Occult

Through fell ritual and careful experimentation, occult casters can augment their Essence by pulling Essence directly from planar entities. This is dangerous - if these entities become aware of the theft, they can be powerful enemies - but if they do not notice, the power becomes the cultist’s to do with as they see fit. This augmentation of one’s Essence through tapping into the Essence of others is the heart of the Occult Source.

The Toll of Occultism

The draw of occultism is great: by manipulating one’s own essence, one’s own soul, a caster is beholden to nobody but themself. But this extreme individualism comes with dire threat: it is easy to overreach. A caster might lose themself to dark rituals, so focused on altering their soul that they become unrecognizable to who they were before they made such augmentations.

Alternatively, one might draw so much power from a powerful planar entity that the entity becomes aware of the attempts to siphon power. Generally, these powerful beings will not retaliate beyond causing a spell, ritual, or chant to backfire, but occasionally a being of great power might hold a grudge against the caster or try to force the caster into their service.

Schools of Occultism

Practitioners of occult magic have different physical tells. Because occult magic can be so individualized, casters that train themselves might have wildly unique outward gestures, verbal recitations, or other expressions of magical casting. Generally, occult magic involves some amount of stomping, clapping, or verbalizing, usually mixed with drawing glyphs, geometric designs, and the like on parchment or in the air.

Some occult casters prefer to seek out mentorship from more experienced occultists in an effort to mitigate the potentially negative effects of occult magic. Two organizations are especially noteworthy, though there are many others. Occult groups are usually small, regional, and secretive, but the Savants of the Pale and the Path of Ascendancy are international organizations.

Savants of the Pale

By focusing on the mystical mists of the Pale, the Savants of the Pale learn how to hide and obscure their tracks. They believe that this is of fundamental importance, because once they become experts at hiding their magical presence, they can steal more powerful abilities from gods and planar beings and escape undetected, free to use their newfound powers however they please. Casters from this group are notable for wearing deep, hooded cloaks and for casting occult magic by singing strange, dissonant choral melodies.

Path of Ascendancy

The best-known occult school is the Path of Ascendancy. Ascendants profess that anyone can become a god in their own right if they try hard enough and are willing to sacrifice enough. One of the requirements for new initiates in the Path to advance in rank is for them to bring in additional new initiates. Ascendants cast their magic by drawing intricate, beautifully complex geometric shapes. Many Ascendants get these shapes tattooed on themselves as signs of rank, belonging, and power.

The Great Ascendant is the leader of the Path. Although once human, he has undergone so many permanent transformations that he now looks like an archfiend. He has goat legs, huge claws, cat eyes, ram horns, a snake’s tongue and fangs, and enormous bat wings. Every inch of once- human flesh has been burned and branded so many times that it is as tough as leather and as red as raw meat. His skin is also covered in geometric tattoos that are never quite symmetrical.

Occultism and Personality

As an occult caster draws more and more power into themselves and alters their own soul with ever greater abandon, they might undergo profound personality changes. In all but the rarest of cases, these personality changes are a negative transformation. Whatever a caster’s greatest vice prior to dabbling in occultism, it is likely to get accentuated. Power-hungry casters grow lustful for absolute power. Greedy casters become miserly copper-pinchers. Gluttonous casters might become wildly and destructively hedonistic.

Casters that stay in touch with their positive emotions can stave off the worst of these changes. Keeping a strong circle of friends around you and pursuing a wide variety of wholesome activities makes you less susceptible to the corrupting nature of occult magic.

Relationship With Divinity

Occult casters often steal power from divine beings, but do not confuse this with divine magic. While divine casters enter into carefully negotiated contracts with their patron deities, or they are rewarded for devout worship with magical favors, occult casters have no form of covenant with the deities from whom they draw power. A divine caster might find it challenging to draw power from multiple gods if the gods do not get along with one another, but an occult caster has no such inhibitions, as the gods themselves are often unaware of the slivers of power that the occultist steals.

Occult Magic Types

In addition to spells, occult casters might learn chants or rituals.

Chant. Chants cost no SP and you can use them as many times as you wish.

Ritual. Rituals take quite a long time to cast, and each ritual will specify how frequently you can cast it.

Occult Tags

These tags are referenced by some occult magical abilities.

Occult Power

Occult Power is the total number of talent points you have spent on Occult Magic talents as a result of leveling up, in addition to the number of talent points you have spent in certain classes or tracks. These classes or subclass tracks will specify that they contribute to Occult Power.

Curse and Charm

Curse and charm are tags that denote an effect that lingers with its target for the magic’s duration, even if an effect would normally dispel or suppress magic.

Incantation

If a spell has the incantation tag, the spell’s effects can be extended if you spend a smaller amount of AP on subsequent rounds, but these spells still have a maximum duration. If you neglect to spend the required Incantation AP at any point on subsequent turns, then the spell ends; you must spend SP again to recast the spell if you wish to renew the effects.

This might look like: Incantation (1 AP; max 10 minutes) - this means that after you initially cast the spell, you must spend 1 AP on your next turn if you want to keep the spell going. If you keep the spell going for 10 minutes, then it expires at that point.

Ritualize

This tag means that the spell can be cast as a ritual, which does not expend SP. Each spell with a ritualize tag will specify how many times it can be used as a ritual, and when you regain the ability to do so.

Dark Power

Dark power is a tag attached to certain chants, rituals, and spells. These magical abilities come with a risk of being temporarily or permanently altered or corrupted in some way, specified within each ability.

*Updated to v1.2