[PF] Ifrit oracle advice

[oball]

Hi all,

I'm joining a Pathfinder campaign on Monday and I've decided to play an ifrit oracle. I've played 3.5 for years so I'm familiar with basic stuff that's shared between the two systems, but could use some specific advice or tips on setting up an oracle.

I'll be starting at level 12 with standard WBL (108K GP), and I have rolled 16, 16, 16, 14, 13, 10 as my stats (4d6 drop lowest). I was going to put the 16s into CHA (+2 racial), CON and INT, the 14 into DEX (+2 racial), the 13 into STR and the 10 into WIS (-2 racial). I haven't decided on a mystery but I'm considering (for various reasons, some RP, some not) Flame, Heavens, Time or Dark Tapestry. The party currently has a fighter/duelist, a ninja, a wizard (blaster/evoker), a bard, and a cleric, although I'm told the last two may be dropping out. Therefore I was looking to be able to provide support/healing if necessary.

I'm not looking to make an uber-optimised machine, but some tips on useful/must-have spells, feats, magic items and any other oracle-specific factors would be appreciated. Thanks!

[Psyren]

I would swap Dex and Int (i.e. put the 16 in Dex.) I assume starting at 12 you will be able to put your stat boosts to Cha.

- Fire Affinity does nothing for you so be sure to swap it for something else (e.g. Fire Insight, or Hypnotic if you go with Heavens.)
- Get Wildfire Heart! It's that good.

Have you read the Oracle Handbook? (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WdtrZCESRmVfljXY196wMrMLTnS8Uzk4DEk3oQdVZok/edit)

[Dr. Yes]

With any Oracle build you'll be able to grab healing spells, but if you want that to be your primary thing the Life mystery will make you the best in the game at it. With that stat array you could go 16/16/14/13/10/16 and mix it up in melee just as well as you cast. I would lean away from Flame if your party already has a blaster; you'll step on each other's toes and either trivialize encounters with your combined damage output or force your DM to counterbuild every fight against you. For feats, Eldritch Heritage (Arcane) and Improved Eldritch Heritage will get you a familiar and a wizard spell of your choice, plus another at level 15 and a third at 19.

[navar100]

"Must Have Spells"

Level 2
Grace
Swift action to cast
Until end of your turn you do not provoke an AoO for moving.

This spell gives you great flexibility in moving about the battlefield to do whatever it is you want to do. Fighting, buffing, healing, escaping, attack spells, whatever strategy or tactic you want to do this spell will help you do it. As a spontaneous caster, you can cast it whenever you need to. You'll have plenty of 2nd level spell slots to use it and can use a higher level slot in emergencies if your 2nd level slots are used up.

Level 4
Blessing of Fervor
Similar to Haste but with more options.

Your party will love you. Everyone benefits. Every class. Every character type. The spell offers something for everyone. Personal opinion it's a better use of a spell slot than Divine Power for divine casters who want to be a warrior.

Mysteries

Warrior type: Battle, Metal, Ancestors, Dark Tapestry (you can conjure a cloak of armor that stacks with polymorphing with flying on top of that)

Spellcaster type: Heavens, Flame, Nature, Lore

Healing Extraordinaire: Life (Personal opinion a better healer than the cleric. Channel Energy is nice, of course, but you will love Elemental Body for move action healing and elemental subtype)

[Karoht]

Spiritual Weapon + Toppling Spell
An incredibly useful combo. You get to deal damage and keep things knocked down. And it free's up action economy.
Spiritual Weapon is a 2nd level spell, Toppling Spell makes it a 3rd.
This combo also works with Spiritual Ally.
Best part, you can have any number of Spiritual Weapons in play. It's only a move action to redirect them, after that they do the work by themselves.

Get a 2nd level wand of a Paladin Spell. Bestow Grace.
It adds your Charisma bonus to saves. And for the cost of a wand, 50 uses of that spell is totally worth it. The only downside is you need to have a good alignment.

If you are okay with having a Lawful Good alignment, when you can cast 7th level spells pick up Bestow Grace of Champion. You basically get to add half your caster level in Paladin levels to yourself. You get 1 smite, 1 lay on hands, all the immunities, and Charisma to saves. If you don't want to wait until 7th level casting, buy a scroll (paladin version) it's cheap enough. It's an excellent emergency button.

[Psyren]

Best part, you can have any number of Spiritual Weapons in play. It's only a move action to redirect them, after that they do the work by themselves.

By my reading, it's a move action to direct each one, which makes having multiples much less effective.

[Dr. Yes]

Spellcaster type: Heavens, Flame, Nature, Lore

To piggyback off of this, Lore Oracles have a pretty neat trick: they're the only characters in the game who can dump dexterity into the dirt without a second thought. Grab Noble Scion for initiative, and you're golden.

A few spell suggestions:

Silence lets you turn your favorite meat shield into a no casting zone.
Admonishing Ray is as good as Scorching Ray for anything that takes nonlethal damage, and arguably better since basically nothing is resistant to force.
Bestow Curse, if you're going to be spending time in melee range, is a very strong debuff for 3rd level.
Communal Resist Energy is a strong defensive party buff if you know you're going to be encountering a certain energy type.
Freedom of Movement is a wonderful Get Out of Grapple Free card for you or a buddy in touch range.
Boneshatter is a strong single target damage/debuff, although you get it at level+1 from sorcerers.
Antilife Shell lets you flat out say "no" to most things that try to come near you (allows SR, but no save).
Cold Ice Strike is everyone's favorite out-of-the-box swift action blast, and is especially useful for divines since you're more comfortable being in close range.
Find the Path is somewhat situational, but hideously powerful when applicable.
Summon Monster [x] is always a strong and versatile option, though it does require some homework to use to its full potential.

[Karoht]

By my reading, it's a move action to direct each one, which makes having multiples much less effective.Each round after the first, you can use a move action to redirect the weapon to a new target. If you do not, the weapon continues to attack the previous round's target. On any round that the weapon switches targets, it gets one attack. Subsequent rounds of attacking that target allow the weapon to make multiple attacks if your base attack bonus would allow it to.[/quote]Move action to redirect, otherwise it keeps hitting the same target. If it changes targets it gets one attack, otherwise it gets the casters iterative attacks.

[Psyren]

Move action to redirect, otherwise it keeps hitting the same target. If it changes targets it gets one attack, otherwise it gets the casters iterative attacks.

Yes, that's what I meant. If you have several out, you can have them wailing on a target, but if that target dies, you'll need to reassign each one with a separate move action, Same if you have them attacking different targets, and more than one dies in the same round, you will need multiple move actions to reassign the ones that freed up.

Note also that it is Wis mod to attack even for Oracles.

[avr]

At 12th level you're past the sweet spot for the Heavens mystery. Flame and Dark Tapestry aren't really about support, Time can be.

Expanding your spell list via Pages of Spell Knowledge or a Ring of Spell Knowledge is a useful thing.

[oball]

Thanks for all the advice, guys, I'll check these options out and definitely have a look at the oracle handbook. Main reason I was thinking of taking Flame was a) the DM told me that the party is about to journey to the Elemental Plane of Fire to lobby the efreeti for aid in an upcoming apocabattle, and I suggested that maybe my Mystery revealed something about this backstory to me so I have journeyed to join the party to act as a go-between, and Flame would fit right in (Lore and/or the Seer archetype would probably work here as well) and b) apparently the last session ended on a cliffhanger with the party about to fight a giant monster, and I think it would be immensely badass to introduce my character by having them swoop down on wings of fire to attack said monster.

[grarrrg]

decided to play an ifrit oracle
...
I'll be starting at level 12
...
I haven't decided on a mystery but I'm considering (for various reasons, some RP, some not) Flame, Heavens, Time or Dark Tapestry.

Ifrit Oracles have one of most _potentially_ useful Favored Class bonuses in the game.
Every level you can add +1/2 to your Oracle level for the effects of one Revelation.
Usually best to dump all of these onto one Revelation. Choose wisely.

Let's see...
Flames? Not really.

Heavens? Nope.

Time? A few.
Aging Touch: Touch attack to deal half your level in STR damage, can use it once per day plus one for every 5 levels. So an effective level 18 Oracle has 4 uses of 9 point STR damage per day. Not too bad.
Rewind Time: Let's you Immediate Action reroll any d20. With level 18 you can do it 3 times per day, at you're next level up you'll be able to do it 4 times.
Time Hop: Move Action Teleportation, limited to 10ft./day per Oracle level.

Dark Tapestry? Not much.

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Nature (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/base-classes/oracle/mysteries/paizo---oracle-mysteries/nature) Mystery > Bonded Mount Revelation.
An effective level 18 Mount in a party of level 12's? YES PLEASE!
If the game is NOT going to go to level 20, then feel free to throw in one level of Mammoth Rider (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/prestige-classes/other-paizo/i-m/mammoth-rider) just for funsies.


Thanks for all the advice, guys, I'll check these options out and definitely have a look at the oracle handbook. Main reason I was thinking of taking Flame was a) the DM told me that the party is about to journey to the Elemental Plane of Fire...

If going with the Flame Mystery, then by all means TRADE AWAY your Ifrit's natural Fire Resist. Your Mystery gives much better by level 12, and you could get a fairly useful bonus (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/races/other-races/featured-races/arg-ifrit) in trade.

Fire in the Blood can be handy, if kinda weak.
Fire Insight is past it's prime by level 12, but useful.
Fire-Starter is just 'meh'.
Hypnotic has potential.
Wildfire Heart is sweet for +4 to Initiative (racial bonus)

[navar100]

Yes, that's what I meant. If you have several out, you can have them wailing on a target, but if that target dies, you'll need to reassign each one with a separate move action, Same if you have them attacking different targets, and more than one dies in the same round, you will need multiple move actions to reassign the ones that freed up.

Note also that it is Wis mod to attack even for Oracles.

The spell was written before Oracles were created. It is reasonable to ask for a house rule to allow Charisma for the attack. However, Spiritual Ally, the "upgrade" spell, is in the same book as Oracle and also limits it to Wisdom. There's no excuse for that. Possibly intentional but still reasonable to consider it an oversight and ask for a house rule.

[Psyren]

Thanks for all the advice, guys, I'll check these options out and definitely have a look at the oracle handbook. Main reason I was thinking of taking Flame was a) the DM told me that the party is about to journey to the Elemental Plane of Fire to lobby the efreeti for aid in an upcoming apocabattle, and I suggested that maybe my Mystery revealed something about this backstory to me so I have journeyed to join the party to act as a go-between, and Flame would fit right in (Lore and/or the Seer archetype would probably work here as well) and b) apparently the last session ended on a cliffhanger with the party about to fight a giant monster, and I think it would be immensely badass to introduce my character by having them swoop down on wings of fire to attack said monster.

It's flavorful and all, but if you're going to the Plane of Fire then Flames may be an even weaker choice than normal. I agree that you should fudge Lore or Dark Tapestry into this gap instead.

[grarrrg]

Well, in the case of Lore Mystery, throw your Alt-Favored bonus at either Brain Drain, or Mental Acuity.

Brain Drain is kinda 'eh'. If they fail their save that take damage equal to your Oracle Level in d4's, so at actual level 12, that'd be 18d4's. You'd also gain an extra use of the ability.

Mental Acuity is...more interesting.
Starting at level 7, every 3 (effective) levels nets you a +1 bonus to INT (this would be every _2_ actual levels).
So with an effective level of 18, that'd be +4 to INT.
Between that, the 4 skills/level from the class, and you're (potential) 16 starting INT, you could make QUITE the Skill Monkey.
Throw on the Seeker Archetype (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/base-classes/oracle/archetypes/paizo---oracle-archetypes/seeker) for Trapfinding, and you are good to go.

[Dissonance]

First off, in the spell's category. (i will not list spells mentioned previously because they are AMAZING and do not feel the need to repeat them)

- Breath of Life: really good, really cheap, really effective version of raise dead. You do have to be on the ball to make use of it, but in combat raise dead is massive.
- Flamestrike: your playing an ifrit oracle. an IFRIT oracle. at least follow through with some of the fire subtheme if your not going with your mystery as flames. you have a heritage to uphold.

as for mystery, I would personally suggest flames. I know, I know "It's not optimal." or "he will step on the blaster's toes." Let me give you a few reasons why it's a good choice.

1. it will provide your ifrit with an good offensive selection of spells. Which coupled with the free healing spells you get, allows the oracle to focus all her chosen spells on utility, support, and whatever else you can want.

2. you will get some cool utility out of the tree. (wings, seeing through flame, MASSIVE area nuke that's gonna tick for a looong time.)

3. your an ifrit and are being introduced soon before meeting with efreeti. It screams thematic consistency.

counterarguments that will rise up:
1. "He doesn't need to blast!" no he doesn't, but it sure helps. Even a prepared caster will have at least one offensive option available. and our flame oracle with have an entire suite to choose from. One that he can access if he has nothing better to do or if it will remove a threat before it can maim a party member. (oh no, that blue dragon is about to shred Jonny! *INC Flamestrike* Not anymore!)

2. "He will compete with the wizard!" This is always the dumbest answer to a question I hear. first off, do you think blasting is the only thing they can do? I can imagine 7 more useful things for an oracle to do than to lay the smackdown with a flamestrike. Which include buffing, healing, debuffing, and general control if the wizard is blasting. the fact that the oracle can blast along with him is good because it takes some of the pressure off the wizard and let's him do something else if he wants. (even if the wizard put everything into blasting, there might be something that he must put more attention towards) That isn't even mentioning their combined blasting power, which will absolutely rock large encounters. I could even see our oracle and wizard bonding a bit over the charred corpses of orcs.

3. "it's not optimal!" define optimal for me. is it blasting someone's head clean off? is it playing god with the battlefield? is it being able to keep everyone alive through a nasty dungeon? it means different things for different people. To me, "optimal" = staying relevant in any situation. Flame's mystery gives us our offense, our healing comes free, OOC utility is abundant in the mystery and the class itself, and IC utitily is found in the spell list. that's versatility right there, and to me, that's optimal.

[oball]

I like the way you think!