Working on 10th lvl. Oracle (PF only)

[Zach J.]

I've been allowed to join an ongoing Pathfinder campaign. Party includes a paladin, a fighter, a ranger, a rogue and a magus. They're all 10th level. There is a mix of good and evil alignments, so far the rogue has managed to hide his evil doings from the paladin's knowledge. I've made up an oracle of ancestors to join the party. I basically built the character as a self-buffing gish with some anti-undead abilities for flavor.

Human Oracle 10

Str 20, Dex 13, Con 14, Int 12, Wis 12, Cha 17

Feats:
combat casting, extend spell, extra revelation, improved initiative, power attack, warrior priest

Skills:
diplomacy +16, knowledge: history +14, linguistics +14, sense motive +13, spellcraft +13

HP 72
AC 23 (29 w/spirit shield)

fort +8, ref +7, will +11

Special Abilities:
ancestral Weapon 10 minutes/day, oracle's curse (haunted), spirit shield 10
hours/day, storm of souls 1/day, wisdom of the ancestors 1/day

Spells Known (6/6/6/5/3/day):
0 create water, detect magic, detect poison, ghost sound, guidance, mage hand, purify food and drink, resistance, read magic, stabilize, virtue
1 compel hostility, cure light wounds, detect undead, divine favor, know the enemy, remove fear, unseen servant
2 cure moderate wounds, grace, levitate, minor image, resist energy, shield other, spiritual weapon
3 cure serious wounds, dispel magic, heroism, magic vestment, speak with dead
4 cure critical wounds, divine power, greater magic weapon, spiritual ally
5 mass cure light wounds, telekinesis, true seeing

Equipment:
+1 shocking adamantine morningstar
masterwork silvered dagger
+1 moderately fortified breastplate
potion of cure serious wounds
potion of fly
ring of protection +2
ring of sustenance
scroll of raise dead
wand of cure light wounds
amulet of natural armor +2
cloak of resistance +3
crown of swords
diamond worth 5,000 gp
handy haversack
scroll case
2 belt pouches
45 pp, 12 gp

Languages Known:
Celestial, Common, Draconic, Dwarven, Elven, Giant, Gnome, Goblin, Gnoll, Halfling, Orc and Sylvan

The character casts Magic Vestment and Greater Magic Weapon every morning, as well as activating his Spirit Shield ability. If he is aware of an encounter before hand then he will cast Heroism on the Fighter and Paladin and summon his Ancestral Greatsword and cast an Extended Divine Power on himself as well as Resist Energy and Remove Fear if necessary. If surprised then he'll just cast his own buff spell, summon his ancestral blade and wade into the fight. He's not much of a ranged fighter, but he can use his Storm of Souls ability and cast Telekinesis if push comes to shove.

I know I've made some less than optimal choices, but will this work well enough for a fairly non-optimized group? I know the party will be fighting a dragon soon; would this character be able to contribute to such an encounter?

[andreww]

Spirit Shield is an armour bonus, it does not stack with your actual armour.

Warrior Priest is an awful feat, you are much better off with Eldritch Heritage with a scorpion familiar which would be +4 initiative.

Combat Casting is generally bad but with your lower casting stat you will need it if you want to cast while threatened.

Battle would be a much stronger revelation if you want to wade into melee. I would also recommend a two handed weapon. Weapon/shield with no form of two weapon fighting is fairly low on the damage side of things.

As you are Human you can take the Human favoured class bonus to add extra spells known. It is the best option around.

I would strongly recommend picking up Blessing of Fervour (divine haste!), Remove Paralysis, Daylight (PF is full of stuff with deeper darkness), you also might want to invest in a summon spell at the upper levels.

In terms of contributing you are a full caster with some decent spell choices so yes you will controubute but there are lots of ways in whcih that could be significantly improved.

[grarrrg]

Warrior Priest is an awful feat, you are much better off with Eldritch Heritage with a scorpion familiar which would be +4 initiative.

Combat Casting is generally bad but with your lower casting stat you will need it if you want to cast while threatened.

He'd need Skill Focus to get Eldritch Heritage, which means two feats.
Also, Warrior Priest provides a bonus on Concentration Checks.
I'd stick with Warrior Priest.

Hell Knight Enforcer PrC requires Warrior Priest, and isn't too much of a loss for Oracles, still has Full Casting, stacks for all existing Mystery Powers (doesn't grant new revelations though), and it grants Heavy Armor prof (with your low DEX this could be handy).
It doesn't progress your Curse, but Curses progress at 1/2 rate for non-Oracles anyway.
It doesn't gain you a lot (arguably better for 'armored arcanes'), but it really doesn't lose you much either. Worth a look.


Battle would be a much stronger revelation if you want to wade into melee. I would also recommend a two handed weapon. Weapon/shield with no form of two weapon fighting is fairly low on the damage side of things.

Battle (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/base-classes/oracle/mysteries/paizo---oracle-mysteries/battle) and Metal (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/base-classes/oracle/mysteries/paizo---oracle-mysteries/metal) are regarded as the best for Melee Oracles, with Ancestor being solid 3rd place.

[Karoht]

Spiritual Weapon + Toppling Spell (Metamagic).
Grats, you have a weapon flying around tripping people. You get to beat up prone targets. Always a fun combo, level 3 spell slot, it will last you all combat, you can have more than one if you want, fantastic when you need to be in two places at once, and if you and the weapon gang up on something it will get very very mangled.
Won't be useful VS the upcoming dragon though, as the CMD will likely be too high, and dragon's fly, so they are outright immune to it.

Divine Intervention (Feat)
You sacrifice a spell slot (once per round, as an Immediate Action) to force an enemy to reroll something. Best used if the enemy has just rolled a critical hit. Enemy also takes a penalty to the roll equal to the level of the spell you just sacrificed (minimum 1, no you can't use cantrips). Pretty sure this requires you to be 10th level to take it, so it's a great candidate for your 1th level feat coming up. This thing saves lives, trust me.

Forceful Strike (Spell)
Big fat bag of Force Damage, cast as a Swift action, triggers the next time you hit something. Causes Bullrush as well, which CAN affect a flying creature. One such option is to force the creature downwards (and it may also force a fly check). Towards your friends. So they can stab it. Worth considering. A nice go-to option if you don't get to apply your full buff stack before a combat, or if you just want to hit something extra hard and end a fight quicker.
Best part, there really really isn't much that is immune/resistant to Force Damage. If anything at all in Pathfinder that is.

Spit Venom (Spell)
Kind of a jerk move, but you make a ranged touch attack, if it hits the target is blind (no save) and has to make a fort save VS poison. Doesn't affect things that are immune to poison of course. If you have a rogue in the party, they will be very happy with you using this. Not sure if this goes with your character or not, but handy in a pinch.

Just some thoughts.

[andreww]

He'd need Skill Focus to get Eldritch Heritage, which means two feats.
Also, Warrior Priest provides a bonus on Concentration Checks.
I'd stick with Warrior Priest.
Taking the focused study alternate racial trait gives three of them over your career instead of your free floating feat. Adding in racial heritage Half Elf gives you access to paragon surge and complete access to the arcane spell list.

[Bigbeefie]

My worry:


Party includes a paladin, a fighter, a ranger, a rogue and a magus. They're all 10th level. There is a mix of good and evil alignments, so far the rogue has managed to hide his evil doings from the paladin's knowledge. I've made up an oracle of ancestors to join the party. I basically built the character as a self-buffing gish with some anti-undead abilities for flavor.

Basically you have a paladin, a fighter, a ranger, a rogue and a magus. ALl those classes basically focus on 1 thing....doing damage. The magus could prepare a spell like Black tentacles But sadly his is probably just going for the Shocking Grasp Explosive damage.

To me you don't need to build anything that does damage..Group has enough Damage dealers....You will be out shined by the other players already there. The paladin can kill undead better then you every day with smite, The ranger against FE will outshine the rest of them, The rogue's sneak attacks will out damage you against everything that can be sneak attacked.

If you want to add something to the party then Go with a caster like a Oracle, Wizard, sorcerer, witch, or druid.

What your group lacks is the Battlefield control. Someone who can drop a wall and split up enemies and make all encounters much easier and the group takes a lot less damage.


I recommend focusing on Bringing more then self buffs and more damage to a Damage heavy party. I recommend bringing Control to the fight.

[Zach J.]

Yeah, you're right, but building a mid to high level caster is just a chore as far as I'm concerned. In nearly every game I play in I end up making a divine caster and I'm bored with buffing at this point. Could make an arcane caster, but that seems even more time intensive than a cleric or druid.

[avr]

With the right spells prepared a Druid can offer some battlefield control, and since you don't need to worry about the number of spells known they're relatively easy to create.

True, against a dragon you might be busy buffing with the likes of communal resist energy, but get Persistent Spell and the level 3 or less Druid debuffs become quite effective.

[Bigbeefie]

Yeah, you're right, but building a mid to high level caster is just a chore as far as I'm concerned. In nearly every game I play in I end up making a divine caster and I'm bored with buffing at this point. Could make an arcane caster, but that seems even more time intensive than a cleric or druid.

You can play the oracle as a caster who lays some control. You get silence , wall of stone, blade barrier, blindness/Deafness, bestow curse,

Grab a few fun spells like spiritual weapon, hold person

Grab key buff spells like pro evil, resist energy, blessing of fervor

I just wouldn't focus on buffing yourself and diving into combat when 5 other party members are doing the same.

[Zach J.]

Okay, so I'm working on a new oracle now. I'll be playing an Elf with the Lore mystery and using the Ancient Lorekeeper racial archetype.

Feats
Heighten Spell, Improved Initiative, Spell Penetration

Spells Known
0 Create Water, Detect Magic, Detect Poison, Guidance, Light, Mending, Purify Food and Drink, Read Magic, Stabilize
1 Cure Light Wounds, Obscuring Mist, Prestidigitation, Protection from Evil, Sanctuary
2 Cure Moderate Wounds, Resist Energy, Vanish
3 Bestow Curse, Cure Serious Wounds, Dispel Magic, Mirror Image
4 Cure Critical Wounds, Haste, Spit Venom
5 Confusion, Mass Cure Light Wounds, Wall of Stone

I like Spiritual Weapon, but as it specifically requires Wisdom to hit I think I'll skip it for this character. Haste will substitute for Blessing of Fervor, I don't think my party will mind.

[Bigbeefie]

Seems good to me. I like it. That guy will offer a lot more to the party then a battle oracle.

Also I never noted that spiritual weapon was wisdom only. Thanks for pointing that out.

[Karoht]

Seems good to me. I like it. That guy will offer a lot more to the party then a battle oracle.

Also I never noted that spiritual weapon was wisdom only. Thanks for pointing that out.It is indeed Wisdom only, however many DM's houserule that it goes off your casting stat, reason being that the spell was copy-pasted from 3.5 but never updated like a few other similar spells. But that is just a houserule and not gospel of course.

[CigarPete]

If you are going cast focused, I would suggest getting a stat boost item or two. a +4 Cha headband should not put too much of a dent in your WBL at 16k and the extra slots and boost to saves for your spells will do wonders.

Also, I would quicken rather than heighten. Getting two spells off the first few rounds will do more to help than occasionally boosting the save needed to resist your spell.

[Karoht]

Bouncing Spell is pretty fun for only a +1 adjustment. Helps get a bit more mileage out of your single target save or sucks. Like Hold Person/Monster for example.
Bouncing Spell + Spit Venom is pretty funny. Same with Bestow Curse.

[Zach J.]

Bouncing Spell looks like it could be fun.

So if I take that and replace Heighten with Quicken I'll have one feat left.

This is also a tier one mythic character. I was thinking of taking the ability that allows me to treat touch spells as ranged touch spells, but I'm open to suggestions.

[Bigbeefie]

Bouncing Spell looks like it could be fun.

So if I take that and replace Heighten with Quicken I'll have one feat left.

This is also a tier one mythic character. I was thinking of taking the ability that allows me to treat touch spells as ranged touch spells, but I'm open to suggestions.

Solid Choice with the Mythic path ability. Sadly your Mythic feat will be Mythic Spell lore for your Mythic Spell.

Could you give us an update on what the Character will look like so I can see when and what feat might help.

[Karoht]

If you get to Mythic level 3, take the Feat that makes you immune to spells on your Domain/Mystery spell list.
Planning your Mystery accordingly can be highly beneficial.

[Zionara]

Here is an idea I have had tumbling around in my head for a while..

Ancient Lorekeeper (Oracle) 10
Battle, Lame

Pointbuy High 20
Str 16, Dex 14, Con 12, Int 8, Wis 10, Cha 14
Final atributes
Str 18, Dex 16, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 16

Feats:
Dodge, Mobility, Combat casting, Spring Attack, Extra revelation,
Revelations:
Surprising Charge, War Sight, Weapon Mastery (Longsword), Skill at Arms, Battlefield Clarity,
Skills:
Diplomacy 11, Heal 15, Linguistic 5, Knowledge (history) 5, (planes)5, (religion) 5, (arcane)5, (local)5, Perception 17
Favoured Class point put in Weapon Mastery.
Languages Known:
Celestial, Common, Elven, Celestial, Auran, Ignan, Teran, Aquan.

HP Max; 88
Unbuffed AC 26, 30 when moving
Speed;
20, buffed 50, Can take 2 immediate and one swift action as a move every day.

Saves;
Fort 7, Ref 9, Will 10

Spells Known (6/6/6/5/3/day):
1 Cure, Prestidigitation, Divine Favor, Prot Evil, Burning Disarm, Deathwatch, Shield of Faith
2 Cure, Expeditios Retreat, Lesser Restoration, Bull Str, Resist Energy, Delay Poison, Grace, Surmount Affliction
3 Cure, Mirror Image, Chain of Perdition, Prayer, Dispel Magic, Prot Energy, Remove Curse, Daylight
4 Cure, Displacement, Aura of Doom, FoM, BoF, Summon IV (Mephits), +1
5 Mass Cure, Greater Invis, True seeing, Cleanse, Summon V (Azata)

Equipment:
Longsword +1, +1 Mithril Fullplate, Quickdraw Light shield +1, Composite longbow
Ring of sustenance, Ring of Revelation (Battlefield Clarity)
Mnemonic Vestment, Cast one spell from a scroll per day, doesnt consume scroll.
Necklace of Adaptation, Eyes of the Eagle
Feather Step Slippers, Quick Runner's Shirt
Cloak of resistance +3
Headband of Charisma +2, Plague Rat Belt 2+ Con
Handy haversack, Healer's Gloves, Spellguard Bracers

Scrollcase,
Scroll of Resurection,
Scroll of Breath of Life


Obligatory buff is Expeditious Retreat and Aura of Doom, Mirror Image & Displacement for the hard stuff, Other buffs as needed. Prime job is battlefield patrol, and tank. Secondary job is to save the day by not dying and heal everybody else. :smallsmile:

Its still a work in progress, too many short duration buffs though.
Dunno how much you can buy items for but its a rough outline atleast, most on my list is fairly cheap.

Alternatively you can trade Skill at Arms for Combat Healer, and take a Agile Breastplate instead of Fullplate.
And at level 11 get Manouver Mastery and Iron Skin as revelation + feat.