Last week we explored how social skills evolved in Realm of Runes. This week, we're taking a closer look at one of the more interesting and diverse skills: Occultism. At first glance, Occultism might simply seem like any of the other three skills associated with a magical tradition, Arcana, Religion and Nature, but those that plumb the depths of this skill find it holds many secrets that it can reveal, for a price.
At it's most basic level, Occultism is useful for Bards and those Sorcerers, Monks and Rogues that choose the occult magical tradition. Like its other three counterparts, it can be used to cast spells defensively when threatened in combat, identify magic items and effects, and also to learn new spells beyond the confines of those which are granted through leveling up and perk selection. Occultism is also one of those skills which functions as its own Knowledge Specialty, and thus some training in this skill opens up possibilities for understanding some of the more bizarre creatures in the multiverse.
Occultism is also, perhaps, the most magically-inclined skill as well. Those that invest in the skill find themselves with the capacity to call upon otherworldly powers, and are privy to hidden information that others could only guess at. Many of Occultism's unique activities have the Divination trait, but are more akin to rituals and esoteric rituals than spells. Indeed, even those that have never cast a spell and never will can make use of Occultism's strange connection to the fabric of reality to produce interesting and useful effects.
Perhaps the most iconic use of this skill is to hold a séance to Commune With Spirits. This is an unrestricted activity, which means literally anyone can attempt it regardless of whether or not they are actually trained in the skill. When you hold a séance, you open yourself up to the spiritual influence around you, but it isn't easy. Fortunately, you do not have to attempt such a feat alone. For every other individual that chooses to participate in the séance, the primary host gains a significant and stacking bonus to their skill checks during the process. If a full party chooses to participate together, odds are good that the attempt will be successful. Location is also important when holding a séance. Haunted areas and those that are in proximity to some sort of undead creature significantly reduce the DC of checks made to interact with the spirits.
Once you and your cohorts have initiated a séance, the goal is to ask questions of the ambient spirits. For each question you ask, you must attempt an Occultism check to determine how effectively you can interpret the responses you get. This can take a while to decipher cryptic knocks and banging, or the process can be sped up significantly with the use of specialized tools, such as a spirit board. If your check is successful, you get an answer to the best of the spirits' abilities based on what they knew when they were alive. If your check fails, you might wait without receiving any coherent response, or even around malevolent spirits that can inflict mental damage on all participants. The information available to be gained may be well worth the risks, especially in unfamiliar and dangerous terrain.
With more training in Occultism, a character begins to gain access to more obscure methods of divination, such as Phrenology. A character at least trained in Occultism can use this ability to study skulls of the living or dead, although a living creature must be kept still either voluntarily or by force. Phrenology can reveal interesting and useful information about a specific creature studied. At its most basic level, a Phrenologist can learn information such as age and traits. With critical success, and improved proficiency, even more obscure information can be unlocked like alignment, class, or even secret information that the skull's owner knows or knew like the locations of hidden traps or secret caches.
Even more occult tricks are accessed through the selection of skill perks. Prognosticate can use traditional divination methods like reading cards, entrails or bones to peek into a creature's future. Often used by frauds and charlatans to prey upon the gullible, those that are well versed in these methods can actually and legitimately predict the future, which can be surprisingly helpful while exploring trap-ridden dungeons. Perhaps one of the more interesting aspects of using Occultism to Prognosticate is that it is a civil social check. In order for it to work at all you have to make your target truly believe that it works, which also means that it cannot be used to predict your own future.
Also available as a skill perk is Automatic Writing. This activity takes a long time of concentration while you plumb the depths of your subconscious and open yourself to the influence of the universe. In exchange for this added time, however, Automatic Writing can produce much more detailed information in response to questions than many other divinations, including many such spells. The number of questions you get answered heavily depends on the result of your Occultism check, but the results are not limited in scope like those of a séance. If the answer exists anywhere, it can be unlocked through Automatic Writing.
With even higher proficiency, an Occultist can unlock the use of Psychometry, Dowsing and Faith Healing. Psychometry creates a psychic link with an object or location, which can be used to learn important information about the items and locations themselves, or even about their previous owners. Dowsing can help you find specific items or locations that might be hidden around you. Through Faith Healing, you can convince a target that its afflictions have been cured. While this typically only provides a temporary benefit, those that are exceptionally skilled with Occultism can transcend the bogus nature and reputation of this activity to actually cure some very nasty conditions, including potent curses.
Much like many skills in Realm of Runes can be used to consolidate related spheres of influence from other skills, Occultism can easily become your main source for obscure knowledge and magical rituals. The Eldritch Delving perk lets you use Occultism instead of Knowledge when you Recall General Knowledge, and also reduces the penalty for attempting to remember information from outside a Knowledge Specialty. Obscure Rites, on the other hand, lets you always replace any skill check used for ritual casting of a spell or esoteric ritual with Occultism. Since the skill required for a spell ritual is always the skill associated with its tradition, this makes casting spell rituals always in the wheelhouse of an Occultism-focused character. This can be especially helpful for esoteric rituals, which often have much more diverse and specific skill requirements.
Thanks to its ability to reveal hidden information and answer pressing questions, Occultism is a hidden gem among the skills. It is an exceptional tool for players and characters that love to explore the secrets and lore of an area. Since skills in Realm of Runes are totally divorced from other considerations like ancestry and class, these fun and quirky interactions are always available to any character that wants to add some mysticism, whether they are a divination-specialist wizard or an aggressively mundane alchemist. Next week we'll set aside the exploration of the core rules for a while, and begin to explore one of its companions, the first Menagerie.
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