Not all those with talent for the darkest of arts use it to pursue mastery over life, death, and unlife. There are those who use it to aid both the living and dead find justice for those who met an early end.
The occult detective is an archetype of the necromancer class.
Archetype Main Ability Scores:
The occult detective mainly focuses on DEX for combat and CHA for spellcasting and their class features.
Archetype Feature Replacements:
1st – Weapon and Armor Proficiencies, Base Attack Bonus, Hit Dice, Spellcasting, Bone Commander; 3rd – Harm Touch, Lifetap; 4th – Necromancy Talent; 5th – Fear Aura; 8th – Necromancy Talent; 10th – Unholy Protection; 16th – Destruction Retribution; 20th – Lich Transformation
Weapon and Armor Proficiencies
The occult detective is proficient with simple melee weapons, slings, all simple crossbows, and all simple handguns. He is also proficient with light armor, but no shields. An occult detective still suffers from spell failure chance while wearing light armor, however.
This ability replaces the necromancer’s starting weapon and armor proficiencies.
Limited Spellcasting
An occult detective loses access to 7th through 9th level spells and has a lower Base MP as noted below.
Table: 3/4th MP Progression
| Level | Base MP | Spell Level |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | 2 | 1st |
| 2nd | 3 | 1st |
| 3rd | 4 | 1st |
| 4th | 5 | 2nd |
| 5th | 6 | 2nd |
| 6th | 8 | 2nd |
| 7th | 10 | 3rd |
| 8th | 13 | 3rd |
| 9th | 16 | 3rd |
| 10th | 20 | 4th |
| 11th | 24 | 4th |
| 12th | 29 | 4th |
| 13th | 34 | 5th |
| 14th | 39 | 5th |
| 15th | 45 | 5th |
| 16th | 51 | 6th |
| 17th | 57 | 6th |
| 18th | 64 | 6th |
| 19th | 71 | 6th |
| 20th | 79 | 6th |
Martial Prowess
An occult detective’s base attack bonus increases by one step (from 1/2 BAB to 3/4 BAB). Also increases occult detective’s hit dice from d6 to d8.
Inspiration (Ex)
An occult detective is beyond knowledgeable and skilled—he also possesses keen powers of observation and deduction that far surpass the abilities of others. An occult detective typically uses these powers to aid in their investigations, but can also use these flashes of inspiration in other situations.
An occult detective has the ability to augment skill checks and ability checks through his brilliant inspiration. The occult detective has an inspiration pool equal to 1/2 his necromancer level + his charisma modifier (minimum 1). An occult detective’s inspiration pool refreshes each day, typically after he gets a restful night’s sleep. As a free action, he can expend one use of inspiration from his pool to add 1d6 to the result of that check, including any on which he takes 10 or 20. This choice is made after the check is rolled and before the results are revealed. An occult detective can only use inspiration once per check or roll. The occult detective can use inspiration on any Knowledge, Linguistics, or Spellcraft skill checks without expending a use of inspiration, provided he’s trained in the skill.
Inspiration can also be used on attack rolls and saving throws, at the cost of expending two uses of inspiration each time from the occult detective’s pool. In the case of saving throws, using inspiration is an immediate action rather than a free action.
This ability replaces bone commander.
Unorthodox Evidence (Su)
Starting from 3rd level, an occult detective’s otherworldly information sources can not only yield information about the case itself, but also his suspects and those who stand in his way. An occult detective gains a permanent +1 to attack rolls against an enemy for each different necromancer spell he has used to gather information about the target. This bonus is untyped, but cannot exceed the level of the highest level necromancer spell he can cast.
This ability replaces harm touch.
Commune with Spirits (Sp)
Instead of relying on more mundane methods to find clues, an occult detective relies on communion with the world beyond death. At 3rd level, an occult detective gains the ability to use comprehend languages, detect secret doors, and identify as spell-like abilities, but each has a casting time of 1 minute, as the detective needs to consult with the spirits of the dead that dwell in his area or that are somehow attached to him in some way. The occult detective can use these abilities a number of times per day equal to his necromancer level + his Charisma modifier.
As he goes up in level, the occult detective gains the ability to use other spells with the same casting time as above. At 5th level, he can use augury. At 7th level, he can use clairaudience/clairvoyance and locate object. At 9th level, he can use legend lore. Each of these requires one use of this ability and counts as a necromancer spell in all respects, including for the purposes of unorthodox evidence.
This ability replaces lifetap.
Spirit Tail (Su)
Starting from 4th level, an occult detective may assign one of the spirits that follows him to spy on an individual he can see. The target must make a Will save (DC 10 + half of the necromancer’s level + his Charisma modifier). Regardless of success or failure, the spirit manifests in the ethereal plane, following the target wherever they go; however, on a successful save, the target is aware they are being followed. The occult detective may telepathically contact the spirit as a free action at any time, and the spirit is capable of initiating such an exchange if it deems it important. The tail will continue its assignment until the target enters a location that cannot be accessed via the ethereal plane, or if the tail is targeted by any hostile effect.
Once per day, the target of this effect may make a new Will Save. If the target makes a second successful save, they realize that their tail is within the ethereal plane. This ability counts as a scrying effect, though the spirit cannot be detected using a Perception check.
The occult detective may only maintain one connection with a spirit tail at a time, but may maintain an additional connection for every five necromancer levels he possesses after 4th, to a maximum of four.
This ability replaces a necromancy talent gained at 4th level.
Shroud of the Psychopomp (Su)
The souls of the dead that the occult detective has helped offer their aid and protection. Starting at 5th level, the occult detective may touch a piece of armor with which he is proficient, turning it into shrouded armor. Shrouded armor counts as a force effect for the purposes of blocking attacks from incorporeal creatures and if it isn’t already magical, it becomes magical. While wearing it, the occult detective ignores any arcane spell failure the armor usually has. Additionally, the spirits clinging to shrouded armor can attempt to calm other undead. When an undead hits the occult detective with a melee attack while he is wearing his shrouded armor, the undead must make a DC 10 + half of the necromancer’s level + his Charisma modifier Will save or be charmed by the Occult Detective for 1 minute or until they take damage. The target does not benefit from the usual +5 bonus to this save from being threatened. On a successful save, the undead is shaken for 1 round instead. This bypasses immunities gained from being undead, but not from other sources.
This ability replaces fear aura.
Poltergeist Tail (Su)
Starting from 9th level, the occult detective learns how to leverage the more destructive tendencies of spirits to his advantage. Spirits he has assigned to tail someone may now also be assigned to haunt the target to barrage them with nightmares and fling physical objects around, preventing them from benefiting from rest, in addition to the normal effects. However, such action makes it readily apparent that a spirit is targeting them. As such, creatures targeted by such a haunting automatically pass the Will sSaves to detect and locate the spirit.
This ability replaces miasma.
Spirited Interrogation (Su)
At 10th level, an occult detective has learned enough about the spirits of the dead that with a few leading questions he can provoke a hostile response against his foes. The maximum bonus from unorthodox evidence is doubled, and when using inspiration to gain a bonus to a Knowledge check to learn useful information, each piece of information gained increases the bonus by +1 against that enemy and enemies like it in that encounter. (e.g. getting three pieces of information about a lesser darkness elemental provides a +3 bonus to all lesser darkness elementals present) Additionally, if the occult detective’s total bonus to hit an enemy is greater than his AC for that attack, he threatens a critical hit with any attack and automatically confirm all critical threats. This only functions if he has at least a +5 bonus to attack the target from unorthodox evidence and the occult detective is using a necromancer spell or a weapon they are proficient with due to being an occult detective.
This ability replaces unholy protection.
Meticulous Intelligence Gathering (Su)
By 16th level, an occult detective and his spirit allies have built such a close bond that they can share vital information about their targets constantly. For every 24 hours he has one of his spirit tails following a creature, his unorthodox evidence bonus against that creature increases by 1. Should the target lose the tail by any means he retains this bonus for a number of days equal to his Charisma bonus.
This ability replaces destruction retribution.
Dead Man’s Judgement (Su)
At 20th level, the occult detective understands that while he must not judge the wicked, he must send them to be judged, and this conviction greatly enhances his existing abilities:
- Spirited interrogation now only requires a +1 bonus from unorthodox evidence, rather than +5, before causing automatic critical hits.
- Inspiration is now a d8, and the occult detective may expend two uses as a free action once per round to add a single inspiration die to his damage. This is precision damage.
- His shrouded armor now gains a +2 enhancement bonus to its AC which stacks with any enhancement bonus the armor already has, to the normal maximum of +5. Additionally, it gains the umbral spikes ability. If it already has it, the damage increases to 2d6.
This ability replaces lich transformation.