Two Minds are Better than One
A Short Discussion of the Spiritualist ‘Dip’
This is not a full class guide
Hi. I haven’t written a class guide before, but I’ve come across something that struck me as interesting that turned out far better than I originally thought and I thought I’d share my thoughts.
I originally considered a dip into Spiritualist because it seemed like a particularly wicked idea to trap my Paladin’s lost love on the material plane and force him to shelter her spirit in his own mind lest she be forced to turn to negative energy to survive. I was fully prepared for this to be a mediocre level at best, after all…
A 2/3rds Caster and pet class to boot sounds like the worst idea for multiclassing. It’s common knowledge that casters multiclass badly and pets become notoriously squishy when under-levelled. So, why on earth would this seem like a good idea?
The spiritualist has a class feature called Shared Consciousness. Suddenly instead of carrying around a severely under-levelled companion you have significant group of mostly passive bonuses.
There are already two class guides for the Spiritualist, though I didn’t see this particular idea on either of them. If you’re looking to play a Spiritualist, rather than dipping in, this is probably not the guide for you. Of the two I found Eternal Servitude: Guide to the Spiritualist slightly more to my taste, but Phantom of the OP-era: A Guide to the Pathfinder Spiritualist is more complete, and goes into more detail. This idea may be viable for a full Spiritualist, but I haven’t looked into it. I get the sense that you’d be abandoning several advantages that way.
One thing many GMs and Players hate about the idea of a Dip is when it’s used purely for mechanical gain. I’m with them on that point, and doubly so for this particular one. You’re not just taking a level in a class. You are inviting a sentient creature (one who is explicitly stated to be more emotional than rational) to take up residence in your skull. I think most of you will agree that it’s not something you should do recklessly. Don’t let your phantom become that familiar that’s only around when you need it.
I’m going to be talking here about what you can gain by taking a level or two of Spiritualist. I’m not going to spend much time talking about what you’re going to give up. There are too many possibilities to go into detail. You’re going to have to weigh up the pros and cons yourself. I will be making a few general comments, particularly in the next section. As with most multiclass dips you are probably going to be losing out on some of your strongest raw numbers in exchange for some added utility.
After all, you are your Phantom’s Vehicle.
Hit Dice: d8
Maybe good, maybe bad. Depends where you’re coming from. Chances are you lose a hit point or two here, but in the grand scheme of things that probably isn’t going to get you killed
Base Attack Bonus
Chances are good you’re losing 1 BAB here. Again, not the end of the world, but it can be a bit painful. There are ways to make up your attack bonus.
Saves
This can help compensate for the loss of a BAB. By taking a new class you get it’s flat +2s to it’s strong saves. Exactly how good this is depends on what you’re giving up in return, but there’s good odds that this is the better deal.
Spells
Sure a few 1st level spells don’t do much in the long run, but you now have access to a spell list and that means wands and scrolls. There are a number of spells on the list I’d be happy to be able to reliably use in wand form. Some of the 1st level spells can do more than you might think as well.
Your Other Class’s Spells
They don’t advance. This is bad. Casters don’t tend to multiclass well, so you usually need to synergise with that casting to make up with losing a caster level and associated spells. Such as the dips in Evoker wizard or Draconic/Orc Sorcerers. This doesn’t really offer anything comparable.
Skills
At 4 + INT there’s a fair chance you’re getting two more skills this level, which is nice. Better yet, you’re getting several useful class skills to plug any gaps, including all the knowledges, Sense Motive and the ever popular Use Magical Device. If you’re in a skilled class you may be losing out though, you’ve probably already got the class skills and be a few ranks shorter this level.
Proficiency
All Simple Weapons and Light Armour… yay? Chances are you’re not getting anything new here. But if you’re an Alchemist, or otherwise want to be in melee but don’t have martial weapons you do gain a few martial options.
Kukris are nice if you want to fish for critical hits. Saps give you a way to deal non-lethal damage. Which I am always a fan of, because I’m less homicidal than the average adventurer. Scythes are handy for looking cool and executing people (See Coup-De-Grace)
This ability confers several feat-like advantages. While you’re sharing your consciousness (which should really be all the time, at least while adventuring) you gain two (specific) skill focus feats and a +4 on saves vs mind-affecting effects, even taking the bullet on a failed save. That’s two +3s on skills and a +4 to most will saves. Some Phantoms give even more bonuses in this state.
The Phantom’s Link is important however, as it facilitates instantaneous telepathic communication. Even if nothing else, this opens tremendous roleplaying opportunities. More seriously, you have a second character who can communicate with you clearly and instantaneously who has their own set of skills. Like the familiar and the eidolon, even if their skill rolls are underwhelming it can still be a handy backup for things such as knowledge skills.
Unfortunately while you gain access to their skill foci, you don’t actually get the feats, so these are useless for getting prerequisites (something that is often the reason people take skill foci)
Because we’re not going to be throwing them into combat there is a lot about Phantoms we can ignore.
Attributes
I know that if I was sharing my brain with someone I would prefer they’d be a bit smarter than this, at least they’re charismatic. It also means that they’re unlikely to be spectacular at skills.
Skills
The skills that require the Phantom to interact with things aren’t really interesting to us, so we’re left with Knowledge (Planes) and one skill of your choice.
Bluff, Intimidate, Perception and Sense Motive could also be useful because they can be used in non-combat situations (Remember, nothing says the Phantom gets to use your senses when it’s in your consciousness, making perception much less useful. If your GM lets you have a second backup perception check in your head, it’s a pretty cool thing to have).
Ultimately you only get two ranks per level anyway. It’s unlikely that your 1st level Phantom is going to be the mental equivalent of a skilled-eidolon.
This is what gives you your skill foci. It also determines the kind of personality you’ll be spending the rest of your life with. Pick carefully. Ratings for skills really depend on where you’re coming from, so I’m going to be stingy with my ratings here.
Anger
Skills: Intimidate and Survival
Strength Focus: Irrelevant, but not actively bad
Intimidate is a useful skill, but it’s a skill for about half the foci. Survival can be useful, but I haven’t seen anybody feel the need to maximise it.
Dedication
Skills: Diplomacy and Sense Motive
Iron Will: +2 Will Saves to YOU.
My personal best option, giving you a third feat. Diplomacy and Sense Motive are useful face skills. If you’re not going to use either the Iron will may still make up for it, but it’d be on the edge.
Despair
Skills: Intimidate and Stealth
Power from Despair: Irrelevant, but not actively bad
If you’re looking to maximise stealth here’s your option. Could make a cool thug character.
Fear
Skills: Intimidate and Stealth
Power from Despair: Irrelevant, but not actively bad
Deja vu. For our purposes this seems to be different from Despair on the Aesthetic level only (so which do you want the gloomy roommate or the creepy one to join you in your head)
Greed
Skills: Appraise and Sleight of Hand
Eye of Avarice: +1 on Appraise checks… very circumstantial, but at least it does something.
Are you building a pickpocket? Sounds like you’ve already taken greed into your heart.
Hatred
Skills: Acrobatics and Perception
Weapon Finesse: Irrelevant, but not actively bad
I’m running out of quips. Perception is great, acrobatics is good.
Jealousy
Skills: Appraise and Bluff
Deceitful: +2 Bluff and Disguise
You might even be able to get your Phantom to be decent at lying with this, at least at the early levels. Lust is probably better for most social characters.
Lust
Skills: Bluff and Diplomacy
Constitution Focus: Irrelevant, but not actively bad
Bluff and Diplomacy. The Talky-man’s bread and butter.
Pride
Skills: Intimidate and Perception
Resolve: Uhhh….
As far as I can tell resolve isn’t going to help or harm you. It’s immune to fear, but I don’t think anything can target it with fear. It can lose its immunity by failing a skill check, so if somebody finds a way to hit it with fear you’re back to square one.
Intimidate and Perception are a nice pair of skills through.
Remorse
Skills: Perception and Sense Motive
Antagonistic: Irrelevant, but not actively bad
Good skills. Like an extra potent familiar.
Zeal
Skills: Acrobatics and Survival
Tracking: +1 to Survival checks… very circumstantial, but at least it does something.
Acrobatics is nice, Survival is okay
Geistform Phantom (Geist Channeler Archetype)
Skills: Knowledge (Arcana) and Knowledge (Religion)
Iron Will: Irrelevant, but not actively bad
Disappointed that this doesn’t grant Iron will to the Spiritualist. Still, two of the best knowledge skills and a complete lack of emotion make this the perfect personal library/database.
EDIT: Another archetype released in Horror Adventures seems ideal for this dip. The Exciter, thanks to Jeff Fry for pointing this out to me. His words sum up it’s benefits up perfectly.
"You lose the ability to manifest your phantom (which you never really wanted to do anyway). In exchange, you get fast movement and your own version of rage (with flexible stats to modify).”
These new abilities can definitely come in handy and don’t cost this build anything we were planning on using anyway. But there are some points worth noting before you jump for joy.
Rapture:
Constitution fluctuation can kill the incautious. If you take one of the stat arrangements that boost your constitution that the extra hit points are lost last (Meaning that if you’re at less than that many HP when your Rapture ends you can fall unconscious and even die outright. While not a straight up negative, as without them you’d just have been dead sooner, it’s something you need to keep in mind (especially if you’re roleplaying somebody acting on pure emotion, who might not be able to put aside their dedication/anger/pride etc. to save their lives).
Secondly, with the exception of Acrobatics, Fly, Intimidate and Ride you can’t actually use DEX or CHA based skills in Rapture (if we’re sticking to level 1), which lessens the benefits of boosting those attributes.
Likewise, we can’t cast spells while raging, even our Spiritualist ones. (Again, that feature comes at level 4). A bit of a loss from the current level, and possibly a bigger one from whatever other classes you have.
Still, if you’re building a combat character this can be an awesome boost.
Potential combinations of
+2 attack and +3 damage, +2x(Level) HP, +2 Fort, +2 Ref, +2 Will and -2 AC
Because of their affinity for passive uses of charisma the Paladin, Antipaladin and Swashbuckler can also get things such as +1 or +2 to all saves. Though all three of these classes must also beware what is deemed as “Requiring Concentration” as this might deny them access to some of their own extraneous abilities.
Fast Movement:
As usual for this feature, you can’t use this with heavy armour or while heavily encumbered. Having this feature will never be a negative, but depending on your build it may also not do anything for you.
Final Word: Ultimately I’d recommend taking this even if it doesn’t do anything for you, unless you desperately want to manifest your 1st level phantom. As it so perfectly fits the narrative we’re building.
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I’m not going to talk about most of them. But two bear mentioning.
Fractured Mind lets you base your spellcasting off charisma. If you dumped wisdom, or have a Charisma of 20 or more this is either necessary or potent. Otherwise it’s mostly just to taste. Take a look at the flavour of each and make up your own mind.
Geist Channeler doesn’t change any features we care about, so it’s basically just an extra type of Phantom, as shown above.
Whatever you had in mind for your character is probably still relevant, just don’t double up on the skill foci as they don’t stack.
For your Phantom I can only think of adding one of the skill focus, or Alertness type feats. I haven’t looked through the teamwork feats, but there may be an opportunity there too.
I’m not going to go through every spell available. The full guides do that well enough.
You get four Knacks, allowing you to pick up some utility options like Detect Magic, Guidance, Light or Stabilize.
You also get some of my favourite wand spells. Including Cure Light Wounds, Protection from Evil and Shield. If you’re multiclassing from a monk you could grab a wand of mage armour.
You get two spells known and between 1 to 3 spells per day (depending on your casting ability. 11 = 1/day, 12 - 19 = 2/day, 20 - 29 = 3/day, if you have more good on you)
Usually a pair of 1st level spells wouldn’t help a multiclass character much. But this list includes three spells that can be cast as immediate actions. Burst of Adrenaline, Burst of Insight and Feather Fall. All three of which could save your life. The first can give you +4 on a Fort or Ref save, the second a +4 on a Will save and the third, well, you probably can figure out how that one can save you.
You mightn’t use them everyday, but they’re nice things to have packed in the toolbox.
While higher level wands are usually not fantastic, a Wand of Haste can be worth the expense. You’ll also be able to use scrolls of Remove Paralysis, Lesser Restoration, See Invisibility, Invisibility etc to add to your utility at a relatively low cost.