Occultist VS Binder ?

[ngilop]

Hey everybody :)

I really do not know anything about the binder excpet he binds stuff and does stuff with those binds of mysticism.

I happened upon the occultist (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/3rd-party-classes/radiance-house/occultist) and it loosk to be the same, or at least the same basic principle.

Is there a whole lot of difference and is one vastly better or worse than the other?

by better i mean, powerful, versatile and customizable.

[Eldaran]

I'd check out Psyren's great handbook (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1FGgq3CJYQaeAugHvaaws-ak1ryZzijKou_w1KN0D9HA/pub) for more info on the Occultist.

[Erik Vale]

Yes and no.
Occultist can't get summon monster, but it's more versatile [Insofar as Archtypes at minimum, both of which are non-exclusive despite their vastly different fluff], it multi-classes better, and [IMHO] is more powerful.
However, it lacks PRC support [not that it truly needs it as all classes count as 1/2 a level for binding] and is 3P.

[Psyren]

One's free, so that one wins in my book :smalltongue:

Cheekiness aside - it's not easy to point at one or the other and say "this one wins." Though mechanically similar, they're still capable of different things.

Having said that - without Zceryll or PrCs in the picture I would say the Occultist is more powerful. After all, independent of the spirits themselves, any Occultist can get a Gargantuan Construct following them around if they need backup. And even with Zceryll, it's something of a tossup whether she or Jayna is more powerful overall - Summon Alien simply can't do some of the things that Jayna's Wish can.

The Occultist chassis is also better. More skills, faster access to multiple spirits, easier WBL-mancy, not to mention immortality - there's considerable appeal there.

[weckar]

I sort of consider the Occultist to the the PF version of the Binder....

[Vortenger]

The only, and I mean only downside to the occultist versus the binder as a standalone class is that binding multiple spirits/vestiges is tied to the class abilities of the occultist, and the binding progression of the binder. This means the binder can PrC freely with 0 loss, whereas the Occultist must wait till level 14 (when they receive their final binding) to do the same. Even if you allow full crossover, the Occultist will not become a Knight of the Sacred Seal until level 15. In EVERY other way, the occultist chassis is better.

The above poster is correct, the Occultist is the Binder. (PF vs 3.5, licensing and all that.)