Welcome to Guidance, Private Sanctuary’s source for tips and techniques for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, written by Everyman Gamer Alexander Augunas. Today, we’re going to be looking at a Shovel Knight build.

I need to start by giving credit where credit is due. This build was TOTALLY the idea of my PFS Pal, Casey. (He’s the Shovel Knight fan, not me.) But hearing his enthusiasm about the character combined with how perfectly it fit the theme of Occult October made me realize that I HAD to deliver Shovel Knight to you, the Know Direction Network readers. I just had to!

Why, you ask? Head on in and see for yourselves….

Build Concept

Let’s look at the Shovel Knight, shall we?

• Race Unknown: I guess he’s human under there, but there are a LOT of weird enemies in Shovel Knight, so I’m not going to assume any race for this build.
• Monk Spade: THE TRUSTY SHOVEL WE WANT AND NEED!!!
• Occultist: So wait, here me out on this. You go around the world gathering “relics” of incredible power, each one granting you a number of limited-use abilities. Sounds familiar? Good, I thought so too. And as a bonus, I’ll even be listing which in-game relics correspond to which types of implements. YAY!

I’m bursting at the seams now, so let’s get started!

Early Levels (1–7)

• Classes: occultist 7
• Feats: Weapon Focus: monk spade (1st), Power Attack (3rd), Furious Focus (5th), Two-Weapon Fighting (7th)
• Abilities: aura sight, implements 4, knacks, magic item skill, mental focus, object reading, shift focus
• Implements: shovel sword (transmutation; 1st), flare wand (evocation; 1st), phase locket (abjuration; 3rd), alchemy coin (transmutation; 6th)
• Focus Power: sudden speed (1st), aegis (3rd), energy blast (5th), philosopher’s touch (7th)
• Occultist 3rd-Level Spells: haste, fireball, fly, protection from energy
• Occultist 2nd-Level Spells: effortless armor, flaming sphere, levitate, resist energy
• Occultist 1st-Level Spells: ant haul, floating disk, liberating command, shield
• Occultist Knacks Known: mage-hand, open/close, resistance, spark

So basically, we started with Transmutation so our Shovel Knight can give vital bonuses to his trusty shovel while also taking Evocation for fiery explosive goodness. Most of Shovel Knight’s feats go into making sure he can make the use of this double weapon while his focus powers and spells go into diversifying what Shovel Knight can do; like Anthony said, the occultist is a generalist class; it can do anything decently.

By 7th level, we’ve got implements for transmutation, evocation, and abjuration. I like aegis because it allows us to give Shovel Knight some extra AC and philosopher’s touch is SUPER flavorful in combination with the “alchemy coin” implement in addition to being useful. The occultist spell list is sparse, but there are some gems on the list. My favorite is taking floating disk to simulate the mobile gear and effortless armor to make moving in whatever armor you’re surely wearing a breeze. Fly and haste are also essentials, and by having two transmutation implements you get both of them.

All in all, this is a well-rounded listed designed to have an answer for any situation. Let’s see how we can improve that in the mid levels.

Mid Levels (8 –14)

• Classes: occultist 14
• Feats: Weapon Focus: monk spade (1st), Power Attack (3rd), Furious Focus (5th), Two-Weapon Fighting (7th), Improved Two-Weapon Fighting (9th), Extra Mental Focus (11th), Double Slice (13th)
• Abilities: aura sight, binding circles, implements 5, knacks, magic item skill, magic circles, mental focus, object reading, outside contact 2, shift focus
• Implements: shovel sword (transmutation; 1st), flare wand (evocation; 1st), phase locket (abjuration; 3rd), alchemy coin (transmutation; 6th), fishing rod (divination; 10th), war horn (evocation; 14th)
• Focus Power: sudden speed (1st), aegis (3rd), energy blast (5th), philosopher’s touch (7th), telekinetic mastery (9th), danger sight (11th), wall of power (13th),
• Occultist 5th-Level Spells: communal stoneskin, fire snake, overland flight, transmute rock to mud, true seeing, wall of force
• Occultist 4th-Level Spells: air walk, greater flaming sphere, rusting grasp, stoneskin, ANY ONE EVOCATION AND DIVINATION
• Occultist 3rd-Level Spells: haste, fireball, fly, protection from energy, twilight knife, ANY ONE DIVINATION
• Occultist 2nd-Level Spells: effortless armor, flaming sphere, levitate, see invisibility, shatter, resist energy
• Occultist 1st-Level Spells: ant haul, burning hands, floating disk, identify, liberating command, shield
• Occultist Knacks Known: detect magic, light, mage-hand, open/close, resistance, spark

Again, the feats are mostly focused into the Two-Weapon Fighting thing, so we won’t wander there much. For implements, divination and a second evocation join our roster, as does an awesome number of spells and focus powers. Danger sight allows Shovel Knight to gain defensive bonuses on short notice while powerful spells like rusting grasp, stoneskin, and true seeing are extremely useful. I grabbed transmute rock to mud in order to simulate the dust knuckles (sort of) and overland flight is just plain nifty.

With a list like this, I think its going to be hard to decide where to invest your mental focus! Let’s end out strong in the End Game.

Endgame (15+)

• Classes: occultist 20
• Feats: Weapon Focus: monk spade (1st), Power Attack (3rd), Furious Focus (5th), Two-Weapon Fighting (7th), Improved Two-Weapon Fighting (9th), Extra Mental Focus (11th), Double Slice (13th)
• Abilities: aura sight, binding circles, fast circles, implement mastery, implements 5, knacks, magic item skill, magic circles, mental focus, object reading, outside contact 4, shift focus
• Implements: shovel sword (transmutation; 1st), flare wand (evocation; 1st), phase locket (abjuration; 3rd), alchemy coin (transmutation; 6th), fishing rod (divination; 10th), war horn (evocation; 14th), chaos sphere (conjuration; 18th)
• Focus Power: sudden speed (1st), aegis (3rd), energy blast (5th), philosopher’s touch (7th), telekinetic mastery (9th), danger sight (11th), wall of power (13th), FREEBIE (15th), FREEBIE (17th), FREEBIE (19th)
• Occultist 6th-Level Spells: antimagic field, contagious flame, contingency, disintegrate, heal, greater scrying, transformation
• Occultist 5th-Level Spells: communal stoneskin, fire snake, overland flight, transmute rock to mud, teleport, true seeing, wall of force
• Occultist 4th-Level Spells: air walk, cure critical wounds, greater flaming sphere, rusting grasp, stoneskin, ANY ONE EVOCATION AND DIVINATION
• Occultist 3rd-Level Spells: cure serious wounds, fireball, fly, haste, protection from energy, twilight knife, ANY ONE DIVINATION
• Occultist 2nd-Level Spells: cure moderate wounds, effortless armor, flaming sphere, levitate, see invisibility, shatter, resist energy
• Occultist 1st-Level Spells: ant haul, burning hands, cure light wounds, floating disk, identify, liberating command, shield
• Occultist Knacks Known: detect magic, light, mage-hand, open/close, resistance, spark, stabilize

End game is surprisingly exciting for spells, but not really for focus powers. I ended up going conjuration and picked teleport, heal, and cure wounds spells. Honestly, if I were to pick an occultist I would likely start with conjuration if only to be able to use a psychic cure light wounds wand, but that doesn’t really fit Shovel Knight well. I picked contingency in order to mimic Shovel Knight’s troubline chalice, but really? Contigency? Do I NEED to justify that spell? (I’m still amazed occultists get it.) Frankly there are a LOT of incredible 6th-level occultist spells; transformation, antimagic field, disintegrate, heal, the list is REALLY impressive for its final level.

In regards to focus powers, I honestly didn’t see any focus powers that I felt were must-haves for Shovel Knight, given the implement choices, past 15th level. As a result, I left them all as freebies. Sorry! With that said, I didn’t get all that excited about many of the focus powers; many are simply more-flexible-but-less-powerful versions of spells. I’d like to see more implements for every school that had a bit more personality to them, but regardless of that I think this is a fun, functional occultist that’s sure to get a few laughs at the table as you “Smite your foes with your Shovel of Truth and Justice!” as Casey once put it.

What do you think? Is this a build you would try? Why or why not? What would you change to make the build truer to Shovel Knight? How would you change the build to create Plague Knight? Leave your questions and answers below, and I’ll see you back at the Know Direction Network next week for the FINAL WEEK OF OCCULT OCTOBER!!!!! Talk to you then.

Alexander “Alex” Augunas has been playing roleplaying games since 2007, which isn’t nearly as long as 90% of his colleagues. Alexander is an active freelancer for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is best known as the author of the Pact Magic Unbound series by Radiance House. Alex is the owner of Everyman Gaming, LLC and is often stylized as the Everyman Gamer in honor of Guidance’s original home. Alex also cohosts the Private Sanctuary Podcast, along with fellow blogger Anthony Li, and you can follow their exploits on Facebook in the 3.5 Private Sanctuary Group, or on Alex’s Twitter, @AlJAug.