Occult + Melee character is fun!

[Orbital Drop Spicy Taco]

I tried Occult + Melee myself. Middle aged Aristocrat, Curse Bloodline, Esoteric belief.

Initial stat was 8/6/4/4/8/3, and later with two trinkets (Vedas and Taru), stat became 8/8/4/4/10/3.

Starting skills were Melee 2, Occult 2 (Occult +1 comes from Curse Bloodline), Stealth 1, Subterfuge 1. And I finished with Athletics 2, Melee 8 (7 was possible maximum for this class. +1 from Pendent), Occult 10 (additional +1 from Halberd), Stealth 1, and Subterfuge 1.

Good character, but I feel both Melee and Occult didn't reached full potential. This totally makes sense, because I sacrificed some stats to bring 8 Physique and 8 Will. Melee damage or damage resistance was good not superb (due to moderate Physique and Agility at opening), and occult research speed was slow (due to low Mind). Most of occult research takes 2 rests.

Due to constraints on sanity which came from lack of mental resistance and low Mind, I had to use spells very carefully. At later stage (Blasted street and Nithon), I found that spamming spells might bring too fast sanity consumption. I'm OK with mental disease, but if I didn't prepared sanity items like cigars and nerve tonics, the situation would've been worse.

As a result, my Occult + Melee class play become more like Melee main and Occult support. But this part of "Melee main with Occult support" is the really the key of this class. I mostly used Host of Loa (especially after I get +2 Will trinket Vedas), and I sometimes used Children of Pazuzu. I think I relied on these 2 spells only, for like 80% of this playthrough.

Host of Loa with 10 Will is wonderful spell. Low sanity cost (only 5), and if Will check success, melee damage become amazing. I never had Will check fail after I reached 10 Will. With 8 Will, I experienced Will check fail for Loa time to time, like 1/3 of trials? But I'm not sure about this. But Will check fails, better restart the combat because the character become time bomb . For my character, I had level 3 Heavy Hitter (+5 melee critical). With Host of Loa and Halberd, almost every hit was critical. If I had Better Criticals perk, this would've been more amazing!!

Plus, Children of Pazuzu is also great artillery spell. Relatively longer range, 5 sanity cost, and great damage output. Only thing player need to careful is don't be close to any enemy with Pazuzu due to spread out.

I hardly relied on other spells like Blood Circle or Hands of Nergal or Damnation to Stone, because my character was pretty good tanker without support of such spells already. Well, Blood Circle maybe time to time?

Also those spells require good amount of sanity. Nergal costs 7 or 8 sanity, and Stone costs 10. Sanity management was absolutely important for me, especially at later stage of the game. On the other hand, if there are Occult-only-main character with high Mind (mental resistance) and high Will, then sanity cost wouldn't be burden like my Occult + Melee case.

Anyway, it was fun class. I feels like best major route of Occult + Melee path might be the critical build + Host of Loa + Halberd or other good 3 AP blades. Then Occult + Melee can make crazy damage every battle.

In this sense, maybe some can optimize Occult + Melee even further. Start with Soldier for maximum Melee, and decrease a little bit of max skill points for Occult (6 or 7) and invest to Psychology or Athletics, like 3~4. Will should be high enough if you want to rely on Host of Loa. But maybe start from 6 Will and +2 Will from Vedas later would be fine too, because you can restart battle if Will check fails. Or you can just charge the player character some distance from companions, so that Loa-effected player character don't hit friends. Then, invest that stat point to Mind or more Physique. Since Occult is just support, don't bother too much about low occult research speed, and don't try to learn all spells.


Host of Loa
Cost: 4 AP/5 SP/8 HP (Target)
Range: On Self or Ally (Caster's Vision)
Effect: The host becomes immune to all psychological conditions, attracts most of the enemy aggression, gains +2 damage and +5% Critical Success chance on attacks.
Impotent: N/A
Duration: 1-3 turns + 1 extra turn for each 2 points in Occult.
Complications: If the host fails Will check, the Loa will become enraged, attacking friend and foe alike.

Children of Pazuzu
Cost: 7 AP/5 SP/1 Ration
Range: Caster's Will in hexes.
Effect: The swarms infesting the targets inflict damage to their hosts each turn and cause sanity loss due to panic. The swarms have a chance to spread to adjacent characters.
Initial damage: 3 + (Spellcraft/2)
Swarm physical damage: 3-6/round
Swarm sanity damage: 3-4/round
Impotent: N/A
Duration: Occult/2
Complications: Swarms spread to other combatants, whether they are enemies or allies.


So, if you invest 6+ Occult, then you will going to have at least 2~3 turns as Loa, and Pazuzu skill will still be a OKish level.

[Ninth Hour]

Yeah, an Occult+Melee character will not be primarily a spellcaster, since many of your ability points have to be spent on Physique and Agility, leaving only enough to increase Will, rather than both Will and Mind (necessary for a high sanity score). Spells are mainly to enhance fighting ability (Host of Loa), as you've mentioned. Hand of Nergal is pretty good for anyone who engages in close combat, but you get it so late in the game that it doesn't factor into most combats. Blood Circle is occasionally useful (e,g, if you get surrounded by cultists, who are quite tough and survive ranged attacks long enough to get into melee range).

An Occult/Academic gunslinger can be quite fun as well.

Old academic (psychiatrist), rational, 3/6/4/8/8/3, generally impervious to mental and supernatural attacks. Start with Firearms 1, Psychology 2, Med 1, Science 1, Occult 1 Subterfuge 1

End at level 8 (quite possible because of a lot of XP from dialogue and combat) with Firearms 8, Psychology 3, Med 1, Science 8 (rational gives + 1 via the book you get for Cornelius watch quest), Occult 3, and Subterfuge 2 (6 Ag will still allow you to open most locks in the game)

With science 8, one can build the rapid repeating pistol (AP 1 with snap shot). Firearms can be raised to 8 in the course of the game (with the bleeding badge of the marshal). The recoil reducer further adds to ranged skill. With gunslinger, snap shot, sniper, better criticals and Leprechaun's charm you can dish out a significant amount of damage (8 shots per round, more if you have a high reaction roll). Occult will only get to maximum of 3 by end game (if you reach level 8) but some spells don't rely on high occult to be effective (e.g. Tongue of the Dead, Host of Loa, Damnation to Stone, Hand of Nergal). Gaze of Abyss can be used towards end game to boost ranged skill and reaction even higher (not that you really need it at that point). Host of Loa benefits your combat ability even as a ranged character. Blood Circle can be more helpful on ranged than melee character as you don't need to move to attack and therefore don't need to break the circle at any point. Unfortunately, it won't be decent until you get Occult to 3 (around time of Pilgrim Parish). High Will (10 with Consciousness of Vedas) and Occult 3 means a high enough spellcraft that Children of Pazuzu and Spit of Al-Razi can be decent (but they won't beat out your pistol).

Still, the ability to get almost all dialogue options (i.e those involving science , psychology, medicine, and the occult with minimal investment in most of those skills) is quite rewarding. You get tons of XP just from dialogue. Even Med 1 is useful because it allows you to use the doctor's bag while camping. With high mind, you can get into distillery without combat. I consider this the rough equivalent of a "mage/cleric" + "ranger/cleric". You can fight at range, heal, cast spells, perform psychological treatment, craft- quite an impressive array of roles for just one character.

[Orbital Drop Spicy Taco]

Indeed, your idea of Occult / Academic gunslinger looks very interesting! This is the setting for repeating pistol, right? 6 Agil and 4 Sense will bring 8 (or 7?) AP so rifle or shotgun will not easy, but pistol would be fine indeed, and repeating pistol only costs 1~2 AP. Yeah I agree this setting can be great to mange ANGST low because you can escape some combats. Plus you can escape Carrion Jack battle by using Occult ghost. But low stealth will bring world map engagement chance. And another thing of this setting is you will need a lot of rest XD But I like that part, while scientist with occult skill seems not that much reasonable, it will be interesting indeed.

There is a perk to increase science or medicine, which might be good too. But yeah, for damage output critical and snapshot / gunslinger would be better choice.

Again, thanks to share your idea!!

[Ninth Hour]

Originally posted by Turbulent:

Indeed, your idea of Occult / Academic gunslinger looks very interesting! This is the setting for repeating pistol, right? 6 Agil and 4 Sense will bring 8 (or 7?) AP so rifle or shotgun will not easy, but pistol would be fine indeed, and repeating pistol only costs 1~2 AP. Yeah I agree this setting can be great to mange ANGST low because you can escape some combats. Plus you can escape Carrion Jack battle by using Occult ghost. But low stealth will bring world map engagement chance. And another thing of this setting is you will need a lot of rest XD But I like that part, while scientist with occult skill seems not that much reasonable, it will be interesting indeed.

There is a perk to increase science or medicine, which might be good too. But yeah, for damage output critical and snapshot / gunslinger would be better choice.

Again, thanks to share your idea!!

Yes, this concept is built around the idea of getting the repeating pistol as soon as possible and being able to use it to great effect (I built it just before Pilgrims Parish). AP 8, gunslinger, and snapshot make this weapon deadly. Even if each individual attack is low damage, multiple attacks means better chance of getting a critical. Even without crits, the sheer number of shots you can pump out means that damage per round is at least low to mid 20's. You need to have a lot of 0.22 rounds but they are readily crafted and purchased.

Rational belief system means that you can obtain the book, following completion of Cornelius' quest, which increases Science by 1, allowing you to get the required science 8 score more quickly.

You can get a pretty high ranged attack score with consistent investment in Firearms skill+ Bleeding Badge+ recoil reducer (which you can easily craft). I think I had about 18 ranged attack towards end game. Snapshot almost never misses. Even before building the repeating pistol, the character is quite a good ranged combatant with the H&W revolver.

The build is also intended to provide maximum versatility during quests. Science allows you to obtain the statuette in bank quite easily and lets you amass a lot of fuel (and XP) by scavenging vehicles and the machine in the post office. Your high Mind+Med 1 is enough for you to enter distillery without combat. High science allows you to craft weakened poison and fix the still. Later, you can craft the reinforced hazard suit (+1 damage resist) and spectral ray gun. You can obtain all science-based dialogue options.

High Will+ Occult 2 still lets you access all the corresponding events- e.g. getting Sands of Time perk in the Dreamlands, using Tongue of dead on all spirits, getting Venus artifact, obtaining black ectoplasm from corpses, altering the ritual in the warehouse, accessing all Occult dialogues with NPC's. Being able to cast enhancing spells like Host of Loa and Gaze of Abyss (by endgame) is just a bonus. Hand of Nergal and Host of Deva are great end game spells that don't need very high Occult to be effective.

If one does not plan to acquire the Controlled Mind perk , keeping Psych at 2 (just for +1 mental resist) and adding a point to Occult will allow one to raise Occult to 4 towards the end of the game.

Despite the character's miserable physique, HP is decent, as occult skill allows him to acquire the Venus of Willendorf (+10 HP) and high Will also increases HP. He has 50 HP throughout most of the game.

Important trinkets- Leprechaun's charm, Bleeding badge, Venus, recoil reducer. Late game, I exchanged Venus for Consciousness of Vedas.