[PF]Bones Oracle or Necromancer Wizard?

[Maho-Tsukai]

As the title asks. If I want to play your typical "undead hoard" style necromancer while still retaining significant power and versitility myself, which would be better. the Bones oracle gets to do the whole undead thing much earlier then the wizard but is limited by their spells known and overall far more limited and like the Dread Necromancer of 3.5e, hyperfocused. I'll be a better Necromancer, yes, but won't be good at much else. The wizard meanwhile has to wait until level 4 spells to get animate dead, but in return gets to be a ******* wizard, which is arguably the most broken class in the game, so having power and versitility for myself is a given. the Undead focused school, undead master feat would further my minion-mastery and unlike 3.5e wizards get command/rebuke it is absurdly easy for a wizard to get desecrate, all they need to do is take either the agent of the grave or pathfinder savant PrC and they suddenly have desecrate. Without the deathbound domain to make clerics so good that puts you on par with them in numbers. They still can heal undead better then you, though. But hey, your a ******* wizard, and battlefield control to make your minion's lives easier could be seen as superior to healing them anyway.

However, the thing about being a wizard that hurts is obviously having to wait until level 4 spells to get animate dead, which is a big deal IMO. So, my main questions are thus...

- If I want to be a necromancer of the minion-mastery varity but still want to have some power and versatility of my own, which would be better..a Bones Oracle or Necromancer wizard?

-Am I underestimating the power level and versatility of the Oracle class?

If anybody could help me out I'd be thankful.

[legomaster00156]

I would never even consider the Oracle class, a spontaneous caster, for "versatility". That's not what spontaneous casters are for. They're for taking a few tricks that you know you'll cast over and over again, and then squeezing every last advantage from them. So, no, a versatile caster shouldn't play an Oracle.
The Necromancer, on the other hand, gets less spells per day, but more versatility. I don't recommend it, for the simple reason that they can't heal their minions.
Overall, I say to just play a Cleric. Praise Urgathoa. Grab the Death domain (and if you really wanna go deep into undead territory, the Undead Master archetype). You now have your very own minionmancer with 8 billion other tricks up your sleeve, as well.

[Ravens_cry]

Because Charisma is both your casting stat and the stat that enables your undead shepherding, a Oracle can get some major minion herding going on.
I would ask your DM if you can trade Armour of Bones for negative channelling,so you can keep your dears healthy and strong.
Unfortunately, because it slows down the game, I never was very partial to minion herding.
A wizard necromancer is better off focusing on defuffs and curses, sapping their will and draining their spirit, rather than raising them to unlife to do their bidding

[Maho-Tsukai]

But I don't want to be low-int for RP reasons, so cleric is out.(If only PF had a cloistered Cleric that could also be an undead master archtype(As far as I know the PF cloistered cleric(which is 3rd party) can't also be an undead master.) Also, it's not so much that I need wizard level versatility, I just don't want to be outshined by tier 1s. Also, as far as the Oracle gose, I believe it's tier 2...or is it tier 3? If it's tier 2 what spells do I need to take to not be outshined by tier 1s? If it's tier 3 in pathfinder pure, what 3.5e spells can make it tier 2?

Also, if I go as a necromancer wizard can't I just treat my minions like a second party and use battlefield control and the fact I'm a ******* wizard to keep them from dying instead of healing?

[Psyren]

But I don't want to be low-int for RP reasons

So don't be. RP-ing your stats often means you can't min-max. (Or just roll well/ask for high point buy.)

[Ravens_cry]

Oracle is still a very good class, it is a full caster with extra goodies. If you want to be an undead minion-herder, I see it being pretty good for it all things considered.

[Psyren]

More helpfully, I don't see why you can't be both an Undead Lord and a Cloistered Cleric. The rule is that you can't pick two archetypes that replace the same class feature, but neither CC nor UL say "this ability replaces the domains ability of a standard cleric.") Rather, CC restricts you to just one domain, while UL forces you to take the Death domain+Undead subdomain (which is still just one domain.) That's the closest thing they have to an overlap.

Also, both Cloistered Cleric and Undead Lord are 1st-party Paizo (they're in Ultimate Magic.)

[Ravens_cry]

Or alter the same class feature. Talk to your DM, but I could see it going either way.