[PF/3.5] Horrible choice or just unoptimized?

[satorian]

Or am I just missing something?

I've just started playing an Oracle from Pathfinder, available here:

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/extras/advan...final-playtest

I chose the Tongues curse and the Heavens mystery, mostly for roleplay reasons. The powers of the latter seem intriguing, though on further reading it is not nearly the strongest mystery.

Here is me in a nutshell:

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Aaaimar Oracle 4 (with homework to level to 5 after a session)
STR: 12
DEX: 12
CON: 14
INT: 14
WIS: 10 (incl. +2 aasimar, though it was drained to 9 in 1st session)
CHR: 22 (including+1 level 4, +2 Aasimar, +2 headband)

Feats (I think I should be able to trade these out if I get good suggestions, as none have come into play yet): spell focus (illusion), improved initiative.

Spells: All cures and color spray (from class)
1) prot from evil, entropic shield, command
2) sound burst

Mysteries:
1) Lure of the heavens
3) Coat of Many Stars

The other characters are a fighter aiming at paladin (not so shabby in pathfinder) a bard/rogue archer looking to arcane archer or order of the bow initiate, and a 5 class abomination at level 5 that will be continuing as a warlock. So not supremely optimized.

So my questions? How severely gimped am I? What feats should I take (from PF core or completes)? What direction should I take this character build-wise?

You see, this Oracle thing is quite new, and I've never even played a divine caster before.

[Thrice Dead Cat]

Honestly, as long as the rest of the party knows the same language as your Tongue, you'll be fine. At your level, it has a relatively minor penalty compared to the rest of the abilities.

Coat of Many Stars is pretty solid for avoiding pain in combat. Depending on how your adventuring day goes, it could also save you on armor. Lure of the Heavens (and, honestly, most of the other Heavens mysteries) are all pretty bad or too situational to use.

Now, that being said, even though this could be more optimized, compared to the rest of the party, you should still shine. I mean, you've got color spray, at least, and with decent spell selection, you should be able to stay on top.

[Mongoose87]

You're a full caster. You'll be fine.

[satorian]

I'm not worried I'm going to be truenamer useless. I just don't know what to do next. What feats should I take? What spells? I've never played a divine caster, and unlike a cleric, I don't get the opportunity to try out various spells.

[Nero24200]

My advice? Just take waht you want/fits your theme. You're not playing with heavily optimised party members, so just being a full-caster with decent BAB and HD so be enough to keep on the power line. It takes alot for such classes to become underpowered.

Don't worry too much about your spells - Using them smartly can make up easily for a less-than-perfect spell selection. Foresight, for instance, isn't exactly the best 9th level spell, but you don't have to go far to see how good it is when combined with certain other spells (*coughs* Clerity *coughs*).

[Thrice Dead Cat]

For spells, hit up the Cleric Handbook. If you can find a Favored Soul Handbook, use that instead, as that will have advice for casting on a budget.

[Thurbane]

For spells, hit up the Cleric Handbook. If you can find a Favored Soul Handbook, use that instead, as that will have advice for casting on a budget.

I started a psudo-handbook for the Favored Soul over here, but there wasn't a great deal of enthusiasm. I haven't aboned it though (I personally am a huge fan of the FS), so all additions welcomed.

[satorian]

The favored soul, problematically, isn't enough like the oracle to compare. They have a similar spell choice, but the favored soul has MAD and the Oracle doesn't. Thus, the Oracle can make a better pure caster, if he can find the right spells to focus on. Also, the Oracle gets all cure spells free (and vigor in my game), is limited to light armor, and generally has different powers.

Anyway, I've made some decisions on my own, and my feat list is now:
Spell Focus (Illusion)
Force of Personality (WIS is my dump stat)
Touch of Healing reserve feat
I might get Celestial Heritage later

For spells, I picked Impede from C.Champ and Bewildering Substitution from the same book.