.
Command: Same as Charm Person
Forbid Action: Could be nice as a control spell, but it has similar problems to Charm Person, above
Hypnotism: Worse than charm person, as it only effects up to 2d4 hit dice.. .
Memory Lapse: At low levels, can help you reroll a failed social check, but at high levels they will probably make their save.
Murderous Command: Great at low levels, not so good at high levels.
Sleep: Like hypnotize, it has a hit dice limit, making it not useful in the long run. Also doesn't work on elves/half-elves.
Evocation:
Burning Hands: A great spell for getting rid of swarms, and a good backup if you need some fire damage (to finish off a troll)
Floating Disk: Could be nice to help you carry stuff, and some can find creative uses for it, but not all that great.
Shocking Grasp: You are not a magus. You don't get spellstrike. Plus you shouldn't be casting in combat anyway. There are better options.
Illusion:
Blurred movement: Giving yourself a bit of a miss chance while moving is okay, I guess.
Disguise Self: If you want to run a disguise-heavy occultist, I suppose this is your spell.
Disguise weapon: I guess if you want to sneak into places without people knowing you have a weapon but . . . just get a handy haversack or bag of holding.
Illusion of calm: Great spell! You can cast a spell without having to worry about defensive casting.
Magic Aura: Make something look magical? Pass.
Mask Dweomer: Do you REALLY need to hide a magical effect? Get a scroll of it.
Shadow Weapon: While it isn't perfect, the ability to summon any type of weapon into your hand can be useful, if you find something that has DR/Bludgeoning or slashing or whatever.
Silent Image: Some illusion-specialists can make use of this, but you could probably do better.
Vanish: Short-term invisibility is great. If you need to sneak past someone, or simply move into position without provoking an attack of opportunity from the death monster. Plus it gets better (lasts longer) the higher level you get, not worse.
Necromancy:
Cause Fear: A way to shut down psychic spellcasters for a round, but creatures of 6 HD and up are immune. Not good as your only necromancy spell.
Decompose Corpse: I guess if you want to get rid of corpses without drawing attention . . .
Inflict Light Wounds: A touch attack to hit AND a save for half, AND it only does at most 1d8+5 damage? Pass.
Restore Corpse: So, if you want that skeleton to have it's flesh back . . .just get a scroll
Sculpt Corpse: I don't want to know what you are doing if you need this spell on a regular basis . . .
Transmutation:
Ant Haul: If you have low strength and a lot to carry, I suppose you could do worse.
Break: Break normal items, destroy broken ones. Could be useful, but there are probably better spells out there.
Crafter's Curse: Do you really need to undermine your business rival THAT bad?
Crafter's Fortune: Could be useful if your campaign involves a lot of profession/craft checks, otherwise? Not so much.
Enlarge Person: Most melee people will love you if you give this to them. You might even put it on yourself!
Expeditious Retreat: Negate the penalty for wearing that medium armor
Feather Fall: While it's nice to not die from falling, rings of this are super cheap. Best not to use up a spell known on this.
Gravity Bow/Lead Blades: Great for fighting-based occultists.
Liberating Command: A GREAT spell to prevent your friends from being grappled by that death tentacle monster!
Longshot: Chances are, you will be within one or two range increments of your longbow.
Magic Weapon: You can already make your weapon magical with your base transmutation power.
Reduce Person: Rogues and ninjas will love you for this.
Level 2:
Abjuration:
Arcane Lock: Why do you need to make a lock super powerful?
Bullet Shield: If you are in a game with lots of guns, this could be a life-saver. Otherwise, kinda useless.
Node of Blasting: Lots of damage for a second level spell, but it's combat applications are questionable (what is the DC to touch a sword that wielded by someone else?)
Resist Energy: A good ol' standby if you know you are going into a situation with a lot of energy damage.
Conjuration:
Apport Object: Distance is too small to really make a difference. A scroll of it could be handy in a pinch though.
Cure Moderate Wounds: Healing is okay, but chances are there are better spells about.
Delay Poison: There are some nasty poisons, being able to prevent them from killing your friends until you get back to town might not be the worst thing.
Glitterdust: Invisibility can really mess you up. This shuts it down AND might blind people, it's win-win!
Mount (Communal): Now you can give mounts to your entire party, making this a better option.
Divination:
Analyze Aura: A combo of know alignment, detect magic, and knowing the target's health and emotional state. It's a good spell but . . . is it worth your divination spell slot?
Find Traps: You can't disarm magic traps, but you do have disable device as a class skill, and can disarm normal ones . . . Might be worth considering.
Locate Object: Pretty limited range, best leave this one to the party wizard.
See Invisibility: Again, Invisibility can really mess up your day, see invisibility is a great buff.
Share Language: While it's good to be able to talk with anyone . . . get a scroll of it. It'll last the same amount of time, and you won't give up a valuable spell known slot.
Share memory: Can be used to convince people of the truth if you let them see whatever happened through your own eyes. Probably not worth a spell known though.
Status: Can be a good way to keep track of your friends, but best left to the party cleric.
Enchantment:
Bestow Weapon Proficiency: Can be useful, especially if you want to be able to use a seige engine. Or it could be useless.
Calm Emotions: What is great about this spell is not the ability to make people stop fighting (because they get a save to resist.) What is great is that it automatically stops raging barbarians, confusion, and fear effects. VERY useful
Demand Offering: Making the fighter give you his sword is nice, but at higher levels making that save should be easy, even for him.
Inflict Paint: Imposes a fairly substantial debuff, and even if they save they are debuffed for a round.
Investigative Mind: If you are the party's go-to knowledge monkey, this one could be useful, and it gets better as you go up in level.
Tactical Acumen: Give everyone in your party a slight boost to attack if they are already in an advantageous position. The party hunter will love you for this, but it might not get much use.
Evocation:
Continual Flame: The ability to make a permanent flame that doesn't overcome darkness or deeper darkness doesn't strike me as a thing that you need to always have.
Campfire Wall: Hides the party, illuminates invisible creatures for a bit, and deals some damage. Too bad it requires a campfire-sized fire before it is cast.
Darkness: Could be useful if you have darkvision and an opponent does not.
Defensive Shock: I've never seen this spell used, but it could be a decent deterrent if you find yourself in melee and don't want to be.
Flaming sphere: A nice standby. The problem is that a successful save negates all damage, and your save DCs won't increase with level.
Frost Fall: Deals an initial 2d6 cold, and then 1d6 cold per round after (fort save for half). Only lasts 1 rnd /2 levels or else it would actually make a decent area control spell.
Ghost Whip: Dealing with incorporeal undead can be a real pain, and this spell gives you a ghost touch whip that you are considered proficiency with. Plus, it basically has the properties of brilliant energy as well!
Shatter: While it can be fun to break your opponents non-magical weapons, not that great.
Sound Burst: 1d8 damage, possible stun at low levels when your save DC matters. No thanks.
Illusion:
Blur: Straight up 20% chance to miss you is always nice.
Disguise Other: Again, highly situational and probably not worth your one illusion spell.
Ghostly Disguise: You get this so you can scare Scooby-Doo? Just get a scroll of it if you need to do it that badly.
Instigate Psychic Duel: Some GMs may disallow this, as you can basically beat anyone with poor mental stats as a joke by transporting them to another mindscape.
Invisibility: A good standby, very utilitarian spell.
Mirror Image: Great for a melee occultist who wants to not get hit.
Necromancy:
Animate dead (lesser): If you want to animate some dead buddies go for it, but they won't be very good at your level
Brow Gasher: You can actually cause a fair amount of bleed damage on a weapon, gets better as you level, and it stays on your weapon until discharged (up to 1 rnd/lvl). Also can blind creatures that don't have access to healing.
False Life: I'm not going to turn down Temporary hit points.
Inflict Moderate Wounds: Same as Cause Light
Purge Spirit: A way to deal some real damage to haunts or incorporeal undead. Even if they make their save, they take half damage.
Scare: Like Cause Fear, it is useless past 6 HD.
Transmutation:
Air Step: Not a great choice, but it gives you a sort of pseudo-fly.
Badger's Ferocity: If you are a caster/support occultist, you could give all your barbarian friends keen weapons.
Chill Metal: Would be a good spell if not for the will save.
Darkvision: If you don't have darkvision, this can help
Effortless Armor: I would just as soon save a spell known and grab Mithral breastplate
Ghostbane Dirge: Would be good if undead didn't typically have high will saves.
Glide: Can help you before you get fly.
Heat Metal: Same as Chill Metal
Levitate: A decent spell for getting to hard-to-access places before you get access to FLY
Make Whole: Good for a scroll, not one of your list of spells known. Still, it can help fix sundered implements.
Perceive Cues: +5 to sense motive and perception? Great! Everyone needs more perception.
Spider Climb: Another good way to get where you need to go before fly.
Versatile Weapon: A decent spell if you didn't have a way to overcome most DR through your legacy weapon ability.
Level 3
Abjuration:
Cloak of winds: The -4 to hit for ranged attacks is a bit lackluster for a level 3 spell, and the other stuff is too situational to make it more useful.
Dispel Magic: A great standby. Dispel enemy effects or counter-spell that enemy spellcaster.
Explosive Runes: Usually you are breaking into other people's stuff, no the other way around.
Magic Circle against X/Thaumaturgic Circle: You already have these as class abilities.
Nondetection: If scrying is a huge thing in your campaign, maybe pick it up, otherwise, not worth it.
Protection from Energy: Another decent standby, though there is an abjuration power that does this.
Conjuration:
Create Food and Water: Unless you are in a campaign where food is a huge problem, you probably won't need this.
Cure Serious Wounds: Some will say I'm crazy, but now we are getting to the point in cure spells where we can wake someone up from unconsciousness and they can do something. Just saying, something to consider.
Phantom Steed: Unlike mount, these guys can eventually fly and run pretty fast. Probably still not worth a spell slot.
Sepia Snake Sigil: Super long paralysis if they fail the save, but probably not worth it.
Symbol of healing: Unlike Cure serious wounds this is just . . . terrible.
Divination:
Arcane Sight: Unless you have traded this away, you have this AT WILL.
Follow Aura: Probably one of the two ways you'll be tracking people.
Locate Weakness: Could be useful for a critical-based build
Pierce Disguise: Unless you are in a super spy-based campaign . . .
Seek thoughts: A great way to find a guy in a crowd, but that doesn’t seem useful often.
Symbol of Revelation: Again, usually are breaking into places, not setting up traps against intruders.
Witness: You can follow someone and see what they see. Great in a spy-themed campaign I guess . . .
Enchantment:
Control Summoned Creature: Pretty situational unless your GM keeps sending you up against summoners.
Deep Slumber: You are level 7 when you get this spell, and it only affects up to 10 HD of creatures . . . do the math.
Hold Person: It royally screws people over if they fail that save, but the save DC probably won't be very high.
Suggestion: Depends on how your GM runs suggestion. Some GMs treat it as ‘dominate,’ while others treat it as a sligtly more powerful ‘charm person.’ Check with your GM to see how they run suggestion.
Evocation:
Call Lightning: Not as much damage in a shot as lightning bolt or fireball, but more damage overall.
Daybreak Arrow: If you are a ranged attacker, it could be nice to add a d6 to damage against undead. I would personally reserve it for a scroll.
Daylight: May or may not negate Deeper Darkness, depending on your GM. Situational at best.
Deeper Darkness: Since you probably don't have the see-in-darkness ability, it isn't great for you.
Fireball: Do you want to be a blaster? If so . . .
Invisibility Purge: You have access to better ways of dealing with invisibility.
Lightning Bolt: Smaller area, but more easy to control than fireball. Also, electricity resistance is less common than fire resistance.
Talismanic Implement: An interesting spell. You can get a free action buff on yourself by essentially contingency-ing it (Contingency-If I say fartfignewton, activate lead blades). On the other hand, it reduces the mental focus invested in that implement for the day . . .
Twilight Knife: Almost constant flanking? AND it can deal sneak attack damage? You could do worse.
Wind Wall: Situational, but a great way to prevent ranged attacks.
Illusion:
Adjustable Disguise: Best disguise spell if that's what you're after
Displacement: Like Blur, but better!
Invisibility Sphere: Make the entire party invisible!
Major Image: Some illusionists love this spell, but then again, if they did, they would probably be actual illusionists.
Necromancy:
Animate Dead: I mean, if you wanted to be a necromancer, why not be an actual necromancer.
Bestow Curse: Great debuff if they fail their save, but that requires them to fail their save.
Gentle Repose: Not worth a third level spell slot.
Healing Thief: Enemies actually don't heal that often, so this is unlikely to come up.
Riding Possession: Again, great for espionage games, not so much for other types of games.
Transmutation:
Bloodhound: Leave tracking to people who actually have the survival skill as a class skill
Countless Eyes: Not being able to be flanked would be phenomenal in some fights, but it's just too situational to justify IMHO.
Flame Arrow: You can just make your bow Flaming through the Legacy Weapon ability.
Fly: Great spell if you are a melee-based character, but there are other ways to fly too.
Gaseous Form: Good for a scroll if you need to get through tights spaces, wouldn't waste your one transmutation spell on it.
Haste: Most parties will love you forever if you cast this on them at the start of battle.
Hostile Levitation: Will negates, which is bad, but it can seriously mess up enemies if it works.
Keen Edge: You can make your weapon keen through legacy weapon, if you want.
Slow: Like haste in reverse, and it allows for a save. I'd go with haste.
Stone Shape: Actually a pretty fun utilitarian spell, but there are better choices in your spell list.
Level 4
Abjuration:
Break Enchantment: There are some really nasty permanent debuffs out there that this spell can get rid of, and because this requires a caster level check, leaving it to a scroll that is probably at minimum caster level is bad.
Curse of Magic Negation: Can really screw up enemy casters, but casters tend to have good will saves.
Dimensional Anchor: No save, great way to stop certain monsters from jumping around and killing you, but super situational. Best saved for a scroll.
Dismissal: Upside is you can just poof outsiders or summoned creatures. Downside is that they get a save. Good for spellcasting-focused occultists.
Freedom of Movement: GREAT spell. Can't be grappled, can act freely underwater . . . just a solid spell.
Globe of invulnerability (lesser): Pretty decent way to protect from a lot of go-to spells like fireball and the like. Somewhat situational though.
Life Bubble: Immunity to airborn toxins, water pressure, altitude sickness, cloudkill, stinking cloud . . . yeah, it's pretty good.
Spell Immunity: Good only if you know the enemy you are going up against favors one particular spell, in which case . . . use a scroll?
Stoneskin: So, upside is you get DR 10/adamantine if you are a melee character. Downside is that it gets expensive to keep putting it up. Can be put on the party barbarian though.
True Form: Can reveal the true form of a polymorphed creature if they fail their save . . . too situational to be used in most campaigns.
Wreath of Blades: Costs 2008GP in a focus to get going, but can do some damage to creatures who try and get near, and lets you cast spells without worrying about casting defensively. Alright spell for caster types.
Conjuration:
Cure Critical Wounds: Good spell to have if someone in your party is looking particularly bad.
Dimension Door: GREAT spell, lets you get into and out of dangerous places with the rest of your party.
Phantom Chariot: Better than Phantom Steed Communal, as the duration isn't divided, and it can hold up to seven people (if you include the driver.) Still, not worth your conjuration spell known slot, best left to the party wizard/summoner.
Phandom Steed (communal): The only thing this spell has over the phantom chariot is that it can do more people (at the cost of duration). Again, best left to the party wizard.
Divination:
Arcane Eye: There is a divination implement power that does this.
Contact Other Plane: This spell is not guaranteed to give you good information, and can knock you into a stupor for a week. Get a scroll of it if you REALLY need to ask your god for some info.
Detect Scrying: Could be useful in a spy-themed game, but probably not.
Mind Probe: Will save negates way of getting information. Useful, but probably not worth a spell slot.
Scrying: While it does have its uses, it is situational at best. I would suggest leaving it for the party wizard.
Enchantment:
Charm Monster: While you could stop a rampaging monster with this, it's save negates, so at higher levels most monsters are going to make that save (especially given the bonus if you cast it in combat.)
Confusion: A great debuff spell, but unless your spell DCs are high, people are eventually going to make the save almost all the time.
Daze (Mass): Daze a bunch of people at once for one round. Save negates. Not worth a fourth level spell slot.
Hold Monster: Could be great if the enemy doesn't make their save. But again, unless your DCs are high. . .
Mind Swap: Situational. Great for infiltration, probably useless in a standard dungeon craw.
Mindwipe:It's like enervation, but it also gets rid of spells! Save negates makes this less appealing.
Planeslayer's Call:Great if you fight a lot of outsiders, useless if you don't. Best saved for a scroll.
Evocation:
Ball Lightning: Extra flaming spheres, and they do electricity damage. But 3D6 damage isn't great as a level 4 spell.
Contingent Scroll: GREAT spell, lets you set up a contingency on a scroll. Only downside is that it only lasts 10 min/level.
Ethiric Shards: Good crowd control, does stacking bleed damage, hurts incorporeal creatures . . .
Fire Shield: Fire or cold damage reduction, and does damage to people who melee attack you. Not too bad.
Flaming Sphere (greater): This could actually do a fair chunk of damage to creatures with poor reflex saves, if you knew what creature's saves were.
Ice Storm: Not impressive at all.
Resilient Sphere: A nice way to buy yourself some time.
Spirit-Bound Blade: You can make anyone's weapon ghost-touch, which is nice, and additionally give it a bit of a benefit. However, it's too situational to be one of your main spells (unless you are in a ghost-heavy game.) Best saved for a scroll.
Unbearable Brightness: While it's great to have a way to take out deeper darkness, it's really too situational to choose as one of your main spells.
Wall of fire: Actually a very good go-to spell. Does good damage and can be used to corral your enemies.
Wall of Ice: Something to buy you some time, either by walling something off or shielding the party in a dome. Interesting, but probably not worth a spell known slot.
Illusion:
Illusory Wall: It allows you to see through it, though no one else can, so even if people know it's an illusion, it can provide concealment. Interesting, but not great.
Invisibility (Greater): Invisibility even after you attack! Lasts a short time, but if the enemy doesn't have ways to see invisibility, you can really do them in.
Shocking Image: Like Mirror image, but does 2d6 electricity damage if they guess wrong. Not worth a 4th level spell slot.
Wandering Star Motes: Prevents concealment and Dazes targets so long as they keep failing their saving through. If they succeed however, the motes jump to the next target . . . interesting, and fairly useful, since one successful save doesn't end the spell unless you are fighting only one creature.
Necromancy:
Death Ward: Immune to level drain can be a real life-saver in some fights, as is the bonus against save-or-die effects. Still, situational most of the time. Maybe just get a scroll
False Life (greater): As a fourth level spell that only doubles the number of temporary hitpoints you get, it really looses some of it's oomph.
Fear: Great against psychic spellcasters, as it turns off their spellcasting. Even if they make the save, they are still shaken for a round (which prevents spellcasting.) If you don't regularly encounter psychic spellcasters though . . .
Inflict Critical Wounds: Requires a touch attack and a save for half for a bit of damage? I guess it can heal undead, if you REALLY need to . . .
Transmutation:
Air Walk: Fly is already a third level spell for you. Still, flying is always nice, and you don't have to make fly checks with this spell.
Darkvision (greater): Darkvision out to 120 feet . . . as a fourth level spell. It's not good.
Echolocation: Blindsight at 40 feet is AMAZING. See invisibility, go through blur, displacement, and mirror image! This is a GREAT spell.
Parchement Swarm: Interesting spell that could be potentially potent. Tear up a CL 5 shocking grasp scroll for 5d6 electricity damage+(your level)d6 physical damage, or tear up a 2nd level scroll at make it AoE. Expensive material component, but probably worth it.
Planar Adaptation: Great when you need it, but probably won't come up too often.
Treasure Stitching: While this is an absolutely great spell to transport your treasure around, it probably isn't worth your level 4 spell known slot. Best left to the party wizard.
Level 5
Abjuration:
Dispel Magic (Greater): Dispel Magic, but can nix several spells or get rid of one spell on multiple people. Good spell.
Spell Immunity (Communal): Slightly better than Spell Immunity, but only if you know you are going up against a particular spell. Again, a good scroll.
Spell Resistance: A double-edged sword. Can make it difficult for spells to affect you, but that also includes life-saving spells from your friends. Also doesn't protect against supernatural abilities (unless specifically stated.)
Stoneskin (Communal): Every melee character in the party will love you for this. Makes it worth the money to cast it.
Conjuration:
Create Demiplane (lesser): I don't want to undercut the usefulness of this spell, but you probably won't be casting it on a regular basis, so not a good choice for your list of spells known.
Cure Light Wounds (Mass): Pretty abysmal.
Planar Binding (Lesser): Check with your GM about this one. There are some crazy things you can do with it, so your GM may put some restrictions on it.
Teleport: Great spell for getting out of a bad situation fast.
Wall of Stone: Actually a pretty decent spell. Can put up barriers, make bridges, or encase people in stone!
Divination:
Battlemind Link: Depends entirely on your party composition. If you are melee/ranged/spellcaster, and you have another melee/ranged/spellcaster buddy, then the spell can be amazing. If you don't have a buddy, becomes significantly less cool.
Commune: You probably won't be casting this enough to be one of your few spells known.
Find Quarry: Great scroll, but situational at best.
Prying Eyes: A good way to scout a dungeon or look for someone in a city, but situational at best.
True Seeing: WOW. Okay, see invisibility, through illusions, and see the true form of any creature that is shapeshifted. Super useful.
Enchantment:
Command (greater): For what it does, this is not worth a fifth level spell, especially since you have access to mass suggestion this level
Dominate Person: While ending fights by bending others to your will is great, it is a save-or-nothing spell, and takes a full round to cast.
Forbid Action (Greater): Basically the same spell as greater command, only it forbids certain actions instead of forcing them. Similar problems with it.
Inflict Pain (Mass): -4 to a bunch of stuff, and it even works for a round if you make the save! Not the best fifth level spell, but you could do worse.
Mind Fog: So if I read this right, those who fail their saves take a -10 penalty to will saves, and a -10 penalty to wisdom, meaning an additional -5 to will saves. While it is an all-or-nothing effect, the AoE aspect, as well as the ability to just straight up shut people down, makes this spell very appealing.
Suggestion (Mass): Depends on how your GM runs Suggestion. As written, you have to carefully word your suggestion to make it 'reasonable' (as in 'stop attacking us and we can sit down and talk.') Some treat it as, essentially, dominate. Better than normal suggestion as it's AoE.
Evocation:
Call Lightning Storm: Lots of damage, but it is stretched out over time, so it may not be worth it at the level you get this.
Cone of Cold: Basically like fireball, only a cone and it goes up to 15d6 (not 10d6). Just get a lesser metamagic rod of intensify for your fireball spell?
Fire Snake: Unlike Fireball or Cone of Cold, this spell lets you precisely dictate where the damage goes, which makes friendly fire a lot less likely. Your allies will love you for this.
Interposing Hand: Provides cover against one creature and it can slow down a pursuing creature. Useful, but not the best.
Wall of Force: Great 'oh no!' button. You can separate the party from reinforcements or buy your group enough time to recoup with this spell. Great for caster-focused Occultists.
Illusion:
False Vision: An Anti-scrying spell is too situational for a fifth level spell slot for you.
Mislead: A great escape spell if your opponent doesn't have spellcraft to realize what you're doing.
Persistent Image: Can be used creatively to do some pretty fun stuff. Not sure if it's worth your fifth-level spell known slot.
Seeming: While a 12 hour disguise self (and others) is great, it most likely won't be a go-to-spell in your campaign unless you do a LOT of espionage stuff.
Necromancy:.
Curse (Major): Bestow curse but slightly harder to remove? Pass.
Inflict light wounds (mass): So, 1d8+(level) damage to a bunch of people, save for half? And it heals undead and doesn't work on constructs? Pretty lackluster.
Object Possession(greater): If you really wanna do some spy stuff by posessing that pot, then I guess this is the spell for you. Unlikely to be your go-to-spell though.
Suffocation: Save or start dying . . . While it is a save-or-nothing spell, at this high level, you could proabably start targeting things with low fort saves with it and they will probably fail.
Unwilling Shield: Have that barbarian attacking you take half the damage he gives to you! Fun, but there are probably better fifth level spells.
Transmutation:
Air walk (Communal): A way to get everyone to fly, at least a little. It's okay, but there are other, better spells out there for your spell known slot.
Control Wind: A great battlefield control spell if it took less time to get going. Super awesome if you are in a sailing campaign though.
Fabricate: If you are a crafter (such as a blacksmith or something) this spell can save you a huge amount of time. (Oh here's a big chunk of adamantine, I could spend a year forging it into a suit of fullplate, or just cast one spell.) Probably not worth it, but your mileage may vary.
Overland Flight: A long-lasting fly spell, and it gives you a huge boost to your fly checks. If you want to be constantly flying, this is your best choice. Still, there are other ways to fly, so think about it.
Telekinesis: A great all-around utility spell. Lots of good choices for battlefield control.
Transmute rock to mud (mud to rock): Can cause people to get stuck, can cause cave-ins, or just help you clear out a large chunk of unworked stone. The reverse of this spell is significantly less useful.
Level 6
Abjuration:
Antimagic Field: Well, it turns off all of your magic as well, which is none-too-good. Maybe keep a scroll of it on hand just to be safe.
Forbiddance: While it's great to stop planar travel and make creatures entering your sanctum take damage, this REALLY isn't worth a spell-known slot. Just get a scroll of it.
Globe of Invulnerability: Immune to all spells of fourth level or lower allows you to hedge out a lot of the nastier spells out there. Not sure if it's worth a sixth-level spell-known slot or not.
Repulsion: Prevents creatures from approaching you . . . not really that great for a sixth level spell.
Conjuration:
Create Demiplane: I want to know what you are doing that requires you to make demiplanes on a regular basis that would require you to know this spell.
Cure Moderate Wounds (mass): While as a general rule the 'mass cure' spells are pretty bad, since you don't have channeling, this could be a way to spread out a moderate amount of healing to your party.
Getaway: A great emergency 'oh no' button for getting out of that dungeon fast.
Heal: GREAT spell. Heals up to 150 hit points, all ability score damage, a boatload of conditions, as well as ending a bunch of curses and other maladies.
Planar Binding: So we've all heard about the infamous planar-binding (noble genie) thing to get free wishes. Most GMs disallow this, which makes this spell significantly less appealing.
Wall of Iron: Makes a wall, or a giant 10d6 bludgeoning hammer (with a 50% chance to crush you.) I guess if you want to really pick up a wall spell . . .
Divination:
Analyze Dwomer: You basically already have this in the form of Arcane Sight and your Object Reading skill. If you traded those away for your archetype, then this becomes a useful spell.
Find the Path: A scroll of it is nice, but you shouldn't be casting this on a regular basis.
Legend Lore: As above, a scroll may be nice once in a while, but you shouldn't be casting this all the time.
Prediction of Failure: Permanent shaken and sickened conditions, and even if they save, it lasts for one round/level (probably the whole fight.) Shuts down psychic spellcasters but good.
Enchantment:
Antipathy: Another way to shut down psychic spellcasters, even if they make their save, and you can make enemies run away from things. Interesting spell.
Charm Monster (mass): I've never seen this spell be particularly useful.
Cloak of Dreams: Make people near you fall asleep? New saves every round? Interesting spell, not sure how it would do in actual combat. Lots of things (constructs, undead, elves) are immune to this.
Sympathy: Opposite of Antipathy, it draws creatures to an area. Still shuts down psychic spellcasters if they fail their save, interestingly.
Evocation:
Blade Barrier: Crazy good spell if set up correctly. You can cut yourself off from enemies or ensure large creatures in small spaces take a boatload of damage every round.
Chain Lightning: Like firesnake, this is a nice blast spell that doesn't run the risk of hitting allies.
Cold Ice Strike: Like lighning bold, but cold damage and does up to 15d6. The real kicker of this one is that it takes a swift action to cast. Good if you are a blaster, otherwise maybe consider something else.
Contagious Flame: Basically super scorching ray. However, at the level you get this, 4d6 fire damage is pretty laughable, even if it does have the option to repeat.
Contingency: Great for setting up buffs in case you get surprised.
Forceful Hand: Situational at best. At the level you get this, the bull rush will either be trivially easy, or impossible, depending on what you're going up against. Great for a wizard, not so good for you.
Freezing Sphere: 15d6 cold damage in a 40 foot burst? Okay, but there are better spells.
Sirocco: While the damage and Dcs are probably not that good, the ability to fatigue/exhaust anyone who gets hit by it could really change the tide of battle.
Illusion:
Permanent Image: You see through it, others can't. If you are an illusionist, this is a great spell.
Project Image:Let you talk and mess around with others without actually being there. Could be useful, but probably not worth your 6th level illusion slot.
Necromancy:
Harm: Save or take 150 damage (which leaves you at 1). If you save it's 75. Too bad it requires a touch attack.
Inflict Moderate Wounds (mass): Oooh, 2d8+15 damage to a bunch of people, save for half. No.
Possession (Greater): Well, this is like poesession but you don't leave your body around for people to coup-de-grace. I've been told there are great uses for possession, so maybe give it a shot.
Transmutation:
Animate Objects: Short duration, and animated objects tend to not be very powerful.
Disintegrate: Kills enemies, gets you through barriers, really, a great spell all around.
Enemy Hammer: A great way to get bad guys off of you. Even if they make the save, that basically just makes sure that they aren't stunned for the round. You still fling them away from you.
Ironwood: Why would you ever need this spell? Why is it even on your spell list?
Statue: Great as a scroll, probably won't be needing it frequently enough to be a spell known.
Transformation: As a 3/4 BAB class, you don't benefit from this as much as a wizard, but if you want some extra umph in combat, you could do worse.